The flare was only temporary.
After it reached its peak, the light died away and I lowered my arm. The sight greeting me was a phenomenal surprise and this is something I must readily confess. If the Hylden were masters of machinery, then the 'Norse' Parent race were the gods of machinery.
A massive chamber, around like sphere with the surface painstakingly engraved with a form of language I did not recognize lay within. But that was not what caught my attention. Within the centre of this room was a machine of rings.
Dozens of thin metallic rings encircled each over; each one smaller than the last as they withdrew inside. Along each ring was a metallic sphere with engraved in their surface, the nature of which was lost upon me. Within the exact centre of these rings was the source of the light which had momentarily blinded me.
A large cut crystal with no distinct colour but glowed with an entrapped light within, its surface a pale ruby quartz.
"No clever comments Kain?" The Elder's voice asked as I stepped forward to examine this bizarre machine further.
A stone catwalk ringed the outside of the spherical chamber, allowing one access to all sides of the rings.
"Just what is this?" I asked , fearing perhaps that I was being misled.
"What you see before you is a machine that the Norse used to measure the world and all worlds beyond it. To measure time and space and even history itself. A recorder that allows one to see the history of the race that made it." The Elder replied. Although I saw no giant eyes or tentacles in his chamber, his presence was no less more potent. "They called it an Orrery."
"An impressive construct, but I do not see why you choose to show me this." I stated, trying to put on a sceptical a face as possible.
"Perhaps you should try paying attention instead of strutting about then." The Elder's voice sounded snippy. "Place your hand upon the pedestal in front of you."
I glanced down. Sure enough a stone pedestal had escaped my notice. It was about waist high and had a hand impression on its flat top.
I had no guarantees that it wouldn't kill me if I touched it and I wouldn't put such an obvious trap past the Elder. Still, morbid curiosity getting the better of me I complied and pressed my left hand down.
There was a loud shunting of turning heavy metal from somewhere out of sight followed by a brief moment of pregnant silence. Then the outer most ring on the Orrery began to move, twisting and turning back and forth. Then the next ring began to rotate, followed by the next one and the next one. One by one the rings began moving, spinning around and through each other faster and faster. They blurred by and even my eyes weren't enough to keep up with them.
The crystal in the direct centre sparked like an igniting sun and light radiated out. The turning rings intercepted the light and as they moved, they formed an image within the sphere.
In this image, an image made of pure light, I saw a vast empty darkness and in this darkness; stars came into being. Attracted by some force, rocks and other debris from here and there collected around these stars; becoming planets and moons.
On one of these worlds came life and I realized I was witnessing not only the birth of Nosgoth, but of the planet of which it was a part.
"This world was spun out of the cosmic chaos that dwells beyond the sky." The voice of the Elder told me. "Life persisted on its surface for eons until finally, the Norse came into being." The image changed as if time as passing rapidly and I saw a race of people emerge.
They were shaped like humans only taller, with blonde hair being something of a racial characteristic although there were many variances. At first they lived in caves and hunted prey with wooden spears while marvelling at a burning tree after it was struck by lightening.
But as time past they became more and more advanced until finally their cities dwarfed anything even the most talented Hylden architect could conceive. "Seeing themselves as 'chosen', they began to grow arrogant and deadly ambitious; seeing the only obstacle between them and godhood being death itself.
Perceiving a world where death was no longer a factor they attempted to defy the Wheel of Fate." I watched as some invisible force ceased these people. At first, it made them strong, vigorous and let them live far beyond their natural life spans; but eventually it all went wrong.
Their bodies degraded and aged rapidly, their children were born dead by the dozen and all surrounding life began to wither away as all of its energy was spent in one go.
"What you fail to understand about the Wheel of Fate, Kain, is that it was a system in place long before I existed." The Elder announced. "It maintains life by ensuring the energy needed to exist is no foolishly squandered, that once that energy is used up it is returned to the Wheel where it can do good.
The Norse foolishly tried to pump this energy through bodies that simply could not handle that amount of it. The result was their race damned itself."
The image before me changed again and I saw the land of the Norse had died. It was a dead husk of a place, devoid of even the smallest hint of life. Unable to live there and fading fast, the Norse set sail from their northern coastline on massive ships.
Searching for a place to start again they crossed the ocean, many of their number dying in the attempt until finally they washed up on the shores of a island where the City of Willendorf would be built in thousands of years.
"And even then they refused to give up… on the verge of extinction." I muttered. These people were dying by the score yet even so they kept going, refusing to completely surrender to death's cruel hand. For all their mistakes I could not help but feel a respect for these people.
"They were idiotic lumps of flesh without the intelligence to realize when it is hopeless." The Elder snorted, sounding unimpressed. "Had they the slightest fraction of the wisdom they claimed to have, they would have died on the spot and saved themselves decades of unnecessary pain."
"Perhaps by your logic."
For the Norse, Nosgoth was a harsh and bitter land where crops would not grow and their people died in ever more alarming numbers. By the time they established the ancient city of Midgard in the eastern mountains they numbered less than five thousand.
Using their science and by a means I did not understand, they cultivated the land; introducing the spark of life into the dead earth. Even with their decline, the Norse's power was enough to generate life across the entire continent.
It was breathtaking to watch. These people transformed a barren wasteland into a vibrant country overflowing with life.
"Hoping that perhaps they were not too late to save themselves, the Norse tried desperately to reattach themselves to the Wheel of Fate, to restore their mortality to its normal rate." The Elder continued and the scene changed.
I observed several Norsemen standing over a large glass tank full of saltwater. Bubbles rose up from vents in the bottom and a huddled, dark shape within was silhouetted by bright lights from above.
"Desperately they experimented, trying to bring themselves back within the eternal circle but their efforts were futile. By their blasphemous acts they had damned themselves.
Realizing this they attempted to artificially reconnect themselves by the creation of a being that would act as their link between the Wheel and their own souls."
The shape in the water moved as a spark like lightning was passed through it. Like a shadow being given life, the darkness moved like an aquatic creature; dragging itself over the bottom of the tank towards the sides.
"That being, Kain… was me."
I scowled at the sight of the hideous green life form as it moved slowly up towards the surface of the water, dragged by deformed tentacles and moved in small neon blue eyes.
"So… we all share a common heritage then?" I asked out load.
"As more and more Norsemen died, I did as I was created to do; I returned their souls to the Wheel and they were grateful for it." The Elder carried on ignoring me. "The more souls I spun in the wheel, the greater the share of energy I had and could take sustenance from but despite this I could not restore the flow of life for the Norse. Their species had been far too badly damaged and were beyond restoration.
Realizing that eventually they would go extinct and the Wheel would cease to turn, I prompted them into creating new sentient races to occupy Nosgoth, a way to atone for their folly."
The image changed again and I saw that time had past. The infant Elder was not much bigger, filling the whole tank and the Norse leaders seemed to be in constant communication with it.
"Faced with limited options they followed my advice and through the last of their science they gave birth to the three races that walk the surface."
Again the picture warped and churned, moving from one event to another before it finally settled to show me several more Norsemen. They were gathered around a round glass tank, once again filled with water. A white liquid was intermixed with it and once a spark past through, the white substance began to move together to form what looked like a skeleton.
"To the Vampire race, they gave them wings and light weighted bodies, gifting them with intimate knowledge of the arcane magic's so that they might rule the sky." The voice around me announced almost piously. The image before me showed the first vampire, blue winged with raven wings stepping out of the laboratories for the first time and into the light, shielding their inexperienced eyes from the flare.
"To the Hylden; they gave aquatic bodies and slender forms; filling their minds with their archive of technology so that they might rule the ocean."
The first Hylden resembled the Seer more than the rest of their race. They were taller and thin, with bony plates along their backs and chestnut brown head hair. Hardly anything resembling the insect like people who resided now in the Void. They emerged from the crumbling city of Midgard to behold an the coastline south of Willendorf.
Several hesitated, before one of them took a running jump at it and divided into the clear water's of the ocean. Prompted by this, the others followed.
"The third and final race was the Human." The Elder stated. "The Norse gifted them with neither great magic nor great science, but instead their strength lay in their adaptability.
More than any other race, including the Norse themselves, the Human's could adapt and survive in nearly any environment. This gift was freely given so that the Human's might rule the land."
The very first humans almost resembled the Norse's original forms themselves but they were shorter by a good half foot and less broad. They were let loose into the green pastures across what was now the city of Avernus.
"Not long after that, the Norsemen dwindled one by one until finally they vanished and the last of the soul's rejoined the wheel."
The image vanished completely as the glow from the crystal ceased. The wheels stopped turning altogether and the entire chamber fell silent.
Raziel projected himself beside me, his semi-transparent form feeling almost real to my sense.
"However, after long contemplation I decided that the Norse had not yet paid the price for their foolishness." The Elder added slowly and I glanced up. "Why should I grant the mercy of reincarnation to those who spurned the Wheel?
They reside with me, in my eternal presence where their souls might learn the necessity of me."
"Then those screams…" Raziel demanded. "Those screams I heard more than once, while I traversed the Spectral Realm… those were the screams of the Norse?"
The Elder gave off a deep chuckle.
"The Norse had served their purpose by provided me fresh souls with which to turn the Wheel.
Do you see now Kain… even IF, by some astronomically lucky fluke, you DO manage to destroy me; you will not destroy the Wheel.
I turn the Wheel for I am the devour of Death and the origin of life, for without me the three races would not exist. Yet the Wheel transcends even me.
Your quest is hopeless, Kain, and perhaps like the Norse, it is time to accept that."
There was a loud hissing sound from behind me, the unmistaken sound of a sword being removed from a scabbard.
Reaching for the Reaver, I swung about ready to face this new challenger but at the sight of it I faltered and staggered back in utter surprise.
It was a vampire with white skin that was turning a shade of light green, a row of horns emerging out of his hairline. His eyes were bright gold and hair snow white, long and tied back behind him. The face was long and the cheekbones very pronounced.
The armour he wore across his right arm as bronze and laced with serrated spikes along the outside. A red clan banner hung across his shoulder, clipped to the armour and hanging down behind him.
Strapped across his back was a claymore sword; held it place by a sheath across the armour.
The hilt was ivory bone, a skull staring out from directly in the middle. The blade itself wasn't straight but wavered like a serpent right up to the tip.
The sword and wielder were all too familiar to me.
Facing me, as impossible as it seemed, was myself.
"You and I…" The vampire began. "Must talk."