Early Afternoon - Early Winter : Elder Hall, Northern Bahamut
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"Was it really necessary to make me learn that I'M PART GOD, WITHOUT ANY WARNING?!"
An awkward, but sly smile immediately came to her face.
-SHE ACTUALLY KNEW?!- I could only stare at her in disbelief before she finally responded.
"Vasilias." Her voice was warm, but she sounded like she was holding back a laugh. "Please have a seat, so I can explain."
I sat down immediately, eagerly waiting for an explanation.
But she didn't say what I was expecting. "Have you ever wondered where my parents are?"
-W..what?- I was immediately taken aback by the seemingly random question but tried to follow along. "Well.. I can't say it never crossed my mind, but when I asked Mother, she said she didn't know." -Not that I really believed her...-
"That is to be expected, sweetie, don't be mad at her. I have yet to tell her about what I am about to tell you." Her smile was oddly motherly.
-But her words are really ominous...- "So.. what happened to them?" -Did they die?-
"Unfortunately, they passed away during their 'last sleep'."
I jolted slightly upon hearing her mention her parents' deaths so lightly.
"They were both nearly 2,200 years old and lived fulfilling lives, helping advance magic and preserving our deep history."
-2,200... That would mean they were at least 2,000 years old when they had a child...- It was an idea that didn't make sense to me. "Why did they.. uh..."
"Wait so long to have a child?"
I reluctantly nodded after seeing her smile like she was eager to tell me.
She didn't hesitate to continue. "Well, that's because of a tradition that ran in our family." She glanced over at a painting of a huge dragon flying in the clouds. "Starting all the way back during the Great War, the head of the Ragnarok family was banned from having children until they turned 2,000 years old, and even when those fateful 3 eggs were laid, only 1 pure white dragon would come out." She motioned to the painting above the door as the smile started fading from her face. "The white dragon was to be the successor of the family and was raised strictly, while the others were to be exiled or abandoned. It was a tradition that made me dread the day I was going to have children. I wanted to cherish them, to raise them with love and freedom, but I knew that was impossible."
I felt a bit awkward seeing her talk about something so dark, but that was when her smile suddenly came back.
"Do you know why I broke that tradition and never told Zachari about it?"
I quickly shook my head.
"Well, nearly 113 years ago, I was napping at home when I received an oracle, a dream of a voice. The man's voice was smooth and enchanting but sounded faded and distant. He spoke in a language I had never heard as well, but I somehow managed to understand exactly three words he said, 'It is time'."
-A language she had never heard... That sounds.. familiar...-
But Grandmother continued, regardless of my train of thought. "I wasn't sure who the voice belonged to or what they meant for years after that, but then, exactly three years later, I had a feeling I had never felt before." She paused as if wanting me to ask.
"W..what was it?"
"I was laying eggs."
A mix of disbelief and confusion washed over my face immediately, bringing my rampant thoughts and theories to a screeching halt. "Huh?"
"Haha, it sounds crazy, doesn't it? I laid healthy, fertile eggs without ever being with a man, but it didn't end there. All three of my eggs hatched with beautiful, snow-white scaled children that looked just like me." Her smile brought warmth to my chest immediately. "With the tradition forcefully broken by a god's will, I didn't hesitate to raise them more freely, exempt from the traditions that had haunted me for the majority of my life. But after a while, I started to question why it all happened. For what purpose did I receive such a blessing, and what did the being who gave me the oracle want..."
"Could the parts of the dream you couldn't understand have been the reason?"
Her expression slowly darkened like I made her remember a bad memory. "For a long time, I wasn't sure... I lived my days cherishing my children, but I always had a lingering worry that I wasn't understanding something." She paused as she slowly looked up at me. "When I heard you were born with black scales, I got even more worried, but as time passed and I heard the story of what happened to you from your father, I felt like things.. weren't being left to chance.. but I only felt that way when it involved you..."
Although I had been idly theorizing as she talked, my mind went blank the instant she finished.
"For a long time, I was truly nervous with each and every step, anxious that I would accidentally mess something up if I intervened too much, so when you asked me about the Ancient Fenrir, I.. had no choice but to keep my hands off... I didn't want to risk my intervention messing up the flow of fate, so I gave you a hint and left it up to you... I'm sorry if I felt.. distant during that time..." She gave me a guilty glance for a moment, only to see me wearing a fascinated look instead of a resentful one.
-Did a god really know I was going to come to this world over a hundred years before it happened?- "So you think my existence could have been something prepared by a god?"
She reluctantly nodded her head, likely nervous that I would take the possibility of such a reality poorly.
But what she didn't know is that I had already come to terms with it long before I even knew of the existence of gods. -But who would the god that gave the 'oracle' be? She said it was a faded man's voice, so it couldn't be the goddess, but...-
Before I could come to any decent conclusion, I felt Ilios shift around on my back, and finally pulled myself out of the ever-growing rabbit hole I was digging myself into.
-I guess I need to do more research into the gods...- Looking back up at Grandmother, I noticed her staring at me with an odd look. "Sorry about that. I got a bit lost in thought."
"No no, it's quite alright. I apologize for dampening the mood." She lowered her gaze with a slightly guilty expression as we both fell into silence.
But eventually, I spoke up again in a more gentle tone. "Do you.. ever plan on telling Mother about all of that?"
"I will have to do it eventually, but I want Krystallo to leave the nest first."
-Huh?- "Why?"
"Zachari is already extremely protective over you two, and I feel like telling her about everything would only make it worse... If you think she wouldn't cause you too many problems, I can talk to her about it once this whole event settles, but if not..."
-Oh right.. I nearly forgot about that...- "I think it's best if we give her some time..." I glanced away for a moment before turning back to her. "Besides that, what all is happening here?"
"Ah, right. I haven't explained that yet." Trying to recollect herself, she took a deep breath and continued in a more serious tone. "Hooh... How much do you already know about it? About the investigation."
"I can't say a lot, but I know it's related to Holcyon Aetos and his son's death in Siratha."
"So you at least know who Holcyon Aetos is, correct?" She continued after I nodded. "In that case, I will start off by saying that currently, his family, and several others who were related to those found in the Helvig estate in Siratha, are being investigated for several things, with one of them being 'Foreign Leaking'."
-Foreign leaking?- "What is that?"
"To put it simply, it is when a dragon leaks information about Bahamut or dragon society in general, to humanoids. Recently there have been some fairly minor slip-ups in Siratha, but we haven't questioned it much since they were minor details like dragons still existing and some bans to preserve their life."
-Is she talking about the 'they can only kill non-intelligent dragons' thing Liv mentioned?- [1]
She quickly pulled a sheet of paper off her desk with her aura and showed it to me. "Recently, however, some information in regards to our advanced magics was put directly into the curriculum of the larger schools in Siratha."
Immediately understanding how serious the situation was, I skimmed through the rest of the paper she was showing me. -So the border security isn't to catch the betrayer, but instead to try and find people related to this... Could the betrayer and this incident be connected?-
"As you are probably aware, this is a grave sin that violates the agreement between Bahamut and the human gods during the Great War."
There was a moment of silence while I finished skimming the paper. "But why? What would they have to gain from spreading that information?"
"Haah..." Her sigh sounded troubled. "That's what we are trying to figure out. Not only would spreading that information not be helpful to them, but they also wouldn't need to meet up or make any elaborate plan that would require them to meet up to leak it."
-That's a fair point...- "So you think there's more than meets the eye..."
"Most definitely."
Seeing her determination, a sly smile crept onto my face. "You know.. I might be able to help you come with that."