Chapter 3: The Pillars of Nosgoth
I pondered the necromancer's words briefly. The only pillars such a man could mean were the Pillars of Nosgoth. In my many journeys, I had never seen anything as beautiful as the pillars, and yet, many spoke of strange powers and occurrences at the bases of those very objects. When I was alive, I did not give any attention to these wild claims, but after being cursed with vampirism, having walked through the flames of Hell itself, I no longer had the will to doubt any possibility.
I walked down the road. I began to note many of my new abilities; I could see perfectly well in the pitch-black night, and my strength seemed to be restored as I finished sucking the blood out of a body I had dragged along. I discarded the corpse in the nearby water. Then I spied a small wooden sign, next to a stone bridge. It pointed to the east, and simply said, "Ziegsturhl." The town I was murdered in.
I followed the road, until I was back in the pathetic town. A few young women were conversing by the tavern window, oblivious to my presence. That is, until I snapped one of their necks from behind. The others tried to scream, but I quickly finished them with one slash from my sword. I then drank their fresh blood.
I walked into a nearby house. A fat, slobbering drunk and his dirt-stained wife were eating a pathetic meal of moldy bread and filthy water. The man stood and grabbed an axe, but blocked his swing with one hand and ripped out his heart with the other. I then took the axe and threw it at his cowering wife. It imbedded itself straight into her neck.
I left the corpses, now drained completely of blood, lying on the porch. It seemed I had effectively taken care of half of the hamlet's population. That left only the tavern. I smashed the doors open with one kick. The patrons rose to their feet in horror.
"What do you think you're doing, stranger!" shouted a lowly whore. "Get out!" She walked up and slapped me across the face. Not unexpectantly, I felt nothing from her strike, and returned her hatred with a smile. Then I sliced her in half.
The others jumped at me, each one carrying some sort of makeshift weapon. The tavern owner cowered behind his counter. I tore my attackers apart, and then drank what little blood I could salvage from them. The tavern owner crawled back as I approached.
"Please, no!" he shouted. I reached into the satchel I had procured in the crypt and removed three of the flails.
"When I was a man," I said, "you denied me a simple mug of ale. You were worried that 'creatures of the night' would come and kill you. Well..." I threw the flails. One ripped his head off, one tore open his chest, causing his organs to spill out onto the floor, and the third severed his manhood from his body.
"...I guess one did," I finished. I grabbed some oil-soaked rags from a corner of the tavern and lit them ablaze with some flint and my sword. The tavern began to burn almost instantly. I walked away from the carnage, and the hamlet, feeling much more relieved.
I continued down the road. Only a few foolish brigands dared to attack me; most stayed as far away from me and my bloodied sword and teeth. Finally, I reached a cliff, which overlooked the distant pillars.
Once again, their beauty entranced me. It seemed that even vampires were not incapable of emotion. However, something was very wrong. I could feel a sense of sorrow and dread resonating from the pillars. Still, I pressed on, oblivious to what was awaiting me.
After nearly an hour of seemingly endless walking, I reached the Pillars of Nosgoth. Their imposing forms were stained black and cracked, as if they would crumble at any second. On each was inscribed a symbol, for which that pillar would stand: the Pillars of the Mind, Conflict, Nature, Energy, States, Dimension, Time, Death, and Balance. They were arranged so that the Pillar of Balance would lie in the middle of the great stone platform, while the other eight would surround the sides.
However, it was not the pillars that caught my gaze this time; rather, it was the apparition that was floating among them. I instantly recognized it as a ghost, a spirit trapped to this world through either anger or grief. From what I could tell, it seemed to be the latter in this case. The ghost was a woman, with a long dress that seemed to cover her legs. Her face was partially rotten, her hair was old and twisted, and her gaze seemed to stare into what little soul I had left.
"Look upon the Pillars!" she moaned. "See the destruction that has been wrought onto the world!" She turned away from me. "Nupraptor, your madness has shattered our dreams and blinded you."
"Shut up, spirit," I shouted, "or I'll send you back to Hell!"
The ghost turned back towards me. "There is nothing to fear from me, vampire," she said. "I am merely a shadow of my former self: Ariel, Guardian of the Pillar of Balance, a member of the Circle of Nine. Still, I can provide you with the answers you seek..."
"All I seek is a cure for my curse!" I shouted.
"There is no cure for death," said Ariel. "There is only release. If you can help restore the Pillars of Nosgoth to their former glory, you will be able to find peace at last."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Were not the pillars always like so?"
"No," she replied. "When I was alive, I was a member of the Circle of Nine, the Protectors of Hope. Our mission was to preserve the Pillars of Nosgoth, in order to maintain order in all of Nosgoth. For countless millennia, the Circle of Nine has existed. When a Guardian finally died, after hundreds of years of extended life, a new Guardian was born; the others would then seek this child out and train him or her to be a Guardian. It was the perfect order of things.
"The problems began five hundred years ago. In order to exterminate the threat that the Circle perceived the undead to be, they created the Sarafan, a devote order of warrior monks who exterminated all forms of undead. Eventually, they tracked down and killed Janos Audron, who was said to have been the greatest vampire to have ever existed.
"This, in turn, angered the vampire Vorador, who was rumored to be descended from Janos himself. He broke into the Circle's stronghold and attacked them. Their defender, Malek, Guardian of Conflict, was not there at the time of the attack, and as a result, six members were killed. When Malek finally arrived, Vorador defeated him, but left him to suffer the wrath of his masters. The only other two surviving members of the Circle condemned his soul to be forever sealed inside his armor, thus making him the Circle's permanent defender.
"While this blow was severe, the Circle continued to thrive. Many years ago, I was chosen to be the Guardian of the Pillar of Balance. When I met my fellow Guardians, I fell in love with the Guardian of the Mind, the mentalist Nupraptor. He, in turn, fell madly in love with me. Then one night, I was ambushed and murdered. My feet were sliced off, half of my face was burned away, and I suffered numerous stab wounds. When it was over, there was a horrific, bloody mess.
"Nupraptor found my body, and went mad with grief. Seeing nothing but pain and death around him, he sewed his eyes and mouth shut, leaving only his mental powers to communicate with the outside world. He then sensed that a member of the Circle had orchestrated my murder, and in a blind act of revenge, brought his insanity onto each of the other members. They soon turned their agendas away from doing good and towards acts of evil and greed.
"The Pillars represent the mental state of each Guardian. When Nupraptor committed his revenge, the Pillars instantly turned black and cracked from the corruption. They continue to decay even now. Due to the current state of the Pillars, another Guardian was never born, which leaves only one possible action."
"You wish to have me kill Nupraptor," I concluded. "If it will free me from this nightmare, then so be it."
"Please, bring peace to Nosgoth," said Ariel.
"I care nothing for Nosgoth!" I shouted. "I do this only for myself!"
"Then do it for yourself," said Ariel. "Find and kill Nupraptor, then bring the item that binds him to the Pillar back here to restore it. You will find it by searching for something unusual on his person. He is in his Retreat to the northeast. Beware the Unspoken..." She then faded away before my eyes.
I walked away from the pillars, and thus, my quest for Nupraptor began...