Truthblood Amulet

The Truthblood Amulet is a rare artifact attributed to the Dwarven Progenitors and a collaboration among all six of Yrniel's Progenitors. Nux proposes using it during his long illusion to answer Aeliana's suspicions without submitting to her Charm, turning a dangerous interrogation device into a negotiated basis for trust.

History

A blood-bound test of trust

Inside the long illusion, Aeliana investigates the origin of Nux's unfamiliar Essence and discovers that he knew more about Yrniel than he had admitted. Nux refuses to let her use Vampire Charm, but understands that an unsupported promise cannot settle her fears. He therefore asks for the Truthblood Amulet and limits the proposed interrogation to questions he believes matter to her duties as his master and the Ancestral Order's leader. Aeliana accepts, produces the ruby-centered pendant, and places it around his neck. It pierces his skin, absorbs blood, and forms its connection before their questions begin. (Chapter 1437)

Much later, Nux reminds the real Aeliana that the Amulet helped them during the illusion when she doubted both his origin and the foreign nature of Essence. She infers that he still found a way to conceal the larger fact that their world was illusory, while Nux denies that he fooled her. The supplied scenes do not preserve the complete interrogation or show that the Amulet itself was defeated; they establish only that its truth test helped them reach sufficient trust without forcing Nux to reveal every fact he could not safely explain. (Chapters 1620–1621)

Abilities and properties

• The Amulet binds through the wearer's blood. Its pendant pierces the skin, absorbs blood, and lights its central ruby when the connection forms. (Chapter 1437)
• Once bound, it reads emotional fluctuations, organ activity, and energy movement to determine whether the wearer is lying. The narration calls it impossible to fool even for cultivators above the Divine Stage and says it works on Progenitors; that is a stated capability, not independently tested against every possible power in the supplied scenes. (Chapter 1437)
• A detected lie sends energy into the wearer's body and inflicts extreme pain. The described risk includes trained subjects breaking under the agony and sometimes losing their minds. Nux does not suffer that consequence in the supplied evidence. (Chapter 1437)
• It evaluates answers rather than supplying unknown facts on its own. The questioner must ask, and the wearer must answer; Nux's prepared question list therefore limits the test's informational scope even if individual answers are accurately judged. (Chapter 1437)
• The depicted physical use occurs within an illusion. The later real-world conversation confirms the participants' memory of that use, but does not identify the artifact's external location, custodian, charges, or later condition. (Chapters 1437 and 1620–1621)

Ownership and custody