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Cleave
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The papers in my hands make a rustling sound as I arrange them. I place the sheets down on my desk, looking at the small mound I need to prepare. My report to the king is long overdue, but I’ll still give it one last look before sending it.
The first sheet is on Scarlet, my chaotic dryad. She had been the first of my new children to choose her class. Fittingly, she chose Bramble Keeper, which could someday grow into Druid. She’s already made impressive progress, making that little lizard. I can’t contain my smile as I move to the next dossier.
Coil was the second to choose, and the brat lied to his teacher. I found that out when he got rescanned for my final report. The temple scanner shows everything, nothing can be hidden from that behemoth of magical engineering. Lo and behold, the Speaker role he claims to have is but a cover to hide his real class. I have to admit that Informant does fit him better.
I pull out a third sheet, this one giving Iota’s details. Shockingly, that scrawny kid took the Brute class. Brute can become many different classes, so I’m not sure what his aims are. He also somehow gained a low level Leadership trait. I’m not sure how my loner son was able to get a level in a skill like that. I shake my head as I move on to the next leaf of paper.
Pim is the first real mystery of this entourage of mine. Her race is something I’ve never heard of, homunculus, and her blessing is one that’s never been recorded. Unlike her siblings' more unique choices, she took the standard Novice Mage class. I’m excited to see what growth my silent middle child will go through.
Pulling out another paper, I glance it over. The newest addition to our little clan, Luna. Her race is also odd, I’ve never heard of an elf and it’s also not recorded anywhere. I don’t know what one looks like either, as she’s always invisible. She chose Pickpocket as her class, sensible accounting for her blessing. I’m glad Coil managed to get her home safely that night.
The last paper in the stack has Wight’s details on it. I’ve never heard of a human-dragon hybrid, so that’s a bit peculiar. I’m not sure it’s an impossible hybrid though. His blessing is also worrying, demons have historically never been good news. His abilities make dealing with him hard, seeing as he couldn't be stopped if he chose to ignore me. He hasn’t chosen a class, as he’s too young.
I shuffle the papers together with the one I prepared for Zenith. My eyes scan my handwriting as I confirm their paper is accurate. Zenith took the Novice Mage class with their masculine half, and Boxer with their feminine one. She’s been challenging random knights to sparring matches and beating them with regularity. He’s also been spending a lot of time reading through the library with Pim.
Rolling the documents all together, I slip them into a wooden cylinder. A hiss fills the room as I press my seal onto the wood. Small purple runes run all over it, sealing it and placing a basic security spell into the wood. I set that aside, along with my seal, to take with me tomorrow.
Tomorrow is going to be hell, dealing with that idiot king always is. I let out a long sigh. Gods, I hope Wight isn’t awake tomorrow. My chair pushes back as I get up to leave. Walking out of the room, I head for bed.
Gods give me luck.
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Coil
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The ride to the palace is quiet. Zenith sits fiddling with their clothes, as the Count stares stony-faced out the window. Bored out of my mind, I watch the scenery outside.
We left Wornsbirth almost a day ago and we still haven’t left our county. Father seems to have kept a suspiciously large chunk of his duchy when he was demoted. Trees pass by as the carriage trundles along. We entered these woods in the early morning, and the plan is to be out by dark. The Count told us that these woods are unsafe at night, even with a travelbeast.
I flick the leafy ear of Hack, who is laying on my lap. His one eye lazily opens and gives me a look before closing again. I can’t even piss the lizard off, this is actual torture. None of my abilities are usable without another person, and I won’t use interrogation magic on family for my amusement. I give my traveling companions a guilty look. I guess I could mess with my blessing.
Focusing slightly, I feel my shadow shiver under me. Surprisingly, I sense something in Zenith’s shadows as well. Mentally pulling the thing, I drag it towards me. Slowly two black slivers peek out of Zenith’s shadows. Those are the two I had put there, back in the woods. They stayed there that whole time? So they don’t vanish when I’m not awake. I wonder if I can control them when someone else is piloting the meat machine…
My brooding is interrupted by a slamming sound that is quickly followed by the sound of splintering wood. Zenith had kicked the shadow I had been moving, cleanly punching a hole through the floor of the carriage. I try to zone out as Father begins his rant.
At least something is happening now.
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A full day after leaving the forest, the carriage stops.
“C’mon kids, you’re gonna wanna see this one.” Father’s face has a mischievous grin plastered on it. Hopping out of the carriage first, I take a look around. I almost fall over once I notice what he’s talking about.
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The capital looms before us. I was expecting a large cityheart, but this is nonsensical. The base of the massive red crystal isn’t floating like the typical townheart and is instead buried into the ground. At the top of the absurdly gargantuan stone is honest-to-god snow. Gleaming red crystal reaches from the ground to the heavens. Unlike other townhearts we’ve seen, this one only has tiers of buildings up to a certain point. After a specific height the crystal is bare, letting the powerful glow bathe the area. Even though the crystal is a deep red, the light it casts is as if it was from the sun.
Father smacks my back with a chuckle. “Feast your eyes, kiddos. This is Jewelrock, the capital of our nation!” His beaming smile challenges the warmth from the crystal. “Back in, kids! We have a king to see!”
With a final glance back at the city, I hop in the carriage after him.
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The obnoxiously shiny building before me is almost certainly the palace. I squint, trying to protect my eyes from the reflected sunlight shining from the stone walls. Towering red walls made of carved heartgem loom over us, pulsing with the familiar light. Once we’re escorted inside the blinding light subsides. The entrance hall is extravagant, showcasing art and furniture made of different colors of heartgem. Each townheart has a unique shade, so each shade and hue that makes up the many artworks symbolizes an entire town.
Once we cross the hall we’re greeted by the first thing made of something besides colorful crystal. Aggressively gray metal doors tower over us, the steel shimmering with a strange light. Runes run the entirety of the doors, pressed into the steel with golden wires. Before I get a chance to look at any of the runes closely, the two doors open silently.
The room on the other side of the doorway could’ve been from a completely different building. Instead of heartgem in painfully colorful shades, the entire audience hall has simple wooden floors, beautifully polished. Unlike the previous room there are no chandeliers. Instead heartstone lights hang from the ceiling, with wooden fins spinning around them lazily. The strangest thing is the walls, not carved of stone or somehow otherwise intricately designed. Each of the walls are colored a mild purple, plainly painted with no decorations of any kind.
I follow my father in front of me, copying his confident motions. Zenith gives away their anxiety with shaking hands and a nervous look in their eyes. I kneel like Father, hoping doing something will make my own nerves settle down. After a moment a deep voice calls out to us from the head of the chamber.
“Okay, enough formalities, Count Holdings.” Raising my head, I see the king for the first time. The walnut-toned man smiles warmly at Father. He has a smooth, clean shaven head and a face adorned with a well groomed soul patch. His throne is turned backwards and his chin rests lightly on the back of it. I’m momentarily shocked by his casual attitude.
His Highness waves away the guards, apparently trusting us enough to go without them. After hesitating for only a second the guards leave. Only once the giant doors shut does the relaxed ruler speak again.
“Man, Cleave, why do you always come with problems… Can’t you ever just visit?” The man’s tone is jovial in contrast to his complaining. “It gets worse each time, too! Last time… What was it again?” He presses his eyes shut, apparently thinking. “Ah, yeah! You got demoted last time! You always cause me grief, buddy…” He pushes on the ground, causing his throne to spin in place. After coming to a stop, he grins at Father again.
Father clears his throat before speaking. “Your Highness, I’m here to ask a favor.” Before he can continue, the king cuts him off.
“Dammit Cleave, none of that ‘Your Highness’ crap,” the man chides Father, even though he looks at least two decades younger than the Count. “I swear you do it to annoy me.”
His Highness’ words cause the faintest flicker of a smirk to appear on Father’s face. “Will you hear my request, My Lord?” Father gives a deep bow and I belatedly copy him.
The king’s face twists like he ate a lemon. “Aww, c’mon, dude, now you got the kid doing it, too!” He gestures to me with a grimace. “Kid, don’t do that, I’ll execute you or something.” Father fails to contain a snort from beside me, making the king’s face even more sour. “Whatever, whatever, I’ll hear it!” His throne spins again a few times.
Father stands before making his request. “Your Highness, please register my children in my family tree.” He makes a waving motion towards Zenith and I. “I have decided to bring them out of hiding.”
The king’s face goes completely blank. “Cleave, you’re saying these three are yours?” He gives me and Zenith a once over. “Do you think I’m dumb, man?” He covers his face with his hand, his voice muffled behind it. “Cleave, they look like Frosty, they can’t be yours and Linda’s.” He sits, mumbling to himself for a minute. Suddenly he claps. “Alright, fine, do what you want, Cleave. I want to pry but I know it’ll just be a pain.”
The king kicks a spot near his throne, causing a loud click sound. Suddenly he, and his throne, are quickly moving towards us. His sudden movements startle me, so I instinctively throw my shadow up to block. After a moment passes with no impact, I lower the shadow. The king sits on the other side, his throne parked in front of me.
“Hey, kid! I’m King Zander Gemshell, nice to meet you!” He flashes a smile at me before looking at me curiously. “You can control shadows, huh? Was it magic? No, that can’t be, the anti-magic runes in here are still active. A natural ability? Class ability? I’ve never heard of manipulating shadows like that so that can’t be it.” His rambling feels like a pickaxe to my brain, stalling any responses I could muster. “So if it's none of those, it has to be a blessing.” He looks me in the eyes for the first time. “Do you have a partial blessing, kid?”
I catch my balance, feeling dizzy trying to follow his thoughts. After a few seconds his final question gets through to me. “No, sir, I have a full blessing, the Blessing of Shadows.” My words come out clumsily and somewhat muffled.
Nonetheless the king’s eyes brighten. “A full blessing! For real?” The ecstatic monarch glances at Father. “Cleave, is this kid telling the truth?”
Father rubs his temple slowly. “Yes, Your Highness, if you read my report you’d know that.”
King Gemshell avoids father’s gaze. “Well, I was busy! Very busy! Yes, so very, very busy. I couldn’t even remember my name.” He lets out an exaggerated sigh. “But alas, such is the life of the king.”
Father rolls his eyes at the drama king, and smirks before speaking. “Well, Your Highness, my report spoke of my seven children, who all have full blessings.”
The king’s renewed spinning comes to a dead stop once the Count finishes. “Cleave… Seven kids? With full blessings?” The king’s eyes are flat and dull. “Cleave, there’s only three kids here.” His look begs Father for an explanation.
“Actually, Your Highness, there are only two of my children here at the moment.”
Father’s words make the King look at Zenith and I slowly. “I can still count, Cleave. There are three kids here.” His voice sounds almost desperate, as if he’s worried math has stopped working.
“These are my kids, Zenith,” Father waves at Zenith’s bodies, “and Coil.” He motions to me. “The twins are one child, there’s only one mind between the bodies.” The Count’s amusement starts to show on his face. He gestures to me again. “This child swaps between six different people of varying ages, and even races. They seem to share one body.”
The king leans against the back of his throne so hard that it falls forward.