Rethais couldn’t decide between being shocked or being insulted. The rest of the Circle had settled on shocked AND insulted. Their very own High General, a vok of sense and reason, had just stood in front of them and claimed he wasn’t 100% Rethan but in fact half ‘corrupted’, whatever that meant.
“Excuse me, Elkay…” Denpsi, the newest member of the Circle, raised his hand awkwardly. He was only thirty seven, a lot younger than the other Generals. “Are you well?”
The High General took a deep breath, feeling defeated and deflated. “No, not really. It is clear none of you believe me. I… cannot blame you. I mean, it sounds stupid, coming from my own mouth. Sounded insane when Lord Stasis told me.”
“Is this the same Lord Stasis which came along demanding the Dessaron participate in his challenge?” Lepidas asked.
“Yes.”
“But was that not a load of piss? A load of piss that resulted in your brother disappearing then us nearly getting invaded by Temthans?”
Elkay nodded. “Yes. I had a similar discussion with the foul beast. Yet he insisted that I am not truly Rethan and that my genetic composition is one of the few things that can stop this universe from being destroyed.”
“No offense, High General, but this sounds retarded!” Omnos shouted, before turning to Veeksiar, the Keeper of the Great Library and an expert on almost everything. “Please, Keeper, tell us that Elkay has lost his mind and is talking nonsense!”
Up until now, Veeksiar had been silent, listening intently to every word.
“Keeper, am I insane?” Elkay asked.
“No. You are not. It has been clear as day that you were not truly virginborn. If you had been, you would have been braindamaged and probably would not have made it to twenty, let alone reaching 50. But all your medical records showed none of this. I am sure General Caldoran would agree with my observations that your foreign nature would be undetectable if it came from outside this universe.”
“But how did an extra-universal entity even manage to fuck Elkay’s mother in the first fucking place!” Omnos bellowed. “You are LITERALLY saying that Elkay’s father, a thing the size of a universe, snuck into the L-Class sleeping quarters and inseminated an underaged Ksa? That is somehow fucking plausible?”
Rethais was about to agree, but paused. “I was going… To say how Omnos sounds correct… But, please don’t take this the wrong way, Elkay, your mother gave birth to a half-Trehan who went back in time and killed Deitics, four Rethans who are literally the kids of a dragon god of time and one Rethan who is half-Deitic.”
Elkay sighed and threw himself into his chair. “This is so fucked up. You have what would be best described as a teenager’s fan fiction ruling over Rethan society… Maybe I am not… fit for office after all…”
“Oh shut it!” Lepidas leaped from his seat, waving his arms wildly. “You are not to blame for your heritage! We were ruled by Photeianos for six hundred years and he the Mary Sue–iest of them all! We will give that retarded Lord Stasis a litre of your blood, some armour shavings and MAYBE some bone marrow and that will do him. You have been doing a fine job as High General, no matter what the fuck you are.”
“But it does set a precedence that non-Rethans could lead Rethans…” Omnos tutted.
“Kayel Theanon is a bonafide Threan-type Rethan!” Lepidas growled. “This sets no precedent.”
“This should also not leave this Circle…” Veeksiar added. “This remains between us, unless Elkay wishes to go public with this new knowledge. Understood?”
The Generals all nodded.
“Good!” Veeksiar smiled. “High General, are you fine with all this?”
Elkay sighed. “Yes, I am fine. Let us just get this shit over with so I can go back to my normal duties…”