Sanguine Prince | Chapter 25: Oaths and Oddities (Second Draft)

Congratulations! You have unlocked [Awakened Bloodline] (Passive, Level 1)! 

The truth of your Blood has been called to the fore by the S̵̊͠0̴̒̈?̵̋̕7̵͊̍&̷̈́͠l̴͖̅4̷̛̂?̵̎̍3̴̱͌ within yourself. Guided by the genetic lineage of your bloodline, whose roots are more ancient than you truly understand, you have tapped into a power of a caliber you are not even remotely prepared to properly wield! As the first Scion of your bloodline to Awaken in over a thousand years, you have also gained new traits!

Congratulations! You have unlocked [Trait: Primogenitor's Blessing] (Passive, Level 1)!

Despite your own ignorance of its sources, your Blood's ancient prestige and authority have been passed down your genetic line. As the first to Awaken in your bloodline in an eon, you have been gifted the ancient blessings of your bloodline. Due to your ignorance, however, and certain secrets yet to be uncovered, you are unable to make use of this trait. Until you find the key to unlock its secrets, you cannot realize your full, terrible potential!

Congratulations! You have unlocked [Trait: Aura of the I̷̜̊/̴̯̿|̶̶̺̚̚͝p̶̑̋3̸̜̅r̷͚̚@̵̯͗7̵̏̿0̸̿̄9̸͂̍ ̷̘̽$̶̋͊5̵̌̓n̵̽̕6̵͚́u̶̘͂1̵̧̏n̴̛͕3̶̉͜ ] (Passive, Level 1)!

Having taken the first steps toward unlocking the secrets of your bloodline, you have tapped into something ancient beyond your comprehension. When pulled to the fore by the right circumstances and frame of mind, all of which you are hopelessly incapable of fully understanding at present, this Aura will compel the obedience of even those who might usually crush you like a bug!

Arcturus stared at the notifications in front of him with a mix of curiosity and confusion.

Having moved to a more private venue at Maurice’s invitation, he was seated on a sofa-lounge in his grand-uncle’s lavishly decorated living quarters above the tailoring shop. The reasons for needing privacy were sitting near and around him: Adam, Andy, Danica, and their Terran companion, whose name Arcturus had learned was Caeara. The improbability of his friends from Earth appearing at the exact tailor shop needed to meet him, at the exact right time, was not lost on him, either.

Arcturus darted a knowing look at the ceiling and away from the notification.

Order was playing games. He was almost sure of it.

You really believe the ostensible Architect-of-All is choosing to spend time solely on you?

Arcturus narrowed his eyes in response to the question from his subconscious.

It wasn’t like there were any true coincidences in Terra, after all.

Fate was real.

And you think I’m conceited.

Arcturus rolled his eyes and tuned back in to the ongoing conversation, temporarily minimizing his notifications to concentrate better as Adam spoke to Tylariel.

“I can understand your immediate trepidation, Lady Archon,” his best friend was saying patiently, “but I can assure you that we are by no means going to impede you, and certainly not Arcturus.”

“Daeva are trouble,” Tylariel responded with frosty displeasure. “It is well-known, Secondborn, that the few among your kind gifted with an Archon’s power have been the source of several of the most contentious events in the Empire’s history.”

“With all due respect, my lady, that’s an unfairly broad brush to paint us all with,” Adam replied with his usual, patented calm. “We are no more collectively responsible for the actions of a highly visible few than you are for the actions of distant, recidivistic relatives.”

“I have no recidivistic relatives,” Tylariel responded dismissively.

“You—well, we, now, I suppose—do have peers that aren’t exactly delightful examples of humanity,” Arcturus noted mildly, while glancing over at his Mentor.

Tylariel slid her eyes to him with pursed lips and then turned back to Adam to respond to him instead of Arcturus.

“Be that as it may, that does not change the fact that you Daeva warp the Tapestry of Fate by merit of your existence, often with wildly unpredictable results.”

“I will accept that, Lady Rubastra, but it does not mitigate my point—nor Arcturus’ observations. I am sure you can understand where I am coming from, my lady,” Adam asserted with a careful mix of respect and confidence. “It also merits mentioning that, unlike you and your sister—a woman I firmly believe stopped my friend from accidentally getting himself killed—we have known Arcturus since childhood.”

“Then what are you proposing, Daeva? To bind yourself to my service?”

Danica snorted at Tylariel’s assumption, and Adam shot her a look as Tylariel’s expression hardened.

Arcturus tried, and failed, not to smile: that was Danica to a tee.

“When Arcturus claimed us as his ‘allies’ and mentioned adding us to his ‘Retinue’, we received a kind of… divine insight,” Adam said, choosing his words carefully.

“Divine insight?” Tylariel asked skeptically.

“It would be more sensible to call it a Quest prompt, but whenever we try to explain the System to people on Terra—”

“Yes, yes, we are familiar with your abnormal ability to guide your aetheric growth,” Tylariel said with immediate dismissal. “Skip to the point, Daeva.”

“—they don’t want to hear it,” Adam said with resignation, glancing at Arcturus with a wry look.

“The point Adam is trying to make, your hotness—”

“Excuse me?” Tylariel sputtered.

“—is that we were given a prompt, very likely from The Highest, to accept or decline an official allegiance as part of Arcturus’ Court,” Andy finished unapologetically, smiling confidently at the glaring redhead.

“W-while I cannot say I received the same guidance, my lady, I can attest to something happening!” Caeara interjected hurriedly. “I know not what kind of divine machinations the Daeva are privy to, and personally, I find their attempted explanations somewhat bewildering. However, I can attest that I was somehow included in His Highness’—”

Andy and Danica groaned.

“—proclamation, and I felt a suffusion of Aether that I knew instinctively would create a bond between myself and the Prince if I accepted its presence.”

Tylariel was still glaring at Andy’s grinning face when Caeara finished, but to Arcturus’ relief, the redhead didn’t attempt to obliterate his friend on the spot, and instead seemed to lend far more weight to the native Terran’s words than anything Adam had said up to that point.

“An Aether-forged Oath of Loyalty? I’ve heard of them,” Tylariel admitted. “Supposedly, the original Houses in the Dominions gave them to the Kings that ruled over them at the founding of the Empire, but this is the first I’m hearing of one between Daeva.”

“I know you are still upset with me, given what happened earlier, Mentor,” Arcturus said as Tylariel sat back thoughtfully. “But I would be lying if I said I am willing to part with my friends, even if it costs me your tutelage. I already lost them once. I won’t lose them again.”

Arcturus attempted to ignore the self-consciousness his words roused in him, especially when he peripherally noticed Adam, Andy, and Danica grinning at him with both gratitude and a promise of relentless teasing to come.

He felt a ‘Check’ attempt to show itself when he finished, but it was ignored.

“Not even a day as my apprentice, and you throw more complications at me than anyone I’ve met in my life,” Tylariel muttered irritably, though Arcturus could already tell, after the brief time they’d been united, that her heart wasn’t in it. “Very well, Regis. If these Secondborn and their companion wish to give their loyalty to you, then, as the trueborn heir to the Valarian Throne, you are entitled to have their Oaths. I have no right to interfere with that, Mentor or not.”

“How delightful,” Maurice said from nearby, having remained silent throughout the exchange. “We may very well be watching history being made. The prodigal prince and his loyal companions’ first steps on the path to glory.”

“I never took you for a playwright, Maurice,” Tylariel sniffed.

“Who doesn’t love some dramatic fare, my lady? Especially when it’s so very uplifting.”

Arcturus ignored the pair as they spoke and focused on his friends, watching as their eyes darted in the way that told him they were reading a prompt. They seemed to be scanning through something he could only guess at, and he wasn’t sure what would happen until Adam—presumably the first to finish—spoke.

“I, Adam Warman, do hereby pledge my fealty and loyalty to Arcturus Regis Valoura. I shall be his blade, his shield, and his faithful companion. From now until The Ending, unless he should release me of this Oath, I shall agree to be bound to him and adhere to his will. I make this pledge in full awareness of its immensity, and with the glad acceptance of the weight of such a duty upon my shoulders. In the name of Order, let my pledge be sealed.”

Arcturus looked at Adam in surprise for a short time after he spoke, and was about to speak, when something hit his core like a hammer to the gut.

He gasped out in pain as something burned inside of him, and noticed Adam constricting similarly as a connection flared between them with sudden and intense power. It felt like he was being branded. No, being branded would be pleasant by comparison. His existence warped, as if it were being boiled, frozen, and then boiled again. His blood grew hot in his veins, and he tasted copper as he bit down on his lip to distract himself from the pain.

For a moment that seemed to stretch to eternity, he lost all awareness of where he was—until suddenly, blessedly, it was over as abruptly as it had begun.

Arcturus returned to awareness to find himself on the floor on all fours, panting for breath, and recovering from already-abating full-body tremors.

He looked up to see Tylariel on her feet, with a sword of what appeared to be elegantly braided, extremely condensed vines pointed at Adam, who was panting and half-hanging off his chair. Andy and Danica were also on their feet, the former holding a blue-bladed shortsword in his right hand and a wicked-looking red-bladed dagger in his left—the latter gripping a ludicrously large white staff topped by a disconnected golden halo floating where its capstone should have been.

Caeara was checking Adam, while Sumeko and Jess were flanking Tylariel with guns in their hands.

As for Maurice, the Tailor was simply sipping his tea, as if absolutely nothing were amiss.

“Stop!” Arcturus wheezed, freezing everyone in place as the attention turned toward him.

Tylariel’s eyes darted from Arcturus to Adam and back again, her lips pursed in anger.

“What happened, Apprentice?” she demanded, not quite managing to mask the genuine concern in her voice.

It was very nearly touching, in truth: despite her brusque manner, she really did seem to care.

“I have no idea, Mentor,” Arcturus responded honestly, realizing he’d started sweating. He rose to his feet unsteadily, frowning at the tingling in his body and gingerly rolling his shoulders. It felt like he’d been put through a scalding hot shower, except it was his insides that had been seared. “Something happened between Adam and me. I’m not sure I could really explain it, but it wasn’t an attack or anything of that sort. It’s hard to properly put it into words, but I can feel him.”

In his mind’s eye, it was like a tether of light between himself and his friend. When he focused on it, he could tell exactly whom the tether belonged to and how strong it was. In fact, a prompt opened in front of his eyes when he thought about seeing more information.

INFORMATION PANEL

Basic Information

[Oathsworn Tether: Adam Warman] (Passive, Level 1)

This tether connects a Liege with their Oathsworn. As the loyalty level of the Oathsworn grows, so too will the mutual benefits of the tether. If the loyalty level reaches 0, the tether will break.

Current Benefits

[Sense Location] (Active, Level 1)

By focusing on the tether, the Liege may identify their Oathsworn’s map location. This effect will change from exact positioning to a cardinal direction outside of the effective range.

Current Range: 1,000 Meters

Loyalty Progress

Fealty Points: 10 / 50

20% Progress to [Level 2]