B F Worlds - We were dancing on a volcano: bloodlines and fault lines of a star-crossed Atlanta family, 1849-1989

BLOODLINES

Copyright 2019 by BF Worlds. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

CREATION

Chapter 1

The beginning of the world is steeped in mystery.

A select few knew the truth but their accounts have been distorted by time and bias. Some sought to bury the knowledge with blood and lies. Still, it persisted, passed down through the generations, whispered in the bright light of day when no malignant shadows might overhear.

Long ago, in a time before time, the universe, our universe, did not exist.

However, there was Harmony.

Much is debated about this place, as no being had ever seen it before. Some thought that it was a physical place that could be reached after traveling near unfathomable distances between the stars. Some believed it existed on a separate plane parallel, or perhaps above, our own. To others, it existed within their wildest dreams and most fervent hopes.

Countless claims have been made about this mythical place. The stories could fill a thousand pages, the arguments for and against them a thousand more. Only three details remain constant; every element of this place existed in complete balance, it was inhabited by beings of unimaginable strength, and it faced a great threat.

These facts contradict themselves. When it is said that everything in Harmony existed in complete order, it means that everything happened as it should. The many cycles that powered life functioned without pause or fluctuation. There were no aberrations, mutations, or freak events of nature. Events happened on a schedule as predictable as the ticking of a clock. If one did not look closely, it would seem as if the world did not move at all. A snapshot in time. The closest thing to perfection imaginable.

And this place was inhabited by perfect beings. Creatures that understood the world and their role in it. They garnered their strength from that knowledge as it allowed them to manipulate their surroundings in a way that only someone who understands something in its entirety can. If their power had to be described with words, one could say they wielded Truth.

So, the question would be what could threaten a perfect world inhabited by such powerful beings? The answer is something stronger than even truth. A force that cannot be understood, even as it pushes against all things in existence.

Change.

Where there is order, chaos eventually gains a foothold. Such is the way it is for all things. The inhabitants of the stale paradise felt it pressing against their home. It manifested in small things. While no one knew what Harmony looked like, for the sake of explaining this history, it was imagined that the inhabitants of Harmony lived on a world like ours so metaphors could be drawn to explain the signs they witnessed.

Seasons lasted too long or stopped too short. Abnormal weather patterns caused rampant destruction. Life went mad, the animals and organisms tearing themselves apart with abandon.

Something had to be done.

The most powerful inhabitants of the realm came together with a plan. They gathered up the chaos pushing against their home and shaped it into a physical thing. These they named seeds of chaos.

As the seeds craved and clung to things in existence, the only way for them to be carried was for the beings to hold the chaos within themselves. Then they moved far, far away until the only thing that surrounded them was darkness.

Here, in this empty space void of even dust, they stopped. During their travel, they could feel the seeds doing their work, corrupting their nature. The beings knew that they could not separate from the chaos and they could not bring it back with them.

Left with no other choice and fearing what they would become if they allowed the seeds influence to go unchecked, they tore themselves apart and flung the pieces to every corner of the universe. Their bodies became planets and their minds fiercely burning stars. The pieces of their hearts became another race containing a fraction of their power. They left this new life, their first children, with two edicts.

One, to keep the seeds of chaos at bay. They hoped that opposing chaos would delay its eventual return to their home.

And two, never interfere. As all things in existence would eventually be corrupted by change, the more the new race interacted with creation, the more susceptible they would be to this influence. They were to remain silent guardians.

This new race would one day be named the higher fae.

Their creators, the true fae.

THE CORRUPTION OF THE FAE

Chapter 2

The higher fae possessed immortal bodies. That is not to say that they do not have weaknesses or shortcomings. They required the basic necessities of life and though they had greater resistance to mortal perils than any animal, mundane threats could harm them.

A particular quirk they all shared was an irregular sleep cycle. They remained awake and alert until the night of a full moon. Then, drowsiness overcame them. They could choose to either rest or resist the urge.

If they gave in, the higher fae did not sleep for a couple of hours. They rested for a century, or even longer depending on circumstance, in the way a bear hibernates for the winter, and always awoke on nights of a new moon.

If they forced themselves to stay awake until the full moon passed, they would remain awake until the next time it waxed. However, the longer they stayed awake, the worse the symptoms of denying rest became until it eventually began to affect their health.

During the longevity of their lives, the Earth only needed their attention for small bouts of time. And so, the higher fae developed a system. Only House Harmonic needed to be awake at all times. Four of them roamed the Earth, across the span of twenty years. When their term was done, they sought the members of their Houses who were about to awaken and the two would swap; one going out into the world, the other taking the slumbering space as their own.

Once every millennium, all the higher fae awoke at the same time and congregated, an event that would be later named The Gathering. Combining their abilities, they saw to it that the world was refreshed before its guardians returned to their slumber.

They went about their duties with minimal contact with the world, heeding the warnings of their creators. The peace lasted for millennia. But they did not exist in the perfect realm of Harmony where things can be maintained indefinitely. Change pushed against order until one day, chaos gained a foothold.

History starts with the higher fae who would later be known as Sibyl of House Harmonic. Same as the other members of his House, he spent his twenty-year tour wandering far and wide, never staying in one place too long lest he leave behind an impression on the local ecosystem.

He followed this directive but he also did one thing for himself. Sibyl developed a hobby, a fascination that helped him pass the time.

Humans.

House Harmonics abilities were meant to scan the world as a whole but Sibyl found he could narrow his focus to a smaller area or even a single being with practice.

He found that he could form connections to beings with at least some level of intelligence and those connections revealed to him the concept of individuality. Before, he thought creatures were only a single note in the greater song of the planet. He learned they, humans in particular, had their own songs, a series of overlapping vibrations that expressed who they were.