Tunnels To The Sun Chapter One In The Beginning There Was No Light CHAPTER ONE: **In the beginning there was no light** "I want to change my world, but first I must change yours" These words were once whispered into the ear of a young man on March 21st, 1811 in Scotland. The man who's breath had sounded them had been acting with the best of intentions for what he believed was the greater good of mankind by snipping the mortal thread of this one man. Noah had killed many times before. It was in his nature. He felt remorse but had no regrets because to kill indiscriminately was the natural order of things in the world he had become accustomed to. But this time was different. He knew everything about Lawrence Lackland; he had followed his every move and scrutinised his every reaction since the morning of January 10th, 1791 when Lawrence had first opened his lungs to the world. He was the one he had been waiting for and the time had come to get a taste of his long awaited prize. It was a long painful death for a Human, but a quick death for a Vampire. When Lawrence finally relinquished his last mortal breath he left behind a 13 month old son and a Young wife both of whom would prove themselves useful, he hoped. Noah had never bestowed the gift that had so enriched his own life upon anybody and so as he stood before the Lackland family crypt with dusk falling around him he nervously awaited� a noise? Was he supposed to awaken his creation or would this disturb the process? Was it possible to prematurely awaken a being before the vampiric process was complete? Sure that he had felt a disturbance in the ground, he moved his ear closer to the tomb door, nothing. He stood up straight uncreased his brow and began the arduous task of forcing open the tomb. It's been a full luna month, he reasoned to himself as he put all of his strength on the shovel that he had embedded into the crack of the door. but all of his reasonings vanished as the entrance opened emitting a dusty plume. His apparatus dropped from his grasp as Noah stood back for a moment listening, feeling, he took a step inside. This was his first time inside a coffin having never had a burial himself, Noah's eyes searched the confine cautiously. There was a resounding stillness, the dust hung in the air like bubbles in ice. As he walked down the few steps he could smell death,old death. This was not what he was looking for. He gazed upon the decomposing flesh that surrounded him and then out of the corner of his eye spotted the figure of a young man curled up with his face against the wall. "Lawrence?" his voice held the accent of a Frenchmen but it was diluted as though he had not spoken in his native tongue for a long time. He cleared his throat despising the quiet, weak, unsure tone in his voice. "Lawrence!" He said more masterfully, Lawrence's ears seemed to prick up like a dogs. There was a long silence while both listened for one another's reaction. "I fear you may be mistaken sir" replied the cowering figure with a voice muffled by the stone wall into which he spoke. "I woke up believing myself to be he, but this is not the the face of Lawrence Lackland that you gaze upon now, nor the ears, nor the hands" "I do not gaze upon any face sir, show me" commanded Noah "I do not dare sir, I do not know the face from which I look at you from, I have felt these walls and can smell the earth at my feet I know this to be a grave sir and if I have been placed within it I fear I may show you the face of a dead man." "Do dead men speak?" asked Noah "No sir" "Do they get up from there resting places and cower against stone walls?" "No sir" "Then perhaps" Noah paused for a moment considering the correct way to phrase his reply; "You are not quite dead" "I have not died?" Lawrence asked "I did not say you have not died, merely that you are not dead" "Cruel spirit, why do you mock me so?" Lawrence asked sadly. Noah felt a hot wave of shame flow over him, he had been enjoying his own clever play on words. "I do not mock you sir" He reassured Lawrence "I am come to claim you" "I am to be yours then?" Lawrence demanded, clinging blindly to the wall as he rose to his feet "Owned like a slave! I am sure that I am not a son of the Lackland family if you believe me to be a slave sir!" "Calm yourself, I am hear to claim you as your guardian not as your owner." Noah could feel his control over the situation slipping, perhaps a peasant would have been easier than the son of a lord. "I do not require guardianship, I am a man, I am the master of a manor, I am�" "You are New! You are reborn!" Interrupted Noah "You are a man only in the world of men, but the world of men is no longer yours. You are a son of Lillith, and to survive in this world you will need to be guided." there was silence. Lawrence slowly turned to face Noah. He was everything that Noah had expected. He had developed the strong defined features that was a race trait of Vampires, his hair was darker and in the remaining light that dusk had not yet taken it shone almost blue, his eyes where wide black and blind "You are blind?" Enquired Noah, Lawrence lowered his head "Yes" "We are all born blind your sight will return soon" Noah promised "perhaps within the hour but for now trust me and I will be your eyes." *** They sat together in silence next to a loch as darkness blanketed the forest that surrounded them. Noah jumped to his feet it seemed that nothing at all had moved and even Noah himself was unsure as to weather he had sensed or seen Lawrence's eyes gain focus. "You look so young" said Lawrence squinting to through his new eyes at the tall, slender man seated beside him. He had sharp, angular handsome features and thick white blond hair which in this light seemed to have a lilac shimmer about it. "I thought you to be older" "I am" said Noah with a smile. Lawrence got to his feet, taking in the alien familiarity of a place that he had once known well. Noah slowly edged backwards and sat down, gazing with intense fascination at Lawrence's every action, allowing him some silence. Lawrence listened to the wind that made the leaves of the trees shudder with anticipation, he watched as the lake played out a thousand ripples, each embellished with their own dancing replica moons which kept an un-timeable rhythm, while the true moon hung low and full in the oil spill of a nights sky. Lawrence turned to Noah with a look of awe, "It all looks exactly the same and yet somehow it is changed" he looked back to the world. "It reflects your nature" said Noah "You too are changed and yet you are and from this moment on always will be the same�. Lawrence?!" Lawrence turned to face his maker once more but it took him every ounce of strength he had to tare his eyes away from the scene which busied his mind. "Sorry, I�" "No," interrupted Noah, "I remember what it was to be lost in the new bliss of an old world" His eyes glazed over as he reminisced about his own rebirth and a slow smile crept onto his beautiful face. "Take in the evening, enjoy all that you are, tomorrow you begin your studies" "Studies?" laughed Lawrence "Studies, from tomorrow and for the next 4 decades" "Have I so much to learn that it will take a life time" Demanded Lawrence indignantly. "When you are my age, a life time will seem like the sun of a winters day. It will be over before we know it. There is so much to learn in such a short time" Lawrence let out a wrestles sigh, "And then?" "And then?" replied Noah "What am I to do once I have learnt all that I must know?" asked Lawrence impatiently. "Then you will no longer need me as a guardian. I will have fulfilled my makers promise and you your debt" Noah explained "And what if I do not wish to live this life or learn it's laws?" Barked Lawrence "I did not choose this" "As you did not choose your previous one, but still you were pushed into it from your mothers womb with only the knowledge to suckle at a breast" snapped Noah "Be thankful, that this life does not make a vulnerable dependant of you!" the volume of his voice and the strength of his words left a deafening silence which echoed over the loch. Lawrence looked around as though assessing his position. "What do I call you?" Asked Lawrence "My name is Noah but you may call me Maker" replied Noah "And what am I to be called, If I am no longer a Lord of a man?" "You are vampire" explained Noah, "And you shall remain Lawrence Lackland of Scotland if you so wish". Lawrence seemed lost in thought, "Are there many like you?" he asked "There are many like us, yes but you will not meet them until you have been schooled in the ways of our kind." answered Noah. There was a long silence. "Maker, May we begin now? I do not wish to loose a day". *** "There are many schools and techniques of teaching a new vampire; Some focus on the hunt and begin with a kill, Some on on the spiritual and religious expects, some Makers focus on History and teach of the bronze laws and the Sumerian Kings and some teach of the science of all that we are." Noah Paused and Lawrence's new heightened intuition told him that it this was for effect. "You will learn about what I value most." They came to a small shack which looked as though it was held up by the weeds that towered around it. They stepped over the worn stone step, the door hung by only one hinge Noah lifted it gently and let himself in without making a sound. Lawrence walked in behind and looked around with disgust. The room had a layout that was reminiscent of a human dwelling but it was more like a nest, each piece of furniture was under occupation of natures invading forces, Vines slinked down from the window through which they had crept. The walls where build from large grey stone; wallpapered with withered ivy and the glistening trails danced out by the snails that nestled themselves into the corners of the window frame. Opposite the door was a large fireplace, in front of it was the a thread bare throw rug laid out on top of a pile of shabbily cut sheep skins flanked by two antique chairs which where routed to the ground by the weeds that sprouted from between the floor boards and stacks of newspapers. Noah made his way to the fireplace, every step he took landed on a well trodden path through the dust and foliage that covered the bare wooden boarded floor interrupted only by the nails which protruded from beneath the thick carpet of filth. Lawrence followed gingerly scuffing at the dust on the boarders of Noah's path. Noah settled himself on the Larger of the two chairs and after a moment signalled to Lawrence that he should sit in the other, Lawrence did so reluctantly; "When I was reborn, it was under very different circumstances" Noah began, "I have chosen you because of your breeding, intelligence and beauty. I have witnessed your history unfold from before you were conceived. I was happened upon. My Maker knew nothing of me, he found me blooded and half dead after the battle of Ivry�" "I apologies I do not mean to interrupt but you surely do not mean The battle of Ivry? Ivry, france?" Lawrence paused for a moment thinking hard, "I do not claim to quite be myself at present but I am sure that battle was fought in the 16th century" "March 14th 1590" Stated Noah, his serious expression was replaced by an amused smile at the look of confusion on Lawrence's face "I was almost twenty two, but I remember very little of me life, it was all so very long ago I do not recall which side I fought for or what it was I was willing to lay down my life in the name of my clearest memory of that life is feeling the frost of death ascending my spine. I remember thinking that I was done for when a finely dressed gentlemen strolled onto the battle field. In my mind I remember him being animalism, sniffing at the dead like a dog but from what I learnt of Christopher I know now that this was a false memory. I didn't want him to see me, I know many in my position would have called out for an honourable death but I saw no honour in pleading for dignity. I lay still watching the clouds roll over me I thought that my silence would fool him into believing that I was just another corps but of corse he found me. We looked at one another for a while and then there was a noise behind him. One of my fellow fallen soldiers was crying out for the astounding stranger. Christopher looked around to see the sauce of the noise, looked back to me and then moved away in the direction of the pathetic strangled cries. I may have fainted or maybe my memory simply fails me but I woke up in a small clearing. The branches of the trees had been woven together up into a thatched dome above me and every twig of the bushes and weeds that were entwined into messy arrangements. Beside me I could hear the sobs and whimpers of another, I recognised his voice to be that which I had heard in the field. I could not decipher if he was friend or foe and decided that I would not alert him to my consciousness. I would wait until he fell to sleep and then I would investigate my surroundings if I lived that long. My fellow surviver cried late into the night, he wept for his mother, his wife, his sisters and was woeful that his only company in what he believed to be purgatory was a corps, me. After hours of stillness Christopher returned he had food, water and medical supplies. The man beside my sobbed his gratitude as his wounds were dressed, I broke my stillness and turned to face the them hoping that I may part-take. I could feel that my injuries were grave with every breath I took, my fellow fallen soldier panicked at my awakening, wailing accusations that I was the walking dead. Christopher merely glanced up and said 'pas encore' and continued to dress the mans injuries. He gave me no food and left my wounds to fester. I wished for death but refused to request it out of pride perhaps or maybe some hope remained that I would regain my strength. The death became more violent before it took me and then I was new again. Christopher had had the other man dig me a grave and I could hear him clawing at the earth. Lost in the blindness I did not move until Christopher came to me. He knelt down and called out that he would say a prey, his french was flawed like that of a child. He spoke of the great beauty and power that this new life would give me. My eyes where flooded with the world nut the frost clear image was his smile. He raised his voice and helped me up as he finished the prey he had never began 'Dans l'espoir certain de la resurrection'. The grave digger said amen and turned to see his saviour stood with the dead man who's grave lay open behind him. Our kind is nothing if not theatrical, as his hot blood ran through my cold veins I understood what it was to truly be alive." Lawrence sat with a look of horror on his face; "You," he swallowed "feasted on him" "In a matter of speaking yes" answered Noah "We, you and I are natural predators. We are carnivores and man is our prey" "Monstrous! Why?" Demanded Lawrence, his body language screamed his discomfort. "The reasons are various�" "Explain them!" interrupted Lawrence. "We do it because it is easiest, it is stimulating and it is logical, now please may I continue" said Noah with strained patience, there was a pregnant silence "Can you not feast on Animals?" "Vampires do not make for good farmers. We are selfish, free and forgetful being tied to the land is no way to live out a thousand and one lifetimes, tending to unthinking beasts which taste foul after the sweet blood of an Adam or an Eve has past your lips." bellowed Noah, "Do not judge least you yourself wish to be" "I have never killed a man, nor feasted on his flesh" "Nor hunted a beast or killed a chicken?" asked Noah "They are animals, even saints do dine on beasts" replied Lawrence. "We are animal, man is animal. Man feasts on his roast carcasses, making civil your kill by naming it meat." raged Noah, "Man justifies taking it's life because of his supremacy over his prey, like the Hawk to a sparrow or the Adder to the mouse. The same is true for us and him and you will learn that often man will offer himself up for death in a way no animal ever would." Lawrence looked down in silent thought and then replied; "It is a Devine right presented to man by God that he will rain supreme over beast�" "Please!" shouted Noah, silence fell and the white haired Vampire calmed himself before breaking it again "I thought much the same as you. I believed that Christopher was cruel for keeping the man and using him in such a manor. I thought it inhuman to save him so that he may be my first meal. but when I put my argument to him he claimed that he had taken inspiration from the shepherds." Lawrence scoffed "People are not mindless beasts, That poor soldier served him out of gratitude had he known�" "If a Ewe knew the fait that awaited her lamb would she nurse it? If the lamb knew that the shepherd would one day sell off it's meat would he follow?" asked Noah, he continued and answered his own question. "It would have no choice and from the moment Christopher had discovered him neither did the soldier but Christopher had a choice. From the soldier he took language as the shepherd takes the fleece, he kept him healthy so that I could be cared for in the same way that the shepherd feeds the Ewe so that she may feed her lamb and finally he offered him up so that his child may feast. He tried not to be cruel for cruelty, in his mind served no purpose and that is what I learnt from my Creator; Though I end life I must always respect it" "I understand." said Lawrence slowly "But do you feel no feeling?" "It is the nature of things to hold sympathy to the creature fro whom life is snatched but it is unavoidable lest yours be snatched in it's place" Noah looked down "I feel guilt that I was chosen and not he, for I often think of how easily this life could have been his. I have pondered how that death would have been for over 200 years but it could have been worse for the man who would have been me and I am thankful everyday that the man never knew the tragic irony of the grave he dug.
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