Infinite Impossibilities
Part 6
Raziel strode back to the pillars of Nosgoth, and swept through them without a glance, and onwards towards the obsidian temple where all his confusion had begun. With a determined scowl on his face, he entered the main chamber – the large room where he had come to his senses.
This time, the room was lit with a dim red glow, and Raziel could now see the far walls, and the towering obsidian throne upon which the figure sat contentedly waiting for Raziel's arrival. Now the room was bathed in this light he could see the full horror of the creature from which he had unquestioningly taken his orders in the past, this monstrosity that lounged upon the imposing throne with a sneer scrawled across its hideous face. The face of the creature was smooth and black like the obsidian on which it sat, and the only feature etched upon it was a red gash of a mouth, which smiled at Raziel knowingly. The rest of the figure's body was alike the face, smooth and totally devoid of blemishes, but it was frequently broken into cracked pieces, and in between these pieces the cracks glowed with the red light of whatever was contained within that protective skin.
Raziel flexed his claws and allowed the Soul Reaver to stream from his palm, adding a new overtone of red to the temple room, a menacing colour that dimmed and brightened alternately as the two stood in silence regarding each other.
"Did you propose to take me by surprise, Raziel?" The voice came from all around Raziel, though the mouth of the figure moved in synch. Raziel braced himself and held the Soul Reaver in front of him threateningly.
"I did not propose anything but to destroy you, beast." He said softly. The voice laughed, a deep booming sound that made Raziel's ears ring with it long after it had passed.
"It is a shame that I will have to put a stop to you, Raziel." The voice said. "I fear I would have greatly enjoyed your company had you not let yourself be dominated with visions of sainthood." The figure rose from the throne upon which it reclined, and stood looking as solid and immovable as it always had.
"You showed such potential before you let yourself be caught by Kain." The voice continued. "I feel, if he had not have contained you for long enough to destroy your sense of rational thought, that you would still be as great as you once were."
"I no longer take any heed of your false stories, nor that of any other." Raziel growled. "I need no-one to tell me who I am, for I know this: I have no fate, no imminent service that I need perform for the benefit of all. I make my own destiny, and when the time comes I will be the one to seal my own fate."
"If only you could see what a pathetic creature you have made out of yourself, Raziel." The voice intoned seriously.
Raziel could hold back his anger no longer, and he launched himself at the figure, landing with his feet square in the centre of its chest. Raziel took hold of its great neck with one hand, and with the other he held the Soul Reaver up, ready to strike the figure full in the face. With one huge hand, the figure nonchalantly swatted Raziel away, a blow of such force that Raziel felt his neck snap with a sickening crunch. The room seemed to blur around Raziel even before he hit the stone floor, and when he looked up with disorientated eyes, he saw that he was not dead, but merely in the Spectral Plane. Bringing his left hand up to his neck, he felt the bones under the skin moving back into place slowly, and he realised that in this world his new body would draw upon the energy all around to heal itself. Pushing himself up with much difficulty, Raziel stood and surveyed his surroundings. He glanced over to the throne and drew a sharp intake of breath. The figure, insubstantial looking at first, was passing through into the Spectral Plane to pursue Raziel.
Raziel braced himself once more, deciding that the only way to win this fight was agility, and raised the Soul Reaver in defence of himself.
"Such a shame I could not have fought with the old Raziel." The voice intoned, echoing in this strange realm. "Your pervious incarnation, im sure, would have put up more of a fight."
Raziel said nothing, an angry scowl on his face. Lightning-fast, he rolled to one side and made a leap again at the figure, trying to take it by surprise. The figure raised one hand, palm towards Raziel, and a great but invisible force struck Raziel full in the chest, and hurled him against the far wall. Pushing himself up once more, Raziel glanced upwards and saw that a gallery ringed its way around the whole room. Frowning, he planned to use this to his advantage. Turning his back on the figure for a moment, he propelled himself upwards and caught hold of the banister edging the gallery, pulling himself over it and onto the gallery itself.
The figure watched with seeming amusement at Raziel's actions as the vampire levelled the Soul Reaver at it and let off a burst of energy. The force projectile hit the figure in the torso, and the voice echoed around the room with laughter. Raziel scowled as he realised that nothing he could do seemed powerful enough to even put a scratch upon this being of stone.
Not caring any more for planning attacks, Raziel leapt from the high gallery and caught hold of the figure by the shoulders, surprised that this assault overbalanced the being and brought it crashing to the floor. Seizing his opportunity, Raziel thrust the Soul Reaver at the figure lying prone on the floor before him. The Soul Reaver burnt a red trail in the air as it was brought down upon the figure's back, but Raziel started with horror as the insubstantial blade passed right through the being without seemingly harming it more than an illusion.
Still reeling from this shock, Raziel did not move in time when one of the figure's arms shot forward and grasped Raziel around the waist with a vice-like grip. The figure righted itself, holding Raziel before it like a rag doll. The slash of a mouth on its smooth face was scowling as it regarded its former servant.
Raziel brought his legs up and kicked at the figure's chest, trying to get away from the grip that held him firmly in place, to little avail. As much as he scrabbled and kicked and writhed, the figure paid no attention. All of a sudden, the creature released its grip upon Raziel, and he dropped to the hard obsidian floor. The figure then solemnly lifted its great foot to bring it down upon Raziel's chest, and the vampire realised in time to put up his hands in defence.
This power struggle, Raziel could see, would not go on for long. It was plainly clear that the figure possessed a great strength that Raziel could never equal, and for a brief moment he wondered if he had indeed been tricked by the entity that Kain served into trying to attack this monstrosity. As Raziel felt the strength in his arms giving way, he heard his name shouted from on high. Raziel felt the pressure being exerted on his arms lessen slightly, as the figure that had been so intently breaking Raziel turned its attention to the creature that had invaded its domain while his mind had been occupied.
Raziel turned his head so that he could see up onto the gallery where the figure of Kain stood leaning over the rail.
"Raziel!" Kain shouted again, and Raziel noticed that Kain's wounds from earlier were still bleeding, and that Kain himself looked deathly pale. Kain's arm moved to his side, and flung something over the rail. Raziel turned his head the other way so that he could see the blade that now protruded from the stone floor no more than an inch from his face.
Realising after a moment that this was not in fact another attempt upon his life by his sire, Raziel took this opportunity to roll out from under the figure's foot and push himself to his feet. Grabbing the hilt of the sword, he realised that he couldn't pick it up. He looked up to Kain with wide eyes, and Kain made a motion to him that suggested he should switch to the Physical Plane. Raziel nodded curtly and willed himself to the Physical world, and with a flourish he snatched up the Soul Reaver's physical manifestation even as the figure and Kain were just starting to appear before him.
Power surged up Raziel's arm as he grasped the two blades, and the spiritual blade flowed along the blade of the sword, making it glow with a dull red light. The figure looked at the blade with anger on its smooth face, and he turned his attention upon Kain.
"Foolish creature!" The voice shrieked as it raised its hand and unleashed a force projectile at Raziel's sire. The force of this attack flung Kain to the ground, and Raziel could hear him gasping for breath. The figure opened its great mouth and roared with a ferocity that made Raziel flinch, launching another force projectile at the platform where Kain lay prone, a force that made the dark obsidian crack and splinter off in shards that rained down on the temple floor.
Raziel took one glance at the gallery and knew that Kain stood no chance. Grasping the Soul Reaver now with both hands, he leapt towards the figure's back and drove it as hard as he could into the hard stone shell. The stone cracked and splintered, and red light spilled forth from the wound the Soul Reaver made. A hissing noise filled the room, and Raziel withdrew the blade from the figure's body. Once more he drove it into the figure, and mustering as much force as he could he brought it upwards, leaving a great rend in the figure from which the now intense red light shone.
The voice roared in pain, and spun around to face Raziel, causing the Soul Reaver to be torn from his hands and sent skittering across the floor. Raziel watched it with horror, and looked up into the face of the figure. A large piece of stone from the fact cracked, and dropped to the floor where it shattered with a small noise that filled echoed throughout the room. Raziel could now see into the head of the figure, and within the intense red light that seemed to be all that made up the creature, a dark sphere hung, regarding Raziel with contempt.
The figure brought one arm up and made a clumsy attempt to hit Raziel as he ducked under it and sprinted to where the Soul Reaver lay on the floor. Snatching it up again, Raziel spun around and drove the sword once again into the creature's back. The figure collapsed on the floor, sending pieces of its hard stone shell flying, and Raziel once more plunged the sword into it, climbing up onto its back as it lay crippled before him.
Raziel drove the sword as far as he could into the body upon which he stood, and slowly the light spilling forth from the fatal wounds dimmed and went out. Raziel then, too, collapsed, leaning on the hilt of the sword protruding from the figure's back for support.
For a long time, Raziel sat there, contemplating what he had done. The glowing red light that had emanated from the temple's very walls had slowly gone out in the course of time, and Raziel now sat in semi-darkness, with only the red light of the Soul Reaver to illuminate the ghastly scene.
Finally bringing himself back to his senses, Raziel stood and walked to the side of the room where the gallery had collapsed, sending Kain to the floor and bringing down the rubble on top of his wounded body. Raziel kicked away some of this rubble and pulled Kain from it, noting solemnly the peaceful look on his sire's face before he turned from it and left the temple.
*
Raziel the Fallen sat on the platform on which stood the pillars of Nosgoth, head in his hands. As he sat, the voice of the Elder God came to him.
"Raziel, you are worthy." The voice intoned from nowhere. Raziel did not even raise his head as he let out a bitter laugh.
"You have proved yourself master of your own fate. Do you feel elated? Does it feel good to have killed a God?"
"Do not torment me." Raziel said simply.
"You have accomplished what you set out to do, Raziel. All prerequisites are now fulfilled. I am now the engine of the universe, life and death, as it was foretold, and thou hast slain Kain, the one who would have been your demise."
Raziel jumped to his feet at this. "I did not slay Kain!" He raged. The voice of the Elder God seemed to laugh.
"No, thou art right. You have not slain Kain."
Raziel's angry expression faltered, and he stepped back slightly. "What are you trying to tell me, demon?"
But the voice was gone, and Raziel was left once again alone to contemplate his actions, and to wonder what the future held for him, if anything at all.
Little note from the author:
Hehe, this is the first LOK fanfic ive written, and I hope its at least readable ^.^ It took me a long time to write the final chapter, I know, that's because for some reason I know exactly what I was writing for the first 5, and when I got to the 6th I wondered "what am I doing?? What's going to happen?" for a few days before I actually got to writing.
I know I've changed a lot of things and been a little bit confusing, but its kind of nice to be left wondering at the end of a story, I've found.
I appreciate any feedback I get from this greatly! I will be writing more in the future, and I may add to this story by writing another one, but for the moment I feel that it is complete enough as a one-off.
*Hugs to all* J Melissa x