by B. T. Narro
Although awestruck by Failina, Airinold looked up to his oldest sister, Souriff, even more. She could fly faster than a falcon. Airinold wanted this ability for himself, but he also wanted to do more. Souriff seemed quite limited by her one school of dvinia. Airinold liked how their sister Nijja had created order from mana. Even if it wasn’t as fun to use as Souriff’s dvinia, it was much more useful. His creation would certainly be inspired by the two of them.
Meanwhile, Caarda took a very different interest in mana. Although he was pressured by their father, like Airinold was, Caarda said his creation would take the longest and eventually convinced Basael to give him more time.
Airinold enjoyed his days with Caarda as they walked aimlessly through Curdith Forest and ruminated about their potential creations. Although Caarda was the youngest demigod, at thirteen to Airinold’s fifteen, Caarda was exceptionally wise. He felt things from the earth and the air that Airinold couldn’t feel. He seemed to know how everything fit together and frequently commented on how beautiful it was. He tried many times to describe these unseen elements that made up their world to Airinold, but Airinold could never quite understand them like Caarda did.
Caarda wanted to make a school of magic that would help him further explore the mysteries of their world and the infinities of the universe. It didn’t take him long to figure out exactly what he wanted to create, but he spent even more time contemplating whether he should do it. When pressured by their father, Caarda explained that he feared the outcome would not assist mankind as the other schools of magic had but might very well lead to the decimation of all life.
Basael was not so worried. He did not believe any of his children could create something so detrimental and pushed Caarda to make it so.
Nonetheless, Caarda withheld his creation for years on end, which came as a great disappointment to their father. Meanwhile, Airinold remained lost about what he should do. It wasn’t like he could create something and then change his mind after. He had asked his siblings if they could destroy their creations and start over. None said it was possible, but Airinold believed they were keeping something from him. It was only Failina who admitted the truth.
“Yes,” she had told him. “I think all of us can destroy what we’ve made, but it is likely to destroy us as well.”
It was no wonder that Valinox, Souriff, and Nijja had refused to admit this. By then, Airinold had learned that the three of them were much more selfish than the humans and elves they held their noses over.
His realization about what kind of beings his siblings really were started when he noticed how there were always trifles and affairs between them. Valinox and Nijja found romantic interest in each other, as did Airinold and Failina eventually, but it was not at all like the relationship between their older siblings. Meanwhile, Souriff fawned after Caarda as he got older and grew even wiser, often offering guidance to the rest of their siblings. Souriff agreed with their father that Caarda could create something truly remarkable and that he could never make something detrimental to the precious life of the world. So she, too, pressured him to make his creation and be done with it already.
Things turned sour when Caarda started showing less interest in his siblings. He spent increasingly more time among the humans, dressing and acting like them to better understand mankind and to pass as one of them.
Airinold believed that Caarda never did so with intentions of falling in love, but he did eventually, with a human woman.
Their older siblings—the ones more loyal to Basael’s will—were angry at Caarda when they found out, but no one’s rage compared to Souriff’s. There was no doubt in Airinold’s mind that she had plans for a future with Caarda, only for them to be snuffed out in favor of a human woman. Of course, Souriff was deeply insulted.
“How could a human woman ever be as desirable as a demigod?” Airinold heard her complaining to their father.
“He will see the way eventually,” Basael soothed. “Give him time.”
Airinold eventually had the pleasure of meeting this human woman. She was one of the most beautiful beings Airinold had ever encountered, from inside to out.
Airinold, now in his twenties, still couldn’t finalize a decision about his creation. By then, however, his father mostly left him alone. Basael was too focused on Caarda to care about Airinold. Caarda had been brought into this world to create a school of magic better than anyone else’s, and he would obey his father’s wish.
It was then that Basael decreed that no demigods should be involved in love affairs with humans, even though he still had a human wife at the time. Only Souriff was willing to look past Basael’s hypocrisy and follow this rule without question. She was also the only one who had expressed no interest in mortals.
Airinold had spent many nights with Failina by then, but they had also, separately, explored the bedrooms of many mortals. There was no grudge between them, like the one festering between Valinox and Nijja. Airinold and Failina enjoyed each other’s company, with no jealousy when they were apart. Caarda remained Airinold’s closest friend, even if Airinold didn’t see him nearly as often as before.
Caarda would return to the forest sometimes, however, and he always brought his human wife with him. He was displeased with Basael’s rule, refusing to follow it, and the other demigods didn’t fret much about it, either.
Failina’s affairs with mortals caused one man to kill another out of jealousy. Then Basael killed the remaining one as a punishment to Failina. She drew away for a while after that. Valinox and Nijja fought with each other constantly, both using the hearts and bodies of mortals in order to twist each other’s emotions. No deaths had occurred yet, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time. Meanwhile, Souriff remained loyal. Frustrated, but loyal.
Airinold grew angry with their father and wanted to stop invading the lives of mortals, so it was only by chance that he followed Basael’s decree. Airinold took many strolls with Caarda through the forest, just like before, only with the human woman there, as well as a new bitterness against their father hanging in the air. That’s when Airinold learned what it meant to be human.
This human woman did not struggle with the same things that demigods did. None of her kin did, either. Their problems did not arise out of arrogance and spite but out of a need to survive. Feeding their children and getting them through freezing winters and outbreaks of disease was enough of a struggle on its own. They didn’t have time to worry about whose bed seemed more inviting. There seemed to be a bond between mortals that the demigods often broke when they interjected themselves into human affairs.
After that, Airinold appreciated even more what Failina had created for mortals and less what Souriff did. There were many humans who had learned to manipulate the elements, enhancing their lives with fire and water especially. Even Valinox’s creation of mtalia, as simple as it was, did much more for human and elfkind than Souriff’s dvinia.
“It was on purpose that Souriff has made it difficult for others to reach the necessary notes for dvinia,” Caarda explained to Airinold one day. “She doesn’t want anyone else to use it but her.”
Airinold had found this hard to believe for a long time, but it was Souriff’s later actions that confirmed it in his mind.
Eventually the demigods stopped meddling in human affairs and everything seemed to calm down. Failina had returned and reunited with Airinold. He was still far from deciding what he wanted to make, but Basael didn’t pressure him as much. It was Caarda who their father had his eye on, though something had changed. Basael often spoke to Caarda as if there was something specific he expected Caarda to make, and it seemed to be different than the school of magic Caarda had already come up with yet feared to bring into the world.
Basael continued to warn Caarda that he would be better off if he separated from his wife. By then, Basael had returned his own wife to the human town he had plucked her out of and never spoke of her again.
“Time is not a merciful god, Airi,” Caar
da would often say, more so after his discussions with their father.
Airinold always figured this meant that time would take away his brother’s wife, but he found out later that there was more to it than that.
“There’s a door that, once I open it, it might never be shut,” Caarda would sometimes say.
There was often a heaviness to his speech, as if he knew his time in this world might soon come to an end.
Eventually, things went back to how they were. Valinox and Nijja fought. Failina found company with more mortal men. And Souriff tried to turn Caarda against his wife by speaking ill of her and convincing him his choices were made in poor judgment.
Basael scolded his children and dished out punishments by entrapping them in cages of sorcery, but when he let them out later, all it seemed to do was teach them how to hide their illicit affairs better. These were beings who had never been admonished and had become spoiled, but their father wasn’t any better. He was a hypocrite who did not care much about what his children wanted, only what they might be able to create. He constantly pressured Caarda and even threatened him at times, which only drove Caarda further away.
All of it disgusted Airinold to watch. He had grown too different from his oldest siblings to enjoy their company anymore and could only ever spend his days with Failina and Caarda. But soon, that too would be ruined by their oldest kin.
Caarda’s wife was murdered.
Airinold accused Souriff of paying someone to kill Caarda’s wife. Or perhaps she did it with her own hands. Souriff denied all of it, vehemently. Caarda didn’t seem to care who did it. He didn’t care about much anymore. He was not capable of anger, which frustrated Airinold, especially because Caarda seemed to feel despair stronger than anyone else could.
It wasn’t the first time that a mortal lover had been murdered. Nijja was very promiscuous, and many of her lovers were found dead, most likely murdered by Valinox. However, because this was happening in Fyrren, it didn’t come to Airinold’s attention until later.
He was too heartbroken for Caarda to express any passion anymore, and so was Failina. They each saw this as the beginning of dark times. Failina changed. She marked her body in permanent ways, displaying symbols on her arms that seemed to mean something to her, though she never shared that meaning with anyone else. When their father expressed his displeasure in her appearance and punished her for it, she responded by cutting off most of her long hair. Basael locked her in a cage for a week after that.
It was only Souriff and Valinox who continued to seek favor from their father. The two of them held onto the belief that demigods should not lay with mortals and contemplated punishment for those who did. Meanwhile, no punishment came to Souriff for what she had most likely done to Caarda’s wife, nor did any reach Valinox for the mortals he lay with earlier. As far as Airinold knew, Basael didn’t even scold Valinox for the men he had killed in Fyrren because it had been in response to Nijja’s promiscuity.
Airinold still hadn’t created anything. He was physically more powerful than all his siblings except Caarda, though he was prepared to sacrifice that and become as weak as a mortal man if he could just make something that would fix all of this. Souriff and Valinox were still strong because neither of them had given up much of their power for their creations. Nijja and Failina had been different. Their power lay solely in the magical arts, a power easily accessible by all mortals, while mtalia and dvinia were almost impossible to reach.
Eventually Caarda convinced Airinold to confront their father with him. Caarda told Basael that his other children were out of control. They needed supervision so that more innocent people wouldn’t die. Basael would hear none of it until Caarda and Airinold made the same sacrifice the rest of their siblings had made. They had to give up their power to create. It was their purpose. After that, Basael would have some say in the matter.
“One of you must create the most powerful form of sorcery seen yet,” Basael had told them. “I know it is within one of you to do this. Don’t disappoint me any longer.”
It was clear to Airinold that their father was using their “purpose” as leverage. That did it for Airinold. He no longer respected Basael, no longer believed Basael was all-powerful and all-knowing.
Caarda withdrew from everyone afterward, even Airinold, claiming he needed some time to figure out things. Souriff said Caarda probably went far away to meet some other woman he would marry, but Airinold knew Caarda would not do that. After weeks, Airinold went looking for his brother, all the while reshaping his idea of what his creation would be.
Months went by without anyone hearing anything from Caarda. He and Airinold were the only two demigods who hadn’t created something, but Airinold was close. He just wanted to find his brother and speak with him one more time before he unleashed his creation on the world. It was Caarda’s opinion he trusted on the matter.
Caarda had been right. The demigods needed more supervision from their father. A war between humans and elves had broken out during this time. While the elves lived in Curdith Forest, humans had migrated there from the cold north. From before Airinold was born to the present day, humans had been forming towns around the forest. There had been no fighting until now.
The humans wanted resources from the forest that the elves thought belonged to them. Failina had taken an elven lover recently and sided with the elves. Valinox took the humans’ side after convincing them to choose him to be their leader. Nijja didn’t get involved. Souriff joined Failina because she didn’t think Valinox had good intentions, and soon Souriff was claiming to be the leader of the elves.
Valinox was powerful with mtalia, capable of melting the weapons of nearly every elven defender as he marched his humans into the forest looking for blood. But Souriff was even stronger, her weapon of dvinia a force that Valinox could not stop.
It wasn’t long after the war began that Failina wanted Airinold’s help in pacifying the situation. Many mortals were dying on both sides.
“It’s Father’s responsibility, not mine,” Airinold said, hoping this would finally be the time when Basael did the right thing.
Failina went to their father for help, and Basael summoned all the demigods to the outskirts of the forest to meet between the human towns and the elven villages. Thousands of mortals gathered to watch and listen. Even Nijja responded to the summons, with great displeasure, but Caarda did not show up.
“Shouldn’t Caarda be here?” Souriff complained as the meeting was beginning.
“He doesn’t need to be,” Basael replied sharply. “He is not the problem.”
Basael looked as powerful as he was, a massive being ten feet tall with unmatched strength. His features resembled that of a human man, with long, gray hair and diamond gray eyes.
“All of you are here to swear an oath,” Basael announced, addressing his children before the mortals. “You are not to interfere between the love and war of mortals, and your actions will not directly lead to the death of any mortal. Your purpose is to better the lives of everyone in this world, not just yourselves. You will start acting like it, or you will be punished more severely than ever before.”
One by one, the demigods swore to the oath in front of their father and all the mortals who had come from afar to watch.
The war changed after that when the humans quickly took the advantage. Valinox still involved himself with them, though he didn’t fight directly. With his mtalia, he was able to help them create a mass of weapons.
Souriff, no doubt regretting that she couldn’t do more with her gift to mankind, gave up more of her power to bless the forest with dvinia. The mortals who trained in the magical arts in the elven territory found themselves with a gift of learning. It might’ve been the only good thing Souriff did in all of her existence. This weakened her for a while, but the elves prospered and kept themselves from being decimated without Failina, who had removed herself after taking the oath.
Watching everything unfold made Airinold furious. He and Fai
lina wanted to put an end to the war, but there was little they could do on their own. So they went to their father for help, but Basael trusted that the demigods would work it out.
“And if not, Airinold,” Basael said, “this will implore you or Caarda to finally create something that will prevent further death. If you still refuse to fulfill your purpose, Airinold, then you must find your brother. You will bring him back here to see what has happened in his absence.”
Airinold tried to convince Basael that he needed to be the one to stop this before more mortals died, but Basael refused. Basael took himself away from it all, residing deep in the forest where he said he would not be disturbed until Airinold or Caarda fulfilled their purpose.
Airinold left to look for his brother, but it wasn’t long after that the Day of Death occurred. There was a great fiery explosion that spread all across the forest when a massive rock fell from the sky and crashed into the forest center. Airinold returned as quickly as he could and found out that his siblings had survived, having been near the outskirts of the forest, but no one knew about Basael. No one could feel his presence anymore or locate him.
The fighting became worse as Valinox did everything he could, short of fighting, to help his humans destroy the elves. Souriff wanted to push back after many of her elves were killed, but she feared going against the oath. She expected repercussions to fall on Valinox, but they did not.
Eventually the elves gave in and left the forest for good. This didn’t stop the humans from fighting amongst each other, however, as battles continued to rage. Souriff and Valinox continued to pick sides against each other, each vying for leadership of the most powerful group of humans. Airinold knew that with Caarda and their father gone, he had to be the one to stop all of this before the mortals destroyed everything they had built.
