Chapter Text
Alternia was a country in which magical powers were both rare and common. The higher on the social status, the more likely someone was to have a type of magic. It was very rare for a person of noble blood to have no magic. It was even rarer for a peasant to have strong magic.
In the forest, on the outskirts of Caledonia, a very small town near the edge of Alternia was a small log cabin. In that cabin lived a man and his two children.
The man was Sirius Vantas, a preacher for a local church. He was well-known for his mystical powers, and his ability to make many feel at peace. Though, no one in the town he lived in liked him or his family.
He was a preacher for a local church, but local in the next town over.
He couldn’t afford to move his family, though. He was a widower, and didn’t make much money as a preacher. Plus, his youngest child, his daughter, had special needs. She was born two months early and his wife, Cressida, died in the process, leaving him with his newborn daughter, whom he named Karkat, and three-year-old son, Kankri.
He never blamed Karkat for Cressida’s death, no. She was his precious baby girl, innocent and pure, knowing not what happened, though he feared letting her leave the house. He feared that the townsfolk would kill her on sight because of her condition.
A genetic mutation the doctors from the next town called ‘albinism’, which not only caused her to be born early, but caused her to have a very weak body.
Kankri knew of his father’s worries, and often tried to cheer up his baby sister by picking flowers and bringing them inside to play with her. He taught her how to make flower crowns, how to read and write, and even how to differentiate animal sounds. Sirius was proud that his son saw past Karkat’s appearance and loved her.
Both of Sirius’s children were bright. Karkat showed promise in potion making and creating herbal remedies for ailments, and Kankri had a knack for healing. Though, something about those talents made Sirius worry. It was as if those talents were small compared to what they could achieve. He was proven right on the night of Kankri’s fifth birthday.
He was tucking Karkat, then two, into bed when he heard the door open. He looked to see Kankri standing in the threshold with a blank look on his face. Kankri walked over and gripped Sirius’s pant leg tightly.
“Papa,” Kankri whispered mournfully. “I had a bad dream.” Sirius picked up his son and walked to his son’s room. Karkat was asleep, and neither Vantas wanted to disturb her. Sitting on Kankri’s bed, Sirius pulled Kankri into his lap.
“Would you like to tell me about your dream?” He asked. “I can interpret it for you, if you want.”
“What do you mean, father?”
“I mean,” Sirius clarified, “that when someone has a dream, often times those dreams are trying to tell someone something. It can be scary, but tell of good fortune and prosperity.” Kankri looked at his father, fascinated on the subject.
“Well, in my dream, I was in a field of clover,” Kankri said thoughtfully. “In the distance, I saw sparkles. It was like…” Kankri trailed off.
“Like what?” Sirius encouraged. Kankri glanced out his window, a distant expression on his face.
“It was like magic,” Kankri said wistfully. He shook his head and stared his father in the eye. “But that’s when things started getting weird.”
“Weird as in how?”
“Weird as in, things started happening. A wizard appeared, along with a pit full of snakes!”
“Snakes, you say?”
“Yeah, lots of them! But, the wizard was battling someone. It was a magical dual. The other man was another wizard, and he took the first wizard’s powers. Then, the first wizard fell, and the other one said, ‘Think of it this way. At least now you aren’t tainting your blood right from now on.’ Then the snakes wrapped around the first wizard, and started across the clover field towards me! Then I woke up.”
Sirius realized that his son was blessed with magic, a rare trait for someone of non-noble lineage.
“This dream means that in the distant future, you will go on a grand adventure with an important person. The snakes signify an unexpected meeting with someone special.”
“How are they important? Are they a noble or maybe a knight?”
“No, Kankri. Important in here,” Their father pointed to Kankri’s heart. “Just like your mother was with me. But Kankri, I need you to listen to me.”
“Yes, father?” Sirius gripped his son’s shoulders, forcing him to look Sirius in the eye.
“Do not ever tell your dreams to anyone. Not unless you trust them, alright?” Kankri’s eyes went wide.
“Why not, father? Is something wrong?” Sirius pulled his son into a tight hug.
“Not with you, my dear son, but with society. You have been blessed with a type of magic called “seeing”. It means you can see the past, present, and future. People of our social status, peasants, that is, are not allowed to have magical powers. That is why it is so rare to find someone not of noble blood with such powers. It is cruel and unjust, as those who are found to have magic, but are not of nobility, are killed on sight. I don’t want to lose you, and I won’t be around forever to take care of your sister.”
Kankri didn’t understand what his father said, but heard the seriousness in his voice. He agreed to tell no one of his seeing powers.
A few years later, Sirius was killed protecting a child from the knights. The child had used magic to fix his friend’s toy, and a knight had seen him do it. The child was later revealed to be nobility from a neighboring country, and the matter was ruled accidental, the knights in question being punished by getting paid leave.
Standing in front of their father’s grave, Kankri, age ten, and Karkat, age seven, wondered why life was cruel to those who suffered for the sake of others. That day, that moment, they made a silent vow.
“We will be the saviors of the broken, the beaten, and the damned.”
Sirius Vantas
The Sufferer
Loving Father, We Will Not Forget