Vampyre: Desire Immortal

Chapter 22

The Heir Anointed

A double-sided sword that cut both ways:

The Reflecting Glass

*****

Andolin was sired by the Greater Unknown. Nobody had to tell him this secret. The Eternal Knowledge coursed through him now.

And the Caves of Rotou were his home. Andolin thought back to his early days. Rotou was a beautiful dreamland. His childhood memories were erased, save for the instant he first awoke in a glorious mountainside chamber filled with a million candles.

The warm glow from the flickering flames danced over rock icicles that hung from the Great Chamber's ceiling and lit the gigantic waterfall at the far end of the cavern. He loved to hear the winds howl through the magnificent underground chambers, watch the sun light's glorious rays spear through holes in the mountain and turn the waters of the obsidian pools to shimmering gems of green and blue.

The caverns were a labyrinth of tunnels and vast open spaces filled with organic columns of rock. There were endless crevasses and ravines that stretched down into the blackness of the earth's core. The eternal echo of dripping water into death-stilled pools bounced off the stone walls and ricocheted across the infinite passageways. Time stood still here.

But some innate instinct told him that if he chose to stay within the dark recesses of the grottoes, he would grow blind to the cycles of sunrise and sunset. Besides, an even great force was driving him from the caves and into the outer world.

And so, he left his blissful sanctuary of solace, venturing into the loud, foul, rank, chaotic world outside the caves because he must. His insatiable appetite for the blood wine pulsing in the veins of every dirty human was growing inside him like a cancer.

Andolin was as clean as a cat, but this was his birthright now.

He remembered his first night in the caves. He did not see the Greater Unknown enter the chamber, yet he felt the instant he was not alone. An inky shadow bled over the cavern's walls. The cool cavern turned icy cold. The candle flames were snuffed out. The boy yelped in fear, but instantly a calm soothing voice spoke his name.

"Andolin."

From out of the darkness, it felt as if gentle arms were cradling him. Andolin relaxed. Something in his small brain sparked, and a bridge between the boy and the Greater Unknown was spanned. There was no longer any need for words.

Andolin's eyes grew heavy. He began to fall asleep.

The slightest hint of a smile broke his lips the second he felt the needlelike pricks of the Greater Unknown pierce his neck. The Life Essence oozed from his mortal body, and Andolin felt the foreign flame of immortality torpedo through his heart and explode over his limbs like the sparkling tail of a comet.

He slept for three weeks in a trancelike state, lying naked upon a smooth stone altar in the center of the Grande Cathedral, a massive cavern twelve stories high and 300 yards across. His chest did not rise, and his skin did not sloth. He was a pale, beautiful statue, sculpted by the great artist's sure hand.

When his eyes opened, he was fully grown and dressed in fine robes.

"My son," the booming voice from the darkest shadows of the caves thundered inside Andolin's skull, "go forth! Fearless and swift as the panther! Bold and brave as the bear! The wolf's heart is yours! The eagle's eyes are yours! The world is yours! Do to it as you please!"