In the ancient times, the descendants of Ver dala Ven Thranlam'Sum's lineage were plentiful. Their kind lived peacefully and in voluntary servitude to the Ordinary Ones as healers, teachers and advisors. Though all Ver dala Ven possessed special gifts, only one among them in each generation possessed their singing spirit guide, the Masing Star. Legend told of how the Masing Star descended from the heavens, a bright gold orb, and enveloped Thranlam'Sum and his sister, Itza, altering them, creating a new race of magical beings for the very purpose of relieving the suffering of the Ordinary Ones. The mellow song of the Star, sounding like harmonious bells, spoke to and soothed all receptive beings. Those who listened were guided on the path of peace.
Ver dala Ven Betnoni was the fiery advisor to daka Redd, and the chosen possessor of the Star. Urged by compassion and the Spirit of the Star, Betnoni took her own life on the shores of an underdeveloped nation in order to gain enough power to protect millions of innocents from daka Redd's relentless invasion. To punish the Ordinary Ones for their part in compelling Betnoni's actions, the Masing Star fell silent and disappeared. Ver dala Ven dwindled in number, and instead of producing children like themselves, they produced Ordinary Ones. Their time, it seemed, was done.
In a prophecy Betnoni left for her son, she described events that would lead up to the return of the Masing Star, and the renewal of their kind. She instructed her son to pass the prophecy along to his children, and children's children, while keeping it a secret from all others.
Two thousand years passed, and her Ver dala Ven descendants kept her secret, though over time few believed her words were more than the ravings of a mad woman. Betnoni's name became the favorite curse of aristocrats and modern peoples, and school children were taught that she bore the responsibility of the death of her own lineage, causing the disappearance of an entire race. Ver dala Ven endured only as an oddity in Betnoni's family line, one born per generation with the mark of gold eyes and a magical gift, a trait given from parent to child.
On the eve of Ver dala Ven Voktu's accidental death, he passed the secret prophecy to his only gold-eyed son, Cobo, along with a cryptic prophecy of his own. "Betnoni will watch over you and your descendants. You have nothing to fear, and there is no shame."
Cobo didn't give thought to his father's prophecy until the day he chose to leave Ona and Jantideva, to run away from a broken heart. Wrapped in regret and jealousy, he believed his father's words were like curses leveled against him in anger. In his faulty memory, he did not see his father's forgiveness, and he did not recognize the advent of the first sign of Betnoni's secret prophecy.
Elizabeth A. Merz was born and educated in Tucson, Arizona. She now resides with her husband and daughter in Michigan.
