Sera Sage

¤ Daughter of House Kross

¤ Calistria, Arshea

Sera Sage is a Human Positive-Charged Stellar Vampire Platinum Guard Vindicator and Riftstalker Elite. She is a Godling of Cernunnos (as a blessed champion), while also serving as a Grandmaster trainer for defense specialists (aka Shield Sphere trainer). She is currently **active**.

## The Old World (Prologue)

In a past world, Sera Sage was born to an unholy union between a sinister vampire lord by the name of Jackson Kross, and a human mother by the name of Anita Sage. Jackson Kross was obsessed with undead experimentation, seeking to create a perfected hybrid that carried the curse of undeath to be at his command. Needless to say, the union between Sera's parents was not a willing one on her mother's behalf. Anita was kidnapped and manipulated by the vampire lord's supernatural charms and mind control, in order to successfully impregnate her and keep her as his personal bride.

However, before the mother could give birth to the child in the vampire lord's domain, she was rescued by a band of Paladins in service to Sarenrae, driving off Jackson and his undead minions, but never truly destroying him as he managed to flee. Anita was taken into care, and when the time did come for her to properly give birth, the child, Sera, was thankfully blessed as a dayborn by priests of Sarenrae through a rite of passage.

Anita herself was a Monk of Calistria, so Sera would be accepted by Calistrian followers, as well as followers of Sarenrae, given that her mother was a victim, though Sera would be watched closely by followers from both deities while Sera was mostly raised within city boundaries with a degree of safety. Given the circumstances of her birth, and the unknown potential in Sera's blood due to Jackson's experiments prior with Anita, Sera would be raised with caution and care, guided by her mother and the Paladins of Sarenrae. She was well aware that Jackson was still active, with his shadow ever looming Sera's growth over the years. Through this, Anita ensured that Sera would be trained to handle herself if the need arised, though it was undeniable that the Dhampir's grace and beauty could draw attention, be it good or bad.

Once Sera came of age into adulthood, that was when she became a fully fledged servant of Sarenrae herself, though equally respects Calistria. She would perform remarkably well in the deity's service, particularly for hunting down slavers and abusers (especially vampires), though inevitably, Jackson Kross would strike once again.

Sera would be ambushed by the vampire lord personally during a night outside her home city after Sera had just finished rescuing a girl from a slaver. Though she was able to defend herself from the vampire lord's capture, he would reveal the wicked truth to his daughter. He revealed that he experimented on his own bloodline, with powers and traces of this bloodline is also present in Sera. However, that was merely the first step in his grand plan. He wanted to capture Sera, so she would be able to breed with his various undead experiments, in order to create true abominations of undeath at his command to wreak havoc upon the world and the living. The fact she was a dayborn had perfectly played out in his favor, because it meant that these new strain of abominations, which were vampiric, would not need to fear the sunlight.

Needless to say, this horrified and disgusted Sera. She would refuse to become an experiment and slave for her twisted father's schemes. The two would do battle in the night, though it would eventually catch the attention of Paladins in Sarenrae's name, driving off Jackson once again, but he fled still intact. Sera would inform the Paladins of what she learned, and they would urge her to take greater caution.

Since then, Sera continued with her path as an adventurer, always on the lookout to deal with her evil father's schemes.... though little did she know at the time, was that there was much more to her father's story than she thought...

## **Transition (Old World to New) (Part 1)**

On the old world, Sera eventually found her destiny as a Vampire Huntress, keeping reckless undead and vampires in check. She had eventually confronted her father with an organized group of fellow adventurers, finally putting an end to him, and ensuring that her mother, as well as her younger sister, Selena, were safe.

In the aftermath of it all, she and her comrades among Sarenrae's followers guided Selena, while Sera continued her work in vampire hunting and aiding the world, while becoming closer with nature. However, this all changed when the dimensional phenomenon occurred between Chronus and Sera's old world. Rifts began to spontaneously appear, as some heroes of old from Sera's dimension were pulled into Chronus. Some were taken by surprise from it, while others saw the phenomenon as a distress signal sent by the cosmos on purpose. Either way, Selena found herself pulled through the rifts first, and overtime, Sera and her mother followed suit.

On Chronus, it took time for Sera to adjust to the environment and adapt to the challenges present in the new dimension. Due to her connection with nature however, the organization known as the Riftstalkers took notice of her, and offered to recruit her into fighting for their cause. Finding common ground with their values and ideals, she had accepted. During this time, she managed to meet up with her sister, Selena, and learn about the current and ongoing affairs that Sera had missed out on. Following that, Sera proceeded to train in secret with the Riftstalkers, refining her skills and unlocking new ones, until her fighting style had evolved into something far superior than she ever was compared to the old world.

Her training as a Riftstalker expanded Sera's philosophy and ideals, and this led her to ultimately favoring Cernunnos as her primary deity.

## Riftstalker (Part 2)

Sera was unable to assist during the clash against the Verk Empire. However, her training had finally been completed sometime during the war against the four Horsemen. When she came into active duty, her new skill set as a Riftstalker aided the heroes of Chronus across many battles. She fought and defeated two of War's greatest champions, followed by being present in the final battle against War himself to destroy him. She also fought the forces of Death, and was also present to destroy Death himself in his domain, supported by other adventurers.

Over the years, for every battle that Sera had faced, she continued to grow and adapt, sharpening her skills. It had reached her point that her accomplishments and growth led her to being promoted as a full blown Riftstalker Elite, given the honor to become an instructor herself. Now she serves as a fierce defender of the realm, while guiding others.

## Blessed Champion of Cernunnos

During the rise of the Hollow threat from the Fifth Horseman, the Riftstalkers were actively seeking out Hollow sources to study them throughout the planes, in order to check how far the Hollow threat had expanded to. During this, Sera was able to track a source of hollow magic in the abyss. There, she encountered a Hollow-tainted, soul-shattered Ronda and her companions. Pleasantries were short, as Ronda sought to capture and possibly consume Sera. A battle of untold epic proportions had unfolded with Sera defending herself, but Ronda was simply too strong for her to keep up with. Rapidly over the course of the fight, Sera's defenses were being dwindled down, and she knew that if she lingered in the fight for too long, that she would die.

Having no other choice, Sera utilized a diversion for escape, and was successful once Sera was able to teleport herself back to the headquarters of the Riftstalkers called Lumina. However, Ronda would not let her go so easily, and pursued her, right into the council room chamber with Sera and the leaders of the Riftstalkers. An intense, heated argument ensued, with the Riftstalker council leaders baffled and concerned about Ronda's unstable nature. The council pleaded for Ronda to settle down and have mercy, but Ronda would have none of it. She demanded to take Sera away, or the Riftstalkers as an organization would be eliminated on the spot.

Desperate, the council called for backup, signalling Ronda's daughter, Rhea of the Time Knights. Knowing this, Ronda was taken back by surprise, and left Lumina. However her threat to destroy the Riftstalkers organization remained a great concern to all. Sera was spared a dark fate, but she was left to contemplate her limited options.... she knew deep down that Ronda was more than capable of destroying the entire organization. On that day, the Riftstalkers changed. They began to evolve their philosophy, taking a closer look at Urban Druidism, and the need to become more prepared than ever before.

Sera herself expanded her knowledge and ideals through Urban Druidism (her magical powers are psychic in nature, however). With it, she learned to acknowledge and embrace the spirit of civilization, and as such, was able to bridge the gap between nature and technology in a harmonious way. This led to her incorporating hybrid natural-technological elements, using ironwood as the foundational base for improving her arsenal that was tied to her very essence. Sera had evolved into a much more experienced veteran from the events, and everyday she kept the thought of a future confrontation with Ronda in the back of her mind. She knew it would be inevitable.

Putting her newfound abilities to the test, she provided aid to the Setlaar people (Swarming Eyes campaign). However, even there she would encounter mighty, powerful foes who would seek to bring her demise. One such individual was a mysterious assassin, sent specifically to kill her. Sera was able to survive the onslaught, but also realized her foe was able to likewise survive her retaliation. She was urged to escape the assassin by her comrades during the heat of the moment, and Sera obliged, not wanting to put her companions in jeopardy.

It robbed Sera the chance to face off against her opponent proper, but now she realized she had rivals to deal with. They strongly reminded her of Ronda... moreso when she was forced to escape. It infuriated her, and she swore a promise to herself, and Cernunnos, that she would see these battles through. Sera researched and identified the strengths and weaknesses of the assassins, understanding their nature. Refusing to back down from yet another fight, Sera decided to take matters personally into her own hands.

Now that she had a proper grasp of Urban Druidism, it was time to become innovative with specialized techniques and skills that reflected the new philosophy. This led to her researching old notes from her sister, Selena. Her sister once utilized a symbiotic suit, and Sera took a deeper inspection with that concept. Through this, Sera came to acknowledge the aspects of a spider, and how their traits mesh with a symbiote. The idea of committing to decisive action, symbolized by a spider's web that holds those edicts together had appealed to her. She became closer to Cernunnos through the creation of her own new armaments and suit, using her very living essence melded with hybrid nature-technology aspects into it. Forged by vengeance, Sera's eyes were focused towards the threats ahead of her....

This commitment to decisive action with nature's justice had burned so brightly within her that it resonated with the ideals of Cernunnos wholefully. This led to Sera reaching the point where Cernunnos would bless her as one of his personal champions.

## Noble Blood Awakening

During Sera's journey to stop the Hollow threat at Aleumdaum (Swarming Eyes campaign), she excelled with her Riftstalker magitech arsenal, able to turn the tide on numerous occassions. However, a fateful day occurred where she encountered SICC (the main antagonist) in a head to head confrontation with his hollow forces. Before Sera could act, SICC hacked into her body's exosekeletal frame that was technologically augmented, as well as shutting off the rest of her Riftstalker magitech capabilities. It left her in an extremely vulnerable state, though she was rescued by an unseen savior (the entity known as Watchdog), which allowed her to fight back, escape, and survive another day.

Since then, she realized that her current magitech capabilities, while incredibly efficient, lean too heavily towards running the risk of technological interference and hacking, regardless of her antivirus countermeasures and personal skill. She knew that in order to truly confront her technological hollow nemesis, she'd need to be able to fight without her abilities being compromised. That left her magitech in a bit of a predicament. While Sera was still able to excel at her other missions, she was at an impasse when it came to trying to figure out a way to get the edge over the SICC entity.

It wasn't until her sister, Selena, discovered the potency of their family bloodline through research that Selena has dubbed 'Divine Internal Alchemy'. Having successfully reverse engineered their father's evil research, Selena turned the research into a force of good instead. This knowledge would be shared with Sera, and it gave her ideas in moving forward.

Before returning to matters to Aleumdaum proper, Sera took time to go through Selena's research notes, which delved into the study of mastering one's blood to unlock a variety of benefits. Being quite familiar with blood arts already in her own way, Sera was able to discover her own spin on evolving herself further. She had personally constructed a new ritual that needed to be done in the Shadow Plane. There, she would recall her old blood sword, the same katana she used to destroy the Horseman of War, and the Horseman of Death with prior.

Sera would proceed to bathe herself in pure shadowstuff, while holding the katana aimed at herself, ready to commit what appeared to be seppuku. She aimed the katana specifically at her personal Riftstalker essence core (her generator). Empowering her blood sword with her own life force, and that of shadowstuff, she would then proceed to impale herself, rupturing the essence core within. A chain reaction would occur, destroying the essence core, but causing the explosive energy to meld with the shadows around her. A fusion would occur with her former magitech with the power of her own blood, stirring untapped energy to race through her veins.

Time would slow to a halt, as Sera underwent a transformation unlike any other. All of her magitech capabilities blended with her noble bloodline, absorbing its strength into her completely. It caused all of her technological augmentations to wither away, replaced by something far more surreal and mysterious.

## Blood of Life

Sometime after the events that took place on Aleumdaum (Swarming Eyes), Sera performed revisions on Riftstalker magitech. Having learned from her experiences during her time there, she would continue to apply her evolving knowledge to her capabilities for improvement. This led to her taking on a different approach to her former magitech capabilities. She kept most of her power tied to the power of her bloodline and her connection with nature, though re-incorporated a new magitech essence core that no longer made her vulnerable if it were to be sabotaged. Using her sublime blood as the main power source, she began to unfold new inventions that would augment her past her previous limitations.

The aesthetic of the energy she gives off matches this, changing from a cyan-blue color to a glowing blood red. With a more careful study of technology while maintaining her roots with nature, Sera would start working with Setlaar scientists much more closely than she did before.

## Father From The Stars

A time of peace and reflection would arrive after the events of Swarming Eyes, and the end of the Fifth Horseman. Selena and her mother Anita were able to uncover and decipher lost journals left behind from her father's former castle, with fragments of it managing to make its way onto Chronus. According to the journal, Jackson Kross was in fact, overtaken by demonic possession from agents of Zura, while Jackson's soul was taken away and damned, as agents of Zura deemed him blasphemous. Jackson Kross' true goal in his alchemical research was to restore the lost formula of positive-charged stellar vampires, which are stellar vampires imbued with positive energy, and have a degree of life restored to their bodies. In essence, they were supercharged versions of Dhampir, except they harbored all of the powers of a Stellar Vampire with minimized weaknesses.

Sera and Selena were both perfect candidates to become positive-charged Stellar Vampires, due to their beings as Dhampir being innately infused with positive energy as Sublime creatures. The only thing they needed to do was embrace their vampirism fully, and fuse it with their life-giving essence. Selena was content not becoming a Fullblood, concerned that several weaknesses of vampirism were still present, which can pose issues down the line. She opted to remain as a Dhampir in the event that the lack of weaknesses as a Dhampir would come in handy against certain threats.

Sera however was baffled by the truth, and now knowing that her father's soul is trapped in a demon's domain, she couldn't stand idle. Sera would embark on a silent journey to venture forth into the demonic realm to find her father's soul and liberate him. Thanks to the dramatic improvements and growth Sera made on Chronus, she was able to handle herself in the demonic domain, putting all of her skills to good use. Eventually, she would confront the agents of Zura who were responsible for tormenting her father's soul and possessing his body with a demonic presence.... the nightmare that all started from since the beginning of her journey all those years ago.

The agents of Zura did put up a substantial fight in the beginning which had Sera on the back foot, but once she started tapping into her training as a Riftstalker and transformed to bring out her full strength, the demons were no match for the greatly evolved Sera, with Sera herself at the time being eons ahead of her former vampire hunter self back on Oustomia. With that being said, Sera did not want to tempt fate by lingering in the demonic domain for too long. She would find, rescue and restore her father's strength and form, and escaped the domain with him, back to the prime material plane on Chronus.

Meeting her father's true self for the first time was a very moving, enlightening and heartfelt experience for her. Finally, after so many years, Sera's family was whole again. The liberated Jackson Kross would be taken back to Anita and Selena, where the family would have a chance to bond properly, and mend old wounds that were brought upon them by the demonic forces which claimed Jackson's body in the past. Jackson Kross was proud of what his daughters grew into, and Anita had her true husband back. However, there was much work to be done, as Jackson Kross claimed that there are vampiric affairs that must be dealt with, on both Chronus, and the stars beyond it. As a Stellar Vampire himself, he was able to reveal his heritage as coming from the stars, where colonies of Stellar Vampires would dwell.

He also shared his knowledge with his family, so that Sera and Selena knew exactly how to perform the ritual to transcend into fullblood positive-charged vampires themselves. After that, Jackson Kross had to go to the stars on a personal mission to find other stellar vampiric kin. He respected Selena's decision to not become a fullblood, though Sera had deeply considered making the transition in the near future if circumstances deem it necessary. Jackson Kross would continue to maintain contact via magical means with his family at various intervals however, so he was not truly absent in their lives. He would also visit from time to time.

## Fullblood Embrace

Some time would pass before another great threat would fall upon Chronus, though this time the regions of the Setlaar would be its primary target. Creatures of pure shadow, led by the mysterious 'Feeder' would twist fate and manipulate the masses of the Setlaar states from within, particularly at Alaumdaum, where Sera and her family resided mainly at. The conflict would also bring other vampire refugees in the region into the spotlight, as they appeared to be the ones held responsible at first for the Feeder's activities, but in truth, it was all the Feeder's ploy to instill negative emotions throughout the masses, causing confusion, drama, and turning people against each other.

This escalated further when the Feeder personally attacked Future Andrei Lifetouch and Future Kathryn Thale, feasting upon curses that they had been afflicted with prior under mysterious circumstances. Once the Feeder absorbed the power of these curses, 'consuming' them, his power grew exponentially, allowing him to unleash a new upcoming era of darkness upon the city of Aleumdaum. Sera, who has been keeping track of the Feeder's activities, knew that in order to match the scale of power that the Feeder had at his disposal, then Sera must respond in kind, and fully embrace her true vampiric heritage.

This would lead to Sera performing the ritual taught by her father to ascend in order to tap into her dormant vampire state, now fully unleashed as a fullblood Stellar Vampire. However, due to Sera's exposure to immense positive energy over the years, and her strong attunement to elemental and psychic energy, her ascension became what her father originally envisioned for the future of Stellar Vampirekind. Sera became a a positive-charged undead, retaining echoes of life in her essence, while not violating cosmic laws with her vampiric qualities. In essence, her physiology translated into that of a 'supercharged Dhampir' (metaphorically speaking), having both human and vampiric extremes together, rather than a dimmer blend of the two.

This fullblood ascension had awakened Sera's dormant vampire powers, which dramatically increased her overall strength when combined with her Riftstalker and Platinum Guard training and techniques. Her ascension came in the nick of time too, as the Feeder was about to doom the city of Aleumdaum, while other threats were brimming elsewhere as well....

## **Appearance**

**Base Form**

Sera is a positive-charged stellar vampire female that stands 5'7 tall with a lean, yet slender physique, similarly to a vampire's. She has glimmering, radiant fair skin that has a certain 'shine' to it, shoulder length white hair, and striking cyan colored eyes, hinting mystical and noble vampiric power that flows through her. Her facial features are soft yet refined, much like a vampire's grace. In addition, she possesses vampiric fangs. While she is registered as undead, the positive-energy influence upon her physiology as a stellar vampire has led to the discovery and rise of a new experimental breed among them. As such, evil is not inherently sensed from her, and she is bolstered by both positive and negative energy.

As a Stellar Vampire, she is unaffected by sunlight just as she was as a dayborn dhampir prior. However, she does exhibit some vampire weaknesses shared by her kin, such as being impaled by a wooden stake through her heart while she's helpless, and she is temporarily repulsed by garlic.

She is typically garbed in a very elegant yet tastefully revealing black and silver dress.

**Fullblood Positive-Charged Stellar Vampire Transformation**

Sera has the ability to transform effortlessly and naturally to bring out the full spectrum of her powers, now unrestrained with her vampirism no longer held back. Her Riftstalker transformation as a result has been greatly enhanced by the addition of her noble vampiric heritage. She has wings folded in like a silk avian cloak upon her while not actively flying. Bright lines of energy that constantly surge through her form with raw vitality. The also has the essence of an air elemental, leaving wispy trails of air to periodically flicker off of her form, yet it also meshed water and earth elemental properties as well, having a fluid yet firm, toughened texture akin to some kind of steel. It's like she is an artistic carving. Her hair flows in a wispy manner, resembling a mix of an air elemental with soft spectral feathers of an avian. There is a luminescence that radiated off of her, brimming with contained light.

In this form, she is significantly faster, more potent in her offense, has heightened defense, and it enables bioluminescent powers that are powered by her positive-charged stellar vampirism, which grants her an extra variety of both defensive and offensive powers :

While Sera has her Bioluminescent Transformation active, her body glows brightly with the energy of a blue sun, and she can control the intensity level of this light at will. It can also be controlled to expand light over a wide radius, or keep it focused into a smaller area that's centered around her. These powers also allow her to unleash persistent, enhanced searing light that devastates opponents caught in it, and is doubly effective against enemy undead or foes weak to daylight. She can also automatically reveal any and all invisible or hidden foes around her, in addition to using the light defensively to protect herself and allies against the effects of diseases and poisons (even if they bypass immunity), suppressing those effects outright with purifying light.

**"Luminous Dream, Royal Blade of House Kross" (Legendary Family Heirloom)**

Sera's signature Katana, '**Luminous Nightfall**', has been evolved with her fullblood awakening into '**Luminous Dream**'. The blade itself transformed during the ritual which turned her, becoming a legendary blade that signifies the symbol of House Kross, which is her royal family line. It is a magitech enhanced katana with a distinct mystically charged blade with glowing blue runes across it, along with elemental and psychic ornaments that give it a noble yet dreamlike look. Ghostly lightning constantly trail along the blade, and it can also channel the power of light through it, as an extension of Sera's power.

## **Personality**

Sera is very direct with her approaches, and prefers to face all of her battles head on fair and square. She is compassionate, kind, but also firm and aggressive when she needs to be. She is an ally to the forces of good, though has embraced her full vampiric heritage in recent times. Due to this, she believes it's her responsibility to keep tabs on vampirekind, to ensure that they do not compromise themselves or their societies with the living.

She is otherwise an easily approachable person, patient and tolerant with a healthy sense of humor.

## **Friends**

Sera's mother (Anita), father (Jackson Kross) and her sister (Selena), as well as The Paladins of Sarenrae that supported her from the start are Sera's core companions.

Aurelius, Cormick (Primary Student), Solomon (aka the Hyena), Ellie, Rhea, Gwen, Alloces, Avalia, Delvar, Akhutai, Tesha.

Sera's current lover is Septembre.

## **Enemies**

Evil-aligned foes who seek the destruction of Chronus, or attempting to bring about imbalance of the elemental forces or nature.

## **Aspirations**

Now as a Riftstalker Elite, Sera's main focus is in guiding and instructing others, particularly newer generations of adventurers. She will continue to be active in her duty to seek out and destroy evil, but she otherwise wishes for the heroes of Chronus to grow and prosper.