Memories
Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal dynamics not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Kain . . . then he'd be mine, I wouldn't mind a Vorador either ^_^
Rating: PG-13
Part: one of one
Setting: Post Blood Omen Two, pre Raziels execution, in the time of the Clans.
Authoress note: Raziel follows Kain to the ruins of Voradors mansion and receives a lesson he was not expecting.
Italics = thoughts and flashbacks
The ruins of an ancient building loomed before him.
He stopped walking and stared. For a moment, Raziel fancied that it looked like a rib cage, cracked open and left, dry and exposed. He shivered despite the swamps humidity. The air was full of old scents, mingled together, making a web so thick it was impossible to tell them apart. The effect was overwhelming and Raziel shook his head to clear his nose of it.
"Bugger," he muttered at the loss of the primary sense he had been using to follow Kain. He had been following at a safe distance, a very safe distance, so safe in fact that he imagined he was a good hour or so behind his father.
"Why would you come here of all places?" he muttered and shivered again, contemplated pushing ahead or turning back. Kain clearly desired to be alone, why else would he come to such a place? It was not the first time Kain had taken to enjoying his own company but this time it felt different, different enough to worry his first born. Reminded of his concerns Raziel began his slow approach, eyes wide and alert, looking for any sign of movement.
He moved through the court yard, stepping over and around the remains of what had once been impressive statues. The front of the building remained mostly intact, the windows were all missing and the entrance way was blocked with fallen stone but other than that it was in once piece. Clambering over the rubble to reach one of the windows, Raziel slipped inside and dropped down to the tattered and damp carpet. He flinched at the damp but his talons did no more than hiss quietly and sting.
Stepping forward he moved through a short corridor and emerged into a large hall. The hall had not fared so well as the building's exterior. Fallen pillars, smashed glass, and blocked doorways met Raziel and made the vampire bite his tongue to prevent a groan. The place was far from impassable but it was going to take some effort to track his father through this ruin and he doubted his ability to do so quietly. For a moment he considered simply calling out. If Kain was going to hear him clambering through this ruin like a drunken wretch then why not simply call out and save himself the embarrassment at being caught failing to sneak.
He opened his mouth to call but stopped when he spotted something out of place amongst the rubble. He clambered up to the large window and looked at the remaining glass. What he found made him smile despite himself, a portion of torn red cloth, the item that had initially caught his eye, a few drops of blood and most damning of all, a little higher up, snagged on the broken glass, were a few white hairs clinging to a leather tie that Raziel recognised. It was the tie his father used to keep his hair back. It seemed even his mighty father had not found traversing this place easy.
Pocketing the leather tie he leapt out of the widow and found himself in what had possibly, at one time, been a garden. But now, now it was simply a mess. What must have been internal walls and even parts of the roof littered the garden, the place had clearly been looted at one point and the looters had dumped what had been in their way inside out here.
Brushing dust off his shoulders Raziel stepped forwards and down into the garden. Getting around the large parts of roof and wall was tricky but manageable. At one point he had to suck in his breath to make himself small enough to squeeze between two parts and at another he had to leap upwards to clear it. Landing precariously on the thin wall he managed to keep his balance, more through luck than skill but was pleased with himself none the less. Using the new vantage point he finally managed to spot his father. Kain perched on a portion of roof a little ways down the garden and appeared not to have noticed his approaching child. Raziel stood and dropped back to the ground, approaching slowly. He stood at the foot of the rubble Kain had taken residence on and still Kain appeared not to have noticed him. Raziel coughed once, then twice. Kain did not move, did not look at him, did not acknowledge his presence in any way, and so he approached further, clambering up to the top where his father sat.
When he was within touching distance, Kain's head jerked up, his eyes flickered in alarm and suddenly Raziel found himself pinned to a tree six feet away with a snarling Kain inches from his face and a talon tightening around his throat. It took his mind a few seconds to catch up with what was happening. Kain's latest evolution had gifted him with impossible speed; it was not something he used often and so was easy to forget.
The talon cutting off his air abruptly loosened, the anger bled from Kain's face and surprise took its place. Kain pulled away, moving slowly backwards while Raziel attempted to recover himself. Kain's hands were shaking and the sight of that made Raziel's stomach clench.
After a brief silent moment, Kain turned and returned to his perch atop the fallen wall. Raziel followed and sat next to him. They were silent until remembering his pocket Raziel reached in, retrieved Kain's hair tie and handed it to him. Kain snorted quietly and accepted the little offering pulling his hair back into place.
"Where are we?" Raziel asked. Kain did not reply but tilted Raziel's head upwards, checking around his throat for marks. When he was satisfied, he let go and returned to staring at the ruined landscape.
"The swamp," he said. "It worries me that you followed me here and yet seem oblivious to this."
"While it's somewhat reassuring that you're trying to be funny," Raziel said. "You know full well what I meant." Kain shrugged.
"This was the home of Vorador, and for a time it was my home as well," Kain said. "It fell a long time ago."
"Why come here now then?" Raziel said.
"For peace and quiet perhaps," Kain said. "Although you seem determined to deprive me of that." Raziel smiled.
"If it hadn't been so unsettling I would be rather pleased at being able to creep up on you," he said. "Although I confess I was not trying to, I did try to alert you, but you were ..."
"Distracted," Kain interrupted. "I was distracted."
"By what?" Raziel said. "This is hardly a hive of activity." He gestured out to the silent ruin.
"Thoughts, memories," Kain muttered. "It hardly matters." Raziel sighed and looked behind them at the ruined mansion.
"You lived here?" he said. Kain nodded.
"Once, for a time. Vorador was inclined to offer shelter to all manner of vagabonds and villains, including wayward balance guardians." Kain looked at him. "Come, I want to show you something if it still stands." Kain leapt down from the rubble and started towards the mansion. Raziel followed, stumbling and tripping over wayward stones and broken furniture. He followed Kain back inside the ruin and together they headed up. Raziel had through the mansion only had two floors and while this was true for the majority of the building there were towers.
"These used to stand on each corner of the building," Kain explained reaching down to offer his childe a hand as they climbed. "This is the only one that remains now. I'm still not sure if Vorador had them built as another way to show off or if they were defensive in nature."
"If they were defensive then they obviously didn't work," Raziel grumbled as they continued up. Kain snorted a laugh.
"True, Vorador was no fool but he was always more drawn to things that glittered or looked impressive than things that were actually useful. His wardrobe was always a clear example of this."
"Wardrobe?" Raziel asked as they reached the top floor.
"You recall when you called Zephon a peacock for the purple brocade coat he wore several seasons ago?" Kain said, Raziel nodded. "Vorador dressed like that all the time, usually with more bells and whistles."
"But you made him sound fierce in your telling!" Raziel snapped.
"He could be," Kain said. "But that doesn't mean he didn't dress like a spoiled prince. It was from Vorador that I learned the art of misleading one's foes with your appearance." He rolled his eyes at Raziel's questioning look. "Few expected Vorador to be as formidable in combat as he was because he dressed in such a manner and even less expected him to be a sly as he was due to the fact that he behaved like a pompous ass most of the time."
"I see," Raziel said. "Sounds dishonest too me."
"It could be considered such I suppose," Kain pulled at a beam holding up the roof and Raziel winced as part of the roof gave way. "But the fact was Vorador was multifaceted, he was a pompous ass, but he was also clever, he did love sparkly objects but could be practical and brutal as well. We are rarely as simple as our enemies wish us to be."
"I suppose," Raziel said. Kain snorted and pulled himself up to the rooftop through his newly made hole.
"You suppose do you?" Kain reached down into the hole offering a hand to pull Raziel to the roof. "The remaining humans portray us as monsters, unthinking, unfeeling and obsessed with their destruction."
"Yes?" Raziel said.
"Yet Melchiah gifted me with a landscape recently, painted by his own hand. Rahab has penned countless books critiquing poetry of all things; even Dumah has a fondness for literature."
"What?" Raziel snapped.
"He hides it well, but I found myself in conversation with one of his wives a few years ago and apparently he enjoys it when she reads to him."
"He can read himself," Raziel said. "I've seen him do it."
"But he enjoys her voice, the way she reads aloud as well as the story," Kain said.
"That ... is difficult to imagine," Raziel smiled.
"You're missing my point childe," Kain sighed.
"Not so," Raziel said. "We are more than they make us out to be, they turn what they fear into simple monsters, it makes us less frightening." Kain nodded.
"It is worth remembering that sometimes," he said. "Now look," he gestured around them. "Tell me what you see."
"The sanctuary," Raziel said, then turning, "my home, I can just make out Melchiah's stronghold." He turned again, "the spires of Zephons cathedral."
"The Empire," Kain nodded. "I used to come up to the tower rooftops in my youth and look out at Nosgoth. It was very different then. Nupraptor's keep was visible, as was Willendorf on clear nights."
"Willendorf?" Raziel frowned.
"The old Capital," Kain made a dismissive gesture. "None of that stands now."
"Now your empire stands," Raziel smiled. "Evidence of vampire superiority, evidence of your power." Kain normally enjoyed being reminded of his power and strength but tonight he sighed and looked down at the ruined mansion.
"Nothing remains, Raziel," he said. "Nothing lasts forever."
"The Empire will," Raziel said. "We will! As long as we stand we are legion, we cannot be torn down."
The look his father turned on him made Raziel's blood run cold.
"We will see if you are still saying that in five hundred years," Kain said softly.
The End
Authoress note: Authoress note: Thank you for reading, please comment/review, I'd love to hear what you think.
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