By Sam Clements
| It was shortly after dark
when I found it, I grasped the relic with my clawed hand and inspected
it. This relic would allow me to create a vortex to a new dimension, and
hopefully, lead me to the haven where that b*stard was hiding.
I allowed the relic to fuse with me, as did all of the relics in the past, fire, water, sunlight, stone, force and sound. It was as always a pleasant experience, that feeling of a new found energy coursing through your mind and soul until finally I dropped to the floor from the surge. After a moment I stood up and looked up at the sky, the air whipped through the pillars that surrounded me, and the sound of faint cries could be detected in the background. It was time. I readied myself to cast the vortex glyph and raised my head. I then concentrated on my goal and my destination. Without warning a strong gust of outcast air put me off my goal and caused me to accidentally cast the spell too early, I was thrown into the vortex and spun wildly through its pulsating walls, I yelled out in protest but there was nothing I could do. The next thing I knew, I fall out of consciousness; I hit the ground violently. Time, I had no concept of, only that I was "out" for a long amount of time, until I herd a solitary voice. It spoke to me in a soothing tone and seemed almost familiar. "Raziel" it said, I slowly regained my eyesight and focused on the life form in front of me, it was that of a human. "Here, take this, you lost a lot of energy during your trip" The human knelt in front of me and exposed their neck. "You don't understand" I said quietly, "I can no longer drink the blood of mortals" The human laughed softly. "I know, I was offering you some of my soul" I was quite shocked at this offering. Though I was grateful to the human, I was surprised that they knew of my hunger. As my eyes cleared further I was able to make out the human was female, as I was weak and the hunger grew, I was ever so more tempted to feed. I drew closer to the girl, but then I thought of what her reaction might be if I pulled down the tabard that hid my disfigurement. I paused and looked down at the floor, the human female raised her eyebrows and starred at me. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked softly. I looked into her eyes and put my hand to my tabard and grasped it firmly, I then slowly began to pull it away from my face until I revealed what I was reluctant to share. Any moment now I expected the human to scream or run away from this sight, but to my surprise she smiled and nodded. Now my hunger was becoming painful and could no longer stare at the girl. My body, as if I had no control, cupped her head in one of my hands and I lowered my head towards her neck. As I fed she went into a sort of trance, I was tempted to feed more but I did not want to drain her of her soul completely, since that would kill her. I did not want to stoop to Kain’s level. I stopped and let the girl recover, I did not expect her to regain control over the weakness for a while but she spoke. "My name is Uriko, I know of you and your existence because I am psychic, I have visions of the future and past" She put her head up and stood up! "Impossible!" I said in an astounded tone, "Humans need at least two hours to fully recover from their sacrifice" She did not answer at first, but she then explained to me that her psychic abilities gave her healing potential, and she could recover from almost anything in little time. I also stood up and gazed into her penetrating dark blue eyes, they seemed to emit an unnatural vibe, she had red hair and her clothing she wore was black, all except for the image of a dragon on her shirt that was blue. Uriko suddenly looked unnerved and grabbed my tabard that was on the floor and handed it to me, "Quick! Put it back on and put on my coat! We can't let any one see you or they'll panic! No offence" I completely understood the situation, we were not in broad daylight, but we were still surrounded by humans walking around. I did as she said and we ran through the citadel. We reached a small building and entered. Uriko quickly lead me up some stairs and we came into a small dwelling. She then closed the door and locked it. "I'm sorry about that but if my dad or brother were to find you, they'd flip out" I took off the coat and nodded, "I understand. Now tell me, where am I?" Uriko came over and sat on her bed, she told me that I was in a city called Salisbury, and that she was 18 years old, she also spoke of the relic that brought me to her world and that it was now completely useless to me. "WHY?" I shouted. She sat me down on the bed next to her, "Shhhhhhhh! Don't get all bent out of shape, I was just getting to that. The energy that was used to get you hear was extremely powerful and destroyed the relic, however I can tell you that Kain is not here and he is still in your world. He deceived you when he vanished." I was filled with rage and released my rage onto Uriko’s wall. My fist went straight through it. Uriko then went into a panic as she covered the hole with a pillow and grabbed my arm and looked into my eyes angrily. "You wana get yourself caught? That probably alerted the whole neighborhood! I was just about to tell you about another relic that can return you to your world!" she said as quiet at she could. I was just about to ask where I could obtain such a relic when another human hammered on Uriko’s door. "What the f*ck are you doing in there?" askd the human violently. Uriko released her grip on me and ran to her door, "Nothing dad, I was just, I mean I accidentally dropped my lamp, it smashed onto the floor, Ill pick it up!" She rushed. "Alright, just don't wake up your brother, he's got an exam tomorrow!" The human walked away and Uriko wiped her brow. She sat back down on her bed and continued to tell me about the relic. “It’s in the cathedral and its been affixed to the floor near the entrance. We’re gonna have ta go there tomorrow and get it; Its too late now" I agreed and allowed Uriko to go downstairs and have some food. Soon she came back up and went into the small white room next to hers and bathed, she came back after time dressed in different clothes, I assumed these were her sleeping robes. She then showed me some of the customs and amusements that humans here used. They were much more advanced than the humans that lived in Nosgoth. "Well, I'm going to sleep now, I don't know what you do, do you sleep?" She asked. "I haven't slept since my execution, but I might be able to, just for tonight" She nodded and offered me a blanket to lie on, it was out of sight of any intruding humans but was comfy. I did not remember how to sleep at first, since my execution in the abyss had bured away the flesh above my eyes that allowed me to sleep. Soon, I fell into a state of unconsciousness. I must have fallen asleep. "Good morning Raz!" came
a loud voice in front of me, it was Uriko. I fumbled around until my eyes
focused again. I then realized that my tabard had fallen off and franticly
searched for it. "Its alright Raziel, there’s no-one here. My brother’s
gone to school and my dad’s at work" said Uriko. I calmed myself and found
what I was searching for under the sheets I was lying on. I put the tabard
on. Uriko was no longer wearing her sleeping robes. She wore what she had
on yesterday. She was eating something. I then realized that I too was
hungry, I hadn't fed since yesterday. I rose to my feet, only to brake
down to my knees again. Uriko laughed at this sight and knelt down next
to me. "Here, I guess you need a good breakfast" she joked, she then lowered
her neck to me as she had before. As I fed, I began to remember what transpired
last night, about the relic and the cathedral Uriko spoke of.
"Well, lets go!" Said Uriko,
she led us out of her dwelling and through the door that exited us from
the house. As I stepped into the light of day, I was cast many odd looks
from passing humans until we reached the cathedral, Uriko handed over strange
coins to the humans at the entrance, I noticed that there were humans of
many different origins that were visiting the holy place at the time. We
arrived at the place that Uriko told me of last night. I looked at
the stone floor and saw a round relic similar to the one I had found in
Nosgoth. Uriko looked around nervously and knelt down beside the relic.
She then pulled a metal pole out of her bag and began to pry away the relic
from the floor. She was obviously having difficulty, so I knelt down and
assisted her, I dug my clawed hand violently into the floor and dug out
the stone, it was then I noticed that some humans were coming our way,
they were shouting at us. I quickly freed the relic from its placing on
the floor and grabbed it, "Come on Raziel, we re gonna get caught!" I was
just about to run from the cathedral with her, when the relic drove itself
into my body, I had forgotten that the forge happens as soon as I touch
a relic.
As for now I will continue
until I fulfil my Destiny.
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