20060721 - Disclaimer, if I owned LOK I wouldn't be here.
I did have this before I got distracted and posted the bathing chapter, but the first part I was completely narrating when the characters could've been speaking for themselves. Somewhere along the line, the entire nature of that part of the story changed. (I still don't like this chapter, but there's something better in the que.) This happens directly after the ship pulls up in Nosgoth, Kain disappears into the night, and for the first time Janos and Vorador see Nosgoth in the Soul Reaver Era.
"This is Freeport?" Vorador questioned, staring at the tall, industrial buildings. "I was still young when I was last here, but it was a fishing village."
"Places change," I commented.
Janos landed from his areal survey. "Even if I did have the strength to transport us, I do not trust the changes in the landscape."
I consulted my map. "There's a warp gate not far from here."
Janos and Vorador stared over my shoulders at the map. "I don't recognize anything," Vorador commented.
"Hold this," I said as I pulled out a Blood Omen map.
"I doubt that your homes still exist," Raziel commented. "I saw the buildings crumble."
"I had my mansion rebuilt," Vorador argued.
"I think your swamp sank," I mentioned, pointing out the location on both maps.
"What is that?" Vorador asked.
"The Abyss, it was the worst form of execution imaginable," Raziel said bitterly.
I grimaced so that Raziel couldn't see me, an indication to the others that it was a touchy subject.
"I would imagine that my own home has crumbled to dust without my care," Janos sighed.
"Come on, then," I sighed as I folded the maps. "We'll figure out where to stay."
We left town without incident from the locals, though they did stare at us. It had probably been forever since they saw intelligent vampires, so maybe they didn't realize the danger.
"Such desolation," Janos sighed as he kicked a rock through the dust.
"This was the world that I knew," Raziel answered.
Shortly, we came on the ruins of the Sarafan tomb. "This way," Raziel said, not even sparing a glance towards the gated entrance.
For the moment, Raziel was the only one that could operate the warp gates, though the rest of us could now return to this one. He seemed thoughtful for a moment before activating the portal. I saw Raziel's clan symbol flash in the activated gate, but instead he set it to Melchiah's territory.
"Good call," I complimented. I imagined that Raziel was unwilling to return to his own empty holdings, but the necropolis had some of the same advantages.
A few ragged vampires growled at us, but they only posed a true threat if I wandered away from the others.
"What happened here?" Vorador asked, staring at a particularly battered Melchiahim.
"Melchiah was created last," Raziel said. "He received the poorest portion of Kain's gift, and so he decayed as a mortal would. His children inherited that weakness."
In Janos' mind, I heard a question form about Raziel's own children. I was too zealous in stopping him from asking, and Janos held his head at the resulting migraine.
"Are you all right?" Raziel asked.
"I need to rest," Janos breathed.
"You there, where is the closest shelter?" Vorador asked one of the local vampires.
Startled, the vampire hissed and scampered away.
"That won't do any good. Most of them have completely lost their minds, and only a few will talk anymore." Raziel cocked his head. "If you can walk, there is a comfortable place not far from here."
If coming from Raziel's territory, you'd turn right to go towards Melchiah's chamber. To get to our current destination, you would turn left. The most surprising thing was that we found a building of a type that I had never seen in Nosgoth before. I wasn't sure of what movie I could've seen it in, but we came upon a house that was vaguely colonial and reminded me of a plantation mansion.
"What is that?" I asked.
Raziel rolled his eyes. "I fear for our situation. You are the Author, the one who is supposed to know and control everything, and yet it is the Muse who has the answers."
I looked again at the building. It was silver with age and covered in vines. Except for the architectural style, I could swear that it belonged in this decayed land. Suddenly, I realized that it was new, and that it appeared at about the time that we arrived in Nosgoth.
"It belongs to me," I said.
Though I was curious about my new quarters, I said, "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want. There's something I need to check on."
Any normal human should have been frightened to wander alone, but Raziel had reminded me that I wasn't a normal human. A few Dumahim tried to stand in my way, but I stared them down. I wasn't sure what would happen if I couldn't focus enough to attack their minds, or maybe I was just unwilling to think of that possibility.
I went to the pillars. I figured that Kain would be there, and I was still concerned over his reaction to Rahab's infidelity.
Kain was standing in the center of his throne room, staring at the nine stubs that he had failed to save. He had a contemplative look on his face.
"How am I supposed to correct this?" Kain murmured as he heard my approach.
"I hate to break this to you," I said as I walked behind the pillars.
Curious, Kain followed me. I indicated a place on the pillar of conflict; it was a hole that showed that the pillar was a thin coat of plaster over chicken wire. I picked at the hole, causing more of the plaster to flake away. I then picked at the back of Kain's throne and obtained a similar result.
Kain stared, his reality crumbling just like the contents of this room. He had personally witnessed the craftsmen form his throne, a solid edifice of marble-based cement. "What is the meaning of this?"
"This world isn't real. It looks like the place you knew, but it's only an illusion," I explained. "The way to heal this world from its current wasteland is simply to be concerned about it."
Kain seemed like he was going to be sick. He sunk to the floor, his show of weakness disturbingly uncharacteristic. "I am free. All for nothing." Both phrases escaped from Kain's lips in a randomized chant.
I dared not approach him. Kain was dangerous in normal circumstances, but now I couldn't know what he would do. I gasped in surprise as Kain then dissolved into a cloud of bats that streamed away through a hole in the roof. I hoped that Kain would recover after some time alone.
Despite what I hoped, I still told Raziel about Kain's breakdown. Unfortunately, Janos and Vorador overheard.
"What do you mean?" Janos demanded.
"This isn't the real Nosgoth," patiently explained. "It's just the closest that we're going to get."
"And you couldn't copy the pillars," Vorador added.
"Exactly," I confirmed. "Kain didn't react to the news very well."
Janos bitterly spat something that I couldn't understand. I guessed that it was some comment on how he felt about the situation.
"I may need some help," Raziel said. "Let's go check on him."
"What about our ancient enemy?" Janos asked as we trudged through the desolate landscape. "Without the pillars, what is holding them back?"
"The hylden would get even more lost than we did with those plot holes," I answered. "There isn't any direct connection between this world and theirs."
"Why is this world a wasteland?" Raziel asked.
"Because it's a copy of Nosgoth," I answered. "It was a wasteland, but this place doesn't need to remain so."
Kain's citadel was a pretentious structure standing on the top of a tall mountain. It seemed as if the path was only reachable by an ill-advised leap from one of the nearby smokestacks. Or at least that was the only way to reach it for someone who couldn't fly. With some effort, Janos was able to lift Vorador into the air, while Raziel had the strength to carry me.
I hesitated at the door. "Either we're wasting our time or he's gone insane," Raziel said as he pulled open the door and walked in without knocking.
Kain was standing in his library. He was naked save for his pants, and his hair flowed loose around his shoulders. When he turned around, his gaze was feral with a strange light in his eyes.
Raziel wordlessly walked up to Kain and gazed at the maps scattered on the table next to him.
"I can build a new empire on the ashes of the old," Kain explained quietly. "This time it will not collapse."
"Megalomania," Vorador spat. "I suppose that you want my help again."
"I will not ask you for help as I doubt that you would provide it," Kain answered offhandedly.
'First-person omniscient,' I thought as I deliberately peered into Kain's mind. Umah's betrayal had surfaced among opinions on how Vorador's children were undesired in his schemes. Umah had feared that Kain wouldn't tolerate the threat of the Cabal, and so by her actions had caused Kain to later eliminate them from his world.
Insulted, Vorador stalked out the door. With a shudder of discomfort at Kain's ambition, Janos left as well. I followed, deciding to leave Kain and Raziel to their own devices. It turned out that I didn't need to worry about getting down off of the mountain, as Vorador found a warp gate just down the path from the front door.
Later, it turned out that Kain's ambitions dissipated fairly quickly. Raziel did not know if he could still create more vampires, and he was unwilling to try after what had happened to his clan. Kain had given up his ability to create more vampires when he directly transplanted his gift to his lieutenants, though that had given them the ability to sire immediately. Kain had regained that ability back when Raziel had committed his sacrifice, but he never thought to use it. All Kain had was the dregs of his former campaign, the empire that he had sought to leave behind.
In the end, the only difference was the sickly yellow of vegetation struggling to regain a foothold in Nosgoth's poor growing conditions. Kain once again reined over the bones of his former glory.
"You are the one that is meant to be in charge, are you not?" Raziel asked me later. "You are the Author."
"I am in charge," I replied confidently. Raziel gave me a cool stare. The only time I had gotten my way in the management of this world was on the sunlight issue, and only because I had presented it as a simple food chain problem; without sunlight to grow food for the humans, the vampires would starve.
"This is my world," I insisted. "I'm just tricking Kain into doing all of the hard work of managing it."
Raziel frowned. "You have a dangerous understanding of the situation. Despite what you are, do not presume that you can truly control any of us."