Ismael rubbed his forehead. “That was not what I wanted to hear...”
‘Now is not the time for lies, old friend.’
Ismael only sighed and let his eyes glaze over. The struggle was so exhausting. Perhaps it would be best to just give up already. Perhaps this battle was an inevitable reckoning. No stopping it. Even surrender would achieve the same outcome. Inevitable. Inevitable... And his mind drifted back.
A man. The day of his wedding. He has found the perfect woman. She can be a bit impulsive and unpredictable at times, but he loves that about her. He can hardly believe Nere agreed to marry him. He wishes his parents could have met her. They were both killed just two years prior. Cousin Melchor did not take their deaths well. That poor man has grieved so much for this family, living through the extinguishment of two entire generations. The groom is glad that Cousin Melchor is able to smile on this day.
Bliss does not last long. Cousin Melchor has become a person others fear, a person that even some of his own family fear. Melchor is possessed of an abiding hatred, a need to find everyone responsible for hurting his family in years long past. Melchor leaves both the family and the Vanguard, allowing none to accompany him.
In the meantime, Marshrock knows peace as House Blackburn attempts to rebuild its damaged bloodline. There are many weddings in only a few short years. The family is growing. All except the man’s own.
He and Nere are seemingly unable to have children. Even after multiple work-ups and analysis, doctors tell them the problem is idiopathic. Unexplained infertility, is what they call it.
Years go by without any solutions. Current medicine is of little help. Adoption is not even worth considering. As the primary branch of the family, they require an heir by blood.
For a time, he and Nere are so distraught that they can barely look at one another. With therapy, however, their relationship manages a slow recovery. And just when it seems they are growing closer than ever before, a miracle occurs. Nere is pregnant.
Apologies for the slowness of this page, folks.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, what's so terrible about the succession jumping to a favoured nephew? And why do they need to worry about this kind of thing if they're immortal?
ReplyDeleteIt's some weird royal/noble thing.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because they're immortal doesn't mean their reapers can't be killed or decide to let them go.
The whole schtick with the Rainlords is that they're the purest descendents of the Armans. If they adopt, they'll have a scion who might not be a descendent at all. Not sure what happens if they adopt an orphaned Rainlord, but I doubt there's much of a supply. As for favored nephews, those outside the main branch might not have married according to the rules, and plus the family was recently devastated.
ReplyDeleteHow long until someone gets carbon transfiguration? Now that Eleg's hit the age of pharmaceuticals, biochemistry, etc... Well, a sufficiently advanced carbon transfiguration user could manufacture drugs to deaden pain and strengthen muscle even when not regenerating, could manufacture protein structures, could even bolt their finger under a microscope, create some basic organic chemicals that bacteria could consume, and keep it up until they had bacteria completely made of their own carbon compounds - bacteria who they could then control all chemical interaction with...
ReplyDeleteActually, that would go for carbon materialization as well, you'd just have to do actual chemistry instead of magic. You could work your way all the way up the food chain, until you had actual animals composed primarily of your own element, that you could thus dematerialize at will...
I think most of us were more worried th gay you got in an accident or something along those lines.like maybe volcanic eruption, war on lady bugs, or visiting parents.
ReplyDeleteThis is just way too cool a thought. Why only three other people liked it?
ReplyDelete