Even though Gillian’s body had been trapped in the [Cage of Eternity] for so long, her mind hadn’t been in the same state of stasis, and that meant that she could still think and reason inside of that prison. Gillian had been suspended in time for two hundred years with nothing but the thought of revenge running through her mind every single day, and Jason could understand why the first thing she did when she got out was to make sure that she could carry out that revenge! The mere fact that Gillian was able to retain her sanity after so long was already impressive in its own right, so Jason wasn’t going to blame her for what she had done anymore, and he forgave her at that moment.
Jason felt a lot of eyes watching him from below the cliff he was standing on, and he finally looked down towards the people gathered there, and he saw more than a hundred Vympirs falling to their knees before him. These Vympirs were the most loyal of Gillian’s Changlings, and they were the ones who had gone to help Gina and Stella when Jason and Gillian were fighting the Machina. Gina was standing beside a tall, dark-skinned Vympir with dark red eyes who was kneeling while staring up at Jason with absolute reverence, and Jason gave Gina a small smile as he spoke to her through their mental link.
’Hey, babe. I’m sorry about what happened.’
Once Gina heard Jason’s voice in her head, her lips split into a wide smile as she realised that Jason was finally back to normal, and she shook her head and whispered back to him.
’Stella survived, babe, and the baby is fine. So everything’s okay.’
Gina didn’t know if she could ever forget the terror that had come over her body when Jason attacked her back on Atlantis, but Gina knew that Jason had been under the control of Gillian at that moment, so she didn’t blame him for it. Thankfully, their child was okay, and that was all that mattered. Jason smiled at Gina when he heard her response, and he let out another calm sigh as he felt a fresh breeze flowing over him and making his hair flutter. Jason could feel a lot of new connections deep in his heart that went out towards many Vympirs in the Primordial Expanse. All these Vympirs had once been Gillian’s subordinates, but now they were his, and Jason could feel them responding to him with loyalty and adoration.
But out of all of them, there was one Vympir that didn’t seem to be very happy, and Jason opened his eyes and looked into the distance at the Vympir that was on her knees and looking up at Jason with deep anger in her eyes!
Queen Lamina of the Vympir race was absolutely furious! This wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair at all! Do you know how long she suffered!? How long she worked for this!? Do you have any idea what she had to go through in order to make sure that Nox ran as smoothly as possible!? It took her decades to gain the trust of the Dead Apostles, and she worked for more than a century before she became the ruler of Nox! And now all of that had been taken away by this bastard!?
The seat of the Dead Apostles was something that was always passed down from a Dead Apostle to one of their Vympir Changlings by the transfer of the Blood Oath. Whoever has the Blood Oath of the Dead Apostle would become the next Dead Apostle, and that was a rule that would never change. But after Gillian’s disappearance two hundred years ago, things had been very complicated in the world of the Vympirs. Since Gillian had vanished without being able to transfer her Blood Oath to anyone, there was no one who could become the next Dead Apostle! The Court of Dead Apostles was left with an empty seat, and the Vympir of Nox were also left without a ruler! That was something that couldn’t be allowed to stand, so in the midst of the confusion, Lamina had stepped up as the most powerful of Gillian’s Changlings, and she offered to become the next Dead Apostle. It was unprecedented since this had never been done before, but no one had any better suggestion for how to handle this problem, and they had to eventually accept Lamina as a Dead Apostle due to her strength. Lamina had brought a lot of changes to the world of the Vympirs, and over the next few years, she had eventually grown her influence to the point where she was crowned as the next Queen of the Vympirs!
But even with all her achievements, there were still those who just didn’t accept her as the Queen. Lamina had never gotten the Blood Oath from Gillian, and that was something that would always stain her title as the queen! Even after Queen Lamina joined the Council of Nine and One, there were a lot of people who didn’t see Queen Lamina as someone worthy of sitting with them! The most vocal person about this was Queen Hesabeth, who saw Queen Lamina as a second-rate Vympir who didn’t deserve to sit on the same stage that Queen Gillian had once been on! Lamina had been sending out hundreds of scouts every single year just to try and find where Queen Gillian was to try and get the Blood Oath from her, but no matter how much they searched, there was nothing that even gave them a lead to where Queen Gillian’s body was! Queen Lamina had almost resigned herself to the fact that she would never find Gillian’s body, but she was shocked when she felt Gillian’s mana signature heading towards the world of the Machina! Queen Lamina had been more than a thousand Dimensional Leaps away when she felt Gillian’s mana, but she still managed to sense the power, and she had immediately headed out to try and see if Gillian had finally returned!
But when she reached the world of the Machina, all she saw there was death and destruction! There was blood and ash lining the streets, buildings had been brought down by massive explosions, and there was a giant Death Star in the sky that had eradicated millions of people! It had been an absolute massacre, and Lamina knew that this would be the end of the Machina as one of the powerhouses of the Primordial Expanse! But that hadn’t been important to Lamina! The only thing she cared about at that moment was finding Gillian and taking the Blood Oath from her! That was the only way she could become Queen, and she wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip from her fingers!
Lamina had immediately followed Gillian’s mana signature across multiple worlds, and she eventually came to this world when she sensed Gillian resting here! But what she came across when she appeared was something that made her see red! Gillian was giving her Blood Oath to someone else! And out of everyone, it had to be Jason Marc of Earth! At that moment, Lamina had immediately tried to launch an attack that would stop the ritual, but there was nothing she could do! Gillian was her Dead Apostle as well as her master, so in the face of Gillian’s magic, Lamina couldn’t even raise her head! Lamina thought that Gillian would have seen what she had been doing for their people! As her Dead Apostle, Gillian could go through the memories of all her Changling, so Lamina hoped that Gillian would see the good things that Lamina had done! All the years Lamina had been ruling! All the declarations and decrees that she had signed into law! All the years of sleepless nights that she spent making sure the world of Nox was running properly! Lamina knew that Gillian had seen all of this, and yet Gillian had given her Blood Oath to someone else! This wasn’t fair! How can someone be so heartless!