Disclaimer: the Legacy of Kain and

all it's characters and locations belong to

Crystal Dynamics and Eidos. I own nothing.

AN: Text in Italics are Kain's thoughts for example: What is this place?

"What is this place?" Are words spoken out loud... Hur dur.

Chapter 1

"I stand Alone"

5 years after the defeat of the Sarafan Lord

As he walked through the narrow, winding streets of the Slums, he recalled when he had been here for the first time. She had been with him then, guiding him, helping him. She had seemed sincere at the time as she showed him all he needed to know about the strange new city. Or was it all a ploy from the very beginning?

Either way, it mattered little now. She was gone. She deserved no second thoughts.

Turning into a small side street he decided not to linger here any longer and quickly made his way out of the Slums and into the Lower City.

The air here was cleaner and the stench of disease and raw sewage wasn't as prominent as in the Slums.

A gust blew a few stray pieces of paper over the cobbles as he made his way through the streets. He didn't know exactly why he had come back to this horrid city, but something had nagged in the back of his mind at him to make the trip. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He knew he had set out with the plan of immediately building his Empire, but that had proved more difficult than he had anticipated.

So he had come back here seeking an answer for his problems... or perhaps just a break from the tireless fight for survival in what was fast becoming a very hostile landscape. Meridian was by no means safe ground for him, but it was preferable to fend off a few humans rather than the hordes of slavering beasts that wandered Nosgoth as of late. The land was truly starting to show the signs of decay that had started to set in even before his birth.

Up ahead a lone Sarafan guard stood. No, he wasn't alone... From the shadows of a nearby alley two more guards emerged.

How peculiar... It would seem that the Sarafan have increased their activities in the Lower City since I had last been here.

The three guards stood near an iron gate. The destruction of the Hylden Device had, as expected, cut off the Glyph Energy supplies of the City. This meant off course that Kain would not have to deal with those accursed Ward Gates anymore. He was thankful for this at least.

The guards were oblivious to his presence as he drew near. He contemplated simply going past them in Mist form, the iron gate would be no barrier to him. However this would mean passing up a relatively easy meal and an outlet for his currently high level of frustration. The choice was an obvious one.

"I'm telling you, the Vampires have left." One guard said, but the other snorted in reply. " So why then would we receive orders to double the patrols in all the districts?" It was at this point that the third guard stepped in, "It's true. I've heard from our spies that the Vampires have returned to whatever pit of Hell they crawled from."

Well, well. T'would seem that Vorador had not deemed it necessary to linger here after my victory over the Sarafan Lord... Or has he just retreated deeper within the city?

Kain pondered this as he made his way towards the guards who were still blissfully unaware of their fast approaching doom.

"It matters little what the reason for our orders are. They should be obeyed regardless o--" The man didn't bother to finish his sentence and instead glanced down at the odd sight of his own heart beating outside his body. He barely registered the dim thump as he fell to the ground.

Kain stood, his arm bloody to the elbow and waited for the remaining two to snap out of their state of shock. One glanced up and his deeply rooted training kicked in.

"Vampire!" With this he drew his sword and simultaneously lunged forward, intent on impaling Kain on his blade. Kain, however, was an experienced swordsman with centuries of practice and saw the move coming a mile away. He simply side-stepped the rushing guard and, drawing his own weapon, cut across the man's back. The guard stumbled forward. His spinal cord severed, he fell dead to the floor. The last man standing had in the mean time come at Kain sword raised.

"Die, Fiend!" He yelled as he brought his sword down, but was met with Kain's own as he blocked the swing. Kain threw the the guard back, sending him stumbling backwards until he regained his footing just in time to bring up his sword to prevent his head being lopped off by a mighty horizontal slash. Kain's blade slid of the guard's, crying out in frustration at not making contact with flesh. Kain drew back for a moment and knocked the guard down using his telekinetic abilities. The guard was flung into the wall behind him and soon after he was staring up the serpentine blade of the Soul Reaver. As his soul was leached away, he had but one thought: "Told you bastards the Vampires were still her--".

Kain let the body slide of the Reaver and called the blood of the three guards to him. After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he incinerated the three deceased and rather pale guards using the spell he acquired from Magnus.

Why spoil the Sarafan's little fantasy with careless leftovers?

The wind picked up the ashes and carried them off down the streets.

10 years later

It had been close to 30 years since the Sarafan Lord had been defeated at the hands of Kain. The Sarafan, now leaderless, were putting up quite a fight. Contrary to what Kain had thought, the Sarafan were all but demoralized following their leader's demise... In fact, it had served only to fuel their righteous hatred for the Vampires. The situation bore a striking resemblance to William's death and the consequences thereof, in his opinion. Which wasn't a particularly welcome idea.

The Sarafan had doubled their efforts to purge the Vampire "Scourge" in an attempt to avenge their demonic master's death. Kain, who had remained in Meridian, had been driven back into the Slums, much to his chagrin. However much he hated to admit it... The Sarafan were gaining control over the city once more.

There had been a pleasant few years during which the Sarafan forces had been scattered, confused and near useless as a result of The Sarafan Lord's untimely departure. But it would seem that since then a new General had been appointed as their Leader and was doing an irritatingly good job of rallying the troops, as it were. Having lost his allegiance with Vorador after the whole affair with Umah, Kain was now very much on his own in this battle. Vorador, being the coward that he is, had indeed fled back to his precious swamps to mourn the passing of his Sire and favored lieutenant. Pity, really. The old fool and his band did come in handy every so often. They would have been especially welcome at present....

Running, hiding... How distasteful.

The steady rhythm of Kain's boots echoed through the alleyways as he tried to evade the Sarafan Glyph Knights. He had murdered most of their group but after sustaining a few perilous wounds himself in the scuffle he was forced to retreat from the remaining seven Knights. They now followed after him, burning with the rage so characteristic of the Righteous. It disgusted Kain to play the part of the mouse when he was far more comfortable playing the role of the cat. But he was no fool and could see that his odds of winning this little encounter were slim at best should he confront them.

He dived into another alley and jumped up to the roof to put more distance between himself and his pursuers. A few seconds after he landed on the tiled roof, the Knights came rushing into the alley. They ran past underneath him and disappeared around the corner leading to another area of the maze-like district.

Fools.

Kain let out a sigh of relief. His muscles were aching in protest to the prolonged chase and the Hunger had steadily risen to the surface. During his fight with the Knights he didn't have the opportunity to feed and now he was feeling the full force of the consequences.

He headed off into the opposite direction of the Knights' current course and towards his temporary residence.

Upon entering the abandoned construction he was most pleased to be greeted by the fear-tainted aroma of his captives drifting to meet him.

After a much needed feeding session, Kain sat himself in the room that served as his library. There weren't all that many books, but it was a work in progress. He came here when he wished to have some semblance of calm and now he definitely needed it. It was painfully obvious that he wasn't going to fell the Sarafan Order on his own. Thus, he contemplated his options.

After our... misunderstanding... Vorador made it clear that he wanted no more to do with me. Not that I would consider begging at his doorstep. I have relied too much on him in the past years. No, I'll leave Vorador to rot in his decadence.

The Seer could have been a valuable asset to my cause... but she too was destroyed by that cursed demon. It is doubtful that she would have aided me in the fight even if she had still lived. She seemed decidedly neutral and would most likely have chosen to remain thus.

And with that my options run dry... Pah... Only two, and both rather poor choices at that.

No, I cannot rely on others any longer. All my life, or unlife as the case may be, I have been dependent on the aid and counsel of others to clear my path. The time has come for me to set my own course, one that does not include the influence of outsiders. But how...? I require a force to counter the efforts of the Sarafan and regardless of my previous achievements they are simply too many for me to deal with on my own. If only it were possible for me to spawn my own descendants, but Vorador chose to withhold that information from me. For as I discovered it is not merely the transference of one's blood to another that brings on the Change. Something else, something deeper, is required. But the knowledge of this practice has been strategically withheld from me. I assume Vorador thought it a risk to allow me to spawn my own chyldren. No doubt he would feel threatened by such a prospect. Our allegiance was never the most stable, after all. But this is the only visible solution to my problem.

Yes, it was clear to me now that I had to uncover the secrets of my own nature in order to succeed. I would not be subject to another failure at the hands of these hypocritical madmen. But where to start my search...? Vorador possesses a wealth of books, but I doubt he would allow me to rent a few. Surely he won't miss one or two in that massive library of his?

And so, with an amused chuckle, Kain set off for the home of the Father of Vampires. He would not go asking for aid from Vorador... He had no intention of asking. As soon as Kain stepped out onto the roof of the shoddy house his body dissolved and hundreds of pitch black bats whirled into the air and made their way towards the Black Forest.

AN: Well, that's chapter 1 of my very first fanfic. All comments are of course welcome. Thanks for reading!