"Oh no." Claire spoke aloud, breaking the silence that had settled on everyone present. Jim took the chance to look at her from where he was still holding the cup next to the throne. Claire had her hand muffling her voice as tears threatened to drop from her eyes. It was a difficult thing for anyone to watch someone die in front of them and not feel the sadness that came with it. Blinky was wiping his six eyes, and Aaarrrgghh patted his wingmans head lightly as Toby had stuck his face into his fur. Draal looked down in mourning but and made no outright movements.

On the throne sat the old man, but cracks were constantly appearing over his lifeless form, as though he were made of hardened clay that just couldn't keep together. Some cracks were large, some were small, and when they intersected, whatever fell off immediately turned to dust.

Vendel seemed to be the only one, for lack of a better word, 'stone-faced' about the whole ordeal. Instead he went over to the table nearby and picked up the scroll. With a heavy sigh, and even heavier footsteps, Vendel brought the scroll over to the throne and set it on the currently unused arm rest. Jim couldn't help looking at the old troll incredulously. "What are you doing?"

Vendel raised a brow and noticed the room had it's attention on him. "Ah I had forgotten, my apologies. It has been a long time since anyone else has been present for an Ancient's death. Well, you shall know in a moment."

Just like before the cracks kept appearing, both seen and unseen. Eventually there were enough cracks that his whole form practically disintegrated before their very eyes. The robe he had worn, instead of joining in the disintegration, instead shrunk. The cloud of 'dust' obscured their vision, and even made Jim step back a few times just to be out of the area. No way was he going to breath that in.

When the dust settled they finally looked upon the outcome. On the dusty throne was a young man, no older than eighteen or nineteen. He seemed to be unconscious but breathing, and the dust clung to him everywhere. The robe, which had been shrinking, now seemed to perfectly fit his form once again. Jim questioned whether the same magic that went into his armor also went into that robe. He briefly recalled the armor resizing to fit him.

The young man had a handsome face, angled, more scholarly than warrior-esque. Beneath the dust was messy platinum blond hair with a streak of black running through it. With his robe being tight you could also see that while he seemed more like a bookish type he had enough muscle to be called athletic.

Everyone in the room had forgotten their tears and looked on in wonder and amazement. Venedel however, gestured for Jim to step over to him with the cup. Instead of using the ewer again Vendel instead silently brought out a large flask from one of his pouches. Jim had a hard time being silent as he made his way over to Vendel. His mouth was open in shock still and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off the one sitting in the throne. "Vendel, what the heck just happened?" He would have spoken loud in his surprise but Vendel hushed him before he could reach that high.

"I have been present for five of these deaths thus far Trollhunter. When an Ancient 'dies' they form a new body using a portion of the dust from their previous vessel. Almost no memories are left behind and none of the knowledge accumulated." As he explained it to them quietly as he took the cup from Jim and cleaned it with a handkerchief, then poured the contents of the flask into the cup after. A clear, yet oddly glowing, blue liquid now filled the cup. "The Ancients are not the bodies they reside in but the souls contained within. Think of it as self reincarnation really."

Vendel knelt down next to the throne, ushering Jim to the side and continued to speak. "The cup, the red liquid from before, was a potent magical poison." He hesitated as he saw the abject horror on Jim's face. "Do not worry Trollhunter, you did not kill him. This whole thing is something of a ceremony. If he did not drink the poison he would have been fully aware during the... process. I assure you, it is much better this way. My first time being present was not a pleasant experience."

That calmed the Trollhunter down a little bit but he still felt like he had his hand in it. He would have followed up with asking a question but it seemed that the talking had woken Prisca up. Milky white eyes shot open and 'looked' around suddenly before ripping the cup from Vendels hand and gulping it down in one go. It was an oddity to see to be sure. He looked like he had just eaten a whole thing of Diablo Maximus and the cup held milk. With a relieved sigh the young man put the cup down onto his arm rest and took another 'look' around the room. The group couldn't help but notice he was still blind.

A smiling Vendel brought up the scroll for the man to take and he did just that, taking time to feeling the rocky hand it was held in. "You are... Vendel, yes? Yes, I can remember a Vendel. I do not recognize the others I can feel in the room though." His voice was now rich, and it was even more obviously a British accent than it had been when it was strained and old. Instead of investigating further he seemed to actually tune them all out and opened the scroll instead.

All the scroll had was a large circle with odd shapes lining it. A bright flash occurred and made everyone close their eyes.

"Ah, that's much better. Now my magic and presence is suited for this vessel."

At this point I'm just going with whatever goes through my head as I type.