Infinite Impossibilities
Part 5
Raziel made a cursory glance around the room, taking in the soft blue glow that emanated from a tapering point in the ceiling's centre, the source of the ethereal voice. Kain stood with his hands folded across his chest, steadily gazing at his lieutenant turned traitor.
"What is this, Kain?" Raziel asked in a bored voice, motioning to the blue taper with one hand. "The 'father of Vampires' following orders from an obscure source that go against the very nature of his kind?" Kain's expression hardened, but he did not retort. Instead, the voice, unimaginably different from the voice from which Raziel's own orders came, replied in his stead.
"How foolish you are to allow my resentful brother to fill your head with twisted visions. I had thought that you had a stronger will, Raziel, that you knew too well who you were to allow him to corrupt you."
Raziel frowned, looking up into the gently glowing blue taper, one fist clenched. Then his gaze slid back to Kain. He spread his feet, making a dry sound on the rough floor, and flicked his right wrist slightly, willing the Soul Reaver to flow from his palm and form its ethereal blade. Kain, silent and committed, also adopted a fighting stance, drawing the Soul Reaver's twin, physically manifest blade with a steely ring. The two foes stood less than a metre apart, regarding each other clinically. Neither moved.
"Kain! Refrain from this rashness!" The voice of the Elder God boomed throughout the temple. "It is not your destiny to slay Raziel!" Kain did not break eye contact with his first-born, however, and neither did he lower his sword.
"Raziel! If you have the faintest will to live you with put down thy weapon and stand back. I will not permit you to act this way in the domain of a God!" Raziel eyed his opponent steadily, the light of the Soul Reaver throbbing a dull red against the blue background of the temple.
With an unearthly clash, the two foes brought their weapons together, and bright sparks showered from the two blades that were one and the same. Their faces not far from one another as they both struggled to fend off the other's brutal attack, they exchanged glances that spoke volumes of what they felt for each other.
Taking a large step back, Raziel launched a new attack, swinging his weapon in a wide arc to attempt a blow at Kain's sword-arm. Kain parried badly, and was driven back against a wall of the temple. Raziel put as much power as he could into his forward thrust, but Kain ducked out from under his child's arm and swung around behind him, lashing out with his sword. Raziel turned in time to leap over Kain's blade, and landed roughly on the floor some distance away. Taking a different form of attack, Raziel aimed a kick which caught Kain under the chin, knocking him to the ground.
Kain raised his blade in front of his face, expecting a blow from the Soul Reaver. However, Raziel instead stooped over his sire and lifted him roughly with one clawed hand clutching a handful of his cloak. With his other hand, he raised the Soul Reaver and brought it close to Kain's cheek, eyes boring into that of his former master. However, before he could execute a downward slash to slay Kain, he let go of his sire and staggered back, clutching his left shoulder with his right hand. Dark blood spattered onto the temple floor from a gash in his shoulder, and Kain pushed himself up, his sword dripping the same blood in a small trail on the ground.
"Never leave an enemy armed when you have him at your mercy." Kain intoned in a serious voice as he advanced on Raziel.
Raziel glared, eyes blazing. With a harsh cry, he leapt at Kain so fast that he didn't know it was coming, and with a vicious slash, tore open his sire's chest. They fell to the ground, Kain's sword skittering across the polished floor and out of his reach, with Raziel kneeling astride him, claws clenched around his neck and the Soul Reaver poised to deliver a fatal blow.
"That's ENOUGH!" The voice of the Elder God boomed, loud enough to make both Vampires flinch at the force. "It is about time, Raziel, that you put an end to this idiocy and bent your will to the real task set out for you. You have been deceived, child of Kain. The voice you hear urging you on, the figure you see standing over you when you work his deeds, is that of my brother. We are Elder Gods, we have no names. Know only that he stands for chaos and the ultimate destruction of the universe as it was intended, and I for continuity of life."
Raziel listened absently, but did not loose his hold upon Kain. His sire regarded him from his prone position, breathing heavily. The voice of the Elder God continued.
"He has planted ideas and motivations in your head to persuade you to slay Kain and attempt to slay me, that he would have the task to himself to alter the course of things as he sees fit."
"Why me!" Raziel cried out suddenly, arms still locked in position, restraining Kain.
"Because he is aware of the fact that you are the only person who could accomplish such a feat." The voice said simply.
Raziel shook his head slightly, and tightened his grip on Kain's throat.
"How do I know who to believe? The voice, Kain, you, you all tell me conflicting things and I no longer know what is real and what is deranged fantasy of twisted individuals!"
The Elder God appeared to have no answer to this question. Instead, it said simply;
"You know what is right. There is no one to confirm or disprove this to you, it is simply a constant, unalterable fact that you know."
"Then I accept my fate." Raziel said resignedly, releasing Kain and stepping back. Kain stood up with difficulty, blood spilling from the gash in his chest. He made a show of brushing himself off, before with a growl he launched himself at Raziel. Kain's claws dug into the flesh of Raziel's neck, and he choked, coughing up blood. Flexing his right hand, Raziel brought one leg up and kicked Kain from him, and with as much strength as he could find, thrust the Soul Reaver deep into Kain's chest. The blade slid easily through flesh and bone alike, and the dull red throbbing of the blade made the blood spilling from the mortal wound appear to glow.
Kain clutched at the insubstantial, yet deadly blade protruding from his chest, eyes wide. As his first-born withdrew the blade and stepped back solemnly, Kain fell to the floor on his knees, clutching at his wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. Steadying himself with one hand when he almost fell forward, Kain retched loudly and brought up blood. He looked up to Raziel with clouded eyes, and Raziel gazed back down at his sire with a sage expression. Then, as Kain bowed his head, Raziel turned on his heel and left the temple without a word, his expression pained but once again set, as this time he looked inside himself for the truth, instead of to some outside force for guidance. Now he was certain what his destiny was, and he strode towards this barren plain with determination to fulfil his purpose.
Story concluded in the final chapter