Blood Shaper-Epilogue

Feet sinking into the plush carpet that muffled the sound of every footstep, a young woman approached the sizable doors that led to the king of Avalon’s private court. The doors were open wide enough for a handful of people to pass through, which wasn’t even half as wide as the fifteen foot doors could swing. Two guards, titanic figures encased in featureless red armor, stood facing outward in front of the doors. They were motionless as the woman and her own guards approached, but she knew they were watching her.

The Blood Guard, the personal troops and guardians of the King of Avalon and his family, were well known across the three continents. While on duty they all wrapped themselves in blood armor, the outward appearance of which was standardized to match across every member. Whether the Blood Guard you saw was a diminutive pixie or someone with giant ancestry, they all looked the same while in their armor. Of course that meant that they all had to look huge to account for the largest of their members, but all of them being giant, blood red, heavily armored titans didn’t detract from their intimidation factor at all.

They inspected her thoroughly as she approached, though she paid them no mind. To even reach this far into the palace complex of Avalon required numerous security checks that could ferret out all but the absolute best assassins and rogues in the world, and even they would have difficulty succeeding in any nefarious deeds. The young woman didn’t have any designs to make mischief, though, and she had permission to be here. If she had arrived under false pretenses or wasn’t supposed to be this deep into the sprawling complex dug miles into the stone of the cliff that overlooked Avalon City proper, she would have been detained quite awhile ago, quickly followed by her being sorted into whichever category of idiot she was and handed off to whoever was responsible for her specific kind of idiocy.

The largest and most frequent category of idiot were the challengers, fools who thought they could wrest rule of Avalon from it’s king in single combat through the mechanism the System provided for such duels. Those were only idiots because they didn’t pay enough attention to the proper channels and thought they had to somehow trick or ambush the king to get their duel. The king of Avalon had regular monthly duels with anyone that had challenged him recently in well organized spectacles in which he completely crushed all comers. The challengers that trespassed and snuck around to try and catch him off guard were nuisances that interrupted government work, not the dashing heroes that they thought they were, seeking to overthrow a cowardly tyrant that wouldn’t dare face them or whatever bullshit they threw around in their own delusional minds.

The young woman realized she’d paused for a second as she stewed in her annoyance and resumed walking. It had only been a slight hitch in between lifting a foot up and setting it down, but both the Blood Guard at the door and her own bodyguard detail noticed it. She made a tiny gesture with one hand, reassuring her guards that she was fine. Thankfully, they took her word for it and didn’t stop to check on her. It would be incredibly embarrassing to have to stop and reassure the leader of her detail that she’d merely gotten lost in her own thoughts. Especially on today of all days, and in that moment of all moments.

The group of five, the woman and her four guards, stepped up before the two hulking figures and waited. One of the featureless helmets turned to her and wordlessly looked her up and down, while the other Blood Guard did the same for each of her guards. After a long pause both Blood Guard nodded their heads in unison and stepped aside, allowing her and her entourage entry into the court. No words were exchanged during the process and the silence continued as she stepped between them and through the doors. Which only made sense, not only was she allowed, she was expected.

This was the private court of Avalon’s king, not the regular public court, which meant there was no line of people all waiting their turn to plead their case to the king. Nor was the hall as decorated and lavish as the hall of the public court. That court had seats for visitors to wait and spectators to watch, though the young woman didn’t understand why anyone would want to. A majority of the people that ended up making petitions in the public court were people who had fallen afoul of the regular systems of Avalon’s government and thought that the king would for some reason overturn previous rulings. That rarely went the way the petitioners wanted, especially if they were stuck up jackasses, like so many people that wanted to ignore the proper order of things were.

Instead of rows of seats in a long, heavily decorated hall, the private court had small alcoves with tables and chairs along with a few that had benches. They were places to rest or get work done, not spectator seating, so most of them had curtains to block the view and enchantments to muffle sound going in or out of the niches. She spotted two of them in use as she entered the hall, one with the curtains completely drawn and the other with just enough of a gap that she could make out a group of officials discussing documents they had spread over the table.

More Blood Guard stood along the walls, looking like nothing more than immobile statues. If one didn’t know that they were trained killers keeping an eye out for any threats, they might have appeared to be martially inclined decorative pieces. The closest ones turned slightly when she entered but quickly turned back to their posts. She was, as previously stated, expected. The young woman glanced ahead of her along the thick, deep red carpet that continued from the hallway outside into the court. Three people were standing a few feet before the king’s dais. One of them was slightly in front of the other two and was speaking to the figure seated on the throne.

His majesty Kay, King of Avalon, Lord of Avalon City, Class Line Progenitor of the Blood Manipulator Line, First Vampire, and holder of many, many titles and Titles beyond those was sat in a throne that matched every other piece of decor in the room in both color and material, impassively listening to the person speaking to him. He was wearing fine, but not gaudy, clothing arranged in what was the style of the moment in Avalon, though his outfit lacked the multiple layers of silk draped across the arms that most of the nobility were into. His pale skin worked nicely with the red lining along the edge of his clothes and his similarly colored eyes. His dark hair was cut short against his head and the young woman idly noticed that he’d gotten a haircut since she’d last seen him. She personally didn’t find his majesty attractive, she knew many people who did, but she easily acknowledged that he looked quite handsome that day.

She started to move forward to join the line and to wait her turn to speak to his majesty, but she was stopped by a quiet but firm cough. She stopped and looked to her right at the man just inside the doors who was ignoring her annoyed glare and giving her a disapproving look of his own. The dwarven man in the uniform of palace staff stared at her until she reluctantly waved her hand at him to go ahead. He nodded stiffly and pivoted in place, facing the throne.

“Her Highness Princess Amelia of Avalon!” The crier announced in a carrying voice. He didn’t raise his voice too much, there wasn’t any need to with so few people around, but it was loud enough to make it to the end of the hall and interrupt the conversation going on there.

Amelia’s father perked up in his throne and turned a small smile on her, which she returned. Her reluctance to interrupt whatever business that was taking place died beneath her dad’s obvious happiness at seeing her. She headed down the carpet toward the throne after giving the crier a begrudging nod of thanks and he Blood Guard bodyguards peeled off to go stand against the walls with their fellows. If there was one place she didn’t need guards it was under the loving gaze of her father in a room absolutely covered in disguised blood that could instantly become weapons under his control.

The fully closed curtain hiding one of the alcoves pulled open a little and one of Amelia’s many aunts and uncles stuck her head out. Amelia’s aunt Alice, better known to the world as Commander Alice Ravenhome, leader of the Shatterplate Crusade, the premier organization for hunting down and destroying vampyr and other eldritch flavored threats, smiled widely and waved. Amelia waved back and quickly tapped her ear while mouthing, “You should listen”. Alice looked intrigued and stepped outside of the alcove after saying something to the people inside.

Amelia stopped a short distance behind the officials that were there to speak with her father, ready and willing to wait for them to finish her business before it was her turn. Her plans were, as always, derailed by her father as he gestured at the three officials.

“Do any of you have anything vital to report or get approval for?” He asked.

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The elven man who had been speaking shook his head and stepped back. “Everything I have can wait, it’s just regular updates for you to be abreast of.”

“Excellent, and you two?”

The human and beastkin women that had been waiting behind the elven man exchanged slight grimaces.

“The Fleet-“ The human official began.

“Are they asking for something ridiculous again?” Kay interrupted her.

She opened her mouth, closed it, then gave a resigned nod. “Yes, your majesty. The High Navigator has once again demanded the return of her daughter and-“

“Her daughter is a free citizen of Avalon and a member of my council besides.” Amelia’s father interrupted his official again. “She isn’t chattel to be turned over. If the Fleet wants to trade with Avalon or land anywhere along our coasts they will acknowledge that, along with everything else we’ve already told them.” He glanced down at the official and gently asked, “Did they send Azred as the negotiator again?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“If he starts being a dick again remind him he was significantly less helpful than he had promised when we marched east against the vampyr. If he continues to be belligerent after that you can complain to his wife, and it that doesn’t work tell my wife.”

“I…” The human woman sighed and nodded. “Yes your majesty.”

“Good. Now,” He pointed at the beastkin official, “You. What do you have?”

“The eastern-“

“No!” Kay groaned and slumped backward in his throne. “No. I have no interest in absorbing any of those fractious states where Nelam used to be and creating a giant problem with all the ones that don’t want to become part of some conceptual Empire of Avalon. I have no interest in starting a war.”

“Ah, your majesty? The most recent petition is from, well, um…”

“Who, the Freedom League? True Nelam Resurgent? No, they’re gone aren’t they?” He rolled his eyes. “Who is it?”

“All of them, sire.”

“What?” Kay stared at her in confusion. “All of them?”

“Yes, your majesty. It seems they had a conference and managed to come to some semblance of an agreement, which they then sent to us.”

Amelia’s dad stared at her for a long moment. “Miri.”

“You majesty?” Kay’s majordomo and another of Amelia’s many unofficial aunts and uncles appeared next to him. “How may I assist?”

“Set up a meeting with everyone I need to discuss such a proposal. If everyone over there is actually in support of it it’s worth looking over.”

“Of course, your majesty.” Miri quickly winked at Amelia before vanishing. Amelia did her best not to sigh. Of course Miri already knew what Amelia was there to say. Her three scariest aunts, Miri, Amanda, and Isla all probably knew before Amelia had. At least none of them had spoiled the surprise to her parents.

“Right. Anything else that simply can’t wait?”

The three officials all shook their heads and stepped back so Amelia could approach. She took a handful of steps forward then started to sink to one knee.

“Stop that!” Her dad snapped testily, “This isn’t public court. Just come here and tell me what’s up.”

Amelia smirked up at her dad and stopped trying to kneel. He rolled his eyes at her and waved her closer. She stepped up to the dais and let a massive grin spread over her face.

“I did it! I got my tier five Class!”

A smile as big a her own burst from Kay as he leapt from his seat and swept her up in a hug. “Amazing!” He squeezed her tight and started rocking from side to side. “Look at you!”

Amelia giggled as her dad picked her up and spun her in a circle like she was still a little girl. Everyone in the room clapped for her and her aunt Alice let out a few whoops that echoed slightly in the hall. Kay set her down after a few more spins and leaned back, still holding onto her shoulders.

“Congratulations! Now that you’ve got it, you can stop keeping me in the dark. What did you get?”

Amelia took a few steps back and held out her hands. Blood pooled in each of her palms, pulled from inside her, and then started to flow and join together as it made a long, somewhat blocky shape in her arms. She held out the massive rifle proudly and declared, “I’m officially a Sanguine Sniper! And I got the Class Creator Title too!”

Her dad shook his head with mock sadness. “Never did I imagine that the say would come where my precious daughter went for a Class from Cindy’s Class Line over mine.”

“Hey!” Amelia barked at him, “It is too from yours! It’s from both!”

Kay laughed and pulled her into another hug. “You know I’m joking. Oh, I’m so proud of you!” She could feel his head turning as he looked around the room. “No one tell Eleniah.”

“Yeah! No one tell mom, I want to do it myself!”

“And you’ll get to. In fact, if there’s no desperately important business, we can go and you can tell her right now. I’m sure she’ll be fine if we interrupted her class with this kind of news.” He paused and glanced off to the side. “I wonder if Kolm is busy? He owes me after that last debacle he dragged me into and making a celebratory dinner for you can be the start to paying me back…”

Amelia perked up happily at hearing that and started daydreaming about the last time she’d had a meal made by Kolm Davidson himself.

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Kay noticed when his daughter stopped paying attention and a tiny line of drool started running out of her mouth. He chuckled and wiped it away faster than she could notice. While he was moving and thinking at a higher speed than normal he took the time to marvel over his daughter. From her long dark hair which was just like her mother’s and the slightly pointed ears that still mostly looked like her mother to her light red eyes that came from him, Amelia was undoubtedly the multiverse’s greatest daughter. He didn’t care about “bias” or whatever else his detractors and so called friends said when he publicly declared it, it was the truth.

He quickly formed a sheet of “paper” out of blood with instructions for Miri to set up a congratulatory dinner for Amelia, with or without Kolm being able to cook. Even if they couldn’t get him tonight though, Kay would make sure that his daughter got to eat something the high tier restaurateur cooked himself at some point. Getting to tier five in as short a time as she had without the benefits of being a Class Line Progenitor or other “cheats” was an incredible accomplishment. His daughter wasn’t even thirty yet!

Kay was about to push himself back down to standard speed when it happened. Three short knocks resounded through reality, shaking the space around him. Immediately after that, multiple breaches in reality started to tear themselves open in front of him. Four rips in space opened and began expanding, with swirling darkness behind them.

The private court erupted with movement as thousands of gallons of blood spilled from the walls and decorative pieces then swirled around Kay. He formed his armor from the blood while also throwing his daughter behind him and wrapping her in thick plates that covered her from head to toe and sealed her in an impromptu bunker. The Blood Guard were throwing themselves forward to protect Kay and Amelia, but they would be too late. The breaches were forming incredibly quickly and would be done before they could make it in range.

The scariest thing about all this, completely eclipsing the fact that these tears in space were happening despite the literal tons of protections covering the palace and the city that existed to stop events like this, was that something was muffling Kay’s connection to the System. It wasn’t something he’d been able to detect until it’d been pointed out to him, but he’d learned how to feel if he was cut off or something had happened that messed with it. In that moment if felt like someone had wrapped it in cloth and then shut a door between him and the System. He knew it was there, but he couldn’t really hear it. Which indicated an incredibly powerful foe.

Inside of the breaches the roiling darkness dissipated as the rips stopped growing at six feet high and three wide. What was revealed wasn’t the incomprehensible garbage of staring into existence beyond this universe or other eldritch bullshit, but perfectly visible scenes of equally confused and alarmed people staring back at him. One was a man a bit younger than him recoiling away from the hole, who had a massive white and gold snake coiled around him, looking like it was going to strike the tear they were staring through. The snake had a crest of feathers along it’s head that spread out into massive wings that were flung out wide and glittered golden in whatever light was o the other end of the slit in space.

Kay slowly turned his head to look at the other three and he felt his mouth drop and eyes go wide without him even thinking about it. The second tear showed him a small windowless, wooden room with one desk and a bed. Sitting on the bed next to a large woman was someone Kay recognized. A young human man with dirty blonde hair, dressed in unfamiliar leather clothing and sporting a deeper tan than Kay had ever seen on him gaped back through the tear. The woman dove off to the side and came back up brandishing a weapon of some kind, but Kay barely noticed. The next opening showed another familiar man, who was slowly lowering a thing blade while staring at Kay with a completely blank face. Behind him was a massive hallway made out of gargantuan, perfectly uniform bricks that continued off into the distance until darkness covered it in the distance. The final tear showed a third familiar face, dressed in long, flowing purple robes and sitting on a tiled platform. He was the only person who didn’t look shocked, and instead was smiling gently.

“Holy shit!” The first man, the one Kay didn’t recognize, pushed past the snake and leaned closer to the opening. “Is that Kay?”

The blank faced man looked back and forth between the slits and slowly said. “Is that… Are you- are you David?”

Kay barely noticed his personal soldiers charging forward to protect him from the unknown threat or his daughter lashing out at the walls he’d made to keep her safe, trying to fight her way out and join whatever battle was going on. He didn’t feel like the king with multiple decades under his belt or the powerful wielder of Blood Manipulation and dozens of other Skills. He didn’t feel like someone who had a tier six Class, one of the most personally powerful people for thousands and thousands of miles. He felt like a young man with his whole life ahead of him, sitting in a friend’s apartment waiting for the pizza they’d ordered to show up and playing silly games.

“Guys?”