Rigor Mortis

Author's note: If you haven't read Termina Redux, (which in fact makes you a bad person) you might want to go read it because it makes this chapter a bit easier to understand.

Chapter Four: Like a Serpent in the Den

To describe the journey from Vassurbunde to the Citadel, I will spare many of the details. It was long, uncomfortable, and wholly without event. Though he could have very easily flown, Janos chose to ride on a horse like Vorador and myself, even though his wings made it look awkward. Perhaps he was trying to be polite. On the way, I asked many questions whose answers only served to make me question more. I found out that Janos had taken it upon himself to locate the nine human Guardians who were scattered across Nosgoth, using the Emblem as a guide. With this artifact, he had found me first and we were on our way back to the Citadel, where the next Guardian waited to be discovered. While he was away, I was told, Janos had left his younger sister Jadwiga to attend to the matters of the Citadel and its surrounding lands. I was excited at the prospect of meeting another venerable Ancient and I couldn't ride fast enough.

As the weather grew more frigid and the winds blew more fiercely, I was told about Vorador, the master blacksmith who had made the Soul Reaver and who had been the first human to ever undergo the process of becoming a vampire. Looking at Janos' companion, I could hardly imagine how the ferocious-looking vampire had ever been a man. He seemed to stiffen when Janos told me of his tale, as if he were either embarrassed or wished to be reticent about his origins. I would soon find out the truth for myself one day.

Soon we entered the snowy fields that surrounded the lake and the Citadel. Winters in Vassurbunde had been blustery, to be sure, but I had never seen a climate like this. Snow was the only thing the eye could see and eventually the lack of contrast gave me a vicious headache. Still, in the midst of all the dazzling white, I could easily see the towering Citadel standing like a black giant in the distance. I was eager to see the amazing and beautiful architecture about which I had read so much. Was it true that the Ancients lit their hallways with crystals that shone with an inner light? And to think of the ornamented balustrades and archways and all the murals and frescoes that Janos himself, a master artist, had created.

I was alone on the boat ride across the lake, while Janos flew and Vorador, much to my delight and horror, transformed into a screeching swarm of bats. I understood how they would be nervous on a small boat such as the one I had to take. I wondered if this was how I was going to cross the lake every time I went to visit my family? Perhaps I would learn some kind of useful sorcery to aid me.

I was exhausted from rowing, being unaccustomed to such exertion, when I stepped through the archway into the marvelous vampire city. Vorador and Janos were there, waiting for me. I couldn't help but gawk like a newborn at the wonders that surrounded me. My dreams were pale figments rendered crude and childish compared to the majesty of the Citadel. While I was busy admiring the massive construct, I didn't even notice the sheer lack of people in the place. Finally, catching my breath and my wit, I turned to them. They were conversing nervously amongst themselves and in such a dialect that I could not understand. They seemed tense and frightened, emotions I never would have associated with powerful beings suchas them.

"What's wrong?" I asked, spooked by their whispers.

"I am not sure, " Janos answered, always being the more talkative of the two. "Usually the plaza is crowded with workers and merchants and the like. This isn't right."

"Should I go on ahead?" Vorador volunteered.

"No. We should go together. Perhaps Jadwiga knows something." Janos replied.

The stone paradise was eerily silent as our footsteps echoed through the derelict passages. Though we were confounded by the lack of people, we were horrified at the scene that welcomed us when we entered the tower. We found the body of a vampire lying prostrate on the spiraling stairs leading to the top floor. His limbs had been burned away by some acidic substance and only charred stumps remained. I knew that water had been the culprit, judging from the bucket lying empty nearby. A bloody carpenter's hammer lay near the poor wretch's head. Further investigation showed that the side used for taking out nails had instead been used to wrench out his fangs. They lay nearby the hammer, idly cast aside like worthless stones. We saw that his suffering had come to an end with the brutal piercing of his heart with a sword, but evidence showed that the murderer had spent some time allowing his victim to writhe before the final stroke. Who could have done this monstrous thing?

Before I could gather my senses, Janos and Vorador dashed up the stairs and though much stone separated us, I could still hear their admonished cries. I however, wasn't concerned, being occupied by a singular phenomenon. I could hear his voice! The voice of the murdered vampire called out to me in a wordless howl of agony. I had never heard such a cry before and it rooted me to my place, kneeling by the body. After a time, it began to articulate and I could hear words being formed.

"He came...he came back like he said he would...we thought he was dead but he had been hiding! Like a snake into the den, we didn't even know he was here until he struck! Woe to our generation, the blood addicts, for our time is short and the lamb now rises to slaughter the wolf!"

"I...it's alright. It's over now..." I managed to whisper. I could feel his pain, his sense of fear and loss, and it was devastating. My sight grew hazy and I saw the vampire try to stand, thrashing about with his maimed limbs.

"Stop! Please stop it!" I cried. Though I was terrified, I held his bleeding face in my hands and he grew peaceful.

"Make it stop hurting..." he begged. I nodded. I don't recollect what happened but I felt a rush of cool wind and I knew that he was gone. When I opened my eyes, I saw that he hadn't tried to get up or move about at all...ithad beena dream or a hallucination and he was still dead like before. Still, I felt a sense of emptiness, the emptiness that comes from serenity and I knew that whatever I had done, the vampire was hurting no more, either physically or spiritually.

Remembering where I was and what was going on, I ran up the stairs (God help me to forget how blood-slicked they were) and I saw the massacre that awaited. Vampires lay dead in various stages of dismemberment. Here lay one, sprawled out on an oaken table, with blood running down the fine table linen. There slouched another vampire against the wall, with his face still hissing at his attacker. Blood and viscera covered the cold stone floor and just as the spirit of the murdered vampire below had called out to me, the souls of all these people were wailing. There were so many voices that I could pick out only a few words here and there.

"Murderer!"

"...the wrath in his eyes..."

"He hid the damnable thing in the wall! I saw it!"

"Make it stop..."

"The glow...the unholy glow..."

I couldn't stand it anymore. I nearly faintedfrom the impotent rage and sorrow of these poor creatures and like a coward, I ran past them up the stairs, all the way to the top floor. There I found Janos and Vorador.

This room wasn't nearly as gruesome as the one below but I could already feel the massive devastation that had been wrought. It was what was considered an aerie, with nearly one third of the circular wall open to the sky. It was nearly empty except for seven huge stone chairs placed in a semicircle. Here, there was very little blood to be seen, except on the two bodies that lay next to each other, like lovers. One was an Ancient, a beautiful young girl draped in white and whose death-wounds were the only signs that she was not merely sleeping. Her face was peaceful and her soul did not cry out to me. Her hair was dark and lovely, spiraling down her head and her wings were as black as night.

That someone this beautiful had been murdered seemed a travesty.

The other, to my surprise, was clearly not dead, despite the endless wounds and lacerations covering him. He was a human, a young man dressed as any other commoner. He had unusually light blonde hair, almost white, though it was greasy with blood. His eyes were open and though dazed with bloodloss, were filled with almost a bemused disassociation. Those eyes...they were an icy blue and gave me the impression that though he was a young man, he had been so for a very long time. When he saw me looking at him, he smiled, showing bloody teeth. Janos had been saying something to him but he clearly wasn't paying attention. He closed his eyes and went limp. He was unconscious.

"W...what happened?" I asked finally.

"We have found the Guardian..." Janos murmured, crossing the arms of the Ancient over her chest. I could see that he had been weeping. Vorador seemed frozen in place, busy with a struggle to either comfort his master or tear open the throat of the man lying before him.

I could go on about the next few days, how the servants eventually came back from their hiding in various villages. Apparently, they had deserted the Citadel only a few days before the massacre by order of Jadwiga, the poor murdered Ancient. I could tell about the burying of the bodies and of the fruitless search for the invading army that had done this. I could tell about the endless scrubbing of the Citadel walls and I could even tell about how many different souls I put to rest. I would never tell, however, about the discovery of the underground trading of humans whose capital had been the Citadel while Janos was away...the faces of those damned to blood slavery...I'll never forget...how they had been left to starve in a hidden chamber underneath the tower. Though Jadwiga had been beautiful, she had been a kingpin in this atrocity. Her death set them free...

And soon, I met the man who had wrought all these things, the man who had completely convinced himself that this massacre was a necessary thing. The man who helped unlock my power and understand myself rather than loathe it. The man who would receive my greatest devotion and my endless hatred...the Timestreamer Moebius.