Disclaimer: I dont own any part of the Legacy of Kain series. However, I do own what I create within the confines of this story. Yet no characters previously created, and no stories from which I drew ideas for this one, do I own or wish to smudge with my unworthiness. Those guys were, in my eyes, the creators of the best game series I've played, and I don't even come close. R.I.P. Tony Jay!
Author's Note: Hey everybody, Spike9 here to write another version of Legacy of Kain: Absolution. Sorry for never updating that one. Tragedy struck some years ago, and I couldn't muster the time nor will to continue writing any of my fanfics. However, I suppose you could say I am over the hump now, and I'm gonna give this story another try. So please check this story out and I'll do my best to give you a good read. Because as far as I'm concerned, the last version wasn't going anywhere spectacular, and I didn't want to bore you all.
Now that that's out of the way, on with the show--
Legacy of Kain: Absolution
Chapter One: Hope
At last, the masks had fallen away. The strings of the puppets had become visible, and the hands of the prime mover, exposed.
Most ironic of all, was the last gift that Raziel had given me. More powerful than the sword which now held his soul, more acute than the vision his sacrifice had accorded me. The first…bitter taste of that terrible illusion…
…Hope.
Kain stood at the precipice of the highest room of the Vampire Citadel, pondering what to do with such a feeling that he was so unaccustomed to. He pondered which step to take, which road would now lead him on the path to the original destiny Nosgoth had possessed so many eons ago.
(It seems this journey of yours has reached a momentous climax, and has nothing left to produce but the falling action.) Came a voice from nowhere. Kain spun, pulling the Reaver out in an instant. His eyes darted about an empty room. Yet the familiarity of that voice quickly caused his tension to ebb. He stood again, but did not sheath the Soul Reaver. Instead, he strode to a nearby chair, and sat as he had on his throne so recently, and yet so far into the future… or did he? So many new memories to sort through…
He shook his head and turned his eyes toward the Reaver, whose hilt was fashioned to resemble a vampiric skull. It's eyes now blazed yellow and blue, giving a look of purity Kain couldn't truly find words to describe. It was beautiful, and yet terrifying.
"Raziel?" Kain asked cautiously.
(In my destined form, Kain.) Raziel said, bearing more satisfaction than one would expect from a soul imprisoned within a blade.
"What happened to you?" Kain asked.
(I purified the Reaver, Kain. With it finally balanced, my former soul was purged, and I became the conduit between it and the Reaver you bear now. When you absorbed it, I was absorbed as well.) Raziel said.
"Why?"
(I can only assume, as the Hylden "champion" I was meant to be pulled in to bear witness to order being restored to Nosgoth. I don't believe they counted on me siding with you.)
"I must admit it shocked me as well," Kain said contentedly.
(Yes well, let us say clarity finally pierced through the blindness of my rage.) Raziel explained.
"Indeed it did. What was that creature that revealed itself and began spouting it's own praise at me?" Kain asked.
(He was as he said; the hub of the Wheel of Fate. My former master, and the Elder god of the ancient vampires.)
"No god bleeds as he did," Kain said with disdain.
(No god indeed, yet an immensely powerful being, perhaps too powerful, even for you, Kain.)
"What bleeds can die, Raziel. And I will kill him," Kain said with determination.
(We can only hope, Kain. It is fortunate that you arrived when you did and killed Moebius-) he paused.
"Yes, well, that fool's omniscience cracked at the most opportune moment," Kain said, still feeling the pride of watching him die.
(He didn't know of your arrival?)
"No."
(How strange, but dont you see?)
"See what, Raziel?"
(Look out, Kain, do you see the pillars in the distance?)
Kain looked out, and saw no sight…were they at that moment? Just after the pillars had fallen before him?
(With my own eyes I saw the pillars fall. I was with Janos Audron when they did. A Hylden spirit possessed him, and he overpowered me, and I was imprisoned for a short time. And then-)
"I killed Moebius!" Kain exclaimed. So, it was not his doing that the Pillars of Nosgoth lay in ruin for centuries, damning the land. For even if he had killed himself to restore balance, Mobieus would still have been alive to assure that no new guardians would come to be! Well, surely now that plan would not have worked. As a younger Kain had refused the sacrifice, and two guardians now kept successors from rising. Well, now there was only one.
"Why was Moebius kept alive?" Kain said. Recalling a battle with him, but a wounded disappearance rather than a blood-drenched death.
(Perhaps to kill you at a weak point.) Raziel suggested.
"Yes, he was speaking to the Elder before I shocked and killed him. He spoke of the Hylden being a small problem, and easily taken care of," Kain said thoughtfully.
Memories of another crusade, one that had not transpired before, brought on by the revival and capture of Janos Audron, and ended by Kain, killing the Hylden posing as the Sarafan Lord. Suddenly it hit him.
"Rather than deal with an outbreak of Hylden himself, he let me cut them all down, and was going to kill me when I sent them back to the realm they were scratching to escape from…" Kain said.
(What?)
"When Janos overpowered you, I believe he was possessed, by the Hylden who slipped into this realm at the moment of the Pillars' fall. He locked Janos in a device which they planned on using to eradicate every human and vampire in Nosgoth, and allow them entry, and then domination. I stopped them, but in the final battle, Janos fell into the vortex. That which you know of as the Abyss." Kain explained.
(So Janos is dead then.) Raziel explained.
"No. With his dying breath the Sarafan lord told me that the realm from which he came gave them immortality, and vowed that they would return. Though I have no such memory of that occurring," he finished with a sneer.
(Kain, you need to know something. You are the Scion of Balance, the vampire prophesied to restore balance to Nosgoth-)
"Yes, I managed to deduce that myself, Raziel, what of it?"
(But the vampires followed the Elder as their god. When I spoke to Janos of it, he spoke of him with reverence. The war between the vampires and the Hylden was caused by the Hylden's refusal to submit to the Wheel of Fate. For that defiance, they were banished. The vampires' bloodthirst and fear of light and water was but a side effect of their true punishment. Immortality and sterility was meant to be their undoing.)
"How?"
(Because they were undying, they were held hostage in their bodies, kept in place while the wheel kept turning. Because his children could no longer turn with the wheel, and their fate's were kept meaningless, rather than revolutionary, many of them killed themselves. You must restore order, yes. However, such blind faith in a false god cannot be tolerated. Whichever steps you take, tread them cautiously.)
"I will," Kain said. "It seems we can stop the Hylden right here, if I can find their Lord, and stop him. My encounter with Moebius showed me well I enjoy the same freedom from the Wheel that you did. I have free will, and I intend to shape Nosgoth properly. And it will begin with the death of the Elder."
Kain stood up and walked to the edge of the citadel again. He began concentrating on becoming a swarm of bats, and stopping the Sarafan lord in his tracks. But just as his being began pulling apart, a wave of pain set every piece of him hurtling back into wholeness. He then fell onto a knee, and then to his side, writhing in agony.
It was his evolution. He had resisted three changes after casting Raziel into the Abyss. He knew from his current progress that the damnation of Nosgoth would stretch to its inhabitants, and watched his children become powerful, and then mad. For centuries he'd been resisting, but it seemed now that his body was going to change regardless of his willpower.
Kicking and thrashing, Kain managed to reach a dark corner. He felt his flesh swelling up, and his conscious fading.
(Kain! What is-) but the remainder of Raziel's question fell silent, as did all else, as Kain lost consciousness…
Author's Note: Okay, So a lot of figuring stuff out just happened. BUT!! There are still a bunch of unanswered questions. And what will become of Kain's plans to stop the Hylden lord? Find out next chapter. Please Review!