Kain: At last. I must say I'm disappointed with your progress, Raziel. Tell me, did it trouble you to murder your bretheren?
Raziel: Trouble? Are you kidding? Every bloody corner I go round, there's another block puzzle! No pit traps, no flamethrowers, no spikes or moving walls, just block puzzles! I swear, if I see one more block in my life...and another thing! Where the hell was Turel? The others all managed to make it, what makes him so special?
Kain: When I asked, Raziel, it was just a taunt. I didn't actually want to know. Anyway, allow me to prattle on about how great I am, and some stuff about time, free will, and a load of other stuff that makes no sense right now.
Raziel: I'd rather cut to the bit where I yell about being a former Sarafan and kick your ass!
Raziel jumps at Kain, but one of his tattered wings catches on a pointy bit of the wall, and he lands flat on his face in front of the Vampire Master. Kain brings out a small hammer, the size of a finger, and taps it on Raziel's head. Raziel falls back to the ground.
Kain: Well, duh! Of course I'd go for the Sarafan! What, did you think I'd chosen you and the other five stooges from the local pub or something?
Raziel: My eyes, or at least these glowing slots that act as them, are opened. I find no nobility in the unlife you forced on my unwilling corpse!
Raziel attacks Kain again. He scores a couple of unconvincing hits on his creator, who looks in as much trouble as he did when he fought that cemetery keeper on waking in his mausoleum.
Kain: You may have uncovered your past, but you know nothing of it. Except the fact that you were a great warrior in the Sarafan, died thousands of years ago, then got brought back by me as a Vampire. But apart from all that, you know nothing. You think the Sarafan were noble? Altruistic? Don't be simple.
Despite the fact that Raziel could have killed Kain in the half hour it took for Kain to deliver that speech, he fails to do so. Kain sends Raziel flying. Raziel hits the opposite wall so hard that he leaves a cracked dent, and little birdies start flying around his head. He shakes them away in anger. Kain pulls a couple of levers then teleports to the nearby Stargate...er, I mean portal.
Kain: You nearly had me Raziel...
Raziel: When?!
Kain: But this is not how, or when it ends. History promises more twists before the drama unfolds completely.
Kain steps through the portal. Raziel jumps up to the portal. The Soul Reaver manifests from his arm, now that there's no use for it. Raziel waits...and waits...
Raziel: Excuse me? Isn't the Elder God supposed to tell me how I'm beyond his influence through this portal? Doesn't continuity mean anything anymore?
Finally, Raziel jumps through the portal. There are lots of flashes, lightning bolts, and other special effects before he appears in a new chamber. Through the multi-coloured mists that surround him, the hooded figure of Moebius approaches, carrying a staff.
Moebius: Raziel. Redeemer and Destroyer. Pawn and Messiah. Main character of Soul Reaver, though not of Legacy of Kain in general because your name's not in the game title anywhere and you weren't even in the first game. Welcome, time-spanned soul. Welcome to your destiny...
Raziel: This reminds me of my horoscope this morning. "Beware of strange old men who give you several titles and have a flair for the dramatic."
Moebius: It's been a long time, Raziel.
Raziel: It wouldn't have if it weren't for those damned block puzzles. Kain never had to deal with them in his game!
Moebius: Speaking of Kain...
Raziel: If I ruled the world, the first thing I'd do would be to outlaw all moveable blocks...
Moebius: Shut up about those frigging blocks, will you?! You never used to be this whiny!
Raziel: Eh?
Moebius: That's right, Raziel. I knew you when you were a Sarafan.
Raziel: How convinient, as convinient as a blatant plot device.
Raziel threatens Moebius with the Soul Reaver, but Moebius' staff flares, and the Reaver disappears.
Raziel: That's odd. The batteries are fresh! It's just like my walkman!
Moebius: How odd. This staff cancels out the powers of our Vampiric foes. Why would it have the same effect on your strange weapon there?
Raziel: (sarcastically) How convincing. I am utterly taken in by your honest tone of voice, coupled with your oh-so trustworthy character references.
Moebius: Why do you hate me so? Who has slandered my name so much? Kain? The one who destroyed you? Consider the source of these condemnations before insulting me!
Raziel: I've played Blood Omen. You weren't exactly sweetness and light, were you?
Moebius: We'll forget about rekindling our friendship then. Fortunately, you need not love me.
Raziel: Just as well, because that's not going to happen!
Moebius activates a scrying pool nearby. It shows Kain standing at the Pillars, reading a Spiderman comic.
Moebius: See how Kain stands at the Pillars, blissfully unaware that you have followed him back to this period.
Raziel: The Pillars are still standing?
Moebius: Yes, of course.
Raziel: I like the Pillars. There aren't any block puzzles near them...
Moebius: Oh, the hell with this. Just go to the damn Pillars and kill the stupid Vampire, will you?
Raziel: What about the murals on these walls? They depict the Vampire Vorador, don't they?
Moebius: What possible relevance could they have to the present situation?
Raziel: None. I just wanted to point them out as a reference in the unlikely event that Vorador just happens to see me leave this building, gets curious and follows me for a while before having a brief, unhelpful conversation during which he drops a single hint as to my next destination.
Moebius: Oh sure, like that's going to happen.
Moebius storms out. Raziel looks around. Over a nearby door marked by the 8 rune, there is a large red crystal. Raziel, now apparently being an expert of door identification, realises that this door leads to another Time Streaming Chamber.
Raziel: (VoiceOver) The other Time Streaming Chamber was locked, and I suspected that its opening had something to do with the large crystal above the door. If I was to use the Chamber, I would have to find some means of activating the crystal first. Or I could just grab one of the Time Streaming Devices that appeared in Blood Omen. The kind that you could carry around with you, meaning you don't have to tramp around half of Nosgoth looking for well-guarded powerups that might enable you to access rooms that are in a fortified castle on the other side of harsh environments and hordes of enemies. Nah, that'd be stupid! On out of the fortress, I think!
Raziel marches out of the fortress, killing loads of useless guards along the way. As he progresses, he finds a stained-glass window depicting the death of ancient Vampire Janos Audron.
Raziel: (VoiceOver) I took note of the window showing Janos Audron, on the off chance that I would learn it was important to my quest to travel back in time and talk to him. I also wondered about the Heart of Darkness, the heart that was ripped out from the chest of Janos. How many of the things had he had in his chest? Kain found at least a hundred in Blood Omen, probably more, and there were bound to be loads that he hadn't come across. The Sarafan that had killed Janos must have had to cart the hearts away in a couple of wheelbarrows...
Raziel also visits the Tomb of William the Just, and experiences a strange vertigo. When he touches William's broken Reaver, his own Soul Reaver entwines and fixes it. Raziel now has the power to turn the Reaver on and off at will.
Raziel: Reaver goes on. Reaver goes off. Reaver goes on. Reaver goes off. Reaver goes on. Reaver goes off...
A few hours later, Raziel gets board of switching his wraith blade on and off. He kills a few more guards and busts out of the castle.
Raziel: (VO) Due to the way fantasy games tend to work, I had a feeling I'd have to return to the Sarafan stronghold in time. It would not be easy to infiltrate, though. The balcony that had provided my escape was now well beyond my reach, leaving this massive gateway as my only means of entry, seeing as narrative causality prevented me from climbing the damn wall. Strange how the instances where climbing would be most useful are also the times when I find that I can't actually climb at all!
Raziel starts jogging to the Pillars, occasionally stopping to tear apart some defenceless hunter who's only crime was to do the job they'd been contracted to do. He also stops to muse at some executed vampires. Truly, the actions of one who is dead set on killing Kain and heedless to all else!
Raziel: (VO) These vampires had nothing in common with the twisted monsters I'd had to battle in between block puzzles in the distant future. These were human, but with different skin and eyes, and great powers. But as they were only bit characters in this game, they'd obviously stood no chance against the weak, pathetic humans who were armed only with swords, pikes, and the occasional cannon. And seeing as how all the vampires were staked through the chest and none were in bits all over the place, I doubted that the cannoneers were particularly great shots.
Raziel eventually makes it to the Pillars, where Kain is playing Link's Awakening on his Gameboy. Raziel sneaks up on Kain, but the vampire lord sees him in the mirror that he cunningly set up to guard his back.
Kain: I know you are there, Raziel.
Raziel: Damn! Er, I mean, I knew that you knew! Moebius led me to you, though even if he hadn't, I'd have come here eventually. I'd have just looked in about a billion other places first.
Kain: And if Moebius told you I was hidden in the underside of Hell, would you throw yourself into oblivion to pursue me?
Raziel: No, I'd have taken the train. Assuming that Nosgoth's reached an industrial revolution era yet.
Kain: Moebius trawls for the ignorant and unwary, hauling his gasping prey from the streams of their destinies. Stay out of his net, Raziel.
Raziel: Er, right. Now turn and face me, Kain. The chase is over.
Kain: This isn't a chase, Raziel. we are merely passengers on the wheel of destiny, describing a perfect circle to this point. We have been brought here for a reason. I have seen the beginning and the end of our story, however - and the tale is crude and ill-concieved. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I.
Raziel: You know, even if you hadn't torn off my wings, thrown me into a lake of burning water where I died in torment for a thousand years, then killed off my entire clan, I'd still have to kill you for going on and on like this. Can't you speak clearly for once?
Kain: Isn't it customary to grant the condemned a final request?
Raziel: I recall no such courtesy from you. I'd have quite liked an ice-cream before you killed me.
Kain: Indulge me.
Raziel: Fine. Strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla?
Kain: All I ask is that you listen.
Raziel: Well, don't be too long. Star Trek's on in half an hour. It's the one where Kirk swaps bodies with that woman...
Kain: This is the sublime moment of our undoing, Raziel - the ineffable fulcrum upon which swings the entirety of our history. This is where all of Nosgoth is betrayed.
Raziel: Inedible filling?
Kain: In this instant, Ariel - the Balance Guardian - is murdered by dark forces bent on overthrowing the Pillars. Her spirit is just now tearing free, lost in the ether, trying to find its way here. You have already seen how she comes to haunt these Pillars.
Raziel: Yes. She's tormented, depressed, agonised, and blames you. But at least she never had to deal with any block puzzles...
Kain: Will you shut up about those blasted block puzzles?! Now watch carefully. There may be questions later.
The pillars corrupt, as the skies darken, storms gather, the air wails, and other impressive special effects run wild.
Kain: Just as I'm being born, Nupraptor finds his beloved Ariel murdered. And because he's renowned throughout the Circle as being the one who goes to pieces in a crisis, he goes mad, inflicting the rest of the Circle with insanity...including me!
Raziel: Wait a sec...you're part of the Circle?
Kain: What the..? YES I'M PART OF THE CIRCLE!!! Didn't you listen to the ending of Blood Omen?!
Raziel: I didn't understand it. It didn't even say who that creature was at the end of the game when you killed Mortanius! I mean, everyone assumes it's Hash'Ak'Gik from that secret room in Avernus Cathedral, but we don't really know, do we?
Kain: How did you become the great champion of the Sarafan, Raziel?
Raziel: I can't tell you. It'd be a spoiler for later in the game.
Kain: Anyway. Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma - let's call it a two-sided coin.
Raziel: You were confused by a coin?
Kain: If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the anihillation of our species. Moebius made sure of that. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged.
Raziel: I don't remember seeing this coin in Blood Omen...
Kain: There's a third option - a monumental secret, hidden in your very presence here. But it's a secret you have to discover for yourself. Unearth your destiny, Raziel. It's all laid out for you here.
Raziel: Wait a second. Coins only have two sides!
Kain: Apparently so. But suppose you throw a coin enough times...suppose one day, it lands on its edge...
Raziel: Kain...what the hell are you going on about? You're talking about coins and nets and endings to stories...just answer me one question. What the hell is going on???
Kain: Oh, good grief...
Kain disappears. Raziel shifts to the Spectral Realm and follows a path behind the Pillars. After a while, and a couple of Sluagh, he returns to the Material Plane.
Raziel: (VO) I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched. It's as if people from all over the world are watching me through small mechanical monitors while frantically pressing small buttons on weirdly shaped devices. Except one, who just seems to be shadowing me in the old fashioned stalking sense. That last one must be behind the times.
Raziel follows the path, until he comes to a huge door, magically sealed with a picture of someone bearing the Reaver, someone who looks suspiciously like himself.
Raziel: (VO) Strange...I don't think the artist got my hair right here...
Raziel tries to smash down the door with the Reaver. On the first jab, he accidentally jams the Reaver into the rune-hole, and the door slides open for him. Raziel decides to pretend that he meant to do that, stops cowering behind his claws, and enters the passage. After following the passageway and killing a few shades, he finds the underground Pillar Sanctum.
Raziel: (VO) The murals on the walls spoke of a winged race, like me except for all the missing bits and ruined body that I had. I wondered several things. I wondered if these winged creatures had made the pillars. I wondered if they were the original vampires, cursed by bloodlust in one of the pictures. I wondered if they'd also created the Reaver, as it featured so much in the murals. And most of all, I wondered why I kept on talking to myself in the past tense.
Elder God: (From below) Lies, Raziel.
Raziel: AAAAAAGGGHHH!!!
Raziel jumps in fright and clings to one of the Pillars. After a moment, he jumps back down and regains his compsure.
Raziel: Awww, crap. This is why they cut out your line in the remake of the closing scene of Soul Reaver 1, isn't it? So I guess I'm not beyond your influence after going through that portal.
Elder God: You could have killed Kain while his concentration was on the Legend of Zelda. Do not fail me, my servant.
Raziel: I serve no one! It seems that Tony Jay's characters in Legacy of Kain get that a lot, doesn't it? And you can get Moebius off my back too. His whiny voice really gets on my nerves.
Elder God: Moebius is my good servant. I have many.
Raziel: And if I tell Moebius that he's worshipping a giant squid, do you think his faith will falter?
Elder God: He already knows. Why do you think squid sales have plummeted since he became a member of the Circle?
Raziel: I thought it was because squid tasted disgusting.
Elder God: You have grown willful, Raziel. But beware - to embrace a serpent is to invite poison into your heart.
Raziel: Not more metaphors. I swear, the way you and Kain speak, you should be best friends!
Elder God: Just get going, will you? Star Trek's on in a minute, and I still can't get to grips with my VCR.
Raziel: Damn it. I'm never going to see it at the rate this game is progressing...
Raziel dives into the water, for no apparent reason, and heads straight towards the Elder God's huge, ugly form. Luckily, he just happens to find an underwater chamber that leads, eventually, to a small building in the marshes of the Termogent Forest. He looks around, seeing an old door with Moebius' rune on it, all cracked and crumbling.
Raziel: (VO) I surfaced into a very different landscape. The daylight barely penetrated the dense canopy of this forest. Here I discovered an ancient ruin, unmistakably one of Moebius' Time Streaming chambers, but long ago sealed and abandoned to the encroaching swamp. I didn't currently possess the means to break this seal, but I thought in time that I might. Of course, I could have tried to knock the thing down with my brute strength, but I'd just finished putting my claw varnish on, and I didn't want to chip it.
Raziel strolls further along, stopping every so often to kill a passerby. Along the way, he spies someone watching him from a distance, on a balcony.
Raziel: (VO) So, my lurking observer was exposed. The creature vanished when he realised he was discovered, but I caught a glimpse of him, and his features were distinctive enough. This was the vampire Vorador, the monstrous assassin depicted in the Stronghold, and the guy in Blood Omen, the one with the ring and a little argument with Malek. Strange that a creature brazen enough to assault the Circle single-handedly would avoid confronting me. Perhaps I should have brought some deodrant through the mists of time. Very well, if Vorador would not come to me, I would go to him. But first I needed to find some means of reaching that terrace. I wondered if there were any spare pogo sticks lying around in the swamp.
Raziel continues exploring, and eventually reaches the balcony Vorador had been watching from. The balcony is empty.
Raziel: (VO) My lurking friend was nowhere to be seen, which wasn't really suprising as he could actually teleport away a couple of thousand times by the time I made it up here. But I found these ruins even more intriguing, a throwback to my days as a fledging leafing through copies of "Crumbling Ruins of Ancient Civilisations Monthly". I recognised these arcane symbols from the chamber beneath the Pillars, and realised that this shrine too was sealed to all but the bearer of the Reaver. Or anyone with a really good battering ram.
Raziel enters the building, discovering a forge for the Reaver inside. Of course, it takes several hours to navigate all the puzzles obstructing him, puzzles that apparently take the place of real defences. Raziel also notices lots of murals on the walls.
Raziel: (VO) Throughout this ancient shrine, murals depicted the winged race, the apocalyptic war against their mysterious and equally inhuman adversaries, and the fall in demand for squid-based foods, which I regarded with a new, cold horror. These winged beings, it seemed, were not only the architects of the Pillars, but of this enigmatic place as well, and just as in the Pillars' chamber, this shrine was adorned throughout with imagery of the Reaver, depicted with the reverence of a holy icon. In one mural, a fat winged being with a strange quiffy haircut and a white and silver costume was playing the Reaver like a musical instrument, thanking his captive audience very much. Strange...
Raziel finally activates the Dark Forge, after overcoming a load of puzzles, but thankfully no block puzzles.
Raziel: (VO) As I neared the altar, I suddenly felt the Reaver quickening of its own volition, just as in William's chapel. At first I thought that it was eager to get home and catch the last half hour of The Fugitive (being a Harrison Ford fan), but I would soon be proven wrong. The balance of power tangibly shifted. Voracious and wilful, the Soul Reaver was now in control, and I, merely it's helpless puppet. I felt an irresistable urge to say things like "FAB", and ask Spectrum for help against the Mysterons. The Reaver plunged itself into that mysterious altar, and devouring the energy that emanated from within, drained this place of its power.
Thus sated, the Reaver released me, and I realised as I recovered control, that these ancient shrines were forges, each purpose-built to enhance the Reaver with elemental power. I wished they could have just put the elemental powers in the Reaver in the first place. I could have completed the game by now!
As Raziel makes to leave the altar, he sees that a nearby font has activated.
Raziel: (VO) Now I understood the purpose of the mysterious basins I had seen throughout my journey. They were not, as I had believed, the remains of public toilets used by winged beings long ago, but elemental fonts, each attuned to a fundamental essence. When I forged the blade, every font in Nosgoth with the same elemental attunement would simultaneously quicken. I'm not sure how, but I think it might be something to do with the Internet. The Reaver's enhancements were never permanent, but these fonts enabled me to re-embue the blade by bathing it in the elemental energy distilled therin. I made a note to upgrade to the Soul Reaver version 2.0, the one with permanent enhancements and a wrist mounted control panel, as soon as possible. I might even shell out for the extra "Stop Reaver From Consuming Your Own Soul Energy" option.
Raziel notices a weird mark on the door as he exits the Dark Forge.
Raziel: (VO) Concentric circles, one eclipsing the other. I recognised this symbol from the door sealing that other ancient shrine, the one I had seen in the lake outside the Sarafan Stronghold. Perhaps now, armed as I was with the elemental power of darkness, I could return and gain entry. The winged beings were a weird lot. What if I hadn't found the Dark Forge, or it had been destroyed? No one would have ever been able to get into the other forge! And how come the Sarafan or Moebius' lot hadn't stormed that forge that was right next to their stronghold anyway?
As Raziel finally exits the forge, he sees Vorador leaning casually against a pillar, waiting for him.
Vorador: You're a ragged excuse for a saviour.
Raziel: The wings look a lot cooler when I'm floating through mid-air, Vorador.
Vorador: I see my reputation proceeds me. All good I hope.
Raziel: All except the bit about you getting drunk and waking up with Mortanius one morning...
Vorador: *ahem* I've been watching you since you emerged from that accursed stronghold.
Strange that your arrival coincides with the corruption of the Pillars. But I'm wondering - are you the catalyst of these events, or the answer to them?
Raziel: Cata-what?
Vorador: I will speak plainly, then.
Raziel: Yeah, right. No one in Nosgoth does that!
Vorador: I distrust your origins, stranger. Seeing you crawl from the putrid depths of Moebius's Keep makes me question your purpose here. And what should I make of your appearance? Not human, clearly - and more demon than vampire. And the Pillars - it is no mere coincidence that your arrival in that clearing heralded the Pillars' decay. And so I ask you plainly: are you the instrument of the Pillars' destruction, or their salvation?
Raziel: You call that speaking plainly?
Vorador: Very well, let us look at the other side of the coin.
Raziel: Is this the same coin as Kain was prattling on about? The three sided one that fell through a net and got stuck on its edge in a story?
Vorador: Er...probably not. I have followed your journey, and watched as you blithley unlocked secrets that have been sealed and forbidden for thousands of years. The path you have been treading is open to only one being.
Raziel: Oooh, ooh, I know! It's that guy with the beard from the Lord of the Rings!
Vorador: You don't know what you are, do you?
Raziel: I have been many things. A video game character, a...a...but tell me what you meant.
Vorador: What's the point - this world is beyond redemption. Let the human cattle have it.
Raziel: And us? Do we get another world from Worlds-R-Us?
Vorador: Five hundred years ago, our race was almost exterminated by the fanatical crusades of the Sarafan. And now the same sick drama unfolds again. In merely a decade, Moebius's cutthoat citizen army has nearly accomplished what the Sarafan could not.
Raziel: I know. Eliminated almost all sales of squid and squid-related products.
Vorador: Vampires meddling in the affairs of men...Look where it has brought us.
Raziel: A popular game series! I'd say that's pretty good! Speaking of which, any ideas on what those mural things the programmers...er, I mean the winged beings put up are?
Vorador: Fairy tales, boy. The delusions of an ancient culture, clinging to hope long after the world had discarded them. Their bloodline trickled away, until only one of the Ancients remained - sustained solely by obligation, his unfaltering faith in the old prophesies, and a lot of cod liver oil.
Raziel starts to say something, probably an offhand remark about being sustained "solely" by multiple sources, or something equally nonsencial. Vorador doesn't feel in the mood to deal with another load of Raziel remarks, especially if he gets onto the subject of block puzzles, so he continues talking.
Vorador: But you see, even if you are who you appear to be, it no longer matters. You're simply too late. Janos Audron - the Reaver Guardian, the last of the Ancients, and my maker - was murdered by the Sarafan nearly five centuries ago. He alone would have the answers you seek, but his secrets died with him. I don't know how you've come even this far without his guidance - or without the Reaver, stolen these five hundred years ago by the Sarafan.
Raziel: You mean the one I've been slashing my enemies with most of the time you've been watching me?
Vorador: I am afraid, my friend, that you - and all of us - are out of luck.
Raziel: So...Vegas isn't the place to go right about now, then?
Vorador disappears.
Raziel: (VO) I had no less reason to trust Vorador than anyone else I had met. In fact, the ancient vampire was the most forthright being I had encountered thus far. If Janos Audron was the key to all this, then I would find him and ask him about this damned coin thing, and Moebius' Time Streaming device would provide me passage. But first I had to find a way back into the Stronghold, and I suspected I would find the means within the lake's mysterious shrine. That's the way these games work. You can't go straight anywhere, you have to detour to another trap-filled area first, filled with block puzzles and undead enemies guarding a priceless treasure. For some reason, I felt an urge to wear a green body suit, a long pigtail and two strange mini-cannons at my hips. I resolved that when all this was over, I would set a lot of time aside for therapy.