Triple Heritage

“Your Majesty, please,” Nyx points towards a futuristic-looking bed that’s been prepared for me. It’s surrounded by numerous medical equipment whose purpose I don’t even dare to guess.

I slowly look around and gulp when I realise that more than five Divementis doctors are going to oversee the process and there are quite a few high-ranking Divementis who came just to watch. Their emotions are leaking and it’s pure curiosity. They can’t wait to find out how peculiar a Celestial-Divementis hybrid is.

“It’s so fascinating, Your Majesty!” Noage is here as well, his eagerness overflowing. “The Divementis let me explore their DNA overnight which means that I can finally assess your genes properly. Let’s uncover all the wonders of your body!”

“Noage, not helping,” Gotrid frowns and he has to trap me in his wings or I would run away. I’m on the verge of a panic attack.

I want to send my mind to Erik because feeling his presence has a calming effect on me. He’s not that far away, I could do it with a bit of effort. Something stops me, though. I finally come to a painful realisation that I rely too much on him. I mean, I’ve always known, of course. It just never hit me this hard.

With Erik gone, I still have Gotrid. I have Liana. I have all my subjects. Who does Erik have? Becoming the Royal Consort had cut him off completely from his human friends and his family. Even if he wanted to leave me, he would have to live under the constant watch of a security service. I ruined his chances for a normal life.

“Love…?” Gotrid caresses my feathers, sensing my mental struggles.

I look at him, then I look at Liana. I think about all the Celestials who rely on me. I also consider the Divementis. Whether I like it or not, I am their Crown Prince. When I think about Erik and the possibility of him leaving, my heart aches. Still, I make a resolution that whatever Erik decides in the end, I’ll support him wholeheartedly.

Once again, I need to grow and become stronger. For Erik and Gotrid. For the survival of my species, both of them. But, first and foremost, for myself. And I need to start with this damned medical examination.

I take a deep breath and gently push Gotrid away. I inspect the bed again and see that it looks comfortable enough even for a Celestial—it’s quite spacious and they didn’t forget about wing rests.

“Do I have to take off my clothes?” I ask shyly.

“No need, my Prince, our scanner has no problem going through the fabric,” Nyx shakes her head with an encouraging smile. “The only thing we need you to take off is any metal in your hair as we will be thoroughly scanning your brain.”

“Right, the maids didn’t take that into account,” Gotrid says and helps me with the hairpin.

“Try to relax, Your Majesty, it won’t hurt at all,” Nyx assures me when I lie down because I can’t stop shivering. “Your husband can hold your hand if it soothes you. We’ll take a sample of your blood first.”

Gotrid rolls up my left sleeve and I look away when one of the Divementis doctors pins a needle into my vein. It stings a little, but there’s no pain. Then the doctor puts sensors on my temples and some sort of headband.

“Now, we’ll be scanning your whole body,” Nyx tries to explain the process to me step by step. “It should take an hour during which we ask you to be as still as possible. We will try to find out which parts of your body are Celestial, which are Divementis and which are a combination of both.”

“Feel free to use your telepathy, though,” my father adds. “We’re interested in your natural brain activity. Once we’re done with the scan, Doctor Noage will take over. The Earthborn have always been best at this kind of thing.”

“We’re starting,” one of the doctors announces.

I twitch, surprised, when the doctors release tiny drones that start hovering above my body, mapping me a millimetre after a millimetre. A few minutes into the scan it becomes obvious that it’s going to take a while, so I finally relax and close my eyes.

Gotrid? I connect to my husband.

Yes, love?

Thank you for being here with me, I say simply. I want to tell you how much I appreciate that you’re always there for me. I hate that work is getting in the way of our relationship and that we don’t have much private time.

I knew what I was signing up for, hon, Gotrid assures me. I accepted that you wouldn’t belong just to me and that I would have to share you not only with Erik but with our entire race. I accepted that my role is to support you unconditionally so that you can work for the benefit of Celestials as our Emperor.

You chose that, but Erik didn’t, I say, broken-hearted. I bonded with Erik long before we knew what it meant.

Erik has the same resolve as me, Gotrid claims firmly. He’s been with you despite so many adversities. There’s no way he’s quitting now just because you turned out to be the Divementis prince and might be immortal on top.

“Astonishing brain activity,” I hear muffled whispers from the Divementis doctors who are glued to the screens just a few metres away from me.

I try not to let it stress me and decide to meditate instead. I haven’t done it for several weeks and I know that I shouldn’t underestimate my mental hygiene—now more than ever. I manage to calm down my slightly erratic breathing after a few minutes of taking steady long breaths and Gotrid’s mere presence is doing wonders as well.

“We’re done with the scan,” Nyx announces after an hour which passed relatively quickly. “Doctor Noage, can you please take over?”

I open my eyes and see Noage’s thrilled expression. I guess the Earthborn really can’t help it, they are just super excited about exploring unusual genes and I’m probably the best test subject an Earthborn could hope for.

“It will be much different this time, Your Majesty,” Noage boasts. “I know what the Divementis DNA looks like now.”

“Do your thing then,” I sigh resignedly and close my eyes again.

Having an Earthborn fully connected is the strangest thing, especially for a telepath. Not only I can feel him rummaging through my body—I can pick up his thinking process. Noage doesn’t use a verbal internal monologue much, though. He’s thinking in genetic formulas, scents and cell structures which are undecipherable for me. No wonder the Earthborn are so difficult to understand.

“Oof, o-okay,” Noage finally lets go of my arm. He surely took his sweet time, longer than the Divementis examination. “Admittedly, I’m overwhelmed and I need some time to process all the information I just gathered.”

“So do we,” Nyx says. “At least two hours for us to present the early results of the scan.”

“I guess His Highness could go for a flight now?” Advin suggests. “He’s been asking me about it in the morning.

“That’s a good idea,” my father agrees. “We have to think about the Celestial needs of my son and his entourage and not torture our allies by keeping them on the ground for too long.”

“How do we go about it?” Liana asks. “Advin mentioned that we shouldn’t fly higher than the highest building.”

“That’s right,” my father nods. “Once you fly higher than ten metres above the highest building on the premises, you risk becoming visible. That’s the scope of our cloaking device. Please, son, try to behave.”

“Emphasis on the try,” Advin comments and his mother slaps him slightly.

I jump down the bed, excited that the examination is over and I’m allowed to fly sooner than I expected. I quickly send my mind to Erik to check up on him, but it seems he and my uncle are far from being finished. Hopefully, a flight will take my mind off worrying for a short while.

*****

We quickly go back to our apartment to change into robes more suitable for flying and even though I can’t stop thinking about Erik, my wings are trembling with excitement. It’s a part of my personality that’s 100% Celestial, so I can’t help myself. I’m already spreading my wings on the balcony when I realise that my entourage is missing someone.

“Where’s Uriel?” I look around because I don’t see her anywhere. She might be a former dungeon master who conspired with the Divementis, but that’s in the past. She’s one of us now and in desperate need of exercising her atrophied wing muscles.

“Uriel feels too embarrassed to appear in front of Your Majesty,” Luviael reports. “I tried talking to her, but she wouldn’t leave her room.”

I sigh, fold my wings and decide to fetch her myself. I don’t know where she’s accommodated, but I can easily follow her telepathic presence. It’s quite interesting that I’m not particularly good at remembering people’s names, but I never forget their unique telepathic imprint. Another Divementis thing? I’ll have to ask my father about it.

It turns out that Uriel is flat-sharing with Miruel—who’s currently accompanying Erik and therefore absent—and, as expected, she’s startled when she opens the door after I knock it quite forcibly and she finds me standing there.

“Y-Your Majesty,” she bows so deeply that I’m afraid she might fall over.

“Uriel, we’re going for a flight,” I announce. “I told you that you need to strengthen your wings, why didn’t you come?”

“I… I’m not… good… I…,” she mumbles and turns red with shame.

“Of course, you wouldn’t be good if the Divementis didn’t let you fly properly,” I say matter-of-factly. “Borrow Miruel’s sporty robe if you don’t have your own and we’re taking off in ten minutes from my balcony.”

I don’t wait for her answer and head back to my apartment. For once, I don’t even think about using those ten minutes to catch up with some tasks and decide to devote this precious little time window to Gotrid.

“I could get used to that,” he purrs when I push him onto the sofa, sit on his lap and start kissing him feverishly.

“Get used to that then,” I caress his feathers and I have to sigh when I feel that someone in the room is getting super embarrassed.

“Advin, you don’t have to be with me all the time, you know,” I turn around because my cousin is stepping nervously just three metres away from the sofa.

“I have nowhere else to go,” he admits, blushing. “As your adjutant, I’m not permitted to stop working until you do.”

“I’m not working,” I set the record straight. “Go for a coffee or something, take a break. I’m sure you can do that if I’m taking a break as well.”

“That… I can,” he nods slowly. “Okay then, I’ll be in the cafeteria downstairs, but I’ll come immediately when I get notified that the results of your examination are ready.”

“Brilliant,” I appreciate and turn my attention back to Gotrid.

We keep cuddling and stop only when Uriel finally shows up. Unlike Advin, she doesn’t show any discomfort seeing us being intimate with each other. Celestials and the Divementis are total opposites when it comes to showing off affection publicly.

“Don’t worry, Uriel, I’ll be watching over you,” I assure her because I can feel that she’s super nervous. “We can’t fly too high up anyway so if you get tired, just land and rest for a while. Are you proficient with air magic? Did the Divementis let you practice spells at least?”

“Just the most basic ones that couldn’t do any harm,” she gulps and a gust of wind pushes against her feathers. I can tell that she just got goosebumps. No Celestial can possibly resist the call of the wind.

“Okay, I’ll be holding you with an air pillow then,” I offer to calm her down. “I know that it might seem scary for beginners to take off from a balcony and not from the ground, but it’s easier this way. Taking off is much harder than gliding. Once you get the air under your feathers, your wings will know what to do instinctively.”

My guards fly up first, then I spread my wings and take off as well, followed by Gotrid. Liana joins us shortly after that, taking off from her own balcony and closely followed by Soren. He surely doesn’t leave her side, does he? I wonder when my thick-headed Viceroy will finally notice Soren’s obvious intentions.

I look below and see Uriel anxiously flapping her wings, but she stays glued to the floor. I sigh, saddened. Uriel’s wing muscles are even weaker than I thought. I conjure an air pillow which helps her take off much more easily. She shrieks in horror when she drifts away from the balcony, but she trusts me, so she doesn’t panic completely.

I want to advise Uriel how to position her wings, but she does so herself in just a moment—it’s pure Celestial instinct. Her wing muscles might not be strong enough for a take-off without assistance, but gliding seems to be no problem so I gradually dissolve the air pillow until Uriel is flying only by herself. When she notices that I’m not supporting her anymore, but she’s still flying, her fear quickly changes into excitement.

“Your Majesty, no higher than that!” Vermiel shouts at me because I momentarily forgot to watch out for the height limit.

I descend and go explore the Divementis premises. The area is quite large when crossing it on foot, but not that big for someone with wings. I reach the fence in just five minutes of flying slowly. I cross the premises several times which does stretch my wings nicely, but I realise how much I long for the freedom of the whole sky.

Still, I force myself to stay strictly within the boundary so that I don’t give Advin another reason to tease me. Seeing that Uriel is getting tired, I decide to return early. We land neatly one by one back on the balcony and I help Uriel with a safe landing. It’s quite easy to sprain one’s ankle if the landing doesn’t go well.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, it was amazing!” Uriel is gasping for breath, exhausted but immensely happy.

“Don’t wait for me, train every day from now on, okay?” I order her. “Always take someone with you, though, for safety reasons. I’m sure you will be able to fly freely in a month. After that, you will focus on building your stamina.”

“As you order, my Emperor,” she bows to me, but I know that she would be training meticulously even if I didn’t tell her. Once you get the taste of the sky, you just crave more and that’s true for every Celestial.

“Your Highness,” Advin is waiting for me in the living room. “I’ve just been notified that our scientists are ready to present the results. Please, change your clothes so that we can return to the labs.”

I nervously chew my lip. Here it is.

*****

“There’s no need to be so anxious, son, really,” my father tells me when we reunite and he shows us into one of the lab meeting rooms. I quickly check Erik’s whereabouts, but he’s still with Chancellor Sythara. It’s been hours, what on Earth is he discussing with my uncle?

“Let me present you our findings,” Noage takes the spotlight when we sit down around a table and Nyx activates a projection screen. “First of all, and that’s not surprising because we pretty much anticipated it, His Majesty’s overall build is mostly Celestial because his body needs to be light for flying. That entails hollow bones, lungs with more capacity and other related things.”

“You said mostly,” I clutch my stomach.

“Well,” Noage sighs, “I’m afraid your digestive system took the heaviest toll of hybridisation and, as a result, is the most chaotic combination of genes in your entire body, Your Majesty. You inherited a rather small Divementis stomach but Celestial dietary requirements. A Celestial metabolism is much faster and even though the Divementis brain takes 10% more calories than the Celestial one, we have to take into account magic casting and flying which are both extremely energy demanding.”

“Meaning?” Liana frowns.

“Meaning His Majesty should eat a lot, but he can’t,“ Noage just says it plainly because there’s no sugarcoating it anyway. “I’m sorry to say that His Majesty won’t ever be able to put on weight. It’s physiologically impossible for him.”

“B-but what if we feed him nutritionally rich food instead?” Liana suggests desperately.

“That would prevent him losing weight, but not him put on weight, at least not significantly,” Noage shakes his head. “If we keep overstuffing His Majesty, we will just upset his stomach and he might throw up. I’m afraid that there’s no other way than to be extremely careful with his diet. His Majesty has to eat balanced meals with uncompromising regularity. We can downsize portions a bit to make him more comfortable, but there’s no skipping snacks anymore.”

I get scared because eating has always been my weak spot even way before the transformation. I might not have an eating disorder by definition, but since I’ve experienced an upset stomach countless times, I developed peculiar eating coping mechanisms.

“There’s no need to worry, son,” my father tries to calm me down. “You will be eating Divementis portion sizes from now on so snacking won’t be such a chore. Besides, Celestials burn sugar like no other race. You can look forward to many sweet and delicious snacks.”

“Are sweets balanced meals?” Gotrid doubts.

“No issue there, I wanted to suggest the same,” Noage states. “His Majesty can forget about a dessert right after a meal because that’s when he will have to eat as much protein, fat and fibre as his small stomach allows, but snacks can be cookies, cakes and fruit so that he has enough quick energy for spellcasting and flying.”

“It won’t be so bad after all, hon,” Gotrid tries to encourage me because I still have a doubtful expression on my face.

“You’ll be watching over my diet ever more fiercely now,” I mumble, annoyed.

“As your father said, we won’t be forcing you to eat huge portions,” Liana comforts me. “We’ll just add snacks and insist on regularity, that’s all.”

“Noage, and Aefener’s wings?” Gotrid asks something entirely else all of a sudden.

“What about them?” I pull his sleeve, not liking where this is going.

“He doesn’t like folding them too tightly,” Gotrid doesn’t feel ashamed to tell on me. “In fact, he uses every opportunity to spread them. He gets cramps after just two days without flying whereas the rest of us can manage a week if it can’t be helped.”

“That has nothing to do with the Divementis hybridisation,” Noage dismisses it. “His Majesty’s wings are purely Celestial. I suspect it must have something to do with him being the embodiment of magic. Isn’t your Emperor considered to be also the embodiment of air? It’s your racial element, after all. Don’t scold His Majesty for not folding his wings properly and feeling uneasy on the ground, I don’t think he can help it.”

“We would never berate our Emperor for being genuine to himself,” Liana assures everyone because the Divementis give her a scornful look. “It’s often difficult to find time for a long flying session that would satisfy our embodiment of magic.”

“Regular exercise is important for any Celestial,” Noage reminds her. “Celestials don’t move as much on the ground so you have to find means how to schedule your flying sessions around work, not the other way around.”

“Noted,” Liana agrees obediently. “What about His Majesty’s eyes?”

“Another purely Celestial feature,” Noage confirms. “As a creature born to fly, he needs to be able to withstand bright sunlight and not be blinded easily. His Majesty’s facial bones are mostly Divementis, though, that’s why his looks are so androgynous.”

“And… his brain?” Gotrid finally asks the most important question because I’m reluctant to do so myself.

“That took us the longest to analyse,” Nyx speaks up. “If all human DNA mutated into the Celestial DNA as was the case with other transformed Draconians, His Majesty should have lost the emphatic part of his telepathic ability. However, he retained it. To do so, His Majesty’s unique brain had to withstand the transformation and hold onto a fraction of human DNA.”

“I’m still partly human?!” I’m astonished to hear and I’m not the only one.

“Well, it’s a really tiny part and detectable only in Your Majesty’s brain,” Nyx explains. “Nevertheless, there’s a distinctive trace of your mother’s genes. It’s a shocking discovery especially because a year after the transformation, there’s no trace of any residual human DNA in Draconians.”

I’m so moved that my eyes get wet. I have never really thought about it, but now I’m happy that I still have a part of my mother inside of me. It was she who gave me the emphatic ability I value so much.

“What about immortality?” I’m almost afraid to ask, but I have to. “You disproved that, right?”

“I think a lengthy explanation is in order,” my father says before giving me an answer. “All Draconian races are much more resistant and longer-lived than humans so let me explain how that works first so that you truly understand.”

“Okay then,” I sigh resignedly and the anticipation is making me anxious.

“Let’s start with Clawfangs whose lifespan is closest to humans,” he says. “Their bodies resemble feline, canine and vulpine animals and even though they aren’t that sturdy, they are extremely agile, their saliva has anti-bacterial properties and they heal fast. However, they live only up to a hundred years and age just as humans do.”

“I know that it sounds racist, but we’d always considered them to be sentient animals and not much more,” Nyx admits. “We mean to change our outdated way of thinking, of course. Clawfangs are smart, quick, excellent fighters and experts in recon, stealth and beast taming. We certainly won’t underestimate their abilities in the upcoming war. The initial success of our endeavour is going to depend primarily on them.”

I’m glad to hear that. I would be angry at the Divementis if they didn’t consider Clawfangs to be equal partners just because Clawfangs have an entirely different way of living.

“As for the Dragonkin,” my father continues, “they developed bodies that are almost impossible to hurt. They have slow metabolisms, the ability to hibernate and they can generate fire within their bodies so they aren’t reliant on outer sources of heat as other reptilians are. They age more slowly and can live up to a hundred and fifty. Maybe a bit longer, depending on how often they hibernate.”

Huh, the Dragonkin have the ability to hibernate? That’s new to me. There might have been a mention of that in the game, but I haven’t studied the Dragonkin lore in detail. I’m sure it’s nothing new to the Dragonkin themselves, though. I’ll have to ask Fefnir about it.

“Let me explain the Earthborn,” Noage demands to speak about his people. “We possess enhanced DNA repair mechanism and optimised cellular metabolism. As for illnesses, we can heal pretty much anything not only in ourselves but also in other living organisms. We do age but extremely slowly. The Earthborn have the potential to live up to four hundred years.”

“Thank you, Doctor Noage,” my father appreciates and takes over again. “The Divementis might not be natural genetic engineers, but we have the unique ability to store knowledge in the shared consciousness of our entire species. We quickly became the most technologically advanced race and significantly prolonged our lifespans through the power of our minds and technology, giving us the same longevity as the Earthborn have.”

That leaves Celestials then—the only race which the Divementis considered to be their equal. Frankly, I’m more curious about my winged ancestors than the Divementis.

“Celestials were also a technological race even though it might not have been so obvious from the outside,” he says. “For other races, their magic seemed to be, well, magic. Unless one is born a Celestial, it’s impossible to understand how it works. They built flying cities and based their technology entirely on the mana power source.”

“Is our mana circuit responsible for giving us miraculous longevity?” Liana asks eagerly.

“Yes, the energy your bodies naturally produce is rejuvenating your cells which significantly slows down the shortening of chromosomal telomeres,” he confirms. “Celestials are slowly ageing inside, but since your skin retains its plasticity, you look young no matter the age. Generally, the better the caster, the longer lifespan they have. However, even the clumsiest Celestial can live for at least six hundred years.”

“Damn, we will have so much time to spend together, just imagine it, hon,” Gotrid takes my hand and kisses it, feeling thrilled about the prospect.

“Only you will, Royal Consort,” Noage says and looks at my father who nods approvingly. “As for His Majesty, I’ve just checked it and the Divementis double-checked it. His telomeres are stable.”

“What does that even mean?” I frown because I have zero knowledge of genetics.

“It means that you’re indeed immortal, son,” my father concludes with a content smile.

He says it so simply, yet it’s anything but that.