Bill had made it to the capital in under a day and stood at the front gate leading into Limguard. He was tempted to just skip the line but decided it was time to feed his irritable passengers a snack to hold them over. He peeled quite a few oranges for his daughters before it was their turn. He just flashed a badge that he held on his person at all times. His royal crest was a gift for his feats of bravery on the battlefield.

The guards saluted and let him into the capital without much fuss.

He then skipped over the majority of the city. Much to the children’s glee. In a matter of minutes, he was standing in front of a mansion. Before he could knock, the door was opened by a tall, green-skinned orc.

“Dorgon?” Bill was quite surprised.

“I have been told to turn everyone away. Fath… I mean Alexander is a little hungover. Partied a bit too hard and is now hungover.”

“Tell him his daughter is sick and she sent me to ask for his help.”

“What happened to Cordelia?” Dorgon asked.

“She passed out on the porch, she said something about a call. I don’t understand.” Bill stated.

“Come on in then.” The orc led the group to an old man with streaks of red hair among silver.

The old man sat there holding his head in a prosthetic hand, a glass of clear liquid resembling water. Next to it was a large cup of brown liquid.

“The cure for a hangover isn’t more drinking.” Bill said stoically.

“Is she pregnant right now?” Alexander asked.

“Yes. We didn’t….” Bill started.

“Kyrion correct?” Alexander didn’t look up from the cups.

“How…” Bill’s face was shocked. That was the name he wanted to give his son. He hadn’t told Cordelia that yet.

“Not much I can do if they tried to take him out through his mother….”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your son is in grave danger, and will be in danger so long as the person after him exists.”

“Who is after him?”

Alexander gripped his head. “A foe that lives in the mainland. Kyrion won’t encounter him for quite some time.”

“What’s wrong with Cordilla?”

“I can’t say. I was told to give you this charm by a creature that came in one of those dreams.” Alexander tossed him an ornament made from silver fur and a purple stone resembling an eye.

The two toddlers had managed to escape their harnesses and began to explore the mansion. Followed by the large orc who kept his distance.

“Dwen, Thalia…” Bill started.

“Give the necklace to Cordelia. You can leave the children here. These next few months are going to be quite busy.” Alexander stood up to eight feet and casually scooped the smaller one and put her on his shoulder.

“So high!” The smaller one replied.

“Me too!” Said the second after she saw her sister get picked up.

“Now let’s go watch some blood sports!” Alexander pulled out a notebook.

Alexander obliged and carried the two out of the house.

Giving Bill a chance to escape, leaving his harness behind.

“Mother, just what are you doing?” Jr asked.

Cordelia was digging through the tangerine tree. “Just getting a snack.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I just have a taste for tangerines’”

“But you hate tangerines.”

“I’ve been craving them lately.”

“You could just ask me to get them for you.” Jr crossed his arms.

“Nah.” Cordelia made her way back into the house and sat in a chair.

Jr was casing the perimeter when he saw a man approaching high speeds on a wave of earth. He ran to intercept the man, summoning a shovel in his right hand in preparation for an attack. The two met at a stalemate, farming implements raised.

“Son?” Bill asked.

“Dad.” Jr replied.

“Did you speak with your mother?” Bill asked.

“Yes. I’m sure she is a bit more informed than you are.” Jr answered.

“How much do you know?”

“That my brother’s name will be Kyrion.” Jr stated.

“You too. Did I write it down somewhere?” Bill asked.

“Mom can freely explain what I told her. What I can’t tell her I also can’t tell you. Because rules it seems.” Jr answered.

“Why couldn’t this be morning sickness. You and your grandfather both know stuff but won’t give up any information.” Bill tried to pry a bit more but found he was talking to a brick wall.

“I can tell you that in his current condition, he won’t survive a full term. I can see that with my mana sight. He is being slowly eaten away by both a second mind and the quality of mana running rampant.” Jr answered.

“Any good news?” Bill asked.

“Nope.” Jr replied.

“Then I guess I do have more information. Let’s continue this conversion inside.” The pair entered the house, with Bill running to his wife.

“Bill, where are the girls?” She asked with worry in her voice.

“With your father.” Bill replied.

Cordelia groaned. “I bet he took them straight to the arena. Did you find a doctor at least?”

“No but your father said to wear this when you sleep. Dorgon’s with them so there’s nothing to worry about.” Bill placed the trinket in her cold hands. Worry spread across his face.

“A trinket. Did dad go senile…No he wouldn’t. But this is bad.” Cordelia asked.

“What's bad?”

“If they're with Dorgon then I doubt they’ll eat my cooking ever again.”

“We have bigger problems, like how our son seems to be hiding things from us?” Bill asked, looking at Jr. skeptically.

“I’m right here you know.” Jr. said.

“Time isn’t something that should be altered, but that goes out the window if the enemy already broke the rules. Of course there are things he can’t tell us, and shouldn’t. But there are things he can do. Jr. can you find Curella for me?”

“Curella. The Witch of the Isle of death.” Jr made sure.

“Yes, that Curella. I assume someone killed her if she wasn’t able to incarnate.” Cordelia said.

“How astute.” Jr. said.

“What?” Bill was caught off guard and a little mad.

“I want you to fetch her and bring her back kicking and screaming if necessary. I’ll need her assistance with a few things. Tell her that I’ll give her the necronomicon. Yes this includes the forbidden Ritual Necropolis.”

“Oh. That should get her here in a hurry.” Jr nodded.

“On and on about that stupid spell with you all. What makes it so great anyway?”

“Dad… Didn’t you assist mom with this spell during the last war?”

“Yeah. All it did was kill a bunch of people and turn them into undead. How is that something we should be giving our daughter?” Bill didn’t seem happy about the subject.

“Knowledge, the book has information from many different theories and concepts centered on necromancy. I burned through quite a few libraries and ancient tomes, putting that book together.”

“Burn as in figurative or literal.” Bill scowled.

“I’ll leave that to your imagination.” Cordelia moved on.

“Just going to ask. Are we the bad guys here? I mean, some time traveling jackass is trying to prevent our son from being born. Like some dark prophecy.”

“I mean.” Cordelia thought about it.

“Your dad was even a pirate known for his ruthlessness.” Bill was exasperated.

“What do you want me to do, to keep him ignorant of our powers leaning toward nefarious purposes?” Cordelia asked.

“Let me train him. Keep your corruption away from my baby boy.” Bill offered.

Cordelia looked to Jr., who hid a smirk.

“Well, if your volun….” Cordelia started as blood began to pour down her nose before she passed out.

Cordelia was stuck in a forest. No matter where she went, the destination she arrived at was an empty clearing. After exhausting her routes, she took a seat in the clearing and waited.

“A life, for a life.” The sound came from every direction at once.

“What do you mean?” Cordelia stood up as though she was going to fight.

“I can provide a way to save your child but the cost will be great to you both.”

“What type of cost?”

“You will lose your ability to incarnate on your own, along with access to your spirits. For all intents and purposes you will be a normal human with a slightly increased lifespan.”

“What’s the other cost.?”

“The child will know great pain, in a body saturated with mana. More than likely, the child won’t fully make it to their age of awakening. They will be quite frail and prone to attacks.”

“Will he live?” Cordelia asked.

“It’s probably the only way. You can gain back your abilities later. But I am not certain of the method, just that someone had succeeded in doing so before.”

“So what are you getting out of it?” Cordelia asked.

“As with most things in life there are strings attached. While his chances of survival may be limited, he will be all the stronger for it. I intend to have him form a contract with the spirit of one of my children.”

“Shouldn’t he have a spirit already? It isn’t something you can just pick under normal circumstances.”

“The cure will alter everything inside his core. The connection to that spirit should either be erased or greatly weakened. If it’s weakened then it may resurface in time. All this means is that he has the capacity to hold multiple spirits.”

“I see.” Cordelia’s face fell as she seemed to recall something.

“Find me in the forest nearby, I will answer your questions there.”

Cordelia awoke with a headache and dry throat. “H-ow was I out?”

“Two months.” Replied an irritated feminine voice.

“How the witch graces me with her presence.” Cordelia sat up and examined the woman in front of her.

Standing at a whopping five-ten, straight black hair reached her shoulders. Her eyes were an eerie blue, and her skin a sickly olive color.

“What did you do to yourself?” Cordelia asked.

“Nothing. Just remote possession.”

“Where is your real body then?”

“I can’t tell you.” She answered.

“And I wont give my book to some stranger who claims to be my daughter.”

“But I am Curella.”

“Whose body is that then?”

“Something like, a follower.”

“So you formed a pact with it… Shouldn’t you at least come in person.”

“I am here. Just busy doing research. Can’t wait on you forever.”

“So heartless. I can see why Bill wants to raise the next one near you. Can you let the others know that we’re going to have a family meeting?”

“Uggg! Fine. But you better have your book.”

Bill Jr. sat at the dinner table with a stick of straw in his mouth. His straw hat stuck to his head. Currently, he was relaxing in his chair.

Bill sat next to his wife with a tired expression on his face. He had made dinner, but it seemed that wasn’t the reason for their gathering at the table.

The black-haired woman stood in the corner of the room, patiently waiting for something to happen. Her eyes seemed to have reverted to a dark brown. There was a plate for her at the table, but she didn’t care to sit. She wasn’t a member of the family after all.

Across from Cordelia was a bronze-skinned woman with curly red hair. Atop her head was a big pointy hat and a black dress that seemed all too revealing for the occasion. She seemed to be around five two, her emerald green eyes shining through. Her glare was boring a hole into Cordelia, or at least it would if she had that ability.

Cordelia had a stoic look on her face and took everything in. “FIrst thing’s first. When this child is born, the use of your powers is to be limited to mundane or subtle uses. Don’t make them obvious, and don’t expose the dark nature of said abilities. Do not bring up killing anyone in casual conversation near said child. I want him to be innocent at least for a little while. Don’t need your influences corrupting him.” Cordelia looked at her two oldest children. Who nodded in understanding.

“Bill will be handling his training when its time to begin. I don’t want you teaching him how to fight.”

“But dad’s weak!” Curella spoke loudly.

“Do you want to train him?”

“Well no but.”

“I know what he’ll be capable of if we were to teach him, and while devastating it tends to cause a bit too much fear. We don’t want him to be known as, The Demon King, or other monikers given to certain people of our family.” Jr crossed his arms.

“Mom is the Death Tyrant, I’m the Witch of Death. That’s only two out of four and what do you mean by you already know. He hasn’t been born yet.” Curella eyed her brother.

Jr felt mana attempt to enter his mind and repelled it casually. “Don’t do that again dear sister.” His sclera turned black as the pressure in the room seemed to get heavy.

The women standing in the corner passed out from the pressure. While those at the table seemed to take it. But it had the intended effect of showing his prowess.

“Your aura is… It’s like I was drowning in a sea of corpses….” BIll eyed his son. “You didn’t escape the Reaper. You are the Reaper.”

The haunted look did not return to his face. “You reap what you sow dad, and they sowed seeds of death. I just helped them out a bit.”

“Yeah none of that.” Cordelia seemed to be the only one unaffected by the display.

“I won’t. Guess I’ll need to pretend that my power is only an upgrade to dad’s then.”

Curella looked at her brother as though he had grown a second head. “Eight Million… Just who took your sweetroll.”

“Only Four million, the attack left them weak and the Beastblood Empire capitalized on it. Then stuck me with the check.”

“Any million is two much when it comes to killing.” Bill stated with a blank expression.

“How did you accomplish something like that?” Curella asked, suddenly interested.

“Plague. Humans need water, when a tasteless, clear, and self multiplying poison makes its way into a water supply, people slowly die.”

“You poisoned them?” Bill was aghast.

“Not directly, one of their nobles did in an attempt to proc a coup. I just shifted some earth and Killed said noble and his approaching army.”

“How big was the army?”

“Only thirty thousand or so strong. That poison was very potent.” Jr took a bite out of the roast that his dad had prepared.

“Not as bad as I thought.” Bill stated.

“I killed a lot of innocents indirectly. I say that’s on my head. Though that incident isn’t why my presence is like this.”

“End of conversation.” Cordella stated.

There was no protest, and the group ate dinner in silence before Curellla spoke up. “Why call me home then?”

“Because I need your assistance. I won’t be able to use mana soon. I’ll need you two to defend the farm and village in my place. Raising this one without my powers is going to be a handful.”

“I don’t know if I should be happy or jealous of our new arrival.” Curella grumbled.

Cordelia flicked her wrist, and a big black book with the front part of a human skull embedded in the cover materialized from a black flame. She then casually tossed it to her daughter.

Curella caught the book in reverence before opening the book and finding that the book was empty.

“It’s warded. You’ll need to use a key spell to read it. Breaking the ward destroys the book.” Cordelia explained.

“I get the password after I help you?”

“You get the password after you make an oath to help me defend the farm until the child leaves for his early schooling.”

Bill Jr made the oath with ease while Cordelllia eyed her mother. “Why?”

“For our safety of course. I get the feeling that some time here will help what’s going on there.” Cordelia motioned to Curella and the unconscious stranger in her house.

“Are you saying I can’t keep her?” Curella asked with the tone a child might use when told to kick out the stray.

“She can’t stay here. Can’t you just send her back?”

“Well…”

“Let me guess. She was an orphan or something along those lines and now she follows you like a puppy.”

“I’ll keep her in the lab. You won’t even know she’s here.” Curella said.

“I don’t want to have to take care of her because you got bored. One slip up and she’s gone.” Cordelia said.

“Why can’t she stay? We have the room.” Jr asked, as he eyed the strange woman with curiosity.

Cordelia looked at her son and eyed him carefully. “You, mostly.”

Curella eyed her brother before looking at her father. “Five is a big number of children to have.”

“I won’t sleep with her!” Jr yelled defensively.

“Mmmhmmm. Listen son, some patterns are just genetic. I wouldn’t tempt fate. At least wait till the baby is old enough to walk.” Cordelia said knowingly.

“Yeah… I’ll just convince one of my guin… friends to take her in. So she can keep an eye on things for me.” Curella sighed.

“Dad…Sometimes I hate you. But you’re the reason I exist. Honestly, would it have been too much to ask to stop after me?”

Curella punched her older brother in the ribcage and sent him comically flying out of the chair. Jr lay curled in a ball-like shape in a crater on the floor.

“Yall are repairing that.” Bill stated.

“Bill, how long was I out and we need to go to the forest after this. Also where are my other two daughters?” Cordelia asked.

“With your dad. Ok. Two months.” He answered in the reverse order.

“They are going to be insufferable when they get back.” Cordelia chewed her thumbnail.

“The man loves his grandchildren. What’s wrong with that?” Bill answered happily.

“They’re going to be spoiled rotten. I bet they already forgot about us.” Cordelia sighed.

Cordelia and Bill made their way to the forest and found themselves surrounded by fog. Bill began to raise his weapon when a swift chop to his neck from his wife seemed to knock him unconscious. Unluckily for him, he didn’t see her do it.

“Come on out!” Cordelia crossed her arms and stood strong.

“You didn’t have to knock him out.”

“I did. Though for different reasons. My older brother didn’t have any spirits tied to him when he was born. We were technically twins and he was the first born. He seemed sickly and weak like you stated. My father had to obtain cores for him to even fully awaken. It doesn’t seem that uncommon.” Cordelia said.

“It isn’t. There is a spirit in there that needs to be sealed. It’s already awake and active. The Ilunan I plan on giving you will strip it of all its power and suppress it, along with the excess mana inside.”

“All that mana in a body with no way out. Is that what you meant by he will be a risk. Physical exertion is a way to drain mana naturally. But he won’t be able to do much of that as a newborn.”

“Which is why there is a chance he’ll die. But isn’t that better than him dying outright?”

“Always take chances when inaction leads to death.” Cordelia answered.

“Wise words.” The creature nodded.

“What next?” Cordelia sighed.

“Eat the fruit. Should he survive his birth, I will impart my mark onto him.” A large black and white paw appeared. Placed a basket holding a strange multicolored fruit with a Fibonacci spiral pattern covering the entire fruit.

“Let’s hope he’s a harder worker than his father.” She held out her hand to shake.

The multicolored paw reappeared, and they shook hands.

Cordelia bit into the strange fruit, and it was good at first. It tasted horrible as she finished the fruit, like churned milk left out in the sun. Quite pulpy as well. After a few minutes, she sat on the ground hacking. Blood began to pour from her eyes, nose, and mouth in a pool of black ink. Cordelia watched as the remainder of her mana had vanished, making her as mundane as a normal person.

“I hate this already. You better not cause trouble now. You hear?” Cordelia told her growing stomach. Shen then lay in the grass and waited for her husband to wake up and carry her back to the house.

The rest of Cordeillia’s pregnancy was more or less mundane. The only thing odd was the lack of kicks or any other noticeable effects.

Mana sight determined that the baby was still alive and not moving.

It was the end of the summer when the premature baby came into the world. Hair as red as blood and eyes closed off to the world. He did not cry nor scream. It didn’t even move. The newborn just lay swaddled in his receiving blanket, unresponsive to the world around him.

Bill eyed his son, sorrow in his eyes. “Cordelia, I think somethings wrong. He isn’t moving, and he isn’t breathing.”

“Curella can you check on his vitals? Bill, give him here.” She took her baby and held onto him.

“He’s alive… But something isn’t right. I’ll need to test his subconscious.”

“Do it!” Cordelia commanded.

Curella nodded and ran out of the room to pick up some equipment.

“Why Kyrion. Why are you not with us?” She held on a bit harder.

Jr entered the room in a hurry and looked at the baby. “The Scarlet Daemon has been born.”

“Not now.” Cordelia was unresponsive.

“I see. Can I get you anything? Water, a hot towel, spirits?” Jr stood in a corner and waited.

Cordelia didn’t answer and just looked at the child.

Curella returned with a mortar and pestle along with some herbs and began mixing.

“What are you doing?” Jr asked.

“Making something that will allow us to enter his subconscious mind.” Curella stated.

“You mean you. I am not entering his head.” Jr put his foot down.

“Fine. I’ll go in. He’s a newborn. How bad can it be?” Curella rubbed some of the paste under the baby’s nose and then some under her’s.

Jr. raised an eyebrow and sighed.

Curella found herself in a world with no light, no sound, and a constant burning sensation as though her body was being burned from the inside.

The feeling was constant, and before long, she noticed that her throat had been hurting.

She tried to leave and found herself engulfed by tendrils of darkness.

Using she empowered her form with mana and pushed the shadows away, although the pressure was still there, eating away at her defenses.

A bestial roar made itself known as something primal. Something angry. A creature with no understanding lashing out at anything it could find.

This time she cut off the connection.

Curella lay on the ground coughing. “What in the Abyss was that? I was overpowered. His mind is sick.”

“But he’s alive?” Cordelia asked.

“Yes. Though from what I’ve felt he is in alot of pain. I won’t trust anything that wakes up from that.” Curella crossed her arms after standing.

“Mana poisoning. Would be the closest to what we could call it. We’ll have to keep a constant watch on him.” Cordelia said.

Jr sighed. “Causing trouble in his sleep. Kyr, some things never change.”

“What do you mean by that? He’s just been born.”

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Jr stuck a piece of straw in his mouth and walked out.

Bill Sr. entered the room and held onto the sleeping child. Its inert nature is a bit unsettling for a newborn. A tear ran down his face as he watched its stomach rise and fall from breathing. He did, in fact, smack the baby in an attempt to wake it up.

Cordelia’s consciousness faded as she fell back on the bed. She hadn’t been that physically exhausted in decades.

The baby boy squirmed a little, but it didn’t open its eyes or show any other reaction.

“Boy, you’re going to be trouble, stay strong, stay focused, and be stubborn.” Bill held onto the baby a bit longer before he was cleaned.