Author's Notes:
Smoke: Yes, actually... I do tend to think faster than I am able to write... which is why I normally write using a computer - that's the fastest I can get my thoughts down... writing with pen and paper is reserved for journal entries and nonsense like poetry (which I suck at anyway). But yeah, I'll do corrections in awhile... Midterms and all that rot. Rawr.
Varyssa: Oh...I don't think you'll have to wait long for either of those two things to happen...
Lunatic Pandora: You mean for Amanda? That she should be the daughter of Kain would make her of purer form? Well, she doesn't have claws and she doesn't look scary - what more do you want!? LOL
Jumana: ! Pink Fuzzy 1! Whyfore your name change? I always liked to imagine you as a small pink fluff ball, like those dust mites from Spirited Away... What the heck am I supposed to envision a Jumana?
Uschtenheim
--Kain--
It was not as I had remembered. This place was brimming with humans, brandishing swords, spears, and knives supplied by the local militia in charge - the smell of fear was everywhere. My mind struggled to recapture the events which followed my battle with the monstrosity my ancestors called God. Whispers of demons and monstrosities roaming the land were common, and as I carefully navigated through the throngs of people flooding the streets to get supplies to leave, I felt myself feel a minute measure of pity for them. Children (wearing dirty, torn tunics covered in mud and melting snow) cried incessantly; parents struggled to keep their children from finding trouble.
The stone buildings were laden with ice and snow from a recent snowfall. Horses hurried past, huffing huge clouds of steam from their quivering noses as they followed their agitated masters. The rooftops were glittering as the sunlight broke through the clouds occasionally, stabbing through them with single lances of light, water dripping softly to the cobbled ground below. Crosses mounted most doorways, crude wooden structures spanned across the streets between the houses.
As I stood apart, watching this terrible disorganized fray try and make sense of what was to be done next, a horse rode into the village and trotted toward the tavern. I turned my head, carefully shielding my face. Its rider dismounted stiffly and then limped as fast as he could into the dark hollow chambers within the building.
Compelled to find out where he had come from, I followed. In the dim light, I felt safer. It was simple to find a place to hide - I preferred not to use the term cower - exerting my will so that none would take notice of my unique and dark presence.
I watched as the horse rider found a place a table closest to the fire and hunched his shoulders, black hair tumbling carelessly across his darkened eyes. He obviously hadn't rested in over a day. The turmoil outside was muffled by the stone walls of the building, and he motioned for one of the waiters to find him something to drink.
I suppose if he had just come from the outside, I could ask him about Amanda. I approached quietly, hoping not to alarm him. I came into his line of sight, and he jerked his head back as if only to get a better look at me.
I tugged my hood closer. I took on a friendly, conversational tone. "Might I join you for a moment, friend?"
The stranger wiped his hair out of his face with a slightly confused expression, as if pondering why I alone should be talking to him. "Go on..."
I sat quietly, taking a glance around, before leaning forward, resting my arm in a human fashion on the table. "In this confusion... I have lost track of my daughter. We were traveling together; recently we've been separated and I was wondering if you have seen here whereabouts."
"What...does she look like, exactly?" the man replied slowly. Outside there was a shout, but I was heartened by his look of eagerness. His excitement caught, and I was distracted, wanting to hear more, so I answered him with all the description I could muster. The words that described her made my chest ache with a worry that went deeper than the bone.
The man looked at me carefully, as if trying to discern my face in the shadows. Then slowly he began to nod, and he took the mug of drink from the waiter as the waiter passed. He took a long draught, and leaned back in his chair suddenly as though extremely exhausted. "I've seen her," he said finally. "She was in the forest and she nigh bowled me over with her horse. I don't think it was hers, and she ran off as the sun was rising and she left it behind. That's the horse you see outside."
My breath exploded out of me, relief seeping through my sore body. The stranger could tell me no more after watching her bolt into the trees with unnatural speed. But I had one final question, to be sure. "Did you see any markings on her? Such as on her palm?"
"I thought I did see something... she was going to hit me," he said indignantly, sticking his lip out before taking another long drink.
"Ah, yes. What's your name, hu-- man?" I leaned back also, finding myself growing slightly anxious. She must be in the woods somewhere, taking shelter. The only forest around here was Termogent, and so I would look there first and foremost.
"Torrent," he replied. "And who are you? You must be a very brave man, to look for her in the forest. I hear that there are demons taking root there, killing off travelers left and right."
I lurched to my feet, knocking the chair over. I shook my head back and forth, gripping the sword on my back. A new urgency gripped me. "I cannot linger," I said quickly, turning only to hear the crash come again. The cry of a horse burned into my ears and my attention was driven out the door.
"Someone stop that man!!" a harsh voice cried. Several armored guards dashed across the door and into the street, and I followed carefully behind. A group of humans were all shying away from a single figure in the street, which convulsed in the snow and cried out, foam bubbling at the mouth and the eyes turning an unholy shade of ether green. Then all at once the convulsions stopped and the man struggled to his feet, trembling and quaking.
I heard my voice calling out against my will. "Stand away!!! He's possessed!!"
A woman nearby wearing a stained blue dress cried out and jerked away from the others, closing her hands over her mouth as the man took two wobbly steps toward the audience. A string of drool hung down from the left corner of his lips, his two front teeth completely missing. I grimaced, and the knights advanced to apprehend the demon-possessed. But man took one look at them and then, as one came too close, he sent a kinetic blast of energy, sending him and his comrades spiralling into the snow.
Panic was going to sweep across this crowd, and as a vampire I could feel it swelling and trying to drive into my skull the instinct to run away as well. But I was too old and too wise - instead, I drew the Reaver and advanced. The crowd parted for me, finally noticing me as I dropped my bewitchment.
The man rolled his head awkwardly in my direction. A voice curdled out of those spit-covered lips, as unpleasant to listen to as it was unpleasant to watch. "Leave off, vampire. You are not strong enough to topple the Hylden Lord - go back to where you cowered to before."
"You don't think it prudent that I make an example of you then, demon?" I replied coolly, my hood still down but capable of fighting with it. The humans backed themselves away into an almost neat square. The demon-possessed man's features were beginning to contort into a hideous rendition of a demon's face when he turned and ran comically with his arms flailing toward the frame of villagers.
I charged after him to intercept, the Reaver shrieking with hideous glee as the sword cut the air and caught the tail edge of the man's leg and sprayed red and green demon blood on into the snow. The demon crowed, veered to the right and turned around to face me. The creature had spawned two black wings, tearing the shirt and totally exposing the bones of his ribs and shoulder blades as the flesh tore. A blood-boiling scream broke the snowy silence and the on-lookers faces went utterly translucent.
"Get back, demon!" I growled, sliding my foot behind me slightly, the Reaver humming with an eerie blue glow. "Leave this man in peace!"
"Too late," the demon chuckled. "His body is ruined; his soul thrown to the winds of death." He charged again at the mortals, this time with more speed. I chased after him, caught hold of a boney rat-like protrusion which I had taken for a tail. His whipping, deadly claws had stopped just inches in front of a small boy's face. One pull, and the demon was back toward the center of the hellish arena.
I threw him down and slashed again, and again without mercy, rending the body into useless pieces. Then those pieces vanished for good, leaving just random puddles and stains of demon blood on the ground. The humans were still silent, and I adjusted my hood carefully, trying not to jostle it back too far. My hopes to remain anonymous were shattered with this - why did I involve myself in this battle? Perhaps Amanda's sense of justice had rubbed off on me.
Then, unexpectedly a cheer rose and swelled, hands began applauding with vicious fervor and hats flew. I was shocked beyond belief. They started pooling toward me, reaching out to congratulate and thank me, worship me for all my strength and talent. But I waved my hands to ward them off, before turning and fleeing. They were still cheering as I neared the gates, the guards watching me in a strange, mystified manner.
I had hoped I made a lasting impression on them. If I became once more the vampire monarch, then they would become highly useful in the future...
--Amanda--
The sun was down when I woke up again. The lonely desperation overcame me again, so I cried into my dusty hands and wiped them on my thighs. Then, ever so slowly I walked out of the dark, stagnant depths of the crypt and stood in the aromatic pine trees. The hairs on my arms stood on end from the white cold that seeped into my skin. I was thirsty again but I was strong enough to find an animal. I hated the taste of animals, their simple thoughts that came into my mind when I fed, but if I wanted to live I would sustain myself on squirrels and rabbits.
I penetrated the shadows, trying to find my way back to that hidden road I was on before I nearly ran over the strange dark-haired guy. A nocturnal creature crossed my path once and in my mercy, I killed it fast and drained it totally and buried it in the leaves. I looked up at the moon once or twice to find a bearing and kept heading in that direction, once in awhile reaching out my feeble mind powers to search for Kain. I encountered nothing, either because I was too young or because he was too far away or both.
About midnight I stopped to light a small witch fire to carry with me, mostly to keep me warm. In the trees I began to invent shapes that watched me with cold, unforgiving eyes. Cerulean snow covered the ground as I traveled on, and the monsters that I envisioned almost began to seem real and radiated a deep malevolence that frightened me; I was dancing close to the edge of madness.
I wished Raziel was here. I placed a hand over my chest, while in the other I manipulated my little globe of light ahead of me like a laser flashlight, beaming light in all directions to reveal its deeper secrets. Some of the monsters vanished before being revealed. My heart pounded and my chest felt warm, as if to reassure me that I was safe. "God, I hope so."
A few more miles of hiking and my shoulders were aching for some reason. I extinguished my light and scaled a small wall and hopped down on the other side. There, the ground began to tremble and a wall of magic sprang up down the small quarry, made primarily of stone. Two monsters appeared, both of them black and terrible, horns protruding from their hands like claws. I backed up slowly, immediately terrified stiff. Not one spell I could have conjured came to my mind within the terrible seconds that followed.
I crashed against the ground with my hands out-stretched, feeling a fire crawling down my skin and against my shoulders. Screaming until I blacked out, I finally awoke with the land fairly scuffled up around me as if some struggle had occurred. I stood up, feeling cold and hot at once... my shoulders especially ached. Not a whisper of wind disturbed the silent, watchful and unmovable trees.
Staggering to the nearest tree, I leaned on it and closed my eyes to gain my breath. My aching body would recover. Then I took my hand off of the coarse bark and looked at my palm. Kain's sigil was glowing, and I couldn't even begin to guess what in the blazes that could have meant.
