Nico stopped at his home before he went into the ice caverns to meet his adopted mother. An occasion such as this, despite the threat, was not one to attend with silver armor, so he prepared himself accordingly. The grime of combat rinsed away with a quick shower. He dressed himself in a nice white button-up and black slacks, the collar and waistband of each garment fastened by the same tie and belt he wore to the ball.
After that, he left. The temperature seemed to drop as he moved further into the compound. Eventually he passed Revel's room — the farthest he'd ever descended. Then he met a set of large, imposing double doors that led him into the untamed caverns below. Pushing them open proved to be no challenge. He stepped inside the corridor, starkly aware that his breath was now visible and the path lit only by a few scattered torches.
He was reminded of the dungeons below the Bright Castle as he continued onward. This time, though, he was forced to use a long and winding spiral staircase instead of a hallway. And this time, the walk was but a short minute. It seemed the only reason there wasn't furnishing throughout was because it would simply be more trouble than it was worth to design an interior when the Queen could simply carve stairs into the ice and let it be.
Whatever the reason, he eventually reached the end. The stairs flattened out. A final hallway led to the entrance. The doors were wide open and swung inward.
The throne room was freezing cold. Ghostly moonlight bled through the ceiling, casting ephemeral rays into the chamber and emphasizing the deep shadows hidden from their presence. The sloping wall and inlaid pillars of stone and ice seemed so far away, and between him and the dais was a mere couple dozen meters of empty space. Except it wasn't empty; a long, scarlet carpet denoted the path forward, and a heavy, tantalizing, and bestial presence roiled around the room, flowing past him and around him and through him all at once. It was much thicker than on the walk down.
"Ah, there you are…"
Nico's skin prickled, and he felt goosebumps raise along his arms. He instinctively kneeled, bowed his head, and said:
"Your Majesty."
Pressure pressed upon him. His body shook against all reasonable thought. It was then that he knew that Ki Song—the Raven Queen, and a Supreme three whole ranks above him—had set her gaze onto his mortal flesh. It was then that he felt her crushing curiosity much more profoundly in the world than any other's. Her soul… it was everywhere. It was in the very domain from which he stood, and the presence from which she willed into in the world wherever she existed.
"My one and only son." She frowned beyond his vision and said, as if testing the words: "Nico… Dawn Eternal… No, that is not your True Name, is it?"
Names were powerful things. Nico had told Seishan his True Name in ignorance, but she and he hadn't revealed its actual connotation to anyone else per her instructions. It appeared that their trust ran deep enough for the Song princess not to divulge it even to her own mother…
Still, such things could not really be kept from beings so powerful. Even if the Queen couldn't decipher his actual True Name, the fake one was easy to spot.
"No… No, it is not," he answered alas, and the world paused at his transgression.
But the Queen did not denounce him. She simply ordered:
"Rise."
His body relaxed as the presence around him seemed to retreat. The not-so-subtle threat she had given him faded, and suddenly she felt… warm. It seemed she truly did cherish all her adopted children. Even if, really, Nico was not a part of their covenant, and never would be due to the lineage his father had already predestined for him.
As he reached his full height, and as his eyes glistened in the moon's refracted light, rising just far enough upwards to see the bleached throne, Nico saw her. And the Raven Queen was, of course, breathtakingly beautiful, as all people who had taken the path towards divinity were. She was wearing an enthralling crimson gown, and her neck and shoulders were graced by long, lustrous black strands deep as the darkest nights. That, perfectly contrasted with the fairest skin he had ever seen, made her seem ethereal. Her eyes — two drops of fresh blood — looked upon him impassively.
Still, he began to walk forward, sensing her wish that he come closer. It seemed that she, as Seishan, Beastmaster, and the others had told him, had distanced herself from everyone after becoming Supreme.
Ki Song's lips curled upwards into an amused smirk.
"That Flaw of yours… or is it your Attribute? Seishan has told me much of your abilities, but, ah, I do lack knowledge of the nuances between them."
Nico continued to think, observe, and talk all at once.
"My Flaw leaves me bare, relegating my mind to only process the emotions of others in my immediate surroundings." He paused, caught on the sword handle protruding from the Queen's chest. "I… do not naturally possess the ability to read deeply into them. They are simply emotions — anger, fear, happiness, joy, and more I lack time to name — and do not come with all the finer points which made others feel them."
Ki Song hummed. "Your Attribute, then?"
"[Empath] both expands the range that my emotions draw from and whispers to me their true meaning."
Her eyes took on a darker hue, and she asked:
"Did you receive that from your First Nightmare?"
"Yes."
A moment passed.
"I've been told you have another Attribute — one that makes your body and soul and spirit merge. Did you receive that one, too, from your First Nightmare?"
Confused as to what path of conversation she wished to go, Nico briefly held his tongue. If she wanted more information as to the specifics of his abilities she would not need to go to the length of requesting he meet with her.
"…Yes," he eventually confirmed.
Ki Song chuckled. The sound was soft and melodious, but ultimately wry. The answer didn't seem all that surprising to her.
Nico reached the steps before the dais a moment later. He stood idly with his hands clasped behind his back.
The Raven Queen sighed. She rose from her throne, both eyes closed as the hems of her gown fluttered in some invisible wind to allow her feet purchase on the stone below. She walked slowly, and she spoke in a drawl as if to let the words linger longer for him:
"Tonight, I wish to speak of your father, the Dreamspawn, and bestow upon you a gift."
Nico's brows furrowed for a brief second before straightening out. He made no comment.
She continued:
"As you know, we were once members of a cohort — me, him, Anvil, Broken Sword, and Smile of Heaven. I did not know then how dangerous the Dreamspawn was. But, oh, he was dangerous. Unlike the rest of us he had been born in a completely separate world, and he desired nothing more than to further his goals through manipulation, through power… and through his Aspect and his lineage."
She finally reached him, deciding to stand only a couple feet away. Her eyes opened slowly, red meeting blue.
"I will not discuss needless history, but I must confirm that you lack the knowledge of your own Innate Attribute, don't you?"
Nico frowned.
"I entered my First Nightmare with only my lineage as my sole Attribute, if that is what you mean."
She shook her head, then continued:
"That itself is your Innate Attribute, and its function is not simply to grant you a strengthened soul, body, and mind."
He rose a brow, then opened his mouth to retort that he was also given the power to sense souls, but stopped at her knowing expression.
"I've heard of the soul sense that you attribute to your lineage, but i believe that ability is not a factor of that, but your Aspect instead."
Nico instantly refuted the idea. His lineage hadn't granted that ability in his First Nightmare, but it had… it had… it hadn't? His Dormant Ability allowed him to interact with and shape souls, so it would make sense if… Oh. Oh… How foolish. He had confused the two because of his Soul Core forming to give shape to his lineage, and because it wasn't described in the description of his ability he had mistaken one for the other.
"Then what is it?" he asked. This line of thought only led one way; she knew something he didn't about himself.
Leaning closer, the Queen grabbed his wrist and held it out between them. Their eyes met, and Nico froze.
"Make me a glass."
It took only a moment for the essence pumping through his blood to sparkle and assemble the right geometric shape for the task. His training really had paid off. Blue sparks fizzled away as the cold, engraved container settled heavily in his grasp.
As Ki Song's hand rose above it, and as a thin line split the soft underside of her wrist open, and as mystical crimson blood poured from her body into the container, she said:
"I will grant upon you my lineage — the lineage of Beast God — for it is a gift you will need." The steady stream splashed against the walls of the glass. "Your father demanded of me a drop of my blood, and he demanded of Anvil the young Prince of Valor, Mordret. There is power in your lineage because it grants you the strength of those you devour. As the wielder of a Divine Aspect, and as the holder of the lineage of a god, I expect you to achieve great things in the name of your new family, Nico."
The glass finally filled — all the way to the brim — and a drop trickled down the side before the Queen's flesh unnaturally mended. Nico watched it drip down, down, down, and before it fell to the floor he caught it in his other hand, on his index finger, and he… he felt nothing stir in his body. It was as if his lineage didn't care that a god's power was before him — on his skin — despite his apparent ability to consume it. Was it because of his Flaw? It must've been. There was no other answer, else he might've even tried to tear away Nephis' from her sooner. Seishan's too. He… he hadn't even realized that there was such an ability waiting for him to use.
Nico rose the hand with the droplet of blood and let it fall back into the glass.
'Is it a trap?'
He stared for a moment at the rich, crimson liquid. The Queen's Aspect could work in any number of insidious ways.
'I should ask a few questions.'
Words were cheap, but it was often hard to keep your true emotions hidden when discussing lies.
"You said that you wish to speak of my father," Nico reminded. "If I may ask, why does he still live?"
It was a rather innocuous question, and it was for that reason she would hopefully lower her guard for when he asked what he really wanted to know.
Ki Song's face was wistful. She looked upwards — towards the ceiling and the network of mirrors that brought moonlight down into her chamber.
"There is no reason for you to concern yourself with Supreme matters, Nico." She paused. "You have so many more Nightmares to conquer before then."
"Do you mean for me to challenge the Fourth Nightmare?"
"That I do." She stated. "However, you are proving rather obstinate. I send you mountains of soul shards, and yet they are returned back to me mere days later."
"I will not be indebted to you."
She shook her head slowly, as if scolding a petulant child.
"Ah, but you already are — you always will be. Any semblance of tranquil life away from the Dreamspawn was granted to you by me, for me. Only a feat of equal grandeur would free you from my grasp now." Ki Song's hand rose to caress his cheek. "Unless, my child, you stop with these silly games and become my kin under the Moon. There is no debt between family. Enough questions. Drink."
The world paused for a moment.
"As you wish… mother," Nico whispered, and Shaman's mind raged a storm at the words. It spoke to him of the person in the not-so-distant past that bore that name. It said he was foolish, ignorant, and disrespectful. It said that this being was not his mother. This being was dead — merely a puppet who cared not for him.
It might've been right. It also might've been wrong. Either way, he brought the glass to his lips. He would not refuse. Liquid fire poured down his throat as he drank, and he gulped down more as the entirety of his body and soul pulsed in tandem. It was euphoric. It was torture. It was rebirth.
He was familiar with rebirth.
The fluid dissolved into a golden essence in his throat, and his Soul Cores drank greedily in the ichor.
The heat scorched his insides until it all he could feel was freezing cold.
Suddenly, the glass was empty, and nothing remained of what had been inside. The Queen hummed, and the shattering of his carefully crafted construct rang somewhere in the back of his mind as it slipped from his grasp and he collapsed in agony…