Malek was sitting in MeLoom's tomb, as he did with much of his free time.
Sometimes he talked to the corpse of his lover, sometimes he simply sat in
silence as he did now. He wondered if MeLoom was in this room now, or if
she was in another plane of existence, dancing with angels and laughing
with the spirits of his other fallen friends. He wasn't sure which he would
prefer. If she was with him, he couldn't see her. And if she was waiting
for him in the next life, would he ever join her? Or was he destined to
spend eternity in this cursed armoured form, never to join his loved ones
in the afterlife?
As he mused, he sensed that something stalked Nupraptor, the Mind Guardian. He focused his mind, and found the source of danger. A fledgling Vampire had infiltrated Nupraptor's Retreat, and was closing in on the Guardian. There was something different about this Vampire. He was more powerful than a typical fledgling, and for a moment Malek was reminded of his first meeting with Vorador. Could this Vampire be the child of an Ancient? Malek discounted the possibility. Janos Audron had been the last Ancient, and he had died almost five centuries ago - any child of his would no longer be a fledgling. Also, there was something fundamentally different to this one. What the difference was, Malek couldn't say. But there was one way to find out. Malek stood up, picking up his spear, and teleported to Nupraptor's Retreat.
His timing was perfect. He appeared next to Nupraptor a heartbeat before the Vampire strode into the room, wielding a mighty-looking iron sword. Malek took a step towards the Vampire, but to his suprise, Nupraptor stopped him in his tracks.
"So, Malek, have you come to fail the Circle once more?" Malek bristled at the Mind Guardian's words. He started to retort, but the mentalist continued over his words. "Leave, paladin! I do not need your protection."
Malek stood stunned. In all his years protecting the Circle, no Guardian had ever ordered him to leave while a threat remained. Nupraptor turned from Malek and addressed the Vampire. "Come, Kain . . . come share my pain..."
The Vampire named Kain smirked. "So this is the Mentalist Nupraptor, this broken, pathetic little man. Yet crippled as he is, he will not yield without battle...very well, old fool! If it is death you seek, I will not deny you!"
Malek was torn for a moment, between defending the Mind Guardian or obeying Nupraptor. Nupraptor's words still stung though, and Malek teleported himself back to his bastion. Several minutes later, he was not suprised to feel the death of Nupraptor - he hadn't believed that Nupraptor was Kain's equal, despite his great mental powers.
Malek truly didn't care about Nupraptor anymore. In fact, he didn't particularly care about any of the Circle members, beyond his curse to serve them for all time. His thoughts turned to this new Vampire. Kain, Nupraptor had called him. Even face-to-face, Malek hadn't been able to figure out what it was that was different about him. Finally, he put the thought out of his mind and sat again by MeLoom's tomb.
"MeLoom..." Malek sighed. "MeLoom? Do you remember that day so long ago? The battle at the Vampire Camp? The first time we fought with Vorador? I remember that day. How he suprised us with his power, how he was the only Vampire to escape us, despite being younger than many of the others. After the battle, I told you that he troubled me. I had the chance to destroy him that day, and I failed. Heh, you tried to take my mind off it then, didn't you? Telling me I could see more of that serpent tattoo you had. Oh, those were the days. But it didn't change anything - I still failed to kill Vorador that day. If I'd just killed that one Vampire, it all would have been different. You'd have survived, the others would have survived, the Circle would have remained intact, the Sarafan would still exist, I wouldn't be suffering in this damned body..."
Malek slammed an armoured forearm into the wall. "Why?! It's been several hundred years! Why won't my pain go away? Why did things have to turn out like this? It was all supposed to be perfect! The Vampires purged, the Sarafan and the Circle strong, you and me and our baby...the world was supposed to be paradise! But now, Nosgoth's going to hell! The Vampires are getting out of hand, the Circle's seperated and cracking, and I'm stuck in this damned suit of armour! And you're dead, and I don't know if I'll ever have the peace of joining you..."
Malek rested his helmet against the tomb. "I'm sorry. I don't want to burden you with this. But I encountered a fledgling today. He reminded me of Vorador, too powerful for a fledgling. And I let him escape again, even let him kill Nupraptor. And I have a truly terrible feeling about him. I feel as if he could become even more terrible than Vorador someday. And I let him escape..."
Malek slumped, deep in despair. But then something alerted him. He sprang to his feet as he sensed something enter his bastion. He could barely believe it - someone invading his keep? No one had ever even bothered to try, so remote and desolate it was. He reached out his senses further, to find the identity of the intruder. When he got his answer, he was so astonished that he almost fell back over his chair.
"Kain?" Malek shook his helmet. "Why in the name of the Circle would he attack me? He truly wants to die that badly? Well, he will regret this indiscretion."
Malek teleported himself into the deepest chamber of the bastion. It was a large training hall that he often used. The bastion was designed especially to keep out Vampires. With no living things about, Kain would have no source of blood to keep going, and the snowy region would act as water to his skin, causing pain and injury, and further weakening the Vampire. As Kain entered the keep, Malek reached out with his mind and spoke to him.
"I know that you are here, demon. The stench of death clings to you."
Kain did not attempt to answer. He merely strode through the halls and started to hack his way through a small horde of Malek's minions. Malek was suprised at Kain's power. He didn't seem to be even two weeks undead, yet he was throwing bolts of energy and displaying fighting skills that could have come from a far more experienced Vampire. Malek decided to try a little more psychological warfare. He reached out with his mind again.
"My warriors are but shadows of my skill, child."
Again, Kain, Kain ignored him, which slightly annoyed the Conflict Guardian. He was also suprised to see that Kain was not charging through the keep to get to Malek before he was weakened by lack of blood. He was clearing the bastion methodically. The first time he discovered one of DeJoule's machines that created the minions, he took it in his stride. All Malek heard was a mutter of "Life without blood. What a travesty!" As Kain destroyed the machine, Malek tried to fluster him again.
"Your undeath does not make you immortal, Vampire."
Yet Kain continued to walk through the keep calmly. Malek had to force himself to calm down. Kain was obviously insane - he could not hope to keep going without blood much longer.
"Do you hope to best me, Kain? Do not worry. Your challenge will not go unmet."
Again, Kain made no reply, but this time Malek sensed something. A burst of strength from Kain, probably from the use of a Vampiric artifact. Malek strained to sense what the object was, but he couldn't do it. He waited for Kain to battle more of his minions and gain more injuries. When he sensed Kain use the artifact, he spoke again.
"Come to slay the slayer of Vampires, have you?"
Kain remained calm, but for a moment Malek could sense the object clearly. If he had still possessed mortal eyes, they would have flown wide open. Kain was using the Heart of Darkness! The very heart that Raziel had torn from Janos Audron hundreds of years ago, the act that had inspired Vorador to slaughter the Circle and Malek's friends. And now, somehow, Kain had it in his possession!
Even while Malek reeled over this discovery, Kain suprised him yet again. The Vampire discovered a well-hidden secret door, and after travelling the passage behind it, he discovered and destroyed the huge machine there, the source of power for the bastion. Malek realised that Kain had effectively disarmed almost all of the keep's defences, and for a moment, the last Sarafan lost his temper.
"You try my patience, fledgling!" Malek roared. "Care to try my blade instead?"
Kain made no reply, just had he'd made no reply to all of Malek's taunts. Malek forced himself to calm down. Kain was already beating him - he'd miscalculated the Vampire's approach at every turn, and Kain was seriously flustering Malek. But not all the news was bad. Despite the use of the Heart of Darkness, Kain's hunger for blood must by now be highly distracting, and Malek was still in complete control of his fighting abilities.
Malek sensed Kain enter the mock court he had made with his own dead body, and for the last time, Malek taunted Kain. "It is not often a man sees his own corpse - it is a sobering experience. But I am far less interested in my own corpse than I am in yours! Prepare yourself, Vampire!"
Kain started through the court...and towards the secret door that led to the tomb of MeLoom! For a horrible moment, Malek thought that the monster would invade the resting place of his beloved. But Kain apparently did not see the hidden door, and he entered straight into the room that Malek stood in.
Malek charged Kain, swinging his polearm in several large swoops. Kain blocked with his sword and tried to stab Malek. Malek somersaulted over Kain and brought his spear crashing down on Kain's head. Kain was hurled to the ground, but recovered quickly and sent a bolt of raw magical energy right into Malek's chest. The bolt would have killed a normal man easily, but Malek's armoured form was merely thrown back a few paces.
'Two can play at that game,' Malek mused, and he sent a bolt of light towards Kain. Kain jumped up and dodged the bolt, only to see Malek's real attack. Malek sent a salvo of five energy blasts towards Kain. These bolts would home in on Kain and strike him down, and while they only had a limited range, Kain would find it impossible to dodge all of them.
Kain didn't even try. He thrust both his arms out and, just before the bolts collided into him, a transparent aegis of soft blue energy formed around him, and the bolts were sent spiraling away after they hit it. Malek stood aghast - he had heard of very old and powerful Vampires using the Repel power, as it was called, but until now it was unthinkable that a fledgling would have access to such a potent ability. Kain took advantage of Malek's suprise and delivered several lightning0fast blows of tremendous strength, sending Malek's body parts flying all over the room!
But this was little more than an inconvinience for Malek. He magically reformed his body and went on the offensive, swinging many blows at Kain. Kain danced around them, then suddenly flashed with light. This was a simple spell, so simple and easy that few Vampires or even mortals bothered with it during a fight. But the sudden flash caused Malek to slightly mis- time an attack, and a few seconds later, his body parts were again scattered to the floor.
Malek again pulled himself together, and leapt to the other end of the room. Kain was far more powerful than Malek had imagined, but he had one more trick up his sleeve. Malek had been working on a new technique that he'd intended to save for Vorador, but at this moment, he decided to give it a trial run. He gripped his polearm horizontally with both hands, then thrust it forward. A long wave of electric white and blue energy filled the length of the room and hurled towards the other end, shattering the stone statues in the room into dust. Kain tried to force his way through the wave, only to be hurled back. Malek was satisfied to see that the wave had dealt Kain several nasty injuries. And in mere moments, Kain would be crushed between the wave and the wall. Not even the Repel ability could defend against this attack...
And then the impossible happened. Kain, backed up against the wall, tripped a switch that opened up a small section of the wall. Malek recognised it as a magical transporter pad that led to a cave some way away from the keep, one that he had long ago abandoned but had never gotten around to deactivating. Kain stepped into the pad and disappeared, just as the wave reached him.
The wave dissapated into the wall, and Malek stared in pure shock at the space that Kain had made his escape in. There was no way to follow as the wave had destroyed the transporter pad. Malek sunk to his knees in disbelief. How could he have so underestimated Kain? How could the fledgling have been so powerful? Malek raged, the questions punding in his head.
As he mused, he sensed that something stalked Nupraptor, the Mind Guardian. He focused his mind, and found the source of danger. A fledgling Vampire had infiltrated Nupraptor's Retreat, and was closing in on the Guardian. There was something different about this Vampire. He was more powerful than a typical fledgling, and for a moment Malek was reminded of his first meeting with Vorador. Could this Vampire be the child of an Ancient? Malek discounted the possibility. Janos Audron had been the last Ancient, and he had died almost five centuries ago - any child of his would no longer be a fledgling. Also, there was something fundamentally different to this one. What the difference was, Malek couldn't say. But there was one way to find out. Malek stood up, picking up his spear, and teleported to Nupraptor's Retreat.
His timing was perfect. He appeared next to Nupraptor a heartbeat before the Vampire strode into the room, wielding a mighty-looking iron sword. Malek took a step towards the Vampire, but to his suprise, Nupraptor stopped him in his tracks.
"So, Malek, have you come to fail the Circle once more?" Malek bristled at the Mind Guardian's words. He started to retort, but the mentalist continued over his words. "Leave, paladin! I do not need your protection."
Malek stood stunned. In all his years protecting the Circle, no Guardian had ever ordered him to leave while a threat remained. Nupraptor turned from Malek and addressed the Vampire. "Come, Kain . . . come share my pain..."
The Vampire named Kain smirked. "So this is the Mentalist Nupraptor, this broken, pathetic little man. Yet crippled as he is, he will not yield without battle...very well, old fool! If it is death you seek, I will not deny you!"
Malek was torn for a moment, between defending the Mind Guardian or obeying Nupraptor. Nupraptor's words still stung though, and Malek teleported himself back to his bastion. Several minutes later, he was not suprised to feel the death of Nupraptor - he hadn't believed that Nupraptor was Kain's equal, despite his great mental powers.
Malek truly didn't care about Nupraptor anymore. In fact, he didn't particularly care about any of the Circle members, beyond his curse to serve them for all time. His thoughts turned to this new Vampire. Kain, Nupraptor had called him. Even face-to-face, Malek hadn't been able to figure out what it was that was different about him. Finally, he put the thought out of his mind and sat again by MeLoom's tomb.
"MeLoom..." Malek sighed. "MeLoom? Do you remember that day so long ago? The battle at the Vampire Camp? The first time we fought with Vorador? I remember that day. How he suprised us with his power, how he was the only Vampire to escape us, despite being younger than many of the others. After the battle, I told you that he troubled me. I had the chance to destroy him that day, and I failed. Heh, you tried to take my mind off it then, didn't you? Telling me I could see more of that serpent tattoo you had. Oh, those were the days. But it didn't change anything - I still failed to kill Vorador that day. If I'd just killed that one Vampire, it all would have been different. You'd have survived, the others would have survived, the Circle would have remained intact, the Sarafan would still exist, I wouldn't be suffering in this damned body..."
Malek slammed an armoured forearm into the wall. "Why?! It's been several hundred years! Why won't my pain go away? Why did things have to turn out like this? It was all supposed to be perfect! The Vampires purged, the Sarafan and the Circle strong, you and me and our baby...the world was supposed to be paradise! But now, Nosgoth's going to hell! The Vampires are getting out of hand, the Circle's seperated and cracking, and I'm stuck in this damned suit of armour! And you're dead, and I don't know if I'll ever have the peace of joining you..."
Malek rested his helmet against the tomb. "I'm sorry. I don't want to burden you with this. But I encountered a fledgling today. He reminded me of Vorador, too powerful for a fledgling. And I let him escape again, even let him kill Nupraptor. And I have a truly terrible feeling about him. I feel as if he could become even more terrible than Vorador someday. And I let him escape..."
Malek slumped, deep in despair. But then something alerted him. He sprang to his feet as he sensed something enter his bastion. He could barely believe it - someone invading his keep? No one had ever even bothered to try, so remote and desolate it was. He reached out his senses further, to find the identity of the intruder. When he got his answer, he was so astonished that he almost fell back over his chair.
"Kain?" Malek shook his helmet. "Why in the name of the Circle would he attack me? He truly wants to die that badly? Well, he will regret this indiscretion."
Malek teleported himself into the deepest chamber of the bastion. It was a large training hall that he often used. The bastion was designed especially to keep out Vampires. With no living things about, Kain would have no source of blood to keep going, and the snowy region would act as water to his skin, causing pain and injury, and further weakening the Vampire. As Kain entered the keep, Malek reached out with his mind and spoke to him.
"I know that you are here, demon. The stench of death clings to you."
Kain did not attempt to answer. He merely strode through the halls and started to hack his way through a small horde of Malek's minions. Malek was suprised at Kain's power. He didn't seem to be even two weeks undead, yet he was throwing bolts of energy and displaying fighting skills that could have come from a far more experienced Vampire. Malek decided to try a little more psychological warfare. He reached out with his mind again.
"My warriors are but shadows of my skill, child."
Again, Kain, Kain ignored him, which slightly annoyed the Conflict Guardian. He was also suprised to see that Kain was not charging through the keep to get to Malek before he was weakened by lack of blood. He was clearing the bastion methodically. The first time he discovered one of DeJoule's machines that created the minions, he took it in his stride. All Malek heard was a mutter of "Life without blood. What a travesty!" As Kain destroyed the machine, Malek tried to fluster him again.
"Your undeath does not make you immortal, Vampire."
Yet Kain continued to walk through the keep calmly. Malek had to force himself to calm down. Kain was obviously insane - he could not hope to keep going without blood much longer.
"Do you hope to best me, Kain? Do not worry. Your challenge will not go unmet."
Again, Kain made no reply, but this time Malek sensed something. A burst of strength from Kain, probably from the use of a Vampiric artifact. Malek strained to sense what the object was, but he couldn't do it. He waited for Kain to battle more of his minions and gain more injuries. When he sensed Kain use the artifact, he spoke again.
"Come to slay the slayer of Vampires, have you?"
Kain remained calm, but for a moment Malek could sense the object clearly. If he had still possessed mortal eyes, they would have flown wide open. Kain was using the Heart of Darkness! The very heart that Raziel had torn from Janos Audron hundreds of years ago, the act that had inspired Vorador to slaughter the Circle and Malek's friends. And now, somehow, Kain had it in his possession!
Even while Malek reeled over this discovery, Kain suprised him yet again. The Vampire discovered a well-hidden secret door, and after travelling the passage behind it, he discovered and destroyed the huge machine there, the source of power for the bastion. Malek realised that Kain had effectively disarmed almost all of the keep's defences, and for a moment, the last Sarafan lost his temper.
"You try my patience, fledgling!" Malek roared. "Care to try my blade instead?"
Kain made no reply, just had he'd made no reply to all of Malek's taunts. Malek forced himself to calm down. Kain was already beating him - he'd miscalculated the Vampire's approach at every turn, and Kain was seriously flustering Malek. But not all the news was bad. Despite the use of the Heart of Darkness, Kain's hunger for blood must by now be highly distracting, and Malek was still in complete control of his fighting abilities.
Malek sensed Kain enter the mock court he had made with his own dead body, and for the last time, Malek taunted Kain. "It is not often a man sees his own corpse - it is a sobering experience. But I am far less interested in my own corpse than I am in yours! Prepare yourself, Vampire!"
Kain started through the court...and towards the secret door that led to the tomb of MeLoom! For a horrible moment, Malek thought that the monster would invade the resting place of his beloved. But Kain apparently did not see the hidden door, and he entered straight into the room that Malek stood in.
Malek charged Kain, swinging his polearm in several large swoops. Kain blocked with his sword and tried to stab Malek. Malek somersaulted over Kain and brought his spear crashing down on Kain's head. Kain was hurled to the ground, but recovered quickly and sent a bolt of raw magical energy right into Malek's chest. The bolt would have killed a normal man easily, but Malek's armoured form was merely thrown back a few paces.
'Two can play at that game,' Malek mused, and he sent a bolt of light towards Kain. Kain jumped up and dodged the bolt, only to see Malek's real attack. Malek sent a salvo of five energy blasts towards Kain. These bolts would home in on Kain and strike him down, and while they only had a limited range, Kain would find it impossible to dodge all of them.
Kain didn't even try. He thrust both his arms out and, just before the bolts collided into him, a transparent aegis of soft blue energy formed around him, and the bolts were sent spiraling away after they hit it. Malek stood aghast - he had heard of very old and powerful Vampires using the Repel power, as it was called, but until now it was unthinkable that a fledgling would have access to such a potent ability. Kain took advantage of Malek's suprise and delivered several lightning0fast blows of tremendous strength, sending Malek's body parts flying all over the room!
But this was little more than an inconvinience for Malek. He magically reformed his body and went on the offensive, swinging many blows at Kain. Kain danced around them, then suddenly flashed with light. This was a simple spell, so simple and easy that few Vampires or even mortals bothered with it during a fight. But the sudden flash caused Malek to slightly mis- time an attack, and a few seconds later, his body parts were again scattered to the floor.
Malek again pulled himself together, and leapt to the other end of the room. Kain was far more powerful than Malek had imagined, but he had one more trick up his sleeve. Malek had been working on a new technique that he'd intended to save for Vorador, but at this moment, he decided to give it a trial run. He gripped his polearm horizontally with both hands, then thrust it forward. A long wave of electric white and blue energy filled the length of the room and hurled towards the other end, shattering the stone statues in the room into dust. Kain tried to force his way through the wave, only to be hurled back. Malek was satisfied to see that the wave had dealt Kain several nasty injuries. And in mere moments, Kain would be crushed between the wave and the wall. Not even the Repel ability could defend against this attack...
And then the impossible happened. Kain, backed up against the wall, tripped a switch that opened up a small section of the wall. Malek recognised it as a magical transporter pad that led to a cave some way away from the keep, one that he had long ago abandoned but had never gotten around to deactivating. Kain stepped into the pad and disappeared, just as the wave reached him.
The wave dissapated into the wall, and Malek stared in pure shock at the space that Kain had made his escape in. There was no way to follow as the wave had destroyed the transporter pad. Malek sunk to his knees in disbelief. How could he have so underestimated Kain? How could the fledgling have been so powerful? Malek raged, the questions punding in his head.
