Lazaruss : This is a bit longer chapter, but now what the hell… Oh, and all those too emotional, get your hankies at the ready. It's VERY… powerful. I'm proud of this one.
World still spins, though now in a mill
Its neatly grind dust brings tears to the light
Horrid grief shatters with angst, its drill
and our laughs, which pierce trough the night
There is no warmth in hearts of black ice
where gifts of cruelty and malice are rife
For the smallest scar they'll pay a dire price
Now two more nightmares have come to life
Kain placed Adella on her back, and closed her frozen eyes, laying her on the crude desk of brown stone. Next to her, Jasmine was also sleeping on another such desk. They removed her from Kain's seals and placed them both next to each other, now clothed in a simple servant-girl cloths, collected form a couple of those that had a misfortune to run at two hungry vampires. Jasmine now bore a rough and a bit torn gray blouse and a little larger skirt made of blue fabric, and Adella had a dark green dress with a slightly low neck and yellow edges. These were not pretty outfits, but right now, fashion was the lowest item on the list of priorities. Jasmine's previous clothing was torn by her shape-shifting in the She-wolf, and they had more important things to worry about at the time, and Sian suspected that Adella wouldn't like that outfit made of chains and scarce plates she had thus far.
Now, everything was set, and Kain stepped between the two tables that he carved from a nearby mountain wall. The things were simple tiles of brown stone on a few boulders, but they served the purpose.
" Listen closely. "; Kain addressed Sian :" What ever caused this to them has completely ripped their souls out, rebuild them from scraps, and infused them back. The process forced them to destroy happy past and love the tragic one. The only way to undo what has been done is to repeat the process exactly to a detail, but reverse. "
" I know both of their souls well. "; Sian said :" I'm sure I could reshape them back to what they were, given the means. "
" For that purpose, we created a place in Kain's mind to serve as your work space. We shall rip their souls out and hold them there, while you restore them to what they once were. "
" You want to hold their souls in your mind ?"; Sian gasped :" They are seven centuries old, their spirits are too complicated to restrain with a mental focus even for you. "
" We'll do it one at a time, and you'll have to be quick. Other wise, who knows what may happen to all involved. Once you are done, we will infuse your work back into their flesh and hope that it does the trick. "
Sian's head spun. That was the most insane thing he'd ever heard. But Kain had a good deal of time to think about their options, and if he saw this as the best possibility, than it definitely was. There simply was no other way. For a moment Sian's faith faltered. He thought he is not yet prepared for this, that he doesn't remember their original souls all that well. And texturing raw spirits was a work only beings equal to God should dare pool off. But he knew he had to try. He said that to him self for a thousandth time, took a deep breath and stepped closer to Kain, awaiting him to start.
Jasmine was the first subject. Kain placed his talons on her hearth and the back of her head and closed his eyes in a silent focus. Sian concentrated his magic as well, intent on linking with Kain and that space in his thoughts, where he and Jasmine were about to meet. In a few moments everything went blur and he found him self standing in an endless space of bright white room.
" We have linked. "; Sian spoke to Kain :" I am ready. "
" Her will fights back… "; Kain's voice echoed trough the emptiness :" You'll have to wait a wile. "
Kain had to be careful, les he breaks her will. It would scar her spirit for the rest of her life. Sian took a few moments to collect his thoughts. Focusing hard on the mental link, he intensified his foothold and reinforced his casting with a few well placed nods. This should allow him to direct all of his attention on his task at hand, instead of directing a part of it on maintaining a link with Kain. He had no idea what to expect of the arriving soul of his sister and he also had to prepare by intensifying his resolve. He'd seen it trough the wail of her feelings, but who could imagine what such an entity could become here.
Before he had a chance of pondering that last thought, Jasmine's distant cry of rage reached his ear. She was on her way, fighting against Kain's pull to this place. But the further she'd get, the weaker her resistance would become, and she was gaining speed progressively.
" Ready your self, Craftsman… "; Kain whispered to him
Sian clenched his jaw. This was it. His magic infused him with spirit fire to burn the rotten and cleanse the ill, and Kain's magic gave his memories the power to form bits and peaces of the puzzle that were missing. He was armed and ready to operate his sister's soul. He had to dismantle the ruined spirit progressively, rebuilding her at the same time, and he had to perform the entire act perfectly, or at least well enough for it self to recover the few missed places. Too many missed places would cause her to fall apart or who knows what else.
Jasmine's scream grew louder and her visage appeared before him huge and revolting. Her soul took a shape of her flesh, but monstrously deformed with the left side of her face, inflated like a boil, long clawen arms with several wrists and a sick tail of yellow skin on a fat construction of bone. Back legs on the creature seemed like that of a shaved rabbit with nails as sharp as scalpels. Her shoulders were huge and round like another two heads were immerging under her skin and her lower jaw filled with sharp teeth was much larger than the upper. Her belly was huge and inflated like a ball, dragging on the floor and her hair was long and greasy. She was at least four times his weight and size, acting like a confused animal. But she wasn't hostile. Kain drowned her aggression and she still believed she was in her own flesh. Invisible chains of Kain's will came and closed around her like a web, but she didn't notice.
Sian was terrified and abhorred. Was this all that remains of his sister ? He swallowed and focused on his task. Now was the time to intervene. The thing was just a soul, clothed in a visage their combined minds unearthed trough their conjoined views. But once he looked underneath, he saw the same figure and texture he saw in Jasmine earlier. Each soul, no meter from what creature it origins, had a core of ether that housed the will and stood in its center like a hearth. Around it circled emotions, moral, complex and hidden visages of a mind, scars of life and many other things. He first had to shrink her, wrapping her in spirit fires. It worked and she was now his size. Next, he took a closer inspection. She was pitifully reconstructed indeed. He could recognize a few details the old Jasmine had, but they were ether poisoned, ether chocked underneath poisonous pieces of what she now was. Everything was sick and perverted about it, suffocating any trace of her old self, and just piled together to grow and merge to a hole.
Swallowing his revulsion, he got to work. He burned with spirit fire all of that which was taint and cancer, and started to piece together her spirit the way he remembered it should be. At this, she had arouse and started to display aggression but Kain's chains held her tight. Sian worked restlessly while she was snarling beneath her shackles, obviously aware of what was happening to her. The thing was trying to fight back.
He didn't know how long was he working, replacing too corrupt peaces with those new from his memory, and cleaning the filth from those salvageable, but it must have bean a while. It was a tiresome work, and at last Jasmine's old visage begun to take shape. He noticed that the chains that held Jasmine started to loose their structure, fading and returning like flickers. Also, the walls of the large white room begun to succumb to a web of fine black cracks.
" Are you holding ?"; he asked Kain
" F… fine. Fo… focus… Focus child… quickly… "
The answer stirred him. Her soul was burdening Kain too much. Jasmine started to resemble her self, but it took more of the treatment to restore her completely. Those sick beastly features withdrawn and she appeared more like a human and less as a monster, but she was still trying to fight back. Anger and fear oozed trough her soul but she was powerless to indulge her self. Sian dissected and amputated, and replaced all he couldn't leave. He tried hard to preserve the original peaces, for they were better than the substitute, his memory would produce, but she was so corrupt there was hardly anything worth saving.
The work was nearing to an end. About three quarters of the original Jasmine was clearly visible again. Sian couldn't tell was it fixed well enough to hold but he didn't stop to double check. Time was leaking faster and faster. It seemed that they'll make it, but just at that point when he wanted to smile, she rose her cry at the ceiling :
" Adellaaaaa ! Help me, my sister !"
Sian tried to ignore her and to focus on his work, but than the room shook like somebody banged it with a giant hammer. He almost lost his stand. Kain's roar of agony passed trough the chamber and the white walls begun to fall apart. Black cracks were disintegrating the room to gravel. Sian hissed and tried to finish Jasmine, but suddenly he realized what was happening.
Out of smoke and dust, Adella appeared. It was her soul. Surprisingly, she seemed like her self, in that outfit made of thin silver chains and transparent boots. But she and Jasmine together were too much for Kain to contain and he screamed trying to hold his focus straight as their complexity tore his mind apart.
" What are you doing ?"; Sian shouted :" Leave before you destroy us all !"
" Jasmine… she called me… "; Adella sobbed confused and scared
Sian realized that she won't listen to him. Instead he went for Jasmine :
" Jasmine !"; he shouted :" You must tell her to go away !"
" …what have you done to me…? "; she cried as the chamber around collapsed
" Please, you know me ! Your soul knows me ! Tell her ! Tell her before it's too late !"
" Stay away from her !"; Adella shrieked :" She's my sister !"
Kain's roars were replaced by their struggle as Sian and Adella engaged in a conflict and the world around them crumbled to bits. He saw her illness, her disease, circling her core like a wile of tar, but he couldn't do anything about it. Their fight shook the room even more, and Kain's voice was growing into moans of slipping.
But than Sian saw something in her, she tried to hide and ignore. It was her love for him, still big and powerful, though twisted. That was his ally, if there was still time left, before Kain snaps.
Lowering his guard down, he just stood before her with an icy face, with no expression. He hid his anger, doubt and fear, leaving only the chill of nothingness inscribed on him. Adella punched him. She punched him again and again. Walls and the ceiling were completely gone, and the floor begun to give way, but he didn't notice. She was betting him to blood, but he just watched her like that with no emotion in his empty soul. She was burning with anger, slowly coming to realize that nothing she would do to him would cause him even to blink. It was tearing her apart. She couldn't understand why doesn't he act, or feel, or anything. Trough a veil of her anger, an image formed in her stating that she's powerless to make a difference against him, and it only made her more angry. Helplessness and misunderstanding wrapped around her and she stepped back, observing him, trembling :
" Fight me !"; she cried, desperate :" Fight me Tarian !"
" You killed Tarian. "; he responded coldly :" You ripped his hearth out. "
" No ! No, I will have you !"; his icy stare was constantly upon her
" I have no love for you, Adella. "
" Don't !"; the sound of his icy heartbeats were tearing her ears
" I do not hate you. I do not fear you. I do not care. "; with each sentence he was stepping closer forcing her back
" Stop it ! I… I love you ! We can… we can be together again ! We can… "
" You murdered Tarian and left Sian crippled. There is nothing within me I could love you with. "
She was alone with him, without any chance for salvation. No one there but the eyes and the pounding. She tried not to look, but everywhere she'd turn, she could feel his gaze cutting trough her. She wanted to cry, but her lungs froze. Every breath was like eating frost. It had to end. There had to be an end !
" No… "; she sobbed on her knees :" Don't say that… I can't… I can't… "
She was broken. Her will was temporarily disabled and Sian frantically hurled him self on Jasmine. Just a little more and she'll be done ! She has to be ! Just a few more peaces, a little more of the spirit fire, a bit here, a bit there… But than her chains broke and she jumped free, roaring like crazy. She slugged Sian aside and leapt at Adella, right at the moment when a floor tile beneath his feet broke off. The last thing he saw was his two sisters fading on crumbling floor, and than darkness took him.
Sian blinked. He was in the black cave again, with his face on the earth floor. Everything was spinning around him in a whirl pool of pain. He couldn't piece together what has happened, but as he got up, he found that Kain has collapsed unconscious, and Adella and Jasmine were lifeless husks. Their souls were not in their bodies and they were dead. Only than did memories pore back into his waking. Kain seemed to twitch. He blinked in his headache and rose to his feet with a great difficulty.
" What happened ?"; Sian asked :" Where are they ?"
Kain bulged confused at the sight of his daughters. They were lying lifeless on the stone tables.
" We lost them. "; he sighed with grief :" We couldn't hold them any longer. "
Sian fell to his knees. He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. It was all in vain. All his hope was shattered and once more he felt like a failure. He let down Nosgoth, and now he let down Adella and Jasmine. Why couldn't he do it ? Why couldn't he have worked faster or… Anything !
Kain paced to him with difficulty and lifted him back on his feet, though he didn't feel capable to stand :
" You did even more than you could. "; he said :" There was not an option you hadn't left unused. You even mastered the Nothing, braking Adella's wraith, but the outcome was fixed the moment she broke into our bond. "
Sian just hugged his sire, restraining his tears :
" I wasn't strong enough… I wasn't strong enough… "
" You were so strong, we envy you !"; Kain said :" We are so proud of you, Sian. "
" It wasn't enough. "
" No, it wasn't but at least their souls are free… "
" Haaaaaaaaahhhh !"
That was the sound that came beside them. Sian and Kain bulged and witnessed Adella and Jasmine jumping up with their lungs, gasping for air. It seemed as they would never have enough of it. Finally, they unleashed their sizeable sighs and slowly rose to a sitting position gazing around with ignorance. Sian and Kain slowly separated from each other with eyes fixed on the two 'new comers'.
" Wh… what is happening ?"; Adella asked confused :" Tarian… ?"
" Where are we ?"; Jasmine shook her head :" Why do I feel so… "
At once they beheld Kain, gifted with his mighty wings and the soul reaver on his back. They suddenly realized it was him and bulged :
" Kain… Sire… "; Adella blinked and smiled
" You are awake !"; Jasmine gasped :" You have come back, after… "
" No !"; Adella suddenly stopped Jasmine in her sentence. Her face turned pale and her hearth broke with exploding grief :" No ! NO ! NOOOOO !"; she remembered.
Adella collapsed from her table, tearing her lungs with constant screams. Sian at once rushed and caught her in his arms, but she never stopped screaming with all her strength. Jasmine wanted to aid her, but the realization struck her as well. Her lower jaw shivered, and she grabbed for her stomach. A second later she was on her knees and her free arm.
" It's not truth !"; she hissed :" It's not truth ! It's not ! It's NOT !"
She roared so loud the cave started to leek sand from its cracks, and she vomited her last ration of blood before her next scream.
Kain was observing them frozen. His breaths were somehow irregular. Like a statue of ice he watched them in their misery. They were both restored, though Jasmine was a bit incomplete. Sian's work was unfinished, and a few drops of ink still smudged waters of her spirit. But Adella on the other hand was fully her self again. He had no explanation how or when this occurred. He last sensed their souls being catapulted out of his grasp and disappearing from his senses beneath a veil of pain. They were dead. Their souls were unleashed. How did they return, and this transformed ?
His daughters were crying their eyes out, but he didn't let him self care. Let them cry. Let them enjoy the pain of this world. The world is pain and if they want to live they'll have to get used to it. Let them know the true suffering, and may they be strong enough to overcome it.
The next thing he knew he was outside the cave, with their cries and sobs following him trough. He couldn't cry. He wanted to, but he couldn't. Instead he giggled. He giggled at the heavens mocking this entire thing. His whole life, his four thousand years of existence, it was all so ridiculous he couldn't do else but to laugh at his faith. One monumental black joke of a man called Mortanious, the biggest joker in history.
" You can't fool me, murderer. "
Kain looked back at the reaver's hilt, sticking over his spiked shoulder :
" I can fool my self. "
He just giggled there, cursing necromancer's damned soul, over and over and over again.
" Daaaamned ! Damned be masters of grief !"; Adella was tearing her self with cries :" My children ! My chi-hi-hi-hildren… !"
Sian held her tight, and Jasmine as well. He had to be strong for them. His dark-sons and dark-daughters were gone as well and he was powerless to save them. The pain was making him shiver, but he released no tears. The joy of success and the fact that they were both all right was holding him together. He didn't know how or why, but they were, and it gave him strength.
Distraught and frantic, Jasmine got out of his hug and run out, but he didn't follow. Kain would give her comfort. He just held his Adella, and held her there absorbing her pain. Suddenly she brushed him off and crawled away to a corner, turning her back to him :
" Stay away from me !"; she shrieked
She was shivering and quaking, crouched in the shadows, trying to hide from him. Sian slowly approached her :
" I stood away for too long. "
" Why… ?"; she whispered trough her sobbing :" Why couldn't you just kill us ? Oh, my god… oh my god… oh my god… "
Sian kneeled next to her and placed his palms on her shoulders. She tried to rip them out, but he wouldn't let her. Instead he turned her to him and razed her chin up to face her :
" I had to kill the monster… "; he said :" I did this to give you your freedom back, that you may at least die as your selves. "
" As murderers of our own children !"; she screamed with despair :" I betrayed… I betrayed everything and everyone… Why, why, why, why…. !"
" Look around you, Adella !"; Sian spoke with anger :" The world is fading, the pillars are falling, Kain will die in two days if we don't stop it, and any hope that things might be restored is all but gone ! Death is something we can't afford, no meter how much we want to !"
" I… can't… "
" You can. I know you can, because… "; he pressed her to him self :" Because… I love you… "
Her fists squeezed his black coat and she clenched her jaw :
" How… can you, after… "
" After what was said ? After what was done ? I don't know. I just do. "; he faced her :" If you have nothing else to hold on to, at least hold on to that. "
" No… stop it. "; she wiggled out of his arms :" I don't know if I can… I need time. You… I… leave me alone… I want to be alone… "
Her words were like a knife to his heart. Standing up, he paced away to the other end of the room. He just crashed there and watched her as she shed tears and shivered. Watching her like that he spoke :
" I won't let you go. "; he sighed chaotically :" Where ever you go and what ever you do, I will follow, even if you never speak to me again. "
She just ignored him, crying and weeping crouched on the floor.
Jasmine screamed and roared, braking boulders around her, tossing giant stones high in the air and destroying everything she could get her claws on. The few remaining drops of taint on her soul tortured her like burning pokers. More than anything she wanted them out, but now it was too late. They have fused with her again and it would be too dangerous to try and remove them now.
Mad with grief she ripped an entire three feet broad tree out of the ground and hurled it a dozen meters away. But something happened to her as she touched its bark. She felt its grief and the pain of its decay. At once, her anger burned out. The tree was dying, almost gone, all gray and brown with no leaves left on its sad bare branches. That seemed to have intrigued her, though she couldn't tell. She came to it, now lying on the naked ground, broken and with her claw marks on it. Hesitating a while she took it up again and returned it where it grew. Not knowing what she does or why, her magic flushed into it, infusing the bark, log and branches, and the tree instantly begun to restore. New young leaves sprung out of the naked wood, scars and marks of decay watered with glittering rosin, and the roots grew deep and strong again.
" …thank you… "; it spoke to her as she removed her hand
The act was a revelation. Dead land was crying with sorrow and she heard it. There was no time for being selfish when everything was in such peril. But the most important thing, this act made the grief go away, only for an instant. She found another dead tree and restored it too. And another, and the grass on the ground and a bush over there. It was exhausting to her. The corruption was strong and her powers had to fight it with all their might. There was some force, hidden beneath the earth, trying to undo her acts of mercy. She had to set things right. She could, and had to. There was no more time to morn.
That was all she could do for tonight. She was exhausted, drained, and thirsty. Holding for her shoulders with her crossed arms, she paced back, shivering, trying to return to the cave in the canyons, and as she approached, she found Kain outside, cross-legged on a rock with the reaver laid over his knees. He was beautiful, strong and powerful. The most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. His wings closed on his back touching the earth behind the bolder he was sitting on. There was her sire. She was without him for so long, without her guide, her father, and now she hardly dared to step closer to him.
" Approach, child. "; his whisper echoed
She sighed with fear and stepped closer to him. After coming about ten paces away, she stopped and quaked :
" What are you doing ?"; she asked, not letting her shoulders go
" Recovering. "; he opened his eyes and looked at her anticipating, placing the reaver on his back
It was too much. His gaze was forcing her to cry again. Without asking for forgiveness, she just run at him and threw her face in his lap, sobbing like a little girl. He placed his hand on her head gently petting her black hair :
" Let it out… "; he said :" Let it all out… "
" I'm so… so sorry… "; she sobbed in her cry
" Time is too precious now. Don't spend it on sorrow. "
" I killed them… "; she sobbed :" I killed them all, and… they didn't even ask me why… "
" Yes… "; he said :" Now you are like Kain. "
" Kain… ?"; she rose her weary eyes, leaking with tears :" It was me… I cursed your pillar. "; she averted her sight :" Jordana learned that I have… the blood in my vanes… from someone called… "
" …Bane, the Druid. "; Kain finished instead of her :" Joradna made you in a guardian of nature. "
" And… now you are dying… because of me… "
" Everything dies. "; Kain said :" There is no 'because'. "
" What will you do… ?"; she shivered
" With our last two breaths, we shall spit in their faces and laugh… But we won't give up the fight. "
She fell in his lap again, unable to withstand it. He was her wise, beautiful sire and he was… It was her fault. It was all her fault.
" I want to die… "; she sobbed :" How can I go on ? Please tell me, how… ?"
Kain petted her hair :
" Death is your sweet runaway lover, now… We chase after it for one last kiss. One kiss away from pure night, to lie in the quiet of a grave… to have silence whisper of a fulfilled life, and nothing but rest forever… "; he lifted her tear-showered face :" But isn't there something you must do before the eternal sleep ? Some un sated hunger that craws your awareness ?"
" I want… "; she wiped her tears off and clenched her angry jaw :" … I want to brake their bones ! I want to peel their skin and rip their hearts out slowly, until they have no more strength to beg me for mercy !"
Kain smiled. She took his palm that was still on her face, holding it and brushing it over her skin.
" Yes father… "; she whispered :" Now I am like you… "
She kissed his hand and bowed before him, and Kain closed his eyes and resumed his meditation.
He didn't know was he sleeping or awake, but it didn't meter. All he wanted to know, is what his name is now. Was he Sian or Tarian, or someone else, but his empty head gave no answer. She was the only one, who knew the answer to that, but she couldn't give it to him and he couldn't ask her to. Ignorance seemed sharper and deadlier than the soul reaver it self, instantly slaying any other thought not spent on that, or any other feeling not bent on her.
Jasmine was by his side now. She took him in her arms and held him there like her son. He didn't see where she came from, but he hugged her none the less.
" Are you all right ?"; he whispered
" I will be… "; she said with shacking voice, still fresh from cries :" One day… I will be. "
" I'm sorry… I couldn't finish… there was no time… "
He left her incomplete, with still a few traces of her twisted self. She just smiled :
" Perhaps it's better this way… I can only imagine how much it would hurt me now, to be whole. But you did a good job on me, none the less. I am thankful. "
" I thought you would curse me. "
" I may yet. "; she tried to smile and said :" Thank you for this… second chance. "; she glanced at Adella on the far end of the cave :" Give her time. It heals everything. "
" Oh, how I missed you, Jasmine… "; he sighed, desperately squeezing her blouse :" How I missed you both… "
" We know. "; she said :" That's why we came back. "
He looked at her :
" You… "
" I took Adella and fled the white room. "; she reclined on a wall :" I saw what she was and what you were and then I knew what had to be done. "
" You restored her ?"; he gasped :" But, you fled Kain's mind… where did you… "
Jasmine took a handful of earth and presented it before him on her palm :
" We were guests of the great mother. "; she said
" Of course ! You draw your power from earth and you were able to… "
" Tarian… "; an insecure whisper interrupted their words
It was Adella. She came to them slowly, and they didn't notice her :
" Well, "; Jasmine said :" I better go find something to drink… "; she stood up and shifted in a large gray bat, leaving the cave. The peculiar nature of her dark gift was causing her to shift into only one bat, instead of many, but it didn't meter to any of them.
Adella was towering above him, with her large hair and tired eyes. Her face seemed tormented by cries and tears and her scars of sorrow were now even longer reaching over her jaw to the root of her neck. In that moment when he looked up to her, his strong anticipating face was saying more than words. He was prepared for what is about to come and ready to face it. Ignorance was about to die. She kneeled before him. Their eyes weren't gazing at anything else but each other. For a long time they were silent in the pleasant darkness, and than he smiled a bit sensing what was in her heart.
" I lost everything I had… "; she said :" I don't want to loose you too. "
He had waited for that. Sian was at last long gone and Tarian was alive again. He sighed with joy and squeezed her in his arms :
" Never, my love ; You can never loose me. "
The earth opened beneath them and they went down embraced together.
The young ones were sleeping soundly within the cave. All three needed their rest for the morning. Reborn Tarian and his wife were sleeping in each others arms in a quiet spot beneath the earth, and Jasmine was above them, hanging on her feet from the ceiling, cross-armed like a slumbering bat.
Kain smirked as Raziel explained his plan. If all else fails, that might work. They also developed a system of magic locks to place on the reaver the moment Kain is disabled by the land's cry, and now that that was done, Kain was just sitting there enjoying the quiet. For a moment he glanced at the sword on his knees in wondering :
" The reaver has granted me his attention. "; he noticed
" The reaver talks too much. "
" Perhaps Kain needs it. "
" Need is good. Confession is better. "
" Is need, that what awakes your mind ? Is need the bond that grew amongst us ?"
" Or you have gone mad enough to talk with swords. Now be quiet. I want to sleep again. "
Kain smirked and continued his meditation. The ancient skill of absorbing raw life energy called Saih from the Root of the World, was serving him well, infusing him with fresh strength. Golden rippling strings of this power were poring into his being healing him and restoring consequences from tonight's efforts.
Long ago he stumbled on the scrolls containing records from an ancient human order who first uncovered these secrets. Between spiritual and mortal was another place they named Naryah, the Root of the World where raw unprocessed life energy waited to be textured in the living. That energy flew trough endless space, rippling around in its golden strings called Zan, the Creator's Dreams. Imperfections in their flows were due to the already living souls who created distortions in the golden ball of silk, but they also increased them with their own radiance. Saih, the Building River, that was it called. Humans were more gifted than vampires in using such energy, but with practice, Kain became a masterful wielder of its powers. It would restore any part of his being, more of the soul than the flesh, and he even craved less blood since he discovered how to direct it on his thirst.
Lost deep within these meditations, he almost missed a new creature coming to his presence. He saw time and space shift and someone arriving trough a magic gate, but he gave her time to approach him close enough.
" Fascinating. "; Jordana said :" I can almost see some invisible power flowing into you, bending to your will. "
" Lady Ashee… "; Kain opened his eyes facing her :" You destroy our reputation by being still alive. "
She was in an expensive blouse with gold emblems on it and a tight short skirt of the same material, that exposed her long pink legs. She also had silken black gloves with holes for her lengthy red nails and a necklace of a ruby in a gold medallion. Her long dark-blue bride was dangling behind her on a randy mountain breeze and her crystal was absorbing the nightly glows, dispersing them over her forehead. Those long red strips of cloth with lines of Kreeden crests hung from her shoulders to her feet, caught in the waft, and the sent of her perfume was still present.
" Likewise. "; she smiled at him lovely :" I see you've managed to restore them. I'll ask you about that, but first, let's go somewhere more… private. The south side of the canyon is supposed to be very romantic. "
She turned and led the way, but instead he grabbed her in his kinetic shackles. She tried to reach for her spells, but the way to her magic was sealed, rendering her helpless. She instantly felt the thrill of fear rushing trough her blood, but this time she didn't give into it. Pain's pleasure had to wait.
" Let's go, than… "; Kain spoke and teleported them to the location
It was a rocky terrain, naked as the rest of the canyon, but the stone held many quartz crystals and they glittered in the nightly light, like a bunch of white dots on the crude shades, a stardust sprayed over the carpet of black.
" Ah… "; Kain sighed sarcastically :" how romantic. "
" White flag, Kain !"; Jordana coughed in his grip :" I came in peace. "
" We'll give you peace !"; he hissed at her
" You know that Jasmine can't undo the curse from the pillars. "; she spoke to him cunningly :" Only I know what flow of magic will release the core of your death. "
" Core of death… ?"; Kain snorted :" As if we fear such a thing. "; he unleashed her and she landed on her feet, beneath his towering red-eyed shadow :" We could kill you right now without a second thought. "
" Perhaps… "; she spoke :" But what will happen to Adella and Jasmine, and Tarian, or Sian or what ever he calls him self now ?"
Kain snorted again and turned away. She approached him slowly, placing her hand on his back in a friendly fashion :
" I don't want to threaten you. "; she whispered
" You think you could ?"
" Don't insult me like this. "; she said :" We are not so strange to one another. You too were a conqueror, you too bare much guilt on your soul, and many lives were lost in your craving. And this world ; how much difference was there in the ruin you made ?… Are we truly so different ? Can we not live with harmony between us ?"
" We can. "; he turned to her and she smiled happy, but than he said :" When you pay with your blood for our shattered goblet. "
" Bah !"; she shrieked and paced away :" You know, I am really loosing my patience with you. "
He laughed :
" Too bad, cause we've only just begun. "
" You beautiful, stubborn fool !"; she clenched her jaw, snarling in frustration :" You think you are in the position to display your arrogance ? You are falling ! This world is falling ! Everything is falling but your dumb pride ! How many more examples of my strength do you need to come to your senses ?"
" Strength ?"; he turned his back to her and crossed his arms :" There's no strength in tickling a sleeping death. "
" Open your eyes, vampire !"; she kicked a pebble at his direction :" You think this wretched Nosgoth is the only place in the universe ? Hundreds of such we have bended to our will. They all sing praises to our glorious armies. We have taken them all, just like we have taken this one. "
" Why ?"; he glared at her over his shoulder, slowly turning :" Jus answer a simple 'why' !"
" We have no more desire to be a potential pray !"; she shouted at him and than got calm. Tears sparkled in her eyes and she sighed sadly :" Many… generations ago, a cruel race appeared in our world. We called them White-skins. "; she turned away :" They enslaved us and treated us like one would treat vermin. Billions have perished under their claws. My ancestor, Mireliah Ashee rounded up our forces and drove them back, but not before they destroyed our world. I still remember her battles… her battle cry "Never again "… "; she looked at him sadly :" I swore, like all of my ancestors, to that battle cry. Never again. We are here because we won't allow something like that to happen to us again. "
" You sad child. "; Kain sighed and shouted, tossing his arms up desperately annoyed, like he was explaining it for a hundredth time :" It is not strength to conquer, but to defend !"
" You could teach me how !"; she run to him, grabbing a hold of his spiked shoulders and gazing with longing into his eyes :" You could show me how to be truly strong ! I would remove the pillar's doom and we would leave this world. Come with me, my dear Kain. I'll give you the stars them selves. Leave Nosgoth behind and let us start a glorious rule over this galaxy, my King-vampire. "
" And you see your self as a queen. "; he rose his face slightly, retaining his evaluating sight on her:" You think you have what it takes to be Kain's queen ?"
She smiled teasingly :
" You think you have what it takes to be my king ?"; she widened her blue eyes :" Think of it… Just the two of us, together… "
For a moment only, he considered :
" That all sounds… very reasonable… "; Kain said. Jordana smiled and blinked at him, but suddenly his strong claw was squeezing her throat and her feet got separated from the ground :" … but we've never had much use for reason… "
With a mighty kick he nailed her to a mountain wall, forcing all the air out of her lungs. When the white flash cleared, she was face-down on the cold stone fighting to keep breathing. The pain was excruciating, a rapture of burning sensation, and she tried to smile but the blow took all of her strength. Kain was above her, with his eyes glittering in crimson flames. With a sadistic snarl of satisfaction, he razed her in bonds of his magic :
" You'll soon learn who has the upper hand… "; he hissed and cast her off. She landed most painfully on a distant rock and spat some blood out. He grabbed her again :" … how to beg for the bliss of annihilation !"; he squeezed her forcing the scream out of her, and a laughter after that. Kain ignored the latter and continued, binding her to hover before him :" …to respect the power of fear you mock ! You will taste our pain, Lady Ashee… and you'll worship us to take it back !"
A red flame caught his palm, red like blood and glittering as brightly as the sun. He smiled at it and faced her, full of sadistic pleasure and eyes burning like crimson infernos. She sighed in her exhaustion and looked at him with blood leaking out of her nose and beneath the edge of her crystal :
" Per… perhaps you… should… ask… h-how I… found you n-now… "
" There will be plenty of time to… "; and than he realized ; she couldn't have found him.
Suddenly he became aware of heart beets drawing near. An entire army of Kreedens was closing in on the cave where his children slept. There was barely any time. With a loud thought he woke them up and went to aid them, but unexpectedly the earthquake struck again. He screamed and roared as the cry of the land split his head and all of his thoughts started to go black again. The shackles on Jordana begun to fade along with his focus, and she was soon free again, though too injured to move. With his final strength, Kain stabbed the reaver in the ground and fuelled it with his magic.
Adella and Tarian were awake and Jasmine was still hanging from the ceiling, soundly asleep. She needed plenty of rest. The two vampires were working on Adella's hair. The big white lion's mane with black ends didn't suit her any more, so Tarian was cutting it away with his sharp claws. He liked working on her hair. It was one of the small pleasures the couple had. Adella was turned to him with her back, sitting on the edge of one of the stone tables. Occasionally, she would shiver under her still fresh grief, but Tarian's gentle touch would force the chill away. He was her Fire-lord, the bellowed Lord of her fire. He was practically all she had now.
As he was done, she passed her palm slowly over her head, barely touching her new hairdo. Since she had no reflection, she had to rely on her touch to feel the shape of Tarian's work. It was about two to three inches long, sticking up like rays in its locks. A hair on a vampire's head could stop growing, or even grow a foot long in a night, if one would want it to. It was all a meter of focus one would direct on it. This shorthaired style fancied her, and she smiled as she acknowledged its features.
A violent thought shook them all up and they knew that Kain was in danger. Jasmine jumped down awake and suddenly they've heard the arriving army. Due to their weariness they didn't hear it sooner.
Three vampires ran out of the cave to find it surrounded by the approaching force of Kreeden soldiers. They were still away, climbing over the canyon's edges, but their hearts and scents were like a thousand little warning bells spinning around their heads. There was no word from Kain but they knew what happened for a massive earthquake instantly shook the ground. It meant he was disabled. Everything quaked and quivered, the rocky cliffs danced like jumping rocks, and they had to stay on their feet, constantly jumping and gliding down until the went silent again. Those who were approaching have stopped but as soon as it was over, they went on again.
" We must fight our way to him. "; Tarian said
" Good. "; Jasmine hissed :" I was growing thirsty for Kreeden blood. "
" They know, we know. "; Adella whispered sensing their thoughts :" We must strike now !"
Adella snarled and got her claws at the ready. Tarian took up his flamesword and Jasmine lifted Havoc, giving Malice to her sister. Instead of waiting for them to come, they started to bring the canyon sides on those that were climbing towards them, and a merciless river of falling stones descended onto the invaders. It fairly slowed them down. But than more started to appear in light flying vessels and sort of jet powered back packs. The defense of the vampires had to adapt. Shrouding them selves in the night, the three shades started to crawl away from the cave. To their claws, mountain walls were a solid foothold, and they crawled like three black spiders down towards their pursuers.
" Hear me, children of Kain… "; a mail voice sounded from below
" Stop !"; Jasmine whispered to her siblings
" … your Sire is in our hands. "
" Kain ?"; Adella sighed with grief
He brought her back, and she had hardly spoken a word with him, since. She'd just seen him, but she never had a chance to say… anything. How sorry she is, how much she's grateful, and how much she… loves him. A sour thought wriggled like a worm in her head that now she may never get the chance for that, and that he'll die thinking that she curses him for restoring her and Jasmine back to this world of grief. Tarian felt her fear, and tightly grabbed her hand, poring his strength into her.
" Surrender to us, or we'll destroy him with his mighty reaver !"
They stood there on the mountain side, hidden and concealed with the stinging words of their pursuers spawning chaos in their souls.
" Jordana wants him alive. "; Adella whispered absently
" To hell with their demands !"; Jasmine snarled :" I'm not turning my self over to them again !"
" Bat form. "; Tarian said :" We'll return once Kain is awake. That will sway the odds. "
" …want them alive… "; Adella whispered like in a trance :" You want them alive… "
" Adella ?"; he took her hand and she was out of it :" We fly. "
" You have five more seconds to surrender !"; the voice below echoed :" Five,… "
" Yes. "; she said
To those in the canyon's base the dark walls of the cliff seemed like merging with the night. A kreeden commander with a megaphone couldn't see whether he was talking to a stone or to them, but suddenly a bright yellow spot appeared in the distant 'above', burning trough the fabric of darkness like a flower made of flame. It started to grow and absorb his view. It was falling on him. The mob of Kreeden soldiers backed away quickly, but he couldn't. Something was holding his feet petrified and his eyes fixed on an approaching flaming bolder. His mouth didn't respond in the cries he was trying to shout. Trough the crystal on his forehead he was helplessly calling those around him for aid, but they didn't answer. He couldn't get to them. He could only stare frozen at his approaching doom. A few faithful soldiers came to him and tried to make him move, but he was glued to the ground, in fact he was entwined with root and vines. The moment this became clear, the falling flame struck, sweeping them all off, and devouring them to ash.
It was a sufficient diversion. Adella, Tarian and Jasmine shifted in bat-forms and reached for the nightly sky, but then the trap sprung and they flied straight into it. It was too late to act against the sound that exploded around them, and their bats just flapped their wings helplessly. It was some kind of a sonic weapon made to blind the bats and their small vessels just clattered to the ground in overwhelming confusion. Bats oriented by emitting ultrasound like a sonar, but now the Kreeden sound was everywhere. It was an agony. Hundreds of bats were just crawling over the canyon's peeks trying to pool together, but they were efficiently demobilized. The sonic made a dome over that area, silencing underneath it, and the three finally shifted back, but once they did they found them selves surrounded by an ambush.
Just when the Kreedens thought they've won, the three vampires hit them with everything they had. A massive carnage followed, but they were trapped and the Kreedens were better armed. Hundreds of dead bodies lied on the cold stone and many more were gravely injured, but after an hour of bloody battle, Kain's children were finally overwhelmed.
Tarian fell first, and Adella followed, loosing her focus when she saw him down. Jasmine didn't want to give up, but there was no choice. She couldn't go on, when Tarian and Adella were disabled. They were embraced at her feet, still pointing weapons and hissing at the closing circle of enemies, but their injuries were too great for them to continue the battle. The Kreedens might not kill Kain, but they would definitely kill them. And so Jasmine made a hard choice.
" Drop your weapons. "; she said to her weary siblings
" No… "; Adella sighed :" We will rather die. "
" It will be different this time… It has to be. "; Jasmine whispered tossing Malice away.
Tarian hesitated a while and than hurled his flamesword too. Adella shivered and just drop her axe, bowing her head to hide her despair. They just had to believe that things will be different this time, now that Kain is there with them.
A medical teem was placing Jordana's battered body on a bed inside a transport vehicle. She was smiling, enjoying her wounds and above all her sweet victory. It was an ecstasy. Her plan to plant a small tracker in Adella's portion of blood, the other night proved to be efficient. The poor girl didn't even noticed as it went down her throat. Even now, her men were binding unbreakable shackles over the sleeping vampire overlord and the word got to her that Jasmine and her siblings surrendered.
" Alive… "; she muttered :" … I want them alive… "
She didn't care about Adella and Tarian but she needed Jasmine to undo the Pillars curse, once Kain is re-educated. But still she was too week to see she was asking her men to capture all three alive. The only thing that didn't go as planed was the sword, now stuck in a tip-down position. They could move the thing around with great difficulty, but not lift it or knock it over no meter how much they tried. It just hovered like that pointing at the earth's core. But still, victory was hers and the only peace missing was the Machine of spinning mirrors…
Lazaruss : How about that, huh ? Huh ?