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(Note - it's amazing what you find time to work on again while under quarantine, isn't it?)
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Chapter 15- "An assassin at your back."
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The tunnels leading up from the concealed ruins of the Dragon's ancient city were a great deal smaller than those below, caverns which had been carved large enough to allow for the passage of titanic beasts. Some of the passages were so slender that Kain was required on many occasions to twist and turn his body in a variety of directions to fit through them. The cold, black stone seemed to loom up and press in on him, threatening to move in and crush him at any moment. The claustrophobic sensation was most decidedly unpleasant.
On and on he pushed, slowly ascending up the narrow craggy path, feeling the cooler fresher air as his only guide out of the corrupted hell he had discovered down here. Disgust roiled in him, churning his stomach at the memory of that perversion of diseased flesh he had seen. Such mutant expanses of undulating malevolence as more than even his hardened constitution could endure. If he had had any idea such brooding evil had been lurking beneath the Abyss, he would have had his empire devote all its resources in collapsing the cliffs around the colossal whirlpool and burying it forever.
He knew better then to trust a word that had been said to him down there. He knew with every ounce of rationality in his being that his enemy had been feeding him nothing but a pack of self serving lies. There was no way it could be anything else but an elaborate deception. But despite all of this reassurance, the Vampire could not help but the small worm of doubt which twisted in the back of his mind. That little voice that wondered if his enemy had spoken the truth, that this offer of truce and his leaving Nosgoth in peace might be genuine. For that wonder, Kain hated that worm with every ounce of his soul right now.
Coming into a rising passage with enough room for him to spread his arms, Kain turned his head to glare back over his shoulder. Harshly he beheld the small bobbing lantern which was following him. A spectral ball of blue and green light which at least served as some illumination deep in the bowels of this earthen labyrinth. In that orb of flickering coloured flame the face of the spectre could just be made out, formed from the dancing flames into an expression of woeful anguish.
Moebius' spirit had said nothing since being reforged by his master into this new form. He had merely done as commanded and followed the Vampire as he left that disgusting central chamber, a silent stalking companion who's melancholy was so palpable that it was finally weighing on Kain's nerves.
"So then, can you talk?" He finally asked, as the orb drew near. "Or am I simply going to endure the hounding steps of a silent floating ball for the rest of my journey?"
For a few moments there was no reply, that face of green flame cast down towards the floor with eyes that dared not look up. Moebius' spirit had been condemned to wander this dark underworld carrying a lantern for centuries and now, he had become that very lantern. Finally the ghost's face raised and turned to Kain. The dancing spectral flames made the expression hard to read at times but the look was one of baffled, upset confusion.
"What did I do?" Moebius' spirit asked in a voice which shook, trembling with conflicting emotions. "Why has this been done to me? What sin did I commit to deserve this?"
Staring at that forlorn face, hearing those words of self pity, stirred in Kain an anger so palpable it was a miracle he did explode into violence immediately.
"Well that answers that." The Vampire remarked flatly, barely holding back the disgust in his voice. He turned his back on the spectre and started forward again, ascending the path of dislodged rock and gravel which lead up to another opening at the apex of this twisting chamber. Moebius' form followed along behind him automatically, as if it were compelled to do so not by conscious thought but by some irresistible, magnetic pull.
"This horrible shape and form is ...is humiliating!" Moebius mumbled in choked despair.
"It's a sphere, Moebius. A ball." Kain remarked without turning, climbing up until he reached a sheer sheet of rock which rose directly upward out of the rubble slide. The opening to the next chamber lay at the top of it. "Have some perspective. Comparatively speaking, this is hardly the worst of shapes to end up as. I'm sure Raziel could give you a very long and intense diatribe about what he feels for his form."
Sinking his talons into the stone, Kain began to ascend the wall before him, grasping outcroppings where he could and carving his own when necessary. He bared his teeth at both the effort and the disgust he felt for his unwanted companion's self loathing.
"Besides, you earned a far worse fate than this. You got off easy!" He added with some venom. Following up behind him, Moebius' new form seemed to quiver with indignation at the rebuke. The face in the flames tightened in anger, the expression darkening with its own bitterness.
"I did everything I was told to do!" Moebius spat back. "I was the most loyal servant, devoted to the last!"
"And look how well you've been rewarded." Kain replied, reaching the top of the wall and hoisting himself through the opening with one great big pull of his arms.
The opening beyond was a larger chamber which kept on rising but also twisted to the left around a large central pillar of rock. Alongside the outer walls of the cavern lay scattered pieces of debris and rubble from the grand city ruin below, recognisable discards left here as his enemy had laid claim to the Lost City and taken it as his home. Most of the colossal ruins he had left behind far below, lost in the darkness.
"He will restore me to myself when the task is complete. This...this is merely a trail." Moebius was babbling, clearly to himself more than Kain. "I must persevere! I must show him that I am still worthy!"
Kain raised a hand and ran it slowly over his face with a soft, private grunt of vexed annoyance.
"Actually, on second thought, I believe I preferred your silence." He muttered in exasperation.
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"What a strange thing is fate that it would anchor to me the spirit of the one man in all of Nosgoth I despised above all others. His mere presence was like a constant itch I could not scratch. It drove me to distraction, when I had precious little time to afford it."
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In this new chamber Kain could feel the air about him sluggishly move. It was a slow, lethargic breeze which barely stirred the dust and grime, but it was a steady one. Kain drew in a lungful of it and his expression deepened into a scowl of disgust as he detected the distinct, pungent odor of rot and decay. The stench of putrefying flesh was coming from somewhere near the source of the current. An ill omen to be sure, but moving air meant that source was an opening to the surface. He would have no choice but to seek it out.
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"In the foulest depths of the earth I had come across the enemy and parlayed with him. I had listened to his terms and carried with me his offer of ceasefire. Just what was I supposed to tell the others once we rendezvous? That the enemy had offered us a way out? That it was an offer I did not trust even for a moment?"
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He wondered what each of his erstwhile allies would say once he explained the offer to them. Vorador would be distrusting but open to the idea if there were reassurances, being a far more tactical and analytical soul. He might advocate taking advantage of the offer, but only from a position of strength. Janos, recently left reeling from his religious disillusionment, might not even be able to form a coherent opinion about the matter. Ajatar-Cadre, who held the religion of the Wheel of Fate in profound contempt but was motivated more by her desire to save her race from extinction, would probably agree to any proposal if it accomplished that end. Raziel was no mystery whatsoever. The blue wraith would reject anything their enemy would offer as a self-serving deception and surely would he not know best of all of them?
Strangely the one he wanted to ask their opinion most of was Umah. She was no general or statesman with centuries of experience. She lived in the moment. She saw things from the level of the common everyday person, with perceptions unclouded by years of built up biases and unconscious desires. Perhaps that is why she felt it had been necessary to steal the Nexus Stone from him all those years ago?
For a strange, near perverse moment, Kain even felt like turning and asking his unwilling traveling companion for his opinion on this whole conundrum. But Moebius' round form was gazing upon the crumbled bricks laying about the edge of the large chamber around them.
"We have left the confines of the city, now." He said, breaking the short silence. "This is further than I was ever permitted to go." His voice had a catch in it as he spoke, reflecting a childlike awe at such a relaxing of his long restraint.
"Congratulations." Kain remarked in flat sarcasm and without any warmth, turning to look at the floating sphere of green flame with an expression of irritated contempt. "How does it feel after nearly three thousand years?"
Moebius took the question as if it had been genuine and not an derisive insult, his expression in the flames pensive and thoughtful.
"Anticlimactic." He finally said, choosing a word Kain had not been anticipating. "I ...expected more to happen if and when I finally did cross such a barrier." But then he paused to think about it a moment longer. "No, I correct myself. In truth I do feel a deep anxiousness. To see what Nosgoth has become with my own eyes."
Kain raised an eyebrow at this admission in some confusion.
"Did you not see by gazing into the future?" He asked, perplexed.
"Yes of course, but never in person." Moebius replied, a bit defensively.
"I find that surprising." Said Kain as he began up and through the chamber, his companion bobbing along after him like his own personal fiery green miniature sun. "When I first discovered the Chronoplast, I was certain you must have used it to travel to the present to watch as I constructed my empire."
The thought that Moebius could be potentially lurking about watching him had actually made Kain distinctly paranoid for a while but he felt it best not to add that. Moebius let out a harsh bark of a laugh.
"Oh yes, travel to a time which was hazardous to all human life! Where I could be set upon at any moment by an entire army of Imperial Vampires! I can see that going very well for myself!" He replied with some irony. "In truth I gazed upon your rule with the merest cursory glance, Kain. I cared little for it other than the important events."
Kain just scowled.
"Sarcasm really doesn't suit you, Moebius." He replied with contempt. Then Kain paused, stopped in his tracks and glared with sudden savage intensity at his companion. "Why am I even talking to you?" He asked, more of himself then of Moebius. "Why am I having a conservation with the greatest mass murderer in vampire history?"
Moebius stared back at him from amidst the emerald flames of his new form, his expression challengingly indignant. Some of his old confrontational energy seemed to return, spurned on by Kain's remark. But it soon faded, snuffed out before it could gain any real ground replaced by that new expression of doubt. Doudt did not sit well on Moebius' features. His face was made for stern conviction or righteous anger. Doudt made it twist in ways it was seemingly not built for.
"I've been entombed in this underground city for so long that there were times when I forgot almost everything." He began after a brief pause. "The color of grass, the taste of food, the names of my fellow Guardians, even what the sun looked like. For a spirit there is no rest, no blissful state of unbeing to break up the monotony. Just a single, continual and perpetual consciousness as the seconds tick by. One after the other for eternity."
This of course was no surprise to Kain. He had learned of the true horror of ghostly existence from Ariel's example. In many ways spirits unable to move on were the most lamentable entities to exist, trapped forever in a perpetual stalemate.
"After all of that… as I think of the Vampires, what I did to them, what they did to me…I find something puzzling." Moebius went on.
"And what is that?" Kain asked.
"I am numb." When the Vampire's quizzical expression did not change at that remark, Moebius went on; "I feel nothing. No rage, no hatred, no pity, no sadness, no remorse. I am indifferent."
"Indifferent?" Kain repeated, with growing incredulity clear on his lips drawing back to expose his fangs. "You mean to tell me that after the multiple crusades to exterminate my race, after all those Vampires you impaled on stakes and left to rot and after all the executions you personally presided over…you just don't care?"
Moebius' fiery orb form paused there, the expression on its face one of deep thought, creased in a perplexed frown. Finally he looked up.
"No. I don't." He said and left Kain struck dumb at the sheer audacity of that simple statement. "The Vampires can die out or survive and flourish. I find that now I can treat either scenario with equal preference."
Kain pressed his lips tightly together to suppress the immediate bark of pure indignant rage which raced instinctively to his mouth. The mere idea that Moebius, of all people, would simply no longer care about the struggle for supremacy which had consumed both Man and Vampire kind was beyond comprehension. It bordered sheer lunacy. Disgusted, the Vampire turned from his burdensome companion and walked off into the darkness of the caverns.
"I don't know if that's better or worse." He growled to himself, shaking his head.
"Does it matter anymore?" Moebius asked in reply, following after him once again.
The cavern went up quite some distance, becoming an almost vertical shaft at one point before leveling out again. It was a route no Human could take without extensive climbing equipment but for him, a momentary set of obstacles. The sluggish flow of air increased with every step he took and Kain followed it, eager to see the back of these dingy caves once and for all. He quickened his pace and pointedly ignored the bobbing orb following along behind him.
After what seemed like a frustrating eternity climbing through the jagged dark, finally Kain found what he was looking for. As he emerged into an open cave section, his eyes were drawn to its irregular centre. Lancing from the floor of this cave to the ceiling was a large cylindrical pillar constructed of dark brick, the first artificial stonework he had seen since leaving the ruins far below.
The pillar was old although far more recent than the ruins, with stonework more common to Human construction. It seemed to be a foundational setting for some building above, although part of it had crumbled with age down one side and collapsed inward. Through that collapsed gap a shaft ascending into an unknown darkness could just be seen, a gaping open maw waiting to swallow anyone who might venture to climb up.
Kain paused for a moment watching it, sending the flow of air he had been following. Sure enough it was coming from the hole in that pillar, he could feel it brush over his skin in its direction. He frowned deeply as surveyed this avenue of escape, this potential line back to the surface.
"Uninviting. Interesting, but still uninviting." He muttered to himself as he approached it warily, step by cautious step.
"Does it go to the surface?" Moebius asked, bobbing along behind him.
Kain craned his head as he leant into the opening, gazing up the shaft. It was about ten feet wide and circular, the old stone providing plenty of handholds. The darkness however was impenetrable after only a short distance.
Kain held out one hand and called forth a ball of magical energy between his talons, the light bursting forth in the darkness of the cave and casting long shadows. With a flick of his wrist he sent the ball hurtling up the shaft. The simple spell traveled on, a rising spark racing higher and higher illuminating the shaft as it went. The vertical tunnel seemed to rise up forever in that light, disappearing so high above Kain could not even make it out before the light faded leaving everything in darkness once more.
"If it doesn't it must connect to somewhere that does." He finally said, feeling the air move down the shaft against his face. "Although I have been turned around so much underground I do know where we might emerge." The Vampire paused and then looked back over his shoulder with a contemptuous sneer at his enforced companion. "But since the only alternative is lurking here in the bowels of the earth with no one but you, I believe I will have to chance it."
Conjuring another ball of light to reveal the way before him, Kain set himself for the long climb. Ascending the shaft was easy, his talons sinking into the bricks over and over with ease. The hard part was the fact that the shaft never seemed to end. It just went on and on, climbing up higher until Kain felt that he might have climbed past the surface and gone straight into the heavens. Even his endurance began to fail him, his muscles burning with the effort of climbing so far.
But grimly he pressed on, not allowing himself to slow even for an instant. Time was too precious for him to waste on mere fatigue. It was vital he get back to the others as soon as he could, if for no other reason than to have someone else other than the soul of his more bitter rival to talk to. He was half tempted in fact to seek out Raziel and have the wraith try to devour Moebius' soul to try and get rid of him.
It was after he had been ceaselessly climbing for about two hours when he encountered the webbing. Kain had been so focused on keeping his assent steady that he had put his hand right into it before he even realized it was there. A thick, sticky coating of white fibres running over the inside wall of the shaft. It clung to his talons even as he pulled his hand back, trailing threads in the air.
"What is this?" He asked in bafflement, trying to shake it off and yanking his hand fully clear of the web. That was a mistake. The suddenly jerky movement caused the web coating the shaft to vibrate, strands going taut and twitching. This shivering shot up the shaft, vanishing beyond the range of the meagre light Kain had in a mere moment.
Almost instantaneous, stirred to life or perhaps woken by his disturbance, figures began to emerge. Dozens of them all at once began climbing out of the webbing as if they had been concealed with it. Each of them was tall and slender with a gaunt skeletal frame, with elongated arms and legs ending in sharp edged claws. Their skin was pale white, almost albinic and out of their arms jutted spikes which increased in size the further they travelled up toward the shoulders where they crescendoed into a pair of flared webbed spikes of jagged flesh like a pair of proportionally small insect wings.
Their heads were conical, sloping backward along the top of the skull to leave a large forehead exposed. Above a set of main eyes were a collection of others, beedy and black and glistening wetly. Their mouths were the worst part of their features, divided in the middle of their jaws where a pair of oversized fangs had taken full prominence to form a monsterous pair of mandibles.
Kain recognised these creatures immediately.
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"Zephonim, the warped children of my fifth son; Zephon. Following the evolutionary path of their sire, they had twisted themselves over the centuries into insectoid monstrosities. All the nobility I had striven to instill in the citizens of my Empire had been long bred out of them."
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All the Vampires descended from him had inherited the corruption imposed on Kain by Nupraptor's madness and it had affected each clan differently, taking advantage of the Vampire's natural evolutionary process. In the Zephonim all the ugliness of Nupraptor's vengeful mind and Zephon's viciousness was displayed in a ruined, wrecked form. These creatures were so misshapen any original Vampire would have recoiled in disgust at the sight of them.
"You are in my way. Begone!" Kain snapped at them, gesturing dismissively with one hand and a veritable swarm of the spider like Vampires gathered along the webbing. They ignored his words completely, their eyes fixed upon him with glutinous intent. Their mandibles moved and ground together making gargled chattering noises, before they began to advance, slowly extending their limbs down the web toward him.
"I said-" Kain began again but before he could finish one of the Zephonim launched itself across the web toward him with arms and legs outstretched, claws thrust forward. Kain reacted instantly, thrusting his arm forward and sending a telekinetic bolt slamming directly into the creature's chest. The Zephonim was sent flying backwards, crashing into the far side of the shaft with a loud thud before tumbling head over heels down into the darkness below.
All about the others chittered and began down the web, moving to surround him on all sides.
"Do you not know who I am?" Kain growled at them with his fangs exposed. "Stand down at once!" Once more however they ignored him. No, not ignored, he saw. They heard him alright. They simply did not care.
"I do not think they know anything more than what is or isn't potential prey, Kain! These deformed monsters know only hunger and instinct!" Moebius' spirit declared, hovering just outside the range of the oncoming creatures. Strangely the Zephonim were ignoring the little glowing ball as if they didn't see it.
"It is a foul day indeed when I find myself in agreement with you, Moebius." Kain muttered darkly. He did not wish to fight them. Despite their feral, deformed state they were still Vampires descended from him. They were kindred. But with their numbers between them and the only way back to the surface he had no choice. With his face set in displeasure, Kain reached back over his shoulder and drew the Soul Reaver. The sword awoke with a growl of aroused hunger, eager to be fed.
One of the creatures came at him from the left, scuttling sideways in his direction very much like a crab. Another descended the web toward him with clawed hands spread wide, ready to grasp and tear. Dozens more of the Zephonim were behind the two leaders and in their hideous chittering was clear ravenous hunger, prepared to tear into any fresh meat they could find and were not picky if it was Human or Vampire.
Kain responded at once, not waiting for them to come to him and thrust the Reaver directly at the leading creature coming at him from the side. The serpentine blade slammed deep into the Zephonim and burst from its back, stabbing a second behind them and leaving them both impaled. The Reaver screamed in delight as it feasted on two souls at once, tearing them from the flesh they had been trapped in for so long.
Even as the two Vampires were left stuck on the sword, Kain propelled himself sideways off the side of the shaft and swung the sword around to send the disintegrating bodies colliding into another creature, knocking it free from its grip on the web and sending it tumbling down the inside walls. Even as he made contact with the far wall. Kain gathered as much magical force into his hand as he could muster and swung his arm back, unleashing a sparking arch of lightning at the horde just behind him.
The spell struck the creatures full on. Two of them exploded outright, raining bloody viscous bits down in all directions. Several more boiled inside their own skins,steam venting out of their eyes and mouths before their shriveled husks tumbled down the shaft lifeless. Those behind their immediate fellows receive lashing burns across their arms and chests, causing many of them to shriek in pain and recoil.
But the horde kept coming regardless, a mass of insectoid fury which turned on their injured fellows and butchered them. Ravenous for food, the Zephonim cannibalised their own without so much as a pause. Others scrambled past the feaster along the web toward Kain. Despite their willingness to turn on one another for food, clearly they would not turn down fresher meat when it was available.
Kain would normally have thought nothing of confronting such a horde, but when trapped in such a confined space, outnumbered and on a vertical surface the advantage was very clearly in their favor. He was going to need open ground in order to fight to his best ability. WIth a growl he sliced the head off of the Zephonim which lunged at him, kicked another firmly in the groin and then unleashed a telekinetic blast with his free hand. The wall of force caused the horde to waver, stunned by the impact and hanging onto the web to prevent themselves from being thrown off.
While his pursuers wavered, Kain sheathed his sword and set himself to climbing. He put every ounce of energy he had in his body into it, propelling themselves up the shaft. The webbing actually aided him in this, providing a near constant reliable set of handholds. He did not have to look back to know they were following him for their angry, frustrated cries dogged him.
Ascending the shaft in such a rapid manner took immense amounts of energy. Before Kain had been pacing himself, now he was burning through whatever reserves he had left to keep away from the horde which was scrambling after him. Every now and then he would spot a loose stone jutting out from the inside of the haft and grasping hold of it with his telekinesis, he would hurl it back down towards the perusing creatures. The tumbling debris helped to slow them down and himself ahead of them.
Finally, the end of the shaft came within sight and spurred on Kain doubled his efforts, his talons tearing at the stone. Grunting at the sheer effort of the rapid ascend, the Vampire pushed himself as hard as he could and almost seemed surprised when he finally burst out from the top and over the edge and into a colossal room of brick. He did not wait for the horde was right behind him. Instinct drove him and his body responded instantly, his eyes searching the room he had ascended into frantically for something he could use to prevent the horde from following him up. It did not take him long to locate it. One wall towering up one side of the room. The large dark bricks were all terribly worn over time, cracked and compromised.
Thrusting both hands out before him he forced the power of his mind into that wall and began to tear at the bricks with every ounce of telekinetic force he could muster. The wall groaned in protest, dust shooting out of various cracks. Kain did not relent, the wall bulging outwards like a waterlogged riverbank, before finally the side of it collapsed forward and tumbled down. Debris crashed directly down into the top of the shaft the Vampire had just escaped from, crushing several of the Zephonim as they emerged, flat.
The debris tumbled down into the shaft with an immense crash and soon it choked the open hole, clogging it shut and sending up a great cloud of dust which filled the room. Kain held up one arm to shield his eyes, tensing as the room shuddered and rocked in the tremors from the crash. Finally the shaking subsided and everything grew still once more. Kain remained there, tensed, ready to spring should any of the perusing creatures emerge from the debris piled up before him. But there was nothing, not so much as a deranged distant chittering.
"Excessive." Moebius' ghostly orb like form remarked with some understatement, floating nearby half seen in the dust. "But effective."
Kain straightened and drew in a breath to steady himself. His shoulder muscles ached from the exertion. His reserves were stout enough to afford such expenditures of energy but having not had the opportunity to replenish himself in some time, he was going to have to feed soon to compensate.
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"No doubt such ravenous pursuers would find another way around in time. It would be best not to linger here."
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Turning quickly Kain surveyed the room it was in. Clearly it was a storage chamber of some kind, a mixture of rusted and rotted metal and wooden crates stacked up against the far side, although many had broken open when the wall had collapsed. A set of stairs led upward on the far side of the room through a doorway, a thick metallic door stood open, rusted in place. Quickly the Vampire ascended the stairs and through the doorway, his right hand half raised ready to draw the Reaver if needed.
When he had sighted the Zephonim he had suspected he knew exactly what building he had been scaling his way towards. But now he saw the structure of the building, could survey its architecture up close, he was certain of it. His conjecture only confirmed when he came to the top of the stairs and gazed out into the much larger chamber beyond, his expression set into a grim frown of discontent.
The great chamber was a colossal cylindrical pipe of stone, like the shaft he had left behind but on a much larger scale. Running across the walls of this immense structure were smaller pipes made of brass, iron and copper. They criss crossed and interconnected one another like veins through flesh, all rising higher and higher until they vanished into the darkness overhead. Seeing this larger proportioned version of the shaft he had only just escaped from filled Kain with a profound and unnerving sense of dejavu.
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"Of course. Where else would I emerge but in this place? Zephon's nest and den of horror, where my late son indulged in his descent into the insect kingdom."
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Kain drew in some air through his nostrils, frowning. What was this smell he detected? Smoke? No, not quite that. It stung in the nose all the same but there was a distinct acrid reek to it. Moebius floated out a little way, the face in the flames turning to look around at the colossal expanse of brick and granite before them.
"What manner of construction is this?" He asked and Kain heard actual surprise in his voice, much to his own. After a pause the Vampire stepped forward and turned his own head to behold its immensity himself.
"This is the last great cathedral Humanity created. An immense weapon. It was a last ditch attempt by Mankind to exterminate the Vampires before my Empire took hold of all of Nosgoth." He remarked and despite his soft tone, the cavern like empty expanse caused his words to echo.
Moebius studied the pipework meticulously, his interest finally roused from his self inflicted depression. The expression on his face in the flames becoming a frown of concentrated fascination.
"These pipes and valves." The spirit of the last Time Guardian muttered, as if to himself. "Pressurized air, to cause immense vibrations of sound." He turned around to regard Kain with interest. "Their weapon was a hyper focused tonal note?"
"Yes, to blast a deadly hymn across the land. Deadly to the ears of Vampires." Kain replied, raising an eyebrow at Moebius' clear interest. Moebius snorted at that and rolled his eyes dismissively
"The use of religious content is irrelevant, only the specific sound vibration is important." He remarked. "I'd done experiments with the use of sound on Vampires but I'd never thought of something on this scale. Truly Ingenious."
"I thought you were indifferent to such things now." Kain reminded him with his expression one of flat disapproval. Moebius tutted and tried to look aloof in the flames.
"That does not stop me from appreciating the ingenuity and engineering on display." He replied. "If I'd known such constructions like this had been in your era, I'd have paid more attention to it."
Kain shook his head.
"Selective viewing, Moebius? Really, I thought better of you."
The doorway Kain had come through lead out onto the bottom of the immense shaft of the cathedral, a floor lined with metal across its many immense stone slabs each engraved with a religious symbol representing the concepts of cleansing or purification. Such symbols had been left dulled by time and many had been scratched out and replaced with the jagged icon of clan Zephonim as the clan had stacked its new claim to this place.
Kain made his way out onto the floor. Now that he knew his location, he felt more certain about his prospects. The cathedral was to the east of the Pillars, just south of the Lake of the Dead. Its immense height allowed for an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. If he could ascend sufficiently up this titanic weapon then he could survey the situation and then travel to where he was needed in his bat form.
This plan however was swiftly derailed then his nose alerted him that the smoke like smell he had detected had grown intensely more acute. He stopped suddenly and looked around, reeking into the long shadows of this dark expanse. It did not take him long to spot the course of that reek now he was looking for it. Piled up across the floor of the Cathedral's central chamber, hidden in the darkness when he first emerged, were piles of Zephonim.
The creatures had been butchered, hacked to pieces, impaled through their hearts and then piled up and burned. Their twisted, crooked remains remained only recognisable by the claws hands and insectoid features still visible through the immense charing. There were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, a mass grave where what could only be the majority of Zephon's clan and been left to rot.
Suddenly Kain had a suspicion as to why he had encountered the living Zephonim down in the tunnel. They had been driven down there and into hiding to escape the fates of their fellows.
"You must be Kain." A deep voice began suddenly, echoing loudly from out of the shadows. Kain drew the Reaver in an instant and turned about sharply, trying to find the speaker. But there was nothing. Not a single figure in sight. "I didn't think I'd ever get to meet you. Truly it is an honour."
Kain tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword, his eyes moving from shadow to shadow. He could see nothing, hear nothing. There was no scent or sense of presence. It was as if the darkness itself were speaking.
"So the Divus sent an exterminator to clean out the place..." He replied with scorn. "You're efficient."
"Why thank you." The Voice said and still he could not determine where it was coming from. At times it seemed like it was coming from five directions at once. "If you will, permit me to introduce myself. I am Baphomet-Divus and I serve my God as a warrior of the shadows."
Kain pursed his lips. Clearly this new enemy took that title quite literally and excelled at it, if he could avoid even a Vampire's senses.
"An assassin then." He remarked, tensing and shifting his feet. Perhaps this unseen enemy was moving too fast for his senses to seek him out, or he was speaking from some distance away by an arcane skill. Kain doubted both explanations, as such methods left traces.
"I prefer the term, 'unseen sword'. But 'assassin' suffices, if you wish." Baphomet's voice replied. "And while I am indeed honoured to meet such an important figure as yourself, you being here is something of a conundrum. So see, I was merely here to cleanse this ruin of its infestation. This changes my priorities somewhat. There are standing orders that you be killed on sight."
Suddenly the shadows all about him, even the one cast by himself, began to indpicably grow larger, twisting and distorting across the surfaces they traveled. Kain watched in alarm as his own shadow began to elongate, moving on its own and spreading its arms wide.
"So it appears the remainder of my intended targets will have to wait their turn." Baphomet went on in that same polite tone. "It was an honour to meet you Kain. And my apologies...for your death."