The Power of Ten

What Legion said next threw me for a moment. “Would you like to meet your grandchildren?”

I couldn’t blink, but I did in my head. “My wah?” I replied, startled, adjusting my dark glasses reflexively.

“Could not Our Lady be considered your daughter in soul?” I opened my mouth, closed it, and thought about that. It was not a topic I’d taken too seriously. I considered them more clones, but legally clones were considered children, too, as they had a progenitor.

“I suppose? Although I’m not sure how you’d explain that to the children...”

“You are her instructor.” They held out a hand, and I grasped it without having to think. “Shadow us.”

They wings snapped out and dragged me away effortlessly as I just stood there on the air, very impressed at their speed. It took literally seconds to exit the area of the Interdiction, and then they Teleported away.

------

Hooking into the Teleport and coming along with them was simplicity itself, and I tagged along as we zipped around the world, the spell flitting along above a Lived-Line on the water and depositing us in Glendalough, Ireland.

It was hill country, replete with green forests, on the shores of a pristine lake. We arrived down the road from a walled estate of some size, tucked back into the trees, and with an Interdiction that did not allow us to materialize any closer.

There weren’t any sapients around in range save for the estate itself, which also seemed to be ringed by a Stillflight field, one hollowed out within the walls of the estate itself.

Thus, we both walked up to the gates with our respective lightfoot Techniques shuttling us along without changing our gaits, their every hooved step like a high-heeled, long-legged model on a catwalk: effortless, graceful, poised, powerful, and dangerous.

“You have the most eclectic set of Racial mixes I’ve ever seen,” I had to admit. “How did you do it?”

“We have a Hungry Kiss Pact, and they were all Pact Patrons. We Consumed them all.”

My eyebrows headed for my lack of a hairline. And they had kept a Heavenbound Pact? “A celestial?” I had to ask, and the Aura I had noticed swelled instantly to full and daunting Heavenly strength.

“Fallen devas accompanying the titan who had lured them from Heaven. They were given leave to grant Warlocks her Goldfinger Pact.”

There was no mistaking the irritation in their voice, but I supposed that made sense. “And so, you did not have to release them.”

“That is correct,” they confirmed. “Nor does he wish to be released. His priorities have changed once again.”

Their tails swished suggestively, and I coughed. “Can’t imagine why. And the titan?”

“I Was Consumed As Well.”

That was definitely a woman’s voice, definitely annoyed, and definitely very strong without being overly loud.

I found myself revising a few things about Warlock Legion. Revising them up! “You may color me impressed, Lady Titan. To whom am I speaking?”

“I Am Auruma, The Titan Of Gold.” She seemed pleased with my courtesy. “You Seem To Be Almost As Startled As Was I, Master Aelryinth.”

“What’d they do, take away your Maul and brain you with it?” I asked fatalistically, and they sighed like someone much, much larger.

“They Are Unseemly Strong,” the titan admitted with a sigh. “There Are Many Gods Who Are Not So Powerful.”

“Forgive me for noticing, but there’s not much gold on them, Lady Auruma,” I pointed out. As in, a Diadem of sorts interlaced along their frill and horns, and one Ring.

“They Do Not Value My Titan Gift, Beyond Seeking Out Precious Metal To Sell For Minor Funds.” She was annoyed, haughty, accusing, disappointed, and confused about that.

“Mmm. And, I have to wonder, what would bring a Titan down to this world, of all places?”

“Ah.” The one word held So Much Greed. “The Tear of Guiogg. It holds more nihaltin than a dozen worlds combined, and that is only one of the gold-types it has!”

E-Void Gold?! “Impressive.” Beat. “And so you learned of it, got lured out, and Consumed.”

Given the nature of things, I was pretty sure a certain Silver Someone had made an off-handed move, to punish her for Tempting two angels successfully.

Legion gestured, and I understood the titan was done. “I imagine Refining a titan would be difficult?” I asked, understanding why they’d let her speak.

“We will not be able to do it until we are Eternal,” they confirmed as they reached the gate. Multi-hued Wrath crackled over it, and it opened inwards. Seconds after we passed it, it closed silently. “We initially intended to drive for Twenty-One in Melee, but we were distracted after reaching Fifteen,” they admitted.

“Ran out of Skill Ranks, eh?” I asked knowingly.

“Yes,” they admitted calmly. “If we wish all of us to access the Skills, they must be based on our Core Levels, not our side ones. We can reach twenty-one Ranks, and thus we are falling behind.”

“A horrible problem so many people wish they had,” I consoled them.

“And a massive Karmic Sink.”

“That is so true!” I agreed, as we walked up the very picturesque drive. It looked like it saw next to no driving traffic, crushed white stone attended to with a magical touch by devoted gardeners.

The house itself was a rambling, very large mansion, with no doubt dozens of rooms... and there were extensive spaces below ground, too. It was in far better shape than the ivy growing upon it would indicate... the plants were part of the defenses, not a weakness.

We were walking up right towards the main doors, having seen no one else yet. I could feel /tellepathy around, so I knew that wasn’t true, and when they crashed open, I was rewarded.

I stared as an entire classroom of darling little halvyri in a kaleidoscope of summer dresses came pouring out eagerly. “MOMMAS!” they all squealed together, and Legion smiled again, another sun rising over Ireland.

Everything came out. Six arms, four great butterfly-patterned wings, nine furry tails. Telekinetic fingers were whisking here and there, and I could see vestiges of images that probably looked utterly real to the little girls, as each of them there could see their own mother and feel them, even as they hopped onto Legion fearlessly.

Okay, that was quite a sight, seeing all twenty of those little girls being lifted up weightlessly on all those limbs, one on her shoulders finishing it all off. All of them were chattering and speaking and responding as if deep in excited conversation, clearly chatting away happily with Legion as they were being carried effortlessly back inside through a doorway actually wide enough to admit all of them.

Eight of them had raven-black hair, three each had flaming red, sun gold, and shining white. There was one pink, one azure, and one in lavender.

Halvyri grandkinds, go wonder...

All of them were cute as buttons, and arrayed around Legion like that, it was like a peacock display of motherhood.

They were all the same age, and they were all half-sisters sharing the same halvyri mother. Different humans on the other side... who all tinged off of Legion.

They all had magic, too.

Legion swept through the much-loved, much-cleaned, and quite spacious interior of the house, nodding at several maids of human, halvyr, and hyn origins as they did, all of whom gave me respectful bows as I entered, doubtless being told ahead of time that I was an honored guest.

We swept out through glass doors that pulled apart at their approach, out into a very green back yard with a pool and trampoline and hedge maze and climbable trees and rocks and swings and other things, all waiting for the children.

The excited conversations the children were having had not stopped for a moment, and a Disk slid out of Legion’s Masspack from under their hair, becoming a comfortable seat for them as they sat down effortlessly, a picture of elegance, and continued all those conversations with the little girls.

And then, they all seemed to finish up at once. Everyone hopped off, the pink-haired girl riding their shoulders tumbling straight off backwards and hitting the ground safely, and they all charged off with squeals of delight towards the hedge maze, bouncing along like moving flowers.

Legion leaned back on their Disk chair, definitely looking like a Grandmaster Warlock with all the bells and whistles, a contented smile on their face, their arcing tails and half-poised wings forming a very impressive backstop.

“We tend to be in and out quickly, given the nature of our duties as a Warlock Grandmaster,” they informed me. “But they are all Marked, so we can talk to them, see out their eyes, and be with them even if we are not here physically.”

I noted their voice was down to exactly twenty subvocals. “That is extraordinary,” I acknowledged. “And not your only collection of children, I’d wager?”

They favored us with another smile. “Oh? And how did you deduce that?”

“You have thousands of subvocals, and you’re what, seven months along right now?”

They chuckled softly. “So perceptive, although that is unsurprising.” They stretched out slightly, working a torso all serpentine perfection that did not look pregnant in the slightest. “Yes, this is our fourth set of children,” they acknowledged, tapping that riveting belly. “Plus we have hundreds of children north in Sweden, the surviving haror from the drow cities we emptied out.”

I thought about that, the thousands of voices, and their appearance. “I see.” All of them able to talk to their parent at any time, all the time, even if they weren’t there. “Is there a story behind this?”

“A great number of us did not have children before we were Consumed by Hellbound Warlocks. Now that we can, we naturally want to do so. It merely remains to find another parent and make it so.”

“And you definitely have the wealth to make it happen.” Pretty much a given now.

“Yes. Also, the other parents tend to be wealthy, unsurprisingly.” Her Masked glance at me was quite composed about it all.

“Go on. I know you want to tell me about them,” I encouraged them, and they grinned a smile of many mothers again.

“Traveler is of course their mother. Our second mates were the King and Queen of Ireland.”

I thought those words over. “I sense a second story?” I had to ask.

They nodded again approvingly. “Yes. As part of their agreement, Lord Mick would first be King of Ireland, and Lady Amaretta would later be Queen of Russia. However, their children would be born of Russian soil.”

I thought about that. “And they both decided they wanted a way around their agreement, and you gave them one.”

“Yes. They are Blooded. We gave him ten sons born on Irish soil, and her ten daughters.”

If I had eyes, I would have rolled them at their very smug smile. “Amana watch over you,” I breathed. “The third set?”

“It turns out that Traveler’s oldest sister had no children, and she was quite overcome seeing all these children of Morningdark’s. Her other surviving sister, the Queen of Europa, was likewise. The Morningsun estate is now overrun with more halvyri toddlers.”

I had to cough to cover my laughter. Talk about baby-making! “And this next batch?” I inclined my head at That Belly.

“The fathers are all Void Brothers, and wanted children with magical ability. I asked them if dark halvyr, harvyri, were acceptable, they agreed it was fine, and therein followed a number of pleasant, active evenings for us.”