Fan Fiction ❯ The Soul Reaver and The Spirit Shield ❯ Interlude One: Kain's Return ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five

After retrieving the Soul Reaver from Raziel, Kain had hurried to the time streaming chamber within the stronghold. Setting the chamber for several centuries into the future, Kain traveled to the time of his first dormancy, after his first battle with the Sarafan Lord. It was the battle in which he was robbed of the Soul Reaver and had almost lost his vampiric un-life.

The era in which Kain had sent himself was approximately fifty years before his return. His memories were still hazy from the shift in history. Kain was unsure whether the memories he had were accurate to the new timeline, or if they were now just fabrications of what had once been, or if some of his memories were from column A and some were from column B.

Either way, he knew that the Hilden had a very strong presence in Nosgoth during this time. And he had a sinking feeling that their strength and numbers were much larger than what he could recollect. Janos Audron. Something on the back of Kain's mind told him that Janos Audron had something to do with the Hilden.

`What is it my memories are trying to piece together?' the vampire lord wondered, making his way through the Sarafan stronghold. `There was something about Janos Audron and the Hilden. What could it be?' He thought to himself for several long moments of silence as he exited the human edifice. "The Heart of Darkness! They brought him back to life! But why?" Kain realized aloud, though doubt still lingered within his voice.

Before he could make any sense of his distorted past, a crow caught his attention. The crow landed not far off, perching on a high branch of a nearby tree. The crow seemed to have its full attention on Kain, studying the vampire. The eyes of the crow almost seemed to twinkle, as if more than just one being was seeing through its eyes. Kain's lips slightly curled upward in a knowing smirk.

`So Vorador has already sensed my presence here,' thought Kain. Almost as if reading Kain's thoughts, the crow stretched its wings before taking into the air. After rising into the air a few feet, the crow seemed to vanish into thin air. `Just as I thought,' Kain mused. `Vorador is still seeking allies to fight off the Sarafan Lord. I may as well meet him face to face.'

Transforming into his bat form, Kain flew off into the dark skies, in the direction of Vorodor's mansion, located in the thick swamps of Nosgoth. Shortly after his departure, two figures emerged from the stronghold and stood in the place Kain had just occupied only moments before.

"So, you speak the truth Mobius," the larger, more threatening of the two replied. "Kain has returned as you promised."

"Yes my Lord," affirmed the time streamer. "However, this is not the same Kain you struck down all those years ago."

"I need not concern myself with that vampire scum," sneered the Sarafan Lord. "Not while I have this," he replied as he unsheathed the Soul Reaver.

"But my Lord, this Kain has evolved from the last time you encountered him. This is the Kain that has traveled back in time from over a millennium from now. He is much stronger now. And if you are not careful, he will destroy your plans for your people."

"Do I need to repeat myself Mobius? Kain is of no matter to me now. Besides, I have much more important business to attend to. One of my most precious pets has stuck her nose where it did not belong and she has deliberately disobeyed me. For that, she has forced me to punish her. Unfortunately I cannot find her, so I will punish her village in her place."

As the Sarafan Lord finished his tyrade, a fleet of Sarafan warriors was making their way over to the cliffs leading towards the secluded village. The warriors carried makeshift ladders with them to access the passageway atop the cliff, too steep to climb without said assistance. The villagers' days would soon come to an end.