“Runs in the Family” by Kathleen "Red" Delaney

By Kathleen "Red" Delaney I remember when my parents presented me with my ring. To anyone else, it appeared to be an ordinary ring. A basic silver band that was bent to look like mountain peaks. But that ring was anything but ordinary because nothing in Kalios Kaa ever was. As was tradition I was fourteen years old, and on a rare visit home, when my parents had presented that ring to me. At first I didn’t think much of it until I noticed that it was glowing. “This is a very special ring,” my father had said to me as he slipped it onto the center finger on my left hand. “This ring is not only a symbol of Iekeinorarth but also of your destiny. This is a band of the War Gods, the Gods who have favored my family for generations but who have selected you for something great. These bands are not just gifted to anyone, the Death Gods must approve of who the War Gods choose, and even the Death Gods recognize that you hold fate in your hands.”

That ring hadn’t come off since. Forty-nine years later, I found myself in my father’s place for the tenth time. My husband of forty-five years stood beside me, behind us the royal family of Souroal were seated on the dias, and stretched before us was a hall filled with esteemed Supreme High Commanders and their personal staffs from across Kalios Kaa. Our nine older children sat off to the side with my parents, matching rings adorning each of them except my mother who wore the Souroalian’s version of the bands: a necklace. My heart throbbed with the realization that this truly would be the last time we were going to have a ring ceremony. The Gods had blessed my family with a plethora of gifts, all of which had eventually begun to spread us throughout the Dragon World. One final ceremony, one last gift to the world that I call home. The final personification. A prophecy had been received, a short, cryptic thing that stated the thirteen Draconic Philosophies of War would one day be personified. The first to personify will be a Queen of War, Her inferno of blue shall know no weakness That first personification had proven to be the Queen of the Dragon Empire herself: Akistra Silvertalon. But hints of who would personify the twelve other Philosophies of War were nonexistent… until fifty-four years ago. When I had proven to be Ataraxia. After that, over the course of my marriage, my husband and our ten children steadily proved themselves as

the other eleven philosophies. Each had received a band from the War Gods, in a ceremony unique to them, and had forged their own reputations separate from myself and their father. Now, it was time for the youngest to receive her ring. A slight tug on my right arm signaled that it was time for myself and my husband to take a seat with our family. Our youngest boy, Heinopher, rose, pulling his uniform straight as he walked to stand before the alias. He stood calmly, taking his sister’s request to heart. She’d personally asked him to be the one to present her War Ring to her and he had promised with a sincerity that was unique to him. Heinopher was the sibling she was closest to in both age and relationship. She’d witnessed his own ring ceremony and remembered every finite detail of it. The doors opened and our youngest, Jeffica, stepped into the hall. Every inch of her, from her stride to how her eyes glowed with a determination that could burn enemies. All of it reflected generations worth of excellence and prestige of a Draconic House. As the ring was placed on her finger, the metal glowed white as tendrils of magic wrapped itself upward from her finger. It shifted from white to black to green and through an array of nameless colors until it had finally settled. The metal glimmered one final time, a deep maroon, before returning to its usual silver. Jeffica took a breath, no doubt feeling the effects of the ring burning itself into her skin. A now permanent display of her profession and heritage. When her eyes opened they briefly flashed to that deep maroon but soon enough her beautiful blue-gray eyes returned. Her eyes would change to that red soon enough, just as all of her siblings’ eye colors changed.

It runs in the family after all.