Dying sucked. Especially when you did it twice in your life. Estaria was definitely in no hurry to repeat the process of Zarh. But, despite that, reality intervened on her desires and drowned her in an endless pool of blood. Which was why it was even more confusing when she suddenly erupted from the cauldron, spraying blood everywhere as she rose, her head thrown back dramatically and her hair flicking copious blood across the temple. She was covered in blood from head to toe, her lungs burned with the need to breathe, and yet she had never felt better in her life. A pop-up told her precisely why, and she laughed, deep and hysterically.
Apotheosis - Khaela Mensha Khaine Complete. Job Earned - Child Of Khaine
The third job, and now her title. “Child Of Khaine”. With it came ‘Birthed Of Blood’ making her immune to bleeding, and ‘Womb Of Warfare’ which gave her a crazy Level 4 proficiency in all weapons, and refunded any Proficiency traits. And finally a “Divinity Mode” that would give her triple damage and triple bleeding for two minutes. Well, she wasn’t getting out of this cauldron easily, so she decided to spend the traits here and now, getting a quality of life trait for cheaper stuff from the shop, two traits to enhance herself, and one Captaincy trait, because she was really neglecting that of late. Though, she didn’t really lead people in the arena on a reliable basis, it would still help for when she did.
After the system had been catered to, Estaria looked up to the lip of the cauldron. Her ascension had splashed a great deal of blood out, and now she was floating in blood, still too far for her to put her feet on the ground, but also far enough from the lip that it would be a difficulty in jumping out of the water to grab it. On ground, she could make it easily, but blood was thicker than water, and it made it very difficult to try anything. After a few minutes of contemplation, a rope was dropped over the side, and a Witch peered over. Estaria smiled at her and grabbed the rope, climbing out of the cauldron and standing naked and blood-soaked on the platform. Her clothes had disintegrated in the cauldron, which was really sad because they made her look lovely.
Surrounding the cauldron were Executioners, Witches, Dreadlords and Hag Queens - most notably Hellebron herself. It felt like quite the procession and she wasn’t sure if they were here to watch or to arrest her.
“Hi…” Estaria said awkwardly, wiping some blood from her face, and letting it drip onto the floor.
“There are those who call you blessed by Khaine. Touched by his bloody hand, a leader of those who would praise him. I have no idea how a Human came to be so blessed by our Lord, but we must accept these signs, for they can not be refuted by any but the greatest of fools” Hellebron spoke. A Witch to her side began to translate into Common, but Estaria waved her off, telling her she understood the language. More shock and amazement filled the air, as well as some well-hidden disgust over her tainting their language with her knowledge. Though, there was something else as well. A feeling that had changed. No longer did she look down on the Druchii as things far beneath her. The feeling had become different. As if they were her flock of sheep for her to guide and nurture. She was, after all, the child of their God. Why should she not look to their aid?
“You honour me, Queen Hellebron. I will endeavour to be worthy of such praise you give me” Estaria bowed deeply, and then smiled to her. This, could be the start of a warm relationship.
“Come, Girl. Attend me” Hellebron ordered, and a popup appeared on Estaria’s screen as she did so.
Magic Resisted due to High Wisdom
She was using that damned glamour again. But, Estaria would act as if it had worked, because otherwise would cause offense she did not wish. And so Estaria walked over and bowed her head gently.
“How might you wish me to serve you, Queen Hellebron?” Estaria asked, a voice filled with passionate love for all her creatures.
“On your knees. Kiss my foot and proclaim your loyalty and fealty to me, exclusively and entirely. I shall see to it that you are treated worthy of the station of my personal Slave” Hellebron’s request was thick with pride and ego, her eyes burning with a slavering delight, as if she knew that Estaria would already do as commanded.
Magic Resisted due to High Wisdom
For Estaria’s part, she was mostly amazed that Hellebron was laying it on this thick. Maybe she wanted the acknowledgement and sheer social accum that would come from being the owner of Khaine’s Human. Everyone would flock to Hellebron because she owned the one favoured by Khaine, and through Estaria, would Hellebron raise to supplant Morathi, and maybe even Malekith himself.
“I’m sorry, My Queen. I can not disrespect she who raised me from the mud to be who I am today, where I am today. While I respect your authority and will always be at your service, my owner is Filnon Nightfury” Estaria’s words silenced everything. There was not even the sound of breathing as Hellebron looked to the blood-covered slave girl and wrangled with what to do with her. Slaughter her here and now in front of everyone? That, would be too brash, too tacky, and would lose her a lot of support among the followers of Khaine. This human creature already held a revolting amount of sway over those who followed Khaine. With furious self-control, Hellebron exhaled, nodded, and left the temple without a word.
Glad to not be butchered on the spot, Estaria stood around for a bit, talking to the Druchii who would converse with her, and administering blessings to those who asked. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing there, it just felt natural. The System didn’t tell her she had done anything metaphysical, so maybe it was just their belief. Or something outside of the System. Still, eventually with the blood drying on her skin and her hair starting to tug on her head, skin starting to prickle and itch from the drying blood pinching her, she excused herself and went to Filnon’s house. Her Druchii lover was ecstatic to see her, but understood the desires of a large and hot bath, followed by an equally long and hot shower to get all the blood off her. Eventually it all ran off and she was clean again, though her eyes were changed. A striking crimson, the precise colour of blood, stared out. This was the touch of her God, it seemed.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Finishing up and grabbing a bath-robe for modesty’s sake - hilarious considering what she had done with her Druchii lover till now, but she still thought it important - Estaria stepped out and looked to Filnon, before the two shared a passionate and loving embrace.
“So. Why Khaine? I was born in the Empire, I was raised on Ulric. If anything, Ulric should be my God” Estaria finally got it off her chest, while stroking Filnon’s hair.
“No idea. I didn’t even know this thing was a possibility. Do you think everyone can get this kind of quest?” Filnon asked. It was a great question that left Estaria wondering.
“It is possible. But, for now, trouble. The cauldron dissolved my clothes, and my collar” Estaria let go of Filnon to take a seat nearby, and bit her lip.Filnon definitely had some horrible sexualized outfit to replace what she had lost, but the collar was a worry. It seemed custom made.
“Mmm, as much as I would love to say the Child Of Khaine does not wear a collar, I don’t want to try what might come of it if you roamed around without one” Filnon then blushed lightly. Actually blushed, which was confusing and terrifying. “But….I did, get something last week. Hoping that one day you would ask me to be more than just my slave” Filnon’s voice took on a warm, romantic tint, filled with emotions entirely new to the Druchii. She went to the cupboard and took out a box, that was opened to reveal a beautiful set of rings, one silver and one gold. And a collar encompassing the two. But this thing was magnificent. A bright amber and ruby blend made a stunningly unique light show, and the gems studded around it glittered in the light, none more so than the large ruby at the front. It looked like some jewelry a noblewoman would wear more than a slave collar. The only thing tipping a person off about that was the ring in front of the ruby where the leash could be hooked and two smaller rings to clip on manacles. “I have been feeling most strange thoughts of late. I want you as more than just a slave, more than just a lover. I want you...every part of you, to be mine. I….will, you marry me?” Filnon asked, looking to Estaria. There was silence as the shock settled in, and Estaria comprehended what had just been asked. This….this...was real. She was actually asking her for marriage. To marry her, to be married to her. To have Filnon as her wife. To be married...her head was spinning in circles, unable to grasp anything resembling a proper thought in her head.
The hesitation caused Filnon’s heart to sink, and she shut the box, tossing it to one side.
“It was a stupid idea. Why would you marry me?. I kidnapped you from your country and tortured you, manipulated you into loving me, destroyed your life for my own gains” Filnon’s eyes welled out with tears, and shook her head, suddenly blitzing past Estaria and leaving before the new Child of Khaine could catch up. Druchii always were more advantaged in the art of speed and agility. Especially when she was of comparable level to Estaria’s own. Then she was gone, and Estaria was on her own. Despite every word of what Filnon said being true, it was not something that Estaria thought about these days. Sure there was the bad times, but Filnon didn’t have to treat her the way she did. She could have just treated Estaria like the slave she was and nobody would have batted an eye. Despondent and lost, Estaria turned to the system, knowing that it would provide some solace and ability to burn some time.
She had a truly immense amount of tokens from the daily fights in the arena, and so she opened the vigor rewards and scrolled down to the red-backed option that she had seen a long time ago. Instead of it being locked, however, she saw it staring back at her with a deep and foreboding glare. Even the name, “Orphaned Child” was not something she wanted to mess with, but tapped it anyway.
Orphaned Child - A woman makes a Widow, but children make Orphans. While young, Khaine still smiles upon this blade, and it shall take it’s owner through many a bloody battle
The stats were incredible, and she had never seen a Red item before, thinking that Orange was the highest, and so she definitely bought that for 150 tokens. Extracting it from her inventory, it took the form of a pair of Wrathflails, glowing ominously with the incredible power. It had Bleeding, and “Rivers Of Blood” special effect that would half the time taken for bleeding to proc damage. Along with her Hemorrhaging special ability from her Exalted blessing, things were going to bleed to death pretty quickly. The chains at which the bladed flail was attached to were longer than the usual wrathflail, and the heavy but well balanced weight ensured impetus when thrown, making them a decent mid-ranged throwing weapon, and allowing her to control a large swath of the battlefield. The next purchase was Khaine’s Talon from the Sharpshooter Rewards, which was tapped.
Khaine’s Talon - None are beyond the reach of the bloody-handed God Of War, and this weapon ensures such. All beings, no matter how close or how far, will fall to the ever changing nature of this projectile weapon.
Another Red weapon, this was a hand crossbow with the “Mutable” effect, allowing it to twist between hand crossbow, Heavy Repeating Crossbow, and Bloodbane Longbow. The Bloodbane Longbow was a mighty thing that required 70 strength to draw and restricted attack speed in return for massive range, damage and armour penetration. It was comforting to have some ranged weaponry in her hands again after so long, so it got put away in the inventory, along with the Orphaned Child. But then, as if the damn System was mocking her, the gold shop had a new item called “Bride Of A Thousand Witches”, the same name as her trait. It infuriated her, made her want to go out into the city and chase down Filnon whatever it cost. Made her turn green with regret and curse the world for not giving Filnon any way to deal with the love she was feeling now. She smashed the table in anger and tossed it’s bits against the wall before finally turning back to look properly at the shop, and sighed. Anger would get her nowhere, despite the outburst she had just had. So, kind of regretting trashing the table, she tapped the item and it even flickered up with a picture.
The dress was….magnificent. She was instantly stricken by it, and it was bought right then and there, her arena fights having a very nice nest egg to splash out on. It’s stats were considerable for just a White, and so she put it through the Workshop. Increasing it from White to Orange, and then hovering over the button to turn it into a Red. It would be a crippling expense, and even her cash flow would be wiped out by the 120,000 gold that was required for the upgrade. But, eventually, she hit the button and upgraded it. The traits for upgrade appeared before her, and she considered which ones would fit.
Captivating - The beauty of such a dress is unparalleled, and no being can look upon it without being drawn into it, snapped out only by pain and the threat of death. Enemy stats are reduced by 20 until Health damage is dealt.
Bride Of A Thousand Witches - An Eponymous trait, This dress is tied intricately to the Witches of Khaine, and brings out the greatest of abilities there in. Enhances Witch Dance.
Steelsilk Weave - Harvested from special spiders, Steelsilk is a most durable fabric, able to turn aside blades and arrows as a breastplate would. Add 30% armour.
Paternal Love - Khaine grants a hand towards his child, so they might spread their fame and his name to all. Regenerate 1% of health a second while in bloody combat.
The traits were all good traits. Regeneration was always helpful against enemies, but Captivating would help her strip a foe of their Luck. Of course, she couldn’t make a decision without knowing what Witch-Dance was, and so she moved boxes to get to where that one was detailed and tapped it.
Witch-Dance: The style of all Witch Elves, this form is a mobile prayer to Khaine as much as a combat style. Every step, and every cut and every twist sings to Khaine, and blades find their target with unnerving ease. While in this style, gain 30% armour piercing and increase nearby Witches stats by +10 when you make a kill.
Was she going to steal the style of the Witches and piss off Hellebron even more? Yea. Yea she was. So the traits where picked. Bride Of A Thousand Witches and Paternal Love were added, and finally she equipped it. As soon as it was worn, she felt an emboldening comfort to it. Like the warm embrace of a loving father. The fabric was so smooth, and there were some faux blood stains that seemed to add to the style of the dress. A pair of blood red gloves finished the outfit, and then Estaria picked up the collar from the box and put it on. She wasn’t going to let Filnon storm away, out of her life. That was not how Khaine worked, nor would any of his kin ever work like that.