Part 15
Raziel:
"I didn't know what impulse stayed my hand, why I had so willingly allowed Kain to escape me when I had pursued him for so long. I had no reason to trust Kain, after he had valued me so little, and yet, I found myself intrigued by his words."
"I had been too cruelly used to so gullibly play his pawn, but if this world truly had secrets to divulge, I was determined to expose them."
This is the symbol of the Spectral Realm - so, taking it as a hint, we shift, and find the way opened before us.
"From the moment of my arrival I had the constant and palpable sensation of being watched."
"Someone, it seemed, was keenly interested in my presence here."
"From the look of it, this door had been sealed for centuries."
"I began to realise it was no mere coincidence that I found myself standing here beneath this winged figure with blue skin and cloven hands so like my own, and bearing this unique key."
"And so it was, with a sense of gravity and trepidation that I unsealed that ancient door and crossed the threshold."
Watch it here:
Video - Raziel below the Pillars
"As I entered the chamber, I sensed that it had been sealed for hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years."
"And while this room was clearly built when the Pillars were erected, I knew that no human hand could have shaped this place - and that perhaps it had never been seen by human eyes."
"The surrounding murals depicted a winged race, their features so like my own - but beautiful, where mine were grotesque..."
"and angelic, while mine were demonic."
Raziel:
"I tried to decipher these images... ...a great war, but with combatants like none I had ever seen..."
"...the Pillars, raised by this winged race, who thus defeated their adversaries..."
"...the winged beings again, writhing in agony, apparently afflicted with the same blood-thirst I had so recently suffered..."
"And throughout the chamber, inscribed everywhere, images of the Reaver itself."
"Was this what Kain had urged me to discover? I wondered..."
"Lies, Raziel."
Elder God:
"Do not be deceived."
"Ah, my ancient 'benefactor'..."
"And I dared to hope we had parted ways forever. Your silence was refreshing, while it lasted. No doubt you have a conveniently inexpressible reason for your presence here?"
"Do not be insolent, Raziel."
"I am eternally present - here and everywhere, now and always. I am the still center of the turning wheel, the hub of this world's destiny."
"But perhaps not so omnipotent as you'd have me believe."
"Your hold on me appears to be tenuous. I no longer seem to need you, yet I'm guessing you still need me."
"This impudence is unworthy of you, Raziel. Do not forget that you have a task to fulfill here. You are indebted to me."
"Indebted? You would have me show gratitude for a 'gift' I didn't ask to be bestowed? Do you forget that you forced me to inhabit this vile carcass-"
"-I restored you to yourself, Raziel. It was Kain who destroyed you. The very enemy you have just let slip through your grasp."
"Do not fail me, my servant..."
"I serve no one - not you, not Kain..."
"...and not your lackey Moebius."
"Moebius is my good servant. I have many."
"And if I tell Moebius that he's worshipping a giant squid, do you think his faith will falter?"
"You have grown willful, Raziel."
"But beware - to embrace a serpent is to invite poison into your heart. Kain is a sinuous beast; he will seduce and deceive you."
"You pride yourself on your free will, yet you let that degenerate deter your resolve."
"I harbor no illusions about his integrity, nor anyone else's."
"In fact, I am beset by manipulation on all sides. I merely seek the truth."
"These are the fathomless truths, Raziel:
The agony of birth and death and rebirth - this is the Wheel of Fate, the purifying cycle which sustains all life.
Vampires are an abomination, a plague which leeches this land of its spiritual strength.
They obstruct the flow of life and death - their souls stagnate in their wretched corpses.
But the wheel must turn; death is inexorable and cannot be denied.
Your destiny is irresistible, Raziel - you are my soul reaver, the scourge of the vampires, reaper of their apostate souls.
Remain steadfast. End the vampires' parasitic curse, and restore Nosgoth.
Kain's blood belongs on you hands."
"Kain indeed deserves to die, for condemning me to this repugnant form.
But if and when I kill him, it will be for me, alone, to decide."
Elder God:
"Kain destroyed you without a flicker of remorse.
He tore the soul from your noble corpse, and after you had served him faithfully for a thousand years, he discarded you in the Abyss on a jealous whim.
Remember your rage, Raziel - let it guide your hand."
As Raziel hinted with his 'giant squid' comment, the Elder God exists in the Spectral Realm. Those without the ability to see into it (Moebius, for example) can't see it - to them, the Elder God is an omnipotent, omnitient being, without physical form. So Raziel's 'threat' is actually quite valid.
Next time: We leave the Pillars behind, and find out who - or what - Raziel has felt watching him.
The murals Raziel sees here are the first of many, but they're very important to the story, as they not only reveal some backstory (much of which I've already mentioned or hinted to in other posts), but also, help Raziel discover his own true nature, purpose, and destiny.
I think it's worth noting that the murals Raziel sees depict, from first to last, the war between the Ancient Vampires and the Hylden, the raising of the Pillars and resulting banishment of the Hylden, the aftermath of the Hylden's curse, reducing the once-noble Vampires to the parasites we're familiar with, and the vampire's prophesied hero, wielding the Soul Reaver. This could, at this point, be either Raziel or Kain - but the peculiar lock on the door to this place - which only Raziel was equipped to open - suggests that it is, in fact, him. But if it is Raziel, what would his purpose as the vampire's messiah be? He's not in nearly as much of a position to do anything great as Kain is - perhaps it is him after all, and Raziel's 'interception' of the Reaver is allowing him access to something he shouldn't have access to. More on this to come!