"Lady Caera!" The woman cried as she ran to them in a panic.

"Nessa, what's wrong?" Caera asked urgently.

"We have trouble. Scythe Seris is here, and has been waiting for over an hour," Nessa replied.

"Told you you should have gotten the pastries to go." Arthur commented casually.

Nessa looked to him questioningly, and was about to say something before Caera spoke up.

"These people are guests of Scythe Seris, and they will be staying with us for the time being. Please have two rooms prepared."

"Yes my Lady, but..."

"Where is she?"

"In the high lords study drinking. Something seems to be bothering her."

"Alright, let's go," Caera said, and the four of them quickly made their way to the study.

"Does she know of Seris' plan?" Tess asked.

"Nessa? No," Caera replied. "Even though I trust Nessa, she worries far too much to be a part of something like this. In fact, no one here other than Alaric knows anything about it. Blood Denior is involved, helping Scythe Seris gather strength by getting the support of other high bloods, but Alaric is the only other one here that knows who you three are and your mission."

"Isn't this your home?" Tess asked. "Couldn't you just order them not to speak or something?"

"This is Highlord Deniors' home, I just live here."

"Isn't that your father?" Tess asked.

"Adopted. All children who are discovered to have Vritra blood are taken from their families and sent to Highbloods to be trained until our Vritra blood manifest."

"Do you even know who your birth parents are?"

Caera hesitated. "No. I only have a vague memory of what they looked like. I was far too young to be able to remember anything significant."

"I'm so sorry," Tess said sympathetically.

"Thank you."

"What happens after your blood manifests?"

"First we are tested. Some get to go home, others stay and are experimented on and trained to become elite soldiers for Agrona."

"What are they testing for?" Arthur asked, never hearing any of this in the previous timeline.

"We don't know. There are theories, he's looking for those with potential to become strong enough to fight Asura is the most popular theory. But Seris believes he's looking for something else, something specific."

The four arrived at the study to see Seris sitting comfortably in a plush chair drinking a brown liquor. Off to the side by the bar was a servant with sweat practically pouring from him. He took notice of them, and gave Caera a pleading look. With a nod of her head the servant looked relieved and practically ran out, closing the door behind him.

"Master." Caera greeted, then gestures to the others behind her, "Arthur and Tessia Leywin, and Elijah Knight."

"Welcome to Alacrya, come take a seat," she says as she raises her glass.

"Master, is something wrong?" Caera asks as she and the others walk over to other seats around her.

Seris holds up a black envelope. "This came for you while you were out."

Caera came to her and took the envelope and opened it. "It's an invitation to a ball at..." Caera looked over at Seris with a concerned expression. "Taegrin Caelum."

"I don't understand?" Tess asked as she saw the seriousness on Caera and Seris' faces. "What's the big deal about Taegrin Caelum?"

"That's where Agrona lives," Elijah answered with equal seriousness.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Arthur said casually from his seat beside Tess. "This just makes getting to Agrona easier."

"Easier?" Seris questioned. She then took the invitation from Caera and glared at Arthur irritated. "This is not just an invitation to Agrona's home. All of the Vritra reside here, along with his elite guards, the most elite of the wraiths." She took a breath and calmed down. "Going there to kill Agrona is nothing short of suicide, especially since it's clear he knows you're here."

"But, why a ball?" Tess asked. "If Agrona knows we're here, why not just attack us while our guard is down?"

Seris handed over the invitation to Tess. "He's not just inviting blood Denior, all high bloods in Alacrya are invited."

"Why would he invite all of them?" Arthur asked.

"Art look!" Tess announced as she read the invitation. "It says it's to celebrate your capture!"

"I still don't get it," Arthur said. "He doesn't feel like the type to throw a celebration for winning the war, let alone my capture."

"It's because of me," Seris said, leaning back into her seat. "Thanks to you killing Cadell, I've managed to gain the loyalty of over a third of the high bloods, and a number of wraith teams. If I had more time I could have gained more with Dragoth's death. What he's trying to do is crush our moral. Outside of the Asura, you're the only one who could stand a chance at defeating him. Whether he believes it's possible or not is irrelevant, we do, and without you our odds of victory diminish significantly."

"So he wants to deafest me publicly to crush this rebellion before it even starts," Arthur scoffed. "And if I run, you will still lose support."

"It's clear now that we have to wait for another opportunity. I was thinking with the Victoriad happening in a few days, everyone's attention would be diverted and an opening would appear, but now," Seris sighed. "We'll just be walking into a trap."

"I still fail to see the problem," Arthur stated as he placed and rested his right leg on his left knee. "Now all we have to do is walk into his trap. We don't need to search or wait for him, all we need to do is just take him as soon as the opportunity arises."

"I don't know how strong you think you are," Seris said as she leaned forward. "But the Virita are gods, and there will be several present."

"If it bleeds it can die, and I've reached close enough to their level to kill them. Besides, you would have had to face the others anyway."

"No, my plan was after you killed Agrona to leave the rest to the Asura. Without Agrona the other Vritra are nothing against them. I would just take my forces and stay out of the fight, then come back to clean up the remaining forces that oppose me."

"And how much of Alacrya do you think the Asura would leave intact?" Arthur questioned rhetorically. "The Asura call us lessers too. To them killing a couple thousand humans is no different than exterminating an ant hill. You'd be lucky if they left half of Alacrya's population alive."

"You may be right," Seris admitted. "But it's better than losing the entire continent."

"How about you leave things to me, and I'll ensure only the Vritra die, and anyone else that chooses to fight after they're dead."

"What about after Agrona? If it gets out that we did this at Seris' request, what makes you think you'll still be able to ascend to power?" Tess asked.

"Eliminating the other two scythes will be key. After that all I need to do is prove to the entire continent that Agrona was willing to sacrifice all of Alacrya to defeat the Asura. The wraiths themselves should just fall right in line," Seris replied.

"You know, I'm hearing a lot of speculation here," Elijah chimed in. "Did you ever have a plan outside of using Arthur?"

"Just because I don't voice my plans in detail do not assume that I don't have not just one but multiple contingencies. Yes my best case plans do revolve around Arthur, but I did have other plans, they just had less of a chance of success."

"And that's my other thing," Elijah leaned forward and eyed Seris suspiciously. "How can you have so much faith that Arthur can do this? I know he killed Cadell, and he was one of the most powerful Scythes, but there's a big gap between scythe and Vritra."

"I've been wondering that too," Arthur added. "Not just that though. I've noticed a few other things that don't seem to be adding up with my interactions with you."

Seris sat silent with her brows knitted and her eyes pointed down as she appeared to be weighing her options and deciding on her correct response. Her mannerisms right now reminded the three very much of Arthur while he was in thought. Finally her face relaxed as she looked at everyone.

"Except for Arthur, everyone needs to clear the room."

"You must be joking," Elijah laughed. "I don't know what you have planned, but like hell are we going to leave. We're all going to be affected if things go wrong for us, we deserve to know what's going on."

Seris stood up and walked to Arthur, leaned over and whispered something in his ear opposite Tess. His eyes opened wide and his body stiffened.

"Holy fuck'n revelations Batman!" Regis stated in complete shock.

"Everyone leave please," he requested. "You too, Stay with Tess."

With that Regis leapt out of Arthur's body, causing Caera to jump up in surprise.

"I think I need to see you jump a few more times," Regis said to Caera. "Do you happen to have a trampoline?"

"Regis, focus," Arthur scolded.

"Art? Are you ok? What did she say?" Tess said as she took his hand, concerned for what Seris told him.

"These are answers I need to get on my own." He then placed his other hand on top of hers and looked into her eyes warmly. "I promise you, I'll explain everything after I get my answers, but I need to get them alone."

Tess didn't like this. Seris said something that clearly shook him to his core, but she was being kept out. Yes he said he would tell her later, but she was also reminded of when he kept secrets from everyone, and part of her wondered if he would give her the full truth.

"Please," Arthur pleaded. "I need to do this my way and alone for now."

Tess took a heavy sigh and nodded, choosing to have faith in her husband. She then stood up, Elijah and Regis following behind her as Caera lead them out of the room.

As soon as the door closed back Arthur god burst stepped in front of Seris with an aether sword a hair away from her throat.

"If you're lying to me I'll kill you here and now."

Seris smiled up at him warmly. "In all of our lifetimes, I've never lied to you." She shrugged, "At least no more than you have lied to me."

Arthur's hand shook as the implication of her identity weighed down on him.

"What do you mean lied? I've never lied to you."

She gave Arthur a deadpan expression. "I may have been old, but I was never stupid. All that money you and Nico, "donated" to the orphanage? You got all that money by stealing things and selling them."

"Then why not call us out on it?" His hand began to shake even more.

She sighed. "Not only could I not prove it without following you, which I didn't have time to do. We needed the money. I just thought of you two as our own little Robin Hoods."

"Nico could have told you all that before," Arthur argued, just as much trying to convince himself.

"Yes, because that's the kind of important information Agrona and everyone here cares about. Like how I introduced the three of you to one another as you came to me. How I encouraged you to use that head of yours, and tried to push you down the right path."

The sword dissipated as Arthur fell to his knees as tears streamed from his eyes. "Headmaster Willbeck," he sobbed.

She got down on her knees and gently held Arthur and stoked his head. "I'm here."

Arthur cried for a few minutes, and she allowed it before even she felt it was enough.

"Ok Arthur, that's enough. I'm sure you have plenty of questions, and I don't have all day."

Arthur wiped the tears from his face as he took a deep breath and recomposed himself. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I'm used to it by now. It's not the first time one of you three have done this," she replied with a motherly smile.

"Wait, this has happened before? Do you mean this isn't the first time I've reincarnated?"

"Heavens no," she replied with a chuckle. "We've been doing this for... well, longer than I can remember."

"I don't even know where to begin with my questions." Arthur said with his confusion clearly shown on his face.

"Why don't you just let me explain, and then you can ask questions. This way has always worked best."

"You mean..." Arthur started, then cut himself off knowing he would get all the answers she had soon enough.

"Ok, so I don't know if there is a god or some divine being, or if we are just a cosmic fluke traveling the multiverse. All I know is that for countless millennia the four of us have been moving from one world to the next. And even though our names keep changing, each of us has a specific purpose that always remains the same. Cecilia is the legacy, a pinnacle of power. Nico the inventor, you the knight and protector, and me the teacher. I always came first and prepared for your arrival. I don't understand how or why, but I can always tell you three apart from all the others, and when I find you I begin my work. Those "skills", you have, the raw talent for combat. That is what lingers now after me teaching you in nearly every life." She smiled nostalgically. "And even though you are proficient in every form of combat, you always lean more towards your swordsmanship. I can't remember if I've told you this in this lifetime, but the three of you are forces of change, for better or worse, it's change."

"I take it the worse when people like Agrona get involved?" Arthur asked.

"Only if they win. People have tried to control the legacy many times, but unless they killed you and Nico they always were met with a bloody end. But with Agrona though, he is a special case. You see, never before has anyone summoned you three, he's the first."

"Are you kidding me?" Arthur questioned as he sat up a little straighter.

"I don't know how he learned of the legacies existence without her being here, but he did. And now because of him, I have no idea what will happen next time."

"Are you saying we might not reincarnate again?"

"No, I'm confident that you will. From what I've seen, I believe all beings reincarnate, but they just have no memories of their past lives."

"But we didn't forget. This is the first time for me."

"No it's not. In the past it's usually been some psychic meddling in forces he or she can't understand that brings some of your memories to the surface, this is the first time you were born with them, but I blame Agrona for that. You see, the three of you weren't supposed to come here, I was already in another world preparing when I was pulled here, and placed inside this body."

"So you weren't born but instead took Seris' place?

"I like to think of it as added to her. I have all of her memories and mannerisms. It's as if we simply blended." She looked at Arthur sympathetically. "But for you, I do hope that you don't retain your memories next time. This is a terrible burden in the beginning. You've only survived this time because you were completely dissatisfied with your choices last time. But from what I've seen, you'll have more regrets this time, more to miss."

"So you remember some of your early lives?"

"Not vividly, but I do remember multiple suicides. You see in my first life, after I trained you three, I had a family of my own. I lived a full and happy life, and the three of you stayed close despite how far you had climbed, as if you were my own children. Then when I was reborn into my second life, the fact that I lost everything, and had to start again...I couldn't handle it. At first I thought it was a dream and tried to kill myself to wake up, but I just reincarnated again in another body in that world. I tried several more times before I just accepted it." She looked up at Arthur and smiled. "And that's when I found you again. The other two came soon after, and I didn't feel alone anymore, even if you didn't remember me. Soon after I realized our fates, similar things started happening again, and I realized we had a destiny to fulfill, a fate if you will."

"So you just kept following it every lifetime?"

"Of course, what other choice did I have?"

"What if..." Arthur shook his head. "No, she dedicated her existence to this belief. If I make her question it, it could destroy her."

It was only for a fraction of a second, neither of them even noticed, but all of his Runes flickered on dimly before subsiding again.

"Anyway, I understand more or less what's been going on before, but I still have lots of questions about this life. Like why didn't you try and recruit Nico to help? I'm confident he would have helped you."

She shook her head sadly. "If I got to him in time yes, but by the first time I saw him Agrona had already twisted his mind so severely. If I had revealed myself, I have no doubt he would have turned on me."

"I guess you're right, even after everything he's been through he was pretty twisted."

"You would know better than anyone considering how obsessed he was about making you suffer after you were captured," she replied matter of factly.

Arthur froze for a second as what she said processed through his mind. He then shook his head as the last of the pieces fit into place.

"You're aware of the previous timeline," he stated as most of his questions just became answered.

She smiled proudly as she leaned back in her seat. "You always were quick with the pickup. Yes, I remember. I learned many reincarnations ago, that I'm able to perceive changes to the timeline. So when you turned back the clock, I retained all of my memories from before."

"That's why Alaric is working for you, and Caera's family."

"Correct. After your work at the Victoriad I realized the time was almost upon me to make a move. I had already been gathering forces before then, but it wasn't till afterward that my forces truly grew. I was using Caera before as my proxy to gain the high blood's loyalty, and that's when Alaric approached her and we began recruiting ascenders. They may not be patriots, but when they understood the stakes, that their bloods were in danger, they were ready to fight." She breathed heavily and shook her head. "Sadly you were captured before I could make a move. Perhaps I was trying to gather too large of a force first, but regardless there was nothing I could do. So after you turned back time I knew exactly what to do to gain my strength even faster. I immediately recruited blood Denior and sent them to gain the other high bloods, as I sent Caera to recruit Alaric and build our ascender army."

"Wow, I must admit I'm impressed. I saw things were off, but I didn't expect the butterfly effect to have done so much. But I guess when there are two of us it makes sense."

"Well thank you," she replied with a tinge of pride. "Though I must admit, I'm truly impressed you were able to suppress Nico again. I thought only Agrona could do that."

"Actually, he's not suppressed. I tried to turn back time for him, bring his mind back to how it was when he was Elijah. However I somehow turned him schizophrenic instead."

"Still, to keep Nico from taking over..."

Arthur shook his head. "I had Sylvie suppress him for a while, but in the end the Dijin was able to separate the two personalities," Arthur explained, not wanting to say how he killed Nico part. "At least now though, Cecilia shouldn't be able to be brought into this world."

She shook her head. "Wrong. Nico might be Elijah now, but it's still the same soul. If Agrona were to capture Tessia it's all over, Cecilia will be coming."

"Damn it," Arthur grunted in frustration.

Seris leaned forward and placed a hand on his knee. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but we can't allow Cecilia to be brought to this world no matter what. If Agrona gets her she'll just become his puppet, and if Kezess gets her he'll kill her. So if it becomes clear that you can't defeat Agrona, I need you to do something."

"Don't worry, I'm already prepared for it. If I can't beat Agrona I'll kill Elijah."

"What?! No!"

"Oh? You have a better idea?"

"Of course, but it won't be easy for you. You will need to kill Tessia."

"What the fuck is that bitch smoking? Let's just kill her instead!" Regis commented is shock and anger.

Arthur backed away. "Are you kidding me? You want me to kill my wife?!"

"I'm sorry Arthur. I can see how happy you are, and I would love to see both you and Nico with the ones you love, but that's not possible. For her sake we can't let Cecilia enter this world."

"And what's wrong with killing Elijah?"

"Like you, he's like a son to me!"

"He's not Nico! Nico is gone! And even if he wasn't, he tortured me! He took an innocent woman, Tess, and forced Cecilia into her body!"

"Since you can't remember your other lives it's easy for you to say Nico is gone, but to me this is no different than every other time you all are born into this world."

"I won't kill Tess," Arthur said with a deadly glare.

Seris released her killing intent. "Stop being a damned selfish child! We are talking about protecting our family!"

Her intent was strong, stronger than his, than even Kezess', but Arthur endured it without flinching. With adrenaline rushing through his body and his rage and determination to protect Tess at its peak, he didn't falter.

Seris took a deep breath as she withdrew her intent.

"Listen Arthur, I've been like a mother to you for more lives than I can count, so I know this is hard for you, you always are dedicated to your family." She reached out and took his hand. "But you won't be alone," she smiled warmly. "You'll have me, and your brother. We'll help you through this."

"What the fuck. This is some seriously fucked up shit. She's about a hair away from a crazy mom in a horror movie," Regis said, continuing his commentary.

"Brother... Elijah?"

Seris nodded with the same warm smile. Arthur pulled his hand away calmly.

"You know, I have a mother in this life. She's great, always there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on and to support me when I struggled. But even if killing Tess would save my little sister, I know damn well that she would never be able to ask me to do it."

"Arthur," she said as she reached back for his hand, but he slapped it away.

"I think I finally get you now. To survive all these lives you've superimposed yourself as our mother, so you would always have family. You don't give a damn about Alacrya and Dicathen, or even this world and the people in it. To you this is just another stop, and this whole world can just burn for all you care, just as long as you have us." Arthur leaned forward and stared her in the eyes. "You might remember countless lives, but I only remember two, and you were only in one. And as much as you meant to me then, this is now. Tess is my wife, the love of my life and part of my family. If you hurt a hair on her head, not only will I kill you in this life, but every other after, along with your precious family."

He didn't release the pressure from his core, or unleash his intent, but the look in his eyes and tone of his voice sent chills down her spine.

"A-arth.." she stuttered before Arthur cut her off.

"Don't think that I won't do it. I wiped out the population of an entire country as revenge for your death in our last life. So killing a few people who will just be reborn again and again is nothing for me."

He then stood up and walked to the door, but before he opened it he stopped and turned around.

"By the way, I need a favor."

Seris turned to him, but he continued before she could even speak.

"I need all of Agrona's data on his Vritra blooded human research, specifically their biology. You see, Tess and I are trying to start a family of our own, but despite our vigorous sex life, she still isn't pregnant. I just want to make sure there won't be any complications in conception that I need to take into account, seeing as I'm now part dragon. You got that handled? Thanks."

With that Arthur turned back around and walked out of the room, leaving a very stunned Seris behind.