Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 227 - The Other Side of Bloodlines

Vasariametz

Elsewhere, far from Earth and in the far reaches of space, sat a man covered in blood. Black and dripping with corruption was only one way to describe it, as the properties of the blood seemed to shift, never aligning with one thing solidly before deviating to the next.

The blood would kill mortals if they even got a whiff of it, yet Vasaria sat calmly while covered in the foul liquid.

It wasn't his first time.

Border details were some of the best places to grow, sometimes one of the only places to grow, but for someone like him, who had lived and experienced countless lifetimes, the days of his growth were long over.

He still improved, it was hard not to with constant killing and never-ending slaughter, but the days of devouring the essence of other creatures and making it his own were a blip of his past long behind him.

Vasaria had achieved Godhood so long ago, that his time as a mortal felt like a brief nap compared to the millennia since.

High King Dain's boisterous laughter and shouting insults could be heard for miles around and it was nearly enough for Vasaria to go and say something, but he held back.

It was rare for the man to fight himself and Vasaria didn't want to intrude on his time of joy. It was rare to see the stubborn dwarf smile, let alone laugh like he used to.

Instead, Vasaria watched. Observing the rolling darkness. The shifting tides deeper in. He was closer to the Blight than he'd been in ages, as the last time he fought was during the time of the 100th integration. Or was it the 110th?

He couldn't remember.

It had been only a few moons since he started his payment but he already didn't miss it. It brought back memories he'd rather stay buried. Where he once reveled in battle and the slaughter of his enemies, now it only depressed him instead.

Trying hard not to fall into old memories, painful memories, he was assaulted with one he didn't have time to dodge.

It accompanied a burst of cold and ice that he'd remember until his dying days.

Someone he had been desperately hoping wouldn't come find him was about to arrive and he could do nothing to stop it. All of the dwarves around quickly vacated his presence, going so far as to put their High King between them and what was coming as they knew who it was.

Vasaria had to instantly wonder if this was something she had planned. His border assignment had been close enough to warrant a visit, but not enough that it was compulsory as her lands bordered Dain's.

He'd tried to keep his presence concealed but he failed. He couldn't remain unnoticed when he was so close to her home.

The memories he'd been trying so hard to push away broke through his waning shield of willpower and they played over in his mind in a split second. Watching her grow up. From the small child to the woman she was today.

Her ups and downs as she grasped toward Godhood. Her inevitable success when she finally reached it. Her sorrow when he was taken away. The image of his final battle before he fell.

His satisfied smile when Vasaria finally arrived and he knew he had done it.

That had been the reason he stayed away for so long. She was all that his old friend used to be and it hurt to see her. It drove in the knife that he was gone.

So many of them were gone.

Vasaria had the power and ability to stop her projection. She wasn't even trying to protect it and it would be as easy as breathing, but he allowed it to continue. This wasn't something he could run from.

Not anymore.

He owed her that much at least.

The swirling burst of cold continued to rotate faster and faster as small snowflakes sprung into being. Space tried to stop them, to clamp down on what was happening but failed to do so.

The growing cold didn't stop there, as it continued to build until halting when it was only slightly larger than an average humanoid.

She downsized for me.

It was a sign of respect for her to go through the trouble. One Vasaria didn't expect her to make after all this time. It wasn't like he cared one way or another and she knew that, but did it anyway. The custom came about after he had stepped away from pantheon politics.

Memories and experiences continued to play through his mind as the process completed. It was quick, masterfully so as projections usually took much longer to solidify, and ended with the explosion of the pent-up ball of Winter.

The snow created shot out in every direction showering the portion of the sector he was in. It froze anything weak enough not to resist and he could feel the dwarves on the other side of the sector shiver.

Dain had the good sense to not say anything even though he was close enough to sense what was happening. The stubborn rock was annoying, but he knew when to not butt in.

What remained after the build-up of power and the explosion of force was a face he would never forget. White hair as bright as snow on a face just as pale. Piercing blue eyes that drilled into the soul and imparted a chill through only a gaze.

Earrings and ornamentations made of ice hung from her ears or pinned up her carefully braided hair, giving off a regal air. Her dress was the same as it always had been. Simple and without flair except for the Ice crystals that naturally formed in her presence.

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She stood staring at him with a scowl.

Vasaria hadn't expected a warm smile but a scowl was a bit much. He may not have visited for a long time but he hadn't done anything worthy of a scowl.

"Skadi." He said wistfully, "It's good to see you."

Her scowl deepened.

Vasaria wasn't one that squirmed when in another's presence. He hadn't done so in so long the instinct had died out, but her look of displeasure and continued silence would have caused him to if it hadn't.

"I would say the same if I wasn't here for another reason." She said coldly.

It hurt to be spoken to in such a way by her but he didn't show it. She was one of the few that could cause him to feel such a way.

"What is it you need, Princess," Vasaria slipped before he could correct himself.

"Do not call me that." She said forcefully, "I am a Princess no longer. You would know if you were at my crowning ceremony."

"Either of them." She added in a smaller voice one so different than the forceful one from before. One that hurt infinitely more than being yelled at.

A voice of sadness.

He said nothing for there was nothing he could say. He had missed her coronation to become Queen because it had been too soon. Her father had just died and she had been thrust into the position so quickly.

He stayed away for much the same reason. Seeing her, who acted so much like he did, he... couldn't. It hurt too much. She reminded him too much of the fact his greatest friend was with them no longer.

He ended up staying away for so long that by the time she became High Queen, it was easier to remain that way. Easier to push the emotions away than to deal with them.

Vasaria had always been bad at dealing with them. It was one of his greatest faults.

Seeing as he wasn't going to respond, Skadi continued, "I'm not here to reminisce as you clearly do not wish to. I have but one question and once I have my answer, I will leave."

The words hurt but he couldn't refute them.

"Why did you give out that technique? You promised that you were done trying to find a successor." She asked.

Hearing that made him think of the conversation he had not that long ago. It was the reason he was paying his dues out at the border to begin with, and the reason she was here at all.

"My stance on that hasn't changed. I am done trying to find a successor." Vasaria said, "I haven't given out the technique since last time and you know how that ended."

He had been so close. One step away from completion but they couldn't take the last step. Like so many others who tried, they couldn't complete it. It was why he was so confident claiming that the newest attempt would end much the same way.

It had happened enough times he'd given up.

Skadi looked confused by his response. "You and I are the only two who have it and I did not give it to the Human and I know it's in his possession. He aims to take the first step as we speak."

That didn't surprise him. It had been long enough that the Human's preparations should have been made by now. The Planet he was on had poles that could sustain the first step. All he had to do was reach close enough to one.

"You know there is another who can give it out. I swear that I did not." He said.

Skadi stiffened at his words. Understanding who he was talking about.

"You know this for a fact?" She asked.

"Why do you think I am here." Vasaria waved at the front lines before him. The Blight blood that covered him.

Skadi understood what he was getting at and nodded. The hint of a smile that he would go so far as to confront it.

"I see. Then I shall depart." She said and her projection started to fade but before it could, he called out.

"What will you do about it?" He asked before she could go.

The fading of her projection slowed as her attention turned back to him, "Nothing. You and I both know how this will end." Her tone was nearly sad. She had looked for successors just as hard and as long as he had.

Both had given up after the repeated failures.

"The Human has your Bloodline." He couldn't help but add.

Skadi smirked at that. "You think I wouldn't know? Your information network is vast, I'll give you that, but when it comes to matters involving my own, even you cannot compare."

Vasaria highly doubted that but said nothing to refute her.

"We have watchers that keep up to date on Integrations. Any Frost Giants discovered or Humans who take our Bloodline are made note of." She said. "It's common practice now. Even the Titans do it." The venom with which Titan was said could be understood from the Dwarves miles away.

Everyone knew of the feud between the two towering Races.

"Does that change how you will handle it? He even has one of Thiassi's Hammer fragments." Vasaria couldn't help but ask again, adding a bit of information he thought she wouldn't know to prove a point.

Knowing of the technique and Bloodline were easy. Anyone watching for those specifically would find them without much trouble. The Hammer was harder to notice.

It was hard enough to get past the screens protecting the new Planets and scanning for the Hammer fragment specifically would be a waste of time and effort. Scrying so far and through the protections wasn't cheap after all.

Her lack of reaction to his probe proved she had already known about it. Pity.

"He will be tested like all others have been tested. His circumstances are not unique. Technique or not. Hammer or not. If he fails, it will be stripped from him." She answered confidently and with finality.

The ability of Humans to take on other Bloodlines had caused a number of wars when it was first found out. The Dragons, specifically, took umbrage to the fact weaklings could take after them.

Dragons would look down on their own children in contempt if they displayed such traits, let alone someone not of their race.

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The race wars that sparked from the dispute were one of the few times in Vasaria's long memory that the Kingdoms of Man truly banded together. For a race so divided, they unified for only a scant few reasons and that was one of them.

They refused any outside influence that would dictate how they could use their own racial trait. No other race had stipulations on how their racial advantages could be used and they fought for years demanding the same.

The fact they won was surprising to all.

Not every race went to war over it, as some didn't care, but enough did that most believed the Humans didn't stand a chance, especially with the Dragons standing against them. It was one of the first times the tenacity of Man was put on display.

The agreement and compromise they came to afterward had been in place ever since. Enforced by both sides to this day, millennia later. The race the Bloodline was from could test if the Human could keep it. If they passed, the challenge was dropped. If they failed, the Bloodline was stripped.

"I doubt he will fail," Vasaria commented. He'd seen enough of the tutorial to know that much. "He upholds your principles well. Even embodying some better than some Giants I know."

"I know, but he will be tested all the same," Skadi said.

With the conversation coming to a natural end, Vasaria only had one more thing to say. It was more of intuition how he knew, but he mentioned it to her all the same.

"Do not bless him." He said sternly.

She looked confused but he went on, "He will not take kindly to it and I suspect he will refuse any blessing offered to him."

"Even from me?" Skadi smirked with a hint of smugness. She hadn't blessed anyone in ages and he doubted she would start now anyway.

He shot her down hard, "Even from you."

The blessing of the High Queen of Frost Giants was a boon no one would refuse lightly but for some reason Vasaria could see the Human refusing on principle. Not after what Callum did.

Skadi's projection faded slightly and her attention turned away before coming back to him. "I must go..." she hesitated, "It was nice seeing you again."

Her image faded completely and Vasaria was left alone again.

His heart was in pain.

Ah, Ymir, how much she's grown.