The King's Queen

Chapter 35

"It's time I told you everything, Elizabeth," Luca spoke. "Without proper knowledge of your roots, you will grow into an unstable tree that won't flourish. I will tell you about the true history of the Origins, and the motives of the Origen Association."

Ezra and Rosaline took their place on the sofa on either side of me, while Malekh sat on the opposite sofa. I couldn't help but think about how awkward this might be for him, being formerly an Origen, to hear the Origins being referred to as 'his people'.

"Most Origen folklore about us begins with some ominous line like, 'It started with the Origins', and rightly so. It did begin with us, except there was nothing ominous about us. The ancient Origins of the past lived in secrecy for thousands of years. It's not clear what our exact origin was. Some think it was creation, and some evolution. Then, there are the others who believe we crash landed here from some unknown, faraway planet.

"Some legends state that the first Origin rose out of the sea in the shape of a man and never went back to the water. One thing for certain, though, was that the humans were already here when we arrived. The Origins quickly noticed how different they were from humans. They lived much longer and were far more powerful. Their enhanced senses and unique abilities ensured that they didn't have many natural enemies. But an existence of such peace couldn't remain unsullied by war and strife.

"The Origins eventually revealed themselves to the humans, and they lived closely with each other, relying on each other. The Origins helped the humans to develop weapons and medicines, and some of them ruled over them as royalty. Others were revered as gods. But simply put, we are not God, and anything less than a deity is ultimately destined for great ruin. That is what happened four thousand years ago.

"Since the Origins and humans had assimilated their cultures and lifestyles, it was no surprise that they began to inter-marry. The children born between Origins and humans were still Origin, much like you, Elizabeth." He offered me a smile. "But what made them different from children born between two Origins?"

"They didn't have a unique ability?" I guessed.

"Not quite." Luca chuckled. "All Origins have unique abilities. We'll figure out yours in time. The difference between the two is very simple, and it's also what led to the existence of our descendants, the Origens.

"You see, there are twenty-four Origin families that are divided into three sections. In the first section you have Angeles, Damaris, Gaignory, Dagon, Elfwind, Haven, Rosedreamer and Tiramisu. In the second section you have Merila, Castedras, Langston, Montalli, Nolan, Xie, Hosseini and Pyron. In the third section you have Reedborough, Sunorbi, Yang, Umbra, Lamarllevé, Chrysalis, Quake and Villarreal. In that order, each of twenty-four families corresponds to one of the twenty-four Origen ranks.

"The first section can produce two generations of Origins after mating with humans or Origens. If the second generation of descendants also decided to mate with humans or Origens, then the resulting child would be born an Origen. The second section can produce two to three generations of Origins and the third section can only produce one generation. This explains why the population number increases as you go down the Origen ranks. Since families in the third section could only produce one generation of Origins, there was a higher chance for that generation to mate with a human or an Origen, thus producing an Origen.

"Origens were born with genetic ranks and so they could not take an Origin family name. There were vast differences in power among Origins, Origens and humans, and some people didn't like that, so what did they do... Elizabeth?" Luca selected me to answer the question.

"The humans conspired with the Omegas to capture and kill the Origins. At least, that's what's written in the Origen history books."

"I know, but that's not quite right," Luca sighed. "The Origens love to paint themselves as the victims of the Omega's bad choices and thirst for power, but that's not at all what happened. See, the twenty-fourth and final Origin family, the Villarreal, is special in that the members of that family don't have different unique abilities. They all have the same unique ability."