Afraid of death.
Why be afraid of it?
One's life has amounted to nothing.
What will be one's legacy?
Nothing but ash and dust and corpses.
All things end.


"Drink your tea and cake, tea is best served warm along side a sweet confection."

The commentaries on Mithias' soul bearing spiel? Cast off and shrugged away, dismissed like the crowd before?

"A man of honor it would seem. You have no debt to me boy, you have come here on your own accord, and surely not by some sense of moral rectitude which ties you to become a servant to another? Be wary who you owe your life to Sir Varomere, and be fortunate I find your abilities most useful in the chess match here. In time, I foresee you becoming a great vampiric overlord, though Merlin here stays mum on your potential. You had said it yourself, you have much to look forward to, but you seem too attached to life to be of much use. Perhaps he would take like his sire then Merlin? A drifter amongst the kin, aimlessly wandering and ever escaping the judgment of death? You very well know he is far older than you and I, and we are but relics. Twice-fold I have become a legend by fang and sword, and you have all but faded into the tales of your death Merlin. Our ranks are numbered, and I would see it fit to invite this one to Camelot and under the tutelage of the brothers, may he ascend into the next generation at the court."

Rambling on yet again, almost seeming to forget Mithias' presence as Bedivere 'conversed' with the tree. 

"But no child, the war is not endless." The elder suddenly snapped his attention back at Mithias. "It has merely become a war of attrition. A game of endurance on either side, just as the rabbits and wolves. While I am uncertain of your position in such matters, I assure you, I have grown adequately bored of waiting and would rather see a final cataclysm vastly approaching. Lord Magnus as I believe you may have met, has atempted to initiate the impetus within the global scale, although few of the Ancient ones or Patronatium answered his call for as a whole, vampires are vile and foul creatures of schemes and undying backstabbing, thinking both of the long and short gains while missing the point all together."

There was no end to it.

"You see, while unlike us, the humans have a scant few lives, it is not a story of the tortoise and the hare. While Aesop may have stated that the hare lost due to overconfidence and disregard for the tortoise, it is blood traitors as yourself which create the watchdogs of the hare ever vigilant against the strides of the tortoise. While placating the masses of cattle is not such a difficult task for a vampire who may has ruled a region of the world for centuries, the damage done by rogue vampires such as Void make it impossible to restore the status quo without decades passing. But the one saving grace we, the tortoise, have is the gift of immortality. For by the time the generations after generations of hares and rabbits die, marked with shallow graves, we shall still watch. surviving through and through."

No seriously, Bedivere began his long-winded proposal to no apparent end.

"But forgive me, I did not believe you come here to listen to an old man babble on. And if you did, perhaps you are here for the wrong reasons. I have brought you here to invite you to represent Gabriel should he not attend the Council meeting at Carfax. He is rather unpredictable, and easily predictable at the same time, hence should he show, I suspect having two representatives of his lineage should be sufficient to vie the nod towards collaborative efforts on the global scale. We are after all a twisted society of democratic processes, and each Sire-King get a vote by the ancient agreement. That being the case, you must actually be a sire, to which I must inquire if you have any progeny spawned under your own fang mark."

And on it went with hardly a pause between.

"If not, I have the perfect suggestion for a candidate. Consider your perceived debt to me official annulled if you Sir Varomere, can successfully turn a Mathew Stone esquire into a creature of the night. He shall be a very important playing piece as I believe once given the dark powers, he shall see the world in a new... Light. Hrm? What say you then? I know the choice is far less easy to make within the minutes I have granted you, as such I would suspect no party would be discontented should I extend an official invitation to join me per your request in the sacred halls of Camelot until the moment of your descion, a great honor I assure you as no other guest has been thus far invited to Camelot since Arthur left. What so you then Old boy? I will escort you there this instant should you accept."

Finally it was over. And to make his point more clear that Mithias was merely given the illusion of choice, Bedivere drank his tea with a single quaff. Rising from the table as to imply he already knew what Mithias would say.

"It is better if you drive, I shall provide directions. I am afraid I have never quite required the means of localized transportation in my vampirism, and hence I have never quite learn how to use one of these automobiles."