Antioch on the Orontes is the city where Marius settles after carrying Akasha and Enkil out of Egypt, making it an early center of his long guardianship of the ancient vampires. It offers temporary refuge from pursuit and a setting in which the stillness of those he protects runs alongside the changing life of a great city.

Refuge and Arrival

After taking Akasha and Enkil from Egypt, Marius feared leaving them unguarded and hunted near his garden gate. He arranged horses and a wagon for a journey along the coast, choosing Antioch, a city he knew and loved, as a place where he believed he would be safe. The move was both practical flight and the beginning of a new period of guardianship: he carried the source of vampire power with him while leaving the old Egyptian setting behind.

Marius later described Antioch as a great and splendid city that rivaled Rome in population and wealth. There he read ancient papyri that corroborated what Akasha had disclosed to him. The city thus served not only as a refuge but as a place where written records confirmed the history entrusted to him.

Sanctuary and Guardianship

In Antioch, Marius built one of the many chapels in which he housed Akasha and Enkil. He believed they would permit him to care for them and would prevent harm from coming to him. Their protection and his service formed a reciprocal bond, though the practical burden of keeping them safe remained his.

By the end of his first century in Antioch, Marius had begun to despair that the pair would ever return to life. Their silence and stillness persisted, while their skin gradually lost the damage caused by sunlight and became alabaster-like again. The long interval made the city a setting for watchfulness rather than resolution: Marius protected them without receiving the awakening he had hoped for.

The City’s Changing Life

Marius’s years in Antioch were not wholly enclosed by the sanctuary. As he watched the city and the times change, he fell in love with Pandora, a Greek courtesan who recognized what he was from their first meeting and waited until he was ready to transform her. With Akasha’s blood, Pandora became a powerful supernatural being. Marius says that he lived, fought, and loved with her for two hundred years, placing this relationship within the same extended period of his life associated with Antioch.

The city’s importance therefore lies in the contrast between enduring custody and historical change. Akasha and Enkil remained largely silent, while Marius observed the surrounding society and formed a lasting relationship with Pandora. Antioch was a refuge, a repository for the ancient vampires, and a vantage point from which Marius experienced the passage of centuries.