Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kain and Raziel were in disbelief at how similar Rauha seemed to Ariel. The once speechless girl was now a young woman with power radiating from her being.
"Rauha...what happened to you?" Kain stuttered.
"I have realized my true identity and my destiny. As Ariel's predecessor, I am also her reincarnate," she explained, then turned to Raziel and Jenise. "I believe you have a mission for us."
Raziel snapped out of his stupor. "Yes. Now that all of you are here, we can proceed to the final step of our goal; restoring Nosgoth. Now all we need, Kain, is the Soul Reaver."
Kain was silent momentarily. Raziel turned towards his sire. "You do have the blade, do you not?"
"Why would you need the blade? You are the reaver of souls! You have possession of the wraith blade! Why would you need the physical blade?"
"Janos said it himself: the pillars are the lock and the Reaver is the key. I need the Soul Reaver to activate the pillars. If you do not have the Reaver with you now, then where is it?"
"I saw to it that history was not further altered. In my history, William the Just, who was supposed to have become the Nemesis, stumbles across the blade. Armed with it, and I with my own, we engage in a battle that seals his fate, thus resulting in vampire genocide. As much as I would have liked to avert that from happening, doing so may have resulted in my nonexistence. Therefore, I made the sacrifice of abandoning the weapon in his homeland."
"And where is it in this timeline?" Jenise interrupted.
"I have it...or rather, my past self. At this moment in time, I am battling the Sarafan Lord at the vortex between our world and the prison world of the Hylden. Obviously, I shall be triumphant, but at the cost of losing Janos Audron to the demon lord."
"What do you mean 'at the cost of losing Janos'? He is dead! I am witness to that firsthand! And we ensured that he would not be returned to life!" Raziel demanded.
"Unfortunately, I did not take heed to your words of advice," interrupted a different, unexpected voice. All heads snapped attention to the new arrivals: Vorador accompanied by six of his elite.
Raziel rounded on the elder vampire. "Explain."
Vorador sighed, reluctant to admit his error, but conceded to the fact that he had to do so.
"When you entrusted the Heart of Darkness to me, I initially vowed to uphold the promise you forced upon me. But after so long, I could not refuse. The Sarafan were growing stronger and the number of my men began to grow smaller. It seemed Kain would never awaken. I thought that if I revived my sire, we would prosper once again and we would be able to out-match the Sarafan and their Hylden masters.
"We were wrong. Moebius had foreseen my blunder and arranged it so that the Sarafan were waiting for my men when they arrived at the aerie. As soon as the Heart was reinserted into Janos's body, the Sarafan surrounded my men. Janos was taken prisoner, and my men were brutally murdered," Vorador explained solemnly.
Raziel's eyes glowed with fury. Vorador had deliberately betrayed his trust. And on top of that, he had attempted the feat which Raziel had vowed to achieve: reviving Janos. For Raziel had blamed himself for the ancient vampire's death.
"Of all the idiotic...I cannot believe you went and did what I told you not to do! Now there is no bringing Janos back! The Heart of Darkness is gone! And on top of all that, we don't have the Reaver blade!" the former vampire stormed about.
"Don't be to sure about that," Vorador replied.
Raziel halted his pacing and turned towards the vampire lord. One of the elite handed a satin cloth to Vorador. The cloth had been wrapped carefully around a long, slender object, concealing and protecting it at the same time. Once in Vorador's claws, the vampire untied the fabric and pealed it away, revealing the Soul Reaver. Vorador handed the satin to the elite, and held up the blade for all to see.
"But how...?" Raziel mumbled in disbelief.
"You and Kain are not the only ones able to use Moebius's time machines. My men and I have traveled back five years from now to deliver this to you. Perhaps, it will be of some use to you..." Vorador replied as he handed the sword to Raziel, and then turned towards Kain. "Tis a pity your younger counterpart is not as cooperative as you are. We could have been great allies. Unfortunately, this is the last you will see of me in the course of my history. I bid ye all good luck."
On that note, Vorador and his men departed through the pillar gates. Kain stared at his former mentor until he faded from view. Vorador's parting words puzzled the master vampire for several moments. A flicker of a memory sparked in Kain's mind as he thought about the enigmatic meaning of his words. Slowly, the memory flared to life.
Kain remembered it now. Why Vorador had spoken like so. After Kain had defeated the Sarafan Lord, he strove to build a vampire army. Vorador was at his side during his rise to power. However, Vorador began to see Kain's greed and lust for power. It was no better than the Sarafan Lord's own self-ambition.
The corruption in Nosgoth grew exponentially during a few years' time. Vorador knew Nosgoth needed to be restored. So in an act of treachery, he attacked Kain by surprise, rendering him unconscious and stole the Reaver. Using the streaming device in the Oracle's caves, Vorador traveled to this era to deliver the Reaver to Raziel. Upon Vorador's return, Kain murdered Vorador and his men in blind fury for his betrayal.
The elder vampire was aware of his fate. He had foreseen it in the portals of the Oracle's cave. Though he knew he was damning himself, he knew he had no other choice but to rectify his wrong doings. Assisting in the purification of Nosgoth was the least Vorador could do, even if it meant martyring himself in the process.
Kain blinked out of his momentary stupor. Raziel and Jenise were instructing the guardians as to what they should do based upon the tale Janos had told them. Kain quietly watched from the side. It all came down to the next few moments ahead. This was what centuries of planning and waiting had finally boiled down to.
When Kain had mutilated Raziel's wings and executed him by means of the abyss, it was not an act of blind jealousy. In fact, the vampire lord felt astonishment when he first laid his eyes on those wings. As the tender flesh tore open and delicate bones snapped, Kain felt an overwhelming regret. But he knew if Nosgoth was to be saved, he had to sacrifice his favored son. He had foreseen that Raziel would be Nosgoth's savior.
Raziel and Jenise had instructed each of the guardians to stand before their designated pillar. The pillars still showed signs of the four and a half centuries of corruption. Though the birth of new guardians allowed the pillars to begin healing, there were still cracks running up the sacred structures like visible scars from a deep wound.
One by one, the guardians of the eight outer pillars began to concentrate their powers, focusing their energies into their respected pillars. The energy offered to the pillars seemed to rejuvenate them. The pristine color of the stone returned to its brightest and the cracks seemed to fade away.
As the energy within each pillar reached its maximum, the glyph on the pillars pulsed with energy. Once all the glyphs of the eight outer pillars were glowing, Rauha concentrated on her pillar. Closing her eyes and raising her right hand towards the pillar, she poured all the energy she could spare into the balance pillar.
At the moment Rauha's glyph flashed with life, energy from the outside pillars bolted towards the center pillar like arcs of electricity drawn by a magnetic force. The power within the balance pillar grew to its peak. From the balance glyph, a beam of light sprang forth, directing itself on a predetermined location at the center of the pillar base. The light created a ripple of energy on the spot that it shone on. Using the power of the pillars offered to it, the ripple of energy opened up, revealing the slot or 'keyhole' for which the Reaver was to be placed.
Jenise watched with astonishment as Raziel slowly walked towards the slot. She was at a loss for words, being able to witness, firsthand, the true purpose of the pillars. Raziel approached the 'keyhole', examining it intently. If all went well, Nosgoth would be restored and the Hylden would be eliminated.
"Hold it right there!" a demanding voice called out.
Jenise, Raziel and Kain turned their heads towards the intruder. Simultaneously, all three sneered at the arrival of Moebius. With the previous time streamer, was a small army of Sarafan glyph knights, and one unforgettable Sarafan high priest.
"Stephin..." Jenise growled under her breath. It figured that he had to show up now of all times.
"Jenise. Still sore at me for having almost ended your life? Do not worry. This time I'll be certain to finish what I start."
"What are you doing here, Moebius?" Kain demanded.
"Do you think the three of you could attempt something so grand without my finding out about it? How foolish could you be? And I suppose you expected me to stand idly by while you dismantled all that I have worked so hard for? I have seen fit to bring with me the strongest of the Sarafan to deal with you," he taunted. Turning towards the knights, he calmly ordered, "Kill them all."
The Sarafan warriors charged towards the pillars. Kain, Raziel and Jenise crouched into defensive positions. When Jenise noticed Raziel, armed with the Soul Reaver, ready to defend the pillars, she nearly panicked.
"Raziel, you have to put the Reaver in its place before the guardians are drained of their energy!"
"No, I must help you defend the guardians first, or else they will be killed!"
"They'll be killed if you don't hurry! It's your destiny to complete the restoration! Mine is to protect the pillars and the guardians!" she reasoned, earning a silent response from Raziel. "Trust me! I can do this! Besides, I'm not alone in this. Kain is with me."
The reaver of souls finally conceded to Jenise's reasoning. He turned back towards the pillars. Kain and Jenise ran to the edge of the pillar base to confront the approaching knights. Though outnumbered twenty to one, both had eager grins on their faces at the thought of a challenging battle.
The priestess drew her sword and shield in anticipation as she and Kain confronted the first of the opposing forces. The first few knights were easy to dispatch, having been overconfident. Kain slashed through the necks of three knights with his claws. They fell to the ground gasping for air until their deaths like guppies out of water. Jenise used her sword to impale a knight and cripple another, amputating his weapon arm in one clean stroke.
The next knight that encountered Kain quickly found the vampire's clawed fist impaled through his body, just below his sternum. When Kain withdrew his bloodied talons, the knight's entrails had been unintentionally pulled from his body. The sight caused the blood to drain from the knight's face. He would have vomited, had his stomach still been in tact. Instead, he passed out from the blood loss.
An axe-wielding knight approached Jenise with overabundant cockiness. His snide grin tempted Jenise to just haul off and punch him in the face. He was so sure of himself that he wasn't even attempting to defend himself. Jenise gave him a sly little grin and she sauntered up to him. The knight's grin fell into an expression of confusion.
When she was close enough, Jenise looked directly into the knight's eyes, smiled coyly, and bludgeoned him in the temple with the hilt of her sword. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head as he slumped to the ground. Jenise sheathed her sword and took up the knight's war axe and prepared for the next onslaught of knights.
Kain had captured a knight, holding him up by his throat. The vampire's death grip was suffocating. The sharp claws had dug puncture wounds in the knight's throat. Only Kain's tight grip was preventing him from bleeding to death. Three more Sarafan were surrounding the vampire, unsure how to attack him. Kain's torment over his captive only served to use the victimized Sarafan as a shield.
One of the knights thought he could get a clean swipe at Kain. He was mistaken. When the knight thrust his sword towards the vampire, Kain has sidestepped at the last moment. The sword caught itself through the knight Kain was holding. The attacking knight stared in horror at the murderous act he had committed.
With the knight terror stricken, Kain used his free hand to grab hold of the bloodied blade protruding from the deceased's body. The vampire pulled the entirety of the sword through the corpse. Grabbing the hilt, Kain dropped the body and in one smooth motion, decapitated the now weaponless Sarafan. His head fell to the ground, shortly followed by his body.
With Kain's 'shield' gone, the other two knights attempted a two-on-one assault. The vampire used his temporary weapon to impale one knight through the left lung. He dodged an attack from the second. Turning around behind the knight, Kain grabbed hold of his head with both hands. The sound of the knight's neck snapping indicated his death.
Jenise was surrounded by five Sarafan. She held her shield up to guard her left side. Her right side was protected by the axe she had claimed. She spun the axe in random circles, effectively leaving no spot open for attack. The knights studied her movements, trying to find a flaw in her defense. One knight thought he saw an opening, and decided to attack. He charged at the priestess, but was dispatched when the war axe came crashing down onto his collarbone, shattering it painfully.
Jenise quickly built up her defense's momentum. If the Sarafan caught on, they would realize that the only flaw to her defense was during an attack. Obviously they hadn't caught on as of yet. Another knight attacked. Jenise landed a blow to the warrior's left forearm. He screamed in pain, no longer paying attention to Jenise. If he had, he would have seen the back of the axe come smashing down on the top of his head.
The third gave Jenise little time to defend. Wielding a mace, he attacked her from the left side, furthest away from the axe. Jenise deflected the mace with her shield. The force of the blow forced her into a crouching position. Jenise swiped her axe sideways towards her left. The knight howled as the axe embedded itself in the soft tissue of his left side. Jenise pulled the axe back and swung a second time, this time slicing clean through his knee. The crippled knight fell to the ground.
Jenise rose to her feet. With her odds not so horribly against her, she went on the offensive. She attacked an unsuspecting knight, swinging the axe in a downward stroke. The knight didn't have time to react. The axe crunched through the knight's skull. Blood and brain tissue oozed from the wound. The watching knight choked the bile rising in his throat. Using his sickness to her advantage, Jenise unsheathed her sword and thrust it directly through his midsection.
Kain had been taking his time, toying with the Sarafan. He used his arm guards to block the Sarafans' attacks while building up his energy for attack. Right when the knights thought they had finally gained the advantage, Kain unleashed all of his awesome power. He allowed the bloodlust within him to take control, attacking everything and anything that moved in his immediate vicinity.
Time seemed to slow from Kain's perspective as he watched the knights turn in terror. He slashed the two nearest warriors and lunged at three more. His claws tore through flesh and bone, causing painful deaths for his victims. He leapt at two more fleeing knights. Grabbing them by the back of their heads as he landed, he used the momentum to beat their faces into the rocks on the ground.
As the energy of his attack wore down, Kain grabbed hold of one more terrified knight. He pulled the knights head up, exposing his jugular. The vampire sank his teeth into his victim, savoring the rich taste of the warm liquid. As the life drained from the knight, Kain fell out of his bloodlust. When finished with his meal, he dropped his victim to the ground with indifference.
Jenise had watched Kain's frenzy from a distance. Although awed by his power, she was still glad she wasn't completely a vampire. She scanned the remaining flanks of the Sarafan. Only about fifteen or so were remaining. Five of which were guarding Moebius. But where was Stephin? Jenise hadn't noticed when the priest had left the time streamer's side.
Jenise scanned the bloodied battlefield for signs of her nemesis. Turning in circles, she began to panic. Out of the blur, she spotted him. He was headed towards Raziel! She had to stop Stephin before he attacked.
"Stephin!" she called out in anger. The priest stopped and turned at hearing his name. Jenise stood tall with a defiant smirk. "We have business to settle," she snidely replied.
A wide grin spread across Stephin's face. His assassination attempt could wait. The priest strode confidently towards a battle ready Jenise. He would find far greater pleasure in killing the priestess once and for all.
Turning the Soul Reaver blade-down, Raziel slowly inserted the 'key' into the slot. The sound of cold metal sliding against stone could be heard. A quiet 'chink' indicated that the Reaver had been inserted completely. After having completed his task, Raziel took a few hesitant steps backward. He could feel a growing rumble beneath his feet and was uncertain as to what it was.
Like an unexpected explosion, the combined power of the guardians and their pillars propelled from the Reaver blade and into the sky above. Raziel waited breathlessly for the cleansing to begin.
Kain and Raziel were in disbelief at how similar Rauha seemed to Ariel. The once speechless girl was now a young woman with power radiating from her being.
"Rauha...what happened to you?" Kain stuttered.
"I have realized my true identity and my destiny. As Ariel's predecessor, I am also her reincarnate," she explained, then turned to Raziel and Jenise. "I believe you have a mission for us."
Raziel snapped out of his stupor. "Yes. Now that all of you are here, we can proceed to the final step of our goal; restoring Nosgoth. Now all we need, Kain, is the Soul Reaver."
Kain was silent momentarily. Raziel turned towards his sire. "You do have the blade, do you not?"
"Why would you need the blade? You are the reaver of souls! You have possession of the wraith blade! Why would you need the physical blade?"
"Janos said it himself: the pillars are the lock and the Reaver is the key. I need the Soul Reaver to activate the pillars. If you do not have the Reaver with you now, then where is it?"
"I saw to it that history was not further altered. In my history, William the Just, who was supposed to have become the Nemesis, stumbles across the blade. Armed with it, and I with my own, we engage in a battle that seals his fate, thus resulting in vampire genocide. As much as I would have liked to avert that from happening, doing so may have resulted in my nonexistence. Therefore, I made the sacrifice of abandoning the weapon in his homeland."
"And where is it in this timeline?" Jenise interrupted.
"I have it...or rather, my past self. At this moment in time, I am battling the Sarafan Lord at the vortex between our world and the prison world of the Hylden. Obviously, I shall be triumphant, but at the cost of losing Janos Audron to the demon lord."
"What do you mean 'at the cost of losing Janos'? He is dead! I am witness to that firsthand! And we ensured that he would not be returned to life!" Raziel demanded.
"Unfortunately, I did not take heed to your words of advice," interrupted a different, unexpected voice. All heads snapped attention to the new arrivals: Vorador accompanied by six of his elite.
Raziel rounded on the elder vampire. "Explain."
Vorador sighed, reluctant to admit his error, but conceded to the fact that he had to do so.
"When you entrusted the Heart of Darkness to me, I initially vowed to uphold the promise you forced upon me. But after so long, I could not refuse. The Sarafan were growing stronger and the number of my men began to grow smaller. It seemed Kain would never awaken. I thought that if I revived my sire, we would prosper once again and we would be able to out-match the Sarafan and their Hylden masters.
"We were wrong. Moebius had foreseen my blunder and arranged it so that the Sarafan were waiting for my men when they arrived at the aerie. As soon as the Heart was reinserted into Janos's body, the Sarafan surrounded my men. Janos was taken prisoner, and my men were brutally murdered," Vorador explained solemnly.
Raziel's eyes glowed with fury. Vorador had deliberately betrayed his trust. And on top of that, he had attempted the feat which Raziel had vowed to achieve: reviving Janos. For Raziel had blamed himself for the ancient vampire's death.
"Of all the idiotic...I cannot believe you went and did what I told you not to do! Now there is no bringing Janos back! The Heart of Darkness is gone! And on top of all that, we don't have the Reaver blade!" the former vampire stormed about.
"Don't be to sure about that," Vorador replied.
Raziel halted his pacing and turned towards the vampire lord. One of the elite handed a satin cloth to Vorador. The cloth had been wrapped carefully around a long, slender object, concealing and protecting it at the same time. Once in Vorador's claws, the vampire untied the fabric and pealed it away, revealing the Soul Reaver. Vorador handed the satin to the elite, and held up the blade for all to see.
"But how...?" Raziel mumbled in disbelief.
"You and Kain are not the only ones able to use Moebius's time machines. My men and I have traveled back five years from now to deliver this to you. Perhaps, it will be of some use to you..." Vorador replied as he handed the sword to Raziel, and then turned towards Kain. "Tis a pity your younger counterpart is not as cooperative as you are. We could have been great allies. Unfortunately, this is the last you will see of me in the course of my history. I bid ye all good luck."
On that note, Vorador and his men departed through the pillar gates. Kain stared at his former mentor until he faded from view. Vorador's parting words puzzled the master vampire for several moments. A flicker of a memory sparked in Kain's mind as he thought about the enigmatic meaning of his words. Slowly, the memory flared to life.
Kain remembered it now. Why Vorador had spoken like so. After Kain had defeated the Sarafan Lord, he strove to build a vampire army. Vorador was at his side during his rise to power. However, Vorador began to see Kain's greed and lust for power. It was no better than the Sarafan Lord's own self-ambition.
The corruption in Nosgoth grew exponentially during a few years' time. Vorador knew Nosgoth needed to be restored. So in an act of treachery, he attacked Kain by surprise, rendering him unconscious and stole the Reaver. Using the streaming device in the Oracle's caves, Vorador traveled to this era to deliver the Reaver to Raziel. Upon Vorador's return, Kain murdered Vorador and his men in blind fury for his betrayal.
The elder vampire was aware of his fate. He had foreseen it in the portals of the Oracle's cave. Though he knew he was damning himself, he knew he had no other choice but to rectify his wrong doings. Assisting in the purification of Nosgoth was the least Vorador could do, even if it meant martyring himself in the process.
Kain blinked out of his momentary stupor. Raziel and Jenise were instructing the guardians as to what they should do based upon the tale Janos had told them. Kain quietly watched from the side. It all came down to the next few moments ahead. This was what centuries of planning and waiting had finally boiled down to.
When Kain had mutilated Raziel's wings and executed him by means of the abyss, it was not an act of blind jealousy. In fact, the vampire lord felt astonishment when he first laid his eyes on those wings. As the tender flesh tore open and delicate bones snapped, Kain felt an overwhelming regret. But he knew if Nosgoth was to be saved, he had to sacrifice his favored son. He had foreseen that Raziel would be Nosgoth's savior.
Raziel and Jenise had instructed each of the guardians to stand before their designated pillar. The pillars still showed signs of the four and a half centuries of corruption. Though the birth of new guardians allowed the pillars to begin healing, there were still cracks running up the sacred structures like visible scars from a deep wound.
One by one, the guardians of the eight outer pillars began to concentrate their powers, focusing their energies into their respected pillars. The energy offered to the pillars seemed to rejuvenate them. The pristine color of the stone returned to its brightest and the cracks seemed to fade away.
As the energy within each pillar reached its maximum, the glyph on the pillars pulsed with energy. Once all the glyphs of the eight outer pillars were glowing, Rauha concentrated on her pillar. Closing her eyes and raising her right hand towards the pillar, she poured all the energy she could spare into the balance pillar.
At the moment Rauha's glyph flashed with life, energy from the outside pillars bolted towards the center pillar like arcs of electricity drawn by a magnetic force. The power within the balance pillar grew to its peak. From the balance glyph, a beam of light sprang forth, directing itself on a predetermined location at the center of the pillar base. The light created a ripple of energy on the spot that it shone on. Using the power of the pillars offered to it, the ripple of energy opened up, revealing the slot or 'keyhole' for which the Reaver was to be placed.
Jenise watched with astonishment as Raziel slowly walked towards the slot. She was at a loss for words, being able to witness, firsthand, the true purpose of the pillars. Raziel approached the 'keyhole', examining it intently. If all went well, Nosgoth would be restored and the Hylden would be eliminated.
"Hold it right there!" a demanding voice called out.
Jenise, Raziel and Kain turned their heads towards the intruder. Simultaneously, all three sneered at the arrival of Moebius. With the previous time streamer, was a small army of Sarafan glyph knights, and one unforgettable Sarafan high priest.
"Stephin..." Jenise growled under her breath. It figured that he had to show up now of all times.
"Jenise. Still sore at me for having almost ended your life? Do not worry. This time I'll be certain to finish what I start."
"What are you doing here, Moebius?" Kain demanded.
"Do you think the three of you could attempt something so grand without my finding out about it? How foolish could you be? And I suppose you expected me to stand idly by while you dismantled all that I have worked so hard for? I have seen fit to bring with me the strongest of the Sarafan to deal with you," he taunted. Turning towards the knights, he calmly ordered, "Kill them all."
The Sarafan warriors charged towards the pillars. Kain, Raziel and Jenise crouched into defensive positions. When Jenise noticed Raziel, armed with the Soul Reaver, ready to defend the pillars, she nearly panicked.
"Raziel, you have to put the Reaver in its place before the guardians are drained of their energy!"
"No, I must help you defend the guardians first, or else they will be killed!"
"They'll be killed if you don't hurry! It's your destiny to complete the restoration! Mine is to protect the pillars and the guardians!" she reasoned, earning a silent response from Raziel. "Trust me! I can do this! Besides, I'm not alone in this. Kain is with me."
The reaver of souls finally conceded to Jenise's reasoning. He turned back towards the pillars. Kain and Jenise ran to the edge of the pillar base to confront the approaching knights. Though outnumbered twenty to one, both had eager grins on their faces at the thought of a challenging battle.
The priestess drew her sword and shield in anticipation as she and Kain confronted the first of the opposing forces. The first few knights were easy to dispatch, having been overconfident. Kain slashed through the necks of three knights with his claws. They fell to the ground gasping for air until their deaths like guppies out of water. Jenise used her sword to impale a knight and cripple another, amputating his weapon arm in one clean stroke.
The next knight that encountered Kain quickly found the vampire's clawed fist impaled through his body, just below his sternum. When Kain withdrew his bloodied talons, the knight's entrails had been unintentionally pulled from his body. The sight caused the blood to drain from the knight's face. He would have vomited, had his stomach still been in tact. Instead, he passed out from the blood loss.
An axe-wielding knight approached Jenise with overabundant cockiness. His snide grin tempted Jenise to just haul off and punch him in the face. He was so sure of himself that he wasn't even attempting to defend himself. Jenise gave him a sly little grin and she sauntered up to him. The knight's grin fell into an expression of confusion.
When she was close enough, Jenise looked directly into the knight's eyes, smiled coyly, and bludgeoned him in the temple with the hilt of her sword. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head as he slumped to the ground. Jenise sheathed her sword and took up the knight's war axe and prepared for the next onslaught of knights.
Kain had captured a knight, holding him up by his throat. The vampire's death grip was suffocating. The sharp claws had dug puncture wounds in the knight's throat. Only Kain's tight grip was preventing him from bleeding to death. Three more Sarafan were surrounding the vampire, unsure how to attack him. Kain's torment over his captive only served to use the victimized Sarafan as a shield.
One of the knights thought he could get a clean swipe at Kain. He was mistaken. When the knight thrust his sword towards the vampire, Kain has sidestepped at the last moment. The sword caught itself through the knight Kain was holding. The attacking knight stared in horror at the murderous act he had committed.
With the knight terror stricken, Kain used his free hand to grab hold of the bloodied blade protruding from the deceased's body. The vampire pulled the entirety of the sword through the corpse. Grabbing the hilt, Kain dropped the body and in one smooth motion, decapitated the now weaponless Sarafan. His head fell to the ground, shortly followed by his body.
With Kain's 'shield' gone, the other two knights attempted a two-on-one assault. The vampire used his temporary weapon to impale one knight through the left lung. He dodged an attack from the second. Turning around behind the knight, Kain grabbed hold of his head with both hands. The sound of the knight's neck snapping indicated his death.
Jenise was surrounded by five Sarafan. She held her shield up to guard her left side. Her right side was protected by the axe she had claimed. She spun the axe in random circles, effectively leaving no spot open for attack. The knights studied her movements, trying to find a flaw in her defense. One knight thought he saw an opening, and decided to attack. He charged at the priestess, but was dispatched when the war axe came crashing down onto his collarbone, shattering it painfully.
Jenise quickly built up her defense's momentum. If the Sarafan caught on, they would realize that the only flaw to her defense was during an attack. Obviously they hadn't caught on as of yet. Another knight attacked. Jenise landed a blow to the warrior's left forearm. He screamed in pain, no longer paying attention to Jenise. If he had, he would have seen the back of the axe come smashing down on the top of his head.
The third gave Jenise little time to defend. Wielding a mace, he attacked her from the left side, furthest away from the axe. Jenise deflected the mace with her shield. The force of the blow forced her into a crouching position. Jenise swiped her axe sideways towards her left. The knight howled as the axe embedded itself in the soft tissue of his left side. Jenise pulled the axe back and swung a second time, this time slicing clean through his knee. The crippled knight fell to the ground.
Jenise rose to her feet. With her odds not so horribly against her, she went on the offensive. She attacked an unsuspecting knight, swinging the axe in a downward stroke. The knight didn't have time to react. The axe crunched through the knight's skull. Blood and brain tissue oozed from the wound. The watching knight choked the bile rising in his throat. Using his sickness to her advantage, Jenise unsheathed her sword and thrust it directly through his midsection.
Kain had been taking his time, toying with the Sarafan. He used his arm guards to block the Sarafans' attacks while building up his energy for attack. Right when the knights thought they had finally gained the advantage, Kain unleashed all of his awesome power. He allowed the bloodlust within him to take control, attacking everything and anything that moved in his immediate vicinity.
Time seemed to slow from Kain's perspective as he watched the knights turn in terror. He slashed the two nearest warriors and lunged at three more. His claws tore through flesh and bone, causing painful deaths for his victims. He leapt at two more fleeing knights. Grabbing them by the back of their heads as he landed, he used the momentum to beat their faces into the rocks on the ground.
As the energy of his attack wore down, Kain grabbed hold of one more terrified knight. He pulled the knights head up, exposing his jugular. The vampire sank his teeth into his victim, savoring the rich taste of the warm liquid. As the life drained from the knight, Kain fell out of his bloodlust. When finished with his meal, he dropped his victim to the ground with indifference.
Jenise had watched Kain's frenzy from a distance. Although awed by his power, she was still glad she wasn't completely a vampire. She scanned the remaining flanks of the Sarafan. Only about fifteen or so were remaining. Five of which were guarding Moebius. But where was Stephin? Jenise hadn't noticed when the priest had left the time streamer's side.
Jenise scanned the bloodied battlefield for signs of her nemesis. Turning in circles, she began to panic. Out of the blur, she spotted him. He was headed towards Raziel! She had to stop Stephin before he attacked.
"Stephin!" she called out in anger. The priest stopped and turned at hearing his name. Jenise stood tall with a defiant smirk. "We have business to settle," she snidely replied.
A wide grin spread across Stephin's face. His assassination attempt could wait. The priest strode confidently towards a battle ready Jenise. He would find far greater pleasure in killing the priestess once and for all.
Turning the Soul Reaver blade-down, Raziel slowly inserted the 'key' into the slot. The sound of cold metal sliding against stone could be heard. A quiet 'chink' indicated that the Reaver had been inserted completely. After having completed his task, Raziel took a few hesitant steps backward. He could feel a growing rumble beneath his feet and was uncertain as to what it was.
Like an unexpected explosion, the combined power of the guardians and their pillars propelled from the Reaver blade and into the sky above. Raziel waited breathlessly for the cleansing to begin.