The Deep Repose. The standard ancestral sleep cycle among elder-blood vampires. Noble vampires don't merely rest—they retreat into custom-designed chambers steeped in magic, memory, and decadence. These sanctuaries are known as:
Bloodvaults – stone chambers lined with silencing spells and resonance wards.
Crimson Nests – elaborate coffin-thrones layered with silks, soil from their homeland, and enchanted padding.
Veil-Chambers – fog-shrouded rooms where time flows slower and shadows grow thick with slumbering aura.
True noble vampires enter a deathlike stillness, indistinguishable from corpses to the untrained eye.
Their body temperature drops to match their icy surroundings. Flesh tightens, and wounds slowly close through ritual-induced regeneration. Their muscles remain tense but inert, prepared to snap into motion if disturbed.
Some use binding oils, glamours, or claw-lacing cords to preserve elegance even in stillness.
Meanwhile, the mind enters a dream-trance where it communes with ancestral echoes, bloodline memories, the House Spirit, if bound to a vampiric estate, Or dreams shaped by their current obsession, trauma, or recent kills. It all depends on the vampire.
Poppy's Deep Repose is called the Still-Bloom. It is a rare, ancestral vampiric trance state, passed down through the Vladiscar bloodline, but perfected in Poppy alone due to her unique fusion of Vladiscar vampirism, Seraphic soul-anchoring, the Heartshard Ruby anomaly, and the Unthreaded System classification.
It is triggered only within her coffin—the Widow's Cradle—and begins the moment the lid seals shut and the ambient magic binds her body to stillness.
Or atleast that would have been the case if not for the triplets upgrading her coffin.
Earlier in the day, Hemlock, Hellebore, and Hyacinth reformed the Widow's Cradle into something uniquely Poppy: a grand, towering, absurdly gothic bed that still carries the ancestral weight of a coffin.
They began the ritual with four posts of ironwood and lacquered bone, twisted into the shape of thorn-wrapped spires. A canopy of wine-red and ink-black curtains, each one embroidered with forgotten languages, sacred names, and sigils from Poppy's own dreams. Dozens of pillows, none matching, each one hand-stitched by ghostly seamstresses, made of obsidian-thread, soulwool, or memory silk, stuffed with phoenix down, crushed silence, or haunted cotton.
The mattress was thicker than a royal tombstone, but weightless. It was breathed with her heartbeat. And was made to remember how she sleeps.
At its base, they engraved in bone script: "Bloom, but never wilt."
As the finishing touch, Hyacinth placed a single rose of silver thread on the pillow.
The change unlocked the next stage of her inheritance.
~ | 💮 | ~
I closed my eyes as soon as Selene laid me down. I was so tired.
The canopy curtains lowered themselves, whispering closed like theater drapes at the end of a tragedy. The runes in the headboard pulsed, syncing with the Heartshard Ruby in my chest.
Every pillow hissed faintly, releasing a sort of dream-silk vapor designed to lull me into a trance.
My consciousness soon sunk into a deep darkened state between life and death.
[Crimson Submersion: Monarch Variant] Ritual Threshold Detected. Sovereign Sleep Engaged.
World-thread access expanded.
Cognitive interface reconfigured: Dream-Seated Throne initialized. "Bloom as you command, Daughter of the Widow."
My surroundings formed into a shifting domain reflecting my mental and emotional state. It was not a dreamscape, but a living psychospiritual throne-realm, forged from inheritance, memory, and defiance of fate.
The Crimson Reflection also called the the Thorned Garden, the Sovereign Hollow, and the Ink-Threaded Bloom, was a world caught between dreaming and death.
The sky above was a deep, velvet void—threaded with glowing lines of crimson and silver, resembling veins or fate-threads, occasionally bleeding rain that never touched the ground.
The ground was a smooth, mirror-like surface of dark glass that reflected not my body—but my bloodline, my possible futures, and ancestral sins.
Gardens of thorned roses floated rootless in the air, drifting like constellations. Some burned. Some weeped. Some whispered when passed.
In the center of this place stood my throne—a minimalist construct of stitched bone, black velvet, and living shadow, facing a still lake of memory.
It was oddly beautiful.
Beside the throne, floating in the air, was the scythe Scarlet Widow: Nyxiphage. Like before when I woken in the world, it beckoned me over to it. Begging me to take it. Unlike last time, I did not hesitate. I walked over and sat down on my throne, grabbing the scythe.
The moment I grasped it, a massive floating tome bound in skin-veined leather and sealed with a blood-threaded clasp appeared in the center of the throne room.
Its pages rippled with silver ink, shifting text and diagrams that reacted to my thoughts. Whispers emitted from its spine—echoes of the System filtered through the voices of my ancestors.
I pulled it to me using the magic skill [mage hands]. Once I entered my Still-Bloom state I inherited all types of knowledge from my bloodline.
I sat the grimoire onto my lap and opened it, runic vines unfurled from the pages, displaying menus like blossoming flowers.
The "screen" manifested as a two-page spread in a floating tome. Each function bloomed like a rose unfolding from blood-soaked vellum. Each page was bordered in moving vine-script, filled with sigils that shifted with my emotional state. Whispered ancestral voices formed the margins. Inks that reacted to my bloodline's current dominance (crimson and black for vampire, silver-white for seraphic, violet for Heartshard).
"Grimoire of Crimson Bloom, show me my available skills."
"As you wish. Showing available skills to Poppy Nyxaria Vladiscar Nocturne."
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1. [Scythe Skill: Widow's Harvest]
Type: Active / Consumes Stored Essence
Cooldown: 7 Days (Real-Time)
Skill Description:
"Reap not just the body… but the power."
Widow's Harvest allows Scarlet Widow: Nyxiphage to consume a portion of a slain enemy's essence, extracting and permanently absorbing one ability, technique, or racial trait.
The harvested ability is randomized based on the target's strongest active trait at the moment of death. Only one ability can be stored at a time. Using this skill again will overwrite the previous stolen ability unless the user chooses to seal it in their soul permanently, which can only be done once per world. Abilities stolen retain 80% of original power when wielded by Poppy.
Activation Requirement: The target must be killed by Nyxiphage (not by other means). The Scythe Core must be fully charged with at least 100% Essence Saturation. The user must recite the Binding Phrase upon execution:
"Your essence… is mine."
System Warning:
Repeated use risks overloading the user's soul if too many foreign abilities are sealed permanently.
This may result in Soul Instability Syndrome (S.I.S.), fracturing the user's identity.
Current Status:Stored Ability Slot: [Empty] 2. [Passive Skill: Widow's Nerves]
Type: Passive / Bloodline-Linked
Condition: Innate to Vladiscar Descendants
Skill Description:
"Emotion clouds the blade. The Widow feels, but does not falter."
An inherited trait refined through generations of predatory bloodlines, Widow's Nerves grants the user a permanent, emotion-stabilizing mental state, allowing them to:
Suppress panic, fear, and irrational emotional spikes.
Maintain clarity of thought in life-threatening, high-pressure, or emotionally charged situations.
Prevent emotional manipulation attempts from affecting immediate reactions or combat awareness.
Masterfully control facial expressions, body language, and tone, projecting an unshakeable presence.
Side Effect:
The user may appear emotionally distant or cold, even if they do feel things internally.
Genuine emotional expression requires conscious effort, making social bonds more difficult to form naturally.
3. [Bloodline Skill: Widow's Defiance]
Type: Passive / Bloodline-Locked
Condition: Exclusive to the Direct Bloodline of Nyxaria Vladiscar
Skill Description:
"The Widow's blood does not bend twice."
Born from the last defiant spark of Nyxaria's soul before her sealing, this racial skill manifests as an inherited mental fortress, allowing the true heir to resist the consuming madness of the Widow's Choir.
This skill nullifies:
All intrusive mental influences from Scarlet Widow: Nyxiphage, including:
Whispering voices. Bloodlust amplification. Emotional manipulation. Sanity erosion effects. Grants Passive Immunity to: Possession by Widow's Choir. Forced Succession into Crimson Widow State (unless willingly triggered).
Secondary Benefit:
Mental Fortress: Provides enhanced resistance to external mind-affecting abilities, including:
Illusions. Fear manipulation. Mind control. Telepathic probing.
_____
"Not bad. Two passives and an active skill. I can work with this. But I wonder..."
I turned to my scythe in contemplation. I was curious if it actually came with it's own fighting style.
"Grimoire of Crimson Bloom, tell me, is there a fighting style for the Scarlet Widow: Nyxiphage?"
"Searching... Found available martial arts for the Scarlet Widow: Nyxiphage
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Name: Widow's Weave: Crimson Fang Scythe Style
Type: Martial Art Style – Bloodline Exclusive
Status: Registered to User
Founding Principle:
"Strike as the Widow spins her web—patient, precise, inescapable."
Origin: Developed by Nyxaria Vladiscar, this elite scythe style focuses on turning chaos into control. Through graceful footwork, lethal feints, and spiderlike positioning, practitioners trap foes before executing them with merciless precision.
Core Techniques Unlocked:
1. Silken Veil Stance
Stance | Passive Activation
Maintains constant scythe movement in fluid arcs. Baits enemy attacks, creating exploitable openings.
2. Threading Fang
Technique | Mid-Range
Spiraled sweep with scythe hook. Snags weapons, limbs, or armor.
Effects: Disarm, Trip, Unbalance
3. Widow's Lure
Technique | Reactive Feint
Deliberate side exposure invites attack. On counter: pivot and hook behind target. Effects: Off-Balance, Execution Follow-up
4. Red Silk Severance
Technique | Flash-Step Enhanced
Vertical slice leaves crimson energy trail. Ignores armor by targeting vital nodes.
Effects: Armor Bypass, Energy Core Strike
5. Widow's Spiral Execution
Ultimate Finisher
Multi-rotation spin forms a crimson whirlwind. Drains enemy life while slicing them apart.
Effects: Life Leech, AoE Precision Cuts
Advanced Concept Unlocked:
Weaver's Domain (Mastery Passive)
Condition: Style Mastery Achieved
Activates 30m aura around user. Enemy movement slows as if caught in invisible threads. User gains spiderlike agility and unpredictable motion.
[Notice: This style is bound to your bloodline. Cannot be transferred.]
[Skill Tree: Widow's Weave – Now Available in System Menu.]
[Would you like to set Widow's Weave as your Primary Style? YES / NO]
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"Interesting. Grimoire, is it possible to try out this martial arts before setting it as my primary style?
"Yes. Do you wish to try out the Martial Art Style – Bloodline Exclusive, Widow's Weave: Crimson Fang Scythe Style, in the training court?"
Standing, I stretched my arms over my head and grinned. Tonight will be quite the productive time.
"Grimoire, let's try out this martial arts that my mother passed down to me."