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The Sarafan Stronghold

With Moebius gone, Raziel looks around the room.

Raziel V.O.:
Alone now, I surveyed my surroundings and noticed a second Time Streaming chamber, its entrance identical to the first, but with one distinction. That crystal was significant, but how?
I had not yet discovered.

Entering a corridor of the Stronghold, Raziel comments on the stained glass windows and other décor.

Raziel V.O.:
Throughout the Stronghold I discovered evidence of my former nobility, and my life as a Sarafan priest. This was the heritage so foully stolen from me when Kain raided my sacred crypt and defiled me.

Raziel enters the main hall.

Raziel V.O.:
Away from the influence of Moebius' cursed staff, I could feel the strength of the Soul Reaver slowly returning. If that orb was as debilitating to vampires as it was to the blade, it gave Moebius a powerful advantage over his enemies.
I finally understood how Moebius' crusade could decimate the vampires so successfully. If he could immobilise his enemies, they were at his mercy.
But why, I wondered, did the staff have any effect on the Reaver?

Dark Chronicle - Chapter Two - The Reaver Convergence

Raziel enters the choir area of the Sanctuary for the first time, and feels an inexplicable distortion which intensifies as he approaches the central chapel.

Raziel V.O:
As I neared the Stronghold's inner sanctum, a strange sensation crept over me - an indescribable feeling of displacement, a sense of vertigo as reality itself appeared to warp and bend around me.
The disturbance seemed to emanate from the Sanctuary's furthest chapel. As I cautiously approached, the sense of dislocation intensified with each step.

As Raziel enters the chapel, he sees a stained-glass window memorializing William's murder at Kain's hands. At the end of the chapel stands the sarcophagus of the martyred king.

Raziel V.O:
So this was the tomb of the beloved King William the Just - beautified here as the martyr and catalyst of Moebius's crusade.
I was reminded of Kain's journey as a fledgling vampire -
How Moebius coerced him to travel back in history and assassinate William, thus igniting a genocidal hatred of vampires among the citizens of Nosgoth.

Raziel proceeds into the chapel and stands before the sarcophagus, which he realizes now serves also as an altar - for here, clutched loosely in the hands of William's effigy, is the Soul Reaver, its blade broken in two.

Raziel V.O.:
And here I discovered the source of the displacement - the Soul Reaver itself, laid out like a holy relic... And broken, apparently in the battle between William and Kain.
I had not thought such a thing was possible...
Until, of course, Kain shattered the blade against me when he tried to strike me down.

Raziel looks at his right hand contemplatively.

Raziel V.O.:
Thus the captive spirit inhabiting the Reaver was released - and binding itself to me, became my symbiotic weapon.

Mesmerized by the Reaver's presence here, Raziel tentatively reaches out to touch the sword. As if in sympathetic response, the wraith-blade begins to manifest of its own will.

Raziel V.O.:
And so the Reaver met it's former self, still imprisoned in this corporeal shell...
I watched, mesmerized, as the wraith-blade uncoiled itself, and snaked down the length of the physical blade...

As it passes over the hilt of the sword, Raziel's hand involuntarily lunges forward and clamps down. The Reaver has taken control.

Raziel V.O.:
Embracing its twin, its mirror self, the Reaver's long-dormant spirit was now fully aroused.
And for the first time, I felt the true presence of this other entity - wilful, ravenous, and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment...
Then Reaver was now in command - and I, now merely its helpless host, felt my soul being leeched to restore the blade.

Raziel watches in helpless horror as the Reaver draws his soul-energy through his arm and into the broken blade. The two halves of the Soul Reaver come together and are instantly re-fused.
Just before he is drained completely, the Reaver relents, and Raziel recovers control.

Raziel V.O.:
But the Reaver knew better than to destroy its host - and just as I neared the brink of oblivion, the blade released its hold on me.
As I recovered, I realized we were now bound together in a fragile alliance - the Reaver no longer merely my symbiotic weapon, but a sentient parasite, competing for control.

As Raziel recovers, he realizes that Moebius is behind him, watching with intense fascination. Enraged, Raziel wheels on Moebius and menaces him with the now-conjoined Reaver blades.

Raziel:
What have you done to me, Moebius?!
Is this your trap?!

Moebius: (apprehensive)
How mine?!
Don't forget it was Kain who led you here, not I!
While you curse me - the only soul in Nosgoth ready to guide and assist you - Kain laughs at our folly and revels in your dismay.

Raziel raises the intertwined blades threateningly -

Raziel:
These blades now coiled in sinister embrace have inspired terror in the hearts of creatures far more durable than you, old man. Bound together as they are, I can only imagine what they could do to your soul's fragile shell.

Moebius:
Raziel, I beg you to stay your hand.
This was none of my doing. I have sought only to aid you in your righteous quest.

Raziel: (mocking)
Why, you're trembling, Moebius. Has your confidence abandoned you?
You seem to have made a fatal error by leaving your precious staff behind. Is that where all your courage comes from?

Moebius: (desperate)
Listen to me, Raziel - you don't know what you're doing. I have taken an enormous risk by appearing here before you, so defenseless, yet eager to prove my good intentions.
If there's anything left of the Sarafan in you, you won't do this.
While you threaten me, your true enemy eludes you!

Raziel:
Don't concern yourself with Kain, old man. He'll join you in hell soon enough.
As you said, Death comes to us all...

Raziel raises the entwined blades, fully prepared to strike Moebius down.

Moebius:
Yes... the Wheel of Fate demands it.

Moebius's statement stays Raziel's hand momentarily -

Raziel:
What did you say?

Moebius:
The Wheel of Fate - the inexorable cycle of death and rebirth to which all men are compelled.
We serve the same God, Raziel.

Moebius grows more confident as he sees that this revelation is having some effect.

Moebius:
To strike me down would be striking God's own attendant, and I don't believe even you would take that risk.

Raziel throws the Soul Reaver away in disgust. The wraith-blade untwines itself and dissipates as it coils back into Raziel's hand.

Raziel:
I tire of your games, Moebius. Now that I know you fear me, I needn't concern myself with you.
Kain is waiting for me.

Moebius:
Go, then, Raziel. Seek Kain out and destroy him, in the name of the One God we both serve.
You, who were once a Sarafan priest - murdered, profaned, destroyed and reborn again from His mercy...
You are now most powerfully equipped to be His agent - His instrument of restoration and retribution.

Raziel:
My own vengeance is motivation enough.

Raziel turns his back on Moebius and exits the chapel.
Moebius closes the gate behind Raziel, and locks himself safely inside the chapel. He breathes a sigh of relief, then turns and says quietly to himself -

Moebius:
By my soul, you almost had me, my little blue assassin.
But that'll be the one and only chance you get, I assure you of that.

Moebius vanishes...
Alone now in the Sanctuary, Raziel stops to examine his newly-enhanced symbiotic weapon -

Raziel V.O.:
I could now summon the blade at will, regardless of my strength. But once summoned, the blade's ravenous appetite could not be contained.
It devoured the souls of its victims... And if I allowed it to become over-aroused, the Reaver would now turn its hunger on me.

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