This file was marked 2011 May 22 and is the last one that was written down.

Raziel was surprised at how his old memories surfaced in familiar surroundings, or perhaps he was mistaking his body's memories for those contained within his soul. He recalled a nearby village that was too poor to waste effort in conquering, the perfect location for a lone vampire to find a meal.

Raziel crept through the darkness, carefully avoiding the light that still spilled from the windows of the houses. He strained his senses, and eventually settled on a house where the only sound was the scraping of metal on ceramic. A furtive glance into the window confirmed that the building held only a single human eating his evening meal.

Raziel grinned as he stalked toward the door and shattered it with a powerful kick. The man stood in shock, but Raziel snapped his neck before he could cry out. Raziel swiftly sunk his fangs into the man's jugular and shivered with pleasure as the hot liquid flowed into his mouth. He had forgotten the taste of blood, and the heady sensation of feeling it run down his throat made Raziel weak in the knees.

All too soon the man was drained, and Raziel reluctantly drew away and let the body drop to the floor. The man's spirit momentarily shuddered in the air before fading away. Raziel noticed signs that the man's soul was damaged, with barely enough energy to hold itself together. Raziel realized that he had drawn at the man's soul as well as his blood, and the realization sickened him.

Raziel had come to uneasy terms with his status as a wraith long ago, but for now he wished that his appetite was simpler. With the reminder of his true nature burning within him, Raziel once more became one with the night.

When Raziel approached the war-camp, the army was indeed training. He remained out of sight and watched his brothers lead sections of the army in drills. Raziel swallowed when he remembered just how few of these vampires would survive long enough to see the full decadence of the empire. Most of the original fledgelings died in securing vampire rule.

Raziel had seen and learned much since his execution. Simply knowing that they were building an empire doomed to collapse was not the only thing coloring Raziel's mood now. He had seen the crusades that humans made against vampires in the past, and Kain's empire was less a sick mockery than merely a twisted reproduction of those eras now gone.

Raziel wondered if Kain yet realized his sick joke, if he was aware of what he was doing. Raziel decided that it didn't matter, none of it did. All of this effort was merely a way to pass the time while waiting for the chance to face Nosgoth's true enemy.

Raziel regretted that he did not know how his efforts ended. Once imprisoned in the sword, his world became one of silence and darkness, with only his memories for comfort. His only indication of the world outside of the Reaver was the sensation of feeding, and being aware of the strong emotions of his wielder. Raziel could discern nothing substantial from the timeless sea of shifting impressions, could mark no memory as a beacon of triumph, only deep sadness punctuated by worry and frustration.

Kain's voice broke into his thoughts. "It is not like you to brood."

"I've had more than ample opportunity to learn the habit," Raziel replied.

"I returned to the village where I first sighted the creature," Kain said. "It seems to have left the area in complete devastation."

"Your future self should have known exactly where and when you confronted it," Raziel realized. "Perhaps that witch is not as faithful of a servant as she would have you believe."

Kain frowned as he realized the puzzle in that. If he would be aware of where and when he defeated the creature, or whether he defeated it at all, shouldn't he also know that he had not found the perfect messenger? With such a rare birthmark, he was sure he would not have confused her with another. Perhaps he had still managed to second-guess his choice, and therefore picked one that was less than ideal.

"There is another matter that has been weighing heavily on my mind," Kain said. "What did you mean when you said that I had asked too much from you?"

Raziel tightened his fists until he drew blood. He was more distracted by the phenomenon itself than the pain. It had been so long since his fingers had been replaced by talons, and the anatomy was different enough that self-injury was difficult.

"I had served you faithfully, and yet you rewarded me by casting me aside," Raziel insisted. "Even after that, you still tried to use me."

"My imprisonment within the sword was only the last injustice," Raziel finally said.

And that is all I had written down.

Raziel gets to live his old vampire life for a while and reflect on the meaningless of it. Eventually Kain manages to re-imprison the wraith-thing and I think I was planning something anti-climactic.

The expositing macguffin Cogling shows up again to shuffle souls around to their proper places. I don't think I decided between the two ways she could get the wraith-thing back to future Kain to deal with it. I think I preferred the one where she takes the wraith-thing into her own body and her skin starts burning off slowly enough that she can activate a portable time streaming device before dying. The less tasteful option was that she's heavily pregnant when she shows up again and it is the baby that is sacrificed, possibly showing blood leaking down her thighs.