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 Three

I woke up to the sound of yelling.

I didn't remember falling asleep but clearly, I must have. I was alone which was both a blessing and slightly embarrassing, the idea of my fledglings sneaking out after I'd fallen asleep made me feel ridiculous.

"Have at you!" the shout came again and while the words denoted a fight, the tone did not. I forced myself upright and every bone in my body creaked and every muscle tightened in protest. How could sleeping hurt so much?

Once I was confident in my ability to move smoothly, rather than creaking about the house like an invalid, I went to investigate the overly enthusiastic shouts, which had not ceased during the short time I forced my body to function.

The main living area of the house was just one large room that served as a kitchen, dining area, and sitting room, it was large which was a blessing as my fledglings had apparently turned it into some kind of game room. Melchiah and Dumah stood in the centre, each taking an overly dramatic fight pose, apparently being directed by their eldest sibling. While Rahab, Zephon and Turel stood off to the side watching.

"That's not right," Rahab corrected his siblings. "Malek was further away, father couldn't get that close."

"Quiet Rahab, you're a defeated armour suit, they don't talk," Raziel snapped and moved Dumah's arm higher.

"And he had a staff," Zephon muttered.

"Dead armour can't talk," Raziel snapped.

"It wasn't a staff, it was a lance," Turel muttered.

They were acting out the story. Perhaps this was not a game room then but a playhouse?

"Actually, it was a pike," I say as I step fully into the room. They all turn like startled cats. "And it wasn't that I couldn't get close to him, it was that I couldn't inflict permanent damage."

"Because he was armour," Raziel said. I shrugged.

"But you killed the other armours," Zephon said. "I've been dead for ten minutes and its boring."

"The other armours required an external power source which I destroyed and even with that they were all round less durable than their creator." I looked at each of my children in turn. "As flattering as this is, you should be eager for your own adventures, not reliving one of my mistakes."

"How was it a mistake?" Melchiah asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I had to escape the fight, Malek did not fall to me," I said. "I had to enlist another for that particular task." I let out a long slow breath. "Youthful exuberance cannot replace common sense, were I in that situation again, as a fledgling, I would not have tried Malek alone, or in his bloody hellscape of a bastion."

"But where else…" Melchiah started.

"Anywhere, he was the guard of the circle, luring him out would not have been impossible, charging into a snowy mountain top with nothing living and not a single drop of blood in the place was possibly one of the most foolish things I have ever done."

"Then why…" Raziel started.

"I was angry," I snapped. "Extremely angry, also drunk on power." Raziel gave me a look of open confusion. "Having been mortal and prone to weakness and social bonds for all of one's life, to suddenly be free of such things it was exhilarating, I felt invincible." I snorted. "My visit to that particular bastion did teach me that I was not invincible, a useful lesson, one that could very easily have been fatal."

Dumah chose this moment to realise that he was playing the role of Malek who I had just spend the last few moments describing as an unbeatable war machine. He let out a hoot of laughter and stepped forward, sword lifted over Melchiah who had apparently been given the role of my moronic younger self.

"If Malek had done that defeating him may have been easier," I muttered, Dumah glanced back at me. "Your stance is poor, a light tap and you'll be off balance, also your sword is raised too high, your entire midriff is exposed, a soft easy target for someone quick and agile. Only risk a blow like that to a stunned or scared enemy, never an observant one."

Dumah gave me a look of offence, so I lightly kicked his ankle causing him to wobble and gently punched him in the gut knocking the wind from him causing him to drop his sword and crumple to the ground. When he was down, I delicately stood on his neck, letting enough of my weight rest there that a look of genuine panic crossed his eyes. I let him up.

"Do not let youthful exuberance make you foolish, learn from my mistakes do not immediately copy them."

"Yes father," he nodded, rubbing both his throat and gut.

"And you," I turned to Melchiah who flinched. "Don't cower just because your opponent is bigger than you, every fighter has an advantage, you must learn yours."

"H…how?" Melchiah asked.

"Practice," I shrugged, then took a moment to consider the situation. "I wasn't intending to start you all on war craft quite this soon, but as you all seem so dreadfully keen…" I did not miss the look of abject fear that crossed each one of my fledgling's faces, I grinned.

"We don't have weapons," Rahab tried to avoid the inevitable. He pointed to the rusted sword they had probably found somewhere in the hovel.

"Weapons can be dropped," I said still grinning, taking probably to much delight in their concern. "You should learn to fight without them." I waited, let them stew, then laughed. "But we can't start here, its too small and surrounded on all sides, training will be noisy, we will have to find somewhere out of the way, somewhere safer."

"But what about food?" Turel said. "Yesterday you said we'd stay here for food."

"Yesterday you weren't swinging swords around," I smirked. "and as you've shown such enthusiasm, I'm considering advancing you sooner than anticipated." I would have continued my torment of them but Zephon's stomach chose that moment to voice it's protest and spoil my fun.

"Very well, pack up, we'll move out feed you before you start eating each other," I paused and let my smirk return. "Though we may start heading North."

"What's North?" Raziel asked.

"Room to grow," I said letting them see my teeth when I smiled.

End Chapter Three

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