Chapter 22- "Return to Meridian."
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Now that he was refreshed and rested, the flight back across the sea towards the mainland took Kain far less energy and time than it had before. It also helped that the wind had changed direction overnight and was blowing inland, propelling the wings of the cloud of bats along powerful gusts that carried them with swiftness toward that dark crest on the horizon, the dark clouds churning about them as a storm was gathering in his wake.
By the time he reached the southern coastline of Nosgoth, the storm was gathering speed and force behind him. An immense deluge was no doubt less than an hour from venting its fury upon the shore. That would be all to the good. A storm of this magnitude would darken the skies perhaps for days and make travel easier for one who did not wish to be noticed, especially not perhaps by the scouring eyes of a hunting Dragon.
The ruins of the once prosperous town of Freeport was an easy landmark to distinguish and once it was in sight, Kain turned sharply to follow the coastline south. The centuries of patient grinding by the sea had changed the landscape considerably but as he flew over a shoreline made up of jagged, black rocks he had a profound sense of Dejavu. From the vantage point of the skies he saw the land as if it were a map. A military map. A map upon which he had planned out his campaign of conquest.
It had been many centuries ago, not long after he had rejected the sacrifice and caused the Pillars to fall. For some time he had believed himself to be the only Vampire to survive the purge of Moebius' crusade and while that had certainly been true at the time, he soon discovered that Vorador's devoted human servants had restored the ancient Vampire to life. From Vorador came a new race of Vampires, a race of Vampires which would form a vast army that he would use in his first bid to claim Nosgoth for himself.
Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, he now knew that he himself would have a hand in Vorador's resurrection. But with Vorador providing fledglings to swell his ranks, Kain had taken his position as a general and marched south. First they had decimated Zeigsturhl, the town where Kain had met the end of his moral life. Then they tore the settlement of Provance apart, bleeding its citizenry dry. After that they had turned west, taking Freeport to secure their supply chain and prevent any Human military force from using the port.
Then, they had turned their attention eastward to their ultimate goal. A forced march covering as much ground as the night permitted, put them outside the walls of the immense capital of Nosgoth. This was the jewel that Kain had wanted to claim, to make his own, to show to the Human race just who their master now was. He had intended to make Meridian his own.
And now, once more, as his bats soared around the curve of a jagged section of coastline he saw it once more. Huddling up against the immense protective cliff and jutting almost defiantly out into the ocean as if taunting mother nature, the city's high walls were immense and visible even from a great distance. Walls that still, despite thousands of years, stood strong, proud and resolute.
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"The sprawling metropolis before me was a giant which had withstood the rest of time, lasting for thousands of years against both the elements and enemies within and without. It was Nosgoth's mighty capital city, the seat of power for every Human ruler with aspirations of grandeur. In a time long ago, the facistic pseudo Sarafan had ruled Nosgoth from this city led by their Sarafan Lord. During my reign I had permitted the city to remain standing as it had served well as a breeding ground for Human livestock. It had seen better days, yet despite this, it would indeed be the one place Humanity would think to go to protect itself against the Divus. After all, Meridian was eternal."
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The bats soared on upon they came to the westward wall and there they dived, circling around and around until they came together and condensed, their mass moulding back together as one until they formed the Vampire from whence they came. Straightened and taking a breath of the brine rich air, Kain stood upon the wall and gazed down into the darkness of the streets beyond.
Meridian was a labyrinth in nearly every sense of the word, with sprawling, twisting streets that seemed to have no real endpoint. Buildings of different shapes and sizes loomed, each street interlinked by a never ending series of alleyways and other hidden passages. If Kain were to judge, he supposed he was overlooking what had once been the lower city, where the working class had lived. In its hay day it was bustling with activity with many people coming and going. But now it was still, all the windows dark and empty, the streets deserted and quiet.
"Meridian…Mankind's greatest achievement." Moebius remarked, still hovering at Kain's side, gazing down from his vantage point. His voice had a nostalgic longing tone to it for which he might be excused. "I remember when this city was little more than a sea village, doing trade with ships passing back and forth along the coast. I watched it grow as Humanity finally freed itself from its oppression, building out to support their families in a brave new world." His face in the green flames reflected some pride. "And it still stands."
"After many thousands of years, yes." Kain agreed, pausing to adjust one of his gauntlets and tug it tight to his arm. "I will admit, considering the violent nature of Nosgoth's tumultuous timeline, that is quite impressive."
Moebius glances sidelong at him with a raised eyebrow.
"From you that is praise indeed." He said, but then turned his attention back to the dark maze below them. "And this is where my race has fled?"
"Apparently." Kain confirmed, following his gaze. Moebius seemed to nod with satisfaction at this.
"Good. After being alone in darkness for several thousand years I am eager to see another Human face." The spirit paused then as if digesting what he had just said without thinking, his flaming expression profoundly troubled. "Did I lose sight of what this was really supposed to all be about?"
"You tell me, Timestreamer." Kain replied, his sidelong expression almost sly. Moebius did not rise to it, his expression far off and troubled in his introspection.
"When was it I wonder?" He asked, his voice sounding quite puzzled as if faced with a baffling conundrum. "When did I forget about the betterment of my fellow man? When was it all I saw was the promise of being a Divus…of escaping my fate of death at your hands? When was it?"
Kain had been watching the ghost of the Time Streamer muse to himself with dismissive contempt, as he personally had little patience or time for Moebius' ramblings. If it had taken death and thousands of years of imprisonment for his enemy to see the selfishness of his actions then that was his problem. He personally was not going to let himself get distracted because his unwanted companion was having a crisis of conscience.
But as he spoke, Kain saw something occur which captured his attention at once. Moebius's form seemed to change before his eyes. It was hazy at first and one might be forgiven for assuming it to be a trick of the light, but slowly, Moebius's body was beginning to reappear. Starting from the base of the head the neck appeared, followed by the shoulders, then the arms. Visibility flowed down the chest until the legs came into view. There Moebius stood, restored completely to the form Kain had first met his spirit as, still holding that spiritual lantern in one hand.
"Moebius!" He exclaimed, turning sharply to face him with one hand almost reflexively raising toward the Reaver's hilt.
"What?" Moebius asked, looking over at him with a confused expression for his sharp tone.
"Your body!" Kain pointed at him almost accusingly with a talon. Still puzzled, Moebius looked down at himself and after beholding his restored form started in alarm, stepped back with panicked confusion plain on his face. In that moment of alarm his restored body flickered as if it were a stuttering candle flame and then vanished, returning him back to a simple head of flames.
"What?!" Moebius demanded, turning about several times in bafflement.
"What sort of ploy is this, Time Streamer?" Kain demanded of him angrily.
"That was no ploy!" The ghost protested. "I don't even know what just happened!"
Kain stood there with a hard scowl for several moments as he let the situation settle in his mind.
"Didn't you feel anything?" He asked then, still suspicious. Moebius shook his disembodied head in answer.
"No nothing… I was just lost in thought… I hadn't even noticed anything had changed!"
Silence fell between them, broken only by the crash of the waves from below and the rumble of the storm as it approached them.
"Can you do it again?" The Vampire asked. The ghost just looked forlorn, even distraught now.
"Kain, I don't even know what I did in the first place!" Moebius proclaimed in a voice that was almost a wail. Kain stared at him, hard, the drumming patter of rain growing louder as the storm was now catching up with them.
"Well…fascinating." He remarked in a low tone. "Perhaps your current status is not as permanent as we were led to believe."
Moebius was silent as the idea seemed to seep slowly into his mind like water into soil and his face creased itself in that same slow treacle-like slowness.
"Perhaps not…" He whispered, as if he dared not speak those two simple words at any higher volume.
With a grunt of annoyance Kain turned away.
"Whatever that was, it is a mystery that will have to wait for another time. Business comes first." With that, the Vampire turned and vaulted over the inner side of Meridian's outer wall and dropped down towards its many rooftops. A moment later, the storm arrived and with a soft crash its wall of shearing rain began to vent itself over the city.
Over the thousands of years it had stood, Meridian was a city which had seen a great deal of change. Many buildings had seen construction, extension, repair and demolition over that time. Entire districts had risen and fallen in the span of centuries, streets closed off or opened up making the layout of the maze-like metropolis very different from how it had once been when a still young Kain had traversed it after his sleep of two centuries. A few landmarks here and there were recognisable however and they provided an orienting sense of direction.
The rain did its best to hinder that sense, the downpour so insistent and rapid that visibility beyond a few feet was near impossible even for a Vampire. Kain persisted despite its best efforts to impede him, leaping along the rooftops of the city, his talons allowing him purchase even on slippery, slanted surfaces. Many buildings were in a state of disrepair, with gaping holes in their rooftops opening up into cascums of scattered debris far below. Navigating around the larger of these cost him far more time.
Finally Kain came to a balcony which overlooked a street which despite the years, despite the ebbing tide of centuries, was still very much recognisable. It was a long narrow street curving to the left toward what might once have been a marketplace with an opening to the sewers beneath the city at the far right end. The buildings all leaned in from either side, creating an overhanging which almost acted like an umbrella, keeping the street below free of water.
Across from him as a set of stone steps which led up to a higher level. Kain jumped the distance down to these steps and swiftly climbed them, coming up to a building which had a boarded up frontal facade. This building he knew very well indeed, recalling how it had once looked all those centuries. A rusted metal pole hung to the left hand side of the building and Kain remembered vividly how once it had adjourned a large wooden sign of a lady wearing a blue dress.
"Oh Vorador…your sense of nostalgia makes you so predictable." He remarked to himself with a small grin.
Centuries ago during the reign of the fascist Sarafan, the Blue Lady Cuiros shop had served as a front to conceal its real purpose. Beneath the shop itself, hidden behind a fake cellar wall, had been Sanctuary, the headquarters of the Cabal Resistance; an organisation of Vampires and Human collaborators who wished to end the dictatorial rule of the Sarafan Lord.
Gain entry into the building was no chore for the boards covering the window were merely wood and yielded to one firm kick. The shop within, abandoned for centuries, was all dust and spider webs with mould covering the walls like paint. Even the ceiling had mostly rotted away, leaving gaps through which one could stare into the upstairs rooms. A few spiders, dangling from those boards, quickly retreated back into the safety of the darkness from the intrusion.
Behind the spot where a counter selling general merchandise had once stood was a doorway and Kain proceeded through it, finding as he remembered a passage leading down into the building's cellar. The cellar itself was as mouldy and desolate as the building above but Kain knew better than to be fooled by the display. The false wall was easy enough to find, a doorway hidden in the far wall. Pressing against it with one hand he pushed it open and beyond flickered lights and the echo of voices talking in a low tone.
Sanctuary itself was not exactly an impressive cathedral-like dwelling. In truth it was a small vaulted chamber built more like a catacomb than anything else, with a vaulted ceiling held aloft by thick stone buttresses. Perhaps it had once indeed had been a tomb but that purpose had long since been forgotten. Red curtains hung across entry and exit ways, a few dusty carpets were strewn across the cold stone floor and a few thick candles were placed strategically around in niches to provide a muted but adequate light.
There were people here, a few Humans talking in a corner amongst themselves. Kain recognised them as a mixture of Skelim's regular hunters and Lorzeno's Forsaken. They were so into their discussion, head huddled together as they sat around a no doubt salvaged table, they did not notice him enter. Further in were more of the Cabal Vampires, easily recognisable with their golden hue and spike adjournment. Several of them were handling weapons like swords, axes, daggers and maces which another of their number seemed to be instructing them in their use.
But the two most instantly recognisable figures, even with their backs to him as they examined some object, were the pair at the back of the chamber. For with one with a set of jet black wings and the other with his large green ears, there could be no mistaking them for anyone else.
"So the mighty king seeks to return to his castle." Kain announced and instantly Vorador and Janos Audron turned to look at him. So did everyone else, all whispered conversation and activity coming to a startled abrupt halt. "Although since you already have a castle, pray tell what draws you back to this dank cellar?"
The two Vampires appeared haggard, with dark circles under their eyes and distinct lines of worry creasing their brows. Janos's wings were drooping behind him with their feathers almost trailing on the floor. Vorador looked even worse, with his face almost gaunt and hollow cheeked, his ears floppy either side of his head. Neither of them looked like they had fed or so much as rested in days.
All around them, the activity within Sanctuary stopped and all heads turned. The humans in their group all backed up against the wall when confronted with the Emperor of the Vampires, the one vampire who they were having a very hard time accepting that they were allies with. At least for now. The Cabal Vampires tensed as well, all of them keenly aware that they were in violation of the exile Kain had imposed upon them. Many of them looked toward their sire in alarm.
Vorador grunted and stepped forward, arms tucked behind his back in his usual fashion.
"Its hidden and sheltered location, with various escape routes, remains as valid now as it did when I chose it as the headquarters of the Cabal resistance." He said and even his voice sounded tired. "As the Humans would say, why fix what is not broken?"
Moebius had been staring at Vorador with what could only be described as an expression of baffled consternation. No doubt, Kain thought, he was wondering just how it was possible that the infamous last victim of his genocidal crusade was now alive and well. He would have known of Janos's resurrection, knowing it to be a consequence of Raziel's actions but Vorador's return would certainly have baffled him.
"What kept you?" Janos asked, sounding a lot more tart and irritable than his usual polite demeanour. Kain managed a smile for the change and folded his arms over his chest.
"My escape route out of the Razielim ruins was filled with obstacles and other delays." He said. "So let us waste no more time."
"Indeed." Vorador agreed and half turned to look back at the object which he and his sire had been contemplating together.
Sat on a rough table upon a pile of cloth was the gleaming pearl-like orb which once had adjourned the stop of Moebius' staff, but all along had been an artefact of supreme significance. For this was the Ignitor, the crucial element that allowed the Pillar Forge to work. Kain drew in his breath slightly at the sight of it, for while it was one thing to know how necessary it was, his instincts all told him to keep clear of its dangerous qualities.
"We have been studying this artefact ever since we arrived, Kain." Janos said, placing one hand on the table and looking down at the orb. His reflection, elongated by the curved surface, looked back up at him. "Considering that mishandling of it might render us catatonic it has been ….a very tense study."
Seeing the orb had a profound effect on Moebius. The ghost of the Time Streamer recognised it immediately and audibly gasped, leaning forward as much as he could to peer over everyones shoulder at it.
"What is this? This is the orb on my staff, what…" He began but Kain had no time for his rambling.
"I hope that despite the danger you have something to report." He asked the two elder vampires, neither of whom seemed to take his authoritative tone that seriously.
"Some." Vorador replied, looking down at the orb alongside his sire. Janos glanced back over his shoulder.
"When the Pillar's were first forged, a council of nine was selected to serve as the first members of the Circle." The Ancient Vampire began. "These original Guardians had to offer a part of themselves in order to bind both them and the Vampire race as a whole, to the Pillars."
"So each of them let a sample of their blood to be encapsulated within this orb and when it ignited and birthed the Pillars, it bonded them forever." Vorador continued. "Thus explaining why Humans could never fully be competent as Pillars Guardians. Their biology was literally incompatible. Their very blood was unsuited to the task." His expression turned sour. "And why this orb could be used as a deadly weapon against our kind. It wields the blood within it against us."
Kain absorbed this with a grunt and rolled his eyes.
"Why is it that we must run into profound ironies around every corner?" He asked almost of simply himself, before surreptitiously casting a glance at Moebius.
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"Moebius was a skilled master of manipulation so I knew better than to trust any reaction he might give to anything. But the unguarded look of stunned amazement on his face, when he thought I was not looking, seemed to indicate to me that this piece of lore was utterly new to him. I began to wonder now. Exactly how much of ancient history had Moebius seen during his life? Or rather…how much had he been permitted to see?"
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Moebius had not taken his eyes off of the orb and had gone utterly silent. Unseen by everyone else in the room besides Kain he hovered there as a mute spectator, lost in his own little self contained world.
"If I would hazard a guess…" Vorador was saying, as Janos reached down to very gently lift the orb from its place and hold it in his hand. "We merely have to repeat the process that created the original pillars. A group of nine candidates, one for each Pillar, must be chosen and then blood taken from each of them in some form of elemental forging ritual."
Kain gazed at the orb, contemplating this assumption.
"Logical." He conceded, then glanced at Vorador with an impish look. "Not merely dripping blood onto the orb, I assume?" Vorador stared back at him flatly.
"When has any obstacle put before us been that simple, Kain?" He asked. Kain just kept grinning.
"Oh you never know, there is a first time for everything."
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"This began in blood. It would end in blood. Blood was indeed, the life."
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Vorador took the Orb from Janos and turned it over in his hand, turning it this way and that so the light from the candles all around gleamed off its polished surface.
"The exact specifics of the ritual I believe I can piece together, permitted I am given enough time." He said.
"Time is the one resource we have precious little of, Vorador." Kain reminded him firmly. Vorador paused in his contemplation for a moment before slowly raising his eyes to look back at him.
"I am well aware of that. It would help me if you did not remind me." He said in a very slow deliberate tone of voice.
Kain paused to glance back over his shoulder at the other people in the chamber. No one, especially the collection of hunters, had taken their eyes off of him nor had any of them reached for any weapons. They were all too scared and stunned for their natural hatred to come forth. But the sight of them reminded Kain of another concern.
"And how are the Humans? I trust they arrived here without immense casualties." He asked, a little overload so those behind him could hear it.
"Remarkably, yes." Janos replied, pausing to brush some hair out of his face. "They have mostly taken refuge in the city slums. Its many buildings with twists and turns were more defensible to their eye. Lorenzo, Skelim and Ophiel have formed a council to manage their affairs, representing each of their composite factions."
Humanity now was split into three groups. Those hunters from the citadel, the forsaken army and the golden haired people who had been the slave class of Fanum Divus which they had inadvertently recruited and then rescued during their raid on the city. Humanity itself had been in danger of going extinct due to their dwindling numbers but with the influx of new blood from the slaves of the Divus, they would have more then enough breeding stock now to keep their species going.
"I suppose I should go see them." Kain openly mused. Everyone seemed to start in surprise at that, looking at him with either concern or straight up horror.
"Is that….wise?" Janos asked tentatively.
"They are in no position to challenge me." Kain replied with dismissive contempt. Vorador rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"They HATE you, Kain." He reminded the Emperor of Nosgoth, casting a glance for a moment at the hunters in the corner of the room. "With good reason I might add. Hatred has a way of overriding common sense and the instinct of self preservation." It seemed almost for a moment like he was speaking not to Kain but to them and several of them averted their gaze, almost like scolded schoolboys caught before the watchful eye of a disapproving authority figure.
"They must and will learn to control themselves." Kain stated flatly. "We can not afford for them to explode in righteous anger at any given moment."
Vorador returned his eyes to Kain, creased his brow into a deeper frown and then let out a resigned sigh.
"Very well if you insist on a visit, I will summon Ewoden." He conceded and gently placed the orb back down on the table. "He can at least make sure they open a dialogue before instinctively firing crossbows at you on sight."
"In theory." Janos added almost ironically.
Vorador nodded and then turned to pass through a doorway draped in curtains and out of sight while Janos returned to studying the orb, leaving Kain by himself again for a moment. Left with a few moments with his thoughts to himself, Kain stepped to the side of the chamber and took shelter beneath the shadow of a large red drape of curtain, his back to the wall so he had a plain view of everyone in the room, especially the humans. They stared back at him for a while before slowly seating themselves back at their table. It took a while but they started talking amongst themselves again, with more intense whispers and occasionally casting glances his way.
The Cabal Vampires shifted uncomfortably at the new tenseness in the room and moved off to one side on their own to talk amongst themselves. After a short discussion several of them left the group and made to leave via various doorways in and out of the chamber, adapting their unique camouflage skill as they did so seeming to almost vanish from sight and blend into the background so perfectly that only a trained observant eye could tell where they were even when moving.
"My orb…my orb created the Pillars?!" Finally Moebius spoke and his voice was a stunned splutter of incredulity. Kain smiled to himself as he'd been wondering how long it would take for the silence to break. "No! No I can not accept that! That I held such a priceless artefact in my hands and never knew what it was?! I am Moebius, the Time Streamer! I see all and I know all!"
"Evidentially not." Kain took no small amount of pleasure in saying under his breath before turning to look at his enforced companion, the hovering heavy bobbing up and down like the head of an enraged owl. "I know you used the orb in the overthrow of the Vampires all those years ago, but if you'd perhaps indulge me, where did you get it in the first place?"
Moebius glared back at him, lips pursed and eyes aflame with indignant denial.
"Come now Moebius, I think we're beyond such omissions." Kain cided him. "Or else how can I not suspect you're once more trying your hand at manipulation?"
Moebius' eyes bulged wide at this remark.
"Trying MY hand?" He repeated with offended incredulousness. He was almost shouting now and had anyone else other than Kain been able to hear him he would no doubt have attracted attention. "I arrive here in this far off time I do not recognise; your woman back at the castle speaks of reforming Vampire society for better integration with Humans, I find Vorador here, miraculously having grown a new head, standing guard over Mankind; and to top it all off, you seem stunningly close to remaking the Pillars using the orb of MY staff to do it!" His head flew so close it violated Kain's personal space. "If anyone should fear themselves being manipulated here, it's me!"
Kain returned the look steadily, calmly letting Moebius bluster until finally the spirit of the Time Guardian turned away with a grunt of angry humiliation.
"I was… led to it." He finally said, haltingly and with reluctance. "The voice of god came to me, a kidnapped boy torn from his natural parents, and in my despair offered to me a tool to liberate not just myself but all of Mankind." Where once he would have spoken with pride and reverence now he simply sounded despairing. "He showed me where to find it, deep in the Balance Guardians personal chambers. I stole away with it, eager to be delivered from my enslavement. But I could not make the Orb work on my own. That's why I needed Mortanius."
At this piece of information, Kain sat up a little straighter. Moebius had not been alone during his ancient rebellion against the civilisation of the Vampires, for he had recruited another member of the new Human circle of nine to assist him. The young Mortanius, Guardian of the pillar of Death, had joined him in leading the uprising. But this suggested the collaboration had gone far beyond the mere political.
"Necromancy, the arcane art bridging life and death." The Vampire mused openly, rubbing his chin with a talon. Moebius bobbed his floating head in a nod.
"Yes. It was his magic that was able to unlock its effect upon the hearts of our Vampire enemies." He admitted. Kain turned his head slightly and looked over at the orb which Janos was still studying over by the table.
"Then that is what's required…" He said, squinting at it. "The exchange of energy that takes place between life and death. The power of the soul itself."
Before he could puzzle this concept anymore through his mind, one of the nearby curtains parted and the rough half naked and stocky form of Ewoden emerged. The lycan was in his human form and even from a distance Kain could see a crisscross of angry looking new injuries across his arms and chest. He also looked dirty, hair and beard matted with grime covered ends and the smell of him even from across the chamber was awful. He looked as if he'd been fighting for days inside a sewer.
"Kain." He said gruffly in greeting. Kain decided to ignore the odour for now and stood up to greet him back.
"So, your kind are here too? I had thought you wished to take them to this…safe haven you seem so sure you've found for them." He said. Ewoden smiled but shook his head.
"Not yet. Not until we have done our part to save this world's future." He remarked. Kain raised an eyebrow.
"How dutiful of you." The Vampire observed with irony.
"The nature of the wolf is to put the needs of the pack ahead of himself." Ewoden declared with a steady firmness, resolute. "The one gives for the benefit of the whole." He met Kain's eye with his own. He was shorter than Kain but did not seem to lose any dignity by having to look up. "Is that not why you strive on? To save this world and all the people in it?"
"I am not that magnanimous." Kain replied simply.
"And I think you underestimate yourself." The lycanthrope said, but then turned. "Come…the Human council will wish to speak with you."