No one was allowed on the upper levels here, this was his own ground. He would only admit some of his own children into his throneroom, none of the worshippers were permitted to enter any longer. Is that because I know they'd be much too tempting, or because they are unworthy? Zephon wondered. He'd nearly forgotten what human blood tasted like, feeling like he had not fed in days. Days-pah! Years would be more accurate, his sleeping transformation was not broken often. Zephon cocked his massive head, spreading his jaws in anticipation. And how have I changed this time? The gifts of the insect's sleep are forever unpredictable, are they not? Although he did regret having lost his mobility, Zephon had determined long ago that this confined pupation would yield more of the precious, precious changes than any of his brothers could ever dream of. Indeed, had it not already? Zephon was so far removed from human, or vampire, for that matter, that he could be considered nothing less than a god, on that wondrous day, when this era of change would finally end... The humans in the Cathedral worshipped him already-he had given them something to put truer faith in than the more ancient, defunct religions of the old humanity. Soon even Kain would bow to him, for what could stand in his way? The insect was unstoppable, and it lived in Zephon, and no other. He had planned it out, ever since that day the Cathedral had been taken....

        The humans had gotten brash and arrogant lately. Kain had seen fit to leave a few cities alone, like the fool the master was. Zephon might have destroyed the cities himself, but all were surrounded by water... Rahab could easily infiltrate the cities, but, oh, brother of water, was too loyal to Kain to go against anything the Master might say. That worthless weakling of a brother, Melchiah, seemed unusually loyal as well lately. What could Rahab and Melchiah ever know that he could not? Why would Rahab work with Melchiah over Zephon? That Melchiah was even considered a lieutenant was appalling to Zephon..he and his moldering children were more battle fodder than even the few humans who worshipped the clans. Although without Melchiah I would be the bottom rung on the empire's ladder...Rahab wouldn't bother himself, but Dumah might kick me around a bit more, if it weren't for piddling little Melchiah.

        In whatever event, the humans had been foolishly spared, and had marched northward towards the lands of the Dumahim. Dumah had been warned in plenty of time to counter the 'threat' from the disorganized and weak human vampire hunters, yet had made no preparations whatever. They had all expected Dumah to crush this little 'uprising', yet no word had ever been recieved from the prince of the north. It was now generally assumed he was long dead, for his
clan had spread out across areas in Nosgoth that were not theirs to tread and had become weak. The humans' victory over Dumah had spurred them on, and they'd taken refuge in the cathedral at Avernus, where the vampires had left
the harmless preists and their deadly weapon of sound alone for the most part. The Cathedral had once been the seat of power for Azimuth, member of the Circle of Nine and guardian of the Pillar of Dimension. The Nine had been
conceited enough to think themselves gods of a fashion- heh! even Melchiah could have crushed them, if his piddling nature was discounted, no human could ever claim godhood while a single vampire lived..... But at that time, it became a fortress for the vampire hunters, and no vampire could get near it without being reduced to a mindless, shreiking husk of dying bone by the Cathedral's great weapon. But ON it...Zephon alone had posessed the means to infiltrate the Cathedral's highest balconies without being detected. He had scaled the outermost walls with his armies, for who would look for intruders upon the walls rather than outside them? The tallest spires of the fortress had been breached, and the great bells and pipes used to produce the destructive hymn were set upon and destroyed by the Zephonim, clogged with webbing and split in two. They had swarmed downwards through the Cathedral, silencing both weapon and wielder. Some humans were spared, their eyes torn from their sockets and arms bound by great bloodstained webbing, until Zephon saw fit to resurrect them as his own children. Avernus held secrets within that had become legend, Kain had first found the great Soul Reaver within these walls-- and what was carved on the stand upon which it was once laid?

        What name was upon that angel's arms, what have I been growing upon so that the master would never know? Irrelevant. Yes, Raziel's name had indeed been carved on that angel that once bore the Soul Reaver before Kain had robbed it from this place, and was it any suprise? Raziel was mortal once, as they all were, and he'd been a fool, a blind fool to not realize that he had a destiny far greater than Kain's, that he had surpassed Kain long before the wings had made it obvious. It had enfuriated Zephon for ages that he was the only one that saw this potential in Raziel and his other brothers. Rahab was far more adept with the spear than the "Master", and that, with the aid of water, could have made Rahab ruler of more than just the waters of Nosgoth. Turel was a coward, but Raziel had always been Kain's better. Zephon would soon surpass them both, but still...he had a vague idea that Dumah had some sort of spark to overthrow the 'master' but had been too engripped with fear in the past to attempt it. Perhaps if Dumah were alive today... But oh, the past could never be changed, and truly, who cared for such musings? Oh the world that would someday be...Zephon would give poor, wretched Melchiah his wish of death, he would finish the rotting that had begun on the day of his rebirth.

        Turel would die if he was ever found, and all his worthless children. In a Cathedral of Silence, Zephon reflected, people who remained unheard from (such as himself) obviously had something to hide, and Turel the Coward could not be overlooked. Rahab would be left to rule the waters of Nosgoth, by the sheer fact that he was the only one who could, and Kain, oh generous master, would join the rest of the Circle of nine in the grave, the vampire guardian of balance would fall to the claws of Zephon, and he would rule as the new god of Nosgoth, a world of bloody cobwebs in the sky.... but it would be some time..so many centuries had passed since the day he'd come to Avernus, and many more yet would pass before he would break from this cocoon of brick and granite to take Nosgoth for his own. It would be high time, and the only pillars left would be his own legs of the insect. Zephon smiled, his double jaws coming together in a hideous grin that dripped the web-blood that he would create his new world from. He reclined back into the wall of the Avernus Cathedral, his Silenced Cathedral, and the spider-god shut his eyes..in the last moment before the sleep, the cherished Change, Zephon dreamed of Raziel, to claim the sword that was rightfully his.....