Chapter Text
It was the end of autumn, and almost all the deciduous trees had lost their leaves preparing for the coming winter. It was pure magic that kept all the other plants and trees alive during the harsh freeze. However, this story isn’t about what trees lose their leaves at what time and what trees don’t, this story is about an elven prince that is about to be born to the last monarch of the Zephyris line, and the ruler of the Mystic Elves.
In the middle of a vast forest lay High Wind City, populated mostly by, and ruled by, the Mystic Elves. The streets were paved with gold and silver and the houses, mansions and manors were built with only the finest wood available, even in the 2nd district where the poorest elves lived everything was crafted from the finest quality.
Generally the elves that lived within the walls of High Wind City were quiet beings, the loudest things got was when the occasional elf had too much to drink and started a brawl – which was quickly sorted out by The Guard – but today the streets were alive with music and colour. It seemed like every elf that lived within the city, and even some that didn’t, had come to join in the festivities, for today was their Queen’s birthing day. Any birthing day was special as it was hard for any elf to conceive, but for the city folk the Queen having a child meant security for all, even if the heir was to be a halfbreed.
The High Mystic and the High Druidess marched down the glistening streets, the other elves parting for them like a school of fish giving way to a shark, and made their way to the manor house that had belonged to the Zephyris line since the beginning of High Wind. Behind the two magicians were their procession, who were in charge of keeping things in order and bringing their possessions. The High Mystic and the High Druidess were solemn, for the stars and the cards were foreboding. They knew without a doubt that this birth would bring war and chaos to whole of the world, for the last Primera to have lived turned out to be a catastrophe, and so too would this one be, if only due to the Alliance.
Cael Fraxinus-Zephyris paced the hallway outside his lifemate’s birthing room. Her shrill screams tore at the walls he had erected and unleashed his protective instincts, but even his beast knew better than to interfere in the birthing rights so he wore down the stone hallway with his pacing instead. At a particular loud scream his fangs dropped and his fingernails lengthened. He growled and slammed his forehead into the stone wall a little ways down from the room his mate was giving birth in.
“You know, old friend, this is a natural process – both the birthing pain and the instincts of the father, it’s no excuse to take it out on perfectly innocent stone.” A figure dressed in all white stated dryly making his way delicately to the distressed king.
Cael turned his face and smiled wide.
“Alix! You finally made it!”
The mystic snorted, “that’s High Mystic Alix to you, king or no king.”
“Don’t forget me!” a short woman dressed all in different shades of green said popping out behind Alix’s robes.
“Catalina, how lovely to see you, too.” Cael’s grin almost split his face in two.
Catalina giggled and curtsied, “it’s good to finally see you again my king.” When no response came from Alix she jumped up and flicked him on the nose.
Alix shot a quick glower at Catalina, but sighed and bowed at the waist for a short second before unfolding himself to stand at his full height again. It was then he noticed his king’s still inner agitated state, despite his other side being happy to see his friends.
“You may want to calm yourself, your Highness.” Alix said, staring down to Cael’s claws.
Cael flushed red, embaressed that the High Magicians saw him like this despite knowing them for decades, “right.” He muttered. He closed his vibrant yellow eyes and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly and his fangs and claws slowly retracted.
Once he was sure everything was set to rights again Cael opened his eyes to see Catalina and Alix staring at him. He coughed once, awkward that he let his inner beast break free, even if only for a moment and that his friends had noticed, “so, good news about the birth I hope,” he said cheerfully, changing the subject.
Catalina’s smile drooped and Alix’s face became expressionless.
A feeling of dread began to well in the pit of Cael’s stomach but he refused to let it show on his face, “what’s wrong?” he asked lowly. The inner beast that all Grey Elves had to deal with began to growl at the uncertainty of his child’s future existence and he almost lost control again. He grit his teeth for good measure and did his best to smile.
“I’m afraid,” Catalina began slowly, “that the stars do not welcome this birth.”
“And the cards do not show favoritism to the heir either.” Alix muttered so quietly a mortal wouldn’t have heard him.
“W-what does this mean?” Cael asked, already guessing at the answer. If what he thought was true, his child wouldn’t live to see the week’s end.
“I’m so, so sorry Cael, but the stars told me that this birth would be the birth of the Primera.” Tears glistened in her mauve eyes.
“Alix? Did your cards also spell doom for my child?” Cael whispered.
“Yes, my Liege. When the child is born, the explosion of power it will produce will alert the Alliance and they will come for it.” Alix’s stony reply nearly broke Cael in two.
“Is there anything we can do?” the king asked desperately.
Catalina and Alix shared a look; it was Alix who spoke, “for many days since we learnt the truth of what this birth meant we tried to find a way around it, however we failed in this aspect. Queen Amira will birth the Primera and she might or might not be strong enough to survive the process. The baby will have no future in the Otherworld for it will be hunted down like an animal till the end of its days, and if it is caught it will be killed.” Cael’s eyes shimmered with tears, he could lose his mate and child in one fell swoop and there was nothing he could do about it.
“However,” Catalina began; Cael’s heart began to beat almost painfully against his ribs, “though the fate of Queen Amira’s survival is still unclear, there is a way for the child to survive.”
“How?” Cael breathed.
“A binding spell and a switch with a child from the mortal realm.” Alix stated, “If we are in agreement I will bind the child’s powers. The binding will wear off when he turns 10 when most of the Chaos is over, but we must also switch him for a mortal baby, if you pick a lycanthrope or vampire baby the plan will fail, then we must switch their appearances.”
“You would sentence an innocent child to death in my child’s place and a royal heir to grow up thinking he’s mortal?” Cael asked, unbelieving.
“Would you willingly allow your child to die at the hands of the Alliance?” Alix asked shortly, “either you agree with this plan and put it into action or your child, your flesh and blood dies.”
Cael’s eyes shut and he hung his head in shame, “I agree with the plan, but on one condition.”
“What is that?” Catalina asked, sympathy shining in her eyes.
“Amira should at least get to hold him and say goodbye while I fetch the mortal child.”
“That is acceptable,” Alix stated, “If she survives the birthing I will inform her of the plan and bind the young heir’s powers, but hurry Cael, the Alliance grows stronger everyday and now has reach over most of every corner of this dimension, even here. There are spies everywhere.”
“I will go now then and find a suitable family, perhaps even a magical one.”
“That would be best.” Catalina told him sadly. Cael nodded before he disappeared in a burst of flame.
Cataline and Alix were silent as they patiently waited for the wail and explosion of power that would inform them of the child’s arrival into this dimension.
Cael pyroported to the place where some of the mortals had once practiced their form of Druidism and recoiled in surprise. Where once there was a peaceful forest with the murmuring of people praying in between the trees now stood a small bustling town with nary a tree to see for miles. Cael grimaced in disgust. Luckily he was a fair distance from the town so his unusual features couldn’t be seen, what a disaster that would have been! He was also free to transform into his favorite animal without getting caught by any curious magicless mortals.
Smiling a little, as it had been decades since he had done this. He got down on all fours and willed his form to change, picturing the creature he wanted to transform into in his minds’ eye.
Slowly he began to morph. He grit his teeth as bones popped out of their sockets and re-lengthened, and shortened. He inwardly groaned when he heard his shirt, pants and shoes rip, he would have to steal a cloak from somewhere before heading home. Then the itching began as white hairs began to sprout over the entirety of his body. His mouth and nose lengthened and became one, a tail grew from his tailbone and his human ears sunk back into his head as new one’s took their place on top of his head. Canines dropped down as the rest of his teeth sharpened into points and claws extended from his now paws.
Cael, in the form of a white wolf, took a few steps forward to practice his balance before taking a whiff of his surroundings. He paused and dropped to the ground, trying to get rid of the disgusting scent by furiously rubbing his nose with his paws. After a few moments of futile rubbing, he slowly stood up, shook his head and sniffed again. The scent of pollution was new to him, there was no scent like it in the Otherworld.
As an elf, Cael could quite easily sense magic; however in his wolf form he could quite literally smell it and a lot more potently than if he had stayed in his elven form. Shuddering at the smell of so much filth – when had the world let itself go? – He took off in the direction of the only fresh scent. Fresh either meant forest, or it meant magic, and since most of the trees seemed to have been cut down and used it, must be magic.
He raced as fast as he could towards the fresh scent, appearing to mortal eyes as a blur, and at last a small village came into view. Though there was the general earthy scent f mortals, there was also the fresh spring scent of magic users.
‘This must be a mixed village.’ Cael thought with relief, ‘one of the magical families must have a newborn child.’
The wolf peaked into each window, but could not smell the scent of new life in any of the homes, he began to despair, everything was riding on him finding a newborn that they could switch, when he came upon the last house, the furtherest cottage from the village. His fur stood on end when he pushed his snout through the window.
‘Bingo.’
Looking around to make sure there was no one around – which there wasn’t, which was surprising considering the time of day – he morphed back into his elven form and slid his hand over his face, imagining what he wanted to look like. He changed his ash skin paper white, and his luminous yellow eyes an average muddy brown, he lengthened his black hair a little bit and willed it into a low ponytail. He blinked a few times and walked to the front door to knock.
The final scream of pain coming from their Queen made both Catalina and Alix wince and the thunderous explosion of magic almost knocked both High Magicians off their feet. They didn’t wait for the nursemaid to welcome them in, already suspecting the old woman to blab to the nearest elf she could find about a Primera being born, and rushed inside.
Catalina threw a gas version of the sleeping draught she had concocted that morning at the nursemaid’s feet, making the old lady immediately fall into a dead faint, the purple mist quickly dispersed before reaching the rest of the room’s occupants. The two magician’s knelt by their Queen’s bedside.
She opened her mauve eyes and smiled weakly in their direction, cradling a sleeping baby tightly to her chest. She knew what the babe would grow up to be, but the two magicians knew in their hearts that their Queen would not give it up without a fight.
“My Queen,” Catalina began, “I’m thankful to see you still breathing and Cael will cry with happiness. However as I’m sure you and the nursemaid know, you have birthed a Primera.”
“Don’t call him that,” Amira whispered, though her eyes shone with a fierceness that chilled both magicians to the core, “his name is Hadrian Cael Zephyris-Fraxinus and he is my heir.”
“I apologize My Lady,” Catalina bowed her head in apology.
Amira nodded once to show her forgiveness.
“My Queen,” Alix began again, “there is no way for you to keep your child alive in this dimension, both the stars and the cards depict a future of chaos and war if he is allowed to remain. He will be hunted by the Alliance and killed for merely existing.”
Amira’s eyes softened and tears began to fall down her cheeks, dripping from her chin and landing on Hadrian’s forehead. Hadrian squirmed and blinked open his own luminous yellow eyes. Amira smiled down at her child and stroked his ash grey cheek lovingly. Hadrian reached up and grabbed onto a piece of his mother’s platinum hair, tugging lightly in retaliation.
“Is there any hope?” She asked, full attention on her little prince.
“Yes, My Lady, however his future, if there is to be any future for him at all, is in the mortal realm.” Catalina said, eyes downcast.
The Queen’s mauve eyes closed, “you intend to turn my child into a changeling, to swap him with another child.” She stated. Her heart broke though she knew logically this was his only chance of his survival despite, the murder of the innocent mortal child taking her son’s place.
“We will also have to bind his powers, at 10 years his chaotic powers will have settled and the bindings will come undone.” Alix added.
“And his appearance? Will he ever look like us, like his true parents?”
“That too, will right itself when he comes into his full inheritance at 15, at which point he will hopefully have gained enough control over his true powers to protect himself from the possible prosecution.” There was a reason why swapping children was now against The Law.
She nodded regally, trying to pull herself together.
“I take it my mate is procuring us a baby at this very moment?”
“Yes,” Alix answered, “we are hoping for a magical child, it will be a better environment for Hadrian to grow up in.”
“That would be for the best.” Amira whispered, “his bursts of power will go mostly unnoticed among the wizard-kind”.
“I would like to secure a vault for Hadrian,” she began again suddenly “for when his new family finds out what he is and cut him off. I believe the bank is still called Gringotts, run by Goblins, they are neutral and respect our kind so they won’t out Hadrian. I want there to be books on our history, our magic, and what pathways he could choose, I also want guides for him, teaching him how to control his many magics that will no doubt explode after his inheritance. The little magic he can do at 10 will be a match light in comparison to what he’ll be capable of at 15 and I want him to have help controlling it. I want him to have the best help he can have, short of actual beings. I also want the vault to be filled with galleons, jewels of every type and some of the family heirlooms. And one last thing, I want there to be a letter from us, myself and my mate explaining why we had to give him up.” Tears were cascading down her face now, “I don’t want my little Hadrian to think that we didn’t love him, I don’t want him to think that we abandoned him.”
Both magicians nodded, tears in their own eyes, even the usually stoic Alix was almost shedding tears, “it will be done.” They said in unison.
“Thank you my friends” she sniffled, “I’ll say my goodbyes and give him to you for the binding, Alix.” Alix nodded.
She held Hadrian tenderly and slowly shifted her fingers through his mop of platinum hair.
“I will always love you, my heart, and as long as you live I will feel it within my soul. Even if Cael and I have another child, they will never replace you in our hearts and I will mourn for your loss every day of my life, as will the people in my kingdom. One day though, I promise we will reunite again, this I swear.” Magic of the purest kind wrapped around mother and child as the oath took. Hadrian giggled and tugged on her hair some more and Amira sniffled and quickly passed him off to Alix, not bearing to look at the son she would lose minutes from now.
Alix held the squirming child, who was desperate to get back to his mother’s loving embrace, Alix ignored this as best he could and murmured words only known to a walker of the Mysticism Path.
Amira began to sob in earnest at Hadrian’s scream of pain but that was when Alix knew the binding was working. It was excruciating for a part of the soul to be bound, like having a part of yourself ripped away.
Alix yelled the last word in the old tongue “Ligaveris!” and a bright flash of light coming from Hadrian’s small chest signaled the end of the spell.
Hadrian continued to wail and flap his arms around, doing his best to get away from what he perceived as the big creature that hurt him. Alix grimaced and quickly handed him off to Catalina, who did her best to calm him to no avail. Not even her Calming Aura helped. At a loss she turned to her Queen.
“He needs you, My Lady, you must calm him and put him to sleep for the switch.”
Amira wanted to shake her head and ignore the crying of her child of whom she might never see again, how could she calm his wails when she wasn’t sure she could let him go if she ever held him again? The mother in her roared at her cowardice and she shuddered at her thoughts.
She slowly reached out, determinedly not looking at her perfect son. But as soon as she had him cradled against her chest again he began to coo happily once more. She smiled at him through her tears and opened her mouth to sing him a lullaby. Though her own mother had sung her countless ones over the years, this one had always stuck with her, as short as it was, and Amira hoped that her son always remembered it, even if he didn’t remember her.
“Gu robh neart na cruinne leat
'S neart na grèine
'S neart an tairbh dhuibh
'S àirde leumas.”
Infusing Sleep Magic into her short words helped his eyes to droop shut and he was asleep and calm once more. Before she could even process her sweet sleeping babe a flash of fire signaling her mate’s arrival lit up the corridor.
Cael rushed into the room and stopped still, his mate, his beautiful Queen was alive and well and their son was gorgeous, a mix of both mother and father.
He gave the snatched babe to Alix who noted his characteristics to memory and quickly changed his appearance to match Hadrian’s one, also pushing powerful magic directly into his soul, making the snatched baby squirm at the slight pain. Alix leaned over the bed and ran his hand over Hadrian, making him look exactly like the stolen babe and Amira nearly wailed at the loss of her son for she knew it was time.
“What did you name him, my love?” Cael asked, leaning into her to help his inner beast to calm with her potent scent. Amira didn’t need words to tell her that her mate was grateful she survived the birthing of the Primera, only 45% of mothers had survived in the past.
“I named him Hadrian Cael Zephyris-Fraxinus.” They looked lovingly at one another and shared a hug and a chaste kiss before Cael reluctantly left his mate’s side.
“I must do the switch, and then I will be back so we can face the Alliance together, we must be strong my love, but let the stolen one go. Remember, it is for the sake of our heir, for any other reason the thought would have never crossed our minds.” Cael said as he took his son from his mate’s arms.
“I know my heart jewel, I know it is the only way to ensure his survival and that no one goes looking.”
Without another word Cael once again disappeared in a burst of flame.
Cael crept back to the house he know knew was owned by the Potters and quietly opened the unlocked door. The last time he’d been here he merely willed them to sleep, willed them to forget that they ever saw him, and levitated them into bed. With no one outside there were also no witnesses to place him, and with Hadrian looking exactly like Harry Potter no one would think anything was amiss. He walked up the stairs slowly, making every second he had Hadrian in his arms count. One he got to the top of the stairs he passed the master bedroom where the sleeping parents lay on their bed, past the small bathroom before arriving at the baby’s room. He stepped inside, bypassing all the various curses and hexes that would normally attack someone without Potter or Even blood and placed Hadrian delicately into Harry’s crib.
“Be good for your mummy and daddy,” Cael said, trying to stay strong. “Keep out of trouble to avoid detection and remember that we’ll always love you and that we hate having to part ways.” Cael ruffled his son’s now black hair before walking back to the master bedroom and whispering into both parents’ minds ‘his name is Hadrian, not Harry, Hadrian’ before disappearing once again in a burst of flame.
He appeared back in the birthing chamber to instantly feel a large collection of menacing aura’s approaching. The nursemaid groaned before slowly getting to her feet and shaking the rest of the confusion and drowsiness away. “What happened?” she asked, before her eyes went wide and she gasped.
“The Queen birthed the Primera, I must alert the Alliance!” she yelled before pulling up her skirts and hurrying out the door.
“I hope the entire kingdom isn’t made up of traitors like her.” Alix grumbled, still holding the squirming imposter.
Cael immediately lay next to his mate and cuddled into her, and Alix gave her Harry to hold, for ‘authencity.’
None of the elves in the room had to fake their tears, except Alix who was crying on the inside and refused to show weakness to a member of the Alliance.
Seconds later a six foot Dark Elf kicked down the door.
“Where is it?” He demanded, grinning almost dementedly with sharpened teeth and large canines. His almost black skin contrasted sharply with his white hair and eyes and struck fear into the hearts of Amira and Cael. It was one of the cruelest warriors that the Alliance sent after their son, one of the elves in line to be head of the Alliance, Lachesis. He always got the job done, and always got some sort of sick enjoyment out of it at the same time.
“Please have mercy.” Amira begged, she wouldn’t willingly give any child to this monster, mortal or otherwise. But the creature only continued to grin, the only thing that gave away his building rage was the darkening of his eyes. Cael closed his eyes and hugged his mate for all he was worth. He couldn’t watch this, he just couldn’t. Guilt tore through him, and the only thing keeping him together was the memory of his son’s smile and the fact that if it wasn’t for the swap it would be their real son in this monster’s clutches.
“Mercy is for the weak,” he stated almost ecstatically, “now give me the child or I’ll just simply kill you all.”
Both Alix’s and Catalina’s eyes narrowed at the threat, “careful Lachesis, we wouldn’t want our already fragile goodwill with the Alliance to burst into flame”. Alix said firmly, and the message got across. Lachesis’ eyes darkened to black and his smile fell off his face to reveal a frown.
“Fine,” he hissed and clicked his fingers, the babe, who had begun to wail at the sheer menace surrounding it, was whisked straight into the Dark Elf’s hand. He held the child cruelly by the back of his neck.
“I’ll kill him quickly,” Lachesis murmured shooting a dark glare around the room, “and that’s all the mercy you’ll get from me.” He strode away, black cloak billowing out behind him. The Guards, who had been ordered to come along by the head of the Alliance, followed after him. The people in the birthing room hadn’t even noticed that there had been others for they only had eyes for Lachesis, the only elf that had enough power and skill to best a Mystic Elf. Before Lachesis, they might have had a chance to defend themselves, but that time had long past and now High Wind City and all therein had to bow to the might of the Alliance that formed after the last Primera 100,000 years ago, went mad and almost destroyed the fabric of the Otherworld. The alliance was made up of almost an elf from every subrace, excluding of course, the Mystic Elves. After a couple of decades they forgot why they had formed the Alliance in the first place and began to bully those they considered below them – which was everyone. The only reason High Wind City had survived for this long without being taken over was the trade with the Faeries and the Sidhe, and the fact that many Wood Elves considered the forests surrounding the city to be a perfect home, what with a large forest and fair prices in the markets.
As far as Queen Amira and King Cael were concerned, all who needed protection and anyone wanting a new life were welcome within High Wind’s walls.
“We’ll see him again,” Amira vowed, as she had with her newborn, and she would. She would find a way if it were the last thing she did.
Cael sobbed into her side and Amira ran her periwinkle blue hand through his black hair, comforting her mate. She needed to be strong, not only for her mate but for her people. She had a feeling the Alliance was going to try something very soon and had to come up with a weakness for a certain Dark Elf…perhaps a Basilisk?
Beside her, still radiating with fury, Alix and Catalina stood with clenched fists. Amira felt beneath their outward aura’s and felt their deep well of pain and uselessness.
“It was no one’s fault.” Amira sighed, “the Otherworld had reason to be cautioned after the last Primera lost her mind.”
“But there was no reason to kill the child,” Catalina snarled, “binding his powers like we did would have been sufficient enough.”
“Ah, but when does the Alliance like to be kind. What other way to make sure another incident doesn’t occur than to simply destroy the problem.” Alix replied bitterly. “No matter, although we won’t see him for a long time, a very long time, we know that he is alive and well and growing up within a wizarding environment. He won’t be ostracised for being able to do magic at a young age and he will grow up peacefully.”
“Until he’s 15 and his appearance changes.” Cael muttered from the comforting embrace of his mate.
“Ah, but I’m sure Alix has some sort of way for us to know when that happens, so that we can confront him, aside from the information provided in the vault of course.” Catalina said with as much positive enthusiasm she could afford.
“Vault?” Cael perked up slightly.
“Of course I would leave our precious son a hefty sum of gold, jewels and information,” Amira huffed.
“What a fantastic idea, my love,” Cael cooed softly before snuggling into her side again.
Amira sighed and stared off into the distance, her gaze blank. She could only hope for a future where she could travel to the mortal realm, but even now she doubted she could keep her vow.