Inheritance

Chapter 23

Once the heavy thud of the door sounds behind the last person, her chair scrapes as she stands up. "Well I think it's about time for us to properly introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Genevieve Ilagen, semigod, caretaker of this House and designated liaison between Nonikás and The House," by now she's standing right in front of me, her hand outstretched. I hesitantly put my hand in hers. "I - I'm Katei Athena Dyname-Agape, super confused, freaked out and hoping that you're gonna help me make sense of everything that's going on." Genevieve smiles softly, her eyes look remarkably familiar, two turquoise gems, as she looks me in the eye. "I hope so too. We'll have to go back a couple millennia, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible. The Cores are the, well, 'cores' for a lack of a better description. There were sixteen original Cores, people who when they came together could change the very fabric of the universe. Each of the sixteen had a special connection to a essential, or 'core' if you will, building block of the universe: light and dark, life and death, time and space, reality, fantasy, mind, body, heart and soul, and of course earth, water, air and fire. Alone they were powerful, but extremely limited in their abilities. As luck would have it all sixteen found their adelfì among each other and as time went by they had children of their own. The firstborn of this second generation of Cores were revered as gods, they, like their parents, had the ability to change the laws of the universe once gathered. Unlike their mothers and fathers, however, they had no direct, powerful connection with any of the universe's building blocks. Where their parents could bend the elements to their will, the gods only had brief and sporadic instances where they could exert any power over their parents' elements, in turn they had far better physical abilities than their parents. They were stronger and faster, had better senses and were practically invulnerable, they also aged slower than their parents. Neither generation of Cores were liable to sicknesses and natural death, but they aged, the first generation aged faster than their children, albeit still slower than normal humans, but they could easily be killed. The second generation healed incredibly fast which made it nearly impossible to kill one, but not entirely impossible. The second generation, like the first, found their adelfì among each other, though there are some who doubt it. Nonetheless they had children after a few millennia of maturing. These firstborns, called demigods, are theorised to be more powerful than both previous generations combined. However, after the first child was born it was obvious that the third generation aged like humans and did not have any access to their powers throughout their adolescence. It was found that once they reached adulthood they stopped aging and received their inheritance, their powers. Now, the Cores are not the only ones with connections to the universe. There are those that were born with a connection to less integral elements of the universe. Their biology and powers evolved the same as the Cores, only less powerful because pairings were rarely between two of the same power. Nevertheless the children of the first generation were called gods, the third were called demigods, their children were called semigods and so it continues until the power is so diluted that the child has only a hint of a connection with their original element, a psy-human, and then the generations that follow are generally just normal humans."

My head is reeling with everything Genevieve just told me, only the warm reassurance of her hand that's still holding mine keeps me from completely losing my mind. Weirdest thing is, the whole generation names-part tickles something in the back of my mind, like a forgotten memory of something similar. Well at least her introduction makes half-sense now. "So are you the daughter of a god?" I ask, remembering her saying she was a demigod. She laughs softly and shakes her head, "No, I'm the daughter of Time and Heart, but I'm the youngest child of three, any children the Core line has after the firstborn are automatically called the same as the next generation, you see our powers lie between those of the firstborns and their children." Her tone is light and friendly, but the tension behind her eyes hint that it's an uncomfortable subject to say the least. "What about The House? I've heard a few people say it like it's a big thing." She takes the seat in front of me, still holding my hand. "The House is kind of like our government. It's the governing body for our kind. They protect, serve and provide us kind of halfway houses, like this one, while hiding our existence from Nonikás, our term for normal humans, ensuring the universe's balance and punishing those who break our laws." Something she says sparks a question, "What do you mean they ensure the universe's balance? Doesn't the universe automatically balance itself out?" The small smile drops from her face and there's a pregnant pause before she answers, one long enough for me to wonder if I should've asked in the first place. "Usually it does, but there are some... factions outside The House that believe we are superior, you know the gist, every second young adult novel depicts it. Some with power reckon they should be in control. They believe they're better than others and want to turn the world on its head." I slowly take my hand out of hers, immediately missing the comforting warmth they offered. "Where do I fit into all of this? My parents are normal people, they work at a security firm. They're definitely not part of this." Confusion flits across her face, her scar seeming slightly more red than before. "What do you mean? Didn't Rex tell you?" Seeing the blank look on my face she sighs. "That man. Facing off Death in a literal battle is easy, but talking to a teenager makes him chicken out. No wonder..." she trails off, obviously in thought. Her eyes suddenly light up, as in it looks like someone switched on flashlights inside her head.

After a couple of minutes of me freaking out and Genevieve staring at air with her freaky, glowing eyes she flicks her gaze to me and her eyes return to their non-glowy state. "This is really not something I should talk to you about. Kidè, Monès, Rex and Jord are on their way. They really are best suited to explain that situation to you. Did I at least answer some of your other questions?" Her smile is kind as she awaits her answer. She did actually explain quite a lot to me, I'm sure I'll have questions later, once I've prosessed everything, but right now, the only questions I still have are the ones that she said she can't answer. "Yes, thank you Ma'am. You definitely answered the majority of my questions." Her smile spreads into a full-fledged grin. "It's a pleasure, and please, call me Gen if that would be easier for you." Her last word barely left her lips when the door opened and chaos ensued.

(!---Pictured above is the area just to the side of the round table.---)