Creation
Book Three: The Balance of
Happiness and Grief
Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and
Crystal Dynamics not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written
purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own
Vorador . . . then he’d be mine.
Warning: this fic contains YAOI (GuyXGuy) and a lemon, if this offends or upsets you do not read this, it
that simple.
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Raziel/Melchiah, Raziel/Kain
Setting: post all games
EXPRESS WARNING: Spoilers for all the games. This fic is
seriously out of it, SERIOUSLY its just odd. If you
don’t like
Summery: The games are over Nosgoth has been
saved. A decision is made about life and death. Life goes on until a newer or
perhaps older enemy rears its head and a warrior must rise.
Authoress note: this is my first fic with Raziel at the
head Yay new territory ^_^ it’s also my first fic in ages that not set in the
Blood omen two time frame!! Wow I’m on a roll.
Also please note due
to the length of this fic it has been broken up into separate parts ‘Books’
each will be about four/five chapters long. This is Book Three.
Italics mean either flashbacks or thoughts
* \/ * /\ * \/ * /\ *
Chapter
Ten
“We attack tomorrow,”
Raziel spoke walking across the mansion rooftops towards where Kain had
perched, the snow was surprisingly thick up here and absently Raziel felt it
burn a little. “Are you worried?” he asked when his father made no reply to him
“No . . .its something
else,” Kain answered frowning out at the pillars, the pillars looked to Raziel
the same as always but Kain was starting to look distinctly worried which was in
turn making Raziel nervous.
“Is something wrong
with the pillars?” he asked, Kain shook his head a little
“I don’t think so,” Kain
answered “but what ever it is its been bothering me
all night,” he muttered “it sounds . . . like a call.”
“A call?” Raziel asked even more confused, for some
reason the image of a running wolf filled his mind, a great white creature
moving with purpose across snow and barren land. The image gave the fledgling
pause made him think, it was like he had seen such a thing before but couldn’t
remember where, maybe Fate had removed some of his memories to, that frightened
him a little but he shook the thought from his mind and looked back to his
father who glared hard at the pillars for a moment before sighing and looking
away.
"It's . . . not music, but it is . . . pleasing in a way I
can't describe." Kain shrugged and tried to explain further “Did you ever have the feeling you should
be somewhere at a certain time,” Raziel shook his head “I have, I’ve had it all
my life like someone whispering to me, telling me where to go; it lead me to
that thing under the pillars, it lead me to you and it lead me here a few
times.”
“And you’re hearing it
now?” Raziel asked
“If hearing is the
right word then yes,” Kain answered “do you want to come,” he smiled and held
out his hand
“Where?” Raziel asked going to his father and
taking his hand
“I don’t know, but I
think it’s the pillars.” Kain answered , Raziel paused
and took his father’s hand and screamed as they tumbled together off the
building. Kain laughed and erupted into bats wrapping the magic around his childe
and taking him with him into the flight form. It was perhaps the most peculiar
sensation Raziel had ever felt, he had half expected pain as his body broke
apart and reshaped itself into a flock of the tiny creatures but there was no
pain and no confusion or multiple vision. All the bats were looking in one
direction and if he wished to look left then they did also and he kept his
vision in one simple image. They flew in the direction of the pillars gently
swaying as Kain tried to figure out exactly where they were going.
The pillars were
calling him, he was sure of it now, a slow and calming siren song that stopped
him doing anything else other than listen and go to it. Kain had to physically
remind himself that his child was there, if he forgot that now and Raziel broke
away he would be lost. But the pillars were not far, just through the swamp, he
smiled mentally as he felt his fledgling’s mind stir besides his own, testing
the parameters of bat form and he half wondered if it had donned on Raziel that
they were flying.
The pillars reached up
to the heavens and the first thing Raziel noticed was that they were glowing
brightly before Kain had touched them. Yet this was a different light and
somehow more menacing; they landed and he felt his body reform, testing his
joints Raziel smirked finding everything back where it should be and turned to
see his father emerge from the fine mist that often formed when shifting. Kain
completely ignored him and walked right up to the balance pillar reaching out
to touch it, as he did so the light flared but nothing else happened and after
a moment Raziel watched as Kain leaned on the balance pillar, placing his
forehead to the marble and whispered
“What’s wrong, tell
“It’s you,” Kain spoke
pulling back from his pillar “you’re doing this.”
“What did I do?”
Raziel snapped, panicking, “I didn’t touch anything; I’m not a guardian,”
“You are the reaver,”
Kain’s voice was getting louder as the light grew brighter, a strong wind had
picked up and blew loudly around the pillars “and you are part of me, you are
connected to the pillars,” he took a deep breath through his nose “they’re
doing something, making something, building power.”
“You can feel that?”
Raziel asked Kain nodded and held out a hand, Raziel did not want to take it,
memories of when Kain’s touch had pulled him into the blade stirred in his mind
and he half thought the same might happen now, it was
one thing being trapped within a sword but a stone structure? Swallowing his
fear Raziel rationalized that Kain wouldn’t hurt him and thus through Kain the
pillars couldn’t either and he took his fathers hand.
Glyph power stirred in
him at the contact, water and fire moving through him and down his arm along
with stone and sound, and Light the other powers remained inside however not
stirring at all. He felt them merge inside his chest before moving down his arm
into his father and through him into the balance pillar. Kain drew back as the
pillar glowed brighter the light collecting at the ring on the pillar before
moving like lightening through the air and into the central ring on the pillar
base. The circular symbol at the base of the pillars began to glow brighter,
its light drowning even the light of the pillars. Raziel shielded his eyes
pressing his face against his father;
“you made us sing,” a voice whispered, female and soft, the
balance pillar was glowing softly, brighter than the others and Raziel knew the
voice as hers “you restored us, your life
gives us life. We wish to give you a gift.”
“We give it back to you,” Dimension glowed
“We offer it back to you,” Mind glowed
“We give you what you lost,” Nature glowed
“We bestow on you what you gone,” Conflict glowed
“We restore what was broken,” Energy glowed
“We return what was shattered,” Death glowed
“But we will not claim the soul, not now,” States glowed
“But we will not ask for the essence, not now,” Time glowed
“We have given you your freedom, Raziel” Balance glowed
“The pillars are
talking again!” Raziel yelled “the damn pillars are talking again! AGAIN!” Kain had let him go and had walked over to balance,
he reached out but the light met him half way.
“Kain,” Balance glowed “thank
you,”
“What’s happening now?”
Raziel shouted over the wind as the center glowed brighter and hotter
“TAKE IT FROM US!” all the voices yelled together, Kain walked slowly
over to the light in the center of the marble base and on blind faith reached
in.
The
flight back to the mansion was rushed and twice they almost crashed, Raziel
lost everything he’d eaten in the last few nights and silently made a mental
note to take back his ‘lost’ lunch from his father sometime soon. They
approached the mansion at lightening speed and didn’t slow as they rammed into
a window shattering it with telekinetic power. Kain reformed in mid air with
his childe and they fell ungracefully to the floor, the sound of the broken
window brought Janos running from the central library which Vorador had built
last season.
“What on Nosgoth is
wrong with you two!” Janos snapped looking at the
small window they had broken “have you no respect . . . where did you get
that,” he breathed pausing in his rant to stair at the reaver blade sitting
contently in Kain’s lap. “Raziel have you . . .,” Janos began again but Raziel
waved a hand silencing him
“I’m fine,” Raziel
muttered “it doesn’t feel the same, the pillars fixed it.” He looked to his
father Kain was purring over the sword, he rolled his eyes. “You like it more
than me don’t you!” Raziel snapped then rolled his eyes again “help, I’m
jealous of a sword!” Kain sighed and put the blade down
“I don’t like the
sword more than you,” Kain muttered dead pan, he knew how ridiculous this
sounded “I’m just happy to see it back,”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY
WINDOW!” the shout was Vorador as he entered the room, Kain smirked at him and
held up the blade watching as Vorador’s jaw fell open. “It was destroyed, it
faded when you died!” he looked to Kain “how did this happen?”
“The pillars gave it
back to me,” Kain said simply “they called me, and remade it.” Kain swallowed
suddenly “I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not,” he handed the blade to
Vorador
“Is Raziel?” Vorador
began looking grief stricken but was hit on the shoulder hard
“I’m over here!”
Raziel snapped “if you paid attention.”
“Raziel is not in the
blade,” Kain smirked at his fledgling “but it still worries me, they gave me
back my sword, does that mean I will have to use it.”
“Well we are going to
war tomorrow,” Vorador lifted an eyebrow, Kain glared
“I could have used any
sword for that, I’ve still got my flame sword somewhere, but they gave me back
the reaver the most formidable weapon we have.” Vorador looked worried at that
but Janos spoke distracting them.
“The blade will be
restored,” Janos quoted, Raziel rolled his eyes, he was
really hating that prophecy. He walked to Vorador and held out a hand,
Vorador reluctantly gave up the blade he had carved himself to Raziel, who held
it up; the feeling emanating from the blade was gone, the blade wasn’t alive anymore
but there was still some kind of energy running through it, magic pulsed inside
the blade but it no longer pulled at him. A sudden jolt made him let go as Kain
telekinetically called the blade to him,
“It doesn’t feel the
same,” Kain muttered “it doesn’t . . . vibrate the same,” he hefted the blade
down in a swing and listened to the blade scream as it cut the air.
“That’s because I’m
not in it,” Raziel muttered, feeling slightly uncomfortable around the blade
still and even more so about his father’s reaction to the sword.
“That was the first
thing I was trying to stop,” Kain sighed looking at his childe his voice low,
Raziel frowned “when I found the chronoplast chamber the first image I saw of
any distinction was of you being absorbed by the blade as I ran you through.”
The scion sighed and handed the blade to Janos who greeted it silently like an
old friend “that was why I made the effort to change time.”
“But the land,” Raziel
breathed, Kain snorted
“Can you imagine
waking up one day and being told you had to save the world? It’s a lot to take
on board . . . I knew I could do it but still it seemed to
much for me alone. But saving you, that was something I could do, if I could
save you then I could save Nosgoth.” He smirked “it just so happened that they
were almost one and the same.”
“Father,” Raziel spoke
but Kain stopped him
“I was so angry at
you,” he snapped suddenly, Raziel blinked confused “all the effort I put into
saving you and you went into the blade by your own hand.”
“Kids!” Vorador smirked and the atmosphere in the
room lightened. “you should rest now, big night
tomorrow.”
“we
destroy Chaos,” Raziel swallowed, unable to meet his father’s eyes.
≈ Δ ≈
They did not sneak in
this time.
They couldn’t have
sneaked even if they had wanted to; four vampires can sneak a lot better than
forty. The declaration had announced their arrival anyway but to everyone’s
surprise there was no defense set up, nothing in or around Avernus to defend
the soft mortals inside. Raziel wondered if the mortals even knew they were
ere, had the declaration been read at all, had it been announced to the masses
like in past wars to give those who wanted it a chance to run? Raziel felt a
surge of guilt but pushed it away quickly this was not his fault, if the
declaration had not been announced and this was not a true war then it was the
mortal leaders fault not his. But some part of him was whispering to him,
telling him of how the ‘noble’ vampires started a war, a war that destroyed
them.
Shaking his head of
such thoughts Raziel watched his father and couldn’t help but smile, Kain had
quiet obviously missed leading an army. Mind you if you had lead three
different armies you might miss it to, Raziel briefly remembered tale of when
Kain had lead the army of the hope along with King Ottmar, then the vampire
army which had fallen at Meridian and then the second vampire army which had
successfully concurred all of Nosgoth. The third army, the one Raziel had
helped him lead; Raziel smiled to himself remembering those days before the
sanctuary had been finished, sleeping in tents in camp, crushed together in the
frozen wastelands freezing to a near true death. Strange that
those were his best memories.
He watched now as Kain
broke the army up, separating them into four groups, one group of sixty
surrounded the city to catch those who would flee the fight, another one of
forty went to the rear of the cathedral and entered, the third group broke up
and patrolled the tunnels and the final group went with him and Raziel into the
main body of the cathedral. Memories of leading armies flooded Raziel’s mind
and for a moment he wasn’t in Avernus he was in the barren lands of the future
corrupted Nosgoth looking around the bloody battle field for his brothers and
father. But then a clawed hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality and
he glanced to his father. They had lead their group
down the still empty passageway towards the sacrificial chamber, the chamber
which had once housed Turel. The sounds indicated that the worshipers were
still inside
“Give the word,” Kain
smirked at his child and Raziel shivered, he hesitated only briefly before
giving the command to attack.
It wasn’t a battle
Raziel quickly realized, this was a slaughter. Watching as
mortal after mortal fell to claws, fangs and swords. The smells of
mortal blood filled the room, as many fell, but the mortals were fighting back,
gathering what they could, using what ever magic they could call but it would
not be enough.
“They didn’t know.”
Raziel sighed walking to stand by his father who was leaning against a wall not
doing anything, reaver turned down in his hand.
“This is awful,”
Melchiah came up to his father and Raziel, “this is not war,” Kain nodded,
“It is good we did not
bring Janos,” he admitted then sighed frustrated, not understanding why this
felt so fake, so unreal and so low.
Kain felt like he had
just delivered the worst sucker punch in history, yet he had killed entire
families before and not felt guilt; but that had been for food or for survival
this was a massacre but a necessary massacre. Nosgoth’s survival depended on
him eliminating this threat, these people were a real threat and he had to take
them down before they became even more of a threat. Once Chaos had form it
would be unstoppable. But still he felt like slime.
“MY LORD!” one of the
mortals had clambered onto the pedestal “MY LORD RISE UP AND DEFEND YOUR
SERVANTS!”
“No Abdul,” the voice was like nails on glass “I will not, this is your
battle, defend yourselves,”
“What he means,” Kain
said slowly coming up behind the man “is that he cannot defend you, he is
powerless without form.” Kain’s words were flat, there
was no anger, no hatred and no guilt, just a tired knowledge that this had to
be done.
“You!” the man stopped
and frowned “you’re Kain, You’re the scion, and you saved Nosgoth why now do
you destroy it!” Kain paused, blinking confused, this man did not understand
that he was serving the one creature that could and would destroy all of
Nosgoth, he almost groaned but found himself feeling to empty for even that.
“You truly do not know
that which you serve?” he asked, this was Moebius all over again, dull mortals
confused and lead by ancient beings of power, although killing Moebius had been
a lot more satisfying than this. With a sigh he struck,
the mortal fell on the reaver.
“You cannot kill me,” the voice breathed “I am immortal in ways nothing else is, I am endless.”
“Good for you,” Kain
muttered, pulling the reaver from the mortal man. “Good for me to, for when I
find a way to hurt you I will be glad that you cannot die! But you will wish
that you could.”
“Fool vampire I am beyond your reach,” the voice of chaos breathed,
the voice made Kain shiver, this truly was a creature of destruction, there was
no imbalance in this creature for there were no opposites within it, it was
just destruction, nothing else. Briefly the scion wondered what it must be like
to know what your purpose was so clearly, to always know your course of action
the way this creature must.
“For now,” Kain
muttered after a moment “but know you’re believers are dead, you are beyond my
reach but Nosgoth is beyond your reach.”
“Yes my innocents are gone, but your belief in me is enough to keep my
claws in this world,” the voice was much weaker now “what will you do, make the ultimate sacrifice and leave Nosgoth defenseless
or live and keep me here,”
Kain said nothing but
turned back to watch the end of the massacre.
It
did not take long and the army slowly moved out of the chamber, there was no
high spirits no feelings of elation just a quiet emptiness. Raziel walked with
his father and youngest brother back towards the entrance to Avernus, blood
covered the pathway as it rained down from the vampire’s weapons, cloths and
bodies. It had been a bloodbath and one that no one had enjoyed. It was odd
Raziel thought that surrounded by that much blood no one slipped into an
animalistic frenzy, he himself had hardly noticed that there was any blood to
busy being horrified by the amount of death caused. By the
mortal leaders selfish desire to not inform his people of the vampire’s attack.
They hadn’t even had weapons.
“I
am going to fly,” Kain breathed as they came out into the open air, for once
glad to lose the smell of blood. “I have things to discuss with Vorador.”
“I
think I’m going to stay with the men,” Raziel answered “I . . . I need the
air.” Kain nodded and Raziel and Melchiah watched as a cloud of silvery white
bats launched into the night.
The
way home was long and took the best part of the night, but eventually he
arrived home with Melchiah. The mansion seemed homely tonight, it gave Raziel
pause, he had lived in the mansion for the past fifty years, since the
restoration of the pillars but never before had it felt like home the way the
sanctuary had or the way his clan holding had. He found it odd that after such
an awful night he could walk into the courtyard and feel his spirit lift the
way it had when he entered the sanctuary.
“Raziel?” Melchiah asked as the elder brother stopped and
looked up at the building
“Sorry,”
Raziel apologised “it’s just . . . for the first time it feels like I’ve come
home.” Melchiah smiled and nodded knowingly.
“For
some,” the youngest of Kain’s sons breathed “home is a place, for others a
time, some find home where ever they go, for it is where they are happy.”
Melchiah smirked “but for you I think home is a person.”
“Since
when did you become so worldly?” Raziel teased feeling his spirits rise,
“I’ve
always been this amazing you just have never appreciated me,” Melchiah smirked
and opened the door for his brother. They walked together through the mansion
following the sounds and smells they knew so well until they were led to one of
Vorador’s private parlours, in which they heard voices. Without knocking they
entered.
“We are keeping that
thing alive,” Kain sighed “it’s true you are always your own worst enemy,”
“Yes but our knowledge
is not the same as belief,” Janos smiled “it is enough to let him keep a
foothold in Nosgoth but unless we suddenly start worshiping him then I think
we’ll be safe.”
“Others will believe,”
Raziel said slowly “others will need to be killed,”
“No,” Magnus whispered
“We will eliminate all knowledge of him; he will not get that kind of power
again,” Magnus to was bloody, his right leg was badly hurt, hence why he had
been returned earlier before the massacre had ended.
“We have to build
something,” Kain muttered going back to his own old idea “nothing grand to draw
attention but something, we need something that will prevent him reaching out
to us,”
“Janos,” Raziel said
“you once told me the pillars were a lock; the binding is what keep the Hylden
out can it keep this creature out also”
“We cannot build more
pillars Raziel,” Janos sighed “it’s not possible.”
“Not overly subtle
either,” Kain smirked at his child “we need something simple, a big slab or
something.”
“I wasn’t suggesting
you build pillars,” Raziel answered “but the magic you gave them to make them a
lock, can we do that to another edifice.”
“No one has that much
power,” Janos sighed but a sound from Kain made them turn
“I’d like to argue
that point,” Kain smirked.
End Chapter
Authoress Note: one more after this me
thinks then that’s this fic all wrapped up. I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far.
Please review