Central Anatolia, Turkey

The small village could be seen from the cliff the two Antediluvians sat on, pondering at what would they do next:

"The three went ahead to scout the area. What is the matter, brother? Do you feel unwell?"

Malkav said:

"Have I ever felt well?"

"You did. Once, but you did."

"True. Yet, now… I feel so desperate yet no amount of happiness can erase my desperation, so thirsty yet no amount of blood can quench my thirst."

"Do not worry, brother, everything will end soon and you shall be free of your pain once and for all."

"This is a fool's errand, brother. You are obsessed with solving the world's problems just as Set is obsessed with his self-proclaimed divinity, just like Arikel was obsessed with her need for beauty. You are a madman, brother, more so than me."

Saulot smiled and said:

"Takes one to know one, Malkav."

"Indeed."

Malkav then looked at the sun shining brightly above them, visibly uncomfortable, fearing its rays and its beauty.

"This is not normal, Saulot… We vampires should not bask in the sunlight."

"Why is that?"

"Because we don't deserve it."

"Who says that? Who decides what a vampire deserves or not? If we have the power to change our plight for the better, why not act on it? Is it wrong for one to try to change his lot in life?"

"No, but we don't have lives…"

"True, we don't, yet."

"What are you truly planning, brother? I don't think you will go to this length just to destroy the Tremere."

He pointed towards the village in the valley. Saulot then said:

"The destruction of the Tremere is just the beginning. These are the Final Nights, brother. The true enemy will soon show his monstrous face and every being on this planet will die. Unless we can change that."

"How?"

"Well, today's efforts, for example. If we manage this, we will have a powerful force at our disposal, a force entirely under our control. A force strong enough to fight against the Tremere."

Malkav then started to shake, crying tears of blood. Saulot then approached his ailing brother and started to caress his forehead. The Malkavian said:

"Please, tell me about Golconda."

"Why?"

"It calms me… It makes my imagination run wild."

"Your imagination always runs wild, brother. Yet, Golconda was not what I was imagining when I left home. Do you remember when I left? Set gave me my staff and you gave me your eye. I swore to you I would return with an answer to our questions yet I found only more questions. When the Angel of God asked me what my reward would be, I chose the worst one. Then, I didn't realize it. Now, I do."

"You never told me about this."

"I couldn't. Brother, the road to Golconda is not easy for us. Yet, at the end three choices await, different for each and every one of the damned who are willing to walk the path."

"What were yours, Saulot?"

Saulot closed his eyes and opened his third eye. Malkav then noticed he wasn't in the Anatolian desert anymore, but in a dark, damp cave.

"Saulot?"

His brother was not with him. He sat on his knees at the center of the cave, dust darkening his skin and only a rag rotted by time to cover him. A voice then spoke to him in a language Malkav never heard before yet he could understand it with perfect clarity.

"What would it be, Saulot, childe of Enoch, childe of Caine, child of Adam, child of God? Will you renounce this miserable life as a bloodsucker? Will you return to the humanity from which you were stolen by your sire, never to be damned again?"

"No."

"What would it be, Saulot, childe of Enoch, childe of Caine, child of Adam, child of God? Will you renounce your existence on this world? Will you join your Father and Creator in Heaven as His most beloved son? Will you taste the sweetness of Paradise? Will you partake in the Joy of seeing God's face?"

"No."

"What would it be, Saulot, childe of Enoch, childe of Caine, child of Adam, child of God? Will you remain in your body, trapped for eternity in your bloodsucker form, never to die again? No sun will burn you to ashes, no stake will impale your dark heart and hurt you, no Beast will rage inside you for blood and murder. But know this, vampire, if you choose this, you will never see the wondrous face of our Lord and you will never walk amongst the humans again as a human. Heaven and eternal peace will be forbidden to you. So, what says you?"

"Yes."

Malkav was speechless, his brain almost burning. The entire Weavery he devised was overloading with so much sensorial input, so much pain and sorrow. Saulot then opened a third eye on his forehead and started to walk towards the exit of the cave. Near the exit that was blocked by a huge rock, a small, Asian-looking man, said to him:

"What have you done, Zao-Lat?"

"What I had to."

"I thought you were seeking peace, a release from your cursed nature. I was a fool…"

"I'm sorry but I don't seek peace for me, but for all the others who share my curse. This is the only way I can help them."

"You betrayed me, Zao-Lat. You swore to me an oath. You swore that you will never use what I'm teaching you for other than enlightenment. Yet, you used these sacred secrets to gain power! This is not a power for you or anyone else to possess."

"Yet it was given to me. I won the right to possess it."

"True that may be, but that doesn't change the fact that you betrayed the trust me and my kind gave you. Begone, Zao-Lat! From this day until the end of the days, you shall be known as Zao-Lat the Traitor!"

"I accept this."

Saying this, Saulot jumped on the Asian man and proceeded to drain him of his blood. The man's face was livid and before he could say anything, he fell down, dead. Saulot then approached the large rock that was blocking the exit from the cave and, with just his finger, smashed it to pieces. The Salubri looked at the sun above him and smiled.

Malkav reawakened. Saulot was sitting next to him, all three eyes opened.

"Did you…"

"I told you it is not an easy choice to make. I'm sorry, brother, instead of calming you, I roused you even more."

"I do not want to talk about this ever again, brother."

"As you wish."

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The moon shone brightly above the city of Vancouver and the air was cool but not too cold. A perfect night for a stroll! This is what a young couple thought when decided to spend a romantic evening in the quiet Stanley Park, until they were found by the vampires who drained them and ditched them in the waters near the seawall. One of them, the Brazilian Cainite Vinicius Proenca said:

"Now, let's burn this place so that the prince and his cronies will give us the Antediluvian!"

Igmund, the violent Gangrel antitribu said:

"I thought you would never ask!"

The group of vampires approached a large tree and set it on fire, hoping to draw the Antediluvian out from the city. What they drew was much worse. Their howl usually can be heard from miles away but this time, they could only hear it when the Garou were close to them. Vinicius Proenca looked at the beast in front of him and shouted:

"Lupines! Fuck!"

The other members of the Sabbat started to run but for each Cainite that ran, another Garou was after them. Only Proenca and Igmund tried to fight them but the Lupine proved to be too powerful. Igmund assumed his Protean form of the Shape of the Beast, turning himself into a large wolf but, after a short struggle with the Garou, the brutal Gangrel was torn apart by the larger and more powerful beast. Proenca started to run too but the agility of the werewolf was too great. It caught the Brazilian but before the Garou could finish him, it suddenly became enveloped into a large cage of shadows that seemed like it boiled him. After a while, the cage disappeared and the werewolf retreated. Vinicius was shocked, looking behind him as a man with black hair and a black beard wearing a nice suit approached him.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't save the others."

"Lord Gratiano."

Vinicius bowed before the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Gratiano de Veronese, an immensely powerful Lasombra Methuselah and a leading Anarch during the Revolt that created the Sabbat. Gratiano said:

"Kuglitz said that he sent your team here to hunt an Antediluvian."

"There are actually two, Lord Gratiano."

"Two of them? Hmm… It seems to me that this is way above your pay grade, Vinicius. You should return to Brazil. I will fight the Antediluvians."

"Thank you, my lord, but I want to assist you."

"There is no need, truly. Leave this city."

"As you wish, Lord Gratiano. Thank you for saving me."

"I came here with a boat. Take it and go to Nanaimo. There, take the plane I came here with and go home."

"Yes!"

After Vinicius Proenca left, Gratiano approached the burning tree and after extending his right arm, a jet of water sent from his palm extinguished it. A voice then said to him:

"Well, well. Thaumaturgy?"

Gratiano said:

"Well, in this time and age, one must be ready for anything."

"True that."

The man talking with the Sabbat leader was none other than Prince Siegfried.

"Why did you spare that lackey?"

"I didn't. Right now, my plane in Nanaimo is fitted with a bomb. I never let loose ends."

"Ruthless."

"I am a Sabbat, aren't I?"

"So, have you decided?"

"To be honest, I thought that picture of yours in the fucking sun was doctored. You can't believe what kids these days can do to pictures on these… computers. But I had a Nosferatu verify it and it's legit. So, you can truly walk into the daylight?"

"Yes, but not through my own ability."

"I thought not. Who are the Antediluvians who granted you this ability?"

"The Salubri known as Saulot. His brother the Malkavian was there too, but this power came through Saulot."

"Saulot? Impossible. The Usurper Tremere diablerized him."

"Apparently, he returned."

Gratiano was shocked hearing this. Was it truly possible for a diablerized Cainite to return in the world of the living? Such a power is beyond anything the Lasombra could ever imagine. He then said to the Prince:

"I accept your offer, Ventrue. And, to prove my sincerity, I will ensure the Sabbat will not interfere in your new master's plans, for as long as he doesn't do anything against our clans, of course."

The Ventrue nodded and said:

"It's pretty strange to hear this coming from one such as you, Gratiano. Your lot hunts the Antediluvians just as you murdered and then drained your own sire, Lasombra himself. You will be seen as a betrayer in the Sabbat."

"It's time for a new mentality in my organization. Our greatest weakness is that we can't live in the daylight and, even more so for us the Lasombra, we can't even blend naturally into the human society. To escape this curse, we shall do anything, even work for the Antediluvians."

"What of the Camarilla? The Sabbat's attack on Vancouver failed because you sabotaged it but them? I can't see a Camarilla vampire to team up with Garou to make sure their efforts in taking my city fail."

"The Camarilla has its own problems, Prince. The Malkavians deserted them."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Apparently, something happened today. Something that made the Lunatics even crazier and they said out of the blue: Fuck the Capes, we're out of here."

"Also, our own Malkavians started to speak in riddles, saying that we live during the Coming of Light."

"Something is happening, Gratiano."

"Well, I can't wait to see it unfold."

Central Anatolia, Turkey

The two Antediluvians and the three members of the Order of Cascadia entered the village. Gabriel Glover said:

"This place is completely deserted. The only inhabited place in this area is thirty miles east from here, a village named… Kaz… Kazir? Kaz…"

Elsa then said:

"Kazzhar. I went there during the day and asked about this place. The kine told me that this place is cursed and nobody, not even authorities wonder around here."

Saulot said:

"Then, this is the place."

Maurizio said while looking at the collapsed buildings and columns:

"This place is ancient. It feels so strange. Guys, do you feel what I feel?"

"What?"

"It's like a… hum. From underground."

Malkav said:

"The dead are calling…"

Elsa then replied:

"What dead?"

Saulot said:

"Those we will awaken."

The vampires stopped in front of a destroyed building. Inside, a secret passage led them to an underground cavern and at the end of it, a large door, sealed with various arcane formulas and a large skull symbol. Saulot said:

"Well, this is it. It will be better if you step back for a moment."

His companions listened. After this, the Salubri opened his third eye, basking the door in such a bright light that made the long dead eyes of the other Cainites sting. After a while, the formulas started to vanish and the door slowly opened. Saulot said:

"I'm going inside. Stay here."

They obeyed again. The third generation vampire entered the inner sanctum of that dreadful place and the only thing his companions heard for almost half an hour was a series of screams. Then, Saulot returned to the surface, but he wasn't alone. Malkav couldn't believe his eyes, neither the other three. Saulot was followed by countless vampires who looked so emaciated that it seemed to the others that they haven't fed in millennia. They looked like corpses, with tattered clothes and emitting droning sounds. Saulot's voice broke the monotonous hum produced by the vampires:

"Rejoice, my friends, for we have recovered a clan of our fellow Cainites that was lost to the ages long ago. Once, they craved vengeance against the Sire who sealed them away, condemning them to diablerie and torpor but now, their only desire is to serve us and the world we shall create together."

Elsa was horrified but at the same time, astonished. Those vampires were the last remnants of the long lost clan, the Cappadocians, the original clan of death. She then said to Saulot:

"Where to now, Great Antediluvian?"

"To victory, child!"