ZELUS-Y HAS NO LIMIT

Tifon though was in no way completely miserable. As time went on the mockery by his peers grew less and less, to a point in which even Eion could only get away with the occasional offhanded remark. Although Tifon had little knowledge of how deep Eion's anger ran for him, he had a feeling that Eion had a particular reason to hate him. And so usually stayed clear of confrontations with him.

It's worth mentioning that his reasoning wasn't quite off the mark, as Tifon had made many enemies through his simple-minded arrogance when he was a child. It could be said that he did quite bully Eion during those days, although, the latter would never admit to it. But of course, there was no mere chief cause for Eion's hatred towards Tifon. It was just the difference that some were justifiable, and others, not so much. One of these reasons used to be a sense of jealousy. Despite his Boon, Eion still didn't have Ichor In his veins as Tifon did and, he had an all-consuming fear that one-day Tifon would realize his abilities and surpass him in that regard as well. Of course, this was impossible now, seeing as that Tifon had no abilities to speak of, yet his jealousy for him lived on in a new form. It was no secret that most of the girls would faun over Eion, not least of all due to his build and appearance, but there was one that he couldn't seem to gain any ground with.

At school, Aurora would spend most of her leisurely time either at the library reading or walking back and forth with Tifon to their respective classes. Afterward, she had several responsibilities as student council president, which included managing club budgets, organizing events, participating in school council meetings, and other tedious activities that would all eventually melt together into a delirious haze. Even the position she was in as class representative required she behave in a certain reputable manner to all the other students, this, went in stark contrast to her actual personality. It sometimes got to such an extent that she felt Tifon was the only real friend she had.

Aurora was from a relatively poor immigrant family, her birth seemed to be the only good thing that had ever happened to her parents. Her mother, besides having to take care of her, had to jump between different occupations to support the family with her father. And so, they would, for long periods of time leave Aurora by her lonesome. Having to entertain herself, she'd pick up many interesting books on her family's bookshelf in her spare time, and so started reading well before the usual age kids do. It's also noteworthy to say that lineages who hadn't often accrued any favors from the Gods usually had no family name, and such was also the case for Aurora's family. However, her Boon was a godsend to them, being the first in their lineage to possess such a gift the expectations they held for her were great, and her responsibilities, even greater.

Often times Eion would try to approach her through daily conversation but, would just end up faced with class president Aurora, who'd always sidestep their daily ritual by having to urgently be elsewhere on her duties. Eion being accustomed to fake formality since his early childhood realized right from the start that she was putting on an act, but this only served to increase his anger towards the matter. Worse of all was when he'd see how she acted when Tifon was around. This was what Eion was now jealous of. He didn't even possess any special interest in Aurora, but the mere aspect that Tifon had something that he couldn't drove him mad. The only thing that dulled the ever-present hate he had inside him was the circle of people he held under his thumb validating him at every turn, but one person stood out from all of them.

It's often been spread around, by the more gossip-prone students in the class that Eion only associated with Arian, the stark contrast of his own character, as a publicity stunt. And in turn, Arian only tolerated the rich and emotional young Lord to gain glory by association with his better, and so this parasitic relationship's model was agreed upon through murmurs by some students.

But in truth, this couldn't be more estranged from reality. Even before his Boon was realized Arian got along pleasantly with Eion, but, more than that was the sense Eion got from talking to him. Arian was always honest with him. A feeling he was not accustomed to in all his life, having people worship and delude him constantly throughout it due to his wealth and status. He knew that Arian would always speak his mind when asked, and this feeling was one that Eion not only appreciated but eventually came to solely rely on.

But in the back of his head Eion was aware of the question that plagued his mind the most:

(How much longer can I be saved from myself by him?)

THE ACHAIA LINEAGE

Arian Achaia, son to the great Lord Ponoeids Domae'teids, yet no longer bearing his family name. Achaia was the family name of Ponoeids's former lawful wife, the mother of Arian who had once also taken on her husband's family name.

It has now been more than 10 years since Arian has last seen his father, the head of the great family he was once a part of, Arian has a bare minimum of memories that include his father, for he was barely in his life even when he could call him that. Two things interested the great Lord, His work in the ancient magicks, which had long been carried out throughout his lineage, and the other was the succession of His bloodline, and that is why He had chosen His, at the time, wife, Detmer, who was also born from a great lineage of those favored by the Gods. The marriage was arranged, there were no feelings present for each other in either of them that resembled love, only a meek sense of duty existed in Detmer who, having been married off by decision of her Lord father as a last resort to reestablish his dying family bloodline, knew that her life was of little consequence to either. And so she bore the cruel Lord 2 children, Arian and Despina. The latter was conceived when Arian was already 4 or so, as a reaction to the child displaying no existence of a Boon or even a God's favor. When the time came for young Arian's evaluation at 7, to see if the Gods had bestowed him with their Favors, the tests came back negative, while the case is now known that his Boon was merely dormant at the time, the news was then devastating for the Lord of their family. Having heard this He immediately attempted arrangements for the boy to be slain, to prevent the otherwise indelible stain he'd inevitably leave on His reputation. The Lord's wife, however, catching wind of His scheming from a friend she had in their servantry, quickly took off with Arian, abandoning her still much too young daughter with great pain.

Ever since Arian has never spoken of his father, and his poor mother lives in fear of her former husband's return, writhing into hysterics over the guilt of leaving her other child in his cruel care.

Arian saw the wrath consuming Eion early on, he was not frightened by it, however, as his character would lead us to believe, no. Arian saw that Eion's spite came from weakness, from his incapacity, and to this, Arian related to deeply. He could never help his mother, she had driven herself mad for him, sacrificing one child for the other.

IT'S MY FAULT

IF ONLY I HAD NEVER COME INTO THIS WORLD SO WEAK

But Arian had one thing left yet, he thought if he could save Eion, then maybe with him he could save himself as well.

NOTE;

WE SAY NO TO OMNISCIENT NARRATION!!! (MOSTLY)

Now that the woodworks have been set and the main backstories of all our current wink-wink characters have been unfolded, it's time for the stage curtain to finally be drawn and for our dear readers to more closely understand and relate to our Tifon, for he is the main character of this story, after all. So, to this end, most of the narration from here on will be done through Tifon, except for when other characters take the spotlight. The events will also now follow a mostly linear format, taking place a little after the very 1st chapter of our story, so, buckle up and get yourself ready for the "Myth of the Cracked God".