The fallen kingdom

Ch #20 (Curse of the blackened blood )

I looked at the small bottles in his hands then took them into mine. They felt warm and as if I could feel something moving inside. Hermis's blood felt alive.
"Well my boy drink one, you look famished," Faluq said.
"Yes drink one so that we may begin your solar kin training," Yaldrat added.
I looked down to the bottles once more, opened the cork on one of them and began to drink. It tasted like black licorice. A feeling of warmth ran through my body.
"It feels goo......" I said as I collapsed to the ground, convulsing and breathing frantically. Just before the pounding in my head seemed as though it would kill me, Faluq rushed over but it was too late. Something had gone terribly wrong. I slipped into unconsciousness.
I awoke hours later by a tent. I could hear the crackling of fire nearby, and voices. They were faint but I could make them out.
"I knew my blood was no good, I knew it," Hermis was saying in a defeated tone.
"Don't feel down Hermis, I thank you for your offering," Yaldrat said with a slight hint of kingly arrogance.
"Don't talk down to me like you're some god or something," Hermis snapped, "It was your idea to use my blood and now Dystain is ill."
"His name is Gelfed," Yaldrat replied.
"Maybe to YOU he's some all powerful being now, maybe to YOU he's something magical, but to ME he's still that same child I found in the swamp pissing himself," barked Hermis.
"My kind consumed orc blood many times," said Yaldrat. "This is unheard of Hermis. I wouldn't put my son in danger."
"Orc blood? See that's your problem!" Hermis yelled. "Ya think you have everything figured out because ya read some old books for thirty years. Did ya for once think that maybe my blood wasn't orc blood? Did ya even stop for a moment?"
I stood up slowly, getting my balance, and looked over to see what was happening. Yaldrat had sat down.
"You're right. I'm sorry," he apologized. "My actions were irresponsible."
I came over to them saying, "But I'm not sick, I feel fine, and look!" I opened my mouth showing my freshly regrown fangs.
"Gelfed you're alright!" Yaldrat cried, standing and walking over to me. "But how is this? You had no signs of life, you were unresponsive."

"I actually believe I have a theory on the situation," Vas said riding up on Penelope with Alsford. "The blood you gave Gelfed, you believed it to be blackened orc blood, correct?"
"Yes, it was blackened blood from Hermis," Yaldrat said.
"What courses through Hermis's veins isn't blood, it's a potion. The same potion I prepared for him to make him immortal," Vas said.
"Tell us, what is the recipe for immortality?" Faluq asked her.
"It is one part orc's blood, or in this case goblin's blood, and two parts unicorn urine," she replied.
"So you're saying I've got horse piss for blood now?" Hermis said sarcastically. "No Hermis, it's not horse piss," said Vas.
Hermis smiled with a sigh of relief.
"It's unicorn piss," she stated emphatically.
Hermis lurched over and he vomited at his feet.
"And what pray tell is a unicorn?" Vas asked the group. "A holy creature," Yaldrat muttered. "Damn it all." "What is it father?" I asked Yaldrat.
"I thought Hermis was immortal by birth," he replied. "I didn't know he had unicorn in him. The mixing of a holy creature and a member of the solar kin is expressly forbidden by nature. No one knows the result. I guess you should attempt shroud subservience to see if it has taken your solar kin lineage."
I closed my eyes and focused on my cloak to expand as far as it could go.
"Gelfed open your eyes, you need to see this," said Faluq, "or I guess rather not see this."
I opened my eyes. The cliff side we were on was now in complete darkness. My cloak had engulfed it all. I pulled in my cloak, and the light returned.
"What was that? It was incredible!" Yaldrat exclaimed.
We all sat down and were pondering on what had just happened when Hermis broke the silence.
"Hey you're not a solar kin anymore!" he said pointing to me. Everyone rose to our feet.
"What do you mean he's no longer a solar kin!" Yaldrat demanded.

"Calm down ya kinky neck sucker," said Hermis. "I have sight beyond sight so I see the magical titles of others. Before he drank that his title read solar kin. But now it reads somethin' else."
"Well Hermis, what does it say?" Faluq inquired.
Hermis answered, "I've not the slightest what this means. It says chaos kin."
"A chaos kin," Yaldrat said in a reverent tone. "I read about them, but they were thought to be legends, myths. Chaos kin is the perfected state of a solar kin and a creature of purity. A balance between light and dark. The legend spoke of a blessed one to be chosen. There was a slab of gold in my castle that had a prophecy carved into it. The words spoke of a chaos kin that would rise and bring balance to the world atop the elvish peak. For nearly seven hundred years our family has attempted to achieve the chaos kin. Gelfed my son, I believe that to be you."
"Elvish peak?" I asked. "I've never heard of that."
"That's because it was renamed Galeshi's Peak," said Hermis. "Do you feel stronger, Gelfed, more powerful?" asked Yaldrat.
"It's not power, father, it feels like a connection. If I close my eyes, I can see everything that breathes, and by that I can also see what does not. There is an army over there, an army of undead," I said pointing to a large mountain in the distance.
Faluq stated, "That is Galeshi's Peak."
I was confused. "Then why is there an army of undead there?" Yaldrat answered in a hush, "Because Garrot lied."