Vision

It was rare for Kain to sleep. But after returning to Nosgoth's present...after Raziel's sacrifice...he'd needed to rest.

He opened the lid on the coffin in his old crypt, lay down and pulled the lid back over it. Then he waited. It wasn't unusual for there to be a few vampire hunters around at this hour. Only when he was certain that he was in no danger did he allow himself the luxury that was sleep.

It may have been rare for Kain to sleep...but it was rarer still for him to dream. And dream he did...

The world seemed to be bathed in a bright, red light. Kain found himself at the Pillars, surrounded by most of what was left of Nosgoth's humans...

Slowly, everything and everyone around him turned to stone. A bright, white light issued forth from the center of the Pillars, revealing a young woman standing in the center, weilding a glaive.

The light was obscuring his view of her, but he could see that she had black hair...

And deep purple eyes.

The sound of howling wind made him turn around. To his horror, he witnessed tornadoes ripping through the area, crumbling everything around him.

Furious, he rushed toward the woman, only to be thrown back into a wall, which disintegrated upon coming into contact with him. She glared at him, as if to say "This is not your concern".

"But it is my concern!" Kain shouted at the young woman standing in the light. He rushed toward her again, and this time, she brought her weapon down...

And the sharp end buried itself in Kain's chest.

Only one thought raced through Kain's mind before his eyes snapped open:

"Do not let the light of destruction awaken!"

Kain awoke, throughly startled by the dream. What...or who was the light of destruction? Was it the young woman? Or the light surrounding her? Or was it perhaps, her weapon?

Whatever it was, Kain figured he'd better find it and destroy it. Perhaps that young woman in his dream, (if you could call it that) would have some sort of insight. Then again, if it turned out that the woman was the light of destruction, he could simply kill her, and solve the problem entirely.

The only other question was...where to find her?

Aran...was not exactly a respected vampire hunter. In fact, he'd been forced to flee from battle with vampires so often that by now the people of the citadel held him in very little esteem. That was fine with Aran, for the most part. He knew that one day, his chance for glory would arise...that one day, he'd show them all that he was more than competent. That he could do his job.

He was patrolling outside the city when he heard what sounded like a child coughing nearby. Puzzled, Aran walked toward the sound.

He was not expecting to discover a child outside the walls of the Citadel, much less a little girl who could not have been more than five. She was hunched over, coughing violently. Aran hurried toward her. As he came closer he became aware of her chin length black hair. No little girl had hair that short...

She fell to her knees, wheezing, as Aran reached her. He knelt and gently touched the girl's shoulder.

"Little girl, are you all right?"

She looked up slowly, fixing her deep, violet eyes on his, and nodded.

"What's your name, little girl?"

"...H...Hotaru."

"Ah. Where are your parents, Hotaru?"

Hotaru looked around for a moment. "I...don't know. I don't know how I got here..."

Aran checked for vampires, then held out his hand to the tiny girl. "Come with me, Hotaru. It will be all right."

"Where are we going?"

"Someplace safer."