Chapter: 11.
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After a long and torturous silence, Colleen muttered.

"He-He is a god!"

"...Is that even possible?" Dom finally managed to say in disbelief.

"It is indeed, Dominic, but it took him ten thousand years to come full circle."

"Full circle?" He asked again, his voice cracking.

"To be Mated,"

"Te-Ten thousand!" Colleen squeaked.

"His divinity is tied with that of his brothers and sisters, that of the gods and goddesses, the earth, the skies, and the Heavens all of which kept the lone god occupied and bound as he tried to create a balance between the Earth and the Human race, settling the chaos his twin created and serving the punishments meant for his twin," Phoenix explained.

"I'm lost," Dom muttered.

"I'll explain further," Phoenix assured. "Irtia fell in love with a human girl and it drove him to come down to Earth, he dwelled with her, Marked and Mated her, and when she was going to bear his first offspring Irtia saw she was going to die during childbirth as she is no Were and thus it became difficult to birth a Werewolf more so the first known Alpha and Lycanthrope. Irtia came to his brother Xiher and begged that he should help him, Xiher could only speak with the Goddess and so he brought the matter before her and she gave a condition and Xiher returned to his brother with these conditions..."

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"Brother, the Goddess has given two conditions... ONE is that your son will come forth and dwell amongst men and you return home and give up your position as the Gatekeeper of CALM ETHEREAL and become the Keeper of Thrones, serving by the side of the Goddess for all Eternity and the SECOND is that you give up your son to die and you remain by the side of your human lover and on no account should you give her a child or she dies at childbirth, but you will be allowed grace to be with her till she has lived out her number of days on Earth then you must return home."

"What wicked conditions are these?" Irtia growled annoyed beyond recognition. "Is it not better to be condemned to death than to take up any of these offers!"

"It is not an offer, Irtia, it is a price you must pay for defiling the Laws of Ethereal, you came down to earth, you mated a human, and because of you she will die!" Xiher exclaimed.

"I had no idea," Irtia cried.

"They are mortal, Irtia, not Gods, they are weak, they get sick, they die, we don't, which is why the Laws stated that on no account should we dwell or Mate amongst them, it brings death, and disaster, the Third Heavens forbids such, you know these things, Irtia."

"I love her, I do,"

"Then you must be willing to make the sacrifice for her sake and that of your unborn,"

"Don't you see, Xiher, without her I am nothing, she has become mine, I love her beyond words, beyond the Glories of Ethereal, I want to be with her, brother please, you must help me!" He broke down before the feet of his twin and it pained Xiher to see his brother in such a vulnerable state. It was the first time he heard of a god falling so madly in love with a mortal.

"This is what I will do for you, brother, I shall take up your responsibility, I will give up five thousand years for your sake, I will serve as the Goddess Keeper of Thrones, I will bear all consequences that come with disobeying the Goddess and as such you will be with your human, but you must make her a shifter or else she dies before you and you roam another thousand of years alone but upon her death, as she is still mortal, you must return home and take up your responsibilities but know this, you will remain the Keeper of Thrones for all Eternity, this is the best I can do for you, brother."

Irtia threw his arms around his brother and hugged him. "Thank you, but this is a tasking responsibility, Xiher, you could lose your chance at Mating should the Goddess find out,"

"I do not intend to keep this decision away from her, Irtia,"

"You will tell the Goddess?"

"She is the Goddess, Irtia there is nothing she can not see, so I must bring this to her, she will understand,"

"But, what about you, Xiher?"

"Worry instead for your lover and the Lycan she is to bring forth, make sure he does not bring death to the Human, the Third Heavens will place a curse upon him should he bring death upon their Creation, take care of him and teach him the Laws and Principles of Ethereal,"

As Xiher transformed into his godly form and was about to leave his brother pulled him back and Xiher smiled. "You doubt me, brother?" Xiher saw it in his eyes and pulled his brother close then swore an oath. "I bind by the Earth and the Elements which are obedient to me, the Gods and Goddesses of Ethereal, the Skies and the Air, all that I have promised my twin brother on this day." Irtia breathed a sigh and Xiher departed from him.

******

"... This act of selflessness isn't easily shown amongst Gods but Xiher gave his brother this precious gift. Irtia became the father of all Weres and before his death, many Gods came down to pick their mates amongst humans and they grew fast, but once Irtia returned home, the Gods who had followed in his part returned too but the Earth has become filled with Weres of many kinds..."

"... Many of which brought trouble and doom, the Lycan was the first to slay a man in cold blood and got cursed by the Third Heavens, and after the Lycan's death, it took two centuries before the earth welcomed another Lycan and as for the Weres who took judgments into their hands and slay the mortal unjustly, they too were cursed by the Third Heavens and many of them are no longer in existence to this day..."

"....And now that Irtia is home, Xiher returned to his duties, and having missed five thousand years as the Keeper Of The ETERNAL EXPANSE, he needed to make up for times lost and thus he became the busiest god in all of Uppetora. Before I came down to be with my Mates, my mother had mentioned to me in passing of Xiher's lonesome heart. He yearned for love, for intimacy, for companionship, for a Mate... until now, Xiher remained the oldest god who is Unmated. I didn't see it then but I see it clearly now. I brought forth a Lycan and the Goddess sent one of her own once more..."

"...And now you have shot him. Xiher has had a rough life, he hasn't rested in thousands of years, finally meeting the ones fated to him, the ones meant to have protected and offered him the rest he so desperately yearns for instead, they took his life. How then shall he trust you enough to give you his blessings, huh?" Phoenix charged his sons and they lowered their heads in shame.

"Why did he take the Form of a cub?" Kawan asked.

"How else would he protect himself against those two?!" Phoenix asked, pointing at his sons. "Even if the curse still affected most of Conri's decisions, influencing his thoughts, Rafa would refrain from bringing him harm even as a cub so Xiher took the godly From,"

"Who was blessed to birth a god?" Colleen asked.

"A Weretiger whose Mate Rejected, he roamed the Lone Forest searching for his Mate still."

"And Conri did the same to him," Dom muttered.

"I did not Reject him!" He charged, sorrowful.

"You killed him, he would have died if he weren't a god!" Phoenix retorted.

"I am so sorry," He broke down and cried bitterly.

"You are a threat to the life of your Mate, Conri, and until I find out the witch behind your curse and why it still affected you until now even after the Elder's purifications, you must control your emotions around him. You have a long life to live, both of you, and you do not want to do it alone."

"How long will he remain a cub?" Rafa asked.

"A day, maybe a thousand, who knows, he will remain in his godly state, resting and healing until he trusts you both enough to protect him then will he take his full Form but until then, do not get too attached to him for if you do, your Rut will come very frequently and you will suffer severe mental pain," Phoenix replied.

"Can I at least hold him once in a while?" Rafa asked.

"I would not advise that you do, stay away from him, let him come to you when he is ready, do not get too close to the cub, I can not emphasize this enough, stay away from the cub if it will be too difficult then let me take him back with me-"

"NO!" Both man and Lycan yelled and Phoenix gasped at the sudden outburst.

"Of course," Phoenix said softly. "I will not take your Mate away, if I do, how then will you build his trust for you but until then, you must love him, protect him, and while you're at it, try to remember when you Marked him and what condition in which you did it and for your sake, I hope it was not forceful," Phoenix warned.

"Forceful?" Conri asked, his voice soft.

"Yes," Phoenix replied with raised brows.

"But, we do not remember marking him or doing anything else with him for that matter," Conri affirmed.

"No matter how many times you deny it, he bears your Mark, your Moon, it takes only a specific Mating bond to evoke such a Mark and it does not just suddenly appear, you both Mated and Marked him, he wears your scent!" Phoenix retorted and he glared at the pair of them.

"We can't remember," Rafa sounded in pain.

"Then you must try harder, as hard as you can, you have to remember, the day, the circumstances in which you Mated with him for the first time because if you do not, so help me, Rafa, Conir, your suffering has barely just begun. Your and His too!" Phoenix stated firmly and the Alpha of Alpha slumped into his chair.

"Isn't there something we can do to help them remember?" Kawan asked their Mate who shook his head sadly.

"There isn't, all we can do while we wait is to hope that Xiher's first encounter with his Mates wasn't during a Heat period and that he was not taken forcefully."

"What if it was?" Dom asked.

"Then Xiher will rest until his injuries have all healed and then he will return to Calm Ethereal and my sons will roam without a Mate."

This had Conri breaking down, he was frightful with all this new information, somehow he feared for the worse and this was all his fault. His gaze shifted to the table and he saw that the cub had fallen asleep once again.

"I hope that from now onwards, you take into consideration your every action before taking them knowing that they bear grave consequences," Phoenix added as he rose to leave his Mates with him. Rafa and Conri sat stunned, unable to move or speak.

A minute after his Fathers departed from his Manor, a Warrior barged into the Hall yelling for the Alpha who was still seated calmly on his chair.

"What is the matter, Roy?" Dom asked the Werewolf.

"There has been a Rogue attack!" He informed them breathlessly.

"Where?" Colleen charged and Roy swallowed.

"On the Tiger Clan,"

This had Rafa raising blood-red eyes to the group and roared.