Ariana shook her head left then right. "I"m sorry I don"t know much." Ariana said apologetically as she and Lobo took a spot on the ground and made it into their seating area. "You lie." The Elder said as he narrowed his gaze at Ariana. "No. I personally know nothing. I only know second hand information and even that... No matter who told me it, I will not consider it truth until I hear what you have to say." Ariana said with conviction. She did not want to reveal anything that she knew personally. It was like visiting a fortune teller. They would pretend to know everything but all the while they would ask leading questions to make you believe in their words as truth. She was not going to play a game of cat and mouse, not with the creatures who know what really happened. "You are a taboo but... We had no idea that the blood running through your father"s veins was from the garnet dragon clan." The Edler said as he eased up his glare.
"Why were so many lives sacrificed for my mother? Did she need the energy to make me into a taboo? Or is there an entirely different story?" Ariana asked. "Your mother was dying." The Edler responded courtly. Ariana just stared at the Elder and waited for him to continue. The Edler sighed as he looked out towards his subjects. Each one was sitting on pins and needles as they inched towards the edges of their seats.
"Your mother was involuntarily living in the church. Acting as their face, as their fountain of riches and at the end of her days, as their test subject. What we know is very little, well in comparison to the bigger picture. All we really know is that the church was trying to create an abomination that they foresaw in visions." The Edler explained. "Wait, visions what visions? Did the G.o.ddess of Creation give them... Prophecies?" Ariana asked in worried tone. Lobo was starting to get anxious, this was a very one sided conversation and he was trying his best to suppress his flight response.
"We are unsure who gave them these visions but a creature was to be born, giving them immeasurable strength. Enough to destroy the world and shape it into their desired utopia." The Edler said as he started to clutch the arm rests of his extravagant throne. "There must have been other test subjects.... My mother couldn"t have been the only one to bare a child and how would they know that I am the one they are looking for?" Ariana asked desperately.
The Elder let out a small, dark chuckle that it sent a chill down Ariana"s spine. "You"re right. You are not the only child born but every other child born during their "experimentations" died, along with their mothers... no more accurately their hosts." Ariana paled, she dropped her gaze and wondered if that was the reason her mother was dying. "Why?" Ariana gasped as if trying to catch her breath.
"The life they were trying to produce was eating away at the host"s magical energy. Once they sucked their host dry they would start sucking the life force from the host"s core. Making it impossible for the host to go back to the G.o.ddess for judgement. They were all doomed to oblivion."
Ariana dropped her gaze, she broke out into a cold sweat as her eyes widened in fear. "So the unborn children were parasites, draining every bit of life from their mother. Sorry, I mean host... But if they did that then they should have survived right?" Ariana asked in a shaky voice, refusing to lift her head. "It wasn"t enough to sustain them out in the real world. As you said, the parasites needed enough energy to sustain their forms. If the host had only the bare minimum amount of energy then they would be born as lifeless blobs. Afterwards they would dispose of the blobs, either by incinerating the remains or using them when testing their dark magic."
Ariana quickly covered her mouth, stopping her bile in its tracks. She didn"t want to know anymore then this, it was disturbing but there were too many nagging questions in her mind, she swallowed back the bile and raised her teary eyed gaze. "If it was so dangerous why would the church allow my mother to partic.i.p.ate? She was literally their cash cow, so why destroy the one person bringing in the funding?" Ariana asked as Lobo stared at Ariana. Her complexion had gotten bad.
"Cash cow? That is quite a strange phrase but I can see what you are asking." The Elder replied with a soft smile then he furrowed his brows. "They didn"t want to use their cash cow. They needed funds and power. The best way to get both is to establish a public figure so that they can change things for themselves. So your mother performed miracles in exchange for her safety while the church gained the power and wealth needed to obtain jewel eyed people."
"Jewel eyed people? What do they have to do with any of this? They had their priestess." Ariana said as she started to dig her claws into her thighs. Trying her best not to blurt out the information she had. "The never had their priestess at first. They wanted to get their public figure first but if that person didn"t meet the necessary requirements to become the priestess then they would be handed off to the members in charge of the experiments or offered a position within their sinister cult. They found that jewel eyed people had stronger magic then the average person and were able to somewhat survive the pregnancy but always died at child birth."
"Oh my G*d!" Ariana gasped. Gregory"s face flashed in front of her eyes and she couldn"t stop her heart from breaking. His beloved Penelope she might have met the same fate as everyone else and if she chose to join then that would mean she was never coming back. "You look very unwell. Do you want to take a break?" The Elder asked as he slowly rose from his throne. "No! I want to go on." Ariana shouted but her voice had no power to it. She looked like a frightened rabbit stuck in a cage beside a boiling pot of water.