Part 32

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to Vorador's Mansion

We rejoin Raziel back in Vorador's Mansion.

Raziel:
"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."

Raziel:
"Of Vorador, there was no sign."

Moebius and his mob are waiting for him.

This is a major plot hole - it's been acknowledged as such by the dev team, it was a last minute addition and they didn't think it through. At the end of the last update, we saw Raziel talking to Mortanius, who had just given his "Come to me, my undead son..." speech to Kain. He did this immediately after Kain killed Moebius. Therefore, in this scene, Moebius should be dead.

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

Technically, so are you.

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

Moebius:
"We have him."

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."

Moebius:
"I will go - again at peace with the knowledge that I have played my small part in our master's plans."

Moebius:
"Kain is at last destroyed, and you have carried out the deed. Which hero do you think you are now?"

Moebius:
"The vampire savior? Or the other one?"

Moebius:
"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?"

Moebius:
"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. And there's the greatest triumph of all, to have compelled the one player who could choose into doing exactly what we required."

Moebius:
"Well done, faithful servant."

Moebius:
"And now - I have an execution to see to."

The mob descends on Raziel, but he easilly destroys them, and presses on through the mansion.

Watch it here:

Video - Random Raziel fightscene (includes their bounce - lift - slash - bounce - smash combo, and a much better shot of Raziel's soul devour animation, but is not important story-wise)

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel raises Janos

Raziel returns to Janos' crypt.

Raziel:
"This relic had come at so high a cost -- my blood offering for the answers I sought from this enigmatic corpse."

Raziel:
"It was the price of my freedom, for which Kain had paid with his life."

Raziel removes Janos's hands from his wound...

...and plunges the Heart of Darkness into his chest.

But there is no effect.

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

Raziel, angry, makes as though to strike Janos...

...but collapses instead into despair, and lays his hand on Janos ceremonially.

When he does so, his soul seems to shock Janos into conciousness.

Janos, hoarsely:
"I remember..."

Janos:
"-- Raziel, the heir of prophecy..."

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

Raziel interupts him:
"...also dead."

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

Janos:
"Then we must waste no time-"

Raziel, coldly:
"I'm not who you think I am. Nor is this a benevolent act."

Raziel:
"I have questions that apparently you alone can answer."

Janos, worriedly:
"Raziel, there are forces in this world that will strive to deceive you and pervert your destiny."

Janos:
"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, surprised and almost horrified:
"No - that cannot be..."

Raziel:
"While the blade yet exists, I am drawn inexorably toward my doom."

Raziel:
"It was you who bound me to this fate."

Raziel:
"Only you can release me."

Janos:
"Raziel, you have been misled..."

Janos:
"...you are ordained by prophecy to wield the Reaver."

Raziel produces the Reaver.

Raziel, quietly:
"And so I do - though not quite as you'd envisioned."

Janos gasps.

Janos, quietly, almost to himself:
"Redeemer and destroyer..."

Raziel, having heard this before, becomes immediately on edge, distrusting Janos's motives.

Janos:
"...is it possible? Did I misread all the signs?"

Janos:
"It seems your destiny is more labyrinthian than I had imagined."

Janos:
"You must trust me, Raziel - we may have very little time. I will convey you to the place where your answers lie."

Watch it here:

Video - Janos teleports Raziel

Raziel:
"Where have you brought me?"

Janos:
"We are within the ancient citadel of the Vampire race, long ago defiled and abandoned."

Janos:
"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."

Turning towards the Pillars, Janos sees that they are corrupted for the first time.

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, angry:
"-I want answers. The world can end this instant, for all I care."

Janos, resigning:
"Very well."

Janos:
"The Hylden cursed us as they fell, afflicting our race with a predatory blood-thirst."

Janos:
"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 looks disgusted.

Raziel, coldly:
"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, distrustfully:
"Not you, though."

Janos:
"Curse or blessing, it is the price we pay to keep the Hylden banished from the land."

Janos:
"To sustain the Binding, we had to preserve our bloodline."

Janos:
"And so we passed the dark gift to the human successors of our fallen Guardians."

Janos:
"They rebelled, inevitably, refusing the curse and seizing the Pillars as their own. And so we come to our present dilemma."

Janos:
"While mankind governs the Pillars, the Binding decays."

Janos:
"The Hylden strain against the barriers of their prison..."

Janos:
"...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-"

Janos pauses for a moment, sensing something.

Janos:
"-the outer chamber has been opened. It appears events are already in motion."

Janos:
"This token is the key to the mysteries you seek."

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."

We proceed, then, down past door Kain opened, using the symbol Janos gave him to open the door there that Kain could not.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel enters the inner sanctum

We come to this large pit, with a spirit forge in the bottom. As we enter, the Elder God breaks through the floor.

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

Elder God:
"Here and everywhere... Now and always."

Elder God:
"I am the Wheel and its turning; I am the Circle of life and death."

Raziel:
"...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?"

Elder God, laughing:
"Your fate is trivial, Raziel."

Elder God:
"It was Kain's destiny that mattered all along."

The Elder God then drags the entire platform down into the depths, and wraps the spirit forge up in his tentacles, denying Raziel access.

Cockblock!

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

When Raziel strikes his tentacles, he recoils in pain.

The light from the spirit forge brightens these two pillars, at the top of the pit.

We climb up, and use the Reaver on the pillar, which locks the light into it.

Once we've done this with both, the Elder God screams in frustration and drags the platform down even further.

We jump down, strike his tentacles again, climb back up and repeat, once more he drags the platform down even lower, and once again we climb up.

After all of the pillars are lit, the Elder God wraps the spirit forge up once more.

This time, when we strike him, he screams in frustration and retreats into the ground.

Raziel approaches the Spirit Forge.

We expect to have to fight the guardian, but this time, the guardian is familiar - Ariel.

Ariel:
"It is accomplished. The Forge summons the spirit of every Balance Guardian to itself, for this final purpose."

Raziel:
"Ariel? You?"

Ariel:
"Yes, Raziel - yet I am much more than I was."

Ariel:
"The veil is lifted from my sight. My spirit, united with the souls of my predecessors, is drawn here now for the final baptism of the blade."

Ariel:
"To restore Balance, the sword must be rendered pure by Spirit."

Ariel:
"Release me, Raziel - the Soul Reaver has the power. Release us all. For this we were called."

She extends her hand, and Raziel takes it.

She is thusly absorbed into the Reaver without a fight.

Ariel, fading:
"You have done well, Raziel. But there is one more trial for you to bear. You must unite that which has been set asunder... only then will the Scion of Balance be armed for his true endeavor. Only then..."

Raziel:
"The Reaver now blazed with purifying flame. But far from being enlightened, I found myself entangled in an even greater web of mysteries. What had Janos expected me to learn? And what of Ariel's cryptic message?"

Raziel:
"If the sword was endowed for the Scion of Balance - for Kain - and he was now dead, what hope remained?"

Raziel:
"I needed to find Janos, and soon. I dreaded to think what these ominous rumblings might portend."

We proceed, then, back to the top of the Citadel, where Janos still waits.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to Janos

Raziel:
"Janos! What is this?!"

Janos, alarmed:
"The Binding is failing - all is lost."

Raziel, narration:
"We had arrived at that cataclysmic moment, when a younger Kain faced his fateful dilemma as Balance Guardian. Choosing self-preservation over sacrifice, he doomed the Pillars to eternal ruin."

Janos:
"Raziel, there may yet be hope."

Janos:
"There is One who will be called; you must seek the Scion of Balance-"

A massive rumbling can be heard.

Janos:
"Dear God!"

An enormous explosion erupts from the pillars.

When the smoke clears, we can see the Pillars, having been completely destroyed by Kain's choice.

Janos doubles over.

Hylden Lord:
"Ah, Raziel, we meet again. You have played your part flawlessly."

Hylden Lord:
"It is gratifying to attain both freedom and vengeance in a single stroke."

Janos wrests control momentarilly.

Janos, strained:
"No - you can not..."

The Hylden Lord once again takes control.

Hylden Lord:
"This one is strong... good. My next move requires a more durable host. Mortals are such fragile vessels."

Hylden Lord:
"Willing or not, you have provided the instrument of our victory."

Raziel:
"I wouldn't celebrate just yet."

Advancing, Raziel manifests the purified Reaver.

Hylden Lord:
"You pathetic creature - you haven't got a clue."

Hylden Lord:
"The seduction of the Circle and possession of Mortanius; Ariel's murder; the corruption and collapse of the Pillars: all orchestrated as a prelude to this moment."

Hylden Lord:
"We sought an incorruptible vessel, and you provided one."

Hylden Lord:
"We required the blood of our ancient enemy, and you delivered Janos Audron - having first been lured to the Heart of Darkness."

Hylden Lord:
"Best of all, you murdered the Scion of Balance to get it."

Hylden Lord:
"We've already won."

Once again, Janos momentarilly regains control.

Janos:
"Raziel, you must not allow them to carry out their plan."

Janos:
"Kill me, and you end it now."

The Hylden Lord takes control back.

Hylden Lord:
"Suicidal, like the rest of them. Know your place, Raziel. The true hero plays his role, and then steps aside."

He pushes past, and Raziel does step aside...

...but rethinks his decision.

Hylden Lord:
"You deluded ghoul. Do you so wish to die a martyr for the Vampires' lost cause?"

Raziel:
"You're not leaving this chamber. I will destroy Janos if I have to."

The Hylden Lord pushes the Reaver away as though it were completely inconsequential.

Hylden Lord:
"Very well then, I'll indulge you..."

He takes flight...

...and hurls everything from the room. The fight commenses.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel battles the Hylden Lord

The fight is fairly simplistic - the Hylden Lord moves very slowly, and while he's invincible to attack most of the time, he conveniently summons additional hylden lackies periodically, which the newly purified Reaver kills in 1 hit, allowing Raziel ample opportunity to regain his health.

After a long fight, Raziel emerges the victor.

Janos:
"Raziel... Finish it - before he returns..."

Raziel makes to do just that...

...but at the last moment, finds he cannot bring himself to kill Janos, the one person who has been honest and strait with him since his rebirth.

The Hylden Lord retakes control and takes flight.

Hylden Lord:
"You should have listened to him."

He conjures immense energy, and blasts Raziel, who screams in agony as he falls to the floor.

The Hylden Lord, seeing Raziel still living, goes in for another round.

As he finishes, he gives his arms a quick twist...

...and Raziel flips over on the ground, spraying blue bloodish ichor all over the floor.

Hylden Lord:
"Now it is finished. And thus a new epoch has its beginning."

He takes flight and exits the Vampire Citadel, leaving Raziel to die.

Raziel fades into the Spectral Realm.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to the Elder God

Elder God:
"Do you see? However far you stray, you will always return to me."

Elder God:
"Surrender, Raziel."

Raziel, furious, swipes at the Elder God's tentacle with the reaver.

Raziel:
"Never!"

Elder God, laughing:
"Your efforts are wasted, Raziel. That weapon you bear, however endowed, remains only a wraith blade. It cannot touch me."

Raziel swings a number of times, but the Reaver passes through each time.

Raziel:
"I will not be your prisoner -"

Elder God:
"You have no choice. Your task is fulfilled. Kain has been cleared from the board, and this chamber made ready for my more malleable servants. There is nothing more for you to do. "

Raziel:
"I refuse to bend my will -"

Elder God:
"- it has always been my will you satisfy, never your own."

Raziel:
"You parasitic fraud - you're forced to imprison me because I possess free will--"

Elder God:
"--you possess nothing."

Elder God:
"As you are undying, your soul cannot be returned to the Wheel - but it may console you to abide here in eternity with me."

Elder God:
"Moebius, my good servant, I call you to the place of our first meeting. Return to me here..."

The Elder God has power over life and death - Moebius is dead, at the hands of Kain, but that is no consequence to the Elder God.

Fade to black.

What's this?

Watch it here:

Video - Kain lives?

Kain:
"I awoke to find myself in a shadowy realm. A disquieting stillness lay where my heart had been - the heart that had belonged to Janos Audron all along."

Kain:
"How was it possible that I still lived?"

Hylden 1:
"You are still fair of form, vampire..."

Hylden 2:
"That will go first..."

Hylden 3:
"This realm will render you hideous..."

Hylden 2:
"You will go mad, and will not know it..."

Kain:
"What is this place?"

Hylden 1:
"Do you not think of this place every day, vampire?"

Hylden 3:
"Or are we truly forgotten."

Hylden 1:
"We were forgotten..."

Hylden 1:
"This is the exile into which we were driven --"

Hylden 3:
"But soon now, soon we will be free..."

Hylden 2:
"We will be free."

Upon defeating a ridiculous quantity of them, Kain finds the portal through which he entered, and exits.

Kain:
"I felt strongly drawn - compelled, even - not to linger here, but to go to the Vampire Citadel, at once."

That's exactly what we do.

Watch it here:

Video - Kain returns to the Vampire Citadel

Kain:
"I knew what ominous hour this was in Nosgoth's history."

Kain:
"For here was the event that had shaped my entire existence..."

Kain:
"I had cast my fate, refusing the sacrifice, damning the Pillars, and founding my doomed empire upon their ruins."

Kain:
" I would raise the Sarafan priests to be my closest lieutenants, and would one day cast the strongest of them, my servant Raziel, into the abyss - dealing one last hand to play against Fate."

Kain:
"But in the end, had it made any difference?"

Kain:
"Had I misread the signs, as Moebius told me? In my arrogance, had I missed my cast at destiny?"

We make our way through the Citadel, heading into the inner sanctum, which Raziel opened.

Watch it here:

Video - Kain enters the Inner Sanctum.

Kain enters, finding the massive hole the Elder God had created when he dragged the platform down into the depths.

He cautiously approaches...

...and sees Moebius at the bottom, talking to some unseen company.

He leaps into the pit, landing softly behind Moebius.

Moebius:
"... the Hylden are merely an inconvenient consequence. They will be dealt with in time. It's a small price to pay for Kain's death."

Kain:
"You're a bit premature."

Moebius, horrified:
"Kain!?"

Kain:
"Is there a crack in your omniscience after all, Moebius?"

Moebius uses his dreaded staff on Kain...

...and is further horrified to find that it does nothing.

Kain knocks the staff from his grasp...

Kain:
"First your omniscience, and now your powers."

Kain:
"You are slipping badly."

This face is just awesome. It's the only time Kain ever smiles, in any of the games, and I absolutely love it.

Moebius:
"This is not possible..."

Kain grabs Moebius's hand and thrusts it into the wound in his chest.

Kain:
"The part of me that staff affected is no longer in its place."

This face basically sums up Moebius's reaction.

Kain:
"But you already knew that, didn't you."

Moebius yanks his hand away, retreating backwards.

Kain:
"I always was considered heartless. And now, Moebius, it is time."

Moebius:
"To kill me? Again?"

Another fucking awesome line - you have to hear it to appreciate it.

Moebius:
"Your only solution, for every problem: kill-"

Kain:
"This is not a debate. You see, this time, you have nothing that I want."

Kain skewers him. Most satisfying scene possible.

Moebius, clearly in agony, laughs:
"You think this will matter?"

Moebius:
"...I serve One who has power over life and death."

Kain pushes him off of the Reaver in disgust.

Kain:
"Then go to him."

Moebius, dying:
"I am His obedient... His devoted servant..."

Moebius:
"Soon, all pain will fade, and my master will bring me life once more."

And with that, Moebius dies...

...and awakens in the Spectral Realm.

Trying to recover, he stands, slowly and weakly...

...and doesn't see Raziel, looming behind him.

Moebius:
"Master, my apologies, a momentary oversight."

Moebius:
"Somehow Kain still lives, and has unexpectedly dispatched me. Make use of your good servant, and --"

Raziel thrusts the Reaver through him, skewering him once again. Moebius howls in surprise and agony.

Raziel:
"Go to your master, then. I release you to the Wheel."

Moebius's face turns from surprise to absolute terror...

...as the Elder God, previously invisible to him, manifests to his eyes.

Moebius:
"Ohh... god - no ..."

Raziel:
"Do you see it now? The monster that you served? Is this what you imagined when you worshipped it?"

Moebius:
"No...!"

Raziel:
"And in that knowledge, go - and feed it. I release you."

Raziel consumes Moebius's soul, and stands up again afterwards, almost smugly looking at the Elder God.

Elder God, laughing:
"Your petty actions are irrelevant, Raziel. Moebius was a good servant, but he was of no further use."

Elder God:
"His long life had run its course. You see? - even when you rebel, you are doing my will."

Raziel:
"Perhaps, but something has changed, hasn't it? You didn't foresee Kain's return."

Elder God, dismissively:
"You have both traced your paths along the Wheel - this is where the journey ends."

Raziel:
"You haven't the means to kill either one of us."

Elder God:
"Ah, but you can be stopped. And you will come to understand how oblivion can be a mercy."

The citadel's foundation trembles violently, and bits of debris fall.

Elder God:
"You and Kain will spend eternity buried here together, praying for the merciful release of a death that will never come."

The citadel trembles again, and Raziel falls.

Raziel:
"But I was armed with newfound knowledge, and it burned within me..."

Raziel recalls Janos' words:
"....redeemer and destroyer..."

Raziel:
"Moebius had never seen his master until the Soul Reaver purified his sight. Even the ancient Vampires had no idea what it was they so righteously worshipped."

Raziel recalls Ariel's words:
"....you must unite what has been set asunder.."

Raziel:
"All the conflict and strife throughout history, all the fear and hatred, served but one purpose - to keep my master's Wheel turning."

Raziel:
"All souls were prisoners, trapped in the pointless round of existence, leading distracted, blunted lives until death returned them - always in ignorance - to the Wheel."

Raziel recalls Kain's words:
"...the coin is still turning..."

Raziel:
"But what hope had there been? One cannot fight the unseen."

Raziel recalls Ariel's words:
"...only then will the Scion of Balance be armed for his true endeavor..."

Elder God:
"Despair, Raziel. There is no escape."

Raziel glances at Moebius's body lying on the floor...

Raziel:
"It was then I knew what I had to do."

Raziel:
"I alone could end this."

We turn back to Kain, now - he's poking at Moebius's staff on the floor.

Suddenly behind him, Moebius rises.

Moebius:
"Kain..."

Kain immediately swivels and skewers him once more.

Kain:
"Do you so enjoy death?"

Moebius:
"Yes..."

And with that, Moebius fades and Raziel is revealed, having used Moebius's corpse as a conduit into the Material Realm.

Kain recoils immediately.

Kain:
"Raziel? - No -"

Raziel pulls him back, not letting him retract the Reaver.

Raziel:
"Yes - this is how..."

Kain:
"--No, Raziel!"

Raziel, gasping for breath as his soul is consumed:
"The Soul Reaver -- pure of all corruption -- this is what it is for."

Raziel:
"This is what I am for."

Raziel:
"The two become one - both Soul Reavers - together - and the Scion of Balance is healed."

Raziel:
"And I -- am not your enemy - not your destroyer - I am, as before, your right hand."

Raziel:
"Your sword."

Kain resists, weakly:
"No, Raziel - this can't be the way..."

Raziel, ignoring him:
"And now you will see -- the true enemy --"

Kain:
"Raziel -"

Raziel fades away, being consumed entirely by the Reaver.

Kain:
"And it was then -- I saw."

Just as Moebius had not seen the Elder God, neither had Kain - but the purified Reaver granted him true sight.

Elder God:
"So... I am revealed to you at last."

Kain:
"What in hell..."

Elder God:
"I am the origin of Life... the devourer of Death. I am the hub of the Wheel, the purifying cycle to which all souls must be drawn."

Kain:
"Had I condemned Raziel to this nightmare when I cast him into the abyss?"

The Elder God pulls at the citadel's foundation, causing more rumbling and rubble.

Elder God:
"You may ponder the futility of your ambitions as you spend a deathless eternity beneath a mountain of rubble."

Elder God:
"You and your Soul Reaver will go equally mad as the eons pass. The Citadel of the apostates will become your living tomb."

Kain realizes what's happening, and looks around the room briefly...

Kain:
"Your words are heartening-"

Kain:
"- for you would not fear us unless we could truly do you harm."

Kain slashes at the Elder God's tentacle with the purified Reaver, and severs it.

Elder God:
"No! You are nothing!"

Kain:
"False god--"

Kain:
"--this is the end - the final turn of your Wheel."

He continues to cut at the tentacles, and the Elder God continues to recoil, howling in agony as he does so.

Watch it here:

Video - Kain battles the Elder God

The Elder God shields his eye, and swipes at Kain with his tentacles. Periodically, one of them will pause and Kain can strike it with the Reaver.

Doing this a few times causes the Elder God to lose his concentration and the shield drops, allowing us to slash at his fucking eye with the reaver (I think this is the 'fate worse then death' the Elder God had referred to - I mean, fuck!) After a while of this...

Elder God:
"You cannot destroy me, Kain - I am the Engine of Life itself. The Wheel will turn..."

Elder God:
"The plague of your kind will be purged from this world..."

Kain teleports out of the chamber...

...and begins walking away, completely ignoring the Elder God as he tears the citadel down around himself.

Elder God:
"And on that inevitable day, your wretched, stagnant soul will finally be mine."

Kain stops momentarilly, turns, and responds:
"In the meantime, you'd best burrow deep."

The Elder God tears the citadel down, burying himself in the rubble, as Kain exits the chamber.

Watch it here:

Video - Epilogue

Kain returns to the topmost chamber, overlooking the ruined pillars.

Kain:
"Now, at last, the masks had fallen away."

Kain:
"The strings of the puppets had become visible, and the hands of the prime mover exposed."

Kain:
"Most ironic of all was the last gift that Raziel had given me, more powerful than the sword that now held his soul..."

Kain:
"...more acute even than the vision his sacrifice had accorded me..."

Kain:
"...the first bitter taste of that terrible illusion:"

Kain:
"Hope."

But wait a minute... what about the murals? Which was Raziel?

Raziel was both of them - the two champions depicted in the murals were Raziel's dual nature, both as the Hylden hero, who would destroy the Scion of Balance and raise Janos Audron, providing them with a strong vessel to inhabit, and also the Vampire hero, purifying the Reaver and in turn the Scion of Balance (Kain), allowing him to fulfill his destiny - to restore the pillars to vampiric control.

But the Hylden Lord is still flying around out there with Janos's body! What's he planning to do?

The Device - a great instrument of destruction designed to wipe all life from the face of Nosgoth - requires a power source - he's taking Janos to fill this role. An Ancient Vampire is the only possability, due to their immortality - humans are just too fragile, and would not last through the process.

This is what Blood Omen 2 is about - but it's a complete bastardization of much of the story, because they hadn't fully planned things out when they made it.

So what happened to Raziel - is he dead?

He's not dead - but his soul is imprisoned, permanently, within the Reaver.

So what about Kain?

Raziel, in his final act, healed Kain of the corruption with his purified soul. This allows Kain to carry out his role as Scion of Balance, and ultimately, the Pillars and the Binding can be restored. But the Hylden have already broken through, and this, too, must be dealt with, lest they use The Device, and it is all for nothing. (Cue: next game)

So, wow, that sounds exciting - how can Blood Omen 2 fuck that up?

Just trust us, it does.

Well, there you have it. Hope it was worth the wait!