The Bad Offspring

That was Algos"s current opinion. Since is childhood, this feeling of injustice grew with him as one of his own organs, but he had made himself a reality, he couldn"t change this, it wasn"t his responsibility, but... Others had tried long before he was born, like the few deities who still loved humanity, they had tried to protect humanity and negotiate to lift the curse, but they had been swept away and removed their access to the Clouds after a short war between the G.o.ds that shook the world for several months. But it shouldn"t be up to the narrator to say that, the storybooks tell that story much better:

[— In the year 713, a few months after the Purifying Revolution, the G.o.ddess of fertility, Bahala, tried to resound one last time the city of the G.o.ds, but they did not listen. Stubborn as usual, the G.o.ddess tried again and again, until the great deities lost patience. The anger of these deities was so big, monstrous, violent, that they spread the Clouds below Bahala and her followers, causing them to fall from the divine city and force them to live with mortals forever. This was the beginning of the Crack. The G.o.ds disinherited from their rights tried to ascend to the Clouds, but they were stopped by the other deities. Blood, roar, anger, sadness shouted in the skies. The repeated blows of the G.o.ds resounded heavily in the air, tearing, cracking the sky above the great Khaar River. Time pa.s.sed and the crack widened, crumbled, letting a divine light flow into the clear water of the river. After the war, Bahala cried, her tears fertilized the desert soil, transforming the place into a large tropical forest. The G.o.ddess decided with her followers to abandon the struggle against the Cloud G.o.ds and chose to live with humanity. Bahala had many children, Delio too, Wenirh too, all the G.o.ds who accompanied Bahala had children with men and women. They did this in the hope that their divine genes would allow humanity to continue to live and prosper. This is how the first demi-G.o.ds were born, firmly rejected by the Ancient Cloud G.o.ds, but now accepted by the New. This creates an imbalance in the Clouds, which often forms many cyclones and storms. Some people like to say that the New and Old G.o.ds come into a confrontation when the sky becomes so threatening.—]

It was one of the first storytelling cla.s.ses given to children, mainly for boys. It was an obligation, the children had to know why women looked at them with devouring, sad or overwhelmed eyes even if they"re still so young. This was essential to the child"s survival; he had to know as soon as possible what could be a danger to him, and women were one of them, so in general, contact with them was prohibited. Only the mother had the right to be close to her child. However, older boys or teenagers are allowed to meet people.

I mean... that was for the boys we chose to give a chance to.

The most common cases were that the boy was castrated from birth to avoid future problems such as mockery, pain, death, etc from the curse or the people. But over time, the boy would effeminate and it was sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a young man and a young woman.

In other cases, the most extreme, some parents were so overwhelmed that their children were boys that they decided to avoid all suffering for them. Abortion or infanticide.

What made it strange was the fact, that life was only like this for humanity. The other races that inhabited the great city of Denois, such as the Elves or the Dryads, weren"t affected by the curse, so you could see elven men, grow slowly and become men, even if it took several centuries to see them grow old.

But, generally, in the streets, no man walked in the alleys of the city… oh! Sometimes a real man appeared, a man with a beard and male facial features crossed the streets, it proved that he wasn"t neutered.

A Lucky as many like to call them; this kind of guy attracted everyone"s attention whether he was handsome or not, he was a rare specimen after all. And human men were known for their very special states of mind, their gastronomy, but also for what they have in their pants, so the presence of only one man had some magnetic influence, especially with women and this even if they are Elves, Orcs, Werecats or Demons.

Fertile men were a rare commodity in this world, on the slave market, only one was worth 100,000 gold pieces, a dose of money that could be used to build several mansions or for example, this represents 1/7th of the monthly income of Bahala Cathedral, which ruled the city as a monarchy or a town hall could do.

Most of the big cities were run like Dinois, a Salvatrix controlled everything with the help of one of several Cardinals, below them were the Purifiers who worked with the bishops and the Blowers who worked with the priests. And working with the Salvatrix, the royalty was in charge of the military actions.

Algos"s mother was a Blower, she held ma.s.ses in one of the city"s churches every week and helped the souls of the deceased to find their way by "blowing" on them. Algos had always thought it was strange, he imagined his mother blowing on a void place in the middle of the street in front of the local shopkeepers looking at her, incredulous. He laughed for a moment as he dressed in front of the small mirror in his room and looked at himself quickly.

Rather small because of certain growth problems, a slightly muscular body thanks to the sports he was doing as soon as he started to feel excited to calm down, a masculine face, light gray eyes whose iris was dotted with small yellow spots that sheltered a deep and destabilizing look, and, hair of a bluish-black like a raven"s feathers.

He looked at himself in the mirror again, but this time he was completely dressed. He was quite satisfied; he liked the clothes he wore, they had sewn them with his mother and aunt, a mix of a suit and more relaxed clothes in dark-blue and white tones.

The ceremonial clothes of the transition to adulthood had to be created in this way and not otherwise, it was traditional, and that for all races, only slaves weren"t allowed to be treated in this way. The garment had to be created and sewn by the person partic.i.p.ating in the ceremony and by his or her family. It also allowed Algos to see his aunt again, who like his mother, she"s a distant descendant of Bahala, the G.o.ddess of fertility. He hadn"t seen her since she left for the Capital several hundred kilometers away, located in the middle of the desert. She was… unrecognizable. His skin had too much tan. He and his mother had made fun of her, the mockery was a family trait, everyone was used to it. It was a kind of fun intimacy that showed mutual trust between each family member. It made Algos as happy as knowing that he was going to insert his genitalia into a young woman"s v.a.g.i.n.a in the next few hours.

And all that he was going to live was thanks to him because he had managed to survive until then… he never thought he"d be able to do this. There were times when the pain from the curse was so immeasurable that it fell to the ground. Every time it happened, he thought it was the end, but seeing his short life, empty and full of pain pa.s.s before his eyes, he managed to cling to life, to cling to hope. There had once been, at the beginning of his p.u.b.erty, around the age of 11, a time when he was near death, the curse had knocked him unconscious and he fell headfirst down the stairs, this had caused him brain trauma without any real damage, but he still had a scar on his eyebrow arch, as a reminder of the curse for his entire his life.

However, he had done his best to control himself, to do sports, to practice meditation, to read and learn a lot, even books on s.e.xuality to learn how to control himself better and better with time, that is why the "Lucky", wasn"t so lucky, certainly, they had divine genes and G.o.d"s blood, but in ridiculously low percentages and their survival wasn"t due to luck, but thank to considerable efforts, daily exercises, repeated over and over again for about ten years. It was this tenacity that allowed Algos to survive until the age of 17.

And thanks to this, he would receive a gift from heaven, a remembrance of Bahala"s desire, that the human race should continue to prosper.

This is what every man with divine blood obtains after the ceremony of the transition to adulthood. Only human men were ent.i.tled to it, other races already have enough advantages, such as the ability to live without restriction. For example, many Orcs are no longer virgins long before the ceremony, after all, the church doesn"t punish this fact, so everyone was taking advantage of it.

After he had stopped thinking, the young man shook his hair in all directions in the hope of making an acceptable hairstyle, but as usual, his hair didn"t listen to him. He sighed with a resigned look before someone knocked on his room door.

"It"s Mom. Are you almost done?" she rejoiced in a calm voice.

"Yes, I"ll be there in a minute… I just make sure I haven"t forgotten anything." replied the young man, checking carefully to see if there was anything important lying around in his room, mainly on his desk.

"Okay, but hurry up, the meal is ready and you shouldn"t be late for the beginning of the ceremony."

"I do my best to be fast." he grumbled as he lifted notebooks to see if important papers were lying underneath.

"Well, do even more than your best, it"s not fast enough." she continued her sentence while going down the stairs to the ground floor, but Algos couldn"t hear her.

"Ah! You"re here." he exclaimed when he saw his ring that had fallen to the ground.

He put it on his ring finger and reached the ground floor. His house was simple but big, so he could live with his mother and aunt without any problems. Her mother had inherited the house and she had proved to be very useful, otherwise, they would probably have ended up in the street like some hobo soon after the clergy ordered the destruction of a corrupt part of the outside city.

He headed straight for his meal, a salad, probably to avoid the misadventures that other foods could have given him, you had to avoid stomach aches or nausea during the ceremony, it could be quite shameful after all.

"So, Al, excited?" asked a woman"s voice deeper than her mother"s.

"Well… it would be a lie to say no." he replied without looking at his aunt.

"The little one is embarra.s.sed!" she exclaimed as she rubbed the young man"s head just to annoy him. "Come on, I"m sorry, you know me. Eat now, or your mother will grumble again."

"Mag, I can hear you, you know." she replied as she approached the table.

"Did I say anything? No, you must have had an auditory hallucination, old girl."

"Two real kids." laughed Algos as he looked at his aunt. "Otherwise, how are the preparations for the ceremony going, you work there, right?"

"Everything important has been finished for the past two days, there are only a few small details left, but it"s not my job. I know there have been some problems… hmm… what do they call it? Optional administrative, or some s.h.i.t." she explained while eating her salad. "But this isn"t my job, I"m a decorator, not a secretary. Your mother"s going to have a tough day tomorrow, tho."

"Aaah… please, Mag, stop calling me "your mother", I think I have a name." she grunted, putting a pitcher of water on the table.

"You get angry like when we were little! Come on, don"t sulk, come to hug your big sis!"

Algos smiled when he saw the situation, it had been like that for a little over a month, the atmosphere had changed, we could say that the house seemed a little more lively. Although these two people were his family, he also saw them as women: the mother, a little more serious because of her difficult past, had a sinuous body, a fairly small pair of b.r.e.a.s.t.s, soft blue-gray eyes and auburn hair falling under her shoulder; on the other hand, her aunt was a woman a little more curved than his mother, which must have been due to her professional activity, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were quite big, and just like her sister she had blue eyes, but who was inhabited by a playful glow, her brown hair was cut short, which was looking surprisingly good on her.

The family was really sacred in this world, it was something that had to be taken care of, so Algos had done his best in his childhood to protect his mother. However, that is also why a rumor has been made that parents who have chosen abortion will not have the right to the Way of the Soul.

Al decided to stop thinking again, it was better for him. He finished his meal, cleaned his dishes and went to brush his teeth and perfume himself. No stains on his clothes, his face awake, smelling good. However, the criterion: "to have a nice haircut" wasn"t respected, but… well, with rebellious hair like his, he couldn"t even hope to do anything with it.

After returning from the bathroom, he checked that he had his ring and did another deep relaxation exercise one last time, the legend says that even after the boy turned 17, the curse remained hidden in the shadows until the ceremony, so he preferred to proceed.

He looked at his mother"s handmade calendar: 87 Rifi 1094. This day was the penultimate day of the year, the day of the sleep of the Old G.o.ds and the coming of the New Ones.

Algos put on his shoes and walked out the door while his mother repeatedly told him to hurry.

"Mag." he began by turning to his aunt. "Do you know where Felicia is? I haven"t seen her all morning."

"Ah, your cousin, huh… well, my dear daughter left two hours early... you know her…" she explained, scratching her head. "Always stressed… but I just let her do it, anyway, she wouldn"t have listened to me… Hmm… you should find her not far from the public toilets, as we get closer to the fateful moment, she must be stressing like never, she might even have temporary diarrhea, but well, I hope everything will go well for her."

"...Y-yeah, I see… Thank you… At least you know your daughter well…"

"Ahahah! Fortunately, I"d be a bad mother if I didn"t!" she exclaimed, giving her nephew a tap on the back. "Come on, go ahead. I"m not delaying you any longer. We"ll join you with Philia when all this s.h.i.t starts… and, your mother is very stressed out for you, that"s why she got upstairs."

"Don"t worry, I guessed it, the fact that she"s so grumpy shows that she"s stressed."

"At least you know your mother well."

"Fortunately, I"d be a bad son if I didn"t." he replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Ahahah! Go on Al, you"ll be late!"

Algos set foot outside, inhaling the warm air of the end of the year. Unlike what we are used to, the years of this world ended in summer, that part of the year when the flower reproduces and the buds hatch.

Outside, the streets were full of people, in some of them we were quite close to the human tide. This time of the year was a blessing for the shopkeepers, after all, the teenagers who were about to become adults came to the city for the ceremony, certainly, there was also the Capital which proposed this ceremony, but the whole northern part of the country met in the small metropolis that Dinois is.

Algos snuck in between the people and headed for the large square behind the cathedral that proudly overlooked the city. It took him a good half an hour to reach his goal, even taking shortcuts and unfrequented places. The cathedral was monstrously large, if you were underneath, you had to look up completely to see the end of it.

Behind the cathedral was a big square, most of the time the market took place there, but today it was a huge wasteland with cobblestones all over the ground. A platform had been placed as close as possible to the cathedral and, as an extension of it, two rectangles had been delimited by large torches fixed to the ground, the first was reserved for those who pa.s.sed the ceremony, the second, three times larger was for families. On the sides were the famous toilets he had heard of, people came out and came in, frequently. He waited near it for a few minutes before seeing a face he knew. Slightly taller than him and slightly chubby body, b.r.e.a.s.t.s larger than her mother"s, blue eyes that showed signs of anxiety and brown and curly hair that fell to shoulder height.

His cousin, in turn, recognized him and walked towards him.

"H-hey… What are you doing here?" she asked in an embarra.s.sed voice.

"I wanted to smell your diarrhea." he waited for his cousin"s reaction, but she just looked at him with a haggard look. "I was waiting for you, you idiot, that"s all, don"t look at me like I"m the last a.s.shole of this world."

"I"m not the one saying disgusting things, am I?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me for trying to lighten the mood." Algos sighed as he put his hand on the young woman"s head. "Maybe you want to go get something to drink before you go fill out our papers?"

"Um… No thanks… I"d rather we go now. If we"re ever late, it would be a big problem…"

"We"re still more than an hour early, you know… But... all right, let"s go. I think it"s that big building." added Algos, pointing to a building with a flag of the New G.o.ds were quite a few people had already gathered.

They both headed for the place. Many foreigners and people from other cities had joined the place; as expected, there were very few humans and… the human present were all n.o.bles. The n.o.bles had a better "chance" of surviving, most of the time they were drugged with plants to calm their hormones or their desires were anesthetized with magic, but this had harmful effects on the body. They could become infertile, have visual disturbances, tremor in some parts of the body or even poor quality, damaged and more easily damaged skin.

In the eyes of the people, these kinds of guys weren"t a Lucky, but a Poisonous, that was the nickname people had given to them, but no one dared tell them that kind of thing, after all, n.o.bles can feed their slave stocks from the streets. It was an act tolerated by the G.o.ds since the female population completely submerged the cities, there were too many people to house, so the G.o.ds made a radical decision: allowed slavery, but only to a few types of people. Including the n.o.bles.

Generally, these n.o.bles envied the Lucky, however, they did not know the efforts it would take to get where Algos was. Maybe they would have succeeded, but Algos had big doubts about that. From what he could see, these rich men"s sons were generally weaklings who either pretended to be tough or who ran a slave trade to make themselves look great, many hid their frail bodies under several layers of clothing to prevent it from being noticed too much. But all of this is a side effect of the drug and magic a repet.i.tion for sometimes more than a decade.

However, the moment a girl sees this, they will feel more uncomfortable than anyone else. Instead of laughing, Al preferred to sympathize and gave a conciliatory smile to the various n.o.bles in front of him. His answer was a spit that he managed to avoid and despicable looks, only two of them gave a smile in return for his.

The young man blew and left to join Felicia who had taken the lead. They walked in front of everyone with their ident.i.ty cards, which made a lot of people growl, and joined a second, much smaller queue. Since they lived in Dinois, they had already filed the primary papers and only one attendance paper remained to be signed. After that, they reached the main square, it started to fill up slowly with people, which was quite impressive. Felicia and Algos decided to join the rectangle a.s.signed to the partic.i.p.ants of the ceremony in advance to get some s.p.a.ce.

"You know…" she began with a perturbed look.