Title: "God plays dice"

Spoilers: For whole series.
Rating: T for violence, language, sexual situations
Subjects: Drama, crossover ("Vampire: Bloodlines" game,) action/adventure.

Chapter 1

The scintillating liquid lapped against the pool's stone edges, heaving gently, never still, despite the room's serene environment. Something very large pulsed far below, as if with breath, and the Oracle's words echoed unpleasantly in Kain's mind.

Kain knelt by the edge, eyes narrowed. "If Avernus is in flames, Raziel is five centuries beyond my reach," he said.

The voice emerged again from everywhere, from nowhere. "I may aid you in this regard as well..."

The surface of the pool seemed to tear, splitting and brightening, ripples becoming half-hinted images. Silhouettes emerged and hid again, traces of possibility in constant flux.

"This portal will transport you in time to the very hour that Raziel arrives in Avernus."

The portal – if such it was – seemed just as wet and unwelcoming as the liquid from which it had been formed. And this Oracle – why had Kain not encountered it before? Those creatures Kain had met who claimed knowledge of the future invariably proved manipulative and deceitful – even, or perhaps especially, Kain himself. Kain hesitated.

The oracle seemed to sense his distrust. "This task is yours to carry out... since it was you who made him what he is. When you are ready, you may pass through."

Kain knew, of course, that this self-styled 'Oracle' was not to be trusted. But in the end, what choice did he have? He stepped forward into twisting ribbons of light, into the gut-wrenching sensation of travel over vast distances, even as his body insisted he'd gone nowhere at all.

And stepped out…

…into empty, night-blue sky.

"Hash'ak'gik! Hash'ak'gik! Hash'ak'gik!"

Raziel rounded a corner to the roar of many voices in a small space, the echoes rising as if from Hell itself.

"The blood of our first born do we sacrifice to you!" It took a long few moments for the last reverberation to fade, but Raziel heard clearly a choked cry, the gush of blood splashing. Strange that the sound should remain a comfort to him, even in his… current condition.

The worshipers seemed to feel that they'd completed something important. Raziel could hear nothing over their chanting as they departed, the echoes confounded all more dire sounds. He crept forward as they left, futilely peering down into the void. He couldn't even see the bottom from here. Was this the dreaded 'Unspoken' that Vorador had warned him about?

One step further, eyes glinting as he searched the darkness.

A pebble crumbled underfoot.

Swift as a hunting spider, a force seized Raziel, dragged him down. The wraith hardly had a moment to scrabble for the edge before he stuck bottom with a brittle crunch. Old bones and wetter things crushed and scattered from the impact.

And in the darkness, something very large began to move.

Avernus consumed itself before Kain's eyes, the city writhing with flames, the central cathedral alone untouched, still magnificent.

The main gates of Avernus opened slowly before him, as if daring him to cross the threshold. Kain felt his lips stretch in a kind of a smile. Who was he to reject such an invitation?

The city was paved in blood and flesh; Avernus lay in ruins. Bodies lay draped over the broken bones of buildings. Whatever had slaughtered the people had ravaged the city as well. Something very large, or very powerful, had come this way, wrecking havoc howsoever it willed.

Kain had to admire its sense of style.

Fallen buildings and makeshift barricades formed a tangled warren of routes throughout the dying city. Smoke and bloodscent filled the air, alternately confounding Kain's sense of direction and enticing him – the gore that would have appalled him life only tempted him in death.

Unfortunately, the totality of the destruction left few humans alive. The bodies, dead by hours or days, could offer no more than a few mouthfuls of dust-ridden blood. The corpses grew marginally fresher as Kain worked his way towards the heart of the city, but the shrieks and roars of unnatural of slaughter grew louder, too.

Kain vaulted to the top of a barricade, crouching to avoid presenting a silhouette as he crested the rubble. His caution proved wise; in the broken plaza beyond, a man-sized creature, vaguely reptilian, pulled a screaming child from the deep niche in which the human had taken refuge. Cackling, the creature ripped the child's flailing arms from the torso. It snapped bites of each before flinging the limbs wetly away. The torso it continued to rend, sampling organs, spreading gore some twenty feet.

What a profligate waste of blood.

Kain examined the creature as it ate for perhaps half a minute, noting its speed, its claws, the way it moved. Kain returned his two great axes to their sheaths across his back and drew instead his plain iron sword, breathing the arcane words that wreathed it in flames. At last, the demon let fall the bare ribcage and raised its head, searching insatiably for more prey. Its eyesight seemed good and, once it started looking, the creature spotted Kain soon enough.

The beast paused for a moment, drooling in anticipation of the fine meal he saw before him. Kain smiled. He readied himself, thighs tensing with the unholy strength necessary to launch death-pale vampire and finely forged steel into devastating attack. The beast would be disappointed; he would not find Kain such easy prey.

Note: There are three timelines, and two Kains, at play in this story. If you find the variation too confusing, let me know.