Chapter 31

KAIN

Meridian was all but deserted, abandoned by authority and left to rust and crumble. The technology used to propel it to heights never before seen in Nosgoth was gone leaving half of the city in perpetual darkness. Those who had escaped the press gangs of the Sarafan Order when they moved their base of operations to Willendorf now lived behind constantly closed doors. The streets were ruled by thugs and thieves, fighting amongst themselves to determine who would dictate order now.

Still it maintained a sizable population without Sarafan patrols, which was why I chose this location to train my new 'son'. While the emotional immaturity would not last long William was behaving like a frightened child, staying close to me as he walked the deserted streets of the town. In his current state he seemed nothing like either the Boy King I fought with or the Nemesis who ravaged Nosgoth in a history not to be. From a thug we encountered upon arriving I got him better clothes than the decayed bandages I resurrected hum in. A pair of black leather pants and a brown cow hide coat. The boots did not fit him well but since it was either that or barefoot he made do.

I had thrown a disguise of Illusion around us both. As any humans working late were concerned we were a couple of shabby looking seamen on our way home from work. The thugs and thieves apparently were too busy with each other to be bothered with them. The alleyways and streets were no longer guarded by tattooed men armed with steal clubs.

Raziel had discontinued his projected form, retreated completely inside the Reaver blade, or at least for the duration of our stay around humans. This he did at my request. I did not want him alerting us while we had an inexperienced fledgling in our care.

"The touch of water will burn a vampires' skin." I told William once the last person we passed was out of ear shot. "Immersion in it will kill you. Until you grow stronger even rain will scold you like acid. You are to avoid it whatever the cost. Until you grow stronger, even the rain will burn." William nodded and suddenly looked alarmed when I bounded out of reach, leaping high into the air and landing silently on the edge of a roof top.

"I can't follow." He called up, keeping his voice down.

"Yes you can." I told him sternly with a fixed glare from high above. "As a vampire you can jump higher than humans could ever hope to. Now get up here." Unable to disobey my commands he tensed his legs and while still looking unsure of himself, he jumped. Propelled far more than he imagined he nearly slammed into the wall, catching hold of the edge with his arm at the last moment to prevent himself from falling. "You should be able to do better than that." I told him crossing my arms. In actuality I was impressed. This had been intended as a lesson in humility as I had not expected him to jump the distance on his first night as a vampire, yet he made it. Barely but he made it nevertheless. I pulled him up unsteadily and soon we both stood there above the streets.

"Did I do well?" William asked

"Good for a first try." I told him before turning to glance across the row of rooftops; 'Very' good for a first try. "Now, try following me." I vaulted forward jumping from rooftop to rooftop, flying across the city streets. All any human heard below was a brief gust of wind that barely caught their notice. I stopped a few blocks away on the roof of a warehouse on the docks and watched back. He was following, not at the speed I travelled by fast for such an experienced fledgling. I supposed that if he really where the descendant of an ancient he would be more adept to the dark gift than most humans. His evolution may proceed considerably faster.

When he landed on the warehouse roof he slipped and fell, landed ungratefully on his back. The ways he succeeded in the tasks I set him was almost comical, and this was really the Nemesis? The two beings, the destroyer of the north and his fledgling, couldn't have been more different. Still, he managed to make it here so we would proceed to the next part of the training.

"Master?" He asked pushing himself up.

"Yes?" I asked retrieving the Soul Reaver from my back and testing the strength of the blade against my thumb.

"Why does your face seem familiar to me?" I paused, before slowly turning to stare at him.

"And just what do you mean by that?" William looked confused; he stopped to rub the base of his temple as he stared down at his own feet like a timid child.

"I'm not sure…I just feel…feel as though I've seen you before you sired me. But… why should I have memories of before my birth?" Now this was certainly an unexpected turn of events. Was he regaining his human memory? No…that was impossible. Or was it?

I knew of no physical reason why he should not recall his past life, just that all vampires raised before him from the grave had the recollection of the lives as humans removed. Vorador perhaps was the exception, but since he was a vampire BEFORE he was revived he did not count in the statistics.

"It is not important." I told him, before placing the Soul Reaver down nearby. "What is important is that you learn how to fight and perhaps even more importantly, how to kill."

"Kill?" William repeated looking up.

"If you do not learn that, you won't survive one day." Since I was the teacher and he was the simply pupil he just nodded squaring his shoulders. I could tell he was confused in more ways than one. He was torn between human and vampire morals and a little disturbed by this new experience. This was a common affliction for fledglings and he would get over it given time. "Now, I want you to attack me using your claws." William glanced down at his hands and the black long finger nails on each finger, naturally sharp to a razor edge and hard as steel. "As a vampire, even a fledgling, you should be fast enough to hit me. Raziel will act as referee-." I glanced to the Reaver blade I had placed down. "-if you don't mind." The transparent projection of his wraith form appeared standing over the sword in an instant, his arms crossed in front of himself. He nodded once to show his willingness to act as judge.

William set himself into an expert fighting stance, alarming himself at how well he knew the moves of unarmed combat. "Very good, now - attack me!" Obeying he darted forward and swiped across my chest with his claws. He missed and I slid backwards at the last second. He tried again and once more I dodged. Frustration at his lack of success was clear on his face. That anger made him slower and his movements almost clumsy. He was making the same mistake that Hylden T'Kral made. "Anger clouds judgement and that can be fatal during battle. Control your emotions!" He stopped to catch his breath, he sprang at me again. I grabbed his lunging arm out of the arm, pulled his weight forward before slamming him to the roof.

"You are too fast." William admitted pushing himself up to his knees.

"You are just as fast as I." I told him impatiently tapping my foot and he climbed back up. "If you wish to move with that agility then you have to focus. Predict the pattern of your opponent and strike where is going to be, rather than where he is." Launching forward with a sudden burst of speed he apparently took my advice to heart, his claws carving across the skin on my chest as tried to dodge.

"Not bad. You were a little too far forward, next time you should try holding your weight to your centre." Raziel remarked giving William a sharp nod. The fledgling just smiled at him like a young boy receiving appreciation from a parental figure. The four marks across my chest healed and I turned around to face him.

"Offensive strength has its drawbacks if you strike out in the open." I warned William. "Vampires have weakness your enemies can and will try to exploit to kill you. Whenever possible strike from the safety of the shadows." He nodded and I felt it was time to move onto another lesson. A tingling feeling of dah-ja-vu passed over me. This was reminiscent of a time when Umah had re-taught me skills that had been softened during my hibernation.

Finding my thoughts sticking on the image of the female vampire I forced myself back to the present. "Now this next lesson is important. If you expect to live long you will have to know how to parry, block and dodge your opponent's attacks. Now, I will attack you. You will resist by swipes by either dodging around using your heightened agility or push them away with your own strength. Since you don't have a shield I don't expect you to try and block my attacks completely."

"Yes master. I understand." William replied stepping back a few paces and adopted another stance. I copied him and for a brief moment there was silence. Then I shot forward throwing my arm in front as I reached him. He was barely able to dodge the talons as they tore through his coat. He ducked as I tried to cut him across the middle, then he brought his left arm up against my gauntlet, blocking my arm in mid strike. As my physical strength was greatly superior to his he found himself being pushed back.

"Remember if you find your opponent stronger than yourself then break away and attempt to strike him using your speed." This lesson he seemed to take to heart, backing up avoiding a slash as I tried to bring my talons down from above. "Alright that's enough for now." I announced straightening myself up. "How do think he did?" I asked Raziel giving my first born a glance.

"He needs to learn the limits of his physical strength." The ghostly wraith announced looking up. "If you hadn't held back you'd have broken his arm off." The young fledgling glanced down at the arm then up at me, clearly alarmed.

"We will work on that at a later date." I told William placing a hand on his shoulder. "But for now you have learn the basics of combat." There was a sudden change in the air and briefly I glanced up and gazed out across the seemingly unending expanse of rooftops. Blood had just been spilled nearby. William followed my gaze. He could smell it too. Someone had been dealt a fatal wound. "This will be your final test for tonight." I told me. "You are to follow the scent, track down the source of the spilt blood and if there is enough left; feed."

"As you wish master." He replied before jumping forward hurtling across the gap between the rooftops, bounding like a rabbit over chimney pots and tile roofs.

"Certain he is ready to go off on his own?" Raziel asked joining me by my side.

"He needs to be taught to rely of his own skills." I replied retracting the Soul Reaver to my hand using telekinesis, sheathing the sword across my back. "You don't remember how you were when I revived you. Like a lost child. The emotional immaturity has to be broken if one expects him to survive on his own. I don't intend to have him following me forever." Raziel did not reply. He simply narrowed his eyes and looked away, glancing after William as the fledgling disappeared; sliding down gracefully into an alleyway.

"So we abandon him here?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"For now." I replied turning away to look off towards the east. I could feel my own hunger gnawing at me, it had been a while since I had fed and I had given a good deal of blood to William to revive him. It was time to replenish myself.

The nagging emotional tug was trying to force me to stay, to watch over William as he hunted. I had done so with all of my previous kin. But circumstance dictated otherwise. Dissolving into bats, I was gone within a moment.