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"Hellsin, Magnor, and I are also Celestia's parents. Or I guess dads. Celestia's genetic makeup is with all five of us. She's our child," Harrison confessed.
"Isn't that impossible?" Orion inhaled sharply. "Wait...that means Celestia's a Blessed Child?"
I pulled back to look at Orion, and he turned his gaze on me.
"Blessed Child?" I quietly asked.
Orion slowly nodded."A child born through love and magic. I don't know the details about it, but my parents once talked about it. Think of it like having one mother, but to create a Blessed Child, you need two to four men involved. It's a term given to shifters who mate with more than one individual. Not all children are necessarily blessed because they can find out later after the birth of the child that they only carry one father's genetic code. However, there is a one percent chance that the child will carry traits from all the men involved, meaning the men are all the father of the child. My father said there hadn't been a Blessed Child in centuries. It's almost impossible to accomplish."
We turned our attention to Mom and Harrison, and they nodded in agreement.
"Harrison, Hellsin, Orlando, Magnor, and I were a team at Aslan Academy. We graduated together and remained as a team as we began to fight and vanquish Forsaken. We were known as Alpha Pure, which is how this sanctuary obtained its name. During one of our missions...well..." Charlotte trailed off and looked away, and I could see the pain in her expression as she bit her lip.
A grief-filled expression formed on the lines of Harrison's face, and he stood up and placed his hand on my mother's shoulder and continued.
"We had a mission where the Forsaken had taken over most of the dimension. It was an intense battle with many teams trying to hold off the Forsaken long enough to transfer the remaining shifters and humans on the dimension through a portal. During that event, your mother pushed herself to her limit and was struck by a Forsaken. It was pretty bad, and we barely escaped. Your mother was in a coma for a few weeks. She eventually recovered, but it was revealed that the attack had damaged certain parts of her body, the main area being her womb."
Orion and I stared blankly at them, our mouths wide in shock.
"Meaning..." I trailed off.
"She couldn't have children," Orion finished with a whisper.
Harrison bit the side of his lip and nodded while Mom lowered her head, looking depressed just from those words.
"We tried everything, went to every possible healer. No one could solve the problem. Only one man suggested that we try the birth method of creating a Blessed Child. Yes, the percentage was one percent, but we had nothing else to lose. The chance of having a child was better than no chance. All of us had enough magic for it, so it was really trial and error," Harrison disclosed.
"Does that mean you guys were all together? I mean like, um you know," I suggested.
"Yes, Celestia honey. We've been together with your mom for many years and married her before we decided to try and have you." Harrison had a sweet smile on his face as he stared at me with pride. Mom lifted her head to look at me with tear-filled eyes.
"I wanted so desperately to have a child. I never thought about it when we'd been working on our careers as Hunters and Huntresses, but when I found out that I could never have children, it dawned on me how badly I wanted at least one child. One would have been enough, but that right was completely taken from me. It was a difficult time, and everyone was affected by it. Especially Orlando," Mom admitted.
"Why Orlando?" Orion asked. His voice didn't hold any emotion which made me wonder if he was upset.
Harrison spoke up. "Orlando was in charge of the mission and blames himself for Charlotte's injury. She was originally supposed to work behind the scenes, but things got hectic, and because Charlotte is one of the strongest mages, it made sense to have her assistance. However, Orlando underestimated how strong our opponent was. It wasn't just a few Forsaken. We're talking about an entire dimension full of them that had overtaken 99% of the land. It's what some people would have termed as a suicide mission. We should have abandoned the remaining shifters, but many of them were Centaurs like Orlando, and their race is just as rare as unicorns. Hence the reason he faults himself for Charlotte's struggle."
"So why did he treat Celestia so poorly?" Orion argued.Harrison raised an eyebrow at us, and Mom gave us a sympathetic look.
Orion decided to continue before either of them could respond. "Celestia grew up being bullied by everyone in Versa. She had to live a life of torment and isolation until Magnor came by. Sure, Magnor did his share as a good father and still owns up to it in his own way, but if you're telling me Celestia had four fathers, where were all of you? Why did you guys keep it a secret for so long and let Celestia go through that pain? And Orlando especially. Celestia told him all about the bullying, her past, the struggle she experienced. Heck, Celestia stated how she missed her mom and just wanted one phone call to talk!"
I squeezed Orion's hand, knowing he was upset about all of this. I guess it made sense to be mad, but now that I'd told Mom everything and got her side of things, my anger seemed to have dissipated. Regardless, the whole situation was hard to forgive and forget, especially with the way Orion was putting it.
"He asked Celestia for forgiveness and instead, he shoved her away when she needed him the most. Celestia had been swallowed by a Forsaken before we got to new Aslan, and she was seconds away from being retaken by the Darkness over some prophecy. All because he dismissed her when she truly needed salvation. If it weren’t for Finn Charm, Celestia would be dead. What would Orlando have to say then? Oops? Sorry? I'm not going to sit here and give him a free pass when he deliberately ignored Celestia, the woman I love dearly, because he has his own reasons that are in the past. We're in the present. Mistakes can always be made, but you won't grow from them if you don't stop and realize what is contributing to those mistakes and work on fixing them."
We were all silent as Orion's words lingered, all of us absorbing the words of wisdom. Harrison looked conflicted for a moment before he took a deep breath.
"I agree with what you have to say. Orlando...had a really troubled past, and though he was pleased with the idea of helping Charlotte because he loved her, I don't think he expected it to work. None of us did, actually. We'd tried and tried and weren’t successful. We gave it one more shot for the hell of it, and that was when Charlotte became pregnant. Orlando had been the main contributor while Hellsin, Magnor, and myself hosted the magic that would initiate the process. That is why Celestia has more similar characteristics to Orlando and Charlotte compared to the rest of us."
"So...he didn't want me?" I asked.
"Sweetheart, it's not like he didn't want you," Charlotte whispered.
"Again, Orlando's past was...well it was fucked, and he didn't think of himself as a father figure. When he found out he was going to be a father, he was thrilled. He was beyond happy, same as the rest of us, but then the Council got involved and well...Orlando knew early on after you were born that he'd eventually have to do what the Council wanted, regardless if he had a kid or not."
"Duty comes first before raising a child?" Orion asked.
"In this case, yes. You see, back then it wasn't like it is now where so many students apply to Aslan. It was the opposite, and the shortage of our team alone had made a large impact. We all raised Celestia until she was about three before Hellsin and I had to help out with Alpha Pure to keep it safe and organized. Soon, Magnor was summoned for multiple missions and requested by many Hunters and Huntresses to assist in training them, and he became overwhelmed with work. That lead to just Charlotte and Orlando, and eventually Alpha Pure needed Charlotte because she's the only one who could soothe many of the shifters here."
