2 weeks before the party.
"Hmmm, the entries stopped." Jacob had finally finished his ancestor's diary. skipping to the end. He found depictions of the monsters they fought.
"A Silvernape Wolf: A four-legged beast that will stand up and swipe at its aggressors when backed to a corner.
A fully matured one can grow up to 2 meters, can tower over 5 meters when standing up.
Hunt down while young to control the population.
...
Unknowns: Nobody knows what they are. They appeared almost 100 years ago, crawling out of caves and holes from the ground. They are black humanoid creatures that use whatever they can to kill.
They average at about 2-3 meters tall. The tallest I've fought was about 4 meters.
Extremely dangerous. Do not fight unless you're with a group of blessed or accompanying an awakened. "
...
The diary had illustrations, descriptions, and even detailed sketches of weak spots of the monsters.
Jacob was amazed. If everything here was true, then what happened? Where are the awakened people? They were blessed with god's gifts. They had extended lifespans. Where were humanity's records of them?
He also found out about the meanings of some words.
Awakened is a label given to those who were lucky enough to receive abilities. They had enhanced body strength, speed, and reflexes and a special ability to control elements.
And from the records, with the first manifestation of their power, they would be at the 1st evolution of man. Or 1st class human as it was officially called. The level before was called the zeroeth class.
There were higher levels of course. The 2nd class, or the point where they had experienced a qualitative change with the control of their abilities. This change manifested in different ways, the most common was the dramatic increase of the strength of the ability, the increased capacity to use it, and the ability to mold it. Of course, there were other rarer manifestations like the ability to shift into an elemental form that corresponds with the element.
Most Awakened people are stuck at this level for the rest of their life. But, on the off chance that they experience the 3rd evolution, or become a 3rd class human. They would get the ability to *bestow* some of their power to another. Even though the bestowal of power was limited to zeroeth class humans, they were upgraded enough to be compared to 1st or even 2nd level humans. Though this change does rely on the strength of the one bestowing the power.
And those who are lucky enough to be bestowed power were called Blessed.
The Blessed Warriors are champions of the Awakened. An awakened person can grant a blessing to a normal person, thus turning them into blessed warriors. Through blood, they are granted supernatural strength, and sometimes, additional powers.
I was told there are rumors that there is a second kind of blessed warriors, those who are blessed by heaven themselves, they are unable to be blessed a second time but they can still compete with normal blessed warriors.
Jacob's mind ran through what he read, Warriors, Monsters, Unknowns, Awakened, Blessed, and so on. the only person that came to mind was his father, he said that changes will be coming, will the monsters return?
He remembered his son's eyes. They were different colored, just as his ancestor described. Different colored eyes signified the power sleeping within a person.
If what was written in the diary was true, where were they headed?
It was frustrating
"Nothing I can do right now. I'll just prepare for what's worst." Jacob decided. There was too little info, he would have to do some more research.
The only thing he couldn't prepare for was the ones labeled as *Unknowns* There were so few descriptions of them. The only worthwhile note he found was: They emanate uncontrollable malice and bloodlust. It was like they were the condensed form of the world's grievances, they were Chaos themselves.
~~~
"Aren't they too young to be my grandparents?" Curtis thought as he looked at his grandparents.
Christopher and Eleanor Lehman both had blonde golden hair and crystal blue eyes, Christopher wore a black coattail with a white undershirt with black boots. He gave off a mature air that demanded subservience.
Eleanor wore a stylish blue gown that had white frills sporting the edges. She had quite a beautiful smile on her face and she gave off a cool feeling around her, making one relaxed around her.
The pair looked and felt young. Once his mother stood side by side with them, it wouldn't even be weird if they were mistaken to be siblings especially with how much the mother-daughter pair looked alike.
"Is this my new grandson?" Christopher gave off a hearty laugh as he was approaching Martha and Curtis. Completely destroying the impression he gave off earlier.
"Now, give him here dear." Eleanor interrupted her husband, walking towards her daughter.
"How have you been father, mother?" Martha asked, handing off Curtis to her eager Mother. Who was ecstatic to hold her grandson
Eleanor smiled, taking Curtis into her arms. "Ohh he is so cute. Red and Blue eyes huh." Eleanor frowned as she noticed the heterochromia. "Is he seeing us ok?"
"I believe so, the doctor said it must have just been a small complication with our heritage," Martha explained. "What's wrong father?" Martha asked his father who was suddenly so quiet.
"Nothing dear, I was just imagining, what if he got our blonde hair. he would have been a ladies' man with that look." Christopher laughed, giving off a ridiculous remark.
"Heh, I'm already a ladies' man" Curtis replied in his head.
"He already is, look at those eyes, so bright and beautiful." Eleanor remarked." She has better eyes than you, old man."
"We've missed you, so does Gina and Cole. When are you gonna come back home?" Christopher asked.
"I can't really travel since I need to take care of the kids. Where even are they?" Martha complained, her children were nowhere to be found, she had wanted them to greet her parents with her.
"Someone had to take care of the business, also Cole isn't really big in parties, he went out with the guards to patrol and hasn't been back since," Christopher complained, his other two children were like polar opposites, one was reliable while the other was living a carefree life. Even though he could get him to do his duties, he did it without finesse.
Martha and her parent's talks were interrupted when they heard someone shout.
"Lolaaaaaa!"
Eleanor turned and saw Elise wearing a cute pink dress with her hair tied in a bun running towards her.
"I missed you grandma." Elise ran towards her and hugged her waist.
"Ohh, my cute little grandchild." Eleanor smiled and patted her on the head.
"You shouldn't be running like that young lady," Martha told her.
"I'm sorry mommy." Elise apologized. "Grandpa how are you." she curtsied.
"Don't be too hard on her now Martha, she's still a child." Christopher chimed.
"Where's Clay?" he said.
Martha turned to her daughter. "Where is your brother?"
"I'm here mom." Clay turned to his grandparents. "Good day, Lolo, Lola." he greeted.
"Oh, there he is, now why are you acting like a prince? you never did that before." Christopher observed, pulling his grandson into a hug.
"Ughhh, grandpa! No!" Clay complained. He can't really beat his grandfather. He always was a big hugger.
Martha just shook her head. "Guess I can't really force them when you guys just ignore all decorum."
Eleanor laughed. "Haha, just let them be kids for now, all those things can be learned once they start schooling."
Curtis just took everything in. "It's really nice to have a caring family." his parents were loving, his grandparents were in perfect sync, it was a perfect family.
"Now where is my dad?" he was the only one missing in the scene.