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Realms Converge	By : Candice Category: +G through L > Legacy of Kain Views: 3563 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.Don't get to Nosgoth itself til chap 5

Chapter List
- 9
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Alright everyone, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy. Please Read and Review

Chapter Ten: Enemy Revealed

The moon was high in the sky and the light of the sun reflecting off the surface shone brighter than the stars or even the sun itself given how cloudy the day-light hours were around Meridian. I've always loved the silvery light of the moon and now, for the first time ever, I found myself flying high above the clouds with the moonlight playing upon my wings. It was a wondrously freeing sensation to wing through the air where I belonged.

It had surprised me, but it hadn't taken me all that long to learn how to fly. In the weeks I'd spent exploring the city to learn the area so that I could act as a scout, I often found a small bit of time for myself here and there to practice, though I had stayed low at first to avoid any painful mishaps. I'd been a 'caged bird' for a long time but the flight instincts were there and still strong in my mind. I wasn't an expert flyer by any means and my landings were still a little rough on occasion but having learned how to fall without causing myself further injury helped me make decent recoveries on my landing attempts. And while I did keep my Gift up to keep any of my initial blunders from being seen, Kain was the one to idly point out to me one night, after he had literally pounced me to test my situational awareness as I made my way back towards the Blue Lady, that my Gift didn't seem to include my shadow. My Gift might have warped light around me somehow to make it where I couldn't be seen, but it didn't allow light to pass through me, hence I still had a shadow to give me away if I wasn't careful. Hence, I got caught unawares after years of having developed a decent situational awareness for dealing with people who couldn't turn into a fucking cloud of moisture.

I began to hate his damn Mist Form Gift in relatively short order...

After a few minutes spent just enjoying the feeling wind beneath my wings and the sheer sense of freedom it brought to me, I turned and finally headed for the destination for the night; the Sarafan Keep. I already had my Gift active in order to remain out of sight of any of the Sarafan guards below, just in case my flight took me out of the safety of the clouds. Good luck to them finding this particular needle in a haystack, even if they did notice my shadow as it passed over them, they would see nothing above them but clouds and sky when they looked up. And how many people actually look UP when they sensed danger? Even nights spent idly watching the other vampires from the taller rooftops showed that almost no one, guard, noble, servant or merchant, looked up when they felt that instinctive flash of fear that meant they were being hunted.

I looked over the building carefully as I circled it. Once I confirmed that it looked clear, I landed on the rooftop as silently as I could. I found myself grateful for my Gift's ability to muffle sound... as it was not the smoothest of landings and I had to roll to save myself from actual injury. I furled my wings and tucked them close to my body to rest on my shoulders. I moved to the door on the roof and carefully tested the handle. I found that it was unlocked and I felt a flash of relief as I did not want to make noise or leave an obvious sign that someone had broken in by breaking open the door. I made my way silently down the stairs and past a few of the guards that were patrolling within the building. The amount of guards on patrol seemed to be... somewhat lacking to me. When you knew there was a vampire presence in the city, and one's base of operations was well known as the Sarafan's was, one would think that said known location would be better defended than what I saw.

I made my way deeper into a building that had once housed one of the villains of the worst sort and perhaps did again. I've never really liked people who waged wars for supposed 'holy' reasons, when it was just an excuse to wage war on a group of people they didn't like or an excuse to take control of resources and the lands of an area. I thought for a moment about what Nikolai had told me about his own family and realized that it was not a case of 'perhaps' but 'definitely' with the amount of people who had been displaced if not outright slain in the man's bid for money, property and power.

As I moved deeper into the building, every natural ability that I had which sensed danger started to scream at me to get out and get out now before it was too late. I ignored the foreboding sensation and pressed onward as I knew the others needed what information I could glean from the area. Still, I moved at a slower and more cautious pace as I did not want to be taken unawares.

I came to a halt when I found myself facing a Ward Gate. I'd not tried to move through one of them before as I wandered the city and now would be the first time. The Gates were designed to deny vampires access to 'protected' areas by causing debilitating pain. I'd learned from Nikolai and Vorador that there were only a few 'protected' housing districts and that the cost of living in those areas was exponential. Another reason to be disgusted with the Sarafan, had they truly been doing their proclaimed duty to protect the populace, then every district would have been 'protected' and the cost of living would have been affordable for everyone, not just the well off.

Perhaps I shouldn't have put this off, I thought to myself with a small frown as I looked over the green barrier.

Thankfully, there was no one around to witness what I was about to do. I started forward slowly and held my hand up to the barrier before me. I pushed my hand forward, finger-tips first, and flinched slightly as I felt a near-to-tickling and somewhat itching sensation that wasn't in the slightest bit pleasant zap over me.

It felt like I had ants or spiders crawling, not only on my flesh, but underneath the skin as well. Despite the unpleasantness of the sensation, I found that I was not encountering all that much in the way of resistance from the barrier itself, whereas I knew that many vampires would be physically incapable of passing through it or at least left badly drained and potentially even burned by the action depending on how long ago they had been turned. I had seen one recently made fledge as he was brought back, harmed as a barrier was activated just as he darted through the Gate. The burns had been... bad, really bad, but he had survived and recovered from his injuries. I took a slow, deep breath as I straightened my shoulders. I pushed my way forward, through and past the barrier in my way. I shivered a bit as that sickening, tickling sensation amplified throughout my body for several moments before it faded as I finished crossing to the other side of the barrier.

I stretched my wings out as I rolled my shoulders and, in doing so, I saw that many of my feathers seemed to have risen up in a rough, ruffled pattern. I patted at the feathers to push them back into place and wasn't all that surprised when a small shock jolted through me a moment later when I brushed the hilt of the sword at my waist on accident with my unoccupied hand. I grumbled uncomfortably and spent a few moments un-ruffling some of the feathers before I drew my wings back around me and made sure my Gift was firmly in place once more. I looked around my surroundings carefully before I moved to make my way further downstairs. I had gone down a few floors by this point and had only seen a smattering of guards. I had no real clue as to where to find the new Sarafan Lord either, but I made a mental map of the place as I went, just in case I got turned around. I'd gotten good at the swift memorization of my surroundings out of necessity.

I gave a bit of a start when I heard sudden an extremely loud cheers come from nearby room. I turned down the hall that the noise seemed to echo from and made my way toward the increasingly loud voices. I stopped as I reached a wide balcony which overlooked what seemed to be the 'art room' of the Sarafan Keep, as there were several large painting and statues spaced throughout the room, and I took in the sight beneath me with widened eyes.

The room below me was filled with dozens, perhaps even a hundred or more, Sarafan knights all clustered together. Some had their blades held above their heads, others simply raised their arms, hands clenched into fists. All of them were cheering loudly, though I couldn't quite make out their words because of all the overlapping noise. A... rally of some sort? I turned to focus on the object of their attention, a human male that stood in front of a door that was directly beneath the main painting. He had long black hair and looked to be only around sixteen to eighteen years old and wore a fancy looking set of mage robes. There was also an odd, small stone orb about half to three-quarters the size of a clenched fist that he wore around his neck. The orb caught my attention and I leaned over the balcony in order to attempt to get a closer look. Half of the strange orb was a crimson coloration and seemed to be carved so it looked like a large droplet of blood while the other half the orb was the color of a dark sapphire and cut so that it looked like a jagged crystal. It was like some twisted version yin/yang symbol and seemed to glow with a kind of odd inner and malevolent light that made my eyes hurt just staring at it.

What actually sent chills running down my spine was not the stone that he wore, creepy as it was, but his eyes. Humans did not have that kind of highlight color in their eyes. His true eye color seemed to possibly be ice blue, but the color was highlighted with a pure glowing black light that made his eyes seem totally out of place. Something was wrong with this man, this boy but I just could not tell exactly what. He raised his hands for silence, not saying a single word as he did so, and just waited for quiet to settle over the crowd. To my surprise the Sarafan... rabble quieted down to a murmur mere moments after he raised his hands. The entire lot fell into an obedient and respectful silence in a way that made my wings twitch with nervousness. He looked over the crowd with a slow, proprietary air before he began to speak. He even sounded young but his voice held a strange level of confidence to it and it also held an odd aura that almost drew me into... into a spell that seemed woven into his tone. I had to shake my head to clear it and frowned down at the crowd below me and saw that the crowd looked enthralled.

Some kind of Charm ability perhaps? I thought to myself.

"Sarafan warriors!" the boy called out in a voice that rang through the room. The built in acoustics enhanced his voice and carried it to every corner. "Champions of Light and Destroyers of the Plague that threatens us all, I thank you for coming here this eve. I thank you for signing on to aid our noble cause these long years. I see many brave souls standing here before me this evening. Men who have fought against the vampiric menace and helped to rid our lands of their scourge. To keep our people and our way of live safe. I see heroes in you all!"

The crowd began to cheer noisily once more at his words. The men's swords and fists were raised as they shouted, pleased with themselves and their 'holy' war with the vampire race. I felt a small burst of disgust. I had walked hidden through the city night after night and seen not good men and women like some of the officers I had known growing up, but power hungry monsters that took enjoyment in kicking the random beggar and harassing the women. Not good people who would help someone who had fallen over and spilled their wares but horrible minded people who would laugh at the other persons misfortune or who were the very cause of the fall. People who abused and molested their charges. The boy again raised his hands for silence and once more the crowd began to quiet down almost instantly. He smiled an almost benevolent smile, then that very smile faded into a frown and his eyes narrowed as he raised his voice and injected an ominous tone into it.

"But our job is not yet done my fellow Sarafan, my brave warriors! We may have them on the run, but we have not wiped Nosgoth clean of their plague! We need to redouble our efforts if we mean to free our people from the pestilence that infects our land. Search each town again, home by home, for those that escaped us the first time through. Search for those who dare to consort with our bestial enemy. There will be no safety for those that fear our cleansing light! Go now, my fellow Warriors! Go and free Nosgoth of the Vampiric infestation as only you can!"

He had a cold smile upon his lips as he turned and made his way through the door behind him. The crowd of Sarafan had started to cheer so loudly now, that I could feel the start of a headache due to the cacophony of noise below me. I made a sound of disgust low in my throat then moved downstairs to silently trail after this new Sarafan Lord. I wanted to find out more about this... apparent human, before I left and went back to Sanctuary in order to make my report. And perhaps, I might even get the chance to deal with him myself considering my stealth based Gift. That thought more than anything helped me to calm my sudden nerves as my hunting instincts moved to the fore of my mind and helped to guide my gait. If I had any chance at all to defeat this human, being as young and inexperienced in battle as I was, I knew that surprise would be the only way I would be able to take the boy by surprise and then make my escape.

I stopped in front of the door that the boy had gone through and looked up at the painting upon the wall. I was half tempted to take out my sword and mess up the painting somehow. A sudden rage seemed to fill me and I couldn't figure out the why of it. I shook my head instead and struggled briefly to push down that sudden, impulsive thought that would have gotten me into far more trouble than I needed. The Sarafan would need all but the hint that someone was within the building in order to raise the alarm. I moved through the doorway before the bizarre and childish urge became too strong.

I did feel a natural sense of disgust at the 'art work' that had been displayed prominently within the previous room. There were paintings upon the walls that showed vampires being beheaded or spiked. Worst of all, they still had that main painting at the back wall that I just barely remembered from the game. A painting that depicted Kain's defeat at the hands of the previous Hylden Sarafan Lord. I had a taste for classical art and music, of that there was no doubt as I used to draw a little, sing a little, but such things were not art to me. Nor were any of the other pictures like that murderous image, in my opinion. It was an atrocious and vulgar way for people to say 'Hey look! I'm better than everyone else!' or 'Look at what I killed and how I did it!' If it had been in Kain's room I would have thought the same thing, make no mistake. I took no enjoyment of art that depicted the mindless slaughter of others.

I kept as close on the Lord's heels as I could whilst still maintaining a good distance, I did not want to lose him on a servant run lift or through the wrong doorway nor did I wish to be close enough that I might risk running into him or anyone who approached him. He moved sedately into what was apparently his bedchambers. I paused for a few moments and then walked over to peek inside. I felt a small flash of confusion as I stopped at near the doorway. Why would he have left the door wide open? The other thing that confused me was that there were no guards around. Absolutely none outside the room nor within. If he was their leader... shouldn't he have some sort of guard even here considering how stealthy vampires could be? Was he that sure of his own safety? I blinked and tilted my head. I had the thought that maybe I should finish the bastard off now if he was indeed foolish enough to leave himself unguarded. I mean, I now had the perfect chance to take this particular human out, unguarded and isolated as he was from the others.

I started forward into the room and had to bite back a hiss of pain as I fell back away from the door's threshold. I barely managed to maintain my Gift and felt certain that it had flickered due to the pain. The bastard had some kind of barrier that was much stronger than the Ward Gates up and, from the way it felt at that moment, I was almost positive that not even a human could have passed through that barrier safely. There was also the fact I could not see nor even sense the barrier itself til I ran into it. No wonder there were no guards, he had no need of them with that kind of defensive magic at hand to ensure his safety and it would further improve the morale of the Sarafan to known that their leader was untouchable.

I heard the man-child give a faint chuckle as he stood from what looked to be a work table. He moved to stand just about a foot in front of the doorway. He did not step any further forward than that, safely ensconced within the barrier. He eyed the hallway carefully for a few moments before his eyes seemed to settle on my own.

Damn! I thought with a flash of panic. Can he see through my Gift?

But no, it had to be something else, something in the odd blackness that rimmed his eyes even now. His eyes did not fully focus on my form but on my general location. I held still and waited, barely even breathing, as I tried to contain the sudden flash of fear that filled me. If he sounded an alarm things might well get dicey. I couldn't keep myself from jumping when he spoke and I took a few silent and careful steps back from where I had stood frozen.

"Come now, I know you are there," he said softly. "Hmm, yes indeed. 'The one whose wings are stained with blood'. I know of you my dear."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. A small sneer curled his lips and his eyes turned almost completely black a moment later. He raised his right hand to his chin and his expression took on an almost playful look as he continued to look 'at' me whilst he tapped his chin. He gave a soft laugh, an almost coquettish sound, before he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Oh, don't worry, things will become clear soon enough little pet," he drawled as his voice changed slightly, oddly. "Go... run away little girl and let this Dance of Death continue to play out to its' completion."

I let out a startled hiss and I bolted at that point in fear. Not only was it not a good thing that he could somehow sense me, but I also had the sense that somehow there was an entity of enormous power around, behind, IN that man-child. His laughter, laughter that suddenly sounded warped and twisted, echoed through the halls as I made my way out of the Keep. Even my courage had a limit, I did not wish to fight this boy... this thing, without knowing more about him and how in the blazes he knew of me!

I raced through the halls of the Sarafan Keep as quickly as I could and managed to somehow avoid running into or getting near any of the Sarafan guards in the process. Now that the rally was over, there were more guards in the area. I may have been invisible, but I did not wish to risk being caught by blindly barreling into someone in my panic. I hoped that Kain or Vorador would be able to make more sense of what had just happened when the new Sarafan Lord spoke to me. It was as if he was human but... changed somehow by... by something...?

I got to the point where I'd passed through the Ward Gate and started to move through it at a run toward freedom, yet for some reason the pain I felt when I had first gone through it had tripled to the point where I collapsed in a pain-filled heap on the other side of the Gate. I lay there, unable to move past the blinding, itching pain for several moments as I tried to catch my breath and wondered if that new Sarafan Lord was behind this, that he had somehow boosted the barriers in the building so that they would affect even a half-blood. I stood back up with a wince and as I stood, a young Sarafan warrior came out of one of the rooms and entered the hall I was in. I froze, then paled a bit when he caught sight of me.

"Intruder!" he shouted as he drew his sword. "Intruder in the halls!"

How the hell could he have seen me? I thought to myself.

I realized an instant later that the pain of passing through that strengthened gate had made me loose my concentration on my Dark Gift. This was... definitely not good. I swore softly and drew my own sword a I lunged forward quickly. I swiftly cut the Sarafan warrior down in order to silence him, but it was far too late. The others had heard the man's shout and the alarms within the building had been triggered. They knew I was here.

Fuck, shit and damnation! I thought angrily to myself. If I only I hadn't panicked!

I raced up the stairs back toward the roof and reactivated my Dark Gift once I could focus clearly on it once more. What they couldn't see, they couldn't find to hit! I got to the doorway that led onto the roof and I froze as I caught sight of what was now on the roof and in my way. There were over forty guards on the large rooftop, most of them looked to use huge broadswords but there were many with bows and crossbows. I knew I couldn't handle this many of them alone.

The number of Sarafan upon the roof was not my only problem. There was a layer of early pre-dawn mist right outside the door leading to about ten or so feet from the exit. A layer of mist that I had not been expecting. There was no way I could pass through the mist without my outline being seen and thus I would be ferreted out by the guards and attacked if I tried to make my way across. Damn! There were times like this that I actually wished that I had Kain's Mist Gift! I looked around and tried to think of what to do when I got an idea. It was a bit crazy, but it was the best idea I could come up with at this point. I sheathed my sword and then backed up to the wall opposite the door before I ran forward. I leapt up and grabbed the top of the door frame as I did so. I used it to add to my momentum and swung forward as I lifted my legs up. I managed to flip out over the mist using my enhanced strength and agility and landed silently just outside of the mists border without my movements much disturbing the low hanging moisture.

I ran forward silently past the guards and leapt up to the highest part of the roof, safely bypassing the entire lot as I did so. I looked down and saw that the whole of the Keep was now on high alert. Oh well, time to fly. I leapt into the air and spread my wings out in full and flew forward swiftly as I gained height. I banked to the side in order to head back toward Sanctuary. I almost didn't notice it in time, almost slammed right into it, but I managed to back-wing in time to avoid a faint green barrier. Someone had activated a Ward Gate that seemed to be wrapped around the whole damn Keep! I flew around a bit, up, to the sides and then down as I tried to see if there might be a hole to pass through or if there was an opening at the very top of the barrier. There were no openings. I didn't really want a repeat of earlier but it seemed I had no choice available to me.

I maintained the height I was at with several rapid wing beats and pressed my hand against the barrier Gate. I could only push my hand through the barrier just about a quarter of an inch before I had to yank my hand back. I hissed softly in pain as I shook my hand. I knew that the only way away from this place and to safety was through the barrier in front of me, but damn, this was going to hurt. I clinched my teeth and prepared myself as best I could. I was used to certain kinds of pain after the long years of torture, but this was a new kind of pain. I growled low in my throat and then flew forward through the barrier. Pain seared through me as I made it past the green barrier but my focus on staying in the air failed as I fell a few feet. I was wracked by that itching agony as it tore through every inch of my body. I managed to force my wings open again and caught an updraft before I fell too far.

Annoyingly, when I had passed through the gate I had once more lost my concentration on my Gift and thus I was spotted a second time by the Sarafan guards below. Their shouts of warning and anger rang through the air as I flew away and I had to twist, spin and dive in order to avoid the flame-lit arrows that were shot in my general direction. I found myself unable to focus on my Gift due to the pain and the distraction. I let out a cry of pain when I felt one of the arrows pierce my left wing near the base and I plummeted toward the ground. My right wing beat frantically to compensate and I just managing to make a landing that did not leave me with broken bones. Half a dozen bruises, yes, but nothing was broken by the impact.

Shouts of the Sarafan guards echoed in the air as they got closer to my position and I shakily got to my feet. I quickly ripped the arrow from my wing and put out the flames that had started to spread over my feathers. I unsheathed my sword and tried to focus on using my Gift again. I found that I couldn't, not yet anyway, and I knew that the sense of skin crawling pain needed to fade more before I could focus enough to use the Gift. Seriously, Ants under the SKIN tingling pain.

I moved forward at a hurried pace and stayed to the alleyways while I tried to move as silently as I could. I managed for the most part to avoid the Sarafan that kept watch at key places where they thought I might flee. It helped that their armor did not react to my presence like it would have to any other vampire. As I came to one wide open area, the only main route by foot back to Sanctuary that I knew of from where I had landed, I found at least twenty or so Sarafan in my path.

Fuck, Shit and Damnation! I thought with a huff.

I eyed the group for a long moment whilst I tried to figure out how to either slip past them or, if that option was out, the best way to attack. I took the small dagger from its' sheath in my boot and shifted it so I was holding it by the blade in a loose grip. Thankfully, Kain had shown me that each of my boots had small sheaths built into them and had even given me two small blades to keep hidden on my person at all times.

I stood, all the while keeping hidden in the shadows, then flung the blade toward the throat of the one that seemed to be the leader of the group. Everyone was deferring to the man after all. As the man fell with choked sounds of pain, I raced forward whilst staying quiet and I struck one of the other guards from behind to cut him down with a swift blow. The surprise caused by my attack didn't last long, but by the time they figured out they were under attack, I had managed to use my enhanced speed to take care of at least ten of the lot.

Yet that still left me with another ten, fully aware of the danger guards, to deal with. I was fairly outnumbered, but I knew that if I was careful about it that I would be able to defeat them due to my vampiric enhanced nature. I leapt forward, past the lot of them, and started to flee down on of the other, narrower alleyways. The narrow built ally forced them to come after me one by one. Using this method, I was able to take most of the group of warriors out. Run for a time, turn, strike down the one closest to me, turn and run ahead. Rinse and repeat. It was a tactic I had only read about in my history books, but it was a tactic that I knew would work. Hooray for proven guerrilla tactics!

With only about five or so left to trail after me, I reached an empty and turned back around, ready to take the rest of them out easily enough. In the brief wait for the other Sarafan to come out of the alleyway, someone shouted my name and I found myself suddenly shoved to the ground. I let out a startled grunt of noise as I started to scramble to my feet and looked behind me. Nikolai stood before me with a pained smile on his lips. The sword held in his had fell from pain his loosened grasp. He then fell to his knees and toppled to the ground on his side. An arrow was lodged straight through his chest and I could tell at a glance that it had to be right against his heart.

I glanced around rapidly and saw an archer close by on a low hanging roof. She was trying to swiftly reload her crossbow. I snarled, quickly picked up Nikolai's fallen sword and then threw it at the woman. The blade embedded itself neatly into her skull and impaled her brain. I started to move to help Nikolai as I ignored the clattering sound of the woman's body as it hit the ground, but the rest of the Sarafan warriors that had been chasing after me decided to show up just at that moment. I was far too upset and too enraged to want to deal with them longer than I had to, so I leapt forward and slashed my sword in a wide arch to take the remaining five out as they piled out of the alleyway and tried to cluster around me in an attempt to overwhelm me. They had to have been rookies, as I knew I wasn't THAT skilled of a fighter to have just barreled through them like that.

I took a great amount of dark pleasure in tearing out the final guards throat, the odd sense of... of proprietary rage that had bubbled within me settling with the exhalation of the man's final breath. I shuddered at the odd sense, briefly confused by the wild emotion. I shook my head and then sheathed my blade in order to run back to Nikolai's side. I knelt beside him and checked over the arrow wound. He was bleeding faintly, the arrow itself stopped up the wound and he was still breathing. I looked over the wound then shook my head helplessly. I didn't dare remove the damned arrow. With it so close to his heart, I knew that if I tried to remove the arrow too hastily it might well pierce the pericardium around his heart and he would bleed to death as a result if he wasn't bleeding out internally already. I carefully picked him up in my arms and tried once again to focus upon my Gift. I felt the small pulse of energy as it activated, coiled around me sluggishly in response to my will and turned the both of us invisible. I moved swiftly back toward Sanctuary with my... friend in my arms.

I only hoped that he would somehow survive his injury.

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