Hello, everyone...

Obligatory disclaimer: LoK obviously does not belong to me, but to Crystal Dynamics and Eidos, and I'm not making any profit from this piece of fiction. Not even a T-shirt for me, this time.

Ignorance

We had first met while he was still a fledgling, barely a month old; and already on a quest to kill, of all the people – the sorcerers of the Circle of Nine; the Guardians of the Pillars; the most powerful beings in all of Nosgoth; and already, apparently, he had claimed his first kill.

He came to me, asking for my guidance and aid; and I gladly helped him in his mission. I took a liking to him – from the beginning, he was a strong one, his very appearance in my mansion a testimony to his powers; and I had my own issues and my own enemies within the Circle; the one Sarafan who still had not answered for the events of five hundred years before. Now, at last, the matter was to be resolved – and indeed, resolved it was.

The Oracle guided me to seek him in the black forest; and there I found him, babbling, decadent fool that he was, surrounded by his brides and safely secluded from the humans to whom he should have been king and god, were he to be true to the role he himself ascribed to the vampire kin. He boasted about his past for a time, and at last offered me what I came for: his aid against Malek, the Guardian of the Pillar of Conflict; I accepted, and left; I would not prolong my stay in the Termogent Mansion, lest I turn into one as feeble-minded and purposeless as he was.

His death was to antecede only my own in Moebius's design upon my species; and I witnessed his execution just as I returned from my time-streaming travel fifty years into the past. Alone I remained of my kindred; and alone was I to remain, though this I did not yet know then; and more pressing matters occupied me at the moment. It was only a hundred years afterward, when my fledgling intoxication with the powers bestowed upon me receded; my head newly cooled as my heart had been of long; my bloodlust's call no longer the driving force of my existence; it was then, when I set upon the fulfillment of my own plans of Nosgoth's future, that I discovered I could not beget vampire offspring. I would reign the land, but with human help and human hands; it was a sickening thought.

I know not how he managed to revive me. He was far too young, the blood in his veins far too weak to overcome the spell of death, to mend a wound as large. And yet – I awakened.

To locate his body was a relatively simple matter; I had returned for it soon after the matter at the Pillars had been resolved; even while conversing with him I found the transformations he had undergone remarkable, and was eager to learn more; though, admittedly, I learned little – little more than that, amazingly, the body would not decay with time.

His head, however, was an altogether different matter – apparently, while I was busy elsewhere, some peasant found the courage in himself to gather it from the foot of the guillotine; and at the time, I did not consider the matter important enough to pursue. It was only my prospected solitude that led me to search for the gruesome trophy – and, after questioning the descendants of the fools who had witnessed the beheading, I learned that it had been carried off to the ruins of some ancient fortress. There I found it, adorning the statue of, of all the people, the Time-Streamer; from that moment on, no longer.

I awakened – to the sight of his face, but little changed from the time I had last seen him; and, to my amazement, the Reaver, the weapon that I had once forged, and, more important, the weapon I had long thought as lost to the cattle, strapped on his back. We were in some crypt; he helped me to the neck of some human, incapacitated but still alive; and only then did he speak:

"Feed. We must talk."

The conversation was short and somewhat... biased. He offered me an alliance; I would create vampires for him, vampires that would serve him and lead his army – apparently, he now aimed to crown himself the ruler of all of Nosgoth; in return for this, he would tolerate my existence.

I wondered why a vampire powerful enough to revive me, and retrieve the Reaver from whoever's hands it had fallen into, would not be able to pass our gift to others; could it have been that the same source which had given him such might had prevented him from dispersing it?

He proved true enough to his word: once sworn to aid me in the conquest of my future lands, he fulfilled his task without questioning my orders; indeed, he proved himself to be equally powerful as strategist and tactician, as well as impressive as warrior; at times, somewhat too impressive for my tastes. Every so often, I would catch him as he watched the Reaver; and I wondered – were he to rebel against my rule, to what extent could I rely upon my generals to choose my side? They were his fledglings, and not mine, after all; and a fledgling is ultimately loyal but to his sire. But I had little choice. In this manner, a century passed.

Nosgoth was crawling with demons at the time; only hunters protected humanity's settlements. We have recruited the fighters into our army; and as this proved far more effective in combating the creatures than the disorganised hunter parties, with time more and more territories offered their allegiance to us; those that would not were, obviously, destroyed – he would not settle for less than complete domination of the land.

Then, the Hylden appeared; and then, my army, for the first time since its inception, was beaten; and so was I. The Hylden Lord – the one who would later call himself the Sarafan Lord – defeated me; and took my sword.

I survived, though. But I sustained deep wounds; and slept for two hundred years.

I awoke to the sight of a Nosgoth changed; but this would not stop me from taking my revenge.

Aided by the power of the Reaver, we advanced, conquering ever more of Nosgoth. And so it was that we have finally arrived in the deep south, in the vicinity of the city of Meridian. And I remembered her.

Apparently, it was by his orders that I was revived; he had built for himself a small coven in the city of Meridian, and attempted – obviously, in vain – to return the rule of Nosgoth to himself and his spawn. Again, we were to be allies; this time, he thought he was the stronger. He would send me here and there, ordering me around like no more than an errand boy.

It was on one of those errands that I met her.

And old acquaintance of mine – indeed, very old. She owed me a boon; and, in-between battles, I sent a messenger to her, asking if she would see me – and him, mayhap. Her answer was curious – she would see him, but me not.

I spoke to her – then, I left the place where she lived; and then, I finished the matter; I avenged myself, and reclaimed the Reaver – and the rule of Nosgoth. I had learnt much since my awakening, much of my enemies and my allies alike; but I was eager to learn more; and so I left him and his children to finish off the last of the humans who had worked for the Hylden – and returned to speak with her; for I knew it would take more than had been thrown against that being to destroy her.

I told him little of whom she truly was – but that she was ancient, sage, a Seer of the future and a Witness to the past; and this was enough to interest him. He left; my children and I stayed behind, to guard the camp.

And now, he has returned.

"Kain."

"Vorador."

"What has delayed you so? A month is far beyond what had been agreed upon."

"I have not travelled alone."

"Then she came here with you? Where is she, then, that I may speak with her?"

"You presume too much, Vorador. She is not here; I killed her."

"You... Why? She could have told us so much!"

"She did. She was everything that you had claimed her to be; however, as you understand, as a hesitant ally she was every bit as dangerous as an avowed foe."

"I applaud your prudence not to leave any ambiguous elements behind; in her case, however, the knowledge that she carried was of far greater value than the danger she could have ever presented to us."

"Indeed. But it is not your privilege to judge my actions. It is mine to judge yours."

"Am I considered now to be the hesitant ally, Kain?"

"Perhaps."

"Tell me, to what end do you think throwing these pathetic insults at me will bring you? You may have disposed of her – but remember, you had better not rid of me."

"Again do you appear somewhat presumptuous for one so ancient... No one is indispensable, Vorador; have you not listened while I told you that I had not travelled alone?"

"On what grounds do you believe you can trust your newfound allies more than you can trust me? Do you find me, unlike the cattle, too hard to control?"

"They are not humans, Vorador. I have no intention to betray my kin... but I do reserve the right to define the boundaries of this term."

"Then, at last, you have found a way to raise your own offspring; and so, you find me superfluous and prove yourself as untrustworthy as I thought you to be. Pray answer my previous question, though: why do you think you may trust your children, if you may trust no one else?"

"Your friend was, indeed, of great help to me in this regard. Incidentally, so were you. While she provided me with the means, you supplied the material."

"How so?"

"The Seer taught me how the infusion of a small part of my soul into another's corpse is enough to bind the creature's own spirit to the cadaver – and thus, create a vampire without the need for any meaningless blood ritual of the kind in which you appear to have such a taste; at the same time, the presence of my soul in the being ensures its complete loyalty to me; an irremovable, insurmountable link, save only for a second death. Meanwhile, your own stories have pointed me to the most appropriate candidates for my sons... Humans – and yet, according to your own words, powerful enough to strike down one of the greatest of our kind; blindly loyal to the cause they had served; what do you think they would be capable of as vampires?"

"You would be foolish enough to revive – the murderers... his murderers... the Sarafan Inquisitors? You fool... How can you be sure they would not set upon you when informed of their past? They will not continue unenlightened forever."

"Who would be there to inform them?"

"Nevertheless – it cannot be done. They have been dead for far too long."

"Truly, you do have an inclination to disregard the evident today, Vorador. Tell me – can you hear something from beyond this chamber? Anything? Can you feel the mind of any of your offspring? – No. I see it in your eyes – you cannot. My sons have not failed my expectations; even as fledglings, they were efficient enough to deal with your children; and your spawn's blood will now strengthen them even more.

As for you, Vorador... Perhaps there is some merit to your previous words; one day, I will become the god to the humans and vampires of Nosgoth, a dark god the likes of whom you once professed yourself to be; but a god cannot suffer the presence of another, older than he – for this would mean that he were not eternal; and every being with a beginning is a being that can be brought to an end..."

"Your arrogance is boundless, Kain, and superceded possibly only by your ignorance. You presume yourself a god, but you truly know nothing... You know nothing of the vampires, nothing of Nosgoth, nothing of your allies, of your foes, of the creatures that you have awakened; nothing, even, of the sword that you carry on your back. I cannot defeat you while you bear it, that I know, even if you do not – but as I die trying, I curse you... May you one day – learn; and then, may you recall your own words: no one is indispensable..."

The Lord my Creator has left the building where he conversed with the leader of the rebel creatures. I approach him to report that his command was executed, and that none, save the humans, have survived; in one of his ears, I can see a ring that had not been there before. A trophy, perhaps – or a keepsake, retrieved from the wild fire that is now consuming the house; but it is not mine to question his acts.

"Very well, Raziel. I can see that your brethren have already gone to rest. It is near dawn, and I have no need for your presence now, vulnerable to the sun as you still are; you had better follow their example. I will see you all when the night falls."

A moment later, he adds:

"This is the fate that awaits all who would dare oppose their god. Remember this moment well."

I do.