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Chapter Twelve - Raziel - Avernus Cathedral

Dark Chronicle - The Heart Of Darkness

Kain is thrown back by the force of one of Raziel's attacks. Raziel starts forward, raising the wraith-blade for a finishing blow, but Kain counters, seizing Raziel's wrist with his left hand. A connection is made and, using Kain's body as a conduit, Raziel's essence begins to flow into the Reaver, which is still in Kain's right hand. Raziel begins to collapse, his physical form flickering.

Raziel: (fading)
Ahh... You...

Kain: (horrified)
No - Raziel -

Raziel:
Vae Victis -

Kain:
I didn't -

He doesn't get to finish. Raziel's eyes flare green one final time and he rallies, plunging his claws into Kain's chest and ripping out the Heart of Darkness. He holds up the heart triumphantly.

Raziel:
'Woe to the conquered' - I have found the Heart of Darkness. And you - go to oblivion.

Raziel hurls Kain into a forming portal with a TK blast, and he vanishes. The green now fades from Raziel's eyes, leaving him contemplating what he has done.

Raziel:
Kain was gone. The madness of this place had somehow fueled my rage, and as it subsided I felt no elation, no sense of victory. Only a calm certainty that we had once again walked blindly into our enemies' trap. I couldn't be sure whether Kain had truly intended to destroy me - and now it appeared I would never know.

Dark Chronicle - Moebius Gloats Over His Triumph

Raziel returns to Vorador's estate, intending to return the Heart of Darkness to Janos' body. He enters the library.

Raziel V.O.:
In my absence, the estate had been overrun by Moebius's soldiers. I hoped that they had not yet found the entrance to the crypt, or discovered the body of Janos. Of Vorador, there was no sign.

Moebius is waiting on the library's far balcony, accompanied by Vampire Hunters.

Moebius:
Raziel - the conquering hero. I understand we are to offer congratulations. Kain, at last, is dead.

Raziel stands in the middle of the room, looking up at the Time Streamer.

Raziel:
I suppose you expect similar congratulations on the death of Vorador? Or has he eluded you?

Moebius:
We have him.

Moebius tosses Vorador's sword over the balcony's rail. It lands at Raziel's feet.

Moebius:
But not without a considerable price in blood.

Raziel:
That will have pleased him.

Moebius:
Let it sustain him until his head is off, and every vampire in Nosgoth at last is dead.

Raziel:
And will that knowledge sustain you? You too are going to your death.

Moebius:
For a true servant of the one God, death is never bitter. I will go - again at peace with the knowledge that I have played my small part in our master's plans. Kain is at last destroyed, and you have carried out the deed.
Which hero do you think you are now? The vampire savior? Or the other one? Have you realized yet that it didn't matter to us which one either of you thought you were, so long as the result was the same in the end? And now, Kain is dead. Really, I cannot thank you enough.

Raziel:
So this has all been arranged, every step of the way. And Kain thought I truly had free will.

Moebius:
Oh, but you do.

Moebius begins to turn away.

Moebius:
And there's the greatest triumph of all, to have compelled the one player who could choose into doing exactly what we required. Well done, faithful servant. And now -

Moebius activates his staff and vanishes, leaving his Vampire Hunters behind to fight Raziel.

Moebius:
I have an execution to see to.

Dark Chronicle - The Resurrection Of Janos Audron

Raziel stands beside Janos' body in the crypt, the Heart of Darkness in hand.

Raziel V.O.:
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 replaces the Heart within Janos' chest and stands back, waiting. Nothing happens.

Raziel V.O.:
Had I journeyed so far and forsaken so much, only to have it end like this?

Despairing, Raziel lays his right hand over the hole in Janos' chest. All at once, a blue glow manifests over the wound and Raziel leaps back as Janos convulses. A moment later, the Ancient sits up - restored. His clothes and skin are no longer bloodstained.

Janos:
I... remember!

Janos catches sight of Raziel. He rises from the bier, addressing him.

Janos:
Raziel... the heir of prophecy... You came for the Reaver just before the Sarafan found me.

Raziel:
You've been entombed here for five centuries. Your murderers are long dead.

Janos gasps in surprise.

Janos:
Five hundred years? And Vorador...?

Raziel:
Also dead. Your bloodline is erased. The age of the vampires is coming to an end.

Janos:
Then we must waste no time.

Janos reaches toward Raziel, who strikes his hand aside.

Raziel:
I'm not who you think I am. Nor is this a benevolent act. I have questions that apparently you alone can answer.

Janos:
Raziel. There are forces in this world that will strive to deceive you and pervert your destiny. But you must believe... Your arrival foretells the salvation of the Vampire race.

Raziel:
Why then would the Vampires devise a weapon to consume and imprison their savior?

Janos: (disbelieving)
No... That cannot be...

Raziel:
While the blade yet exists, I am drawn inexorably toward my doom. It was you who bound me to this fate. Only you can release me.

Janos:
Raziel, you have been misled. You are ordained by prophecy to wield the Reaver.

Janos gasps in dismay as Raziel activates the wraith-blade.

Raziel:
And so I do... though not quite as you'd envisioned.

Raziel dismisses the blade again.

Janos: (thoughtfully)
Redeemer and destroyer... is it possible? Did I misread all the signs? It seems your destiny is more labyrinthian than I had imagined. You must trust me, Raziel... We may have very little time. I will convey you to the place where your answers lie.

Janos clasps Raziel's shoulders in his hands and they both vanish.

Dark Chronicle - Return To The Vampire Citadel

Janos and Raziel appear in the council chamber of the Vampire Citadel.

Raziel:
Where have you brought me?

Janos:
We are within the ancient citadel of the Vampire race, long ago defiled and abandoned. This fortress endured through centuries of war against our great enemy -

Raziel:
The Hylden.

Janos:
Yes. From this chamber we witnessed the summoning of the Pillars, and the banishment of our adversaries from the land.

A low grinding is heard from the Pillars in the distance.

Janos:
This is a dire omen... The Binding is in peril - the hour of prophecy is at hand.

Raziel:
It's too late. The Pillars are already damned.

Janos:
As long as a single one of us stands, there is still hope. The Pillars must not remain under human guardianship. They are not competent to serve.

Raziel:
Why then did you allow the Pillars to fall into human hands?

Janos:
Raziel, there is no time -

Raziel:
I want answers. The world can end this instant for all I care.

Janos:
Very well. The Hylden cursed us as they fell, afflicting our race with a predatory blood-thirst. But with this transformation came our enemies' true revenge: immortality.

Raziel:
They liberated you from the Wheel of Fate.

Janos:
They imprisoned our souls in this flesh, expelling us from the purifying cycle of death and rebirth.

Raziel: (accusingly)
And yet you passed the curse on.

Janos:
It was a necessary evil. Our immortality banished us from God's grace - He turned his sight from us, and fell silent. Many took their own lives, unable to bear the separation from our God.

Raziel:
Not you, though.

Janos:
Curse or blessing, it is the price we pay to keep the Hylden banished from the land. To sustain the Binding, we had to preserve our bloodline. And so we passed the dark gift to the human successors of our fallen Guardians. They rebelled, inevitably, refusing the curse and seizing the Pillars as their own.
And so we come to our present dilemma. While mankind governs the Pillars, the Binding decays. The Hylden strain against the barriers of their prison, scratching to gain a foothold back into this world.

Raziel:
And what does all this mean to me?

Janos:
We stand at the threshold of a new aeon, Raziel, and you are the fulcrum upon which our destiny turns. Beneath this room lies our innermost sanctum - the outer chamber has been opened. It appears events are already in motion. This token is the key to the mysteries you seek.

Janos removes the golden Oroboros from his neck and gives it to Raziel.

Janos:
I cannot accompany you; you must face this trial alone. If you prevail, you will have your answers.

Raziel:
And if I fail the test?

Janos:
Then you will not return.

Janos vanishes.

Spirit Forge

As Raziel enters the Spirit Forge, four of the Elder God's tentacles sprout from the floor and hover around the Forge's altar.

Raziel:
I should have known I'd find you here.

Elder God:
Here and everywhere... Now and always. I am the Wheel and its turning; I am the Circle of life and death.

Raziel: (cynically)
And I am beginning to think the Vampires committed suicide only to escape your voice.

Elder God:
Do not forego my favor with your impertinence, Raziel. You have finally fulfilled your purpose. I am pleased.

Raziel:
What are you trying to obliterate here, then? What is it about me that has you so afraid?

Three murals decorate the Forge. In the center is an image of Kain, although he has been depicted with the black wings and blue skin of the Ancients - a representation of what they expected their Scion of Balance to look like.

Elder God: (chuckling)
Your fate is trivial, Raziel. It was Kain's destiny that mattered all along.

The four tentacles seize the Spirit Forge, dragging it down a short distance before knotting themselves over the Forge's aperture, blocking it.

Raziel V.O.:
My master seemed keen to extinguish the purifying fire of the Spirit Forge. Perhaps the Reaver would loosen his grip...

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