Time is an odd thing. It only flows fowards and never in reverse. You can speed it up and slow it down but you can't stop it and you certainly can't reverse it. Gravity can bend spacetime and make it be perceived much slower to an outside observer than the one who is actually experiencing time within the gravity well.
Time moves even more oddly when something is created out of a tear in spacetime. Not just any tear mind you, a tear from the ultimate altercation - that of two beings so powerful they literally sneeze and things wink into and out of existence. When a slap hits someone or something so hard not only does it shatter one of the most power beings in existence's soul, but it also destroys countless star systems and rips the very fabric of reality. A rip so large, in fact, you could fit the entirety of the Milky way galaxy and its nearest galactic neighbors inside and then some. This is how the galactic system known to outsiders as 'Paradoxica' came into existence.
The galactic system was called such with a very loose meaning. The worlds were formed in an instant to anyone observing. When the slap to end all slaps came, it shredded space so violently that foreign energies rushed into the universe ironically creating new laws and races never seen before. Natural laws couldn't exactly take effect and nothing was designed in this new space as the chaotic energies of creation and destruction were still running rampant and healing spacetime took huge amounts of energy. Relative to the beings that came into existence on paradoxica, if one lived long enough, one could see the rest of the universe around them moving in ultra slow motion. Before the natural laws set in, billions of years had actually passed for systems of Paradoxica. Due to the nature of the primordial soup, even though gravity wasn't actually a thing in the freshly destroyed/created sector of space, planets and stars still formed - even though there were no laws of creation to facilitate the process and as time went on for the residents of Paradoxica, the laws of the rest of the universe took hold and the flow of time evened out. New gods were created in this new space. Powerful and young but seemingly more intelligent than the gods of old. They created their worlds and made their own laws then helped repair the damage done by the fight that had made it to begin with. Very quickly these new gods decided to borrow upon the systems already established in the Universe - pertaining to souls and the afterlife, they integrated their own worlds into the already existing system. It had worked fine for eons, what was the reason to change? What they didn't do, however, was cozy up to the neighbors. A small barrier was formed around the space sector in order to protect their own creations. Old gods couldn't enter, new gods couldn't leave. Only the souls of the dead had free passage through the barrier.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The baby started crying as her father picked her up. She, formerly HE, was born into a family of four, making it a family of five. All still in the room where the baby was born. She had just been born into a family residing on the main world of the Paradoxica galactic grouping.
"Mom," the male teenager hesistated, "You and dad never told us what our little sister's name was going to be..."
"Oh dear, now that is a problem isn't it?" The man holding the wailing baby replied. He seemed to ignore the cries from the baby, he couldn't perceive them in his joy. He was a high human. A type of human that could be considered a god itself. Longevity, power, intelligence. High Humans had genetic perfection in terms of ability. Immortals who never died of natural causes, yet they died alot. The reason for his joy was because it's very rare for a High human to have a child. Not only were their birth rates low, a pregnancy involving a high human lasted for a long time. Most humanoids in the universe weren't physically strong enough to withstand a 3 year pregnancy as it's extremely taxing on the body. Not only is the length of the pregnancy an issue, but it's painful when a normal baby kicks or stretches inside the womb. Imagine what an infant godling would do to a mere mortal woman. Typically when a high human woman is pregnant her entire body gets ready to give birth from the onset. Over the course of 3 years the birthing canal is widened among other things. This, however, isn't the case with high elves.
Normally elven babies didn't weigh much at all and they weren't very large at birth. There was an odd initial growth spurt right after an elf was born - the natural energies of the world would form a sort of mini vortex around the baby. The newborn would then absort the nutrients from these natural energies and quickly grow to a normal sized baby. That being said, the bodies of the high elves don't start getting ready to give birth from the moment of conception. The Birthing Canal expanded at the last minute, and while their bodies slowly got ready for the minute changes of actually delivering a baby, most of the changes to allow a baby to pass through the vaginal opening of his or her mother happened last minute. These last minute changes were obviously accompanied by painful labor.
Labor wasn't normally a very bad thing for elves though, as the children were extremely small and light when having just been born. The problem for this particular mother was that her babies weren't pure elves, her babies were half high human as well as being half elf. There was no initial growth spurt right after being born for her three babes, there was still a vortex of natural energies being fed to the newborns, it just wasn't used for physical growth. Not only were they the size of a human baby initially, they were larger then a normal high human as well. For some reason all three of these children were very large at birth.
"Her name is Lynefra," the mother stated resolutely, "And thankfully it looks as though she has more of me in her than of you dear." She smiled at her husband lovelingly. She had since taken Lynefra back from her father and lulled it back to sleep.
"Woman," the man said jokingly, "If you didn't want your children to inheret any of my greatness then why did you marry me and bear me three of them?"
"Ugh, dad, seriously?" the teenage boy had enough of the flirting between his parents. "You are aware that while my youngest sister might not be old enough to remember you two flirting in front of her, me and Altresca are still here."
"AHAHAHAHAHA, are you jealous Freyd?" the man laughed, "Here come give daddy a kiss!"
"gross...," the teenage girl mumbled.
Freyd had already jumped out of his chair and moved towards his mother, hoping she could ward off his father's unwanted advances. "If she's more like mom than Altresca, then maybe I can have a proper sister instead of a sparring partner who cries when she loses."
"Oh? Been beating up on your sister again?" The father questioned. "Don't worry son, I'll sparr with you for however long you'd like."
High Humans were violence personified in most cases. They didn't like violence but they couldn't exactly help their nature. Most high humans were already dead - and the long term pregnancies made it hard to repopulate. Their home world had already been destroyed before their patron god decided to move the more "peaceful" of the species to another world. Still, these more "peaceful" high humans didn't live forever. Most of them were killed by someone in some confrontation or in their sleep. The average life span went from forever to around 300 years. Apparently 300 years was the time it took for a violence prone person to go around causing enough trouble for someone to poison him/her or off them in their sleep. Usually the perpetrator was another high human which didn't help things at all. If the species didn't war with itself so much it probably would have already dominated the new world their patron god had taken them to. The union of a high human and a high elf was extremely uncommon as the two races had very different natures. Both were virtually immortal but the high humans were extremely prone to violence, the high elves on the other hand, while being very good at fighting, didn't like violence. Learning to protect oneself was a necessity in their culture. One should be able to protect himself or herself but should never have to actually use any the their skills. The only race the elves disliked more than their human counterparts were the demons.
"Traigar," The mother called out to the baby's father, "Now is a happy occasion, don't turn it into a chance to establish your dominance over your son. good grief."
"Cirwyn," the Lynefra's father said, quickly changing the subject to avoid his wife's punishment. "She is gorgeous. I've never seen a newborn like this before."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"you've never seen a newborn before. You were always away killing some monster or fighting someone else' battle when Freyd and Altresca were born," Cirwyn admonish her husband.
"I want to hold my baby sister," the teenage girl pouted, "I want to go show her to all my friends."
"AHAHA," Traigar laughed loudly, jarring the baby back into consciousness and causing it to cry again, "Altresca, that's the very reason you can't right now. "Freyd, take your sister and go get something to eat please, it's been days since anyone has eaten anything." Traigar looked apologetically at Cirwyn due to Lynefra's crying again. "While you're at it, go see if that young woman needs anything and find out if that dog of hers will yet live."
"Alright dad, c'mon Sca," Freyd left the room with his Altresca in tow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lynefra." Cirwyn's stern voice sounded from right outside her bedroom door. "Lynefra, it's time for your lessons. Your music tutor will be here shortly, go why don't you get ready?"
"Yes mother," Lynefra's melodious voice replied back through the closed door to her bedroom. She had been standing at her window looking at the lake outside as if contemplating something. For a moment the young girl thought she had seen a large white wolf with luminous amber eyes looking at her from a shadow of a tree. Lynefra had grown up rather eventfully for the last fourteen years and after every interesting event, she felt as though she had seen a pair of amber eyes from the shadows.
There was an incident when she was five-years-old involving the back yard of her parent's small villa and herself and her siblings. Altresca had been complaining about being too hot and needing a place to swim. Freyd had tried to calm Altresca down but being the pampered child she was, she demanded that someone make a pool for her. Well, a pool she got in the form of a small pond. The pond had appeared so suddenly that Altresca and Freyd were caught by surprise as the ground beneath them suddenly turned into water. Thanks to Freyd's extensive training with his father, he reacted quickly and just stood on the water as if nothing happened while Altresca reacted late and caused the most amusing splash in her family's history. At the edge of the forest bordering the property, Lynefra had felt the intense gaze of those amber eyes.
The pond appearing from out of no-where certainly was a cause for alarm for the people of the Nihili villa. What alarmed everyone even more was throughout the entire incident, Lynefra had been glowing. Her crystal blue eyes had turned into a luminescent sapphire and her silver hair had started to glow. Even her clothes looked as if they were glowing. It didn't take people long to figure out that Lynefra as the one to make the pond - when asked what her reasoning was, she replied, "Elder sister said she wanted a place to swim....was i wrong?" Cirwyn realized she needed to allot more time to her daughter's already strict training. The girl soon had very little free-time because most of it had been dedicated to elementary knowledge and magical control.
There was also an incident when Lynefra was seven-years-old. There had been a run-away carriage. Nothing too out of the ordinary, sometimes horses just get spooked. The carriage was charging straight for an unassuming woman and her baby. When Lynefra noticed this, she jumped out in front of the carriage - scaring her parents half to death - and then she started glowing again. As if the run-away carriage and the glowing girl who had jumped in front of it wasn't enough to surprise and scare everyone who saw what was going on, the now magically floating horses, driver, and carriage definitely proved sufficient. Though, the news of Lynefra's powers was quickly overshadowed by the commoner's concerns about a large white wolf that had appeared nearby.
It had been 14 years since Lynefra was born. It was obvious from the onset that Lynefra wasn't going to be a normal child - even with her unique herritage. She was physically stronger than even her brother when he was her age and she was more magically gifted than anyone in recent history. The differences between Lynefra and her peers didn't stop there though. She seemed more mature than a child her age should be.
In the early days, Traigar and Cirwyn were extremely troubled. Lynefra defied common sense. When she was three and started exhibiting magical abilities, high level mages were called to come seal her power. This was common practice for anyone who had the blood of a high human. To keep the child from throwing a tantrum and destroying half the town their powers were naturally sealed until grew into their powers mentally.
Lynefra was so strong that the seal shattered instantly. It turned into quite the circus show. Finally a formation had been set up of 50 high human and high elf mages to lay down layered seals that would hopefully be peeled back naturally. While this series of seals weren't shattered, Lynefra's magic still seeped through occasionally. Instead of worrying about it, her family, with the exception of Cirwyn, had decided that it was cause for a celebration. Not only was Lynefra abnormally good looking, but gifted both physically and magically as well. This was an obvious sign that the gods and goddesses of their world favored their daughter.
Over years it also became apparent that Lynefra was exceedingly talented with instruments and singing. Her voice would make a siren jealous and her abilities with the harp could make one's soul tremble. Lynefra quickly became more skilled than her musical tutors and soon people would gather in droves outside her family's gates in hopes of catching Lynefra singing to herself and playing her harp in the courtyard.
Not everyone was happy with the Nihili family's prodigy child though. The people who would do harm to Lynefra couldn't do much to her while she was under the age of 15. She didn't leave her home much and when she did she was always with either her sister and father or she was with her brother and her mother.
Lynefra's father, Traigar, was a very accomplished warrior. He was the most powerful living high human and tales of his exploits often reached the ears of the various world leaders. As a general of the Dulsan army, Traigar had single handedly destroyed an entire enemy empire. The nobles of his own country were worried that he would overtake their positions of authority but there was little they could do to him or his family. Traigar was worshipped by his soldiers as a god of war but he also had a reputation of being just and fair. His wife, Cirwyn, was actually the royal sister of the current Emperor of Dulsa.
Cirwyn, being the sister of the current emperor, was to be used as a political tool as most women in royal families were. When her father had tried to marry her off to a neighboring country to the east against her will she fought against her father's wishes. Her father might have been the Emperor at the time but he still loved his only daughter and felt bad that he had to sacrifice his daughter to the Karom empire. The Karom empire was a land of demons. Demons, while being humaoid in form, didn't have any human compulsions. Compassion and sympathy, kindess and good will weren't traits that were abundant in demons. The men of Karom were famed for using women as things to increase their numbers and that was all. When a woman put up too much of a fight against being forcefully taken by the man she was married to she was simply killed.
When no amount of pleading to her royal father worked she secluded herself in her room and cried for 2 years without eating and sleeping. Her sorrow was so moving that the Patron Goddess of the Elves took pity on her and appeared to Cirwyn's father forcing him to cancel the marriage arrangements. This didn't go over too well with the Karom Empire and war was declared.
Traigar, who had happened to see Cirwyn once when both were very young, was enmored by her grace and beauty. Traigar took it upon himself to single handedly invade the Karom empire, break into the royal palace, and put an end to the Karom family line. With no leader, the military of Karom fell into dissaray and without the royal family to keep order the country soon fell into civil war.
After dealing with the Karom family line, Traigar brought the heads of the emperor and his son before the king of the Dulsan Empire and demanded that he be allowed to court Cirwyn. The king, while not thrilled with the idea, didn't have the power to oppose Traigar at all. Instead, Cirwyn had told Traigar that he had to prove himself loyal to the country she grew up in for her to even consider Traigar as a qualified suitor. Traigar complied with her wishes and quickly became a general of the Dulsan Army gaining respect and merit both from and for the Dulsan Empire. Eventually Cirwyn found that she couldn't resist the charm of Traigar and the two married.
With the background of her parents, Lynefra wasn't exactly an easy target for any would-be assassins and others with nefarious plans. They could only wait until Lynefra was 15-years-old and entered one of the academies for nobility. That day was not far off now that Lynefra was 14-years-old and quickly approaching the mark of her 15th year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Why are all the souls bypassing the plane of limbo and coming here," A heavy-set man demanded with his nostrils flared. It was quite an impressive nostril flare considering he had the head of an ox.
"My lord, please calm yourself - such an outburst is unbecoming of one of the kings of the afterlife," a lazy voice sounded from behind the ox-headed man. They were in throne room so large it made Mount Everest pale in comparison with cries of anguish filling in the background noise.
"I know Yama is infuriatingly lazy but now his entire staff? This is inexcusable!" the ox-headed man huffed.
"I see your temper tantrums haven't changed, child." A familiar female voice sounded from the center of the room. "Yama and his inept team weren't very forthcoming with some information I desire. Perhaps you'll prove yourself more useful to me than they were."
The ox-headed man's temper quickly dissipated as he was filled with a sense of foreboding, "I guess this explains why all the souls of the dead are bypassing limbo," the man muttered under his breath.