Let me Tell You Something
Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal dynamics, they are not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I have a burning need to create.
Rating: PG
Part: One of One
Set: Post BO2 Pre SR1.
Authoress Note: Kain fails at being a role model and tells his fledgelings inappropriate stories.
Chapter Two
"Long before you were born," I started and instantly corrected myself, "reborn." Raziel shuffled about for a moment, settling himself down to listen. "I started my first attempt at the conquest of Nosgoth."
"You've done this before?"
"I've attempted it before, yes, when I was much younger and far more foolish," I shrugged.
"If it didn't work why are you trying again?" he asked, I sighed.
"Because failure is a great teacher," I snapped. "Now shut up and listen." He snapped his jaw closed, I raised an eyebrow and waited a moment, but he remained quiet. "I was allied with several other vampires, Vorador, an elder, the oldest vampire I have met. He was a great many centuries old and was wise, in his way, experienced but had long since fallen to decadence."
I remembered the mansion, warm and inviting, it had been hard not to fall to its comforts when I'd come in from the cold and hard lands surrounding it. A lone fledgeling is an easy target, just existing on my own at that young age had been exhausting, suddenly finding myself in not only a place of warmth and comfort but of relative safety had been intoxicating. Fortunately, my drive was strong and it had not taken me long to work on allaying Vorador to my goal.
"Vorador had sired a great many fledgelings, they made up my army."
"There was an army?" Raziel's eyes widened. I nodded.
"Oh yes, we lead a great conquest over the land, taking towns, villages, cities, all fell before us."
"Us? You and Vorador?" Melchiah said, I flinched and glanced at him, he was lying perfectly still as he had been when sleeping, but his eyes were wide and alert. I couldn't help the slight huff at his wakefulness.
"Not just," I said. "There were others, Vorador remained in the mansion, keeping our ranks populated and keeping the fledgelings in line. I never had much taste for that side of things when I was younger."
"Where were you?" Raziel asked as Melchiah asked, "Who else?"
"I was in the field, I always led better by example than anything else," I said. "I was supported by several others, Magnus, Sebastian, Marcus and Faustus."
"Where are they now?" Raziel asked.
"Dead," I said plainly. "You may recall just a few moments ago when I started this story that you are so determined to interrupt that the reason for it was to teach you that trust is not something that should be freely given, if at all."
"Oh," Raziel looked oddly disappointed.
"If I may continue," I said. "Magnus worked as my second, if I could not be somewhere I sent him in my stead, he held a great deal of my trust and it was justly so, he earned it through his ability and his loyalty. Sebastian came after Magnus, he was ambitious, more than I realised, he was capable enough in a fight but was perhaps more suited to the subtly of war. Magnus was an arse, I kept him close so I could watch him and Vorador was fond of him for some reason. Faustus, well, Faustus was nothing, in particular, he wasn't really on my radar during the war, it was only after that he became a minor inconvenience."
"After?" Turel's voice came out of the shadows. So it seemed my entire brood was slowly waking to hear this. I didn't acknowledge him.
"As I said we moved through Nosgoth at pace, we took towns and villages as we moved further and further south to take Meridian."
"Meridian," Raziel said. "Why Meridian."
"It's a port," Rahab said before I could. "Ports are always worth having, even if you have nothing to import yourself you can stop your enemy importing, or just take control of their imports."
"Very true," I smiled. Rahab had often demonstrated knowledge beyond his brothers. I suspected he would continue to prove useful. "We planned on taking Meridian, but as we drew closer, we heard the word of our human enemies uniting under a new leader." Raziel opened his mouth but said nothing when I glared. "This new leader, the Serefan Lord boasted great strength, magical, physical and he also shared this with the rest of the city and so they loved him."
"He united the city against you," Turel said, I nodded.
"He did and I underestimated him, he came from nowhere and boasted the powers of a wizard. I assumed he was some small noble trying to take over the city-state, a budding power still in its infancy. So I powered on, even if his claims of wizardry were true, I have fought many wizards before, powerful, mad wizards. I was not afraid, so we continued our charge and… well, it didn't go as planned."
None of my children said anything. They waited for me to elaborate, a first for them.
"The rumours of the size and strength of his army spooked mine. We also found some of the more secluded ways into the city blocked, we were funnelled, not an uncommon tactic, so I wasn't overly concerned. But I underestimated how afraid my followers had become, I dismissed concerns and ignored warning signs. I continued to trust those close to me."
"You trusted them, and they failed you?" Raziel said it was a quiet question. I shook my head.
"They did not fail," I said. "They betrayed me." I couldn't help the venom in my voice. "Magnus disappeared in the night on a fool's errand, thinking he could stop the war by assassinating the Serefan Lord. He failed. Sebastian not only left before the battle, but he betrayed our position to the enemy, we were ambushed because of it. Marcus fled long before the battle occurred and Faustus either fled or somehow survived to offer himself to the enemy after the battle."
"What happened in the battle?" Dumah said, I glanced at him to see Zephon wide awake next to him.
"We were struck before we were ready, they crippled us before we even realised they were there, drove us to fight on the coast, many of us fell to the water."
"But not you," Raziel said. I shrugged.
"It's complicated," I muttered. Wide eyes watched me from all sides. "I fought the Serefan Lord, but he employed unforeseen tactics in the form of a magical shield of sorts. I was driven back and I fell…off the cliff."
"Did you die?" Melchiah asked. I turned slowly to look at him as did his brothers.
"Yes," I said. "I died horribly and I've been a ghost this entire time."
"Idiot," Dumah muttered.
"I did not die, I was already dead," I smirked. "But I was badly injured, honestly I'm not sure how I survived to be recovered by Vorador and his surviving cabal. The blow I took before I fell should have killed me." I put my hand to my stomach. "I am often more durable than my enemies believe me to be."
"Did you raise us then?" Zephon said. "After the battle I mean."
"Not straight away, no," I said. "I slept for a long time, recovering from my injuries and I suspect Vorador may have had something to do with the length of my sleep."
Raziel tilted his head quizzically.
"Vorador has always been afraid of me, I am more powerful than one of my age and experience should be, it always terrified him. But he was not foolish, he knew that I am uniquely capable and that so long as he did not oppose me I would not quarrel with him."
"What happened after you woke up?" Dumah said.
"I woke in the slums in Meridian and I was angry, very, very angry." All my fledgelings leaned forward, several grinned. "I set out to find the Serefan Lord to seek revenge and on the way I encountered Faustus, I ended him with little thought. Marcus was slightly more challenging, as he fled, fled clean across an entire district. I had to run him down through sewers, rooftops and back streets."
"Coward," Dumah said, I nodded.
"Yes, but also sensible. He knew he could not match me, fleeing was his only chance but it was still a poor one. To this day have no idea why Vorador valued the cretin so much."
"You killed him," Zephon said.
"I threw him from the balcony in Meridian's cathedral, after I beat him half to death amongst the bells. He used his ability to charm the churches priests to rally them against me, but they were few in number and only human."
"Wow," Melchiah muttered.
"Sebastian I met in the industrial quarter of the city, he also knew he could not match me physically, so he laid a more elaborate trap. I was hunting a treasure, the same treasure the Serefan Lord had employed against me when I fought him. Sebastian placed it in a hazardous room, one that filled with steam on demand."
"Ugh," Zephon hissed, his minor accident with heated water pipes no doubt haunting him.
"I threw Sebastian into his own trap," I couldn't help the smirk as I remembered the feel of Sebastian's throat in my hands, his gasp "No it can't be," and how he looked when I launched him from the platform into the deadly steam.
"Never set a trap that you can't get out of yourself," I added the lesson to the story.
"You burned him alive!" Dumah laughed. I nodded.
"What about Magnus, you said he left to fight the Serefan Lord?" Raziel said sombre compared to his brothers.
"Yes," I nodded. "Magnus did not intentionally betray me, but he fell to his pride. He could not fight the Serefan Lord, he was defeated and oddly enough not killed, he was tortured instead, placed in a prison where he lost his mind. I could not understand what the Serefan Lord hoped to gain from such petty cruelty. I killed Magnus to save him from his torment."
"Petty cruelty?" Raziel said. "You are not cruel?"
"I am cruel," I corrected. "But my cruelty has a purpose, otherwise it is simply a waste of effort." I failed to mention that sometimes the purpose was my amusement.
"You killed them all," Rahab said.
"Not Vorador," I muttered, "Or Umah."
"Who?" Melchiah asked.
"What happened to Vorador?" Turel said.
"Vorador was injured by the Serefan Lord, then the city we were in fell. I never saw him again after that, I assume he is dead. Umah was killed by human's, she was mobbed after she stole from me and so I refused to help her."
"They all betrayed you," Raziel said still sounding far too upset.
"In their ways, yes, they did," I said. "Hence my lesson to you not to trust those who claim to be close to you. Trust open you to attack, makes you vulnerable. Guard yourself above all else."
"Did you kill the Serefan Lord?" Dumah nudged me, reminding me that my story had gone off track.
"I did, I fought him in the heart of his stronghold, a portal between this world and another, and he fell to my blade," I smirked. "I also destroyed his stronghold, it isn't even ruins now, only rocks in the sea."
"A portal?" Raziel said, starting to sound less unsettled. "You fought your enemy inside a portal."
"After he was revealed as being of a race that comes from another world," I added. All my fledgelings were wide-eyed and silent.
"Did you ever fight anyone else?" Dumah said.
"Yes," I snorted. Of course, I had fought others, my life was fighting, at least it often felt like that.
"Tell us about another," Turel said.
"Did you ever fight demons?" Rahab asked. "Like the ones in the forests?" I nodded and Rahab smiled. "Tell us about that."
"You said before that you fought wizards," Raziel said. "Tell us about them."
I couldn't help the small swell of pride, I tried to squash it but the gleam in their eyes as they waited, hanging on my silence wouldn't let me squash it completely. I was smirking before I started speaking again.
"Well, there was the time I climbed into the Northern wastes and fought against an ancient warrior's soul that had been fused to a set of armour."
Their eyes widened further, and I resigned myself to the fact that none of us would be sleeping any more today.
End Chapter Two
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