Magic, Myth and Mysteries

Cleon, The Stories of Cradle Earth, Chapter One - Margot Nusselder

Chapter 1

“Cleon! You’re almost there!” our father shouted with a stopwatch in his hand.

We were sweating a bit while completing the obstacle course. The rough rope scraped our calloused hands as we conquered the last hindrance.

Former Alpha Nick clocked our time. “Yeah! A personal record!” he said with a smile from ear to ear.

Within mere seconds our breathing returned to normal, but we remained leaning heavily on our knees, pretending to need a lot more recuperation. *Let’s do it again later tonight, when everyone is asleep,* we thought.

*We don’t want to shock our father too much,* Cyon said with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, making a smirk on her animal face.

Nimra let out a purr of contentment. *We can do better, however…*

*… we can’t learn anything more from our father.*

*We’ve to look elsewhere to sharpen our skills.*

Father slapped us on our shoulder. “Well done, son!”

“Thanks,” we replied with a small smile.

“I’m so proud! My son, at fifteen already the best in our pack. It’s just amazing!”

At moments like these, we had to hold back a goodhearted laugh. This was normal for us. For other humans, part of the edge of Hethos (Ethos of Humans), this was extraordinary. We were a piece of its core, therefor more evolved, more developed, and shaped. If we were like a child becoming an adult Ethos, the humans around us were infants. Hethos, as a whole, still had a long way to go.

As we were pondering over the conundrum of honing our abilities, Cyon and Nimra laid down in a circle, closely resembling a yin yang symbol. Our human part nestled in the middle. All beginnings and endings overlapping each other.

Our mind was at ease. We still had time before our sixteenth birthday.

Dalila and Rick walked by hand in hand. They were both our siblings, but somehow it was not strange to see them together. They were made for one another.

*How does Caretaker Selena make those Mate Bonds?* we wondered.

*No clue… We won’t have one, though.*

We were not able to procreate, and it would be another bond we had to break, once we left this Cradle. That was alright somehow. Seeing all the love around us didn’t make us envious. We three were enough for us.

*The better question is ‘why does she make those bonds?’* A sharp observation from Nimravidae.

We thought about it for a moment. Was there a purpose? In a way Selena had control over the family trees of the werewolves.

*If those were the only shifters…*

*She does have the possibility to create Mate Bonds between werecats and werewolves.*

*Perhaps with the help of other Caretakers, even with other shifter races.*

The ability to assess a soul and predict what offspring would be created was intriguing to us.

Dalila waved. The Fae was swarming all around her. We could see them, but they didn’t like us. Something we didn’t mind.

The power of the Fae was strong, however incalculable. The creatures of Nature had their own will, therefor a choice to do something, nothing at all, and everything in between. Of course, floating in the air being all pretty was nice, it was not practical for us.

Rick walked to our father. “No way!” His eyebrows shot up high when he saw the time on the stopwatch. “I think I’ve to pack my bags and make room for the next Alpha…” he said in awe.

*Oh no… That will be disastrous. How do we get out of this one?*

Nimra and Cyon lifted their heads at once. Nimra took over. “ ’No way’ ”, we said mimicking Rick’s voice. “Too much paperwork.”

*Do the cocky hair flip,* Cyon suggested, and we complied. Our long brown hair was great for this gesture of haughtiness.

Acting like a teenage boy who went through puberty gave us many free passes in several situations in the past. And, once again, it saved our asses.

Our family members laughed at our antics. As we said we were going to take a shower, we walked away to the pack house. At the entrance Elder Heather sat on a wooden bench, enjoying the last rays of sun of this day. Her grey hairs glimmered golden, basking in the sunshine.

“Your future is not within Crescent Moon. That much is clear to me.” She looked at us. Her eyes shone intensely. We almost had the feeling she could see straight into our mind space, see all three of us. “Do you know where your path leads you?”

*She is almost a Hethos core soul, close to ours.*

*She must be, there is no other explanation.* We all agreed.

*Our act does not work on her. Let’s trust her. Maybe she can help us with our next step.*

We sat down next to her. “How does one know they are on the right path?”

She breathed in deeply. “You feel it in your gut. It’s in moments when everything falls perfectly in the right location. Every piece of the puzzle is there, and nothing feels out of place.”

“Is that how you feel all the time?” we asked.

“Since your mother came to Crescent Moon, this became my path. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said smiling. “It is an honor to meet you.” She looked us straight in the eye and added, “All of you.”

Our eyes widened in surprise. Did she always know?

*She truly is a core soul…*

*There are more of us?* we thought. Apparently, we were not the only ones. A misconception on our part.

Heather continued. “I’ve known since you were born that you’re special. That conviction only grew with the years. You’ve outgrown Crescent Moon. What is your next move?”

“We learned everything our parents know. Now, it’s time to find more knowledge, more skills.”

“To do what exactly?”

“Return balance. Efraïm and Cassius are disrupting it too much. It needs to end.”

Heather nodded consciously. It was like she already knew what we just said.

“The Fae doesn’t seem to like your style. Maybe Magic?”

“We would need to learn from Brahma, and the Marrow can’t persuade him to do anything in Cradle Earth anymore. Something about Elatia triggers his foul mood.” With a sad expression we watched the sunset. “There is no way for us to contact him.”

“What about Asi?”

We slapped our forehead. How did we not think of that? The sword Brahma made by sacrificing his own Magic during one of the several enormous wars in India. Those forces fought for Balance or Chaos, for Hethos or against it. How, or why, anyone would be against an evolved human race was beyond us.

“I don’t know what to do with Magic. My knowledge is limited on that subject,” Heather added.

“You’ve helped us enough. We can ask Constantine or our grandfather for more information, and hopefully, one day Brahma of the Stars himself.”

*We can try to force his hand with the Magic left in Asi.* Animal spirits reincarnated multiple times and retain the memories of previous lives. Nimravidae had a Magic user as his human shifter a couple times before.

*Can we absorb the Magic somehow?*

Nimra nodded in our mind. *We are strong enough now.*

“There is one more thing you need to know,” Heather spoke softly. “All the captured werecats speak of a prophecy; a wolfboy in the twilight. We suspect it's the whole reason Efraïm and Cassius are on the offensive. I surmise the prophecy is about you. They want to take you down, as you're the only one who can defeat them.”

“We'll take that in consideration. Thank you, Elder Heather, for everything you did,” we said and bowed our head.

“It is my pleasure,” Heather replied.

There was still some daylight left to find our grandfather, Alexander. Asi was in his possession. We found him in his cottage on the edge of the habituated area within Crescent Moon territory. He sat at his kitchen table staring at nothing.

“Cleon!” He almost shouted when we came into his view. From the shock, he spilled some of the content of the mug he was holding.

“Sorry, grandfather, for scaring you,” we apologetically said. “How are you?”

The answer was already written all over his face. We observed the bones protruding through his skin, his hair thinning, and his grey whitish complexion. The former Emperor of werecats was a shell of himself. We believed Dalila tried to find a second mate for him. However, for him there was only one, Cleonarya. The woman our human part was named after, Cleon.

“I'm good, doing very well,” he said with a forced smile on his face. “I just zoned out for a bit. How have you been?” He smeared the liquid on the table away with the sleeve of his shirt. From the smell of it, he wore it for quite a number of days. The elderly man badly needed a shower as well.

“Good too. The obstacle run is fun, but maybe not as fun as sword fighting is...”

We saw a flickering in his eyes. The spark of his love for his sword, and the fighting style that came along with it, was still there.

With the same sleeve he wiped away unshed tears. “This, this means so much to me... C-Cleo's knifes are in Femi's possession and Asi will hopefully be in your hands one day,” he said with a voice thick of emotion.

"Practice first,” we said with a grin. We truly wanted to get our hands on that sword. However, this man was still our family. Perhaps we could help him finding some purpose in life.