Mortality: The Story of Mortanius

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Chapter Sixty-Two

Mortanius thought that he would never have a reason to return to Avernus Cathedral, but after his conversation with Moebius, something in the back of his mind made him want to return there. He wanted to know something, and he felt that Avernus was the only place where he might find the answer.

The stairway leading up to the Cathedral had collapsed and was now blocked by charred timbers from the remains of the Cathedral, which had finally been engulfed by the raging firestorm. Most of the city above was nothing but smoking ruins now.

The catacomb was mostly untouched. Normally it was bitterly cold, but now the temperature was tolerable, although the lingering smell of smoke remained in the air. Mortanius made his way to the central chamber and walked up to the pit.

Mortanius had wondered if perhaps Azimuth had set Hash’ak’gik free along with other monsters she set loose upon the city. But when he looked down into the pit, he saw that the demon was still there. The beast stormed up to the edge of the pit and raised itself up on its hind legs. It trembled with rage, and bellowed at him, “Blood! Give me blood!”

Mortanius let himself show a hint of a smile and slowly shook his head. “No, demon, not this time. There will be no blood for you this day. I’ve come to speak with your master.”

“Your master,” the demon growled. “Your master!”

“I know that they’re listening. I want to know why they haven’t tried to stop me.”

The hylden had proven that they could force their consciousness into his mind even when he was far from Avernus. They took over his body when he was at the Pillars, in order to kill Ariel. And it was no coincidence that they just happened to possess him at that moment. He believed that they always knew where he was and what he was doing. But if that was the case, then why hadn’t they possessed him in order to stop him from resurrecting Kain? The Pillars were weaker than they had ever been, so it should have been easy for the hylden to take over his body. But they had not done so in weeks now, ever since the last time he served as their voice in the cult ritual.

“Give me blood!” Hash’ak’gik screamed. “No talk! Give me blood!”

“Answer me, damn you!” Mortanius snapped. “Why are you silent now? Why haven’t you made your presence felt? Are you so secure in your victory, or are you afraid of what I’ve done? I resurrected Kain in order to restore the Pillars, and yet you haven’t made any attempt to stop me.”

“Kain! My Lord!” the demon suddenly roared, shaking its head angrily. “Kain!”

Mortanius looked down at the demon and carefully stepped back from the pit. Something about this wasn’t right. The demon often shouted nonsense, but it called Kain its Lord. Why would it say something like that?

He heard some scratching from the other side of the chamber and looked up. To his surprise, three robed figures came hesitantly out onto the balcony area on the other side of the pit. The cult followers entered the catacomb through a narrow passage which led from the balcony to a secret entrance in Avernus. Mortanius had assumed that the entrance was destroyed along with everything else. He had not expected to see any cult followers.

The three cult members looked like they’d been through hell. “My ... my Lord?” one of them mumbled, not making eye contact. “Are we … are we still allowed to come here and worship?”

“I didn’t know that any of you were still in the city,” Mortanius said. “I thought you had all gone. How many of you are there?”

“Only twelve, my Lord. The rest have left the city or died in the fire.”

He didn’t know what to say to them. Should he tell them that Azimuth was the one who started the fire in the first place? That she was dead and their cult was soon to follow? That the hylden were to blame for Nosgoth’s downfall?

“Get the others,” he said. “Bring them and we will … we will worship.”

And so for one last time, Mortanius presided over a cult ritual. It felt absurd to go through the motions anymore, especially now that Azimuth was dead, but the unexpected arrival of the cult followers had distracted him. He simply couldn’t believe that any of them remained in the city.

The pathetic wretches had nothing else in their life except this foul gathering. The fire had destroyed their homes and everything else they held dear, and Mortanius simply didn’t have the heart to take away their delusional cult as well. He’d give them one last meeting, one last ritual, and then send them on their way.

This one would be different, however. While the followers ran off to get the others, Mortanius took a moment to prepare a simple illusion spell. Up close, it was easy to tell that the bound figure at Mortanius’s feet was not real, but the cult followers would be fooled. The demon would not be fed, but the followers would think it was.

It took only a few minutes for all the followers to arrive. Most of them were probably living in the ruins right near their secret entrance, unable or unwilling to go anywhere else. They were dirty and miserable, their cloaks smeared with soot and reeking of smoke. Mortanius wondered when they had eaten last.

It was a short ceremony. The hylden did not speak through him, again deciding not to take control of his body for reasons he didn’t understand. He said the words anyway, praising the beings from another world, and the followers repeated his words with tired voices. He pushed the illusory sacrifice into the pit and ended the spell.

“We offer this sacrifice to you, great Hash’ak’gik,” he said, raising his arms.

“Hash’ak’gik, Hash’ak’gik, Hash’ak’gik,” the followers repeated.

“May this blood nourish you for all eternity.”

“Hash’ak’gik,” they said again, bowing their heads.

He lowered his arms again. “Hash’ak’gik is pleased with our sacrifice. We are his chosen ones. We are the his voice in Nosgoth. But this place is no longer safe for his loyal followers. Many of his chosen ones have perished. And so it is time for us to leave this place.”

Some of the followers looked nervously amongst themselves. Others nodded in understanding and continued to chant.

“Hash’ak’gik orders us to depart the remains of this city and spread his word elsewhere. We must go to other cities and start anew. This is the will of Hash’ak’gik.”

“We tremble, and we obey,” the followers mumbled. “Praise to Hash'ak'gik.”

“Farewell, chosen ones. Depart now, as ever, in his service.”

The followers slowly filed out of the chamber. Some of them cast meaningful glances back at Mortanius, but he waved his arm to urge them out. This was the best he could do for them. Maybe some of them would do as they were told and find new homes. Perhaps a few might make a better life for themselves.

Hopefully none of them tried to return here again. Avernus was nothing but a smoldering ruin now, so it was unlikely any of them would be able to survive in the city much longer. And once the Pillars were restored to their previous strength, the hylden would no longer be able to possess the demon anyway, so it would cease to be useful to anyone. It was possible that once Mortanius left Avernus for the last time, the catacombs would be forgotten and the beast would be left to starve to death down in the pit. It was a pleasant thought.

He returned to his private quarters and fell into a chair. He felt tired and anxious. He still didn’t understand why the hylden had not possessed his body in order to sabotage his plans. They could have done it at any time. It would have been easy to take control after Kain was dead, and burn Kain’s body before Mortanius could take it back to his laboratory.

Azimuth’s Dimensionscope was destroyed when the Cathedral burned down, so maybe that explained their silence today. But the device worked perfectly when he resurrected Kain, and he didn’t think they needed the Dimensionscope to possess him anyway. There was some other reason, but he had no idea what it was.

After a little while, he dimly heard the demon in the pit roaring and shouting, its voice echoing down the hallways, but he ignored it. He couldn’t make out any specific words, just bestial shouts of rage and pain. It was angry at not being fed, and Mortanius couldn’t possibly care less. The demon would die down here, and that was fine with him.

He leaned back in his chair and tried to think. Moebius said that Kain would destroy Nosgoth, but how could he possibly do such a thing? The only way Kain could destroy Nosgoth was by failing to kill the Guardians, and he was doing a very good job so far. Moebius had clearly been insane, but all the Guardians were insane, so that was no excuse. Was his cryptic statement about Kain just another delusion, like his mysterious God? Or was he confused about one of his possible futures?

Mortanius wracked his brain, trying to think of some scenario where Kain might possibly harm Nosgoth, but he came up with nothing. All Kain had to do was slay two more Guardians – Anarcothe and Mortanius – and it would be over. The corrupted Guardians would be dead. The Pillars would be restored, Kain would become the Guardian of Balance, and the hylden would be stopped before it was too late. Moebius’s claims were nothing more than the ravings of a madman.

Mortanius stood up. He decided that he wasn’t going to wait for Kain anymore. With Vorador dead, the Pillars were at their very weakest point, and the longer it took Kain to kill his last two targets, the higher the chance the hylden might find a way to break through. Mortanius had to speed things along. He wasn’t going to sit and wait for Kain to arrive, he would bring Kain to him.

He cast the messaging spell and spoke into the magical aura that encircled him. “Kain, my Lord. It is I, the necromancer who resurrected you. I know there are many things you wish to know, and I promise you will have your answers. I’m contacting you to tell you that you are very near the end of your grand quest. Only two Guardians remain. Come at once to the Pillars so you may finish this and help restore Nosgoth to its former glory.”

He lowered his arms and the aura winked out like a light. He sighed to himself and looked around his quarters. He would never return to this cursed place. He would never return to his home. Once he made his way to the Pillars, that would be it. Truthfully, he didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but there was really only one way it could end.

Had Kain already figured out who Mortanius really was? Had Ariel told him, or maybe one of the other Guardians in their final moments? He supposed it didn’t matter. If Kain didn’t know that the mysterious stranger who resurrected him was also one of his targets, then he would find out soon enough. No matter how it all transpired, Mortaius would not walk away from their meeting.

Anarcrothe had gone into hiding in the wake of Bane’s and DeJoule’s deaths, and his current whereabouts were unknown. There was no telling how long it would take Kain to track him down, so Mortanius would have to lure Anarcrothe to the Pillars first, so that Kain could slay him as well.

He was about to cast the messaging spell once more to contact Anarcrothe, when he heard the soft pad of footsteps behind him.

“Mortanius,” came a faint voice, like the sound of a sarcophagus creaking open.

The unfamiliar voice chilled his blood, and at first he was afraid to turn around. But then he slowly turned to see the unnatural figure that walked through the doorway.

It was neither human nor vampire nor even hylden, but somehow seemed to blend the features of all three races. Its withered skin was a ghostly blue color, with both dark and light shades spread across the surface of its gaunt, twisted form. It almost looked like a long-dead corpse, dried out until it was nothing but a husk. Its limbs were shrunken and stiff, the musculature visible under a layer of transparent skin. Its internal organs were all but gone, reducing its lower torso to nothing but a gaping void. Little remained but a spine to connect the creature’s chest and waist.

But even though it appeared to be an undead creature, perhaps not unlike how Malek once appeared underneath his armor, this creature did not move like one. It moved with the confidence of a predator, its feet moving across the floor with a calm, certain grace. It walked like a hero bravely coming to slay a great beast. Although it carried no weapon, Mortanius could see that it needed none. Its hands were weapons, its fingers huge black claws. A filthy, crusty brown shawl or scarf was wrapped around its shoulders, covering its neck and the lower half of its face. Its eyes glowed an eerie, spectral white.

“What … what are you?” Mortanius asked, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he already knew the answer.

It was obvious, really. It was the reason the hylden had not answered his call. The hideous creature didn’t look like its image in the vampire mural, but Mortanius always knew the murals were just a painter’s ideal. The strange blue wraithlike being standing in front of him could be no one else.

It was the hylden champion, the one shown in the vampire mural, who would someday do battle with the champion of the vampires. That’s what the murals portrayed. Mortanius understood it now. Two champions prophesied to meet in combat and end the war between the two ancient races once and for all. Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into place.

If this was the champion of the hylden, then the champion of the vampires must be Kain.

The hylden champion stood before him and said, “What I am is irrelevant. You would not understand. I have come here to claim the heart of the ancient vampire known as Janos. I know it’s in your possession. Give it to me and I will gladly leave this place.”

“You’re too late,” Mortanius said, his voice quavering, as he backed away from the demonic warrior. Its calm, assured voice was almost more terrifying than if it spoke in a bestial roar.

It tilted its head ever so slightly. “Too late? For what?”

“My plan was set into motion long ago,” Mortanius said, trying to sound defiant. “You can’t stop it now. Kain has already defeated the most powerful sorcerers in all of Nosgoth. How hard do you think it will be for him to destroy you as well?”

“I will deal with Kain later,” the hylden champion said. “Right now, my priorities lie elsewhere.”

“You’re too late,” Mortanius said again, shaking his head.

The creature patiently held out its clawed hand. “Just give me the heart of Janos.”

The sheer lunacy of it almost made Mortanius break out in manic laughter. “I don’t have it. Kain already has it, and you’ll have to kill him to get it.”

“Kain has it?” The champion looked away and raised its hand to the crusty shawl around its shoulders, as if lost in thought. Then its white eyes went wide, its alien expression unreadable, but Mortanius could swear that it was genuinely surprised. Then its head flicked up just a bit and its voice held a trace of awe. “It’s in Kain’s body. You used the heart to turn Kain into a vampire.”

Did the creature truly not know?

“How else?” Mortanius said. “There was no other way.”

He jerked backwards and reeled as the hylden’s presence suddenly swarmed across his mind, finally trying to take control. To give new orders to their champion, no doubt. He struggled in vain for a moment, but they were too strong and he quickly blacked out.

When the presence lifted, he staggered back and leaned against a table, his head spinning. He was still in his quarters, and amazingly, the hylden champion was still there, looking at him oddly. Mortanius felt that they had only retained control of him for a few minutes at most.

“I understand things better now,” the champion said.

Mortanius brushed aside the comment. He was breathing hard, exhausted even after a short time under the hylden’s control. “Your masters will not have their victory,” he said, straightening up to retain some of his dignity, although he felt there was little of that left.

“I have no master,” the creature replied.

“I believed that once,” Mortanius said. “But now I know better.”

The hylden champion pondered that for a moment and then said, “If Kain has Janos’s heart, then I must find him and take it.”

“I’ll never tell you where he is.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have a feeling that Kain will find me.”

“He’ll destroy you.”

“I think not. He’s tried before, and yet, here I am.”

Mortanius didn’t understand. Had Kain already faced this creature before?

As if sensing his confusion, the hylden champion said, “I’m afraid that things are more complicated than you realize, necromancer. There is much you are ignorant of. Kain is not the hero that you imagine him to be.”

Speaking in riddles, just like Moebius. Mortanius fiercely shook his head, refusing to listen. “You’re just trying to deceive me.”

“What benefit would there be to deceiving you at this late hour?”

“To weaken my resolve. But it won’t work. I’ve finally come to understand the truth. Moebius and I were wrong to overthrow the vampires. But Kain will make things right. He will complete his destiny, slay the corrupted Guardians, and you along with them. And with him, the Pillars will return to vampire guardianship, as they were meant to be.”

“That, they will,” the hylden champion said. There was a haunting sadness in his voice, and it almost diverted Mortanius from his course. “But not quite the way you intend.”

Mortanius shook off the feeling. “Save your lies, demon. You will not sway me.”

“Go to the Pillars, then,” the creature said, waving his hand dismissively. “Go to your death.”

“Yes,” Mortanius said. “Yes, I will. It’s time to end this.”

He cast his teleportation spell and disappeared.

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