Wolves of War

Descendants of Hemera

That’s right. Nyx is the Primordial goddess of the night. The first goddess of this land. Lumina told me that somewhere down the line I am related to Nyx, but how does a deity of night produce a demi-god of light?

Mihira smiled at me. “Nyx was more than just the goddess of the night. To humans, she was the guardian of new beginnings. A temple where she would sleep during the day and walk among humans at night. The more prayer she received, the more power she gained, the more influence. Nyx educated humans on the stars in the sky and the phases of the moon, about time itself. As generations passed, her name changed. Her power grew but she has always been the primordial goddess of the night.”

This is interesting.

“Nyx gave birth to Erebos and Hemera, half human and half deity. Her children held power that no human had seen before. Erebos, the oldest, looked the most like Nxy. He had pale skin, red eyes and black hair. Hemera was known for her beauty. She had hair like starlight and eyes the color of the moon. She, unlike her mother and brother, could walk in the daylight. She even seemed to have power over it. Nyx was proud of her children. The humans, however, were afraid of them. Erebos and Hemera had an abnormality that Nyx did not foresee. Their power and strength came from feeding on human blood.”

“One by one, the people who loved Nyx began to turn on her and her children. They destroyed her temples, the only tether Nyx had to this world. Without her temple, Nyx could no longer help her children. But Hemera and Erebos’s being half human needed no tether, and so they were hunted. They and the remainder of their followers retreated into the mountains. Erebos, Hemera and their followers built a sanctuary deep beneath the mountains. While building, they discovered a rare and valuable stone, a red diamond. With this, Erebos and Hemera were able to live…”

Mihira paused then shook her head. “No, they bought their peace. The stones were deep under the earth's surface. Not even the cat clan's ability to see in darkness was enough to see once down in the red diamond mine. We can only mine the diamonds safely and effectively.”

“Fun fact” Atman interrupts, “We could not mine the stone safely either.”

I looked at Atman confused.

“Nyx’s ability to see in complete darkness did not transfer to her descendants and, contrary to popular belief, we are not undead. The deeper you go into the mine, the hotter it gets and the pressure is so great that you’d barely be able to stand up. The most challenging part of the mine is the never-ending darkness. It was not safe to bring lamps and torches into the tunnels, so we had to bring everything up to the surface to sort through so that we didn’t miss any diamonds. The longer you stay in the mine, the darkness starts to infect you and slowly it brings out the darkness in you… we, however, we have a crafty witch in our arsenal. She thought that making us more bat-like would help.”

“Why didn’t she enhance your eyesight?” I asked.

“Humans back then even the witches thought simply, maybe too simple. Bats lived in caves and could see in the dark.”

“Bats can’t see” I said

“She didn’t know that” he shrugged, “but we did get a nifty tool.”

I c****d my head to the side, intrigued by the side story.

“Echolocation. We sang songs while in the tunnels, the notes bounced off the walls and we were able to see what was stone and what was diamond. We were able to locate diamond nests a lot faster and productivity did improve, which is what the end goal was.”

“How did she make you bat like?”

“She made a seal that looked kind of like your strength booster. The seal was supposed to be temporary, but the longer you worked in the mines the longer the seals were worn. Eventually, the seals were never taken off. We wore them all day and all night. The seals bonded with us and were unable to be taken off. That led to us becoming permanently bat-like. New generations were born with a natural ability to use the same gifts that were given to their parents and that is how the first shifters came to be.”

Mihira sighed “I thought that we were giving her the condensed version.”

“She needs to know why we look the way we look” Atman shrugged, then sat back on the couch.

Mihira shakes her head and continues where she left off: “Because of human greed we were left alone. Time passed; Nxy’s temple was rebuilt, children were born and new members were…inducted.”

“Does inducted mean that they were turned into Vampires?” I asked

“What is vampire? You said this once before?” Atman asked.

I winched at my slip up “Where I am from that’s what we call the children of the night.”

“Hmm, vampire rolls off the tongue a lot better than bat shifter,” Atman said.

“To answer your question” Mihira said, interrupting Atman’s mutterings. “Yes, Erebos had the ability to turn humans into…vampires.”

“See! rolls off the tongue better doesn’t it” Atman said, a large smile on his features.

I chuckled.

Mihira ignored Atman's antics, waving him off with a flick of her wrists. “With the rebuilding of Nyx’s temple, her tether to this world was restored. She reclaimed her title as the goddess of the night. But to the newer generation of humans, she also became the goddess of the Heavens, also known as Evangeline, because she flew among the stars.”

“What did people call you guys back then?” I asked curiously.

“What do you mean?” Mihira asked, confused.

“Well, the word shifter and the people associated with the term haven’t been created yet, so they wouldn’t have known to call you bat shifters, right?”

“They simply called us Bat men.” Atman answered “Some places were actually calling us cave dwellers. Since we lived in a cave.”

“How did you support a growing population of vampires? I get that you sold the red diamond for a hefty price but you guys only need blood to survive. Where were you getting the supplies?”

“The old world was full of humans” Mihira reminded me. “Some liked the idea of a long life and volunteered to be fed on. The deal was that they give blood weekly. The wealthier families paid us in slaves to keep guard on their property at night. Akkadia used us as the death penalty and gave us prisoners to keep. The supply was there. It was plenty. We even made a cellar where we kept a healthy supply of blood. ”

Galga entered the room carrying a tray of goodies for me. I thanked her and watched in amusement as she went to sit next to Atman.

She snuggled into the man and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek.

“But… we were still seen as monsters. Groups of people got together and began hunting us. They attacked the day walkers, at first the women and children. Then they began raids on Blackstone and eventually this faction of vampire hunters accomplished their ultimate goal…killing Erebos. It was humans. Humans hoped that, since Erebos created all the bats… Vampires, that once dead, they would also die. The humans were wrong, of course. Erebos’s child, Somnus, organized all the night children under his leadership and declared himself the King of Blackstone.”

“Is that what sparked the war between the Humans and the night children?” I asked.

Mihira nodded.

“This cave must be a really deep cave if it’s able to support you guys. The last census taken reported that there are about 50,000 bat shifters living in the catacombs of New Lumina.”

“The cave isn’t really a cave, it's more like a tunnel that leads to a bowl-like valley. Humans and those who weren’t sensitive to sunlight lived in the valley. The rest lived beneath it,” Atman says.

“So where is Nyx’s temple?” I asked.

“Nyx’s temple was built under the shadow of the mountain. While she cannot walk in direct sunlight. In direct sunlight is okay.”

I see that’s why one of her children was completely okay at walking around in the sun.

“What about Hemera?” I asked as I took a sip of water.

“Hemera fell in love with a human and had one child whom she named Asteria, Astra for short.”

My eyes widened. Hemera had a daughter named Asteria? That has to be a coincidence.

“Astra was born human and did not need to live on blood.” Mihira continued, “When she came of age Astra decided that she would live among humans and left. Astra had phenomenal power over the earth. She actually made the mountain bigger and extended it to help support the growing population. She also made the tunnels in the mines and created new tunnels, deeper tunnels to help find more valuable diamonds.”

“When you say bigger do you mean that she made the mountain range?”

Mihira nodded “Doing that changed the landscape of the continent and caused terrible earthquakes. The humans were not happy. Astra's powers were very destructive, but she also had the power of creation. Kinda like you but more, impressive”

I rolled my eyes.

“Astra left the humans and went into hiding. Her power was too much. It scared humans and even us. It’s believed that Astra was the one who carved the Castle around the entrance to Blackstone so that she could remember where home was if she ever decided to return. She never did. There is a record of Astra having a daughter but after that the pages are blank. Since we do not know what happened to Astra, Hemera’s line is considered broken.”

Should I tell them? I should tell them, right? Hemera’s line is not broken.