A thunderstorm raged outside. The children were safe from it, though, as the mysterious man helped them find shelter inside a cave. Leo’s wounds healed automatically due to his Hearth-Bringer powers, and Ethan and Lore were both unharmed. Des, however, needed time to recover. She was lying asleep in a corner. The man applied some miraculous ointment on her that healed her wounds completely. Yet, her mind and body were still exhausted from the happenings of the past few days. So, she was sleeping to regain her strength. The man also provided milk for Lore to drink.
“Taste this to make sure it’s not poisoned,” Ethan commanded Leo.
“Do I look like a poison taster to you?” asked an irritated Leo.
“If only you were that useful. Anyways, it was your idea to come here. So, take responsibility and make sure this is safe for my baby sister.”
“Yeah, but what if something happens to me? I mean, this was given by the man who is roasting snakes for dinner,” said Leo while pointing at the man.
The cave they were in also housed an enclosed area full of snakes. This mysterious savior of theirs loved snakes. He loved them so much that he created a snake pit inside the cave full of different types of snakes. He even took out a snake and offered it to them as food. Obviously, they refused. However, they still needed medication to treat Desdemona and milk for Lore.
“Look, I don’t trust him either. However, we haven’t had any food since yesterday. We can still endure hunger, but Lore can’t. So, if this milk is safe, I need to make her drink it right away. Fortunately, you happen to be the best person to test it out. Your Hearth-Bringer powers will protect you in case anything bad happens. So, stop whining and drink it already!” said Ethan, glancing at the man with a lot of contempt even though he saved their lives.
“I’m sure since the ointment was fine the milk would be too!” said Leo, hoping to avoid drinking the milk.
“Leon Hearth-Bringer…”
“Ok. Ok.” Leo gave in as he begrudgingly took a sip. His fear was uncalled for, though, the milk was fresh and tasty. “This is delicious!” said a pleasantly surprised Leo as he started to drink more.
“That’s enough, leave some for the baby. Also, go find some clean clothes to use as diapers,” said Ethan as he took the milk away from Leo and fed it to Lore.
“What? You want me to be a nanny for your sister now?”
“Again, if only you were that useful. You wanted to come here. Well, congratulations. We are here. Stranded on an alien world without proper supplies. So, make amends for your poorly hatched plan.”
Leo couldn’t argue with that. So, he heaved a long sigh and started searching for something that could be used as diapers. The man saw him looking around and said, “Hold on for now. You can resupply at my camp before leaving.”
“Leaving? We are not going anywhere until we find the person we are looking for,” said Leo.
“He is not interested in meeting you, Hearth-Bringer.”
“How can you say that when you don’t even know who we are looking for? Also, how did you know I am a Hearth-Bringer?”
“You are part Pathfinder for sure. However, there is only one Veiled One clan who had an innate ability to heal themselves. The Hearth-Bringers,” replied the man.
“Just like there was only one Veiled One clan who chose to live in this forsaken place. They loved this place so much that their clan leader broke all the travel mirrors here so no one could teleport in or out. Of course, that wasn’t until Isaac Renegader took half the clan to join the war. Isn’t that right, Mr. Ivan Renegader?” asked Ethan in a hateful tone. The anger and hatred he had for this man were reflected in his voice.
“Ivan Renegader! Are you really Ivan Renegader?” asked an astonished Leo.
Ivan smirked. “Leave it to a Gainsworth to recognize a Renegader. Tell me, child, does my name still haunt your clan?” asked Ivan, remembering the long history of enmity between the two clans.
“No. Your name no longer means anything. Your second in command, though, is still on our hit list.”
“Wait, who are you talking about?” Leo asked confused.
”Isaac Renegader, his son and second in command joined the Elementals and went up against the Anons. He was also the one who attacked Harbor and killed my mother,” replied Ethan.
“And you are just telling me all this now?”
“You are leaving out the reason my son rode to war. It was because Gainsworths killed my granddaughter.”
“She was working for the Elementals! She almost turned all the Veiled Ones against us.”
“Nonsense. The Veiled Ones always remained neutral. They would’ve continued to do so if you hadn’t wiped out the Paradigms.”
“We had no choice! They attacked us first during peace talks!”
“You always have a choice!” yelled Ivan Renegader.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Stop. All this is extremely confusing. Just explain exactly what happened. Please,” pleaded Leo.
Ivan fell silent and looked away. Ethan’s face was red with anger. The usually cool and collected Ethan was having a hard time expressing all his emotions. Meanwhile, Leo and Lore were the confused ones quietly looking at the faces of both Ivan and Ethan.
“Remember when I told you that I have things to discuss back in Ragonia. Well, this is what I wanted to discuss,” Ethan finally said.
“Well, then, do tell more.”
“It is true that the Anons started all of this. It was King Oran who manipulated everything behind the scenes. When my mother and uncles found out about it, they confronted him. They even gave him the death penalty for all his crimes. Then they voluntarily surrendered and asked for nothing but peace. However, the Elementals and the Paradigms attacked them during the peace talks and killed most of our forces. They decided to hunt down the last of the Anons and Gainsworths. We fought back and wiped out almost all of the Paradigms. His granddaughter, Calico Paradigm, survived and managed to turn the Veiled Ones against us. Once again threatening our existence. So, we developed the curse as a last-ditch effort for survival,” said Ethan.
“Don’t lie! No one can come up with such a curse in a few days. You had that slimy Emanuel working on it for a long time!”
“No! It was a last-minute thing!” proclaimed Ethan.
“Lies!” Ivan countered, refusing to believe anything coming out of Ethan’s mouth.
“Leo, listen to me. Even now his son wants to destroy us. The only ones who escaped the War of Behemoths were Isaac Renegader and his followers. They are the only ones powerful enough to cause havoc during the Mother’s Womb incident. They must have been the ones to attack us during that event. They killed my father! I’m sure of it!” said Ethan.
“Rubbish! I do not know what you speak about. However, I know that my son isn’t one to cause senseless deaths,” Ivan objected.
“You have no clue what your son is capable of then. At first, I thought the surviving Elementals had a hand in it. However, seeing their poor shape I know it wasn’t them. So, that leaves only them, the Renegaders, under your son’s command. They are responsible for the Mother’s Womb event,” stressed Ethan.
“Wait. So, you helped us not because you want to save Areliam. It was because you wanted to get to the Renegaders, who you think are responsible for your father’s death?” asked a hurt Leo.
“I do want to make things right and save Areliam. However, I can no longer stay quiet. This man is no better than his son. Can’t you see he refuses to help us? He doesn’t care what will happen to Areliam. None of these Renegaders are worth our time. If you want my help, then you have to stand with me against him,” said Ethan passionately.
“But the ancestors said…” Leo started to mumble
“Forget about the ancestors! It’s their fault in the first place. If they hadn’t taken such exclusionary steps, then things wouldn’t have gone so bad. Now they want to use us, the new generation, to fix their mistakes. How is that fair?” Ethan asked earnestly.
“On that one thing, we both agree, Gainsworth. With that, we have nothing more to discuss. Portal yourselves off my planet now!” demanded Ivan.
“Is that any way to talk to friends of your great-grandson?” asked Desdemona, with a mouth full of food. She regained consciousness during all the bickering, but instead of adding to it, she decided to fill her stomach. By this point, she finished eating all the cooked snake meat by herself.
Ivan didn’t answer her but raised an eyebrow in response.
Des recalled how everyone freaked out when Leo mentioned coming to Kracten to meet Ivan Renegader was necessary to save Areliam. Then she overheard Calaren addressing Ivan as his grandfather in a conversation with June. Curious to know more she did some information hunting on the matter.
Her father told her, originally there were eight Veiled One clans. The Hearth-Bringers, Gainsworths, Pathfinders, Renegaders, Transenders, Warhammers, Keepers, and Craftmasters. They all had a common ancestor, Lapis Lazuli Hearth-Bringer. It was she who had created the last Veiled One clan of Paradigms, also called Channelers by some.
The Paradigms was a clan that included beings from all corners of creation. It was not restricted to the Veiled Ones only. Everyone was welcome, be it an Anon, an Elemental, a Veiled One, or someone from the other races of Areliam. Anyone could join after they passed certain trials. However, Paradigms still counted as a Veiled One clan, for it was established by the progenitor of all Veiled Ones, Lapis Lazuli Hearth-Bringer.
Like the Paradigms, the rest of the Veiled Ones tried to be inclusive too. Since all Veiled Ones came from the same source, people from one clan were often born with powers of another. In such cases, upon reaching adulthood, people were transferred to the clan matching their powers. Khalifa Hearth-Bringer was born as a Renegader. After her Hearth-Bringer powers surfaced, she was forced to transfer to the Hearth-Bringer clan. However, Ivan and she were childhood sweethearts and carried their relationship into adulthood. Their love was so great that both of them remained unmarried for the rest of their lives. At the time of transfer, Khalifa was already carrying Ivan Renegader’s sons in her womb.
Isaac was born as a Renegader, and Leo’s grandfather Kendall was born as a Hearth-Bringer. In time Isaac transferred over to the Renegaders while Kendall stayed behind. After separation from Khalifa and Kendall, a heartbroken Ivan kept himself secluded from all matters of Veiled Ones. The last he heard, all the adult Hearth-Bringers were dead and the rest of the Veiled Ones were enslaved. At that time, he didn’t have any great-grandchildren yet. So, he thought none of his grandchildren survived to give birth to a new generation.
Des didn’t bring all of this up to Leo before as she thought it was a family matter. Only Calaren or June should be the ones to tell Leo all this. So, she kept quiet. However, she revealed that information now to calm Ivan down. “What? Leo, didn’t you tell him that you are the son of Calaren Hearth-Bringer, his grandson, yet?” asked Des.
“Calaren, one of Kendall’s four sons…” Ivan muttered aloud as he looked closely at Leo. Finally, he understood why he felt called to save Leo earlier. It was his blood calling for his help. An emotional Ivan kneeled and hugged Leo, a display of emotion uncharacteristic to him. However, he couldn’t stop the tears of joy that flowed out. At least one of my grandsons and his line survived.
“Oh, how cute! You just went from a roaring tiger to a happy kitty! But this is just the beginning. Your grandson and his wife are at Ragonia. We can go meet them once you hear us out. What do you think?” asked a hopeful Des.
“No one is going anywhere. I won’t lose my last surviving great-grandchild at any cost. You’ll always be by my side, safe and secure,” replied Ivan as he caressed Leo’s cheeks. Then he continued, “You all will live here with me until the end of your days so I can keep you out of harm’s way forever.”
“Wait, what?” asked a surprised Des.
“How will we save Areliam then?” asked a stunned Leo.
“Over my dead body,” said Ethan.
Even Lore objected by saying the usual, “Gugugahgahgahgahgah.”
However, Ivan Renegader didn’t listen. He took out some white powder from his pocket and sprinkled it on the children. The powder was imbued with the dark magic of the Renegaders and was spelled to invoke a deep slumber in people. Ivan activated its power with his voice. “Sleep,” he said, and all the children fell asleep in an instant. Becoming prisoners of Ivan Renegader in the process.
