Oh blood, so divine

We go to Lex and hand over the fragment. He takes it and puts it in the purifier along with some other fragments.

- Does it work?

- If the magical filter that can let things in but not out works. Then yes, it should work. And if the filter somehow doesn't work, the gasses will just pour out. But I made it so there shouldn't be a need to worry.

He grabs a special container and climbs to where he can put the fluids in. He starts pouring the fluids in and immediately we see the fragments melt. When the fragments turned into a gas, they were guided to a chamber that held the philosopher's stone. There the gas turned into some sort of crystal. The other gasses were guided through another pipe to get it out of the system. Lex casts a spell on the remaining fluids and the fluid dissapears.

Lex climbs to get the crystals that formed and takes them. He then brings them to us and starts saying.

- The fragments I put on the purifier have now been turned into these harmless crystals.

- What are those crystals exactly?

- All that you need to know is that they contain huge amounts of energy from the origin.

- Is it okay to have something like that?

- I told you that they are harmless. Now, time to do the whole proses to the rest of them.

He summons the fragments from somewhere and does the whole proses again.

- Now then. How about getting more of them.

- Where to next?

- Demon prince of blood, Aíma. Goddess of bloodshed. Queen of vampires. The executioner of gods. Ruler of Lákkos, the pit of blood.

- Executioner of gods?! Has she actually slain a god?

- She once had a fight with Mors over something and he manifested to the world and was slain.

- A god actually lost to a demon prince?

- Kiat and Rahasia were there as well back then, so the battle was 1 versus 3. It is just said that Aíma landed the finishing blow.

- At this point I understand Kiat, but why was Rahasia there as well?

- My guess is that they made some sort of deal if they assisted. If memory serves me right, all of them were extremely weak after the battle. Even Kiat didn't have the energy to pull pranks on others for century.

- So we're headed to the realm of blood. What should we prepare for?

- Well, hope you have gotten used to the smell of blood. Other than that, don't eat anything living there.

- Why not?

- Most of the things are made so they carry an disease that will make you vomit blood spontaneously.

- Well I should bring some food with me then.

- You should also avoid any injuries while you're there. There is a good chance that you will run in to a vampire and the fresh smell of blood might get them exited. Though most vampires there aren't starving so they shouldn't be hungry. In fact, that realm is a paradise for their kin. Now go and try to not yourselfs killed.

- We'll try my best.

We go to Siel'Kel and ask them to send us to Lákkos. Siel'Kel does their thing and sends us off.

When there, the immediate thing I notice is the smell of blood. It is so strong that it feels a bit suffocating. When I look closer, all I can see is red and blood red. The sky, the land, the plants and what looks like lakes of blood, all of it red. We decide to follow the road that was ahead of us.

Eventually, we find a town. The guards let us right in without asking anything. Aktor says.

- They are probably just there for the attacks from the beasts in this realm. Let's go find some information where the demon prince of this realm is.

We go to a tavern and ask some questions while purchasing drinks. There weren't a lot of options that didn't contain blood, so we ordered some alcohol. Aktor asked the questions.

- Hey, what is the town we are in called?

- Serina. Most we do is guard the road for bigger beasts. Some hunting happens of course, but we are mainly just a checkpoint on the way to capital.

- Is the queen of this realm there?

- Yes, our queen Aíma is there watching the slaughter of others. She likes to make things bleed close to death and then heal them so they may bleed some more later.

- I see. Do you know anything that would gain her favor?

Aktor hand the bartender some more money.

- I don't know much other than bringing some blood of a rare creature.

- A rare creature you say. I doubt that any of the creatures in this realm would be satisfactory.

- I doubt it. There is some bloody beast that swims on the lake Burain that has caused her some trouble. She doesn't care about it that much, but many people have complained about it. And after complaining about it, they were immediately cut to pieces and brought back to live again. At least the lucky ones.

- I keep that in mind. How would we get to the capital?

- Just follow the road and the signs. If you can't read, then just look where the fanciest sign points.

- Thanks for the info.

Aktor drinks his drink and starts to leave until the bartender says.

- Be carefull. Some of our kin still fancy drinking fresh from the source.

- I take a note on that.

Then we leave and start traveling. I summon my Bell and Aktor decides to run all of the way with me. So we go.

Half a day passes and we see the capital. The guard there inspected us with no issues. We then went to the castle that was towering the rest of the building here. We were on the bridge leading us to the castle, and as expected, we were stoped by multiple guards. One of the guards started speaking.

- Haven't had a human here in a long time. I can tell the blood on you would taste delicious. How about it boys?

- Haven't had fresh blood in ages!

- Yeah, cannibalising on other vampires doesn't taste the same as mortal man's fresh and juicy blood.

- Might we get a small bite? You two wouldn't mind now would you?

The guards surround us and Aktor readies his spear. Then we hear a loud yell.

- What is the commotion about!?

- A finger of Aíma?! What are you doing here?!

- I happened to be sent on a mission just now and I noticed you all gathering.

- We were just... asking kindly for a bite.

- Kindly you say? Surrounding someone in mass is considered kind you say?

- Well, that's...

- Return to your posts immediately. This is a disgrace for the guard serving her majesty.

- As... As you command!

The guards leave us alone and we start to talk to the one that made them go away.

- I appologise for their rudeness. Wait a moment. Two humans, one carrying an old spear, other carrying a raven with magical properties. You two must be the visitors her majesty has been waiting. Come, I lead the way.

He starts walking towards the castle and we start to follow him.

- But weren't you supposed to go on a mission or something?

- This takes priority. Her majesty told us that we should lead indivituals that resemble you two to her majesty's presence.

- Well that's convinient. And you are?

- My appologies for late introduction. My name is Sergei, a finger of Aíma, a group that only follows her majesty's command.

Sergei guides us to the throne room and leaves us to when Aíma sees us. Aíma looks like a normal vampire but bit larger, with blood red hair and maybe a bit paler skin. Then Aíma speaks in a way thats sounds like she is bored.

- Oh, you are finally here. Fantastic, now I can finaly ask you to fetch me something.

- We came here to...

- I know what you are here for, so I prepared a task for you beforehand. Now do you want the fragment or not?

- What do you want us to do?

- It's pretty simple actually. Just bring me a jar full of god's blood and I give what you need.

- A blood of a god?! Where should we get that from?

- Not my problem. If you can't do it, you can either forget it and leave or fight me for it. Whichever you prefer.

- We... see what we can do.

- Fantastic. Now chop chop.

We leave the realm empty handed and we think our choices. The only option we have is to ask Lex about this and see what he thinks.

- She wants blood of a god. Didn't explicitly say which god? Good, now we have to worry about how to get it.

- Is it even possible?

- We just have to make something that doesn't normaly materialise to materialise on command.

- Do you... have some connections you can pull or something?

- I'm like a absent father to the gods. Do you think I can ask them a favor?

- Then, how do we get the blood?

- Simple, we either make it or I just ask Cantio. Asking Aeon to give some of his blood wouldn't work anymore, given our... rocky relationship.

- So you're going to either summon a god or make blood that could be in god?

- Essentially.

- And you can just do that?

- Yes.

I breathe deeply.

- I can see why Aktor is sometimes unmotivated to do things. Now which are you going to do?

- Summoning the god is less of an hassle. I just need to explain the situation to her first.

A while passes.

- She should be coming here any minute.

Then a flash of light comes from the sky and I can't see anything. Aktor even yells.

- I can't see shit!

Then the light dims down and we can somewhat see. We are still a bit blinded afterwards but we can see a short elf woman standing near Lex. We couldn't hear the conversation they are having. After she's done talking with Lex and she has given her blood, which is glowing white, she comes near me and puts her hands on my cheeks and looks into my eyes.

- So this is the one. Huh, you ARE like her rebirth. I don't see what the deal is with father, but you have my support.

- Th-Thanks... I guess?

- Now then, I guess it's time for me to go. Can't stay too long in here. Unlike certain someone.

Then another flash of ligh comes down from the sky and we can't see anything. I hear Aktor yelling again.

- Again with this shit!

After we regain our sight, we head back to Lákkos and bring the blood to Aíma. After we travel back to the castle, we hand over the jar full of god's blood. Then Aíma speaks with just a bit more chiper voice.

- As expected of you. Here take this.

She throws her fragment at us like it was nobody's business.

- Now that I have this, I can finaly hand some of this over to Kiat and he will grant me my wish. Oh, what marvelous existance we have.

- Wait, you are going to hand it over to Kiat?!

- Only some of it. Oh, you weren't supposed to hear that. My bad, I guess. Oh well.

- What is Kiat planing?

- Like I will tell you.

Then Aktor starts asking some questions from Aíma.

- So, if you are queen of vampires, is there a king of vampire.

- None of your business.

- I also heard that you were mother of vampires. Does this mean that there is a father as well?

She gives us a grim smile and says.

- Would you kindly fuck off. If not, then I guess you'll be my next meal.

- I'm tempted to try the later, but I choose the former.

Still smiling, she says.

- A shame, I would have enjoyed riping your entrails from you body and dib my skin in a pool of your blood.

- We will take my leave now.

We leave and hand over the fragment to Lex. Me and Aktor are going to get some rest.