Chương 78: Chapter 77- The Legend of the Twinborn

"I am no expert in relationships either, but I think I love you too." Relief welled up in Elias's heart at her words. Sure, with the new connection he could tell some of her feelings, but what he had sensed was such a wild confusing mixture that it was hard to discern anything honestly. While he had doubted that she would reject him outright, as the tears started to fall and the connection positively roiled with emotion, he had started to get worried.

The warmth that spread through him at the confirmation of her feelings was palpable, and as he smiled with relief he could feel a shift in the connection. He gasped in wonder and joy, as the kernel in his mind shifted and bloomed, and he felt an indescribable sense of comfort, hope, joy, love, affection, desire, ambition, amusement, and a bundle of other sensations that he had no words for.

The one thing that he was able to discern, the one feeling that he was 100 percent sure about, that he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, was that she loved him too. And with that, well? Nothing else mattered. They would figure out the rest in time. As the emotion roiled and spun at the other end of the tether, he could feel their bond deepen, and he knew she was still struggling to parse the experience. So he grabbed her other hand and waited, sending what comfort he could through the connection.

Eventually the turmoil in her heart settled, and she excused herself for a moment to wash the tracts of dried tears from her face, blow her nose, and all the unflattering things people do to refresh themselves after such an experience. Eli smiled internally at the difference just a few hours would make as the normally, at least while Mira was watching, reserved noblewoman did not seem to care much that he saw her freshen up.

She sat back down, and after taking a deep breath, she took a long drink of the mostly forgotten liquor and sat back, gazing at Eli. Her gaze was intense, as if seeing again for the first time all over again, and as they sat silently her eyes roved over him as if trying to memorize every detail.

She smiled and shifted her chair around the table so she wouldn't have to lean over to hold his hand but could still face him before speaking, " Your words mean more to me than I could ever tell you Eli, but I will do my best to explain all the same." She leaned forward for a moment, " If it helps to begin with, as worried as you were about the quality and composition of your prose."

She reached up to gently touch his cheek with one hand, " That may have been the most singularly sweetest and most heartfelt confession that has ever graced my ears, you did exceptionally well." Her gaze grew heated for a moment, " In addition if that is what I can expect in the future, please do not restrain yourself." Astra sat back with a smirk, "Feel free to expound on the glory of your love for me any time it suits you, it was lovely, and I promise to cherish it every time."

He grinned as her smirk faded into a more genuine smile, " Truly Eli, it was lovely to hear. I expect this was also both easier and harder for myself as well." His grin softened a little, " Yeah, it's hard to know with something so new, but I could tell those were some pretty big feelings that you were having." Astra gave him a lopsided grin, " Aye, it is not everyday that a girl gets exactly what she wants while not knowing what to do with it."

Her expression straightened a bit but still held a faint smile, " It is not such a difficult thing, rather you have unexpectedly given me a great gift. A gift out of story and legend though, so while I have heard of it, it still carries some complications even if I have heard of it. But let us begin with the important pieces first." She lifted her hand and gave the back of his as it rested in her grasp a soft kiss, " Whatever else may come, know that you have my love, and we will figure out the rest together."

Eli smiled as she sat back and took a sip of her drink, " Let us begin. What do you know of the songborn?" Eli shrugged, " Mira mentioned it once or twice, but other than the assassin using it as some kind of slur when we met, not much?" Astra nodded, " Ok. Well to be fair, we do not know much either other than it seems to be passed on by blood, often skipping many generations, and can be a great source of power for those who are born with it.

No one is quite sure what it is, but what everyone can agree on is that it is both a source of power and instinct as well as a source of nigh overwhelming bloodlust. The song rises when in battle, when challenged by a rival, or even while training, but usually only when there is either another songborn present or a significant risk of life or limb involved. The song can be a double edged blade, so the few who do carry the power often keep it to themselves so as not to expose a possible weakness."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She ticked off her fingers, " Of those that I know carry it, my clan founder had it, my great grandfather had it, my grandfather has it, I have it, and you have it. I have met a few others who carry it, but in their entirety, every single person outside my family I have met has been consumed by it. Little more than a slave to the urges, caring for naught else but blood and battle."

She sighed, " My grandfather has his song under control, as do I," she smiled, " As do you." Astra smiled her gaze unfocused as she looked into the distance at something only within her own mind, absentmindedly rubbing the back of Eli's hand as she did so." There are stories though, fantastical tales of heroes and myths from legend, and a surprising number of them are songborn.

The song is thrilling, exciting and with it, the song brings a lust for battle, and for those who can control it, a desire to seek honorable combat and grow in power for the sake of the thrill and the love of the challenge. The warriors who can hear it often rise far above their peers, growing fast and strong, and become lauded in their own time as well as legend." Her smile grew somber, " This comes at a cost however.

The path to power is often lonely and filled with endless combat already, but when you have a person who is preternaturally driven and skilled at battle as well?" She scoffed, " Well there are few who can keep up." She looked back at Eli with a fond smile, " There are a few of these that are of my blood, my family, and as a little girl my grandfather raised me on the tales of their adventures.

I spent many nights by the fire in the great hall, sitting on his knee as he would tell me their tales of heroism, defying the odds, defeating impossible monsters and saving the innocents of the realm from certain doom." Astra's gaze drifted away with a dreamy smile, " Oh, the stories were incredible Eli!"" Riding dragons, traveling to distant realms, defeating armies, defying the monsters of the abyss and more. I spent so many long nights imagining myself as the heroine of those tales.

Finding lost treasures, saving the empire, traveling the realms armed with nothing but my wits and my sword." Her eyes fixed back on him with a steady gaze, as a smile crept across her face, " Even better were the lucky few. There is little known about the song, but whatever it is we do know a few things it is not. It is not measured by the great System, it does not use any of the standard resources, and it can not be heard, felt, or quantified." Her grin grew, " Except for the lucky few."

She leaned forward, " There are tales of those who could hear the song of another, scarce few, but they exist all the same. And in every single tale, those few were bound, their souls woven together in a symphony, a unified song greater than the parts that made it, and their tales were legendary."" The tales may have varied in flavor but not in truth.

Warriors who moved as two bodies with one soul, great mage knights who could call upon the mana of their partners to cast sorceries no others could, lovers who could sing the same song as their beloved no matter how many leagues lay betwixt them, inseparable and indomitable one and all."" They called them twinborn, warriors whose souls were destined for another, never mind the distance in space and time.

Forever bound to each other's fates, for good or ill, and boon or bane there is no single tale of the twinborn that does not end in glory or infamy." She sat back, " The founder of my clan and his lady love were said to be twinborn. The other three founding houses of the empire may have brought massive armies of warriors, mages, or sailors, but my house brought naught but their clan. Counting on the strength of song and steel to carry their weight.'

A proud smile crossed her face as she looked to the sky, the image in her mind nearly clear enough for Eli to see himself, but he still felt the weight of it in her heart." When the Abyss marched, and the strength of men failed, the song of the Emberchant rose, and as the other houses drowned in a tide of blood, Eldric and Valeria held the gates. As the sun rose on the first dawn of the new empire, the forebears of my clan were gone, vanquished one and all.

All that was left was a plain of ash, and for every dead monster a blade of steel pinning their corpse to the ground."" To this day it was said that anyone who approached that field could hear the Emberchant humming through their boots, as the ground vibrated in fury, and when the Emperor met their eyes he wept for three days at the sorrow he beheld within Valeria's eyes as she mourned her kin. It was from these ashes that our house was born."

Astra's face grew grim as she intoned the pledge, " We are the watchers at the gates, our duty never ends. We are born of the ashes of war, and bound by the steel in our hearts." She shook off the somber mood, " Twinborn are rare, but for those who are songborn, we never stop looking. We all hope for the chance, the stories of the search are almost as prevalent in my clan as the simple tales of songborn are in others."

She sat back her gaze growing misty for a moment, " My grandfather searched his whole life, hundreds of years, and he never found his twin. He has spent his whole life looking for hope, and found none." She leaned back in towards Eli with a soft smile, " Can you imagine that? Whole multiples of the time you have been alive, just looking, hoping, and searching for someone who may never exist?"

She pressed close to him, pressing her forehead against his with a tremble in her voice, " Could you imagine the joy of never having to endure such a lonely life? A doomed search for the other half of your heart?" She looked at Eli with a naked desire he had never known in this life or the last, " No, my counterpoint, I imagine not. I could scarcely imagine it myself.

I will thank the Ancients forever for bringing you to me, and I will thank you forever for loving a stranger just based on the contents of their heart." Astra leaned in pressing her full lips against his, and as the feelings that connected them stirred Elias's world dissolved, as her lips and the loving connection that ran through her touch became his whole world.