Battle at the South Pacific Island

The Battle at the South Pacific Island takes place in Bloodbound, Book 3, Chapter 14. It serves as the rising action before the climax and finale of the Bloodbound series.

Prelude
Continuing from Book 3, Chapter 13, Gaius tells Your Character that he knows of a way to kill Rheya. Your Character is hesitant, but he tells her to look into his thoughts and she senses he is telling the truth.

The True Origins of the First Vampire
Your Character takes Gaius to The Five of Japan's headquarters. Everyone springs up, drawing their weapons but Your Character tells them Gaius has information. The Evolved takes out a metallic chain and binds his hands together before they decide to listen to what Gaius has to say.

Gaius explains that before Rheya drank from the Tree of Life and Turned into a vampire, she was married to a man named Demetrius and they had a daughter named Iola. Demetrius and Iola knew her true nature but still accepted her. Her daughter wanted Rheya to Turn her, but she refused, not wanting her daughter to deal with the darkness inside. Rheya used to be kind and compassionate, and wanted to rule with a peaceful and just hand. She did not want the people to suffer the same atrocities she suffered under King Kaelisus. However, everything changed when the Sons of Ares killed Demetrius and Iola, protesting Rheya's reign.

In her grief, Rheya tried to save Demetrius' life by Turning him. However, he had been dead too long and her Turning him instead created the First Feral. She brought him back to the palace, but he had lost the light in his eyes and he appeared soulless. Wherever he walked and whoever he passed, he brought disease and death. Even her powers weakened under his presence and eventually she decided to set him free. Losing him and assuming their daughter had died in their home which had been set ablaze by the Sons of Ares, she lost all of her compassion and conscience, beginning her dark history.

Gaius tells the group that Demetrius's blood is the only thing that can defeat Rheya and he knows where Demetrius is located. No one believes him and Jax wants Your Character to read Gaius's mind to ascertain the location but Gaius mentally blocks her, telling her that she might be able to crack his defenses in a few years. Adrian, Kamilah, Lily, and Jax are angry and do not trust Gaius but they have no choice as time is running out.

If Your Character decides to attend Takeshi Watanabe's wake with everyone, Henry Zhang offers Kamilah a position in their inner circle but she politely declines as she vowed to go where Your Character goes. The Five prepare for battle to protect Japan but Lily warns them that Rheya is not someone they can defeat easily. The Five state that Japan is their home and they will not allow Rheya to do whatever she pleases.

The Island
As Your Character and her friends board the plane, Kano Yoshimasa speaks with Your Character telepathically. She tries once again to convince him to join their battle against Rheya but he declines, stating his place is there. He bids Your Character farewell and hopes they will cross paths again.

When the plane arrives at the island's coordinates, it comes under attack. The plane is torn asunder, but the group survives the crash. However, the air is permeated with Demetrius's aura and Adrian's human pilot begins to turn Feral. Adrian tries to subdue him, but Gaius kills him. Gaius tells them that it was for the best because anyone who touches his blood -whether they be human or vampire- would turn Feral. Adrian notes that Demetrius's aura is like radiation affecting the entire island and the atmosphere surrounding it, and is what caused Ferals to attack their plane in mid-air, bringing it down.

The group sets up camp for the night, and Your Character has the recurring vision of confronting Rheya in an Opera theatre house, her thoughts full of anger, hatred, and pain. She awakens to Kamilah's screams, and sees a Spiderferal crash through the camp. Gaius asks to be untied in order to help, but Kamilah instead stakes his wire bindings to a tree with her dagger. Your groups battles the first wave of Spiderferals successfully, but soon becomes overwhelmed by their numbers. Jax's sword knocks Kamilah's dagger out of the tree, freeing Gaius. Still bound at the wrists though, Gaius picks up Jax's sword and finishes off the remaining Spiderferals and saves Your Character's life by throwing Jax's sword at Spiderferal approaching her from behind. Your Character has a choice to thank him or tell him that it still doesn't make everything even.

The True Origins of the Bloodkeeper.
Your group makes their way to the Tree of Eternal Death, each step becoming increasingly difficult to take as you get closer. Jax and Lily's veins start turning black, Adrian and Kamilah struggle forward, and Gaius labors on as Your Character continues, listening to the voice emanating from the Tree itself. It asks her to touch the Tree and Jax begs Your Character not to, but she reassures him. When she touches the tree, she enters the psychic plane and there she meets Demetrius. He knows all things and has seen Your Character's journey there and her path ahead. He knows what Your Character seeks and who Your Character is, and he calls Your Character "Granddaughter."

Demetrius had transformed into the Tree of Eternal Death himself, his roots reaching deep into the world, neither alive nor dead, not in the real or in the next. He explains the Iola was not killed by the Sons of Ares like Rheya believed. Instead, the Sons of Ares kidnapped her, hoping to learn more about Rheya's powers from her. It was futile though, because Iola was human and had no extraordinary powers herself. So they raised her and allowed her to live a natural life. Still, Iola had Rheya's blood flowing through her veins and it was through their connection that Iola was able to see Rheya's memories. She became the First Bloodkeeper, her bloodline -the parallel bloodline- passing to her own daughter and the generations that followed. Your Character became the first Bloodkeeper that was Turned, fusing both vampire and bloodkeeper bloodlines together. Because Your Character is of his blood as well, Your Character could withstand his powers and make it this far.

Demetrius is also responsible for the prophecies, the dreams, and the visions you experience. He explains that as he gazed out upon the world, at times it seemed the world gazed in at him. Those most sensitive to the psychic plane may have caught glimpses of his thoughts, glimpses that manifested as prophecy. Your Character is shocked and has a hard time believing it. She asks him if either her and/or her friends will survive the upcoming battle. Demetrius responds that he cannot see as the future is shrouded in darkness, but he sees the same recurrent vision Your Character experiences of the opera theatre and of Rheya. He then gives permission for Your Character to take his blood and do whatever she pleases with it. He tells her to cherish her friends and the good moments they had together, and if she sees Rheya again, to tell her that Demetrius still loved her.

Leaving the Island
Demetrius makes the environment bearable again, suppressing and containing his influence. Kamilah gives Your Character a dagger to use to coat the weapon with the Tree of Eternal Death's blood and Your Character quietly thanks Demetrius.

Because the plane is inoperable, Adrian finds a broken yacht amongst the other wreckage and asks your group to salvage spare parts from other crashes to use for repairs. Your Character has the premium option to spend time alone with Adrian and Jax, and/or Kamilah and Lily before leaving. With Gaius's help, Adrian fixes the yacht and the group sails away from the island. Your Character has the premium option to talk to Gaius to discuss his fate. If Your Character does, he tells her that once Rheya is killed, he will have nothing left to live for. Your Character can disagree with him, and tell him that the future is always changing but it is up to him to choose what he wants to be and accept both the good and the bad. Your Character can remind him about the decency and kindness that he has forgotten. Or Your Character can agree with him, and tell him that one action doesn't clean up a millennia of sins and that he has to face justice for his crimes. She then leaves him alone.

Days later, Your Character, Adrian, Kamilah, Lily, Jax, and Gaius arrive back at New York and declare that it is time to take back New York for good.