By all accounts, he appears to be a normal baby, save only for that muddy shadow. After a week, the shadow begins to come and go at seemingly random intervals, twirling up from his tiny head and fingers and toes, only to vanish like smoke. At a glance, it could almost pass for some type of odd hair.
Then, Parson Miles arrives. As the current head of all Vanguardian forces in Sair, he has been a valued comrade and friend of the family for many years, especially after their most recent tragedy.
“Your son is what we call an aberration,” says Parson. He is normally jovial. He is not so now.
Knowledge of aberrations is still a top-level secret within the Vanguard, but given the family’s unique circumstances, Overra says they will make an exception.
And so Parson explains at length. Ibai is a monster in human form. How these monsters are created is yet unknown, but it involves Abolish in some way. Aberrations exhibit powers that are otherworldly, even by servant standards. And they grow more powerful by consuming souls. They are deadly beings. Ibai will only bring ruin upon their family.
So it would be best to kill the boy now.
They refuse, of course, and demand that Parson and Overra leave.
“Fine,” says Parson. “We will go. But if you will not kill him, then keep his existence a secret. You will eventually see the truth with your own eyes, and I suspect the rest of the Vanguard will learn about aberrations soon. When that time comes, you will not want them knowing what he is.”
Parson goes in peace, but the seed of doubt is planted.
He and Nere begin to worry about the future of their son. They decide to exercise caution and keep Ibai a secret from everyone outside the family. He orders all branches to return to Luzo. He wants his House brought together.
He explains their circumstances to all of the branch heads. They are all so terribly young. With Melchor gone, he is now the eldest servant by far, and similarly, everyone knows that Rholtam is one of the most ancient and loyal reapers in the family. As a pair, their age affords them both a certain reverence that helps them gather everyone’s favor; and in the long lingering and still deeply felt aftermath of their most recent losses, he has never seen his House so united and comforting as it is now.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
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At a glance, it could almost
ReplyDeletethink part of this paragraph is missing.
Ah. Fixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo Vanguard doesn't know someone has to have access to the pregnant mother to try to create an aberration. Someone in the Blackburn house (or with access to the house) is probably a spy for Abolish, but until they learn how an aberration is created this mole will stay hidden.
ReplyDeleteOr there is some Vanguard mad scientist, but I doubt it...
OK, I get being offended by what Parson said, but definitely not to the level of blood oaths of vengeance, especially when he could have had Ibai killed, and he was protecting the Vanguard. I suppose eventually we'll find out what else he did to tick them off.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the most obvious thing someone who knows a terrible secret about you can do to earn your hatred?
ReplyDeleteEven if their son is an aberration, they can still teach him to be a good person right?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure being an aberration is basically a psychological disorder that includes extreme lack of empathy, a hair-trigger reward system, a love of violence, and an emotional spectrum ranging from "euphoric" to "mildly disappointed", with the first being a result of fulfilling basic impulses, and the last a result of failing to fulfil those impulses.
ReplyDeleteThey don't actually have a hair-trigger temper. The way that it works is that they are sadistic, completely devoid of compassion, and feel constant boredom. As a consequence of those first two, hurting people often seems like the best way to deal with the third. Also, even though they lack compassion, they can still feel love. I think they also may have difficulty understanding why others have a problem with them, but that might just be because they lack the empathy to understand anything about how others feel.
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of somebody trying to breed reaper lines together, aberrations may turn out to occur naturally, as an occasional side-effect of two people with incompatible reaper genetics breeding.
ReplyDeleteThere's no such thing as incompatible reaper genetics. There's only one reaper gene, and either you express it or you don't.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I gotta wonder how it is that Abolish knows enough about identifying RG carriers to breed hosts, yet the Vanguard doesn't. You'd think that reapers born of Rainlords would be useful somehow.
I said hair-trigger reward system, not hair-trigger temper - they respond immediately and viscerally to any source of enjoyment, and that enjoyment can come from almost anywhere.
ReplyDeleteYou guys think it might be Parson? For some reason i get the feeling he would be capable of this
ReplyDelete