Will Avatars Become Extinct?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TbZPO6o-Us

Let me know when they get PgUp to work..

The Hunt Continues

Sir Edward and Lady Paris threw a wonder Dark Victorian Ball above Tanglewood last night, marred only by the killing of an already-aggravated werewolf and the debate that ensued between the friends of another werewolf, the honorable Sheriff Ortega, and those who insisted the beast was a danger.

Yes the beast attacked someone, but this is normal behavior after being hunted through Caledon. As for trying to kidnap one of the ladies..also normal behavior for less cultured Lycan packs. I was invited to view to corpse this evening. I dread to see the poor creature's head mounted on a wall. Oh the things people get away with in the name of Charity!

There was further discussion afterwards in Darkling's grove, but nothing was resolved.

~Dr. Bloodwing

The Aftermath

I happily returned little Raivyn to Lady Amber and her husband Sir Book. My father Hades once told me, "A promise broken is a promise kept." Indeed, I sacrificed the only oath that kept me sane as a demon..my vow to reclaim my rank as Crown Prince of Erebus and one day usurp the throne of the Underworld.



But you know what? It was worth it. No longer do I have to struggle over my own identity. I answer as easily to "Dr. Mason" now as I do "Bloodwing". Yes..I can say my first name now..not as an adjective but as a proper noun without banishing myself. That is true power.

You could say it's a case of no more demon, but a sample I took of my blood still shows a trace amount of ichor. Only a trace. Not even enough to count as half-demon. A trace of immortality, which means..

Life has become much more precious to me. There is a solace in knowing that someday all will be forgotten.

Not enough ichor to follow the Path of the Incubus. I wouldn't want that part of my life to interfere with my work..

Which brings me back to my other hobby. I'm not driven to scavenge the battlefields or the graveyards anymore. I still possess the Spark, but it does not consume me. Revivification is but another tool among the many magicks that I still remember.

Already I've gone back to work, applying silver nitrate to unfortunates struck down during the unbelievably foolish sport of Werewolf Hunting.







So if you see me somewhere in this Current Victorian Age, you may address me by new title as a Physician, Scientist and Occultist..

Doctor Bloodwing.

IN MEMORIAM
Sir Gauss Magnusson
Baron of Storvik
Kingdom of Atlantia

May the gates of Valhalla open wide for you, my friend. Save a seat for me if you can.

~BW

The Rejoining, Part IV

I stared down at little Raivyn, her eyes shut, skin ashen and mouth stretched wide in a cry of hunger, baring a pair of small fangs.

"What are you waiting for?" Hades chuckled from the comfort of his throne. "Your little Mistress is hungry!"

Yes, what an exquisite punishment my father devised! Demotion from Crown Prince to Nursemaid for my replacement! I would have to balance carefully how much of my own blood to feed her and when...to keep her content and at the same time prevent my own life force from being drained away.

I looked back at Hades as I slowly rolled up my sleeve. "If she is a vampire, then she cannot age.."

"With your ichor, she shall slowly grow to maturity..very slowly indeed.."

Calmly I offered my wrist to the infant, pressing it gently to her mouth. Instantly I felt the fangs sink into my vein. After a few seconds she ceased feeding, and I hurriedly rubbed my wrist as I whispered incantations to seal the small wounds. I heard coughing sounds from the bassinet and looked down with concern.

"What is wrong?" Growled Hades. "Barely a minute at your new station and you have already failed? Your punishment shall be.."

"Hold, Father!" I raised my hand as I peered more closely. With the Doctor's skill I picked Raivyn up in my arms and examined her. Her skin was flushed pink, her pulse and heat beat fast, but normal for a human infant.

"As you see, Father, I have achieved my first success in raising your new Princess by curing her of her vampirism with the antidote in my bloodstream!"

The Death God rose from his throne. "IMPOSSIBLE! Cerberus would have smelled such treachery and torn you to pieces!"

I grinned, as my language shifted to Latin..reflection of the old Senator's wordsmithing that would have done any Devil proud! I cradled Raivyn protectively in my arms.

"This was the Doctor's idea, and the Demon only followed in blind trust! And as the Doctor was unconscious until the merging so there was no treachery to sense! Further there was no antidote until you merged us, Father! We each consumed half the formula during what would have otherwise been a very enjoyable breakfast. The Doctor, being only human, fell deathly ill from his portion, but it was a risk he gladly took."

Hades clenched his massive obsidian hands into trembling fists as I continued.

"Since Princess Raivyn is cured of vampirism she is devoid of any evil taint. As a newborn she is free of any shadow of sin whatsoever!"

With that Raivyn belched onto my robe a substance I shall not describe.

"That does not count. Now where was I? Oh yes! By Your Majesty's own rule, no innocent may dwell in the Court of Erebus! Therefore it is my duty as her duly appointed Guardian to escort her back to the world of the living!"

The steel floor shook as the King of Erebus approached and crouched to look me dead in the eyes. Even when I was close enough to feel the heat in his angry eyes they were still lost in a sea of absolute darkness with the rest of his face.

"YOU, impudent DEMON, CANNOT take the Princess to the Upper World, for YOU are NOT innocent!"

I stared back calmly as I repeated my earlier statement.

"Did you not hear me, Father? I REPENT!"

Hades took a step back as pure light radiated from my body.

"I do not repent betraying you..In doing so I had sought to overcome Good and Evil both by twisting my soul into a Paradox..but now I see.."

The twin serpents, who had embodied my darkest traits, tore through their hiding spaces under my shoulder blades, and for the first time ever they completely extricated themselves from their host body, finding it uninhabitable. They writhed on the floor helplessly.

"The answer is..APOTHEOSIS! I renounce any claim to your throne or the Court of Erebus! I abandon the Path of the Incubus! I exorcise the Demon from my own soul! I REJECT ETERNAL LIFE! I EMBRACE MORTALITY!!"

I spread my crimson batlike wings, which immediately sprouted scarlet feathers. As the Demon King lunged for me I rose skyward with the child in my arms, buoyed by Divine favour.

The Rejoining, Part III

"Look into my eyes, Bloodwing."

So spake the ruler of he Underworld, and I obeyed. I had not cast eyes upon my Father for thousands of years..my last banishment was straight to the glacier. But I was struck by what I saw..or rather did not see. It was like staring at a silhouette. I made out the outline of his bald head from where it contrasted with his opulent golden crown. I could gauge from his shape where his features were. I was struck by how much my Dwarven brother Steelwolf's demon form resembled our Father..only ten times as large.

"You have trapped yourself in yet another conceit, I see."

He rose from his throne with the gentle rush of his dark velvet robes. I looked down as his massive sandal rolled the Doctor over a couple times to face upwards again.

"What brings you here. And know you cannot lie to me."

"I..I repent."

Long moments of silence. Even the screams of the damned souls outside died down to eavesdrop.

"Repentance, my deluded son, must be done with whole spirit. You cannot possibly remember all that you must atone to me when you are split like this. Which I shall rectify."

It felt as if a boulder had wrapped itself around my head and slammed me into the Doctor's body. This evil deity ripped apart souls and consumed them for sustenance. But now he was crushing two halves together with no attempt at subtlety.

The Doctor's psyche poured into my soul, inexorably mingling our essences. As we..I..was overwhelmed from both sides, more facets poured in. The Elizabethan explorer. The Roman legionnaire turned Senator. The buccaneer. These and many more masks dissolved into mine..every incarnation I had ever assumed among men was now as immediate to me as the Doctor and the Demon at my core.

"I have a chore for you, Prodigal."

With that the rattling of chains echoes in the chamber as some sort of metal box lowered to the bare chamber floor, clattering at my feet where the Doctor's body had once lay. The last thing I expected to see inside was an infant, eyes crimson and fangs bared in primal vampiric hunger.

"You shall raise this child as your daughter, and raise her as I raised you. She shall be a more worthy heir than you or your stunted brother or the trace of succubus in your machine you call a daughter. Indeed, she was born of a Baroness, was she not?"

My eyes widened as I gazed down at her features. Even through the mask of Undeath I could tell this was Baroness Palowakski's kidnapped daughter!

The Rejoining, Part II

Charon looked puzzled as I boarded his skiff with the Doctor slung over my shoulder. Quietly his skeletal hands slowly paddled down the deceptively placid waters of the Styx. I gazed out at the dark mists, the glowing lights of the black ferns along the banks our only guide. Finally, a gentle jolt as we embanked on the shores of Erebus. The iron capitol of Dis loomed before me, billowing jets of flame. I reached into my pouch and offered four gold coins, but he raised two skeletal fingers. Curious.

I carried my mortal half over the smooth cobblestones until I stared at the six burning eyes of Cerberus. Triple growls greeted me as streams of saliva oozed from swordlength fangs.

"Down."

The beast lay down, several eyes looking up at me quietly.

"Good boys."

I continued through the gunmetal streets, past horrors that only counted as distractions to on born in this realm.

The twin sentinels towered over me at the gates to my Father's palace. I continued past them as I felt their reptilian eyes follow me beneath their spiked helmets.

Nothing had changed since I was the favored son in that place. Not a damned thing. I knew exactly which passages to take towards the center, towards the lowest level until the last doors opened for me. As soon as I saw the mountainous throne, glittering with jewels inset in the bones of slain abominations, I kneeled, laying the Doctor at my feet.

"Back so soon, errant whelp?" The voice of Hades boomed, rattling the steel walls.

"Yes, Father."

The Rejoining, Part I

Dr. Mason collapsed during breakfast and had to be carried back to the hotel.. Bloodwing tried to revive him, but to no avail. That is when my demon-father told me Koen and I what I had suspected but dreaded to hear.

The cloning procedure was flawed from its conception. Neither body could survive with but half a soul. The Doctor's necromantic arts had sustained him thus far, and the demon clung to his second body by sheer force of will.

"Daughter", Bloodwing said. "One way or another the Foundation must survive. And this Current Victorian Age..and the Ages to follow..need a pioneer of medicine more that it needs an exiled demon-prince. Do you know the one thing that is almost impossible for a demon to commit, sweet Qli?"

My jaw dropped. "No Father..you can't mean.."

With that he held me tight, enshrouding my with crimson wings. He whispered his love, and his orders. He turned to Koen and did the same, though the cat protested.

The Demon scooped the nearly lifeless Doctor in his arms. Then he said the three words I never thought I would hear him say.

"I AM BLOODWING!"

With that the sky darkened and the wind howled outside like in my nightmare before. The door flung open to the chaos outside. Just as the door slammed shut behind him a wall of pure darkness fell over them both. Moments later the darkness gave way to the morning rays again. Both my fathers had vanished without a trace.

"What did he mean?" asked Koen.
"The one thing against a demon's primal nature", I said, "is self-sacrifice."

~Qli