Throughout the world, researchers had gathered to review the findings of their fellow researchers and discuss what to do with the data presented. Begrudgingly they had agreed to hear an outsider speak. Many of them feared the woman walking towards the podium, if she could truly be called a woman was even part of the debate. Her ears set high on her head twitched as she walked, her claws clicked on the floor with each step. She stopped before the podium tail twitching from side to side, her ears laid back as she looked at her report and began. In this report, I will lay out the events that led to our current situation in the hopes that our posterity will learn from our mistakes and step away from the cliff of extinction that we have thrust upon them.
As you are all aware this all began in 1945 after the final atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan, unbeknownst to those who created the bombs they had caused an unexpected and undetectable ripple like effect throughout the universe, its impact was most noticeable to those closest to Earth. This ripple was not like a wave rolling upon the shore, no it was more like a hurricane hitting Nebraska, devastating and unheard of, this caused a disruption to the flow of energy that connects all things to each other throughout the universe know by some as the Celestial Flow. In this case, the disruption was called the Celestial Collapse as the void left by detonations caused a wave of energy to rush back towards Earth, luckily Earth had protection from the Celestial wave in lands of the Fae. This protection came at a price, that price was the slow destruction of the Fae homeworld. While Lyoerhan the land of the Fae was acting like a break wall for the coming tsunami, Earth was flooded with what could only be compared to the storm surge before a hurricane in this case, what the Fae had called the Celestial Flow most humans would come to call it magic.
This magic affected only women, many theories exist as to why but most agree it is because women carry children. This changed cultures across the globe because of the effect that all women upon reaching puberty began getting magical powers, many women lost in the power they now had over men started pushing for more and more power, for the most part it was kept hidden out of fear of their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and male friends, while a few women bathed in the glow of finally being in control of men. In certain areas showing such powers meant death as men reacting out of fear would beat and even kill those who showed such power, this overreaction pushed more and more women to take extreme measures and pushed for the destruction of the old ways.
The first power a woman received was an ability to read the minds of men who showed any form of interest in them, once they reached 18 they would receive a higher power or in some cases powers, now that women had power over men and men had tried to crush this new reality the result of which would be felt throughout the world, gone were the old ways many believed this would bring about a better world, either way, they would never be the same.
After the completion of the Second World War and reconstruction, the world had changed and in many ways not for the better, with repressions by men in many parts of the world and a growing feminist movement that had been gaining popularity among women. These movements had slowly replaced men with women in many key jobs because magic had become commonplace, the most common argument for this shift was the following; how could anyone trust a man who could be used so easily by any woman. The world was split between east and west as the west adopted a more feminist-friendly leaning and many called these policies progressivism, in the east things were calm but a storm was brewing and its ramifications would be felt much longer than the last world war, as the seeds of mistrust took root and began to grow a most vicious fruit.
After 10 years of research done by many in this room about the return of magic, researchers had found that a woman's magical power would be recharged and in some cases increased with the tormenting of men's sexual libido, this research was conducted by mostly women with an agenda of furthering feminism and bent on the total submission of all men. This research said that the more a woman denied a man sexual release the faster they could recover that magic when they finally allowed an orgasm in their presence, however, this research didn't look at other methods to doing the same thing and many male researchers dismissed it as being biased. However, this research was looked upon by those looking to gain more power who spun this data and made it sound irrefutable, this led many men to warn women using the old saying that absolute power corrupts. Women were standing at a fork in the road of history and if they had learned from the past they would have taken the high road, instead fueled by a new and rapidly growing religion that claimed women were now goddesses, they and only they should lead the world a man's place to do as his personal goddess commanded. The new backers of this religion pushed their agenda ruthlessly and in doing so may have sealed the fate of the planet.
Back by this research which was heralded as proof by this new religion and even considered to be dogma by this rapidly growing cult as many a man would come to call it, as women wanting more and more power started to enslave men or maybe torture would be a better word, in the 10 years that followed this new dogma many changes occurred, marriage became a way to control and even harness men's sexual energy as women learned spells to bind their husbands on what would become known as Binding Laws which violated many a right guaranteed by constitution's throughout the world, this did little for any man other than strip the man away from a man, no longer could he enjoy anything close to freedom. Many women said it was to protect men if they were bound then another woman couldn't play merciless games on him instead it would be their own wives who would in many cases be cruel beyond belief, many said that this was justified because of how women had suffered at the hands of men throughout history, this became the cry of the damned as men lost more rights and sense of self, they weren't men anymore they were tools to be used and discarded.
Those few men who were able to hold on to their sense of self, on the other hand, did not take the passing of the binding laws kindly, these laws stated that all men who were bound became the property of their wives and had no rights, just as men disappeared from key positions in the workplace so to did men disappear from public office as the right to vote was stripped from them, men were allowed to work but they were not paid for said work as their pay went to their wife or female family member depending on the age of the man for only they knew what was best for their inferiors. Men who were bound could not achieve orgasm without their wives consent and women who tried to break or did break the bind faced serious jail time and even risked death if they did it repeatedly or to the wrong woman, many women enjoyed "correcting" men for the slightest of infractions. Special units of the police force were created to deal with these new laws and many men learned to fear these units like all secret police had been in days gone by, the dye was cast and only death held any hope of reprieve.
Faced with a bleak future for all men, resulted in the inevitable as violence against women soared, the Gender Wars which began in the former USSR as a group of men banded together to kill the other's wives, these men suffered horribly when brought to the farce that was called justice and it was this persecution and the following martyrdom that started the Gender Wars as men who wanted their freedom raped pillaged and burned much of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. As men marched to their deaths saying, "Death before enslavement." A cry that would take many forms and push humanity to the brink of extinction which we are still on the precipice of to this very day.
Men fell into two camps those who wanted freedom from women at all costs and men who felt by fighting alongside women they could get reforms they wanted to the laws. By 1965 war raged across the globe as men slaughtered each other in the hopes of freedom one way or the other. Many of the battles men fought to the last, in many cases written in the blood of the fallen was the phrase that would become the slogan of all men as it stated, "Better to die free than live as a slave."
In 1966 Lyoerhan was reaching a tipping point 20 years after the Celestial Collapse the land was becoming more and more unlivable as the Celestial Flow turned sections of the realm into wastelands that were so full of this flow that the ground was for lack of a better word irradiated and after having tried radical means to save their home the decision was made to go back to Earth and gather the power needed to save their world. With this decision, they opened gates across the world as the Fae escaping the collapse that was destroying their home, came to earth seeking to live together in peace before returning home.
This kicked off a new era in the Gender Wars which became known as "The Fae Hunts" where human women and the men they were controlling fought side by side with the rebelling men fearing the power of the Fae, they would slaughter them upon coming through the gate, it was later discovered that the Fae were at their weakest after going through the gate. Very few Fae survived these hunts and those that did were hunted down by specialized units called Fae Hunters or just Hunters as the layperson would call them.
Now to say that all women were evil and enjoyed torturing men would be an injustice, some women bound men the truly loved and cared for them as you would a beloved pet but these women were considered so rare that they were the subject of myths told by men who fought on the side of women. One of these saintly sinners was Lila McClain, who had bound Andrew Garner. When Andrew found out she was going to have a boy, he went off to fight for his sons future the hope that such devotion would be proof that men didn't need to be treated as they had been. With the loss of Lila's husband to the war had made her realize that she had come to love Andrew and that left a bond with her son that would in time lead her to hate what she once loved.
In 1970 at what became known as the last Fae Hunt, an American Captain Andrew Garner made a decision that cost him and all of the men under his command their lives but just might have saved the planet, but that is a subject for historians to debate. While fighting with elements of the Muzhskoy Osvoboditelni Front/Male Liberation Front or MLF as they had been known in English, near Ismail Ukraine whilst in the midst's of battle they were given orders to head to Reni Pehi near the border of Moldova/Ukraine/Romania and take part in a Fae Hunt with elements of 259th Hunters a group of women that specialized in the slaughter of the Fae and had for the past 5 years. It is important that I stress the Fae were hated by both sides and were never given any quarter by either side. Men feared that the Fae would be worse than what they had been fighting and attacked them on sight with a fanaticism that had been reserved for human women. Women feared they would overthrow them and do to them what they had been doing to men for 20 years and that loss of power was unacceptable.
When Andrew, saw his first Fae and witnessed the slaughter first hand, it went against everything he had been taught, women were to be respected, obeyed and even protected. The Fae looked like women to him and having suffered at the hands of human women he had no love for the genocide he was witnessing. Doing what he thought was right he turned and opened fire on the 259th Hunters taking them by surprise, this drew a lull in the fighting as the MLF didn't want to lose those men who wanted their freedom or at least that is what they thought had happened when Andrew's men turned on the female unit. With the Hunters eliminated and the subsequent lull in the fighting he used the time to launch a surprise attack on the MLF and opened a corridor to get the Fae out of the trap set for them, this fight was very costly as Andrew lot 2/3 of his men, and out of the 500 Fae that came over that day only 100 survived the last 100 to be exact, for weeks he and his men fought their way down to the Danube until they were caught between the MLF and the FFF or Female Freedom Force a punitive force sent to deal with traitors, at Vylkove and the Danube Delta as the Fae hid in the swamps and forests of the delta, while Andrew and his remaining men fought valiantly buying the much needed time for the Fae to escape but were ultimately destroyed to the last for attacking a female unit, this lesson would be heralded in history books as the Fools Sacrifice or the Great Betrayal it was a sacrifice that would be remembered by the surviving Fae for many years to come.
This was one of the last actions in a bloody war that had killed 75% of the male population and by July of the following year the final elements of the MLF surrendered and figured that they would return to servitude. In what many thought would be the last lesson to the futility of man to resist his betters every man in the MLF was executed publicly along with any women who had sympathized, never again would any man dare do anything such as rise up or so it was assumed.
The Great Betrayal was a rallying cry in America (soon to join Canada and Mexico in the Workwoman's Dynasty) to strip men of even more rights as the feminists launched a vile wave of repressions that were meant to ram home to men that defiance was futile. One of these repressions was the passing of what were called leash laws if more than two men were together they had to be with a woman and could only be so far from her or be open to correction from any woman, this way they could never conspire again. Men still fought their oppressors and after a series of suicides rocked the world, many women had begun to question this policy, let alone the fact that those who could wield powerful magic had become very wealthy and lorded over those who didn't. In response to the suicides all women were told to bind there sons with life magic to make them incapable of taking their lives, this binding would end at 18 when they would be bound to their future wives.
Because of the lack of men, it was decided that men would be hunted in the summer of their 18th birthday during Victory Week in July. These were called Bonding Hunts and all men who turned 18 after the last hunt were to be present this did little for men and as the birth rate plummeted many women began questioning it. Men from powerful families, however, were left out of the hunts to keep less worthy women from gaining a position in a more powerful family and to be given to loyal families or to form alliances, they were even given as rewards.
In the years following the Gender Wars the world was reshaped as the seven most powerful human mages split the world up among themselves; as North America was united under the rule of the Council of Seven member Patricia Workwoman, a spiteful woman who wanted to wipe the stain that was man from the history books, she had even founded a new religion that made all women goddesses. Her aides numbered seven and ruled as nobility had in olden times, these seven families; the Spencer's, Barrera's, Clark's, William's, Harvey's, Massey's and Lake's. The democracy that had lasted nearly 200 years in America disappeared and along with Canada and Mexico renamed The Workwoman Dynasty or just the Dynasty as many would call it, the Dynasty gave rights to women based on magical ability and solidified men as little more than pawns, women were left with a caste system that left little to no room to move up.
The new structure within the Dynasty was structured in such a way that families that had daughters would count towards a women's magical ability. Under this new structure all women were to be called goddess by any male failure to do so was often correction to the cusp of death, after that you had seven families made a Ladyship this was the lowest titled woman who headed those seven families, seven Ladyship's was a Parrish, seven Parrish's was a Baroness, seven Baroness's was a Viscountess, seven Viscountess' was a Countess, seven Countess's a Lady in Power, seven Lady's in Power was a Duchess, seven Duchess's was a Daughter in Power, seven Daughter's in Power was a House and the head of any house was the Matron and the seven matrons served the Empress. As women struggled to grab power this struggle led women to kill male children in favor of being able to form their own titles. This, of course, meant sisters would often kill a higher ranking sister to grab power or even kill their own mothers to take over her title. While this was going on the number of men in the former United States shrunk to 17.6% lowest on earth before the government stepped in and said sons that married off to a more powerful family had to be bought or otherwise compensated.
In the years following the Gender Wars which had toppled many nations and reshaped the planet as the USSR had torn itself apart in the conflict and lead to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, these new nations brought a calm over the world as they recovered from the war that had been fought mostly in their backyards. Western Europe had formed a loose federation of its members and worked together to rebuild, while they had laws like the former United States had they were more lenient with the enforcement of such laws, many of Europe's leaders were starting to feel as if they were puppets of the Goddess' religion founded by Patricia Workwoman and gave the Dynasty great sway over them.
Around 1980 things started to change in Europe when Ukraine shocked the world by releasing a magic engine, this engine stored women's magic and used it as electricity had been. This in effect ended the need for fossil fuels and nuclear energy it also opened the door for new technology to be run off of it. Three years later once again Ukraine dropped the world on its ear by releasing the magic circuit making magic smaller and more portable, this had turned a very poor nation into one which couldn't produce things fast enough to meet the worlds demand. The reason for this was those same Fae who had survived made these magic circuits and engines, this lead to drastic changes throughout the world. However, the greatest changes occurred in Ukraine as the government tried at first to force the Fae to do what they wanted as little more than slave labor, this was met by the Fae disappearing into the delta never to be found and lead to them appearing weak to the rest of the world.
Before the release of the magic engine, Ukraine was unwanted by the Council of Seven and exceedingly poor the poorest nation in all of Europe and one of the ten poorest on the planet. However, due to the failures of the Ukrainian government each of the seven laid claim to it, bent on bringing the Fae to their knees and sent armies, spies and gifts every time one of the council came the Fae would halt production and flee never to be found. When the various attempts failed they left Ukraine alone and watched as they were forced to make reforms that the Fae wanted, things like being given official recognition and a say in the government even the changing or abolishing of laws.
The biggest change in Ukraine was the abolition of Binding Laws and the use of binding magic, which the Fae said could be replaced by something much better, the removal of such laws caused a dramatic increase in the number of men being born in Ukraine which had the fastest growth in the male population on the planet, many a man saw this as proof they had been right all along and added fuel to the other nations who started to ignore more of the church's dogma. In 1983 as part of their concessions to the Fae, Ukraine renamed the Odessa National Maritime University and the Odessa National Maritime Academy to the Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol University of Technology and Magic the worlds first University to the study of magic. To prove the value of such an institution, students from the university competed in the following years at the world magic championships Ukrainian women have won every major medal since often finishing with gold, silver, and bronze. By 1985 it was clear that the Fae had been teaching Ukrainian women magic, which quickly turned the university from a joke in the rest of the world to an elite university training mages from all over the world. Men up to this point were kept mostly as slave labor, only men from powerful families would get a higher education while the remaining took up a trade if they had any skill. GUM as the University was known had become one of the few universities that allowed common men to enroll and every year between 50 and 100 thousand young men would apply for 12 spots and the dream of five years of freedom.
The sacrifice by Andrew and his men was remembered by the Fae who in the 18 years since had stayed far away from humans, letting a select few in and most of them had been men while some women had been allowed in the number could be counted on one hand even if you were missing three fingers, you would need all your digits to count the total number that had ever met any Fae in their home and not at the university.
This is the story of one of those men named Thomas only son of Lila McClain and the events that changed the world as we know it, I truly hope we will take the opportunity presented us.
*************
Thomas walked to his last class on Wednesday and sat in the back trying to stay hidden from "The Banshees" a young group of girls that hoped to get into the Drority which was the state terror unit, the Banshees were lead by Lady in Power Gloria Page 1st daughter of Ella sworn to the of house Barrera. They were called Banshees because of the screams that could be heard coming from those they deemed worthy of torment. Thomas was by far their favorite to be corrected, but then again the son of the Great Betrayer was always being corrected by every girl and woman who felt a correction was in order even if it wasn't. Thomas was very good at avoiding detection and normally wouldn't be seen by the Banshees if it weren't for the other girls in his class that would turn him in if for no other reason than for the chance to join in abusing him. Today was no exception as soon as he sat down, his heart sank at the sight of the Banshees waiting arms crossed and a smirk on Gloria's otherwise flawless face, this was a result of one of the first spells a girl learned when her powers developed was how to make herself look as beautiful as humanly possible this way they would hopefully get the attention of any man and reap the harvest of his attention.
Thomas was dragged off to the cheers and a few jeers of his fellow class women and looks of relief from his class men, glad it wasn't them, teachers watched with pride knowing this young man would know his place and felt pride that the future of the Dynasty was in good hands. Thomas knew resisting would only add to his suffering and didn't try and fight the levitation spell that was on the wand that Gloria always carried, many women when they hit puberty until they turned 18 had problems handling their new magic so many mothers would give them magical items. Of course, it goes without saying that the more powerful items came from the more powerful families and was a sign of their power over both men and women
Once in the correction chamber, a large room with various implements for restraint and torture the only rule was that and visual damage is healed when they left. Thomas was pinned to the ceiling, his eyes wide as he knew what was coming as it had since he entered puberty. Gloria gave the command word and laughed as Thomas fell 9' to the floor breaking his ribs, Thomas knew he would get corrected worse if he tried to protect himself from the fall and took the brunt of the damage directly to his ribs. Gloria walked over relishing the pain etched on his face, she made a fist and let her ring touch him as she said the command word. Thomas screamed as his bones set and healed he felt all the pain. Gloria let out a pleasure filled sigh that had him wondering if she had climaxed only from his screams.
She climbed on top of him straddling the one thing in their society that he was good for and said, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy why do you keep fighting we both know you are my toy and will make a great present to my mother. Everybody knows I will hunt you and they are going to stay away, far away. Nothing you do will save you from this and you know it, so why not just give in and become mine now, my mother has already taught me the binding spell, I'll be gentle and make sure we have seven daughters, we both know you are a lot stronger than this and I will enjoy pulling that power out of you."
Climbing off of him she watched as Thomas's eyes nearly jumped from his skull at hearing she already knew the binding spell, this drew an evil grin not that her other smiles where any less sinister as she said, "The seed of the Great Betrayer will join my family, my daughters will delight in correcting you. Yes, I will teach your own children what a failure you are and your father was, I will enjoy laughing as they correct you."
Thomas finally free from the pain of his ribs healing said, "I will never be yours. This Friday I will know that I got into GUM and you will never have me."
The maddening cackle that came from Gloria was enough to unnerve her own friends as she said, "You are one of the worst students here and you will get into Gogol University of Technology and Magic, you like your fellow males are only useful on your backs I will give your mother credit you do have a nice look about to you; those broad shoulders, very muscular frame, even those blue-green eyes have an appeal to them. As for GUT, they have already told me I didn't get in, but that doesn't matter I have been accepted to join Drority and enter the academy in August, just think of the fun they will have with you. I like you, Tommy, I really do you are so funny you getting into GUM when I could not we all know you trained as a builder, everybody knows that is a losers profession and you are a loser. You can't help it runs in your genes your father was, your mother is, just look at how weak your younger sister is."
Thomas welled up with blinding rage and threw her off him, his eyes glazed as his tall and powerful frame walked towards her. She watched in horror as her mother's spells bounced off of him, he grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her off the ground and pinned her to the wall with one hand showing little effort and tearing her shirt.
He leaned in and said his voice thick with malice, she knew this wasn't a threat but a promise, "If you ever speak poorly of Kristi, I will gladly go to my death taking you with me. Do what you want to me, go after Kristi and I will kill you. The law doesn't mean shit to you but I am sure my mother would be glad to know that you threatened my slow sister."
He let Gloria go and walked toward the chamber door at the door he turned and said, "We will see if you are right on Friday won't we, if you are right and do hunt me learn to sleep with one eye open or I will find a way to remove them before you wake."
Gloria stood shaking from the fact that he had resisted her ring and necklace that had been enchanted by her own mother, she knew to call a girl weak was the same as calling for her death. Those with any defects were seen as unfit in the Dynasty and it was a mothers decision as to the life of her child the state would not help those who needed long term care nor would the state persecute those mothers who would end their child's life, such was the way things were done there.
*************
In Odessa a tall vision of impossible perfection, her blond locks flowing behind her as she strutted like a professional model on a catwalk, unlike most models her figure had curves that put said models to shame from her D if not DD chest to birthing hips that looked like they could carry quadruplets with ease, strolling towards a Greek-inspired building complete with columns determination etched on her angelic features, a piece of paper in her hands, the clack of her high heels could be heard echoing off the other buildings in the courtyard as she soaked up the looks she got from men and women. Walking up the steps she saw two other women one of middle age, with a slight paunch that showed her age as well as the gray in her hair for a woman going on 60 she could still be considered attractive and another looking nearly as beautiful as the one coming up the steps her figure looked like something you would find on a fitness instructor or model, people couldn't be more wrong in mistaking the two for sisters. The platinum blond waiting at the top of the stairs wasn't as tall and had a more physically imposing physic her body was cut and had serious definition it did lack the bulk of a female bodybuilder, to say this took away from her beauty would be a lie, her apple bottom and D cup were impressive enough but when matched with her elven facial features she turned many a head on her own.
The gray-haired woman spoke first saying in a very annoyed tone, "We must decide today and send the letters to those who are accepted, please hurry Lily we have a lot to do and not much time to do this."
The living goddess smiled her flawless teeth and stopped at the top of the stairs looked down at the much smaller woman and said in a commanding tone, "Yulia, today I will bring 18 years of hard work to fruition. I have here the only name that must be allowed in. I have never asked and will probably never ask again, this is the first and last time I will ask."
The suicide blond looked at her as shocked as Yulia and asked, "Lily, what name could have you asking us to break the rules? The same rules you helped write I might add."
Lily almost glowed as she looked first at the surprised Yulia then to the shocked platinum blond and began speaking to her shocked colleague saying, "Veen, his son asks for entrance here, how can we say no to his son."
Veen flipped her platinum locks over her shoulder and was about to question who she was talking about when it dawned on her as she asked, "Andrew's son wishes to come to us?" She nearly bounced up and down on the balls of her feet like a child would in excitement as she too turned to Yulia and repeated what Lily said adding her own emphasis.
Yulia asks lost as to why after five years of these two not caring about who attended and who didn't they now had one person they wanted to be admitted and asked, "Who is Andrew that both of you are so excited to meet his son. We have our 12 men and if your research is correct then we need strong men, if his name hasn't come up before then he is not worthy."
Veen looks at the much older looking Yulia and said, "Andrew Garner the man who gave his life for us. His son wants to come here, we can repay his father's sacrifice by teaching and enhancing his magical potential. He would prove that we have been right all along."
Yulia replied like any woman would at hearing the name of the man that helped the Fae escape saying, "Absolutely not, he is not coming you can prove your work without him, we have very powerful families trying to get their daughters in here and if we break the rules for him then we must for them as well."
Lily looked at her coldly and said sternly, "Yulia, we both know you have been taking bribes for years now to let certain families daughters in, either you let Thomas in or all of us will walk and good luck finding us, or good luck at the world championships without our help. If you think that is all, remember we will stop production, this is not a negotiation he comes or we go. So what is your choice?"
Yulia could see the conviction in both of their eyes and knew that they would follow through with their threat they had in the past, she sighed in defeat and said her voice full of frustration but hoping to cash in on their determination, "Fine, he comes but I want the number of males raised to 15 and to admit 50 more women as well."
Lily knew this would only line her pocket even more but wanted one more thing and said, "If Tasuilia is admitted as well then we have a deal."
Yulia didn't like the thought of any Fae at her university but to have one as a student was unheard of they had been taught magic for millennia untold and she had never seen any human come close to their magical ability. Most of the Fae that hung around the university were either professors like Lily or Veen were or just hung out picking up human men like the lessor Fae seemed to do non stop. To get a chance to watch one learn magic might open her eyes to how they taught their children and if she could steal something from it, she could make a fortune.
She knew she would say yes but paused for effect before saying, "Agreed, what is the traitor's sons name and I will have his letter drawn up."
Lily smiled acting happy at getting what she wanted replying, "Since he is so important to us, I will invite him personally and even meet him at the airport. Unless that will cost me 50 more women being admitted?"
Yulia knew one certain student should be greeted by her and said, "That is fine if you will also pick up our biggest VIP as well."
Lily nodded in agreement before walking into the building with the other two to finalize the new list and make the needed preparations.
After 6 hours they had their final list and Yulia went off to make her phone calls and prepare letters of acceptance, Veen and Lily walked towards Lily's office, not a word exchanged between them, Veen lost in dreams of what could be meanwhile Lily was busy going through what she would need to do now that her plan was nearing its next stage.
One thing that kept bothering Veen was why Lily wanted her daughter to attend and asked as much inquiring, "We both know that the classes at this university are not going to be a challenge for Tasuilia. So, why have her attend?"
Lily despite her friendly exterior had few to any friends and one of those was Veen who she truly loved like a sister, trying not to say too much she replied, "We are running out of time, humans need to understand that while we possess a power that surpasses that of their greatest mages. We want to live together with them and need them stronger. We both know it is only a matter of time before our own follies come for us. Besides, I think Tasu would enjoy spending time with her half-brother or should I say, former half-brother since she has chosen the throw away her humanity and become completely Fae. Besides we need someone to keep an eye on him."
Veen was not happy with her daughter's chose and made her feelings know saying, "If you weren't in her ear all the time telling her to do this she wouldn't have. I thought she was going to be our bridge with the humans. I agree we will need more of our kind for what is to come, or we will need strong human allies. Isn't that why we had this university built? Isn't it why we gave them a magic engine and magic circuit so they could make things that will help us confront our greatest sin. I have never liked you having your claws in my child, your games are dangerous at the best of times, can we afford another mistake like the one that brought us here? Can they, we saw how the humans love to kill each other but they need time to recover and we need twice that much time or more. You had me build a container for his soul and with how you acted this morning I can only wonder what your true plan was for Andrew's son. Why did you need such a container built? I am not as big an authority on souls as you are, so make me understand."
Lily wasn't fond of tipping her hand and knew that the whole truth was not needed at this time so she knew feeding Veen a little bit would be more than enough and replied, "We have made humans stronger at this university, but tell me do you trust any of them for what is coming. I don't and your child becoming a Valkyrie like her mother is in accordance with your traditions, not mine, she will be able to have children with these weaker males that the humans are raising. What has been our biggest problem here but the lack of men whom we higher Fae can have children with, that is why we tested all the males who applied. Thomas is different the container was designed to hide the power of his soul from humans and to enhance it to a level that he could father children with your own Valkyrie's, the Elves, myself and yes, even 'Her' if we didn't hide that he would be either dead or the property of some undeserving human woman."
Veen didn't like the thought of Thomas being a plaything to anybody and this was going nowhere. She changed the topic by asking, "Do you want to talk to the Workwoman's Dynasty or should I?"
Lily replied glad to be off topic, "I'll do it, they are going to be a pain in the ass and we both know you would lose your temper the first time they gave you an attitude and we both know they will give us nothing but attitude, besides I have a card to play."
Veen hated to think what this card could be and knowing that sometimes not knowing is a lot wiser, so she left Lily to her fun as she walked out she contemplated what she had just learned and what it meant for her people as walked away wondering what Thomas looked like or how much he might resemble Andrew, she began to ponder what this would mean for her daughter.
Lily on the other hand practically skipped to the notification room, as she got closer to the room she could feel the flow of celestial energy washing past her like a breeze, no human could walk into the notification room without protections cast upon them. Using the flow to send messages was easy, notifying required a physical representation to notify the Ukrainian Embassy or Drority in the case of a male being chosen from the Dynasty to date this had never happened a virtual connection was needed to notify Drority. Writing a special circuit on existing Television cameras and televisions to meet the requests of the Workwoman's Dynasty had been installed in Ottawa and at the University.
Lily activated the camera and TV and waited for a reply after a few minutes an image began to appear and slowly cleared up. Standing before Lily was a brown haired brown eyed woman of average beauty as compared to Lily, the woman spoke softly lost as to why she was even talking to Lily.
She said, "This Tech Ola Nelson 4th daughter of Ladyship Nelson sworn to House Lake, what do you want?"
This blunt response from a woman of such low station annoyed Lily and as she stretched her powers across the planet and read the woman's mind with ease understanding this woman had no power to do anything and was trying to buy time until someone with authority could come.
Lily replied, "I am Professor Lily from Gogol University of Technology and Magic and in accordance with article 7 subsection 53 of the international education treaty, I am notifying you that one Thomas Andrew son of Lila McClain of Chicago Illinois has been accepted into our university please remove him from your bond hunt."
Lily heard the frantic typing off screen and saw a piece of paper handed to Ola, who smiled and replied, "Thomas Andrew son of Lila McClain is on a no travel list for crimes against femininity. I am sorry you'll just have to find another."
Lily's eyes went black, as she remembered the laws of the Dynasty held male children responsible for the crimes of their fathers, while Thomas wasn't born yet it meant he was on probation. The Yangsong treaty allowed even these children to attend. It was time for her to use her trump card, as she leaned in and said, "I would like to speak to Lieutenant Abby James."
Ola knew she was going over her head and repeated, "It won't matter she won't change his travel restriction, this conversation is over."
Lily lost her composure and yelled casting a spell that made the women feel intimidated, "You will get Lieutenant Abby James now or I will melt that room with you in it."
Ola's uniform light up like a Christmas tree as her protections tried and failed to protect her from such magic. Falling to her knees she said, "Your Fae"
Even in this form, Lily's power was nothing to be trifled with and Ola understood she was grossly outclassed. Sirens went off as they detected the magic that Lily had cast in the room and stayed on as members of Drority rushed into the room nearly as panicked as Ola was.
A woman dressed in black approached relieved Ola be for saying, "This is Captain Georgina Pearce of the 42nd House Drority, you are in violation of the Yangsong Treaty and if you don't stop your spell casting this will be seen as an act of war."
Lily smiled and vile smile she knew pushing these weak women would get her what she wanted and replied, "Bring me Lieutenant Abby James or none of you will make it out of that room."
Georgina replied understanding that if push came to shove she would lose most of her mages, "You will do no such thing I have over a dozen class 4 mages and I am a level 6 even a Fae can't overcome that much magic. We are teleporting Colonel James of the 95th Hunters as we speak."
Lily knew that even with Abby in the room they were as good as dead if she wanted it not that it mattered. She knew Abby would be cooperative, even if it meant pulling teeth she did have something Abby would want to be kept quiet. A few moments later in walked a woman of above average height and sporting several scars ruining her otherwise beautiful features as she stood before the monitor looking very annoyed saying, "I'm Colonel James, who are you to call for me by name."
Lily readied her trump card and replied, "Someone who wants to speak in private or would you rather I discuss the real father of your gifted daughter?"
Abby's eyes got big as she turned to the Captain in dismissed her and everybody else over the Captain's objections, after they left she set wards to disable the recording spells as she turned to Lily in a highly distrustful tone and said, "We are alone, what do you want Fae."
Lily smiled knowing that she was about to get exactly what she wanted and said, "I want Andrew's son Thomas to attend Gogol University and your going to help. Or I will start making allegations that we both know are true. You have made quite a life for yourself there, just think of what would happen to that life as your own people start digging."
Abby knew that the Fae had the ability to access the memories and even minds of humans, Abby had to what and how Lily knew what she knew and how damaging it was. Abby asked, "What do you know that would be a threat to me? What proof can you offer to the claims that my husband is not my daughter's father? Any evidence I will say it's fake."
Lily began to move her hands towards herself speaking rhythmically her hands moving almost as if in a dance. As she finished she said, "This is my proof." As an image of her and Andrew fucking passionately appeared before there very eyes. Lily watched Abby and said, "This is Andrew's memory as you can tell and before you say it is fake let me remind you that a memory is very hard to fake and go unnoticed. This one twice as hard because he really liked you, just so hammer this home faking a memory that has an emotional value leaves a marker that even the tech Ola could sense, what will you do when they find no evidence of tampering. I will say this I took this when he healed me, even as he knew he was going to die he still thought of you."
A tear cam Abby's eye at the man she loved and the fact that he thought of her when facing death, she knew this memory and also knew that Lily had burned through her defences the minute she walked in to the room, knowing that the woman on the other side of the screen could do what she did from there told her Lily was not to be trifled with, and that she wouldn't make a threat when the truth could be proven all they had to do was compare her daughter's magical aura with her husband's and they would have enough to kick her out of Drority, this didn't sit well with Abby but having no choice she hung her head and said dejectedly, "You know to countermand an order like this will cost me dearly. How do I keep my job and give you what you want?"
Lily understood the problem and happy with her new spy, but she also had a solution that would make Abby a powerful ally and responded, "By telling the council that Thomas will work with you, in truth I'll feed you information on several topics that he would have access to, including our home in the delta."
This was something Abby could use but knew this would make her an ally of the Fae at the least or a spy at worst.
She knew she had no choice if she wanted to keep her station and replied, "While I don't like this, I will go along and if the information isn't valuable then he won't be returning."
Lily smiled satisfied with the deal for now and said, "Agreed, remember that the notices will be received by Friday."
Abby reassured her saying, "If I must I will tell him in person."
With an agreement in place, both Abby and Lily went their separate ways, Lily off to keep an eye on another part of her plan and Abby to get Thomas' permission to leave the Dynasty and for her a chance to see the child of her daughter's father. She saw this as an opportunity to see what kind of man the son of Andrew had become and maybe to pay forward the debt she owed his father. After much wrangling and arm twisting Abby got permission to tell Thomas that he had been accepted in person, Abby took her gifted daughter and Thomas' half-sister out of school without explaining why and flew to Chicago for a date with destiny.
As you are all aware this all began in 1945 after the final atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan, unbeknownst to those who created the bombs they had caused an unexpected and undetectable ripple like effect throughout the universe, its impact was most noticeable to those closest to Earth. This ripple was not like a wave rolling upon the shore, no it was more like a hurricane hitting Nebraska, devastating and unheard of, this caused a disruption to the flow of energy that connects all things to each other throughout the universe know by some as the Celestial Flow. In this case, the disruption was called the Celestial Collapse as the void left by detonations caused a wave of energy to rush back towards Earth, luckily Earth had protection from the Celestial wave in lands of the Fae. This protection came at a price, that price was the slow destruction of the Fae homeworld. While Lyoerhan the land of the Fae was acting like a break wall for the coming tsunami, Earth was flooded with what could only be compared to the storm surge before a hurricane in this case, what the Fae had called the Celestial Flow most humans would come to call it magic.
This magic affected only women, many theories exist as to why but most agree it is because women carry children. This changed cultures across the globe because of the effect that all women upon reaching puberty began getting magical powers, many women lost in the power they now had over men started pushing for more and more power, for the most part it was kept hidden out of fear of their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and male friends, while a few women bathed in the glow of finally being in control of men. In certain areas showing such powers meant death as men reacting out of fear would beat and even kill those who showed such power, this overreaction pushed more and more women to take extreme measures and pushed for the destruction of the old ways.
The first power a woman received was an ability to read the minds of men who showed any form of interest in them, once they reached 18 they would receive a higher power or in some cases powers, now that women had power over men and men had tried to crush this new reality the result of which would be felt throughout the world, gone were the old ways many believed this would bring about a better world, either way, they would never be the same.
After the completion of the Second World War and reconstruction, the world had changed and in many ways not for the better, with repressions by men in many parts of the world and a growing feminist movement that had been gaining popularity among women. These movements had slowly replaced men with women in many key jobs because magic had become commonplace, the most common argument for this shift was the following; how could anyone trust a man who could be used so easily by any woman. The world was split between east and west as the west adopted a more feminist-friendly leaning and many called these policies progressivism, in the east things were calm but a storm was brewing and its ramifications would be felt much longer than the last world war, as the seeds of mistrust took root and began to grow a most vicious fruit.
After 10 years of research done by many in this room about the return of magic, researchers had found that a woman's magical power would be recharged and in some cases increased with the tormenting of men's sexual libido, this research was conducted by mostly women with an agenda of furthering feminism and bent on the total submission of all men. This research said that the more a woman denied a man sexual release the faster they could recover that magic when they finally allowed an orgasm in their presence, however, this research didn't look at other methods to doing the same thing and many male researchers dismissed it as being biased. However, this research was looked upon by those looking to gain more power who spun this data and made it sound irrefutable, this led many men to warn women using the old saying that absolute power corrupts. Women were standing at a fork in the road of history and if they had learned from the past they would have taken the high road, instead fueled by a new and rapidly growing religion that claimed women were now goddesses, they and only they should lead the world a man's place to do as his personal goddess commanded. The new backers of this religion pushed their agenda ruthlessly and in doing so may have sealed the fate of the planet.
Back by this research which was heralded as proof by this new religion and even considered to be dogma by this rapidly growing cult as many a man would come to call it, as women wanting more and more power started to enslave men or maybe torture would be a better word, in the 10 years that followed this new dogma many changes occurred, marriage became a way to control and even harness men's sexual energy as women learned spells to bind their husbands on what would become known as Binding Laws which violated many a right guaranteed by constitution's throughout the world, this did little for any man other than strip the man away from a man, no longer could he enjoy anything close to freedom. Many women said it was to protect men if they were bound then another woman couldn't play merciless games on him instead it would be their own wives who would in many cases be cruel beyond belief, many said that this was justified because of how women had suffered at the hands of men throughout history, this became the cry of the damned as men lost more rights and sense of self, they weren't men anymore they were tools to be used and discarded.
Those few men who were able to hold on to their sense of self, on the other hand, did not take the passing of the binding laws kindly, these laws stated that all men who were bound became the property of their wives and had no rights, just as men disappeared from key positions in the workplace so to did men disappear from public office as the right to vote was stripped from them, men were allowed to work but they were not paid for said work as their pay went to their wife or female family member depending on the age of the man for only they knew what was best for their inferiors. Men who were bound could not achieve orgasm without their wives consent and women who tried to break or did break the bind faced serious jail time and even risked death if they did it repeatedly or to the wrong woman, many women enjoyed "correcting" men for the slightest of infractions. Special units of the police force were created to deal with these new laws and many men learned to fear these units like all secret police had been in days gone by, the dye was cast and only death held any hope of reprieve.
Faced with a bleak future for all men, resulted in the inevitable as violence against women soared, the Gender Wars which began in the former USSR as a group of men banded together to kill the other's wives, these men suffered horribly when brought to the farce that was called justice and it was this persecution and the following martyrdom that started the Gender Wars as men who wanted their freedom raped pillaged and burned much of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. As men marched to their deaths saying, "Death before enslavement." A cry that would take many forms and push humanity to the brink of extinction which we are still on the precipice of to this very day.
Men fell into two camps those who wanted freedom from women at all costs and men who felt by fighting alongside women they could get reforms they wanted to the laws. By 1965 war raged across the globe as men slaughtered each other in the hopes of freedom one way or the other. Many of the battles men fought to the last, in many cases written in the blood of the fallen was the phrase that would become the slogan of all men as it stated, "Better to die free than live as a slave."
In 1966 Lyoerhan was reaching a tipping point 20 years after the Celestial Collapse the land was becoming more and more unlivable as the Celestial Flow turned sections of the realm into wastelands that were so full of this flow that the ground was for lack of a better word irradiated and after having tried radical means to save their home the decision was made to go back to Earth and gather the power needed to save their world. With this decision, they opened gates across the world as the Fae escaping the collapse that was destroying their home, came to earth seeking to live together in peace before returning home.
This kicked off a new era in the Gender Wars which became known as "The Fae Hunts" where human women and the men they were controlling fought side by side with the rebelling men fearing the power of the Fae, they would slaughter them upon coming through the gate, it was later discovered that the Fae were at their weakest after going through the gate. Very few Fae survived these hunts and those that did were hunted down by specialized units called Fae Hunters or just Hunters as the layperson would call them.
Now to say that all women were evil and enjoyed torturing men would be an injustice, some women bound men the truly loved and cared for them as you would a beloved pet but these women were considered so rare that they were the subject of myths told by men who fought on the side of women. One of these saintly sinners was Lila McClain, who had bound Andrew Garner. When Andrew found out she was going to have a boy, he went off to fight for his sons future the hope that such devotion would be proof that men didn't need to be treated as they had been. With the loss of Lila's husband to the war had made her realize that she had come to love Andrew and that left a bond with her son that would in time lead her to hate what she once loved.
In 1970 at what became known as the last Fae Hunt, an American Captain Andrew Garner made a decision that cost him and all of the men under his command their lives but just might have saved the planet, but that is a subject for historians to debate. While fighting with elements of the Muzhskoy Osvoboditelni Front/Male Liberation Front or MLF as they had been known in English, near Ismail Ukraine whilst in the midst's of battle they were given orders to head to Reni Pehi near the border of Moldova/Ukraine/Romania and take part in a Fae Hunt with elements of 259th Hunters a group of women that specialized in the slaughter of the Fae and had for the past 5 years. It is important that I stress the Fae were hated by both sides and were never given any quarter by either side. Men feared that the Fae would be worse than what they had been fighting and attacked them on sight with a fanaticism that had been reserved for human women. Women feared they would overthrow them and do to them what they had been doing to men for 20 years and that loss of power was unacceptable.
When Andrew, saw his first Fae and witnessed the slaughter first hand, it went against everything he had been taught, women were to be respected, obeyed and even protected. The Fae looked like women to him and having suffered at the hands of human women he had no love for the genocide he was witnessing. Doing what he thought was right he turned and opened fire on the 259th Hunters taking them by surprise, this drew a lull in the fighting as the MLF didn't want to lose those men who wanted their freedom or at least that is what they thought had happened when Andrew's men turned on the female unit. With the Hunters eliminated and the subsequent lull in the fighting he used the time to launch a surprise attack on the MLF and opened a corridor to get the Fae out of the trap set for them, this fight was very costly as Andrew lot 2/3 of his men, and out of the 500 Fae that came over that day only 100 survived the last 100 to be exact, for weeks he and his men fought their way down to the Danube until they were caught between the MLF and the FFF or Female Freedom Force a punitive force sent to deal with traitors, at Vylkove and the Danube Delta as the Fae hid in the swamps and forests of the delta, while Andrew and his remaining men fought valiantly buying the much needed time for the Fae to escape but were ultimately destroyed to the last for attacking a female unit, this lesson would be heralded in history books as the Fools Sacrifice or the Great Betrayal it was a sacrifice that would be remembered by the surviving Fae for many years to come.
This was one of the last actions in a bloody war that had killed 75% of the male population and by July of the following year the final elements of the MLF surrendered and figured that they would return to servitude. In what many thought would be the last lesson to the futility of man to resist his betters every man in the MLF was executed publicly along with any women who had sympathized, never again would any man dare do anything such as rise up or so it was assumed.
The Great Betrayal was a rallying cry in America (soon to join Canada and Mexico in the Workwoman's Dynasty) to strip men of even more rights as the feminists launched a vile wave of repressions that were meant to ram home to men that defiance was futile. One of these repressions was the passing of what were called leash laws if more than two men were together they had to be with a woman and could only be so far from her or be open to correction from any woman, this way they could never conspire again. Men still fought their oppressors and after a series of suicides rocked the world, many women had begun to question this policy, let alone the fact that those who could wield powerful magic had become very wealthy and lorded over those who didn't. In response to the suicides all women were told to bind there sons with life magic to make them incapable of taking their lives, this binding would end at 18 when they would be bound to their future wives.
Because of the lack of men, it was decided that men would be hunted in the summer of their 18th birthday during Victory Week in July. These were called Bonding Hunts and all men who turned 18 after the last hunt were to be present this did little for men and as the birth rate plummeted many women began questioning it. Men from powerful families, however, were left out of the hunts to keep less worthy women from gaining a position in a more powerful family and to be given to loyal families or to form alliances, they were even given as rewards.
In the years following the Gender Wars the world was reshaped as the seven most powerful human mages split the world up among themselves; as North America was united under the rule of the Council of Seven member Patricia Workwoman, a spiteful woman who wanted to wipe the stain that was man from the history books, she had even founded a new religion that made all women goddesses. Her aides numbered seven and ruled as nobility had in olden times, these seven families; the Spencer's, Barrera's, Clark's, William's, Harvey's, Massey's and Lake's. The democracy that had lasted nearly 200 years in America disappeared and along with Canada and Mexico renamed The Workwoman Dynasty or just the Dynasty as many would call it, the Dynasty gave rights to women based on magical ability and solidified men as little more than pawns, women were left with a caste system that left little to no room to move up.
The new structure within the Dynasty was structured in such a way that families that had daughters would count towards a women's magical ability. Under this new structure all women were to be called goddess by any male failure to do so was often correction to the cusp of death, after that you had seven families made a Ladyship this was the lowest titled woman who headed those seven families, seven Ladyship's was a Parrish, seven Parrish's was a Baroness, seven Baroness's was a Viscountess, seven Viscountess' was a Countess, seven Countess's a Lady in Power, seven Lady's in Power was a Duchess, seven Duchess's was a Daughter in Power, seven Daughter's in Power was a House and the head of any house was the Matron and the seven matrons served the Empress. As women struggled to grab power this struggle led women to kill male children in favor of being able to form their own titles. This, of course, meant sisters would often kill a higher ranking sister to grab power or even kill their own mothers to take over her title. While this was going on the number of men in the former United States shrunk to 17.6% lowest on earth before the government stepped in and said sons that married off to a more powerful family had to be bought or otherwise compensated.
In the years following the Gender Wars which had toppled many nations and reshaped the planet as the USSR had torn itself apart in the conflict and lead to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, these new nations brought a calm over the world as they recovered from the war that had been fought mostly in their backyards. Western Europe had formed a loose federation of its members and worked together to rebuild, while they had laws like the former United States had they were more lenient with the enforcement of such laws, many of Europe's leaders were starting to feel as if they were puppets of the Goddess' religion founded by Patricia Workwoman and gave the Dynasty great sway over them.
Around 1980 things started to change in Europe when Ukraine shocked the world by releasing a magic engine, this engine stored women's magic and used it as electricity had been. This in effect ended the need for fossil fuels and nuclear energy it also opened the door for new technology to be run off of it. Three years later once again Ukraine dropped the world on its ear by releasing the magic circuit making magic smaller and more portable, this had turned a very poor nation into one which couldn't produce things fast enough to meet the worlds demand. The reason for this was those same Fae who had survived made these magic circuits and engines, this lead to drastic changes throughout the world. However, the greatest changes occurred in Ukraine as the government tried at first to force the Fae to do what they wanted as little more than slave labor, this was met by the Fae disappearing into the delta never to be found and lead to them appearing weak to the rest of the world.
Before the release of the magic engine, Ukraine was unwanted by the Council of Seven and exceedingly poor the poorest nation in all of Europe and one of the ten poorest on the planet. However, due to the failures of the Ukrainian government each of the seven laid claim to it, bent on bringing the Fae to their knees and sent armies, spies and gifts every time one of the council came the Fae would halt production and flee never to be found. When the various attempts failed they left Ukraine alone and watched as they were forced to make reforms that the Fae wanted, things like being given official recognition and a say in the government even the changing or abolishing of laws.
The biggest change in Ukraine was the abolition of Binding Laws and the use of binding magic, which the Fae said could be replaced by something much better, the removal of such laws caused a dramatic increase in the number of men being born in Ukraine which had the fastest growth in the male population on the planet, many a man saw this as proof they had been right all along and added fuel to the other nations who started to ignore more of the church's dogma. In 1983 as part of their concessions to the Fae, Ukraine renamed the Odessa National Maritime University and the Odessa National Maritime Academy to the Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol University of Technology and Magic the worlds first University to the study of magic. To prove the value of such an institution, students from the university competed in the following years at the world magic championships Ukrainian women have won every major medal since often finishing with gold, silver, and bronze. By 1985 it was clear that the Fae had been teaching Ukrainian women magic, which quickly turned the university from a joke in the rest of the world to an elite university training mages from all over the world. Men up to this point were kept mostly as slave labor, only men from powerful families would get a higher education while the remaining took up a trade if they had any skill. GUM as the University was known had become one of the few universities that allowed common men to enroll and every year between 50 and 100 thousand young men would apply for 12 spots and the dream of five years of freedom.
The sacrifice by Andrew and his men was remembered by the Fae who in the 18 years since had stayed far away from humans, letting a select few in and most of them had been men while some women had been allowed in the number could be counted on one hand even if you were missing three fingers, you would need all your digits to count the total number that had ever met any Fae in their home and not at the university.
This is the story of one of those men named Thomas only son of Lila McClain and the events that changed the world as we know it, I truly hope we will take the opportunity presented us.
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Thomas walked to his last class on Wednesday and sat in the back trying to stay hidden from "The Banshees" a young group of girls that hoped to get into the Drority which was the state terror unit, the Banshees were lead by Lady in Power Gloria Page 1st daughter of Ella sworn to the of house Barrera. They were called Banshees because of the screams that could be heard coming from those they deemed worthy of torment. Thomas was by far their favorite to be corrected, but then again the son of the Great Betrayer was always being corrected by every girl and woman who felt a correction was in order even if it wasn't. Thomas was very good at avoiding detection and normally wouldn't be seen by the Banshees if it weren't for the other girls in his class that would turn him in if for no other reason than for the chance to join in abusing him. Today was no exception as soon as he sat down, his heart sank at the sight of the Banshees waiting arms crossed and a smirk on Gloria's otherwise flawless face, this was a result of one of the first spells a girl learned when her powers developed was how to make herself look as beautiful as humanly possible this way they would hopefully get the attention of any man and reap the harvest of his attention.
Thomas was dragged off to the cheers and a few jeers of his fellow class women and looks of relief from his class men, glad it wasn't them, teachers watched with pride knowing this young man would know his place and felt pride that the future of the Dynasty was in good hands. Thomas knew resisting would only add to his suffering and didn't try and fight the levitation spell that was on the wand that Gloria always carried, many women when they hit puberty until they turned 18 had problems handling their new magic so many mothers would give them magical items. Of course, it goes without saying that the more powerful items came from the more powerful families and was a sign of their power over both men and women
Once in the correction chamber, a large room with various implements for restraint and torture the only rule was that and visual damage is healed when they left. Thomas was pinned to the ceiling, his eyes wide as he knew what was coming as it had since he entered puberty. Gloria gave the command word and laughed as Thomas fell 9' to the floor breaking his ribs, Thomas knew he would get corrected worse if he tried to protect himself from the fall and took the brunt of the damage directly to his ribs. Gloria walked over relishing the pain etched on his face, she made a fist and let her ring touch him as she said the command word. Thomas screamed as his bones set and healed he felt all the pain. Gloria let out a pleasure filled sigh that had him wondering if she had climaxed only from his screams.
She climbed on top of him straddling the one thing in their society that he was good for and said, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy why do you keep fighting we both know you are my toy and will make a great present to my mother. Everybody knows I will hunt you and they are going to stay away, far away. Nothing you do will save you from this and you know it, so why not just give in and become mine now, my mother has already taught me the binding spell, I'll be gentle and make sure we have seven daughters, we both know you are a lot stronger than this and I will enjoy pulling that power out of you."
Climbing off of him she watched as Thomas's eyes nearly jumped from his skull at hearing she already knew the binding spell, this drew an evil grin not that her other smiles where any less sinister as she said, "The seed of the Great Betrayer will join my family, my daughters will delight in correcting you. Yes, I will teach your own children what a failure you are and your father was, I will enjoy laughing as they correct you."
Thomas finally free from the pain of his ribs healing said, "I will never be yours. This Friday I will know that I got into GUM and you will never have me."
The maddening cackle that came from Gloria was enough to unnerve her own friends as she said, "You are one of the worst students here and you will get into Gogol University of Technology and Magic, you like your fellow males are only useful on your backs I will give your mother credit you do have a nice look about to you; those broad shoulders, very muscular frame, even those blue-green eyes have an appeal to them. As for GUT, they have already told me I didn't get in, but that doesn't matter I have been accepted to join Drority and enter the academy in August, just think of the fun they will have with you. I like you, Tommy, I really do you are so funny you getting into GUM when I could not we all know you trained as a builder, everybody knows that is a losers profession and you are a loser. You can't help it runs in your genes your father was, your mother is, just look at how weak your younger sister is."
Thomas welled up with blinding rage and threw her off him, his eyes glazed as his tall and powerful frame walked towards her. She watched in horror as her mother's spells bounced off of him, he grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her off the ground and pinned her to the wall with one hand showing little effort and tearing her shirt.
He leaned in and said his voice thick with malice, she knew this wasn't a threat but a promise, "If you ever speak poorly of Kristi, I will gladly go to my death taking you with me. Do what you want to me, go after Kristi and I will kill you. The law doesn't mean shit to you but I am sure my mother would be glad to know that you threatened my slow sister."
He let Gloria go and walked toward the chamber door at the door he turned and said, "We will see if you are right on Friday won't we, if you are right and do hunt me learn to sleep with one eye open or I will find a way to remove them before you wake."
Gloria stood shaking from the fact that he had resisted her ring and necklace that had been enchanted by her own mother, she knew to call a girl weak was the same as calling for her death. Those with any defects were seen as unfit in the Dynasty and it was a mothers decision as to the life of her child the state would not help those who needed long term care nor would the state persecute those mothers who would end their child's life, such was the way things were done there.
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In Odessa a tall vision of impossible perfection, her blond locks flowing behind her as she strutted like a professional model on a catwalk, unlike most models her figure had curves that put said models to shame from her D if not DD chest to birthing hips that looked like they could carry quadruplets with ease, strolling towards a Greek-inspired building complete with columns determination etched on her angelic features, a piece of paper in her hands, the clack of her high heels could be heard echoing off the other buildings in the courtyard as she soaked up the looks she got from men and women. Walking up the steps she saw two other women one of middle age, with a slight paunch that showed her age as well as the gray in her hair for a woman going on 60 she could still be considered attractive and another looking nearly as beautiful as the one coming up the steps her figure looked like something you would find on a fitness instructor or model, people couldn't be more wrong in mistaking the two for sisters. The platinum blond waiting at the top of the stairs wasn't as tall and had a more physically imposing physic her body was cut and had serious definition it did lack the bulk of a female bodybuilder, to say this took away from her beauty would be a lie, her apple bottom and D cup were impressive enough but when matched with her elven facial features she turned many a head on her own.
The gray-haired woman spoke first saying in a very annoyed tone, "We must decide today and send the letters to those who are accepted, please hurry Lily we have a lot to do and not much time to do this."
The living goddess smiled her flawless teeth and stopped at the top of the stairs looked down at the much smaller woman and said in a commanding tone, "Yulia, today I will bring 18 years of hard work to fruition. I have here the only name that must be allowed in. I have never asked and will probably never ask again, this is the first and last time I will ask."
The suicide blond looked at her as shocked as Yulia and asked, "Lily, what name could have you asking us to break the rules? The same rules you helped write I might add."
Lily almost glowed as she looked first at the surprised Yulia then to the shocked platinum blond and began speaking to her shocked colleague saying, "Veen, his son asks for entrance here, how can we say no to his son."
Veen flipped her platinum locks over her shoulder and was about to question who she was talking about when it dawned on her as she asked, "Andrew's son wishes to come to us?" She nearly bounced up and down on the balls of her feet like a child would in excitement as she too turned to Yulia and repeated what Lily said adding her own emphasis.
Yulia asks lost as to why after five years of these two not caring about who attended and who didn't they now had one person they wanted to be admitted and asked, "Who is Andrew that both of you are so excited to meet his son. We have our 12 men and if your research is correct then we need strong men, if his name hasn't come up before then he is not worthy."
Veen looks at the much older looking Yulia and said, "Andrew Garner the man who gave his life for us. His son wants to come here, we can repay his father's sacrifice by teaching and enhancing his magical potential. He would prove that we have been right all along."
Yulia replied like any woman would at hearing the name of the man that helped the Fae escape saying, "Absolutely not, he is not coming you can prove your work without him, we have very powerful families trying to get their daughters in here and if we break the rules for him then we must for them as well."
Lily looked at her coldly and said sternly, "Yulia, we both know you have been taking bribes for years now to let certain families daughters in, either you let Thomas in or all of us will walk and good luck finding us, or good luck at the world championships without our help. If you think that is all, remember we will stop production, this is not a negotiation he comes or we go. So what is your choice?"
Yulia could see the conviction in both of their eyes and knew that they would follow through with their threat they had in the past, she sighed in defeat and said her voice full of frustration but hoping to cash in on their determination, "Fine, he comes but I want the number of males raised to 15 and to admit 50 more women as well."
Lily knew this would only line her pocket even more but wanted one more thing and said, "If Tasuilia is admitted as well then we have a deal."
Yulia didn't like the thought of any Fae at her university but to have one as a student was unheard of they had been taught magic for millennia untold and she had never seen any human come close to their magical ability. Most of the Fae that hung around the university were either professors like Lily or Veen were or just hung out picking up human men like the lessor Fae seemed to do non stop. To get a chance to watch one learn magic might open her eyes to how they taught their children and if she could steal something from it, she could make a fortune.
She knew she would say yes but paused for effect before saying, "Agreed, what is the traitor's sons name and I will have his letter drawn up."
Lily smiled acting happy at getting what she wanted replying, "Since he is so important to us, I will invite him personally and even meet him at the airport. Unless that will cost me 50 more women being admitted?"
Yulia knew one certain student should be greeted by her and said, "That is fine if you will also pick up our biggest VIP as well."
Lily nodded in agreement before walking into the building with the other two to finalize the new list and make the needed preparations.
After 6 hours they had their final list and Yulia went off to make her phone calls and prepare letters of acceptance, Veen and Lily walked towards Lily's office, not a word exchanged between them, Veen lost in dreams of what could be meanwhile Lily was busy going through what she would need to do now that her plan was nearing its next stage.
One thing that kept bothering Veen was why Lily wanted her daughter to attend and asked as much inquiring, "We both know that the classes at this university are not going to be a challenge for Tasuilia. So, why have her attend?"
Lily despite her friendly exterior had few to any friends and one of those was Veen who she truly loved like a sister, trying not to say too much she replied, "We are running out of time, humans need to understand that while we possess a power that surpasses that of their greatest mages. We want to live together with them and need them stronger. We both know it is only a matter of time before our own follies come for us. Besides, I think Tasu would enjoy spending time with her half-brother or should I say, former half-brother since she has chosen the throw away her humanity and become completely Fae. Besides we need someone to keep an eye on him."
Veen was not happy with her daughter's chose and made her feelings know saying, "If you weren't in her ear all the time telling her to do this she wouldn't have. I thought she was going to be our bridge with the humans. I agree we will need more of our kind for what is to come, or we will need strong human allies. Isn't that why we had this university built? Isn't it why we gave them a magic engine and magic circuit so they could make things that will help us confront our greatest sin. I have never liked you having your claws in my child, your games are dangerous at the best of times, can we afford another mistake like the one that brought us here? Can they, we saw how the humans love to kill each other but they need time to recover and we need twice that much time or more. You had me build a container for his soul and with how you acted this morning I can only wonder what your true plan was for Andrew's son. Why did you need such a container built? I am not as big an authority on souls as you are, so make me understand."
Lily wasn't fond of tipping her hand and knew that the whole truth was not needed at this time so she knew feeding Veen a little bit would be more than enough and replied, "We have made humans stronger at this university, but tell me do you trust any of them for what is coming. I don't and your child becoming a Valkyrie like her mother is in accordance with your traditions, not mine, she will be able to have children with these weaker males that the humans are raising. What has been our biggest problem here but the lack of men whom we higher Fae can have children with, that is why we tested all the males who applied. Thomas is different the container was designed to hide the power of his soul from humans and to enhance it to a level that he could father children with your own Valkyrie's, the Elves, myself and yes, even 'Her' if we didn't hide that he would be either dead or the property of some undeserving human woman."
Veen didn't like the thought of Thomas being a plaything to anybody and this was going nowhere. She changed the topic by asking, "Do you want to talk to the Workwoman's Dynasty or should I?"
Lily replied glad to be off topic, "I'll do it, they are going to be a pain in the ass and we both know you would lose your temper the first time they gave you an attitude and we both know they will give us nothing but attitude, besides I have a card to play."
Veen hated to think what this card could be and knowing that sometimes not knowing is a lot wiser, so she left Lily to her fun as she walked out she contemplated what she had just learned and what it meant for her people as walked away wondering what Thomas looked like or how much he might resemble Andrew, she began to ponder what this would mean for her daughter.
Lily on the other hand practically skipped to the notification room, as she got closer to the room she could feel the flow of celestial energy washing past her like a breeze, no human could walk into the notification room without protections cast upon them. Using the flow to send messages was easy, notifying required a physical representation to notify the Ukrainian Embassy or Drority in the case of a male being chosen from the Dynasty to date this had never happened a virtual connection was needed to notify Drority. Writing a special circuit on existing Television cameras and televisions to meet the requests of the Workwoman's Dynasty had been installed in Ottawa and at the University.
Lily activated the camera and TV and waited for a reply after a few minutes an image began to appear and slowly cleared up. Standing before Lily was a brown haired brown eyed woman of average beauty as compared to Lily, the woman spoke softly lost as to why she was even talking to Lily.
She said, "This Tech Ola Nelson 4th daughter of Ladyship Nelson sworn to House Lake, what do you want?"
This blunt response from a woman of such low station annoyed Lily and as she stretched her powers across the planet and read the woman's mind with ease understanding this woman had no power to do anything and was trying to buy time until someone with authority could come.
Lily replied, "I am Professor Lily from Gogol University of Technology and Magic and in accordance with article 7 subsection 53 of the international education treaty, I am notifying you that one Thomas Andrew son of Lila McClain of Chicago Illinois has been accepted into our university please remove him from your bond hunt."
Lily heard the frantic typing off screen and saw a piece of paper handed to Ola, who smiled and replied, "Thomas Andrew son of Lila McClain is on a no travel list for crimes against femininity. I am sorry you'll just have to find another."
Lily's eyes went black, as she remembered the laws of the Dynasty held male children responsible for the crimes of their fathers, while Thomas wasn't born yet it meant he was on probation. The Yangsong treaty allowed even these children to attend. It was time for her to use her trump card, as she leaned in and said, "I would like to speak to Lieutenant Abby James."
Ola knew she was going over her head and repeated, "It won't matter she won't change his travel restriction, this conversation is over."
Lily lost her composure and yelled casting a spell that made the women feel intimidated, "You will get Lieutenant Abby James now or I will melt that room with you in it."
Ola's uniform light up like a Christmas tree as her protections tried and failed to protect her from such magic. Falling to her knees she said, "Your Fae"
Even in this form, Lily's power was nothing to be trifled with and Ola understood she was grossly outclassed. Sirens went off as they detected the magic that Lily had cast in the room and stayed on as members of Drority rushed into the room nearly as panicked as Ola was.
A woman dressed in black approached relieved Ola be for saying, "This is Captain Georgina Pearce of the 42nd House Drority, you are in violation of the Yangsong Treaty and if you don't stop your spell casting this will be seen as an act of war."
Lily smiled and vile smile she knew pushing these weak women would get her what she wanted and replied, "Bring me Lieutenant Abby James or none of you will make it out of that room."
Georgina replied understanding that if push came to shove she would lose most of her mages, "You will do no such thing I have over a dozen class 4 mages and I am a level 6 even a Fae can't overcome that much magic. We are teleporting Colonel James of the 95th Hunters as we speak."
Lily knew that even with Abby in the room they were as good as dead if she wanted it not that it mattered. She knew Abby would be cooperative, even if it meant pulling teeth she did have something Abby would want to be kept quiet. A few moments later in walked a woman of above average height and sporting several scars ruining her otherwise beautiful features as she stood before the monitor looking very annoyed saying, "I'm Colonel James, who are you to call for me by name."
Lily readied her trump card and replied, "Someone who wants to speak in private or would you rather I discuss the real father of your gifted daughter?"
Abby's eyes got big as she turned to the Captain in dismissed her and everybody else over the Captain's objections, after they left she set wards to disable the recording spells as she turned to Lily in a highly distrustful tone and said, "We are alone, what do you want Fae."
Lily smiled knowing that she was about to get exactly what she wanted and said, "I want Andrew's son Thomas to attend Gogol University and your going to help. Or I will start making allegations that we both know are true. You have made quite a life for yourself there, just think of what would happen to that life as your own people start digging."
Abby knew that the Fae had the ability to access the memories and even minds of humans, Abby had to what and how Lily knew what she knew and how damaging it was. Abby asked, "What do you know that would be a threat to me? What proof can you offer to the claims that my husband is not my daughter's father? Any evidence I will say it's fake."
Lily began to move her hands towards herself speaking rhythmically her hands moving almost as if in a dance. As she finished she said, "This is my proof." As an image of her and Andrew fucking passionately appeared before there very eyes. Lily watched Abby and said, "This is Andrew's memory as you can tell and before you say it is fake let me remind you that a memory is very hard to fake and go unnoticed. This one twice as hard because he really liked you, just so hammer this home faking a memory that has an emotional value leaves a marker that even the tech Ola could sense, what will you do when they find no evidence of tampering. I will say this I took this when he healed me, even as he knew he was going to die he still thought of you."
A tear cam Abby's eye at the man she loved and the fact that he thought of her when facing death, she knew this memory and also knew that Lily had burned through her defences the minute she walked in to the room, knowing that the woman on the other side of the screen could do what she did from there told her Lily was not to be trifled with, and that she wouldn't make a threat when the truth could be proven all they had to do was compare her daughter's magical aura with her husband's and they would have enough to kick her out of Drority, this didn't sit well with Abby but having no choice she hung her head and said dejectedly, "You know to countermand an order like this will cost me dearly. How do I keep my job and give you what you want?"
Lily understood the problem and happy with her new spy, but she also had a solution that would make Abby a powerful ally and responded, "By telling the council that Thomas will work with you, in truth I'll feed you information on several topics that he would have access to, including our home in the delta."
This was something Abby could use but knew this would make her an ally of the Fae at the least or a spy at worst.
She knew she had no choice if she wanted to keep her station and replied, "While I don't like this, I will go along and if the information isn't valuable then he won't be returning."
Lily smiled satisfied with the deal for now and said, "Agreed, remember that the notices will be received by Friday."
Abby reassured her saying, "If I must I will tell him in person."
With an agreement in place, both Abby and Lily went their separate ways, Lily off to keep an eye on another part of her plan and Abby to get Thomas' permission to leave the Dynasty and for her a chance to see the child of her daughter's father. She saw this as an opportunity to see what kind of man the son of Andrew had become and maybe to pay forward the debt she owed his father. After much wrangling and arm twisting Abby got permission to tell Thomas that he had been accepted in person, Abby took her gifted daughter and Thomas' half-sister out of school without explaining why and flew to Chicago for a date with destiny.