[Celeste Luminaris]:
Celeste left Corven to shower and walked to the Dining Hall after calling for a maid to prepare clothes and a guard to help Corven find the Dining Hall whenever he came out of the shower.
She met her father at the huge Dining Hall table that was already lined with a wide assortment of breakfast options, but she wasn't hungry. She noticed her father's questioning gaze upon her arrival. "The guest has awoken, lord father. He is currently bathing in the guest grand room. I have instructed the room guards to escort him down to the Dining Hall when ready. He will be here shortly."
"Good, very good," Peter Luminaris seemed pleased, as he nodded his approval. He then seemed to think of something, as he turned back to his daughter and said "And did you ask him about his connection to the House of Umbrovante?"
There was a moment of silence, as Celeste let this sink in.
To this, even Sean looked to Celeste, though whether out of curiosity or interest, she could not say. Sean's always been difficult to read for her, but she wasn't sure why she hoped it was neither…
That said, what had Sean intrigued was that he had never seen his father take an interest in a stranger so quickly. Especially to someone who was not family. He was curious about this House Umbrovante and how this boy was related to them. Naturally, the great Luminaris Libraries had nothing on this House Umbrovante; he's already checked. And he couldn't find a thing on this mysterious house in the Nobility Records, which, considering it is a treasure trove of information about past and present noble houses of the known cultivation worlds, it only served to make this House Umbrovante even more incomprehensibly mystifying to him…
"WHAT!?!! By the gods!" Peter exclaimed, dropping his spoon of grits before it could fully reach his lips, the hot substance dripping onto the table. He had a shocked look on his face, before he was quickly able to regather himself, turning to his daughter, as if to verify her words. "And you are certain that he said… that? That he said he was… that? Absolutely certain? Without a doubt?"
"Yes, lord father, I am," Celeste nodded vigorously. "I was right there when he said it, father. Why? Is this House Umbrovante so serious a deal? Is he really so important?"
Peter Luminaris just nodded blankly for a moment, as if lost in memories from long ago, and, considering he is over thousands of years old, Celeste was sure whatever her father was thinking of, happened so very long ago, yet held such significance as to stand the test of time in his memories. Then again, when you're as powerful as her father was, with such high functioning brain capabilities, there were no true risks to losing memories, not really.
Slowly, eventually, he began to speak, both Celeste and Sean learning forward to listen to him, with rapt attention, careful to hear Peter's every word. "As you very well know by now, there are over 8 Great Houses in the Legacy Cultivation world, and each are descended from various, powerful gods and goddesses, or is blessed by one — For some, it may even be both. Each House has their own specialities and key traits about them, each of them are blessed with something that gives them power over the other Great Houses, and each of them has their own allegiances to one another and/or a handful number of minor to mid-level noble houses across the Multiverse. In fact, many of these Great Houses have conquered vast amounts of territory, oftentimes across planets and star systems. Much of the territory in which has been claimed by these powers can be found in the vast continent of Mythos — A giant super planet blessed by the gods. Can you name these houses?"
Sean, hoping to outshine his sister, took the lead in naming these houses. "House Caelus, whose royal family is rumored to be descended from the Sky Primordial, Caelus. They rule from their seat in the Flying Cities of Caelus. They are part of the Nova Imperium — A jointly-ruled empire made up of the two Roman families of House Caelus and House Romulus, which is the second Great House under the Nova Imperium, alongside a handful of minor, mid-level and high-level noble families who banner for them. House Romulus is said to be the direct descendants of the ancient Romans themselves, and have had children with various deities to magnify their bloodline across many generations.
"The Terra Graecorum Alliance is the empire west of Nova Imperium, and it houses two more Great Houses — House Rae and House Seger. House Seger are descendants of Ancient Greek powers, specifically Sparta, Thebes and Corinth, and are also said to be descendants of Ares, and a numerous minor war gods. They are devout followers of war, while House Rae are devout followers of five goddesses — Artemis, Athena, Themis, Aphrodite and Hestia. They are a matriarchal society in nature, and some of these followers are supposedly descended from Athena and Themis herself — They are also rumored to have male slaves. The hunters of Artemis and the Amazonian warriors are the dominant forces of this side of the empire, though there are the Sisters of The Hearth, who solely follow Hestia, but they're more like a church than a military.
"Anyway, these two pretty much make up the empiric alliance of Terra Graecorum, but various smaller houses also thrive here too, though the House Rae portion of the alliance are all matriarchal in nature," Sean gave a face as if he had just said something repulsive while talking before continuing.
Now, House Pontos is another Great House based on the Planet Mythalis—well, mostly. Unlike the others, besides the five Flying Cities, Pontos's power comes from the Underwater City of Pentos. Pentos acts as a surface-world gateway for a network of underwater kingdoms spread across the Mythos galaxy. These include places like Atlantis, Lion City, and several others collectively known as the United Underwater Cities. House Pontos serves as their main representative, acting as the voice of numerous underwater city-states and nations across the galaxy. They're not the most powerful of the underwater civilizations, but they're definitely the most surface-world friendly.
"House Pontos rules from their seat in the Underwater CIty of Pontos.
"House Gaetir is the most diverse and inclusive amongst all the 8 noble Great Houses, as it has ties to the Yggrassil universe, where other similarly leveled great houses call home. House Gaetir rules from its seat in the Republic of Eileikr, which is a mixing pot of numerous Norsemen races from all across Yggdrasil. Their royal family typically sticks to themselves, oftentimes not leaving their capital city of Eileikr, and cultivating for years at a time.
"House Ausar and House Luminaris are the newest of the Great Houses, as they've only been around for a few thousand years, give or take a few centuries. They're both quite strong in their own right, with our house mostly based on Earth, with the city of Mythos Isles being our signature city in Mythos and numerous other cities across the Mortal Plane under our influence. In fact, our main focus of power relies on our wealth and our innate ability as healers and peacekeepers — This has allowed us to maintain relevance and wealth even amongst our fellow Great Houses. We have great prosperity and influence as well as wealth and protection. No one dares to mess with us…," At this, Sean puffed his chest out in pride.
"The final house is House Ausar,"Sean continued, after his moment of pride. "They are just as young as we are, maybe by about a 100 years. They are also our longest and greatest ally amongst all the noble families. They're based in a hidden city rumored to be accessible from Mythos, Earth and a few places across the Mortal Plane — This city is known as the "underground city of Osirium"and is where their royal family rules from. It is also called Osirium because their progenitor ancestor was Osiris, but they have had a long line of powerful Egyptian pantheon gods in their bloodline. It is even rumored that the current crowned prince of House Ausar is the son of Anubis."
"I don't get why you ask us this, father," Sean said, sounding perplexed. "This is amongst the first things they teach you at Mythorus Academy." Sean kept eyeing Celeste as he said this, evidently rubbing it in that he knew this before her and that he attended this school before she had. Of course, Celeste, a noble born, knew about this, too; she grew up learning about it from her father. It was just that Sean had beat her to verbalize it. Otherwise, she'd have come up with it herself.
"There's a reason House Ausar and House Luminaris are such close allies, even despite being such new to the other Great Houses," Peter spoke, his eyes nearly dazed over. "In fact, there used to be 10 Great Houses, each with their own powers, each formidable in their own right. We call these the 'Lost Houses' of the Sealing."
"The… Sealing?" Celeste wondered. 'What could that be?'
"The Sealing was a multidimensional event that sealed off multiple ancient and powerful realms in an attempt to seal off the Chaos Realm from spreading. Amongst these realms, four of the then 10 Great Houses were lost to the Sealing. That is why it is called 'The Sealing'," Peter explained. "We, of House Luminaris, and even they, of House Ausar, along with a handful of other houses, used to serve as bannermen for House Umbrovante — the strongest of the Lost Houses, and, arguably, the strongest Great House ever during its prime."
As Peter let that sink in, Sean had furrowed his brow. 'No way that scrawny, little bastard is superior to me!' He thought, pridefully, while doing his hardest to school his frustration. 'But, if he really is of this mysterious house, he'll likely get in the way of my plans, I'm sure. Something must be done to prevent his intervention, just in case. A contingency, just to be sure…'.
"But, if they were so powerful, then, why, then, do no one know anything about them?" Celeste asked, curious.
"I was but a child 9,000 years ago," Peter's cough into his hand was followed by a series of sickly coughs that he eventually managed to calm before continuing. "I remember my mother ushering me and a handful of our Luminaris noblemen who would later remake our house on this side of the Mortal Plane what it is today. I think, some part of me was too young to truly grasp the significance of what she was doing, but there was still a part of me that managed to grasp the importance of at least remembering the event clearly.
"When the Sealing was occuring, we were lucky. The head of House Umbrovante had ordered out most of the noblemen. Women and children to flee, backed by at least half the might of what we had available — of Houses under their banner. We were amongst them, as were House Ausar, House Keresa, House Morpheus and a few handfuls of other mid-to-minor noble houses who had been extremely loyal to House Umbrovante. We escaped the Shadow Realm before it was sealed, and only a handful of each house stayed to man the realm, along with one or two great houses that stayed there to reinforce the royal family's security and military strength. Those houses that got sealed…we lost communication with the moment we lost access to the realm.
"We — the other shadow houses who escaped along with us — spent millennia making sure House Umbrovante and anything relating to the Shadow Realm was forgotten from the public consciousness. Oftentimes killing entire bloodlines to get it done. Still, eventually, we succeeded and the records of House Umbrovante and anything relating to the Shadow Realm was erased, leaving only the stories passed down in the other Great Houses of Mythos and the Mortal Plane. We did this because we were ordered to by the House of Umbrovante, our superiors… At least, that is what my mother, the then head of House Luminaris, told me a few years before she died, though no other shadow house knew why, aside from making sure no enemy they had could learn about the sealed realm, nor figure out how to seal it.
"You see, the Chaos Realm was spreading its influence, trying to conquer the other realms. Thankfully, the primordials stepped in and pushed the forces of chaos back, back into its own realm, but they couldn't kill them all, especially on their own soil. They'd just resurrect themselves or reincarnate. It was very dangerous, because no one knew where or when they'd reincarnate nor as who, so they decided to sacrifice a handful of realms to save the rest, sealing the Shadow Realm, Hell and a handful of other realms away as the cost.
"The shadow houses made a pact — bloodpact — a promise that, if one of Umbrovante blood ever shows up, we'll swear immediate fealty to them, follow whatever they'd demand, as their bannermen once again. And so we waited. And waited. And waited some more. But nothing ever came from the Shadow Realm… Until 15 years ago, a fast moving object just appeared in the space of the Mortal Plane, with no indication of how or where it came from. No one could sense anything coming from it, and it was definitely advanced tech that hadn't been seen in the Mortal Plane nor in Mythos. Suddenly, there was reason to hope… but, with that hope, came a gnawing fear.
"As House Luminaris and House Ausar grew our power in the Mortal Plane and in Mythos, we gained a few enemies… Enemies that would want whatever we we'd end up looking for, so we couldn't seem interested in finding this object, or our enemies would find interest in looking for it, so we did the next best thing: We sought out our allies from House Morpheus and House Keresa, who had discreetly sent their family members to find where this object was… It turned out it was Corven, a baby then, a man now. We must swear our fealty once again to House Umbrovante through this boy. House Umbrovante' progenitor, the primordial goddess Nyx, led the primordials against the Chaos Realm. Those of Umbrovante blood are powerful, but, if this boy is really a Legacy and a demigod, then he is destined for greatness. We must become a part of his journey. We—."
"That's bullshit!" interrupted Sean. "I don't care if there's a blood pact between the Shadow houses, I wasn't there when it was made. Even if that filthy commoner walking stick is nobleborn, I'll not yield to anyone, especially not him. I am Sean. Sean Luminaris and I—."
"Am annoying," A voice interrupted Sean, causing the others to turn to see Corven, refreshed and showered. He eyed Sean like he was beneath him. "You sure love to hear yourself talk. It's annoying."
"Did you just–?" began an angry Sean, rising to his feet in annoyance.
"Tell you to shut up?" Corven asked, finishing his sentence. "Yes. Yes, I did."
Standing at the entrance of the Dining Hall was Corven. Celeste was mesmerized by how well he cleaned up. Dressed in clean black slacks, a black button down with the top buttons undone, complete with business shoes and the faint scent of cologne, with the forearms of his shirt rolled up neatly, Corven was a new man. His new look attracted Celeste's eye quite definitely, though she tried to play it off, Sean's teasing snicker told her she wasn't fooling him.
"Welcome, Mr. Umbrovante, so good to see you're awake," Peter stood up, shaking Corven's hand, gesturing to a seat next to Celeste, to which he took.
As he ate his breakfast(which consisted of various fruits, pancakes and, of course, bacon), Corven listened to Peter repeat all of their previous conversation. Meanwhile, midway through, Sean, frustrated, choose to walk out, uninterested.
Corven looked from Peter to Celeste, questioningly, as if questioning them if they knew what was his problem, but Peter only muttered his apology for his son's behavior and Celeste just shrugged, not the least bit interested in figuring out her brother. In her eyes, Sean has always been an angry and vicious older brother; trying to figure out the reasoning behind his oftentimes weird antics would only lead to more stress. She figured if she had a penny for everytime something happened that her brother disliked, she'd be even richer than she already was.
Peter was getting around to explaining the Sealing when Corven decided to interrupt.
"Does one of these 'Lost Realms' include the Shadow Realm?" Corven asked, curious.
To this, Peter was slack jawed and shocked. He was certain he hadn't said anything related to the Shadow Realm in his presence just yet, at least, not explicitly, yet, this little boy already knew about it. It only served to confirm what he already knew: He really was the last son of House Umbrovante.
"How did you know?" he had asked when he recovered from his shock.
"I had a dream last night… Or maybe it was a vision. Either way, it was real, I know it," Corven said, causing both Celeste and Peter to lean forward in rapped attention, curiously. Eclipse, who had shrunk down to the size of a house cat, had started eating off Corven's plate, but he and the Luminaris pair didn't care too much about this. They were too busy listening to Corven describe what happened in his dream. "In it, I met this goddess… Nyx; she said her name was Nyx, and that I was to be her champion, whatever that means. She said the Shadow Realm calls to me and that I should find the keys to unseal it."
Peter and Celeste were flabbergasted; Peter, who had more knowledge about gods and their champions, was even more so flabbergasted. Not only was this boy the last son of House Umbrovante, but he also had a visit with a primordial goddess? And, of all the primordial gods, the Night Mother? And she named him her champion, no less! This wasn't just unheard of; this was ordained, it seemed.
'I need to contact the Queen of House Ausar and summon the others of the Shadow Conclave!' Peter thought to himself, beside himself with joy. 'There's hope again! To see my birthplace — My home! If only you could be here, mother…'.
'I've never seen father so happy before!' Celeste observed the pure joy and melancholy on her father's face. 'Is this Shadow Realm really such a place of joy?'
Celeste was happy to see her father happy. In these times, it's been a rare sight, especially with his sickness halting his cultivation efforts. He's been so sick recently, even she and the best of House Luminaris healers have yet to find a cure, let alone figure out what is making him so sick to begin with. Afterall, he was at the peak of the Chaotic rank of the Ascendant Stages whenever he go sick — There shouldn't exist many things that can get anyone like that sick, especially in their prime. Whatever it is that has gotten him sick has knocked his cultivation down to mid stage chaotic rank in the span of half a year. It's been predicted that if a cure is not found, he has only two years to live max, and that's if he isn't knocked down anymore stages and that if he doesn't exert himself.
Celeste has been heartbroken to see her father a shell of his former self, but seeing the joy on his face, it gave her hope. Maybe… just maybe, if this shadow realm is truly as great as she's learned today, perhaps then maybe they could have a cure for whatever ails him.
Face re-determined, she had a new resolve. She wanted to ensure her father stayed this happy, and, if that means helping Corven find these keys, then she'd help him do so.
"When my mother led the other nobles out of the shadow realm, we took two special relics with us," Peter stated. "Our house had one and House Ausar had the other. Ours have recently been lost — stolen, by whom, I know not, but I do know that House Ausar should still have theirs. Perhaps I'll send word to them, discreetly, of course, that the time has come.
"The Night Mother is amongst the most mysterious and most powerful of all the primordials from across all the realms in the multiverse and across all the pantheons," Peter said, knowingly. "To be her champion is a great honor. It means that you are destined for far greater things than what anyone could possibly imagine."
"Yeah, she did say something similar," Corven muttered softly to himself, nodding in acknowledgement.
"You two are blessed by the primordials," Peter gestured to Corven and his daughter. "One, the Night Mother, and the other, Day Bringer—."
"Wait, what?" Corven looked from Peter to Celeste in confusion. "Day Bringer?"
"Hemera, the primordial mother and bringer of Day, and the daughter of Nyx," Celeste said. "She's my mom."
Corven's face blanked before smiling. "Granny Nyx gives her regards."