~~~===~~~
Legacy of Kain Chapter 15: Into the Abyss
~~~===~~~
Again, I was surrounded by slackness, chaos, and oblivion. Had I died, and been resurrected once more?
No, that was ridiculous - I was human now, and couldn't be resurrected again. What had happened? I remembered anger, flaring rage as my own bestial nature tried to take over. It almost succeeded, too - hearing Kain talk about trying to kill himself was more than I could bear. The image of my drink bursting into flame came to me, and I realized what had happened.
My powers had tried to reawaken.
Where was I now - I could sense the emptiness inside of me that said I was still human, but what had happened when my Fiendish self tried to come to the fore?
"You know," I thought to myself, "maybe if you opened your eyes you'd find out?" I blinked for a moment, adjusting to the dim light as I felt my body start to respond again. I felt a firm hand around mine, a caring grip that I'd often dreamt of before I was truly human. Kain's.
"Well, you're awake," he chuckled slightly, though I could hear the relief in his voice. "Had me worried for a bit there," he finished as he let go of my hand.
"What happened," I managed to croak, my throat dry and sore as I sat up carefully.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Kain admitted as he reached over for a glass of water and handed it to me. I drank slowly, fighting the urge to down it quickly - I had a feeling I knew what had happened, and too much too fast would be worse than none at all.
"Did I hurt anybody," I asked quietly, fearing the possible answer.
"No," Kain said, shaking his head. "You were getting angrier by the moment, but you just passed out before you did any damage."
"Good," I sighed with relief as I leaned against the wall. "I'm sorry I worried you like that."
"And I'm sorry I was being so fatalistic," Kain chuckled. "That's what drove you to it, I'm sure."
"You expect me to argue with you about that," I asked dryly, before Kain laughed loudly.
"No," he chuckled ruefully, "I guess I don't. But you have to admit - it does seem pretty suicidal. After all, even without Dragonheart in the picture, the High Lord and Lady are about one step short of Gods."
"They're humans," I said, strangely certain that I was speaking the truth. "As much as you or Cecil are. The Lady - she has the potential to be something more. But the High Lord in particular is strictly human."
"How can you know that?"
"Because he is of the stuff they claim to command," Callista said, walking through the doorway of the medical bay. "Darkness. Evil. Magic."
"I *was* of such things," I corrected, even as the memory of the wine igniting flashed into my mind, only to be smothered quickly by the assertion that I *was* human - if I wasn't, my body wouldn't have collapsed. It would have gone completely berserk, and either killed Kain or needed to be killed itself - myself.
"Then explain why you nearly flew into a berserk rage twice last night," she countered.
"I - I don't know what's happening with me," I admitted. "But I am a human now, even if some of the darkness used to create me remains somewhere. I am nothing but stronger for it," I said, trying to reassure myself as much as anybody else in the room. "It's like Reis said - without the darkness, the light of the soul is untested, and easily corrupted. That's why we can do this," I insisted. "We have all seen the darkness in our souls, and we have all fought it. Even you, Callista, whether you remember it or not." She flinched as if I had struck her, then glared at me in a way I couldn't remember seeing since Valvalis had first been beaten down after my training.
"Stop it you two," Kain said with a frustrated sigh, and I bit off the next comment that was on the tip of my tongue. Damn, but she was frustrating.
"We should be at Mount Ordeals by tomorrow," Kain said after a long moment. "Then we'll be off to Dragonheart's world. None of us know what we're going to be finding when we get there, so I want everybody to be healthy, well-rested, and ready for a fight."
"Yes, Kain," Callista and I both said, rolling our eyes slightly before the three of us split up, each going off to find something to do elsewhere on the ship - personally, I intended to spend the rest of the day meditating, trying to figure out what had happened to me.
~~~===~~~
The Lady smiled as she looked at Scarmiglione's body next to her in the morning. He was mostly human, in every way she wanted him to be at least, and still quite handsome - so much like the first time they'd been together after her illness. After she had seen the truth, and turned from the light that had abandoned her. Ever since then, she'd been trying to become more like him - to transcend the one barrier that remained between them.
Her mortality.
Now it was within her grasp - enough power, and she could complete the rites to transform her human shell into a mystical battery, with the power to survive in the great void in the Caverns. And, if she could do that, she could absorb enough power to become a goddess to her lover's god. For now, though, she simply had to go to the Caverns to retrieve another piece of Dark Matter, so that the Blue Planet could be conquered. She shook Scarmiglione's shoulder to rouse him from slumber. He smiled up at her as his eyes opened, and he reached out to run a hand lovingly down her bare skin as she shuddered and batted at him playfully.
"I don't have time for that today, love," she scolded him, though there was a hint of longing in her voice.
"Yes," he nodded," the Caverns. Tell me - why do you send your husband in there? He is quite vulnerable to its illusions."
"That's the reason," she smiled softly. "I can control his insanity - if he believes that I have the power to destroy him, or throw him in there permanently, he will obey me. Occasional reminders of what will happen if I should be displeased are required."
"And if he should break at a crucial moment?"
"Please," she pouted, "tell me you have more faith in my powers than that. I would be surrounded by Dark Matter, have virtually unlimited power to draw on if I needed it - I could probably raze the entire cavern system if I was in the mood."
"No," he said, his expression turning dark. "I have every confidence in your powers, but you forget that those illusions were put in place by my *true* creator," he said quietly. "If your husband should break, and your son be unable to stop them, then they would be quite real by the time they reached you - and quite immune to your magic. I already tried what you're suggesting once. He was rather cunning - the more magic you throw at them, the more they draw from the Dark Matter. At best, you would hold them at a stalemate. At worse, be overrun in an instant." She smirked and got out of bed, opening her wardrobe and pulling out both her dress for the day, and a heavy bow.
"I'm still an excellent shot, love. Surely you remember what happens when you channel pure energy into a creature of darkness?"
"All too well," he muttered darkly.
"I am not such a creature yet," she smiled, pulling out a gleaming arrow. "My son's creation, actually, shortly after he ripped his father's knowledge from his mind. These arrows contain the power of a Paladin's might - unfortunately, in the process of inscribing the runes and preparing the arrows, the methods of execution were warped - he cannot use the powers himself, but he knows how to infuse them into weaponry." Scarmiglione raised an eyebrow, impressed.
"And you can produce more, should they prove necessary?"
"Quite. All the materials are close at hand, and as long as I can still contact Ryan, I can have him return to produce more. We actually have a unit of archers trained in how best to use them - it's a glorious sight, watching them fire a volley over a mob," she smiled.
"You are a marvel, love," Scarmiglione smiled from the bed.
"Thank you," she smirked as she set the bow to the side. "And I'm still damned good when I'm dressed."
"And you say *I'm* incorrigible.."
~~~===~~~
"Callista!" I ran up behind the slender swordswoman as Rubicant walked the other direction. We were going to be at Mount Ordeals soon, but they'd just had another argument - they'd stopped as soon as I showed up, of course, but I needed to know what was going on.
I was *not* going to go into a fight with these two feuding, at least not without knowing the reason.
"What is it, Kain," she asked tiredly. I sighed slightly, but there was no way for me to back down from this.
"What's your problem with Rubicant?"
"It's just -"
"Don't give me the 'bad blood' excuse. It's not going to cut it."
"Why don't you ask him?"
"You were easier to catch up with. Besides, he seems satisfied to leave it be, if you'd stay out of his face. Which makes it your problem, not his."
"Fine," she spat, reaching into a fold of her robes and pulling out her notebook. "Take a look at this - it's all the answer I have for you." She tossed it to me, and I opened it to the front page - to be greeted by an expert drawing of Callista, with her name written next to it.
"I have to look in that thing every morning to remind myself who I am," she growled as I looked through it further. Things like my name, Rubicant's, and a handful of other people's were written next to their pictures, along with a brief description of how she knew them. Buildings were sketched and described, along with towns and cities. It was like an atlas to her life, and I can only imagine that my expression became more confused as I looked through it. Some of the information had been crossed out and replaced a dozen times, and other parts of it were so old that I couldn't remember when it had been true.
"What does this have to do with Rubicant," I asked as I handed it back to her and she put it away again.
"He's the reason I need it. I don't remember what he did to me, except when I see him, but I can't even remember who I am for more than a day or two without it." It explained a lot about her, really - why she was always reading through it in the morning, why she had trouble remembering some things.. But it raised other questions at the same time.
"And just how could he do something like that," I asked, more than a little incredulous.
"Why don't you ask him? I don't remember any more - all I remember is searing pain, and then blackness. From there on out, my memory has bigger holes than Mount Agart." I sighed and pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose, trying to focus on something other than the headache that was developing.
"Look, can you at least promise me one thing?"
"What," she said. No hint of a question, just a statement - like she knew that she wasn't going to want to do it, but she probably would.
"Just tell me that you'll *try* to get along with him while we're in Dragonheart's world. We're going to have enough trouble without you two at each other's throats."
"Agreed," she said with a simple nod, before she turned and walked off again, and I leaned against the railing to try and figure out what the hell I was going to do about the two of them..
~~~===~~~
Dragonheart hurried to catch up with his mother, his armor clanking as he met her outside the Lord of Darkness' room.
"Good morning, Ryan," she smiled at him as he straightened his armor slightly.
"You wanted me to accompany you into the Caverns today, m'Lady?"
"Yes, Ryan. In case his Lordship has another incident, I would like to have somebody competent to help deal with the spirits of the Cavern."
"What is in there," he asked curiously. Several times while he was growing up, the two had gone into the Caverns to claim a piece of Dark Matter for one servant or another, but he had never gone with them before.
"It varies. For his Lordship, the spirits produce illusions of his former allies, trying to break his mind the rest of the way. If they were able to succeed, leaving me unprotected, then they could, in theory, hurl me into Oblivion through the weakened barrier as I attempt to claim the dark matter."
"I understand, Mother." She smiled at his use of the more personal term - rather than the more formal one - without being told first. So he was learning.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"I do have one."
"Yes?"
"Would it be possible to take multiple fragments?"
"And why, might I ask, would you need multiple fragments," she asked with a slight frown.
"In my attack on Eblan, I saw that the Caller - despite a lengthy mental battle - was convinced to use the fragment that she had available to her, resulting in its destruction. I believe that the Caller, and a powerful black mage I detected in my first venture, could be converted if they were given fragments of dark matter and encouraged to use them regularly enough." The Lady smiled as she thought about it.
"You're quite right, Ryan. An excellent plan - and it would be far more satisfying to have the Caller on our side than to kill her, since her powers are such that you cannot steal them."
"Not without defeating each monster she can call, no," Dragonheart agreed, quietly pleased at the praise. "And while the black mage is no serious threat, I sense a very potent magical power that he is connected to in some way, and I believe that converting him would either convert the power, or at least neutralize it."
"Agreed. Very well - I will try to claim three fragments while I am in there. It makes your presence all the more important, I have serious doubts that his Lordship will be able to withstand the Caverns for that long."
"Thank you, Mother."
"Now, bring his Lordship's new helm, and we'll be on our way," she said, waving a hand towards the massive doors that opened easily, revealing the room that was somewhat more badly damaged than before, and the dark knight who was over in a corner of the room, curled up and hiding his face in his gauntleted hands. The Lady took the helm from her son, and put it down next to her husband. He grabbed it up like a starving man reaching for a feast, and pulled it on quickly.
"Now, Husband," she said, "come along. It's time for us to go into the Caverns."
"Yes, Mistress," he said submissively, his rage from before completely spent and cowed by the night of horrors he had spent without the magic of his helm to try and control his madness. He picked up his sword from the corner it had landed in, and followed his wife and stepson to the caves that touched the fabric of the universe itself..
~~~===~~~
The airship hovered above Mount Ordeals, its three passengers standing at the railing as it was swung open, and a rope ladder rolled off for Callista and Rubicant.
"I'll meet you at the Shrine," Kain said simply, before eyeing up his jump and leaping off the airship, plummeting towards the rocks below. Rubicant shook his head with a slight frown.
"I'm never going to get used to that," he chuckled.
"It's more unnerving when you're going with him, at least by my experience," Callista said with a soft smile.
"Perhaps. At any rate, I'll meet you there. Float." With that, he stepped off the ship, and started floating down slowly, leaving Callista to climb down, grumbling all the way..
By the time the three had re-gathered, the shrine was actually glowing. They touched it, and wished themselves inside as before, before being transported to the crystal shrine. The entire rear wall was glowing with a soft, rainbow-colored light, and Reis was standing in the middle of the building.
"So," she smiled. "You did come back."
"There was no other option, Lady Reis," Kain said, bowing his head.
"There is always a choice, Kain Highwind. You could choose to turn and leave. You could choose to defect to Dragonheart's side once you pass through the portal. You could decide to kill him and take his place, or even to retire quietly and live a relatively peaceful life in some outpost, hoping he never noticed you.
"Suffice it to say that I would be disappointed if you made such a choice, but you could make it."
"No," he said simply. "I could not. Perhaps another could, but I have already dishonored my family and order enough without failing you in this."
"Very well," she nodded. "And you two? You intend to see this through with him?"
"To the finish," Rubicant said without a moment's hesitation.
"Yes," Callista said after a slight pause.
"Then let me give you this advice before you go. Seek out those who know the realm - those who have not spent all their lives under Dragonheart's reign. And remember - your imperfections, when recognized and dealt with, are your strengths. Dragonheart and his men will gladly try to take advantage of those you do not recognize - try to turn you to their reality. Watch yourselves - and each other." The trio nodded their understanding, and Reis stood to the side, letting them pass. They walked forward, into the glowing wall of the shrine, and were sent to the world they were to free..
A red-armored figure faded into view next to Reis, watching as the portal closed.
"What do you think their odds are? I know they're our best shot, but.."
"If only two of them had gone," Reis mused, "I would say they were guaranteed to succeed. But with all three, I'm not as sure. You know what the worst part is, Balstar?"
"What?"
"I'm not sure which of the three may prove to be their undoing."
~~~===~~~
End of Legacy of Kain Chapter 15: Into the Abyss
~~~===~~~
Legacy of Kain Chapter 15: Into the Abyss
~~~===~~~
Again, I was surrounded by slackness, chaos, and oblivion. Had I died, and been resurrected once more?
No, that was ridiculous - I was human now, and couldn't be resurrected again. What had happened? I remembered anger, flaring rage as my own bestial nature tried to take over. It almost succeeded, too - hearing Kain talk about trying to kill himself was more than I could bear. The image of my drink bursting into flame came to me, and I realized what had happened.
My powers had tried to reawaken.
Where was I now - I could sense the emptiness inside of me that said I was still human, but what had happened when my Fiendish self tried to come to the fore?
"You know," I thought to myself, "maybe if you opened your eyes you'd find out?" I blinked for a moment, adjusting to the dim light as I felt my body start to respond again. I felt a firm hand around mine, a caring grip that I'd often dreamt of before I was truly human. Kain's.
"Well, you're awake," he chuckled slightly, though I could hear the relief in his voice. "Had me worried for a bit there," he finished as he let go of my hand.
"What happened," I managed to croak, my throat dry and sore as I sat up carefully.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Kain admitted as he reached over for a glass of water and handed it to me. I drank slowly, fighting the urge to down it quickly - I had a feeling I knew what had happened, and too much too fast would be worse than none at all.
"Did I hurt anybody," I asked quietly, fearing the possible answer.
"No," Kain said, shaking his head. "You were getting angrier by the moment, but you just passed out before you did any damage."
"Good," I sighed with relief as I leaned against the wall. "I'm sorry I worried you like that."
"And I'm sorry I was being so fatalistic," Kain chuckled. "That's what drove you to it, I'm sure."
"You expect me to argue with you about that," I asked dryly, before Kain laughed loudly.
"No," he chuckled ruefully, "I guess I don't. But you have to admit - it does seem pretty suicidal. After all, even without Dragonheart in the picture, the High Lord and Lady are about one step short of Gods."
"They're humans," I said, strangely certain that I was speaking the truth. "As much as you or Cecil are. The Lady - she has the potential to be something more. But the High Lord in particular is strictly human."
"How can you know that?"
"Because he is of the stuff they claim to command," Callista said, walking through the doorway of the medical bay. "Darkness. Evil. Magic."
"I *was* of such things," I corrected, even as the memory of the wine igniting flashed into my mind, only to be smothered quickly by the assertion that I *was* human - if I wasn't, my body wouldn't have collapsed. It would have gone completely berserk, and either killed Kain or needed to be killed itself - myself.
"Then explain why you nearly flew into a berserk rage twice last night," she countered.
"I - I don't know what's happening with me," I admitted. "But I am a human now, even if some of the darkness used to create me remains somewhere. I am nothing but stronger for it," I said, trying to reassure myself as much as anybody else in the room. "It's like Reis said - without the darkness, the light of the soul is untested, and easily corrupted. That's why we can do this," I insisted. "We have all seen the darkness in our souls, and we have all fought it. Even you, Callista, whether you remember it or not." She flinched as if I had struck her, then glared at me in a way I couldn't remember seeing since Valvalis had first been beaten down after my training.
"Stop it you two," Kain said with a frustrated sigh, and I bit off the next comment that was on the tip of my tongue. Damn, but she was frustrating.
"We should be at Mount Ordeals by tomorrow," Kain said after a long moment. "Then we'll be off to Dragonheart's world. None of us know what we're going to be finding when we get there, so I want everybody to be healthy, well-rested, and ready for a fight."
"Yes, Kain," Callista and I both said, rolling our eyes slightly before the three of us split up, each going off to find something to do elsewhere on the ship - personally, I intended to spend the rest of the day meditating, trying to figure out what had happened to me.
~~~===~~~
The Lady smiled as she looked at Scarmiglione's body next to her in the morning. He was mostly human, in every way she wanted him to be at least, and still quite handsome - so much like the first time they'd been together after her illness. After she had seen the truth, and turned from the light that had abandoned her. Ever since then, she'd been trying to become more like him - to transcend the one barrier that remained between them.
Her mortality.
Now it was within her grasp - enough power, and she could complete the rites to transform her human shell into a mystical battery, with the power to survive in the great void in the Caverns. And, if she could do that, she could absorb enough power to become a goddess to her lover's god. For now, though, she simply had to go to the Caverns to retrieve another piece of Dark Matter, so that the Blue Planet could be conquered. She shook Scarmiglione's shoulder to rouse him from slumber. He smiled up at her as his eyes opened, and he reached out to run a hand lovingly down her bare skin as she shuddered and batted at him playfully.
"I don't have time for that today, love," she scolded him, though there was a hint of longing in her voice.
"Yes," he nodded," the Caverns. Tell me - why do you send your husband in there? He is quite vulnerable to its illusions."
"That's the reason," she smiled softly. "I can control his insanity - if he believes that I have the power to destroy him, or throw him in there permanently, he will obey me. Occasional reminders of what will happen if I should be displeased are required."
"And if he should break at a crucial moment?"
"Please," she pouted, "tell me you have more faith in my powers than that. I would be surrounded by Dark Matter, have virtually unlimited power to draw on if I needed it - I could probably raze the entire cavern system if I was in the mood."
"No," he said, his expression turning dark. "I have every confidence in your powers, but you forget that those illusions were put in place by my *true* creator," he said quietly. "If your husband should break, and your son be unable to stop them, then they would be quite real by the time they reached you - and quite immune to your magic. I already tried what you're suggesting once. He was rather cunning - the more magic you throw at them, the more they draw from the Dark Matter. At best, you would hold them at a stalemate. At worse, be overrun in an instant." She smirked and got out of bed, opening her wardrobe and pulling out both her dress for the day, and a heavy bow.
"I'm still an excellent shot, love. Surely you remember what happens when you channel pure energy into a creature of darkness?"
"All too well," he muttered darkly.
"I am not such a creature yet," she smiled, pulling out a gleaming arrow. "My son's creation, actually, shortly after he ripped his father's knowledge from his mind. These arrows contain the power of a Paladin's might - unfortunately, in the process of inscribing the runes and preparing the arrows, the methods of execution were warped - he cannot use the powers himself, but he knows how to infuse them into weaponry." Scarmiglione raised an eyebrow, impressed.
"And you can produce more, should they prove necessary?"
"Quite. All the materials are close at hand, and as long as I can still contact Ryan, I can have him return to produce more. We actually have a unit of archers trained in how best to use them - it's a glorious sight, watching them fire a volley over a mob," she smiled.
"You are a marvel, love," Scarmiglione smiled from the bed.
"Thank you," she smirked as she set the bow to the side. "And I'm still damned good when I'm dressed."
"And you say *I'm* incorrigible.."
~~~===~~~
"Callista!" I ran up behind the slender swordswoman as Rubicant walked the other direction. We were going to be at Mount Ordeals soon, but they'd just had another argument - they'd stopped as soon as I showed up, of course, but I needed to know what was going on.
I was *not* going to go into a fight with these two feuding, at least not without knowing the reason.
"What is it, Kain," she asked tiredly. I sighed slightly, but there was no way for me to back down from this.
"What's your problem with Rubicant?"
"It's just -"
"Don't give me the 'bad blood' excuse. It's not going to cut it."
"Why don't you ask him?"
"You were easier to catch up with. Besides, he seems satisfied to leave it be, if you'd stay out of his face. Which makes it your problem, not his."
"Fine," she spat, reaching into a fold of her robes and pulling out her notebook. "Take a look at this - it's all the answer I have for you." She tossed it to me, and I opened it to the front page - to be greeted by an expert drawing of Callista, with her name written next to it.
"I have to look in that thing every morning to remind myself who I am," she growled as I looked through it further. Things like my name, Rubicant's, and a handful of other people's were written next to their pictures, along with a brief description of how she knew them. Buildings were sketched and described, along with towns and cities. It was like an atlas to her life, and I can only imagine that my expression became more confused as I looked through it. Some of the information had been crossed out and replaced a dozen times, and other parts of it were so old that I couldn't remember when it had been true.
"What does this have to do with Rubicant," I asked as I handed it back to her and she put it away again.
"He's the reason I need it. I don't remember what he did to me, except when I see him, but I can't even remember who I am for more than a day or two without it." It explained a lot about her, really - why she was always reading through it in the morning, why she had trouble remembering some things.. But it raised other questions at the same time.
"And just how could he do something like that," I asked, more than a little incredulous.
"Why don't you ask him? I don't remember any more - all I remember is searing pain, and then blackness. From there on out, my memory has bigger holes than Mount Agart." I sighed and pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose, trying to focus on something other than the headache that was developing.
"Look, can you at least promise me one thing?"
"What," she said. No hint of a question, just a statement - like she knew that she wasn't going to want to do it, but she probably would.
"Just tell me that you'll *try* to get along with him while we're in Dragonheart's world. We're going to have enough trouble without you two at each other's throats."
"Agreed," she said with a simple nod, before she turned and walked off again, and I leaned against the railing to try and figure out what the hell I was going to do about the two of them..
~~~===~~~
Dragonheart hurried to catch up with his mother, his armor clanking as he met her outside the Lord of Darkness' room.
"Good morning, Ryan," she smiled at him as he straightened his armor slightly.
"You wanted me to accompany you into the Caverns today, m'Lady?"
"Yes, Ryan. In case his Lordship has another incident, I would like to have somebody competent to help deal with the spirits of the Cavern."
"What is in there," he asked curiously. Several times while he was growing up, the two had gone into the Caverns to claim a piece of Dark Matter for one servant or another, but he had never gone with them before.
"It varies. For his Lordship, the spirits produce illusions of his former allies, trying to break his mind the rest of the way. If they were able to succeed, leaving me unprotected, then they could, in theory, hurl me into Oblivion through the weakened barrier as I attempt to claim the dark matter."
"I understand, Mother." She smiled at his use of the more personal term - rather than the more formal one - without being told first. So he was learning.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"I do have one."
"Yes?"
"Would it be possible to take multiple fragments?"
"And why, might I ask, would you need multiple fragments," she asked with a slight frown.
"In my attack on Eblan, I saw that the Caller - despite a lengthy mental battle - was convinced to use the fragment that she had available to her, resulting in its destruction. I believe that the Caller, and a powerful black mage I detected in my first venture, could be converted if they were given fragments of dark matter and encouraged to use them regularly enough." The Lady smiled as she thought about it.
"You're quite right, Ryan. An excellent plan - and it would be far more satisfying to have the Caller on our side than to kill her, since her powers are such that you cannot steal them."
"Not without defeating each monster she can call, no," Dragonheart agreed, quietly pleased at the praise. "And while the black mage is no serious threat, I sense a very potent magical power that he is connected to in some way, and I believe that converting him would either convert the power, or at least neutralize it."
"Agreed. Very well - I will try to claim three fragments while I am in there. It makes your presence all the more important, I have serious doubts that his Lordship will be able to withstand the Caverns for that long."
"Thank you, Mother."
"Now, bring his Lordship's new helm, and we'll be on our way," she said, waving a hand towards the massive doors that opened easily, revealing the room that was somewhat more badly damaged than before, and the dark knight who was over in a corner of the room, curled up and hiding his face in his gauntleted hands. The Lady took the helm from her son, and put it down next to her husband. He grabbed it up like a starving man reaching for a feast, and pulled it on quickly.
"Now, Husband," she said, "come along. It's time for us to go into the Caverns."
"Yes, Mistress," he said submissively, his rage from before completely spent and cowed by the night of horrors he had spent without the magic of his helm to try and control his madness. He picked up his sword from the corner it had landed in, and followed his wife and stepson to the caves that touched the fabric of the universe itself..
~~~===~~~
The airship hovered above Mount Ordeals, its three passengers standing at the railing as it was swung open, and a rope ladder rolled off for Callista and Rubicant.
"I'll meet you at the Shrine," Kain said simply, before eyeing up his jump and leaping off the airship, plummeting towards the rocks below. Rubicant shook his head with a slight frown.
"I'm never going to get used to that," he chuckled.
"It's more unnerving when you're going with him, at least by my experience," Callista said with a soft smile.
"Perhaps. At any rate, I'll meet you there. Float." With that, he stepped off the ship, and started floating down slowly, leaving Callista to climb down, grumbling all the way..
By the time the three had re-gathered, the shrine was actually glowing. They touched it, and wished themselves inside as before, before being transported to the crystal shrine. The entire rear wall was glowing with a soft, rainbow-colored light, and Reis was standing in the middle of the building.
"So," she smiled. "You did come back."
"There was no other option, Lady Reis," Kain said, bowing his head.
"There is always a choice, Kain Highwind. You could choose to turn and leave. You could choose to defect to Dragonheart's side once you pass through the portal. You could decide to kill him and take his place, or even to retire quietly and live a relatively peaceful life in some outpost, hoping he never noticed you.
"Suffice it to say that I would be disappointed if you made such a choice, but you could make it."
"No," he said simply. "I could not. Perhaps another could, but I have already dishonored my family and order enough without failing you in this."
"Very well," she nodded. "And you two? You intend to see this through with him?"
"To the finish," Rubicant said without a moment's hesitation.
"Yes," Callista said after a slight pause.
"Then let me give you this advice before you go. Seek out those who know the realm - those who have not spent all their lives under Dragonheart's reign. And remember - your imperfections, when recognized and dealt with, are your strengths. Dragonheart and his men will gladly try to take advantage of those you do not recognize - try to turn you to their reality. Watch yourselves - and each other." The trio nodded their understanding, and Reis stood to the side, letting them pass. They walked forward, into the glowing wall of the shrine, and were sent to the world they were to free..
A red-armored figure faded into view next to Reis, watching as the portal closed.
"What do you think their odds are? I know they're our best shot, but.."
"If only two of them had gone," Reis mused, "I would say they were guaranteed to succeed. But with all three, I'm not as sure. You know what the worst part is, Balstar?"
"What?"
"I'm not sure which of the three may prove to be their undoing."
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End of Legacy of Kain Chapter 15: Into the Abyss
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