Prologue

"It's here", Lilith said. She stood with her son on the peak of a grassy hill, far from any lofty halls or grand cathedrals. The hill was home to the ruins of a noble's fortress, now little more than overgrown foundations of stone and earthen banks. A conspicuous square slab sat in the centre of the ruins, slowly being reclaimed by the soil and ravages of time. Lilith nodded to her son.

He had become so much like his father. While he had inherited few of his physical traits, save for his ice-blue eyes, he was unmistakably like him. The same posture, his lithe movement, it had all been inherited.

In days gone by she could have shattered the slab in a single strike, but now illness had ravaged her lungs, and weakened her heart. She didn't have much longer left. Corvus understood this, and got to work.

Corvus took a deep breath, and placed his hands on the slab, arcane marks glowing on his arms and pushed. The mass of stone began to shift, Corvus exerting all his strength on it. His small frame was comically so against the massive slab, yet he moved it aside with little apparent difficulty. He pushed it aside.

Evening light spilled into the stairway, cascading golden rays deep into the dark below. Insidious cold seeped out from below. Corvus descended the steps, followed by his mother. The walls were damp, with condensation forming rivulets down the length of the passage. The sound of running water emanated from within. The pair descended further and further down, into the structure.

The passage gave way to an atrium, perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, by some forty tall. Positioned at the centre of the room, upon a stone plinth, was a black iron coffin, illuminated by shafts of light from above. He stood in shock, unable to process what he was seeing, the actual grave of his father, the man he never knew, but had heard so many contradictory tales about.

Lilith's hacking cough snapped him out of his stupor. He turned around sharply, as she drew in rasping, strained breaths. She composed herself once more. "This, Orochimaru, is the tomb of your father."

A chill spread through his whole body. Orochimaru, his birth name, and one he had only recently discovered. "You may know him better as the White Serpent." Lilith said. Corvus felt a wave of cold pass over him. "I thought he was a myth. The man who made a contract with a demon and slew a thousand men in a single night."

Lilith gave a hoarse laugh. "The White Serpent, yes, but Five-Seals Dolorem, he was as real as you or I" she inhaled once more, the effort required for her to speak apparent. "The death toll was closer to five hundred, if even. It's time I told you what actually happened during the Night of Red Mist." Corvus could feel the enormous weight of this place, the pressure it exuded. He took a seat on one of the stone steps.

"Well, it can't make this family any more of a disaster. I was raised by a half-vampire who cursed like a sailor, who I thought was my mother…"

"She never did lose that habit," Lilith chuckled.

"…Who was then executed, in front of me, only for me to find out that she wasn't my mother, and my actual mother adopted my adoptive mother's daughter, in some sort of child-swap." He said, burying his hands in his face.

"And now, I find out that my father is a semi-mythical mass murderer, but he's been given a bad reputation, and was some sort of hero." He continued.

"Orochimaru, I understand your disbelief but my husband didn't die to be remembered as a villain and a monster by his own little boy. Dolorem loved you and I more than anything else in this world." Lilith pleaded.

"Alright then, who was my father, really?