Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Prolougue)

Prologue1

Kain is deified.  The clans tell tales of him.  Few know the truth.  He was mortal once.  As were we all.  A millennium has passed since Lord Kain set his capital in the ruins of the Pillars and began his conquest of the world. His first act was to recruit a cadre. Dipping into the underworld, Kain snared six souls and thus birthed his lieutenants, of which I, Raziel, was one. We, in turn prowled the twilight of purgatory building six legions of vampires to pillage Nosgoth.2

The destruction of the major human kingdoms was inevitable. Within a hundred years, humanity had been thoroughly domesticated. To be sure, there remained some feral humans scattered across the hinterlands, clinging to their hopeless holy war to rid Nosgoth of 'the vampire scourge'. They were tolerated. They made existence for the fledglings more challenging. 3

After the taming of the humans, our real work began; shaping Nosgoth to our will. Slaves built a shrine around the Pillars. A monument worthy of our new age. Worthy, of our dark renaissance. Huge furnaces were constructed to belch smoke into the sky, shielding the land from the poisonous effects of the sun. Never had the world known such a time of beauty. However, we grew bored. 4

We allowed the lesser vampires, the remains of the legions, their intrigues. They provided amusement and spice to an increasingly uninspired court. As faction fell against faction we bet upon the outcome. We helped and foiled plots at our whim. We were the Council and Lord Kain, our only master. 5

The humans think it is a poison of the blood that makes us what we are. Fools, the blood only feeds the bodies we live in. To create a vampire, one must steal a soul from the abyss to reanimate the corpse. It is the body that demands the blood sacrifice; our souls gain their advantage from the powers of the underworld. As we matured, our earthly bodies evolved into a higher form. Through The Change, we assumed the power and nobility of the Dark Gods. With each Change, the trivial affairs of vampire and man held less interest. 6

Over time, we became less human and more…divine.  Kain would enter the state of change and emerge with a new gift.  Some years after the master, our evolution would follow.  Until I had the honor of surpassing my lord.  I was gifted with wings.  For my transgression, I received a new kind of reward.  Agony.  7

There was only one possible outcome.  My eternal damnation.  Water is like acid to us; it burns our flesh like acid. As my brethren heaved me into the air I could see the bemused expressions on their faces. The transitory thrill of something new. Then the pain began.  Tumbling, burning with white-hot fire, I plunged into the depths of the abyss.  Unspeakable pain, relentless agony.  Time ceased to exist.  Only this torture, and the deepened hatred of the hypocrisy that damned me to this hell.  An eternity passed and my torment receded, bringing me back from the precipice of madness.  The decent had destroyed me.  And yet, I lived.  Through my pain, I heard a voice. At first, I thought it merely the echoes of my own tortured mind, but I grew to understand that it was more. 8

Something primal.  Something desperate.  Something righteous.  Something ancient9