Greetings All
Zak left me with so many options, and after some background discussions and bouncing ideas off each other, we have a heck of a ride coming. Before you get started, be sure to read the previous update.
She calls for her helpers. She is in so much pain.
Mortis clasped his hands together and listened to the mournful howls around them. They weren’t threatening. They were simply a reminder that the creature in the forest had given them some leeway for the night. Come morning they would have to have the answer it needed to its predicament.
The need to pray to something larger than him for help was strong, but he had seen what “gods” were capable of and he didn’t know where his thoughts would go. Instead, he lowered his head and allowed his thoughts to wander on what was needed.
A god can’t pray to themselves, but your followers can.
Mortis turned his head to see Leopold and Anna sitting close by with their heads bowed as well. He felt their devotion, and while it made him uncomfortable, he knew their strength would only add to his. They bolstered him.
“What now?” asked Sebastian as he came to sit next to the revenant. “Are we just going to leave the mage and the Lifedrinker to conduct this ritual without us? Shouldn’t we make plans to shelter the twins as much as possible?”
“I can’t protect them from what I don’t know or understand.” Admitted Mortis.
The old King nodded his head and picked at something in his teeth. Mortis was sure it was from a Hunger but said nothing. He looked at the burning flames in the church, theatrics by the thing within him, and knew that he couldn’t leave Adiran and Lucien on their own. He needed to understand what was going on.
“When are you going to tell them, you have two souls in that jerky-like body of yours?” asked Sebastian softly.
Mortis had no idea how he knew but remained unmoving to think about his answer. His hesitation must have been misinterpreted as denial because Sebastian continued.
“In the pocket reality, Trix and I saw two of you, both dressed in armour.”
“I am not denying what you saw.” Said Mortis softly. “I simply cannot explain what it is.”
I am Bellum.
Mortis shook his head to indicate that Bellum couldn’t be heard by Sebastian. Sebastian may not have heard the spirit, but he saw how Mortis reacted. The King looked up at the flames and asked, “What is its name?”
“It calls itself Bellum.”
Sebastian chuckled, “Well now, you seem to travel in high circles. Bellum was a martial godling that used to roam the lands around Clarprati. He wasn’t only known for his fighting tenacity but also his driving need to challenge those he viewed as stronger. Makes sense he would come to you.”
“You’re awfully calm about all of this.”
Sebastian stretched out his right hand and showed all his fingers were talons. It would seem his transformations were no longer allowing him to return to his human form as easily.
“I know I’m a hard ass. I have to be to not all this to become me, but it’s becoming difficult. I want this curse broken, but I don’t want it to be at the expense of my sister’s children. I might not have liked the man that sired them, but they are my blood too. You can relate to that, I am sure.” He closed his talons. “We can’t leave those two alone together. Something isn’t right but I can’t put my finger on it.”
He was right, Mortis knew he was right, but he didn’t know if his interfering would interfere with what Lucien was planning.
“I can’t just interfere with what’s happening. I don’t know how Lucien is going to break this curse, and me stepping in at the wrong time could spell disaster for all of us.”
“Not if we have a spy.”
“Trix?”
“She can move through the shadows and remain unseen.”
“Are you asking permission or giving me a heads-up?”
“A bit of both.” Sebastian grinned.
Mortis considered this for a few minutes and then nodded his head. “Do it.”
Lucien had taken the blood given to him by the creature in the forest and was starting to draw the glyphs he would need. It was a risk using a blood source as contaminated as what he had, but he had little choice. There were few other clean sources unless he was willing to go after the elders of his race.
As he made the glyphs, Adiran was muttering the various spells meant to protect them if something went wrong. Now and again, he would pause, as if he forgot some of the words, but he quickly corrected himself.
In time, the glyphs and spells were in place. Now it was time to add the finer details. While not a mage himself. Lucien knew a few spells to ensure the safety of everyone in the room, especially himself.
“Adiran, take this.” The Lifedrinker offered him a strange token that seemed to have a bloody fingerprint on it. “This should protect you should any of my glyphs fail.
Adiran took it without hesitation and slipped it into a pocket somewhere within his robe. He then looked to the Lifedrinker and asked. “Explain this to me one more time.”
The Lifedrinker sighed, he had explained this twice before, but the mage seemed to not fully grasp the situation. The Lifedrinker pointed to the forest.
“Out there is a corrupted godling, corrupted by having its immortality stolen and forced to continue living as those bound to it by its blood fell into debauchery. Everything Lifedrinkers did was fed back into it, corrupting it, corrupting things around it. We are immortal because of it, and it is cursed because of us.”
“I understand that. I don’t understand this.” Adiran waved his hand to indicate the glyphs.
“Its spirit is shattered, Adiran. I need to pull the pieces together to fix what the old masters broke. The glyphs will help concentrate those shards and compress the essence back into a whole soul.”
“How will that not destroy your race?”
“We have bred true for millennia. All that remains of what was taken from her is the hunger that plagues us still.”
“What if you’re wrong and you take immortality from your people?”
“I have discussed this with you at length. Do you not remember?”
Since 
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