Reginald
Eliza thought to herself as they walked, what compelled him to comfort her in such a way- to... It didn't matter, it was done and over. While she would never admit it part of her felt bad for hitting the boy, no matter how much she feels he deserved it. 

She walked gracefully through the snow roads, watching as Noctis treading in front of her. She carefully watched as he clutched his blades hilt, a wave of anger washing of her as he did, *How insolent of him*. 

Once they arrived at the village Eliza smiled, her nostrils flooding with delicious smells of blood. Her head searched around, gazing at homes, peering in windows before she heard something- a commotion coming from a small home near the edge of the village. Eliza gracefully made her way towards the home, her floaty gown gliding in the wind behind her as she walked, it was as if she were a painting. 

Eliza heard commotion coming from the home, she heard an angry man yelling, a small boy running. She did not care for the details, perhaps a common flaw of her moral judgement at time. She rushed into the home like a blur in the wind and shortly returned to Noctis' side with a sever hand in her grasp, she was holding it above her head and carefully siphoning the blood into her mouth. The hand had a decently valuable gold ring on it, one Eliza promptly handed to Noctis with a small smile.

"For your troubles, it's got a lovely sapphire in the band look." Eliza put the hand close to his face, flashing the ring. She then carefully removed the ring and placed it into Noctis' hand before walking a few paces away from him. Eliza gave him a wink as she threw the hand to the floor after sucking it dry.
Barry
The raven haired man stood there, still gazing out at the mountains. He'd heard the same things she'd heard, but he hadn't been able to fully paint the picture. Perhaps it had been a drunken father on a nightly rampage against his child. 

Perhaps it was a rambunctious child pushed one too many buttons and getting a strapping. The gods knew he'd received strappings for his mother- hadn't meant he'd wished harm on her. When the hand landed wetly in the snow and he felt the ring pushed into his hand, he could feel himself stiffen. The pain his jaw was a dull throb, he knew pain, could tolerate it further than most people could stay sane- but it made him furious. Her wink was delusional, was she insane? 

*"Generate weaves of wind and fire to give the cold ring rotation, penetration and burning power. Let it build up speed, enhance the senses and then enhance just your finger- flick it and put it through her heart."* He thought to himself. Once she was incapacitated burn her heartless corpse and walk back. Sure she had her reasons, but a killer was a killer right? He'd have the money she brought, she'd be dead- but the pain in his jaw would continue. 

He hadnt known why he'd touched her hair, it was painful to him to see a mother cry over children, to see a child cry for their parents. Still it had been the wrong move, surely. To think of killing her so coldly. 

*"She justified her own murder just now off a chance, a whim. You're not any better than her. There's a chance that man was innocent and you're ready to kill her and rip a mother from the lives of her kin."* His voice hissed at him. It was almost comical. The ring trembled in his hands as his mana built up to deliver a killing blow- but he closed his fist around the gold ring and pocketed it. Better to sell it off later. 

Turning, he walked back towards the ship. 

"So you're a childish brat that still plays with your food. Glad to see I got to learn something about you on this trip." He said, his voice iro

N and his handsome features a furious stone surface. It would come to her as a shock that the iron in his voice wasn't anger... *He was lecturing her.* 

 "Maybe next time spend more time studying your target, there's a chance he was hurting his child- but one bad night does not mean he should die or lose a hand, Eliza. You can't go around acting like a brainless twit and then expect people to not call you a vampire. You want to fix the way the world works you need to work too, it won't just right itself because it wronged you, **Princess.**" 

He was ready this time, his enhancement already activated so that if her rage turned into action- he'd be able to move and not suffer the fate his poor jaw had. 

She wanted to strike him, wanted him to see her ways- then she was going to learn the cost of what it took to stand by his side. He'd helped Scipio conquer a nation of godlings, battled dragons and trained with the greatest sorcerers in history- no two hundred year old vampire would backhand *Him* And then give him some hand me down ring from her last god damned *Meal.*
Reginald
Eliza licked her lips clean as she walked behind Noctis whilst he began to walk back towards the ship. A small smile was painted upon her face as they walked, her scarlet eyes dancing around around them as she studied the snow, the mountains as well as anything else she found to be noteworthy. Then he spoke, *His tone* Infuriated her more than what his foul mouth had conjured. She stopped her pace as he continued ahead of her unaware that she had stopped moving. 

*Princess?* The feeling of being belittled by him of all people filled her with an uncharacteristic rage, one that was only ever invoked when her children's lives were at stake. How dare he misunderstand her so harshly after seeing her life story painted clearly in front of his regrettably handsome face, she wanted to peel him like an apple and feed the skin to her vilemaws as she reveled in the sweet ichor dripping from his corpse.

"It seems you've learned *Nothing* About me on this trip, even with my memories painted in front of you like a horrible painting."

The flesh that made up her right hand melted away to reveal a bare skeletal hand, she then pierced her own sternum, her hand reaching deep into her thoracic cavity before she yanked it out revealing a bloodied silver sword. 

She let out a sigh before cracking her neck, her movements filled with anger and malice. A loud, almost unnatural crack could be heard as she did so. 

"I thought you were different Noctis, but you're just another subpar sack of meat." 

She pointed her sword towards the sky above her head as the blood on the blade formed into a swirling orb of scarlet above her head. Eliza then quickly lowered her blade as needles of crystallized blood rained down from the orb above her head, heading straight for Noctis.
Barry
As the flesh melted from the skeleton of her hand, it was as if the world around him slowed to less than a crawl. It was no magic, not really- it was hundreds of years of combat experience. Of life or death being only a moment away from him and having come out on top enough times that its no longer simply luck. The world was a beautiful snow white masterpiece, crystal flakes clung to the tall pine nettles of Forstead, the mountains beyond were a visage of the worlds ancient spine protruding from the earth. It was always in the moments when death was close at hand that the world looked the most beautiful. So her power was that her flesh and muscle were made up entirely of a unique blood that she could manipulate? It meant no matter how much yoou cut or stabbed her, she'd only become more deadly. 
. 
 . 
 . Wonderful! How wonderful! How simply 𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓾𝓼. 

Perhaps her first warning sign would have been the smile on his face. His silver eyes lit up and glowing like twin moons breaking through the clouds of his raven hair and the fog of his long dark ashes. Maybe if she'd known it was a smile of ecstasy it would have given her pause, maybe she would have retreated to know what he was doing even as the blood needles fired their deaths rain upon him. Arms spread wide as if ready to embrace her attack, his smile only got wider. 





The sting of her hand and knuckles across his jaw, the fiery pain of it through his jaw. How many times had would be lovers tossed around their pretty toy just to show their dominance? How many strikes had he willingly taken, how many times had he been invaded simply to give Scipio an inch of give in a world that hated him, wanted to see him burn? He knew now why the slap bothered him so, because he'd only ever been slapped after being used like a carnal device, like a doll. He loathed to be slapped and now she had the fucking audacity to call him a subpar sack of meat? 

Suddenly fire roared into a wall in front of him to abs

Orb the needles and burn them away just as they would be too close and pierce his flesh. As the crackle of the flames began to subside, the sound that would fill the clearing they were in would be... Laughter? Golden light was flooding Noctis' veins now as he tapped into the massive lake of power that was his mana pool. Hundreds of years of life. Thousands of battles, a demigod born in an age when demigods were plentiful and killed each other endlessly until only a few remained. And he had 𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕. His Enhancement magic was working full force now, empowering his brain to process information and deliver commands faster than any human should be able to do. Already he was weaving flows of complex air and fire around them- weaving them together with varying levels of heat and rotation speed, doing this over and over and pushing the wind faster and faster around them. What sounded like a trains whistle, a terrible scream of sound and suddenly springing into life around them... 

 𝖋𝖑𝖆𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖔.

This was only the beginning, only the start. He took the time to read her memories, offered her comfort and she struck him, bellitled with him a stolen gift and then called him a sack of meat?! This damn woman was the greatest! She knew how to make him feel alive, how to make his blood boil. She wanted to throw her blood at him, he'd burn it all away. Yet even then he knew somewhere far back in his mind that these were not his only thoughts, quieter thoughts... 

"She's a hurt woman like any other woman, she was vulnerable with you and scared, you got too close and the touch shocked her. It was natural." 

Yet both of them were creatures of pride, both had walked a world of shadows and death. Both had experienced the bitter sting of losing everything they held dear. This had to be done, she had to see the truth. 

"You want to see 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉 Eliza Tenebrian?" He asked, his voice somehow sounding as if he were whispering against her ear, louder to her than the flaming, screeching tornado that boxed them in. She would not escape this showing, she would not get to walk away. Tonight was the night that both of them understood each other. She'd suffered and lost everything and now was doing everything she could to make the most of the world she'd been born into. Well he too had suffered and lost everything, and now was doing everything he could to make the most of the world he'd be reborn into. Yet he was stronger, he was older, he had what it took to do things others thought impossible. 

"I want this woman." He thought, and he knew it to be true. Noctis wasn't sure what this meant, only that he wanted this vampire, this creature of life and death to be his. Perhaps it was her power, perhaps it was her riches, perhaps... "I must be insane." It was because she was him, a mirror of himself and one of the only creatures who might understand a glimmer of what he was. She was remarkably beautiful and damned by fate, she'd had love and lost and gained it again, she w

As to him everything he'd been and everything he hoped he could have again, she had a family and loved them, she had her power and her fineries. Everything he'd lost and wanted to have all standing there trying to kill him with her blood. 

Noctis was floating now as snow melted rapidly around their feet and the flaming wall around them swirled, trees burning like torches. The screams of the nearby villagers could be heard as they all rushed through the night to flee the village, unsure if the tornado would sweep towards them. He floated with a look of ecstasy on his face as divine power flooded his body. He was going to do it, to summon his father again. Noctis fled this feeling usually, because the thirst for power it gave him was worse than even the hungriest vampires burning desire.

Suddenly the golden light in his veins began to seep from his fingernails, his skin. He began to cry tears of gold as his eyes shifted from silver, to grey, to amber and then to a blazing red and gold. His smile was that of bliss as the golden aura swirled around him, building itself into layers upon layers of golden thread. The magic energy here was so great, so monsterous that the very air was heavy and would press down upon Elizas shoulders. He floated higher, higher as this golden body began to form around him. Feet, legs, hips and a torso all forming to create a thirty foot tall visage that looked down at her. In that moment... All would go... Blank. 

 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘐 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘵, 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺. 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘊𝘏𝘐𝘓𝘋 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵."

The voice that came from that face of pure beauty, like Noctis' own and yet so much more beautiful that it made Noctis seem hideous in comparison. Features that cannot be described, for they are just as quickly forgotten. A body so perfect, all detail cannot be contained within the mind. More than that, Eliza gets a glimpse at the true essence of all that makes the world beautiful, no... All that makes the universe beautiful. She witnesses the first collisions of stars that created the very framework for magic and life in the realms, witnessed in an instant every beautiful thing that has happened and will happen, and then her mind would forget it all instantly because it would kill her otherwise. This was what it was like to look upon the visage of the god of beauty, Masculo, scoffed

At by men of war who knew nothing of power.

**This** Is what Eliza would witness in this moment, trapped within a flaming tornado with a demigod high on his own power.

Then it was over. The golden visage would fade and memory of what it looked like vanished from her brain- all she knew was that she'd seen it and that she had forgotten. The flaming tornado would die down almost as quickly as it came and it would drift away into silence. The earth beneath their feet was devoid of snow, melted away, the nearby trees nothing but charred remains and the air full of swirling snow and ash. 

Noctis would drift down and land lightly on his feet, eyes still a burning gold and red with amber streaks. He strode forward then, still brimming with enough power to eradicate a city. 

"I honored you and the memory of your family. I honored you as a mother, as a leader. I admitted to seeing through your sanguine exterior to the woman inside. Now you will honor me, striking your hand across my face. You will never do so again." He said, gazing at her with those eyes like a collapsing star. It was clear from the way he stood, the way he watched her and the words he spoke... *He wanted her to bow to him the same way he'd bowed to her.* 

"I will have you Eliza Tenebrian, I will ensure the victory of your family against a world that opresses you- but first you will honor me." 

A demi-god of Masculo, a general of wars fought eons ago, a survivor of the world when power ran rampant and blood made rivers of divine hell. 

"Bend. Your. Knee." 

It wasn't just a bow he wanted from her, it was service. **He was demanding her enter his service.** His fate, her fate, the fate of her family- perhaps the fate of the Nine Realms all rested on the knifes edge of pride.