"Once I saw the ash falling from the sky, I knew the battle was lost. How can anyone ever hope to fight something like that?" - Final words of the Goblin High Seer 1 Day after the Webway Wars started.
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(Jaime POV)
Jaime decided he might as well see where this went.
"Yo. Name's Jaime Fareway."
The spirit remained motionless.
"And I'd appreciate it if you could break all this shit down for me. I been doing what I can, but this shit be killing a nigga for real."
If the shadowy being was surprised by his introduction, nothing about her appearance showed it.
"I could tell before accepting your invitation that you possessed little understanding of the Well."
She drifted closer.
"I will admit, however, that the extent of your ignorance concerning what you would call the 'supernatural' is somewhat astonishing."
"Damn. Alright."
"To explain your mistake in terms you may understand..." She considered him for a moment. "The beings who answered your call view you as a walking reservoir of power and evolutionary potential."
Jaime's expression slowly changed.
"And all you requested in return was friendship."
She lifted the crimson-purple rose.
"Alongside nearly unrestricted access to your Familiar Space."
Jaime stared.
"So I basically walked into a room full of supernatural strangers, opened my bank account, handed everybody a key to the house, and asked who wanted to hang out?"
"That is an acceptable simplification."
"Motherfucker."
"If the System were not currently protecting you, issuing such an unrestricted invitation while possessing so little strength could have created a calamity throughout your entire Region."
Jaime blinked.
"What?"
"Too many beings would have fought for the right to answer."
A bead of sweat rolled down Jaime's back.
He suddenly became extremely grateful that the System apparently possessed idiot-proofing.
"Okay."
Jaime ran both hands through his hair.
"Okay, so given everything you just said about people potentially fucking me over for what amounts to unlimited access to my potential—why didn't you?"
The spirit said nothing.
"And while we're at it, do you have a name? I don't really fuck with sneaky people, weirdos, or bitches playing games behind my back, so let's not start off on the wrong foot."
Jaime kept his expression deliberately casual.
Inside, his thoughts were moving considerably faster.
This being knew more about the Familiar Ritual than he did.
She also knew things about him.
That gave her an overwhelming advantage in the conversation.
The only thing Jaime could do was make himself difficult to predict.
As his initial shock faded, his instincts also became easier to interpret.
Whatever floated before him wasn't some incomprehensible Eldritch god.
Probably.
That was good.
The bad news was that she was still the strongest being Jaime had ever personally encountered.
His instincts were giving him two completely contradictory messages.
This being could become an inescapable death for him and everything he had ever known.
And—
somehow—
she could become the greatest shield he could ever possess.
One that would never willingly harm him.
The shadowy figure remained silent for several seconds.
Then the darkness beneath her glowing eyes split apart.
A smile appeared.
An abyss inside an abyss.
"You are an innocent fool."
Jaime's eyebrow twitched.
"Yet you are considerably more intelligent than you present yourself as."
"Better."
"Both qualities can be useful under the proper circumstances."
She lowered herself slightly.
"My name is Revira Nightrun."
Jaime committed the name to memory.
"And the reason I have not attempted to exploit you is simple."
Her lantern-like eyes brightened.
"The current you is not powerful enough to offer me anything worth betraying you for."
Jaime stared at her.
"Damn. You could've lied."
"No."
"Fair enough."
"I would ordinarily have ignored your invitation entirely."
Revira's attention shifted toward the rose still held in her hand.
"However, you are a Progenitor connected to our great Blood Origin."
Jaime frowned.
"Our?"
"And you possess a collection of abilities that could complement mine almost perfectly."
She looked directly at him.
"A bond between us may allow me to advance beyond the limitations of my current existence."
Jaime didn't understand half of that.
His instincts did.
They were practically roaring.
Take the contract.
Do not let her leave.
Secure her.
The pressure was so intense Jaime almost agreed on the spot.
He forced himself not to.
Instinct was useful.
Blind obedience was stupid.
"So what exactly are you asking me for?"
Revira waited.
"And what happens to both of us if we complete the contract?"
Jaime only realized afterward that he hadn't asked whether they would complete it.
Revira seemed to notice too.
"I require relatively little."
That sentence immediately made Jaime suspicious.
"I want you to take a portion of my Bloodline and, when you establish your kingdom, form it into one of your noble houses."
Jaime's expression turned thoughtful.
"They will require no extraordinary privilege beyond that position. Only the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of it."
"And you?"
"The difficulties surrounding my current existence operate at a level you cannot safely interact with."
Jaime grimaced.
That sounded ominous as hell.
"Upon completing the contract, nearly all of my remaining power will be used to reconstruct my body and Bloodline."
Revira raised one shadowy hand.
"Your essence will become part of that reconstruction."
"So you're mixing your Bloodline with mine?"
"Yes."
"And then?"
"I begin again as one of your Familiars."
There was no hesitation in her answer.
"I will lose most of my present knowledge, alongside many of my memories."
That finally surprised him.
Revira continued.
"But I will gain the opportunity to evolve into something greater than what I currently am. As our strength returns, so too should much of what is lost."
A black-and-purple rose appeared above her free hand.
It resembled Jaime's creation.
Yet this rose bore intricate golden runes alongside the darkness.
"If these conditions are acceptable, then I welcome the contract."
The flower drifted toward Jaime.
Every instinct he possessed went berserk.
His body wanted to move.
His Spirit surged.
His Bloodline pulsed inside him.
Jaime clenched his hands at his sides.
"Couple more questions."
Revira's glowing eyes narrowed slightly.
"What powers do you have?"
He pointed toward the floating rose.
"And how strong is your Bloodline? Bringing your people into my territory isn't gonna cause twenty cosmic civilizations to show up trying to erase my ass, right?"
For the first time, Jaime sensed something approaching amusement from her.
"You truly are unusual."
"Thank you."
"That was not entirely praise."
"I'm taking it anyway."
"Very few beings at your level would remain capable of questioning the situation beneath the influence of such a strong instinctual Talent."
That gave Jaime something else to worry about later.
"As for my Bloodline, once it is combined with yours, its previous identity should become nearly impossible to recognize."
"So no angry cosmic debt collectors?"
"Not for that reason."
"I'll take it."
"The descendants or beings created through my new form should therefore attract no unwanted attention based solely upon my old lineage."
Jaime nodded slowly.
"And your abilities?"
"I possess authority over certain aspects of Death and Curses."
Jaime's eyes lit up.
Revira noticed.
"My control over Shadow is considerably less important. I doubt it will survive the reconstruction intact. The same can be said for several lesser abilities I collected throughout my existence."
Death.
Curses.
A powerful Bloodline.
An entity whose existence could apparently evolve alongside his.
And every instinct Jaime possessed wanted the contract.
That was enough.
"Fuck it."
He grabbed the rose.
Electricity tore through his soul.
Jaime's entire body locked.
His vision vanished beneath swirling mists.
Symbols flashed across the darkness.
Scarlet.
Amethyst.
Black.
Gold.
Thousands.
Millions.
Patterns he couldn't understand danced across his consciousness.
Then something inside him opened.
Jaime gasped.
It felt like discovering that a piece of himself had been missing his entire life.
And only now—
after finally getting it back—
had he realized the hole was ever there.
Bloody tears rolled down his cheeks.
Emotion hit him in waves.
Joy.
Grief.
Rage.
Love.
Hunger.
Mercy.
Cruelty.
Possession.
Protection.
They overlapped until Jaime could no longer distinguish one from another.
And beneath them all came understanding.
He was Jaime Fareway.
An Earthling.
Human.
But that wasn't everything.
He was also a Primogenitor of the Blood Origin.
Divine—
yet not divine.
Infernal—
yet not infernal.
Merciless.
Merciful.
Both.
Neither.
A living contradiction.
Something capable of bringing ruin with one hand and salvation with the other.
A king.
A monster.
A beginning.
An end.
Visions threatened to overwhelm him.
Civilizations burned.
Others flourished beneath banners he did not recognize.
Countless voices screamed his name in hatred.
Countless more whispered it in prayer.
An Empire stretched farther than Jaime could comprehend.
Then everything vanished.
Jaime slowly opened his eyes.
A System notification hovered directly in front of him.
[ Congratulations! Bloodline Evolution Successful. ]
Ghoul King (SS-) → Bloody Ghoul Primogenitor (SSS-)
Another message appeared.
King's Instinct (SS+) → Primogenitor's Wisdom (SSS-)
Jaime stared at the notifications.
Strangely, he felt calm.
Far calmer than someone who had just experienced what amounted to a spiritual identity crisis probably should.
Primogenitor's Wisdom was already doing something.
He could feel it organizing his thoughts.
Not suppressing emotion.
Clarifying it.
Separating instinct from impulse.
Information from assumption.
Useful.
Very useful.
Then Jaime noticed the timer.
His calm nearly broke.
"Aw, you gotta be fucking kidding me."
Before Revira appeared, Jaime had roughly twelve hours remaining before the protection surrounding his Subspace ended.
Now?
01:29:47
"Ninety fucking minutes?"
The contract had consumed more than ten hours.
Jaime wanted to be angry.
Then he checked his Bloodline again.
SSS-.
"...Worth it."
His awareness turned inward.
The organ above his stomach—the structure he had previously been calling his Bloodline Core—had changed dramatically.
It was now approximately the size of an apple.
Multicolored light shimmered across it.
Jaime focused.
His perspective shifted.
Suddenly, he was looking inside another space.
A world.
His Familiar Space.
Jaime went silent.
An endless ocean of blood spread beneath him, gleaming with shifting colors.
Islands drifted across its surface.
Some were tiny.
Others stretched farther than Jaime could currently perceive.
They differed wildly in shape and composition.
Stone.
Forests.
Mountains.
Things he didn't recognize.
At the center of the realm floated a gigantic ring of mountains.
The range formed a perfect circle, dividing the Familiar Space into four immense sections.
Within that central ring drifted several more islands.
One stood larger than all the others.
Jaime focused on it.
Then froze.
"Well, goddamn."
Revira stood beneath a black sun.
And she looked nothing like the child-shaped shadow who had accepted his invitation.
Her skin was alabaster white, covered in black symbols accented by threads of gold.
Living black fire poured down her back like hair.
The flames cracked and hissed with every movement, reminding Jaime of a campfire burning somewhere deep in an unknown forest.
Each strand moved between physical matter and pure energy.
Her eyes were even more striking.
Black.
Darker than the void around them.
Inside that darkness rested brilliant reddish-gold pupils that shone like distant stars.
And somehow—
somehow—
she had style.
Black-and-gold military pants.
A plain black shirt.
A black leather jacket covered with golden accents.
Across the back stretched the image of a giant scythe wrapped in vines of black, red, gold, and amethyst roses.
Jaime stared.
There was really only one reasonable conclusion.
Revira had become an absolute Empress.
Not that he planned on saying that out loud.
Probably.
She appeared roughly his age now, but that wasn't what caught Jaime's attention.
Neither was her appearance.
It was the fucking sun.
A black sun floated above her island.
A black sun with a face.
Jaime looked at it.
The sun looked at him.
Its enormous expression suddenly shifted into a cheerful smile.
Jaime blinked.
"What the fuck?"
Revira noticed his presence.
She gestured downward.
Jaime formed an avatar inside the Familiar Space and descended onto the island.
Before he could ask anything, Revira spoke.
"Yes. It is real."
Jaime opened his mouth to ask something else.
"No. It is not an ability I possessed previously."
He closed it again.
"And yes. I understand enough of its function to use it for our continued growth."
Jaime narrowed his eyes.
"You know, this whole reading-me-before-I-speak thing is gonna get annoying."
Revira smiled.
"You will survive."
"That remains to be seen."
Jaime pointed upward.
"What can Smiley the Nightmare Sun do?"
The black sun's grin somehow widened.
"And how are your memories settling? Powers? Bloodline? Everything."
Revira tilted her head.
Black flames shifted around her shoulders, dropping harmless sparks across the ground.
"I possess an ability to create unique weapons based upon beings I have killed, curses or infections I have created or consumed, and particular forms of energy."
Jaime's expression became serious.
"The weapons are more than objects."
She gestured toward the island.
"They may become my army."
That got his attention.
"They can develop within your Familiar Space, grow beneath my influence, and eventually form an exclusive Familiar lineage connected to your descendants."
"So you can make living weapons?"
"In simplified terms."
"That's fucking awesome."
"I may also summon them into battle without requiring you to personally bear the manifestation cost."
Jaime looked back toward the sun.
"And him?"
"The Black Sun increases the potential of spirits formed beneath its light."
Revira's expression softened slightly.
"It accelerates their development as well."
The enormous sun continued smiling down at them.
"The more advanced my Familiars become, the stronger the Black Sun will grow."
"How strong?"
"Eventually, its influence should cover the entirety of your Familiar Space."
Jaime whistled.
"And after that?"
"I do not know."
That answer somehow excited him more.
Future possibilities raced through Jaime's mind.
Armies.
Weapon spirits.
Different Familiar bloodlines.
Entire military houses tied directly to his lineage.
The ideas multiplied faster than he could organize them.
"So what happened to you?"
Jaime turned back toward Revira.
"My Bloodline jumped all the way to Bloody Ghoul Primogenitor, and King's Instinct became Primogenitor's Wisdom."
Revira smiled.
Her hair flared.
Black-and-gold sparks erupted behind her head, briefly forming something resembling a fiery halo.
"Although much of my previous knowledge remains inaccessible, the fact that my reconstructed Bloodline has already reached SSS- demonstrates the extraordinary compatibility between us."
Jaime leaned forward.
"What'd you get?"
Revira's smile widened.
"Black Sun Soul Reaper Princess."
SSS-.
Jaime was quiet.
Then—
"Oh, that name goes hard as fuck."
"I possess many new abilities."
Revira continued as though he hadn't spoken.
"But I believe learning the fundamentals should take priority."
Black fire engulfed her.
Jaime took one instinctive step backward.
Flames exploded outward.
Heat rolled across the island with enough intensity that Jaime knew normal material would have been annihilated.
Diamond would have liquefied.
Metal would have boiled.
Jaime?
Jaime grinned.
The flames collapsed.
Revira was gone.
In her place floated a scythe.
Eight feet long from end to end.
Its shaft was pitch-black.
Scarlet and golden runes shaped like roses glowed across its surface.
A two-foot blade of solidified black flame curved from its head, hints of purple shifting beneath the darkness.
Jaime stared.
His eyes widened.
Then something deeply embarrassing happened.
He squealed.
Not shouted.
Not yelled.
Squealed.
"OH, THAT SHIT IS FIRE!"
He shot toward the weapon.
Revira would remember this moment forever.
Jaime would later insist it never happened.
He would also deny repeatedly begging her to make him a matching cloak.
The fact that he somehow emerged from the Familiar Space wearing what he described as a really fucking cool cloak had absolutely no bearing on the truth of those denials.
None whatsoever.