The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Forty

Frederick Morningstar

We watched her disappear through the portal, and I knew that she would not return soon.

"Would you mind explaining what just happened...? How can she be this powerful, at her age?"

"Well, to be honest, we're not sure how old she is."

"What...?"

"Our daughter was born weak and frail, and we knew that eventually she would pass. One day she caught a virus and grew extremely sick. For month we stayed by her bed side when she suddenly woke up, healthy. We never completely understood what was going on, until one night when we heard two voices coming from her room."

The room once again fell silent, not that this was new. Celeste inspired silence and total concentration.

"The first voice we knew well. Celeste was questioning someone. The second was that of a grown woman that we had never had heard before. Celeste had asked why the woman, who she called Marcenia, was willing to take her place when she had her own body, her own life. The woman's reply was strange, but she was sweet when speaking to Celeste. Her words were: 'I was taken from my own home when I was twenty years old by a man who could manipulate time. The man took me to a time five thousand years before my birth because my power was extremely special.'. Celeste asked out of interest how old she was, and she said that she herself had grown uncertain, because she thought she was almost three hundred years old, but that the man who could manipulate time often placed her in a space pocket where time would move differently. At first she had never thought of the possibility that she was older, but as she learned to manipulate time herself, she realised that she may be much older. Celeste asked how she learned the power over time herself, she told that she did not learn it.

"Her rare ability allows her to steal the powers of others and master them herself. She continued to explain to Celeste that they were only able to meet because Celeste herself had an innate ability to traverse between alternate worlds. And that because Marcenia sought to have a family again, and Celeste did not want to leave her parents without a child, she decided to help Celeste. So you see, she is my daughter, but she is not. Therefore, I'm not certain how old she truly is."

The room was silent as the information sank in.

"If..." Fallon sat beside his father, his slight frame quivering. "If this is true... Then there are other worlds... And then the beasts...?"

"From what we gathered, she is the child of an alpha wolf and a dragon, and that her appearance is because of this. We've never spoken about it to her, but she knows that we know."

"But then that is not your child!" The King roared.

Rietta smiled sadly. "We only have one child. We are grateful. Though our true child has since left us... We still got to see her grow up." She took a deep breath. "Though it is against her wishes, we now hope for her to find love as we would like to see the woman that gave us our child with what she truly needs, love."

††‡‡‡‡††

Marcenia / Celeste

I had landed in the middle of a strange field. My abilities were still limited in this world and sometimes my spacial teleportation warped me to strange places, like this time.

I stood with my red dress amongst the yellow of tawny grasslands, with no sound but that of the wind sweeping over the lush fields.

I sighed, trying to teleport back but my powers were being blocked by something strange.

I tried again, only to fail again.

"Oh, what have we got here?" I heard behind me, the voice young.