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Languidly stretching on the luxurious four post bed piled high with pillows and silks, Theophanes yawned and let out a very uncultured hurumph. He had been enjoying his time toying with the gorgeous glamoured boy, but it was about time he wrapped up his fun and got down to business. Letting his fingertips slide through Cire’s shimmering golden hair a final time, he gave the other sun elf’s cheek a light pat and snapped his fingers. He didn’t need to snap his fingers to free the young lordling from the charm effect, but he couldn’t help himself, he loved the drama.
Cire didn’t immediately awake from the enchantment his mind had been ensnared by. It was more like pulling himself from an extremely vivid dream than anything else. The warmth of Theophanes lap, where his head was currently resting, and the soft silks of his robe along with the satin sheets all hindered the process, but did not delay it entirely.
Struck dumb by his surroundings, Cire gawked and froze up. He was laying in a truly elegant bed, in the middle of the Shadowed Forest. Trees encircled the cushioned out-of-place piece of luxury furniture and animal calls rang out through the tree canopy. Once things finally all caught up to him he did a double take of the forest, then Theophanes, and then back to the forest before hurriedly sitting up and scooting backwards to the opposite corner of the bed. He was thankfully dressed, but this was an odd way and place to come to his senses.
“W-w-what’s going on? W-w-who are you? Why are we in the forest?” Cire managed to stammer out, still getting a grip on things while memories caught up with him. He realized he actually knew the answers to a couple of those questions, at least partially. Shaking his head, he cleared out some of the cobwebs and gave Theophanes a suspicious stare.
“Why did you charm and abduct me?”
A lazy smile broadened while watching Cire wake up, Theophanes didn’t bother moving as the other sun elf panicked. He simply gathered up the end of his white feather boa and played with it waiting for Cire to come to his senses. Then, once he seemed to have grasped what had happened, he nodded.
“Really? Darling, that’s what you want to know? Not why I have been watching you for months? Maybe thank me for saving your life when I stuck my neck out for you? Perhaps you’re wondering how you could attain a level of beauty such as my own? Well, that last one you would have trouble with, but I am ready. You may praise and thank me.”
The rambling, and quite frankly narcissistic, response was not what Cire had been expecting. He was successfully bewildered and managed to tilt his head in question. He could swear he had never seen this man before, but the swan. The elf had shape changed into a swan after charming him back at the Tempest Treetops. Theophanes had compelled Cire to shift into a bat and they had flown here together.
Cire could remember the swan, he knew he had seen one around Sunset and even here. But why? Who was this elf? Why had he been stalking him? For months! If by design or not, the odd response had relaxed Cire somewhat. This was something far beyond his control, and he was clearly outclassed. He decided to roll with the punches and nodded.
“You’re right, well, maybe not right, but anyways. Let’s start off with something easier. What is your name? And thank you for saving my life. When was that?”
Reaching past Cire, obviously moving into his personal space to keep him off balance, Theophanes plucked an apple from a bowl on a nightstand next to the bed. Then he took a large juicy bite as he laid back into the bed. Slowly he tapped a finger to his chin as he chewed and deliberately stretched out the silence.
“You don’t remember?”
Instead of immediately responding Cire stopped to think about when he had seen the swan before, or even heard it. Now confronted with the reality that the swans he had rarely seen around Sunset was actually most likely a singular swan, this elf, he was more than sure he had seen him before. He couldn’t place the exact moments, let alone one where his life was saved. Whether the elf’s plan was to distract him or simply re-direct him, it had worked. Cire was more at ease. Besides, it was less likely by the moment that in the immediate he faced any sort of danger.
“No. I don’t think that I do, my apologies. Care to remind me? And I am still waiting on that name.” It was undoubted that this other sun elf knew his name, but perhaps giving it would prompt him finally to reveal his own. “I’m Cire by the way. Maybe tell me a little about yourself?”
“As much fun as it is to tease you, you adorable boy you, I think drawing it out any longer would be a disservice. My name is Theophanes, but I am not here to tell you about me. I was sent here to tell you about yourself. After all, there aren’t all that many sun elf vampires around who can teach you about us.” Theophanes flipped his hair and propped his head up with a single hand, his other still occupied by the apple.
“Apollo selected me to be your guide because those within the same divine race often know best how to help one another. We were both born as vampires as well; although, Apollo did tell me your circumstances were unique. Born as a sun elf vampire, but without an established bloodline or connection to any of the current families. You’re interesting.”
So much information had been crammed into Theophanes’ short soliloquy that Cire took a moment to process it all. This was really one way to wake up, no, he wasn’t waking up. He was still shaking off another vampires charm effect. Didn’t he have resistance to enchantment? Then again, if this man served Apollo directly he was undoubtedly high level, and skilled at that. It was probably in his best interest to keep him talking while he continued to evaluate the situation.
“Nice to officially meet you Theophanes. So, Apollo sent you? As in the god?”
Theophanes tossed the apple core away and sighed a little. “You’re being boring, you don’t really want to know about that do you? Come on silly, ask me what you really want to know. I won’t be able to keep you here forever, can’t be stirring up too much trouble.”
“How do I get more vampiric talents? What should I know about being a sun elf? Why is my skill selection so limited? How do I get or establish a vampiric bloodline? What do you mean divine race?” Cire’s flood of questions combined things he had been wondering about for a while since he had gotten to Elysium and queries newly uncovered by Theophanes introduction. It would have been pointless to ask these questions of anyone he had met so far besides Theophanes. It irked him that he could feel himself playing into someone’s hand far more powerful than himself, even if they represented an actual god.
Theophanes clapped his hands together before replying. “Good, good. That’s more like it. You have to have realized some of the answers to these questions already and are simply looking for confirmation. Correct?”
Cire almost groaned, but he held it in. It appeared that Theophanes wasn’t lying when he said he was there as a teacher. Suspicions of Theophanes aside, he had never been the biggest fan of the guided discovery process, Cire had always preferred things presented more directly. However, he did have one rather solid theory based on his own experience and information he had gleaned from Daphne, Selene’s mother.
“Well, from what I have heard sun elves are generally worshipers or servants of Apollo, like yourself. That their, our, communities were tasked with protecting divine sites or important objects of the gods. If that is true, than the fact that my skills are predominately martial in nature makes sense.
“I know that humans have a larger breadth of skills than most, and that non-human races specialize in some manner based on their environment, lineage, and other factors I am not aware of. If a group of people were to be tasked with being divine guardians you would want their skills to match their task. Is there any sort of crafting or non-combat profession that sun elves excel at? Do sun elf villages have terrible food, bad clothing, and live in hovels?”
Nodding along with Cire’s explanation Theophanes actually grinned and then bopped Cire on the nose with a finger. “You got the dragon by the tip of the tail there. One of the reasons you won’t find many of us around except in Illyria. Apollonia, or the City of Sunlight, is about the only large sun elf predominant settlement left since the Age of Wilderness.
“Once the peaceful people splintered it made it much harder for us. And after vampirism was brought to our ranks, well, you can make some guesses as to how most gnomes, dwarves, and humans looked at us once Ambrogio, the first of us, began to share his gift. They don’t resist the more negative aspects very well, it was messy at the beginning, before we had more understanding.”
Cire hadn’t thought about it up until now, but the way Theophanes talked made him feel like he was describing something he had seen, been a part of. How old was this other vampire? He needed to learn as much as he could without giving away more than what Theophanes probably already knew.
“On the note of understanding, mind sharing some details about vampiric ability advancement with me? I know that I gain ability points and strengthen the abilities that I have. I am assuming you have been watching me enough to know which ones I possess?”
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Playing with the end of his white feather boa, Theophanes tossed it away. “Of course sweetie, obviously I know that you shapechange into a bat, an adorable one by the way. Not beautiful like my swan form, but you’re still new to the ability. I could help you advance that one the most by the way. I don’t have any regeneration or rage ability for that matter, so ugly, could you imagine? And we all have Bite dear.”
Cire actually did groan this time, Theophanes was going to make him take guesses at things before spelling it out. He wasn’t feeling too threatened by this point either. Sure, the circumstances were odd, but if the other sun elf had wanted to do something to him he had more than enough opportunity. Even if it was going to be difficult, having someone to help him through all of this, instead of blindly fumbling, would be beneficial. That didn’t mean Cire wasn’t going to eventually get back at this rather full of themselves vampire swan.
“Obviously one of your gifts is a glamour or charm ability. I have decent resistance to charm, but you overpowered me easily enough. I fell into it completely too. I don’t think I could have broken out if I had wanted to.”
Theophanes nodded again, happy that Cire wasn’t as oblivious about all of this as he had feared, and handed over two scroll tubes. It was time he stopped having his fun and baited the hook.
“One will give you a basic understanding of the vampiric areas of ability focus, and therefore our lineages and bloodlines. The other scroll will do the same, but for sun elves. Considering that Selene has already personally interceded, I can offer you a gift from Apollo as well. I can awaken your sun elf abilities and grant you an impartment to raise one of them to level three immediately. You are unlikely to have another opportunity to have them sparked, it can only be done by another elf of your lineage.”
Eye’s widening at the implications, Cire took both of the scroll tubes and began to fiddle with them a bit in his hands. Forgetting himself in distraction, he lapsed into modern terminology.
“These are free gifts? No strings attached?”
“What a curious turn of phrase.” Theophanes luxuriated in the expression, letting it marinate on his tongue. “No strings attached. Mmmm, yes. They are gifts, there wouldn’t be any point to them otherwise. Apollo wishes for you to select him as the primary patron of your territory now that you have acquired one, as I am sure Selene and multiple other deities do. However, he sent a guide to you on this small insignificant low-level island far out on the fringe of the archipelago because of what you are, not what you have done. Remember, I was watching before you were bound to the territory.”
Cire nodded and then uncorked the scroll tubes. He was more than familiar with magical scrolls at this point. It only took him moments to activate them and absorb the information. He had always wondered about non-vampiric abilities and this definitively answered that question. Theophanes offer to awaken his sun elf abilities really couldn’t be passed up. He wanted to know more about what he had been missing.
Basic Vampiric Ability & Lineage Information – Artemis’ & Selene’s Blessings
Principal Abilities
Sub-Abilities
Related Skills
Predator
Shapechange, Talons, Poison
Flight, Animal Control, Animal Summoning
Animal Husbandry, Domestication, Monster Husbandry, Nature Magic
Sanguine Path
Physical Augmentation, Siring, Regeneration
Bloodline Dominance, Healing, Blood Transmogrification
Blood Alchemy, Blood Magic
Sculpted Mind
Glamour, Enthrallment, Suggestion, Command
Telepathy, Telekinesis
Psionic Magic, Observation
Shadowed Soul
Invisibility, Aura of Night, Shadow Form
Shadow Summoning, Magic Resistance
Spirit Magic, Stealth, Perception
Basic Sun Elf Ability Information – Apollo’s Blessing
Principal Abilities
Sub-Abilities
Related Skills
Body of Sun
Internal Purification, Resistance to Status Ailments, Resistance to Magic
Short-term Durability Increases, Short-term Strength Boost, Increased Regeneration
Physical Skills, Martial Skills
Star Heart
Mana Storage, Mana Usage Penalty Reduction
Short-term Physical boost, Short-term Perception Based Time Dilation
Most Schools of Magic, Skill Abilities
Mystic Veins
Increases Efficiency of Mana Usage, Skill Ability Overcharge
Mana Manipulation, Increased Mana Regeneration
Most Schools of Magic, Skill Abilities
Divine Guardian
Channeling Divine Power, Aura of Apollo’s Radiance
Resistance to the Divine, Resistance to Planar Forces
Light Magic, Holy Magic, Divine Lore
The more questions answered, the more Cire needed to know. He supposed that was the way of the world no matter where or who you were. Doing his due diligence at this point was a tad too late, but he figured it was better than nothing. Instead of jumping in head first, he could demonstrate some caution.
“Do you have some way to authenticate what you have been telling me? I can’t imagine accepting your gift to awaken my abilities won’t be intrusive in some manner.” Cire paused and looked around at the bed covered in pillows and silks, at his strange conversation partner, and then shrugged. “So far I have been taking you at your word.”
Peels of laughter and giggles erupted from Theophanes before he got himself under control. “Darling, I could have trapped the scrolls if I had wanted to do something nefarious. Really, as if I would need to stoop to something so lowly to vanquish a foe. I would simply ensnare your mind once more if needed. You know-” Theophanes pulled at a chain around his throat revealing a pendant and held it out, forcing Cire to lean in close to inspect it. “-you’re lucky I find you so cute. I will do you a favor because of those adorable dimples and striking eyes. I don’t think you are aware, but you have a hidden aspect that revealed itself to me when we linked earlier. It’s one of the reasons you were more susceptible to my alluring charms.”
A hidden Aspect has been revealed to you: Naive. You can be fearless in your ignorance. You often take things at face value when presented to you by someone you trust. Often, you are willing to assume the best in others or circumstances, even without cause.
Effect: +1 to Good alignment, Others receive a +1 to their interactions with you for charisma checks, You receive a +1 to your charisma checks involving others of favorable disposition, Increase in prices by 10% or more when you are unaware of the standard price for an item or service, +1 to checks against fear based effects, and -1 to Perception.
Cire chose to ignore the continued flirting, he thought it was flirting, he couldn’t be sure. The notification didn’t surprise him persay, it was more like acknowledging a part of him and getting a better grasp of it. Cire had always been on the guileless and trusting side of things when it came down to it. He already had the Accepting and Trustworthy aspects, this wasn’t too far afield. At least it isn’t only negatives, more of a mixed bag. Besides, Aspects can change, I don’t imagine being a territory leader for too long will be conducive to me keeping this one.
Focusing in on the pendant once he had dismissed the notification, Cire was struck by two things. First, there was no way the intricate medallion of a rising sun radiating a pulsing light was anything but a divine level item. Second, that the unmistakable feeling of a god’s presence lingered within the object.
Cire could still remember what it felt like when Selene had touched him through his crown and ring, this had a similar, if less potent, flavor to it. He instinctively knew that the authenticity of the pendant was genuine. Not knowing what Apollo’s blessing to an item would feel like, Cire opened himself up and took in all that he could. Cire could feel music? Order, repetition, and light. There was a cheerful and benevolent underpinning to the symphony of sensation. This was as close as he was going to get. Maybe he was being naive, in fact, he knew he was being naive instead of suspicious, but he was going to believe Theophanes. That didn’t mean he needed to beg.
“Okay, what do you need to do to awaken my sun elf abilities? Depending on what it is, I am amenable to the idea.”
Theophanes leaned forward casually and cupped Cire’s cheek, then without warning a sour look spread over his face and he let out an annoyed sigh and moved his hand away. “Looks like I won’t get a chance to show you any of the fun things.” Slipping off the bed, he took a long stretch before stating nonchalantly, “We will do it quickly, I simply need to lay my hand upon you for a while and channel my mana. With Apollo’s help it will be practically painless.”
Cire was about to respond when Theophanes snapped his fingers and the bed started shrinking at a noticeable rate. He had to scramble to get off to avoid getting dumped on his behind on the ground. Questioningly, he looked at Theophanes.
“Why are you moving quickly all of a sudden?”
Cinching his white silk robes in place, Theophanes waited until the grand four post bed was as small as a bar of soap, then he picked it up and put it in his pouch. Stepping over to Cire, he quite abruptly slid his hand up Cire’s tunic and placed it over his heart. Holding him in place with a surprisingly strong embrace, Theophanes grinned.
“It appears to be time for you to get back. That feisty glade elf lass and your other friends have been out looking for you for a while. They are tromping this way now, so we might as well let them find you. Now, try not to throw up on me, I really like this outfit.”
Cire jerked back involuntarily at the surprising and unsettling feeling of Theophanes groping him out of the blue. In his surprise it took him a few seconds to process what the other sun elf had said. He was about to ask what he meant when his entire body seized up and pain surged through him. It was like he was holding a live wire, every muscle in his body contracted and released rapidly. Cire’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out. When his head lolled forward he did indeed puke all over the front of Theophanes.