Sorry the update took so long, AP tests and finals and all that jazz. _ Well, here it is. Enjoy!
The lieutenants and their father stared in silent shock at the strange being now curled in the fetal position at their lord's feet, trying to discern just what the hell it was. The air was rent by its exhausted panting, as though it had just won a hard battle of endurance and strength—it was a starved, twisted creature, its body almost skeletal, the bones of the spine, ribcage and hip in sharp relief to the rest of its blue body—muscles could clearly be seen along its legs and arms. With growing horror, the assembled vampires realized that it wasn't just that they could see its spine—it had almost no lower torso, the organs and muscle mysteriously gone, leaving only the spine and some associated muscle tissue left to connect its hips with its chest. Two flaps of what they assumed was skin hung from its back, the edges ripped and tattered. The creature moved its head—they saw raven hair, cut short, and blue pointed ears over a brown fabric the color of old, faded blood that encircled the thing's entire neck and shoulders. Its face was turned away from them, partially covered by a familiar three-fingered hand, the fingers more like claws, wrapped in rags roughly the same color as its cowl. The creature stretched out a leg—they realized with dread that it was muscle they were seeing, devoid of any skin whatsoever, ending with an odd boot that encased the two-taloned foot.
The creature's panting slowed and calmed—a circumstance more eerie by the fact that, the entire time, the being's chest had not expanded once—and it stretched out more fully. It was maybe a little shorter than Raziel, and it rose to its knees slowly, unsteadily, as if it were a fledgling trying to stand for the first time. It still faced the ground.
"Forgive me, Kain," the creature said, startling all of the vampires and causing Zephon to trip over his heels in surprise, "I have been imprisoned in that sword for… Millennia, now, surely. It is… difficult… to remember."
A rare look of pity crossed Kain's face, and, perhaps out of respect for the spirit of the sword that had served him so faithfully, he dropped to one knee, and extended an arm to assist the creature's rising.
"No!" the being said viciously, swatting away Kain's arm. "Let me do it!" It let out a long, drawn out breath, and rose wobbly to its feet.
Kain looked the being in the face—or what showed of it, anyway. The brown cowl covered everything from right below the eyes down, but the dusky blue skin of the creature's forehead and dark, almost black markings around its opaque, faintly glowing white eyes was enough to send a shudder running down Kain's spine. And those pale markings on the creature's cowl—was that the symbol of the Razielim?
The creature looked Kain in the eyes for another moment, before its legs buckled beneath it and it fell. This time, it accepted Kain's offered assistance. "Forgive me… I am weak. I expended much of my energy escaping from the damned Reaver," the being said, its voice both alien and eerily familiar. A sudden breeze caused the flaps of skin on its back to flutter briefly, a grim mockery of the half-cape Kain and his sons wore. "I must rest—feed—regain my energy," the creature gasped, almost crumpling to the ground despite Kain's support.
Kain nodded. "Zephon, Melchiah, fetch a—" he paused, at loss for words.
"Bring something, anything, as long as it's alive," the creature croaked, attempting to regain its balance. The remaining four sons noticed warily that the creature's form seemed to flicker and go fuzzy around the edges, as if it were only barely keeping itself together. Its head drooped as it muttered to itself—a spell to keep it in this realm?
The pair reappeared not thirty seconds later, half-dragging a human slave too sickly to be of any use, and clearly on death's doorstep. Kain scowled and prepared some harsh words for the poor treatment of his "guest"—except that the creature staggered forward, off his arm, towards the human. Melchiah and Zephon retreated to their father's side, where the other lieutenants were waiting, watching the creature with wide, nervous eyes. Halfway there, the creature fell to his knees, and crawled the rest of the distance.
"Easy, friend, shh," the creature said, as if comforting the terrified human, "Your torment will be over soon. I swear to make it quick." With that, it snapped the human's neck. Its back to Kain and his sons, it pulled open the cowl—for what, Kain could not discern, even as he craned his neck to try and glimpse what lay under the makeshift mask.
The creature rose to its feet, cautiously but sure-footedly, and turned back towards Kain and the others, approaching now on steady feet. "Thank you. Now I have the strength to aid you—I shall need more energy to assist you in battle, but I can hunt for myself now."
"Battle?" Kain mumbled.
The creature stepped forward, putting a hand on Kain's shoulder as he passed. "We must discuss your battle plans with the Hylden."
"Hylden? What's a Hylden?" Dumah said, scowling. "And what are you? Who are you? What in hell is going on here?"
The creature narrowed its eyes as it turned to Dumah. "I do not like the term, but I suppose 'wraith' describes me adequately," it began, leering at the third-born, "And who I am is none of your concern, only Kain's. I don't even know how you're here."
"I am here because I am the third Lieutenant of our Lord Kain," Dumah snarled right back, stepping toe-to-toe with the wraith, "And who you are is very much my concern, if you seek to go to battle at the side of my Lord!"
"Third Lieutenant—!" The wraith fumed, before turning abruptly to the right and seeing the astonished faces of Melchiah and Rahab. The creature stopped abruptly, its expression of anger slowly turning into one of shock, as it took in each of the Lieutenants in turn, finally lingering on Raziel. "But how…? This doesn't…" it mumbled, looking down at its hands, the Reaver on the ground, and finally at Kain. Or, more specifically, the shattered remains of the Pillars directly behind Kain.
"If I'm at the Pillars…" the wraith said, "Then you're… Oh, damn it all! You're the wrong Kain!"
