Chronicles of Secrets



Untitled
The Signs of Gehenna

Quiet! Hear the raven's cry! The stillness of the wind rising hot on the street, the towers hide the darkness of the day. When Losambrs's dreams come true on the day when the moon runs as blood and the sun rises black in the sky, that is the day of the Damned, when Caine's children will rise again. And the world will turn cold and unclean things will boil up from the ground and great storms will roll, lightning will light fire, animals will fester and their bodies, twisted, will fall. So, too, our Grandsires will rise from the ground, they will break their fast on the first part of us, they will consume us whole.

On the second day, Caine will return and call his Children to the meeting place on the site of the First City, he will beckon them, sitting on his basalt throne. And Caine will call aloud the names of those to be destroyed, for their crimes are too great and all those who have consumed the heart's blood of their sire will be brought before the Black Throne and made to drink of Caine's blood, and Caine's blood will eat their blood and the Dark Mother herself will be brought forth and there, in the valley of Enoch, will there be a battle, a duel of Dark Father and Dark Mother, the Demon Queen will bite deep, the Demon King will bite deeper, we will not know the thing which will happen, but the sky will tear apart, and the earth below and the forces of Hell will pour up out of the ground.

On the Third Day, there will be silence the crows will feed on the carrion, plague will dance amongst the ruins, the last of the Wild Ones will leave this place, the last of the Moon-Beasts will fight and fall, and the Antedulivians will make for themselves an Empire of Blood, they will rule with iron talons, they will wrench the hearts of all still alive, and the full sum of the earth's living will come and live in the Last City, called Gehenna. And there will be a reign of one thousand years, and there will be no love, or life, or pity, the mighty will be as slaves, the virtuous will be made foul, every good gift, and every perfect gift will be tainted, by the Father of Darkness, whose power will come from the nether realms. When the snows consume the earth and the sun gutters like a candle in the wind then, and only then will there be born a woman, the last Daughter of Eve, and in her there will be decided the fate of all. And you will not know this woman, except by the mark of the Moon on her, and she will face treachery, hatred, and pain but in her is the last hope.

And you will know these times but the Time of Thin Blood, which will mark vampires that cannot Beget, you will know them by the Clanless, who will come to rule, you will know them by the Wild Ones, who will hunt us even in the strongest city, you will know them by the awakening of some of the eldest, the Crone will awaken and consume all, you will know these times, for a black hand will rise up and choke all those who oppose it, and those who eat heart's blood will flourish and the Kindred will crowd each to his own, and vitae will be as rare as diamonds. Mark these signs, they are coming!

Gehenna will be on earth. Mark the shadow which lies, mark the dragon which rises, mark the darkness which moves, mark the shadow of the moon, mark the angel that dies, mark the maiden who weeps, mark the children Embraced, mark the Clanless who run. And there will be a time, when Sire will drive out Childer to the sun's mercy and there will be no mercy for the Clanless, mongrel though they be upon their forgotten Sires shall be the curse of Uriel, upon their hateful Sires shall be the curse that comes the crossing Caine, upon their lazy Sires shall be the curse of the hunters hunted. Those among the Clanless will have no path to follow, no family to name, no generation to hold, no traditions to keep, no customs to give, no hospitality to give. Why do you make these orphans? Why do you leave them in the street? They are the dark seed of our undoing, they will band together with those who hate us, they will follow Brujah's Childer, they will make the blood run red, they are going to kill the dead, they are going to eat our kin, they will scream and bask our doors, they will cry aloud for justice, Clanless, all, they will wash over our walls, Clanless, all, they will know secret ways, Clanless, all, they are Lilith's foul get, Clanless, all, they are newly Awake, Clanless, all! No Family, no sign, no loyalty, no elder. Beware those who walk without a clan, for they will be our undoing. Pity them! Adopt the orphans where you can. But watch them. In them is the bad seen of their Sire.

Of Love

And they asked Caine the old Father, "Why do you command us to not Embrace those we love?" And Caine said to them, "Love is the sweet rain which falls down from the One Above. Love is the gift of life. Remember ye not Uriel's Curse? That we are to eat only ashes, drink only blood? Blood is not sweet rain. Our drink takes Life." And then Caine's eyes got the look of Visions, and he quieted, then he spoke: "But if ever one of us is gifted with the love of a mortal without Command or Awe, without compulsion a Love given freely, the that Love will be as the gentle rain to even the lowliest of us. And though we shall not Embrace it, it will feed us as if we supped at our Father's table, it will satisfy our deepest thirst. But harken ye, my children! The Children of Seth will always hate us again and again, for we are their predators, we are their Masters, and they know this, deep in their soul. Look not for Love among them! They will not give it. Be not a fool."

Of the Moon-Beasts

"What of the Moon-Beasts who hunt us, Father?" "There will come a time, in the last days, when the Moon-Beasts will grow uneasy and they will be dying out like a sick wolf who must leave the pack they will fight rather then die sick and so they will find us and they will kill us. Mark ye well, the Clan of the Beast! For they will hold the key, they will make the way of protection, they will make the way of trickery, they will make the way of peace."

The Time of Thin Blood

There will come a time, when the Curse of the One Above will not be tolerated further, when the lineage of Caine will end, when the blood of Caine will be weak, and there will be no Embracing for these Childer, for their blood will run like water, and the Potence in it will wither then, you know in this time that Gehenna will soon be upon you.

The Awakening of the Dark Father

There will come a time, when the heads of three Princes will watch the burning of the dawn on a pillar of white. There will come a time when an ancient hunger will awaken deep in the northern woods and consume all her childer. There will come a time whe a Elder Darkness will stir deep below a city which has forgotten and will surprise the Elder, its children. Of these signs, you will know that the time has come to lay claim to your Clan's safety, to fight the Dark Father. On these signs, you will know that Gehenna waits, even at the door, as an actor waits in the wings. It is coming! It is near! Shine black the sun! Shine blood the moon! Gehenna is coming soon.