Kain

Chapter 9: The City of Meridian

The frustration was almost more than I could bear. I came so close to restoring the vampire race, only to have it snatched away at the last possible moment. Without a means of opening it, the canister containing the ultimate cure for vampirism was worse than useless.

Howling in anger, I thrust the Reaver blade into the ground; the tip sinking into the soft mud all the way up to the hilt.

Temper Kain, temper.- I heard Raziel's captive sprit murmur. Growling, I sat down on a rock that jutted out from the ground, resting my head on my fist. My thoughts were a whirl again. I had the cure, but how was I supposed to open it's container without the help of the Hylden? My hopes had been so high…

"And just who are you?" I demanded at the two visitors, my question more directed at the human than the vampire.

"These are two students of mine Kain." Janos explained. "Vorador brought them to me for study." I had heard of such practices. During ancient times when Vampires were still an angelic race, humans were often selected to study under a mage or scientist; to learn some of the vast knowledge accumulated by the Ancients. "Vorador considered Ewoden here to be quite a triumph." Audron added gesturing to the human. "He used to a member of the Sarafan."

"A Sarafan!" I demanded, nearly reaching for the Reaver in impulse. I regarded this human now with renewed interest. He seemed as weak and feeble as the others of his kind, but in his bright emerald green eyes I could see an uncharacteristic determination, an unrelenting persona I would have expected from Raziel. His red hair was a complete mess, hanging down the sides of his head in tangles, the tips getting stuck in his the Wraith armour. His muscular build showed he had left an activate life, often in the wildness.

He was no amateur, I could see that by the fact that he wore furs underneath his armour to keep warm. That notion wouldn't have come to the common traveller. Two large axes were strapped across his back in an 'X', along with a quiver full of arrows and a bow.

Just because Janos trusted him, did not mean I had reason to. The Sarafan were Moebius' creation and their members could prove just as manipulative as he was.

I turned away. It wasn't really important anyway. I had other things on my mind right now, like just what my next move as going to be. I doubted the Hylden were going to take my theft lightly.

Janos gasped and clutched his chest, falling to his knees, struggling for air.

"Sire!" Sally, the female vampire began in distress, instantly at his side. Janos managed to recover some of his strength, but not enough to allow him to sit back up. He lay there amongst the dead autumn leaves, breathing heavily. "Janos, what is the matter?"

"He needs to feed." I told them, sheathing the Reaver across my back. "Wait here with him, I shall return with sustenance for him." With that, I began to wander off towards the trees. Perhaps at the same time I could see exactly what part of Nosgoth I was in.

"Kain, wait…" Janos called after me. I stopped and looked back at him over my shoulder. "Do not kill anyone to feed me. I refuse to drink the blood of the innocent." He told me, his tone of voice leaving no doubt he meant what he said. While isolated inside his mountain retreat, Janos had magically summoned blood to fed himself, eliminating his need to hunt ordinary humans. The story of his terrorising the citizens of Nosgoth was a lie; propaganda spread by the first Sarafan crusade.

Janos had no killer instincts and valued life, human or vampire. It was his only attachment to the ancient times he could retain under the present circumstances.

"I will do what I have to." I sniffed the air, the thick smell of freshly spilt blood already in the air and from not to far away too.

Dissipating into bats, I flew through the dark limbs of the trees until I spread myself over the top of the canopy. From this vantage point, I surveyed the lay of the land. We had emerged from the demon dimension on the coast of the great southern sea, the southern border of Nosgoth just over the nearest to hills. The thick stretch of the forest running along a thin line of mountains going north. The area was a labyrinth of canyons and valleys stretching all the way northwest to the more civilized area's of Nosgoth. If I read the stretch of coast correctly, then we were about a few miles from Meridian; the capitol of Nosgoth.

I let my bats recon the area, following the thick scent of blood through the trees until I came across the source. A trader caravan heading towards the city from one of the coastal settlements had come under attack. From what I could not be certain, but the bodies of the merchants themselves were still fresh, the wounds recent. Their caravan had been tipped over, the vehicle lying on it's side, a dead tree collapsed over it.

From the marks in the ground it had been quite a struggle; an ambush if I was correct. Whoever or whatever attacked them had superior numbers. The traders didn't have a chance. Probably a few mutants resulting from the corruption of the pillars, hungry for flesh. Retrieving one of the merchants bodies, I returned to the clearing were I left the others.

"Here." I said, dropping the dead body in front of the ancient vampire. He looked annoyed. "I didn't kill him, he was dead when I got there." Seemingly satisfied, he approached the body and began feeding.

The human, Ewoden looked away, a faint hint of green passing over his face. I didn't hold that against him. Feeding on the living was one thing but on the dead was considered dirty, even for vampire. Janos was only doing it because if he needed it, or within the next few minutes he would die.

"Why is everything here dead?" Ewoden asked, looking around at the forest with a mixture of awe and horror.

Being a former member of the original Sarafan order, the human was used to seeing Nosgoth as it was intended to be. A land full of life and lush forest, overflowing with vitality. He was unused to seeing the corruption I had inadvertently spawned upon it.

"Over time, things change." I told him, looking out through the trees to the cloudy horizon. Meridian was the closest settlement. We were too exposed out here in the wild. Also, I needed information; I need to know exactly what year this was. Had we emerged before I killed the Sarafan Lord or after? If it was before, then I would have those bothersome Glyph wards to content with.

By now, Janos had finished feeding. I could tell instantly we had not completely satisfied his hunger but the growing sense of nausea he felt about feeding from a corpse drove him back.

"We should bury him." He began, wiping the blood from his lips. "That is the human custom?" The former Sarafan nodded grimly. They didn't even wait for my opinion that they were wasting valuable time, Ewoden simply magically craved a hole in the ground and Janos gently lowering the corpse inside, the dirt almost instantly covering it up again.

Sighing, I picked up the canister from the forest clearing floor and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Turning, I saw the human run up towards me. He stopped by my side and studied the Reaver across my back for a moment.

"You are the Scion of Balance aren't you?" It surprised me he even knew the title, however I said nothing. He read the answer in my face and smiled.

"Fine you found me." I answered, now irritated. "Now leave me alone." He turned and began off again.

"I can help you." The human called after me. I stopped near the edge of a rock jutted out over a steep face to another part of the forest below. From here I could see for miles.

"I don't need or your help." I replied angrily, giving him a side glance over my shoulder. I couldn't be sure if Raziel was silently reminding me of his good intentions or it was stir of my long dormant humanity, but I couldn't stay in that mood for long. Sighing, I turned back. "The city of Meridian lies due west." I told him, pointing out towards the horizon. "I'm heading there to pick up some information. If you three can keep up, then follow." Janos needed a safe house to fully recover in. The closest one I could think of was Sanctuary, the headquarters of the Cabal; the vampire resistance.

Vorador had kept it hidden from the Sarafan for two hundred years. It should be enough to provide a place of relative safety in which to plan.

"Janos, can you fly?" Sally asked the ancient as she helped him make his way to his feet, now apparently much stronger. Audron flapped his black wings, testing their strength. Despite being liberated from the demon dimension, he still retained the orange streak down each feather.

"Yes, I believe I can." He replied, stretching them out to their full width. Grunting in my throat, I turned back and became again a hoard of bats, disappearing into flight.

After the rise of my first army, the mercenary army created by the Time Streamer was forced to change in order to survive. The Sarafan Lord took up the challenge, remoulding them into the New Sarafan order, a puppet order he used to squash my forces as the walls of Meridian and oppress the humans for over two hundred years. Their rule came to an end after I killed the Sarafan Lord in combat, destroying his plans to invade Nosgoth and starting my own quest for power.

Looking back on it all now, I release how foolish and blind I had been. I wanted to rule Nosgoth, but what I inherited from my conquests was nothing by a lifeless set of rocks. Something not worth the effort.

It had all been pointless and I had sacrificed everything to obtain it, even the life of one who I might call my love. Umah, the female vampire who had watched over me while I lay dormant. We fought the Sarafan oppressors together and then she betrayed me by stealing the Nexus Stone, the one item I needed to bring the Sarafan Lord to his knees.

I dealt with her as I dealt with all traitors. I dealt her death.

That was the closest act I have ever committed that reached my definition of sin. I had convinced myself that she was one of the Sarafan lord's spies in order to justify my crime, when in reality Umah had taken the stone only because she distrusted my intentions.

Sitting alone on my seat of power, over looking a useless wasteland; I realized she had been right. Ironically, the Sarafan's lords statement proved truth. That my ambition to rule the world - "was nothing more than the youthful craving of a petty noble, who had gained too much power but never enough." -

Meridian was as dark and dank as I remembered it. Arriving on a roof top overlooking the lower city, the dismal dirty streets casting dark shadows across the ground. Much of it lay in disrepair, many buildings with boarded up windows.

The streets themselves were near deserted, the occasional glimpse of a human scurrying from a doorway and out of the fading light like a cockroach. The lack of Ward Gates in the area showed I had arrived after the Sarafan Lord had fallen and the presence of the Hylden removed. Currently my younger self was busy at work creating the Clans, setting the Pillars up as my seat of power. Since the city was now all but deserted, I summarized that about five to ten years had passed since the fall of the second Sarafan Order. People were already feeling settlements to hide inside strongholds, desperately trying to run away from my advancing armies. Ironically, I had become as corrupt as William; the Nemesis. The very man I had fought against in the Battle of the Last Stand.

This made things easier. I was by far not in the mood to deal with Sarafan right now.

Sanctuary lay concealed underneath the Blue Lady Shop. The district in which it lay had fallen into disrepair, the many bridges and gates that turned the city into a maze had fallen down, possibly because they had been cut off from Glyph magic. The Blue lady had been boarded up since I left, but a swift kick knocked the boards aside revealing the near undisturbed state in which it lay.

It was here that Vorador commanded the resistance, fighting a hit and run war against Sarafan operations; but finding the chambers underneath the shop empty, I realized he had long since left the premises. I had half expected to find him here waiting for me. Instead I was just greatest by empty and derelict rooms.

Shortly after, Janos arrived with his two students. Ewoden, the former Sarafan came first. His use of magic to follow me even in bat form was impressive, for a human at least.

While they helped the ancient onto a stone table to rest, I explored what I could of the chambers. Leaving this place, Vorador had left nothing behind to pin point his whereabouts. But still I needed information from him.

Vorador had once been Seroli, humans who had studied under both vampire and Hylden tutors. If anyone could tell me how to open the canister, it would be him. Still, the Vorador of this time would not be inclined to help me, as I had dispatched his fondest lieutenant. What I needed in order to loosen his tongue was a bargaining chip.

And that was where Janos came in.