Cathedral of Crimson Nightmares (Izaya)

A cold night of autumn announced the unwelcoming presence of Halloween, this would the Izaya's fifth year in the Cathedral and now he was well aware of the seriousness of that date. The last four, each of them, has been a true nightmare, from other supernaturals invading the Cathedral looking to vandalize the building to even strange manifestations from other planes trying to reach this realm of existence.

Wraith were the last to worry about in this Cathedral since the legion of dead saints buried in it's catacombs were always present and alert, most dressed like old nights and priests of the catholic church, one even claiming to be an old Inquisitor of the holy Church of Jesus Christ. These souls of the dead also have some sort of alliance with the surrounding Wraiths in this territory, making this sacred ground a sort of Sanctum for the damn as well, including kindreds looking for salvation.

The real problem were Spectres, something Izaya wasn't really aware of until his arrival to this Church, a soul of the dead that has abandoned all seeming of humanity, devoured by it's sins to become a tool of The Abyss through the darkest parts of their souls as strings attached to their dark masters, the most powerful Shades known to humanity: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

After them other supernatural pranksters used this crazy night to crash the Cathedral with their tricks, last year an unknown mage twisted all doors and gates, scrambling the natural order to enter the room you intended, simply ending walking on the roof like the gravity had inverted or elsewhere in the City, as it happened to Francis, one of the frays that lives here in the Cathedral devoted to take care of it.

The announcements of great Halloween parties next week were all over the media, even in his favorite pirate broadcasting by Mad-Wolf the Cryptologist these was a topic in each show and program due to the proximity of Y2K and other superstitions that seemed to pile up as days and nights went gone.

Father Darius Montgomery Levine was born in Switzerland 1654, later Embraced after his 31st birthday by a member a religious leader of Clan LaSombra Martin Luther Black in charge of The Black Monastery of Hospice of St. Bernard near Geneva, were he spent many years under the guidance of Master Frazier's first apprentice and Grandchild of Saulot, Founder of the Black Temple and creator of the Path of the Honorable Accord back in the 1400s.

After spending most of his unlife serving the Sabbat in America at the service of Francisco Domingo de Polonia as Archbishop of New York City since the 1950s. When Calebros and Bright attempted to overthrown the Sabbat they found a powerful ally in Darius former Templar at the service of Polonia, who disgusted by the Archbishop cruelty and misdoings decided to betray him in exchange for a peaceful existence in this prison like Cathedral until he could finally find atonement for his Sins and dishonorable behavior.

Like many deserters Darius is hunted by the Sabbat and each year during Halloween is traditional to have an assassination attempt against him but now that Izaya was here, the last four years were a clear warning of the threat against his 'life'.

Nicolai Kosmogorov was one of Montgomery's disciples, also a Lasombra, Childe of a vampire unknown to most but in confidence Izaya heard Nicolai speak about Magnus as Sire, later he learned about him, an elder active in Byzantium and later Constantinople, who gathered influence over the ecclesiastic branch of the Orthodox Church. Magnus betrayed his sire and sided against the Triumvirate that came to rule the city becoming part of the House of Montano, Childer of LaSombra itself that fled to Russia after the Anarch Revolt. Many years during the later Magnus and his childer Nicolai became part of the Victory Corps, a company of assassins and spies at the service of the Mother Church.

During the Bolshevik Revolution Magnus became an enemy of the Church siding with Communists against the Mother Church causing countless death and destruction of temples and holy books across the rising USSR. Montano was then attacked by Magnus in the catacombs of the Red Cathedral in Moscow where he lies in Torpor, looking to diablerize the Elder and secure his position as religious leader in the Soviet Union but his Tomb was empty except of a powerful voidling that defended the Temple forcing the attackers to flee in terror.

Defeated and dishonored Magnus and his Chider fled from Russia and Nicolai ashamed for betraying his Clan and his beliefs lost almost all his Humanity and informed Narses of Magnus return to Europe provoking a raid against his Sire drove by a powerful revelation that it was God's will due to his heretic betrayal. Nicolai became then Antitribu and joined the Camarilla, eventually reaching America where he met Francisco de Polonia and Luis Moncada's Childe: Lucita serving as a double agent to help the Camarilla infiltrate the Sabbat, there an old Templar, Darius Levine took Nicolai under his wing and comforted him in a very deep spiritual level.

Nicolai took the robe and swore to protect the Orthodox Russian Church along with Darius sharing his captivity.

Nicolai and Darius were very similar in many aspects, although their origins were so different. One thing they shared was their love for Chess, they could play for days and may be weeks, while enjoying a good chat about their past lives and amazing stories, that Izaya would always love to hear.

At the beginning of their time together Izaya was not bothered except when one of the Elders went outside and asked for his company, may be just to Hunt or check the City Block around. Also during special season events to reinforce the Sacred Ground of the Church Izaya was summoned to partake in some of the rituals but other than that he was left alone with his own thoughts and allowed to hear every conversation without any secrecy.

Darius was indeed an honorable man, his stories of chivalry and righteousness during the last millennia seemed endless, some he read, others he heard from his Sire and Mentor, the rest he shared from his own experience of almost 400 years old as a vampire. He also shared some of the Lasombra most notorious names like Lucita and Francisco de Polonia, very important figures in New York City's past.

Nicolai on the other hand lived dishonor very intensely, his life was one betrayal after the other, a mockery of Oath and Honors for a Cause that only he believed in. Still he found his redemption, knowning that Honor was indeed the true Path.

Almost without noticing their ideas started to get into Izaya's head, day after day, night after night, Izaya felt he could reflect more and more into the two Lasombra's sense of Honor, giving him some sense of absolution and atonement through it. He learned the shame he felt about him had only one cure, redeem himself and became honorable again.

Nicolai unlike Darius seemed almost human, he was closer to a sense of honor that Izaya could recognize still both had the same moral foundations but some how Darius ways seemed very alien to the young Gangrel.

The main difference right at the core of the issue was told in a conversation between them two, when although Nicolai respected very much Darius allowed himself to differ from his perspective, always respectfully.
"To me" said Nicolai "Honor is a Virtue" while Darius replied in a soft tone.
"A man can posses a virtue or not, it can be taken, it can be twisted... Instead I've become Honor so there's nothing to be taken away from me."

One of the many stories that Nicolai would share with Izaya were about the dreadful Tzimisce, specially the Volvoids the Patriarchs of their kind, and about a cult name the Koldunism to which some become so devoted they become one with their believes in a very literal way. These monsters, as he often called them, were the most dangerous among Kindred due to a disease called Viscisitude, one that infected even the Toreador Primogen Victoria Ash, allowing them to twist the flesh and bones of those unlucky enough to fall into their hands.

A disease that would twist anyone an ill kindred would give his blood to, with enough time and blood any creature would end up turned into a monster. Upon realization that he was indeed twisted by a Tzimisce this explained why Hercules was the way he was, torn and defiled by the Viscisitude in his Blood but then Nicolai revealed the true meaning of his lesson to Izaya: "...even monsters are worthy of our Love dear Izaya. Bear this burden, your deformity, as Hercules does... let him be your example... does he hates what he is? does he hates you?

He love you as much as any other of the stray dogs you take care of, because you're their leader, their protector...

One can learn about True Honor in their example..."

Not all kindreds in the Cathedral were equal among kindreds. Two were confined in it's interior, punished to stay in enclosed coffins for a hundred years, buried 'alive', impaled through their mouths and fed with one drop of blood drifting down the steel spear that prevent them from entering into Torpor.


From time to time Izaya could hear their mourning and crying in the silence of the catacombs. Their unresting place was in the center of the catacomb underneath an iron disk that only let the tip of the blood stained spear for feeding them daily animal blood, usually pig.

These two were Tzimisce, captured by Prince Bright and sentenced to lay here due to their practice of Koldunism and adoration of the Demon Kupala in New York domain. Nicolai explained that to some, specially among Wraiths this punishment was considered too mild, that a hundred years were not enough, others like him instead thought of this to be cruelty that would only create more hate and dark faith in their Demon Lord.

Still the Priests obeyed the Prince's orders but for the last five years the dark presence of Kupala had grown making these tortured souls strong enough to be awaken, mourning and crying in their misery.

Another two kindreds inhabited the large structure of the Cathedral, a woman named Franceska gypsy origin and Kyasid by Clan had dedicated her unlife to mingle with the Malkavian in order to build the greatest library in the City, eventually at least but that's her vision. Always seeking wisdom between pieces of dead wood, Nicolai had said.

The second mysterious kindred was another Priest, a Fray called Garinol Keeper and ruler over the Wraiths that dwell this premises, always secluded, quiet and mysterious. Only once Izaya had met him when walking in the lowest part of the Cathedral where only ghosts fill those chambers. That time Garinol was grieving the lost of his beloved one, a kindred now turned into Wraith named Serena both committed to some sort of reckoning against the Graverobbers.

The season clock move forward and the Halloween got closer everyone in the old cathedral started to become more upset and irritable, even the Wraiths were stalking the catacombs more than dwelling as usual, at some point Hercules got attacked by one, leaving a claw mark on his back with black strands of black blood behind.

Nicolai and Darius started to secure the premises, double check locks and prepare their weapons for the upcoming riot that always followed the night of the dead. Outside on the streets during the days previous to the celebration everyone was running for the last minute preparations and final details, excited with numerous offers and special products allegoric to Halloween.

During the Halloween night Izaya could see from the top of one of the Cathedral towers the parades and other customary extravaganza that were going down the streets: colorful and very interesting to watch, specially from a safe distance. The night sky had an strange glow to it, the air was electrified and the mystical energy of the moment was starting to grow more and more, as the hours advanced toward midnight.

It was probably the hundredth time that Izaya went to that rooftop, watching everyone from the distance while enjoying the solitude of the bell tower when suddenly he realized the presence of an statue, new one? except this one had green glowing eyes and the unsettling tendency to move it's head left and right also vigilant of the surroundings.


Over the years Izaya heard of Gargoyles, at some point he was able to see one of flight as a black contrast against the glowing smog of the city but never this close. According to Darius they were always there present but unseen, showing to no one unless there was a good reason for it, or enough trust on the beholder.

At first Izaya was starlet to see the huge rocky monster, it was about eight feet tall and had the shape of a demon: horned, claws and long silver fangs. The creature suddenly moved making Izaya make an small jump back and then it stared into the Gangrel's eyes with a green glowing gaze and said.
"They're coming from underneath. Beware of the demons."

Once on the base floor the beautiful cathedral showed all it's splendor with the shining lights of the city through the colored crystals of mystical meaning.


Izaya ran down the main wing of the building down to the catacombs entry. The the narrow threshold allowed him down the stone stairs spiraling toward the basement. He saw no soul on his way to this dark and musky place but as he started to run down the air became colder and the sensation eerie to an extreme, even the light bulbs seemed engulfed by the surrounding darkness, thicker and thicker, as he got to the lower level.

There a phalanx of wraith where standing left and right of the main hallway, more crowded by the second as the spirits awoke from their slumber and left their crypts to join their comrades to this fight. At the other side leading the army of the restless spirits was Garinold, eyes gone white and shadows swirling around him as he called in the strange language of the necromancers to the wraiths, giving them orders.

Hercules cowed behind his alpha, intimidated by the tenebrous aura of the wraiths.

Garinold commanded the relic to come from the shadowlands into the flesh realms, gearing up the materialized wraiths with rusted armors and shields, along with spikes and swords tainted with the blight influence of the necromancer to empower their form and endure the attacks of the demons.


Then the zombie like materialization of the undead started to move foward by Garinolds command leaving Izaya along with the necromancer and Hercules. He said.
"You're aware of the threat by the look of it, young Gangrel. I've just sent ghost to inform Darius and Nicolai.

Come with me, the battle is ahead."

Izaya's questions lingered in the air unanswered while Garinold focused on the combat ahead running behind the army of the dead. The dark and narrow hallways of the catacombs twisted left and right in front of the group until reaching a wider area where the Koldun Tzimisce were impaled.

As Izaya was running a loud sound became more intense, it was like a deaf drum banging once and again...

The dead run over and across the pits where these pitiful monster were tortured going to the steel backdoor connecting to the exterior branch of the catacombs that ran across NYC, forming a skeletal wall to prevent the creatures savagely banging the gate to enter the premises. Meanwhile, two walls came to live or so it seemed when two gargoyles seemed to emerge from the stone walls of the catacombs one on each side of the furthest of the Tzimisce, also facing forward to the door.

The old thick steel gate was dusting off hundreds of years of rust with each loud slam that was still echoing in the room.

Garinold and Izaya were present at the other side of the huge hall but more would come in a few seconds.

Suddenly blood started to emerge from the pits, flowing against all laws of physics while forming a huge blob over each of the pits. The Gargoyles were the first to react to this blood sorcery but still were surprised by a burst causing both blob to explode spreading hundreds of small droplets of blood all around them, corroding stone and metal like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The Gargoyles shielded behind their wings but still the acid blood caused severe damage on them, forcing them to retreat immediately on the brink of Rötschreck, screaming trying to get rid of the corroding fluids off of their bodies. As this happened the blobs continue to form and started to take human-like shape.


Garinold, Izaya and Hercules were too far to be affected by the blood burst but it was a horrifying scene either way, to see the steel needles used to impaled the vampires to dissolve along with the steel plates and stone surrounding their prisons. From their position they were able to see a fire ring forming over the steel gate, that was starting to melt it down fiercely and quickly, revealing an army of Szlachta (animal ghouls modified with viscisitud to become weapons of war against the Camarilla) cowering back from the scorching gate waiting for their opportunity to jump in and confront the materialized Wraiths.

The Necromancer said.
"These are szlachta, creatures that I thought were not to be seen again. The technique to craft them was allegedly lost hundreds of years ago but yet they stand here before us.

The monster were are facing are ghouls, still so tainted with the vampire's blood that show most of our weakness, including the fear of fire. They are strong and fast, some still show a little more than animal intelligence but most of their minds were destroyed during the transformation process, acknowledging only the power of blood bound as commander."

Suddenly all the fire melting the steel door is sucked out of thin air... a sudden vortex, may be to another dimension, swallows the fire whole, leaving only a cold melted steel door all over the floor, letting the Slachtza run wild into the hall.

Immediately after the last of the monstrous ghouls enters the room an asphyxiating cloud of thick darkness engulfs the hall and the outside hallway where the creatures came from, suffocating the living creatures in a matter of seconds, including the huge dog at the back of the room. Hercules scared an confused retreats back to the corridor trying to find an easy way out of the obtenebration cloud but absolutely blind and terrified he's unable to do it right away.

Izaya's eyes instinctively turn bright right, as the eyes of the beast take over allowing him to see through the smoky cloud with relative ease, compared to the rest of the present, enough to see Garinold move his hands with such difficulty, as he was underwater, to finally touch the floor beneath him to open a dark portal to the shadowlands to take him out of the place.

The dead army on front turns on the weakened and choked ghouls, drowning in darkness attacking them at will. The battle field was very advantageous for the dead, as the slowed and weakened monsters were hardly standing as the piercing gladius like sword attacked them.


The Wraiths saw without eyes, being unaffected by the blinding effect of the cloud. Also the acidic blood blobs were sentient of their surroundings without visual contact and Izaya had his eyes of the beast to diminish the difficulty to see through the darkness, making the ghouls the only one blinded among all.

Suddenly a bunch of whirlwind of darkness started to appear around the acidic blood elementals, finally materializing several twenty if not more tentacles of pure shadow that instantly started to slam and smash over the blood creatures without mercy, one hit after the other...

Concept of the scene: from 25sec to 32sec:

Outside the obtenebration cloud Hercules started coughing and gasping to recover some air. The dog wasn't really exhausted, more confused and scared than anything else.

From the outside the battle was extremely foggy, black smoke like cloud was all over the place, thick and dark as ink, only to be pierced with the eyes of the beast to barely see the silhouettes inside. So confusing and distorted that was impossible to distinguish skeletons from szlatchsa inside, specially with the whirling smash of tentacles attacking the blood blobs.

Suddenly a dark creature emerges from the shadows behind one of the sacred icons decorating the corridor before the battle hall. It had a monstrous visage, a cloak of shadows concealing any human feature, leaving only a tenebrous floating ghost approaching to Izaya, who could distinguish his smell with ease, it was Nicolai...


A distorted voice came from the creature, unrecognizable as belonging to Izaya's mentor.
"Izaya is me Nicolai... don't be scared.

I need your help in this battle, they're attacking us in many fronts. The front door is also taken by assault... it's a siege!"

The sizzling and whistling voice continued.
"Take this key, with it you can open the south gate to the catacombs... help is coming from the Elysium, inform them of the enemy's intention: the Tzimisce are rescuing their Koldun's warlocks. You must warn them!"

Nicolai, the gate keeper of the Cathedral had amused Izaya for many years, opening the gates for him, in order to explore the Catacombs and some times elude the imprisonment of the Camarilla. However, this was the first time the Key was actually given to him, this was no ordinary key tho, this gates were made by Gobblins, hire by Francesca the Kyasid many years ago, to block the access from beneath.

Now as he ran down the corridors to the next door of the catacombs Izaya had a chance to look at the mysterious key, it was a little larger than his hand and made of some sort of black steel; it was heavy and very dull in shine; on one end it hand a ring on the other a twisted of steel spikes that made it look more as a morningstar than actually a key.

morningstar:

Once upstairs again, Izaya could hear the shattering glass falling around him, while many bat like creatures, Slachtza by the look of it started to dive against the building and fly around looking for a lamp or statue to hang on. In the center were Darius and Serena, back to back, surrounded by these monsters.

The main door, a thick dark brown and very heavy wooden door, was melting allowing a swarm of insects to enter the premises, a black cloud of scarabs, followed by an even greater swarm of demon like rats filling the room floor like a living carpet from hell.

All the commotion and dark spiritual influence of these vile creatures in the church was starting to disrupt the holy atmosphere of the holy ground.

Hercules pats were rapidly hitting the stone floor to reach the other side of the church to find the other stairs that led to the gate he was supposed to open with the key. The rats were closing rapidly, while the insects of all kinds were trying to feed from his and Izaya's blood, to rip their skins and the crawling sensation was starting to eerie the both of them.

Bat Slachtza:

Giant rats:

As Hercules ran through the vermine swarms many rat like creatures jumped over him and Izaya biting and tearing their skin with savage force, draining as much blood as they could spill. The brutal thrust was overwhelming but the loyal dog continue to obey despite his instinct howling him to runaway. One rat, then two, finally too many to count jumped on him and on the vampire causing serious injuries to both.

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⌘ Izaya will also spend blood to heal, if he has enough.
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The rats where unbelievably tough, even for the strong Gangrel they resulted resilient but yet he managed to rip, bite, crush and slice every single one of them. While at it, the buzzing swarm of vermin annoy them, trying to fit in their cavities, looking to enter the dog anus and mouth to devour him from the inside, also forcing their entry through Izaya's ears and walking all over his body, inside his shirt and jeans, looking for anything soft to chew on.

One of the bat like Slachtza jumps and glides from it's high position toward Izaya while he fights fiercely for his way through the Cathedral by now almost reaching the other side.

The creature suddenly lands on the Gangrels back, holding with it's strong claws on the small man, forcing him to fight for his position on top of Hercules, while trying to defeat the other's attacks on him and his friend. The creature attempts to cut through the thick hide of the gangrel unsuccessfully, also biting his skull once and again viciously trying to poke his eyes out of its sockets with it's fangs.

Hercules was also fighting, biting his way off, taking from his front legs and chest as many rats as he could. The strong mammal wasn't but more and more aggressive by the second, turning his desperation into rage, building strength and resistance with the vampire gifts, his eyes turning bright red and his deformed fangs shinning under the white glow of the candlelight over him.