B4 – Chapter 40: Primordial Heritage

As he walked up the spire, Zeltana spoke in his mind. What do you want to accomplish with these grafts?

Tristan whispered in response. “I plan on making some permanent changes to the Fey Realm. I’m going to always keep at least fifty percent of ambient essence untouched, and so I will need to increase the size of the realm through grafting to acquire more ambient essence.” He reached the top boughs and walked over to the small study that had expanded with new bookshelves, sumptuous cushions, a huge rug, and even one of the hot-interior trees that acted like a furnace, which provided lovely warmth that Tristan only slightly felt. He sank into one of the cushions.

I see. You intend to really go all-out with empowering your forces.

Tristan nodded. “I should give us the best chance of survival. It sounds like the ability to make broad, sweeping changes to the realm is fairly unique.” He glanced over at the Astrologer’s Glass. “I wonder . . .” He stood up, went to it, and peered down the lens. He could see the large, black dot far up in the distance, and he pushed essence into the device, attempting to will the essence to reach the heavens above.

What are you doing?

“Trying to contact Logos.”

A voice came from the device. The same voice Tristan had spoken with when he used the Locate spell. “Ah, Lord Winterbloom. Normally The Matriarch contacts me from here.”

“Hello, Logos,” Tristan said with a smile. “I had some questions. Can you answer them?”

“As long as you provide appropriate essence.”

Tristan pushed more essence through his body and into the device. “Why can I make changes to the Fey Realm that are permanent? Can other Realm Protectors?”

“You are not a Realm Protector. They cannot make permanent changes; they just stabilize the realm with their presence; otherwise, it would collapse in on itself. Only Primordial Heritages can fundamentally alter a realm. The firstborn of a realm, and their descendants.”

Huh. I’m learning something new. Ask him why other realms don’t have the same thing.

“Why don’t other realms have these Primordial Heritages?”

Logos replied in rapid speech that Tristan barely kept up with. “Let’s go through the process of how a realm forms, shall we? First, something happens. I can’t tell you, because I don’t know. But whatever that thing is causes a slice of reality to isolate itself. While isolated, essence reverberates, bouncing around, and eventually thickening. It expands and pushes out against the confines of its space. Then, it begins to take shape into its primordial form. This is the earliest stage of a realm’s development, when it gains an identity as a realm, rather than a possibility.”

“After that, the Primordial Heritage is formed. The first being. Their nascent subconsciousness shapes the realm based upon the framework of the identity that was attributed by that trapped essence that expanded.” His voice kept going, relentless, and without the need for breath. “Then, the essence crucible tries to form. This is where most Primordial Heritages perish, because their body cannot take the stress, and they expire. Species form from their remnants, and often other Heritages – but they lose the purity of being Primordial.”

Zeltana’s words in Tristan’s mind were imbued with the sense of someone coming to a realization. That explains so much. When I woke up, I dreamed weird dreams of warbling nothingness. And I felt an ache in my chest. But I said, “fuck that” and fought against the pain.

Logos continued over Zeltana’s words. “Primordial Heritage are the most capable essence-weavers of all . . . but species tend to have physical attributes that make them stronger. A freshly born essence-weaver is at a major disadvantage compared to a species that is ready to fight right out of the womb. The difference between a wolf pup and a Human infant. The Human has infinitely more potential, but the wolf has the greater advantage early on.”

Tristan pieced together what Logos would say next before he said it. “That’s why most of the Primordial Heritages are not around. They awakened, and either died from the formation of their essence crucible, or were killed by the subsequent emerging species, since they didn’t have the time to understand, learn, and implement essence-weaving or even just controlling a realm’s ambient essence.”

“Correct. More essence, please.”

Tristan poured more essence into the device. “Keep going. This is fascinating.”

Agreed.

Logos continued. “Now, for first species. There is one that tends to tower above the rest; dragons are seen as the apex predator because they are normally that first species. If a Primordial Heritage survived its initial forming of an essence crucible, odds are they would be a threat in the future. And you are well aware of how dragons think.”

“They nip problems in the bud and won’t allow themselves to be threatened,” Tristan answered. “They have to be the most dominant force.”

“Precisely. In summary; a realm forms, a Primordial Heritage awakens, either dies or is killed, and then the first of the new species becomes a Realm Protector and de-facto ruler of that realm—often they are a dragon. Subsequent formation of species and Heritages is completely random and up to chance. This is where we come to the unique setup of the Fey Realm. Your progenitor, the first Winterbloom, was able to take hold of the Fey Realm’s essence from the start, and mold it to her will. She dictated the course of its development, and thus nothing was left to random chance. A fully curated and customized realm.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Damn right. I woke up and knew I would rule. The Fey Realm was mine, and no one else’s . . . was, I should say. It’s yours, now.

Tristan replied. “Primordial Heritages . . . are there more out there?”

Logos’ voice came back with a chuckle. “Realms remain isolated, and there could very well be numerous of them out there.”

“What about the Demon Realm?”

“That one is gone.”

Explains why Duberceix cannot make changes at will. Okay, I have a good grasp on how it works, now. “Thank you, Logos.”

“My pleasure. I wish you luck in your endeavors. Those assassins have been trying to divine your location very often, but whatever disguise you are traveling under has been quite effective.”