Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

190. The Half-breed Harvest

[A/n]

Sorry for this late update. I had some technical difficulties with my computer but they are fixed now. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

-The Captain

*

Fauna walked forward toward the abominable castle of the Kingdom of Calphian. The pearly stones had been coated black and red. The sunlight of hope that once reflected off of it giving light to the kingdom was now eclipsed by the canopy of trees. They created shadows the mingled with the cursed energy permeating from the place.

Towards this palace of death, she led a procession of the damned with Selene and Achilles behind her in hoods and chains while Groveon and his ilk grumbled in spite of his own failure. Fauna approached a small army standing outside the palace made up of "Royal" Guards. At their head was their master. The Soon-to-be-king of Calphian.

Prince Yullian Ti'fren Dal'haifen.

He played the part of a hapless idiot trying to gain the affections of the princess. Doing everything from stumbling over himself to writing bad poetry. He had successfully diverted everyone's attention from him. Even Cal had brushed him off as non-threatening. In truth, he was the hand behind Lord Bansfivner and was striving toward something even greater than just being king. He pursued godhood, and nothing would stand in his way. Once he defeated Cal, the greatest enemy of the Divine and subdued Shayley Godslayer as his queen, nothing would stand in his way.

Such was his plan.

He was the instigator and mastermind behind all the tragedies in the Pearly City over the years. The half-breeds were unclean abominations that tainted the purity of the Pearly City. through the collaboration with Lord Bansfivner a discovery was made. The elementals contained a property that allowed them to retain excess magic to sustain their manifestation, should their power source be removed. Allowing them to fight through past the point where mortal wounds would kill a normal elf.

This was discovered during the extermination of the half-elementals specifically and almost foiled their plans. During an autopsy on a particularly difficult half-breed they discovered the excess magic and that they could harvest the magic post-mortem through both magic crystals and direct use of their flesh. Soon the half-breed organs became as valuable as dragon parts.

At that point the extermination turned into a harvest. And an experiment began...

What would happen if a group was trained from youth within the Pearly City's blessing and with an experimental supplement devised from the taboo ritual of the Half-breed harvesting project. Four training groups were created.

A control simply trained in the city.

A group raised in proximity of crystals overflowing with half-breed energy.

A group that were fed concentrated pills crafted from the half-breed corpses.

And a group both fed the concentrated pill and raised near the crystals.

The first group had above average results compared to those trained outside the city and would have been considered prodigious in those circles. The second group developed extraordinary wells of magic but their mind were affected and flipped sides. They were exterminated, and the test was considered a failure. The group fed the pills developed preternatural instincts and strength. However, their minds were depressingly average. They were only a partial success and their group started working under the Bansfivner family. The majority of them had just been exterminated by Selene only moments earlier.