Chapter 040 - Stirred Blood

“Oz-ha!”

The voice shook the air. A command, a demand, an order. Down below, a legion stood. His legion. Each of them clad in armor made of blood-red metal. Their eyes burned with molten fire as they raised their fists up into the air and then down again in a sweep like the swing of an axe. They bellowed their sharp refrain and he tilted his chin up with pride.

“HA-ZA MOL!”

He crossed his arms behind his back and turned to his brother. They had risen together through the political nightmare that was the roving clans. Disorganized and tribal, his people had been a dissolute mess when he had come into power. Choices need to be made, choices that did not come easily. His brother had other ideas, a traditionalist who refused to see where the world was going and that a new paradigm would soon be upon them. Now he knelt, his jet black skin split as emerald lifeblood trickled from the many wounds on his back.

It was… grizzly, but it was necessary.

“This legion is only the first,” he rumbled, raising his hands up. “Unbound by the clan warlocks and unchained to the worship of gods. Free men willing to spill blood for our people.”

“You abandon everything,” his brother wheezed.

“And you cherry-pick our traditions until there is nothing left but a bare bush,” he shot back. “Your platitudes bear no fruit any longer. The people starve without order. Will prayers to greedy demons and quiet gods fill the bellies of children?”

“And what of your god?” his brother snarled and forced his head up. His iron-clad jaw the sign of a strong-blood among their people. His brilliant eyes a cascade of color and shapes. “Does the brooding one not remain silent as well? Are we casting our lot in with yet another unfeeling master?”

He snorted. “You mistake reverence for worship,” he said with a low rumble. “I kneel to no-one.  I have his favor but I do not ask for it. I do not plead for it. I take it!” he declared and raised his fist into the air. “OZ HA! KARAF!” he bellowed and he let power rush through his veins. Not the borrowed power of a god and his clerics, not the pact magic of the insane warlocks who would sell their people as chattel. Power he had taken for himself. Might and command. “Warriors! We march!”

He turned his back on his brother. “You will remain here and watch this city change, and then you will die a broken man. This is how it must be.”

The man, the person that led the army marched his forces through the city and met no resistance. None of their tribal warriors understood or comprehended the strange rigid tactics of the warlord. They saw lines of steel and glares and knew that their time had come to an end. Some fought valiantly but it was a piteous effort. The capital fell, and then one clan after another was brought to heel. Shamans were turned to serve, warlocks were culled, the army rose and its power reached beyond the world. There was a multiverse to conquer and his people were always hungry.

Ambition.

THUMP!

Anna shot up in her seat, panting, sweat dripping down her face as her heart pounded in her chest. Her hands were shaking, her entire body felt like she had been running for days at a time. She hiccuped and touched her skin, not clammy and hard and brutal like the body she had just been wearing. It was like she had been someone else, lived their entire life in a fraction of the time, seen them, felt their thoughts. She swayed and slipped out of the couch, coughing as she retched onto the ground. Buzzing was going off in the back of her head and she could barely think. Her veins felt like they were on fire. Did I burn out? What the hell?

An angry tone played in her head.

<Forced Notification>
<System Alert!>
Warning! Your body is finalizing a change. You must confirm a selection to proceed. Continuing to delay the change may result in unforeseen and permanent harm. Please make a decision. Time Remaining: 00:15:12

She squinted at the message in bewilderment. “Wh-th-fuh?”

Her senses came back to her next and she quickly pulled up her notifications.

<System Alert!>
Your Heritage has stirred in reaction to your actions.

<System Alert!>
Your Heritage begun the process of awakening. It will enter its Stirring Phase.

<System Alert!>
Your Heritage has changed and your bloodline has evolved a step further.

<System Alert!>
Your Heritage’s stirring has triggered a [ERROR UNAUTHORIZED] Vision. 

DING!

Congratulations, your Heritage has entered its Stirring Phase. Your Heritage possess several branching paths. Please select a path to continue, if you choose not to select a path there may be unforeseen and potentially fatal repercussions as your bloodline forcibly transfigures. Path choices provided are based on your actions and achievements.

Paths Available:

Path of Solitude (Heritage Path - Uncommon)
Your solitude gives you strength. You marched alone and rose despite it.

Path of Brutality (Heritage Path - Uncommon)
Carnage brings fear, fear is power. Your bloodlust has been unquenchable.

Path of Resolve (Heritage Path - Rare)
You weather the storm, your mind unbending. Trauma and horror are no strangers to you and you have stepped through hell to rise above others.

Path of Tyranny (Heritage Path - Epic)
Kneel, weep, plead, they all will bow in the end. Destroying your enemies has never been enough for you, you desire conquest, you desire obedience, your enemies must crumble poetically at your feet or you are not satisfied.

Path of the Gray (Heritage Path - Legendary)
The roar in your veins is yours, bend it to your will. Blood was never enough for you. Ruthlessness was just a tool for survival. Mercy, no matter how bleak, can earn loyalty in ways that a monster will never understand. You walk the line of the Gray and have conquered and inspired in equal measure in these first few steps of your life. Claim what is yours.

Anna wiped her lips and stared at the choices, grabbing hold of the couch and dragging herself back onto it. Her veins still felt like molten metal was running through them and she knew that timer wasn’t a joke. If she didn’t make a choice, she’d be dead. What triggered this? She wondered, reading through the information again. There’s no fucking numbers here! It’s not telling me anything? What does any of this mean? 

She rubbed her face and glanced around for Catherine and found that a) the sun was out and b) Catherine was not present. She frowned. She better not be doing something stupid, she grumbled and tried to stand up. She had fifteen minutes. She stumbled and fell back onto the couch and groaned. Fuck me sideways, damn it. She sighed and read through the notification one more time. Fine, so these are choices that someone with my bloodline would get if they did certain things before causing it to ‘stir’ whatever that means.

Solitude made sense, given everything she’d been through. Brutality wasn’t a surprise either, she’d happily used her power to stoke fear if it meant survival. She’d killed one of those creeps in the Tainted Halls with an Aura Snap for that very reason. Resolve made her lip twitch a little into a smile, it was kind of nice being recognized for how resilient she’d been up until now. It was also interesting that the flavor text got longer each time. Tyranny made her frown, not because she disagreed with it but seeing it in plain text reminded her of Principal Hale’s insult.

She clenched her teeth and moved on to the last one, the obvious choice.

Mercy? When did I show mercy? She frowned and looked down at her feet before squinting at the glass door as memories of her fight with Catherine came scrabbling back into her head. She held her head in her hands and groaned. Did I go overboard there? She thought. No, I said what needed to be said. I may not have lived as long as she has but I know stupid when I see it. She ran her fingers up her face and into her knotted hair. I made the right call, and I… spared her. Oh. Was that it? A tyrant’s mercy?

She looked back at that last selection and her frown turned into a smile. So what I’m getting from this is that I did this on my own. Not that deadbeat. If that’s the case then I have no reason to refuse. I won’t take anything he hands me, but I will take everything I’ve earned. She grinned and made her choice and the pain started all over again. She crumpled over on the couch and let out a rattling groan as heat in her blood intensified for a heartbeat, it spread through her body, it felt like essence but different. It came in contact with a part of her so deep and sacred it made her flinch back in terror. 

The fear was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. A moment of the purest vulnerability. She felt like if she let it in it would change something inside of her that could never be unchanged. The pressure continued to build against that wall and she felt like she could refuse it, move it away, or embrace it. Instinct told her to run away, to hide, to protect herself and not let whatever this was in. Logic told her to change it to suit her own purposes, it wouldn’t be the same afterwards but it wouldn’t be as scary anymore. 

Fuck that, I want it all.

She let it in.

Anna woke up only a short time later to another notification hovering in front of her face. The pain was gone and she felt like herself again. No, more than that. That headache that always seemed to be just on the verge of pounding had finally let up a little. It was a blissful experience made all the better by what she read in front of her.

Heritage Updated!

Born in the Gray (Unknown) - Stirred

Path of the Gray (Legendary Heritage Path)
Your dormant bloodline has been stirred into the process of awakening. You have embraced the instincts of your bloodline as your own and needn’t be guided by them anymore. Go forth and walk the path you have chosen to reach the next stage.

Effects: Gray Blooded (Legendary Racial Trait)

Attributes Per Level: +6 Pre, +2 Ins, +2 Awa

New Racial Trait Acquired!

Gray Blooded (Mortal-Legendary)
Your blood boils with Imperial resolve. To bend the knee is anathema to you. You gain immunity to mental effects within the range of your current Tier Layer. Your aura has evolved. You gain one level of Authority.

There was so much to take in she had to lean back and hold her head. What the hell does half of this shit even mean? She thought as even more prompts appeared.

<Planet-Wide System Alert!>

A Human-Terran has achieved a level of Authority! As the sole member of their species on the planet with a level of Authority, they have now been designated as the Heir Apparent. The Heir Apparent may now be challenged for their Authority until the end of the Integration Grace Period. The Heir Apparent must defend their Authority once per thirty-day cycle or their location will be made known to all outsider Faction Leaders.

Time until end of Integration Grace Period: 5 Years (Frozen until Tutorial Conclusion)

“Oh. That’s bad, that’s really fucking bad,” she said as the doors to the offices flew open and Catherine ran in, eyes wide.

“My Lady!” she shouted. “What the hell just happened?” Catherine demanded, frazzled, it looked like she’d just woke up. “What did you do?”

Anna blinked, staring at the frantic-looking woman. She opened her mouth and hesitated before closing it again. Her thoughts drifting back to her father’s warning. She hated the part of herself that felt indebted to the old bastard for what he’d set up for her. He himself had even said that they owed one another nothing with his gift, but it still left her guts in a twist. Twisted enough to make her hesitate. She scowled and pushed the feeling down with all the force she could muster. Screw you old man. I’m gonna give her a shot, you can take your jaded bullshit and shove it up your ass. If it blows back, it blows back, but it’s my call to make. Not yours.

She gestured for Catherine to sit and, surprisingly, the knight did so right away. Anna did her best to explain everything she could, it took a little while and there was a lot she didn’t know how to properly contextualize. After a while she realized she’d been rambling, complaining about her old man about everything she’d experienced. It felt weird getting everything off of her chest but at this point she was getting really tired of holding back and she needed someone in the know who might have answers.

Catherine’s reactions were strange.  The woman maintained a flat unmoved expression for almost the entirety of the story but Anna could somehow sense that she was listening. Maybe Catherine picked up on what Anna was feeling because half-way through she started to nod along and look slightly more engaged. It was so hard to tell what was going on in that woman’s head. Eventually, Anna just waved her hands helplessly and sat back on the couch. “And now you’re all caught up.”

Catherine remained silent for a few heartbeats, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She didn’t say anything for a while before letting out a breath and nodding to herself. “I see. It sounds to me like a higher-up in the Stygian Cult made his way to your world at some point in the past and sired you. He left an inheritance behind and you managed to awaken his bloodline on top of it.”

Anna was flummoxed. “Someone can just do that?” She crossed her arms and frowned. “I knew this guy was somebody important to the group, he said he was a ruler.”

“Anything is possible,” Catherine said with a shrug. “The Stygian Cult is made up of rulers and kings, Anna. They worship a God of Tyranny. My former Lord’s nemesis.”

An old enemy, Anna thought.

Catherine rubbed her temples. “Our situation just became very complicated. It is also no wonder the System refused you entry into the Tutorial and has been bullying you as you describe it. Your heritage is not from this world.”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Translocation into an unintegrated world is outside the System’s laws and forbidden,” Catherine said with a raised finger. “It is one of the few acts considered Heretical by the System. It is not your fault so it will not just delete you or anything but-”

“It can just delete people?” Anna demanded. Catherine gave her a deadpan look and Anna rolled her eyes. “Right, right, cosmic omnipotent omniscent system. Of course it can.”

“It never does, though, unless under extreme circumstances,” Catherine said. “Even so, I sincerely doubt the System will let things stand after finding out about you. It will test you, thoroughly. I would not be surprised if it added that level of Authority intentionally to eliminate the problem indirectly.”

Anna frowned. “What do you mean? What is Authority?”

“Every world has Authority. It is what allows one to influence the System to some small degree and even provides special authoritative powers on the world it extends to,” Catherine explained. “I had Authority over the Church of Lumar on all of its worlds for a time.”

“And what does that mean for me, miss ex-pope?” Anna asked sarcastically.

“I do not know what that word means but I can draw some assumptions,” Catherine said with a half smile and inclined her head with a small grin. “You just became the highest ranking human on this planet. Which means that this planet's authority will be yours once the tutorial ends. Tutorial quests do not give Authority, so that is a guarantee.” She paused. “Which sounds very nice until someone comes to take it from you, of course.”

“And how would they do that?” Anna asked but already had a feeling she knew.

Catherine sighed. “Every single faction on this planet wants you dead and now they know you exist. We have work to do before the next shuffle, My Lady.”

–

Catherine watched Annastasia wander into the open space and down into the depths beneath the precinct to resume studying her profession. She needed to unlock it more than ever, now. For her part, she wandered back to the barracks and sat down on her bed, staring at the floor. It had been a long, long time since she’d heard that word. Annastasia seemed so dismissive of the name of her heritage and it was no surprise. It sounded so bland when spoken with the neutral tongue of System translation. Yet to Catherine’s ears, she heard something else entirely.

“Born in the Gray,” she murmured. It was unlikely to be a lie, she was so clearly ignorant of it. She nodded to herself. “That’s just fine. It’s better that way.”