With the impending birth of Nathalie’s child, I decided to say fuck it and stay home for once. My reputation had been thoroughly trashed, so I no longer needed to be galavanting around just so that Anders could be the shining hero of humanity. It was the three-way agreement we had come to shortly after Yathanae’s death.
Aida, Chione, and I had met in the ruins of the Bastion to have a wee chat that ended up lasting four days. Aida negotiated on behalf of the elves, while Chione negotiated on behalf of mankind. I negotiated on behalf of myself and my Hold.
The negotiations had been long and boring between Aida and Chione. My demands had been simple. Wolf Ridge Hold would become an independent nation, with trade and non-aggression agreements in place with all elven and human nations. Both of them easily agreed to it, with Chione having the demand of me trashing my heroic reputation, so it would be easier for Anders to be the Great Hero.
My reputation mattered little to me, so I had shrugged. The only things that mattered were family and vengeance.
The dragging out of the negotiations had happened because Chione and Aida could not agree on some topics. Such as what should happen to slave owners? Aida wanted all of them executed and punished for what happened to the enslaved elves. Chione would not agree to that. Serfdom, or slavery as they both called it, would be outlawed and the most heinous slave owners would be punished.
The negotiation had lasted for four days while they hammered out who would be punished for slavery. I had spent most of the time chatting with Tarathiel, who had joined the queen on that specific trip. We had a long heart to heart, which ended with him moving to Sanctuary, and became the primary weapons trainer for my Ghosts.
Instead of roaming around, reminding everyone what a bastard I was, I spent the months with my kids and wives. I had memorable encounters with each of them. It started with Lily after she had run off and I found out that she was pregnant once more. I found her curled up in the main bedroom. The shared bedroom. All my wives had their personal bedrooms, mostly for storing clothes or if they wanted a little alone time. I was the only one that did not have a bedroom of my own, not that I wanted one.
She was curled up on the bed, still sobbing. As I approached, she looked up, her face covered in tears. I gave her a warm smile. “I hear we’re going to have another kid?”
She nodded, starting to tear up again. I lay down on the bed next to her. “I hope those are tears of joy. You’re not upset that we’re having a kid, right?”
“No,” she whispered, her voice thick from her crying.
“Good, because I’m completely ecstatic. He or she is going to be special, just like all my other kids and you are,” I said, placing a hand on her hip while caressing her face with the other. My words had the opposite effect of my intention. Instead of calming her own, she started to cry harder. I pulled her into a gentle hug. “I’m sorry, I slept with her only once, and it happened before I even knew you existed.”
“You dolt, I’m not upset because you slept with someone before me,” she replied, slapping my shoulder with an irritated swat.
“What—But?” I was at a loss for words. “Emma said you were upset I had a child before Garion.”
“Yes!” she said heatedly. “No!”
I looked at her crossed-eyed. “I’m confused.”
“Can’t you just read my mind or something!” she complained between sobs.
I shook my head. “I swore I would never do that on any of you unless you want me to. And only if there’s no other way. So please calm down, and tell me calmly what a jerk I am. Because no matter what is really going on, I’m a man, meaning I’m always a jerk.”
That got a small giggle. However, it was a crying giggle, it was not enough to stop her tears. I continued to stroke her hipbone and her face, hoping it would help to calm her down. I had not been around for much of her first pregnancy, but Emma told me that Lily was very emotional during her pregnancy.
After a few minutes of continued sobbing, Lily took a few deep breaths. “I’m upset because you’ve got a child that you never met. How are we going to get her back?”
My heart warmed over, at the same time it also cooled. Two opposite emotions warring to take precedent in my heart. Love for Lily and the kindness she had shown me, and hate towards the Church for taking away one of my children. Hate for not letting me know I had a child. I would make them pay. There was also a flash of hopelessness because she was kept at the island the priests kept as a secret hideout. Not even Ethan, a high priest, knew how to get there.
“I don’t know, we can only follow the plan,” I admitted with helplessness evident in my voice. “Keep on pushing them, until we can trick them into opening the portal there, in a spot where we can seize control of it, or learn the sequence that’ll open the gate there.”
“Couldn’t you kidnap one of them, torture or that memory magic?” she asked with a frown.
“No, it only works on people without magic, or if a person with magic accepts it.”
“But you made it work on Ethan,” she pointed out.
I nodded and kissed her forehead. “Yeah, but he willingly accepted all the powers the crystals would provide, even if he didn’t know about it.”
“Can’t you just torture one of them until they concede?” Lily asked with heat in her voice. After Yathanae had been killed, she had been rather bloodthirsty in regards to the Church.
“I’ve tried on some of the mancers we’ve caught that support the church. Doesn’t work,” I replied with a frown.
We lay cuddling on the bed for another twenty minutes, I was almost dozing off, when Lily asked in a whisper, “Why didn’t you have children back in your old world?”
“Can’t we enjoy the cuddle?” I mumbled, not wishing to talk about it.
“You love our children so much, you want to have more, yet you didn’t have any back home?” she insisted.
I had to gather my thoughts for a moment. “You’ve to understand, I grew up in an orphanage. I was picked on by others. A lot of bad stuff happened, and I was sent to an even worse place. Juvie, a place for young criminals. I stayed there until I became an adult. There were no jobs or schooling for me, the only way I could get money to buy food was to steal it.”
“Why not just find a plot of land and start growing food? Or live off the land?”
“There’s no place like that in my world. Or very few of them. Every piece of our world is owned by someone, it’s very hard to go completely off the grid, as it’s called. Especially for a young man who had never seen more than a handful of trees in the same place,” I replied.
She let me talk. “However, even if I was a criminal, I would still have wanted a child. I really did want one, but I didn’t feel like I could be that selfish.”
“What do you mean?” she asked gently.
“My old world was—is dying—heck might already be dead for all I know.”
“But how, the Destroyer is kept imprisoned?”
I gave her a strained smile. “Humans are destroying it.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Greed, selfishness, stupidity, shortsightedness. And a lot of other reasons,” I answered with a dry laugh. “We don’t have magic in my old world. We have technology so advanced that it’ll make it seem like it is magic though. However, all that technology has led to a lot of pollution. Pollution that is slowly but surely killing the planet. And when the planet dies, so do we.”
“That’s horrible, why aren’t you doing something to prevent it?” Lily asked aghast.
“Some people are trying, but not enough. People are more interested in economic growth than saving the planet. They live by the motto ‘it’ll be someone else’s problem’. However, we’ve been doing it for so long that it’s no longer someone else’s problem. It’s our and our children’s problems,” I explained, making it sound more like a rant. “If I had any children, I would bring them into a dying world, making them suffer for my generation’s. and those before us, mistakes. I can’t do that to any kid.”
“I think I understand,” Lily said after a minute of silence. “However, our kids are caught in the middle of a war, isn’t that horrible too?”
“Extremely so, and it’s why I really wish you all would move to Sanctuary. To a place I can keep you safe,” I said softly. “However, this is something I can do something to stop. And I’ll be doing everything in my power to stop it. I won’t let my burdens fall onto my children. No child of mine shall have to bear the responsibility of my inaction or failure.”
“I like the sound of that,” she replied and snuggled up closer to cuddle. Within minutes, both of us were asleep.
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Next person I spent a lot of time with was Quill. He joined me in the study whenever I went in to keep the ledgers up to date. His eyes were fixed on his namesake, and his tail swished back and forth, looking like he would leap at it at any given moment. Not wanting to have my work ruined, and figuring it might be good for him, I found another quill from the drawer, as well as some blank pieces of paper.
When I pulled out the second quill, his tale stopped moving, his eyes huge as he looked on it as if it was made of gold and precious gems. I gave him a big smile, “Change form.”
He looked puzzled at me for a moment. I stroked his head once again. I repeated myself and turned into a cat. It was a little awkward having to crawl my way out of my clothes, but I managed. I meowed and changed back into a human.
“Change form,” I repeated a third time. A second later, I had a humanoid feline toddler sitting on my desk. He grinned at me. I ruffled his head. “Good boy.”
When I handed him the spare quill, he almost dropped it in excitement, as he started purring. I showed him how to dip the quill in the inkpot, and how to draw on the paper.
I moved my ledger out of the way and continued filling in the numbers from the reports sent by all the managers. Officially, the Hold was barely running around, better than it had been when I got it, but not overly wealthy. However, that was the official ledger. The unofficial ledger told another story altogether.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Since we used paper made from trees, I was able to manipulate it with my wood magic. So each page in the ledger was two pages glued together. Unless of course, I made them unstick. The paper we used was a bit thinner than usual, and where the pages stuck together were seamless, so no one would notice them unless they knew about it.
The reports I was handed were made in the same way. On the front of the paper it was the official report and on the inside the unofficial one. When he made his first ink splodge, on my desk, he purred happily. When he made his first squiggly line on the paper, his purring got so loud that I could see a slight tremor reflected in the ink in the ink well.
We sat there for hours. Me reading through reports, him drawing squiggly lines and figures on the reports when I was done with them. Of course, there were some casualties of war while he was having fun. My desk for one. It would need a loving touch of wood magic to get all the ink stains out. My clothes had suffered too, and so had his fur. At least fifty percent of his fur was covered with ink. The inkwell had run dry, and he started meowing his complaint.
“That’s enough for today, little one,” I said with a chuckle and picked him up, getting more ink on my clothes. He looked and sounded torn. One moment he was pouting and meowing complainingly. The next he was purring and rubbing his cheek against mine. Of course, his cheek was wet with ink, meaning I got ink smeared in my face. I took it as an adventure. The joy of fatherhood.
When I walked into the family room with Quill on my arms, Nina started giggling. The wives were sitting with their backs to me, so they had to turn around to see me. Mina joined her sister’s merriment, while Nathalie smiled wistfully while stroking her stomach. Lily shook her head with a gentle smile.
Emma. Boy, did she look furious. She shot to her feet, her voice rose to a crescendo, “What have you done to my son? What the heck were you thinking?”
Quill froze in my arms, his tail began to wag back and forth at warp speed, meaning that he was scared. He made himself a smaller target in my arms, trying to prevent himself from being the target of his mother’s ire.
“Emma, it’s just ink, rel—” I started to say.
“Don’t tell me to relax. Do you know how hard it’s to get out of your fur?” she berated. “No? Well, it’s goddamn hard. Get into the bathroom, you’re not allowed out of it until he is perfectly clean and presentable, you understand me?”
“Yes, dear,” I replied in the same manner as millions of men had done before me. Maybe it was a response that was hard coded into our DNA. Quill was happy to be out of the danger zone that was his mother’s gaze, but he was less than enthused about the time spent being cleaned in the bathroom. He mewled pitifully, even went as far as hissing at me.
“Don’t start with that attitude,” I scolded him as I used healing magic to expel the ink from his pores. I could not find a quick way to get it out of his fur though. “If you want to have fun, you have to face the consequences that follow.”
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I could not spend time with Garion without spending time with Artemis as well. When I tried to take Garion with me somewhere alone, Artemis started complaining loudly, while Garion started throwing a hissy fit. Being the stern father that I was, I relented and took her with me as well.
We were going to Sanctuary, it had been almost a year since I had been there proper. The only times I was there was when I visited the memory repository. Before leaving through a portal, I used many different magics to make a stroller for the two little tykes.
When we stepped through the main portals, I got to take in the splendour of the underground city I had created for the first time in a long time. I knew from the reports sent by the Council of the general progress of Sanctuary. I was also needed to create most of the spell crystals that kept the city going, since I was the only one that could link them to the great mana reservoirs I had created. However, I did that from home, meaning I never really visited.
The portal was situated in a square room, a courtyard as we called them. The courtyard was lit up completely by glowstones. There were no less than twenty-four guard posts, though only six of them were manned around the clock. Only one of them was readily apparent, being not that far from the portal. The rest of them were hidden behind the rock, only small slits for shooting muskets or crossbows were available. Each of the manned posts would have two guards I knew.
“Milord, welcome to Sanctuary,” one of the guards called out. I had to dig a little through my memory to remember his name. It was Amos, one of the hundred surviving members of my first squadron that went with me to the Bastion. I remembered I had regrown his arm after the battle that we lost Kiril in. I also remember he was a squad leader the last time I saw him.
“Greetings, and thank you, Squad Leader Amos,” I replied with a warm smile. He coughed and subtly indicated the stripes on his sleeves as he stepped up to me with a fisted salute. With an embarrassed smile, I corrected myself, “I mean, Senior Squad Leader Amos. Congratulations on the promotion. I had forgotten about that promotion. My apologies.”
“No need to apologize, Milord, you’re a busy man,” Amos said with a thankful smile. “It’s a pleasure to have you here, can I call for anyone?”
“No that’s okay, I’m just here to enjoy the city I helped create. Though they’re a bit young, I want to show these two around,” I said.
“Of course, Milord. May I enquire which of your children you’ve with you? We’ve been informed of the joyous news by Priest Ethan when he drops in every week. But alas, we’ve never met any of them,” Amos asked, looking curiously at Garion and Artemis, giving a small wave and a large smile at them. Garion waved back, but Artemis tried to hide behind Garion.
“This is Garion and this is Artemis,” I replied fondly. I could not help but feel pride as I was showing them off a little. No matter what else I did in my life, nothing would make me as proud and happy as my children.
“Young Lord and Lady, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said with a huge grin. He bowed down and reached a finger out to Garion. Garion grabbed it and pulled on it, while Artemis shied away. Amos laughed. “Strong grip, he’s going to be as big and strong as you, Milord.”
“Thank you,” I replied proudly. “I’m sorry that you’ve pulled this boring duty, but I don’t know if the priests have a way of finding portals, or opening to strange portals.”
“It’s okay, Milord. We all pull half-a-day once a week or so. It’s not so bad, not compared to the benefits of getting to live freely, even got myself a wife and a kid on the way,” he said proudly.
“Congratulations,” I replied. It was what I had hoped for in Sanctuary. Everyone here was my serfs, which meant that everyone was equal. No one was better off than anyone else. Some might have a position that came with some authority, but everyone had to do the same amount of work, and was provided with the same amount of resources.
I bid the guards a good day and continued into the city proper. The pathway from the portal room was long and windy, with lots of discreetly hidden murder holes. If anyone broke through the portal, they would not have an easy time. When we finally reached the end of the pathway, we were met with a large door and another set of guards.
The double door had no handles on the inside, but it opened after one of the guards knocked a specific sequence on the door. Stepping into the city proper, the sight took my breath away. It should not do so, because I helped create it, but it still did. I had stepped out into the main market square. People were bustling around, bartering for goods. No money changed hands, only my wooden chits.
The square we had made our way into was huge, almost a square kilometre in size. Most of the square was taken up by the market square, but there were several park areas, meaning that the market area took up around half the space. Even though there were lots of stands, it was by no means clumped together. Making plenty of space for people to enjoy the day without bumping into each other.
The ceiling was what took my breath away. I had managed to create light that mimicked that of the sun. It was all provided by a giant glowstone in the middle of the room. It was a giant mana guzzler, requiring the mana of a thousand people per day. Nevertheless, it had four settings, dawn, noon, dusk, and moon, it was controlled from a pedestal in the centre of the room. Only the guards had access to alter the setting.
The pedestal also controlled the weather. It was a marvellous piece of craftsmanship that could conjure up everything from a light drizzle to a storm. Everyone thought I had made it, which was not wrong as such. However, I had only done the assembly, like many of the other things I had created, the idea came from the mysterious woman in my head. I also began to suspect she was the reason why I could control my magic so well. Whenever I tried to explain to the mancers how I did stuff, I found out what I had done was considered impossible.
The ceiling also contained one more piece of magic. An illusion that emulated the sky above ground. I had placed a crystal somewhere above ground, which would send to the illusion magic how the sky looked. Every public space was made like that. Some of the people saved together to have their courtyards upgraded with their individual system. A cheaper option was to extend the nearest public system to include the courtyard.
I spent an hour just walking around in the marketplace, looking at what people were putting up for sale. I got respectful greetings from everyone, and Garion enjoyed the attention, while Artemis meowed her displeasure whenever someone got too close.
Someone must have tattled about my arrival, because eventually, Hope trooped up with a worried look. “Is everything alright, Milord?”
“Yes, of course. Why shouldn’t it be?” I asked the ignimancer who had been Lily’s bodyguard. She had formed a close bond with Lily while I was at the Bastion. When it came time to elect someone to represent the will of the Lord and the Lady, it had fallen on Hope, mostly because of Lily’s recommendation. She had done a very fine job so far.
“It’s just been so long since you’ve been here, Milord,” she said with a worried frown.
“Don’t worry, Hope, I’m just taking these two for a walk,” I said and motioned to the children.
“My, they do grow big. I feel like it’s just yesterday Garion was born, how old is he now?” she asked, apparently assuaged that there was nothing wrong.
“Two and a half. Artemis is almost a cycle younger than him,” I answered delighted at the attention everyone paid my kids. “However, since I’m here, is there anything I can do to help you or the Council with?”
“Well, there are a few citizens who have been wanting to get their courtyards linked with the nearby squares, Milord,” she said hesitantly.
“Sure, how long have they waited.”
“Oh, not long, Milord,” she lied. At least according to my magic.
I stopped and stared at her. “Why are you lying to me?”
“Milord, please,” she immediately begged. “I’m sorry, Milord, we just didn’t want to intrude. We collectively decided to wait until you came by before asking you. Ethan has said you’ve been very busy.”
I frowned. “It’s not intruding to provide rewards to my people. It’s my duty and honour to do so.”
“Ethan has just been so worried about you since the attack, Milord,” Hope explained. “He thought it would ease your burdens a little.”
“I’ll have to have a chat with Ethan, it would seem,” I said with fire in my eyes.
“Please don’t punish him, he was just trying to help you,” she begged.
My eyes narrowed as I took her in. “You seem to know a lot about what Ethan is thinking.”
She blushed at my observation. “We were looking for a time to ask you for permission to marry.”
“Are you sure you want to marry a priest? One of the people who’s enslaving and oppressing people like you, people that don’t fit their image,” I asked.
She bit her lower lip and nodded. “Ethan has changed, he’s seen the light you’ve shown him. He’s behind you completely.”
“I don’t know if I believe that, it’s a very large change in opinion. I did put him in a collar, after all,” I observed.
She shook her head. “He doesn’t blame you for that. He feels liberated by it. At first, he did blame you, but when you created a permanent spell crystal, powered by the magic of someone else, he knew you were not the Destroyer’s agent. You’re using the power of creation, which belongs only to the Creator and the Gods. So he is behind you all the way, even if it’s going against the Gods.”
“Huh, the Creator you say?” I wondered with a mumble. Giving her a smile. “Fine, show me to the houses that need some custom work. And of course, you have got my permission to marry. You don’t need it though.”
“But it only felt right to ask for it, Milord,” she mumbled and started leading the way. I spent the rest of the day playing in the parks with Garion and Artemis, as well as doing odd chores around Sanctuary.
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The next big surprise came that very night. It was close to midnight when I finally went to bed. There was no one in the bedroom, something I had never tried before. I felt disappointed, but if everyone wanted a little alone time I would respect that.
I had just climbed into the furs when the door opened. I was rather surprised when I saw it was Shenerah. She was dressed in a flimsy nightie, one that gave a tantalizing tease of what was beneath, but still covered everything. She was definitely a sexy woman, who made my lower head stand at attention.
When she arrived next to the bed, I moved to make room for her, but she grabbed my hand, stopping me from moving. I looked at her with an arched eyebrow. With a slight tremble, she moved my hand under the hem of her nightie, placing it against her hot and moist nether lips. My fingers started moving automatically, making her moan within seconds. With a hitch in her sultry voice, she whispered, “I want a child.”
My drowsiness vanished instantly. With trepidation in my voice, I asked, “Are you sure?”
She nodded vigorously. I grabbed around her waist and pulled her down on the bed. Knowing she was not really interested in men, I spent a long time pleasuring her with my mouth. Backing off every time she approached her orgasm. It was a long and pleasurable night.