Across the cracked ground Vekarin ran, his boots kicking up small plumes of dust as they crushed the flakes of dessecated earth beneath them. The black earth below him was the color of mud, mud mixed with blood and left to dry under a relentless sun. It was a land that held no more life than the volcanic depths of the Old World itself. In every direction they stretched, as far as any eye could see and as flat as a dead, still lake on a day with no wind to speak of. At the edge of what an eye could make out, what seemed to be the end of this hellish world it gave way to a line of mountains whose peaks dissapeared into the pitch-black sky. Like an immovable wall they stood, outlining these plains of death.
The howling wind sounded about the massive Vampire like the solemn cries a thousand spirits, sould in turmoil for eternity, and with it it blew the dry, dusty stench of the crypt. Despite his mighty armor, Vekarin ran faster than any mortal could hope to away from the forbidding fortress that stood like a single, twisted, black finger from the plains behind him. He was not afraid of those who dwelt within it, but what he had learned there was more important than his own life, more important than his rage. Still, the voices in his head sounded, quieter than a whisper, but with the weight of a clarion. His own daemons could be more dangerous than those who dwelt within Nagashizzar.
Coward...
You ran away, why did you do that?
Why did you betray Abhorash?
Be silent.
You flee, like a frightened rodent
a sailor deserting his ship instead of stemming the leak
a mouse running from the farmer to be caught in the trap
a...
Silence!
child running from a bully, back to his mother's arms.
Your mentor would have been filled with pride, wouldn't he?
Isn't that what he taught you?
Run away, run away, run away, run away run away run away runaway runaway...
Be silent!
That's what he taught you, and that's what you did, isn't it?
You ran, you cheated, and you were never caught.
How clever of you. How clever.
Kill your enemies. The...
Shut up!
weak do not deserve to live.
They fought well, but lost, so they die, right?
But you keep their trophies, the heads of the dead the...
Leave me!
skulls of the unworthy. Right?
Skulls for the....
Shut up!
Abhorash would have been proud.
I don't care.
Ahhhhhhh...
Shut up, shut up! Get out of my head, damn you! Who sent you? Kekarsarun? Baeloth? Who?
You...
Be silent!
"Be silent!"
It was the end, the end of the world. This was hell.
Vekarin fell to his knees. His legs would not travel any farther, he was at his limit. How far had he run? Mere miles? Leagues? He didn't care, he...
He had to get to Drakenhof, the Dreadlords, the Dreadlords... were...
...
Vekarin felt something lift him from the ground.
The howling wind sounded about the massive Vampire like the solemn cries a thousand spirits, sould in turmoil for eternity, and with it it blew the dry, dusty stench of the crypt. Despite his mighty armor, Vekarin ran faster than any mortal could hope to away from the forbidding fortress that stood like a single, twisted, black finger from the plains behind him. He was not afraid of those who dwelt within it, but what he had learned there was more important than his own life, more important than his rage. Still, the voices in his head sounded, quieter than a whisper, but with the weight of a clarion. His own daemons could be more dangerous than those who dwelt within Nagashizzar.
Coward...
You ran away, why did you do that?
Why did you betray Abhorash?
Be silent.
You flee, like a frightened rodent
a sailor deserting his ship instead of stemming the leak
a mouse running from the farmer to be caught in the trap
a...
Silence!
child running from a bully, back to his mother's arms.
Your mentor would have been filled with pride, wouldn't he?
Isn't that what he taught you?
Run away, run away, run away, run away run away run away runaway runaway...
Be silent!
That's what he taught you, and that's what you did, isn't it?
You ran, you cheated, and you were never caught.
How clever of you. How clever.
Kill your enemies. The...
Shut up!
weak do not deserve to live.
They fought well, but lost, so they die, right?
But you keep their trophies, the heads of the dead the...
Leave me!
skulls of the unworthy. Right?
Skulls for the....
Shut up!
Abhorash would have been proud.
I don't care.
Ahhhhhhh...
Shut up, shut up! Get out of my head, damn you! Who sent you? Kekarsarun? Baeloth? Who?
You...
Be silent!
"Be silent!"
It was the end, the end of the world. This was hell.
Vekarin fell to his knees. His legs would not travel any farther, he was at his limit. How far had he run? Mere miles? Leagues? He didn't care, he...
He had to get to Drakenhof, the Dreadlords, the Dreadlords... were...
...
Vekarin felt something lift him from the ground.