The Legacy of Kain series and all related characters belong to Eidos Interactive and Crystal Dynamics.
This story explores the possible event of how the Soul Reaver was finally returned to the past for the fledgling Kain to eventually find at Avernus.
Full Circle
-by ShadowFeared
"History is irredeemable. Or is it unimpeachable now I am as unchained from the wheel as Raziel had been? And is Nosgoth now disengaged and free to choose its own destiny?"
Those were my thoughts as I stepped into the Chronoplast chamber for the final time. I looked down into the room I had used many times before. History, it seemed, had spent its last breath propelling me to this moment. I set about locking the symbols into place. This time, however, the familiar act felt far more torturous.
As the last symbol locked into position, the Chronoplast sent a final bolt of energy into the portal arch. It to flared for a brief moment, forcing a path through time to my realised destiny. I chose to walk up the steps. I could have bent my will to deliver me right into the portal itself, but for some reason I felt that there was something extraneous but valuable to be gained in walking this once.
As I climbed those steps I went over ancient history in my mind. It had been millennia since Raziel had cleansed me. But in that same instance, with my corruption gone, he sacrificed himself to the Reaver. Finally fulfilling his destiny in becoming - as he always had been - my sword.
My thoughts were interrupted as I reached the last step. I stopped before the portal. Since the cleansing I had been less controlled with my feelings than I could ever have imagined; I felt some of what I had lost from my fledgling youth. Am I so much more than I once was? Perhaps, but perhaps less.
I drew the Soul Reaver from its place, before now it had always meant death but not this time.
Now I drew it because it would be the last time I would hold it... my sword... my right hand...
... My friend.
The sorrowful realisation ran through me like nothing I had ever experienced.
Long ago I thought I had felt this for another, how wrong I had been, arrogance had dominated my thoughts then. I was pre-eminent but easily manipulated, a dangerous combination.
Enough hesitation, with the blade now drawn I stepped into the stream...
Moments later, as the mist swirled, I was greeted by a contemptuously sarcastic voice:
"Welcome Nobleman..."
As I came to rest on the stone and the mist began to clear, the shape of a man stepped forward and the voice dropped into a more familiar tone.
"...Welcome to my destiny, I trust death has taught you well?"
The voice he put on first was that of the Oracle of Nosgoth. The same Oracle that had played me like a pawn. So much time had passed since then, and now I stood here far stronger than even he could possibly know.
When the mist dissipated completely, I found myself at the foot of the Pillars. And waiting here for me, as I suspected he would be, was the Time Streamer himself.
"Moebius."
"Kain" he mimicked with a nod.
"Unfortunately I cannot say that this meeting will be amiable, but I believe it will be benevolent for I have already shared my most pleasant of meetings with you. It would be a shame to ruin that memory now." I could not help but find amusement in my own words; there was no way he could know what I was truly referring too. However I did not wish to entice him into rousing his accursed staff. If he were to learn in this time that it did not affect me, it would seriously spoil the surprise for him later.
"History can always be rectified, under the right circumstances." He said it with an air of reverence, believing still that they would always come to his aid.
"And if history should be rectified by you or those you serve, then I will find another time in which to repeat my actions. You may rely on that, Moebius." I mocked him. I was not here to play his games, they no longer held any allusion for me.
"Death comes for us all."
"And for you, never soon enough."
"This is not where we are destined to have this conversation, we both know why you are here." He said.
"This is were it begins," as my voice grew darker. "The means through which I eventually hold this unvanquished blade begin here."
Lifting the tip of the Reaver towards Moebius' chest, I felt it begin to vibrate. The old compulsion to kill, the malice I had nearly forgotten about, was returning. I wanted nothing more than to drive this blade through him once more, but I was not here for that.
Moebius stepped forward, nearly on to the sword.
"We both know this is not where or how it ends."
I lifted my free hand and pointed one of my talons towards him, "Do you ever tire of that uniquely unoriginal utterance?"
"Actually, this is the first occasion on which I am destined to use it." he replied whilst drawing his staff across him. Clearly he was trying to warn me that should I attempt to attack him, he would use it. His smirk showed he believed he knew his whole destiny, if only he truly knew...
"I am honoured. But are destiny and deceit all you have ever been capable of aspiring to? Truth can often be an even greater weapon, maybe you should try to use it sometime."
I dropped the sword to my side and as I did, something that was close to regret stole over me. I had never felt the entity inside the blade before, but now I was beginning to sense its presence. Curious how only now at this point would it choose, would Raziel choose, to make himself known. Perhaps he appreciated as I did, that this would be our final meeting. Or maybe it was a harboured grudge against Moebius here, and his indignation could easily cross even these barriers.
Moebius stood there, confident that he had calculated everything. In this time he still thought he knew when and how he was going to die. Falsely believing that should he fall, he would be resurrected by the deity he so faithfully served. How wrong he would eventually be proved.
"It is time Kain, do what you have to do." Moebius stepped aside.
I walked past Moebius, to the Pillar I would eventually be Guardian to. The uncorrupted Balance symbol glimmered in the bright sunshine. This world did not yet know either its history or its destiny. I wished in some way that this world might never know, but it was an ill-considered wish.
I placed the tip of the Reaver gently on ground, strange such kindness should grip me now. I rested the hilt against the unblemished column, and with some difficulty I released my hold upon it. Its skull facing me, I stood regarding it, my servant and friend, imprisoned. Destined for a future that he already knew. If I thought that destiny could transpire any other way...
No, I must cease thinking these dangerous thoughts. The skein of History has been rewound, and to twist it further could cause the fragile thread to fray. Nothing would save us then: our coin has already been spent.
"Quietly bear this pain Raziel, as I have done." I said, almost whispering.
"I see you have grown sentimental. Is this how death and time have moulded you?"
The question was rhetorical. I turned slowly to face Moebius; there was nothing to stop me venting some more of my loathing on him, so long as I did not kill him. But I reminded myself again that nothing is free, not even revenge. "I see now that you have always been an ignorant fool." I said. "Eventually you will understand, but when you do, it will be far too late."
My voice was cold and hard. I had lived too long now to spar with this pathetic simpleton. Suppressing my feelings of rancour and anger, I forced my will to deliver me to Circle Room of the Stronghold. I suspected that no one would be there, Moebius would have seen to that.
So I left Moebius standing there at the foot of the Pillars, delusionally confident that he was in control of these events. Time it seemed had not taught him well...
I materialised near one of the Time Streaming chambers, and looking round the room I noticed that the walls were blank. This room would, of course, eventually become a shrine to Vorador. His vengeful actions against the Circle for their hand in the murder of Janos Audron would guarantee that. It struck me that everything I knew as dead events, buried in the past, and everything I myself had done, had yet to be played out in this quiet time. I laughed at the realisation.
As my laughter faded I turned to face the curiously open Time Streaming chamber. I stepped through its doors and walked over to its manipulation dials. They were set precisely to where I wished to go. Of course they would have been, Moebius was still just a pawn. I could not help but chuckle again as I understood exactly how much of a puppet Moebius was; how he had ever played me, I could not imagine now.
Approaching the centre of the room, I placed a hand on either side of the hourglass - possibly with more hesitation and regret than I have ever known - but still I turned it. Instantly the familiar mists surrounded me and I was lifted up one last time...
"Am I now just a Guardian, another piece of Nosgoth's vital force, no more a destroyer, conqueror or king? Perhaps now I have reclaimed what I was always destined to be... Balance."
The mists receded, but my sombre thoughts did not. I was returned to the solid floor and I became aware of the chamber I now stood in. I felt the strength of the Pillars return; I could have easily walked out of this chamber but I did not feel the inclination to with this renewed surge of power. Bending my will once more I materialized on the balcony where Raziel had once stood. He declared here that I had destroyed Nosgoth for my own petty ambitions.
I could only hope that, as I looked out over this restored land, he could now completely forgive me for all that I had done. Neither corruption nor ambition should have been motivation enough for the actions I had so willingly taken, but I had always done everything for the good of Nosgoth.
"See this Raziel, I could not have known what my legacy would bring..."
I turned away from the sight. Pristine as it was, it held something darker for me now. I started to walk, I no longer knew my destiny, but it was not important. The circle was finally complete.