Epilogue
Taliba told Kain of his future destiny, and then returned with her comrades to her own time. The former emperor of Nosgoth wisely heeded her words. After making a few preparations, he withdrew himself from Nosgoth. He concealed himself within the sanctuary of the Oracle's caves, patiently waiting. He emerged only occasionally for sustenance.
With Kain secluding himself from the world, humanity began to thrive. The clanless vampire rogues wandered the land, until meeting their ends by the deeds of vampire hunters. Without clan lords or Kain's interference, no new vampires were born. Thus, the extinction of the vampire race came at hand.
With the last known vampire dead, humans celebrated. They began rebuilding the cities lost to Kain's rule so many centuries ago. As the cities grew and flourished, so did humanity. Nosgoth thrived.
Centuries passed. The Pillars of Nosgoth stood tall, but were forgotten. Passageways to the Sanctuary of the Clans had been sealed off shortly after Kain's disappearance. Plants and vines had overrun the ancient edifice, hiding it from the outside world. The history of vampires slowly became legend and then slowly became fairy tale. The vampire race now only existed in fantasy.
Mankind, free from their shackles of Kain's oppression, had begun to advance technologically. Medicines had been developed to cure illness, steam engines had been designed to make travel more efficient. Life expectancy had drastically increased over the years.
It was during this day and age, that a young girl and a young boy found themselves adventuring across Nosgoth. Twins at birth, the two were inseparable. At the age of ten, one would not expect to see children their age out alone in the wilderness. The twins currently found themselves attempting to climb a mountain of boulders that had blocked their path.
"Randel! Wait up!" the girl called to her brother, who was up much higher than she.
"Hurry up, Janice! I'm not gonna wait all day!"
The twins reached the summit and paused to take in the view.
"Wow! What do you think it is?" Janice wondered aloud.
"It's some sort of old building! Come on! Let's go check it out!"
"I don't think we should..."
"What are ya? Chicken?"
"NO!"
The twins climbed down the opposite side of the boulders, and raced each other towards the ancient ruins of an old edifice. They began searching through the vines for an entrance.
"I don't see a door. Do you see a way in?" asked Randel.
"Randel! Look over here! There's no wall behind the vines here!"
The boy raced over to his sister. "Where? Lemme see!"
"Look! Right there! There's a few old bars there, but most of them are gone!"
Randel tore away at the vines, revealing a space that appeared to have been a gate at one point in time. Most of the bars had rusted and fallen away. The children easily squeezed through the gaps. They made their way down the corridor and passed through an open doorway.
They found themselves in a large open area. A bridge connected their side of the room to the opposite end. Traces of stagnant water were on the stony floor below. Being the braver of the two, Randel led the way across the bridge and through the doorway on the other side.
The twins traveled down the long corridor, occasionally finding a gate blocking their path. However, like the first gate they encountered, these had rusted as well. The gates only served as an inconvenience. Eventually, they found themselves in front of a large set of double doors. They pushed the doors open with all their might, and entered the large chamber within.
The room seemed to have been vacated centuries ago. A few skeletons lie on the ground. Some weapons still hung from the walls. A throne sat at the far end of the room, surrounded by nine tall pillars.
"Randel, I don't like this place. It's creepy."
"No way! This place is so neat! It's full of cool stuff!" he disagreed while poking a dried up skull with a stick.
Janice walked up to the pillars, marveling their beauty. "What do you suppose these things are?"
Randel walked up beside Janice. "I donno. They're weird though."
Randel turned his attention to some of the weapons on the wall, while Janice attempted to get a better look at the pillars. She climbed atop the throne, edging herself on the tallest 'thorn' protruding from the throne. When the thorn gave out under her weight, she thought she had broke it, but she soon discovered that it was a lever to a secret chamber behind the throne.
"Randel! Look what I found!"
The boy raced over to his sister's side, finding her pawing through a pile of gold coins.
"Look at all this money!" she cheered. "Now we can buy our own place to live in!"
"Hey! What's that?" Randal reached inside the compartment and pulled out a piece of a blade.
"Oh, it's just a broken old sword. I found more pieces of it. I threw them over there."
Randel ran over to the pile of rusted old metal. "Hey, what else is over here?"
"I donno. There was lots of pieces of scrap metal in there. Here, the sword pieces are under these larger ones."
Janice picked up the two large chunks of metal to reveal two fragments of the sword. Randel began studying the three pieces, trying to fit them together. Watching this, Janice began to wonder if her own pieces fit together. She turned them in her hand, trying to match the edges together. To her amazement, the two sides that seemed they would not go together slid perfectly into place.
"Look, Randel! These fit together! What do you think it is?"
"I donno. Maybe it's a shield or something..." he replied, but didn't really pay much attention to her.
"Randel! What's...what's it doing?" Janice panicked.
Randel looked up from his 'puzzle' to see that the pieces of metal Janice had fit together began to glow a faint blue color.
"Make it stop!"
"I can't! I can't let go of it!"
The boy ran to her side, and tried to pull the object from her grasp. He found his effort to be futile, as he could not separate his sister from the metal. The glow around the metal intensified and Janice whimpered in fear. After several moments, the glow subsided. Randel pulled the metal back and, unexpectedly, the object released itself from Janice's hands.
Randel and Janice both fell onto their rears. They looked up. Between them, was a fully restored shield, void of any rust or damage. Randel picked up the shield, curiously inspecting it.
"You fixed it. How did you do that?"
"I don't know. I just put the pieces together and it fixed itself."
"I wonder if it'll work with that sword!"
Randel put the shield back down. Janice was still too frightened to touch it again. The boy quickly placed the three pieces of the sword together. As he did so, the same glow that had engulfed the shield now engulfed the sword fragments. Janice watched in fear as the sword did the same to her brother. After a few moments, the glow dissipated and the sword was fully restored.
"This is so cool!" Randel exclaimed, as he tried to heft the heavy weapon. He dragged it over towards Janice. "Hey, pick up that shield! I wanna test out my new sword!"
"What do you children think you are doing here?" demanded a very loud voice.
Janice and Randel peered around the throne. A solitaire man stood in the center of the room. The twins' eyes widened in fear at the sight of the man. He looked like no other they had seen before. The children ducked down behind the throne.
"Randel, I'm scared."
"Don't worry, Janice. I'll protect you," her brother replied as he struggled with the sword.
The boy rose and emerged from behind the throne, pulling the sword with him. "You leave us alone!" he tried to sound as authoritative as possible.
Randel managed to lift the weapon up over his head, but as soon as he hefted it, the weight of the sword caused the blade to come crashing back down to the ground. The man's eyes widened with disbelief.
"The Soul Reaver! But how..?"
Janice had dared herself to take up the shield, figuring that she might need it to protect herself. She timidly exposed herself from behind the throne. The man noticed the object in her hands as well.
"And the Spirit Shield! How did you children manage to find these sacred objects, let alone restore them?"
"We don't know," Janice warily replied.
"What are your names?"
"We're not telling you!" Randel boldly shouted.
"Don't make him mad, Randel. He looks scary," she whispered.
"Shut up, Janice! If he hears you, then he'll know you're scared," he whispered back.
The man's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the children's conversation. He smirked at their innocence, having not realized they had given him their names anyhow. However, the coincidences of their names held great significance.
"So, the prophecy holds true..." the man commented to himself. He turned towards the twins. "Randel and Janice. Where are your parents?"
The twins turned their heads at the sound of their names.
"Our mother died while we were babies," Randel answered sadly.
"And our father died a year ago. He got real sick and the doctors couldn't help him. They said it was 'cause he drank too much..." Janice solemnly filled in the rest.
"You've been alone all this time?"
The twins nodded their heads. The man looked into their sad faces. Randel, his raven hair spilled over his ears, tracing the sides of his face. His large, dark eyes stared back into the man's eyes. Janice's hair cascaded to her shoulder blades. The light in the room reflected a tint of blue highlights. Her sad green eyes gazed at a point on the floor far behind the man.
"You children don't realize how important you are, do you?"
The twins stood silently.
"Come. I will take you two into my care," the strange man directed, as he turned towards the door.
"What's your name?" wondered Janice.
The man paused in his tracks. "Kain. My name is Kain. Let me tell you a little tale. A tale that dates back almost four thousand years..."
Taliba told Kain of his future destiny, and then returned with her comrades to her own time. The former emperor of Nosgoth wisely heeded her words. After making a few preparations, he withdrew himself from Nosgoth. He concealed himself within the sanctuary of the Oracle's caves, patiently waiting. He emerged only occasionally for sustenance.
With Kain secluding himself from the world, humanity began to thrive. The clanless vampire rogues wandered the land, until meeting their ends by the deeds of vampire hunters. Without clan lords or Kain's interference, no new vampires were born. Thus, the extinction of the vampire race came at hand.
With the last known vampire dead, humans celebrated. They began rebuilding the cities lost to Kain's rule so many centuries ago. As the cities grew and flourished, so did humanity. Nosgoth thrived.
Centuries passed. The Pillars of Nosgoth stood tall, but were forgotten. Passageways to the Sanctuary of the Clans had been sealed off shortly after Kain's disappearance. Plants and vines had overrun the ancient edifice, hiding it from the outside world. The history of vampires slowly became legend and then slowly became fairy tale. The vampire race now only existed in fantasy.
Mankind, free from their shackles of Kain's oppression, had begun to advance technologically. Medicines had been developed to cure illness, steam engines had been designed to make travel more efficient. Life expectancy had drastically increased over the years.
It was during this day and age, that a young girl and a young boy found themselves adventuring across Nosgoth. Twins at birth, the two were inseparable. At the age of ten, one would not expect to see children their age out alone in the wilderness. The twins currently found themselves attempting to climb a mountain of boulders that had blocked their path.
"Randel! Wait up!" the girl called to her brother, who was up much higher than she.
"Hurry up, Janice! I'm not gonna wait all day!"
The twins reached the summit and paused to take in the view.
"Wow! What do you think it is?" Janice wondered aloud.
"It's some sort of old building! Come on! Let's go check it out!"
"I don't think we should..."
"What are ya? Chicken?"
"NO!"
The twins climbed down the opposite side of the boulders, and raced each other towards the ancient ruins of an old edifice. They began searching through the vines for an entrance.
"I don't see a door. Do you see a way in?" asked Randel.
"Randel! Look over here! There's no wall behind the vines here!"
The boy raced over to his sister. "Where? Lemme see!"
"Look! Right there! There's a few old bars there, but most of them are gone!"
Randel tore away at the vines, revealing a space that appeared to have been a gate at one point in time. Most of the bars had rusted and fallen away. The children easily squeezed through the gaps. They made their way down the corridor and passed through an open doorway.
They found themselves in a large open area. A bridge connected their side of the room to the opposite end. Traces of stagnant water were on the stony floor below. Being the braver of the two, Randel led the way across the bridge and through the doorway on the other side.
The twins traveled down the long corridor, occasionally finding a gate blocking their path. However, like the first gate they encountered, these had rusted as well. The gates only served as an inconvenience. Eventually, they found themselves in front of a large set of double doors. They pushed the doors open with all their might, and entered the large chamber within.
The room seemed to have been vacated centuries ago. A few skeletons lie on the ground. Some weapons still hung from the walls. A throne sat at the far end of the room, surrounded by nine tall pillars.
"Randel, I don't like this place. It's creepy."
"No way! This place is so neat! It's full of cool stuff!" he disagreed while poking a dried up skull with a stick.
Janice walked up to the pillars, marveling their beauty. "What do you suppose these things are?"
Randel walked up beside Janice. "I donno. They're weird though."
Randel turned his attention to some of the weapons on the wall, while Janice attempted to get a better look at the pillars. She climbed atop the throne, edging herself on the tallest 'thorn' protruding from the throne. When the thorn gave out under her weight, she thought she had broke it, but she soon discovered that it was a lever to a secret chamber behind the throne.
"Randel! Look what I found!"
The boy raced over to his sister's side, finding her pawing through a pile of gold coins.
"Look at all this money!" she cheered. "Now we can buy our own place to live in!"
"Hey! What's that?" Randal reached inside the compartment and pulled out a piece of a blade.
"Oh, it's just a broken old sword. I found more pieces of it. I threw them over there."
Randel ran over to the pile of rusted old metal. "Hey, what else is over here?"
"I donno. There was lots of pieces of scrap metal in there. Here, the sword pieces are under these larger ones."
Janice picked up the two large chunks of metal to reveal two fragments of the sword. Randel began studying the three pieces, trying to fit them together. Watching this, Janice began to wonder if her own pieces fit together. She turned them in her hand, trying to match the edges together. To her amazement, the two sides that seemed they would not go together slid perfectly into place.
"Look, Randel! These fit together! What do you think it is?"
"I donno. Maybe it's a shield or something..." he replied, but didn't really pay much attention to her.
"Randel! What's...what's it doing?" Janice panicked.
Randel looked up from his 'puzzle' to see that the pieces of metal Janice had fit together began to glow a faint blue color.
"Make it stop!"
"I can't! I can't let go of it!"
The boy ran to her side, and tried to pull the object from her grasp. He found his effort to be futile, as he could not separate his sister from the metal. The glow around the metal intensified and Janice whimpered in fear. After several moments, the glow subsided. Randel pulled the metal back and, unexpectedly, the object released itself from Janice's hands.
Randel and Janice both fell onto their rears. They looked up. Between them, was a fully restored shield, void of any rust or damage. Randel picked up the shield, curiously inspecting it.
"You fixed it. How did you do that?"
"I don't know. I just put the pieces together and it fixed itself."
"I wonder if it'll work with that sword!"
Randel put the shield back down. Janice was still too frightened to touch it again. The boy quickly placed the three pieces of the sword together. As he did so, the same glow that had engulfed the shield now engulfed the sword fragments. Janice watched in fear as the sword did the same to her brother. After a few moments, the glow dissipated and the sword was fully restored.
"This is so cool!" Randel exclaimed, as he tried to heft the heavy weapon. He dragged it over towards Janice. "Hey, pick up that shield! I wanna test out my new sword!"
"What do you children think you are doing here?" demanded a very loud voice.
Janice and Randel peered around the throne. A solitaire man stood in the center of the room. The twins' eyes widened in fear at the sight of the man. He looked like no other they had seen before. The children ducked down behind the throne.
"Randel, I'm scared."
"Don't worry, Janice. I'll protect you," her brother replied as he struggled with the sword.
The boy rose and emerged from behind the throne, pulling the sword with him. "You leave us alone!" he tried to sound as authoritative as possible.
Randel managed to lift the weapon up over his head, but as soon as he hefted it, the weight of the sword caused the blade to come crashing back down to the ground. The man's eyes widened with disbelief.
"The Soul Reaver! But how..?"
Janice had dared herself to take up the shield, figuring that she might need it to protect herself. She timidly exposed herself from behind the throne. The man noticed the object in her hands as well.
"And the Spirit Shield! How did you children manage to find these sacred objects, let alone restore them?"
"We don't know," Janice warily replied.
"What are your names?"
"We're not telling you!" Randel boldly shouted.
"Don't make him mad, Randel. He looks scary," she whispered.
"Shut up, Janice! If he hears you, then he'll know you're scared," he whispered back.
The man's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the children's conversation. He smirked at their innocence, having not realized they had given him their names anyhow. However, the coincidences of their names held great significance.
"So, the prophecy holds true..." the man commented to himself. He turned towards the twins. "Randel and Janice. Where are your parents?"
The twins turned their heads at the sound of their names.
"Our mother died while we were babies," Randel answered sadly.
"And our father died a year ago. He got real sick and the doctors couldn't help him. They said it was 'cause he drank too much..." Janice solemnly filled in the rest.
"You've been alone all this time?"
The twins nodded their heads. The man looked into their sad faces. Randel, his raven hair spilled over his ears, tracing the sides of his face. His large, dark eyes stared back into the man's eyes. Janice's hair cascaded to her shoulder blades. The light in the room reflected a tint of blue highlights. Her sad green eyes gazed at a point on the floor far behind the man.
"You children don't realize how important you are, do you?"
The twins stood silently.
"Come. I will take you two into my care," the strange man directed, as he turned towards the door.
"What's your name?" wondered Janice.
The man paused in his tracks. "Kain. My name is Kain. Let me tell you a little tale. A tale that dates back almost four thousand years..."