It had been a few years until the Holy War would be over. At that time, it was the hottest part of the war. After the death of Balnazar, the Hylden Emperor, Hash'ag'gik was in command of the entire race. A plenty of fierce battles were needed to occur. Much blood had to be shed, and many innocents had to die. Both the Hylden Sorcery Guild and the Vampire Council were planning their weapons of mass destruction. Both were dedicated to the total annihilation of their adversaries. The last years of the war brought to the creation of powerful devices like Dimension Portals, Time Streaming Device, and even that ancient Device which Lord Hylden would plan to activate, using Janos's blood.
            I had to go to that stronghold, that would be later called the Sarathan Stronghold. Still, at that time, it was the newly built stronghold, used as a fortress to keep the device defended. The Builder was the author of all these devices I knew. However, this one, the Time Streaming Device - the Chronoplast - was captured as a trofee by the Ancient Vampires, just after the death of Balnazar. I could see hundreds of them occupying the stronghold.
            While the majority of the Ancient Vampires were happily celebrating their victory, claiming the stronghold and the device for themselves, Janos was summoned by the Council. It seemed like they were already planning their next campaign. I queitly followed Janos. He headed back to the Vampire Citadel, so I had to choose, whether to follow him or go to the Time Streaming Device. My curiosity took over me, and I followed Janos.
            He stopped at the main hall of the citadel, at the circle area, that was above the Elder God. I hid beyond a column, at the shadows. It was not that easy, because the Reaver was making noise, and Janos could expose me. But luckily, the members of the Council had arrived before he could notice me.
            "En taro, Council Members", - said Janos.
"En taro ador, Janos Audron", - they all answered.
"We have sumoned you to tell you about our great plan", - the Council Leader began speaking, - "And from all of our members, we are sorry to interrupt your celebration, but there is no time for that. We must act quickly. Duty calls, and the Wheel is turning..."
"I am listenning, mylord", - said Janos coldly, showing no reaction. I was surprised to see Janos of those times. He was cold, strong, decisive, uncompromise - just as the true leader must be.
"We have won the battle, but it is just a matter of time, before Hylden would attack again. And at that time, I am afraid, we would have nothing to withstand it. As an alternative, he has offered us to surrender, to submit capitulation, as a price for peace, but we will not kneel before these fiends. That is why we decided to carry out a plan, that were have recently designed", - said the Council Leader, - "We cannot annihilate all of the hylden. It is imposible for us physically, as they are much more. That is why, we must banish them to another realm, and lock them in there. That way, we would never encounter them again".
            "It sounds promising, but where do you want to banish them? To the Demonic Realm? How can you lock the passage between them?", - asked Janos.
"We have found out from the knowledge of our ancestors, that if we gather all of the eight elements of the world into one place through similar items, uniting them as one with one more item of that kind, we could establish a lock between the two realms. However, the physical state of the nine element will be depended on the states of the items that keep the elements. That is why, it had to be guarded, by guardians. And these guardians must be replaced from time to time, because no soul would be able to sustain an element forever", - the leader was explaining. I understood what he was talking about - the Pillars. They were planning to build the Nine Pillars of Nosgoth.
"Can you explain it further?" - asked Janos.
"The elements are: Death, Time, States, Dimensions, Conflict, Nature, Mind, Energy. Each guardian represents his element, that is connected to him, and to the item it holds. To watch over the guardians, there will be another guardian - the Balanse Guardian. To defend the guardians from enemies, there will be the Conflict Guardian. To watch over the key of the lock, there will be the Tenth Guardian - a secret guardian - who must carry the key on himself. To make it comfortable, the key should be a sword, or another kind of weapon. A poweful weapon", - said the Council Leader.
"And what items you want to use?", - Janos asked.
"We will raise high Pillars, right near the citadel. As our Council is made of nine members, we will be the first guardians. The Circle of Nine. I am the leader of the Council, so I will be the Balanse Guardian. Other will take the roles they want. Each of us will represent a Pillar. My Pillar will be in the middle of all, to keep the other protected from madnesses and other mental curses. They new guardians will be chosen after the death of the previous, exactly when the new one is born. The Pillars will be bathed on the knowledge of the furute, so it will not make wrong choises. It will choose only those who are suitable to the guardsmenship, and are willingly ready", - the Leader said.
"And what about the tenth guardian? Who will take that role?", - asked Janos.
"The Tenth Guardian will be the Key Guardian. You are the leader of our race, so we decided to choose you. Your task is simple - just to carry the key with you, and guard it. You must keep the arrier between the dimensions closed. You will not have a Pillar to represent you. You will not need to be replaced. The Key Guardian will be chosen by the Balanse Guardian himself. If the Key Guardian dies, the Balanse Guardian can take the task on him, temporarily, until he will find somebody to replace the dead one", - the Council Leader finished.
            "And how exactly will you banish an entire race to another dimension?", - Janos asked.
"We will just start the establishment of the Pillars. The nature will do the rest. Are you ready to take the task of the Key Guardian on yourself, Lord Janos Audron?", - asked the Council Leader.
"Yes. I am!", - said Janos.
"Then you should craft a weapon, to be the key of the lock. Enchant it with whatever powers you want, but its main purpose should be the key ", - the leader said.
"I know a good human smith that can help me...", - said Janos, - "En taro, Council".
"En taro, Janos Audron", - answered the council members. They all left, and I was alone again...

   I realized the polithics and intrigues of that ancient war. It was not different from other wars throughout the history. All the wars between the Vampires and the Order of Sarathan, were just like that of Hylden and Ancient Vampires, based on Polithics, Racizm and Religion. And there were never good or evil sides. No "just" or "wrong" adversaries. Only a war. A string of events, that were all a part of a great plan of Baal, the Elder God. All the conflict throughout the history, were devoted to feed him. To have more souls, he rose a conflict, a war, when more people die.
            Even the Ancient Vampires were not that noble as I thought they were. Even Janos himself was not what I thought of him. They had initiated the war, and they had ended it. They banished an entire race to the Demonic Realm, just because they were all Hylden. The Hylden offered peace, but they rejected it, prefering to get read of those who had no faith at the Wheel of Fate. And that Wheel was nothing more than an image, which the False God was showing them. The Holy War - that was how they called it. They used it to get read of those who were not sharing their faith. The same as Sarathan did to Vampires, centuries later. Ironic, how the history repeats itself.
            I knew what was going to happen. In a few years, the Hylden would be getting the upper hand, almost entirely destroying the Vampires. As their last measure, the Vampires would raise the Pillars, that would banish the Hylden race. The Hylden, as their last counterstrike, would lay three poetric curses on the Vampires, made for the one single purpose - to make humans and Vampires hate each other. Hash'ag'gik was a worthy opponent. He was counting on the humans to rebel against the Vampires, so that the Vampire race would be entirely annihilated. Then, the barriers should fall, and Hylden would return...
            A small but perfect virus can destroy even the best mechanism throughout time. And it worked for a while...

   I left the citadel, and reached the Stronghold that would later be called Sarathan Stronghold. However, with the Glyph Reaver, I could not be not noticed. One of the Ancient Vampires saw me, and acalled for the other. I decided to flee to the Chroplast Chamber. Running throught the corridors, I was telepathically oushing away the incoming vampires. The heavily locked doors were easily opened by a blast from my reaver. The Glyph Reaver's blasts were working like cannons. I finaly reached the Chronoplast Chamber, but there I saw... the Demons. They were about a dozen, and they were equal to the number of the Ancient Vampires that were chasing me. I was surrounded. They started fighting each other, but it was clear for me, that the Demons were here for me, not for them.
            As I was trying to sneak between them, using their combat, to activate the Time Streaming Device to return to my era, I was surprised even more: new characters were added into the fighting inside the Chronoplast Chamber - the Hylden. Their Glyph Sorcerors engaged the combat, blasting everything around. The three sides were struggling each for its own victory, and I decided to wait until all would be over. I teleported to another room. That triple combat was behind me, but I encountered something else.
            That was the room, that in the future would be Williams Chappel. There I could see four demons holding The Seer of that time, tied and powerless, as if her powers were drained. In front of them, was an old but strong looking human warrior. He was holding a sword. By his actions, I could see that he was trying to save The Seer. Getting closer to the man, I recognized him. It was Vorador, still in its human form.
            "Let her go, Demons!", - he shouted.
"You are in no conditions to give us orders. We are here not for you, and not for The Seer. We are here only for him. And this little performance we have just played ends now", - said one of the Demons, pointing on me. Those of them who were holding The Seer, released her. Vorador was looking at me shocked. I knew that he would not reconize me at the first time as I had come to him, when I was still young. Since then, I evolved and looked differently...
"Save her! Take The Seer and run away!", - I yelled. Human Vorador obeyed. Vorador was actually saving her. That was why the first time I had to meet The Seer, Vorador told me that he had affairs with her, and she owed him a favor...
            I was left alone, versus the four demons. The reaver started glowing. I felt the Glyph energy running all over my body. I felt that sense of senseless. I felt myself strong, unable to become exosted, unable to get hurt... unable to be stopped. It was the Glyph Rage. I ran onwards to the Demons, and within less then a minute slashed them all.
            Still feeling that sense of rage, but calming down, I reached the Chronoplast Chamber again. There, I saw plenty of corpses - dead bodies of Vampires, Hylden and Demons. All were lying dead and calm. Blood filled the chamber. It was another poetric proof for the uselessness of that war, like all other wars. The lovely sentence of many soldiers, as they "fight for peace"... how stupid it was...

    I activated the Time Streaming Device and returned to my era. As I had ran out of the Sarathan Stronghold, I was not even surprised to see another banch of Demons blocking my way. I drew out my Glyph Reaver. I really started liking this weapon. The only strange thing was, that during that rage, my eyes were gazing out a green flash, just as Hylden had.
"You guys are starting annoying me. Your master wants me dead, but I am not going to die. Return to him and tell him that. Perhaps he should be taught a small lesson", - I said, - "Oh, and by the way. Very soon, you will have no master to serve".
            I killed all of them, but suddenly saw more appearing. I ran ahead ignoring them, when more and more started springing in my way. They were all folowing me. But what had shocked me even more than the Demons, were the human hunters. They were encountered by the Demons too, and were fighting them. It was too hard for them - the powers were not equal, but the Demons were outnumbered, so the combat was not short, as expected to be.
            I was ignoring everything, hurrying up to the Vampires Citadel, where the Elder God had captured The Seer, before she teleported me back in time. And when I reached the place, I was surprised to see, that The Seer was not there. Instead, Janos was standing on the circle platform, above the Elder God. He was fighting with two Demons. I helped him kill them. But instead of thanking me, he looked at me frightened, razing his claws to my neck.
"Leave him alone, whelp!", - he shouted. I grabbed his hand and tore it away from me.
"Never do that again", - I said deeply - "And do not worry. It is me, Kain. I am not possessed by Hylden. It is just the new power that my blade is imbued with - the Glyphs".
"Glyphs?! But how?!... Only Hylden could use Glyphs", - Janos was shocked.
"I was the one who killed Balnazar, the Hylden Emperor. Not you... Do you remember that mysterious saviour?...", - I asked, and without waiting for his answer, I said, - "It was... me".
"If that is true... what else have you seen from that times?", - Janos asked being worried.
"Everything I need to know about the war. I saw what you did Janos. You and your Vampire Council. The Hylden offered you peace, but you banished their entire race. Your race was not so noble... after all", - I said.
"What options did we have? Put yourself in our position, Kain. Our entire race was at the edge of extinction. What would you do in that case?", - Janos asked.
"I would not have even started the war", - I said.
"How dare you to judge me, Kain, when you have turned the world into nightmare, after defeating the Sarathan Lord", - Janos said, - "We were all decieved by the Elder God. And nobody is truly innocent. But that is why we are here - to fix it. To fix the world. To fix our mistakes. Let us talk about this later. First of all, we have to defeat our common enemy"...
            I had nothing to say. Perhaps he was right. I had condamned the world out of my arrogance, and blind selfish ambitions, so I had no rights to judge him. Nobody is perfect. Everybody make mistakes, for which they pay... sooner or later.