t was just
past twilight when I came down to the docks to check on the arrival of certain
rare components for rituals such as I performed in those days. I sought for
the dock I had been told would bear the ship hailing from the Moorish lands,
but instead received another surprise. The sudden passing of a face I knew
very well startled me from my search, for it was obviously the youth, now
much older, who once attended my ancient friend, Altair. I called out as loudly
as I dared, for such as I have always valued our privacy.
"Ah, Juan, you look well as always," he greeted me, seeming at once friendly, yet worried by my presence. It was then that I noticed the once young retainer seemed both strangely happy and sad.
"Can we speak somewhere quiet," I begged of this servant of my old friend. "It would please me greatly if you could attend me in meeting once again with your esteemed master."
He agreed somewhat hesitantly and it was not long before he had led me to the current den of his lord. I greeted my ancient friend Altair quite warmly as I came into the shadowy room where he lay upon a bed though it was dark of eve just now. I was astounded to see him horribly pale, and decrepit, apparently even near unto death. Upon my inquiry as to how this could happen he swore me to secrecy, as I must swear you, and told me the tale of the Fountain of Youth.
Well, of course, Altair was a successful alchemist such as I was in those days. It was thus that I was startled to see him so deep in the winter of life for I knew he had the secret of the longevity potion even as I had. Over the course of the eve, Altair told me a fabulous tale about the new world which lay across the waters, and the Fountain which would keep mortals young. He claimed that it would end the incessant search for formulae that we endured to ensure that our alchemic youth lasted. He declared that it would end the threat we faced that our longevity drugs would be fail. Moreover, he said that this was knowledge known to certain Egyptian lost texts and that it was this very knowledge which had brought about his death. I was still bound by my personal beliefs and did not take his tale seriously, believing that somehow he was simply the delusional victim of his own faulty chemistry.
It was only the next eve, after I spent a time pondering some of my new tomes from the Moorish lands, that I saw the truth that he must be passing on to me. I hurried through the streets to reach Altair's house, but it was too late. The dark fear that had come upon me even as I realized the truth of his words had come true. Altair lay dead. I raged against his servant for not coming to find me, and he cried out that he had stayed to keep them away. He sobbed that he had not even seen the monsters come. I looked upon Altair and saw the peaceful smile gracing his lips contrasting with the desparate frozen struggle that clothed his every limb as he lay there in his deathbed. I wept, not only for Altair's passing, but for my own foolishness. How could I find Altair's hope, when I had not listened to his call for help? And had he simply attracted a hungry vampire, or had they silenced him as he claimed.
atre, she has
come. The last of them slid out of the mud into the beautiful warm sunlight
that graced that day and turned to watch the Great Matre tell her tale. She
in turn gazed out upon her children and her children's children arrayed about
her, sitting on the ancient stones of the ruined city their ancestors had
built. "I dreamed last night, that I might bring this tale to you as fresh
as the day it happened, for we were there as surely as Enuae was there. He
saw the coming of the Serpent and I dreamed his seeing, and I am here to tell
you, my children, of our dreams. Yes, our dreams, for one day you too can
walk with Enuae and Remember why the Mokole must keep this place."
One day, millenia ago, I rested where the rivers run into the sea, having travelled far from my home to gaze once more across the great waters which keep us from our ancient home. As night fell upon the land and the sea, a strange sight known only to me in my dreams came out of the darkness. A mighty boat woven only of reeds came to rest on the shore and three men came ashore. One seemed wondrous and mighty, but the others seemed slavish and sickly. I watched them come across the land and head into the night leaving their boat behind. Then I crept aboard their boat, wanting to see for myself the craft of our ancient land. What I found there frightened me, for nought but corpses lay all about the boat, and I fled away to tell the People of Dragon.
All through the next day we scoured the lands seeking the trio, but all we could find were trails of their presence, trails of death and fear. I am sorry, I am letting the dreams of others enter my tale, let me continue with Enuae. Enuae came near to where we are late one day, as the sun slipped into twilight, and he felt the desire to rest from his travels. Perhaps Dragon led him to do so, perhaps it was just luck, perhaps he knew of the shaman of the Glade who stayed here and claimed to talk to Dragon, even Enuae isn't really sure.
Anyway, I saw the wondrous one and his two slaves come out of the darkness and pass him by heading for the Glade, and I crept along behind them. But, then, I was horrified to see the great one call out the shaman and tear him apart even as the shaman just stood there staring into his golden eyes, so horrified that I found I could do naught but watch, and even to this day he feels shame as I remember the two slaves becoming serpents and sinking poisonous fangs deep into the shaman even as their master drank his blood.
Then the Serpent Revealed called out to the spirit of the Glade, and Enuae's heart leapt for joy as he saw the spirit reveal itself and it was Dragon. The Serpent seemed fearful and his slaves cowered in abject terror at the might of Dragon. The Serpent called Dragon 'Ra', though, even as the ancient god of Egypt, and he declared that he had come to do battle with Ra in the West, that Ra would know the power of the God of Night, and that henceforth Ra would fear to show his face even in the day and the Serpent's children would rule the Earth. I felt as though the Serpent had either gone mad or that Dragon felt the Serpent was unworthy to witness his true form.
The Serpent struck out at Dragon and they fought mightily, rocking the very earth, and I was so terrified I could not move, while the two children of the Serpent fled in fear. Finally, in a venomous blow the Serpent wounded Dragon terribly, and Dragon seemed to sink down for a moment. But Dragon leapt up and tore out the heart of the Serpent and cast it into the fount of blood which ran from his own wound, and the Serpent fell, forced to crawl away upon his belly.
I ran to help Dragon, even as he began to fade away, but not before he spoke to me. "I go to sleep until the Serpent comes once again, for I am wounded greatly by him, but his heart lies in my blood, and that will be his undoing, for my blood is of the power of life and the Serpent is of the power of death. Keep this place from his children and my blood shall replenish the lands."
As he faded I saw that his blood had become the purest of waters and I rejoiced for I knew Dragon lay in his Lair resting in preparation for the Serpent's return. Our lands would continue to be in his care. I carried word to all of the Children of Dragon that the children of the Serpent would come to steal the Heart of the Wyrm some day, and that we must defend the Wound of Dragon against that day.
ebirth.
This is a chronicle about the search for Rebirth. The elusive struggle of
the kindred who seek out the regaining of their Humanity has long been eclipsed
by the not quite as rare seeker of Golconda. One who seeks Golconda still
seeks to maintain the power they possess as a Kindred, yet to be able to control
it's raging Beast by balancing it with their remaining humanity. Yet, the
seeker of Rebirth truly desires to be mortal once again. She seeks to be able
to grow old, to feel normal emotions, to be able to bear children, and grandchildren.
He knows that he has killed or come close to killing others many times and
wants peace from such actions, peace with himself, and peace with the world.
This is not an easy path. To regain one's humanity, one must remember what it felt like to be human. She must resist the temptations of the power the embrace has given unto her. He must fight the urge to feed at every turn. And he must still face the depredations of his newfound brethren, who are after all a society of predators. Her path is plagued with pitfalls from within her own soul and from outside evils.
Juan Ponce De Leon learned that the Fountain of Youth lay in the New World, and he longed to be immortal. The old alchemist sorrowed that he had not listened to his friend at first when told of the Fountain and had failed to learn its secret locale exactly. The driving need to feel young once again brought him across the world far from his home in Spain, far from the comforts of known places, numerous libraries and laboratories. His search came nearly to fruition when he discovered the Fountain only to be forced from it by the Mokole. Wounded, he retired to Cuba to heal, only to fall prey to the very thing he sought, immortality. For Ponce De Leon was embraced, and the pages of history recorded his death. Now he seeks to regain access to the Fountain in a desparate attempt to become human once again. For that is the secret he has pieced together after all these years.
Disaster struck when Juan found the child of Set who had been left behind. Petanki came with his Lord Set to the Lands of the Dying Sun following promises of power in a new realm. He was abandoned when his Lord fled back to Egypt taking only his other slave and a poor crew of entranced natives for sustenance. The peoples of the new land worshipped him when forced, but he soon learned that the garou Croatan would slay him if he revealed himself too openly, and the Mokole brooked no interference by his kind either. Petanki brooded, and waited, tragically unable to return home for he knew not how to build the fabulous reed boats of his people. Finally, one day the people of the East came, and Petanki woke to rule them. He fought the mighty Juan and was driven into torpor as the morning light began to dull his mind while the flame of Humanitas let Juan continue onward. The serpent only slept, though, and even now the shadows move with his venomous plots, his hatred for de Leon boundless. Though few even know of Petanki, the Prince of Miami owes much to him, for without the Setites the Sabbat would swagger the streets as lords.
I hope that this introduction to the Heart of Darkness has your interest. Foray will be publishing pieces of the Heart of Darkness chronicle for Miami's World of Darkness in future issues. Watch for them!
Written by Conrad Hubbard.
The Heart of Darkness chronicle ideas have been developed in conjunction with Chris Renfroe.
References to products created by White Wolf or other
companies are not challenges to their copyrights
