Part 18

Raziel emerges from the Time Streaming Chamber, and clearly something has gone awry.

Raziel:
"Even as I emerged from that infernal Time Streaming chamber, I suspected treachery.
The Stronghold was vacant, derelict and abandoned..."

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel emerges from the Time Streaming Chamber

Raziel:
"If I had any doubts about the era I now occupied, this grotesque tableau certainly eliminated them. For here was Moebius, long since murdered by Kain, lionised and beatified as the martyred leader of his bloodthirsty crusade."

Raziel:
"And if I required further evidence, I needed only to behold the gruesome trophy Moebius held aloft - the severed head of Vorador. The final triumphant kill of Moebius' cutthroat mob. His execution marked the annihilation of the vampires."

Raziel:
"Far from channelling me into Nosgoth's past, Moebius had propelled me over a century into its ghastly future."

Raziel:
"The intent behind this little detour was unmistakable."

Raziel:
"Having failed to make me his obedient assassin, Moebius intended to keep me ignorant of my true destiny, which clearly lay in Nosgoth's past. While his deception only reinforced my purpose, Moebius had effectively stranded me here."

Raziel:
"This left me no course but to explore the era I now occupied, and see what changes this century had wrought following Kain's ill-fated decision."

Raziel:
"Perhaps time had cleared a path for me into the mountains where I might unearth more clues behind the mystery of Janos Audron."

These, are Acid Demons. They're big, hit hard, and puke acid all over the place, dealing ridiculous amounts of damage. Furthermore, they can block attacks for long periods, they have a lot of hit points, and they conjure up these green barriers to impede Raziel's progress until they're killed. Welcome to the future.

Here's a better look at one. Cute, inny?

This is the vampire hunter of the future! They're a bit better equipped to perform their duty, now! These things are basically walking tanks - they have ridiculously gaudy metal armor, enormous axes (which they wield with unerring precision), and come in a number of varieties - don't miss the spellcaster and bazooka version (not kidding!) - on sale now!

Oh! And, to make it even more interesting! First, this is a Lightning Demon. They have electrodes for hands, which they like to stick in Raziel's face, or just grab him and shock the hell out of him. This kills Raziel in about 3 hits. But lucky for us - we have the Spectral Realm as a refuge! Nothing can get us here - or can they? All of the demon varieties exist in both planes! So when Raziel shifts - so do they. And if they kill you here - well, we don't want to think about that.

Incidently, we'll be seeing them here a lot, since the game has just jumped over the span of a 5 minute cutscene from Barney and Friends' Magical Journey to God of War's hardest difficulty. Walk in the park, this ain't.

After much splattering of demon blood (and Raziel's) on the walls and floor, we come to this door, which we know from our previous visits here, leads outside.

But wait - what trickery is this?!

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel meets Moebius yet again

Moebius:
"Raziel..."

Kain kills Moebius, don't forget! If we've been sent more then 100 years into Nosgoth's future, Kain did this more then 60 years ago. He should be founding his empire on the ruins of the pillars, right about now.

Raziel:
"What pathetic charade is this now, Moebius?"

Moebius:
"No charade, Raziel. Only the entreaties of this martyred spirit."

Raziel:
"Your pleas mean nothing to me, after all your deceit."

Raziel:
"You have propelled me into Nosgoth's future, Moebius - and left me stranded here."

Moebius:
"I am truly sorry, Raziel, but it was necessary. Consider it the last valiant act of a doomed man."

Moebius:
"You have strayed from your purpose, and now behold the result - gaze upon the wasteland you and Kain authored together!"

You could cut the insincerity with a wraith blade.

Raziel:
"I fail to see how I'm responsible-"

Moebius:
"You spared Kain! And by doing so, you have released a multitude of horrors upon this world. I can accept that Kain has murdered me, Raziel. As the Time Guardian, I foresaw that incident long before it occurred."

Moebius:
"And I take some small comfort in the fact that Kain remains the sole survivor of his vile breed. But you have single-handedly made my sacrifice meaningless."

Raziel:
"Your argument is disingenuous, Time-Streamer."

Raziel:
"I cannot see how killing or sparing Kain's future self would alter these events. This wasteland was created by Kain's original refusal at the Pillars - and amidst all these twists and turns, that event has never changed."

Raziel:
"You are cunning, Moebius - but I think you've gotten tangled in your own web."

Moebius:
"As Kain clings to his precious seat of power, the Pillars sink into a mire of decay, dragging all of Nosgoth down with them!"

Raziel:
"I don't think this has anything to do with the Pillars or Kain's failure to sacrifice himself. I think you're simply afraid - because you don't know what he's up to.
He's a wild-card, isn't he, and you don't want his influence in your game. Which is why you wanted me to eliminate him.
Now that he's survived, you have no idea what's coming, do you? Maybe for the first time in your entire life.
You're terrified that he may truly have found a third option out of the dilemma you orchestrated for him."

Moebius:
"Kain's lies have addled your mind. Leave this place, and trouble my spirit no more!"

Raziel:
"If you even are a spirit. You've forgotten I have a way to tell for sure... If you're willing to risk it."

Moebius fades away quickly.

Raziel:
"I didn't think so. Either way, you lose."

Now that we're outside, we're home free... right?

Well, other then more assorted demon breeds, vampire hunter mech beasts, and various other obstacles, yes, for the timebeing.

Soon, we come once again to the Pillars.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to the Pillars

Raziel:
"These were the Pillars so familiar to my blighted eyes."

Raziel:
"But now that I had begun to learn their true significance, I regarded the Pillars' destruction with a new, enlightened sense of horror."

Raziel:
"And I questioned now whether Kain's simple refusal - his mere ambition - could truly have caused such devastation."

Raziel:
"I felt that some darker influence was at work here."

Raziel:
"As I approached, I discerned the spirit of Ariel - bound here now for more than a century."

Ariel:
"Forever am I bound, hope abandoned, my spirit tethered to this place..."

Ariel:
"What destroyed the Circle could not touch me. For I was newly dead, and beyond harm's reach. I alone was spared the descent into madness, and Kain alone was spared the pain of death."

Ariel:
"When Nupraptor's poison seized Kain even in the safety of the womb, much more than just his destiny was lost. All of Nosgoth lost Balance."

Ariel:
"Consider us now... both of us less than we once were."

Ariel:
"I, pure but insubstantial; and Kain, terribly real, but corrupted."

Raziel interupts her, and she turns around, just then realizing he is there.

Raziel:
"You imprisonment here has deranged you, spirit."

Raziel:
"You fixate on Kain because you believe he is the tether that binds you here. But we both know he is not the author of your agony."

Raziel:
"The Pillars were subverted by dark forces, invited by the Guardians themselves. The more I learn of your Circle, the more I see a tangle of nested manipulations."

Ariel:
"Kain handed them their victory. They sought to topple the Pillars, and he was their willing instrument."

Raziel:
"Or was he their unwilling pawn?"

Raziel:
"Would it blunt your wrath to know that Kain's dilemma was calculated to bring the Pillars down, regardless of the choice he made?"

Raziel:
"And that the devastation would have been even greater had he chosen the path you would prescribe for him?"

Ariel:
"You are a subtle, deceitful creature."

Ariel:
"But your clever arguments do not absolve Kain. He must die for the Pillars to be restored; there is no other way."

Raziel:
"Then consider this more ominous possibility - what if Kain's death does not restore the Pillars?"

Raziel:
"Consider that it may simply be too late. That this world may be beyond redemption.
And that you may be bound here eternally."

Ariel becomes distraught, and flees to the Spectral Realm, where Raziel follows.

Peekaboo!

Ariel:
"Why do you hound me, demon? You can see that I am captive here. Show me some mercy."

Raziel:
"Like the mercy you showed your fellow Guardians when you set Kain on them?"

Raziel:
"Or the mercy you showed Kain when you kept him ignorant of his destiny while you used him as the scourge of the Circle?"

Raziel:
"Or perhaps like the mercy you showed your beloved Nupraptor when you made him Kain's first kill?"

Ariel:
"You are cruel. Why do you torment me?"

Raziel:
"I'm merely looking for answers, Ariel."

Raziel:
"Very well - I'll leave you in peace."

Raziel:
"But know this - about you, and this purgatory from which you long to escape...
... you're merely at the threshold."

This is by far the coldest line Raziel has in the game, maybe the series. It's absolutely fantastic.

As promised, we do leave Ariel in peace - and proceed to the next stop on our journey through Nosgoth's future.

Well, isn't this interesting. The Elder God's tentacle is wrapped around the decayed, broken Pillar from below.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel meets the future Elder God

Elder God:
"Raziel, the failed assassin. You had Kain at your mercy but lacked the courage to fulfill the act."

Hurray, more super dark screenshots!

Elder God:
"And now you see the wasteland wrought by the tyrant's hand. By his selfish decision to preserve his own life, even when it meant sacrificing the whole world. This is the fate of Nosgoth, as long as Kain remains alive."

Raziel:
"An ironic condemnation, given this guilty scene. One would think you'd torn down the Pillars single-handedly."

Raziel:
"What are you trying to obliterate as you drag your loathsome body through this chamber? And why, as Nosgoth descends into madness and misery, do you appear to thrive?"

Raziel:
"Things in this world, I am learning, are rarely what they seem. You, apparently, are no exception."

Elder God:
"I am the Engine of Life, the source of Nosgoth's very existence. I am the hub of the Wheel, the origin of all Life, the devourer of Death."

Raziel:
"...or maybe you're just hungry - could it be as simple as that?"

Raziel:
"Wouldn't that be poetic irony? The great adversary of the vampires turns out to be the biggest parasite of them all."

Elder God:
"Do not test my patience, Raziel."

Elder God:
"I made you, and I will unmake you if I become so inclined."

Raziel:
"As your agent, I am beyond death."

Elder God:
"There are fates worse than death, Raziel."

Raziel:
"Oh, I see you now as you truly are. A cancer - a spooling parasite burrowed deep in the heart of this world."

Elder God:
"Go now. Play out your pitiful rebellion, and take your place among the destroyed, the used and the damned. But know this - you are mine for eternity. You have always been, and will always be, my soul reaver..."

Swimming again, right past his squiddish bulk.

The water is lower, now - we actually have to run up these tunnels, rather then simply swimming them as we did before.

On the other side...

That's some nasty, right there.

Raziel finds, once again, the Time Streaming Chamber he had passed by before.

Raziel:
"Beyond this edifice lay my sole hope of escaping this demon-infested wasteland. The Time Streaming device contained therein offered my only prospect of journeying back into Nosgoth's early history."

Raziel:
"Unless I discovered some means of breaking this seal, I was condemned to be stranded here eternally."

I have no screenshots that look anything other then a black screen with Raziel standing in the foreground, but when he revisits the mountains that blocked his path before...

Raziel:
"The passage of time had indeed cleared my way forward, enabling me to explore the northern mountains of Nosgoth. I was anxious to discover if some evidence of Janos Audron's existence might still remain."

But first... we get our shit fucked up by more damn demons.

What's this...

Raziel:
"Here I discovered the quaint hamlet of Uschtenheim, now long abandoned and collapsing into ruin. Legend claimed that Janos Audron terrorised its villagers until the Sarafan hunters ferreted him out and destroyed him. If there was any truth to the old tales, the lair of the infamous vampire would not be far away."

We haul ass through the city, and when we emerge on the other side...

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel finds Janos' aerie.

Raziel:
"This edifice was clearly not crafted by human architects. As the figure beneath the balcony silently attested, these were the aeries of winged beings."

Raziel:
"Undoubtedly, I stood before the mountain refuge of the legendary Janos Audron - but the entire sanctuary lay in ruin, collapsed under the force of some ancient cataclysm."

Raziel:
"As I suspected, the Time Streamer's deception ensured that I was centuries too late to unearth anything of consequence here."

Raziel:
"With nothing behind me but the wasteland I had traversed, I resolved to press on and explore these canyons further."

Raziel hears someone approaching from behind...

Raziel:
"Oh no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
I don't think I have the stomach for it."

Kain:
"No drama this time, Raziel."

Raziel:
"You are persistent, crossing time like this to follow me."

Raziel:
"Still waiting for that coin of yours to land on its edge?"

Kain:
"I'm biding my time. I see that Moebius has played a little trick on you."

Raziel:
"Yes - he clearly doesn't want me to meet this 'Janos Audron'."

Kain:
"Perhaps..."

Kain (sarcastically):
"Or maybe he merely hoped that it would harden your heart against me to see this wasteland which I single-handedly authored."

Raziel:
"My heart doesn't need hardening, Kain. If I even suspected that destroying you would make any difference, I would do it this instant."

Kain:
"I knew you'd see through them, Raziel."

Kain:
"Janos is indeed the key to your destiny, but you'll need to find your own way back into Nosgoth's past. Make no mistake though, Raziel - you and I are now in great danger."

Kain:
"We are irritants here - malevolent forces are being marshalled to eliminate us."

Raziel:
"You talk as though we're allies."

Kain:
"Regardless of your sentiments, Raziel, in their eyes - we are."

Raziel:
"Well, they're certainly trying to eliminate you, Kain, there can be no doubt of that. I am assaulted relentlessly with demands for your demise."

Raziel:
"As for me, I suspect they made a grave error when they allowed my unique resurrection. I don't think they know how to destroy me."

Kain:
"You mustn't underestimate them, Raziel."

Raziel:
"And who exactly is this diabolical 'they' to which we keep referring? If there's some grand conspiracy going on, the right hand doesn't appear to know what the left is doing. Even Moebius seems to be caught out at every turn."

Kain:
"Moebius is a puppet, Raziel - haven't you realized that yet?"

Kain:
"That's the sweetest irony in all of this - Nosgoth's 'great manipulator' is their plaything. But the ones pulling the strings haven't shown their faces, yet."

Raziel:
"They don't like us unwriting their carefully choreographed history though, do they?"

Kain:
"You must understand, Raziel - we haven't unwritten history, we've merely rewritten it. The future flows around our petty actions, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations.
This is the reshuffling you felt, when you refused to kill me.
And remember, Raziel, we are irritants in this regard, as well - history will not allow the introduction of a paradox."

Raziel:
"And if events cannot be reshuffled to accommodate the change?"

Kain:
"It is the irritant who's expelled."

Kain:
"Bear in mind that this may be exactly the outcome our enemies are trying to provoke."

Kain:
"We must tread very carefully."

And with that, Kain teleports out.

Next time: 500 years into Nosgoth's past?