Raziel I

The insolent girl was already giving me a headache and arguing with her was wasting precious time. All that mattered was finding the last of the ancient vampire race left alive, Janos Audron, to get the answers I needed.

I may have exchanged only a few sentences with the teenager, but I could already tell she did not possess the mental capabilities necessary to outsmart Moebius. She would have been able to escape the Sarafan Stronghold only if the Time Streamer had wanted it so.

Since I was not interested in babysitting and had no desire to walk into one of Moebius' traps yet again, I resumed hiking towards the mountains in the direction of Janos's retreat, intent on leaving the girl behind. Her presence was a mystery, but a mystery I did not care to solve.

I was forced to stop when she jumped in front of me, several inches shorter and with no more muscle mass or definition than a young boy. Her pale face was twisted in determination, large sapphire eyes staring aggressively at me. It was as if she was unaware of her stature and hoped to intimidate me. She failed miserably. Moebius had dressed her in an outfit very similar to his own, although much less ornate, another confusing detail in all of this.

"Hey! Stop!" She held her hand palm-outward to halt me. "I might be able to remember a thing or two Moe told me. The stories were SO boring but I'm sure I have information to help you do...whatever you're doing!"

"Might I remind you, little girl, that I could strike you down as I struck down those dogs," I said menacingly, swatting her hand away, but to my bewilderment, she shrugged nonchalantly.

"I told you — the name's Vera. And we both know you're not going to do that."

"Do we?" I asked rhetorically. "Quite a show of confidence for someone who only moments prior was cowering in fear."

She responded with yet another shrug, "Just give me a sec to think, okay?"

I watched, bemused, as her face scrunched up, eyes closed and hands balled into fists. The full moon must have been playing tricks on my eyes, for there appeared to be a faint white glow emanating from her hands as she focused on her memories.

"I know I've heard about a...Kain? And an Elder God? Some Pillars? But wait — there's more!" Her eyes opened back up, frantically searching my face for approval, "Okay, maybe there's not more, but he checked on me EVERY year from the time I was a BABY so I'm doing YOU a favor by coming with —"

"Enough." I cut her off. It was clear she knew nothing of importance, just names she'd picked up from Moebius's stories. But she was right about one thing — if he had taken that much of an interest in her to visit yearly, she must play a pivotal role in his schemes. If nothing else, if she was being truthful, she would be a great bargaining chip.

I was not looking forward to the long trip ahead with this irritation by my side, but if she did prove to be too troublesome, I reasoned that I could always cut her life short in an instant if I so chose.

"We will be going through a swamp, then headed up a mountain. We'll have to do some hiking to get to the top, but I believe the person we find there will grant me resolution."

Her triumphant expression suddenly faltered. "You want me to HIKE? On PURPOSE?"

"That is usually how it works," I deadpanned, then began walking. I had wasted too much time already thanks to this cantankerous woman.

"Maybe that person can figure out what I'm doing here, too!" She scrambled up next to me with a grin, then winced and began itching at her clothes, "I get why you're not wearing any actual clothes because this Nosgoth fabric SUCKS, but why keep the scarf on? Naked with just a scarf is a BOLD fashion choice!"

I didn't dignify her prying with an answer. This pest was going to take some getting used to.

We walked on for over half an hour, passing through the swampy forest. It was quite a different landscape than the open plain near the Stronghold. Crooked trees surrounded us, the air was dense with fog, and the vampire Vorador's crow spies watched us from a distance. Of course, the girl noticed none of it. She was too preoccupied with giggling at the noises her boots were making when they went into and pulled out of the muddy ground.

I knew the vampire Vorador was no threat to us. Though neither of us trusted the other, we had a common enemy in Moebius. The crows seemed to examine her more closely than they did me. Perhaps Vorador thought me imprudent to be traveling with this straggler, a thought I myself entertained as the girl prattled on.

"Hey, so like, I get why you'd hate Moe because he sucks a fat one, but what'd he do to you? Did he steal your clothes, too? Is that why you're naked? I guess I'm lucky he gave me this getup — even if it is ugly and itchy." She had lost interest in her boots and her attention landed squarely back to me.

Moebius' main intention was always to deceive, to manipulate, to twist a situation to his favor. I felt a flare of anger as I thought about how foolish I had been to trust the Time Streamer in the first place. Instead of sending me to the past to meet Janos as I had asked him to, he had propelled me into a dystopian nightmare, what he claimed to be the future of Nosgoth, in his attempt to manipulate me against Kain.

I had been lucky enough to find an old Time Streaming chamber of his in that future, and though I had never used one before, I had been able to send myself to the past after all. It was only a matter of time before he figured out I had made it here despite his treachery, and continued to try and throw me off the right path to figuring out my fate.

"Moebius's trickery knows no bounds," I answered curtly, not wanting to encourage conversation.

"That was helpful." She rolled her eyes. "Are you on a daily word limit or something? I bet mimes talk more than you. I've never actually met a mime, but they seem a lot less scary than clowns. One time, at the state fair, a clown was hitting on my cousin, so I punched him square in the nose. It made the honk noise and everything. Then, we got some churros and..."

Her useless stories and constant references to things I did not understand were drowned out by my thoughts of Janos and figuring out my role in all of this.

Would he be like the murals depicted him? Evil, powerful, and bent on torturing and destroying all humans? Would I have to deliver unto him my newfound nuisance for sustenance before he would help me? That seemed a small price to pay, especially if she was Moebius' lapdog. The images I had seen of Janos showed him as a demon who had terrorized and tortured the townspeople of the nearby town of Uschtenheim.

Until recently, I myself had believed it as well - I'd thought Janos a monster, and the Sarafan virtuous defenders of humanity. I had been a Sarafan in my human life, and I suppose I thought that what I'd accomplished during that time meant that I was still entitled to some of the integrity I had earned through my deeds as one of them. Deeds I could not remember in my current life but had thought to be noble and just.

However, when I had arrived in this time, I had seen dozens of vampires brutalized and left to rot on pikes. The Sarafan seemed to delight in their kills and proud displays of violence, and with that realization, my idealization for my past life had ended. I should not have been surprised to see such violence, knowing Moebius was their leader.

I decided to reserve my judgment concerning Janos until I met him myself.

"It smells like BUTT," my companion exclaimed loudly, jolting me from my contemplation as she pinched her nose. "I know Shrek was supposed to be gross, but for him to CHOOSE to live in a place that smells like this seems preeeeetty unrealistic if you ask me. This mud is so sticky! It's - AH!"

A loud squelching noise made me turn around to see she had fallen forward into the muddy ground. She had broken the fall with her hands and knees, but a horrified grimace spread across her face as if she'd been stabbed.

"Now I smell like butt…" she whispered to herself, despondent, but then when she noticed I had turned around to look at her, she scrambled back up, almost losing her balance again. "I meant to do that! Parkour!"

I kept on without a word. Perhaps this was Moebius's plan all along — he'd meant for me to cross paths with the girl and had counted on her aggravating me to death.

"Are you ignoring me?!" She caught up with me, each step producing an even louder wet squishing noise than before, as she glowered incredulously at me, as if I'd missed a recitation of epic poetry, not her crude proclamations and pratfall.

"I apologize if I did not make that more clear," I said sarcastically. "Yes, I am."

"WOAH! LOOK!" Her arm suddenly darted across my face to point at The Pillars of Nosgoth, undeterred by my comment. "Are those THE Pillars I've heard Moe old-man ramble about!? Those things look like they're going up past the sky!"

They did, and she had been much closer to them when she was at the Stronghold, but I was not going to engage with her. She quickly lost interest in them, noticing she'd gotten my attention when her finger flew toward my face. She circled back to ask about my 'scarf.'

Continuing to pay her no attention only seemed to lead to even more protestation and more whining. I was incensed at the sound of her grating voice as she continued to probe.

"This is why," I finally snapped, my voice rising, ripping off the cowl with my clan sigil on it to reveal my grotesque face. "Kain, who you mentioned earlier, did this to me. I'm a revolting wretch. A shell of my former self."

Vera's already large eyes seemed to bulge out of her head. She grabbed at her own jaw and felt at it, as if making sure it hadn't been lost as mine had. Good. I had finally gotten her to stop talking out of sheer shock and disgust. I threw the cowl back over my exposed face and continued on.

Several silent minutes passed. Finally, she opened her mouth, "I don't think you're gross. You've got great hair, and can beat up monsters. I think you look like a superhero. I mean, look at this blue skin!" Her warm hand slid up my exposed arm and I drew back sharply at the foreign sensation and the discomfort it caused.

I had not been handled so gently for many years. My skin had spent half a millenium burning as I tumbled through the abyss. Following that, what was left of it had been nothing but aggressed by creatures hell bent on seeing my demise.

"Oook, so ya don't like being touched. Good to know. Sooo, how do you eat? Cuz I'm trying to imagine you shoving a turkey sub up in there, but without a jaw...or lips...or anything...where would it even go?" She stroked her chin as if her words were some philosophical question for the ages.

Why couldn't this small woman with utterly no boundaries just fear me like the rest of her kind?

pWe were approaching the village said to be preyed on by Janos Audron. His retreat was on the highest mountain top, visible from the moment we reached the clearing of the swamp./p

"Woah, it's like the Renaissance festival. Lookit how old timey everything looks AND WARM! Every house has a lit fireplace in those huuuge no privacy windows! Let's bust into one of 'em!" Vera made to hurry forward toward the town, but I put my arm out, stopping her. "What, don't you wanna warm up by a fire? The second we stepped outta the butt swamp, it started getting cold again!"

I should have known that it would have looked very inviting to a human, with its mix of colorful stone buildings and large, many windowed, half-timbered homes.

"We cannot go through Uschtenheim. It may be the early hours of the morning, but I'm sure there are guards in and around the perimeter. One look at me and they will attack on sight. We must go around it."

"Okay. I don't really wanna go into a town that sounds like a sneeze anyway." She rubbed at her arms, her eyes lingering longingly on the street lamps and the flames that danced inside them, at the warm firelight pooling in parlor and kitchen windows down the high street.

We made our way around the cottages, all the while Vera rambling about how she guessed the village did not have something called "Why-fie" and that she felt sorry they could not "watch Net flicks." The sentences I heard when I was unable to tune her out were purely nonsensical.

The base of the steep, rocky mountain contained a well-worn trail that I assumed had been put in place back when humans and the ancients were allies. I was curious as to why it was not blocked off, but assumed Janos had other traps in place to halt those who wished his demise. Surely, hiking it would be the easiest part of our trial.

The girl eyed the mountain up and down, looking overwhelmed, "I changed my mind — I wanna go back to sneeze town."

I began up the path without her, knowing I'd hear the fast-paced clambering of her feet and ragged breathing next to me soon enough.

The benefit of having to endure her disruptive panting was that she did not have the lung capacity to talk as much and breathe at the same time. It made the next forty five minutes of the trip much more endurable.

Tufts of green and yellow grass sprouted beneath our feet, thick and plentiful to either side of us. As our altitude climbed, it became clear the Sarafan had long abandoned their hope of reaching the vampire this way. The path became less worn and more wild. Rocks from the weather-beaten mountain littered the ground, and the girl who was already tripping over her own feet prior seemed to be stumbling with every step.

"How much...would you charge...for a piggyback ride...right now?" She caught up to me again, her face and ears a bright red from the trek and cold winds of the mountain. "I've got...seven dollars...in my sock drawer...back home...but I promise...I'm good for it."

There was suddenly a slight tremor to the ground and a crumbling sound progressively getting louder. I looked up and saw several boulders on the mountain had broken loose, making their descent down the hill toward us.

"Hey, WATCH OUT!" I felt Vera shove me hard, pushing me out of the way in an attempt to take my place in the boulders' path. Being crushed by a boulder simply would've sent me back to the Spectral Realm, but they surely would've killed my female companion.

What would compel her to voluntarily sacrifice her life for mine?! Foolish girl. I looked up from the ground, expecting to see her crushed body in a pile of rubble.

Instead, I saw the young girl still standing there, arms extended outward and glowing an amber yellow. The rocks were frozen in place, stationary in midair. She looked over to me in wonder gasping, "R-Raz? Am I doing this?"

She was. My immediate thought had been that she had deceived me and only pretended to be as inept as she had appeared to be at first, but the expression on her face showed this clearly came as a shock to her as well. This was telekinesis like Kain's, but Kain had developed his as one of his many "dark gifts," something vampires gained through time.

The girl was a sorceress. There was no other explanation. It would explain Moebius's interest, as well as how someone so thick-headed had managed to escape the Stronghold.

"This changes everything for us." I stood back up slowly, eyes darting from her hands to the rocks, still in disbelief.

For better or the worse, I couldn't be sure. Of course, having someone with me who wielded unfathomable power at her fingertips would prove valuable, but Moebius would most certainly come looking for his protégé.

She swung her hands effortlessly and the boulders flew above her head and down the rest of the mountain.

"There's an 'us' now, huh, Blue Guy? No more ignoring me?" She smiled smugly at me, then looked down at her still glowing hands. "I can't BELIEVE I'm Harry Potter! Except I'm even better than that nerd, because I don't even need a wand!"

I watched her touch her nose as it changed in shape to resemble several different animal noses as she laughed, cross-eyed, trying to look at it. So it was more than just the telekinesis. She was a sorceress, yes, and a powerful one at that. But how was this even possible? The Circle of Nine were the only humans capable of such strong magic and they had died off years ago, save for Kain and Moebius, which is why there could be no more. How was there another? And why had it taken as long as it had for her skills to manifest?

"I recommend being careful with those powers. You do not know how draining using magic could be for you, and I'm sure you'll need your strength to get through the trials we'll have to face to get to the vampire."

She stopped suddenly, looking dizzy. "You mean there's more we gotta do?!" she squeaked, frowning with a pig snout, "I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark." It went back to her normal nose, and she seemed to recover with a smile. "I wish my parents could see me! Who's below average now?!" There was suddenly an uncharacteristic sadness and softness in her voice as her smile faded. "I bet they probably haven't even noticed I'm gone."

"Judging by how vociferously you make yourself known —" I started my statement harshly, as an insult, but felt a peculiar pang of guilt. She had just put her life on the line for me when she barely knew me — she was owed some kindness. The rest came out in a more sympathetic tone, "I'm sure they're very aware you're no longer there."

"Thanks…I think. I don't know what vocfearos means, but it starts with V, and so does Vera, so it's gotta be good." She grinned gratefully, and then seemed to snap to attention, processing what I had said earlier. Her loud and manic questioning returned as her eyes bulged, "Wait, did I hear right about this dude we're seeing being a VAMPIRE? That is EPIC! Moe mentioned them, but I thought that was more old-dude rambling! This is so AWESOME!"

With a reaction like that, vampires must not have existed at all, when or wherever this girl was from.

No aspect of this woman seemed to make any sense. What game was Moebius playing by introducing this anachronistic girl to the equation?

The rest of the trail was spent with her joyfully prattling on about all of the things she planned on doing with her newfound powers while I pondered more about the ploy of Moebius, discontented by my lack of even the smallest clue.

"I'll turn my bed into a bunk bed, then I'll poof away all the empty pizza boxes in my room, aaand then I'll make the school flood whenever I have a test! Another thing I'd do is...WOW!"

She gaped at a massive set of ornate steel double doors that had been built into the rock itself that stood before us.

"So what's the deal with this dude? I get not liking people, but building your castle on top of a MOUNTAIN?" She scoffed after the shock of the sight had worn off, "With STEEL doors? This is all kind of extra."

"An order of humans led by Moebius called The Sarafan have been trying to kill Janos for years. Janos possesses wings, so his retreat at the top of a mountain protects him from them," I answered, pushing on the doors. They would not budge in the slightest. "Let's test out those powers of yours now, shall we?"

"Oh heck yeah!" She immediately marched confidently to the door and threw her arms out dramatically. A red glow surrounded her hands before the doors blew open as if they were weightless, almost flying off their hinges. She beamed back at me expectantly, waiting for praise.

"Good. I suspect there will be a few more tests before we get to the vampire. Be at the ready." I nodded to her, and she nodded back enthusiastically, doing a bizarre gesture that included lifting both of her thumbs up as we walked into the unknown together.

The room was pitch black, aside from torches on the bare walls lighting up a set of narrow stone stairs that stood before us in the center. There must have been hundreds of steps, ascending to a platform where I could barely make out another set of double steel doors. A large chunk of stair missing right at the middle would've connected the stairs to the landing with the doors — an easy obstacle that I could use my tattered wings to glide across.

"You lead," I motioned in front of me for Vera to start up the stairs. I could already tell from her fall in the swamp and from our trek up the mountain that she was clumsy. The narrowness of the steps could pose a challenge, and I intended to move faster than we had on our ascent here, as well as to keep an eye on the girl were she to lose her balance.

I waited for a few moments, but she refused to step forward. "If you are going to whine more about the damned exercise, I will —" I started angrily, turning around, ready to advance on her, but I saw she was looking up at the stairs with frightened eyes, her already pale coloring even paler. Her eyes darted over to me before fixing on the floor in embarrassment.

"I don't like heights, okay?" she mumbled quickly with a scowl, her eyes locking back on to mine as if daring me to mock her.

"You were completely fine walking up a mountain. So fine, in fact, that your loquaciousness knew no bounds until this very moment," I snapped, holding myself back from grabbing her by the scruff of her shirt and forcing her forward.

She was unbelievable.

She began animatedly gesturing to the mountain behind us, her voice rising in volume and octave, "Okay, LISTEN, the trail was actually wide enough that I didn't have to see the bottom or even think about it! I stayed on the inside of the path, which is the whole reason I was able to save your butt from those rocks!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "You're welcome for that, by the way!"

She hadn't truly saved anything of mine besides time she was now wasting, but it was an unnecessary argument. I had no idea why I was quarreling with her about her fear in the first place. Either she came with me or she did not.

"Alright, then. If you would rather stay here and wait for Moebius to find you, so be it. It makes no difference to me." I whirled around and started up the narrow stairs.

"Fine! I'm coming!" I heard her bark out behind me after a few seconds. "It doesn't help that all these candles make things super creepy. Ya know, everyone in Nosgoth could really learn something from the Property Brothers!"

That was the only quip she managed before I heard nothing but grunting every few seconds. Still loud, as it echoed around the almost empty room, but better than her constant talking. I turned to see what was causing her to make such odd noises to find that she was climbing the stairs on all fours like some kind of animal.

"Taking a primal approach?" I asked mockingly, stifling a chuckle at the absolutely ridiculous sight.

She caught me looking at her and paused mid-step, continuing to glare defiantly, "So what? I'm doing it, aren't I? Mind your business!"

That would be easy enough. I continued upward until I reached the large gap in the steps, getting a running start and grabbing the ends of what was left of my wings. I soared across the gap and landed gracefully on the other side.

"Those're WINGS?!" I heard shouted from behind me and was pleased to see she had caught up quickly with her unconventional method of travel. "I thought they were just pieces of skin that didn't fully fall off your skeleton or something!"

"I suspect you're going to need to rise up on your hind legs again if you want to use your powers," I continued to tease, and her scowl deepened, but she obeyed. "It should be unchallenging to lift yourself up and over this."

As she shakily took to her feet, her hands began to brighten up a fiery orange. Just as soon as I thought she'd had it, I saw her eyes dart below to the center of the chasm between the two of us, and the glow in her hands fizzled out. She began to wobble where she stood. "I can't do this!" she yelled hysterically.

"Vera," I started sternly when her powers completely died out, "You have to focus. You can do this."

She dropped down to all fours again, shaking her head and holding it in her hands, "You're just saying that because if I fall, you won't have to deal with me anymore!"

Surprisingly enough, this was not true. The girl had shown me her skills with magic were much more than I could've imagined — something that would aid me greatly on my journey. Not only that, but it was a change, not unpleasant, being spoken to like I wasn't an abomination, and though I didn't listen to most of her speech, it was better than the constant silence I normally faced. Not that I would ever admit to any of that.

"I'm not going to let you fall," I said as reassuringly as I could. It was a foreign tone for me, and came out sounding forced and hollow.

"What're YOU gonna do? Cuz I trust those 'wings' to carry both of us as much as I trust my magic right now!" She refused to look up, preferring instead to curl into a tighter ball on the stairs.

"Your powers stopped the rocks from coming down on me earlier. I know you can get yourself across this." I was getting impatient, but I was determined not to show it, lest it make her more anxious. She did not react. I sighed, then continued with all of the encouragement I could muster, "I believe in you."

Those seemed to be the perfect words. She paused a few moments, then nodded and straightened up.

She was still shaky, but she backed up, took a running start, and jumped. Just as I instructed, she hovered in midair, forcing herself onward toward me. Her palms, still glowing that fiery orange, were faced downward. She kept her terrified eyes on nothing but me, barreling toward me with a relieved smile that quickly faltered.

"Woah! Hold on!" She seemed unable to stop, finally dropping down on top of me. Her warm body felt so small compared to some of the foes that had thrown themselves on me in the midst of combat, but again, so much more uncomfortable. Her face was inches from mine and I could see the faint smattering of freckles on her nose, now disappearing a bit as she pinked.

"Sorry about that, sensei. Guess I overshot." She scrambled up, backing off and looking over the edge she'd just cleared, "I can't believe I did that! Princess Peach ain't got NOTHING on me!"

More references to things I did not understand gave me an excuse not to comment on the unintentional intimacy. The girl had yet to demonstrate an ounce of inhibition. I rose, turning toward the doors that stood before our next challenge.

"Let's move on." I turned back to her to see that she had sat down, looking lightheaded and pale again.

"Give me a break — I just FLEW!" She ran her fingers through her windswept hair, then her face scrunched in disgust, "I gotta eat an orange or something... Ugh, they're so gross." She ripped open her backpack and pulled out the citrus fruit.

It was odd that her fear of falling had caused her powers to wane. In times of high stress or anxiety, they should've been at their absolute peak. I expected her to be somewhat drained by their usage, but not to the point of needing to stop our journey entirely. Perhaps Janos could assist her. Having to break when we were so close was exasperating.

"Ya know, I totally almost got scurvy once a few years back," she was blissfully unaware of anything but the present moment in time. "Not fun. It's like Moebius wanted to kidnap AND torture me with this crap. I mean, when you had a jaw, you must've eaten fruit. It sucks, right?"

I stiffened, realizing I did remember. "'When I had a jaw,' as you so callously put it, I was a vampire. And even that was thousands of years ago. I have no memory of myself as a human at all, much less would I remember something as trivial as whether or not I've eaten a piece of fruit. I haven't been human since...since this time specifically."

"You're reminding me of Uncle Moe right now, talking in stupid riddles. What does that even mean?" Her head cocked as she threw an orange peel off the edge of the landing, sending it to the floor hundreds of feet below.

I sighed, realizing I'd have to explain in the simplest of terms both my situation and any historical context that would be useful to her now that she was an asset to my journey. This was to be as exhausting for me as using her magic was for her.

"We're currently in the past. I am here from the future where Janos has been dead for many years." I braced myself for denial or confusion, but instead, she pumped both fists victoriously.

"I knew we were in the past! It explains EVERYTHING! Like why I haven't seen a single car so we have to walk everywhere, but mostly why you're not laughing at any of my solid references!" She lit up excitedly. "Man, I am SO smart!"

"We have no time to devote to your delusions of grandeur." I chided, and was relieved by her puzzled expression. She'd had no idea what I'd said. I could continue without another burst of emotions from her.

"Moebius is a sorcerer like you, only unlike you, he has a specific kind of magic — Time Streaming. In fact, each member of the Circle of Nine, who are the only other sorcerers in recorded history, have just one specific facet of magic each at their disposal and were only created for one specific purpose. You remember the Pillars you almost jabbed your finger into my eye screaming about outside? Each sorcerer coincides with a Pillar."

"Uh, I think you mean when you thought you were too good to talk to me but then found out I had magical powers so you gave me the time of day?" She finished peeling her fruit and threw the last piece of the rind at me with her tongue out.

"Exactly," I said, picking it up, inspecting it, and then flicking it back at her. "They correspond with the well-being of Nosgoth. There's the Pillar of Time, obviously, which Moebius is the Guardian of. The rest are the Pillars and Guardians of Energy, Balance, States, Mind, Nature, Conflict, Dimension and Death. In my time, they are ruinous versions of what you see here."

"Ok, so that's a lot." She mumbled thoughtfully, biting into her fruit, "My favorite part was how I'm better than everyone else you just talked about, but now I gotta hear more about the Raziel of this time. Is he just as uptight? Does he have a thing for scarves too?"

"All that I know about myself is that in this time, I was — am — a human, and divine member of the Sarafan I mentioned earlier. My brothers and I dedicated ourselves to purging the land of vampires with Moebius as our leader. After our human selves die, Kain, the reason for the Pillar's demise, desecrated our tombs and turned us into his vampire sons. It was all some sick ironic joke to him."

"Moe was ALWAYS talking about how much he hated vampires. I still can't believe any of that stuff he told me is real… So Kain brought you back as a vampire, turned you into…whatever you are now, AND destroyed all the pillars?" Her brow furrowed deeply. She seemed intent on taking the information in, but didn't quite seem capable of comprehending it. "Busy dude."

"Eventually, yes. The Circle of Nine sorcerers became corrupted, as I said. This was due to the murder of the Balance Guardian, Ariel. The Mind Guardian, who was Ariel's lover, plunged everyone in the Circle into madness and tainted their brains upon finding the body of his beloved… Is this getting to be too much for you?" I questioned, wondering if her face could get any redder or crumpled from her straining to keep up.

It took her a moment to realize I had addressed her, but when she did her face eased back to a normal shade and she shook her head.

"I think I got it, but lemme just add that the word lover is gross." She noted, nodding solemnly. "So what, Kain must be the Mind Guardian?"

"No. Upon Ariel's murder, a new Balance Guardian was chosen by the pillars. A child just born. Subsequently, as that child drew his first breath, it was infected with the Mind Guardian's curse."

"Okay, so," she paused, making sure she had it correct, "The messed-up baby was Kain?"

"Right. He was murdered, resurrected as a vampire, and told of his destiny as the Balance Guardian by Ariel's ghost, who haunts the pillars."

"Woah woah woah?! HOLD THE PHONE. There's vampires AND ghosts here? And if there are vampire hunters, does that mean there are Ghostbusters?!"

I winced as her escalation in volume and tone which echoed around the large room. It was what I had been waiting for, but there was never a way to prepare for the sheer shrillness of her explosions.

"Calm down, Vera." I wasn't about to explain to her that souls were the only thing I could consume, especially when the mere mention of them elicited more outbursts and silly questions, so I continued, "Focus. Ariel told Kain that he had to sacrifice himself to restore the Pillars, but he refused. The decaying Pillars exploded, until all that was left were the ruins, upon which he built his empire. My vampire brothers and I were both his sons and his lieutenants, helping him rule over the remains of Nosgoth."

She began rubbing at her arms, her teeth began to chatter, and I could tell I no longer held her attention. Well, she had grasped more than I anticipated. It would be enough for now.

"How is it colder in here than outside?!" she yelled, her voice again echoing off the large cavern. An idea seemed to form suddenly behind her focused scowl. "Hey, does that swordy flame thing you used on the dogs give off any heat?"

She got up and slid up next to me expectantly, staring at my arm. She claimed to be cold, but the warmth her body gave off was like a flame within itself to me. It was just as searing as it had been when she'd landed on me earlier, or touched my arm at the swamp. Damned humans and their body heat.

"If you're so cold, create a fire," I instructed, leaning away from her uncomfortably. "The Soul Reaver is nothing but a sword. It does not produce heat."

"I thought this was my time to rest and eat crappy fruit!" she whined, but her arms effortlessly lit up blue and she pointed at a spot on the ground before us. An equally dark blue fire appeared before us as she declared smugly, "It's the same color as you."

She elbowed me a little with a smile, then curled her knees up, putting her head in her arms and staring into the flames, "So if my magic gets stronger and more dependable, I could send myself back home, right?"

"I'm not sure," I said truthfully. "It's truly unusual that it ebbs and flows the way it does." I wasn't sure what she was capable of and what the limitations were on her abilities. I had never encountered anyone like her, powers or not. It was both possible and probable that Moebius was responsible for the inconsistency, but my knowledge of magic was limited.

She stared a few more moments into the fire before she looked up at me with those determined sapphire eyes of hers. They were so large that I could see the fire's reflection shimmering in them.

"I don't think I want to go back. At least not, like, right away. I never felt like I fit in there anyway. My parents never really seemed to care about me, I got bad grades even in remedial classes, and it's not like I wanna use my powers on something lame like homework." She seemed pensive, as if she wasn't positive of her choice, but then smiled, "Maybe I'll be the one that fixes the pillars and Nosgoth and then I get like so super famous they build a statue in my honor! It'd look like this."

She hopped up and tossed her almost waist length hair back behind her shoulders. Her chest puffed out and her arms slammed down onto her waist as she dramatically turned her head up and to the left, gazing out into the distance with a smirk.

The girl might have been obnoxious, but being in the presence of someone who had no ulterior motive and who unapologetically (and often unnecessarily) shared her thoughts was a new experience. The corrupt Nosgoth would inevitably harden her.

"I don't give a damn about saving this hellscape," I said bitterly. "I'm tired of being a pawn in someone else's game. Kain, Moebius and The Elder God have all used me in their machinations. No more. I am going to find my purpose myself. You would be wise to be more concerned with your own destiny and finding out your own role in all of this," I said with certainty. "Once I find out mine, perhaps then I'll consider thinking about Nosgoth."

"I'm sorry people have sucked so bad," she started bluntly, "They do that. But I bet we could do both. Kick butt AND figure out what we're doing here. Uncle Moe and Kain and the Oldy God won't know what hit them! We got this!" She made that odd thumb-up signal at me again confidently before heading toward the circular lock in front of us. "By the way, if the next room has any more heights, I'm gonna hurl Vitamin C all over you."