Summoner 19, page 13
part #19 of Summoner Series
“I’m glad they had you, then.” I smiled. “I’m sure that helped them out more than you know.”
Knowing my parents loved each other so deeply filled me with a strong sense of happiness.
“When Genevieve became pregnant, it was a bit of a scandal,” Crystyn revealed. “A few of the Guardians made objections to the pregnancy and tried to urge your mother to reconsider. Not only was there the battle risk, but there was also the physical risk. If something went wrong and Genevieve died during childbirth, we would lose a Guardian, and we’d been hand-selected by a committee. Finding a replacement would be next to impossible.”
“No offense, but doesn’t that seem a little harsh?” I grimaced.
“It was,” Crystyn sighed, and she ran a hand through her caramel hair. “Yet for us, it was also realistic. Our Guardian duties were immensely serious. We had an entire realm to protect and needed our team to be as strong as they could. Mistral was even more of a mess back then than it is now, and we didn’t have replacements for our positions. If we lost one of our members, it would impact us greatly.”
“But obviously, my mother didn’t mind the risk,” I stated.
“Genevieve was far stronger than she was given credit for by the older mages.” Crystyn smiled. “Her pregnancy came with few complications, and even when she reached her second and third trimesters, she didn’t slow down for a second. Those of us who were more sympathetic to her choice offered to let her hang back, but Gen refused. She still managed to wield her element with an impressive amount of force.”
“My mom was an elementalist?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
Crystyn nodded. “Indeed she was. She was one of the finest fire mages Mistral has ever seen. The things she could do with flames were so tremendous they were almost artful. She was a true sight to behold.”
“Wow,” I breathed. My mother was a badass. I looked to Gawain, and the fire mage had an impressed look on his elegant face.
“I wish I’d been able to meet her,” Gawain spoke up. “I’m sure I could have learned a thing or two from her.”
“Some of the techniques taught at your Academy were invented by Gen,” Crystyn pointed out. “So, you likely already know a bit of what she was able to do.”
“That’s impressive,” I noted, and like my friend, I wished I could have been able to see my mother in action. As a summoner, elemental magic fascinated me, and I wondered if the familiar feeling I’d had while wielding my baroquer’s fire was due to my mother.
“When I saw you wield fire magic yesterday, I felt like I was seeing Genevieve all over again,” my aunt said with a mournful look that tugged at my heartstrings. “It was an amazing thing to witness, Gryff, and she would have been proud to see it herself.”
“Thank you,” I managed to say as a lump rose up into my throat. “That means a lot to hear.”
“Now, as I’ve mentioned already, once you arrived, we knew something was special about you,” Crystyn went on, and her tone grew serious as she continued her tale. “Most mages don’t come into their magic until much later in their lives, but you were different. From the moment you came into the world, it was almost as if monsters were drawn to you.”
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” I inquired as I leaned forward in my chair. “Did monsters just show up or something?”
“Everywhere we went.” The Guardian nodded. “We didn’t understand what was drawing them to us, so we began to run tests to determine what was luring them in. We divided into groups, moved locations, and yet, wherever Relaude, Genevieve, and I went, they always managed to find us. It wasn’t until later that we realized the monsters wanted nothing to do with us. They wanted you.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“We knew of the Beastmaker prophecy pretty intimately,” Crystyn continued on. “It’d been passed down to us from the previous Guardians before we even took the positions. We’d been warned to keep an eye out for anyone who displayed any of the qualities foretold, or even ones who seemed mildly suspicious.
Shit. I knew where this was going.
“A kid who attracts monsters is probably a red flag, isn’t it?” I inquired softly. “I’ve only been a father for a short amount of time, so I don’t have a lot of experience with children, but I’m sure it isn’t something that happens super often.”
“You would be correct,” Crystyn sighed, and her hazel eyes darted over to the fire. “The entire team was slightly suspicious of your aptitude. Some chalked up your premature magic to the powers your parents possessed, while others worried you were the one from the prophecy. One or two brought up the possibility that Gen’s time in the Shadowscape could have affected your development in some way, like the air may not have been the best thing for you.”
My eyebrows flew skyward at this idea, and it took everything in me to keep from flying up out of my seat. “Is that even a possibility?”
“It’s a theory.” My aunt shrugged. “I can’t speak on its validity, but it’s not something to discredit completely.”
“Is Gryff a… mutant?” Mur asked in halting Mistral to no one in particular, and I saw Varleth shoot a dark-eyed glare at the moose shapeshifter.
Crystyn fiddled with the ring on her finger, and the rest of the team looked uncomfortable to say the least.
Although he’d stated it a little fantastically, was Mur right?
Could the Shadowscape have made me a mutant?
I made a note to bring that particular factoid up to Arwyn when we returned to Mistral. The professor would be over the moon about the theory, and I knew it would be helpful information to pass along to the research team.
“So, the rest of the Guardians were afraid I was the Beastmaker,” I clarified. “Because I lured in monsters and demonstrated magic. Was that all that happened? There’s no way I’m the only person who’s ever come into magic early.”
“It’s rare, but not unheard of,” Crystyn answered as she looked back over at me. “However, it wasn’t just the magic that tipped the scales after a few years.”
“So, what did it?” I asked, and I could feel my heart race inside my chest. Crystyn was taking a while to get to the point, and my impatience grew with every second.
“Carth, actually” my aunt said. “Had it not been for her, none of this might have happened. Maker, we may have avoided everything if she’d never intervened, but unfortunately, she did.”
“How so?” I demanded.
Crystyn stood up from her chair and crossed over to the fireplace. She poked at the flames with a rod, and once she set it down again, she leaned against the wall, as if she didn’t want to face me. “One day, we were gathered at Relaude and Genevieve’s home when Carth showed up unexpectedly. The Archons had been stirring up trouble, and there was a battle on the horizon, so we were devising battle strategies over dinner. By this point, you were three years old, and Relaude and Genevieve had invited us to their house for dinner so they could remain close to you while still being involved in the plans.”
“When I spent my week with Carth, she mentioned she came to my parents’ house,” I said. “What did she want exactly? Was she trying to plead her case or something? I know this was pre-battle--”
“Oh, she wasn’t there to beg for mercy,” Crystyn interjected with a firm shake of her head. “No, Carth wasn’t the kind to beg, as I’m sure you very well know. We were in the midst of dinner when there was a knock on the door. All twelve of us had been present, so we weren’t expecting any more people to arrive. Your mother went to answer the door, and the moment she did, Carth swooped in.”
“Why would she show up to a house full of Guardians?” I wondered. “Even for Carth, that seems a little unwise.”
“Carth didn’t care about the risk,” my aunt scoffed. “She simply pushed past your mother and darted straight over to you before we could even stand up from the dinner table. Then she held a knife to your throat to keep us from attacking her.”
“That’s seriously fucked up,” Almasy interjected, and the earth mage shook his head back and forth. “Who would threaten a child?”
My hatred for Carth rose up inside my chest. I wasn’t even mad at the horned Archon for my sake, but for that of my parents. The amount of stress she must have put them through was unfathomable.
“What did she want?” I asked as I pushed down my anger.
“You,” Crystyn revealed, and she turned back to face me again with a pale face. “She claimed you were the Beastmaker, and as such, you would be the one who would save their kind. She said to relish in our victories now, but one day, you would be the one to reclaim the world for them. As soon as she made her statement, she disappeared and left us to pick up the pieces of the disaster.”
“Wow,” Varleth breathed. “That’s… intense to say the least.”
“Indeed it was, Mister Prost,” my aunt agreed with the banisher. “Needless to say, Carth’s declaration tore us apart.”
“What happened after all of that?” I wondered.
“Nothing good,” Crystyn sighed and rubbed a tired hand over her face. “Relaude and Genevieve were horrified, and they immediately began to plead their case against Carth’s claims. They swore up and down there was no possible way you could be the Beastmaker. You were just a child, for Maker’s sake. But for those who already believed something about you was amiss, there were some facts that couldn’t be ignored, the most important of which was the magic you’d already shown an aptitude for, and the way you attracted monsters. The other Guardians feared you.”
“But I was just a baby,” I protested. “How could I scare anyone?”
“They weren’t afraid of an infant,” Crystyn objected. “They feared the man you would grow up to be. The other Guardians began to attack Relaude and Genevieve and told them they were irresponsible for procreating.”
“And what did you think?” I wondered with a raised chin. “You mention my parents’ reactions, but don’t share your own. Were you afraid of me, too?”
“For honesty’s sake, I’ll admit I had my concerns,” my aunt said with downcast eyes, but after a moment, she raised them to meet mine again. “But I didn’t agree with killing you. We were working off nothing but a monster goddess’ word, and for me, that wasn’t enough to determine your fate. Furthermore, I loved you, Gryff. You were my nephew, and you meant the world to me, so I proposed a compromise. Instead of acting without evidence, I suggested we should wait and watch you closely to see which way your allegiances swayed.”
I was conflicted about how to feel about my aunt’s declaration. On the one hand, she’d advocated for me, yet there was still the question of what she would have done had I shown a different inclination.
“I’m going to guess the other Guardians weren’t too keen on that plan,” I gathered. “Not if they already believed Carth.”
Crystyn shook her head sadly. “The others didn’t want to see reason. They wanted to take action. Relaude and Genevieve refused to even entertain the idea you were the Beastmaker, but they were outnumbered. They were furious that I would even consider the notion and offer the solution I did, but I don’t regret speaking up on your behalf. It may have created some tension between us, but offering to watch you was the only way to keep you alive.”
“Is that why you’ve continued to watch me over the years?” I suddenly realized. Everything was beginning to make sense. The random appearances, the helpful anecdotes, the unhelpful ones, Crystyn’s secrecy about the matter… she was still monitoring me to make sure I wasn’t the Beastmaker.
“I was going to get to that point later, but there’s no use in putting it off,” the Guardian admitted to me. “Yes, Gryff. That’s the reason I’ve been watching you. But before we get further into it, I need to tell you the rest of the story.”
While I felt riled by this new information, I knew my aunt was right, so I took a deep breath to compose myself.
Then I nodded. “Go on.”
Crystyn also took a deep breath and then sat back down in the chair across from me. “With the upcoming battle against the Archons looming over us, we decided to wait and have a vote on how to proceed. A few of the other Guardians wanted to act straight away, but putting the Archons to rest was a stronger priority than deciding the fate of a child. So, we put the decision on hold and continued to plot taking down the Archons. Your parents’ enthusiasm increased substantially, of course. Carth had threatened their son and planted seeds of doubt within their team’s minds. They wanted her gone at any cost.”
“Can’t blame them there,” I commented. “I share those sentiments exactly.”
“The battle came and went, and when the Archons were defeated, there was no celebration, only grief,” my aunt sighed. “The damage done to our realm was terrible, and the results of the battle were nearly catastrophic. Once the final Archon was defeated, the pressure to act on Carth’s threat was tremendous. Some of the others feared that unless we killed you straight away, another battle, even larger than the one we’d just fought, was inevitable, and this time, we wouldn’t be so lucky.”
“Even after everything, they still wanted to kill me?” I asked. “I’m not saying their priorities were off, but didn’t they have more important things to deal with?”
“There was much to do, but dealing with the supposed Beastmaker straight away was the first thing on their minds,” Crystyn replied, and then she gave me a sympathetic gaze. “Of course, Relaude and Genevieve had no intention of letting you go, so instead of a civil discussion, a fight broke out between us, and it was terrible to say the least. It was your mother, your father, and I against the remaining nine Guardians.”
A pang of emotion ran through me as I pictured the fight between the Guardians. As Mistral’s strongest mages, their magic was more powerful than any others’ in the realm, and if that team was able to put all nine of the Archons to rest, I could only imagine what they could do to a mortal.
“Did my mother and father happen to survive?” I wondered, and the moment the question left my lips, I wanted to take it back. If my parents had met their demise at the hands of other Guardians, I wasn’t certain I wanted to know.
“I don’t think this is the best time to reveal that,” Crystyn whispered, and she began to twirl the obsidian ring again. There was pain on my aunt’s face, the kind that came from a traumatic situation, and even though our relationship still wasn’t the best, I didn’t want to inflict any more hurt on the woman.
Not only that, but my teammates looked fearful of the news themselves. It didn’t seem like the type of thing to force Crystyn to reveal in front of an audience.
“We can speak on it later,” I said softly. “You don’t have to tell me right now.”
“Thank you,” Crystyn replied in a grateful tone.
“So, what happened with the fight?” I inquired. “When I was a child, I arrived in a town called Njordenfalls and claimed my home had succumbed to a fire. How did I get there in the first place?”
“That’s a complicated question, but I’ll answer it as simply as I can. When the outcome of the battle became apparent, I did all I could think to do: I grabbed you and pulled you into the Shadowscape.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“I didn’t have a destination in mind,” my aunt went on. “All I knew was that I needed to get you as far away from the other Guardians as possible. Unfortunately, a pair of them showed up right behind us. I told you to run as fast as you could, and I would catch up shortly. I fought off the pair of Guardians and then grabbed you again and attempted to teleport you to another part of the Shadowscape, but…”
“But?”
“I lost you,” Crystyn revealed, and her hazel eyes filled to the brim with tears. “One moment you were holding my hand, and the next, you’d let go, and I couldn’t find you anywhere. I searched far and wide, throughout the Shadowscape and Mistral, but I just couldn’t find you.”
The weight of the realization bored down upon me. My arrival in Njordenfalls had been an accident. The only reason I’d had the life I did was because of Crystyn. If I hadn’t gotten lost, I would have remained with her.
Or, I would have died.
While I wanted to get angry about the fact that I’d been separated from my family and placed into a completely different time, there was a strong possibility I could’ve been killed if I’d stayed, so while Crystyn had manipulated the events, she’d also saved my life.
“Soon, I was forced to give up,” my aunt continued, and her voice cracked just the tiniest bit. “I didn’t think you were dead, just lost to time.”
“If I’d been lost to time, how were you able to find me again?” I wondered.
“I sensed when the Archons awakened, and when Sera bonded with you, a surge ran through my veins, alerting me to your magic,” Crystyn explained to me. “I recognized it immediately as yours, and that’s when I knew for sure you were alive after all, just in the wrong time period. I’ve been watching you ever since, trying to fulfill my duty as a Guardian,”
“Even after you went through the trouble of saving me, you still continued to watch me?” I frowned. “Why would you even bother if there was even a slice of doubt in your mind that I could be the Beastmaker?”
“I had to know for myself,” Crystyn murmured. “I… I… killed my best friends. I watched them… well… I needed to know everything I’d done was for the right reasons, and if they hadn’t been…”
“What, you were going to kill me?” I whispered.
“Truthfully, yes,” my aunt stated, and her mouth was a thin line. “It’s nothing against you, Gryff, but the prophecy foretells the Beastmaker bringing about the destruction of the world, the world I swore as a Guardian I would protect.”
My heart stalled inside my chest as I tried to calm myself down.
“Gryff, relax,” Braden urged me. “Take a breath.”
