Saint Foxtail as you know him started out small – literally, in fact. He was the smallest baby I’d ever held. To be fair that wasn’t a big sample size since nobody really trusts somebody responsible for destroying things to hold their babies.Shame too, I love babies. But anyway, I named him Heath. I thought I was being clever, dropping the ‘L’ in health because of how frail he felt, but I was the only one laughing. Actually, that’s probably why nobody trusts me with their babies in hindsight.
The reason I say I named him is because your grandfather was killed in his sleep before Heath was even born. What happened was, he and I along with Drey and our mutual friend Lyo made ourselves somewhat heroes for hire to try and get Zephyrus’ attention. Oh, this was before I revealed that I was a Divine being. I wanted to hang out with mortals a bit more before I let that slip. We did this after our little group settled the Magnum issues and helped the place build initially. Dayton was on a quest of revenge, trying to track down and kill the man who killed his sister ages and ages ago. Wanna know the wild part? Apparently, the killer was his eldest brother too. Or so we thought.
I’m rambling. But anyway, that’s how we got to meet Zephyrus. We were offered a room in the palace that night. I felt something strange in the air and so I left the room late in the night to stargaze. I remember being joined by Zephyrus’ eldest daughter Tariah that night, and we just talked. About the nature of the world, about life and death, and about how the rights of Divinity could be stolen from others as Zephyrus had done so with Saoirse. Actually, I miss working with Saoirse. She was a riot, always speaking with this ancient dialect that was so hard to understand and I’d have to tell her to get with the times constantly. She struggled with slang a lot, can you believe that? Watching an actual Goddess fumble her words like a confused teenager – no offense- was the cutest thing I’d seen before I got married. After that, it was my son, naturally.
Back to it though, after our talk I think I realized something was wrong, because I bolted back to my room to find Dayton with a blade through the eye. No blood anywhere to be seen, but a lingering sensation of unease – well, aside from the horrible grief I had about the loss.I remember blacking out that night after screaming, and when I woke, I was told that my screams had ripped a ravine open next to the palace, killing a good chunk of the people along the outer walls.
I’m mentioning all of this because I feel like it’s important to know what Heath inherited upon his birth. I was pregnant with him for a month or so before this happened, and we decided when we found out that our child would inherit the sword your grandfather used to make a name for himself. It was given to him by Saoirse as one of her final creations – an ordinary blade in most hands, but capable of binding to its users’ life energy if they shared the bloodline Dayton had. This meant that his spirit would be absorbed into it upon his death, and with it, the memories of his battles were preserved as a magical transfer of skill. Whoever held the sword, as long as they shared his blood, would immediately know how to perform all his techniques and be familiar with the blade enough to use it like the master he was.
As you can imagine, we decided our child would inherit the sword because we wanted our child to be able to protect themselves and others, the way he could not protect his sister. But he never got the chance to pass it on, and a lot of what the sword is capable of is still unknown because of this. Instead, I passed it down to Heath, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves there. What you need to know is that the sword is important, and because of my actions, I was outed as a Divine being and subsequently banished from the palace and the Empire entirely. Which also means I haven’t been able to visit my husbands’ grave in centuries. With that background out of the way, I’ll try and focus more.
Heath grew up with me, here in Magnum. Well, at the time it was much smaller. We stayed with Drey in his flat while I taught Heath how to do all kinds of things like fish and hunt and fend for himself. Drey taught him some really easy self defense maneuvers when he was old enough to learn, and he took to them surprisingly quickly. Most important though was his mind, sharper than anything I’d ever seen. He would regularly beat Drey and I at strategy board games and he was able to teach himself the basics of how modern machinery worked before he was even old enough to work.He was magically adept, too. Same hair color and even the same shade as me, a Divine, which was and mostly is still unheard of.
His genius is what earned him the nickname Foxtail, as he was just as crafty as the little red animals. I’d call him that to embarrass him in public, and he would blush so much, you’d swear he was a Red Elf. It was peaceful, for a very long time.
Eventually though, Heath left home as all children do, with Saoirse’s Kiss in hand. That was the day we learned the sword conformed to the best shape for the user, because it changed from a claymore to a dagger the moment he held it. It was also the day we learned the source of his brilliance, which was the biggest shock to all of us. See, when Dayton was buried, Zephyrus handed me the sword for safekeeping and told me to never return. This meant that Zephyrus and all his wisdom and experiences were transferred into the blade as well, which meant that Zephyrus was a relative of Dayton.When Heath was very young, he must have touched the sword without anyone knowing, and inherited that brilliance and skill along with it. At least that’s what Drey and I decided probably happened. We found this out because the moment Heath felt the sword become a dagger, it also took on the shape and insignia of the Empire, and since only Dayton, Zephyrus and I had ever held the sword before, well… You can see what I’m getting at.
So, um, surprise! You’re related to two major world leaders. Hey, are you alright? You don’t look so good. Right well, I’m gonna keep going, try and stay calm.
Heath quickly made a name for himself as a tactician for a mercenary group that was operating around the Magnum area, helmed by someone he came to call a close friend, Anda the Hawk. Between the two of them, they were able to stabilize several regions of the territory Magnum became, and assimilate it into the city as an expansion of its borders. They did this to protect, and Anda left the politics to Heath as they went on to form the Hunters Guild, which is still led by a very aged Anda today. As for politics, eventually Zephyrus caught wind of Heath unifying and protecting those around him under one banner and recognized him as a person of worth. Over the next, oh, twenty or so years, Zephyrus and Heath became a buddy act that the whole world benefited from. The Empire would supply resources to their new friends governed by the now superpower that was Magnum while Magnum would supply a proper education and training to Imperial soldiers, who would then reach out and conquer new territory to bring it into the fold of the two nations.
Doing so, the entire world map was finally explored, or at least the shape marked out. Everything on the map belonged to the Empire or Magnum, and global peace was within reach thanks to these two. However, and this is where you’re going to start to see a pattern, things didn’t go so well after that. See, along the way of this conquest Zephyrus and Heath exchanged information a lot, but they also shared many holiday events. During one of these, an opera from the Empire performed in the palace, with Heath in attendance. The lead songstress of that opera was your mother, Freja. The two were smitten quickly and it was hard to find them apart, after some very sloppy, uncomfortable courting that Heath regularly asked me for help with and I remember teasing him relentlessly for.
After a while, they got married and Freja was pregnant with you. This was also about the time Heath rebuilt a Golem and that Golem is now the most uncanny to a humanoid that exists. That’s where Nectar comes in. And the group of them made a really wholesome bunch to watch. I was so proud of him, and he wanted to honor his father by giving his unborn child Saoirse’s Kiss as well. It was only a week after he declared that where he was to sign the Unification Treaty that would make the entire world one nation, helmed by Zephyrus and advised by Heath, that he said that to me. The night before the signing is when the worst happened. Since he had his fathers’ experiences spiritually chiseled into him, he knew to stay on guard when sleeping in the palace, which he was. He refused to be alone and also refused to remove his weapons. He also made sure to alert Tariah and Zephyrus himself to have their own weapons ready, just in case. They signed the real treaty that night so it could be set into motion in case of the worst, but beyond that, Heath also made sure to tell me he “set a few things into motion” and I still have no idea what that means. That was the last conversation I ever had with him, and it was via Sending Heart.
That night, he was also stabbed through the eye in his sleep, but not before alerting his wife, sleeping next to him. She saw the killer with her own eyes and cried out for help. I’m told that Zephyrus and Tariah also saw the killer. It was a very tall Donnriel woman with crimson hair and a scarlet dress, purple eyes, and a concerned expression. She was nicknamed Crimson Mistress and flagged as some sort of Divine being, but the thing is, if Zephyrus would just talk to me I could tell him she isn’t. There isn’t a single Divine I don’t know personally. We have myself,Saoirse, Zephyrus, Camulus, Vain, and Lavazh, and that’s it. Whatever she was, she’s not a Divine.
Anyway, Freja escaped the killer with the help of Zephyrus fending them off and Tariah escorting her through some panic tunnels that were dug out after I went berserk. She came to me, told me what happened, and I told Drey who helped her run away to a secluded place. I think you know the rest of the story from there. Nobody is sure who this killer is, what her origins are, or if she’s the same killer that killed Dayton, but rather than start a world war over it, Zephyrus is using his resources to try and locate her and bring her to justice. He’s also not made the treaty signing public yet, and he likely never will, but for that one night he ruled the entire world.
The reason I’m making sure you know all this is because when the time comes and we do give you the sword, it’ll tell you all of this through the residual experiences you’ll inherit. That’s the running theory anyway. Drey has it and he says he wanted you to grow up away from politics or major world changing events to protect you. I only ever heard about you through him, I didn’t know I had a granddaughter until a few years ago. I think they knew I’d just tell you everything if I found out about you, but I’ve been on my best behavior not getting involved in that until you came to Magnum. I feel like you’re old enough and you deserve an explanation before some magic sword spoils everything for you.
Hey, are you still awake? You look like you’re struggling.
Magna Varia 