The Ancient Vampire Lords, Book III
Attack on Cerberis, Chapter I
Jihon presents his own Triton, which is named ‘Lidea’, after the woman who trained him long ago. Also, he lets the other companions know that Clutchfiend is currently on an errand. That having been said, he enters his Triton, farewells Gabriel and Shzed, and, together with Kelvack, lifts off.
Fei then takes the rest of the companions with him as he opens a Warp Gate and travels the Warp to get to Cerberis’ last known location. On emerging from the Warp, the companions see a town nearby. Around the town all is chaos as rival armies clash in an epic conflict. Soul Reaver, Fei and Tamrissa are almost immediately accosted by a hostile ghoul, but Jihon arrives just in time to blast it away in a spray of gatling-gun fire. Tamrissa seems irritated by Jihon’s intervention, but as the two start squabbling, Soul Reaver forcibly intervenes, telling them they are acting like idiots and should work together.
Once the infighting has been sorted out, Soul Reaver joins Jihon in his Triton, and Tamrissa leaves on her own, fighting Cerberis’ minions. Kelvack is doing the same nearby. Fei, meanwhile, flies above the battlefield and in an impressive display of power, shatters the top of the nearby mountain, laying bare Cerberis’ temple hidden within.
Jihon approaches the temple and drops off Soul Reaver near it. He then fires at the temple with his Triton. The impact reveals the immense, lupine form of Cerberis, who had been hiding there.
Cerberis reveals to Jihon that long ago, he possessed Jihon’s grandfather and used that body to slay Jihon’s brothers. Before Jihon can act, Cerberis fires a blast of what appears to be black lightning at the chest of Jihon’s Triton. Moments after the impact, Jihon seems to go completely mad, drawing his Triton’s plasma blade and attacking Kelvack, who can only barely defend himself. Then he fires a spray of bullets in Tamrissa’s direction, striking her arm, before activating his jets and attempting to escape.
However, Tamrissa and Kelvack manage to restrain him. Meanwhile, Soul Reaver tries to buy them time to restore Jihon’s sanity by plunging into the midst of Cerberis’ minions and attacking. Unfortunately, however, the raging Jihon breaks free and flees the battlefield.
While this is happening, Fei takes this opportunity to attack the now weakened and smaller Cerberis – although, in truth, that body is now only an empty shell. Though Fei is victorious, he is very badly injured during the battle and buried beneath a pile of rubble.
Suddenly, a figure climbs the hillside up to the temple. He reveals himself to be Thisias Bed, and that Jihon knows him. Kelvack verifies this – although he has never met Thisias, he has heard of him from Jihon. Kelvack however has no time to waste, and leaves immediately to hunt for Jihon, his one-time friend.
After healing Tamrissa’s wound with his abilities, Thisias tells the remaining companions that Jihon’s madness must be stopped. When he last lost control of himself, which was over a thousand years ago in North City when he had believed Thisias dead, Jihon had caused truly terrible devastation. Thisias states that he is here now because he sensed Jihon’s sanity shatter, and plans to remedy that situation. He reveals that unless Jihon is stopped quickly, he will activate a hidden army of death-machines – so-called UnTritons that are controlled not by pilots but by Artificial Intelligence, and designed purely for killing. Furthermore, Thisias has no doubts that in his mentally unbalanced state, Jihon will have no qualms in using the dangerously unpredictable Lidea 2 Triton in battle.
Having summoned a mass of Nightmares from Inferno to finish off the minions on the battlefield, Soul Reaver rejoins the companions. He and Tamrissa discover Fei’s mangled body. He is barely alive. Soul Reaver and Tamrissa drag him from the rubble.
In order to save the dying vampire, Tamrissa allows him to feed on her blood. Although his bloodlust almost overcomes him, Fei manages to curb his instincts and take only as much as he needs. Although Tamrissa falls unconscious, she does not die… and the strange exchange establishes a powerful mental bond between the two. Tamrissa’s body has been altered by the feeding, and she will now be able to wield some of Fei’s vampiric powers herself.
Suddenly, Thisias makes a terrible realization. Hurling a rock up into the air, he watches in horror as it passes through a previously invisible, rippling Time Barrier, erected as a delayed trap by Cerberis. The companions rush from the Barrier, only to discover that in the few minutes that passed within the barrier, three whole years have passed outside it. In that time, Jihon has gathered a dark army which even now surrounds the ruined mountain. Several of Jihon’s UnTriton soldiers soar through the skies, and corpses and gore are everywhere.
Furious at the destruction and the many innocent dead, Soul Reaver leaps into battle against the A.I. Tritons and swears bitter vengeance against Cerberis. Meanwhile, Fei manages to feed on enough blood to completely heal not only himself, but also feed to Tamrissa and facilitate her own re-awakening. However, she is hardly grateful, thinking that she has become a vampire herself. Fei calms her, telling her she has not become one of the undead… but that he is still responsible for a permanent change in who she is. Regretful, he prepares to fall upon his sword, the Kurusunami. Yet, before he can complete the action, Tamrissa hastily intervenes, snatching the sword from his hand. Fei is startled – no one other than he could carry the Kurusunami and live, and yet Tamrissa is unharmed. Apparently the bond she has with him has done many strange things indeed.
Then, Kelvack’s battle-scarred Triton returns. Shzed, who has lost an eye, and Gabriel are with him. Sobbing, Kelvack recounts how he has spent the past three years fighting a losing battle, trying to keep Jihon’s forces at bay.
Meanwhile, in Jihon’s stronghold, Jihon keeps a careful eye on the warriors. Angered that they have returned, he decides to send thirty of his elite UnTriton Lideas to attack them. They scream off towards the battlefield…
Thisias senses the approaching Tritons and warns the companions just before they strike. Thisias and the companions meet them head-on, prepared to take them all on if needs be. During the battle, Fei executes a devastating attack whose power destroys his own body. However, in his place lies an emerald-green pendant, in which is soul will rest and regain its strength. Fei asks Tamrissa to wear the pendant, and wield his Kurusunami... which only he, and now she, can wield. He also reveals to her that on his last visit to the Council, he was asked to watch over Tamrissa and keep her safe, and that that is exactly what he plans to do.
Taking up the Kurusunami and the pendant shimmering around her neck, Tamrissa enters the fray as well…