Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 217: Immortality and Reflection

Vroln Region

Kligoth Continent

Gnocyl Prime

Ciurath Star System

November 20th

Year 2018

It was a few days after Jamie and Lapis reunited on Anadus Prime, and our resident Hybrid was taking a tour of Tiris’ home world, Gnocyl.

He wandered through the Vroln Region, the same place where a pivotal event had occurred—an event that had led Miranda to unlock and accept her Hybrid powers.

The same region where Jamie almost faced death for the first time, and overcame it, exuviating right afterwards and attaining a higher level of immortality.

"The people of this world still worship Esanke, not knowing that the real goddess is dead and her position has changed hands dozens of times."

Jamie muttered, his gaze drifting over a cathedral of the Sky goddess’ Faith. He shook his head in bemusement before turning his attention to the star-strewn night sky.

"Mira’s birthday was four days ago, wasn’t it?"

It wasn’t that Jamie had forgotten the date—an impossibility—but that for him and Miranda, celebrating their birthdays every year diminished the significance of the day.

For beings with immortality, celebrating such occasions annually lost its charm. Eternity had a way of rendering these moments mundane, and the passage of time made the repetition wearisome.

Jamie’s own birthday was in August, but he had spent the day killing monsters like he had been doing in the months before that. The only special thing that happened on that day was when Denise came over to visit.

"1,009,502,627."

That was the number of birthdays both Jamie and Miranda have had so far. With billions more ahead of them, they had adjusted their celebrations to intervals that felt more meaningful.

Initially, they celebrated once every millennium, then every ten millennia, and eventually every hundred. Over the course of a million years, they only marked their birthdays ten times.

For them, that was more than enough.

As Jamie wandered through the Vroln Region, memories of past birthdays danced through his mind.

He recalled the vibrant celebrations from over a billion years ago when he and Miranda were still teenagers.

Miranda had always been the epitome of exuberance on her birthday. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and she would practically vibrate with excitement as the day approached.

Jamie and Miranda’s father, Thomas, would watch with smiles, their amusement evident as Miranda’s boundless energy filled the room. The contrast between Miranda’s unrestrained joy and their calm, contented presence was a testament to the warmth and simplicity of those early celebrations.

"Good times."

A nostalgic smile tugged at his lips as he thought of this.

Over the billion years, their celebrations evolved from annual events to more spaced-out milestones.

One birthday, in particular, stood out vividly. Miranda had decided to surprise Jamie with an extravagant gift.

Jamie had once mentioned his fondness for a rare fruit from a distant realm—a fruit so elusive it was almost considered a legend.

That year, Miranda took it upon herself to procure this fruit for Jamie.

She set out to discover the realm where this fruit grew in abundance. Not only did she find the realm, but she also subjugated its rulers and claimed it in Jamie’s name.

The gift was not just a few fruits but an entire realm, ripe with the elusive delicacy Jamie had only mentioned offhandedly.

When Jamie received the gift, he was caught between amusement and shock. He had never imagined his causal remark would lead to such an elaborate gesture.

"Well, it’s not like I haven’t done worse...haha..."

The man let out a dry laugh as he let his feet touch down on the ground in the middle of a vast plain, lying on the grass as he calculated when their next celebration would be.

The thought of marking such an occasion in the far-off future seemed both distant and comforting.

"This is Year 2018, so we’ve got around 48,000 years more, I guess?"

Such a time was but a small fraction of their immeasurable lifetimes. Jamie had slumbered even longer than that before.

"Speaking of sleep...it’s been a while since I did that..."

Not needing to sleep sometimes made Jamie forget he could even sleep. Now that the thought had crossed his mind, he silently closed his eyes and let his mind fall into a light slumber.

◇　◇　◇

Jamie stirred from his slumber, the sensation of soft grass beneath him and the gentle rustle of wind in the distance awakening his senses.

The vast plains stretched endlessly around him, a sea of green that rippled under the light breeze. Crickets chirped rhythmically, their melodies blending with the quiet hum of the night.

When Jamie had closed his eyes, it had been night—cool, tranquil, peaceful. Now, as his eyes fluttered open, it was still night, though something felt different.

He blinked slowly, allowing the weight of sleep to leave him, before coming to the realization.

’... this is a different night.’

Indeed, Jamie had slept for approximately 23 hours, though it hardly felt like time had moved at all; the hours had passed in what felt like mere moments.

He let out a sigh, sitting up slowly as the weight of the moment settled on him. The duration of his sleep was not the issue. It never was, not for someone like him.

The true problem was the reason he had woken up so suddenly.

His eyes narrowed, and he spread his aura outward, letting it ripple through the surrounding area like a silent pulse. It only took moments for the confirmation to reach him, and the result was one he didn’t like.

It seemed his instincts hadn’t failed him, though he wished they had in this scenario.

He could sense it now, the disturbance that had pulled him from his sleep. He sighed once more, a hint of frustration mingling with resignation.

There was no denying it—Gnocyl Prime was under attack.

"Seriously? This is a Dwarf-Star Sized planet; Who’s crazy enough to attack it?"

Though he asked that, Jamie knew that insanity was a rather common thing in the Universe, so he just shook his head with a sigh.

First, Jamie needed to identify exactly what, or who, was attacking Gnocyl Prime.

His first action was to expand his spatial perception, his awareness stretching across the vast plains, then further, encompassing entire regions, scanning for life signatures.

What he found was a bit different.

Distortions. Subtle warps in the fabric of space...by space itself? They seemed like ripples in a still pond after a stone was dropped.

These signatures weren’t created by humanoid presences, nor were they the traces left by monsters.

The distortions were space itself. They took the form of creatures—formless, yet tangible. A contradictory feeling pulsed through his mind, but Jamie was no stranger to it.

He knew immediately what it meant.

"Space beasts."

Not just a few—there were many of them. Enough that half-deity level battles were breaking out everywhere across the surface of the planet.

Jamie’s expression remained calm and he glanced skyward. There, looming above, he could see the Amorphous Space Beast’s corpse.

Its massive body hung in the sky, an incomprehensible silhouette blotting out portions of the stars.

But it wasn’t just visible from Gnocyl Prime. The corpse was so large that it could be seen clearly from any planet in the Ciurath star system and many more beyond.

If space beasts were attacking Gnocyl Prime, Jamie had no doubt the other planets in the star system were under siege as well.

Jamie knew instinctively that the swarm of space beasts, though dangerous, was not the real threat. This attack had the feel of a diversion. It wasn’t the first time he had encountered such a tactic, and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

He had seen this pattern before: a powerful space beast—perhaps even a Space Beast Lord—heralding countless lesser beasts and sending them to attack surrounding worlds.

Their purpose was to draw the attention of Lapis and her vampire subordinates, forcing them to defend multiple fronts, leaving the true objective unguarded.

And what was that objective?

If it wasn’t the enormous corpse floating in space, then Jamie didn’t know what it could be.

Jamie had no doubts that the creature controlling the swarm of space beasts was after the corpse—likely aiming to bypass the barrier around it and claim whatever power still lingered within the remains of the Amorphous Beast.