It then suddenly faced me and its eyes began to glow a bright red. It had spotted me, how? It was too dark to see clearly and I was behind a bush so how could he see me? I began to turn and run but suddenly it was right in front of me, staring at me with its red eyes. I couldn’t move, I was really scared and my heart was beating so hard that it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, but that wasn’t the reason why I couldn’t move. It was like as if it was controlling my body. Filled with fear I blacked out. A few hours later, I’m not sure how long, I woke up on the top of a building. My body ached all over, then I spotted it standing at the edge of the roof top looking into the darkness. “How do you feel?” it asked. My stomach hurts a lot as if I’ve never eaten for ages. I felt so weak that I could barely speak. I replied “horrible”. He looked at me and smiled, then he said “you will feel much better as soon as you feed my child”. I was puzzled by what he said. Suddenly my stomach felt as if something pierced right in to it and I shouted in pain. My vision went blur. He turned around and walked towards me. “Hm…I’m in need of warriors so I cannot let you die here since I have created you anew” he said as he stood in front of me. I asked him “what do you mean by that?”. He laughed and said “you will see”. The pain had gone as suddenly as it came. My sight returned to me and I saw him. He was tall and pale, he had long white hair and he had a ‘divine’ look and strapped to his back was a magnificent sword. “Come I shall show you your new powers!” he said as he lifted me up with one hand. He took me to the edge of the building. I asked him what is he going to do. He just laughed. Then he jumped of the building with me. At that moment I felt horrified but strangely he landed of the ground gently without a sound. He put me on the floor and left for a moment. I was too weak to move so I couldn’t run away. Then I realized something, my heart had stop beating, it was an odd feeling, was I dead I wondered. A few minutes later he came back with someone, a lady about her mid 30’s. She was struggling to break free of his grip. “Here feed” he said as he shoved her towards me. She fell on me and she was about to get up and run when suddenly I noticed her neck. I felt a strong sensation then. My body reacted on its own. I felt my fangs growing out in my mouth and then I moved towards her neck and bit her. She let out a short gasp as I sunk my fangs into her. Slowly I drank her blood, I drank till there wasn’t a single drop left in her. She fell dead on the ground. Then I felt satisfied. I stood up feeling very strong and full of energy. He looked at me with great pleasure and asked “how do you fell?” “I fell great” I replied. He then told me to follow him as he jumped to the roof top. At first I was wondering how to get up there, I noticed some changes in my body. My muscles seem to have grown. I then thought “what the heck might as well try” I took a leap and surprisingly I was able to jump as high as he did. “What has happened to me?” I asked him with great delight. He said I have been reborn into vampirism, that I am the first of his children in his new generation. “First” he said “ we should find a haven to protect us from the sun”. I told him of an old abandoned building where it would be the best place to take shelter from the sun.

     Once we have reached the old building we went inside to rest. He was unimpressed by the looks of the building. He said it would not be a good fortress to be his base however it will do to be a temporary sanctuary. Once we settled down I began to ask many questions about him. At first he was reluctant to say a word but then as if out of boredom he told me his tale. He said how he was the first vampire to be created. He told me of his once great empire which he believes was here eons ago. He told me of the great wars he has had with the sarafan and many other beings, and also of how his favorite child Raziel which was one of his great lieutenants has been hunting him down after he had damned him. He said his name was Kain and he is my master. He taught me the dark arts in return for loyalty and information of the modern age but basically he just said that if I refuse to obey him he would kill me. My name is Artanis, my name was given by my master Kain. Years have I served him creating him an army of sorts and getting weapons for him. Many times has my master taken a few vampires with him to other continents in search of the ancient relics which poses much power which would aid him in creating his new empire. He has been successful many times in bringing back some ancient relics but not only that. He has also found many other vampires and their clans. My master did ask them to join him but many refused not believing he is the real Kain. This angered my master and so he drew his blade, the mighty Soul Reaver and slew all which disobeyed him. As years go by my powers grew stronger and I begined to evolve. My body has changed much since my human life. Since I am my masters first born I have become his right hand man or vampire to be exact. So he has ordered me to do many important quests. My master has found a suitable home and it has become the staging area for his mighty army of the undead. The humans are too ignorant to realize any strange things happening however there is a large amount of missing people that the police have been searching for but soon my master’s army had become strong enough to conquer all the land and the human soldiers were mostly all killed. Well at least they knew what had happened to the missing people.

Second Soul Reaver
     On one of my master’s quest to search for ancient relics I found a scroll which tells a tale of how the Soul Reaver was created. This information amused me and so did I begin my search for clues of the Soul Reaver’s creation. “Slave! Tell master Kain that I will be going on a quest which might take sometime. Tell him I have found something of great interest that will help the empire” I commanded one of our human slaves. “Where will you be going master Artanis?”  Asked Grives one of master Kain’s children. “That is none of your concern Grives. Don’t you have a human for you to be torturing or something?” I replied. Grives is one vampire I don’t like to be with. He is a vampire who is extremely power hungry and enjoys the screams of humans or vampires being tortured. He is indeed an abomination. If he was under my rule I would have had him executed a long time ago. “Oh but why does master Artanis think such a way of his fellow vampires?” he says pretending to sound sincere. “Humph… I don’t think that way of my fellow vampires other then you that is!!” I said as I turned my back to him and walked out of the room. Grives snarls and walks the opposite direction.

     My search took me to all corners of the earth. Bit by bit I gain information on the Soul Forge which is where the Soul Reaver was created. Many nights have I traveled without feeding on a single drop of blood. And many times have I come across many other vampires. Some assisted me while others tried to kill me. But I found them of very little interest since my combat skills are far superior to theirs. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and finally I have found a map which takes me directly to the Soul Forge from within an ancient library of sorts. Fortunately my master shared his wisdom with me on how to read the ancient writings so I was able to read the text. I finally reached it, the Soul Forge!! It was an impressive sight. As I walked into the entrance “Who dares enter the holy place of vampires!” a voice bellows. “My name is Artanis. I am a vampire. I serve lord Kain” I replied. “Lord Kain? He lives?” “Yes he does. He jumped through time to the present”. “What is it you seek?” ask the voice. “I seek a sword like the Soul Reaver” I answered. Out of the shadows an ancient vampire stood “a sword like the Soul Reaver? The sword is one of a kind. There is no other!” replies the vampire. “Who are you?” I asked the old one. “My name is of no concern... If you indeed serve Kain then I can make a sword for you which should be like the Soul Reaver but I would need certain materials” says the old vampire. “Very well then. What are the materials you seek?” “The materials I seek lie in an ancient ruined mine to the south. I’m not sure if there is anymore of the magical steel which the Soul Reaver is made of but if you can find that for me I can make for you that sword which you seek but it would not have the ability to suck souls like your masters” “very well I shall be off then”. As I turned around and begined to walk towards the entrance. “Wait!” “What is it old man?” “Take some of my blood, it will give the dark gift to be able to move to places in an instance” “hm… might become in handy sometime. Very well I accept your generous offer but there surely must be a prize for all this which you are giving me right?” “Once I have created the sword for you I will tell you what you need to do”. He stretched out his arm and so I drank the old vampire’s blood and as I did could feel a new type of power flowing in me. “All you need to do is concentrate and you should be able to move from place to place with ease” the old vampire said and so I focused my mind and teleported myself to the mines.

     As I appeared in front of the mines I was amazed as how well preserved it was. If it has been here since before the Soul Reaver was created then this place must be very old indeed. As I entered the mines I sensed something in there other then me. I followed my senses and found a nest of beast. They were twice my size and had sharp claws and teeth. Not to say my claws aren’t as lethal. I decided to charge into the horde. They fought fiercely and I was wounded severely. I managed to kill many of the beasts but they were just too many and too strong and I was beginning to regret my decision and overconfidence to attack these beasts. And suddenly beast pierced its claws thru me and I fell to the ground. I thought that my unlife had ended there but to my surprise the most unexpected thing happened. My wound started to heal rapidly. I stood up feeling as good as ever. The beasts came charging at me all at once and so I begined my battle once more. Several times have the many beast bitten an arm or leg off but every time it happened my wounds would heal. And by the end of the day I finally slew all of the wretched beast. With this dark gift I seem to have become truly immortal, so with joy I sat down in a dark corner. Exhausted I lay to sleep. When I awoke the next night I felt very weak from the battle so I teleported myself to a nearby town. There I filled myself with blood and got myself some new clothes. Then I once again went to the mines. My new dark gifts came in handy many times in the mines as I would encounter a beast or two that survived my attack or maybe they came from somewhere else. Weeks have passed as I searched for the magical steel the old vampire talked about and finally I found it. It was a huge piece of metal stuck in the wall. Fortunately it was easy to remove it and so I carried it back to the Soul Forge. The old vampire was pleased. He thought that I would never find it since the mines stopped working. He then begined his work. As he did I went to the nearby town once again to feed. I spent sometime with some very beautiful girls and had some of their sweet blood, I am practically choosy when it comes to feeding since I prefer woman blood instead of a men. It was several days before the old man could forge the sword and fuse it with the souls of the damned. The old man was pleased to have made the sword, he says it’s the best thing he has ever created other then the Soul Reaver itself. I thanked the old vampire for it and asked him how I should repay his kindness. He had only one request, he says “there is a great demon which lives in the mountains east of here. It is he who created the beast which you have fought in the mines. I wish you to kill it since it has been a pest! Always interfering with my work and research. With the reaver which you have now you should be able to kill it with little difficulty. I would do it myself but it seems my age is getting to me. Here are some things which can help you on your quest. I made them with the extra material I had”. He handed me a armor which was very light but durable and a bracelet with special attributes. “I didn’t know you could make other things like this” I said to him. He smiles and says “I have been here for many ages. These equipment are practically simple to make. The bracelet will allow you to move slightly faster”. I thanked him once again and went on my quest to kill this great beast. During my time here I have had a lot of practice to use my dark gifts. So I had very little difficulty in entering the fortress of this beast. I teleported right into the beast lair. I found a beast and as to test my blade I thrusted my reaver into its chest and as I did, it sucked up its blood and I could feel the power flowing into me. All the wounds I had was healed instantly. I met the great beast at the core of the nest, I was a big and hideous thing and it was strong indeed. After a wile I finally gave the beast a final blow which killed it. The reaver then healed my wounds as it sucked up the blood of my enemies as I struck them. Then I realized something. The reaver which I have seems different from my Lord Kain’s reaver. I teleported back to the Soul Forge to speak with the old vampire. “My reaver is different from my masters. I’m not sure how but I can sense something different about the blade. What is it?” I asked the old vampire. “Kain’s reaver is not forged to be the reaver it is now. The reaver became a soul reaver after a fateful encounter with Raziel”. I was disturbed by his words. “What do you mean? What encounter with Raziel?” “Kains soul reaver hungers for souls because it possesses the soul of Raziel the soul reaver” “you mean Raziel’s soul is in the blade? how is that possible?” the old vampire then shared his knowledge with me. The answers he gave me shocked me. Kain’s son Raziel still lived and is doing some task which my master Kain gave him. I told the old vampire that the beast lay dead in its domain. He seemed very pleased and then bid me farewell. I used my power to teleport my self to my master’s abode. “Artanis where have you been?!” Kain said to me with delight and anger. I told him of my quest, he seemed unhappy with my actions and scolded me for leaving on such a quest but also congratulated me for completing my quest. He then told me of the treachery which has befallen his kingdom. His vampire son Grives has become a traitor in my absents and is hiding somewhere in the land but Kain cant find him. He told me that he had given him permission to have his own clan after showing great skill in the battlefield against an unknown vampire clan. His clan grew in number and became a powerful one. He then laid siege on my master’s castle but was driven back by the Soul Reaver and my master’s grand army which had more experience then his. “He seems to have found a relic which prevents anyone from sensing him. So he has eluded us for a long time but he shall not for long since you have returned” “I apologize for not being here in time of need my master” “no, now that you are here we shall destroy him and his clan!! You have permission to create your own clan my child. Create a clan worthy of my kingdom!!” “I shall my lord”. I kneeled and left the room to begin a search for a suitable area to build my clan. As I left the castle I was ambushed by a group of vampires. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” “We serve master Grives!! We shall kill you!!” the unknown vampires then attacked me but I drew my reaver and as I did I felt a funny feeling tingling in me. The blades thirst for blood made me go into a frenzy. I killed all of the fools who tried to kill me with ease and as I did the blades bloodlust ended as did the frenzy it caused me to have. Much has changed in Kain’s kingdom. He seems to be getting use to the technology of the modern age. I went to a nearby garage. I then changed into my bat form and searched the land for a worthy place to build my clan and as well for a suitable place to build it.

Clan Artania
     The first member I sired was a girl named Amanda. I found her walking the streets of and old fortress like village with a medium sized castle in the middle of it. This was to be the birth place if my clan the Artanians! I choose Amanda for her courage, she was walking alone in the dark street well aware of the dangers but showed no fear, she evened challenged me! Do stupid it was brave for one such as her to do that. After I thought her all she needed to know I sent her of to create other vampires to build my clan. Slowly the numbers would grow every night as we created more vampires. My greatest child’s were Grendel, Amanda, Fargo, Minny, Jane, Umah, Bryan, Kenny, Matthar, and  Markus.

     They were to be my generals, Grendel would be my commanding officer as he is a great strategist for my army as well as warrior but very flirtatious. Amanda is smart and cheerful but she is mostly in to magic, she studies and makes spells for my army. Fargo is the clown of them all he makes silly jokes that even master Kain would laugh at. Minny is fierce but good at counseling the men as well as me sometimes. Jane is kind and helps others, she is in charge of the health of the men, and she would heal the wounded with the help of modern medicine and some healing spells made by Amanda. Umah acts like a maniac at time laughing hysterically for something other’s wouldn’t laugh at however when things get serious her attitude changes completely and she would show great skills in diplomacy and other issues, she is much like a lawyer. Bryan is also very flirtatious but show great skills at combat during a battle, he and Grendel are brother’s so their attributes aren’t very different from each other. Kenny is a very cheerful type as well, he shows great skill with weapons especially with guns. Matthar is great at making plans for buildings and weapons but he is somewhat quiet when it comes to conversations with girls, either he doesn’t know what to talk about or he is just shy but you cant blame him since that a natural reaction to everyone. And finally Markus who is in charge of development, he is a little crazy about soccer. So this was to be the most cheerful can of all in Kains kingdom. They are my top lieutenants, there might still be more worthy people later but that would take time. Once my army was ready we laid siege to castle. The human defenses had no chance against my army even do my army was not complete yet. The human king of that village was executed in public to show all the rest of them who their new master was now. And so clan Artania was born. We enlarged our territory and expanded our forces. The citadel was to have some renovations to better suite us, Matthar was in charge of this with the aid of Markus. Often Kain himself would come to pay us a visit to see our progress, it seems Grives and his clan is getting more active by pillaging cities and laying siege to a few of the weaker clans in Kains empire. Kain knew my clan was able to protect itself especially because of my reaver and my lieutenants. He was also helping some of my clan members to learn to use their dark gifts. Since I am their sire their powers are very similar to mine. Once my clan was complete we begined finally getting involved in the war against Grives but something seemed different about his vampires. Their powers were so warped. Some had no control over their abilities and caused great casualties amongst ours and their own forces. It seems their all had some way of imbuing themselves with dark gifts of great magnitude but their bodies couldn’t take the stress of having such powers. On one of the battles which I and my clan didn’t fight in there were strange things happening. The survivors of the battle told lord Kain and those who where with him about strange beast which appeared in the battlefield and aided Grives army. These beasts have incredible strength and durability. By the description that they gave us I can definitely say they are not the beast I have encountered before in the old mine but this seemed to have shocked Kain. It seems the description given matches that of the beast Kain and Raziel faced in the distant past. To be sure, he himself went against that same army to see for himself first hand about the beast. I, my lieutenants and my armies followed Kains forces to face these beasts. The instant Kain saw these beasts he knew what they were, and without hesitation ordered our armies to attack. He led the troops into battle and we fallowed. The battle was fierce and many of our warriors were injured. These beast have amazing strength and are extremely ferocious and the move quickly even with their big bulky bodies. Even Kain and myself had a hard time fighting these beasts even with our reavers and they seem totally immune to most of our spells. They are indeed the most dangerous things that I have ever faced in my whole life and unlife. The battle went on for hours. Kain had been injured so he had more trouble fighting them. Fortunately the vampires of Grives clan was there so he could feed on their blood and recover. These beast had no blood so we could not drain blood from them. Many of the beast were slain but for every beast we killed two more would come to replace them. After many more hours finally Kain called for us to retreat since they where too strong for us. We suffered greatly at that battle many of our warriors were killed and some of Kains other lieutenants were also killed fortunately my lieutenants weren’t killed and returned safely. We were all frustrated at the lost and went our own ways for the rest of the day. I returned back to my castle with my warriors however Grendel, Bryan and Kenny went elsewhere to let go of their frustration. Umah, Minnie and Jane went around to help the wounded and to boost the mens morale. Matthar and Markus went to their quarters to rest. Amanda went to do her research on new spells that would be of use against these beast and as for Fargo, he went around trying to cheer everyone up by doing his jokes but he too was feeling bad about what had happen. I sat on my throne and pondered what to do next “Damn that bastard Grives!! What can we do against the beast!? They are too strong even for lord Kain… I must find a way to beat them the next time we fight against them”. After awhile of thinking I finally decided to summon my lieutenants, I used the dark gift called the whisper which is used among vampires for communicating from far or near. I summoned all of them into the throne room to discuss what to do next. “We should rebuild our forces and train them harder!!” says Grendel “We will rebuild our force but it wont change a thing…the next time we fight again the outcome will be the same, they are simply to strong” I say to him. Everyone keeps quite thinking what to do and say. “I will continue my research on new spells” says Amanda “We will create new weapons for our warriors that would be more effective against the beast” says Matthar as he and Markus leave the room “We will help the remaining wounded” says Jane as she Umah, Minnie and Fargo leave the room. “What about you Kenny? What are you going to do?” I ask “I’m going to train myself for the coming battle…we will not lose again!” I headed towards Kains castle to speak with him. “Lord Kain what are we going to do against the new enemies of ours?” I asked him “We will crush them along with their masters!!” “But how do we do that? Even the soul reaver has trouble fighting against them” “there is a way…there was a spell that had a powerful affect on them, it would make them considerably weak and we could kill them easily then but the spell has been long forgotten” “so how do we attain this spell then my lord?” “By going back in time, only then can we find the spell, only then can we completely annihilate them all!” “But how do we go back in time? Is there such magic?” “Not magic but science! Remember of the device which I told you about a long time ago? The one which was build by the time streamer Mouebius? Well my scientist have discovered the remains of such a device and have build on which is easy and simple to use however this is top secret!” “I understand milord so who is that is going to return in time to discover this spell?” “Me of course and a few other vampires. I am sure my old self would be happy to assist us!” “Then what would become of your empire if you are gone? What if Grives decides to attack during your absence?” “That is where you come in Artanis. You will lead my armies and protect my empire while I am gone. All of my lieutenants will be under your command. Do with them as you see fit!” “As you wish my lord”. The following day Kain and a few of his generals when thru the time machine to find the spell which shall destroy these beasts. I announced to the clans that their lord Kain would be away on special business to destroy the beast and that I would be in charge until his return. The clans didn’t seem to care. They were all exhausted because of the war against Grives. However Grives wasn’t intending to give us any rest. A few days later one of the clans were attack again so I assembled my armies to defend the clan which was being over run by the enemy. Most of our warriors were exhausted and could barely continue to fight but we were fortunate since we had superior numbers and were able to push the enemy back. In this battle we didn’t see any of the beasts which we had fought before which was lucky for use but also strange. Why did Grives not send his beasts? He would have easily taken over the clan territory with ease if the beasts were to participate in this battle.