Ancestral Lineage

Leviathan, seated with regal stillness among her merfolk, finally broke her silence.

"So," she said calmly, eyes never leaving Kraken, "this is where you ran off to."

Kraken’s lips curled into a sharp grin. "Still breathing under all that pressure, sister?"

Leviathan’s gaze flicked briefly to the empty imperial seat. "Barely. This place bends reality in... unpleasant ways."

A few seats away, Queen Ashtora’s psychic spikes vibrated faintly, reacting to something unseen. Urrandel’s calm expression tightened, his eyes lifting toward the ceiling as if listening to a frequency no one else could hear.

"This hall is layered," he said quietly. "Not spatially. Causally."

That earned him attention.

"Explain," Jerry said flatly, already calculating threats.

"Something has been anchored here," Urrandel continued. "Not a weapon. Not a barrier. A decision. One that hasn’t been made yet."

That sent a chill through several kings.

Then...

The music faltered.

Not stopped. Not shattered. It simply... hesitated.

Every presence in the ballroom felt it at the same instant. Not pressure. Not domination.

Recognition.

The massive doors at the far end of the hall did not open immediately.

Instead, the lights dimmed just enough for shadows to stretch unnaturally long across the marble floor. The golden crests embedded in the walls began to glow, not brightly, but steadily, like a heartbeat finding rhythm.

Several guests rose instinctively. Others gripped armrests. A few ancient beings smiled grimly, already bracing themselves.

Lilith leaned back, utterly relaxed.

Kraken stopped fidgeting.

Leviathan inhaled slowly.

Trevor straightened.

Lamair’s horns hummed faintly.

Sixtie’s eyes gleamed.

And somewhere deep within the estate, something older than ceremony, older than empire, shifted its attention toward the ballroom.

Whatever Ethan was about to do, it wasn’t just a naming ceremony anymore.

...

Speaking of Ethan, the emperor was preparing to make his appearance. He looked himself once more in the mirror, while Regnare fixed his collar. Ethan was dressed simply, unlike what one would expect of the emperor.

He wore a black V-neck sweater over a white long-sleeve shirt with a necktie, black trousers, and shoes. His hair was combed and dressed well to fall on his shoulder, with some covering his silver eye.

"Time to go... they’ve waited long enough," Ethan stated with one last glance at the mirror, and turned towards the door. Regnare followed after his father, his long white hair swaying behind him.

They met up with the others, Ethan’s wives, Delphina, the twin, Selene, and Sol, and the parents of each of them. Those who had traveled had returned specifically for this ceremony.

"Father-in-Law is really a monster!" Ethan commented as he looked at a man with long blue hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a grey suit. He was Amor Avluv, father of Harley, the first love of Ethan.

"See who’s talking of a monster..." Amor shot back with a chuckle that lightened a bit of the tensed mood that was beginning to fill the room.

"Honey... I can feel it. We are almost... full?" Andriel suddenly said, her silver eyes glowing slightly.

"They are all here. We will meet them soon..." Ethan said with a smile that hinted at many things, but mainly at what or who he was referring to... his soulmates.

"Let’s go! Reg, Delphi, get ready to meet your brother..." Ethan said as a portal appeared in front of them, and he stepped in first.

The rest followed through, arriving just at the entrance of the ballroom. The moment they appeared, six presences filled the place, forming a protective formation around them.

"Are you ready?" Ethan spoke.

"Yes!" Six different voices answered. Space twisted as six beings appeared in front of Ethan, all kneeling. They were all dressed uniformly. Black suits with gold designs. They were Ethan’s spirit guardians. Galeno, Maverick, Stygian, Onyx, Sage, and Saareiya.

And they all looked dangerous.

"Kaldaroth... protect my pregnant wives with your life, if necessary," Ethan commanded again, and this time his shadow shifted slightly, like something was leaving it. And something really left. Kaldaroth, the king’s shadow, did as tasked.

"Father, I leave the empire in your hands," Ethan turned lastly to Zark, his cosmic father, and bowed slightly at him.

"Always. Now let’s not keep them waiting!" Zark laughed heartily, patting Ethan on the shoulder.

As if on cue, Galeno cleared his throat, and this time, his voice caused ripples in the very air. The ground shook, even some places experienced earthquakes.

...

In the ballroom, the guests were getting restless, and some were very close to acting unruly, but the tension and presence in the room were enough bane to stop them.

As the uncertainty reached a crescendo, the room suddenly shook. They felt a wave of power crush at them and heard a very deep voice that sounded like an ancient mountain moving.

Sol was especially frightened a bit, because he recognized that power. The power of Earth. The power of a Foundation.

That was Galeno.

"Introducing the Imperial family... the Kael’Dri family..."

The doors opened of their own accord as a group of people streamed in.

Leading them were two people, a young man and a 12-year-old girl, Regnare and Delphina.

Regnare wore the same clothes as his father: a black V-neck sweater over a white shirt with a necktie, black trousers, and shoes. His white hair was styled like Ethan’s, too, with some covering his left eye. On his head were two dark-blue draconic horns that instantly drew the attention of the dragons present. Behind him, his two tails, a blend of dragon and wolf, swayed as he walked with poise and elegance, like the Crown Prince he was, down the red carpet.

Delphina was dressed in a red one-piece dress that fit her perfectly, with beautiful black sandals. Her red hair was tied in a high bun, showing her sharp ears, which most had never seen. She was a vampire-human hybrid after all. She walked with her hand tucked under her brother’s arm with a cute smile on her face.

Next to follow were the in-laws of Ethan. Harley’s parents, Lisa’s parents, Clara, Carmen... all his living in-laws. Unfortunately, Andriel’s parents couldn’t join because her father was coming as a delegate of the Elven kingdom, and her mother had been proclaimed dead after years of going missing.

The next figures to arrive were Ethan’s parents, and the ballroom broke its rhythm.

Not shattered. Not silenced.

It stuttered.

Even Lilith’s smile faltered for the briefest fraction of a second, her pupils contracting as instinct screamed a warning she hadn’t felt in centuries. Kraken stiffened beside her, tentacles freezing mid-sway. Leviathan’s fingers tightened against her armrest.

Danger was present.

No authority.

Zark Kael’Dri walked in first.

He wore a pristine white suit, simple in design yet impossibly perfect, as though the concept of excess itself had refused to cling to him. His long white hair was tied back into a neat ponytail, exposing a face that could only be described as divine in the truest, most unsettling sense of the word. Not beautiful in a way that invited worship, but in a way that commanded silence.

And that was the problem.

No one could feel him.

No aura.

No pressure.

No resonance.

No presence.

It was as though the space he occupied simply... forgot to react.

Veteran Saints felt their throats go dry. Ancient beings frowned deeply.

This was wrong.

Beings of power always distorted reality in some way. Even restraint had a texture, a weight, a hum. But Zark Kael’Dri was like empty air, except everyone there knew

that stepping into a vacuum could tear you apart. Only two possibilities existed.

He was a normal human.

Or he stood beyond the Saint Realm entirely.

And no one foolish enough to attend this gathering believed the first.

Beside him, her arm looped casually through his, walked Madeleine Elmira Kael’Dri.

If Zark was silence, Madeleine was calamity wrapped in elegance.

Her long crimson hair was braided into a single thick strand that fell all the way to her lower back, swaying gently as she walked. She wore a flowing white dress that hugged her form in a way that left very little to imagination, accentuating curves that were deliberately dangerous. Her dark skin gleamed softly beneath the hall’s lights, and her black ram-like horns curled proudly from her temples, unhidden, unashamed.

Her eyes, once mostly green, were now fully purple.

Their true color.

And unlike Zark, Madeleine did not bother to hide herself.

An aura of destruction rolled off her in slow, lazy waves, subtle enough not to crush the weak, but clear enough that everyone felt it in their bones. It wasn’t violent. It wasn’t aggressive.

It was inevitability.

The kind of presence that said: If this woman decides something ends, it will end.

Several guests unconsciously took half a step back.

A dragon swallowed.

An elf’s knees nearly buckled.

Even Ashtora’s psychic spikes trembled faintly, reacting to a force that didn’t originate from the mind, the soul, or the body, but from something far deeper.

Lilith finally exhaled, her voice low."...So that’s them."

Kraken didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her instincts were screaming too loudly.

Leviathan closed her eyes briefly. "No wonder he turned out like that."

Zark and Madeleine didn’t acknowledge the reactions. They didn’t need to.

They walked with the ease of beings who had long stopped measuring themselves against others.

When they reached their seats, Zark merely glanced around the hall once, his gaze calm, unreadable. In that single sweep, several ancient beings felt as though their entire existence had been evaluated and found... unremarkable.

Madeleine smiled.

It was warm.

Maternal.

And absolutely terrifying.

The ballroom settled, not because it was safe to breathe again, but because everyone instinctively understood one thing:

Whatever happened tonight...This family was not one to be tested.