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Update #20: Conclusion

Here we are at last - at the door to the topmost room in Janos Audron's aerie.

Slowly, Raziel unlocks the door with the Reaver.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel meets Janos Audron

He walks down the hallway, slowly - as though unsure of what he'll find within.

And as he reaches the door...

...he finds...

Raziel:
"Janos Audron?"

Janos:
"It is heartening, after all these years, to hear my name spoken without contempt."

As he turns, his face contorts, surprised at what he sees.

Janos:
"Raziel?"

Janos:
"My child, what have they done to you?"

Raziel:
"I have been dragged through hell and back - all, it seems, to reach this moment."

Raziel:
"But I don't yet know why."

Janos speaks haltingly, as though not sure where to begin.

Janos:
"For thousands of years, I have waited... alone here, losing faith..."

Janos:
"At the time of the Binding, nine guardians were called to serve the Pillars. And I was summoned as the tenth guardian - the keeper of the Reaver, the weapon of our salvation."

Janos:
"Over time, our race died out. Until I alone remained... sustained only by my obligation to you, and by my guardianship of the blade."

Raziel:
"And the other nine? Why did their guardianship not sustain them?"

Janos:
"I don't know."

Janos:
"As our race dwindled, the humans prospered. I have watched, over the centuries, as our history faded into myth, and finally receded altogether."

Janos:
"The humans have forgotten us entirely, and claimed the Pillars for themselves - wholly ignorant of their true purpose."

Janos:
"To them, I am merely a devil; the origin of their vampire 'plague'."

Raziel:
"Why would the Pillars summon human guardians, then, if they are meant to be served by vampires?"

Janos:
"The Pillars choose their guardians from birth, Raziel - and vampires are no longer born. This is the crux of our dilemma.
And this is the terrible irony - with their vampire purge, the members of the Circle have assaulted the very architects of the Pillars they are sworn to protect.
They have embarked on a treacherous path. With every vampire they kill, the humans are slitting their own throats."

Janos:
"They know I'm up here, beyond their reach, and it terrifies them."

Oh, no...

Janos:
"You can see how they flaunt their kills to torment me... or perhaps simply to lure me out."

Janos:
"They have this foolish notion that destroying me will somehow topple our entire bloodline. Thankfully, we're not that fragile."

Raziel:
"I have seen them mustering their forces in the village, below."

Janos:
"Yes. I don't know what they're plotting... but I fear our time may be bitterly short."

Raziel:
"Mankind seems to have brought you only torment and grief. You must hate them."

Janos:
"They fear what they don't understand; and they despise what they fear. But no - I do not hate them."

Raziel:
"Vorador does."

Janos:
"He has suffered much. He cannot forgive them."

Raziel:
"Should they be forgiven?"

Janos:
"They don't understand what they're doing."

Janos:
"They are simply unenlightened... and vulnerable to manipulation."

Raziel considers, for a moment, before asking the question that's been burning at him all along:

Raziel:
"So it's all true, then - what Kain and Vorador have told me..."

Raziel:
"I really am some kind of unholy vampire messiah..."

Janos:
"Unholy? No."

Janos:
"Messiah... perhaps."

Raziel:
"I don't like that word - it smells of martyrdom."

Janos:
"Raziel, your role in this world's destiny is more crucial - and more benevolent - than you've allowed yourself to believe."

Janos:
"Your journey will not be easy - dark powers are allied against you."

Janos:
"But I think you already know this... you appear to have been cruelly tested. The Binding must be secured, Raziel. The Pillars are the lock-"

Raziel:
"-and the Reaver is the key."

Janos:
"Yes."

Raziel:
"The Reaver is here? Why do I feel nothing?"

Janos:
"The most formidable weapon ever forged by our swordsmiths..."

Janos:
"They infused the blade with vampiric energy, empowering the Reaver to drain our enemies of their precious lifeblood."

Raziel:
"As Janos presented the blade, an inexplicable sense of dread crept over me, more palpable than anything I'd felt before."

Raziel:
"I was at once horribly repelled by the sword and yet irresistibly compelled to touch it, to take it up."

Raziel pulls his hand away.

Raziel:
"Please - take it away from me."

And then, from the hallway, shouting can be heard - and someone pounds on the door, clearly trying to break it down.

Janos:
"I fear you have been followed..."

The door crashes open, revealing a band of Sarafan.

Raziel rushes forward to kill them...

...but Janos stops him.

Janos:
"You must save yourself, Raziel."

Janos lays his hands on Raziel, and teleports him away from the chamber.

Raziel:
"Janos - no!"

Raziel:
"My surroundings whirled sickeningly, and I found myself transported safely away from the ambush, to an adjacent chamber."

Raziel:
"Janos had delivered me from the Sarafan, selflessly forfeiting his own safety to preserve my life. And now I feared that my newfound mentor would be slaughtered by the very crusaders I had so recently revered."

Raziel:
"The irony pierced me, and with dawning horror I realized that I had been duped by Moebius from the beginning..."

Raziel:
"For the Sarafan had simply followed the path I gullibly blazed through this sanctuary, and had arrived bearing Moebius's staff. Thus armed, they had Janos at their mercy."

Raziel:
"Through the door, I could hear them battling, less than a dozen paces away..."

Raziel:
"...but it may as well have been a thousand miles, for this barrier was sealed by elemental forces I did not possess."

Raziel:
"It seemed Janos had conveyed me into the heart of the Fire shrine."

Raziel:
"I thought perhaps if I could galvanize the forge and imbue the Reaver in time, I might have a slim chance of saving Janos from his grisly fate."

This puzzle comes with the greatest sense of urgency I've ever experienced while playing a game. You technically have an unlimited amount of time to complete it - but the sheer momentum of the story at this point makes it feel very much like this is not the case.

At the far side of this room of pillars, stands a brazier, and some torches behind it. We take a torch, light it, and take it to a brazier on the other side of the room, which we similarly light. This causes the room to fill with blood, and the pillars raise up.

Shooting this crystal with the Light Reaver bolt causes the pillars to raise further, forming a sort of crude set of steps up to another brazier, unlit, on the other side of the room.

We light another torch, and jump up these quickly to light the other brazier.

Doing so allows us to raise the pillars once more, providing a way across the room, and causes more blood to pour from the statues around it.

We light another torch, and make our way across, avoiding the blood fountains (they put out the torch!) until we reach the forge itself.

Raziel lights the forge...

...which smolders at first...

...then triumphantly springs to life.

Raziel:
"I plunged the Reaver into that furnace and forged the blade with elemental fire. With the Reaver thus imbued, I was now armed to unlock the elemental barrier and rescue Janos from his executioners."

Which is exactly what we do.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to Janos

Quickly, Raziel unlocks the door...

...and leaps through...

...and runs down the hall towards Janos' chamber.

He arrives to find the Sarafan, gathered around Janos, whom they've pinned to a table.

Sarafan:
"Hold him!"

One of them is equipped with Moebius's staff, which promptly ends Janos' struggles.

In one quick swipe, this man - the group's leader - slices his chest asunder...

...and tears his heart from his body.

Another Sarafan:
"Look at his black heart, how it still beats!"

At this moment, the Sarafan leader notices Raziel on the balcony, and in his eyes flash a moment of recognition.

Raziel's eyes go wide, upon clearly seeing his face.

The Sarafan gazes at Raziel, his mouth hanging open...

...and Raziel takes a step backwards, the full gravity of the scene overtaking him.

The whole mountain begins to violently shake.
Another Sarafan:
"The fiend intends to bury us alive!"

Then, breaking his leader out of his trance, says...
"Raziel, we must get out of here!"

As they exit, Raziel stands in a stupor for just a moment, having had his realizations confirmed: it was he, Raziel, as his former Sarafan self, who had torn the heart from Janos' body.

Raziel jumps down from the balcony he stood on, rushing to Janos' side.

Raziel:
"Forgive me; I'm sorry... I failed you."

Janos:
"No, Raziel. Perhaps this was my true purpose - simply to save your life this once."

Raziel:
"While I have taken yours..."

Janos, dying:
"Embrace your destiny, Raziel."

Janos:
"You must reclaim the Reaver - it was forged for you and you alone..."

Janos:
"Without it, there is no hope..."

Janos trails off, as he dies in Raziel's arms.

Raziel:
"As I backed away from Janos's body, I was overwhelmed by a sense of self-loathing so deep, I could barely contain it."

Raziel:
"In that instant, I rejected all that I ever was, and embraced the role Janos had safeguarded for me so patiently throughout the centuries."

Raziel:
"I knew then what I had to do - the task for which I was uniquely prepared..."

Raziel:
"I would pursue the Sarafan dogs to their loathsome fortress, and avenge Janos Audron's murder. Moebius would pay dearly for his treachery, and my Sarafan brethren would reap the horrors they had sown."

Raziel:
"I would retake the stolen Reaver, which was rightfully mine. And finally, when all these debts had been paid, I would reclaim Janos Audron's heart from their filthy, unworthy hands."

Raziel:
"If the heart was truly imbued with the power to restore vampiric unlife, its highest purpose was clear to me..."

Raziel:
"I would restore the heart to Janos, and thus undo the vile crime committed by my abominable former self."

As Raziel makes his way back through the city towards the Sarafan Stronghold, all the world seems to gather up it's collective might to stop him.

Gas Demon:
"We've been expecting you, little Raziel..."

Raziel:
"So, these demonic pests were not merely the product of Nosgoth's corrupted future. For here they were, hurtling back over five centuries to pursue me."

Raziel:
"These creatures, I suspected, were minions of the unseen forces that had hoped to control me. This was the tangible expression of their displeasure. These demons were unleashed as the penalty for my disobedience."

Lightning Demon:
"Do you really think you can save Nosgoth!?"

Second Lightning Demon:
"Let me enlighten you, poor Raziel."

In a series of incredibly difficult fights, we make our way back towards Uschtenheim.

Upon arriving, new horrors await us.

Fire Demon, mockingly:
"There he is, the savior of Nosgoth!"

Black Demon:
"Come closer, Raziel..."

The only way I've ever found to get through this without dying repeatedly is to stand back and fire the reaver bolt at them repeatedly until the reaver is nearly fully charged. You can kill things with the bolt alone, but there's just too many of them here. Once the reaver is charged, however - you can tear them apart with only two blows. You forfeit a good chunk of health to the reaver in exchange for deliverence from the demons, but considering the alternative, it's more then a fair trade.

As we pass through the swamp on the far side of the city, another Black Demon appears, and spouts off an almost comical line:

Black Demon:
"You shall not pass!"

This always makes me laugh - it's Lord of the Rings in reverse!

We make our way through the forest until we reach the Elder God's chamber...

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel returns to the Elder God

Elder God:
"You have failed me, Raziel."

But Raziel isn't in any mood to take his shit, not now.

Raziel:
"I wonder, Old One..."

Raziel:
"Did you truly resurrect me, or were you simply there when I awakened from my torment in the Abyss?"

Raziel:
"I suspect you found me merely convenient. Dropped in your lair by Kain, indestructible for some reason. A durable and gullible tool for you to manipulate."

Raziel:
"This one thing I readily admit - I have been used by others time and again. But always I seem to stray from their path... what is it about me, Demon, that makes me such an unreliable instrument?"

Raziel:
"Why do I survive one trial after another... on and on in an endless succession of humiliating deaths and resurrections?"

Raziel:
"It seems there is much more to my destiny, and my history, than I know."

Raziel:
"Perhaps more than you know, as well..."

And with that, Raziel exits the chamber, leaving the Elder God, for once, speechless.

Our next stop is the Pillars themselves... where we find a number of very large demons lying in wait.

Black Demon:
"He thinks he can change his destiny."

Second Black Demon:
"What a fool."

They turn out to be the foolish ones, as Raziel dispatches them quickly, and proceeds on to the Sarafan Stronghold.

Raziel arrives to find the lake frozen over, and when he shoots the Reaver Bolt at the crystal, the ice prevents the door from opening.

So taking the Fire Reaver up once more...

Raziel uses it to melt the ice...

...and the door opens, allowing him passage.

We make our way through the Stronghold, killing any who stand in our way.

Soon, we come to this door, and encounter a surprising development.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel finds the Reaver

Raziel:
"Suddenly and inexplicably, I discovered the Reaver, suspiciously laid across my path."

Raziel:
"Again, I sensed nothing of that 'temporal distortion', the peculiar sense of displacement I had felt when I encountered the Reaver in William's chapel."

Raziel:
"Cornered here with the blade, I suffered the same nameless dread that I had experienced when Janos first presented the Reaver to me."

Raziel:
"I felt at once repelled by the blade, and yet overwhelmingly compelled to seize it."

But as he reaches to do so, Moebius and Malek bust through the door into the chamber.

Moebius:
"So, Raziel - here we are, finally."

Raziel manifests the Reaver...

...but finds it disabled once again by Moebius' staff.

Moebius:
"You have no choice but to confront me now - and I am not so foolish as I've let you believe. We have business to conclude."

Raziel:
"You knew I would lead the Sarafan to Janos, you vile bastard! You've been orchestrating my every move!"

Moebius laughs triumphantly, reveling in Raziel's realizations.

Raziel:
"My destiny is an amusement to you?"

Moebius:
"It was fun, while it lasted."

Raziel moves towards them...

Moebius:
"I think not, Raziel. Malek, do not let this creature leave. He poses a danger to the Circle."

Malek steps between them.

Moebius:
"Poor, deluded Raziel... did you somehow imagine you had the guile to change history on me? I'm the Time-Streamer - I knew your every intention before you did, you imbecile."

There's a pause, as we hear some faint shouting in the distance of the Stronghold.

Vorador, from elsewhere in the Stronghold:
"Call your dogs - they can feast on your corpses!"

Screams and shouts echo throughout the halls, as we hear a familiar call, "Malek!"

Moebius grins to himself...

Malek:
"Lord Moebius, there is trouble within. The Circle is under attack-"

Moebius:
"Hold fast, Malek."

Moebius:
"This one is the real danger to us."

Raziel backs slowly towards the basin where the Reaver is laying.

Raziel:
"What are you trying to concoct here, Moebius?"

Moebius, hatred seething in his voice:
"You toxic creature - did you imagine I'd simply allow you to run loose, corrupting everything you encounter?"

Raziel:
"I admit that I've underestimated you to this point, Moebius - but it's a mistake I won't repeat."

Raziel takes up the Reaver, turning back towards Moebius and Malek.

He advances on them, but Moebius backs through the door.

Moebius:
"Wrong again, Raziel."

Moebius:
"Now Malek - bolt the door!"

And with that, they both step through the door, which shuts just as Raziel reaches it.

Raziel:
"Using his staff to disable my wraith-blade, Moebius had effectively disarmed me, leaving me with only one choice of weapon."

Raziel:
"And yet I confess, it was not the lack of options, but blind rage that made me take up the Reaver - in my fury, it felt as though my hand had acted of its own will."

Raziel:
"And now that same hand clutched the hilt with unyielding strength - and I felt a constrained tingling, a remote but palpable sense of longing as the disabled wraith-blade tried vainly to embrace its physical twin."

If you try to throw the Reaver away:
Raziel:
"Now that I had taken it up, the Reaver and I were inescapably joined. The harder I tried to release the blade, the more tightly my hand gripped the hilt, as if possessed of its own will."

If we try to forcibly shift to the Spectral Realm:
"The Reaver exerted some mysterious power over me. It sustained my energy, enabling me to prolong my physical manifestation indefinitely. In fact, bonded to the blade as I was, I could no longer shift into the spirit realm at will. Nor was I able to summon the Reaver's twin, for my wraith-blade had been disabled in the confrontation with Moebius."

Raziel turns towards the only unbolted door, and steps through...

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel encounters his brethren

Raziel sees two familiar faces, as he passes through the door.

Zephon:
"Come to take your revenge, demon?"

Melchiah:
"Back to hell with you!"

Raziel:
"I recognized these two as my former brethren... in life as Sarafan; and in unlife as Kain's vampire 'sons'. Melchiah and Zephon, the weakest of Kain's brood... These bastards had no idea what future lay in store for them - how they would become the very thing they so despised."

Raziel:
"The Reaver hummed with anticipation - Janos had called it a 'vampiric' blade, endowed with the power to drain its victims of their lifeblood."

Raziel:
"I was eager to see what the Reaver would do to these two..."

Raziel faces off against his former brethren, easilly dispatching them.

As he does so, their blood - both when struck and when killed - seems to pour into the Reaver blade itself. If Raziel is struck, he almost instantly regenerates the damage.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel kills Melchiah and Zephon

Raziel:
"As Melchiah and Zephon fell before my blade, I felt the Reaver's blood-thirst as keenly as I ever had when I was still a vampire."

Raziel:
"I could sense the boundary between us dissolving - the Reaver was consumed with my rage, and I was intoxicated by its bloodlust."

Raziel:
"The blade had a vitalizing effect on me - my physical energy no longer decayed over time, and the wounds inflicted by my foes healed almost instantly. The Reaver had made me invincible."

Raziel proceeds into the next chamber.

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel meets Dumah and Rahab

Dumah:
"Have you come to reclaim the monster's black heart?"

Rahab:
"You'll have to get through us, first."

Raziel:
"My former brethren Dumah and Rahab confronted me next - this all seemed so elegantly choreographed. Exhilarated by the Reaver, I was drunk with revelations..."

Raziel:
"I could finally appreciate the delicious irony of Kain's blasphemous, private joke - and I revelled as I colluded with him across the centuries."

Raziel:
"For it was I who put these bastards in their tomb, thus providing the corpses for Kain to raise as his vampire sons a millennium from now."

Once again, Raziel easilly dispatches his former brethren.

Proceeding, then, into King William's shrine...

Watch it here:

Video - Raziel meets Turel

Turel:
"Get back to the pit you crawled from, demon!"

Raziel:
"And here at last was my brother Turel, who along with Dumah would bear me into the Abyss without questioning Kain's command."

Raziel:
"So dutiful and righteous, even as a vampire... I guess some habits die hard."

Raziel:
"The vampire Turel had eluded my vengeance; the Sarafan Turel would not."

Proceeding then, into the Stronghold's inner sanctum...

Watch it here:

Video - Conclusion

Sarafan Raziel:
"So, vampire - here we are. You've destroyed my brethren - and now you've come for me? You'll find I am not such easy prey."

Raziel:
"I don't want to kill you, but I will if I must. Return the heart to me, and we can end this now."

Sarafan Raziel, mockingly:
"So you've come to avenge that filthy parasite, and reclaim his foul heart?"

Sarafan Raziel:
"You're a righteous fiend, aren't you?"

Raziel: One of the best lines in the whole game...
"Apparently I am."

Sarafan Raziel:
"No, vampire. This is where it ends, but you won't be leaving this room. Now, let's finish this - I'll make it mercifully quick."

Raziel:
"As you did for Janos?"

Sarafan Raziel:
"No, that beast had eluded us for far too long."

Sarafan Raziel:
"It would have been a shame to end him too quickly."

Sarafan Raziel:
"It's ironic, really - the 'great Janos Audron' turned out to be no challenge at all... thanks to you."

Sarafan Raziel:
"Did you hear his cowardly screams when I tore that black heart out of his carcass?"

Raziel scowls and dives for him.

Raziel:
"I renounce you."

Raziel:
"And so it ends. My history comes full circle."

Raziel:
"Sensing its twin, the wraith-blade uncoiled itself from me - and instead wound lovingly around its former self.

Raziel:
"I felt its grip loosen, and as the blade left me, its absence chilled me more than its presence ever had."

Raziel:
"A foreboding sense of emptiness and loss stole over me... and a terrible revelation gathered like a storm at the edge of my awareness..."

The Reaver jerks around violently, seemingly of it's own volition...

Raziel:
"With all other foes exhausted, the conjoined blades turned themselves on me. And I realized, finally, why I had sensed nothing when Janos offered me the blade."

Raziel:
"The Reaver was never forged to be a soul-stealing weapon..."

Raziel:
"... the ravenous, soul-devouring entity trapped in the blade was - and always had been..."

Raziel:
"...me."

Raziel:
"This is why the blade was destroyed when Kain tried to strike me down - the Reaver could not devour its own soul. The paradox shattered the blade."

Raziel:
"So - this was my terrible destiny - to play out this purgatorial cycle for all eternity..."

Raziel:
"I could not bear it - despair overwhelmed me."

As Raziel languishes on the floor, writhing in agony as his very soul is torn from his body, Kain emerges around a pillar.

Raziel:
"You!"

Raziel:
"Are you enjoying this, Kain?!"

Kain:
"Don't fight it, Raziel..."

Kain:
"Give in to it..."

Raziel:
"Was this your destiny for me, all along?!"

Kain, pleadingly:
"Trust me..."

Raziel:
"I felt myself weakening... unable to hold on any longer."

Raziel:
"The Reaver was too strong... the compulsion to simply let go too great..."

Raziel:
"And then... a growing sense of vertigo, and the familiar displacement..."

Raziel:
"...the paradoxical moment when my twinned soul hovered both outside and inside the Reaver blade..."

Raziel:
"This was the instant - the glimmer of temporal distortion - Kain had been counting on all along."

Raziel:
"This was the edge of the coin - the minute flicker of probability upon which Kain had gambled everything."

Kain reaches down in Raziel's last moments, grasping the Reaver hilt...

...and tears it from Raziel's chest.

Raziel collapses to the floor.

Kain:
"Now you are free to reclaim your true destiny, Raziel."

But his triumphant moment is short lived, as he suddenly and inexplicably stops, and stars off into the distance, horrified.

Raziel:
"Behind Kain's eyes, I could see new memories blooming and dying, as history labored to reshuffle itself around this monumental obstruction..."