Chapter 316
Chapter 316
Sunlight filtered through a crack in the curtains, and cold rags lay on her cheek to cool her off.
Mara’s head was killing her and her left arm still trembled from time to time from the lingering pain of Crendir’s aura attack. It’d been soul-deep, from an E-grade, and the decay had left lingering marks on her inner pillar constructs as well as her outer body - but she was recovering nonetheless. Sweating from fatigue with shallow breaths, her eyes fluttered open when the door to her room in the Brightsville guild hall swung open.
In stepped Allie, in an elegant and form fitting black dress. Pale white skin, silver eyes, and long silky brown hair trailing past her left shoulder over her breast made her one of the most beautiful women Mara had ever seen. A platinum, slender crown adorned her head - it was plain but pristine, and had a series of curved spikes along the outer edge.
“You truly look like a queen, now.” Mara weakly said, smiling and trying to sit up with a pained wince. “Was it my imagination, or did you look a lot scarier before I passed out and ended up here?”
Allie confidently strode over to her bedside, sat on the mattress, and kissed Mara’s forehead before pushing the ghoul woman back down. “That is unimportant. What is important is that you are alive.”
Allie stroked Mara’s face like a mother wood a child, and let on a sad smile. “I have been told that man, Crendir, killed Nin and Vin. It took me questioning over a dozen people before Tre’Zix finally told me… I think most people are scared of what and who I am.”
“For good reason-” Mara replied, coughing at the end with a hacking fit. Spitting black blood into a bucket on the side, she let out a groan. That turned into a frown, and tears began to collect along the corners of her eyes. “Yes… I was there. I saw them tortured and killed from only a few feet away. They went cursing him to the end… and did not give in to his demands.”
Allies' fingers tightened slightly on the bedside, but otherwise there was no change in her expression. “They were… good friends. I wish I had known them better, now that they’re gone.”
“They were, and me too.”Silence ensued.
It took a while for Allie to collect her thoughts, and when she did - she had to sniffle and wipe at her face before clearing her throat. “I will avenge them. Their remains will be buried in the backyard, next to Jose’s tombstone. If I’d been back here on Panu, I may have been able to reattach their souls and-”
“Stop.” Mara said adamantly, glaring up at Allie with a shake of her head. “You cannot rewrite history, and there was no way for us to know that Crendir would do what he did. You can only look forward, but putting yourself in the past and blaming yourself for not being there is a mistake any of us could have made.”
Allie opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out, and she slowly laid down next to her friend to give her a hug.
“Your crown is poking me in the eye.” Mara said with a little laugh.
Allie buried her face further into Mara’s armpit and stifled a sob, gripping onto her best friend harder before violently throwing the crown to the side of the room. “I’m sorry you went through what you did, Mara. I’m so glad you’re ok.”
Now it was Mara’s turn to hug Allie back, and despite her hacking coughs that occasionally came up - Allie didn’t want to let go.
“Have you talked to Lahn yet?” Mara eventually asked, voice still weak from fatigue.
She could feel Allie twitch, but there was no response.
“It’s been half a year since he last saw you.” Mara said slowly, peeling Allie’s wet face away. “You should see him. A lot has changed since you left to explore the underdark.”
Allie’s face scrunched up, and she bit her lip - avoiding Mara’s eyes. “I know. He’s dating someone else now. I was told by Wrath.”
“Dating someone else is… A bit of a stretch.” Mara hesitantly said, trying to find the right words. “More like… He thinks you forgot about him, and abandoned him, and is trying to move on. He’s not in a relationship, Allie. But he does consider himself single and has been on dates.”
“Why would he-”
Mara interrupted sharply. “Why would he not? You haven’t reached out to him even once.”
“I was away!” Allie protested with a squeak.
Mara gave her a dubious look. “Was he supposed to know that? You didn’t even say goodbye. You’re a terrible girlfriend. The royal ball you were supposed to go to with him as your date… he went alone, and he was made fun of. I should know, I was briefly there.”
Allie’s face fell.
“That was until other young women started pursuing him, anyways.” Mara said, sighing. “His brother and sister aren’t making as much fun of him now, though they still do despise him. I’ve only kept in light touch with him from time to time before being captured, but the little information he shares with me hasn’t painted a pretty picture. He’s not handled your perceived rejection well. He may even resent you.”
Allie’s face fell even more.
They stayed like that for a while, just hugging one another, and it seemed that Allie needed more comforting than Mara despite Mara having had the more strenuous ordeal.
Mara didn’t mind though. “How’s Kathrine, by the way? Is she alright?”
Allie shrugged. “Depends on your definition of alright. She’s traumatized, that’s for sure… she won’t leave Riven’s room.”
“You gave her Riven’s room?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I, considering their dynamic? She doesn’t trust her own soldiers from The Blood Moon Requiem either, not after what happened.”
Mara considered this. “I guess that makes sense. Does you being the Reincarnation of Wrath change anything between us?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily, Mara.”
The ghoul woman chuckled, then hacked another coughing fit. “Thanks for saving me, Allie. I knew you’d come.”
Allie snorted. “Yeah, I really fucked that one up. I should have… I should have done things differently in a lot of ways. I’m not always as impenetrable or as competent as I think I might be. But it’s as you said, I shouldn’t live in the past and should look forward instead. I’ll just try to do better, now that I recognize I have a lot of learning to do in more ways that one.”
Mara hesitated. “Are you going to hunt Crendir down?”
“Of course. I already have people working on it… but the Greed operatives that whisked him away did a good job at covering their tracks. Tre’Zix is… frustrated with me. I can see it in the way he looks at me.”
“Why?”
Allie shook her head. “Nothing for you to worry about, Mara. Do you mind if I stay here for a while and sleep next to you? I’ve had a long day and… and I think I need a breather before dealing with all that’s happened.”
Mara smiled and nodded. “Of course, Allie. But if you want to make it to the next big event in the city of Mandon, where Lahn is going to be attending another social gathering for young noble singles… you have to have a plan. At least that's if the information I'd had my spies collect is correct. I received a report this morning while laying here in bed...”
Mara trailed off with a teasing smile. “You’re going to have to clean up your act and think of a good way to apologize. Otherwise you’re going to really lose him. That’s assuming that you even want to still be with him.”
Allie rapidly blinked. “You have spies monitoring Lahn? When is it?”
“A few days from now. And of course!? What else are they good for?”
“How pretty are the other girls he’s talking to?”
Mara grinned wider. “They’re not as pretty as you, I'm sure.”
Allie let out a breath. “Do you think he’ll forgive me for being so stupid about all this, if I explain why I was gone?”
Mara raised an eyebrow. “Forgiveness? That’s up to him to decide. It’s certainly not a guarantee, but you’re quite the catch - and you were the one to bring him up when everyone else was putting him down. I have a feeling that at the very least: he will listen to what you have to say.”
***
[Your time with The Unholy Archbishop Prek An-Gash, of The Church of Gluttony, The 9th Circle of Hell - is now over.
The Unholy Archbishop Prek An-Gash has bought your group the following:
E-grade Abyssal Cultivation Array (12.7 million Elysium Coins): An array that draws on the powers of Sin, the Abyss, and all the branches of the Unholy Foundational Pillar to help expedite your cultivation. Drastically improves your foundations when creating your Soul Lattice to move into the E-grade. This device will shatter once your ascension has completed.
The Court of Emperor Adali has bought your group the following:
1,000 Tickets to the Abyssal Descent (These tickets have been directly removed from Emperor Adali’s spatial bag and have been transferred to you, cost averted): These tickets allow entry into the Abyssal Descent, one ticket per person.
King and Queen Rantali have bought your group the following:
Abyssal Spirit Guide (3 million Elysium Coins): A spirit guide that has walked the halls of the descent for a long, long time. The spirit will remain with you while descending, and can guide you to the fastest possible routes to further levels. Faster, however, does not mean safer.
Proceeding to the next audience: High Queen Nephridi, of The Blood Moon Requiem, Universe 10]
Riven did not recall anything from the conversation between Prek An-Gash, the Archbishop, and Gluttony. He’d completely blacked out due to the immense amount of power connecting to the supreme entity in Hell, and its master Gluttony that resided within Riven’s soul aperture.
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But he was finally aware of his surroundings now that the connection was cut. All of his allies were passed out too. Athela, Fay, Prince Rantali, Retesh, Azmoth, Kara, and all of the vampire knights with them were splayed out on the ground in various positions and shallowly breathing.
“I apologize for Prek’s presence overwhelming them so.” Gluttony said casually as the next mirror began to rise out of the sacrificial altar. “Once one goes beyond the S-grade and into the SS-Grade, the very multiverse warps around them. Prek is one such entity, and none of you were able to stand in his presence even if it was through a link such as these… He wished to let you know that he is happy you were chosen, and wishes to speak with you at length when you grow strong enough to stand before him. He could have used another avatar body like many choose to do when interacting with weaker creatures, but the connections between us would not have permitted an avatar to wield such a thing.”
Riven was still orienting himself and felt rather dizzy, wobbling from side to side and leaning on his staff to make sure he didn’t fall over. Trying to comprehend the immense amount of power behind the cthalia demon was something Riven just couldn’t quite do, given how utterly overwhelmed he’d been - and not even intentionally so. He could vividly remember how the presence had felt - it hadn’t even been hostile and Riven’s mind had been crushed like a bug under an asteroid.
His state of shock did not last long, as a familiar feminine voice reached out to him through the Abyssal Descent’s connection.
“Riven! It’s so nice to finally see you again!”
His head whipped up, coming face to face with his great grandmother. The woman still looked rather young, considering she was thousands of years old at the very least, and she wore a large brilliant white smile with fangs protruding from her canines. Wearing a slender one-piece white dress, she sat on a couch with a goblet of blood in her hand; with no one else but a single thrall servant behind the furniture to wait on her orders.
“I see you’ve made it quite far in The Abyssal Descent, congratulations.” She said with a nod, raising her goblet and not giving a single shit about the people passed out behind him on the ground. “Though I expect you will probably go much further. I must admit, I’m not quite sure how to address you now that you have Gluttony living inside your soul… Do you mind if we keep up our relations as it was? Or would Gluttony find that disrespectful?”
“That’s fine, grandmother.” Riven said with a very slight bow. Not one that showed utter subservience, but one that showed respect. “I appreciate you coming to talk to me. I’ve had quite a few questions that I thought you could answer.”
“Of course!” High Queen Nephridi said with a wink. “I’d be delighted to help. You know, Elysium’s rules on viewership are quite strict concerning your journey as of late. We don’t get to see much of what you do anymore because of how intertwined your path has become with the fate of Panu. If by showing us it can cause irreparable damage to you, Elysium either staggers the footage or doesn’t show us at all… and that just isn’t as fun.”
Amused, Riven folded his arms. “Well I’m sorry I can’t be as exciting as I once was.”
“Oh dear, I didn’t say that!” Nephridi said with a grin. “You’re just too exciting for your own good. Now before your questions, I do have some good news!”
“And what’s that?”
“Kathrine is alive, your heretic sister Allie has saved her!” Nephridi chuckled under her breath and took a sip of her wine. “I didn’t see Wrath coming into the picture, but with you two - I probably shouldn’t be all that surprised anymore. Regardless, Kathrine was saved and your future wife is now resting in your room back at the guild hall in Brightsville. We in the Blood Moon Requiem are all very interested in how your children will turn out to be! Considering Gluttony now runs through your blood. You’re certain to have some of the most powerful offspring a vampire has ever conceived! It’s quite exciting!”
Riven gave a half-hearted smile. He was certainly happy that Kathrine was alright, he liked her as a person, but being reminded that he was expected to marry the girl as part of his family’s duty to an empire he wasn’t even sure he liked didn’t sit well with him. Just what had the Blood Moon Requiem done for him anyways?
They’d supplied an army for Panu, sure, but Crendir had betrayed them. Elder Thune was a huge pain in Riven’s ass from day one. Jalel had tried killing him. Lord Justo Barimont had tried to force himself on Riven’s sister. Riven and Allie had almost been assassinated by jealous nobles the very first day of contact with the Blood Moon Requiem, and Kathrine had almost died then too if not for Riven’s Malignant Prophecy activating. Other than Kathrine and General Viku, who else did he even like from his ancestral homeland? Honestly, if not for the fact that the Blood Moon Requiem was an S-grade faction that had a reputation for committing genocides against other galactic factions, one that would pose a danger to him even while being Gluttony’s Reincarnation if push came to shove, he wasn’t sure he’d waste his time on them. What was to stop them from assassinating him to save their bloodline from getting into the wrong hands?
Which brought up his first question.
“Allie isn’t in any danger, is she?” Riven asked flatly, staring up at the ancient monster disguised as a young woman. His red eyes narrowed. “And where does she stand in the Requiem now?”
His grandmother’s face fell slightly, and she straightened her posture to sit more erect. “Inquisitors from the church have been talking to me about this very subject over the past day. We are… in a tough spot.”
Riven’s lips thinned in response to that. “I hope you’re not going to tell me what I think you’re going to tell me.”
Nephridi held up her hands placatingly. “Calm down, boy. Let me finish first. Allie is no longer a pureblooded vampire, so she cannot retain her title as princess, but she has been allowed to retain her spot as a noble of House Wraithtide as long as you don’t do anything heretical too. The Blood God is upset that she chose the path of Death and Wrath over his own gifts, but is willing to overlook it as long as the Reincarnation of Gluttony remains true to the ways of the vampire.”
She gave him a pointed look.
Riven internally winced. He’d already become a heretic with the Blueblood Precursor Clam’s gifts, but he wasn’t about to say that either.
Taking his silence as her cue to continue, Nephridi cleared her throat and waved her hand. “Having one of our kind as a bastion for the demons is no doubt a profitable tie for all involved. I’m sure Gluttony would probably agree, but there are only gains to be made when the children of Blood and the children of Sin can find common ground with you, a pureblooded vampire and a child of the Blood God, are Gluttony’s Reincarnation. So as long as Allie does not do anything to directly oppose The Blood Moon Requiem or The Blood God, and as long as you play your own part in this, the church and the empire are willing to embrace you both.”
Riven’s eyebrow twitched.
“That still includes marrying Kathrine and bearing children with the gift.” His grandmother reminded him while eyeing Athela, Genua, and Fay on the ground. She gestured to them with her right hand dismissively. “Even if you do have these play things on the side. Not to be rude, of course, I endorse your time with them - but it is very important that Kathrine is the one to bear your heirs. The more with the gift we can create, the stronger our empire becomes. It is why we have become so strong in the past and I have no doubt, as I said before, that your children will likely be the strongest our empire has ever seen.”
Riven’s eyebrow twitched again. He was not a thing to be owned, and being told what to do in this situation was fucking infuriating. It didn’t necessarily hurt him to obey, but it was a point of pride.
Gluttony whispered in his head: “Once we become strong enough, these demands will be meaningless. For now, play along - it can only help us and my forces are not what they once were. The Blood Moon Requiem is a powerful faction that we can use as leverage until we gain the former glory of what I used to be - and then surpass it. At that time, no one will ever be able to tell you what to do ever again.”
Silence ensued.
Riven gritted his teeth, but eventually gave a curt nod. “Yes, grandmother. I will do as you ask.”
“Good! Very good. I’m sure the priests and inquisitors will be more than happy to hear that you’re still in line with our plans!” She replied with a returning, beaming grin. “With that reminder out in the open, we believe that Kathrine should stay in your guild hall where it is safe on Panu for the foreseeable future. There are traitors in our ranks… Most specifically, that bastard Elder Thune - and he obviously has agents on your planet given Crendir's situation.”
Her features immediately became violently gleeful, and the hand holding the bloody goblet cracked in her grasp. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now that he has been… involved… with things happening on your planet of Panu.”
“Oh, definitely.” Riven said, somewhat surprised that he’d been outright labeled a traitor. “What did he do specifically to get caught though? To get marked like that?”
She let out what was nearly a growl, shaking her head and trying to calm herself. “The old bastard was found out to have a hand in Kathrine’s disappearance, how and why are complicated, but he has links to a taboo cult of traitorous vampires trying to resurrect some ancient pantheon of elder blood gods. Ones that existed before the current order was set in place. I immediately set out with inquisitors and my personal guard to kill him when we found out, but he’d already vanished by the time we got to his quarters in the capital - and he’d somehow relocated all of the planets he owns elsewhere. They’re not even located in The Blood Moon Requiem’s borders anymore, the star systems they belonged to were simply gone when our fleets arrived to cleanse them. How he even did it without Elysium’s intervention is a mystery to all of us, but we have scientists and priests exploring different possibilities; and a bounty for his whereabouts has been posted across all of Universe 10. If he is still here, which is far likelier than hopping entire universes with star systems of those sizes, then it will only be a matter of time before we find him again.”
Riven was still hung up on the fact that Elder Thune was part of a cult that likely had a lot of the answers Riven himself was looking for. “The world quest on Panu… that elder god is one of the ones Elder Thune is looking for? One of the lost pantheon?”
“Highly likely, yes.” Nephridi said with a scowl. “Which is why it cannot remain. The fallen god’s essence must be destroyed, not absorbed, and it must be done at all costs. The Blood God even dispensed a religious quest to your sister in hopes that she takes these matters very seriously, and we stress that should you have contact with her - that you also take these matters just as seriously. It would mean the difference between making a bonding relationship between vampire-kind and the demon kin of the hells, versus an all out blood feud between the races of demons and vampires should you and your sister not comply.”
She gave Riven another stern look. “This is not a threat, Riven. It’s a warning over concerns for your own wellbeing. I’m just telling you how The Blood God will react. He will call down a religious crusade across the cosmos upon both you and your sister, regardless of Wrath and Gluttony being involved, if the ancient bloodlines lost to time are once again brought to light. Doubtless the followers of Wrath and Gluttony will try to intervene on your behalf, leading to needless genocides of entire civilizations on both sides. Trillions will die between the races if either you or Allie attempt to take the elder god’s power for yourselves, and there isn’t a single thing that I could do to stop it.”
Ah… fuck.
Gluttony internally chuckled, but refrained from commenting.
Riven however felt like cold sweat was dripping down his back as he realized just how big a deal that actually was, considering he’d already gone down the road of secretly being a heretic. “I… I see. I will keep that in mind as I go forward. Thank you for the warning. Do you happen to know what Allie’s quests say? I’d like to see them for myself if you have access to that information.”
His grandmother threw the cracked goblet backwards at her thrall servant, muttering something about a new glass, and nodded. “Of course! Of course I do. They’ve come out on Elysium’s cortex for the entire empire to read - and it’s been a rather exciting topic of discussion! Take a look, and then we can get on to the supreme prize I’ve bought for you in hopes that you make it to the very bottom of the descent! Just remember Riven, I’m on your side. I’m on Allie’s side too. Never forget that! And if she manages to purge Crendir and the elder god’s essence from Panu entirely, if she manages to kill him and destroy the ancient heritage, she will be a hero for all of vampire kind. Let us both pray that she manages to do so.”
Cute words from someone who tried to whore Allie off to the highest bidder, or at the very least - was letting other people in the empire do it without intervening. But Riven didn’t say that out loud.
Drawing up a system notification on her end, she magnified it for him to read - and soon he was going over Allie’s quest information in detail as his grandmother waited patiently for him to finish:
[New system quest UPDATE: Save Mara and Kathrine, and secure the Fallen Vampiric God’s Essence -
Congratulations! You have completed half of this quest by saving Mara and Kathrine from death. You will not receive system prizes until the other half is completed as described below:
Crendir No-Name, a traitorous E-grade commander from The Blood Moon Requiem, has meanwhile decided to take matters into his own hands concerning ‘World Quest 4, Blood of the Fallen God’. He is attempting to rob you and your planet of the fallen god’s essence and opportunity. He is not a pureblooded vampire, but he has been given a means of temporarily masking himself as a pureblood - becoming one of only a few on your planet that can benefit from drinking the ancient god’s blood, and will be able to absorb it without issue.
He has already begun the absorbing process, which will take approximately 62 days from now in total to complete. Crendir No-Name has been given a quest of his own that will reward him with extremely valuable prizes should he succeed - including a portal off Panu to anywhere in the multiverse if he successfully fulfills all of his own requirements; INCLUDING AN ENTIRELY NEW ALTERNATIVE BRANCH OF THE BLOOD SUB-PILLAR THAT WILL BE RESTORED BY ELYSIUM’S WILL SHOULD HE ABSORB THE BLOOD PROPERLY.
Stop him before he obtains this taboo power and leaves the planet, and secure the ancient one’s blood for Riven - or destroy it entirely if this cannot be done. Perhaps your brother, as a pureblooded vampire, will benefit if you manage to secure the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative? Let the race commence.]
[New religious quest dispensed: Destroy the Fallen God’s Bloodline - You have previously been denounced as an Apostate by The Blood God, and have angered nearly all vampiric factions across the multiverse in doing so. Hated by many and loved by few, The Blood God extends to you a new olive branch in light of recent events: Kill Crendir No-Name and purge the Fallen God’s blood from the face of Panu entirely. Destroy all remnant artifacts of the ancient, alternate Blood Sub-Pillar, and you will be forgiven of your sins. Despite your ascension into Wrath’s Reincarnation, The Blood God will not tolerate allowing the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative to revive itself by way of Elysium’s laws. Destroying the ancient god’s blood entirely will result with a gift of 1 additional planet of your choosing within The Blood God’s domain, all additional slaves residing on that planet to rule over, devotion from any clergy of The Blood God residing on that planet, and all associated resources on said planet. You will also be labeled a Hero of Blood, and be given a low-tier star-gate setup for traversing between planets in adjacent solar systems should you choose to accept. Meanwhile, a crusade will be declared upon your faction and upon Wrath’s Church should you succeed yet choose to allow this sub-pillar to exist.]