Disclaimer – Legacy of Kain: Soul
Reaver is copyright of Silicon Knights and Crystal Dynamics. Sluggy Freelance is property of Pete
Abrams. Please visit Sluggy Freelance,
it's quite funny. www.sluggy.com
Note – This story takes place during
the "The Bug, the Witch, and the Robot" storyline in Sluggy Freelance. I read that and got inspired to write
this. If anyone out there is interested
in this story, let me know so I can make time in my life to write more. Thank you.
Sluggy Reaver
Chapter One: The Dreamtide
I've started to dream.
It strikes me as odd, for all the
changes I've gone through, I still have to follow some of the basics of life; I
need to eat and sleep. Then again, I highly doubt that the old prophets and scholars
would consider the devouring of my enemies souls as "eating". As for sleep, I
can go without it for two, three days at most, but eventually I need respite.
When I slept, I never dreamt. Until
now.
What I witnessed in my dream were
the faces of those of my past. The Elder, who brought me back from the
netherworld and gave me a second chance for revenge. My fallen brothers, slain
by my hand. Ariel, the guardian specter
of the Pillars, guiding me. The hordes of creatures that I have fought and destroyed.
Moebius, the Time Streamer. And Kain, always Kain. The bastard who raised me up
from the dead and later cast me down into the Abyss, into seeming oblivion.
What is he up to? After our confrontation in the Chronoplast, it seemed that
Kain didn't cast me into the Lake of the Dead out of jealousy, but then if so,
why? Is he planning to use me as a tool, as Moebius tricked Kain into starting
the vampire holocaust?
Then, something else. I felt myself
falling, ever falling down towards nothingness. As I held to my ruined wings to
slow my descent, I saw the ground beneath me, and it was in the shape and form
of a woman. It was like a giant lady was sleeping amidst the rocks and dirt of
the ground. As I fell further, I saw the woman's body was translucent, and an
oily blackness had consumed the great majority of her inner self. My descent
brought me ever closer to her, until when I passed through her pale skin. I saw
what looked like the earth beneath me, but the most of it was covered in that
evermoving oil. There was only one small patch of earth that was not covered,
and the black substance was trying to engulf it, but was being held back
somehow. When I landed on the safe ground. I heard a shriek of ungodly horror.
I saw what seemed to be a monster, a daemon formed of that black ooze which had
overwhelmed the earth. As he turned, I saw the woman that I had fallen into
stuck in that black mass. It seemed that the beast was trying to absorb her
into itself, and somehow I knew if that would occur, the woman's soul would be
utterly destroyed and the demon would have full control of the body of the
EarthWoman.
I would have left this twisted
scene, but then the woman (Gwynn, her name is Gwynn) opened her eyes, looked me
square, and softly moaned.
"Help me."
I don't know why, but the sadness in
her eyes and the pity in her voice moved me. I summoned my WraithBlade; the
Soul Reaver merged with myself, and ran towards the beast.
When that thing (The Vowelless, the
Collector) saw me, it yelled in a voice of gravely hatred. "What's this? You dare to stop me! This vessel is mine!
Mine forevermore! And no one, not that idiot, that tinkerer, not even the Storm
Breaker herself can stop me! And what chance do you have, pathetic shell of a
creature that you are!"
But as that thing saw me charge, I
saw the pompousness replaced by fear. "What are you? Step back! Away from me,
foul devouring thing!"
We dueled, that monster and I. I had
to watch my attacks carefully, lest I hit the girl (Who are you, why you can
hear me?) still stuck in the demon's mass. I was distracted somehow (Find the
others! They can help you!) and the beast (K Z K?) struck me with such force
that I landed in the black ooze that surrounded us. As it gripped me and pulled
me down, as I sank into black nothingness, I still remembered that girl,
fighting for her soul against that monster.
{Milady, Gwynn, where are you?}
(Worlds away, yet as close as your
breath.)
{What does that mean? How can I save
you?}
(Just as you walk the paths of the
Spectral Realms, sir {Raziel, I am Raziel}, so do I walk the roads of the
Dreamtide. You are strong, but the bug (K'Z'K) is greater still.)
{How can I stop that thing? [You
can't, twisted wretch that you are!
Don't bother me!] }
(Riff, Torg, Zoë, find my friends,
they can help you. Hurry, I am weakening…)
And I awake.
I still cannot figure out what I
witnessed, but I know what must be done. That demon, K'Z'K, must be slain
before he corrupts the girl, Gwynn, completely. She gave me the names of three
of her allies who could grant me aid. I must work with haste.
I have come to the Chronoplast, that
strange device that Moebius had created to cross the gulfs of time. With a bit
of experimenting, I believe I can work it. With that, and by traversing the
Spectral Reams, I hope that I can locate the realm where Gwynn is.
As I step through the Chronoplast
and feel the pulls of eternity at me, I hone my Reaver blade and think the same
two thoughts.
To Gwynn, stay strong, I will
protect you.
To K'Z'K, demon, your time will soon
come.
