Chapter 83

Tyson
“This isn’t all on him though. He’s a noble wolf, and you remind me of him. Regal, Arrogant, But, He will do Anything for the Goddess... He was made after I stole my mother back from the afterlife…. I ripped the spirit world the Fuck apart…”
“To be fair, I would too.” She was a priestess who eloped with the former *Almost* Lord of Aggression… Turrus, the Great Bull Demon that vanished. It’s said on clear nights, you can see a red thread in Greece shoot straight up in the sky. 
Follow it and it becomes gray.
“Anyone would… They were going to punish her for my father’s fuck up since they couldn’t find him!” He snorted. “Before my mindless rampage, there really wasn’t an In-Between or spirit world… you could kinda just… enter those places… Humans could just see us as we are, even if the horns are away, they would be able to tell you were supernatural.”
“Really?” I said understanding now… Jerold… 
“Is your mother the last-”
“Yes. Glycasia of Athenia is The oldest living powerless human Before the war reset the entire mortal population… I was born before it… I think….For her sake, she is sworn to silence, and I don’t remember any of that. I was born after?” He held his head. “I…. Memories of that time are purposefully distorted, except embarrassing bullshit, pun intended.” He grinned.
“Oh fuck off.” I rolled my eyes like Kaizen does, but we got it from mom. “Is it every time? Your story sounds pretty accurate, despite not knowing the timeline.”
“It’s like when I look back, all I can think about is the time I ate tree bark because it was crunchy and ruined her white toga… I barfed splinters half a day.” He admitted that sheepishly.
Then it is on purpose. Let the embarrassing shit linger in the mind so you don’t look farther. 
Jerold is older than a Realm…
“Sometimes I think back and I remember Asanguis flying across the sky, and my mother herding me into the bushes… Sometimes I remember the other people who tended the temple… who grew old and died… but she didn’t after I brought her back… and the humans left. They were afraid she was a witch, and even burned it down… but the Church stepped in and made the island off limits.”
That part I knew about. She runs a sanctuary for any mindless bulls she gets sent, usually from the parents who learn about it.
“…. Jerold you’re probably the oldest living mortal.”
“Nah that would be the Lord of Time’s kid.” He mentioned. “He goes by the Curator. Oh! I know where I’m taking Noah on a date. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I chuckled. “Wait… even Grandfather Time has kids?”
“I mean, like he’s made from stardust and magic, so no, but as one who has fathered many not my own, they feel like it.” He said firmly. I mean…
He isn’t wrong. Harmony calls him grandpa. One of his adopted children is the Realm Queen’s mother, Minetta, the hound shifter. Gravehounds are impossibly rare these days, made from the disgruntled spirits of grave robbed souls, or those who are buried under full moons, but to my knowledge, Mini was just born a shifter.
“Naztakaar is an immortal human though; he also can’t interact. They made him so he records time and stops anomalies to it. He’s the One thing Both Arviel and Zuviel agreed on.” Said Jerold casually. “I helped him dig out the museum, and donated a few artifacts to display. You should go too.”
Now that he’d said his name I know who he was talking about. It’s said that he’s an angel with actual gold for wings, and he holds weapons that are absolute.
He also goes by the Timeless One, since he and a sphinx lead the Secret Keepers… mortals who know are blinded by the last secret. They are Bound in blood to never speak of what they learn, even to each other.
“You know what… I think we could double date.”
“Alright. Before mother, I was literally JUST a beast…. A mindless grazing cow to punish my mother. They made me first, thinking no one else would love a demon, yet, I rule a people…I watched Ash grow up. I argued with Grendel. I Told him let the boy come with Me, and he called me a stinky bull who should keep to chewing my cud. He said that in anger mind you, but by the time Ashital was 8…I… I was right… He’d committed a Great Crime. He created Rodrick…”
“What happened.”
“Ash was Eight, and Starving to death on this side of the In-between Alone. He never knew hunger, was never tired, or cold until he crossed and couldn’t cross back.… Rodrick was gone, but his house was warm… His wife’s flesh was soft. His children were Tender. Tyson this is what happens when we don’t police our children. We don’t *get* second chances…. We *Don’t* get the luxury to raise monstrous monsters…Humans Don’t forgive… but they were in their right AT FIRST… After all he’d done such an unspeakable act out of hunger and fear…”
And the Crave…
“Unable to stop himself.” I added... The Crave Curse was what my grandmother did in anger, and sorrow. “…Grandfather, was out of his mind…Even I hold the Crave to an extent….”
I police myself too hard to be fully affected…. But things made sense… How could you break bread, and make peace with the beast that killed your family?
Man’s meat Is tender… and once it is tasted…. We are destined to yearn for its supple flavor. It’s something we fight whenever we encounter humans. Some wolves even lose their mind as grandfather did… and they are put down.
Like dogs. 
It irks me, but they must be beyond their nature… It’s Why grandmother gave them human forms…. Me included.
“Aye, but Grendel never told him that. He just assumed his son would follow his orders. I eventually tracked him down still freaking out because he’d never killed anything before. I don’t even know if he remembers that day right. Sometimes.. Ash gets details wrong…”
“Oh that’s rare… Maybe he doesn’t *want* to remember.”
“Fuck knows I don’t want to remember my first kill… Oh my gods I was such a mess but that deer tasted So fucking good…I was so hungry… but mother looked afraid of me… that I remember clear as day….”
“…That sounds like un-tempered instinct.” 
Jerold should be a Mighty and I mean Mighty half demon now that I think of it… He Should be Below, ruling with his missing father… That’s what High demons usually do. The lesser ones know their children are Weak and leave them up here for a better chance, but someone like Turrus, a demon who would have ruled a whole layer, Jerold would be as strong as the Demon Lord of Aggression’s oldest son.
But He is Cursed by Humblon…. I bet his real strength is stolen, or confiscated…. The same with the Sleeping King.
“I bet This is why… This is why the Charred Line is *Mortal.*  Grandfather was never meant to cross, and she punished him. She made him a Champion to likely sooth Grendel’s heart, but a price must be paid for such wrongdoing…”
But that’s all speculation… I’m probably right though… Maybe.
“It Was. It’s why I felt for Ash…. He was a Small Child. No bigger than maybe a mastiff. Like a 150 pound one. And Rodrick was no better… He waited for Ash to have pups of his own before he burned down the original CharredMoon… those pups were born like you too, but I knew him.”
“And the texts speak of Rodrick’s hunts…I know of the Charred Moon Massacre…but not Why. That he frothed the church into a fervor over wolf born werewolves, but in reality, he wanted to make them pay….But I understand …” I mumbled.
“And when he died, he came back….. Those first lives I couldn’t fucking work with him.” Jerold shook his head. “He does not forget details… not even the color shirt you’re wearing.... or what you ate a thousand years ago.” Added Jerold as a small warning.  “He remembers Every word anyone has ever spoken to him, or near him too.”