~~

Trinity

~~

After the, ahem, excitement of the runes lesson it was time for me to have the first lesson on Warlock history. Crawford and Eldrige wanted to have the same type of lesson for me that Gabriel had held. We would be learning in the study room instead of my room this time, but aside from that it was the same.

Well, that and Reece decided to attend the lesson with the guards following suit. None of us knew anything about the history of Warlocks and Witches. And since we would now be working with them regularly it was probably a good idea for all of them to learn it as well.

Gabriel was joining us as well, intent to be present during all my lessons. Gabriel acted much like an assistant to me, like Noah did for Reece for so long. If I had to give people around me positions like Reece did, then I would assign Gabriel as a Gamma, Vincent was my Beta and there was no doubt in my mind about that. He had proven to me that he was fiercely loyal and would do anything to protect me and the pack.

Did I really need to assign these roles to people though? I would need to have a serious talk with Reece and Gabriel about this. They would tell me what the best course of action here was. But I had a few people in mind to help me fill ranks if I needed to.

But for now, it was time to learn. After breakfast the seven of us joined the Warlocks and Gabriel in the proper room for our study time. Crawford and Eldrige stood in front of us while the eight wolves, half wolf and vampire (we were a diverse group) sat with rapt attention.

They began the same way Gabriel had, with a run down of the Gods behind the race. Unlike we shifters with a single starting entity, witches and warlocks were started by two beings. Thoth, the Egyptian God of light and magic, along with other things but these were his major areas. And Hektate, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Goddess. Hektate was the Goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, ghosts, necromancy, and oddly is associated with the underworld.

Apparently Hektate had started off with just magic and night as her domain. While night and day are opposites, the similarities in their power had drawn Hektate and Thoth together. The love they shared was what led to the birth of their children.

Apparently the first warlocks and witches were born directly from the union of Hektate and Thoth. They spent nearly a millennia together, loving each other and ushering a whole new species into existence. All seemed to be going well.

But, as time went on, Thoth noticed that Hektate was more interested in the darker practices of magic. She became ruthless, power hungry, and not afraid to hurt people to get what she wanted.

Thoth, the benevolent God that he was could not condone her behavior. As he watched and noticed that Hektate's powers had grown to encompass more and more dark and sinister things he could no longer stay with his beloved.

For the sake of his children and for the sake of the world, Thoth banished his lover. He didn't just banish her from the mortal realm, he also banished her from the celestial realm as well. There was only one place left for her to go.

The reason, as it turned out, that Hektate was associated with the underworld was because she was trapped there until someone sinister enough came along to summon her back to our world and in return release her from her eternal prison. That sinister asshole was Edmond.

After Hektate was banished Thoth was saddened to have lost the wife and lover he had had for so long. He remained on earth for about a hundred years longer, watching over his children, but he didn't have the heart to stay beyond that.

Like Nehalennia, Thoth left his children with the knowledge that one day someone will be born that he deemed to be worthy of inheriting some of his power. That person would be their leader, a royal to guide them into the future.

Unfortunately, in Thoth's depression before he departed this realm, he did not think to leave such precise teachings for his people. His children, and their children, and their children's children, they were all left to feel lost and empty like the children from a broken home shattered by divorce.

In a sense that is exactly what had happened. Thoth, angered by what his lover had done had essentially divorced her and took custody of his people from her. But saddened as he was he could not maintain the order among them.

It seems that the Warlocks and Witches have been a bit lost these last three thousand years. Left with no one to guide them they were essentially on their own like baby birds pushed from the nest too soon.

There was a lot of chaos among them when they were first abandoned by their father. Many of Thoth's children took their anger about the abandonment out on humans. Many thought they were better than humans and any other species there was.

There were countless wars that started among the shadow world. That was the wording that Crawford used to encompass everything supernatural. The Witches and Warlocks often fought with the wolves and other shifters. There were battles with the vampires and the Fae as well. It got to the point that there was a lot of bad blood among the children of Thoth and the other factions.

It wasn't until the witch trials that things were finally settled and they were able to move on. During the witch trial it wasn't just the witches and Warlocks that feared the humans, the entire shadow world was terrified by it all.

The shadow world was named because they, mostly, tried to hide who and what they really were. They had not flaunted their abilities. No the entire thing behind the various witch hunts was nothing more than human paranoia.

Advancement in science and medicine, seeing someone do something you've never seen before, ignorance of many things, these things are what caused people to be labeled as witches. Many humans lost their lives to this mast hysteria and paranoia that spread through the world at that time. Seeing such horrific sights caused the various shadow communities to tighten their securities and put stricter punishments to those who broke secrecy laws.

The Aerie Convento, the governing body for all the children of Thoth, was established around the same time as the witch trials. The reason was so that they could more effectively govern the different covens all over the world.

Not to mention that with the superiority complex with the various covens, the number of children born to the Witches and Warlocks had been dwindling for years. Many feared that tainting bloodlines would lead to weakened magic and eventual extinction.

And, add to that the fact that when a coven was found to have broken secrecy laws, the entire coven was destroyed. This had, apparently, not happened often, but it was still a massive blow to their population.

If you were to compare the number of Nehalennia's children to that of Thoth's children there would be a staggeringly large difference. But I guess that the shifters were, usually, born with a strong sense of loyalty and family. The broken family of the warlocks and witches most likely led to how they felt about familial bonds and trusting people.

There was a lot more to the history of the Warlocks than I had expected. And their tale was more tragic than I thought it would be. But, I was happy to learn it all nonetheless. This was as much a part of my heritage as the tale of Nehalennia was.

Having heard these stories, the origins of both sides of my being, it made me even more determined to help my people. I wasn't just a wolf, I was also a witch. And for some reason both Nehalennia and Thoth chose me to succeed them, to lead in their stead. Was this something they planned or did it just happen coincidentally? I have a feeling that they aren't done guiding me through this hectic world.

They want me to bring peace to their people. Their people are my people. And if I can unite and bring peace to them both, the two largest groups in the shadow world, then it will help to bring peace to even more people.

Is that what I am meant for? Has that been my purpose this whole time? Am I the bearer of peace meant to unite the entire shadow world. And what, then, would be our goal? Where would we stop after that? Would we stop? Or were we to make peace between everyone, human and not human? That seems like a bit much. World peace? It sounds like a joke.