Victor manages to befriend one of the Blessed Steeds (a rare type of horse).

Victor enters a state of near death that lasts approximately one year - until an explorer wandering down the tunnel encounters a reborn Victor - one with a thirst for blood.

Inside the castle is large and spacious but neglected and run down - as if it once held hundreds of people but has been left to ruin. It isn't long before Victor stumbles across the castle's lone occupant - Valris, the Necromancer's Daughter.

The creature is an invisible giant called Grolm, one of only three Seraphim left in the world. As a preserver of life Grolm doesn't know what to make of the creature standing before it; Victor isn't dead but then he isn't alive either. The crunch comes when Victor starts killing a few more of its animals - then Grolm throws some boulders and squashes Victor to death.

When she learns he has created another like him, she retires to be alone for a while. She studies Victor's blood and comes to a decision about it. Approaching him, she asks if he will make her like him, make her a Blood Star with the gift of immortality.

Victor thinks long and hard about what she asks. He feels powerfully drawn to her, to her innocence and beauty. Likewise, he is the first man, first living being, that she has seen or been with since her father left so many years before. She finds Victor compelling and different; Victor's charm's and good looks an added bonus.

Valris is made a Blood Star in an act of consummation that very night - Victor uses a large amount of his own blood to make her as powerful as he can, asking only that she promise to never make another Blood Star with her blood. She agrees.

Dale has come a long way since he was made a Blood Star a month ago. He has established himself as head of the local Thieves guild and worked out how to get people addicted to his magical blood. He has also made three fledgling Blood stars of much lesser power and started planning his ascension to King of Hiemir. Victor introduces Valris and together, all three of them spend some time sharing thoughts and ideas. When Victor and Valris retire for the day, Valris says "His hunger isn't for blood, but for power. Watch him."

Valris cannot understand Victor's lack of purpose in life. She can't understand how he can just live day by day without a care in the world. What she wants is something from him she can believe in, but Victor isn't forthcoming. "You don't believe in anything, do you?"
Valris' intelligence has leapt years into the future... without something to tie them together she fears they'll lose their love and go separate ways; she knows that Victor is the only thing in the Universe she needs, but what does he need? She fears he doesn't need her and will eventually leave her unless she can discover the way his mind works. But Victor doesn't budge an inch. They part on bad terms, Valris feeling depressed.

Victor wanders the city feeling down until he meets up with Dale and Dale's fledgling Kirana, traveling with them to the city's Under rooms (a hive of villainy and crime under the city streets). There he drinks, watches Kirana do the dance of the seven passions (giving her a snog afterwards) and fights a troll called Trigger. On the whole he has a good night.

Dale arranges somewhere safe for all three of them to sleep, a vault in the Under rooms hired out for the night from the local mage. Victor, Kirana and Dale lock themselves in and go to sleep.

During the day the vault is opened by the mages servants and Dale is removed.

When Victor and Kirana awaken they find Dale gone and repeated banging on the vault door fails to bring anyone to open it. Fearing some manner of betrayal Victor musters his supernatural strength and against all the odds, wrenches the door from its frame. The mage's servants begin attacking but Victor manages to fend them off. Then an iron golem arrives and a lethal assassin called Neojo. After an incredible fight, Victor ends up paralyzed, struck by lightning and knocked unconscious.

Now Neo knows something strange is going on; no normal humans possess the strength or speed he has just witnessed decimate his minions. He forbids Dale from returning for the bodies, deciding to study them himself. The betrayer betrayed, Dale runs to Valris instead. Rather than risk her finding Victor and learning the truth, he tells her Victor has been killed.

Valris' grief is absolute and in that grief she follows Dale without question. After pinning the blame on a local cult and watching Valris obliterate them, Dale leads his new prize east to the land of Shraeli, hoping to get some of her blood on the way.

Victor ends up killing one of the asylum guards before opening Gruber's door with a smile and a "Hi Gruble." Freeing the Chaos Ritualist from his chains and primitive straight jacket, Victor stands back to watch.

Gruber is stark raving mad, having spent 10 months imprisoned in the asylum unable to perform any of his rituals. He waste no time, grabbing one of Victor's knives and setting about slaughtering people left right and center. "They'll pay for this ! I shall call the Spawn of Evil, Kutal, all the Lords of Despair and Rot, even the Colossal Bear of Shuggan itself before this night is ended. The World will pay for my indignity. By the powers of Entropy themselves, I shall summon forth a cloud of death and hate so powerful that the Lady of Silence will shudder in her bed ! Damn them all !" Spitting and foaming at the mouth, Gruber seems unstoppable, that is until Victor regrets letting him out and strikes him dead with his sword.

Leaving Gruber for dead, Victor heads back to the city. But minutes after Victor's departure, a Chaos creature called "Clandestine" arrives on the scene. Having a pact with the dead Ritualist, Clandestine breathes new life into Gruber's body. (If Victor had used his magical claws this wouldn't have been possible, but instead Victor used a non-magical sword).
As soon as Gruber's eyes open, he says "The boy's gonna get it now !" and starts his summonings.

Somehow the "Lady of Silence" tracks him down despite his evasions and he is forced to confront it. The demon stares at him with cold eyes, shrugs off Victor's best blow and then scythes into Victor's chest with its demonic weapon. Victor is so severely spiritually drained that even the demon leaves him for dead.

Sod it, let's have a pint.
3pm.
Victor glances around - Valris and the Army of Light has gone. The sky, instead of being blood red is now a healthy shade of blue. Hiemir's distant walls, instead of sporting decapitated heads now proudly displays merchant flags - He realises he has traveled back in Time again and pounds the ground with fury.

Then he notices Han sat by his side - his brother also sucked out of Time and into the unstable vortex because of their link to one another via the Sword of Dawn (which is now protecting Victor from the sun overhead).

The two brothers talk to each other for a long time - bringing each other up to speed with what seems like years of events.

Dusk.
Victor and Han take a strole into Hiemir to find an Inn. They enter the Golden Goose and grab a table.

Han trades the Sword of Dawn for some money to buy beer (he knows he'll be able to find and reclaim the sword whenever he wants). Together they drink and exchange woes.

"Now I said to myself, where will they be? The whole of Time under threat and where do I find them, getting drunk in a Tavern. Typical." Han and Victor glance up to see Minnow grinning down at them. The three friends have a reunion.
"Hold on a mo, let me go get something," says Minnow, disappearing outside for a moment. When he comes back he brings Kit with him - a very alive looking Kit.
Victor is overwhelmed to see her and gives her a great big hug. It is then that he notices her eyes and how they seem strangely filled with stars.
"It's a long story that I don't care to explain - yet," mutters Minnow. "Suffice to say, I called in a very big favor. Let's leave it at that."
Kit laughs and smiles but Victor senses something amiss. He trusts his friends and puts the matter from his mind, telling them about Valris, the Life Giant and Dale.

Minnow adds to the depression with his own revelations - "I think we're buggered." Then realising what he just said (and what Abraxus did to him) he coughs, takes a drink and carries on. "I have a bad feeling about this. By Han being here, I think the Vortex has become even more unstable. I think Time is seriously screwed up!  You see if we were using the Skarrion stones to move through Time, it would all be stable - messy but stable. This Vortex is an unnatural occurance and its freaking me out." Minnow carries on confusing his friends by talking about alternate realities and alternate timelines. "Everytime we change time, we create an alternate timeline. There are an infinite number of realities out there, each with an infinite number of Timelines. If you think too hard about it, you get a bloody big headache! I hate Time travel. It's all so much easier when you don't remember jack shit about it."

Victor retires upstairs to a room and meditates on the Rune staff. He sees it surrounded by metal grills similar those used by the Soul Sanctuary in the future.
Victor also thinks long and hard about another dillemma - Valris is alive and well (albeit a Vampire) in this Timeline. He knows she is probably holed up in her Castle of Decay, mourning his disappearance and potential death. He also begins to worry about Mordred's mission in this Time. What if Mordred is out to remove Blood Stars? - after all Blood Stars are the kind of Anomalies that the Farmegian armor detects. If that is so, the most powerful Blood Stars in this Time are Dale and Valris.

Victor, up on a rooftop looking for signs of Chaos sees a great big red cloud emanating from the Palace. When he tells his friends, Kit and Minnow decide to investigate. "Han, you better stay with Victor," says Minnow. "If the Vortex comes again, if you're not both together and touching the sword, you may both be stranded here."

Victor and Han head to Rarebran's tower (one of the Druids of the Circle of Light) but when they knock on his door, no one answers. Kit and Minnow find the palace in turmoil. They learn the Midnight King has been assassinated and meet with Neofutus, Dale's Vampire Wizard.

Next Victor leads Han to the Green Table Inn, hoping to find the mysterious Errand. But having no such luck, the two brothers soon find themselves back on the street, contemplating what to do next.

Victor finally gives in and asks Kit to transport them both to Valris' castle as he cannot stay away from her for any longer.

Doing as he asks, Kit attempts to shift them both but only manages one at a time (the Sword of Dawn again). When Han arrives first he is suddenly set upon by Valris' guardian shadows and skeleton warriors. When Victor turns up he manages to carry his brother clear and jump to safety. Just to be completely safe, Kit teleports Han back to Hiemir, leaving Victor to approach the castle alone. Han throws up his beer.

*Note - Kit is doing a lot of teleporting - she says "As long as the stars are out, I'll be fine," referring to her new deal with Nox.

The two immortal lovers have an energetic reunion but Kit interrupts it by checking back with Victor every ten minutes. Valris begins asking questions - "Who is the other woman? (meaning Kit). Where have you been? What happened?" etc. Victor doesn't have time to tell her everything, but he tells her enough. When has finished, she sits silently weighing up the information he has given her, then looks up and says, "We should get moving. We have to get that Skarrion Time stone before Mordred triggers this vortex again!"

"If this ritualist is Mordred's next target, we need to warn him. Maybe the two of them will kill each other," Minnow comments, marching on up to Gruber's Demon infested magical castle. *Summoned out of the ground by powerful chaos rituals, Gruber's castle contains chaos skeletons, bone devils and various Oomots (ooze demons). 
Neofutus manages to gain them an audience with the mad ritualist but Gruber appears disinterested in their warnings. Pacing near his great tattered blood red chair, Gruber looks down at Minnow, Kit and Neo, laughing. "I don't care if the Gods themselves are coming here! Nothing can touch me within this Castle. Leave and take your concerns elsewhere, I am busy."
Minnow decides to hide in a nearby farm; if Mordred attacks the castle, he wants to be on hand to react.

Then Kit suddenly notices she cannot sense or locate Han. Victor (sat in a chair holding Valris in his arms) guesses correctly when he says "Maybe he went back to Rarebran's tower - You couldn't sense through that could you."

Minnow suggests giving Han twenty minutes before going in blazing. Valris doesn't help when she says "Don't trust the Circle of Light - they're only concerned with themselves."
"But," Kit adds, "Han knows a lot about them. He helped them and their giant in the future. Won't they be curious how he knows so much?"
"Maybe too curious," Valris mutters.

After twenty minutes Kit teleports Neo and Minnow back to Hiemir and just outside Rarebran's sealed tower. Minnow uses his power as the Eternal Key to unlock the front door and step inside. He calls out to Han but the tower remains silent.

A brief exploration inside reveals Han's sword of Dawn propped up against a table and a magical teleportation circle (still warm) in one corner. "Look's like Han has been teleported to another tower or Circle stronghold," Minnow mutters, suddenly distracted by a rummaging behind him.

He sees Neofutus, (inside the tower of his arch enemy for the first time), looting the place into several large sacks. "What are you doing?" Minnow asks.
"Claiming it all as mine," Neo replies, laughing maniacally.

Three seconds later Minnow kicks the Vampire wizard unceremoniously onto the street, asking Kit to keep an eye on him.
Minnow experiments with the teleportation circle, manages to trigger it and teleport himself to another tower two hundred miles away. Luckily it is dark and deserted so he fiddles with the circle again and teleports back. "It's no good. We've just gotta wait for Han to come back. I can't even touch his sword, my hand keeps passing through it."

Neo, angry at the way Minnow treatment him, HIM - Arch Wizard of Kutal, storms off to the Palace, contemplating some sort of retribution. But by the time he gets there he cools down, realizing that attacking Minnow and Kit could be risky. Instead he decides to lay low until Minnow finds this Mordred chap and kills him.

Han's deal with Lanté.
Han has indeed met with Rarebran and teleported to Lanté's sacred grove. It quickly becomes apparent to the ancient life giant that Han is telling the truth - especially when Han (who trusts the giant explicitly) allows it to read his mind and memories.

Lanté has existed on Eternium since time began; the race of Seraphim breathed life into Eternium's earth and all of its races. If anything understands the effects of Time, it is Lanté.

Han's Return
"I'm back, " Han announces through one of Kit's mental contacts.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" demands Minnow as Kit locates Victor's errant brother wandering around outside of the city (suspiciously near Valris' ley hill).
"We need to meet, all of us. Give me an hour to get my sword back and I'll meet you all outside of the city where I'm standing now."

One hour later, Valris, Victor, Kit and Minnow wait for Han to explain things. After various introductions (as they all know Valris but she doesn't know any of them), Han comes clean about what he's been doing.
"I have the Time stone," he announces, producing a clear crystal shape from his pocket.
"How'd you get it?" asks Minnow.
"Lanté gave it to me." Han then explains some of what Lanté wants - "He wants us to restore the Balance in Time and close the Rift."
Han also explains how to use the Time stone (having just had it explained to him). It soon becomes apparent that the stone is not what Victor or Minnow expected and that Valris may not be joining them "outside of Time" at all.

How Time's Change.
Dale is now called the Midnight King and rules over all of Alfar. He has a harem of thirty Blood stars and his entire court are Vampire's too, vying for power under his rule. Gruber has equipped him with various Chaos items, including a Crown and Scepter.

There have now been 84 generations of Blood star Vampire, making the total number of Blood stars in excess of 400. They have had a war, forged alliances with one another and evolved into 3 distinctly different lines; 
The Sovereign line (those like Victor and Valris),
The Moon Born (those unable to tense their skins or regenerate but able to shape shift)
The Dark line (those like Neojo, with greater strength and speed but virtually no mental powers, charm or good looks).

Luan plants his commode.
With a definite Chaos presence in the world, Law wasn't far behind. Occupying the southernmost country of Laputan, the Lord of Law, Luan, took sides with the three Seraphim and their Circle of Light. Erecting a barrier to keep Valris and Dale's forces from crossing their border, the Circle of Light are now in a constant state of war with Alfar.

Like father like daughter.
Valris has become Dale's Midnight Queen with Hiemir now known as the City of the Dead. Though Victor doesn't know it yet, Valris has not had relations with Dale or broken her promise to him of making other Blood stars.) She has however embraced the cold logic of her father and returned to the her old ways. When Victor "died", she found herself not caring about anything, especially life. To most people, life is the most precious gift in the Universe, but to Valris, life is worthless, nothing. She could easily kill a thousand beings without feeling any remorse or emotion at all.
Valris has also researched and learned how to "teleport" along Aerium's ley lines, allowing her to arrive within 100 miles of almost anywhere on the continent.

When Victor "died", the stability in her life went too. With nothing to stop her going off the rails, she created a magical plague that could only be contracted by living things. The plague would lie dormant in a being's body until they died, either of natural or unnatural causes, then the plague would animate the body and turn it into a zombie under her control. In this way she secured Dale's kingdom and conquered the neighboring land of Shaeli as well. People began referring to her as the Evil Queen.

Gruber's wish to establish Eternium as a foothold for Kutal's Chaos powers has come to fruition. Hiemir now hosts several Chaos temples (to Abraxis, Gorjusa, Lomar etc), a Ritualist school and demons on every wall able to sense magic and life.

But I am the first !
As soon as Victor jumps over Hiemir's outer wall and enters the city, he is spotted by some of the Lady Silence's Bone demons. On top of that, 3 fireballs are thrown down at him from a nearby tower.

It proves too much for poor Victor, who is soon struck by yet another spirit draining scythe (less powerful than the last) and knocked unconscious.

Victor doesn't try and hide anything from the men, instead he tries to be brutally honest. "I am the first. You are what you are because of me."
Of course they don't believe him, because everyone knows the Midnight King Dale created Vampires and that Dale was the first of now over 400 known Blood stars. To prove the point, Davad hits Victor in the stomach, but it doesn't have the required effect. Victor just shrugs it off as if it were a mere slap. "Is that the best you can do?" he asks.

Perturbed by this display of strength, Somark retires to his quarters, thinking if the stranger does have powerful blood, he could drain it and become stronger in the Midnight court. He begins hatching a plan and discussing it with his henchmen, unaware that Victor's far-ear is listening to every word.

Not one to hang around, Victor snaps his chains and escapes Somark's guardhouse with relative ease. But where next? As luck would have it he meets another Vampire called Klyne who leads him back to a Vampire house. Inside he meets several noble Vampires as a guest of Miklos. They ask "When were you reborn?" and he replies mysteriously, "a very long time ago."

The Vampires in Miklos' house are all too young to sense the power of Victor's blood. Their own blood is weak and diluted in comparison, after all, Victor drank from Kutal's own font.  But Victor doesn't take any more chances and bids his farewell; the other Blood stars already becoming highly suspicious.

He decides to head to Valris' castle, hoping that she is there.

They begin catching up on events but it soon becomes clear that Valris has slipped back into her isolated self. The loss of Victor knocked her for six; she grieved for several years, helped Dale achieve what he wanted but never gave more help than necessary. Then, for the last thirty years, she removed herself from Hiemir and its politics to live alone in the castle of her dead father. Victor fails to understand her psyche; for him, only a couple of weeks have passed.

Victor and Valris discuss what they want to do. She is happy to do anything, as long as Victor stays with her, but Victor can't decide, saying "It's not my problem what happens to the people here, I don't know them."
The Blank leaves the decision up to them, but does mention how to banish the Cosmic powers using something called The Runestaff. An object of the Balance, the Blank says the staff resides in the caves of Angst Shahpah, somewhere on the plain of Ivorshava. His parting words are, "Only together can you banish Law and Chaos from this world."

Valris locks herself in her vault crying blood tears. Victor fails to talk her out of it and heads off.

*Valris, looking ahead to an eternity alone, takes her own life. The moment she does, Dale is alerted (having desired her blood for many years) and teleports to the castle along with Neofutus the Black Bishop and Atumon, Arch Vizier of Thunder Fall. Seeing Dale, Victor charges, but underestimates the powers of his enemies. Dale and Neofutus unceremoniously blow Victor to bits.*

Victor finds himself walking through mist. When the mist finally parts, he is faced by The Blank who tells him what just happened. Victor is devastated to learn of Valris' death and asks The Blank to do something... The Blank replies, "Because you are who you are, the Balance will be restored."
Victor finds himself standing in Valris' banquet hall, faced with The Blank. Valris is standing nearby and though Victor doesn't remember her dying, he experiences a change of heart and swears to stay with her. As he does The Blank cryptically says "My task is done," and wanders off, leaving them alone.

Valris is delighted by Victor's decision (completely unaware of the alternate timeline that just took place) and has a sudden change of heart herself. She decides to travel with Victor instead of shying away from other living things. Together they plan on banishing Law and Chaos using the Runestaff and set off on their quest.

Shraeli has a population of 9500, over 8000 slaves and over 2500 undead outside of its walls. Ruled over by the Vampire Lady Shora, Victor learns there is a current Blood star feud between the head of the Sovereign line, Aged, and the head of the Dark line, Mass.

Valris leaves Victor in the city to explore while she goes back to Hiemir to do some research on Dale and Angst Shahpah. She also wants to find a cure for her plague as Victor has made her feel a little guilty about it.
When he is alone, Victor enters an Inn called "The Last Bite before Dawn" and encounters a lot of very weak blooded Vampires enjoying a night of feasting, dancing and singing. One of these Vampires introduces himself as Spider (one of the Moon born) and offers Victor a few tasty beings to drink from.

Staying the day as one of Shora's honored guests, Victor avoids any complicated questions and wakes up early - very early. Because his blood is so strong, he actually wakes up an hour and a half before any of the other Vampires and leaves unnoticed.
Shora asks herself, "Who is he?" and begins making inquiries around the city.

Pouring some drops of his blood into the Blood font inside, Victor summons the essence of Kutal before him. With his customary booming voice, Kutal cries out ,"Ah Victor, my favorite little one. How I've missed you!"
As the feeling isn't mutual, Victor cuts to the chase, mentioning Skarrion stones but not Angst Shahpah and the Runestaff (that would be silly). Kutal, ever happy to boast about his plans for the world, shares his vision of the Blood Dawn. *Kutal would much rather have Victor gain the stones due to Victor's heritage as a descendant of Rune.*

An ass-kicking from Shole.
Kutal does promise Victor some help and true to his word, a few minutes later, a hooded young woman walks into the Temple. Valris stays in the shadows watching as Victor steps out from hiding to introduce himself. But before he can even say "Hi", the stranger has her sword drawn and is attacking.
The fight is a quick one with Victor losing all the way. Bleeding from multiple wounds, he eventually concedes and surrenders to the stranger, only to end up even more confused. She turns out to be alive, but half Vampire, with fangs, haste, increased strength and agility as well as immunity to sunlight ! Her name is Shole Lapûta and as far as she knows, she is the only one of her kind.

Wielding a vicious sword called "Razorthorn", Shole has dedicated her life to hunting down Revenant Vampires (those Vampires gone mad either from "bad blood" or being turned undead by too weak a Sire Vampire.)

When Valris reveals herself, it isn't long before Shole is completely charmed and willing to travel with them for a while. With Shole to protect them during the day when they're vulnerable, Victor and Valris leave the Temple.

Victor stays a while and has a chat, learning that Kolchek is completely neutral, avoiding all contact with outsiders. Suddenly someone else arrives, looking like a powerful mage. This man calls himself Haled Crane and likes dressing entirely in black. Haled offers Victor his Ion stones (mystical items that revolve around a being's aura granting magical powers) in return for some of Victor's blood.

Victor doesn't see anything wrong with the deal, especially when he can "touch" the Ion stones, so he bites Haled, drains his spiritual blood (not real blood) and then gives some of his spiritual blood in return. The effect is startling; Haled Crane transforms into a Spiritual Vampire (yet another variety to add to Kutal's books) and laughing insanely, hurtles into the sky and out of sight. Pondering on that, Victor begins worrying that he might have been a little rash, but shrugs, puts it down to a bad call and takes his ion stones back into the water.

Miraculously he returns to Aerium (passing back through the natural rift) and apologizes to Shole for vanishing; she had swam over to the island only to find it deserted.

Meanwhile on the Realm of Estarris, Haled Crane begins using his new powers to possess people's bodies left right and center. After six months, he becomes the most feared mage in all the lands and a powerful Priest of Kutal.