Part 14

Now, on the circle menu (which we use to shift between the Spectral and Material Realms), we have a new option. This allows Raziel to manifest the Reaver, at any time.

You can see, here, the circular bar around his health coil - that's the aftermath of killing 1 foe with the Reaver. When it fills, it begins to take Raziel's own health. Even simply swinging the Reaver - whether or not it hits anything - fills the bar a little bit. However, as it charges, it does incresingly more damage. Using the reaver is a task of striking a balance. And later in the game, it can actually destroy in one or two shots (even if this means losing a good bit of health) enemies that normally take 10 or 20 to destroy, when fully charged. Sometimes the tradeoff (sacrificing a little health to the reaver to prevent losing a lot trying to kill the beast otherwise) is well worth it.

Raziel:
"Strange how my history came full circle."

Raziel:
"This chapel, I realised, was a memorial to my former Sarafan brethren, and myself, all of us martyred here, and then so cruelly profaned by Kain when he imposed his gift on our noble corpses."

Raziel:
"For the first time I beheld the image of my Sarafan self, memorialised here among my fallen comrades. It tortured me to see how noble and pure I had been, and what a vile phantasm I had become."

Raziel:
"And a profound sense of injury, of loss, and betrayal welled up in me, so overwhelming I could barely contain it."

Raziel:
"All I wanted at this moment was to find Kain and destroy him."

Raziel:
"I emerged, and for the first time, beheld Nosgoth in its former glory."

Raziel:
"A land overflowed with abundant life and vitality, and I knew with certainty then that the world I had left behind was nothing more than the corpse of Nosgoth, a lifeless husk bled dry by the corruption of Kain's parasitic empire."

Raziel:
"This was the fragile world Kain sacrificed to preserve his own petty life and ambition, heedless of the profound cost.
The sight only deepened my resolve. I sensed that the Pillars lay to the north-west, and if Kain truly waited to confront me there, I would not disappoint him."

Leaping from the balcony on which we stood, Raziel discovers this object.

Raziel:
"As I passed this arcane landmark, a wisp of the Reaver's energy was drawn to the ring, illuminating it. This created a beacon of sorts in the Spirit World."

Raziel:
"If ever I found myself depleted in the Spectral Realm, and my soul tossed on the ethereal winds, these beacons would draw me back to safety and restore me."

This is a checkpoint. In SR1, if Raziel was slain in the Spectral Realm, he would find himself resurrected from the brink of death in the Elder God's chamber. Here, he has no such luxury. These checkpoints are instead where he ends up.

Raziel:
"These ancient obelisks were mysteriously attuned to my spiritual essence."

Raziel:
"By simply touching the symbol, I could safely preserve an imprint of my soul, and thus create a milestone to which I could return when weary, and from which I could resume my journey."

And here we find our first save point. Blood Omen style, but not nearly as plentiful.

Raziel:
"When I had only just escaped the Stronghold, I sensed that in time my journey would return me full circle to this place."

Raziel:
"Infiltrating the fortress, however, would be no small feat, the balcony that had provided my escape was now well beyond my reach, leaving this massive gateway as the only means of entry."

Raziel:
"The gates were sealed, but like the Time Streaming chamber I had seen earlier, their operation was undoubtedly linked to that odd crystal mounted above the entrance."

We proceed then, as was mentioned by someone else earlier, down a very linear path. This makes it easy to figure out where to go (as you only really have one option at any given time), but because of the openness of the previous two games, it's not necesarilly a good thing. Even SR1 had the feeling that the whole game was right there waiting to be explored at any time, and as you gained abilities from Raziel's brothers' souls, it just revealed the way to access them. Here, not so much.

Raziel:
"These vampires had nothing in common with the deranged jackals I left behind in Kain's derelict empire. They seemed to retain much of their former humanity. In this era, vampires were clearly not the uncontested predators we had been."

Raziel:
"These creatures were hunted mercilessly and oppressed, and while I still believed that vampirism was a plague, and had to be wiped out, there was nothing noble of righteous about this crusade."

Raziel:
"This was simply ruthless persecution."

We proceed down the path, and find this door.

We promptly dispose of it's guards...

...and use this lever to open it.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel discovers the Pillars

Raziel:
"The Pillars of Nosgoth... pristine, whole and uncorrupted."

Raziel:
"I had never beheld them in this undefiled state - yet something profound and indelible resonated within me at the sight."

Raziel:
"And there, waiting at the very heart of the Pillars..."

Raziel:
"...was the canker that was destined to destroy them."

Raziel manifests the Reaver, and begins to sneak up behind Kain.

Kain:
"I know you are there, Raziel."

Raziel:
"Moebius led me to you, Kain, although I might have guessed you'd meet me here."

Kain doesn't even turn around, wholly unconcerned.

Kain:
"And if Moebius told you I was hidden on the underside of hell, would you throw yourself into oblivion to pursue me?"

Kain:
"Moebius trawls for the ignorant and unwary, hauling his gasping prey from the streams of their destinies. Stay out of his net, Raziel-"

Raziel cuts him off.

Raziel:
"Spare me your elaborate metaphors, Kain. I have pursued you here for one purpose - you will pay for your betrayal, and Balance will thus be restored to Nosgoth."

Kain:
"And whose will is satisfied then, the will of Raziel, or Moebius?"

Raziel:
"Would I be better manipulated by you, Kain? Now turn and face me; the chase is over."

Kain doesn't turn, but instead walks forward to the Piller of Balance.

Kain:
"This isn't a chase, Raziel - we are merely passengers on the wheel of destiny, describing a perfect circle to this point."

Kain:
"We have been brought here for a reason."

Kain:
"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story, however - and the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."

Raziel:
"Face me, Kain. Even you shouldn't die a coward's death."

Kain finally turns, having delayed Raziel to the exact moment he wished.

Kain:
"Isn't it customary to grant the condemned a final request?"

Raziel:
"I recall no such courtesy from you."

Kain:
"Indulge me, Raziel. All I ask is that you listen."

Here, we begin to hear a tortured wailing in the distance, that seems to resonate over the whole of Nosgoth.

Kain:
"This is the sublime moment of our undoing, Raziel - the ineffable fulcrum upon which swings the entirety of our history."

Kain:
"This is where all of Nosgoth is betrayed. In this instant, Ariel - the Balance Guardian - is murdered by dark forces bent on overthrowing the Pillars."

Kain:
"Her spirit is just now tearing free, lost in the ether, trying to find its way here. You have already seen how she comes to haunt these Pillars-"

Raziel interrupts him yet again.

Raziel:
"-bound here by your refusal to die. You are the reason this land becomes diseased - as long as you remain alive you condemn Nosgoth to an eternity of decay."

Kain:
"Be still, Raziel. See this."

Kain:
"As Ariel dies, I am being born to take her place as Balance Guardian. Such is my destiny."

The pillars begin to crack and blacken before their eyes. A wave of energy flashes across the clearing, and Kain visibly tenses, as he endures Nupraptor's psychic assault.

Raziel:
"...my god..."

Kain:
"At the moment of my first cry, Ariel's beloved - the Guardian Nupraptor - finds her corpse."

Kain:
"Wracked with grief and tormented with suspicions of treachery, Nupraptor plunges into a madness which overflows and infects all of the Guardians, who are symbiotically bound. Including me."

Kain:
"The repercussions of Ariel's assassination were expertly calculated..."

Kain:
"The entire Circle descends into madness, and I am tainted at the moment of my birth - instantly rendered incapable of fulfilling the role destiny has prepared for me."

Raziel:
"Shall I show you the same mercy you showed the rest of the Circle, then? You blithely murdered them to restore their Pillars, yet your hand faltered when it came to the final sacrifice."

Raziel:
"What makes you exempt, Kain? You're merely the last man standing. Why condemn me for simply carrying out what you hadn't the courage to do yourself?"

Kain:
"Let's drop the moral posturing, shall we? We both know there's no altruism in this pursuit."

Kain:
"Your reckless indignation led you here - I counted on it."

Seeing Raziel begin to seethe in anger, Kain continues.

Kain:
"There's no shame in it, Raziel - revenge is motivation enough."

Kain:
"At least it's honest."

Kain:
"Hate me, but do it honestly."

Kain:
"Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma - let's call it a two-sided coin."

Kain:
"If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars. But as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species. Moebius made sure of that."

Kain:
"If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged."

Raziel:
"We agree then that the Pillars are crucial, and must be restored?"

Kain:
"Yes, Raziel - that's why we've come full-circle to this place."

Raziel:
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate you must die so that new Guardians can be born."

Kain:
"The Pillars don't belong to them, Raziel..."

Kain:
"...They belong to us."

Raziel:
"Your arrogance is boundless, Kain."

Kain:
"There's a third option - a monumental secret, hidden in your very presence here. But it's a secret you have to discover for yourself."

Kain:
"Unearth your destiny, Raziel. It's all laid out for you here."

Raziel:
"You said it yourself, Kain - there are only two sides to your coin."

Kain:
"Apparently so. But suppose you throw a coin enough times..."

Kain:
"...suppose one day, it lands on its edge."

Kain teleports away, leaving Raziel to contemplate the scene before him.

Wow, Kain is arrogant.

Kain has realized, in his newfound knowledge of time itself, that he is not merely the Guardian of Balance, he is also the Scion of Balance. The Scion of Balance is prophesied in vampire legend as the one who will return the Pillars to Vampire control - their rightful owners. So when Kain says, "They belong to us", he is not referring to he and Raziel - he's referring to the vampires as a race.

Next time: Raziel finds an old aquaintence below the Pillars.