BLOOD & ENVY - Chapter 6
In an urgent quest, Thomas is dispatched to the mainland, sent to carry a vital message to the Olsens. While he's away, his brother Clae, fueled by dark motives, kidnaps Eir — Thomas's loving wife, and their two innocent children.
When Thomas returns home, the disarray left from the struggle sends a chill down his spine. His family — gone. Heart pounding, he rushes back to his brother, only to be ensnared in a cruel illusion - choose between saving his children or his wife.
Frantic, he reaches for his children first. His choice proves fatal for Eir, who's seemingly slain before his eyes. Pain and regret twist his heart, magnified by the illusion — his beloved's death, forever on replay in his tormented mind.
Little does he know, Eir is still alive, her spirit unbroken despite Clae's imprisonment. Clae covets the growing power within his brother and nephews, believing it to be a gift derived from Eir. Initially promising her freedom in exchange for Thomas's fealty, his obsession soon changes tune, shifting to coercing her into bearing him a powerful child.
Clae's thirst for power grows, driving him toward madness, while Eir chooses defiance over fear, mocking him at every turn. Eventually, Clae's restraint snaps, turning his wrath onto Eir and ultimately leading to her secretive demise.
With each passing day, Clae's sanity frays further, his once controlled power now unstable. And his single-minded goal remains — to seize Thomas and his nephews, to extract their loyalty, their powers. In this turmoil, finally, a message reaches Thomas from Akuji...
In a tangled thicket of remorse, Clae realizes the magnitude of his transgressions. Where once resided his sinister ambitions, now lies a desolate landscape of guilt. Desperate to undo his past, he attempts to navigate the intricate maze of time, yearning to stop himself from committing patricide.
But playing with the threads of destiny is not without consequences. An incensed Akuji, the guardian of fate and time, sees through Clae's tribulations and delivers a curse as punishment. Clae's very existence is branded a cosmic error, a cataclysmic anomaly leading the world inexorably towards chaos and destruction.
As a grave lesson, Akuji unfolds before Clae an alternate timeline - a world where his father's life is spared. But in this distressing scenario, Clae meets a crueler fate. He is slain prematurely by none other than his dutiful brother, Thomas.
Staring into the abyss of his altered fate, Clae is left to confront the crumbling pillars of his reality. His once-monumental pursuit of power seems insignificant against the tides of time, his lust for dominance reduced to a mere ripple in the face of cosmic judgment. All the while, the specter of inevitable chaos and destruction looms ahead, casting a long shadow over his doomed existence.
Haunted by the tormenting visions of his beloved Eir's demise, Thomas descends into a realm of near insanity and justified bitterness. Left with their children, now 8 and 6, he takes them under his stern tutelage following her capture, facing a challenging 8-year cycle of survival and retribution.
During these years, he moulds his children in the crucible of his own toil. He imparts harsh lessons of fear and rage, teaching them the art of turning these primal emotions into totemic weapons. Sometimes, Thomas ventures into his brother's territory and vents out his anger on his people, all while carefully exerting a vigilant eye on their activities to avoid being apprehended.
He tirelessly seeks solutions to erase the searing memories of Eir's death, though his quests remain fruitless. Nonetheless, he and his children, now matured at ages 16 and 14, have grown stronger, surpassing Clae and Thomas's prowess when they were their age. Their technique in Kenjutsu is exemplary.
An alliance with the Dwarves leads Thomas to knowledge of the Flame of rebirth. Dreaming of breathing life into his lost wife through reincarnation, he learns that to enact this, he would need to gather Eir's entire corpse. The thoroughness of her resurrection would reflect the completeness of her remains used. However, retrieving the flame first required aiding the Dwarves in reclaiming it from the HobGoblins in the realm between realms. A cause Thomas willingly takes on for the safety of his family and the chance to reunite with Eir.
In his pursuit, Thomas empowers the Dwarves and reunites with Eir, but finds the cruel truth of her death years beyond his beliefs. While these events unravel, political struggle ensues in the mainland. The Olsens fighting against the world government for global control. Their alliance with Clae and The Order still stands, a pact that threatens to expedite the looming Penance and open paths for Clae's destructive return.
"Deep in our family tree, there lies a mystery. My Uncle.. Clae. He's not just my uncle, but your great uncle and he's a cog in a narrative that predates even my own existence. You, a direct descendant of Grandfather Thomas, have been handpicked by your father - my brother - to face this enigma in our lineage, to halt Clae's undisclosed agenda."
"A monumental task has been placed upon my shoulders as well - to mentor you, be your guardian. My job? Shield and liberate you from the illusions gripping what you once considered a banal existence."
"There's more to us than meets the eye. We are Andersons. It's not just a name; it's a mantle of power, handed down generation to generation. Its roots will empower us to restore harmony to the world that remains oblivious of our lineage's true magnitude. In unity, we will expose the unseen, reconcile with our past and dictate a peaceful future."
"Can you hear it? The Anderson bloodline, it beckons. Echoed through the annals of time, it's an exciting call that leaves you craving for more. The story of the Andersons, it's everything but typical. Can you resist the allure?" This concluded the nullifiers conversation. The boys just sat in shock. They couldn't believe their heritage ran that deep, before meeting the nullifier they all never even knew they had siblings. As you can Imagine this was was a huge bombshell for the siblings.