Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain and all related characters mentioned in this story are the property of Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. Jas belongs to me.
*Author's Note:*
This started out as a short story for the Eidos fan fic competition, but it grew a bit! I didn't write it with the intention of publishing it as a serial, so the chapters are a little uneven in length and there are no deliberate cliff-hangers. Well, only a couple! The name Jaslinde is meant to be pronounced in the German manner with the last 'e' sounded. i.e. Jaslinda. That apart, please read as you will.
Beginning?
Beginnings can be hard things to define. Where, exactly, this tale begins depends on your perspective. To Jas, the beginning was obvious. It begins with a dream.
She is six years old.
Waking suddenly from sleep, she sits up in her bed to see the sun streaming in through the heavy velvet drapes that cover her window. She jumps up and runs to pull the curtains back. At once, the room is plunged into darkness.
She steps back, shaking.
The drawn curtains reveal not the bright day that she is expecting, but deepest night. For a moment, all is confusion. Then she realizes she is not alone.
A figure stands before her on the balcony, poised as if for flight. It is taller than a man and more graceful, but that is what it most closely resembles. He is richly dressed, wearing light armour of fantastic design, and carrying the sword of a Sarafan Knight. His skin is marble pale. As he turns to look at her, she can see that his lips are stained crimson and the expression on his face is far from pleasant.
She should be terrified. Indeed, she is terrified. Yet, she steps forward and reaches out to touch one of those pale, cold hands. Her fingers brush against the claws that tip his fingers, and from somewhere, either inside her head or out-loud, she can hear her voice, asking,
"Did you call me?"
Ending?
Of the life that followed, there is surprisingly little to be said.
History records the period after the defeat of the Sarafan lord as one of Nosgoth's most bloody and turbulent. Jaslinde Ortram was born into this time. Yet, like so many women of her class, the comfortable merchant class, she had lived almost completely unaware of the momentous events taking place around her.
The only unusual thing about Jaslinde was her dreams. She did not dream as those around her dreamed, revising the events of the day just gone, or elaborating on some minor worry. When Jaslinde closed her eyes, it seemed as if the future rushed up to meet her. She saw things that were yet to happen in the minutest detail, places she had never visited and sometimes worlds at once familiar, and yet, at the same time, dark and warped. These visions did not bother her particularly, for they had always been with her, but she soon learnt that they bothered other people a great deal. Only once did she speak of what she had seen, and the horrified reaction of her listeners convinced her that she should not do so again.
As she grew to womanhood, these dreams became infrequent. The strange visions faded, and the future became a closed book, as common sense dictates it should be. Though she missed the twisted beauty of the dark worlds she had seen, those around her breathed sighs of relief, for they had known, even without her saying, that she saw things they did not. Now, at last, Jaslinde was becoming normal.
At sixteen, she was married and for the next twenty years, her life revolved around the petty concerns of running Nicklaus Ortram's household and caring for his children. The vampire threat was, of course, ever present; but it had been there before Kain had re-awakened and there were still relatively few vampires, at least in the early years.
It was unfortunate for Jaslinde that the manner of her death did not prove to be as mundane as her life.
The catastrophic loss of their leader, coupled with Kain's seemingly inexorable rise to power, had spread panic through the ranks of the Sarafan. Aware of the collaboration between humans and the Cabal and its disastrous consequences and fearful that humans may have also allied themselves to Kain, the Sarafan leadership began the task seeking out the traitors.
Intelligence gathering began in earnest. People reported to be acting suspiciously were taken to the Sarafan stronghold for questioning. They did not return.
Every suspect questioned provided a confession; for the Sarafan interrogators prided themselves on their efficiency and every confession provided the names of yet more suspects. A spiral of paranoia and terror was set in motion that tore the very heart out of Nosgoth society, extending eventually, back into the Sarafan leadership itself.
It is doubtful that Kain's army could have wreaked as much havoc upon his enemies as they had managed to wreak upon themselves. The very humans he sought to conquer had proven to be his greatest allies.
Jaslinde Ortram was arrested at the height of the terror. Her interrogation was conducted in the dungeons of the Sarafan stronghold in Meridian. She died on the third day.