Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 646: Alternative avenue

"I... liked it?" Merida said with an unconvincing nonchalant laugh.

"Yes. If you had confronted me before I entered the Dimensional Gateway I would have said you were only slightly intrigued. But letting me go in and watching until I got my hands on the Blood, probably the most unpredictable element of the story because it was a plot device that was never actually used, I have to say it no longer counts as intrigue.

In fact, I’d swear you enjoyed watching me:"

"I can assure you that you’re wrong," Merida said, "Unlike Jared over there, I know how to separate reality from fiction. I know the difference between people and characters."

"I didn’t suggest otherwise. But you’re an editor so you have to have some interest in story. Your whole dogma of maintaining story structure shows me you have some investment in storytelling," Caius said.

"Of course, I do," Merida said, "Upholding the sanctity of proper storytelling, and maintaining canon are the very basis of a good editor."

Caius shook his head.

"I don’t think so," he said, "Or at least, I agree with the first part. The second part, not so much. Maintaining canon is the opposite of upholding the sanctity of storytelling."

"How do you figure?" Merida asked with her arms folded.

Samantha laughed.

"Is it not obvious?" She said, "Whatever changes Caius has made hasn’t harmed canon; it has merely changed it."

Caius looked to the side at her and nodded appreciatively.

"Exactly," he said.

"Changing it and harming it are the same thing," Merida said, and the narrowing of her eyes was evident despite the sunglasses.

"No, they’re different," Samantha said.

"Yeah. Storytelling has always been about freedom. If we wanted to stick to structure and canon and the inability to change things when they displease us, we’ll simply stick with reality.

Stories are supposed to be an escape from reality."

"So nothing matters because it’s happening in a story?" Merida asked with a sneer, "Is that what you’re saying? You’ve lived months of your life—"

"Years actually," Caius amended, "Technically, with all the memories I inherited, I’ve been a part of that world since birth."

"And do things seem so changeable to you? Does everything just lack consequences? Can you simply delete a passage that displeases you and scribble something new?" Merida asked.

"Of course he can’t," Samantha said, "Neither can you since you’re not the author."

"Fine," Merida said, "Let’s assume Samantha were to change her mind and decide some characters should not have existed in her novel. Say Kaya Aeisling for instance? Or Aylin Khione, Delia Kragsten, or Eloise Nightingale.

What about Arlette Louvene?

What if she decided to erase any or all of those characters?"

"Those aren’t just random names," Caius said in a low voice.

"Not to you, yes. To you, they mean something because to you, they are real. However, to Samantha, they are characters that exist to foster the plot," Merida said.

"I wouldn’t erase any of them," Samantha said, "I like those characters."

"So you say," Merida said but her attention was on Caius, "But you haven’t been as involved with them as Caius here has been.

You know the worst part of it? If she erased them, you wouldn’t even have any memory of them. They’ll just cease to exist. All your experiences with them, just gone like they never happened.

Imagine the horror..."

"Caius, you see what she’s doing right?" Samantha said earnestly, "She’s saying nonsense to drive a wedge between us."

"What would be the point of that?" Merida asked, "Whatever I decide, neither of you can change. Neither of you holds any sway here so why would I need to make things up?"

Caius’s jaw tightened but he said nothing.

Merida continued.

"I’m telling you this so you’ll stop seeing Editors as the enemy. Often, we exist to protect the Author’s creations from the Author themselves. We protect the interests of the story, or the characters from the whims of the author which can be very fickle.

Without the editors, think of the changes Samantha could have made unchecked.

Unlike the other characters, you happen to have knowledge of the reality outside the story so I expect you’ll be doubly horrified by how much control she would have over your life.

You didn’t think of that when you were agreeing to help her, did you?"

"He didn’t need to think of it because I would never do that," Samantha said.

"Wouldn’t or couldn’t?" Merida challenged, "With all your attempts to hide what you were up to, you couldn’t make whatever changes you wanted at risk of being discovered.

If you didn’t have that to worry about, if there weren’t guidelines to prevent indiscriminate changes, poor Caius here might have forgotten what reality he came from. With a single flex of your pen, you could have stripped him of all his identity and turned him into just another cog in the machine that is your story.

Hell, you may not have ever even needed him. If you could make changes whenever and however you wished and didn’t have to do sorry about the Editors, you could have simply rewritten the actual Caius Von Helsing’s character."

Merida looked at Caius then.

"You see why it’s so terrible now that she performed full submersion? You die with her story and if not, then she has you entirely in her control."

"So you’re the reason I’m still... me," Caius said slowly, "I should thank you. And I would if I actually bought all what you said."

"What—" Merida started but Caius cut in.

"I’m sure there’s a lot of truth in what you said but if Samantha did wish to change her story, she should have that right. If it results in a worse story, then that will be her prerogative and she would have only herself to blame rather than a result that was forced on her," Caius said.

"You don’t know why you’re talking about—" Merida started but again Caius cut in.

"That doesn’t mean the Editors are useless. You are there to offer advice. Writers can get carried away and be unable to see the bigger picture. You’re there to offer perspective. That’s an important job but the mark of a good Editor isn’t maintaining the story canon; it’s maintaining the sanctity of storytelling, i.e. maintaining the Author’s artistic integrity.

What the Author wishes to express through their writing should take precedence over what the plot requires. Or at least, the Author should be allowed the opportunity to see where an errant idea or thought will lead if they’re passionate about it.

Take Samantha and Caius for example..."

"The root of all this nonsense," Merida scoffed.

Caius smiled.

"Yes. Samantha loved Caius and it hurt her to kill him. She told you about it, suggested alternatives to his death and you shut them down."

"She was on a deadline," Merida said.

"Ah, so it was about money. Not about what was best for the story as you said before?" Caius suggested.

"Ha," Samantha laughed.

Merida shook her head.

"It was about both. We ran a popularity poll. The majority of her readers did not like Caius. They found him boring and sanctimonious. And that was compared to Aurelius, the good boy Apostle of Light.

There was no reason to jeopardize story structure for a character that wasn’t liked."

"But he was liked," Caius insisted.

"By Samantha? She wrote him. She doesn’t count," Merida said.

"I mean me," Caius said.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I liked Caius. And I’m sure that while I was a part of the minority, I wasn’t the only one who voted for Caius in that poll."

"Why?" Merida asked, "I’ve seen what you’ve been like. You’re nothing like Caius."

"I think I’m a lot more like him than you’d think actually. Caius was a repressed character, struggling with so much of his nature because he didn’t want to become a monster.

Evolution Triggers are not random in [To Kill A Demon Lord...]. Whatever a vampire needs to trigger in their victims says a lot about them.

Caius’s trigger was arousal but he repressed his desires just so he’d not be tempted to evolve as a vampire. It’s the same reason he avoided drinking human blood.

The difference between me and Caius is that I am willing to indulge and he is not.

But that’s not the point here."

"And what is the point?"

"The point is that a popularity poll shouldn’t have been enough to reject Samantha’s wishes on what she wanted for her characters. If you had simply let her explore alternative avenues and they didn’t pan out, she wouldn’t have been seeking an alternative in me and none of this would have happened," Caius said.

Merida laughed.

"Okay," she said, "But this isn’t about what I may or may not have done wrong.

We are here to deal with the outcome of Samantha’s transgression."

"Transgression? But Samantha hasn’t done anything wrong," Caius said.

Even Samantha looked surprised now.

"What are you talking about?" Merida asked.

Caius shrugged.

"Samantha has simply been pursuing an alternative avenue to her original story’s plot. Things have changed so much that there is very little, even to the beginning of [To Kill A Demon Lord...] that has remained the same.

In that case, Samantha and I haven’t changed established canon; We’ve just created a new canon.

A new story entirely."