Sanctuary for the Damned

By Chibi J 2002

The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and all characters used are the property of Eidos & Crystal Dynamics

The Sanctuary of the Clans had been at unrest this day. The walls of the great Chamber had silenced the screams of the massacre that was taking place outside. The remaining Brethren where in the Chamber, breathing silently, the tension could have been cut with a knife...They had escaped the sights, but their senses told them of the deaths of other vampires.

Dumah had been talking with Melchiah when Kain entered the Chamber hastily. The Reaver was limp in his cloven hand and drenched with blood. It hummed with ravenous thirst, as if the blood upon its blade had not satisfied it. The Brethren felt it’s presence ever more distinctly, and the clashing of it’s soul with Kain’s, relentlessly fighting in competition. They had always felt The Reaver’s presence as if it where not merely a sword, but a single entity, something that was in its very self alive.

Silently, Kain approached his throne and sat, leaning The Reaver next to him as he always did. The Brethren looked in dismay at the sight. Suddenly, Kain spoke out as if in a trance.

“The Deed it done” Not another utter, no clue as to what ‘deed’ had been done. And yet they all felt it, the terrible trickle of pain in their senses as if it where an inherent instinct. The death of the last...

“The Deed...?” Dumah silently repeated, half in question and disbelief, daring to move only a little whilst addressing Kain. He then turned to Zephon, seeing the impending doom in his eyes, frightened and questioning the fate of Raziel’s Clan. He too had had that sinking feeling.

“Sire...you have not...” his voice trailed off as the look of grimace in Kain’s face spoke of a thousand truths; truths of which he had not wanted to divulge in. His silence was deliberate, yet he did not take his sons for fools. They indeed knew what he had meant by these words.

“The Deed it done!” Turel’s heavy and proud voice echoed through the Chamber as he entered. Kain looked up, he had foreseen the act that Turel and Rahab; who had followed shortly, had committed. His brows where calm and collected as he lifted his head, as if he where greeting Turel as if he was a knight with a trophy to honour his king.

“You are late Turel, I felt the death as keenly as the moment that you dealt it. It was mercifully quick...show me –”

Turel then walked forward slowly, holding up a blood stained banner baring the symbol of Raziel’s clan.

“A gift my Lord...the blood is still warm” he knelt at Kain’s feet, placing it there as if it where a Holy relic. Kain received it with expressionless eyes, watching as the vampiric blood merged with the Holy ground that The Pillars had once been. It seeped around his cloven feet, around Turel’s knees – his un-comfort slowing on his subtly pained face. Kain could read his thoughts. How he had not questioned this act, but committed it blindly. Righteous in everyway, his second son.

Melchiah, his eyes wide with shock, had covered his mouth with his cloven hand, seeking for the answers to this in his head. How can it be justified..? Yet Kain has killed Raziel out of jealousy had he not? Had Kain really justified this genocide? He struggled in vain to make sense of it all.

Kain had now fiercely looked into Melchiah’s eyes; he had known he was searching them. Afraid of Kain seeing the thoughts in head, he turned and left with haste – not once looking back at his maker. The doors slammed shut, the echo piercing the Chamber. Then it was silent again. Dumah gulped.

“My Lord, this is genocide!” He wailed desperately, violent shivers resonating all over his body. Kain stared at him without remorse.

“Do not question our Lord’s wrath!” Turel interrupted, breaking the awkward silence.

“Indeed…do not question me, Dumah” Kain spoke in harsh tones, the Brethren surprise at this breakage of his silence, “for if you do, the fate of you and your clan could be the same”

Dumah cowered back submissively, the others watching his wise move. Kain now stood and beckoned Turel to rise before him. He placed his hands on Turel’s shoulders, christening him with the spilt blood from the floor.

“You now carry Raziel’s burden, Turel” he said, his voice was noble, almost as if he where a God “you are now my First Lieutenant; may your fate and that of your clan’s be kind.”

Turel looked into those cold eyes, his brows seemed softer, almost gentle. It reminded him of the day when he was made. A trickle of blood ran down from his forehead, tracing down the prominent features of his face. Kain caught it with a finger, and licked the crimson liquid off into his mouth.

At once, several long repressed memories flooded his head, and feeling a sense of vertigo he almost fell back onto his throne. The Brethren looked dismayed, much as they had when Raziel has displayed his wings. Kain looked into each of their faces, and each reminded him of him. It seemed that now he could not get away for him at all. He began to breathe hoarsely, his eyes dancing around the chamber.

“My Lord?” Turel advanced as if to comfort him, but instead of welcoming the gesture Kain exploded.

“Get away from me!” he shouted, violently shoving Turel backwards almost into Rahab’s arms “Leave me alone now all of you!”

The Brethren where reluctant, questioning glances passing back and forth between them. Kain stood up and sheathed the Soul Reaver.

“Get Out!” he shouted again, his eyes on fire. He was not bluffing now, they knew that, “Fly to your petty clans, seek your own truths – you shall find none here. And if you see any remnants of your ‘brother’ Raziel’s clan – destroy them.” Kain spat these words of malice through his fanged teeth. Frightened, and disgusted, the Brethren left one by one with calculated haste. Zephon, upon leaving lingered at the door, wavering in and out of its frame. He looked back at Kain, a weak questioning expression upon his face. Kain snarled and bared his fangs, almost animal-like. Zephon fixated on him and then suddenly closed his eyes and left quickly, sealing Kain in the room…alone…

Kain had slowly moved back and sat on his throne. His mind was alive with memories, long repressed memories that bloomed and haunted him – memories that made him question.

What had he just done? He had killed Raziel, his beloved, destroyed everything that could ever remind him of him again. Yes…he has destroyed everything that could resurface the beauty of the memories Kain had had of him, and of the pain of killing him.

His face spoke of a thousand memories, each toiling with the lines on his face – he closed his eyes and saw…

Raziel’s birth, which taught him his purpose, which taught him to love. To create another vampire was the most beautiful experience he could imagine – that he could have done. To be the creator in this world which had lost all faith in the religions of old. But not only had he created him, but he had gone further. He had taught this one, shaped him. He held Kain’s divine blood. Never would Kain have realised that it was tainted in such a way, that Raziel was tainted in such a way because of it. Perhaps, it was this privilege that spelt his demise, Kain had pondered on that thought – but the visions in his head where to strong for him to think straight.

He remembered feeding Raziel his first blood, the one thing he had not graced his other sons with. He has been so helplessly weak and beautiful; the son who he had learned to love… And as Kain’s blood filled his veins, Raziel yearned for Kain to love him. As Kain has finished, Raziel had moaned and embraced him, praising him as if he where a God, that same Dark God that Kain had always wanted to be…

Kain’s eyes opened suddenly – he looked around attentively, his fingers dancing upon the hilt of the Soul Reaver. Alone? No…yet he could not see anyone. Kain tried to think nothing of it. He looked to the blood stained floor. He yearned for one last taste, this blood was not just the blood from any of Raziel’s clan – it was Raziel’s blood, part of him was in his children, and part of this blood reminded him of that sweet taste. He drifted again into a fading memory. This time of one night that was filled with far more lust than practicality – they where alone, Kain had been recovering from his first creation and had not made Turel yet. Those times where precious.

Fangs driven into each other’s necks, a cycle that could not end, hunger quenched – and strength being granted in this one fountain of blood, entering and leaving each body. It was beautiful, Kain had thought.

Again Kain opened his eyes. Being watched again – he was certain of it. And in that instant, the faceless fear began to speak.

“Why do you mourn for him Kain?”

Kain looked startled, a voice from the past – one he had learned to control and suppress. Was he really that vulnerable in this time that she could haunt him again? And yet this was their resting place; they who had been bound together millennia before.

“I see all, my dear Kain…there is unbalance in your soul. You mourn because you have done wrong, and the love in your soul tells you that you would have had it otherwise”

“My love? My soul?” Kain answered, his eyes daring not to look at her “And what do you propose to know about either spirit?”

“I know of your inner conflict…you are pained. Ariel sees all, but I remind you; do not fear me Kain, I cannot harm you.”

“Your very presence harms me – be gone!” Kain raised his voice, looking up into the tortured face of Ariel. Her spectre was visibly sunken; she had been dismissed for too long. At times when Kain was not present she had appeared to the Brethren. Their minds seemed more open to her, yet she had not told of Kain, of his past, of his failures. Raziel had sought advice from her on occasion…but she would never appear to him. Kain had learned to block her out entirely – something gained from his evolution. Yet as the Balance Guardian…when there was imbalance within his soul, he could not fully control his gifts. It was at these times Ariel strived to visit him.

Kain had realised Ariel’s reluctance to leave. For once he had not genuinely wanted her to leave and she had sensed that. For if he where so persistent, he would have banished her back into the Spectral Realm without a second thought. This time he had allowed her to stay. After a long silence he let out a winded sigh.

“What is the meaning of this visit? Do you come to offer me sympathy spirit?” Kain questioned.

“I am blinded by sympathy Kain,” Ariel answered “my feeble existence only serves as sympathy for myself. I can offer you none.”

“Then tell me what is your purpose” Kain looked up, not a glimmer of hope in his eyes “If you offer none, then I may as well be alone”

“The damned deserve none Kain”

Kain shuddered as he was condemned, but knew that what had been said was more than true. For once he felt the presence of Ariel about him, she had dared to float around his shoulders, placing her cold arms around them and embracing him as if she where trying to comfort him. Kain lowered his eyelids and savoured this one feeling of comfort to him. She understood his pain – understood that he regretted ever causing it. But also, she understood that there was nothing – not one thing in this world that he had shaped that would have changed that. Yet he knew, as did she, that he had started the wheels of an impending destiny. He realised that he had perhaps started the path that would ultimately lead to his own demise. They would eventually be free, but never from each other – they where combined, both fettered to their duty to The Pillars.

And so, they stayed there for a while, neither said a word or moved, they just were. Two beings; one pure but unsubstantial, the other wholly corrupted and terribly real. But whatever their path, they where both being led to that same fate, that one same outcome. And they would face it together.