"Ashlesh, Lord of Joy, for stealing my name and my fate, I claim your power."~ Nilah, The Joy Unbound (Whip me mommy)
With the Nilah quote I'd like to discuss something. Ashlesh is one of the ten, and his deal with Nilah takes all of her emotions expect for the one he rules over. I made the other demons his opposite because their emotions are all in a negative connotation. As in they take away the emotion (Tybaluk takes away guilt). But since joy is a positive emotion, Ashlesh makes it so that that is all Nilah can feel. A demonic action with a positive thing.
8 chapters to a 100. That is something I never imagined would happen.
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Gregori's eyes opened to the intense sunlight coming in from the windows. With a few blinks, his vision cleared as he surveyed his surroundings.
Pushing himself up, he noticed the other people in the room with him.
Children.
His children.
They all lay asleep in various positions across the room. Annie, Daisy, Faye and Daani slept with their heads on the bed, their bodies slumped downwards in the chairs they were sat on.
Rell sat asleep with her back against the farthest wall. Briar lay asleep spread eagled on the floor next to her. And Sydell was asleep against the foot of his bed.
A room that definitely was not in the house they lived in. The vials of colored liquids in shelves suggested that he might be in a medical environment.
But instead of over analyzing, he moved his hands over the heads of the children sleeping with their heads on the bed.
Faye being the closest shot up from her sleep. A quick fearful look around later, she jumped into his arms with tears in her eyes.
"Daddy!"
His arms closed around her as he rubbed her hair and soothed her.
The shout woke up everyone else and that had all the other children jump up at him. Gregori grabbed each one and gave them tight hugs.
Tears ran through their eyes as they looked at their father.
"Ooff.." Gregori grunted as Briar launched herself at him, sending two of the children down in the process.
But he did not let her fall off, holding her tight he spotted Rell slowly making her way to him.
Gregori nodded at her and opened one arm so she could join in. After a brief moment of hesitation, Rell gave him her very first voluntary hug.
After a few moments of minutes of Gregori reassuring the kids, they all got around him and looked at him, some in tears and some in respect.
"You told you would be fine..." Annie whined.
Gregori gave her a smile, "I am fine, aren't I?"
The kids all shook their head. "You were unconscious for a whole day." Rell stated.
"Only a day?" Gregori seemed surprised. He had truly expected to wake up and learn that a week or so had passed but that wasn't the case. A singe day was completely fine. But something felt off.
He frowned as he swung himself out of the bed. Standing up, he stretched and flexed his body.
Something WAS off.
He wasn't tired. Rather he felt energetic.
He shouldn't be feeling this way. Not after losing a lot of blood and being through the fight. It made no sense for him to be up and about.
Looking down at the axe wound to his side, he expected to see a single light scar running down the length of the wound. And only that tiny scar. That was all that remained of the wound that threatened his life.
Craning his neck, he observed other parts of his body he was sure to have gotten wounds but all of them were in a similar state.
Light scars.
As if it was just a simple cut.
The door to the room opened up and an old woman walked in. Gregori recognized her. Greta. The woman who had woken Daisy up. They hadn't interacted past that moment but he did view her positively.
"You are up." She commented dryly. "You are free to leave. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, completely and perfectly healed." She stated and waved him off.
"How did you heal my wounds?" Gregori asked her.
Greta turned and reached for some vials. "I did not do much other than help your body heal faster. You did the rest." With a turn of her head, she regarded Gregori, "The use of magic to pull your wounds closed was very ingenious and a testament to your control."
Ah.
That split second decision Gregori had made while being half awake. That had saved him. He was the cause of his own healing.
"Though the next time you lose a lot of blood.... it would be better for you to be here. Or near any Spirit Walker. The spirits are interested in you. Very interested. They would force the Spirit Walker to increase your natural healing capabilities. That is why you feel completely fine in the span of a single day and night." She shook a vial with crimson liquid and stared into it as the particles inside settled.
She walked toward him, her cane pushing the children out of her way. Looking up at him, she held out the vial, "Drink it before sleeping and you should be good to go."
Gregori received the vial and looked around for his clothing.
"What are you looking for?" Greta asked him.
"Clothes."
"That big lug brought you here like that.'
Big lug? Gregori could only expect him to be Braum. That man was massive even among the Freljordians.
"And get these kids out of here. They have been clambering over your body for over a night. I was of half a mind to tell them you would never recover, just to get them to stop." Greta spoke while squinting at the kids.
Gregori frowned at her words. Why was she being so standoffish? To children? But it seemed harmless enough if the looks from the children were any indication.
They squinted back at her with ferocity. And she sneered in response.
Like children the back and forth between them commenced.
"Thank you." Gregori thanked the woman. only to get waved off.
Greta told him, "It wasn't my choice to save you. You did everything yourself. I just..... made it faster. That decision stopped them from yelling. That is all. Now." She pointed toward the exit. "Leave."
Raising his hands to placate the old woman, Gregori ushered his group of kids outside and the group made their way back to their home.
"Let the Warmother know about your waking." She called out as they left, not waiting for a response.
"So....." He started, trying to bring about idle conversation. "What did they tell you about the battle?"
He had known that the kids were somewhat informed of the situation since a few of them had looked at him with reverence. Not the kind that you would see in children but the kind when you see a superior.
Both the boys and Rell had looked at him in that manner.
The only way that was possible was if they knew about his actions of the previous day.
Contrary to his expectations, Briar was the one to speak. With her hands behind her back, she looked up at him, "The tribespeople all told us about how you stopped an entire army alone." She said these words as if they were nothing.
"Is that all?" Gregori replied as if it was nothing big.
The nonchalance in their behavior infuriated Sydell, making him interrupt, "They told us that you took out two of their strongest as well! Two Iceborn!" His excitement shone through as he waved his hands explaining. "ALONE!" He exclaimed.
"Yes." Gregori replied calmly.
"Cool!" Daani said on the side.
Gregori gave him a confused look. "Cool?"
"Yeah." He started with his tail waving, "I have a strong father."
A fact.
Gregori nodded.
"WE have a strong father." Faye corrected while frowning at Daani.
"Yes." Gregori nodded. "Yes you do."
"So what did you do?" Rell asked. "How did you beat them? The tribesmen told us that they had come at the end of the battle."
"Ah." Gregori said, understanding that the group did not witness the fight before hand. "Well, they sent one Iceborn to stop me first. I took him out and then they all attacked."
Shining eyes stared at him with their full attention.
"I had already set traps in the battlefield and used that to my advantage." Gregori explained as quickly as possible, choosing to omit detail that the children need not hear. "Then finally I used my magic to scatter them all away from me. When I did that they got scared. Fear changes the flow of battle. Not to mention the army consisted of two groups who weren't used to each other. That made it easy for me to bait them into attacking each other. But I didn't come out unscathed. It is impossible to come out unhurt in that situation. You see why so many people have scars right? Do not underestimate any enemy." He warned the children while trying to shove the thoughts that called him a hypocrite for underestimating a Darkin.
The kids nodded with their utmost attention.
"After a while they watched me get tired and their strongest Iceborn came to fight me. I beat him and then I collapsed as the reinforcements arrived." Gregori finished. "And that is it."
"WOW!"
"WOAH!"
Sydell, Daani and Daisy seemed to be entranced in the story while Annie and Faye just frowned. Rell looked forward, her face expressionless while Briar led the group with a wide innocent smile.
"Why are you two frowning?" He asked them.
Annie spoke up, "You could have not come back."
"Yes. But I did."
"That is not what I mean daddy." Annie retorted.
Faye spoke, "We were so scared. All of us."
Gregori stayed silent for a moment before replying, "I'm sorry for scaring you. And I'm sorry for leaving you guys behind. But I would do it al over again if I could keep you all safe. It is my responsibility as a father. Regardless of what happens that will not change."
The children didn't speak a word but his words had left them feeling warm inside. A warmth most of them were starving for.
Without a word, Annie grabbed his hand clutched in her other hand was Tibbers. Faye grabbed the other hand and pushed herself close to him.
The rest of the children also moved closer to him as if on instinct.
Rell maintained her distance but did so after forcing herself but Briar just hopped forward without a single thought passing through her mind.