AN: Please be sure to read my other story The Pit first. I know this isn't how this boss battle goes down in game. I took a lot of artistic license here.

Nosgoth, 30 years after the birth of Kain
In a secret chamber beneath Avernus Cathedral

The city of Avernus burned above them, consumed by fire and the demons of Azimuth the Planer. The great beast thundered across the bone strewn pit, swift for his size yet too slow to catch his fleet footed ancient brother. He leapt out of the way as the giant skidded, sending bones flying with his four massive paws. He turned slowly, canine-like nostrils flaring with great gusts of wind.

Raziel backed away from him quickly, his tattered blue wings flowing around his skeletal form. "Fool! I did not come here to fight you!"

Turel let out a shrill roar. Centuries of evolution and confinement to this pit had altered him body and mind. Strange demons assaulted his mind; their claws choked his vocal cords and spoke through him like a puppet while green flame poured from his half-blind eyes. He was massive, almost too large to fit in Kain's throne room in the Sanctuary of the Clans, the largest of Raziel's evolved brothers. Turel had always been the most physically imposing of Kain's lieutenants, but there was a time when a few of them could almost match his brute strength. No longer.

Turning to face him, his monstrous body tensed, releasing a wave of telekenetic energy that threw Raziel several feet and knocked him onto his back. As he tried to stand the pit shook beneath the pounding of Turel's four legged stride.

Teeth gnashed Raziel's arm. He screamed, bones crunching as his arm squirted ectoplasm. With a flick of his head Turel could have swallowed him whole. He tried to draw the wraith blade to fight him off, but before he could gather his wits Turel shook him like a dog with a bone and hurled him across the pit with an enraged cry. "WHAT!? NO BLOOD!?"

A pile of bones exploded under him. He hit the ground several times, bouncing like a rag doll, his wings flying in his face, and as he finally came to a stop his cowl came loose, exposing his mangled facade. The abyss into which Turel and Dumah cast him had destroyed him utterly, searing away his skin and organs and ripping the jaw from his face. He scrambled to his feet, the cowl hanging from his shoulder. Fortunately his sword arm had been spared, but his left was badly maimed.

Turel's bat-like ears flapped against his head with a drumming sound as he shook himself and spat the bitter green goo from his maw. He hissed and snarled. "What is this trickery!?"

"I did not survive the abyss, you idiot! I am nothing but a corpse!" Raziel retorted acidly, holding his injured arm as he inched further from Turel. He tried moving his fingers. The pain was nearly blinding. Seeing Turel face him, he backed away and summoned the wraith blade. The spectral weapon coiled down his right arm with blue fire as Turel charged him again.

Raziel's muscles coiled expectantly and visibly. When Turel was almost on top of him he leapt high into the air. This time Turel did not have time to slow down. The chamber shuddered as he slammed head first into the wall of the pit, his skull cracked and bleeding from the head. Raziel landed nearby and jumped to gain distance on him, wraith blade at the ready should he charge again. During the scuffle his cowl fell away completely, unnoticed. "Consider that your final warning. You'll receive more than a headache next time."

Blood dripped from his jaws as the monster turned to face him. He chuckled darkly. "Still won't kill me, brother... You were always soft."

"I came here to find the Heart of Darkness. You are a waste of time. If you still wish to die, I'll gladly return for you later," Raziel quipped.

"This place has held me for centuries - there is no escape. No one will come to release us this time, brother. We must fight to the death. It is the only way. One of us must find peace tonight."

"You already killed me once." There was a time, long, long ago, when Turel said he would plead on his behalf if he ever held Raziel's life in his hands. The moment to prove it had come and gone. And Turel had done nothing.

Turel leapt forward and swiped at him with his claws. Backpedaling, Raziel slashed the back of his paw with the wraith blade. He lunged, massive jaws slamming shut on air. Raziel was already beside him. The wraith blade carved a deep gash across his head, but before Raziel knew what was happening Turel knocked him aside like a flea. Skidding across the ground on his back, he recovered his senses just in time to see Turel preparing another telekenetic attack. He threw himself to his feet and leapt out of the way of the blast just in time. As the dust cleared he clasped his wounded arm and held in a pained scream. If Turel had ripped off his arm instead he would be doing better. He would get it back in the Spectral Realm anyway. The monster stalked him. "You would have done the same..."

He never considered that scenario. At this moment he did not have an answer for his brother, who was slowly advancing on him like a lone wolf stalking a wounded huntsman. Raziel did not take his eyes off of him. Unbidden, a small laugh escaped the gaping hole where his throat should have been. "Does it matter? Let's enjoy the moment."

His execution was both centuries past and centuries future in this time period. He learned so much by chasing Kain into the past - about Nosgoth, about himself - that the petty vengeance that started his journey no longer mattered. There were greater forces at work in this world, forces that made all his rage and sorrow seem as insignificant as a candle flickering in a thunderstorm.

Turel had eluded his thirst for vengeance in Nosgoth's present, more than two thousand years from now. How unexpected - and how strangely delightful - to come across him now, in the last time and place in Nosgoth he expected to find him. Ironic that he journeyed to Avernus Cathedral to save the life of his mentor Janos Audron and found himself pitted against his brother in a battle to the death.

Not to his surprise, which in itself was surprising, his brother joined in his macabre laughter. Ears flat against his back, his mandibles spread to reveal a toothy grin that dripped blood. They had always been rivals, he and Turel. Their rivalry was as ancient and pure as the rivalry of brains and brawn. Even during the Golden Age of Kain's empire they had been at one another's throats at all times in one way or another. That was their way. That was their bond. Now their Golden Age had come again, one final time on a hellish night beneath Avernus Cathedral. Of all the brothers Raziel had fought and killed in his quest for vengeance, none gave him such earnest pleasure; not even Dumah, who had treated their final battle with the amusement of a high stakes game.

His younger, much larger brother pawed the rusty earth at the bottom of the pit. Galloping towards him, Turel surprised him by leaping into the air. Raziel darted forward, taking an enormous risk, and managed to dive out from under him just as he landed. The force of his weight bearing down on the pit sent piles of bones rattling loose. Raziel stumbled to his feet.

Although Turel could charge like a bull he was slow to turn. He observed this weakness earlier in their fight. Ceasing the opportunity, he leapt onto Turel's back and stabbed him with the wraith blade, trying to find his heart, but his skin was too thick.

If his other arm was not so badly injured he might have hung on longer. Instead he found himself thrown the moment Turel bucked. He landed on his back, hard enough to knock the wind out of him had he still possessed a functioning set of lungs. His spine stiffened from the impact. His white wraith eyes blazed as Turel's paw came down on top of him. He managed to roll out of the way just in time. His arm felt like it was still clenched in Turel's jaws, but he shut out the pain. This was nothing compared to the hell of the abyss.

But Turel was also weakened from fighting. His breath came in great gasps and he carried himself like a wounded animal. Turel lunged at him, snapping up the tip of his torn wing. He turned, following his prey, and lifted his head to strike a second time, his bat-like ears spread like a cobra's hood, revealing the softer skin of his underbelly. Before he could strike Raziel lunged forward and slashed the wraith blade across his throat.

Blood spewed from the gash in Turel's neck as he screamed. His legs gave out and he toppled to his side, hoarsely gasping for breath. His ears flattened limply. Raziel stood over him, the wraith blade casting his monstrous features in its blue glow. Turel lifted his head as his breathing settled. His mandibles slowly spread. He seemed to be smiling. "Not bad, cream puff... You win."

Unaccustomed to receiving praise from his estranged brothers, Raziel cringed. He dispelled the wraith blade. "It wasn't a fair fight. Nothing can kill me now, not even you."

"Pointless," Turel hissed. The blood that dripped from his mouth pooled on the ground. His eyes were half-closed. "I always wanted to die in battle. It was a pleasure, brother."

Raziel hesitated. When was the last time he heard that word spoken without derision? They had both been so cruelly used, puppets of destiny. Turel, an imprisoned god and vessel for the Hylden; and he, an unwilling messiah doomed to eternal damnation within a soul devouring blade: both of them cast through time, strangers far from home. He touched his brother's snout. As Turel's nostrils flared to sniff his hand all hatred for his brother vanished from his heart. "You fought well."

A soft growl rumbled in Turel's throat. His massive head shifted, withdrawing from his touch. "The master is near... Kill him, Raziel! He is our true enemy."

It was not that simple. Although Turel did not know it, one of them held the key to changing Nosgoth's destiny. Raziel did not yet know whether he or Kain was destined to be Nosgoth's destroyer. He had not the heart to spoil their final moments together with prophecy. He summoned the wraith blade. "It will be done. But first..."

Turel grinned. "Yes... now!"

As Raziel approached, Turel leaned his head back on his shoulder to expose his soft underside. His massive body looked completely relaxed. Raziel lifted the wraith blade to deliver the final blow.

...

Hot air rustled Raziel's wings as he departed the city. At his back, Avernus blazed like an inferno in the night and the air smelled of sulfur. Orange embers floated skyward like fireflies. Clutched in his bloodied claws, the Heart of Darkness thumped; its bloodless arteries made a sucking sound. Raziel pondered Turel's words.

You would have done the same...

In his mind, Raziel counted of the names of those who had died for his revenge. All his brothers: Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, Dumah... Turel... To that list he added a final name, that of his maker, Kain. He had killed them all with hardly a moment's hesitation. Only Melchiah and Turel left him with pangs of regret. Yet, he did not find his guilt troubling. It was merely an inconvenience. In spite of all that had changed, he found it impossible to forgive them for destroying him and everything he held dear. Only Turel earned his reconciliation and only because he pitied him.

But like Turel, Raziel had been loyal to Kain once. If Kain had ordered him to throw Turel into the abyss all those centuries ago, would he have obeyed?

Many times he carried out the orders of that madman without a second thought. Kain's weapon, the Soul Reaver, was a powerful negotiator. Death often followed disobedience. To deny Kain's orders, he would have gambled Kain's favor against Kain's rage. Now that he imagined himself in Turel's position, he realized that his brother's decision to cast him into the abyss would have been anything but easy.

For his hatred of his brothers, for their betrayal, he had murdered them all. After all he had done in his quest for vengeance, perhaps he was no better than them. However, he could only admit that he did not know how he would have acted in their place. When he spared Turel's life in the pit as a fledgling, those circumstances were vastly different from those of his execution. He could not fairly compare the two.

Was it worth it in the end? The Heart of Darkness, the beating key to reviving his fallen mentor Janos, who had become like a second father to him, provided a small sense of accomplishment and solace to his quest. He could only pray that it would not disappoint him.

The last vestige of an empire, Raziel walked alone.

AN: In order to avoid confusion, I'm going to explain how Raziel escaped the pit after killing Turel in the game. Absorbing Turel's soul gives Raziel a boost to his telekenetic attack which allows him to break one of the walls of the pit. This creates a platform and climbing surface which allows him to escape. I didn't include this in the story because I thought it would distract too much from the emotional tone.