Chapter 35: Ewoden

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The mines of Willdendorf were like a nightmare. Returning to this place filled Ewoden with more horror and dread than he thought possible. They had been bad in his own time, but now they were exponentially worse; he glared around at the horrific conditions before him. The slaves were forced to toil underground for hours on end without food or water, often exposed to deadly gasses as they dug for the metals the Order demanded.

Sally had spent her human life in these mines as a slave as well before being rescued by Vorador and made into a vampire. Returning to this place was not an easy thing for either of them. The former Sarafan felt her hand tighten around his. He returned the gesture and tried to think about something else.

His thoughts returned to Ramak, the master Smith of the Seroli. When he announced his intentions to go to Midguard as summoned Ramak appeared slightly bemused.

"Midguard?" He had asked. "I thought it only a piece of prophet ramblings."

"You know of such a place my lord?" Obelisk asked in reply. Ramak nodded and folded his furry arms.

"You will not find it on any current map of Nosgoth as according to folklore it exists beyond the eastern mountain range. As the mountains are currently impassable no one had been able to go there in centuries. Supposedly is where our first seers went when they conceived the Lupine gospels. I was in the south of Nosgoth at the time so I can not tell you with certainty whether that true or not, but still Midguard is revered a place of foretelling; of foresight into the future and where destinies can be foretold." Ewoden's thoughts were interrupted when he felt Sally's gently push her way into his mind through the link they shared in the whisper. Her presence within his head felt stronger than usual, as if her own influence had been greatly expanded.

"I evolved my first dark gift." She explained silently through the Whisper. "It allows me entry to nearly any mind. It is a healing gift; it allows me to repair mental damage."

"Such a gift suits you." He replied without hesitation.

Princess Alicia had not been in ignorance of the fact that the kingdom had slaves, but the horrible conditions forced upon them as beyond cruel. It was perverse. Even the vampires had more humanity than this? Did her father know what the Order was doing to ensure its hold?

The sight of the crushed bodies still half buried in rubble only deepened her resolve that the Order had to be removed from power and destroyed. If it was forcing the great Lion province to commit atrocities like this, in the name of righteousness of all things, then it was evil.

"Do you find my presence disturbing Janos Audron?" The seer asked. Their expedition team numbered over ten and since she seemed to know where she was going, she was leading them. The ancient vampire had remained quiet ever since he arrived, as if afraid to speak.

"No." He replied eventually. "Just unusual." The seer chuckled at this.

"That is natural. Your kind and mine have been enemies for eons. But I think we can both agree it is time for that pointless hatred to stop." Janos paused, considering the statement. Up until recently he would never have accepted such a thing, considering the Hylden as the sole origin of all threats to the world. Kain had shown him otherwise and he was felt feeling a little unsure of what to believe.

But one thing he knew for certain that there had already been far too much hate spread around already.

"My patience had been exhausted, witch." Kain reminded her, quickening his pace through the tunnel so he was nearly by her side. "What is Midguard and why are we being called there?"

"Midguard is the name of a secluded valley beyond the mountains." She replied without looking back at him, a toss of her head throwing her head almost back into his face. "It is through these tunnels that the Seroli seers journeyed before emerging into it. And it is not there we are being summoned to; it is the temple at its centre. The very place where the gospels that foretold the true role of the Scion of Balance were scribed." A smile slowly spread over her lips. "And where I first received my instructions?"

"Instructions?" Kain asked.

"I was sent back to Nosgoth from Midguard with the instruction to find and aid the Scion of Balance to his true destiny, and to help him return my own people to sanity. I was waiting for you when we first met." She paused to look back at him over her shoulder. "I did not recognise you to begin with but eventually I saw what you were beyond the impatient vampire."

"Then what was the wolf that spoke to us all?" Vorador asked; his arms around Umah's shoulders as he helped her to walk. Despite only having recently regained consciousness she insisted on trying to exercise herself by doing some of her own walking.

"My instructor." The seer replied. "He is the one who wishes to pass on his knowledge but can only do so when we are all gathered at the temple." Her face adopted a far off expression as her thoughts drifted. "He said I was worthy, but I had not believed him; at least not until now." The tunnels twisted and turned and eventually they passed out of what was known to the miners, beyond the light of the lanterns and into the darkness of the underground.

Realizing that the humans in their group could not see as well in the dark as the vampires or those who became wolves every full moon, Vorador held up one hand calling the beginnings of a fire ball between his talons. The soft orange glow illuminated the tunnel ahead a short distance.

"Thank you." The seer began. "Did you bring the Lupine Gospels?"

"I have them on me." Vorador replied tapping his chest and the inside coat pocket where he had laid the parchments. "For some strange reason I felt as if I would need them." The seer nodded once with a grim smile.

"You will."

She continued to lead them, utterly sure of her way as they descended deeper into the darkness; their way lit only by Vorador's grace. The tunnels interwove like a labyrinth beneath the eastern mountain range, a natural maze that only part of which had been used for the mines. As if she had walked this route a thousand times, she led them on.

As they walked, Ewoden noticed that on the walls were depictions. Scrawled cave paintings. Images of a war with fighting the likes of which appalled him; men with wings fighting against creatures with near insect like qualities to them, the two races clashing against each other with religious fervour.

This was the ancient war that nearly destroyed both the Vampires and the Hylden. Ewoden found himself amazed how such a terrible conflict could simply fade from human history when so much of evidence lay scattered around?

Suddenly the Seer stopped and then turned to face the tunnel ceiling above her.

"Ah yes…" She breathed. Vorador raised his claw higher and the darkness above was expelled, revealing that directly above the Hylden herself was an etched piece of stone. It was clearly purposely placed, as it was far too smoothly cut and engraved with runes to be natural. Directly in the centre was a round, circular object that blocked the way to some sort of entrance above. "I placed this seal here eons ago to prevent someone arriving at Midguard by chance." She explained. "But the time has come for it to be opened again." She raised an arm and aimed her open palm towards it. She whispered something in another language, her eyes narrowing at the seal above.

The runes lit up, their etched lines glowing bright white; before the seal uncoupled itself from the ceiling with a loud clunk. Slowly it descended, hovering for a moment in the air before drifting down to land softly on the ground beneath them.

There was a tunnel beyond, leading directly upwards to some unknown destination. Without a word the seer gestured to the seal on the floor. Its round shape was flat on top and large enough for them all to stand on.

Vorador climbed onto it first, helping the weakened Umah to do so as well. The others followed one by one. Kain was the last. He stood there staring at it in mute distrust, before eventually he relented and stepped up. Once all of them were stood upon the seal, the combined weight seemed to activate some sort of mechanism. Slowly, with them upon it, it rose up and quickly began to ascend towards the top of the shaft.

"This is not ancient vampire technology." Janos commented looking slightly puzzled.

"And neither is it Hylden." Vorador added. Between them, the two ancients were familiar with all forms of ancient technology in Nosgoth and the style of architecture used to create this was unique and foreign to them both.

"The people who created this form of transportation left this world eons mere decades after Vampires and the Hylden came into being." The seer replied without looking at them. "They were the first." She said nothing more after that and it seemed no one had the motivation to press the conversation any further.

Eventually, a point of light emerged far above them; a single dot of light in the darkness. Steady it grew and grew until finally; they left the long shaft and emerged up into a chamber.

It was a corridor, made completely out of stone and interlaced with metal. The style was similar to that of Hylden constructions but had far straighter edges. How this place was lit was not apparent but there was enough light in here for Vorador to cancel out his illumination. The Seer stepped off the seal and onto the floor.

Sally followed first, quickly followed by Ewoden and William; the Princess stepping off accompanied by her two knights.

"What is this place?" Kain asked glancing around at the unfamiliar architecture that stretched down the corridor until it reached a large metal door. It was a clear surface with a single seem directly down the middle.

"Merely the threshold." The seer replied walking off. "Now come." She lead them to the door and lightly laid her hand upon it. As if it had been struck by the arms of giants it crashed open, but without so much a creaking of its hinges in terms of noise. The corridors carried on, an interlaced network of them that was much a maze as the catacombs they had just left behind. The floor beneath their feet were uncomfortably cold and the walls seemingly devoid of anything decorative. What sort of beings, Ewoden found himself wondering, would choose to build such a sterile environment?

"Sire… what is this race she speaks of?" Vorador asked. Ewoden cocked his head slightly to listen in on the conversation.

"I am not certain." Janos replied. "But the folklore of our people tell of an overall creator, those who spawned all races; Vampire, human and Hylden alike. We accepted this to be our Oracle and Elder." The ancient furrowed his brow. "But now I wonder; could it be the people who built this unique place and the Elder was simply taking the credit?"

Eventually, the Seer's leadership showed them to another door. This she opened in much the manner as the previous and stepped inside.

"What manner of spawn from hell…" Kain began at the sight beyond. Before them was a room that Ewoden could only described as an alchemist's nightmare. The place was white, almost completely snow white with grey mesh floors and an arched dome ceiling. All around the walls were dozens of tall glass jars just larger than a man, all hooked up together by thick metallic limbs that looked like mechanized snakes. Some of the glass jars were broken and through the holes, they observed piled fragments of ancient bones.

A stone slab, clearly serving as a table, stood directly in the centre of the room. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, but that did little to hide the metallic instruments laid upon it. They were foreign in origin to them, but they were clearly surgical tools of a sort. Beside these tools were the skeletal remains of an ancient vampire. The bones laid out after being counted, sorted and documented. The smell of death in this place was overpowering. So much so that Ewoden had to stagger backwards as the scent hit his werewolf enhanced senses. Beside the former knight, Obelisk shuddered as he detected it as well. This was ancient death he was smelling, but even after so long it had remained as if it were a bound spectre. Sally wrapped her fingers around Ewoden's hand and refused to let go.

"Come, do not linger." The seer urged them, crossing the room towards the door on the far side. They were all too happy to oblige. Not a single one of them would like to lurk in such a forbidding place.

The corridors beyond continued for a short distance, before finally they came to an abrupt stop with another chamber. This one was different from the first as it was completely barren. The only thing of interest, at least in appearance was the door.

"We were all created here; or at least conceived, weren't we?" William asked, stating the question that had been dogging most of the minds in the group. "This is the birthplace of the races." The seer was silent with her back to him, before nodding once.

"Midguard is the place of destiny for all Nosgoth." She laid both her hands against the door as if leaning into it. "Here, let me show you my sanctuary." The door flew opened and fresh air rushed out to meet them, wafting away the stench of death. A torrent of snow fell in, flooding around their feet and up to their knees.

Beyond was a ruined countryside. A wasteland of snow reaching as far as the eye could see. The thick blanket of white wrapped around ruined buildings that in their prime must have reached great heights, but now had all but disappeared under nature's relentless barrage. A forest of half dead pine trees stood before them, their blackening branched laden heavy with snow.

"We are beyond the mountain border of Nosgoth." Vorador stated as the Seer began forward. "From this point on, the land is unknown territory." With that he started after her; Umah in his stride.