Glen woke up in a beautiful meadow under the blue sky. Just like he expected he was dead, still, it would be a lie to say if he said this didn't leave a bad taste in his mouth.
He had failed Ezekiel. Now that he was dead, the kid would follow in his steps soon after.
Glen waited for Zerem to come and take him, but no matter how long he waited while looking at the blue sky there was no sign of the brutal orc anywhere. He got up and looked around.
Aside from the endless meadow, there was only a white gazebo surrounded by vibrant red roses.
Inside the gazebo, there stood a beautiful woman who was reading a book. She had long jet-black hair, pale skin and crimson eyes. She had cute snaggleteeth that were peeking through her pale lips. Along with her glasses and black lace dress, she was the spitting image of a Victorian age woman. Possibly one that was really into literature?
Was she the person that was supposed to greet him instead of Zerem? Maybe Zerem was already experiencing his next life so he couldn't come to pick him up?
Glen finally got up from the ground and walked towards her. He really wanted to get back to his home as soon as possible and think about his life and the choices he made. He didn't have the motivation to do anything. He just wanted to go home and snuggle with his blanket and sleep... maybe cry a little.
"Ahem!"
Since the woman didn't acknowledge his existence even though he was standing right next to her, Glen couldn't help but cough to draw her attention.
The woman was startled and closed down the book. Then she turned to look towards him and started to apologize.
"Sorry, I was really into the book I was reading about the transformations of the natural elements. I was waiting for an inheritor for so long that I started to read books to pass time. Come on take a seat"
She gestured for Glen to sit in front of her. Glen followed her instructions and took a seat but he was frowning. What did she mean by an inheritor? If he was not wrong, he remembered Zerem telling him that Perpetual Reincarnators didn't like teaching others since it took away the joy of experiencing new things and hastened their demise.
"What do you mean by an inheritor?" Glen asked curiously. If she was going to teach Glen about cultivation and magic he couldn't be any happier. But he didn't want to get his hopes up for nothing.
"They haven't informed you? I guess you must have become my inheritor due to luck after getting bitten by those pesky bugs. That means we should start with introductions first before anything. My name is Eliza Tremere, the previous Aspect of Raven and Paragon of Avarice. Also congratulations, you have become a patriarch of the superior race Bloodkin. So-"
As she was excitedly talking to herself, Glen couldn't help but cut her off. Aspect of Raven? Paragon of Avarice? Bloodkin? What the hell was she going on about? He knew that some Perpetual Reincarnators liked to play the bad guys due to boredom but what was with those cringey names?
"Wait! Wait! One thing at a time please!"
The lady became frustrated at being cut off by Glen so she just waved her hands and a silver mirror appeared in front of her. Then she handed it to him.
"Just look at yourself and see the changes. Even someone with a brain the size of a walnut should be able to understand"
Despite her condescending words, Glen took the mirror and he was instantly flabbergasted. The face looking at him was his but it was at least a decade younger without any wrinkles that came with his age. However, that was not the main point!
His blue eyes had become crimson just like the lady in front of him. His skin was as pale as a piece of ivory, unlike his previous tan. His canine teeth were peeking out from his blood-red lips. Seeing this and connecting the dots Glen finally uttered these words.
"...Vampire?"
*THUD*
The book that Eliza was reading just now was thrown to his head.
"Don't ever use that derogatory term to define our glorious race. You are a Bloodkin! That's how you should call yourself. Only backwards savages call us vampires to belittle us."
"Wait! I am not dead yet?" Glen asked suddenly. If he was in the Underworld he would have returned to Ogden's face. Most importantly, Eliza had talked about getting bitten by those pesky bugs! She must have been referring to the zombies.
"Why would you think that you are?... Was that why you were so calm?... I just thought you had nerves of steel... Anyway, now you are a patriarch of Bloodkin and my inheritor so you should act with the elegance that comes with your position. You can't drag my name through the mud!"
Eliza was trying to sound serious but in front of Glen's eyes, she just looked like a cute puppy that was throwing tantrums.
"Forget about the patriarch bit for a second. You are telling me those zombies were actually vamp-, ahem, I mean they were bloodkin?"
Glen was trying to wrap his head around this. There was too much information for him to digest right now. So all this time, the zombies he was fighting against were just vampires? Actually, this would explain why they would get weaker during the day and stronger during the night.
The question was why didn't they turn to dust with sunlight? Isn't that like the one weakness of all the vampires?
"Of course not! They are just those who failed to adapt to the Lord's embrace. Their only job is to find qualified inheritors. You were the last one. Now that you have been embraced, they will naturally wither and die. They won't die instantly but they can only last a week at most"
So they were like incubators? That was good news! This meant that mankind would soon get rid of the zombies and Ezekiel could live a better life! Hold up a minute! Then what about the vampires that would soon take their place? I guess it would still be better than fighting against the zombies?
"Wait! Why is it so important to choose inheritors? And who is the lord you were talking about?"
Hearing his question Eliza smiled charmingly just like what you would expect from a seductive vampire.
"Okay, Let's start with a history lesson. After the Goddess created mankind and let them loose into this world she would regularly interact with them and guide them in the right direction. Eventually, mankind opted a tradition to offer the Goddess sacrifices as a show of their gratitude.
When I said sacrifices, I didn't mean something like human sacrifice. They would just offer the Goddess their most prized products of the week to her. Be it the fattest sheep they herded or the sturdiest hoe they made.
My Lord, Kayle, was also such a person. He had infinite love for the Goddess and he would always offer her the freshest and most delicious fruits he gathered. However, one day, an accident occurred.
There were rotten fruits mixed in the offerings to the Goddess which made her enraged. My Lord's brother, Mikhail, said those were My Lord's offerings. Everyone believed him, including the Goddess. So the Goddess cursed him to not see the light of day ever again since My Lord had such an ungrateful heart.
But My Lord was innocent so he found an opportunity to confront his brother who spew such vile lies. He discovered that it was actually a ploy from him to destroy My Lord because Mikhail wanted to monopolize the Goddess' love. In rage, My Lord killed his brother with a nearby stone.
He became the first murderer of mankind... Goddess learnt of My Lord's and Mikhail's deeds. She was appalled by the darkness inside humankind's heart. She was also disappointed that she couldn't teach them to be better than this.
That's why Goddess blessed My Lord to drink the blood of his kind and become a scourge to them. That way, they would never forget the sins they committed. According to the Goddess' wish, My Lord will eventually destroy mankind and that day will be known as Gehenna.
However, My Lord couldn't do this alone so he embraced other humans with dark hearts and created the bloodkin. But his blood was too strong, only a select number of people could withstand his embrace.
And that was us! The Paragons of Sins. Unlike our Lord, we could turn anyone we wished and so did our dependants. However, with each generation, the blood of our Lord gets thinner so the resulting bloodkin gets weaker and weaker.
We also learnt other things in My Lord's previous attempt at creating Gehenna. Such as If the bloodkin that embraces you dies, so does their dependants. That means if a patriarch, a paragon, dies so does their clan.
But we are safe because the one that embraced us was Lord Kayle who is blessed by the Goddess. Meaning he is immortal. At best, he will just sleep for centuries. He can never truly be killed as it is his duty to bring the end of the world one day.
Unfortunately, we failed last time and instead sown seeds for our future inheritors who would take our positions. Gregory Malkav created the Madness Network and became one with it to guide his, while I separated a piece of my soul and created this space to transfer all my knowledge to you.
So are you caught up yet, Inheritor?"
Glen nodded his head dazedly. This was definitely not what he was expecting. Did that mean that those nut jobs from Church of Night are actually right? Was he the bad guy all along? Maybe this was also true for his previous world since the story she just told sounded so similar to Able and Cain's story but with the positions reversed. Wait? What if she was the one feeding him with propaganda right now? Well, I guess it's not that important concerning his current circumstances.
"I still don't understand how all of you failed to destroy the world thousands of years ago."
This was the key point. If Kayle was as strong as she said, how could they have failed to end the world in the past?
"Well, even though it is pre-destined for our Lord to bring Gehenna, Goddess still loves and cherishes her creations. So she gave them weapons to fight against us. You will eventually get to learn all of this as you take your throne and create your own clan"
Glen frowned. He didn't think he was ready to live a life as a monster just yet.
"What if I don't want to?"
Eliza looked surprised. She didn't understand why Glen would ask such a question.
"You don't want to? Why? Wait, let me check it out myself"
Her eyes started to glow in a mysterious blue light as she gazed towards Glen. He felt uncomfortable like he was standing in the middle of the town b*tt naked.
Soon, Eliza's eyes grew wide.
"Oh My Lord! This is such a shame!"
Glen didn't understand why she was acting like this all of a sudden. Was there something wrong with him?
"What do you mean? What's wrong? Am I dying? Is that what's happening?"
Eliza shook her head at Glen's silly questions.
"No, it's not because of a reason like that. It's just a shame that you were embraced by the bugs outside. If you were embraced by the Lord, we would have welcomed a new Paragon amidst our ranks. The Paragon of Vanity"
"Can you talk in a way that I can understand?"
"Okay, listen closely. Our powers can only be inherited by those who have similar desires to ourselves. That's why I waited all these years. To find someone who had the same amount of greed that I had. As you can see from our situation, that person is you.
Just now, I checked the source of your greed. It was approval. You yearn for the attention and approval of those around you. That is the core of your being. Of course, if you looked at it objectively, this would be the sin of vanity instead of greed but at the end of the day, all the sins lead towards the same destination. That's why you became my inheritor"
Glen didn't like the words she said. He wanted the approval of others? Hardly! He even wanted to escape from the burdens of relationships and now she told him that he was yearning for attention. He couldn't accept it.
"I disagree, I am not such a person-"
Glen was about to defend himself when Eliza briefly cut him off "Who cares about what you think? I just said what I saw."
What Glen didn't notice was that Eliza was still looking at him with the blue glow in her eyes.
"You are an interesting inheritor. You have the fate of a person that the world revolves around... correction you HAD the fate of a person that the world loved.
From what I see, you should have been dead long ago, but you are still walking around just fine which is very interesting. It's like someone cut off the fate of your death so you are currently walking on uncharted territory.
With such a fate you should have become one of those mutts instead of becoming my inheritor. It's very interesting that you are here"
World revolving around a person?
Glen couldn't help but mutter to himself "A protagonist?"
Eliza nodded her head with approval at Glen's words.
"Yes, that's an apt description of your situation. I didn't know you were a literary person. With that get up I thought you were a modern warrior or something.
Anyway, in the words that you will understand, you used to be the protagonist of this world but then the epilogue of your book came and the world chose a new protagonist. Despite that, you are still alive. The world still loves you and favours you as much as before but you are not the protagonist anymore. It's someone else. It must be putting a great strain on her to support two such people..."
Seeing that Eliza was getting distracted, Glen felt like he had to lead the conversation in the right direction again.
"I don't care about any of that stuff. You have been yapping about inheritor this and inheritor that. What am I supposed to be inheriting from you in the first place? Haven't I already become Aspect of whatever?"
Glen finally gave up. He couldn't follow her thought process. Also, Ezekiel was still waiting for him outside. He had to get out of here as soon as possible and save him.
"It's Aspect of Raven and you are right, I was just excited to have someone to converse with after all these years. Sorry about that. Before I give you my inheritance let me ask you a question. Why do you want it? I remember you telling me you didn't want to destroy the world."
Eliza recollected herself and sat in an elegant position. The whole air about her had changed which threw Glen off. If she used to give off the air of a next-door girl you meet daily, now she looked like a CEO of a multi-billion corporation.
He had forgotten for a second but she was the patriarch of a whole vampire clan for who knows how long. The only reason she kept treating him familiarly was because, Glen was supposed to be the person that would take the torch from her. To top it off he had also said he didn't want to do what she wanted him to do.
"Because there is a person I need to kill, and there is one I need to save. The person I need to kill has a snake tattoo at the back of his hand and can control those zombies. You don't have any idea who he is right?"
Eliza frowned at his description. Unfortunately, she could tell who he was talking about.
"You want to kill your fellow brethren? Why?"
Glen smiled at her words. So he was right. After meeting her, Glen theorized that Wesley must have also been an inheritor. And from his words, he could even guess his position.
"Because the Paragon of Envy tried to kill me. Shouldn't I return the favour by actually killing him? If not for becoming an inheritor like him I would already be dead. What would you do in such a situation?"
Eliza started to laugh at Glen's words.
"Why? Something funny? Or do you feel compassion for your fellow bloodkin and want to stop me?"
Glen asked seriously. If she didn't want to give him her inheritance, he would understand. His boldness in asking such a question was because he felt like he had already become a full-fledged vampire. So even without her inheritance, he could easily kill that leech Wesley.
"No, I am laughing because of the irony. You see, Malkav and I hated each other's guts. He would always yapper about how reality was actually a broken mirror that could not be understood while I kept telling him that there was a universal truth and we needed to search for it to better understand the arcane.
I find it funny that even our inheritors hate each other to death. I guess this is the fate of our clans."
Glen was pleasantly surprised by such a revelation.
Still, he asked once again to make sure "So you are okay with me killing him?"
"I am the Paragon of Avarice. I don't care about anything that doesn't concern my greed. I wouldn't even care if you killed off the remaining five. Though, a part of me also wants my inheritor to be the best so there is that too."
"Why do you keep mentioning the sins as if it's something important?"
"That's because they are our defining trait and curse. Our trait is Greed and our curse is to never be satisfied with anything. From this moment forward you will never be satisfied, not when you eat, drink, talk... you will never be satisfied and always want more."
That... didn't sound pleasing at all.
"What about Wesley, I mean the new Paragon of Envy? What is his curse?"
Still, if he had such a curse what about the others?
"Just like Gregory, his curse must be madness. They become so jealous that it drives them mad and make their mind unstable"
This at least answered why Wesley looked so out of sorts today. So he was driven mad by his jealousy towards Glen. Maybe he could use this against him?
"Then what was your greed and in return what is my inheritance?"
He learnt everything he needed to learn to take down Wesley. Now it was time to go kill him.
"Good question, my greed was knowledge.
You are looking at the originator of the blood magic. So the gift I left you is the 42 paths of blood magic I discovered along with all the spells I created.
Get ready because this is going to hurt a lot"
Before Glen could even react Eliza started to dissolve into blood-red particles which went into Glen's right hand and created the tattoo of a crimson raven that was spreading its wings.