Chapter 5: Newborn
It's been ten months since Agro-mun has been jailed and his trial put on hold. The crime he committed was grave and punishable by death a thousand fold. The king said he would take care of the almost 200 soldiers who had been taken ransom before he left for seclusion.
The baby Jessup, has been born. He still hasn't seen his father Samantha has forbidden anyone from going in his room. The only one who visits him is her, and it's never a pretty sight. Jessup hasn't even seen his own father, something most people are a little critical about but what can they do?
"Lady Samantha, your cousins are here to see you." Just then, a maid walked in with some news.
These were Amelia's cousins in blood on her mother's side but they have always been close enough to call sisters.
"Sister! How is jessy!"
"Sam, he is so cute! I love his smile, he clearly likes me more!"
"Don't be ridiculous! He's just a baby, besides it's clear that he smiles everytime he sees me."
Samantha chuckles at her silly little sisters, they're still very naive and cute.
"Alright calm down, he isn't going anywhere. Cate, do you think you can take care of him while I go to his father?"
"What? Oh, him. Yeah sure, I'll take care of little jessy.'' Samantha's sister didn't even look away from Jess once, clearly she hopes to have one of her own one day, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what's about to come. Her father, the king, has finished his cultivation and is requesting their presence.
Samantha got ready to exit her room when she heard her cousin yell, "Ah! He's looking at Sam! He's so cute! Do you miss your momma already?" Just then Samantha looked back at her son and noticed his eyes were on her but he quickly looked away. She was only left thinking to herself, 'How strange…'
Samantha was left thinking about a thousand things but her son wasn't on that list, at least not today. Today she only had one thing on her mind as she walked down those long halls of the palace, and that was… 'How is going to die?' Samantha has never been blood thirsty but she was one thing, and that was loyal. She loved her father, it's the reason why she chose to search out new lands in his name.
You see, the grove family has a… unique quirk or better to say the king does. The king was born with a special ability. Nobody really knows where it came from or how he got it, well nobody but him of course.
For the most part he tells the citizens that a god gave it to him and he calls this god… Draden. According to the king it had something to do with a band of heroes slaying a false hero and destroying a powerful evil empire… something like that, and as a gift Draden gave him immortality.
For years our kingdom has dedicated, celebrated and worshiped Draden and the King. In the people's eyes, and in Samantha's, the king and Draden are equals who speak to each other on a daily basis. It was her sworn duty to spread both their names and collect as many treasures as she could find, just as many of her siblings have chosen to do.
The Grove family motto is 'You won't become immortal if you stay here and die.' In the grove family there are no marriage alliances, there is only one rule. Earn your keep. The king is rich enough and strong enough to not have to rely on others but that doesn't mean he wants his children to laze around doing nothing. They all have to contribute to the kingdom.
"And I'm probably the only one in the grove family legacy to lose everything in a single night." Just thinking about all of this has made her furious.
Samantha finally got to her husband's room, unlocked the door from the outside and walked in. The first thing she noticed was the smell, "This is disgusting, I know that in your village they didn't have showers or cleanliness but I specifically remember teaching you how to use this."
She looked at the sad excuse of a man lying on the bed, Samantha has been doing nothing but giving him whatever she could find and wine since the day he's been locked in here. At first he was begging to be let go but now he hasn't even moved from his bed once in months, that's unless he needed to use the restroom on his right.
"You haven't even asked about your son once in weeks, aren't you going to say something?"
"..."
"I can't believe I fell in love with you…" Samantha sat down on the bed and almost started to break down. "You should've listened to me, I've lost everything and now I'm going to lose you too."
"…"
There was a moment of pause, but then there was a stirring noise from the blankets.
"... You're right. I didn't know what I was doing."
Samantha looked back at Agro, looking into his eyes for the first time in a while, "No, you didn't."
"How is he?"
Samantha looked back down at the ground and said, "He's healthy, he's a bit weird but he's cute. My sisters seem to like him."
"That's good, can I see him?"
That's right, she forgot. Her son had never seen his father. Unfortunately today this might be the only day that will be possible.
"No Agro. It's time. Father wants to see us."
This was the most sickening moment for Samantha, the idea of stopping her son from meeting her father was gut wrenching but she didn't want Jess seeing her father thrashing around like a fool. Now that he's accepted his fate, she's starting to regret her actions.
"... alright."
"You need to wear these cuffs. It's strong enough to hold down supers. Even you."
"Even you?"
She could only nod her head. Yes, even her.
She pulled out her communicator and sent a message to her father letting him know they were ready. Within a minute a portal opened up in front of them and they walked right through. The first thing they saw shocked them.
"This is… This is where I'm going to die? Fitting I guess."
Samantha was about to say something to him, to comfort him maybe but just now she heard a voice from behind her.
"Sister. And Ergo right? We haven't met, I'm Amelia."
Samantha looked behind her and saw her step sister, Amelia. Amelia was about 30 years older than her but she still looked young enough to be her younger sister. She certainly had the maturity level of one. Samantha was about to ask what she was doing here when she quickly noticed the baby in her arms.
"Is that, jess?!"
"..."
Agro and Samantha walked over to Amelia and asked her the one question that was on everyone's mind, "Where is the forest?"
That's right, the most shocking thing out of all of this wasn't Jessups sudden appearance, rather it was the disappearance of a large swath of land, namely the forest. It looked like a giant circle, everything around it was gone. Leaving nothing but dirt and rubble but that's not all. Agro and Samantha recognized this place.
It was the place Agro was held ransom at. It was the former village that Agro tried to invade, he could recognize it by the look of the mountain he saw when he first portaled here. The Grove family had portaled over 40 continents away.
"Don't go near it, it's still active."
"What's still active?" Amelia suddenly raised her hand only to show that the tip of her fingers were cut clean off, "Holy shit. Did dad do this?"
"Seems like it, it looks like a bubble. I think he's made the thing capable of atomizing anything that walks in it… you wanna throw a rock at it?"
"For the love of Dredan. Stop playing around. Where is father?" As soon as she asked this, she wanted to hit herself. The answer was obvious; she just didn't want to think that anything could survive in there. "He's in the bubble isn't he?"
"Yep."
Just then he saw something rising from the dirt, at least it looks like dirt, but no that wasn't dirt it was something else. It was the same metal that this former tribe considered sacred.
It was Black star silver, but this wasn't a small pond like how Agro remembered, but more like a small lake, bubbling and boiling and in the center was a man slowly rising from within covered in black when he raised his head, everyone mistook this man for a demon. A demon born from the deepest parts of hell, and everyone was ready for a fight knowing they might die.
Instead all they heard was the King's voice, who everyone loved and only two feared on this day. Saying, "COME."
Everyone felt this pressure. This command of his. Today there was no going back. Agro shocking everyone walked forward. He could see the line between the grass and the dirt, knowing that if he stepped forward he would most likely die but before he could the king spoke again. "BRING THE CHILD."
At this moment, everyone looked back in fear, even Amelia thought Jessup would die if they walked in that thing, but what choice did they have? Amelia was the first one to move, handing Jessup to his father while Samantha could only watch. She looked at them both, and she kissed Agro on the cheeks before saying goodbye.
Trusting her father with jessups safety she let them both go.
Agro-mun looked at his son for the first time and the first thing he said to him was, "Be brave," and they both went through with the reluctance of only one.
Authors note: Thank god I'm done with this, hello readers if some of you haven't already guessed this was an introduction to the grove family and the future legacy of the grove family lies in none other than Jessup. I know a lot of you guys might have gotten bored reading about all the lore and world building but unfortunately that has always been my forte and I'm not going to stop unless told otherwise.
Spoiler alert:
If anyone is wondering about the king, the truth is that I'm actually making another project where he is the main character. The book will be called 'King or hero.' I know it sounds simple but basically it's about a guy from a different earth getting killed by a weird cyborg guy who basically says. "Your power interferes with the timeline, you must dieeeee!" That kinda thing. Who's the earth guy? Yeah you guessed it. King Grove is from earth!
Well to be honest this isn't much of a spoiler because it'll be in the next few chapters… anywaysssss. Hopefully you guys enjoy the book and I'm working on making a discord for everyone to enjoy. Bye!