Kyris: It is true that he was here, but I have no idea where he is now. Oh, and greatest salutations, King Frederick. My name is Kyris Béchalles, Prince of Gaea - the third planet in the Helios System. Jefrye: I'm Jefrye Claydel, Admiral in the Inter-Planetary Armada, Your Majesty. These other two are pirate scum whose names you should not bother remembering. Davian: Very amusing. *to Frederick* Davian Shancher, Captain of the Star Raider, at your service, Your Highness. Luekas: The name's Luekas Prewlee, First Mate on the aforementioned ship. Kyris: I hope you understand that your story is somewhat confusing, King Frederick. When he was here Cyrus seemed perfectly fine to me. And when all there is to go after is two spoken accounts that contradict each other it is difficult to find out which one is the truth.
Frederick: Well, I don't suppose I can make it anything beyond hearsay in here. I suppose I should start at the beginning. Our mutual father is Mihail Dracula, now going by the name of Michael Drake. I grew up idolizing the man. He paved the way for ending the blood feuds between the different immortal races and getting us all to understand we need each other to survive. For that, if that alone, the world owes him a great debt, and I have carried his mission with me into my own work. Carried it even further than he allows it to be carried, I should say. For... ...This is a difficult concept to get across. ...Let me ask you something. Imagine your favorite animal, be it majestic or fascinating or simply cute. Now... what would you think of someone who "loved" that animal so much, was so desperate to see not a single one of them come to harm, that they committed genocide against every single one of that animal's natural predators? Wiped entire species off the face of the earth because it simply drove them to a murderous rage to think that anyone could prey upon their favorite animal?
Kyris: I... I would call that lunacy, to be honest. If that is what really is going on in your world then I am sorry. Now I also see why Cyrus acted as he did. After all, when you are born into something you grow so accustomed to it that you fail to see what it really is. Like I did... Jefrye: Your Highness... Kyris: No! If I had realized what was going on then maybe Mother-- Jefrye: You were a kid! Kyris: Still... *to Frederick* If he returns here, I will gladly be of assistance in helping him see through the lies. Davian: *to Frederick* If I may ask, what is it about Cyrus that makes you do this? Is it simply because he is your brother, or is there something he has that can help foil your father's ambitions? An ability or object, or something like that? Luekas: *muttering to himself* We are in enough danger as it is and he wants to start another venture!
Frederick: ...No wonder you understand me so well. It was the same for me. While I am a vampire, my mother was human. See... every immortal can mate with humans, but vampires are nearly unique in that we're the only ones who can't mate with our own kind as well. An undead womb cannot bear a living child, you see. And... due to my father's status as a cambion, the highest grade of magical blood there is... the woman he sought to be my mother had to be one as well, or I would be something less. And while vampires can imbue humans with the gift of vampirism... they can only do it if they are of higher blood than the human they wish to turn. So I was resigned to the fact that I would have to watch my mother grow old and die. But then something happened. Something wonderful. Something miraculous. A one in a million chance for any cambion human. She transformed. Became an immortal herself. A new kind. The first of her own kind. I was... so happy for her... ...until it became apparent that she turned into something that Michael... would not be pleased with. ...I don't know if I will ever forgive myself for my actions that day. I was a fool. I underestimated just how cold-blooded my father was. I convinced mother to go back. That surely, surely Michael wouldn't murder the mother of his own firstborn child. ...I... was wrong. And Mother was the one who paid the price for my blindness. Frederick: ...Yes. The fact that he is blood makes this... deeply personal. I see in him a chance to undo my folly of centuries past. You can't see the dawn of a new immortal species coming. And if a "malignant" one, as my father so grotesquely calls the species he's wiped out and plucked at the root, happens to be born in my father's territory... there's nothing I can do but fight to make that territory smaller, or pray my spies get to the new miracles before my father does. My brother... is different. He is... I'm sure he's told you this, but he's a hybrid whose magical genetics have not cooperated. At the moment he is indistinguishable from a mortal human, but that could change at any time. And when his genetics finally express themselves, he could turn out like anything, his magical genes taking his dual parentage as nothing but guidelines with which to build something apart from either. ...Something brand new. He is a miracle I can actually see coming, and if he turns out... "wrong"... then there is not a doubt in my mind that our father will kill him just as readily as he killed my mother. I need to get him out of my father's clutches before that happens.
Allison: He was? Hold on... *Puts her hands on her temples.* Dracula, that's familiar. Was he here? I can't remember. Ow... Ellis: Are you alright, dear? Allison: I'm good. He... he was here! He was the werewolf, and he definitely seemed like a nice guy. *To Frederick.* I can't feel his life force any more, so I think he left this place. You should try somewhere else, maybe? He might turn back up here, though. I think he liked us. Mettle: Do you have some other way of finding him? Maybe some type of tracking magic? Allison: Did Cyrus say they had magic? I can't really remember... Do you guys have magic? Allison: You shouldn't feel bad about it. People lie all the time. It's not your fault if they do. Matra: As a fellow dealer in miracles, I agree that they must be nurtured properly. Even the purest of oceans can be tainted with trash, a metaphor I'm sure the sailors among us can appreciate. More to the point, why not simply remove the person who would taint your miracle? He can't be all powerful--no one is. Mettle: Agreed on all points. If your father is the problem, then make sure he isn't a problem anymore.
Kyris: Salutations, Will. I am Kyris and this is Jefrye, Davian and Luekas. Jefrye: Greetings. Davian: Hello. Luekas: Hi. Kyris: Why not tell us a little more about yourself and where you come from?
Frederick: It depends on you definition of "having" magic. It would be more accurate to say that we are magical. Immortals have all sorts of magical abilities, but as for what you might call "casting spells"... precious few can do that. Witches and warlocks come close, but in truth they're just channeling borrowed power from one of the old ones. True sorcerers are... exceedingly rare. Frederick: I have dedicated the past several centuries of my life to doing just that. But it is far from easy. Michael and Cecilia Drake are extremely powerful, charismatic and intelligent. They control a great portion of the east coast of the land I come from, and command the loyalty of many powerful immortals as well. But I will do it in the end. I have resources he refuses to touch, and I will show him the strength of the people he has denied the right to exist.
Bellaflor: Magic? Did you say magic?! Oh, that's just wonderful! Look Sugar, it seems we may get some knowledge before we go to the Academy! Sugar White: Hmm.
Kyris: I am so sorry for your loss. It did not exactly happen like that for my mother. But while Father never actively caused her death, he is responsible just the same. When he chose her for his concubine she was happy, and soon she was the number one concubine, second only to the Empress. But almost right after I was born he started ignoring her. Her status dwindled more and more over the years as she kept hoping he'd take her back. He didn't. Then when I was fifteen she realized the truth, that he never really truly cared for her, and she couldn't take it. So she took her own life... Kyris: I pray to the infinite stars that you will succeed with your endeavor. There is no problem in existence that can not be solved if you never give up.
Allison: Really? I'm thinking about selling jewelry along with my dolls. Do you know what might sell the best? Allison: So, it kind of works like our Energy and Controls, where we're really just drawing on the power of Yara. Cool, I learned something new today. Matra: An academy for magic, I assume. Well, if you want to know more about the arcane, I'm more than willing to answer any questions you might have. I just hope our magics are similar. Allison: Yeah, I guess this is all kind of hard to follow if you don't have the proper context. Don't worry too much about it, since you just got here! Anyway, my name is Allison, and these are my friends, Rush and Roll. *Gestures to Rush and Roll, who bow.* Welcome to the Chatroom, I hope you have fun!
Ayana: *blinks* We didn’t just get here. We just had a conversation about magic. We’ve been here a while now.
Frederick: That is a horrible way to go all the same. I have to ask though... You say this started happening after you were born. Was that a coincidence? I'm sorry, for reasons of my own, that remark got me thinking.
Kyris: To be honest, I have no idea if it was a coincidence or not. What I am sure of, though, is that was not because Father finally had the son he wanted since I have quite a few older brothers, as well as older sisters. In fact, I am the youngest out of all Father’s 100 children. Jefrye: Yeah, that does sound like a lot, but Gaean nobility rely solely on incubators when it comes to reproduction so it is not uncommon for a couple to have more than one child on the way simultaniously. Still, the Emperor has unusually many children even by our standards. Kyris: If I may ask, what in your own situation made you ask me that question?
Frederick: My guess is that he doesn't, if it's anything like my situation. I don't know about a hundred children, but I've had at least 20 children, and their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., would easily number in the hundreds. I'm sure I have at least 100 descendants who are still alive. But when your family gets to that size, it's pretty much impossible to keep track of them all. Speaking of which... Frederick: Just thinking about royal bloodlines and the duty to keep certain traits alive. Cambions like myself have a duty to produce cambion heirs, lest the entire bloodline go extinct. Especially if they're a member of a species that's just starting out. No cambion can be born without at least one cambion parent, so if all of the cambions die out, part of the species itself is lost forever. I was wondering if there were some royal trait your father wanted an heir to inherit that your birth made him realize your mother couldn't give him. That thankfully isn't an issue where I come from, since things like that are obvious well before childbirth, but the clearly alien circumstances where you come from got me wondering if perhaps things I take for granted aren't so easy to pass on.
Kyris: Actually, he does. It is not as impressive as it sounds, though. Father is only able to do it thanks to his photographic memory. Kyris: It is true that if you compare me to Father's favorites you would hardly guess that we are in fact siblings, but... First of all, there is no such thing as magic in our world. Therefore it can never be such a trait Father wishes or not wishes for. It could possibly be genius-level intellect he fears since out of all his children I am the only one to inherit that from him. That would not explain why he started treating Mother like he did soon after I was born, however. Intelligence is not something you can tell during infancy.
Katsumi: A…photographic memory? I understand what a memory is, of course, but how is it photographic? What is photographic? Sapphire: No magic in your world at all? That…that makes no sense. No one is a mage? No enchanting? No potions?
Kyris: Well, Katsumi, I think the easiest way to explain how a photographic memory work is like this. You enter a room and are allowed to look around for... let us say five minutes. Then you leave the room and someone else changes one small detail in the room. If you have a photographic memory then you can come back in and see exactly what has been changed right away. It also works that you remember every line in a book after just reading it once. I have a very good memory myself, but I am not anywhere close to Father in that regard. Jefrye: And that is correct, Sapphire. But we have technology that helps make our lives easier, so it isn't a big loss. Davian: I actually think it is impossible to miss something you never had to begin with.
