Tonight's installment...

Blood Omen

From the moment he was birthed into this world, Kain was damned. 30 years before his death and rebirth, Ariel, the Balance Guardian, was murdered. The moment her eyes closed for the final time was the very moment Kain was brought into this world, and the split second that Nupraptor poisoned the Circle was the very moment of Kain's first newborn cry. He was destined for horror.

30 years later, Kain has become a vagabond. He was raised as the son of an aristocratic nobleman, and after reaching adulthood, felt that his life must have some greater purpose than simply carrying on in his father's footsteps. He left his hometown of Coorhagen and traveled the lands of Nosgoth for ten years, searching for purpose. By his 30th birthday, he had planned to return home to see what had become of his birthplace. He would not make it that far.

Since Kain was born, the only Nosgoth he had known was the perverted, decaying world of the Corrupted Pillars. His world had been in a steady decline since the day he was born, and he could see the vast differences between the world he currently lived in and the world he existed in as a child. That state of decay would soon turn it's misfortune upon Kain in the small town of Ziegsturhl. Arriving in the town at dusk, intending to stay the night on his way home, he is attacked by a group of brigands. He is robbed, beaten and impaled upon his own sword.

Some time later, Kain awakens chained to a pair of stone pillars set before a lake of roiling fire. He knows immediately that he did not survive the encounter, for he is still impaled on his large blade. Moments later, a figure dressed in black approaches Kain and introduces himself as the Necromancer Mortanius. He offers the beaten Kain an opportunity to strike back at his murderers and a second chance at life altogether. The one condition for the agreement is that Kain must do a favor for Mortanius after exacting his revenge. Kain accepts, and watches as his body is transformed from the fair human state he had enjoyed for 30 years into a devilish, dark figure with ash grey skin and stark white hair. He then realizes the depth of the agreement he had just made with Mortanius: he had just signed himself over to becoming a vampire.

Seemingly moments later, Kain snaps awake and forces his way out of a large stone coffin. He steps out and realizes that while it only feels like moments since his death, it has actually been much longer. Probably months or years, because since his death, he has been entombed and sealed within his family's mausoleum. Eventually, Kain breaks free, hunts down his attackers and slaughters them all while laughing maniacally. After executing the assassins, Mortanius contacts Kain through telepathy and tells him to venture to the Pillars of Nosgoth in order to learn what his side of the bargain would entail. By this point, Kain has already fulfilled his desires and simply wants to be rid of his vampiric form. He, like the rest of Nosgoth, loathes the Vampire race and wants nothing to do with his newfound unlife. He wants a cure, and decides to seek one at the Pillars.

Arriving at the Pillars, Kain is greeted by the scarred spectre of a mournful woman. She announces herself as Ariel, the former Balance Guardian, and tells Kain that since her death, she has been bound to the Pillars. Their decay bound her to them, and because of this, she is unable to fulfill her destiny on the Wheel of Fate. She explains to Kain why he Pillars had become corrupted and tells him that his duty is to restore the Pillars to their natural state. In order to do this, Kain would need to kill each of the infected Guardians and bring their Pillar token back to their respective Pillars. The Pillar tokens, he is told, are mystical objects that symbolize the power of the Pillar they each represent. She tells Kain where to find the first Guardian, her lover Nupraptor, and informs him that in order to restore the Pillar of The Mind, Kain would need to retrieve the Mind Token: Nupraptor's head.

So, Kain sets off in search of his first quarry. He reaches Nupraptor's retreat, a giant stone skull built into the side of a cliff face, and begins his infiltration of the stronghold. Kain fights off the Mentalist's minions, and eventually reaches his personal chamber. Arriving, he encounters not only Nupraptor but Malek as well. The Paladin has become aware of Kain's plans, and as such, has rushed to the Mentalist's aid. Nupraptor commands Malek to vacate his fortress, claiming that he himself will finish Kain off. Squaring off in battle, Nupraptor uses a number of lethal psychic attacks to attempt to fell the Vampire, but all of his efforts are in vain. Kain defeats Ariel's lover, severs his head and returns to the Pillars.

Arriving at the Pillars, Kain uses the Mentalist's skull to restore the Pillar of The Mind. Ariel and Mortanius then both speak to Kain, explaining to him that he was lucky to have bested Nupraptor. Had Malek stayed, the Vampire would not have been able to defeat them both. So, Kain's newfound advisors instruct him to seek the Paladin out next. With the protector of the Circle dispatched, the rest would fall much more easily.

So, with a new destination in mind, Kain sets out for Malek's Bastion. The only problem is actually reaching the fortress. Malek's stronghold is located on top of a massive stone pillar shaped much like a giant dinner table. There is one giant column reaching high into the air with a massive stone plate sitting on top which Malek's Bastion rests upon. In addition to this, the structure is located high in the snow-covered mountains, resting in the groove of a steep and narrow valley. There is no way at all to reach the stronghold on foot. So, to counteract these measures, Kain is granted the ability to transform into a flock of bats, and whith this newfound ability he reaches the mountain fortress.

Arriving at Malek's Bastion, Kain is greeted with a number of nasty surprises. First, Kain is unaware of the fact that most vampires, especially fledglings, are fatally weak against water. Touching water burns like fire, and submersion in water means instant death. Kain will have to trek through snow-blanketed fields outside of the Bastion's walls and inside the courtyard areas. On top of that, Malek has fortified his defenses with an army of golems, suits of possessed armor with no blood for Kain to consume if he is suddenly injured.

Eventually, Kain manages to breach Malek's inner sanctum and squares off against his seemingly impervious opponent. The warrior proves himself to be unbeatable, and in a final act of desperation, Kain uses a teleportation device to escape defeat at the hands of the Paladin. Frustrated, Kain seeks advice from Ariel, and she instructs him to visit a man known only as the Oracle, located high up in the winding cavernous tunnels east of Malek's Bastion.

Making his way through the Oracle's tunnels, Kain finds a number of interesting artifacts along the way. He spies suits of armor, flags and weapons from the Sarafan Order's time period. He has read about their exploits, and remembering now the tales of their Vampire Genocide, he reacts with revulsion rather than the admiration he had once felt for those "Holy Knights". Kain's vampiric nature is starting to grow on him.

Eventually, Kain locates the Oracle, a small, frail man in a shroud eagerly watching scenes of the past and future playing themselves out in the reflection of his cauldron. Kain, exhausted and impatient demands answers from the old man. The Oracle (being an eternal wiseass) chooses not to wait for Kain's questions, and instead provides Kain the answers to questions that the vampire has not asked, and isn't going to ask. He speaks the phrase:

"King Ottmar - the only hope to defeat the Legions of the Nemesis.
King Ottmar - paralyzed by his Princess' malaise.
King Ottmar - the useless."

Kain, tired of the old man's jabbering, demands to know how to kill Malek. The Oracle obliges the Vampire and informs him to seek out the only living creature to have ever bested the Paladin: Vorador. He provides Kain with directions to Vorador's Mansion, located deep within the Termagent Forest Swamp. Kain arrives at the looming Mansion shortly thereafter and storms through the stronghold. He is attacked repeatedly by the elder Vampire's defenses, including his large harem of vampiric "brides". While exploring Vorador's Mansion, Kain comes to the conclusion that this elder vampire is a vain, decadent and materialistic recluse, interested only in his own pleasures. Upon finally meeting the Vampire, Kain realizes he was mostly correct. Vorador proves himself to be an extravagant but intelligent creature. He welcomes Kain openly and offers the fledgling a chalice of blood to drink from. He recounts the tale of his defeat of Malek in the sarafan Stronghold over 500 years previous, and tells Kain that currently there is no earthly way that the younger vampire can defeat the Paladin. He tells Kain to end his meddling in the affairs of men. He explains that doing so will only bring more trouble upon the heads of the vampire race. Vorador also expresses his personal opinion that Vampires are Dark Gods, intended to prey upon the human cattle and thin their numbers accordingly. From Vorador's perspective, the humans exist only to prolong the lives of the Vampire race, and he assures Kain that it is not a curse that the young Vampire has been afflicted with, but a blessing. Taking Vorador's words with him, Kain prepares to leave, but is stopped at the last moment. The elder Vampire presents Kain with a Signet Ring that can be used to summon Vorador should Kain ever require his assistance. Thanking the elder for his hospitality and wisdom, Kain departs the Mansion and seeks more assistance at the Pillars.

Arriving, Kain is told that there are three corrupted Guardians living in the northernmost regions of Nosgoth, causing a great disturbance in the land. The land that they have taken up residence in is a region now called Dark Eden, and for very good reason. Kain, heedless of the fact that Malek is still alive and still a very large obstacle, traverses the Nosgothic plains until arriving in Dark Eden. Immediately, he is shocked at what has become of this land. A massive ebony tower has been constructed, and from it, a giant red dome of sheer putrefying energy slowly expands outward, mutating everything in it's path. The grass is green and healthy on Kain's side, the ground is a cracked bed of cooled lava on the other. Birds, squirrels and other natural creatures are scattered on Kain's side, while horrid, skinless abominations stalk the burnt fields of Dark Eden. Stepping through the barrier, Kain is amused to see that he is not affetced in the slightest. He comments on how he must simply be too vile a creature for the forces in Dark Eden to mutate any further.

Entering the massive tower, Kain notes that the inside of the structure is much larger than it appears on the outisde, which he attributes to the Guardian's abilities to distort space. He fights his way through a legion of the freakish accidents that he encountered in the burning fields. He hacks and devours his way to the top of the tower and encounters the three Guardians responsible for this atrocity: Anarcrothe the Alchemist, Bane the Druid and Dejoule the Energist, the Guardians of The States, Nature and Energy, respectively. Confronting the three of them, Anarcrothe allows his cowardice to get the best of him and summons Malek to their aid as he flees. In response to the arrival of the Paladin, Kain uses his Signet Ring to summon Vorador to his side. While Malek and the elder Vampire square off against one another, Kain pursues Bane and Dejoule into a back chamber and fights both at once. Bane uses his powers of Nature to transfrom sections of the ground into puddles of water with which to impede Kain and injure him at the same time. Dejoule positions herself away from the action and proceeds to launch a volley of energy-based attacks at Kain. The Vampire manages to defeat both of his adversaries, taking Bane's Ceremonial Headdress and Dejoule's Insulated Cloak to restore each of their respective Pillars with. Exiting the back chamber, he sees that Vorador is nowhere to be found, and Malek's armor is lying lifeless on the stone floor. Somehow, the elder Vampire managed to defeat the Paladin, and Kain is now free to take Malek's Helmet to restore the Conflict Pillar as well.

Seeking Ariel's guidance again, Kain is presented with what would prove to be his largest task yet. The former Balance Guardian explains that the city of Avernus, the largest kingdom in all of Nosgoth, has been overrun by an army of demons for the last few months. The entire city is aflame, and standing at the nexus of the carnage is Azimuth the Planar, the Guardian of Dimension. Kain makes his way to Avernus and enters his most trying quest yet. He battles through a legion of demonic monstrosities, all the while navigating the labyrinthine inferno of Avernus City. After hacking his way through a groutesque number of adversaries, Kain enters Avernus Cathedral, which sits at the center of the city. Entering the Cathedral, he is faced with yet more demonic opponents awaiting him within a confusing and twisted series of corridors and hallways. While exploring the Cathedral, Kain stumbles across the entrances of two alternate pocket dimensions contained within the Cathedral. One of the dimensions is molded after Hell, with flaming pits and fiery devils infesting it's corridors. At the core of the Hell Dimension, Kain locates the Wraith Armor, a powerful defensive tool. The other dimension is molded after Heaven, with massive marble columns, white clouds filling a blue sky and a legion of pseudo-angelic enemies to hack through. At the core of the Heaven Dimension, Kain locates the legendary Soul Reaver blade, a massive sword that devours the souls of it's victims. In addition to the two pocket dimensions Kain stumbles upon, he also finds his way into the Cathedral's basement. While there, he finds the long-dead corpse of Malek, still suspended by chains in the air, and also a massive ceremonial chamber that appears to be used for sacrifical ceremonies. While exploring the basement, Kain stumbles across a number of ancient documents that mention a creature known as H'ash'ak'gik. The documents also connect this being to a force known only as The Unspoken and another creature named the Dark Entity.

Finally, after much toil, Kain confronts the Planar Azimuth, now equipped with the Soul Reaver and Wraith Armor. She stands as no match against Kain, and falls easily. Having defeated his opponent, Kain takes Azimuth's 3rd Eye to restore the Pillar of Dimension. Upon returning to the Pillars and restoring the Pillar of Dimension, Ariel explains to Kain that there is now a much more pressing matter at hand than dispatching the last three Guardians. A tyrannical madman known as the Nemesis has been slowly advancing his berserker legions into the peaceful regions of Nosgoth, and the only military force that can possibly stop their advancement is Willendorf's Army of Hope, led by the wise King Ottmar, whom the Oracle mentioned to Kain before. Ariel explains that the Nemesis was originally a good and kind boy king named William the Just. Over the course of time, King William's mind was poinsoned by greed and a desire for power. Since then, he has mutated into the Nemesis and has begun his conquest of the rest of Nosgoth. Ariel tells Kain that the Army of Hope could very well end the Legion's crusade, if not for the fact that King Ottmar's only child, his daughter, has recently fallen into a deep coma and cannot be revived. Ottmar has lost the will to fight, and is prepared to let his kingdom die because of his misery. Kain must travel to Willendorf, fix the situation and rally Ottmar's forces against the Legions of the Nemesis.

Kain arrives in Willendorf and uses his Beguile Dark Gift to give himself the appearance of a human nobleman. He speaks with the King and learns that a man known as Elzevir the Dollmaker is responsible for the Princess' current state. You see, recently, the girl celebrated her birthday and for the occasion her father held a contest to see who in the kingdom could craft the best doll for his daughter. Many were submitted, and many were good, but none compared to the masterpiece that the hermit Elzevir contributed. He won the contest and his reward was that he could have any wish, within reason, granted for him. All he wanted was a lock of the Princess' hair. Baffled by the suggestion, but relieved that it wasn't a demand for riches, the King complied and allowed Elzevir to take the lock of hair. A few days later, the Princess fell into a coma and she hasn't been herself since.

So, with this new information in mind, Kain sets out to find the villainous Dollmaker and find out what has happened. He locates the hermit's cottage and enters, expecting to just speak with the man and leave. Instead, the vampire is attacked by the demonic creations crafted in the Dollmaker's workshop. Kain fights his way through a small army of possessed dolls and corners the Dollmaker. Elzevir attacks Kain, but proves to be no match. Kain returns to Willendorf with the doll that the Princess' soul has been imprisoned within in one hand and the Dollmaker's head in the other. The court sorcerers use the doll to restore the Princess, and Ottmar thanks the Vampire repeatedly. When asked what he would like in return for his great deed, Kain replies that he wants the King to mobilize his army and send it against the Legions of the Nemesis. The King, invigorated with new life, begins the process and declares war on the berserker army.

Days later, King Ottmar's Army of Hope and the Legions of the Nemesis meet each other on the battlefield. Kain fights alongside the Army of Hope, and watches as the tide of battle turns one way and then the next. The fracas meets it's crescendo and it appears as though the Army of Hope has won the day, until a foolish tactic costs Ottmar his lfe. The Army of Hope fights valiantly in their leader's absence, but the tide turns in spite of this and Ottmar's forces flee. Kain, surrounded by the berserkers, flees in the opposite direction, into the Lands of the Nemesis in the hope of somehow evading his pursuers. Upon venturing deeper into the Lands of the Nemesis, Kain stumbles upon a strange chamber equipped with a mysterious device of some sort. Ariel had mentioned this earlier to Kain, and had identified it as a Timestreaming Chamber, one of many built by the Timestreamer Moebius, the Guardian of Time. Hoping that all ends well, he uses the chamber to transport himself through time in order to escape death at the hands of the Legion.

Kain arrives, exits the chamber and looks upon the fields he had just fled through. Only moments ago, they were stained with blood and littered with corpses. Now, they were pristine, untouched. Venturing further outside the chamber, he comes across a small village and listens in on a number of conversations while using his Beguile form. He discerns that he has traveled approximately 50 years into the past (20 years before he was even born) and that the Nemesis doesn't even exist in this time period. The Nemesis is still King William the Just. Kain realizes that if he can kill the boy king before he ever becomes the Nemesis, he can save the lives of countless numbers of people.

Kain stalks through King William's territories, and eventually infiltrates the King's Castle. While making his way through the stronghold, he overhears a conversation between King William and an oddly familiar voice. Spying closer, Kain sees that the Oracle is holding company with the young King, and that he has come to warn William of impending disaster. The Oracle tells William that a Vampire has come to slay him and in preparation for the upcoming battle, the Oracle hands over this era's incarnation of the Soul Reaver to the young King.

Kain makes his way deeper into the Castle, and eventually enters William's throne room. The King awaits the Vampire, dressed in full armor and holding the Soul Reaver blade. He speaks briefly with Kain and tells the Vampire that he will have his head before the day is out. Kain brandishes his own Soul Reaver and the two commence their battle. As the fight rages, the very walls of reality around the two combatants strain and warp. The air vibrates, the ground hums and everything twists in and out of proprtion. Finally, Kain defeats his enemy, plunging the Soul Reaver into the boy King's chest and ending his life. William slumps to the floor, and as he does, Kain feels reality itself violently shifting it's course, changing the future to acommodate the alteration to the past. As the violence subsides, William's guards enter the room and pursue Kain. The Vampire escapes deeper into the Castle and finds another Timestreaming Chamber built within the fortress. He uses it and transports himself 50 years forward in time.

Returning to the present, Kain is not greeted with a war-streaked battlefield. Instead, he sees the same open fields and dense forest that he had traversed previously, free of the carnage of a timestream only remembered by himself. As he makes his way through the fields toward Willendorf, he is suddenly struck with a barrage of unnerving senses. He can smell blood. Vampire blood. A lot of it. And over the smell, he hears the fevered roar of a crowd of humans. He rushes toward the noise and is makes his way within the wooden ramparts of a town that had not previously existed in Kain's present day. In the middle of the large open courtyard, he sees the source of the chaos: a large mob of humans has been executing vampires in public, and their final victim is Vorador. With horror, Kain realizes what he has unwittingly caused. Kain, he himself being a Vapmire, killed King William the Just, forever altering the present and future. While the Vampire thought it was in the world's best interest to do so, what he didn't realize was that he had walked directly into a trap. By causing a past event in which a beloved and caring boy King was murdered by a Vampire, Kain gave a certain religous zealot all the motivational proof he needed to incite a mass genocide of the Vampire race. It is in this moment that Kain realizes that the Oracle has duped him two-fold. He tricked Kain into bringing about the downfall of his own race and he hid his true identity from the Vampire the entire time. The Oracle is in reality the Timestreamer Moebius.

Kain watches in transfixed horror as Moebius brings the guillotine blade down upon Vorador's weakened body, and hoists the ancient Vampire's severed head for the crowd to see. As Moebius fuels the mob's blood rage, he notifies the crowd of Kain's presence and tells them that their quest is almost at an end. Kain is the only living vampire left in Nosgoth, and he's got a furious mob itching to change that.

Kain hacks his way through an army of pitchfork-wielding vampire slayers, killing every last puppet that Moebius sends his way. In the end, it comes down to only the two, the Vampire and the Timestreamer. Moebius is no warrior, and having foolishly forgotten to arm himself wih his Scepter, he falls before Kain quickly. In his last moments, he informs Kain that he knows the Vampire's future, and his future is death. Kain remarks, "fool, I'm already dead," and cuts Moebius' head clean off of his shoulders. Taking Moebius' Hourglass, Kain is summoned back to the Pillars by Mortanius for the final confrontation.

When Kain materializes, he hides himself in the shadows behind one of the Pillars and listens in on an argument taking place between Anarcrothe and Mortanius. Anarcrothe insists that the Pillars exist for the personal gain of the Guardians, and he accuses Mortanius of treason for unleashing Kain upon the Circle. It is then that the Vampire realizes that the Necromancer Mortanius is, in fact, the Death Guardian and that he too must be killed. Mortanius concludes the disagreement with Anarcrothe by saying that the Circle needs to be cleansed for the good of the land, and that nothing is going to stop Kain now. Mortanius launches a death spell at his comrade, killing him instantly. Kain emerges from behind the Pillars and commends Mortanius for his ruthlessness, but quickly states that that won't stop Kain from killing him too. Mortanius accepts his fate but warns Kain that he won't be able to control himself much longer. He tells Kain that the true villain will reveal himself shortly, and that even after Mortanius is dead, there is still one Guardian left to kill. Kain takes Anarcrothe's Scales and Moebius' Hourglass and places them before the Pillars of the States and Time respectively, restoring them to their pristine form.

Once the act is done, Mortanius suddenly changes, as though he's no longer in control of himself. He taunts Kain and then attacks sending waves of undead minions after the Vampire. Kain bests the Necromancer and approaches his dead body. He takes Mortanius' Death Orb and places it before the Pillar of Death, restoring it and leaving only one Pillar left. The Pillar of Balance. Just then, Mortanius' fallen body rises from the ground and laughs. The voice emanating from the ancient sorcerer's throat grows deeper, more sadistic, more inhuman. Suddenly, the Necromancer's dark form mutates into a giant, black, horned demon. The creature is known as the Dark Entity, and he is the villain that has been pulling all of the strings. The Dark Entity explans everything, telling Kain how he possessed Mortanius' body and used him to murder Ariel, which he had anticipated would cause the corruption of the Circle and the Pillars as well. He had used his vile powers to protect Mortanius from becoming deranged by Nupraptor's psychic shockwave, and had used the Necromancer's body to exert his vile influence to further his own plans. The only flaw was in Kain's resurrection. Somehow Mortanius had managed to disable the Dark Entity's control over him for an extended period of time. While the Dark Entity scrambled to regain control, Mortanius had enough time to resurrect Kain and use him to undo the Dark Entity's carefully laid plans. Now all that was left was for the Dark Entity to be destroyed and the Balance Pillar to be restored.

Kain and the Entity fought one on one in the Pillar Sanctuary, and in the end, Kain brought the Entity's life to an abrupt end with one final swipe from the Soul Reaver. With all foes vanquished, it was then that Kain realized who his final kill must be. Himself. Kain was born at the exact moment that Ariel died and was chosen at that exact moment to be her successor as the balance Guardian. His first cry was at the exact moment that Nupraptor infected the Circle. Thus, since the day he was born, Kain was corrupted by Nupraptor's anguish. In order to heal Nosgoth, Kain would have to martyr himself.

And so he was pressented with his ultimate decision: would he sacrifice himself, thereby causing the extinction of the vampire race and the restoration of the Pillars, or would he choose to save himself and damn Nosgoth to eternal ruin?

Kain refused the sacrifice. He watched as a violent tremor shook through the foundations of the Pillars and spread throughout the land, cracking the ground and uprooting trees. He watched as a furious light scorched the sky and melted the clouds. He calmly watched as one moment of horrifying silence filled the world, and then turned his back and walked away as the Pillars shattered, spraying chunks of seemingly immortal stone to every coner of the land.

Kain refused the sacrifice for a number of reasons. The humans that he had worked so hard to protect had turned on him and had wiped out his entire race. He was the only Vampire left alive, and as such, his sacrifice would have meant the end of his species. And most importantly, he had come to fully cherish his venomous nature. He now understood what Vorador meant when he said the "curse" of vampirism was truly a gift. Kain's first chapter in his Legacy closed with his following words:

"Once I embraced my powers, I realized that Vorador was correct. We are gods. Dark gods, and it is our duty to thin the herd."

Tune in tomorrow for the third installment: Soul Reaver.