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Chapter Eight - The Eternal Prison - "Bad Blood"
The Abode Of The Insane
Kain reaches the entrance hall of the Eternal Prison. The doors close behind him and a Prison Guardian appears.
Prison Guardian:
You there! I don't know you. Are you a guest? A visitor? An intruder?
We do not permit guests to disturb our routine. We are involved in important work here and nothing, nothing, must be allowed to interfere.
This is a place where those who have transgressed the laws of the gods and man, and so created a dangerous imbalance within themselves, contemplate the wrong that they have done, through peaceful, uninterrupted meditation, until they have regained the balance of their true, perfect inner nature.
This process must not be interrupted for any reason, until a spiritual transformation has been achieved, however long that may take. Thus no guests, no visitors, are allowed. And intruders, we know how to deal with.
Go! Now!
Kain ignores the warning. A short while later, the Guardian appears again.
Prison Guardian:
You there! I see you have not yet found your way out. I suggest you do so. Your presence may disrupt the progress some are making toward fulfilling the inner balance of their perfect nature, and that cannot be allowed.
Heed my warning, and depart at once!
Another Guardian appears and manipulates the clocks and time machinery in the room. Kain is transported to another part of the prison. He resumes his journey, but is soon confronted again by the first Guardian he met.
Prison Guardian:
You! Have I not told you that you do not belong in this place? Have I not told you to go? But you have not heeded my warnings. Now I must explain my meaning in a manner you are sure to understand!
Kain defeats the attacking Prison Guardian. He finds himself back in the room he was sent from earlier. He reverses the time manipulations, revealing a door.
Deep into the prison, Kain encounters a male wretch running through the corridors. He is being chased by someone speaking loudly, but the human's pleas drown the other voice out.
Male Wretch:
Help me! Let me out of here, I didn't do nothing! You can't let him get me! Help me, help me!
The voice becomes louder as the human's pursuer gets nearer. He arrives, shattering the railings in his path.
Magnus:
... It must be blanched, it must be poached, it must be fresh!
Where is my meat? Sopping with blood, running with gore.
Here, there -
Two Guardians intercept Magnus before he reaches the cowering human.
First Prison Guardian:
Stop that. You know you're not allowed down there.
Second Prison Guardian:
Get back!
Magnus:
Give me meat! Fourteen hundred ounces every day. And it will be fresh, and on two legs - or in this case four!
Magnus leaps at the Guardians. He then addresses the terrified human.
Magnus:
No, no. I've had my allotment. Fourteen hundred ounces or twenty stone.
You may go!
Magnus throws the human at the glass between him and Kain, shattering it and killing the wretch. He then gives chase to Kain. Kain tricks the deranged vampire into a pool of water.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Soon after, Kain sees Magnus again. It's only a short while before they meet, and for a second time, Kain submerges Magnus in water.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Kain continues moving through the prison.
The Builder
Kain lowers a suspended cell. A prisoner crawls out, and Kain kicks him. This one is capable of rational conversation, but is clearly not human.
Kain:
Prisoner, I require information.
The prisoner stands.
The Builder:
You... You are not a jailer. I beg you, release me.
Kain:
First you must answer me. I seek a prisoner in this place, a builder. He created a large device that lies below the city of Meridian.
The Builder:
Seek no further. I am he.
Kain:
How fortunate.
I intend to destroy this device. I was told only you can tell me how.
The Builder:
I can indeed help you. But in return, I need an end to my suffering.
Kain:
Tell me of the Device and I will grant you any request within my power.
The Builder:
Yes, yes. The Device. The Device was built as a weapon aeons ago when two races warred with each other for dominance of Nosgoth. It houses an ancient creature, whose very mind is capable of killing any living thing with but a thought.
The Device was to channel the mental energy of this creature, and direct it onto Nosgoth. It would attune the creature's mind to kill all living creatures except for my race. Before it could be completed, however, I was imprisoned here, and the rest of my race was banished to another, far more terrible realm.
Kain:
So this Device was never finished? And yet, the creature still lives within it?
The Builder:
It was dubbed 'The Mass'. It is eternal and deadly, yet harmless without a channel for its mind. But we never completed the weapon. We needed a way to send its energy out of the Device and into the land itself. We needed a conduit throughout the cities - a network, if you will. Once this network was created, the Device would channel the mental energy of the Mass, and send death upon our enemies.
Kain:
You say 'a network'. Placed like a web throughout a city?
The Builder:
We never completed the network. We never used the Device.
Kain:
But the Sarafan Lord will. The Glyphs. He is using the Glyphs to channel the Mass to wipe out the city, humans and vampires alike. That must be his plan.
The Builder:
If this is indeed true, you must act quickly. It will be too large a task to destroy the Device itself. You must kill the Mass itself.
Kain:
You said this creature was eternal.
The Builder:
It has a simple weakness. Blood is like poison to its system. And not any blood, but pure blood from the elder races. My blood. My blood will poison and kill the creature.
Drink from me, vampire, and use my life's blood to kill that which I created out of arrogance and pride. Kill me so that the Mass will die, and the Device will be destroyed.
Kain:
You have suffered here an eternity, poor wretch. I will grant you release from your prison, and I will carry your blood in my veins. I will bring the Sarafan Lord's plans tumbling before him.
Kain kills the Builder and consumes his blood. He triggers the mechanism beside him and is somehow transported back to the familiar clock room. He is approached by two Prison Guardians.
First Prison Guardian:
You have ruined everything.
Second Prison Guardian:
Now these lives can never be redeemed. Our great experiment for nothing! For nothing!
Kain kills the two Guardians and continues.
Magnus
Magnus appears, seemingly from nowhere. By controlling a bridge, Kain manages to drop the mutilated vampire into water for a third time.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Kain enters a maze. Through the bars he occasionally sees the mad vampire, evidently still alive. Kain exits the maze and finds his way into a courtyard. Statues surround a pool of water.
Magnus appears, perched within the broken courtyard wall.
Magnus:
So many enemies, both stone and flesh.
He jumps down. Crouched, he shouts -
Magnus:
I won't let them beat me! I will destroy you with my mind!
Magnus leaps on to the stone in the centre of the water pool. Laughing maniacally, he uses the Dark Gift 'Immolate' in an attempt to incinerate Kain. Kain hides behind the statues to avoid the attacks.
Before each use of his Dark Gift, the mad vampire shouts -
Magnus:
I will divine from your entrails.
or So many enemies, both stone and flesh.
When Kain knocks Magnus from the stone using 'Telekinesis', he will shout something different as he prepares his next attack -
Magnus:
Be glad I only incinerate you!
Kain knocks Magnus off the stone and into the surrounding pool four times. The vampire jumps out of the water.
Magnus:
Water is not my friend!
Magnus runs into another area, where a toppled and broken statue of the Time Streamer Moebius litters the ground. Kain follows slowly.
While Magnus is searching for Kain he shouts -
Magnus:
Where has he hidden himself?
or What? Where? Who? (usually after colliding with something)
As Magnus spots Kain and charges at him -
Magnus:
Prepare for oblivion!
or The spirits have told me to destroy you!
If Magnus collides with Kain -
Magnus:
Feel my pain!
or The earth shudders at my power!
or (laughs)
Sometimes, Magnus will add something to the phrases immediately above -
Magnus:
You've confused me with a mortal.
Sometimes, if Magnus collides with something, missing Kain he will say -
Magnus: (calmly)
I didn't think it possible...
Kain causes the broken Moebius statue to reform. Magnus is confused by it.
Magnus:
What strange magic is this?
Kain baits Magnus into striking the base of the statue and it falls. From amidst the wreckage, Magnus speaks to Kain. The impact has somehow returned his lost sanity.
Magnus:
The fog lifts...
Sire, wait!
Kain:
What trickery is this?
Magnus:
No trickery, sire. I am your servant once again. Your champion.
Kain:
Pathetic wretch. I have no...
Magnus? Could it be?
Magnus:
It is I, sire.
Kain:
How is this possible?
Kain V.O.:
Here in this cursed place was my finest warrior. The Sarafan had fallen before him by the score. Together, he and I were invincible. Until...
Kain:
Magnus, the traitor. Is this your reward for betraying me to the Sarafan Lord?
Magnus:
Sire, I did not -
Kain:
You left my camp in the night to join with my enemy, like all the others.
Magnus:
Sire, no. I wanted only to serve you. I thought, in my pride, I would strike a blow that would end the war. I went to kill the Sarafan Lord, alone. I was your champion.
Kain:
You never returned.
Magnus:
I failed you. I tried to kill him. Even now, I cannot remember how he defeated me. I was struck down, helpless at his feet, and then through his foul magic, he took my mind and transported me here to this... hellhole.
But what of you, sire? I heard that you were dead.
Kain:
Not so dead as some would like to have me. As you see, I have returned.
Magnus, my champion. You have suffered long enough. It is with pride that I grant you your death.
Magnus:
Sire, my thanks...
Kain kills Magnus, and draws the Dark Gift 'Immolate' from his ruined body. He says a final farewell -
Kain:
Go, my friend. Be free. As the rest of us, living or dead, can never be...
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