Chapter 246: A Long Journey

Time passed as Ira moved the city. It’s inhabitants grew accustomed to the very faint yet ever present tremors and life continued as always. At first, the effects were felt by the entire city as they lost all abilities connected to the Origin Realm. Only those with strong bloodlines, like the Half-Dragons, or those who had drank the Behemoth’s blood managed to withstand the worst of it. Healing magic couldn’t be used as it once had and even Ira, with all of his power, could do very little to alleviate the suffering of the Empire.

After consuming the blood of the strange creature the Wolf provided, Ira had already become untethered from anything which wasn’t apart of his bloodline. In order to prevent his children from experiencing the agonizing pain that entailed the journey, Ira made sure to share his blood with them and once they consumed it, they became better off. He did the same for Harper but couldn’t do the same for Avery or Rhys as they didn’t carry the same bloodline.

Then, after more than a year, the people began to adjust and with the exception of crippling fatigue, the pain of the separation faded. It was around that time that strange dreams and hallucinations began plaguing various individuals. Until the first case of madness was felt as violent incidents broke out and were perpetrated by those who were affected the most.

Just like the long period of pain, the people weathered the onset of madness, seeing it as a trial given by Ira to test them, even though he did his best to suppress each occurrence.

The last and most important effect came in the form of a very silent and abrupt death with no warning signs. At least, none that could be understood by the people who witnessed it. Ira was aware that those who were weaker than the others were likely to die as their bodies rejected the change.

And just like each event before, Ira did his utmost to solve it. Those who died were brought back, but they weren’t the same as they had been previously. Whoever died became known as one of the Keeper's Chosen and joined the ranks of Juliana and Zella, two who remained unaffected during the travel.

There was no way of mistaking one of the chosen as their skin became marked by the Void and their faces were always covered. Those who lost the ones they loved rejoiced and mourned in the same breath. In fact, the citizens began to misinterpret the deaths as Ira selecting those he thought worthy or took pity upon and Ira felt it was best to let that belief continue.

So, the people persisted through the turbulent voyage and eventually the “Keeper’s Tribulations” came to an end. Those who had survived had come out better for it even if they had become weakened.

The lull of peace even managed to affect Ira and those around him. And not too longer after the steadiness became constant, Avery became pregnant again. During that time, Ira maintained the highest level of alertness to make sure his unborn child was protected.

…

Then, after what may have been a few months, Avery was surprised when she went into labor with no prior signs. The entire Valkyrie Fortress began to shake wildly as it happened and the attendants ran off in search of Ira.

“Keeper! Please, the Keeperess has requested your presence!” A Dark Elf attendant barely managed to stay standing as she knocked on a tall wooden door.

“I'm going.” Ira answered, appearing in front of the attendant before disappearing again.

When he appeared again, he was standing in the delivery chamber where Avery lay exhausted.

“...Ira.” Avery barely managed to smile as she called out his name.

“Where is everyone?” Ira questioned with slight anger as he found Avery was all alone with the exception of a cloth bundle.

“They...couldn’t get in...after-”

“Tell about it later, just rest now.” Ira spoke as he approached her bedside but found something was definitely off. “Wait…”

Ira looked closely and found that there were two cloth bundles in Avery’s arms instead of just one.

“Hold on...What is…” Ira reached out peeled back one of the bundles revealing an infant who stared up at him, showing off its yellow eyes with two narrow pupils like his own.

Before he could get caught up staring at his newborn child, he peeled back the second cloth bundle and found an identical face looking up at him.

“This…” Ira speechlessly stared at the pair of twins of returned an unblinking gaze.

“This is going to be trouble.” Even while he said that, Ira was smiling with pure joy.

The twins had received the purest form of Ira’s bloodline which was altered by the blood of an ancient being. The most important thing was that they had been born without the Origin Force to influence their development.

“Erel and Elora.”

“Their names? Wait…” Ira examined his children once more and found that they weren’t completely identical as one was a boy and the other was a girl.

“Could you...watch them...for a while?” Avery said as she drifted off.

“Of course.” Ira lifted the twins who had barely even blinked the entire time.

Ira took a seat with the twins in his arms.

“Erel and Elora, you both seem to like privacy, I’m guessing? You didn't let anyone else in.”

‘Father.’

‘Father.’

Two incredibly childish whispers resonated in Ira’s ears even though the twins remained tight-lipped.

“So you two are going to be more troublesome than Nephele? Though I guess she is more mischievous than anything.” Ira didn’t seem especially surprised by the voices of his children.

‘Father.’

‘Father.’

Through methods unknown, the twins were able to communicate with Ira.

“Well, I’ll love you all the same.” Ira held his children gently brought the twins closer to him even though they clearly didn’t need as much caution as he showed.

…

The journey continued with little disturbance for what felt like another two years with no sign of stopping. Ira could’ve has easily brought his family and a few others to another world in far less time, but to take an entire city of people who weren’t physically accustomed to other worlds. Not only did he have to keep the city intact, he also had to reduce the Void’s influence on its people while keeping them hidden from any other ancient beings that might’ve sought an opening.

It allowed him to get accustomed to his new level of power and the city began to move closer to its destination with growing speed, not that anyone could notice.

That speed slowed when Rhys became pregnant with her third child. Ira prepared for a something strange to happen but it never came. Rhys’ delivery was completely normal and Ira’s newborn son, Casimir, cried during his first moments after being born, unlike his brothers and sisters who reacted calmly. And unlike how they all demonstrated some sort of ability, Casimir didn’t seem to have anything special about him other than Ira’s features.

Rhys took the news hard and seemed to have thought Casimir was injured in some way so Ira examined him thoroughly to put her at ease.

As his eyes flashed black, Ira scanned over his son only to find there was nothing wrong with the child.

“He’s fine, Rhys.” Ira said causing Rhys to exhale with relief. “But…”

His words immediately made her tense up again as she prepared to hear something terrible.

“He didn’t inherit much from you and what he received from me is...dormant.”

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Before Rhys could even mouth the words for one, Ira offered an explanation.

“It means he’ll be extremely weak compared to the rest of his siblings and things won’t be easy for him once he realizes it.” Ira said with sigh before caressing his son’s face.

“Whatever the case is, I’ll still love you, Casimir.”

Although Rhys seemed saddened by the news, Ira’s mood hadn’t changed at all. Even if his son had been completely powerless he’d still be happy.

…

The desired moment which signified the end of the journey had finally arrived. The passage of time became harder to track while in the Void and even Ira wouldn’t be able to tell. The shroud of darkness was peeled away and Ira discovered that the city was in the boundaries of another world.

In a seemingly normal blue sky, a tear opened up and revealed an ever-shifting darkness that spat out a black sphere before stitching itself back up. The city was revealed as the black mist began to fade. It began to slowly descend toward a completely calm ocean before crashing into it and kicking up waves.

…

“We’re here.” Ira announcement reached the entire fortress.

His gathered his family up inside of a large meeting room.

“Where? Where?” Nephele asked enthusiastically.

“It’s an ocean.” Liliara replied with an eye roll.

“I know that, Lili...Anyway, can I have a boat, Dad? I want to go sailing.”

“We’ve only just arrived, Nephele, settle down.” Raveria placed her hand on her younger sisters shoulder to stop her from running off.

Casimir giggled in a childlike manner as he stumbled around the room. Meanwhile, Erel and Elora stood close to each other silently as they watched everything happen. Elora made a grabbing motion and poorly made stuffed dog appeared in her hand.

“Raveria is right, everyone should calm down. There’s a lot to do before everyone can just run around.” Ira surveyed the room and found that most of his children were eager to leave.

“Keeper?” Sylun entered the room with a knock before kneeling down.

“Gather up some people, I’ll have Juliana and Zella send a few people to whatever continent is out there.”

“As you will, Keeper.” She bowed once before leaving just as quickly as she arrived.

“Avery, could you take some of the Valkyries and see if there’s anything close to us.”

“What will you be doing?” Avery inquired.

“Making our own little spot in this ocean,” Ira said. “I’ll have to reshape the land a bit carefully and attend to some other things.”

“I’ll gather the Valkyries.” Avery departed in order to carry out her task.

“What should I do?” Raveria seemed keen to be included.

“You, well, watch over your brothers and sisters and make sure they don’t get into any trouble, especially the twins. You too, Rhys.” Ira glanced toward Erel and Elora who both just stood in the corner innocently.

They appeared to be two well-behaved adolescent children but Ira clearly thought differently. They gazed at him with sleepy expressions which made it even harder to believe they would cause trouble.

“And what am I doing?” Harper inquired.

“You’re fishing.”

“Fishing? Why am I fishing?”

“The people need food don’t they? I’m sure the stockpile is empty.”

“Can’t you just capture them for us?”

“I’m busy.”

“No you’re not! You could do it in two seconds, easy.”

“I could, sure, but then you and everyone else would become lazy. Now, go get some nets or boats or something.” Ira waved his hand and Harper vanished before she could protest.

“Could all eight of you try to behave until we’re all sorted?”

“Sure!” Nephele said while giving an unconvincing nod.

“Why are you including me?” Raveria asked while furrowing her eyebrows.

“Of course, Papa.” Liliara answered.

Valeryn and Zephyr both nodded in sync.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Erel and Elora replied together.

The final reply came from Casimir who mumbled incoherently as the youngest of the family.

Ira smiled once more after and then vanished from sight.

“Alright, come on.” Raveria lifted the twins into her arms while Rhys grabbed Casimir and they all left in search of something to pass the time.

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