Chapter 1: Kain Goes On a Quest

Flashback:

"Ah, now we come to your part in this story. When you chose to destroy the Pillar of Balance, you caused a rift throughout the world, sufficient to breach through the dimensions."

"Was it I then who had engendered this war? No. I had been set step by step upon the path that led to this outcome. Hadn't this all been a Hylden plot from the beginning?
My mind reeled at the implications."

"It was in this way that the Sarafan Lord was able to enter the world, by building a magical gate. This is the Hylden Gate. Close this gate Kain, and all the Hylden within Nosgoth will perish."

"The gate sustains their existence?"

"Precisely. It is their umbilical cord to the other world. When it is closed they cannot dwell in our world."

"And so, all the Hylden will die, and the Sarafan Lord as one of them, dies as well. I see..."

"Ah, close the gate, and kill the Sarafan Lord, Kain. Close the gate, and shut the Hylden from the world once again."

"And how is this to be done?"

"Let us go to sanctuary. Vorador must be informed of all that has occurred, and a plan can be drawn to finish this once and for all. Oh and Kain. Perhaps when you have time to spare, maybe in your distant future, you will embark on a quest."

"What type of quest?"

"Go to the Lake of Tears. I am sure you know where to kind it. Use this; you will know what it is for. The murals will divulge this gems true purpose to you, if you only know were to look."

"And what purpose does this serve in me ruling Nosgoth?"

"Believe me Kain; what you will find there will be to your liking and advantage in ruling Nosgoth. The creatures visage nor name will be known to you, but all will tell itself in due time once you are there. It will become as precious to you as the Soul Reaver that you hunger to get back. Oh and take this. Guard it with your very soul itself. Now let us leave."

End Flashback.

Note to Readers: That was an excerpt of Kain talking to Janos when they first met in Blood Omen 2. Everything is verbatim from the game. Starting at Oh and Kain though, the dialogue is mine. It is now centuries later, and the story will now start at Soul Reaver (around 300 yrs before Raziel is thrown into the abyss).

Kain had been sitting throne at the base of the balance pillar, a little more than bored as usually. He watched casually as his 'sons' moved about, making plans for an attack on a small army of human resistance. That's when he had had the flashback of his encounter with Janos Audron. The legendary vampire of ancient day and remembered his mention of a quest to the Lake of Tears. As reluctant as half of Kain's visage was to go, the other half had been in a state of constant curiosity about this quest for quiet some time now. He rose up from his throne and began to walk out of his throne room.

"Sire where are you off to? You are in a state of hurry. Is something amiss?" Raziel had walked up to his sire and bowed respectfully and then rose. He had great admiration for his 'father' and to see him all at once hurry to deprive them of his presence worried him. Soon Turel, Rahab, and all the others were around their sire, ready to follow him to the death.

"It is not a matter that involves any of you. I am merely venturing out on a quest that I am indeed, long overdue for. Continue to make plans for our raid of the naïve humans who believe they can destroy us. I will return at two days end. Raziel you are in command while I am absent, as always." With that, Kain teleported out of the throne room and began his mini quest.

"Father does so love to leave you in command Raziel. What, pray tell, do you think is the reason behind his favoritism?" Zephon asked snidely, ignoring the fact that Raziel was his undead brother, superior, and for the time being commander.

"Perhaps, dear brother, it is because I think with a level head upon my person, or that our father knows that I will not let petty tantrums cloud my judgment or my actions, whether that be on the battlefield or off, or maybe its just I am his first born son and his most powerful." Raziel finished with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Or perhaps he favors you because, you are his bed warmer." Dumah added, impersonating Raziel's voice. The others laughed at this is some way, shape, or form, but before anyone could speak, Raziel was directly in front of Dumah.

"Perhaps my dear brother is jealous, since our father kept you as a bed warmer for a little less than 3 hours and for one time only at that." With that said, the other brothers looked at Dumah in disbelief but, by the horrified and somewhat embarrassed look upon his face, they knew it to be true.

"You know nothing Raziel!" Dumah stormed out of the room, being followed by the eyes of his brothers. After he had exited, Raziel went back to his work in silence, while Turel and Melchiah left to scan the area around the kingdom for spies and rebels, Zephon left to assembly his clan, and Rahab stayed with Raziel helping him finish the battle plan, in silence.

Some 2 days later

Arriving at the Lake of Tears, Kain realized that he must jump into the water, for nothing, at present, in his surroundings could help him.

"Is this some sort of hoax? Am I forced to delve into the depths of this water for a quest!" He then heard a strange noise. When he turned, he saw Janos, or an illusion of Janos floating above the lake.

"Kain, if you are witnessing this illusion, then that means that you decided to journey on my little quest. My visage cannot sustain itself here long. Delve deep into this lake and you will come to a great building, a building of my great ancestors, that was here long before I was born and will be here centuries after mankind is all but extinct. Once inside you will find a small room that requires this for the path to be opened for you."

Kain reached out and from the illusion of Janos, he received a small round pendant from within a concealed pocket on his person.

"With this, you may enter the room. There you will witness a very microscopic piece of history, for I know, since I used the last of my power to place it there, as well as this illusion of myself, before I was banished into the Hylden Dimension. From that point, traverse down the long winding corridor, leading to another block in your path. Use my pendant once again, but this time flip it on its twin side to unlock the gate. Once you have completed this entire task, my illusion will visit you once again. Good Luck Kain." With that said, Janos was gone. Kain, hoping Janos knew what he was speaking, leapt into the Lake of Tears.

/My mind raced, as I wondered what was in store for me. I Kain, the great Guardian of the Pillar of Balance, was a bit troubled. As I sunk to the bottom of this ancient lake, I opened my eyes and beheld a great vision. A majestic citadel lay at the bottom, obviously of vampire architecture. I swam towards the first opening I discovered and continued to do so, until I came up in a room that had a small hole in the floor. I jumped up and out of the water, surveying my surroundings. As Janos had predicted, I came up to a door that seemed to be locked by some sort of item. I reached into a small concealed pocket on my person and removed the ancient's pendant. As I placed it into its proper place, the door threw itself ajar and I continued onward./

Kain walked into the small room, slightly on guard for anything out the ordinary. He spotted some murals on the walls. The Hylden Lord and some guards looking toward two ancients, one collapsed on the floor, the other, seemingly bound in mid air. As Kain approached the mural, he realized that the collapsed ancient was Janos, seeming to be very anger, but also very injured. The other seemed to be afraid and struggling to free herself from the energy that bound her. Another showed Janos reaching for the Hylden Lord, while the other vampire had just vanished off the mural. As he continued to look around, the room changed, and he soon realized that he was getting a glimpse of the history Janos spoke of. He looked around as the room was restored to its once former glory and witnessed this small scene from unrecorded Nosgoth history.

"Did you think we did not foresee this event as well? The day that the Chosen One of our arch enemies would rise up and overthrow us. We were well prepared for this day. Perfected these spells, we did, to seal you away. With you gone, Narzgarth will be ours for the taking." At that, the Hylden Lord began chanting a language Helios neither Janos knew. They struggled and tried their best to cast their most powerful spells, but to no avail. A small rip in the air began to form and continued to grow until it was large enough to fit only one thing; an Ancient.

"We banish you now, to a parallel dimension. To a plane were you will not die, but stay until your mind rots a thousand times and the darkness will become so comforting that you will embrace it. Go now, we have sealed your fate and the fate of your people." The Hylden Lord and his minions raised their hands and in an instant Helios was thrown into the portal and it closed.

When the vision was gone, the room returned to its decaying self.

"So the female was banished to another plane of existence for being the Chosen One. Obviously, she was someone of great strength for the Hylden Lord to banish her on sheer legend alone. But who was she? Why had Janos been seemingly, so close with her? A lover perhaps? A companion and fellow friend and teammate?" Kain pondered.

As he let his thoughts run rampant, he walked until he found a small passageway that led to the winding corridor Janos had spoken of. Curious to know more, he made haste to make it to the end. It seemed easy enough, until he began hearing voices in his mind.

"Janos, I am certain that this is a trap."

"Something's amiss."

"The war continues on and we are miles from it."

"We have spent nearly 300 years perfecting our spells for this moment."

"NO! Helios!"

"If only our ancestors had foreseen this disaster…"

"We have lost all Hope."

"NO!"

"Something…"

"Hope…"

"The war will never..."

"Their great cities will crumble under Hylden…"

"Oracle please…"

"You let the Hylden Lord take your sister…"

"These events were not written…"

"Their reign will ruin…"

"Darkness shall become all that is seen and…"

"Were is the Chosen..."

"Gone by what hands has…"

"Hope"

"I loved her Raskli…"

"Helios"

"Helios"

"Helios"

"Helios"

Kain clutched the sides of his head and screamed for the voices to stop. He had been since fallen to the floor, body shaking violently, veins bulging to capacity, and voice heard through the citadel.

"Stop it! Get out of my head! Shut up! Get the fuck out of my mind! Leave me alone!"

The sayings of the voices had long since blurred together (indicated by … at the end of each saying) causing even more pain to Kain's entire being. Despite his pleas, the voices continued on.

"The Oracle can help…"

"We must get her…"

"Janos this is your doing since…"

"Raskli do not be so…"

"Krekyas lies in ruin to the…"

"Our regimes are losing…"

"We need…"

"Narzgarth will be under our rule at long…"

"We must banish them as they…"

"What must be..."

"Audron your task is at…"

"Another plane of existence is in…"

"Now…"

"They will never escape the…"

"Your doom is at hand you filthy winged…"

"We must act…"

"They shall all burn…"

"Raise the pillars to seal…"

"We will return and claim…"

"Never…"

"Your Chosen One will never return from…"

"HELIOS!"

"STOP THIS NOW!" Kain screamed one last time, as he slipped into blissful darkness and there he laid as the voices stopped, for the better part of an hour.

/I awoke to find myself with a blistering headache, but the voices had stopped and for that I was relieved. I walked cautiously at first, making quite sure that these voices of the Ancients and the Hylden, obviously, would not return. As I continued my descent into the unknown, I finally came to another door, or more over, a gate of some sort./

Kain once again, pulled out the pendant and placed it in its proper place. The gate threw itself open and inside he stepped. As he did so, Janos appeared one last time.

"Ah, I see you have made it through the Forlorn Corridor or the Corridor of Forgotten Dreams as it was called by my race."

"Yes, well, I would have greatly appreciated if you had warned me that the challenge would be seeing if those deranged voices could shout my thoughts right out my mind."

"On to more pressing matters. I cannot sustain this illusion here long. Do you have what I gave you doing our very first encounter?" Janos questioned.

"Indeed I have guarded it with my very soul, as you told me too. What exactly is it? You very consciously, neglected to tell me doing our first encounter?"

"It will help to bring something valuable back to this world. Place the Blood Gem into that tiny rip in space that you see there."

Kain walked carefully over the rip in space, reached his hand in, and let go of the gem. He stepped back and got on his guard.

The earth beneath him began to shake; the space and air around him seemed to get sucked into the tiny hole. He heard to weather way above him take a turn for the worst, time seemed to stop and all of a sudden, everything was back to normal, except that a beautiful vampire ancient had replaced the rip in space, which had completely closed up.

"Is she Helios?" Kain inquired.

"Yes by dearly beloved sister. She should rouse soon."

They both looked on as the vampire woke from eons of slumber and exile. As her eyes opened, she laid eyes on Kain and pulled her bow and arrow from her back.

"What matter of creature are you? Speak or I'll have you blood on my hands!" she said violently.

"Helios! Be still your violence." Janos demanded. He had never liked for his sister to be violent.

"Janos?" She ran to her brother to greet him, until she realized he was an illusion.

"Janos what has…"

"I have no time left in this plane. Helios listen carefully. This is Kain. You must trust him. He will be your new guardian. He will watch over you." Janos began to fade away.

"My last sap of energy will be directed at you and to inform you of all that has happened since your banishment and what led up to it. I love you my beloved Sister."

Janos faded away, but a small necklace floated over to Helios and she put it around her neck. As she did so, she saw everything that had happened to her, her people, and all that had happened to the world around her. Within seconds she had seen everything and she turned to Kain, emotionless.

"You are Kain. I am Helios Audron, last of my great race." She bowed slightly.

"Shall we go then Helios?" She shook her head and teleported them to the opening in which Kain had come out of the water. They dove back in and swam until they were back on land. Kain helped Helios out of the water and she nodded a thanks.

"Lead the way Kain."

"Come then. My empire is this way."

How did everyone like my first chapter? Long I know. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE.

Coming Soon Chapter 2: Meeting the Clans