Chapter 24 – Solindae’s Blood
“Hello grandfather,” said Julian getting up to greet his grandfather. “Didn’t you get my text message?”
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“No Julian. Cell phones don’t work here anymore. I’m sure I’ve told you that. It’s good to see that you made it through the mazes. How did you get past the time-locked door?”
“Tranquil Transference.”
“That’s interesting. I hadn’t thought of that as a method of bypassing my security. My inner sanctum is not as safe as I thought it was. I don’t know of any way to safeguard against a Sim using meditation to get in. Although with that lot, it’s probably beside the point. But it’s a flaw nonetheless and very disturbing. Anyway, what brings you to Moonlight Falls during a full moon?”
“Maybe we should have that conversation when we don’t have company?” suggested Julian in a whisper.
“Oh I’m sure Elias and Alice know a lot more than you think. I believe we may all be working on the same problem – just from different angles. Perhaps if we pooled our knowledge and resources, we might even be able to find a way out of this instead of just keeping our fingers in the dyke, so to speak.”
I eavesdropped unashamedly to their conversation and I agreed with Leonidas. If we all worked together we might find a solution. But I couldn’t actually articulate that right then. I was still trying to come to grips with what Leonidas had said. I couldn’t stomach even the idea that anyone could consider using Charity, and by extension, Alice, Cassie or Jayne or the two other clones Julian found, as brood mares. They were certainly beautiful Sims and would undoubtedly produce beautiful children. Anthony and Hazel Dougherty were testimony to that, but why was this bloodline so important. As well as Alice to consider, there was also my daughter, Hope, her mother Faith and her half sister Rebekah. They all shared at least some of the same bloodline. Were they in danger of being used like that? I had to know!
“Leonidas, who wants to breed with Charity and her clones?” I asked choking back the bile that threatened to rise in my throat at the mere thought.
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Leonidas picked up one of Julian’s drinks and sipped for a few moments while he gathered his thoughts. As he and Julian sat back down opposite us, he said, “Julian hasn’t heard all of this so perhaps it’s time I opened up about the problem. But first I want your assurance that what I’m about to tell you goes no further.”
I saw Julian’s brow arch. He was clearly not comfortable with me knowing even more of the Kalamia family secrets. Alice, Julian and I all gave him our word not to divulge what we were about to hear.
Leonidas put down his glass and said. “The simple answer to your question is Myles and his ilk who aspire to be what they can never be, Great Ones. They want wives whose bloodline can help restore the power of the wizards. I know that sounds bizarre but won’t, when you understand the significance of Solindae’s bloodline to the supernatural community.
Solindae herself bore six children. Only the youngest two had Ludaine elven characteristics. None of Solindae’s children had her red hair or any magical abilities although one of her granddaughters did. Remember that Lynton and Solindae were first cousins. They shared a grandmother, Queen Ædyth of Córa who was herself a descendant from Ætlelryth, the High Priestess of the High Wizards. Many Córans revered Æthelryth, who was more widely known as the Witch Queen. By a simple twist of fate, Solindae carried the bloodline of the three most powerful female deities and supernaturals in the region. Her bloodline continues to this day.
Within two hundred years of the genocide of the Ludaine, the pure elven Ludaine race had mostly died out through intermarriage with other races. Every now and again, among the descendants of the Ludaine, a Sim is born with creamy skin, elven ears, blue eyes and pale hair. Similarly, among the descendants of Solindae and Lynton, a number of elves were born with the standard elven characteristics. Also among Solindae’s line of female descendants a few baby girls were born with Solindae’s elven skin and ears, red hair and pale green eyes. Of these, some, but not all of the elves born with Solindae’s characteristics, were elven witches.
Those elven witch descendants were deemed to have Solindae’s Blood in that they carried the three bloodlines of both Goddesses and the Witch Queen as Solindae had. They are also remarkably long lived and very powerful witches.
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One such elven witch with Solindae’s Blood, Elleanae, married Ænǣran, a pure descendant of the Alpha High Wizard, Atherton, of Córa. Elleanae gave birth to a son who was named Ælfrǣd, which incidentally, means Elf Counsel. Ælfrǣd was an exceptionally powerful wizard; much more powerful than the High Wizards of Córa had ever been. Ælfrǣd married one of his mother’s cousins who gave birth to four sons and two daughters, all of whom were as powerful as their father. By chance, all six of Ælfrǣd’s children married supernaturals producing equally powerful witches and wizards. Ælfrǣd’s descendants became known as the Great Ones. Like their famous ancestors the High Witches and Wizards of Córa, the Great Ones were regarded as the intelligentsia of the supernatural world, given to good works and scholarly accomplishments and shunning fame and fortune. The Great Ones were reclusive and generally solitary. Nowadays they are more commonly known as the Great Wizards because, quite frankly, most of them are male.
Few Great Ones ever marry and of those that do, some have married partners who were not supernatural. When that happens, their offspring will rarely have powers as exceptional as the Great Ones. Although these children have superior magical powers to normal witches and wizards, they cannot be regarded as Great Ones. As the level of their magic power is slightly lower than the ancient High Wizards of Córa, they are called simply the Master Witches or Wizards. The hierarchy of Wizardry is the Great Ones, the High Witches and Wizards, then the Master Witches and Wizards and finally normal witches and wizards.
For centuries the number of Great Ones has gradually diminished but their scholarly efforts and good works remains their main focus. There are now less than twenty Great Wizards left in the Simverse. There are so few left that many modern Sims have never heard of them, or if they have, regard them as myth.”
“I read about that,” I said.
“So you know that being conferred with the title of ‘Great One’ is the ultimate honour for witches and wizards in the Supernatural World?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ve probably read the appendices from Aleister’s Book?” I nodded. “What is not written there, is that simply being the offspring of a Great One, even one married to a supernatural, doesn’t mean that the child will become a Great One. The status of Great One is determined separately from birth and power. Only the Chosen One has the power to determine if a witch or wizard is eligible to be one of the Great Ones.
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“I read nothing about any Sim called the Chosen One,” I said. I saw that Julian looked just as puzzled as I was. Alice was listening intently. I couldn’t begin to guess just how much of this narrative she actually comprehended, but she was certainly interested in everything said.
“You won’t have read it in that particular book because that information is not general knowledge. The Chosen One is a specially trained druid or druidess from Solindae’s bloodline. Until science came along with blood samples and DNA, it took a druid or druidess steeped in supernatural lore to determine if a Sim had a particular bloodline. After the whole region containing Ludaine, Helidonn and Córa, and the other small kingdoms became subsumed into the Graeco-Roman Empire, finding an elf became very difficult. Finding an elven druid or druidess was harder still. So determining the truth of whether a Sim who was simply born with distinctive characteristics, had a specific bloodline became a matter of importance. There were many Sims who claimed to be descendants of Solindae or Ælfrǣd so it was decided that there needed to be one central resource to investigate and validate those claims.
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Among Solindae’s descendants, the story of the bloodline had been handed down from parents to children by word of mouth for generations. Among Solindae’s direct descendants was a boy, a Prince actually, named Herrindae, who was ‘called’ to become a druid. I use the word ‘called’ because the ability to become a druid is instinctive. A Sim is born with special abilities and feel a ‘calling’ to that field of endeavour. Herrindae was fortunate in that the family found an elven druidess who was willing to develop his natural abilities and instruct him in supernatural lore. Herrindae became known as the first Chosen One. The first Chosen One had the task of being the Family Chronicler, but the recording of the births, deaths and marriages was only a small part of the responsibilities.
The Chosen One has responsibilities above and beyond those of a normal Druid. It is imperative that there should always be a Chosen One in residence. So when a descendant of Solindae or Ælfrǣd who is born with supernatural powers and feel the ‘calling’ is identified, often as early as a toddler or a child, they are then trained to be the next Chosen One. The direct descendants know that with power of the bloodline came greater responsibilities. It is the duty of the Chosen One to shoulder the majority of those burdens.”
“Are you quoting Spiderman?” Julian asked.
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“What? Who?” asked Leonidas.
“Spiderman, you know Ben Parker. Created by Stan Lee. Marvel comic book guy? The line “With great power comes great responsibility” comes from Spiderman.1” Julian looked at his grandfather who looked more and more perplexed. “Oh never mind.” I suppressed the laugh I felt forming. The very idea of Leonidas understanding popular culture references was absurd.
“No. Actually I’m quoting the ancient philosophers. I think your comic book writer was referring to the views expressed by earlier philosophers that when one is endowed with something powerful, in our case, this bloodline, it’s imperative to protect it, to conserve it, to control it and to use it fairly and prudently. That is the principal role of the Chosen One.” Leonidas stops his narrative to take a few sips of his drink.
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The picture in my mind is of a guru type guy who sits on a mountain top and passes out judgements and wise sayings. I think I might have read too many comic books too.
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “The Chosen One protects the bloodline?”
“Protects the descendants is probably more accurate.”
“From what?”
“For the same reasons you keep your secrets hidden. In this case, from inappropriate use,” replied Leonidas. That floored me. How much of my secrets did Leonidas know or was that just a generalisation and not aimed at me specifically.
“Are you saying that any Sim among Solindae’s descendants can’t marry just anybody? The Chosen One can veto a marriage to protect the bloodline?” I asked.
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“Technically yes, but in practise, rarely,” Leonidas said shaking his head. “The Chosen One could intervene if there was a significant known risk, certainly. But mostly the Chosen One deals with the consequences of such events.”
“Do you mean like a Sweeper who comes in after the event and cleans up or covers up the mess?” Julian asked.
“Something like that, yes.”
I had to ask the question. “So how was it that Charity was allowed to marry a Sim like Myles Kyrios in the first place? He should have been high on the Chosen One’s list of no-go zones?”
“The Chosen One was dealing with another issue at the time and when it was discovered that Charity had married, it was too late. We did the best we could to watch over her without smothering her, but clearly we did not do enough,” Leonidas replied.
“So why didn’t the Chosen One end the marriage when it was discovered what Myles was?”
“What do you think Myles was?”
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“I told you that I thought Myles was an evil great wizard. At least, I thought he must have been a great wizard because he had the power to turn a supernatural into a dog. I’m almost certain he was evil.”
“First of all Myles was not a Great One. He did have superior magical powers because he was a descendant of one of the Great Ones. He is classed as a Master Wizard. You are right, Myles was evil, and that’s why he could never be a Great One. To be considered one of the Great Ones, a Sim must have the Good trait. Their other traits must also be positive or neutral traits. They cannot have any negative traits; and being Evil is obviously, top of the forbidden trait list. Mean Spirited, Hot-Headed, Insane, Childish, Rebellious and Unstable and a few others are also strictly forbidden.
Now if any normal Sim had a bad trait they could change it with the lifetime reward of Midlife Crisis or by using a Brain Enhancing Machine. Myles could not. The problem for Myles or other descendants of the Great Ones is that changing traits by either of those methods would have resulted in the loss of the majority of their superior magical powers. It’s a catch 22. Any witch or wizard who did change their traits would lose their superior powers and then could never ever be regarded as a Great Wizard.”
“Let me get this right. Myles was not a Great One because he was evil. If he changed his evil trait, he would lose his superior powers so he could not then be eligible to be a Great One anyway?”
“That’s correct.”
“So why force Charity to fall in love with him? What was the point? For the bloodline?”
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“Yes. The bloodline is that important. My mother, Lenore, was a descendant of Solindae’s. She was one of the red haired elven witches although she did not have all three bloodlines; only those of the Moon goddess and the Witch Queen. Lenore married Galen Kalamia, a normal fairy. My father’s mother, Zirah, was a normal fairy and his father, Æthan a master wizard. Although Æthan was a descendant of a Great One, and had the magical power of the Great Ones, he was not eligible to be a Great One himself, because of his Grumpy trait.
My parent’s firstborn, my sister Lena, has Solindae’s Blood. She is an elven witch with all three bloodlines. Lena is also one of the Great Ones through my father and grandfather. I was born a normal fairy with no special abilities.
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As you know, I married Deborah Baker, a normal human Sim. We expected our children to have a fifty-fifty chance of being either a normal fairy or a normal human Sim. Although born a fairy with no elven characteristics, as a teenager, Charity showed exceptional ability to use both fairy and witch powers. My mother watched Charity’s progress with a growing unease.
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In the recorded history of Solindae’s bloodline, the blood of the Goddesses and the Witch Queen has been handed down exclusively along the female line. My sister will pass on the bloodline to her daughters if she has daughters. She can also pass on my father’s bloodline to either daughters or sons as the powers of the Great Ones can be handed down to both genders. But something extraordinary happened. In Charity, the two powerful bloodlines of my parents somehow converged to produce a new hybrid: a normal looking fairy with witch powers, born with elven blood but no elven characteristics.
Never before has a child with part of Solindae’s Blood been born to a male descendant of Solindae’s bloodline. But Charity does not have all three bloodlines. She has the bloodlines of Solanna, the Sun Godess of the Helidonn and Æthelryth, the Witch Queen of Córa. She does not possess the blood of Elunor the Moon Goddess of the Ludaine. It is entirely possible that her offspring may have blood containing none, any or all of the bloodlines. It’s also possible that her children could become Great Ones from my father’s genes.”
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Leonidas paused momentarily in his narrative to take another sip of his drink. I pondered all this information for a moment. Some things were becoming clearer for me. For an egotistical evil wizard like Myles, who aspired to greatness that he could never obtain, the chance of fathering a child who could, must have drawn him like a moth to a flame.
Finishing his drink, Leonidas began talking again. “My youngest daughter, Faith, is simply a normal fairy. She does not possess any of the Goddesses’ or Witch Queen’s blood. Nor do any of her children thus far. Although sometimes the power of the bloodline is not apparent until the children are teenagers. But now, it must be considered possible, that Faith may produce more children or grandchildren who could have Solindae’s Blood or become eligible to be Great Ones.”
“How did Myles find out about your parent’s bloodline?”
“We don’t really know. Myles was obviously already part of the bloodline being a master wizard. Perhaps he heard of the marriage of Lenore and Galen and was searching for any of their children or their grandchildren. You only had to look at Lenore to know she had elven blood. We think Myles had been searching for a supernatural female descendant of the Great Ones to marry in the hope of producing a child who could achieve the greatness that he could not.”
My own theory precisely; but there was a major flaw in that reasoning. “But Myles and Charity didn’t have any children. He disliked children! Faith said he refused Charity’s request to try for a baby.”
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“Not exactly. Yes, Myles disliked children but that has never stopped any Sim from fathering them. The truth was Myles couldn’t touch Charity. He really was Evil. With her Good trait and Solanna’s bloodline, Myles couldn’t touch Charity for long enough without seriously hurting himself. It’s like he had his personal inventory stuffed with sunlights.”
“Sorry but you’ve lost me,” I said not understanding what he was saying.
“If an evil Sim picks up a sunlight, they would get a minor debuff and their mood would drop accordingly. Now magnify that by a thousand. Charity was like a hundred sunlights on steroids to Myles. The kisses he gave Charity to force her to fall in love with him after he gave her the love charm were about all he could manage before becoming violently ill or losing consciousness.”
“Did you know this when I spoke to you when you returned from Sim Kosmo?”
“Of course not. I did not initially believe that Myles was evil. I tried to discover his traits when they returned from their honeymoon, but every time we met I could not learn anything about him. I have the Observant lifetime reward but he was able to block me every time.”
“And that didn’t ring any alarm bells with you?”
“Not initially. I spoke more with Charity than Myles. I saw how much she loved him. He certainly acted like he was equally in love with her. Yes I was misled and unfortunately Charity was very good at hiding her pain. It was only later that I learned that Myles and Charity had never consummated their marriage.”
“What!” Holy wow! I never for one minute imagined that. “How did you find that out?” I asked incredulously.
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“Faith told me. Charity eventually confided in her after Myles left Moonlight Falls. I immediately informed the Chosen One that Myles had gone. I was advised that Myles’ father Ænnis Kyrios, had been a Great One. Myles’s powers were equal to a Great One but his traits precluded him being eligible to be one.
The Chosen One also advised me that Ænnis Kyrios was following an interesting development within his son’s marriage purely from a scholarly point of view. It seems that the more time Myles spent in Charity’s close proximity, the greater the chance that he could lose his Evil and other undesirable traits.
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Because of the strength of the Sun Goddess in Charity’s blood, and her Good trait, Myles’ Evil trait would gradually decrease to become Mean Spirited then Inappropriate then Grumpy until finally his Evil and any other negative traits would eventually become neutral traits. If Myles did manage to consummate his marriage and they stayed together, he would slowly turn into a better Sim. We believed that Myles preferred to be evil rather than take the chance of siring a Great One with Charity and that was why he left.”
I remembered that Gavin Pinkerton had said that being with Cassie had made him want to be a better Sim. Perhaps being close to Cassie had begun turning him into being one. I also wondered if Dudley had any negative trait of his own which turned into something better from his exposure to Jayne. “If Myles was turned into a better Sim because of Charity’s proximity, could he become eligible to be a Great One?”
“We don’t know. For a start he would need to acquire the Good trait to become eligible to be a Great One. I’m told that this scenario actually hasn’t happened before. There have been evil offspring of Great Ones before now but none have met with a descendant of Solindae’s who had the blood of the Sun Goddess. It’s primarily because Charity does not have the blood of the Moon Goddess, which would lessen the effects of blood the Sun Goddess; that this particular issue arises. Ænnis told Myles that his evil trait was lessening and why. The following day, Myles left Moonlight Falls.”
I had always associated Charity with a sunny personality. Now I knew why I’d made that connection. “But Myles came back with a plan,” I said. I didn’t know this for certain but Leonidas couldn’t know that.
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“Well we don’t know for certain but we think he did, yes. We think Myles came back and took Charity somewhere we can’t find her. We’ve been searching for them ever since.”
“Myles and Charity?” asked Alice. This is the first time she’s spoken since Leonidas began talking.
“Not just Myles and Charity but my wife Deborah as well. Her tombstone is missing. I took the tombstone which I thought contained Charity’s ghost to Sim Kosmo for safekeeping. As you’ve probably guessed, the ghost was not Charity. But she wasn’t a clone either. Her name is Nallǣ Zadeek. She had plastic surgery to change her face. Her DNA showed she descended from the Fairies of Byrzǣn, one of the island nations from before the time of the Graeco-Roman Empire. As far as we have been able to discern, Nallǣ died centuries ago, was resurrected recently, and subjected to plastic surgery to look like Charity. It was she who died trying to repair the broken dishwasher with no handiness skill.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Part of the information comes from Nallǣ herself who has been resurrected by the Chosen One. More information comes from records available to the Chosen One and rest from Keith who has been doing some cell biology research and analysis while he is at university.”
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“So what’s your theory on why this happened?”
“The Chosen One and I think that Nallǣ was used as a decoy to deceive us into believing that Charity had died. If Charity had gone somewhere with Myles, Faith and I would have gone with her. Myles knew this. The copy was necessary so we would believe that Charity was dead and would not follow her and Myles.” That was my own theory exactly.
“Does Faith know any of this?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not!? For Pete’s sake, Faith can’t still be left to believe that Charity is dead! That’s heartless!”
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Julian look shamefaced but Leonidas stood his ground. “Because Faith is impetuous,” sighed Leonidas. “She could wreck in three minutes what has taken us years of painstaking work to achieve.”
That’s true. Describing Faith as impetuous is putting it mildly. A cautious Faith is a contradiction in terms. “So what does the Chosen One think is happening?” I asked.
“The Chosen One thinks that Deborah has been resurrected and that she and Charity are hostages kept somewhere that our magic and resources can’t reach or can’t penetrate.”
“I wonder why Myles didn’t use a Clone Drone to make a clone of Charity. Why go to all the trouble of finding and resurrecting Nallǣ?” I asked.
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“Because Charity knew that with her bloodline she couldn’t allow that to happen.”
“What if Myles took Deborah’s tombstone and used it or a resurrected Deborah as a hostage to force Charity to submit to cloning?”
“No. Charity knew the importance of the bloodline. So does Deborah. Neither would agree to allow a clone to be made, no matter what the threat.”
I think Leonidas has underestimated the bond between those two. If he knew how much Charity had gone off the rails after her mother’s death, I don’t think he would be so sure. “So how do you explain Alice and Cassie and Jayne and two others that Julian has located?”
“Until you arrived I didn’t know about them. I don’t know what to think. Yes Alice looks exactly like Charity. And yes, even I can sense that she probably has the same combination of Solindae’s bloodline that Charity had. Perhaps even you can feel the sunshine and goodness she radiates. I will arrange a test to make sure. But I’m positively certain that Charity would never allow herself to be cloned or give a DNA sample to enable someone to clone a baby of her.”
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“Is it possible to make a clone of a Sim without their consent?” Alice asked.
“No.”
“Are you certain?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“If Charity planted a Forbidden Fruit seed the resulting PlantSim would look like her?” I said.
“Yes, but the resulting PlantSim would only look like Charity, it would not carry her bloodline even when transformed with a Potent Cure elixir or Super Spice.”
“Then we have to consider the possibility that somehow, Myles has made a clone of Charity that she did not consent to. Myles could then make multiple clones of the first clone who, because she has no memory, has no idea that she has restrictions against cloning,” I said.
“But it’s still not possible to clone a Sim without their consent,” emphasised Leonidas.
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“Grandfather, let’s put the how aside for now. We must accept that cloning has happened. Alice here is living proof and so are the two clones I found and the others Alice and Gobias have met.”
“Gobias? Is that your real name?”
“Yes. My real name is Gobias Koffi.”
“Deborah and I always wondered about you. We felt that there was something strange about you we couldn’t identify. We couldn’t find any background information about Elias Stavros. As far as the Simverse knew, no Elias Stavros fitting your age, profile and traits, existed prior to our meeting on the beach all those years ago.” He waited for me to say something. I didn’t so he continued.
“Knowing what we knew about my bloodline, Deborah and I were understandably cautious about other Sims. We consulted with the Chosen One who also could not determine who or what you were. Even though the Chosen One deemed you were not a potential threat, you were a Sim outside our scope of knowledge and experience, so that made us wary.” Again he paused and again I said nothing.
“Over time, we became less wary of you as you were not what we expected from a potential threat. You were quiet and reserved. We watched you carefully and could find no justification for our concerns. Yet they persisted. It seemed like you were always expecting something to happen. You wouldn’t commit to anything without saying something like, “If I can make it, I will. We never knew what to make of that.” Leonidas paused yet again. Of course I could never commit to joining in anything; I expected the time vortex to suck me back to Sunset Valley at any time. At my continued silence, Leonidas resumed his narrative.
“To be brutally honest, Deborah and I knew how you felt about Charity but we did not want you two in a relationship. We purposely discouraged Charity from forming any romantic attachment to you, by giving you the honorary title of ‘Uncle Elias’. In all those years you lived across the road from us, we came no closer to learning your secret.”
I felt sickened. Perhaps if I had taken Leonidas and Deborah into my confidence all those years ago, things would have turned out differently. I realised that while I had regarded him almost as a brother, I never did feel that there was enough trust between us to allow me to confide in him about my time travelling. Leonidas looked at me as if he hoped I would divulge my secret now. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
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“Where is your sister, Lena Kalamia now?” I asked. Dudley’s file mentioned that her whereabouts were unknown. Leonidas looked very disappointed that I hadn’t opened up for him. Now was really not the time. I wanted to sort my feelings out with Alice first. If things go the way I hoped, she should be the first to know.
“Can’t you guess?” asked Leonidas.
“Sim Kosmo?”
“Yes.”
“Your sister Lena is the current Chosen One.”
“Yes.”
“With all her skills and resources, why can’t she find the real Charity?”
“We’re still trying. We’ve scanned every nook and cranny in the known Simverse but we haven’t found any trace,” replied Leonidas sounding beaten.
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“Perhaps everybody is looking in the wrong places,” said Alice. “Has anybody thought about looking in plain sight? If you going to hide something, park it where others least expect to have to look hard for it, in front of their noses.” My jaw dropped. Alice continues to astonish me as she grows in confidence and perceptiveness.
“Julian you still haven’t said what was chasing you last night?” she asked.
Julian looked across at his grandfather who nodded. “The Hounds of Hell,” he replied shuddering at the memory.
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1 Ditko, S & Lee, S (1952), Amazing Fantasy #15, Marvel Comics, New York.
