Page 92 of Serpent and Shadow

“By which I mean primal divinities,” he clarified. “They’re a different kind of primal. Sort of like familials in how they’re categorized, but not remotely the same in either origin, prevalence, or effect.”

All of our eyes shifted to where Alaric sat, one leg crossed over the other, on the armchair closest to my side of the couch. Nyx now sat on his other side, on one of Bones’s large, black, satin pillows. She gazed up at Alaric with calm, brown eyes.

“All right,” Alaric said at our silence. “Well, divinities are supposed to be really rare,” he continued. “I’ve always been a little obsessive about primals, and just the nature of Aetheric beings in general. At one point in my obsessive reading on the subject, I came across mention of ‘divinities.’ I found it in a theosophy book I managed to steal out of the private part of my father’s library, knowing he’d be unlikely to notice…”

At our silent stares, he waved off his own words.

“…Doesn’t matter. As none of my middle school teachers were particularly helpful on this point, at some point in first year, I asked Forsooth about it. In addition to giving me a few books to read, he gave me a rather long, very detailed lecture about the theoretical underpinnings of divinities, and told me about a few cases of divinities as primals documented over the years. Some of those personages he had me look up, I remembered Cannon referencing back in middle school… you know, during that term in fifth year about the America Wars…”

Alaric trailed, as if just remembering that none of us had been in middle school with him.

After a pause, he lightly coughed.

“Cannon was my magistory master at Garley Cross,” he explained. “I’d never thought to ask him theosophy questions, since that wasn’t his area, but he mentioned once that gods sometimes chose Magicals to aid them in the material world.”

He shrugged, looking at me thoughtfully.

“Cannon didn’t call them divinities, or even primals, but Forsooth mentioned some of the same historical figures Cannon did. Cannon seemed to think divinities viewed their witches and mages sort of more like pets. It was unusual enough that it got relegated to the area of myth, but Forsooth and Cannon both seemed to believe it was real. Forsooth even talked about how they interacted with ordinary primals.”

At what must have been a blank look from me, Alaric added,

“You know what primals really are, right? They’re beings. Most of them are like animals, only really enlightened animals, basically made of magic, that live in the Aether. They don’t have regular bodies, which is why they are drawn to us, as a means of manifesting in the physical world. It’s a symbiotic relationship, meaning it’s beneficial both for them and for us.”

He waved a hand vaguely. “Most primals are just regular beings from the layers that exist closest to us within the Aetheric worlds. There’s a whole variety of higher and lower beings that make up the primal ecosystem…”

Luc started to look impatient, and Alaric hurried his speech.

“…Whereas familials, of course, are generally believed to come from Magical souls. Meaning, most people think they were once members of the family themselves. That’s why you don’t generally see a lot of new familials appearing among those who obtained their riches or their royalty ties later. We’re pretty much locked down with the five or six dozen familials that exist globally now.”

I blamed my tiredness that it took a few seconds to process his words.

I frowned as they finally sank in. “Familials are people? Why on Earth has no one ever mentioned that to me before now?”

Alaric cleared his throat.

“It’s considered sort of rude to mention it,” he confessed, giving me a half-smile. “There was a bit of an ethical hullabaloo when it all came out, with people accusing some of the older families of dark magics. And, well… slavery, I suppose.”

He coughed into his fist.

“Slavery?” Jolie’s eyebrows rose higher than mine. She stared at Alaric, then at Luc. “Slavery? Really? Your primals are enslaved relatives of yours?”

“Not mine,” Luc said, a little defensively.

Alaric made a vague, hand-wavy gesture with one hand.

“Let’s just say, the origins of the first familials are a bit fuzzy. Not many of those records survived into the current historical period.”

Alaric glanced at Luc, as if for help.

Getting none, he looked next at Jolie, Nyx, and finally me.

“There’s some question as to whether that initial primal relationship was exactly voluntary,” he continued, fluttering his fingers around his mug. “Or if it was instead the product of a wave of blood magic rituals fashionable at the time, in a class-wide attempt to raise the magical levels of those families with significant standing and a certain level of resources.”

He coughed again, and gripped his mug tighter in his hands.

“This all took place a thousand or so years ago now, but there’s never been what I’d exactly call proof in either direction. The official story is that the familials died as already-ascended Magicals, and that they did, indeed, volunteer to guide their families magically following their deaths. They are venerated in most royal families, and seen as ‘spiritually elevated,’ a cut above the ordinary.”

“You mean they’re saints?” I asked. “Like… buddhas?”