Two days had passed since Janos Audron's rescue. It took him longer than usual to go back to his usual self: his actions on the Hylden Gate had been too impulsive. He was no match for the Hylden Lord, not in his condition, but his emotions had brought him to do something he would have never done under normal circumstances. He felt slightly embarrassed by his oversight, but hate was too strong an emotion, even for him. Janos spent the first day resting in a comfortable room, awoken only by Vorador mending his wounds and feeding him. His strength rapidly came back, even his feathers grew back, stronger and faster than before.

Janos's mind hadn't suffered much from his imprisonment. He was eager to help Kain, but Vorador wouldn't let him out of his room before his body was completely healed and properly clothed. When the sun set on the second day, Janos finally had his progeny's approval to stand on his two feet and held a meeting with the younger vampires.

"I cannot thank you both enough."

He spoke with a kind, paternal voice to the two other vampires, whom he considered his children. "The horrors of the demonic dimension would drive anyone mad. Had it not been for you, Kain, I would have lost myself."

Kain nodded and kept listening. He was not used to tone of Janos's voice, but the Reaver emanated a warm, blue glow in Janos's presence.

"I see Raziel has fulfilled his destiny." Janos let out a coy smile. "Does this give you hope, my child?"

No-one had ever called him that. Kain was intrigued by Janos's words, but at the same time, he found his tone too affectionate for his ears.

"What choice do I have? I must keep fighting. Raziel's sacrifice set events in motion that only I can resolve." he replied with a hint of bitterness.

"I understand. The ancient prophecies spoke of the Scion of Balance and the savior of the Vampire race, but none of us, no matter how knowledgeable, could predict the details of their manifestation." His gaze was low as he spoke. He wished he could have been of more help to Raziel, but fate had not allowed him to do so.

"Kain" he said in a more resolute tone "You want answers, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Kain growled back.

"I know where to get them. Vorador, you must come with us as well. I will need your assistance."

Vorador nodded. He could not say no to his maker. Janos touched both of the vampires on their shoulders and closed his eyes to cast a spell. The three of them disappeared from the mansion and teleported away.

"What is this place?" "Where have you brought us, sire?" the younger vampires spoke.

"My children, this place has been forgotten for millennia. It is forbidden for us to set foot on this soil, but we have no choice. Follow me."

Janos had teleported them to the entrance of a strange temple concealed by the surrounding mountains. There were no paths leading up or down: this place was clearly unreachable by non-winged beings.

"What you call in this age the Lake of Tears, to the west of the Pillars, hosts the Vampire Citadel. The waters of the lake have been used by the ancient vampires since the beginning of time for our magical needs. As a result, the lake is extremely charged and more powerful than it seems. This is why the Citadel is safe in the lake, shrouded by magical mists empowered by this water. If you dare walk to the edge of the temple and look down, you will see the lake."

"What's so important about this temple?" Kain asked, impatient as usual, dreading an history lesson. Janos turned to face him, and understood his hurry.

"Long before the religious wars between the Ancients and the Hylden, our race prospered in this land. We shared Nosgoth peacefully with the humans, who lived their lives differently from ours. We were worshiped by some, but feared by no-one. We soared the sky as they roamed the earth."

Both Kain and Vorador were tempted to sit down, but ultimately decided not to. They kept listening.

"As you already know, we were a race of faith. Religion was tremendously important to our culture, and when the Hylden curse denied us our God, my people were driven to madness-"

"I have news about your God, Janos" Kain interrupted him, harshly "The wheel of fate is moved by non other than a false divinity! You have worshiped a parasitic demonic creature all along-"

"Nonsense" Janos snapped back, irritated. "I have no doubts you have seen strange things Kain, but my people were right in their worship. Our magic worked, our prayers were answered, our prophecies were correct. Our faith was strong."

"You were all wrong, and I can show you. You have to trust me!"

"Not now, Kain. We have more urgent matters at hand." This was not a conversation Janos cared about, not now. He turned his back on Kain, and gazed the temple in front of him instead. "This temple was built by our religious leaders. Only a select few knew of this building's existence, not even the other Guardians of the Pillars were aware of it. I have never set foot in this place, as it was forbidden by my elders. But now, it is time for us to do some research."

"What are we looking for?" asked Vorador, intrigued.

"Everything we know about our religion, our race's past, was preserved in this place. The most religious of us dedicated their lives to enrich the libraries in this temple. The amount of knowledge in this place is invaluable, and only the mountains and our protective spells have kept the Sarafan from destroying it all."

Janos opened the door to the temple with a short spell in his ancient tongue, and they all entered. Kain was strangely silent, intrigued by the architecture of the temple. It was not wide in size, but terribly high. Numerous sheets of papers and large amounts of books were piled up everywhere, but a terrible sight lay there beside the door. Two winged skeletons were on the ground, each with a sword stuck in their broken ribs. Janos stared at them for a second, then walked to their remains. The other two vampires only noticed the skeletons when their elder started talking in a mournful voice.

"They were the first to go. The stronger their faith was, the harder the curse was for them to deal with" he said as he got down on one knee, and gently removed the weapons from their bones. "May they have peace."

Janosallowed sadness into his heart for a minute. He then walked to the center of the temple and started looking around. As he inspected his surroundings, Kain grew impatient.

"So what are we doing here, Janos?"

"Vorador and I will stay here and research these ancient texts. We must look for information concerning the Hylden and the Scion of Balance. And since you have your doubts, we will research the beginnings of our faith. Kain, you have a choice now: either help us, or go further our cause some other way."

"I'm afraid I am of no use here. I will go back to land and see if the Hylden threat has gotten worse. My presence in this age surely has had its consequences, already..."

"Indeed" Janos murmured, distracted by a book he had already started reading. His faith was never the strongest, even among his kind, but he had always dreamed of reading the many texts in this temple. Perhaps the forbidden nature of this place made his curiosity stronger, but no-one was left to complain. "The Ancients have committed worse crimes than this," Janos reasoned in his head to justify his actions.

Kain stared at his elder. He had never seen him so immersed in anything, and decided to postpone their interrupted conversation.

"Do not leave this place. Vorador, keep Janos safe. I will be back soon" he announced as he shifted into his bat form and left the temple.