Heart of Darkness (artifact)

"This relic had come at so high a cost -- my blood offering for the answers I sought from this enigmatic corpse. It was the price of my freedom, for which Kain had paid with his life."

- Raziel

The Heart of Darkness is a vampiric artifact believed to possess the power to resurrect a dead vampire. The relic is an actual heart eviscerated from the vampire Janos Audron by the Sarafan priests Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Zephon, and Melchiah (Rahab and Malek did not take part in the slaying of Janos) during the first uprising of the Sarafan Order in Nosgoth's early history. The stolen organ was taken to the Sarafan Stronghold and was intended to be enshrined at Avernus Cathedral but was lost at some point with the fall of the order. At some point during the next 500 years vampires began using symbolic representations of the Heart of Darkness to restore their own blood and dark energies. During the course of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain fledgeling vampire Kain frequently used such relics. The original heart remained lost; a mere legend.

The Heart of Darkness was eventually acquired by Mortanius the Necromancer who used the heart to resurrect murdered nobleman Kain as a vampire. Kain was unaware that he possessed the Heart and, despite regularly using symbolical representations of the artifact to restore himself, never searched for it. Janos' heart remained inside Kain for the next two millennium throughout his rule of Nosgoth, until Kain traveled through the the Chronoplast taking the heart back in time with him.

During the events of Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Raziel learned that the Heart still beat within Kain's chest. Needing it to restore Janos to life, Raziel confronted Kain within Avernus Cathedral and after taunting him with the heart's location ripped it from the chest of his former master. Raziel returned the heart to Janos's body, enshrined within Vorador's Mansion, and brought the ancient vampire back to life. The heart remained with Janos, back in it's original body, from then on and was eventually banished with him into the demonic dimension of the Hylden 's imprisonment.

Kain survived having the Heart ripped from him, his nature as the Scion of Balance allowed him to endure, remaining alive despite being literally heartless. Without a heart Kain was apparently immune to certain vampiric weaknesses - when he confronted Moebius at the Vampire Citadel the Time Streamer was surprised to discover that his staff, capable of incapacitating vampires, no longer had any effect on Kain.

Symbolic representations of the Heart of Darkness could be found throughout Nosgoth during Kain's fledgeling years, they functioned both as a means to restore lost Blood Energy and also to revive a fallen vampire immediately if they are killed in battle. A Spirit Forge for the Heart of Darkness could be found on a sealed path close to Dark Eden. These artifacts seem to fall out of use during Kain's early conquest of Nosgoth.