UNDERWORLD [2003]

An Immortal Battle For Supremacy

The war had all but ground to a halt in the blink of an eye.
 Lucian, the most feared and ruthless leader ever to rule the Lycan clan had finally been killed.
The Lycan horde scattered to the wind in a single evening of flame and retribution.
Victory, it seemed, was in our grasp, the very birthright of the Vampires.
Nearly 6 centuries had passed since that night.
Yet the ancient feud proved unwilling to follow Lucian to the grave.
Though Lycans were fewer in number, the war itself had become more perilous for the moon no longer held her sway.
Older, more powerful Lycans were now able to change at will.
The weapons had evolved, but our orders remained the same:
hunt them down and kill them off, one by one.
A most succesful campaign.
Perhaps, to succesful.
For those like me, a Death Dealer, this signaled the end of an era.
Like the weapons of the previous century, we too would become obsolete.
Pity, because I lived for it.
~Selene

Selene: They opened fire on us in full view of the public.
And from the commotion I heard down in that tunnel...
Kraven: You said yourself you actually didn't see anything.
Selene: I know what I heard, and I know what my gut tells me, 
and I'm telling you there could be dozens of Lycans down there.
Who knows, maybe more. Hundreds.
Kraven: We've hunted them to the brink of extinction.

Selene: I think they were following him.
Kraven: Other than food, why would lycans stalk a human?

I've tasted his flesh.
Just 2 days till full moon.
Soon, he will be a lycan.
Soon, he will come looking for us.
~Lucian

Selene: Tell me, Kahn, do you believe Lucian died the way they say he did?
Kahn: Kraven been telling war stories again, is he?
Selene: That's my point.
It's nothing but an ancient story. His story.
There's not shred of proof he killed Lucian, only his word.
Kahn: I've never underestimated Kraven's lust for advancement, 
but Viktor believed him and that's all that matters.

Kraven: Just keep your men at bay, Lucian.
At least for the time being.
Don't force me to regret our arrangement.
Lucian: You just concentrate on your part.
Remember, I've bled for you once already.
Without me, you'd have nothing. You'd be nothing.

Of the scores of brave souls who entered Lucian's fortress,
a single vampire survived: Kraven,
who was richly rewarded for not only setting the great blaze,  
but for returning with evidence of the lycan master's demise, 
the branded skin, cut from Lucian's very arm.
~Selene

To my knowledge, an Awakening has never been attempted by one such as myself.
The elders hold the power to organize their memories and thoughts into a single cohesive vision, a detailed record of their reign.
I can only hope Viktor will hear my plea.
~Selene

Please forgive me, but I desperately need your guidance.
I apologize for breaking the chain and awakening you ahead of schedule,
but I fear we may all be in grave danger.
Especially you, my lord, if left in your weakened state.
For I believe that Lucian is alive and well.
Here. Now. In this very city, preparing to hit us during the Awakening ceremony.
Even more disturbing, is that if I'm correct, 
it would mean that Kraven is in league with him.
~Selene

Selene: You can't never come here again. They'll kill you. Do you understand?
Michael: Why? Who are you people?
Selene: Whether you like it or not, you're in the middle of a war that's been raging for the better part of 1000 years.
A blood feud between Vampires and Lycans. Werewolves.
Consider yourself lucky.
Most humans die within an hour of being bitten by an immortal.
The viruses we transmit are deadly.
Michael: And if you bit me, what, I'd become a vampire instead?
Selene: No, you'd die.
No one's ever survived a bite from both species.
By rights, I'd stop the car and kill you myself...
Michael: Then why are you helping me?
Selene: I'm not!
I track down and kill your kind.
My only interest is finding out why Lucian wants you so badly.

Viktor: She has shown me a great many disturbing things.
Things that will be dealt with soon enough.
This coven has grown weak, decadent.
Perhaps I should have left someone else in charge of my affairs.
There's no sense of times.
Kraven: Please, my lord, let me summon assistance.
You're in need of rest.
Viktor: I've rested enough.
What you will do is summon Marcus.
Kraven: But he still slumbers, my lord.
Amelia and the council members are arriving tomorrow night to awaken Marcus.
Not you, my lord.
You've been awakened a full century ahead of schedule.

Michael: I'm seeing these things, these hallucinations.
Selene: They're not hallucinations, they're memories.
You've been bitten.
His memories have been passed to you.

Something was in the stable... tearing our horses to pieces.
I couldn't have saved my mother. Or my sister.
Their screams woke me.
My father died outside, trying to fend them off.
I stood at my door, about to run to my nieces' room when...
Twin girls... barely 6 years old... butchered like animals.
The next thing I knew, I was in his arms.
The war had spilled into our house.
He'd been tracking the lycans for days.
He drove them off and saved me.
Viktor.
The oldest and strongest of us.
That night he made me a vampire.
He gave me the strength to avenge my family.
Since then, I've never looked back.
~Selene

 When the full moon rises tomorrow night, 
you will change, you will kill, and you will feed.
It's unavoidable.
I can't leave you free to roam around.
~Selene, to Michael

Viktor: Now, tell me, why have you come to believe that Lucian still lives?
Selene: But I've given you all the proof you need.
Viktor: Incoherent thoughts and images, nothing more.
Which is precisely wht the Awakening is performed by an elder.
You do not possess the necessary skills.
Selene: But I did see Lucian. I shot him. You must believe me.
Viktor: The chain has never been broken. Not once. Not in 14 centuries.
Not since we elders first began to leapfrog through time.
One awake, 2 asleep.
That's the way of it.
It is Marcus' turn to reign, not mine.
Selene: But I had no choice.
The coven is in danger, and Michael is the key...
Viktor: Argh... arghh... ah yes. The lycan...
Selene: Please... give me the chance to get proof you require.
Viktor: I will leave it to Kraven to collect the proof... if there is any.
Selene: How could you trust him over me?
Viktor: Because he is not the one who has been tainted by an animal.
I love you... like a daughter. But you leave me no choice.
These rules are in place for a good reason, 
and they are the only reason we have survived this long.

Tell me.
Did you have the nerve to cut the skin from his arm, or did Lucian do it for you?
~Selene, to Kraven

Singe: We've been searching for someone with a special trait.
A direct descendant of Alexander Corvinus... Hungarian... 
a warlord who came to power in the early seasons of the 5th century.
Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.
He alone survived.
Somehow, his body was able to change the disease, mold it to his benefit.
He became the first true immortal.
And years later, he fathered at least 2 children who inherited this same trait.
Viktor: The sons of the Corvinus clan.
One bitten by bat, one by wolf, 
one to walk the lonely road of mortality as a human.
It's a ridiculous legend. Nothing!
Singe: That may be...
But our species do have a common ancestor.
A mutation of the original virus is directly linked to his bloodline.
Viktor: There is a descendant of Corvinus lying there [point to Marcus ' grave] not 3 feet from you.
Singe: Yes.
But he's already a vampire.
We needed a pure source. Untainted. An exact duplicate of the original virus
which we learned was hidden away in the genetic code of his human descendants 
and passed along in its latent form down through the ages all the way to Michael Corvin.
For years, we tried to combine their bloodlines.
And for years we failed.
It was useless.
Even at the cellular level, our species seemed destined to destroy each other.
That is, until we found Michael.
The Corvinus strain allows for a perfect union.
A triple-celled platelet which holds unspeakable power.
Viktor: There can be no such union.
And to speak of it is heresy.
Singe: We'll see.
Once Lucian has injected himself with Michael's blood.
Viktor: Lucian is dead.
Singe: According to whom?

Singe: If Lucian was able to get his hands on the blood of a Pure-Born, 
a powerful elder like Amelia, or yourself [to Viktor] 
and inject it along with  Michael's blood...
Viktor: Abomination.
Singe: Half vampire, half lycan, but stronger than both.

Fear not, my child, 
absolution will be yours, the moment you kill the descendant of Corvinus, this Michael.
~Viktor

We were slaves once.
The daylight guardians of the vampires.
I was born in servitude, yet I harbored them no ill will.
I even took a vampire for my bride.
It was forbidden... our union.
Viktor feared a blending of the species.
Feared it so much, he killed her.
His own daughter, burnt alive... for loving me.
~Lucian

But let me tell you a little something about your beloved dark father.
He's the one who killed your family. Not the lycans.
Never could follow his own rules.
Said he couldn't abide the taste of livestock.
So every once in a while, he went out and gorged himself on human blood.
I kept his secrets... cleaned up the mess.
But it was he who crept room to room, dispatching everyone close to your heart.
But when he got to you, he just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry.
You, who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja,
the daughter he condemned to death.
~Kraven

I loved my daughter!
But the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me and of the coven!
I did what necessary to protect the species, as I am forced to do yet again.
~Viktor

Thought I can not predict the future,
the consequences of tonight will reverberate through the halls 
of both great covens for many years to come.
2 vampire elders have been slain, one by my own hand.
Soon, Marcus will take the throne.
And a tide of anger and retribution will spill out into the night.
Differences will be set aside.
Allegiances will be made.
And soon, I will become the hunted.
~Selene


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