Time went by quickly. before I knew it, it was spring. I had my thirteenth birthday and Mikey, Ben, and Ray also all had their birthdays. We were all born in the same month and in fact, Ben and Ray were born on the same day just different years.
I gave them each two gifts for their birthday because I was in able to give them anything the year before. They told me I didn't have to, but after the amazing twelfth birthday party, they had given me, I felt it was the least I could do.
By the time summer came, I was able to walk around with crutches. I couldn't do so for very long or walk very far, but it was progress and it made me very happy. My family was beside me every step of the way. Having their help made this journey much easier.
As I got better though, I couldn't help but notice that I felt different. I couldn't quite place, but I just knew something was different about me. Something was also different with mother. Once I was able to get out of my room, I had noticed it even more.
She was almost never at home. She claimed she was in the caves, tending to the fruits and vegetables. We had some garden patches in the caves. We were able to keep the temperature constant in them with some magic stones that father had bought a while back. Because of this, we were able to grow food all year around.
This seemed like a reasonable excuse, but for some reason, I felt like she was lying to us. I don't know why I felt this way. She had no reason to lie about this that I knew of, but something just fell off to me.
By the end of summer, I was walking completely on my own. I couldn't do so for long, but it was the fact that I could do it at all that was so amazing. My entire family was impressed by the speed of my recovery, well except your mother. She seem to have expected this for some reason.
It was after I had accomplished this that mother asked me to accompany her on a walk. We walked a ways up the mountain. By the time we got to where mother wanted to go I was completely out of breath, but she didn't seem to care. "Come on Sue it's just in this cave a little ways." "Mother I can't go any further."
"Of course you can. It's just a few more feet come on hurry up." Not wanting to disobey, I continued forward. I walked into the cave and continue to follow her. It was not just a few feet like she said. We walked for quite a bit longer until we were deep in the cave.
We then came upon a large hole in the ground. "What are we doing here?" she didn't respond to me instead she quickly walked behind me and then pushed me into the hole.
As I fell, I screamed, "Mother!!!!!!!!"
I was stunned. Why did she do this to me? I fell for quite some time until I got to the bottom of the hole, but I didn't hit the ground. It felt like some kind of energy caught me.
————————————————————
The day that man knocked on our door was the day that everything changed. From that moment forward, I could no longer see my children as people I had to see them as the potential future protector of our empire.
After Theo, my husband, and I went into our bedroom, he told me, "This Lord is definitely overstepping his bounds, but I will have to go off to war, even though our sons won't have to. The Emperor sent notice a few days ago that by the end of this week I had to start making my way to the palace."
"But if you go off to this war, you'll surely die. You may be the holder of your families legacy, but you're not strong enough to take on this kind of~"
"Don't you think I know that I'm going to die?! At this point, there's no avoiding it. Now we just need to prepare for what is to come."
"And how exactly do we do that? It was your choice not to reveal this to our Children's sooner and now they're completely unprepared!"
"I know I just thought I would have more time to prepare them to let them live his children first before having to bear the weight of this responsibility."
"But you didn't and now they're all the Warsaw for it."
"You don't need to berate me, Megan I feel bad enough as it is."
"So how do you plan on fixing this?"
I'll go to the Emperor tell him the situation and ask for time to commune with the spirits at the top of our mountain to choose my successor. The journey to do this should take about a month. when I come back, I'll say goodbye to the children and then head up the mountain after it is decided who I will pass my legacy down to. I will go off to war."
There was a heavy silence for a while.
"Theo, why is this happening? Why couldn't we just continue to live happily?"
"That's just not the way the world works my love. I know this all too well."
The next day he left and I was still reeling from the night before. The three boys weren't making this any easier, but as always, Sue wasn't causing too much trouble. That was what I thought until I realized she was missing.
It wasn't until midday, but I noticed her absence. I thought she would be nearby because Theo had told the children not to go down the mountain, but she wasn't beside myself with worry I didn't even think to get Ray out of his room to help me.
As much as I hated to admit it, Sue was probably the most likely candidate to inherit Theo's legacy nothing could happen to her! she was the most likely one to have to bear the responsibility after Theo.
The generation before Theo, the one to bear the legacy died before having a successor. This weekend, the bloodline. In Theo's generation, his brother was chosen to bear the legacy, but he ran away before it could be imparted upon him. since Theo's parents only had two children, he was the only other option. Due to all of this, Theo is the weakest person to ever hold his family's legacy.
He was a far cry from the power and prestige that his family was supposed to embody. that didn't matter to me one bit I did not fall in love with him because he was powerful. I fell in love with him because he was kind.
But it mattered to Theo. He swore that no matter what he would choose an air to the legacy that would bring back respect to his family name.
He had been watching closely over the children, their entire lives. Even though he brought them up to have a happy childhood that was only because his plan was to train the chosen one as harshly as possible to make sure that he would be far stronger than he ever was. After years of observation, he was fairly certain that Sue would be the one chosen, but it still wasn't up to him. It was up to the spirits in the mountain. He decided that hiding their responsibilities from them until it was time would be his way of making up for inhuman training down the line.
But instead, it just put the entire legacy in jeopardy now it was up to me to find Sue and make sure that the legacy didn't fall apart once again!