Lazaruss :" The final chapter and the end of it all. Sorry about delay, and the lack of lyrics, but I had no time… Here you go, and good riddance !"

Dawn was less than two hours away. Humans have departed, and the Servants were starting to remove the tables, cups and other spent artifacts. Vampires were gone as well. The night was tiresome, and a day of rest and comfort would do most of them good. Up until now, Kain was hardly enjoying or hanging around, rather than keeping to his lonely side. He did speak to all of them, giving them advices for the future, and receiving their courtesy, but to him it was more a formality. A behavior his offspring acknowledged, and didn't hold against him. After all he was Kain. And than he changed that.

Adella left with Tarian to the darkness of their private quarters, but before Jasmine and Alex could follow their example, he came to their presence, almost startling them :

" Jasmine, "; he said :" we would have a word with Alex. "

She looked at her husband. He was just as puzzled, and a bit frightened. Almost like he didn't want to face him alone, perhaps because he was still largely human in person. Most humans believed Kain to be the greatest evil ever in recorded history, so much, that mothers have ceased naming their sons by that name. Alex had strong principles and did not change his mind lightly.

So, smiling shrewdly, Jasmine just gave Alex a nod, before departing. Like with her, he'll have to learn on his own and get to know Kain before he changes his view.

" You needn't be so thence, child. "; Kain spoke tending to sound less dry than usual :" Just a conversation, on your way home. Nothing more. "

Alex tried not to swallow, nor to look nervous, but at this point it was the hardest thing in the world. His overlord turned and led him to the horses. Though Nosgoth had developed many advanced methods of travel, riding a horse was a rediscovered enjoyment, and it swiftly got back in fashion. Alex' horse was a beautiful black gelding, with high cheekbones and shining hair. Triumph did Alex call it. It was already saddled and waiting.

The servants were still removing the remnants of the celebration, as Kain and Alex departed, Alex in the saddle and Kain leading the horse by the reins. It was a bit unpleasant. After all Alex could ride and didn't need anyone to guide his horse, but he kept it to him self. For some reason, Kain wanted to guide the horse as he was pacing by his side.

Zatarra sanctuary was far to the east, and the road there was mostly covered in grass and bordered with woods. The slightly hilled terrain seemed like a perfect isolated place, where wild nature was left to flourish unchecked. As night was about to withdrawn, the first nightly creatures started to retire back into their dens and holes, fleeing before the morning light. Crickets were quieting down, fireflies became scarce, and what little of each remained was scattering away before their passing.

But the beauty of nature had no impact on Alex this time. Not now when he felt like being under a microscope. Kain never tossed a glance at hi direction, but somehow, Alex thought he constantly had his eyes on him. At one point he tried to reverse the situation, focusing his attention and what ever senses he possessed on Kain, but the more he studied him the more did he have the feeling like an ant studying an elephant. It made him even more uncomfortable.

They were well on their way, when Kain broke the long silence :

" You don't trust us. "

It was not a question. Alex cleared his throat :

" I'm… sorry if that offends you. "; he said

" It doesn't. "

Silence retained again for a moment or two, before Alex continued :

" It's just that… you have a reputation. "

" A reputation… "; Kain sighed :" A reminder, not to be forgotten. Oh, how they hurt… memories. Red-hot pokers stabbed deep. The earth was watered with tears, and the rivers filthy with flesh. Laughter was erased from people's faces, and hope was scattered on winds of our rage uniting them all under a banner of woe. Not even death was a relief, and the sole choice was submission or suffering. "

A stab of guilt seemed to spread around him and for an instant Alex felt it. The air seemed to became more cold than it actually was, forcing him to shiver :

" Why are you telling me this ?"

" It is our driving urge. "; Kain sighed again :" Bitter poisons are the fuel which powers our heart and makes it pump. To truly understand us, you must understand the cause of us. "

" But why did you select me ? I mean, there are others you could reveal your self to. Someone older and more understanding. Lady Adella, or… "

" Because Jasmine selected you. "; their eyes finally met :" You know her better than perhaps any one. Tell us of her. "

His voice wasn't commanding, but it didn't have to be. A smallest hint of order in the back was more than enough for Alex. He didn't want Kain to develop some inappropriate plans for Jasmine's future but he definitely had no choice in the meter. So he went on about how they met, and everything that happened in her life since. He didn't know whether it was what Kain wanted to hear, but he seemed to be listening closely. Finally he spoke :

" Would you see her burdened more than she is, at the cost of a greater good ?"

Alex gave a start. This wasn't going to his liking :

" What… what greater good ?"

Kain seemed to be considering :

" It doesn't meter. "; he spoke :" It is a far to heavy and dangerous duty, though she is more than worthy. She does not deserve such faith. If it is within our power, we'll try to protect her from it. "; he met Alex' gaze again :" Do not mention this to her. "

Alex almost shivered in an instant rage that caught his heart. He had no secrets before Jasmine, and he had no intention of having them. Despite what Kain says.

" With all due respect… "; he started angry

Silence took hold again. Kain's eyes seemed like gateways into purest white fires. The glare he gave was enough to tear the heart out of stone. Alex gulped as he lowered his sight. Disobedience could be expensive in this conversation. He was not used to such a strict order of command. Sires and fledglings had no peculiar status in the three houses, except for a teacher and a pupil relationship, they tended to hold. But there were no orders or forcing, only recommendations and advices. Kain was a hard and demanding master at best. His tolerance was very low and his patience limited. Instant compliance was what he expected, with no questions asked, or one would arouse his anger, something most unpopular.

" We see… "; Kain said :" …that you are much like her in many ways. "

His gaze seemed to soften and he turned, leading them on. Alex loosened up. Close as he was to ticking him off, he was still set in his principles :

" With all due respect, I won't hide anything from her. "

" Would you say that she is overjoyed ?"; Kain just asked as if he changed the subject

" Well… yes. "; Alex frowned

" So much that she'll blindly accept anything we intend for her ?"; he gazed back at him :" If she asks, we won't be able to deny her. "

The point was obvious.

" I won't tell her. "; Alex sighed

And than he got wondering. During this conversation, Kain scared him, intrigued him, manipulated him, and made him hold his wife in the dark of something he didn't even know what it was.

" What is this grater duty you have in mind ?"; he asked

Kain went silent for a while.

" The Second of the Nine. "

" I don't understand. "

" You are not suppose to. What meters is that she doesn't get that burden. At least not yet. Our greatest gift to our loving daughter. "

They went on in silence again. Dawn was already cracking over the trees on the horizon bathing the sky in orange. In the end, it wasn't what Alex expected. Kain wasn't what he expected. But still, he was on edge around him, tending not to be caught by surprise. Finally, as they were a good few miles off the pillars, Kain released the rains of the gelding and spread his wings :

" We'll meat them tonight, but not you. "; he spoke to him :" Jasmine will come on her own. "

" But… "

" There is a limit to our tolerance, Alex. "; he growled at him as he separated from the ground :" Adella, Tarian and Jasmine will come to us alone !"

It was too much. Alex wanted to protest. He wanted to shout, to rage. Instead he just dropped his head and nodded surprising him self. Without a word he gave his consent, even though every alarm bell he could name was going crazy in his head. There was something wrong with that. He felt it wrong. Tonight was suppose to be painful.

Afraid ? Was he afraid of this… Kain ? Was he thinking that he will harm him or Jasmine ? Or their house or others for that meter ? The truth was he didn't know what Kain will do and that made him very frightened. Swallowing hard he shouted after him, just as he was reaching for the sky :

" What will you do ? What do you want ? What will you do to them tonight ?"

Kain stopped in his flight. He hovered there a while and than glided down before him. He was now evaluating him more closely, forcing Alex to tuck him self into his coat.

" You want to know, child ?"; he asked :" The present alone is heavy enough and trough our eyes, ten times as much ! Not to mention of the past and the future. Do you really want to see all that we see ?"

" Will you hurt them ?"; Alex whispered

They were both silent for a moment

" Yes. "; Kain spoke

" Why ?"

" Because we love them… What ever it means to us at this point, we love you all. You are our offspring, the blood of our blood. "

" I'm not your… "; Alex started and swallowed the rest. He couldn't deny the bond between him and his Overlord. Though he'd like to :" I want to know… what will you do to them. "

There was no backing away in Alex' eyes. He glared straight at this ancient being with a heart purged of life and a mind pure of all instincts.

" Rob them… of their sire. "; Kain spoke and within seconds vanished in the clouds

The clock in the tombs was hitting the bell. A new detail they found upon their arrival. Clean and penetrating gongs rippled trough the shadow and the skeletal crypts vibrated on it. The three elders paced slow and steady towards Kain's living quarters in his mausoleum. Before tonight, the edifice was sealed and empty, kept undisturbed for hundreds of years and now torches burned on the walls, his presence whispered of welcomes and their footsteps were tearing the ancient slumber of local remains. After he was gone, they have made sure this place endured as it was, no meter what it takes, closing all the lids and cracks and preserving everything intact. A memorial to their sire.

But though they walked calm, there was great unease within them. They were old enough to know the taste of what lies ahead, and though there was hope that things will turn up well, it was more the fear of the inevitable that guided their heart beets. Something was about to happen, something that was not going to be pleasant for…

His scream brought up the worse. All the tranquility shattered like crystal dust and with big eyes and bare fangs they rushed to Kain's aid. His scream rose again, weaker and thunders cracked outside trough the clear night, rising the wind along with his roar. The very land was crying along with him, a testament of a most horrid act. But once they broke in the big room, the sight froze them in their tracks.

Kain's personal quarters, the place he was berried once long ago, longer than recorded history could recall, perhaps longer than time it self. A dark and moldy place, high in its walls and toned in green and brown with a carpet of crumbled bones and a bare trace of anything human. The tapestry of their sire as a white knight in his past life has all but faded and decomposed, under dust and spider webs, but its threads still held together just like Kain's memory. The book pedestal at which he'd occasionally read, was toppled down, his white marble desk and coffin were all cracked and crumbled, and clouds of rushing sand and ash, aroused by the act still danced close to the floor.

Overcoming her self as fast as she could, Adella slowly bended down and picked up the long blood-stained bone.

" …why… ?"; she asked with tears in her big eyes

Thorns that emerged trough the leather and skin sunk into her palms as she squeezed over it, but she didn't care. Another similar bone lied next to her feet. Tarian gulped and Jasmine restrained from making any sudden move. She approached her sire and kneeled on the floor beside him, taking his head in her arms. He was smiling and sobbing, with golden tears running down his wrinkled face and than he seemed more old than they ever saw him. Blood of his vanes was merging with the shattered bones and instead of wings, two large peaces of crimson-stained brown leather were rumpling like sheets of cloth beneath him.

He ripped them out. One and than the other. The soul reaver was stabbed in the ground at the center of the room with its hollow eyes watching and seeing everything. Kain was barely breathing or moving. It was not the lack of strength, nor illness nor weakness. It was something deep down which could not be removed, nor ignored. It was a scar which finally faded and the realization was more powerful than anything any enemy could do, rendering him helpless like a child. But the child did whisper.

" …Do you know what it's like to hate as I have hated… to rage as I have raged and to burn… oh to burn with each second of each day… for so long… "; they all gathered around him just to be close. They could find no words as they were kneeling there motionless watching and listening :" … I've lived only for my enemies… My life was their existence, a price I wanted, I demanded for what was done to me… but even they were like I am and the more I despised them… the more I came to realize that venom is what I have become as well… Them and us… a flesh of fear, bent only on our battle… "

" What are you talking about ?"; Tarian shouted trough tears and pain :" You don't have to punish your self any more ! You have redeemed !"

" Not before tonight… "; Kain whispered and his tears appeared to have run out, but he still seemed… fragile :" Tonight I was. Guilt has dried out… My chains have fallen… A monster designed by the Hylden… just as they too were designed into monsters… But tonight I am at last… f… free… I am free… "

" Why your wings… ?"; Jasmine whispered :" They were so beautiful… "

" Yes… They were… beautiful… beautiful… But also hideous… They were Raziel's gift, not mine… I hated. It was all I knew how to do… I ripped them off his back and cast him away… infecting him with hate… I hated and spread the hate for hate was what I was… what I am… what I'll always be… "

He slowly got up to a sitting position looking at the torn and broken bones. They were in Adella's hands. She was holding them like a relic, hugging them on her chest ignorant of the blood staining her dress. Fat roots of the supporting bones now leaking with blood ware still braking out of his back, but now about a half a foot long with a few white thorns and still a part of the leather that was once stretching over them.

" I sacrificed my gift for the gift of freedom. "; Kain said with a strange joy :" The price is paid in full. "

" It is. "

They all turned to the reaver, stabbed in the rocky floor. It was cutting light it self with its sharpness and the shadow fell from it in all possible directions :

" At last you have earned your redemption, father. At last you have become me. "

Kain stood up and came to it, placing his hand on the hilt. Without a word he kneeled before it and hugged it as if he was hugging a person :

" Thank you… "; he muttered, and than placing it on his back, he faced his three children :" We have one final gift for you… "

At his gesture a wooden box hovered from the shades and glided before their feet. Clicking open, it revealed the ancient rolls of paper, scripts who seemed as old as he, but remarkably preserved by his will and power.

" Our most prized possession, both Kain's and Raziel's. A gift of a new world which must not remain undiscovered. "

Unrolling one script, Adella read out loud :

" Naryah ?"; she didn't know how she managed to reed it. This text was on an unfamiliar language and yet she could tell every word or a sign, but it was the least of her worries at the present

" The root of the world… "; Kain said :" The place where it all begun… The place we will now depart to… "

Shocked, they rose their sight at him :

" No… "; Jasmine whispered at the brink of tears :" Don't leave us again… "

" The time will come when there will be need of us once more, but that time has yet to come… "

" You've… just returned…"; Tarian whimpered :" and you are leaving us again ?"

" Half of us that is Kain… can not… endure in this world, no more than ice in the world of flame. We would loose our self before the need would ask, and that need we dare not face alone… "

" Don't !"; Adella spoke shaken :" We can… "

" But… I … can't. "; Kain spoke strongly grinding his teeth :" It is a shame to be so weak but a lie won't make it go away ! We HAVE to endure ! We have to depart… amongst the creator's dreams. It is the only way… "

Adella sighed, and got calm, though tears were running over her face. Dropping the wing-bones on the floor she came and hugged him. He hugged her back and than she bowed her head and kissed his hand. As she stepped back, Tarian came and did the same, and than Jasmine. All three backed away with the unshed tears making their eyes filled with diamonds.

Kain sat on the floor crossing his legs and placing his palms on his knees. Closing his eyes and with the reaver safely lied over his legs and knees, firmly protected by his claws, he stopped his breathing. As simple as that. He gave no more sign. His skin changed color becoming gray and hard, even his clothes and the soul reaver slowly departed beneath the stone. The two of them became a statue, made in gray metallic marble with a few hints of greenish vanes that would not sub come to this transformation. At last Kain and Raziel were at peace.

" We'll se you on the other side… "; Adella whispered.

And the three of them took their sire's legacy, taking his gifts and his stone body away and leaving forever the empty tomb to stand as long as time would allow. And they hid him where he would await his time and where a need would come to bring him back amongst them, with his mighty sword and the will that was never, ever, broken…

Lazarus : The end.