KAIN

Boss 1: Vorador

I did not intend to go to Vorador, rather to have him come to me. Finding a barren piece of land some distance from the city walls where I could easily see anything approach, I unfastened the ancient ring from my left ear. This ring Vorador had given me on my misguided quest eons ago. It had allowed me to summon his help to defeat the Paladin Malek at Dark Eden. The ring was made from his own alloy, broken teeth and dried blood. Vorador did not use the metal often, only for various trinkets he passed around. The metal was his signature, a means of intimidation to keep easily sacred humans in their place.

"I summon you Vorador." I spoke to the ring in my hand, clenching my hand around it. I felt the captured magic within buzz as the message was sent burning across the sky, vanishing on the horizon. Now, all I could do was wait.

He did not keep me waiting as I had first expected him to. About a minute after my summons was first sent, the ancient Vampire appeared out of a translocation spell, that familiar arrogant look on his face. His red robe flapping around him in the harsh wind that beset the air. He didn't say anything at first, simply regarding me with suspicion. He was used to the earlier Kain, not my evolved form.

"Who are you?" He demanded, jabbing a finger at me. "How dare you summon me!"

"Oh Vorador, I thought I had your permission?" Gently, I handed to him the ring I had kept for so long. Recognising the trinket at once, he picked it up between two fingers and examined it, making sure he had not made a mistake. Then he turned back to me, a fait glimmer of recollection in his eyes.

"You are not Kain." He stated confidentially. "That vampire lies busy to the north raising a vampire army."

"Then centuries later, he discovers one of the Time Streamers devices and travels back through history to change it." That caught him off guard. The ancient vampire was silent, looking over my appearance. I was obviously vampiric, and he could not deny I bore a striking resemblance to the Kain he was used to; but still the pale green skin and horns along the hair line were new. "If you need more proof…" Slowly to reassure him it was not a hostile action, I drew the Soul Reaver. As it's physical maker, he recognised the sword at once.

Nimbly he took the blade and tested it's weight. For a moment, he was silent, before turning to me with hate brewing in his eyes and slashing me across the arm with my own sword.

"Are you simple Vorador?" I demand angrily, staggering backwards. He stopped, watching the wound in my arm begin to disappear. The ancient vampire remained silent, before tossing the Soul Reaver off to the side, the tip of the sword sinking into the soft ground.

"I swore an oath to make you pay, and I intend to honour that oath!" He stated, holding out both arms; two balls of golden lightning gathering between his talons.

"Don't make me do this Vorador." I warned him, clenching my own claws. "Do you wish to die again?" I asked, the wound finally healing by itself. Without warning he tossed intertwining bolts of magic toward me. Sliding to the side, I gathered some magic of my own and cast a spell straight at him. The raw energy rippling across the ground like thunder and striking him across the side.

Deflecting it with an egg shaped shield, he came flying after me with a kick to my stomach; before landing several swipes on my shoulders. Recovering from the blows, I blocked his next attack before grabbing his leg and tossing him backwards straight into a dead tree. As the crumbling branches fell around him, he swung back to his feet and fired a succession of magical energy straight at me.

Ducking to the side I avoided each one and it also left me in a perfection position to grab the Soul Reaver tearing it up from the ground by the hilt. Seeing me once again armed, Vorador reached inside his robe and armed himself with his own sword.

I darted in close and slashed. As if he knew what I had intended, he blocked the blow.

"For what you did to Umah, Kain; I can never forgive you." He snarled at me as we clashed. "I should have let the Sarafan Lord kill you, should have left you to die at the bottom of some ravine where we found your broken body." Scowling, he kicked him aside and slashed at him with the Reaver blade, cutting a portion of his robe off. Enraged, he swung at me again and again with his sword.

The fight raged on and at one point Vorador managed to grab my arm and with hatred burning in his arms, slashed me repeatedly across the arm, the blade biting almost to the bone. I drew my arm back, cutting myself before in the process before throwing all of strength behind a telekinesis blast.

He did the same the two mental projections met in the air, one trying to overcome the over. As for the two of us, we remained silent; our eyes locked on one another as we concentrated on.

While Vorador was not physically stronger then I was, his other vampiric gifts were sufficiently more potent. He was beginning to overpower me with his mind.

"I make no excuses for my crime Vorador." I told him, pouring all I had into TK abilities. He forged a scowl and pushed back with equal force. "And nothing will ever change the fact that I did what I did. My regret does not enter into the equation."

"Regret?" Vorador shot back, his anger taking hold of his entire body it seemed. "You are incapable of such a thing. You are a monster, bent on nothing but claiming power!" The struggle broke as he charged forward with his sword held high. As he reached me I blocked his swings with the Reaver before ducking under his swipe and landing a punch on his chin.

Staggering back a few feet, he paused to steady himself before attacking again with all the devotion of a Sarafan knight. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I tore one of his shoulder pads away and most of his red robe overcoat came off with it; leaving him in with only a white shirt and blue pants. Undeterred, he slashed again cutting a deep scar across my chest. Blood poured out onto the dying land and I collapsed to my knees, supporting my weight on the Reaver blade as I struggled to breath; desperate to force the wound shut. "It is rare that I must take the life of a fellow vampire and even so I do so with reluctance and regret." I looked up at him, holding on hand over the wound. He was holding his sword to the side, ready to swing it directly across my neck to severe my head. "But this time I will take much pleasure in it."

"Now who's the monster?" I asked him with a sly grin, before rolling to the side and swinging my leg around, knocking both of his out from under him. As he went down, his sword was sent spinning from his hands.

Dodging to the side, he brought his talons sharply upwards striking me across the chin. Recoiling, I left myself open to a kick, landed directly against my stomach. Using the opportunity through, I grabbed his leg and tossed him over my shoulder and then slammed him hard into the ground.

Before he could rise, I flicked my Reaver across and held it's tip against his throat, pinning him there. Neither of us moved for a moment, that hostile atmosphere stagnating in the air. "Kill me then, if you won't then your younger self will in time." Vorador began sourly, closing his eyes but keeping that annoying scowl on his face.

Growling, I simply sheathed the Reaver across my back before offering him a hand up. He stared at my open palm like it was about to bite him, before taking it.

"You have me confused with someone else." I told him, before backing off to a safe distance to show him that despite our little scuffle I intended him no ill will. "I have had over a thousand years to think about what I've done and that's more than enough time to realize jut how wrong and idiotic I'd been." He said nothing, instead fixed me with a steely glare.

"What do you want?" He demanded after a second of contemplation.

"Assistance." I told him. "I have acquired an item of Hylden technology that I need opened." Again he maintained silence, before turning away.

"I have no time for this." He began after an angry sigh. "With the Sarafan again on the rise, my time is running out once more."

"What?" I snapped. "On the rise Impossible! Once I defeated the Sarafan Lord their order crumbled into the dust. One battle was all it took to defeat the rest of them." I remembered that history like it was yesterday, my son Turel lead the charge on the failing Sarafan. He and his clan put them down like dogs. It was one of his earliest and greatest victories. How could the Sarafan be increasing in power and influence instead of degreasing? History had not been altered.

Or had it? Perhaps Raziel and I had altered events far more than even I could have imagined. But if that was so, why had I no new memories of the timeline?

"Killing the Sarafan Lord only made him into a Martyr." Vorador explained coldly crossing his arms. "Their order grew even more fanatical, and after they elected a new leader they began torturing Nosgoth again to fight the growing Vampire threat." The ancient leaded forward. "Your vampire threat." Angrily I smashed a fist into an open palm.

"How many times do I have to keep putting the Sarafan down?" They were like rats. I'd put down their crusade at least once already. My past self was busy raising vampires to the north, so I would have to deal with his myself. Still, someone had been altering the timeline behind my back and since dear Moebius was no longer with us, who did that leave?

The ancient regarded me callously, taking note of my new appearance. Since I was now an ancient like him, I was his equal in strength. I had had over thousand years to evolve my powers and while Vorador was older, he had been lounging in his mansion for very long periods of time. I had spent most of my after-life fighting.

"Their new political power originates from a cult called the Eye of God." Vorador explained. "Their base of power lies to the East, in the mining province of Wildendrof." He gestured briefly of towards the horizon "For the last few years, they've been using the Sarafan resources to herd humans away from the towns on the coast and into their new fortress city, under the guise of keeping them safe from your army. In reality, all they want is to keep them pinned in place to make them easier to control.

As for their success on the battlefield, they employ new magic that brings the power of sunlight itself to their aid. I've seen entire groups of vampires burned alive in an instant." None of this made sense .I had never heard to this cult before. Conquering Nosgoth had almost been to easy after I defeated the Sarafan lord. Who was meddling around in time behind my back?

"It seems I am in need of your assistance even more." I began with a smirk. Vorador crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face.

"And pray tell what makes you think I would give aid to a monster like you?" I decided to ignore the comment.

"Because…" I began. "I have something you want." He chuckled deep in his throat and turned his back on me and began walking away.

"You have nothing I could ever desire Kain." He looked like he was about to disappear in a translocation spell so I added quickly.

"Not even your sire?" He paused in mid stride, silent as a statue, before slowly turning back to face me, suspicion deep rooted into his face. "I managed to rescue him from the clutches of the demon dimension." I told him smugly. "If you agree to help me, then I will tell you where I have hidden him." A scowl passed over his lips. Vorador was an honourable vampire, if I could get him to give his word; he could not betray it. Even if he did consider me lower than pond scum.

"How do I know you do not lie?" He asked after a moment.

"You'll just have to take my word for it. I have nothing to gain by betraying you." Vorador breathed out through his nose loudly, his eyes scanning me over for anything readable.

"Very well." He muttered after a moment. "If Janos is alive as you say, I will help you. But first…" He raised a talon. "Go to my mansion in the swamp, to the largest bed chamber. I have there something that you have to see. Once I have retrieved my master, I will join you there." I tried to read his features, to understand why he was making his request but could see nothing in his golden eyes.

"Agreed." We shook hands. "You will find Janos at the former headquarters of the Cabal, Sanctuary under the Blue Lady shop." Vorador nodded, recalling his sword into his hands with telekinesis before sheathing it.

"Well bargained and done." With that, he faded into nothing.

Over the centuries, Vorador's estate had been swallowed by the swamp and by the time I arrived at the gates of his elaborate mansion most of the outside walls were engulfed in thick vines. Most of the ground itself was a thick sludge and the dense canopy of the forest nearly blocked out all the sunlight. The gates had rusted solid, but one solid kick feared them open.

I could see instantly why Vorador had returned here. He had made no attempt at renovation, but this decadent and rotting hollow provided the perfect hiding place. I found that most of the passageways and corridors had either collapsed or had surrendered to the incessant demands of the tree roots, large entangled vines blocking my path. The last time I visited the ancient vampires home, it had been on my quest as a fledgling vampire to dispatch the circle. Moebius in the guise of the Oracle had dispatched me here, hoping to find an ally I would need to defeat Malek.

Looking upon it now, I could see no evidence of the brutality I had witnessed before hand. No torture devices or chains, even the room that served as his pantry large bare of restraints. It seemed unlikely that he would have cleared it all away, in any given era.

Perhaps, it occurred to me Vorador used all that just for show. While he would kill a human without a second thought, after getting to know his character I didn't see him as the type of person who went in for all blood shed.

The largest bed chamber was a room with a very high ceiling, concealed at the back of his abode. It had once be luxurious decorated, bur whatever had been here rotted away to leave a fell grey or brown pieces here and here. Curtains concealing windows ran across all the walls and the only light came from the silver candlestick on the bedside table. The bed itself was big enough for two and veiled, through which I could see someone laid out across it.

A frown formed on my face. What was this? Why would Vorador think this important to me? There was only one way to find out. Marching across the room, I approached the bed and simply pulled back the veil. Who I saw lying there made me freeze, almost literally.

It was Umah. The one I had scarified in a petty attempt to rule. Her hair let out of it's pony tail, flowing like a river of the pillows. The covers drawn over her lightly, highlighting her beautiful form. But that struck me the most was the rosy tint to her cheeks, indicating she had been fed recently.

She was alive!