Killian's Camp in the Deep Wilds

[Firdan_Corca]

Robrek had taken every caution, encouragement, and care Ayuna spoke and impressed upon his heart with him when he had gone to Killian. In just what had remained of the day and the night and the morning following Robrek had seen so much more of his father and his struggles than he had ever anticipated. Killian's other living son had come to see him in a terrible and desperate state Robrek had witnessed. To have met his brother for the first time and in such a wretched state was heartbreaking. And yet there was so much about his elder brother that was so wonderful despite how broken he was Robrek came to find to out.

Though Killian felt at fault, Aneiren's benignly twisted state was not their father's doing. When Killian had been recovering from a transient death which had held him in a hiatus for a long duration, someone had murdered his wife and abducted Aneiren, tried to enslave him but found him resistant so marked him and tried to break him with enough success to hold him so long as his cruel torments were sustained. His path to freedom had been a long and grueling one spanning many thousands of years. When the Morning Star had returned from a long stint on earth to discover what had been happening to Aneiren all the while he was awol from Acheron, he took Aneiren from his master, freed him, let him recover then set him loose to wander Acheron. He was able to leave Acheron at length and fell under the influence of a girl on Morashtar who was the acolyte of his former master no less and only following those ordeals and through them was he finally reunited with his father Killian, who gave Aneiren to the eternal flame to restore him to his former state, just before the Abyss took Killian with his maker. The son of chaos had truly been at the mercy of chaos for far too long.
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Killian had fought every malign temptation his own son's actions and the abyssal influence in him had vied to muster in him to further corrupt his son, but Killian loved Aneiren, a love the terrible ichor pulling at his will tried to twist, but Killian buried those miscreant impulses and temptations to offer sound counsel and set his son on the path he needed to be on with promises of support and advocacy Robrek chimed in to offer his aid in. Killian appreciated the offer but didn't trust that Robrek could deal with Aneiren's level or type of corruption. Indeed he forbid Rob to ever spend too much time alone with Aneiren until he could get him through his plight. Robrek had agreed to keep his distance until that time, though he found Aneiren to be a very kind, thoughtful and seemingly a very good fellow. He liked his brother a great deal. But he had witnessed what had occurred between them and understood. Aneiren was very unwell and needed time to get through his emotional distress

Only when Aneiren had retired for the night to return home to Durasgard did Killian share Aneiren's history with Robrek so he would know why his brother was the way he was. It was a heartbreaking tale but Robrek wanted to know everything so he could truly understand his brother but also gain insight into how some of Acheron's demons operated. No matter how painful the details were to hear Robrek needed to know about them. "I need to understand, father... why was it so important to the demoness who claimed him to control him? Why would she even dare trespass on your son? Why ruin him like that?" it just made no sense to him.

"Don't try to make sense of what demons do, Aneiren. As for control... He was powerful and good and to hold him she had to have power over him, but Aneiren is like me, a devil of mazes, and that makes him very slippery and hard to hold against his will. Love is what holds him to me and to Durasgard. I must find him a suitable mate though. I MUST find him a mate."

"He is beautiful. He is intelligent, good, witty and adventurous. It shouldn't be difficult to find him a mate." Robrek felt.

Killian wished that were true and stabbed at the campfire then it occurred to him that he could just create the perfect mate for him. A male sephiroth would do nicely. Aneiren had been ill used by females and desired male companionship now. A Sephiroth could still provide him with children and he knew Aneiren wanted children. He smiled.

Robrek noticed the satisfied smile expressed by his father. "You have an idea?" he guessed right.

"Aye. The perfect solution. I will create a Sephiroth mate for him," he shared.

"You... you can do that?" Killian nodded. "But what if they don't... spark?" he asked next.

"Then there will be another Sephiroth in the world and I will try again and again if necessary. But I really doubt it will come to that. The soul I infuse the sephiroth with will be his perfect soul mate."

Robrek shuddered. "Is the act of genesis so easy for you?"

"Easy?" Killian came around from his own thoughts to pierce Robrek with his glacier eyes. "Gods no, it's not easy. I must reach into the eternal flame of creation and there pour my will and spirit all my efforts into every molecule of a life's making, into every cell, into every element in that being to shape them into a fully formed and functioning being of my choosing." he explained in a more or less metaphorical tense.

"So how many beings are created verses those
which evolved and were born?" Robrek asked, very curious about the subject which both disturbed and fascinated him.

"Well chaos creates in various ways; through the universe, through us, the elements and the eternal flame. There are entire worlds filled with life that were belched up from the flame of creation or from the elemental cathexis of chaos at the bidding of those few who have access to such forces. But those worlds are few compared to the many created through the chaotic events of the universe. One has only to look to their own world to see the cyclicic balances and checks of chaos at work, it's creative forces. Everything is constantly interacting on immeasurable levels in as many ways in seeming havoc to fall into a revolutionary balance. There is a rotation in the universe that affects all things that is the balance chaos achieves. There is a cycle within each and every thing living and material that is affected by the cycles surrounding them. These cycles can fall out of balance, disrupting their rhythm which can result in decline or even in changes that spur adaptation and evolution. Chaos grants me all the tools I need to create life and material things alike.But to answer your question, the universe creates far more lives than all the genomancers in the universe put together do."

Robrek smiled. His father was truly in his element speaking of such things and it more deeply ingrained in Robrek the philosophies of chaos and it's great cycle which he adhered to. Listening to Killian speak of chaos and creation was like hearing of swimming from the mouth of a fish.

Killian seemed much better to Robrek and he suspected that what Killian needed to purge himself of that darkness within him was peace an quiet. His father seemed to know that too by the place he had chosen to set up his camp.

"You and Aneiren spoke of your Kingdom Durasgard. Might I visit it one day?" he asked.

Killian pointed north over his shoulder. "Head into the forest north of here and keep going north and you will enter a forest where the trees grow much taller and the open ground beneath them more lush. That is the Unsung Wood, the first ring of my domain. Then cross the Wreath of Tears, a bang of springs and their tributaries, then cross Gormand's Break, a berry thicket, and then traverse The Garden, a cultivated meadow and orchard, hence you shall meet the great wall of the Tangled Weald, a labyrinth of impenetrable trees and vines all woven together. You will find the Tangle open to you however. You will have no need to navigate the labyrinth but will meet an open path that will carry you straight to Durasgard's Heart, the great woodland at the heart of my kingdom. My Hamlet, Cair Dur lies at the center of my domain's heart."

"From here on horseback it takes three days to reach the Hamlet at a steady pace. A week on steadfast foot. If you wish to travel there quickly however, take this." and he reached into his pocket to extract a ring which he held out to Robrek. "Twist it three times around your finger and a conduit to my realm will appear," he instructed as Robrek took it.

Robrek smiled and slipped the ring onto his finger. It had looked too big but as he put it on it had shrunk to fit him perfectly. It was a beautiful platinum ring etched with Celtic knots set with a rainbow spectrum opal cabochon. "Thank you so much, Father. It's beautiful. I would love to ride there soon though to take in all the scenery."

Killian returned a smile. "I thought you might. Well I .must say I am almost ready to bed down. Will you stay the night?" he invited.

Robrek nodded. "I would like that, father." he smiled brightly.

"There is one last thing I'd like to discuss with you, Robrek," Killian alluded as he dug an extra bedroll out for Robrek. "I would like to mark you as I did Firdan for your protection. It will prevent any other from forcibly claiming you. If a time comes when you wish to be claimed by another, we can discuss it." He proposed and hurled the bedroll at Robrek who caught it.

"But someone could still try to enslave me... as they tried to with Aneiren, is that right?" Robrek had gathered.

"Yes, but that only happened because I never marked him and was in a transition between life and death. Had I been present I would have felt the attacks on him and his mother and put a stop to it. He never would have been captured even unmarked by me. Had I placed my seal on him he never would have been forcibly sired and marked by another either."

"This is a matter of trust, Robrek. Do you trust me not to abuse the mark I place on you, not to ever force you to anything unless it's to save your life, never to spy on you unless I feel something in you is gravely wrong?" he asked his son.

"I... I would trust you but... there is a darkness me and Ayuna have been feeling in you, a terrible year of corruption..."

Killian nodded. "Yes, it is abyssal residue. In trying to corrupt my Lord after his holistic merger, some of his loyalists thought to undo the reunification for his own good out of their misplaced misanthropy. He was together with his five proxy which included me, and cast into the very depths of the abyss which we had not seen since we were first cast out of paradise and into the abyss. All things dark and heavy are pulled into the abyss and most things are pulverized by its crushing black pressure and fed into its void. If one survives the abyss long enough a black residue formed by all the most forsaken of all souls it has consumed seeps inside of you. It is potently corruptive but once you leave the abyss it degrades over time and can be purged altogether given you refrain from feeding it and giving more life back to it than it loses..Yesterday was a necessary set back. It won't get the better of me, Robrek, don't worry. I will purge it."

"But life is unpredictable. You can't know what will happen to trigger it next. It was frighteningly strong in you yesterday. You mustn't allow anyone to influence you to do anything that can fuel it again, My Lord. You MUST rest and remain at peace until it is gone from you!" Robrek implored him passionately.

Killian smiled warmly at Robrek and reached across to cuff his shoulder with affection. "I'll make a deal with you. Permit me to mark you and I give you my solemn word to remain perfectly serene. I will call on allies to take my place if I am needed. I may even call upon you if I need word delivered to someone. What do say?"

Robrek held his gaze until he felt certain his father was sincere and not under the influence of the evil ichor in him. "Alright, father. You may place your personal mark on me. I refuse Acheron's Mark though. I will not have it."

"Nor do I wish you to have it, Robrek," Killian promised him then got up to move in closer to him then take his bedroll and spread it out by the fire. He encouraged him gently to lay down. "This mark will infuse every part of your embodiment, flesh to muscle, to innards to bone to soul. It is a simple albeit very painful process and as I abhor the idea of causing you agony, I will place you in a state of deep rest where you will feel no pain."

"I don't fear pain, father," Robrek said softly.

Killian smiled at his courage. His mother really did have her son all wrong. "I'll not have you feel it all the same," Killian would not submit on that point and pressed his hand to his brow. Not long after Robrek's eyes grew heavy then closed. Killian then moved his hand to chest and closed his eyes as he poured binding energies into his son which imbedded through every nuance of him until the flesh of his left breast just above his nipple beneath Killian's palm began to bubble and glow until his seal formed, a Celtic cross knot at the center ringed by a wolf chasing and eating its own tail also formed by Celtic knots, a wolf ouroboros. Killian removed his hand from Robrek's chest and blew a light breath on the mark as it was still forming as if cooling it and the luminous blue light its design glowed with faded until just indigo markings like a tattoo remained. Killian had not hidden his mark for ages. If Killian ever tapped into the power of his mark it would glow with the same ethereal blue light.

Killian covered Robrek up with warm furs and left him to bed down and get some sleep. The following morning Killian made breakfast and Robrek made the coffee. His father had an old fashioned coffee grinder that worked beautifully and a percolator suited perfectly to camp life. The breakfast Killian made was delicious! And he enjoyed the coffee Rob brewed just right. There in the wilderness valley surrounded by mountains father and son spent the day together, walking along the forest paths as they spoke of the lives they'd had apart and then of the future they hoped to have together. Robrek did not once sense the malevolent presence in his father. He was at peace. Robrek left his father that evening after a hearty supper of venison and wild vegetables his father had made taste like a five star restaurant meal. When it was time to go, Killian embraced him then sent him on his way.