Decades passed...
Eventually, our neighbors noticed we weren't aging.
They also became curious about how we acquired new furniture, tended the yard, and kept the house running with no visible income or help.
They had no idea what we were back then; Afaria didn't even exist, but rumors began to circulate, mostly about me.
They called me a witch and started blaming every local tragedy on my "dark magic".
It was just talk, which barely bothered me.
However, when the rumor reached Vetro, he became enraged.
On that same day, he murdered everyone in our city.
He strolled through town on a rampage, killing men, women, and children; it didn't matter.
None of their weapons worked on him; they only thrilled him and intensified his cruelty.
I stayed in the house crying, but I could hear the screaming.
He trapped the whole town in a glass dome so no one survived.
Around midnight, he lowered the dome, and the screaming stopped.
The ground was dyed dark red until the rain came.
He seemed happier afterward, taking me on walks every day to collect money or jewelry from the corpses and then burying the bodies, but when he saw how much it disturbed me, he sent me home and instead just brought back these "gifts".
Sometime after that, I got pregnant, over and over.
Multiple children, back to back.
We raised our first five children in that dead town.
They weren't able to form a connection with their wings, even after we taught them how to do the wing summon ritual.
That's when we discovered that they were mutated, with featherless bat wings permanently attached to their backs, as if to say that they were cursed from birth and could never be an Infaniyan.
They could only minimize the wings to specks on their back, and their ability to fly was much slower and clumsier than ours.
Vetro seemed proud of them.
He became even more obsessive over me as we raised our children, craving my touch so often I could barely tend to them.
That's why I was with child again in no time.
Eight more years passed, and an investigation was conducted to find the missing townsfolk.
The area was very remote, which is why things went unnoticed for so long.
V murdered the first round of investigators, but after that, we moved and raised our next ten kids in a new city.
I wanted to love them, but it was difficult just acknowledging their existence at all.
Especially since Vetro insisted on making it known that we were siblings to all the children, he seemed to derive pleasure from skewing their sense of morality.
I stayed in the house since I could no longer hide my face, and I didn't want the massacre to repeat.
V was once the one who helped me with my bandages, and now he's the one who strictly forbids me from using them. It isolated me.
So, he and the children handled all social affairs and work.
Eventually, our children married humans from the surrounding areas, and thankfully, the powers (heightened strength and elemental control) were dominant genes.
They shared their powers with their lovers as well, and once our family grew large enough for a small city, Vetro devised a plan.
He meticulously reviewed the notes he had taken from our mother when she taught him how she created Infaniya, day and night.
We moved onto unnamed islands in the meantime. Only our descendants visited the mainland to find love or go to college.
When a human was brought in, they were informed of our race and given power.
Many were lured in by that promise of power, eternal youth, granted wishes, or possibly even love.
Once our population had become stable, Vetro invented a new way to make humans useful, in his words.
Our people were taught how to drain life force from humans in order to fill the gaps in strength that they were lacking from the curse Angel had placed on us.
It lowered the rate of genuine relationships with humans, but it fixed the issues some were having with flying or elemental control.
I knew he was pleased, but this somehow disappointed me further.
Though at this point, no one would be swayed by how I felt.
It took one thousand years to create Afaria and to keep the planet's core stable.
Vetro tethered his soul to it. It took another hundred years to move all of our people there.
I had thirteen more children with him on our new planet.
I have to tell myself I'm happy and this is what I want; otherwise, I will break, and there will be no way to fix me.
Angel blessed all of us Infaniyans to only conceive when feelings are strongly reciprocated with our lovers.
The children are products of the moments when I could successfully fool myself. I'll just try to be satisfied with Vetro's happiness.
I would be... but he wasn't happy. Out of bitterness, he declared war against Infaniya, aiming to kill our remaining siblings, after finding out our mom was still alive inside the core of the planet.
I kept hoping that each time he gained something, our children, our new family, my devotion, that it would satisfy him and he'd show me his old self again... none of it was ever enough. I truly saw him for what he is and realized his obsession with me was only an extension of the obsession with our mother...
Part of me still hoped he was just a brute when it came to showing love, but I was wrong; he didn't love me. I felt like my life had been a waste, and I had no one to blame but myself.
*
On Afaria, Vetro believed that the strongest should rule, so he created a hierarchy with himself as the king.
He allowed anyone to challenge his position. Whenever he was contested, he'd destroy brutally, smiling like a madman the whole time.
The Afarions became accustomed to his rulership; some feared him, and others loved him... he was the original Afarion who created their home and gave them everything.
The masses didn't really know him.
After many years, even those strong enough to challenge him didn't, because they respected his leadership.
Everyone within the palace knew who I was, the king's broken doll and his most cherished possession.
I had no hand in the politics, but I was at Vetro's side through it all.
I wasn't allowed to leave.
We had many battles against our kin, the Infaniyans. Likely because Vetro couldn't physically leave Afaria, we were constantly losing.
Regardless, year after year, he sent more soldiers into battle, not caring if they returned or not.
Five hundred years later, the Chosen phenomenon began.
Across both worlds, seven children were born, marked by destiny, branded by the elements themselves: Fire, Mist, Lightning, Thunder, Water, Smoke, and Sound.
I could feel it the moment they arrived… like the planet itself stirred awake.
We learned to identify them by strange tattoos that bloomed on their skin like branded prophecies, usually after their fifth birthday.
They were prodigies. Each child was terrifyingly gifted and wildly uncontainable.
They turned the tide of battle, but even with them, we were losing the overall war.
Another hundred years passed before a spy from Infaniya informed me of a ritual that would make them even stronger.
My soul was set ablaze with the possibility.
A way to deepen the Chosen's bond with their element.
The final step, however, involved intimacy... physical intimacy.
On Infaniya, this ritual was reserved only for spouses. And... I understood why.
When I told Vetro about it, I saw his fury before he even spoke. His voice was low, but laced with venom.
"I can't trust them. What if they turn on me after they've tasted that power? They're already too strong… I need them to be dependent. I need control."
He was spiraling through paranoia and rage.
To him, loyalty was worthless without complete submission.
Power in the hands of anyone other than himself was a threat. I should have expected that.
Still, I hesitated for only a moment… before I said the unthinkable,
"I… I can perform the ritual with them. I already trained them. They trust me. That way, their alliances will stay connected to the palace."
The silence was suffocating. Then his eyes flashed—a brilliant, merciless blue—and the air crushed me. My knees faltered under the weight of it.
"YOU?!" he roared, his voice echoing like thunder ripping through glass. "You would dare offer yourself to someone else?!"
I stumbled backward, collapsing to the floor as the walls cracked around me. His rage twisted the air itself, shaking the room to its bones.
"It's only a ritual," I choked out, heart hammering. "I don't care about them! I can do the ritual and stay detached. I'm doing this for you. The prophetess said that if we unite all seven, we can finally end this war with Infaniya. But they probably won't even marry until they're fifty... we don't have time to wait for that! We need them to be stronger now!" I declared, hoping to reason with him.
His glare burned hotter than flame.
I kept talking, desperate now,
"This is our chance. If they take brides, their loyalty will waver, but... I'm not desirable, V. No one's going to fall for me. Look at me, look at what I've become, but I've stayed with you. Always. You can trust me, I'll make sure they stay devoted to you," I assured.
That's when he went quiet.
Dead quiet.
"...Tell me you love me," he commanded softly with pain in his eyes.
"What?" I replied, dumbfounded by this request.
"You don't get it, do you?" His voice cracked slightly. "You've never said it. Not once. And now you're offering yourself, begging me to let some strangers touch you like it means nothing?! Do you even care what that does to me?!" he shouted.
It hit me like a blade to the chest.
He's right, I'd never said it. Not once. Not in ten thousand years since we left Infaniya.
He whispered it constantly, sometimes multiple times a day.
A mantra.
A warning.
And I... I said nothing in return.
"I'm sorry…" I whispered, the shame and guilt flooding through me.
His tears fell, and something deep inside me shattered.
Even after everything he's done, I can't help but be weak to his emotional state. I reached for his face, eager to console him.
"Of course I love you, V."
I regretted it.
He immediately gripped my cheeks and kissed me roughly and hungrily, like a starving man reclaiming his favorite meal.
It hurt.
He expressed that same searing passion he'd shown since the beginning.
The same hunger that blurred the line between desire and domination.
After that… my memory fractures.
Something black and heavy settled over me. I know what happened, I feel the aftermath, but I don't remember it.
When I came to, he was still on top of me, naked.
Vetro breathed evenly in his sleep as we lay on the rubble of the collapsed room.
Servants walked in to clean the mess, carefully averting their eyes as if they'd seen this scene too many times to be shocked.
Later, I found out he'd agreed to my request.
He even accepted the compromise I'd somehow offered, proposing a harem for him.
So he'd have other options.
So it would feel "fair."
I still can't believe I said that.
I'm glad I did.
Instead of every night, Vetro began calling for me three to five times a week.
Just enough to remind me who I belonged to, but not enough to suffocate me completely.
And finally, I had just enough space to start working with the Chosen.
To train them and prepare them. Then hopefully, someday, set them free.
If I can use my body to grant them power, maybe one day, they can overthrow V.
Then my life won't be so worthless.
The first Seven only lived thirty years before being killed in this pointless war.
They were reincarnated immediately. Once they were old enough, I repeated the ritual with them.
This happened again, and when the third incarnations were born, Vetro's insecurity had resurfaced.
He instructed me to stop brushing my hair and wear shabbier clothes.
I had no reason to appear even slightly appealing to them.
I understood his worry because, despite my face, two of the second-generation incarnations developed feelings for me; they fought amongst each other, and even challenged Vetro on my behalf.
One had asked me to run away with him. I was deeply tempted, so tempted. The other was always cold and scolding me, so I had no idea how he felt.
As soon as Vetro found out about them, he killed all seven of them in retaliation.
Which reminded me of how terrifyingly powerful he was.
He also made changes to my wardrobe, going as far as to burn whatever he considered too sexy.
I didn't feel comfortable making the offer for the Power Ritual with the third generation of Chosen, but when they went to war, they died quickly.
It happened again with the next generation, so I steeled my resolve to at least give the option to the future incarnates.
The only downside is I didn't realize that when I performed the ritual, my soul would be tethered to theirs, different spirits would start to inhabit my body, sometimes manipulating my thoughts, and other times taking over me completely and making me do things I can't even recall.
To perform the ritual, I had to take on the essence of their element, of the person I was with.
Which was harmless and beautiful, if done with only one person. Doing it multiple times with different elements came with some nasty side effects.
No one ever pitied me or grew feelings for me after that, because of my erratic outbursts, I was just labeled insane.
We sent all seven of them to the front lines of battle over and over.
They were usually killed within the same fight, the same day as one another, none ever living past a hundred years.
The previous incarnations before the present ones were a bit different; some died days or weeks apart, and the Chosen of Earth lived three years longer than the other incarnates.
The present generation was born likewise, reincarnating as soon as the old host perished.
One night, on the way to my room, I was cut off in the hallway.
"You cunning bitch!" Natasha yelled, one of the women in V's harem.
Her voice cracked like a whip before her hand did, slapping across my face so hard my vision blurred.
My head snapped to the side, and for a moment, the world went quiet except for the sharp, pulsing ache of my facial scar.
I could've hit her back; I wanted to, but she was pregnant… and I knew what I was capable of.
I don't want to harm an innocent child.
I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did.
"...I'm sorry," I whispered, pressing my hand against the pain blooming on my cheek.
My wound, the one Larina gave me, never stopped aching, but now the pain was almost unbearable.
It rattled my bones, but she wasn't finished.
"It's because of you that I never see my husband! For twenty days, he's ignored me! Do you know what that feels like?!"
She was talking about V... as if he were hers. As if he considered her anything more than a name in a list, he barely glanced at her.
"There are over a hundred others," I murmured. "You're lucky he sees you even once a month. He must truly cherish you."
I said it with all sincerity, but her eyes flared.
Fire danced across her fingertips before she struck me again, this time not with her hand, but with flames.
She pelted me with blast after blast; bursts of pain bloomed along my arms and chest from the heat.
I raised my barrier into place.
I'm so scared that if she keeps hitting me, my defense mechanism will kick in.
I might kill her like I did my sisters.
The fear of possibly repeating that tragedy made me weep.
The baby. The baby. I don't want to hurt the baby.
I prayed that she'd stop.
I don't know how much longer I can control myself.
"You dare say that's gracious?! When he crawls into your bed nearly every night?! When he looks at you like you're some... some tragic, beautiful goddess and I'm nothing?! I smile for him, I wait for him, I try, and still, he chooses you! You ugly, cursed—" she screamed, but she couldn't finish.
Her body jerked away from me violently by a steel arrow that pierced her shoulder, pinning her to the wall with a sickening snap.
And then Vetro revealed himself.
The air shifted the moment he entered.
He didn't look at her first; he looked at me, curled up on the floor, tucked inside my barrier, trembling.
My cheek was throbbing from her strike, and my arms were raw with burns.
Tension filled the room.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly, dangerously, now turning to Natasha.
I knew that tone.
It wasn't a question. It was rhetorical, and he was pissed.
"I... I was just teaching her a lesson," she stammered, panting, pinned in place by his spear and fear. "She started it! You know I'd never—"
He was across the room in a blur.
Her voice caught in her throat, and his fist connected with her face with such force that her bones shattered. Her broken jaw dangled from her face, and her body crumpled like paper.
I flinched, but I didn't dare scream.
That would only make it worse.
"Wait!" I gasped, staggering to my knees. "Don't hurt the baby. V... that's your child," I reminded him while clinging to his arm.
He stood still, watching her teary-eyed, bleeding out in front of him.
For one heartbeat, he just stared.
Then he turned, furious breath heaving, and his hands found my face, gentle now, trembling. He kissed me over and over, frantic, like I was a lifeline keeping him from drowning.
"You think I care about a glob of flesh more than you? Tana... she hurt you. I can have more children," his eyes went down to my lips as he continued, "but you're irreplaceable."
"I'm okay," I said weakly, extending my arms. "She didn't really get through the barrier. See? Just a few burns that'll heal in no time," I assured.
He kissed me again, deeper this time, as if he wanted to consume the hurt.
Then he turned to the servants who'd begun to gather in silence.
"Tend to her wounds. Keep that woman healthy... until she delivers my son," he commanded.
They rushed to obey. I was lifted and carried into his bedchamber like a broken thing wrapped in silk.
"I was so worried…" he whispered shakily, already over me, always over me.
"Tana... I don't know how I'd live without you."
So I did what I had always done.
I told him I loved him. I kissed him. I lied.
If I didn't, he might never stop. He was satisfied much more quickly when I complied.
Later, I learned that he killed her.
Natasha.
The mother of his child.
He waited until the day she gave birth, and then he ended her with the baby in the room. Piercing through her with multiple shards of crystal, while she was recovering in bed.
And now every time I see that child... his eyes, her nose, that flicker of fire in his fingers, I see her dying again.
I see her calling me ugly. I see her burning me, and I still feel the guilt.
She didn't deserve to die; she was just a jealous woman throwing a tantrum.
Another life lost because of me.
My life has become a little more worthless.
As more days in the palace passed, I began unraveling even more.
I experienced blackouts more often.
My moods twist with the wind.
I'm not surviving anymore; now I'm just suspended, slowly rotting inside.
Somehow, I've gone past broken. There's no name for what I am now.
That baby was part of the new generation, Chosen by the Spirit of Fire.
One by one, the new Chosen trickled into the palace.
I was shocked that, despite being the youngest, Valin the Earth Chosen was one of the first to display his powers.
But he lacked ambition; his only joy was studying.
A scholar is useless in a war that I desperately need to end.
That's why I admired Zaikiel; his face showed the desire to take over, the willpower, and the intellect to win.
He would do what I could not.
Overthrow my brother to make things change.
That's how the war ends.
Not with Vetro, or by Infaniya.
But with Him.
I have faith in Zaikiel.
Let the old king die.
Let our mother rest.
Let me die with him.
Vetro wants to steal the core from our homeworld, embrace our mother, and doom all of Infaniya in the process.
The Seven finally overtaking him, instead, is the only logical outcome, and this generation shows the most potential so far.