11

His name was Chris Telmera. He had red hair, horns pointing back on his head and soft feathers covering his whole body. Other than that he seemed like a human. The family had often speculated about the origin of their progenitor. It seemed obvious enough that one of them was a human, the other must have been some kind of spirit or divine beast, because even after all the generation the head family’s traits still remain strong.

Although their body set them apart from other humans, their ability is what separated them from the rest of the Meritocracy’s society.

The ability to divine the future. Such a shocking ability was both a blessing and curse for their clan. Their clan has depended on it to go through the eons without the needless sacrifice of their brethren. It was also a source of wealth and influence among the other founding clans. And it has cemented their place within the Meritocracy’s society.

But their reliance on this power also meant that they would never be destined to rule over others. They weren’t powerful enough. And the other clans were on constant lookout for them trying to gather forces. Their ability to predict the future also meant that the other clans kept their card hidden for fear of revealing it to their clairvoyance.

As if this wasn’t enough of a drawback to their ability, there was also the fact that they weren’t fully in control of their ability, and could only sense hunches most of the time and only have visions with clarity when the event is almost set in stone.

The ancestors of the ruling blood have also had to go through these trials. And thus they left a message to their descendants. When the future seems inevitable and you want it to change, stop looking at once.

This was a small trick, it seems that the inevitability only applied the strongest to the events that the clairvoyant had actually witnessed. But refusing to see something meant that anything after and before the vision was subject to change.

Through the millennia they have also come up with another method. Vagueness, symbolism, Poetry, art. All could be used to make the future more malleable.

And the Telmera used this to full effect. Over the years they have developed the means to grab hold of the information they want, and use that knowledge to fuel their wealth and social status.

They have learned all the means in order to manipulate the future.

But they would never have thought that their ability was not something of magical origin but something embedded in their very genes. Something which seemed to carry from parent to child without break.

And that their ability wasn’t really clairvoyance at all.

It was something to do with their mind.

He was floating through the storm of memories. He was nothing more than a wisp of thought. Within this see of memories and knowledge and information he was nothing more that the smallest of specks.

He glided further along, moving instinctively towards that place that the Harcourt heir had been leading him.

In the distance he could see it. A light, the chaotic swirls around him subsided and vanished. And all that was around him now was the dark, and the light in the distance.

He went to it stretching out his hand as he went. And then, after a time longer than he could understand, he touched it.

A man with red skin and two horns pointing back from his head looked up. The wind blew.

“Is something the matter?” A pregnant woman beside him asked. She was covered in feathers from head to toe. Although she shared a small resemblance to a human she was a far cry from anything human in both her shape and her features.

“No, it’s nothing, just the wind.”

“What do you think our child will be like.” She said and rubbed her enlarged stomach.

The man chuckled “Like you, and thus it shall be beautiful. Like me, and thus it shall be pure.”

The woman scowled and pinched his arm. Normally such action would never harm the man, but the woman wasn’t any weaker than he. “Are you saying that I am not pure?”

“Of course not… But you are a woman that lives with her heart on her sleeve, and you cry and laugh. Our child will not be like this.”

She scoffed, “Do you mean to say it is going to be a block head like you.”

The man, unabashedly, nodded in confirmation. “Exactely.”

She chuckled at his silliness. “For our child’s sake I hope you are wrong.”

She sighed. Then looked out into the distance.

She saw something then perked up. She jumped out of the chair and ran off, almost as if her pregnant belly had no weight at all.

“Stop running! Are you trying to turn our child into an idiot.”

“Bah!”

She didn’t listen and continued running further away so the man decided to follow her and stood. His whole body was a covered in red scale, there was an arrow tip tail growing from his back.

He bent slightly and jumped. A moment later he was flying through the sky, he looked at the wisp of wind a distance away then said. “Follow me.”

The yellow feathered woman scooped up the boy and rubbed her cheek against his. “What are you doing her little mister!”

“Aunty bird. Mama told me to come fetch you.”

“She did, did she. Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait for me.” From the sky a red streak came swooping towards them. She poked out her tongue to at him and rushed away with the boy in hand. The boy giggled and she held him under her and flew through the air.

They raced for a time until they reached a castle resting against the side of a mountain. The lady swooped down towards the castle and the red streak followed after her.

They both landed at almost the same time, the small boy laughing all the while.

A bright blonde woman was standing in the courtyard of the castle. This woman bore a striking resemblance to Clara, except where Clara’s skin was a brownish the woman’s was pale.

“How kind of you to drop by, Telmera, Zardan.”

The feathered woman smiled, “We’re always willing to come for a visit Harcourt.”

Telmera let go of the boy and he rushed into Harcourt’s arms. “Mama! Did you see that I was flying!” He giggle as he told her what the sky was like and the birds that they scared as they passed and all the houses and trees that looked like blades of grass and ants.

The boy told her all of this in a voice that was strikingly succinct and easy to listen to. A born leader, as his father would’ve said.

Harcourt’s eyes dimmed slightly as she looked at the familiar features within her son’s face. Telmera, noticing this decided to speak up. “So, Harcourt, I’ve heard you’ve been busy. What have you been doing while we’ve been away?”

Harcourt’s snapped awake and her eyes regained their clarity. She looked at Telmera and nodded in thanks. “I’ve been going around and organising everyone. Without Vanrhil around things seem to have been falling apart recently…”

Zardan interrupted her. “We understand. Although they are following you for now, and most seem to be content with that. There are those that Vanrhil had always been there to keep in line. And it’s not like you will be able to do what he did, if you consider where they come from…”

Harcourt nodded, “Yes, and it goes beyond just their rejection of me. I’m afraid that they won’t be willing to follow the plan.”

Zardan clenched his fist and held it up. “There is always force. If we combine our power nothing will be able to stop us!”

Harcourt chuckled. “The same could be said for them though… and it’s not like you’re in a position to fight either.” She looked to Telmera’s pregnant belly, as if that was indication enough as to what she meant. “I can only only hope that this peace will last, if but a moment longer. We’ve still got time, perhaps we can convince them somehow?”

Zardan stepped back, closed his eyes and shook his head in resignation. Nothing would get Harcourt to make the first move.

Telmera stepped forward and put her hand over Harcourt’s shoulders, “Harcourt, I’m afraid you don’t understand beings like us at all. We aren’t the same as mortals, even the gods fear death, but to us, death is but one part of existence.”

Harcourt’s eyes dimmed again, “Even in death I’m afraid I won’t see him again. He’s out there somewhere. And he’s alone, there’s nothing I can do for him is there?” Harcourt shrugged, and in so doing took Telmera’s off of her shoulders.

Harcourts eyes sharpened, “But when the time comes. We must prepare ourselves, and when the time comes we will have sacrifice ourselves for his plan.”

Zardan shrugged, “It’s a stupid idea, but I can’t really see another way out of this. None of us are heroes yet he was always insistent that we go out of our way to protect them.”

Telmera looked at the small garden surrounding the courtyard. “What do you think it will be like when we see this place again?”

Zardan laughed, “If I know you mortals then it’s going to be a right mess when we finally make our way back here.”

“Mama, where is aunty going?” The small boy in Harcourt’s arms asked.

Harcourt looked down lovingly at the boy, then combed back his hair, “Nowhere sweetie, remember, no matter where you are mommy will always be there with you.”

*SNAP* The wisp of wind vanished.