The room was silent, the only noise that they could hear was Sol telling an untold story. A story of their mother.
Maki and Maia were both holding their breath. They didn't know how or what their reaction will be. Their grandmother was narrating a story of a woman they never knew.
The Artemis in her story was nothing like the mother they grew up with.
"Your mother was a genius, your grandfather and I never really did knew how it happened, as both I and him were mediocre. Helios and Eos never really did show any signs of interest in science and genetics like the one that Artemis showed"
Damian had also thought about how mediocre Artemis was. She was your typical housewife, the woman of the house but never the one to have a final word on the subject. Rather, she was quite submissive. That was why it was a shock just how she designed the mutiny by herself.
"She worked under the government for a considerable amount of time. Only stopping when she met her first husband"
"First?"
Maia clarified and Sol nodded as a confirmation, that meant their father wasn't her first husband.
"Maia, Artemis had four partners, twice married and divorced before she married Khel"
It was their Aunt Eos who had continued. This came as a shock for the three of them.
"This is where it gets trickier"
Sol stared at her grandchildren with a stern look. It was like she hated having to continue a conversation like this but was forced to.
"Artemis had five children before she and Khel had you Maia"
They have half-siblings, this was the truth that no one had told the two of them before.
The truth was that their almost happy and perfect family was never real and was all make-believe.
"Why have we never heard of this before?"
Maia asked Sol, to which the older woman could only bow her head. May it be because of shame or fear, she could never tell. Maia just stared at her, she hated not being told the truth the most. She hated not knowing out of all the things in this world.
And now, her own family was telling her that everything she had believed up until now was all a lie.
"What are their names? Our other siblings?"
Maki finally broke his silence. There was something that had been bothering him ever since their mission started.
The person who looked very much like Maia. The ex-soldier of the SDC is now a priest.
"The eldest is Magnus, followed by Maddox and Maddin, the twins then Marvyll and finally Makoto"
"Magnus? We've met a person named Magnus"
Everyone's attention was now on Damian. Sol's eyes were now wide open.
"Maki?"
"When we met him, our memories were still sealed so I kept on thinking about who he resembled. When I got my memories back, it became certain then… the Magnus that helped us looked like Ate"
Maia didn't know this, the two had told her of their endeavors and the mutiny's plans but the details were obscured due to them being short on time and it wasn't the appropriate time to catch up.
"Commander Zeph also mentioned him being a retired soldier from the SDC"
Upon hearing the name of commander Zeph, Maia tensed up. She remembered him. He was the commander that she had shot when she was parrying with Damian and Maki.
She knew he was an important figure for the two of them, and she…
Even before dark thoughts start evading her mind, Damian gripped her hands. She glanced at him and saw that he was staring at her too. Eyes pleading with an apology.
What was there to apologize for? I should have been the one to ask for that. Maia thought. She then resigned herself to the thoughts that have been haunting her.
She knew that somehow she would never be able to get rid of the ghost haunting her.
Unbeknownst to them, Maki who was focused on the story being told in front of him was sweating.
He had a dream before, a dream that seemed too realistic to even be called make-believe. Five people, he saw five people along with Maia smiling at him. They surrounded him and embraced him, each one of them had different features but he had recognized Magnus, but the other four were strangers.
He had brushed it off before and believed it was just the tiredness taking over him. But now, he was certain, the other four people surrounding him must have been their other siblings.
"If he did resemble Maia like what you said Maki then it must have been him. I do remember Magnus having a similar eye color as Maia. He was also blonde, having taken in the hair color of his father but aside from that everything else was taken from Artemis"
Helios was the one who gave him the confirmation that could strengthen his belief.
"What happened to them?"
Maia was now curious, how could they have siblings and not know of any of them?
"Truthfully we don't know. When the holocaust happened, Magnus had just turned 20, Makoto who was the third youngest was only 7 years old, Maia had turned two, and Maki was a newborn."
"After the holocaust happened due to a pandemic, colonization followed suit. Artemis was called by the government to help in creating an antidote"
"It didn't work out?"
Sol and Eos who took turns in telling them the story fell silent and shook their heads upon Maia's question.
"After the antidote proved useless, they began an experiment. A project."
"I remember it being called the Zareal Project"
"Zareal?"
Helios who had remembered the name nodded at the three and then proceeded on explaining what the project was about.
"The Zareal project catered to children and teenagers all ranging from the ages 0-20. They would alter some of the DNA inside the children's body."
"They wanted to create a human who would be immune from diseases and make them an example for the future generation. They did achieve some of them, mutants are what the term applies to them now"
This was the hidden part of their history. The ugly parts of the current regime that nobody dared to talk about before. And it seemed like the center of it all, was their mother.
Maia could put two and two together, but she didn't want to assume.
She knew that their mother experimented on her, if so then does that mean that she had always had this power within her? But why did it never manifest until now?
"The government had doubts at first that was why they chose some and welcomed volunteers to be the initial subjects. That was when your grandfather was chosen"
Maki and Maia worriedly gazed at their grandmother whose tears were now on the brink of falling.
"Artemis said that she initially merged his DNA with that of a praying mantis-like how the government wanted it"
"Mom told you that?"
"She told us that with a straight face like it wasn't her father she was experimenting with. If anything she looked excited to see the result of her experiment"
Maia could see her Uncle Helios clenching his fist and gritting his teeth like the memory of that day just refueled his anger.
"And if that wasn't enough when the initial subjects all failed, she insisted on continuing her experiment by saying that she was willing to test on her seven children"
Damian's eyes widened at this. He knew that Artemis was heartless at some point but he never knew that she was this much of a lunatic. Who in their right mind would willingly sacrifice all of her children just for research?
"We tried to stop her. Tried to save all of you, even Khel begged her but she was adamant on experimenting with you all"
"At the end, when her experiment on the seven of you became successful, they started to experiment on more children but unfortunately, not one of those children survived. The Zareal Project had only seven successful test subjects…"
"…And they were all children of Artemis"
Maia and Maki felt the sweat forming in their palms. It was absurd, they couldn't imagine that they were the only successful test subjects. But, the fact that their mother was willing to experiment on them made everything more absurd.
Maia glanced at Damian and saw that he was thinking deeply. Maia knew exactly just what he was thinking. Why was he alive then? Did it mean that he wasn't given as a test subject?
Damian felt Maia's stare at him and so when he turned his gaze to meet that of hers, he just smiled lightly.
"I guess I should be thankful that somehow my indifferent father was less cruel than yours"
Maia lightly returned that smile as she squeezes his hand. She knew he was trying to alleviate the tension from all the revelations that were being out in the open now.
"You should somehow be thankful that you were born in this city and not in the Seven City"
Eos who was eyeing the two of them said that as she smiled at them.
"Why? Aunt Eos, what was special about the Seven City?"
Maki who was curious too asked his aunt. He had been curious about it from the start. Initially having to worship a different God from the one that the Western government had been believing was already treason.
And yet the government allowed the Seven City without so much say and punishment. Rather, compared to the other cities, Seven City had been receiving more benefits than no other person would ever dream of.
Although because of them, Seven City might be on the verge or had already collapsed.
"Do the three of you believe in miracles? Or God bestowed powers? Borrowed powers from Gods?"
They didn't know how to respond. A moment earlier they were talking about an experiment that edits a person's genetic make-up and now they were talking about something spiritual.
"If you don't, you should start now"
When Sol didn't hear the three answers, she gave them a bit of advice along with the facts that she had seen.
"After all, the reason why you and your siblings survived that experiment was that the Gods had blessed you"
"The Gods?"
"Blessed?"
The three confusedly stare at the older woman.
"You are the vassals of the Seven Lucky Gods"