Chapter 9: Four Generations Of Grief (Revised)

On the outskirts of Grenalda, there was a region of small yet steep mountains.  At the foot of one such mountain, an incredibly large mansion stood alone, towering at seven stories high and hundreds of feet wide. A large gate surrounded the mansion. At the foot of the gate were two statues of a woman on either side, the statues were the exact same. A woman with wings, dressed in intricate armor with a magnificent sword and shield.

Under the statues were steel plaques that read “Kara Thynne, Matriarch of the Thynne Family.” the letters weren’t eye-catching but gave off the feeling of strength. The Thynne family, out of the self proclaimed top three families, could only be consider number one if compared to all others. Not because of connections, money, or influence, but due to purely overwhelming strength.

The matriarch of the Thynne family was a Valkyrie, an ancient race who were said to be born directly from war. Kara Thynne was immensely powerful, said to have broken the boundary of multiple combat disciplines and attained a level higher than absolute. Being a Valkyrie, she was a semi-immortal, living for thousands of years all the while keeping her youthful appearance. A hundreds of years ago, due to certain circumstances, Kara settled down and married a healer named Alexei Thynne.

Eventually she gave birth to two children, A girl who inherited her Valkyrie blood and a boy without her bloodline. While her son and husband eventually died, her daughter lived on. Valkyries could revive the recently dead, but that was no solution. Kara wouldn’t be able to restore the youth of her loved ones or even stop their souls from corroding due to repeated revival.

So after her daughter was strong enough, Kara set out on a journey seeking to die in battle, but whether she succeeded remained unknown. Kara’s daughter, Lauren, followed in her mother's footsteps, fighting in wars and defeating powerful creatures, but settled down much earlier but kept the Thynne name. Giving birth to many children, while the females inherited the Valkyrie blood, the males were more or less ordinary and eventually met their end.

Lauren stayed with her family, even through the loss of her own husband and sons. Instead of becoming filled with sadness, Lauren continued to help her family prosper. She trained her daughters in harsh conditions and they did the same for their daughters. Still she couldn’t expect her daughters to completely detach themselves from their children so she created a rule twenty years ago, stating, the females of her family could only marry someone with an extraordinary bloodline, in order to prevent such feeling of loss and preserve the Valkyrie bloodline. So while the males of the Thynne family were free to marry, they held little to no say over family matters. The females on the other hand were restricted in marriage, they were the backbone of the family and controlled it entirely.

With each successive generation, the bloodline wouldn’t weaken but the chance of awakening the blood would, so from childhood the females would go through tough training in order to increase the chances of an awakening. There were no obvious signs of dilution in the bloodline, they still took great precaution in the form of grueling and inhumane training.

Without knowing the deeper history of the Thynne family, most people would think they held a cold yet delicate beauty. If they were to think that, not only would they be wrong they wouldn’t have a chance to pursue any of them. Ever since Lauren Thynne established the rule, no marriage proposals were accepted. Of course, outsiders had no knowledge of the power behind the Thynne family. The elders of the Thynne family rarely interacted with the Kingdom, only sending out a few ladies of the Thynne family to gain experience. An example being Avery, although she was a Thynne family member and would’ve been a general if her Grandmother request it from  the Kingdom, she had to start from the bottom and work her way to a Captain. Only when her bloodline was close to awakening would she be called back to the family.

Under a white pagoda, three women with incredibly dark purple hair and silver eyes sat, drinking tea at a table. With one glance anyone would assume they were sisters, each of them looked similar. If one were to have extremely accurate observational skill they might notice the difference of one or two years between their faces. The woman who looked to be the youngest of the three had silver eyes that were noticeably duller than the other two women. The one with the dullest shade of silver eyes was none other than Avery. Until her blood awakened, she would still keep human qualities, while the eyes of the other two women  seemed to glow. The second woman who looked a little bit older than Avery was her mother, Casey Thynne and the last woman who looked the oldest, but not by much, was Lauren Thynne, the current head of the family.

“You say assassins were sent after you Avery?” Lauren asked. Her voice was full of youth but imposing. Though, imposing was an understatement. If she wished it, she could stage a coup and murder the King.

“Yes, Grandmother.” Avery answered respectfully, wasting no words or speaking any pleasantries.

“Mother, could it be a noble house has underestimated us because we keep to ourselves?” Casey asked in a relaxed tone..

“It appears so. If I didn’t decide to hide that oath, they would be too scared to look in this direction.” Lauren spoke while looking into the distance with a small grin, sipping a cup of tea. The oath she spoke of had long since been a thorn in her side. It was an oath taken decades ago, that was bound to her very core, effectively preventing her from taking hostile actions against the Kingdom unless a set of parameters were met. Lauren, of course made sure to hide that oath from that last few Kings. Although she couldn’t break it, she had found many loopholes and soon it would be rendered null.

“Avery, tell me about the boy again.” Lauren put her cup down and looked toward Avery with eyes full of interest. Since the time she introduced the rule of marriage twenty years ago, there had been very few people worth sparing a second glance. Even so, time was no issue to the Valkyries. Waiting twenty years for one prospect to appear could be considered frighteningly quick to someone like Lauren.

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“Yes. I was unable to determine his bloodline with the Kingdom’s status card, but it’s very likely he isn’t just an ordinary human.” Avery explained.

“Does that mean it’s an ancient bloodline!” Casey said excitedly..

“It would have to be…” Lauren took a breath due to her own expectations.

“Avery, bring this boy to us...willingly, we have ways to evaluate ancient bloodlines.” Lauren commanded Avery.

“Yes, grandmother.” Avery answered with an unchanged expression.

Lauren nodded her head, before taking one last sip of her tea and turning to leave. As she stepped away from the pagoda, dark raven colored wings emerged from her back in a majestic manner. Lauren only wore a casual black dress which wasn’t too long, her feet were bare as she didn’t plan on touching the ground in the first place. The servants standing outside of the pagoda were entrapped in her beauty and grace, and couldn’t help but stare.

Valkyries held a partial spiritual physiology, and as such they didn’t need to have an avian skeletal structure. Instead their wings were bonded to their soul and could be manifested into solid form upon command. In fact, their wings could even pass through solid material.

With one flutter of her wings, a small gust was created before she soared into the sky, heading towards the top of a nearby mountain. Her form began to shrink until she disappeared from sight. The servants still were staring, amazement ever-present in their eyes. Each time they witnessed such a display they fell into a daze.

“Your awakening isn’t far off Avery. Soon enough you will have the qualifications to speak to your grandmother properly.” Casey gave a smile to her daughter before standing up to depart.  Raven colored wings also emerging from her back in a similar manner, flying towards the same direction her mother went, once again stunning the servants. Avery stared at her mother’s back, before walking towards the mansion.

Until the awakening of the Valkyrie blood, the females had to stay inside of the Thynne mansion, the mountaintop Lauren flew off too was only for those who had the Valkyries. One reason for that was the symbolic message of status it carried. The other was a bit more practical, the ability to fly was necessary to reach the summit of the incredibly steep mountain and the abilities of a Valkyrie were needed to enter the ancient hall atop the mountain. The girls of the Thynne family all strived to enter the mountain top and trained incredibly hard for an awakening.

What lied atop the mountain? Only those who could enter were allowed to know and weren’t allowed to speak of it.

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