Rigor Mortis

Chapter Three: The Angel and the Devil Came Calling

Mindlessly and aimlessly, I wandered the streets of Vassurbunde. The fear and the shock of what had happened made my surroundings meaningless and before I knew it, I was lost. When I finally realized this, the day was fast coming to a close and the sun had sunk below the dark horizon of crooked roofs. Deep shadows were cast on everything and what would have seemed innocent and harmless in the full light of day now seemed half-real and menacing. Merchants began to pack up their dubious wares and imp faced children trailed behind gargoyled parents. Everywhere there were people! I was pressed on all sides by a heaving velvety mass that was called a crowd. I had never seen so many people in my whole life! The smell of old fish, rotten waste and beasts permeated the air and I began to feel lightheaded. Shoving my way through an agitated group of pallid fruit vendors, I sat on a moldering bench outside what seemed to be a pub. Clutching my head in my hands, I tried to breathe normally but it wouldn't happen...what was I going to do? I had abandoned my mother! I had left my father to die! And my Grandmother...I didn't even want to remember the way she moved, the moans she had made. Those eyes...

On that bench, I remained until there was no light at all in the sky. Hardly anyone walked the streets now and every door was shut up tightly. Alone in the filthy avenue of lost humanity, I realized I had no choice. I could never return home. Even if my mother were to take me back, I would only tax her nerves and serve as a constant reminder of the incident in the church. It would be better if I removed myself now. Where I would go never occurred to me. I was not suited to a life outside the walls of my father, a life with the common toilers of the town. Even if I was willing, I didn't possess the necessary skills and street smarts to survive. I would do the merciful and honorable thing...who was I to defy the conqueror worm? At this thought, I felt no fear or repulsion. It seemed purely logical. It wasn't suicide exactly. It was more of a relocation...a permanent removal of my person.

Quietly emboldened with a sombre cause, I set off to find the most private place and the most polite way to carry out my task. Gruesome methods ran through my head as casually as a shopper mulling over what to buy. Later I would look back and wonder why bandits had not tried to assault me as I wandered through the rough cobblestoned alleys. Perhaps it was because I already had the look of a dead man...I was never sure. Regardless, I remained unaccosted.

I am not sure how much time passed until I heard the sharp sound of horse hooves behind me. I wasn't concerned in the least. If they were highwaymen, then they would just do the job for me.

"Master Mortanius?" I heard the rider query. I didn't want to turn around, because I knew it was one of my father's servants. I recognized the unctuous tone at once. I continued to walk away but he nudged his horse and soon was blocking my path.

"Get out of my way, please," I said as jovially as I could.

"I was sent by your mother, Lady Isabella, to escort you back home," he replied, "There are serious matters about which she needs to speak to you at once."

"I'm not going home,"

"But Master Mortanius, what will I tell your visitors who came all the way from Uschtenheim to see you?"

"Uschtenheim?" I asked. That town was clear on the opposite side of Nosgoth! And it was home to the Ancients! Now this changed things!

"Do you know what they want?" I demanded.

"No, young master, but I do know it's urgent."

Without a second thought of my 'removal', I climbed into the saddle and rode home.

What had been a home and a sanctuary to me for fifteen years, now seemed imposing and colossal as the rider and I approached my father's manor. Silently we rode up to the massive front porch and the servant let me down while he went away to attend to the horse in the stables. I climbed the steps and stood in front of the doors, holding my breath. What kind of homecoming awaited me inside? Was Mother angry? Was Father alright? Of all the many windows that faced this side of the house, only the receiving room was lit. Why had people from Ushtenheim come to see me?

Before I could steel my nerves, the door flung open and my mother's arms were around me in a constrictor's embrace. I was stunned. As I have said, she usually made every effort to avoid touching me. The unexpected contact was strange. She was crying, I could tell, and was saying my name over and over again. In a moment, I felt a crushing remorse weigh upon me. So eagerly was I about to cast myself to oblivion! And for what? To spare my mother? From what? I knew that it was cowardice that had compelled me and I was shamed. She was not angry with me, she assured me, and Father was fine. She was merely glad that I was home where it was safe. I didn't dare ask what happened in the church after my departure. There was time enough for that. She ushered me inside and told me that I had visitors.

"What do they want, Mother?" I asked as she fussed over my hair.

"I don't know..." she admitted, "And they wish to speak to you privately..."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," I said, with a pat of her hand and went to enter the receiving room.

"Mortanius?" my mother's voice made me turn.

"Yes?"

"No matter what they tell you, your father and I love you. Remember that." I nodded and opened the door.

One of my visitors was seated before the fireplace in my father's favorite wing chair. There was no fire and only one candle served to lite the room. Deep shadows hid his face but I could tell by his garb that he was some sort of nobleman, all dressed in fine trousers and a long red vestibule. The other was more in plain sight and indeed the sight of him made my heart quail in both fear and admiration for standing before me was one of the Ancients about which I had read and studied and dreamed so much. He stood with his hands behind his back, and a solemn expression on his face. And his face! It was both at once a predator's and an angel's, with sad golden eyes and a high noble brow. His black hair was combed back, with hints of silver around the temples. His skin was the lightest blue and he wore a venerable robe of white that was open at the chest, showing a powerful build. His wings, of richest black, were folded neatly behind him. When he beheld me with that gaze, I found I could not move or think, let alone give a proper introduction.

"Hello Mortanius," he said, after kindly acknowledging that I was in a stunned state. I could hear the dark accent of the mountains in his words and noticed how his glittering eyeteeth showed over his lips when he uttered the final sibilant. Still, I could say nothing.

"He's either about to faint away or compose a sonnet..." the one in the chair said idly.

"Vorador..." the august vampire said warningly. Finally I managed to find my tongue and I bowed deeply.

"You honor me with your presence. Is there anything I can do to make your visit more comfortable?" I asked. The vampire laughed pleasantly and shook his head.

"We've come a long way to find you, Mortanius. I am Janos Audron..." he began.

"Of the noble house of Audron? Then you are the Ward of the Key! The Keeper of the Reaver!" I exclaimed and immediately wished I hadn't. How rude of me to interrupt...but how could I not? Here was the hero of the long ago war between the vampire race and the great evil that threatened to swallow up all of Nosgoth.

"Yes..." he continued, a bit surprised. "My companion, Vorador, and I have come here to speak with you. I take it you are quite erudite in these matters so much of what I have to say will not be too new to you." He motioned for me to sit and he also took a seat.

"You know that centuries ago, we vampires threw away the Unspoken to the void between the voids. To create the gate to their prison, we made the Pillars of Nosgoth, which drew their power from the nine aspects which govern our land," he explained and I nodded eagerly, knowing almost verbatim the Unspoken Cycle and the Ballad of the Gate and Key.

"Nine Guardians were chosen to see after their respective Pillars, and the Soul Reaver was imbued with the six elements which govern our land to act as the key. But then, before the banishing rite could be complete, the Unspoken cast the dreadful curse upon us...rendering us weak to the lust of our brother human's blood and to the sun, water and fire...and no longer could we give birth to our children. Though we were given a sort of immortality, thanks to the anchoring of our souls to our bodies, we were rendered...sterile. Soon, we discovered that we could make more vampires...of a sort, by undergoing a ritual with a human, but this did not solve our dilemma!"

"What dilemma?" I asked. This was new to me, though I understood everything up to that point.

"The Pillars chose the Guardians from the moment of their birth. If vampires weren't being born, then no Guardian could be chosen!" he replied. I would have asked what happened to the immortal Guardians that were chosen when the Pillars were first created but I figured that would be in bad taste. They were obviously dead, somehow, so I held my tongue.

"We thought we were in danger. The Guardians sustain the Pillars. If we didn't do something soon, the Pillars would crumble and the Unspoken would be let loose upon Nosgoth. However, I came to a realization that the Pillars' magic was stronger than we had anticipated. The Pillars were choosing human Guardians! The Pillars were determined to do their job!" Janos said, laughing in relief, "And that is why we are here, Mortanius. You are one of these Guardians."

After a long, bewildered silence, I looked him in the eyes and found that he did not lie.

"Look inside yourself, Mortanius. You've always felt...different than others, haven't you?" Janos asked, leaning in confidentially. "Things have happened that you could not explain, no? You've known things and you could not explain how you knew them to begin with. You are special and you know it."

"That's the same with every person," I replied, "for in having a perspective we are blind to all others and assume ourselves as either greater or lesser than our brothers. We are locked behind our eyelids and are denied the ability to compare the experiences we all share, the ones called life."

"Matando...he's good, I have to admit," said the vampire who had been sitting, the one named Vorador. "Not many boys can interpret the gypsy philosopher." He stood and in the dim firelight, I saw his face for the first time. I could not suppress a gasp. While the face of his master was divine with a hint of the diabolical, his was outright devilish but not without a bit of the divine. His face was lean and cruel, like the face of a wolf, with eyes that burned with an eldritch power. His skin was a deep brown and while he had no hair, his ears were long and pointed like those of a beast.

"Thank you sir," I stammered. He nodded and thrust a small golden ornament at me. It was about the size of my fist and was shaped like a four pointed star. In the middle and on each of the points symbols had been etched. I didn't recognize them but as soon as I held the thing, I felt an indescribable and irrefutable connection to the presence of huge and powerful colossi that were more ancient than any could imagine. With alien intellect, they acknowledged me and I was welcome amongst them. I was with them as they worked their magic, slowly and imperceptibly, throughout existence itself. I felt it work through me, I felt it become me, and I felt how I became it...

And suddenly it was gone. I blinked my eyes to clear away the spell, and I saw that Vorador had taken away the strange little trinket.

"That's proof enough," he grinned. "We don't need any more of the looking-inside babbletalk,"

"I suppose not," sighed Janos.

"W...what was that? What were those things?" I asked frantically.

"That was the Emblem, a gift of the Pillars given to us to enhance the Soul Reaver and to help us find the Circle of Nine." Janos answered. "It is proof that you are indeed a Guardian."

"But what do I do now?" I demanded, "What does being a Guardian even consist of? What does it mean?"

"You will come with us back to the Citadel and learn the ways of sorcery and how to maintain the strength of the Pillars," Janos said quietly. Though he said it gently, I knew that there was no real option. I was going to go with them, but at the prospect of leaving everything I knew behind, I was not afraid. I was honored and excited to be of service to such a noble and good being such as Janos.

"We leave tonight." Vorador said sternly.

"Give me a bit to pack and I will be ready to go," I said. "And I must say goodbye to my mother...she will be so worried..."

"Take only what you can carry. We will provide you with all else." Janos said.

I balked a little at the idea that I wouldn't be able to take my book collection but then I decided that the rewards would be great indeed. I leapt up from my chair and proceeded to leave the room. When I opened the door, I found my mother in tears. She had overheard the entire conversation.

I tried to console her, I tried to hug her, but I was not privy to her embrace as before. She pushed me away fiercly.

"I should have known...I should have known...I am sorry, Mortanius..." she muttered again and again. After some time, I managed to calm her. I had her sit down in a chair in the lobby and I assured her that I would write every day and would visit as much as I could. I told her all the things I thought she wanted to hear and more.

"What happened to Father? You said he was fine," I asked, trying to get her mind on more immediate matters.

"Well...he is...and he isn't," she explained, "After...what happened in the church, I found him in the chapel. He had somehow taken out the body of...taken out the body and hurt himself...he was bleeding so much. We got him home and patched him all up...but I suppose the exertion must have been too much for him. He came under a strange fever and so I called the doctor...he's up with your father in his chamber seeing to his every need. Don't you worry about anything."

I decided right then and there that I didn't want to see him before I left. I knew it sounded ingrateful but my nerves were so taxed at the moment that I couldn't stand to be under his scrutinizing glare, delirious or not. I rose, went to my chambers, packed as hastily as I could and with a final farewell to my mother, I left Vassurbunde to assume the Guardianship.