217 THE JOURNAL OF THE 6TH DUKE OF HANOVER II

THE 3rd month, 933 A.A.

- Elmyra gave birth to a healthy baby boy. My worries that there might be some deformation because of the union between her and my son didn't happen. The boy - who the two named Ellion - looked like an ordinary human baby. He was so lovely. I think he looked a little bit like his Grandmother.

The 3rd month, 934 A.A.

- Ellion turned one today and we had to check his Gift level. He was SS, as expected. Just like Regan. But I have a feeling that Ellion is even more powerful than his father. Because he's just brimming with Mana. I couldn't help but worry about his future.

The 6th month, 937 A.A. 

- Ellion is already three this year. His Mana just grows more and more powerful with each year passing. And his little body couldn't control it. Just the other day, he accidentally injured a servant because she didn't do what he wanted. I'm afraid that something worse might happen if we don't do something.

The 7th month, 937 A.A.

- Ellion threw a tantrum and hurt three servants. I finally said my worries to my wife and she agreed that we really need to do something. We talked to our son and our daughter-in-law who were actually also worrying about this. And we decided to take Ellion to the Mythos Continent. Raenisa suggested that we request an audience from the Elven Queen. Because she was sure that the other would have all the answers they needed.

The 8th month, 934 A.A.

- We arrived at Mythos Continent today. We didn't waste time and immediately went to the Elven palace to meet the Queen. Raenisa already wrote to her a month before, so she was already expecting our visit.

- The Elven Queen told us that there was not problem with Ellion. Because the blood of the four races flow within him, he was more powerful and stronger than a normal human. Probably even more compared to other races. The problem is not with Ellion but with the subsequent generation that would follow him.

- I didn't understand at first what she meant. Until it slowly dawned on me. I asked her if she was talking about the future generations of the Blackbourne family. And she said yes.

- She explained that because of the powerful blood flowing in Ellion's veins, if he had a child with another race, the resulting progeny might not be able to handle the powerful Mana. Especially if the partner he chose is a human. The child would have a limited life span. The blood of the four races would just serve as some kind of poison. Yes, it would allow the future generation to have powerful Gifts but it would also shorten their life span. The child of Ellion's child would have a shorter life span than their father. Then the child of that child would have an even shorter life span. And thus, the cycle would continue on and on and on.

- Raenisa was stronger than me, she always was. And quickly asked the Queen if there's something that can be done. The Queen didn't hide it from us and told us that there was only one solution to our problem. If the blood of the four races that would be passed on to the future generation would act as a poison, then we only have to find the cure. The good news is, we don't need to search for it. Because the elves already have it in their midst.

- It was the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Argent stopped reading at that point. Because that just confirmed everything that she suspected. 

The reason for the 'curse' was because an ancestor of the main line of the Blackbourne family inherited the blood of all the four races. Which in turn was also the reason the legend about the 'child of all' was referring to their family. Because of this, the following generation of the Blackbournes were born with powerful Mana and Gifts. But as any kind of power, it also had its downside. A very big one at that.

They could only live with a limited life span. In this world where a human could live up to 300 years, that was certainly not a good thing. But that's not all. The subsequent generations would have shorter life span than their predecessor. When it reached her and Aurum's generation, the two of them could only live up to 30 years. If one of them had a child in the future, that child would have an even shorter life span than them. 

As the Queen said, the blood of the four races acted as a poison. And the cure to that poison was the fruit of the Tree of Life. Something that could only be found at the Elven region. 

The problem now was, the Mythos Continent closed more than 500 years ago. Which meant the generations of the main line of the Blackbourne family that was born after that period wasn't able to find a cure for their short life span. And that was the reason why her father was searching for the three ancient artifacts. Because, from Argent's understanding of things, those three were the key to open the closed continent.

Her father wanted to get the fruit from the Tree of Life. Not only for him but also for his child. But he failed and they didn't even know where he was right now.

Argent took a deep breath and slowly digested all the information she had gathered. It seemed that the problem was even worse than she expected.

Now, it's decided. They really needed to go to the closed Mythos Continent.