Legend of the Black Warrior

"Pardon?"

"You're a snake, Alekai. Where do you think snakes come from, a hole in the ground?"

He narrowed his eyes. "As a matter of fact, many snakes bury their eggs in moist dirt. When the snakelets hatch, they actually do come out of the ground."

Jesse sighed. "Fine, but you didn't come out of the ground. You came out of an egg."

"Are you trying to insult me?" Alekai fumed.

"It's not an insult. Heck, I came out of an egg!" She gave an exasperated sigh.

"Just open the damn present and be happy that grandmother cared enough to send it to you."

Alekai swallowed. "It's not my birthday yet, but please tell your grandmother I said 'thank you'."

"I will."

Alekai looked at the box. Aside from the bright red color and the shiny satin bow, there was nothing else to indicate its content.

He reached out and unboxed the gift. Then he reached in, pushed away the layers of white tissue, and pulled out a metal band with a golden citrine embedded into the center of the band.

"What is this?"

Jesse grinned. "It's your birthright. Put it on."

Seeing his hesitation, she reached out and took it from him. "Here, let me help you."

Before he could protest, she had gently slid the opened section and pushed it over his forehead.

"The gold gem is supposed to rest over your third eye like so." She wiggled it around until she was satisfied that it was in place. Then she rearranged his hair so that the band fit snuggly around the crown of his head.

"And now for the finishing touch." She announced with glee.

Jesse opened her hands and fluttered her fingers a bit.

Something tingled around his head. The band clicked into place. He could feel his vision blur, and then it quickly sharpened.

"Oh my gosh." He blinked and looked around.

It was almost as if he was wearing a pair of binoculars over his eyes.

He jumped up and ran to the window.

Way above the tree line, he focused in on a single blue bird that was perched at the very top.

Its image popped into his view as if he was standing in front of it. He could see quite clearly its bright blue feathers marked with tiny purple patterns.

He narrowed his focus and the veins on the feathers stood out in sharp contrast. He widened his focus and the bird came back into view. Then he blinked and the world returned to its normal perspective again.

The feeling was at once discombobulating and disorienting, but he quickly got used to it as he practiced moving his visual acuity around, focusing in on different objects at varying distances.

It seemed as if his brain could control how much or how little to focus in to see distances.

He turned back to Jesse.

"This thing is amazing. How does it work?"

"It just activates your parietal third eye. All snakes have one, so it's nothing that you wouldn't eventually figure out on your own."

"My…parietal eye?" He reached up and touched the citrine stone.

"MmmHmmm. It does more than just give you super vision. Now that it's activated, you can probably practice using it until you no longer need the crown."

He pressed a grateful hand to his lips. "How can I ever repay your grandmother?"

Jesse smiled. "There is nothing to repay. It is an ancient crown that belonged to your family for countless generations."

"My family?"

"Yes. You come from an ancient snake line. Vartis is your family name."

"I've never heard of this name before. How do you know for certain I'm part of this family?"

Jesse laughed. "The crown worked didn't it? It's connected to your genetics."

"I find that hard to believe."

"It's true alright. If you were not a legitimate heir and progenitor, the crown wouldn't work. In fact, it would have blinded you." She grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Alekai frowned.

Tom Duncan sighed. "Have a seat Alekai. There are some things that I need to clear up with ya."

Feeling a bit unnerved, Alekai returned to his seat. He had a bad feeling about all of this.

"Once upon a time," Tom Duncan began in a sing-song fashion.

"Oh will you just get to the point???" Alekai interrupted brusquely.

"Fine! But ya ain't gonna understand nuthin' if I just give you a one-liner!"

"Give me the one liner!" Alekai shouted. He'd just about had it with not knowing anything while these two seemed as if they knew everything about everything.

"Fine. Here's your one line explanation. You and Little Miss here are a combo platter known as The Black Warrior."

.

.

.

Three seconds of silence ensued as Tom Duncan stopped talking and Alekai digested that last sentence.

Jesse sat there sipping on her Coke with dainty fingers as if she was genteel and full of class, but Alekai knew better.

She was a hellion, whooping and hollering as she stood on the back of a raging motorbike, shooting at the sky with a coffee mug.

"Is she the Black Warrior or am I the Black Warrior?"

"Neither of you are the Black Warrior. Both of you in combination is the Black Warrior."

"Wouldn't we be called Black Warriors then? There are two of us."

"Nope. It takes both of you to make the one warrior." Tom grinned, not volunteering any more information than that.

Alekai sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes. "Look. I'm sorry I got irritated. It just seems as if you two know what's going on and I'm the only person in the dark about it all."

Tom swallowed down the last of his beer and got up.

"It's my fault actually." He went back to the vending machine and slammed his fist on one of the beer buttons as he walked past it.

"Sometimes knowing too much before it's time is a real burden." He opened the freezer and took out a large pack of frozen things.

"I just wanted you to have a normal childhood, ya know." He turned on the oven and began filling a metal pan with various frozen things.

"Truth is, I took you to Earth as an egg and I hatched you."

The oven beeped a tiny sound, indicating that it was warm enough to be used. Tom slid the pan of frozen things into the oven and walked back to the beer vender.

"Are you telling me you're my mother?" Alekai blew an exasperated breath at Tom.

"Hahaha!" Jesse gave a tinkling laughter. "No, silly. Your mother is your mother. She gave birth to you as an egg."

She gestured at Tom. "He was just the person who was in charge of making sure you hatched properly and was given the training you needed."

"Yep. That'd be me." Tom bent down and grabbed his beer from the bottom tray.

"This Universe is just one of many Universes out there. It has been arbitrarily broken up into quadrants to make it easier for navigation, mostly."

He popped the top and took a sip. "Since we are in the northern quadrant of that arbitrary set of points, you two are what's known as the Black Warrior of the Northern Realm."