Our origins.

Sunlight poured into the temple's courtyard in rays, streaming through a canopy of trees that grew within. Water whispered soothingly as it streamed down an artificial waterfall fed from the sacred baths. Each morning, hundreds of priests and servants of the church carried water by the bucketful from the rivers edge to the storage tanks at the summit of the small hill the city had been built upon.

Carvon marvelled at the serenity of the place. He spoke a prayer to the Earth Mother for the fortune his city and people had been bestowed. He revered her for the insight she imparted upon the scholars and leaders to create such marvels as running water, excess tax so that even the unfortunate could eat in comfort during slower harvests. He thanked her for this and many other things. He didn't, however, offer any thanks for the peace that was life in Hrap-Uth, a city in the Harrappan Empire.

It wasn't that High Priest Carvon desired violence, he had just known nothing other than peace. His city, as well as the others under Harrappan control, held no army, no weapons, nor had they ever. Harrappans enjoyed what few in history ever had, or ever would in the countless years to come. The paradise detailed in the Bible, the works Jesus, born 3,000 years later, proclaimed, might have even been found wanting compared to this courtyard.

Carvon couldn't have been more happy with his life, either. He lived lavishly, the second most powerful person in the city legally, but the most powerful in reality. He chuckled privately at that: City Lord Torvin bristled at Carvon and opposed him at every opportunity, but Carvon was the 'voice of the divine' and no mortal could refute the will of the gods, fabricated or not. His wife, the most beautiful woman in the city made a great trophy. She did well to act with manners in public, and when she argued privately...well, it only took a few slaps to get her calmed down.

The High Priest straightened his robes, murmered a traditional prayer for the other priests to hear, and made his way to the Office of the State. The gods had plans in store for Hrap-Uth, plans that Carvon would see done. Plans that would benefit the High Priest even more.

~:-:~

Torvin Kento sat in a chair in the center of a large room. As a sign of position, the chair was high-backed and elevated and the room was far too large and foreboding for Torvin's tastes. However, he bared through the formalities of his position only so that he may better his city. However, that was becoming harder and harder these days. The High Priest had recently been using his position as advisor too liberally and was even encroaching on Torvin's jurisdiction. Unfortunately, there was little Torvin could do. What the church said was difficult to argue. For the church was the voice of the gods on earth.

Torvin dreaded his day. He knew that Carvon would be in today making new, more outrageous demands, in the name of the Earth Mother. It sickened the City Lord. When he heard the echoing steps approaching, he let out a sigh, and tried to hide his resentment. He couldn't, however, hide his shock or concern. The steps belonged not to Carvon, but to his beautiful wife Tovia. Beautiful, mistreated wife. Tears streamed down he cheeks and sobs wracked her petite body. Torvin had always been a close friend to her, and secretly he had always loved her as well.

"What troubles you, Tovia?!" he let his concern obvious with his tone.

She stammered, "He has gone too far! He turns his back on the church, his friends, and his morals. You must stop him!"

He knew she spoke of her husband, and he knew the delicate nature of the situation. Taking a breath he replied, "What do you mean exactly?"

"He worships a foreigner's god, a dark god, in secret. He has betrayed his love for our way of life. He does this and still pays homage and leads our people in prayer. He does this and manipulates the system using his position. He isn't the man I married. He isn't like you! I don't love him anymore, and I need you. I need your help, and your support. I need your love."

The City Lord had dealt with a lot of difficult situations in the past. Foreign trade disputes, economic recessions, massive expansion projects. He was the most capable man for the position he held precisely for the reason that no situation surprised him, everything was within control. But now, his legs felt weak and his hands shook. Oh, he knew how to deal with the High Priest, but this woman standing before him. How was he supposed to deal with her?

He managed to finally say, "Of course, my dear. Gather your things, you need to leave quickly. He will know and we cannot let him hurt you any more."

~:-:~

High Priest Carvon burst into the chamber and walked briskly towards Torvin. He spared little more then a glance at the others in attendance, mostly aides and foreign dignitaries. He stopped less then ten paces from the Chair of Office where Torvin sat. He cleared his throat, demanding the administrators attention. Torvin refused to look up from what he was doing. He simply stated, "One moment, if you will."

Carvon reacted at that. His face turned bright red and sweat formed at his brow as he shouted at the City Lord.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he started, "You do realize who you are speaking with, don't you Torvin? I could.."

Torvin raised his hand, interrupting the angry priest, "You will address me as City Lord, please. Now, like I said, one moment, please." He didn't even look up from what he was reading. The High Priest was furious now. Who does this man think he is? Telling him how to act. He was the voice of the divine. He was the High Priest!

The City Lord looked up from what he was reading, his eyes were steady, wellsprings of intensity that seemed to bore into Carvon's soul.

"High Priest Carvon, evidence has been brought against you that I cannot ignore. Your manipulation of the state has gone unabated, and I have sat here, unable to do anything. This fact makes me bitter."

Carvon opened his mouth to argue but was silenced with a glare.

"However, your transgressions against me and my aims for a better life are the least of your crimes. Your twisting of the church, your lies to all the faithful cannot go unpunished! Henceforth you will be stripped of any rank in the clergy and you will be exiled from these lands, gather your things and be gone by tomorrow's sunrise, or face more dire punishment."

The City Lord sighed and he look physically stronger. It was as though a burden had been lifted from him. Carvon, on the other hand, looked ill. Color drained from his face and sweat poured from his brow. He stood there, glaring hatred. Yet, somehow, he knew he could strike at Torvin. He knew of the man's love for his wife, and as such, he would gain some small victory, he would win in the end.

Soberly, "I will be gone by morning, and the city will never see me or my wife, again."

The administrator looked up at this, "You are no longer married, I signed your wife's divorce papers this morning. I am sorry." He seemed genuinely sorry, though Carvon doubted it true. Inside, he must have been gloating. Carvon would have his revenge.

~:-:~

Torvin watched the man leave. Although he was glad to be rid of such a corruption, he couldn't help but feel bad for what he had done. He had stripped that man of everything he held dear; his title, his estate, and his prized wife.

~:-:~

As time passed life began to return to normality for those in Hrap-Uth. A new high priest was selected and lead the clergy well. Harvests were strong, leaving the city granaries full from taxes, people were happy and life was good.

Tovia and the City Lord married and eventually had children, a young daughter named Via and a son, Zodus.

Life for Carvon, however, wasn't nearly so easy or pleasant. Whereas he could have been grateful to be living, he instead blamed Torvin for his misery. For a few years he travelled the lands as a beggar, eventually coming upon a merchant caravan. He offered his services as a scribe in return for pay and no questions.

The caravan travelled the civilized world, stopping in Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and others. Carvon, eager to learn about his new world began training with weapons, something no person in Hrap-Uth had ever done. He also learned about others religions and, upon finding a small, hedonistic and mystical cult in Egypt worshipping Sekmut.

All the while, the hatred for Torvin and Tovia grew and festered and Carvon's health began to fail, for without love and happiness, the body begins to wither. It soon became obvious that Carvon would die soon; every doctor Carvon sought help from offered no cure for his affliction. Many claimed his spirit had retreated from his body, leaving only his body and mind. He was told that without his spirit, little could be done.

But his hatred fueled him.

~:-:~

The former High Priest of Hrap-Uth was dying. His small shack on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt was rank with the smell of death. His body, malnourished and frail, lay sprawled across a flea infested cot. A small candle provided the only light in the cluttered room. Heavy blankets covered the single window and door, keeping the scorching sun's rays from entering. It was hot, stuffy and oppressive. Carvon had helped many pass from one life to the next, when he still held spiritual office, and knew well enough he had only a few hours remaining.

And though his body lay still, his breathing shallow and slow, and his eyes closed, he was not asleep. In the confines of his mind a storm of thoughts roiled. He yearned for the freedom and peace of death more then anything but feared its finality. In dying, he knew his failures in life would be complete. He would have no chance to get his revenge. The revenge they deserved.

Slowly, but steadily, his anger and hatred began to well inside the dying man. They gave him purpose, direction, and an unnatural insight. He knew he could live through this ailment. Through an odd mixture of spiritual rituals, prayers, and no small amount of sacrifice, he could live to get his revenge.

And so, his body, minutes before destined to never move again, began to lift from its unrealized final resting place. In that moment, Carvon defied nature, the gods, and the entire life and death cycle. In that moment, Carvon, before even completing the rituals that would transform him into something both greater and lesser then a human, became something different entirely.

On that fateful night, mysterious happenings occurred throughout Egypt. Red lightening was reported to strike in several places across the desert. The next day, when the strikes were investigated large, fist sized, blood red rubies were found. Every person who possessed such a gem reported ill-fortune for a year and a day after acquiring the stone.

In other places, vermin of all types swarmed from their lairs. Domesticated animals attacked their owners with a feral urgency before killing themselves.

But, most frightening of all was what happened in a small shantytown outside Cairo. Screams and wails of demons haunted the streets. Many residents were so frightened they went mad, evermore claiming the devil had come to them in their sleep proclaiming the doom of mankind. Still worse, countless families never lived to see the mornings light. Their necks, wrists, and hearts were ravaged by some otherworld creature. Blood covered their bodies and sprayed the walls of their small homes. Children seemed to suffer the most, their bodies mutilated beyond recognition, many decapitated.

~:-:~

Carvon, the High Priest, was now fully destroyed. In his place was an aberration of humanity. True, he held the memories of the man, and it was these memories that kindled his hatred. It was something else entirely that sustained his body.

In exchange for an immortal un life, Carvon lost what it was to be man. He now was doomed to feed on those he once called his brethren. His rituals and mystic incantations gave him heightened senses, strength and speed but also cursed him, banishing him from the realm of the light, both spiritually and physically. Both spiritually charged totems and sunlight burned and scarred him, as punishment to remind him what he had become.

He hadn't known fully what he had unleashed upon the world. A plague of epic proportions. Something that would be legend and terrible myth for centuries to come. He also hadn't fully understood, or predict the details of his change. He doomed himself to several weaknesses, some of which wouldn't be discovered until centuries later.

Carvon, for all his misdeeds and faults, was not stupid however, and he knew the hell he was banishing himself too, as such, as part of his sacrifices and rituals, he put a condition in that would end his affliction. If he managed to kill every last descendants of Torvin and his former wife, Tovia, he could rest eternally, in peace.

Fate had something else in mind for the doomed soul.

~:-:~

He began his trek from the rich Nile delta across seas and deserts over several years. His passing was always marked with death and misfortune, almost as if he were the unwitting harbinger of doom. Famine or disease would flourish where he rested during the blinding days. Wars and unrestrained violence would precede him.

Legend and terror reached the peaceful lands of the Harappan Empire and word soon spread to Torvin. An unnatural fear overtook Tovia and at first Torvin ignored it, excusing it as irrational behavior. But as stories of a dark man stalking streets in the night began making a line leading almost directly to Hrap-Uth, the man was wise enough to take precautions for his family.

Concerned, the City Lord sought his most trusted religious advisors and sought divine wisdom, placing the lives of his children in the hands of the Earth Mother. After several days of meditation and prayer they came to him with their prophecy, and a dark one it was.

"Your family is to be destroyed completely or the world be doomed. Perish you will at the hands of someone closely linked with your destiny. Your deaths will be gruesome and painful. Your wife and children will die before your eyes, ravaged and tortured. Your death will not come easy.

There is only one alternative, send your youngest child away and he will live, do not tell anyone of this and hide his disappearance with another child in his place. He will not know of you or his mother but will survive and carry on your lineage. His life will be long and he will die of natural causes peacefully. But do so at the peril of mankind."

And so, the fate of humanity was sealed because a man loved his son.

~:-:~

Carvon relished his new power, relished the hunger. The demon residing in his body relished the death and destruction more than anything however. And through all his travels, for all those he had slain and feasted upon, his most desired mark, the object of his hatred would die tonight.

He stood wrapped in shadows, so undetectable that passerby's would walk within a handspan of him and not even notice his presence. He peered from the alley in which he hid and eyes the large manor across the street and to the right two buildings. The house was big, but nowhere near the size the leader of the city could have afforded.

Carvon growled.

He had always hated Torvin's generosity and compassion. It had made Carvon look to be spiteful and greedy. The man would die painfully for that; he would watch his family tortured before his end, however, for many other reasons.

Embracing the dark power that resided now in his muscles, Carvon's bones began to break and reform, his organs rearranged and his outward appearance altered drastically. To anyone else, he looked as a streetrat, common place in any large city, even one so well kept and clean as Hrap-Uth.

He skittered across the street shaking off the lingering pains of his transformation and made his way under the only entrance to the home of Torvin Kento and his beautiful wife Tovia. Homes in Hrap-Uth like much of the rest of Harrappan culture had only one plain entrance to the home and no windows facing the street. However, all the rooms faced inwards towards a centralized courtyard. Though such architectual design was intended for privacy and appreciation of ones' own things, as oppossed to looking out upon your neighbor's; it resulted in surprisingly secure homes. However, Carvon's lithe frame slid easily under the heavy wooden door to the home.

~:-:~

(And the killing begins...)