Tales of Alavern 04 (Non-Canon)

Tales of Alavern: Something old, something new

Prologue

The Great Mother sighed loudly as she sat down, watching as Ulfric the Wild glared silently at her. She knew that this was going to be a difficult meeting considering how their last encounter had gone, but she certainly hadn't expected to be given the silent treatment of all things. Especially not from him, the warrior god known for his volume and verbosity. Granted, the last time they had been in proximity to one another it was because she was demanding that he command his warriors to release her daughters from slavery. He hadn't expected her to punch him hard enough to knock him out, and had been forced not to seek vengeance by the other gods.

"Do you intend to sulk like a child for the rest of eternity, Ulfric?" she asked, trying not to growl in her irritation.

"No, just until you go away." he responds, his voice deep and gravelly like a wolf's growl.

"I may have ended that fight, Ulfric, but I certainly did not start it. You did, when you commanded the kings of two nations to unite in order to enslave my people." she growled right back. "I tried to be reasonable, to solve your clear violation of divine rules with words but you forced my hand!"

"And had you defeated me in honorable combat, I would have happily yielded to your request but instead you attacked me with a coward's fist!" he yelled, standing up with his eyes now glowing an eerie yellow.

"I should not have had to request it in the first place! The Verni are my people! You had no right to push two armies to commit the atrocities that you did on them! If anyone here is a coward...!" she shouts, interrupted when both she and Ulfric become frozen by the power of yet another deity. They step forth, the Nameless One, older than all other gods and the direct parent to most of them. The Great Mother being one of their first children, conceived in times immemorial with a long forgotten mortal.

"Enough." They said simply, letting the two gods go and simply standing above them. "You have had this same argument for far too long already. You both broke rules. Ulfric by turning two kingdoms against your daughters, and you by directly interfering in that war when you imbued your daughters with strength and healing. We have long since settled this, by compromise. You were allowed to sequester the Verni as you did, but their legendary powers were stripped from them."

"And the humans of our world have suffered without the other natural gifts of the Verni, Nameless One! The Verni are invulnerable to most diseases and live far longer than most humans. If we simply could have bred that in..." Ulfric started to say, drawing the Great Mother's ire once again at the thought of her daughters being used as mere...breeding stock.

"You have no right to feel that way, my child." The Nameless One spoke to the Great Mother, clearly able to hear her thoughts. "You took a human from an entirely different world specifically for the purpose of being used for breeding. You are quite lucky none of us ever considered that anyone would be insane or desperate enough to dive into the Source of All as you did, else we would have prevented your efforts. It shall become law that doing so in the future will be forbidden."

The Great Mother hung her head, shuddering at the loss of Earth and the men she had planned to bring from it to help aid her daughters in securing their future. Without them, all she could rely on was her new son, his new son, and possibly... She stopped herself from even finishing that thought. The men of their world had proven to be little more than animals. If she were allowed to, she would take all women from under their oppression and free them just as she did her daughters so long ago.

"Well, it would appear you are both a coward and a hypocrite." Ulfric said to her with a sneer. "So much for your vaunted moral superiority."

"Enough, Ulfric. Your point has been well made time and again, but our decision stands. None of us are to directly interfere in mortal affairs any longer. We always end up doing far more harm than good." The Nameless One commanded, obedient silence following their words. The Great Mother felt herself fill with a sense of dread. Her plans had been shattered by the one person she could never go against. There was nothing more to do here, so she left in silence to check up on her island. She hoped that looking in on her sons and daughters would lead her to a solution that her people so desperately needed.

Chapter 1

The soft cries of a baby's discomfort echoed in the small room that Cyrus sleeps in to be near his son, Brian. Getting to his feet, Cyrus shuffles over half-asleep to Brian's crib to check on him. He barely made it to the crib before the door is forcefully thrown open by Megara, who rushes into the room with arms full of baby supplies and medicines. Cyrus couldn't help but chuckle as he holds up a hand to stop the Head Physic from blitzing towards the crib, halting her in an instant.

"Meg, I really need you to relax. At the very least let me see if Brian's just being fussy before you start assuming he's caught some strange man disease." Cyrus says to her, gently picking up his son out of the crib. Brian shuffles gently in his father's arms, opening his eyes and making a grumpy face. "What's the matter, little buddy? Did you have a bad dream?"

"I do not believe infants can dream, my ki...Cyrus." Megara chimes in impatiently, pacing a little as she looks over Brian as best she can.

"You also didn't believe that a male child could be born out of the Mother's Pool, or that the Verni would stop trying to kill me." Cyrus replied with a cocky, tired smile. He heard Megara quietly pout, which made him chuckle again as he started checking his son over carefully. With no smell emanating from Brian, Cyrus doubted his crying was potty-related. Given what usually put his son into a fit, it probably meant...

"Perhaps he is hungry?" Megara suggested, causing Cyrus to wonder, not for the first time, if she had the power to read his mind. She laid down most of what she had brought on Cyrus' nightstand, singling out a bottle of blue liquid that Cyrus had come to regard as the Alavern version of baby formula. Brian certainly seemed to like it well enough, already reaching out for the bottle as Megara drew closer with it. "Yes, I believe your son is quite hungry."

Cyrus gently handed Brian over to Megara, watching as the older woman's face melted into a blissful smile as she fawned over the baby for the thousandth time. Brian easily latched onto the bottle and began to slowly suckle on it. It was hard for him to believe that less than a month ago, he had arrived on an island where the people who hated his existence the least still wanted him enslaved, became king of said people by fighting the queen, and survived an assassination attempt that wound up with him cloning a child with his own blood in a magic pool. Harder still to believe that all of those events had happened within only the first couple of days of his arrival.

"Have you been sleeping well?" Megara suddenly asked as she watched Brian eat.

"About as well as can be expected, given my relatively new status as a parent. He is staying asleep at night for much longer now though." Cyrus replied, covering a yawn. "Thankfully I know a few awesome people who are happy to help out with him when it gets to be too much and I need a nap."

Megara chuckled softly, watching the baby boy finish his meal as she grabbed a towel to burp him. Cyrus watched as she placed his son over her shoulder and patted his back until he had spit up just a little bit with all the tender affection he'd ever see a mother give a child. While it was true that Cyrus was Brian's only biological parent, Megara's only concern was that there was finally a baby she could love on like she had wanted to for so very long. Her desire for motherhood was something they'd spoken about quite a few times, especially after Megara had learned that she could possibly bear a child of her own if Cyrus would agree to have sex with her.

"Cyrus," Megara spoke up as she gently returned Brian to his crib, "I have been thinking about our kingdom's predicament much as of late. And yes," she paused, turning to him with a serious look on her face, "our kingdom. You may not have wanted to be king but even when you no longer wield the crown, Alavern shall continue to be your home. So none of your usual denying."

"Okay, okay." Cyrus replied, holding his hands up in surrender. "So, share what you're thinking about with me. I'm guessing you think I might be able to help with whatever it is in some way, right?"

"Indeed." she replied curtly, her lips curling back into a small smile. "My thoughts are this; Though we have you to provide male children through the Pool and possibly female children through natural conception, will that truly be enough to save our people? You have already proven that we have been unable to use the Mother's Pool because our own blood ran too thin after so many generations of use, after all."

"Honestly?" he replied, sighing softly as he thought about the truth of it all. "No. The Verni need a lot more new blood than just mine, and just as importantly they need to change their mindset about quite a few things. Not everything mind you, but some things certainly. Education is the best weapon to use against ignorance, but there's no way to guarantee that people will listen."

"Well what would you recommend in regards to changing their mindsets? At least, how would we start?" she asked, thinking upon his words as she tended to do. "We cannot ask the Verni to switch to only starting families with males, when Brian and others would eventually grow up. It goes against everything we stand for, not simply the fear of males that we will need to combat in the future but most importantly, our belief that love matters before all else. No one should be forced into family, or made to lay with someone they would not wish to simply for the Verni's survival. Surely there must be a way."

"Actually, I was thinking about that the other day. I had a thought while I was taking a bath with Brian." Cyrus said, giving her that goofy grin she couldn't help but laugh at. "I was thinking about how if Brian one day used the pool to have his own son, eventually he'd just run into the same problem you guys did. One genetic source, getting weaker with each cloned generation. Same problem, but that led my train of thought to wonder something else about that night that Brian was born. What if one of the women who attacked me had been bleeding as well?"

"More than one source of blood in the pool at the same time, you mean?" Megara said, seeing already where her king's thoughts were headed.

"Precisely. You yourself told me that it was tradition that only one parent bleed into the pool at once, so does anyone remember why that rule is in place? Nobody does things for no reason, after all."

"Well, according to legend," Megara said, thinking back on her lessons, "The Great Mother was the one who instructed our foremothers on how to use the pool. I believe records indicated that she had said more than one person's blood in the pool would taint the blood somehow but it was never specified what that meant."

"Well, let's assume that the pool acts as a sort of...incubator and womb, using its magic." Cyrus said, feeling he was onto something now. "We've already discussed DNA and all that, how traditional child birth involved mixing DNA from multiple sources. Now... and I'll admit this is just me guessing here, but let's say that the reason that this information was censored is for the same reason we've discovered a lot of your people's ancient information is censored..."

"Because it involves men, who our foremothers hated and feared above all else." Megara said automatically, her mind racing as she thought about why such information would be omitted. "So the taint spoken of in ancient texts might be..."

"Potentially a man being born of the pool." he replied, finishing her thought. "Granted, that sort of thing shouldn't be possible with two women because of the lack of a Y chromosome but this is magic we're talking about. Sooo..."

"Mixing blood might result in male children, even if the blood came from two mothers! Our foremothers would believe nothing to be a greater taint to our society!" Megara cheered out, causing Brian to whine loudly in response. "Oh, I am sorry little one. I believe I got carried away." she said to Brian, going over to the baby's crib and gently stroking his cheek with her finger.

"Granted, it's just a theory but..." Cyrus stated with cautious optimism.

"Brian has proven to both myself and the women of Verni that whether they are male or female, all children are sacred. I have little doubt we could find volunteers, even after explaining that they might get a male child out of this experiment. I may just volunteer myself, should we need a little boost in our numbers. Then we'd simply need any single other volunteer." she said, pulling away from Brian slowly and facing Cyrus. "Though I still fully intend to seduce you into sex at some point, my king. All possibilities should be pursued whole-heartedly after all."

"You're really not going to change your mind about that, are you?" Cyrus asked, too used to her advances at this point to be embarrassed by them any further.

"I am not." Megara replied confidently. "Though we have known each other only for a short amount of my life, I can confidently say that you have become my closest friend Cyrus. I would feel blessed if you would conceive a child with me."

Cyrus sighed and chuckled lightly to himself. He had come to think much the same of Megara as well, despite their age difference. She had some grey in her hair, but he had thought she was in her late 40s before he had learned of the Verni's naturally long life spans. Learning that had certainly changed his perspective on a lot of things, especially whether a woman in her 80s might actually be able to get pregnant or not and just how long they would all outlive him. Since Alavern was likely his home for the rest of said life, his legacy needed to be something positive. Something he could be proud to leave behind. He looked over at Brian softly for a moment then back to Megara, meeting the soft gaze she was looking at him with. They would all have to learn just how much sooner he would die before them all sooner or later. The least he could do is try and leave another piece of himself behind.

"Alright then, Megara." Cyrus said, smiling and giving her a nod. She looked at him puzzled for a moment, not having expected her question to be taken as anything other than rhetorical before her eyes went wide.

"Wait, do you mean..?" Megara asked, almost afraid to get her hopes up. Afraid she was misunderstanding him.

"Yeah. You're my friend too and I care about you a lot. If you really want me to help you try to have a baby, I'm happy to do it." Cyrus replied with a smile. Megara teared up a little and rushed Cyrus, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek. The kiss caught him very off guard and he pulled gently away, chuckling at Megara's disappointed look. "Not right now, little miss eager!"

"Sorry," she replied shyly, actually blushing in one of her rare displays since Cyrus had known her. "But thank you, Cyrus. I know it must be difficult, thinking of being with an older woman like me..."

"Oh pish-posh," Cyrus replied, waving her concern off, "You're plenty beautiful, Megara. Body and soul. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise." Megara didn't reply, just looked at Cyrus in astonishment as her blush grew larger until it covered her entire face. He chuckled softly and tapped her cheek. "You've got a bit of red on you."

"Quiet, you." she pouted, pushing his fingers away. "It's not right, making a woman my age feel like a giddy little girl again. You're supposed to be a violent, oversexed brute, remember?"

"Love you too, Meg." Cyrus replied playfully, kissing her cheek. "Listen, I really ought to go take a bath and get ready to deal with my job today. Could I ask you to please look after Brian for a while?"

"Of course. I'm always happy to." she replied, still blushing bright red. "Shoo-shoo now. I'll be holding you to your promise later, when the both of us aren't quite so busy dealing with our lives." She waved him away and he smirked at her, laughing as he exited the room.

Chapter 2

Alexis covered her mouth as a yawn betrayed her, her blonde hair tied in a straight ponytail that squished slightly underneath her helmet. She honestly didn't feel tired, having slept very well last night, and the constant yawning was driving her nuts. She had to know what was causing it but by the time she finished the castle guard duty she had been assigned by the Captain, she knew that she would be long past her yawning. She couldn't help but grumble a bit as she walked the halls, straightening up as Cyrus rounded a corner and approached her while covering his own yawn.

"Good morning, Alexis." he said sleepily.

"Good morning, King Cyrus. Still not sleeping well?" she replied, standing at attention just in case Brianna was around anywhere.

"I'm a new parent. I've been informed that losing sleep is part of that." Cyrus said, chuckling a bit. "I don't see you around the castle very much. Brianna usually has you combing the city, doesn't she?"

"The Captain likes to mix around our duties. Says it keeps us well rounded..." Alexis paused, quickly covering up another yawn before following it up with another annoyed groan. "Why can't I stop yawning? This is driving me nuts!" she whined a bit.

"If the problem isn't lack of sleep, try breathing slowly, deeply and deliberately for a while. Your body may just be trying to use yawning to even out your circulation or something." the king suggested with a friendly smile. "At least that's what Megara's told me. I may be well read, but I'm not an expert on the body by any stretch."

"It certainly couldn't hurt to try. Thanks." Alexis replied simply, smiling back and letting her posture relax a bit. "So where are you off to, if you don't mind me asking? It's a bit early to be starting royal duties, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is. I'm actually just on my way to the baths."

"Allow me to accompany you then, my king. I'm hoping that keeping a conversation will help stave off this annoying yawning." Alexis requested.

"Sure, why not?" he answered with a shrug, continuing on his way with Alexis now in step. "So what are my would-be assassins stuck working on today?"

"Ah yes, those two." Alexis replied, having to dig through her mind for an answer. "I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure those two have been given chamber pot duty in the city. Not that many Verni still use chamber pots, but it's never pleasant regardless. I still can't believe you just sentenced them to service. A lot of service, yes, but still... you were well within your rights to have them executed for treason."

"Well, it seemed like the best option in the long run. Killing them would have just put everyone even deeper into unease about me, and locking them up would have left them with time to plot and scheme for revenge. Putting them to work doing all the dirty jobs nobody else wanted gets the point across just fine without scaring anybody." Cyrus replied. "Also, it wasn't my idea. It was Naomi's. I may wear the crown, but she still runs things for the most part. I'm just...easing her burden."