Disclaimer – All characters and concepts are copyright of their respective owners.

Author's Note – Please review! This is the first time I've done a fanfic and I'd appreciate feedback. Plus the fact that there is no point in finishing the blasted thing if nobody likes it. I will do my very best to reply to any questions I receive. Comments, criticisms and suggestions are all welcome.

Thank you for being bothered to read this.

Beyond the Edge

By Ayla Curtis

Chapter One

Kain gazed out from his vantage point in the ancient Vampire citadel at the scene he knew so well; the shattered Pillars of Nosgoth that he, his younger self in this era, had caused not even half and hour ago. So much had happened in such a short space of time. He could feel the power of the completed, pure Soul Reaver humming in his claws.

So much...Raziel...hope...

Could he still manage it? Would he still be able to return to his duty as the Balance Guardian and restore the Pillars? Raziel had thought so, in those brief few moments before he had willingly been imprisoned within the serpentine blade.

Kain frowned to no-one but himself and cast aside his doubting. Raziel hadn't made his sacrifice so that Kain could stand around and start pondering over the futility of his plans; he had believed that the Scion of Balance would prevail. He had to if the Hylden were to be permanently expelled and Nosgoth restored.

But...Everything Kain had ever had planned had been based around his knowledge before the revelations and events that had just occurred. Now he had to re-think his strategies, for not only had the players changed but so had the entire game itself.

He hadn't come this far just to give up at the last hurdle. On the brighter side; at least now he would not have to make allowances for surprise arrivals and he knew exactly what was being planned; the causes and consequences and his role in it all.

He turned away from the scene determined to right the wrongs that he had thought were caused by himself for so long. He shook his head as if to dislodge the final threads of uncertainty and swore himself to his task.

He returned the Soul Reaver to its place upon his back and then made to leave, but as he did so a sound reached his ears that can only be described as a metallic 'pling'. Something small and shiny twirled through the air and landed at his clawed feet.

It was a coin.

He looked around to see where it had come from but the chamber was completely empty and he could not hear any other people or creatures. He was the sole occupant of the chamber.

This couldn't be good. Was this the Elder God playing some kind of trick, or making a silent statement by giving him a coin side down?

More than likely, but it didn't really seem his style...

He crouched down to pick it up but as his claws reached out to take it, it began to spin just as a coin does when it stops, but in reverse. It was gathering speed and in barely three seconds it was spinning on its edge and was still speeding up to the point that it became a blur.

He instinctively backed away from it but it was already too late. He couldn't tear his gaze from it as the chamber around him began to fade away into shadow and disappear leaving him alone in an eternity of blackness at the centre of which the gold blur continued to spin.

Although the dark lasted for only a few moments it felt like an infinity of time before the shadow had faded away and Kain found that he was no longer in the Vampire citadel at all. The coin lay still on the floor...the bare boards of a wooden floor that was rotten and crumbling.

Wherever he was...he wished he was not there.

Apprehensive glances showed him that he was in a hall of sorts, a long hall that might once have been a grand meeting place but now was long forgotten and abandoned by the people that built it. It was empty; there were no signs of life within it but for himself, not even a bird or an insect. He wasn't sure if that was something to be thankful for or something to worry about. On one hand it meant that there was no-one around that may have a desire to tear him limb from limb, but on the other hand it also meant that there was no-one around who might wish to tell him what had just happened, where he was or what he should be doing.

It wasn't fair...why couldn't they just leave him alone for once? Was it too much to ask to have just five minutes rest? Well, it was time to take a walk. If no-one was going to come to him and explain, he would go to them and beat an answer out of them. That generally worked.

The long hall had but one exit and entrance; two double doors that were fixed open on rusted hinges which made him feel rather uneasy, nothing was ever that simple. He took the coin from the floor, just in case, secreted it about his person and then left the hall.

It turned out that it was that easy, mainly because it was what lay beyond the hall that really troubled him.

He recognised this place...he could feel that he knew it...yet nothing was as he remembered.

The place he emerged in had the feel of the Sanctuary of the Clans, but it was nothing like how he had left it. All of the stone was gone and replaced with a wooden structure of halls that led of from the main chamber: the Pillars chamber.

And as for the Pillars...

"No...no it can't be!" He shook his head in despair at what he now saw before him.

They were completely collapsed - not even the smallest of stumps poked out from the ground...All but for the Balance Pillar which was now jet black and split in two halves straight down the centre. It was only Kain's throne that kept the two halves from falling away from each other and crashing to the floor. The Binding was broken and Balance completely destroyed.

Almost in a daze he padded over to it and laid his claws on the stone, it began to crumble at his touch and he snatched his hands away before any more damage was caused. What had happened? Was he already too late? What tragedy had befallen the Sanctuary that had caused its demolition?

"Ariel?" he called for the spirit of the murdered guardian to come to him, of all people she should have the answers he was so desperate to hear. "Ariel?!" But there was no reply. No wavering ghost came before him, no spectral voice speaking through the planes between life and death. Silence prevailed.

Panic stricken, Kain ran from the Pillars without daring to look back again and found that not only they, but Nosgoth herself had changed.

Gone was the barren wasteland that had been his empire, gone were the mutated spawn of his evolved lieutenants. In their place was an amazing sight and a wonder to behold, but all the same it made him desperately sick to his stomach for he knew what the sight meant with architecture the likes of which he had seen only once before.... In the Hylden city. It was unmistakable, all clean cut defined lines, curved spikes, smooth grey stone and blued metal. The architecture, artwork and designs took the depraved form of biology and technology combined. There were the terribly familiar slopes instead of stairs, nauseating green lights and pools of water.

Human men, women and children walked to and fro on unknown errands and as he passed amongst them they paid him no attention, not even the slightest of glances. They kept their heads bowed and their eyes to the floor as they continued with the tasks that they had.

What was happening?! Where was he? If this was indeed a Hylden city then where were the Hylden, and why could he sense the presence of vampires? It was a weak presence, as though there were very few of them, but they were there all the same.

The streets of this city were crowded with humans and every wall was lined with decorated doors, huge sheet glass windows and Glyph energy boxes as well as power lines and posters written in a Hylden language that he was unable to read.

Fear was seeping through his body and filing him with icy dread, as each person passed and ignored him while he surveyed this new and seemingly Hylden dominated Nosgoth.

There was a gasp from behind him and he turned to see a young male vampire that looked not unlike how his lieutenants had been before their main evolutions; with clawed hands and feet, pallid skin, shiny black hair and pointed ears. There appeared to be some kind of cage around the lower half of his face, like a muzzle and about his neck was fixed a collar bearing Glyph symbols.

The vampire took one look at Kain, squeaked something incoherent and ran away.

Kain was left bemused and staring blankly at the spot in which the vampire had been standing. But he wasn't staring for long. He had had enough and tore after the vampire without thinking to care who or what he might run into. It was easy enough to catch up to him; the vampire was not very fast at all, practically limited to human speed...and a slow human at that. Kain grabbed him roughly by the throat and held him up off the floor while his cloven feet kicked against the air. And still the humans carried on as though nothing was happening, even though they were in the middle of a crowded street.

The vampire in his grip was screeching like it was on fire.

"Silence!" Kain demanded in a tone that ensured the vampire that disobeying was not an option that could be survived.

He did as he was told with great haste and also stopped wriggling just to be on the safe side. Intense terror blazed in his eyes.

"I take it by your reaction that you know who I am." Kain said calmly.

The vampire shook his head.

Kain frowned. "Then why did you run from me?"

No sound passed the vampires firmly closed black lips.

"Speak." Kain squeezed his throat a little tighter. "If you do not speak then you may spell out your answers in your own blood." he gave him a shake to punctuate his statement. Just as always, a well placed threat gained him what he desired.

"You're wild!" he yelped and closed his eyes.

"Wild? What do you mean by that?"

"You belong to no-one!"

Kain laughed. "Of course, I serve no man or god but myself." He released his hold and the vampire dropped to the ground. "Do not attempt to run away again." he then warned him.

The vampire was not suicidal and stayed put with his eyes firmly fixed on his claws.

"What happened here? What is this place and how were the Hylden freed?"

The vampire looked puzzled. "But that is ancient history..."

"Ancient?!"

"Please...sir...I must go now...if I am late my Lady Lorfae will be most displeased."

This place...had it been this way for centuries? Had the Pillars finally succumbed thousands of years ago? The Hylden were in control and by the sounds of things all other life and un-life were powerless under their rule...or at least it seemed that way...but there had been no Hylden around, and what of these 'wild vampires' that he was apparently one of?

"Who are you?" Kain asked the vampire.

The vampire opened his mouth to reply, thought about what had just been asked of him and then closed it again. He shrugged.

"You do not know your own name?" Kain asked him doubtfully.

"My Lady Lorfae sometimes refers to me as Jor." He said helpfully.

"Who is this 'Lady Lorfae' you speak of so reverently?"

"My owner. Please, I must go now."

"No one owns you, Jor. Do as you please. You are a vampire after all." Kain told him sincerely.

"Such statements are suicidal." Jor replied with a shaking voice. "Those kinds of thoughts are the ones that bring pain and misery to all people...I...I will have to...to...to report you..."

What kind of pathetic creature was this? Surely vampire blood could not have worn so thin that Jor was the product of their evolution.

A storm cloud thundered overhead. It was going to rain. This fact did not bother Kain in the least, for he had long since been immune to such trivial amounts of water but Jor stared imploringly at the grey sky above him. "Oh, please no..." he didn't wait for Kain to give him permission, he simply ran and this time round Kain did not chase after him. Instead he watched the vampire run as the rain began to pour.

What hell have I been sent to? Kain wondered to himself as he held out his claws to catch the falling water. At least the weather was the same. He walked on through the downpour that plastered his hair to his back and his half cloak to his shoulder. Thunder rolled across the heavens but no lightning was offered. This must be an illusion...it has to be.

He didn't know how long he wandered as he ran similar thoughts through his head over and over again, trying in vain to work out what had occurred and where exactly he had been sent. The only knowledge he gained was that thinking too hard for too long gave you a headache. His blind drifting brought him through many places and he did well to keep himself to the shadows so that other vampires would not spot him and decide to 'report' him...Whatever that was supposed to mean, it didn't sound like the kind of thing you looked forward to. He saw a few other vampires and they were all pretty much the same as Jor or a female version thereof, from their hair to their feet and even the collar and the muzzle they wore. Every single one of them that he saw had the same worried expression, as though they thought that every step they took would take them closer to some unknown torture or punishment and every person they passed was going to turn on them. Any sharp movements from the humans around them would cause the vampires to jump or cower behind their own claws in fright. Kain made sure to stay hidden.

The rain stopped after an hour and eventually he came across a kind of town square, absent of all vampires but packed with humans who were all still doing their mute duties.

But still no Hylden.

Wait...there was a vampire here. At the centre of the square two thin columns rose and between them the vampire female had been chained.

Seeing that there were only humans present Kain ventured to pass them and reach the poor wretch's side to see if, perhaps, she could be of more use to him.

She was in a sorry state; thin black burns streaked her pale skin where the rain drops had fallen and the shackles bit into and cut her wrists, causing them to continually bleed. She too wore a muzzle and collar, but unlike the other vampires' her hair was pure white...remarkably like his own.

She was barely conscious as he gently placed one claw under her chin and tilted her head to get a better look at her face. The resemblance was uncanny; they could have been family. He let her head fall down again as he tried to absorb all of what he was seeing.

Her head then rose once more but this time it was she who was moving it. "Cruel eyes," she said as she looked up at him, "Why do you torment me with this illusion?" she appeared to be talking to herself.

"I am no illusion." He assured her. "I am as real as you are."

"No...you're just a dream..." she whispered. "That's all you ever are...a dream..." her head sunk back down and her eyes closed.

He nudged her shoulder gently but received no reply. She had finally lost consciousness.

A dream? She dreamed of him, yet Jor had no idea who he was. Why did this young vampire know him when others did not...and why did she look like him in his younger years? Such questions could only be answered if he was able to wake her from her coma, and he would not be able to do so if he left her out here. He reached for the shackles -

"No! You can't do that!" It was Jor.

"And why ever not?" Kain enquired pleasantly.

"Because she doesn't belong to you...you can't just take another persons property without their agreement; that's a crime."

"Do I look as though I hold a single care for your laws?"

"Please leave...you're going to get hurt if you don't...I'm not supposed to be here, stranger, I just came to warn you that you have been reported." He saw the look Kain gave him and sped up his words "But not by me! By the workers." He gestured to the humans who still took no notice.

Kain gave them all a look of general disgust "Pathetic scum."

"I will be punished now, for warning you...they will tell my Lady Lorfae." He sounded petrified.

"Then why did you?"

"Because...because what is wild should remain so..." Jor looked around nervously and then hurried away once more.

So, the humans were not as unobservant as they had first seemed. If that was indeed the case then he probably didn't have a lot of time.

The chains were durable and made of thick iron but Kain had the instrument to fix that problem. The Soul Reaver made light work of slicing through the metal and the girl fell to the floor.

The silent human betrayers still carried on with their errands but made note of his every move.

Kain was amazed at how light she was, and it was only now that he was holding her that he realised just how badly she must have been treated. Her sunken skin was pulled taught over her bones, and there seemed to be hardly a single muscle left in her body to support her. She might have been beautiful once but whatever she had been put through had scraped the beauty away until she was just another vampire, but covered in rain burns. They should heal, in time.

He took her and backtracked though the streets to the one place that he had seen empty; the wooden halls around the dead Pillars. Although how long they would stay empty was debatable, for after all; spies watched his every step.

He still couldn't believe what had happened to the Pillars. As he re-entered the decaying wooden structure he saw them once again and tried to piece together what he knew while he laid the tortured vampire girl in the throne. It wasn't the most comfortable of places to sit in (he knew that personally) but it would have to do and he didn't really think that she cared for she was in a coma after all.

Jor had told him that the destruction of the Pillars and the release of the Hylden was ancient history. So somehow, during whatever had occurred while the coin had spun, he had been transported into another time that seemed to be Nosgoth's perverted future...

Too be continued......