Although it was often that Melchiah visited Zephon within the silenced cathedral, getting into Melchiah's room was somewhat of a chore. It was preferable for Zephon to come to Melchiah's residence, but Zephon was all too often becoming reluctant to go outside his territory. It wasn't impossible or too ridiculous to get there, but it was enough of a chore showing that at least the humans had put up a good effort in trying to keep vampires out of the place before the cathedral had been taken over. Zephonim scurried away as he walked along the corridors and Melchiah began to feel self-conscious. He glanced down at his claws and noticed the fresh cracks already running along the skin, but dismissed it once he approached the doors to Zephon's room, the Zephonim symbol on each door reflecting each other. Melchiah didn't bother to knock, simply swinging the doors open. He had informed Zephon he would be coming today anyway.
It turned out, however, that he wasn't the only person to visit Zephon at the moment. Melchiah was surprised to see Turel in the room, who apparently had been in the middle of a conversation with Zephon before Melchiah interrupted them with his presence.
"Ah, greetings Melchiah." Zephon greeted. "Zephon." Melchiah nodded to his brother. "And Turel... Good to see you"
Turel simply smiled and nodded back in return. "From what I've heard though, you had disappeared for a while. Something to do with Raziel"
"Hmmn? Oh yes, well, unfortunately I couldn't find him"
"Apparently Turel has had a rough journey as so far and now that he's here it is our duty to provide him with some hospitality." Zephon explained, indicating Turel.
"Right. I'm sure." Melchiah shrugged, inwardly groaning. "But let fledglings take care of that. While we wait, maybe you can explain..." Melchiah stopped when he felt Zephon's claw grabbed him by the wrist. "What are you..." Melchiah asked, startled. He noticed the doors behind him slam shut, and glared at Zephon to Turel, his look demanding Zephon to tell him what was the reason for this behavior. But a reasonable explanation was all that Melchiah was expecting, and Zephon took him by surprise when he twisted Melchiah's arm behind his back.
"Aaaaaaaaaah! Zephon, why are you doing this?" Melchiah demanded, and looked to Turel for help, but Turel wasn't moving to help. His eyes, however, briefly flashed a glowing green. The slow, confident walk Turel made towards Melchiah unnerved him, eerily reminding Melchiah of how a vampire would hold down its prey before...
The thought was enough to convince Melchiah to get out of there. He used his newly gained ability and became insubstantial, his claw passing through Zephon's grasp, allowing Melchiah to get up and stagger back. He glanced from Zephon to Turel, enraged. "How dare you attack me! Why did you do that?" Melchiah demanded. But his two elder brothers ignored his barrage of questions. Instead, Turel hissed. "Get him!" It was warning enough for Melchiah, and he gave one final scowl at his brothers before turning for the door, but found the heavy thing was locked. The youngest lieutenant backed off from the door as a green bolt of energy splashed off the door, just missing his face. He spun to face Zephon, who was running up to him. But Melchiah wasn't taking any chances.
Something strange was going on with both Turel and Zephon, and he figured it was best if he consulted someone else about it. As Zephon approached he dove for the ground, disappearing into it, leaving Zephon and Turel staring at the spot they last saw Melchiah. Melchiah heard one of them cursing as he reappeared on the other side of the door, and made a bolt for it. He wasn't too sure what was going on. He had heard Raziel had gone nuts, but didn't know too much about it. Perhaps the insanity was because of some contagion? But then what kind of contagion would affect the undead?
Kain had been having better luck than Turel had as he searched for both him and Raziel. He at least had caught Raziel's scent to the far North, and had followed it to some field on the edges of some long-disused stone shrine, which Raziel had apparently been in. Kain looked around, but didn't find anything too spectacular. As Kain searched, he could tell Raziel had stayed there for sometime but had already departed. It was a simple, small stone building with crumbling statues lining the sides, and holes in the stone roof allowing in slants of sunlight here and there. All in all, it was actually a nice serene place.
Kain didn't see much of particular interest, and was about to leave, when he caught sight of a symbol on the far wall out of the corner of his eye; a serpentine sword on a background of concentric circles. Kain was certain he had never been in this place before, or at least not as far as his memory served. He produced his famous blade and used it like a key to open the stone door which the soul reavers symbol was set on. It slid aside, and Kain stepped forward. Raziel would not have entered the place; he didn't have the key to it. But Kain was curious enough to look inside anyway. The next room looked the same as the last one, although the roof looked a touch more secure, and this room did have a large statue of some being, kneeling down with a plate in it's hands, and on that plate was a simple silver bracelet.
And that was it. Whatever token the bracelet was, it didn't have anything else to protect it other than a door to which the reaver was the key. No puzzles, no traps, just a simple statue presenting a bracelet to Kain. He picked up the bracelet and examined it. It was big enough for even a large being like him to wear; it was silver, and patterned like a snake eating itself. It had to be of some use other than decoration, if the secure door was any indication. Kain slipped it on hesitantly, but nothing seemed to happen. Perhaps it had something to do with the soul reaver? Kain produced the blade from his back again, feeling the hilt from behind and growling as the blade sliced against his back slightly. Although it was his best weapon, it was a pain to carry, he thought to himself. But as he brought it forth, the reaver disappeared right in front of his eyes.
Kain stared at his hand for a while in disbelief. He was certain he had the reaver right there. He felt his back for a moment, but found nothing. He looked around the room, but he saw no sign of the blade. No, Kain was certain it had something to do with the bracelet he had just found. Angrily he ripped it off and threw it at the ground, sending sparks flying as it struck the stone floor. His soul reaver didn't come back though, and Kain realized that having a fit over a bracelet wasn't going to fix things. Instead, he relented, and picked the bracelet up. Perhaps if he could take a better look at it he could find way to bring back the soul reaver. He took the thing and left, still feeling irritated, although he didn't dare wear it again. He had already lost two of his sons, and now he had lost the reaver. He felt certain that things couldn't get any worse.
Little did he know just how much he would regret thinking those thoughts, and jinxing everything...