Disclaimer: The usual disclaimer applies.
Chapter 4: She whom the Demon loves
Raziel entered the room of the pillars and Val followed close behind but the moment both of them were inside, the doors suddenly slammed shut. Raziel spun around. Raziel slowly backed away from the door but a voice caused him to slide back and turn in the direction of the one who spoke.
"Raziel" said the voice.
"Kain" he spat in return.
"The abyss has been unkind."
For the meantime, Val decided to remain hidden behind the columns even though she was already invisible. She had a feeling if Raziel was defeated by this vampire, she would step up and have a real kick of a grand time causing all sorts of agony to this Vampire. Her desire to hear the pathetic screams of a tortured Vampire could not be controlled. Other than that, she reasoned that this particular Vampire was probably the biggest boss of them all. She had never seen an aura so bright. The atmosphere was practically vibrating with the intensity of his strength. As she stared at him, her confidence was put down a few notches. Kain was glowing with an intense, almost blinding aura. At first it was green, then red, then purple, then blue, then white and so on. The color of his aura was ever-changing. She had never seen anyone so powerful before. She would have to see for herself just how powerful he was. And with that, Val reverted into her lupine form but stayed in the shadows.
"I am your creation, Kain - now, as before. You criticize your own work. What have you done with my clan, degenerate? You have no right-" Raziel began.
"What I have made, I can also destroy, child." Kain interrupted.
"Damn you, Kain!"
"You are not God! This act of genocide is unconscionable!" Raziel continued.
"Conscience...? You dare speak to me of conscience? Only when you have felt the full gravity of choice should you dare to question my judgment! Your life's span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light... To know that the fate of the world hangs dependent on the advisedness of my every deed -- can you even begin to conceive what action you would take, in my position?"
"I would choose integrity, Kain."
"Look around you, Raziel - see what has become of our empire. Witness the end of an age. The clans, scattered to the corners of Nosgoth... This place has outlasted its usefulness -- as have you."
Kain then unsheathed his sword, the Soul Reaver, which was now glowing with anticipation, and assumed a battle stance. Raziel took a step backward at this sight knowing full well that anyone to have ever come in contact with this deadly blade normally ended up dead. Kain then vanished and teleported to one side of the room. Raziel merely ran up to him and attacked him with his claws.
As they continued fighting, was taken by a strange overwhelming compulsion to touch the Pillar of Death. Her claws moved of their own volition. The Pillar called to her. Tentatively, she touched the Pillar with her right wolfish claw. As soon as she made contact, her claw gripped the Pillar as though it was suctioned in, her nails embedding themselves in the marble. Try as she might, she could not dislodge her claw. All of a sudden, she felt all her energy, her Dark Matter, pouring into the Pillar.
At that instant, Val's head snapped up and though the voice was hers, the words she spoke came from a completely different entity. "Necromancer, I summon you! Urzak Anadyr Mergo!" Her grip loosened as she became visible again. She fell to the marble flooring, drawing the attention of the dueling Wraith and Vampire.
"What manner of creature is this? Is it yours, Raziel?" Kain questioned the bewildered wraith.
"That is none of my doing," Raziel answered motioning at the weakened wolf.
The two halted their struggle out of curiosity. Raziel cautiously approached the prostrate Shadow Wolf. Val remained sprawled on the ground in her wolf form. She did not move. She felt so weak. All her energy had been drained clean right out of her. But she could feel it returning in little increments. Slowly she regenerated, drawing in all the nearby energy into her body. It was a slow but steady process.
Kain was having none of this. He decided to be rid of the wolf so that he could continue his battle with Raziel. He leapt up into the air intending to bring the Reaver directly on the creature's body.
Val could barely make out the blurry image of Kain in the air with the Reaver aimed at her heart. Had she seen him a second later, she would have been dead. In the nick of time, she got up and rolled out of the way at the same time focusing all that was left of her power at the Vampire.
Kain landed painfully where Val had been a split-second ago. He dropped the Reaver in agony. He felt as though his innards were bursting in flame. His entire vampiric body was assaulted by jabbing hooks and white-hot needles. His blood turned to acid and was burning his flesh right off.
Raziel was astounded. What was this creature that possessed the ability to incapacitate a power of the land? An entity of such might was no laughing matter. If she could debilitate Kain so easily, what could she do to his husk of a form? Undying he was, but not invincible.
Val let out a loud fuming snarl. Increasing the intensity of her power tenfold, she watched as the Vampire Overlord writhed on all fours like a common peasant, delirious with plague.
Kain feebly raised his right claw in the direction of the deranged Shadow Wolf. He managed to summon a pathetic excuse for a telekinetic bolt at her. The projectile made contact but did her no harm. Nonetheless, her concentration was momentarily broken. Kain only needed that split second to regain his composure. But as he did so, a new entity stood in his way.
In her hands, were the same serpentine, twin Cryse blades looted from Vorador's mansion. Her face was still covered by the same ornate butterfly mask. The same Necromancers' Cloth garbed her. She was completely unchanged by time. It appeared that after all these centuries, Eidolon, secret daughter of Ariel and Nupraptor, had returned from the dead.
"You irritating little vermin!" Kain spat at the woman. "I remember you. I thought I killed you once already."
"We Necromancers have our own ways of dealing with death. I did not merely study it. I controlled it." Eidolon replied icily, never once breaking eye contact with the Vampire Overlord. "Those who are learned in Art of Death accept it willingly. I did, as my Lord Mortanius did. The only difference is that he did not preserve himself before meeting his demise at your hands. I, however, have remained secured in the Pillars until I was summoned. Now that I have, it is time I finish what I failed to do all those years ago.
For once, she actually lunged at Kain instead of allowing him the honor of the commencing move. Their serpentine blades clashed, emanating the power that pulsed within the lethal weapons. Now this was a true fight to the death, not a mere display of acrobatics and forms of swordsmanship.
"Why do you insist on returning from where I sent you last, cretin?" Kain goaded. "I still have reason to believe you came to me practically begging for release and yet did it in the most dignified manner you could think of."
"Because," Eidolon answered "some bonds could not be broken. Or should not."
They resumed their duel, though this time it was less of a dance, far less choreographed, relying more on impulse than focus. Eidolon was more keen on slaying the Vampire Overlord this time.
As Kain busied himself with the surprisingly violent Necromancer, a bewildered pair of onlookers stared in utter disbelief. It seemed as though Kain had completely forgotten the Wraith and the Shadow Wolf even existed, currently occupied fighting an unseen attacker. He sliced the Reaver Blade through thin air, blinded by madness. His eyes were glazed over and a thin white film appeared to encompass them.
"What madness is this?" Raziel voiced his thoughts. Turning to the Shadow Wolf he asked, "What have you done to him? How--?" His words simply choked in his metaphorical mouth. In all his unlife, Raziel had never seen such a twisted spectacle. The once egotistical tyrant was now at the mercy of a mere child. What in all hell was this creature that took this seemingly harmless guise?
Though contrary to Raziel's currently accepted notions, Val was merely as perplexed as he was. She stood unmoving, trapped in her own stupor of disbelief. The few words she muttered from her reverie broke everything. "This is not my doing."
Raziel's perception of the world around him changed suddenly. Time stood still though he knew he was still in the material realm. Val was a spirit flitting in and out of oblivion and before him was titan forced to the ground by something that could possibly be more powerful and perhaps more ancient than the sublime Dark God, Himself.
"I'm not doing anything and I don't sense anyone else here," the Wolf stated. "Do you?" she added.
"No. But has he gone mad? That is my query." Raziel replied, not even realizing that he had struck a conversation with a Wolf, of all creatures. Raziel knew wolves could not speak though he didn't seem to mind at that moment. Both creatures were too stupefied by the occurring madness to think logically at this point.
The realm of Nosgoth had lost all reason. Even a Vampire Overlord battled figments of his imaginings. Desperate to free himself of this delusion, Kain employed the same method he had used all those centuries ago at the exact same spot. He shut his eyes and stood perfectly still. With his marble-like appearance, he was a statue in the eyes of his baffled audience; a statue that held a serpentine blade to the ground.
Faster than any mortal eye could see, the blade that was connected to the ground rose up into the air. Slowly, Kain opened his eyes, once again expecting the Necromancer to be skewered through by the Reaver Blade. Instead, he was met by a most unanticipated sight.
Cockroaches. Thousands of infernal filthy insects were all over him, scuttling upon his person and flying around in random directions. They crept upon the walls and the Pillars. Even the Reaver Blade was coated with these maddening pests.
It was at this moment that Kain finally lost it. He began swinging the blade aimlessly to and fro, trying to slice his way through the horde of insects. He even gouged at his arms to rid himself of the vermin. Kain was dripping with several rivulets of crimson. To say that Kain was a madman was a horrible understatement. He looked as though he wanted to demolish the entire Sanctuary of the Clans.
Val should have been cowering in fear by now but surprisingly she retained a nonchalant resolve. She reverted back to her human guise and silently took a few steps back. Raziel was as stunned as ever. His luminescent orbs of eyes tried to take in all that was happening to the Lord he once revered. He did not move to aid him. Perhaps that was what he deserved after casting his ever faithful lieutenant into the abyss.
The Shadow Wolf moved as one possessed. An ethereal voice guided her in the deed she was to do next. "I am She whom the Demon loves. You will do as I command," the voice said. Val did not question the voice. It did not force her to its will. Rather it was a gentle voice, lulling her into a false sense of security. Mesmerized by this unearthly presence, she forgot all that was all around her. In a trancelike state, she opened her blue Illustrazio backpack and took out the glass orb that was the Conduit. She held it aloft and spoke the words "Bephesda Alamimnon Sanguino Terra Firma!"
The orb began to glow as Val put it to the ground and rolled it towards the Wraith. The Conduit crackled as it came to life, emitting minuscule sparks of lightning that activated it. Raziel immediately noticed the shafts of light coming from behind his cloven feet. He turned around and attempted to evade the glowing trinket as he did not know what it was capable of. But before he could take 2 steps away from the Conduit, he was suddenly bathed in white light and vanished.
Now the manipulated Shadow Wolf and the deranged Balance Guardian were all alone.
A/N: All incantations are purely made up.
