Shattered Sanity

(The same night, The Imperial Library, Jack Sullivan’s POV)

Since sleep would not find him, Jack Sullivan decided to visit the Imperial Library and gather all the books that he could on Stormborns and the history of their bloodline.

However, after nearly eight hours of nonstop reading and going through about thirty different texts, the information that he had gathered remained limited and questionable at best.

According to the oldest surviving records, the Stormborn bloodline began with a woman known as Aelthara, the Daughter of the Storm, who was believed to have been born from the union between the Storm God Surthur and a mortal woman. ℯ𝐥.𝒄ℴ𝓶

Although the legitimacy of this claim had been disputed by numerous historians, the Stormborns themselves had always maintained that they were the direct descendants of Surthur, carrying a portion of his divine essence within their blood.

And unlike most ancient families who claimed divine ancestry, the Stormborns had possessed certain characteristics that made their claims particularly difficult to dismiss.

For one, their descendants were almost universally described as having emerald-green eyes, while their natural affinity towards Storm Aether was said to be so exceptional that even the weakest among them could rival the most talented Storm Ascendants of their generation.

Their Soul Vessels were also believed to possess an unusual internal structure, allowing Storm Aether to circulate through their bodies with an efficiency that ordinary Ascendants could rarely achieve.

However, what interested Jack most was that the Stormborns had once possessed an entire kingdom of their own, occupying vast territories across what was now the Central Region and the eastern lands governed by House Dawnriver.

’So the Eastern territories originally belonged to the Stormborns? Interesting...’

Jack thought, as he turned another page and began studying a crude map depicting the borders of the ancient Stormborn Kingdom.

Although the kingdom had long since disappeared, its existence was supported by several independent historical accounts, making it one of the few aspects of Stormborn history that Jack considered reasonably reliable.

For centuries, the Stormborns had apparently ruled over their territories as a powerful warrior dynasty, producing numerous exceptional Ascendants whose accomplishments had gradually become intertwined with religious mythology.

And among those individuals, one name appeared more frequently than any other.

Vaelor Stormborn, the Second Thunder.

According to the records, Vaelor had lived during the height of the Stormborn Kingdom’s influence and was widely regarded as the most powerful member of the bloodline ever born.

He had earned numerous titles throughout his lifetime, including the Living Tempest, the God-Touched, and most notoriously, the Incarnation of Surthur.

However, the stories surrounding his abilities were so extraordinary that Jack initially dismissed them as the usual exaggerations associated with legendary historical figures.

One account claimed that Vaelor had once summoned a thunderstorm capable of destroying an army of hundred thousand Ascendants, despite having supposedly exhausted his own Aether reserves before the battle even began.

Another described him standing motionless upon a battlefield while lightning continued to descend around him, with witnesses claiming that his emerald eyes had turned completely white and that the voice emerging from his mouth no longer belonged to him.

’What a load of horseshit...’

Jack muttered, as he shook his head and prepared to move on to the next section, only to pause when he noticed a reference to an unfamiliar phenomenon.

Ancestral Aether Resonance.

According to the text, certain individuals born with exceptionally pure Stormborn bloodlines had occasionally demonstrated the ability to access Aether reserves that did not belong to their own Soul Vessels.

The phenomenon was supposedly made possible through an ancestral connection, allowing the Soul Vessel of a living Stormborn to momentarily resonate with the lingering Aether imprints of their deceased ancestors.

During such episodes, the individual could allegedly perform spells they had never learned, sometimes displaying levels of power that far exceeded the limitations of their current Ascension Rank.

However, the author was quick to warn that there was almost no reliable evidence supporting the existence of such an ability.

—> The accounts of Ancestral Resonance must be approached with considerable skepticism, for nearly every surviving description originates from Stormborn historians or members of the bloodline themselves.

As with most ancient noble families, the Stormborns possessed a tendency to glorify their ancestors, attributing extraordinary accomplishments to divine intervention whenever ordinary explanations proved insufficient.

Furthermore, even during the height of their civilization, such phenomena were supposedly observed only among individuals possessing the purest ancestral blood, with later generations reporting increasingly fewer instances until the ability disappeared from historical records altogether.

Jack paused after reading the passage, his fingers unconsciously moving towards the report concerning Riven Dawnriver.

’Performing spells beyond their natural Ascension Rank...’

He thought, as he recalled Principal Boseman’s testimony concerning the extraordinarily powerful Storm Aether discovered at the massacre site.

If the ancient accounts were to be believed, then perhaps an Ember Rank Ascendant possessing Stormborn ancestry could theoretically release an attack powerful enough to leave behind the Aether traces that Boseman had detected.

However, Jack immediately frowned at the thought.

’No... That’s a bloody stretch.’

After all, even the author of the historical text had acknowledged that Ancestral Resonance was little more than an unverified legend, with no credible accounts of its occurrence during the later centuries of Stormborn history.

And considering that the bloodline had supposedly been extinct for hundreds of years, the possibility of Riven possessing ancestral blood pure enough to demonstrate such an extraordinary phenomenon seemed almost nonexistent.

Nevertheless, Jack underlined the passage before continuing to read, unwilling to completely discard a possibility simply because it appeared improbable.

A few pages later, he encountered another name that caught his attention.

Theron Stormborn, the Blind Oracle.

Unlike Vaelor, whose accomplishments were primarily recorded through accounts of warfare, Theron had apparently dedicated his life to studying the peculiarities of the Stormborn Soul Vessel.

According to the text, Theron had deliberately attempted to induce Ancestral Resonance through a series of dangerous experiments, eventually losing his eyesight during one such attempt.

However, rather than abandoning his research, he had subsequently claimed to have discovered something that he referred to as the ’Eternal Storm’.

Theron believed that the Soul Vessels of all Stormborn descendants remained connected through an invisible ancestral network, within which the Aether imprints and memories of their deceased predecessors continued to exist.

In his writings, he argued that death did not completely sever the connection between a Stormborn and their bloodline, as fragments of an individual’s experiences could supposedly remain preserved within this collective ancestral memory.

And according to Theron, individuals with sufficiently pure blood could occasionally access these memories, experiencing fragments of lives they had never lived or temporarily acquiring knowledge that they had never personally learned.

’Collective ancestral memory?’

Jack wondered, as he leaned forward and began reading the passage more carefully.

The implications were fascinating, although the theory itself sounded considerably more like religious philosophy than established Aether science.

After all, while scholars had long understood that certain bloodlines could inherit unusual physical characteristics and elemental affinities, there was no accepted evidence suggesting that memories could be preserved and transferred between Soul Vessels across generations.

Yet Theron had gone even further.

According to his writings, particularly powerful ancestral connections could occasionally overwhelm the consciousness of the living descendant, causing them to experience periods of missing memory after the resonance ended.

In extreme cases, the affected individual might awaken with no recollection of having performed actions or spells that witnesses insisted they had personally carried out.

Jack stopped reading.

For several moments, he simply stared at the passage, his expression gradually becoming more serious as he recalled Riven Dawnriver’s repeated claims of having lost consciousness during the massacre.

’Memory loss after performing spells beyond one’s capabilities...’

He thought, as his fingers began tapping against the edge of the book.

The resemblance was difficult to ignore, especially when considered alongside the extraordinary Storm Aether detected at the crime scene.

However, the historical text once again emphasized that Theron’s theories had never been independently verified, with several contemporary scholars having accused the Blind Oracle of fabricating his discoveries to preserve the declining reputation of the Stormborn bloodline.

Furthermore, Theron himself had admitted that he had never successfully demonstrated the existence of the Eternal Storm before an impartial observer.

’So a blind old bastard claimed he could speak to his dead ancestors, and everyone was supposed to believe him?’

Jack thought, as he rubbed his tired eyes before releasing a frustrated sigh.

Nevertheless, he marked the relevant pages for further examination, deciding that even unreliable historical accounts might prove useful if he eventually discovered evidence supporting their claims.

After all, his responsibility was to investigate every reasonable possibility, regardless of how ridiculous it initially appeared.

However, as Jack continued reading, he gradually discovered that the history of the Stormborns became considerably more reliable once the texts began describing their downfall.

Approximately two centuries before the founding of the Valdrak Empire, the Stormborn Kingdom had become the target of a massive coalition formed by several powerful Ascendant factions.

Although historians disagreed about what had originally provoked the conflict, the surviving records suggested that the Stormborns had gradually become feared by the surrounding kingdoms, particularly because of their unusually powerful bloodline and the belief that they possessed abilities beyond ordinary Ascendants.

Eventually, several rival rulers and influential Ascendant organizations collectively declared that the Stormborn bloodline represented a threat that could no longer be tolerated.

What followed was a prolonged campaign of conquest and extermination.

The Stormborn Kingdom was invaded from multiple directions, its armies defeated, and its territories systematically divided among the victorious factions.

Its final ruler, Caedric Stormborn, was eventually slain during the fall of the royal capital, bringing an end to the dynasty that had governed those lands for centuries.

However, the destruction of their kingdom did little to satisfy the fear surrounding their bloodline.

For approximately the next two hundred and fifty years, surviving Stormborn descendants were hunted across the continent, with numerous kingdoms introducing laws that made concealing Stormborn ancestry a crime punishable by death.

And because emerald-green eyes were not always considered sufficient evidence of ancestry, individuals possessing exceptionally strong Storm affinities were frequently accused of carrying Stormborn blood, regardless of whether they actually belonged to the lineage.

Many innocent Ascendants were consequently persecuted alongside the surviving descendants, with entire families reportedly executed upon accusations that their children possessed the forbidden bloodline.

’Bloody hell... Two hundred and fifty years?’

Jack thought, as he examined the dates more carefully.

The persecution had continued throughout the final centuries preceding the Valdrak Empire’s establishment and persisted even after the First Emperor, Rossi Valdrak, unified the territories under Imperial rule.

It was only during the reign of the Second Emperor that the Empire formally abolished the persecution laws, declaring that individuals could no longer be executed merely for possessing Storm Aether affinities or suspected Stormborn ancestry.

By then, however, the damage had already been done.

The Stormborn bloodline had effectively disappeared from recorded history, while generations of systematic persecution had drastically reduced the number of individuals possessing strong Storm affinities throughout the Empire.

According to one Imperial scholar, this prolonged extermination was believed to be among the principal reasons why Storm remained one of the rarest elemental affinities among modern Ascendants.

Jack leaned back in his chair, staring towards the final passage with a thoughtful expression.

’So that’s why Storm affinity is so bloody rare...’

Although he had always known that certain elemental affinities occurred less frequently than others, he had never seriously considered that centuries of deliberate persecution might have contributed to the imbalance.

However, what interested him more was how Chadwick had instantly suspected Riven to be a Stormborn.

’That vice principal is either sharper than I expected, or he was desperately searching for a reason to persecute Riven Dawnriver.’

Jack thought, because, even if the vice principal suspected Riven to be a Stormborn, it was impossible that he knew about Riven being able to experience Ancestral Resonance.

’Just what does the vice principal know that the rest of the Academy does not?’

Jack wondered, as he stared at the underlined passages concerning Ancestral Resonance and the Eternal Storm for several moments before finally closing his notebook.

For now, the information was far too unreliable to influence his official conclusions, although he intended to revisit the subject once he had obtained more concrete evidence concerning Riven’s origins.

However, one thing had become increasingly clear to him after eight hours of studying the history of the Stormborns.

The mystery surrounding Riven Dawnriver might have begun with his eyes, but if his ancestry was truly that of a Stormborn, then the fact that Drew Dawnriver was his father could be under question.