"Winter," A woman's voice called out through the closed door of a small shack, "Winter, go help your father in the field. I know you're going to be going to the High Human country for studies soon but you still need to help your father with the crops until then." The voice and tone of the woman didn't match her words. Instead of the disciplining "mom" voice that most women use with their children, the voice sounded tired, with a hint of scorn and disgust.
The youth in the room was a boy whose hair was as black as a raven's feathers, with a slight sheen to it. His eyes were so red they could have been confused for two pools of blood instead of the color of his iris' and like pools of blood, his eyes seemed to be void of any emotion, giving the illusion of apathy or loneliness, depending on the mindset of the person looking into them.
"Yes, Lady Liara," the boy sighed in reply. His voice was filled with exasperation and laced with intense disrespect and sarcasm even though the words were polite enough, as if daring the woman to come in and do something.
The woman who had called to him before was not his mother even though she was the wife of the boy's father. The woman was formerly known as simply Liara Tungstu, the eldest daughter of a wealthy human merchant in the mortal kingdom of Sioux. Her father had been the heir to his family's merchant empire that spanned the world but he had offended the king of Sioux and unfortunately, the man was a citizen of the Sioux kingdom. His punishment was the execution of all his sons and wives, leaving only his daughters but the punishment didn't stop there. In response to having sold the royal court five thousand barrels of spoiled wine, the merchant's punishment had also been to have eldest daughter, Liara Tungstu, married to the disgraced knight, Frederick Aval.
Though people of the Sioux kingdom would openly exclaim that beauty was only skin deep, bloodlines and race meant everything to them. They were lesser humans, mere mortals, and they hated anything that was either different or not useful, such as the fey races, elves, High Humans, and High Elves. They especially hated demons and most of the demi-human races, with the beaskin being an exception because not only were they smart and strong, they made extremely good slaves and their women were tough enough to handle even the most perverse fetishes of the ruling class. Frederick Aval didn't share the opinion of the rest of his country. His father had been a slave until he was the age of fifteen. Slaves weren't permitted to have surnames, this helped avoid scandals in case there was a pretty slave girl who a nobleman or owner took a liking to. Frederick's father, Richard Aval, was the product of such a union but all of the legitimate heirs of the Aval family all met bloody ends at the hands of the demonic incursions of the last mortal wars.
King Sioux was not a merciful man, and deemed the Aval family useless once all of its heirs were killed. He slowly supressed the once mighty Aval family until they were reduced to wealthy commoners but not before Partriarch Aval released Richard and his mother and made Richard into his heir. Richard then freed a lovely slave girl whom he had loved since childhood and named her as his wife, eventually fathering Frederick.
After Frederick was born, Richard's wife disappeared never to be seen again. It broke Richard's heart to lose his wife. If not for his infant son, he would have probably have given up on life but Frederick was the only link he had with his love and he did his best to raise him properly. Frederick wasn't a normal child though.
Smart, strong, fast, practically a force of nature as far as mortal humans were concerned. As Frederick grew up, no one could take him on in the sparring ring and his swordsmanship was superb. When the Kingdom of Sioux had a very brief war with the beastkin tribes, Frederick's full power was exposed. He went toe to toe with the beastkin chieftains in hand to hand combat. Once his weapon was destroyed he still put up a brilliant fight in contests of brute strength before he was eventually captured. This was where the rumors of Frederick's mixed blood started.
Soldiers had seen a peculiar light in Frederick's eyes on the battlefield and the contesting noble houses used the man's incredible strength to smear his family's name and accuse his family of having an impure bloodline because, how could a mere mortal man fight against a beastkin chieftain with equal strength? They weren't wrong though, Frederick's bloodline wasn't pure. He was only half human. No one knew, not even Richard knew, that Frederick's mother, Alice, wasn't human. She was a true dragon who happened to be bored with her life so she posed as a mortal slave and eventually fell in love with Richard. She had left because the rest of her race would have killed Richard and her son if they ever found her with them, as true dragons weren't allowed to breed with anything that wasn't a true dragon. They had learned their lesson from the wyrms and the wyverns.
Even through Frederick wasn't pure human, the king wasn't likely to punish Frederick or Richard because of this, given Frederick's performance in the war. Well, he wasn't likely to punish the noble house of Aval if Frederick had been returned as he was captured, unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
The Beastkin tribes were smart, and far more practiced in experimenting with bodies than humans were. They were also aware of how close-minded the people of the Sioux kingdom were so they decided to find out exactly why their human prisoner was so strong. They quickly realized he wasn't completely human but in return for killing their kin by the hundreds, their shamans and doctors had decided to cripple the energy of Frederick, rendering him less able than even a normal mortal foot soldier. When the war ended and he was returned to his country in such a state, the king decided he wasn't useful at all and labeled him as a mixed blood, thus stripping him to the lowest of the noble ranks. To make matters even worse, several years later he fathered a son with a demoness. This demoness was put to death and Frederick was completely stripped of his noble rank when this news came to light. The king let Frederick keep his title of knight and let the boy stay alive because the king thought the boy might be useful in the future, a decision he would come to regret many years later.
Winter looked out the window of his family's shack, to the fields where his father was laboring. With a wave of his hand, all the wheat in the field was sheered perfectly and with another wave, the wheat was stacked and secured on several carts, ready for the market.
"Finished," Winter called out to his hateful step-mother. He then closed his eyes again as he resumed his cross-legged meditating position on his wooden bed as the energies of heaven and earth started to swirl around him into a large but gentle whirlpool, being quickly absorbed by him. This demon, dragon, human, mixed breed wasn't a normal mutt. Even if he was pure human, he couldn't have been normal. He was a cultivator, seeking immortality, power, and enlightenment. After several hours passed and night fell, the boy had still not emerged from his room.
Winter slowly opened his eyes, the moonlight was just bring enough to still discern the freckles on his otherwise white face. Standing up and hovering in the air for a moment as the wind made his long black hair and white robes flutter slightly, an expression of shock came across his face as he looked northeast. The seventeen year-old boy frowned as memories of the past started to poor into his mind, a past not belonging to him.
Then images of a far off place streamed into his mind, there was a man with wings pointing a sword at him. 'What?' Winter murmered to himself, half in disbelief. He had no control over where he looked in the room.
Seeing Lynefra's lack of concern, Kuzunoha sighed and reverted to her human form. Lystall still stuck close by Lynefra, eyeing Veorful. Lynefra, on the other hand, stood in front of Michael and looked at Veorful questioningly. "I know how babies are made." It was more of a statement than a question.
The group had mixed reactions. Michael was the first to react, he turned red as a tomato, like he had just wanted in on his parents. Kuzunoha started fanning herself quickly, and Lystall's jaw dropped. Veorful chuckled mirthfully. "When you...weren't you," she bagan, her voice wavering a bit. "When you were mine, that's now how we made kids. God children are different than mortal children, but we did have some...intercrouse. You were horrible at it."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Huhuhu, Kuzunoha started the giggle in the background.
I'm sorry, just a moment. Lystall didn't find it amusing. She grabbed Lynefra by the should. Lynefra, you know how we told you that you're a reincarnation? Lynefra nodded solemnly, matching Lystall's tone. You also know that you only have a sliver of your original soul? A new one had to be made. Again, Lynefra nodded. She's the one who broke your soul and killed you. Lystall didn't beat arond the bush as she pointed to Veorful.
Lynefra looked at Veorful with a mixed expression for a moment before looking back at Michael. "Didn't you draw a sword on your own mother?" She used a tone Cirwyn often used with Altresca and herself when they made mistakes (mk Lynefra is basically a super well behaved child who rarely does anything wrong, Cirwyn must be strict AF).
Michael stared sheepishly at Lynefra in disbelief, dumbstruck speechless.
Lystall was officially irritated. Lynefra, would you please take heed to my warnings. I'm not a chosen goddess for nothing you know.
Lystall, Kuzunoha, relax. Michael, I'll talk to you later about the whole pointing a sword at your mother thing. Any way I try and justify you holding a sword at me it's just wrong... Veorful finally chimed in. Also, If I was going to kill Lynefra I would have done it already. We were talking for quite a while before you- Veorful broke off and a look of surprise crossed her face.
Veorful's surprised was not missed by Lystall, Hmm? The goddess asked.
Soul resonance, Veorful murmered, a smile playing across her lips as she slowly looked around the room, allowing the peeping tom a look at everyone present.
Resonance? Who? You have a spy here? Lystall spat out.
Veorful ignored Lystall and sent a strand of thoughts to Winter. 'He really did take good care of us. I see you've managed to get yourself killed again. You may or may not know me yet but one day you will. Take heed, do not trust any coincidence no matter how minor you may think it.' Veorful then turned her head to Lynefra and she looked intently at the girl. With laughing eyes, Veorful looked up and down Lynefra slowly, as if she was a conisseur of wine looking at a rare and fine bottle.
Winter wasn't sure what to make of anything he was seeing until a woman's voice delivering Veorful's message shocked him. He tried to look around but he was still stuck in the resonance and all he could see was what Veorful saw. As Veorful looked at Lynefra, Winter's heartrate quickened and his cheecks flushed. Veorful could feel Winter's reaction and smiled to herself, if the karmic bond didn't exist between these two youngsters Winter would have probably pitched a tent due to the intense eyecandy Veorful gave him of Lynefra just now. Veorful could feel the lust but even more so, she could feel an even more pure form of longing. 'Good,' Veorful thought to herself, 'These two children better thank me later for playing matchmaker.'
"Ahem," Veorful actually spoke allowed. "You're welcome," She said pointedly to Lynefra.
What? Everyone else in the room said in unison.
Veorful explained to Lynefra through a qi sense message, something she hadn't used in a long time. Only Lynefra heard it. 'I expect to be invited to the wedding and I want to be called grandmother by your children.'
"HUH?" Lynefra cried allowed before clamping her hands over her mouth.
'If I can't have her as him, I can still have her,' Veorful thought smugly as she forcefully cut the resonance and Winter was back in his room. He couldn't hear the qi transmission Veorful sent to the Lynefra but for some reason there was a pain in his chest. All the memories of his past lives came back to him. All of his sufferings, his heartbreaks, all the gifts he received from a god who had found him on the brink of complete destruction.
Winter smiled to himself as all the fighting techniques and cultivation methods he had ever grasped flowed through his mind. His path forward no longer a haze.
"Fate!" Winter spat with hatred as powerful energy waves caused the room to heat up before he forcefully broke through his current martial boundary with nothing but his rage. Luckily, only his stepmother was in the Aval family shack so when the house caught fire and blew up, she was the only casualty and it was a fairly quick death.
Winter's personality had always been ruthless but soft towards his father. The only reason he hadn't killed his adultering step-mother before was because he needed to be able keep his father from being blamed. Now there was nothing left of her. 'Even if you try and fabricate evidence, I can simply just kill you all,' He thought to himself.
Winter's robes had been shredded, exposing more freckles and white skin, though it was marred with the scars of whip lashes from his dear step-mother and exposure to the sun. Winter was not a sickly person though, he was healthy with a fair amount of muscle but not an obscene amount. Streeks of crimson now highlighted Winter's black hair as a black substance was forced out of the poors on his body. 'Good,' Winter smiled to himself as he forcefully broke through another major martial boundary. 'It seems I won't have much training to do before I break through the deity level.'
Winter had lived for hundreds of lifetimes, he had been saved ten lifetimes ago by an extremely powerful deity made of burning white energy with cosmic hair and black holes for eyes..or at least that was how he looked. In these last ten lifetimes, Winter had cultivated and reached deity ranks before getting himself killed, though with each death, his next life would become even more vibrant and he would become much more powerful. Five lives ago, Winter had designed his own cultivation method and he called it the 'War God transformation.' Due to influence from the god who saved him from soul extinguishment and taught him about cultivation, he started to call himself what was once referred to as a daoist.
In his last two lives, he was known by many as The War God, Daoist Reverse Scale. The title winter had come up with for himself was somewhat different but his ruthlessness was legendary and even for extremely minor offenses, he could kill the offender. If he were a true dragon, everything would trigger his reverse scale, so the many immortals and gods who knew of him called him "Reverse Scale," the more traditional immortals and gods called him "Daoist Reverse Scale."
Winter smiled to himself, "It seems I have the blood of a truedragon in this lifetime. How fitting that I be Daoist Reverse Scale." Winter quickly modified his War God Transformation to account for the different energy paths and blood vessels in his body due to his mixed species genetics. He then forcefully awakened his dragon and demon bloodlines, tempering his body and boosting his power even further.
"The energy on this world is so pure and rich that I hardly need to refine it..," Winter mused. Fifteen minutes later, Winter broke through four more major martial boundaries as the skies started to darken as divine lightning gathered in the skies and struck down at winter.
"hmph," Winter grunted as he forcefully withstood the heavenly tribulation. After nine bolts of lightning the skies cleared and Winter was covered in the remnants of a black goo, burned from the lightning. The foul smell made Winter crinkle his nose in disgust as fire erupted around him, burning all his excreted impurities into nothingness. Afterwards, Winter stripped the tattered remnants of his robes off his back before getting down on all fours with his veins bulging, his power billowing out of him in a tornado as it ignited into fire and the air started to crackle with electricity once more, this time due to Winter's own intentions.
The smell of burning flesh rose in the air as the pattern of an exquisite poleaxe appeared on his back along with two one-handed battleaxes appearing on his chest. Winter started shaking slightly as he furrowed his brows. Blood started dripping out of his mouth, then his nose started to bleed. Soon after, his ears followed suit, and finally his crimson eyes started to bleed. The blood didn't hit the ground though, it pooled up in the air before forming the lines in Winter's self inflicted axe scars, turning into blood-ink.
Finally, the air calmed down as Winter ignited himself on fire once again, burning the dried blood on his face into nothingness. Looking around and seeing nothing but the desctruction of his family's house, Winter frowned. He had burned all his father's posessions into dust as well as all of his own clothes. "Oh well," He muttered to himself before heavenly energy formed around his lower half and feet, turning into a pair of white, earthlike-cargo pants bloused with some clips (also made of energy), keeping them from falling over the black, earthlike combat boots.
'This version of myself has quite amazing talent but too bad I didn't have access to any of my previous memories otherwise I would have long ago ascended to my past peak of power. Currently I'm only an immortal but I feel as though I'm much stronger than I was previously, even as the Universal War God...Interesting' Winter thought to himself before looking towards the Sioux Capital.
With a thought, the twin battleaxe tattoo's on Winter's chest disappeared and two large single-edge axes appeared in his hands, "I think I'll first go make father a king before trying to find grandmother for him."