January 24 2005 Disclaimer. The only character I own is Sarah, but I don't own much of what she says.
Raziel kicked the front gate of Vorador's courtyard. He was frustrated. In the air shrine, Raziel had easily found the specter of the original mind guardian, but trying to find the dimension guardian had been futile.
Raziel had spent several hours fruitlessly searching in both realms. The wraith reasoned that he had reached the air shrine too soon, and was therefore missing an element. The other forges had seemed designed to be visited in a certain order.
Raziel first went into the dining room to extinguish the globes of light with the elemental power of darkness. Now that he had gained the ability to cloak himself in that elemental attribute, Raziel had no difficulty in passing the gargoyles undetected.
Raziel had just extinguished the last globe when Vorador wandered in, a bride on each arm. The green vampire had just enough time to frown at the spear appearing in the statue's hands before Raziel's darkness spell dissipated. Vorador and his brides yelled in alarm as Raziel seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Raziel cocked his eyebrows and stared at the startled trio for a moment before retrieving the spear. Without a word, the wraith propped the spear on his shoulder and marched out of the room.
With one spear in its rightful place through the heart of the enemy figure, Raziel decided to go after the one in the library. He entered the room silently and saw Sarah studiously leaning over an arrangement of books and papers. She was singing quietly to herself as she worked. Raziel listened to the soft drone as he slowly walked down the stairs.
"If you peel away the skin, is there anybody there? If you peel away the armor, is it too late to begin? Is there anybody hiding if you peel away the skin?"
Raziel wondered why a living person would know such a morbid song. Then again, much of what Sarah knew was uncommon knowledge. The girl stopped singing as she noticed Raziel's presence.
Raziel was struck by how weary the girl looked. Her eyes were misted over with fatigue and lined with dull red splotches. Her thin hands trembled slightly, and her hair was tousled.
"Haven't you rested?" Raziel asked. He didn't feel for the girl any more than he felt for the thousands of people that he must have killed in his lifetime. Raziel's concern came from the realization that Sarah did indeed have the ability to steer him away from the madness that he so dreaded.
"Nightmares," Sarah muttered hatefully.
Raziel let his eyebrows pull into a frown. There was no point in hiding it; Sarah's gaze was locked firmly on his chest. "Why are you willing to help me?"
Fresh tears welled up in Sarah's eyes. "Janos," she breathed.
"You're helping me just because Janos asked you to?" Raziel asked incredulously. He paused to let some of the emotion drain from his voice. "Why?"
"He suffered more," Sarah mumbled wearily. "It's not right."
Raziel fought back the urge to argue. He was the one who had suffered the most, and it seemed like the worst was not over. "Do you have my interests in mind at all?"
"It won't be in vain," Sarah muttered sadly.
Raziel thumped the table angrily, causing Sarah to jolt in fright. "I know you have every reason to hate me, but please…" He let the sentence trail off.
Sarah indicated the books and notes spread out across the table. "It's futile."
Raziel picked up a sheath of papers that were covered in illegible lines and blocks of bloodscript as well as occasional words and phrases that he could understand. Those few words were enough for Raziel to see that they were scraps of prophecy and other clues to his destiny. "You say that it's futile, yet you are still trying to find a way to change my fate?"
Sarah sighed miserably as fresh tears bubbled in her eyes.
Raziel decided to let his curiosity diminish for the moment. He set the papers back down on the table and said, "I don't understand."
Raziel turned his attentions to lighting all of the orbs in the library. When he struggled with the one in the fireplace, Sarah wordlessly crawled under the table and triggered the hidden switch that cut off the gas. Within moments, Raziel had the second spear. He was about to leave Sarah to her research when she spoke out.
"Things in this world, I am learning, are rarely what they seem."
Raziel turned. "What are you trying to say?"
Sarah acted as if she didn't hear Raziel, but she said distantly, "You are being mislead, Raziel. This ancient race hoped to manipulate the future with these scrawled misdirections. You must tread carefully. There are dark forces at work in this world, bent of subverting your true destiny."
"And I'm sure that the one who said that is at the center of it," Raziel sniffed.
"Remember your rage. Let it guide your hand."
Raziel frowned at an odd inflection behind the quote. Sarah usually copied the tones of the speaker, though her own emotions usually tinted the words as well. This time was different somehow. Raziel slowly sauntered back to the girl. "Sarah?"
She finally looked towards Raziel's face, though she seemed to stare straight through him. "Acting out of rage almost destroyed you."
With that chilling advice suffusing his spirit, Raziel returned to the fountain room. Finding the third spear presented a challenge, but Raziel managed it quickly enough. He was beginning to dislike whoever had decided that the forges should be so well protected.
When Raziel arrived in the water shrine, he was confronted with a disturbing mural. He had been aware of the vampire hero of prophecy, but this was the first mural he had seen of his opponent. Yes, Raziel had once been a vampire, and the abyss had turned him blue, but the wraith could not help but notice that he also resembled the enemy's hero. Raziel blinked his fiery eyes as he stared at the Reaver, and then back at the mural.
Raziel's troubling introspection was interrupted by the sound of movement deeper in the shrine. He shifted his weight into an attack stance; slicing through a few of those feather-wearing primitives was just what he needed right now. Raziel's eyes narrowed as he instead saw his sire approaching down the hallway.
"Raziel," Kain said, his scowl lifting slightly in momentary confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Raziel growled.
"I am exploring the vampire ruins," Kain said as though it were obvious.
Raziel gestured angrily at the mural behind him. "What do you think I am?"
Kain stared at the mural. After a long moment, he spoke. "You are the key to saving Nosgoth." The determination in his voice sounded forced, as if he was beginning to doubt his own convictions.
Irritated, Raziel shed his physical form. Kain frowned as he watched his son dissolve into a cloud of glowing ash. A moment later, he heard a soft hum of energy coming from the center of the shrine. Kain jogged back down the hallway and misted through the bars of the gate.
Kain watched from the upper ledge as Raziel absorbed the energy from the forge. The wraith shook with the intensity of the energy, and then collapsed when it was over. When Raziel turned from admiring the new enhancements to his weapon, he scowled up at Kain. The albino vampire leapt down to the floor of the shrine, adjusting his personal gravity so that he would land softly.
"I've had some time to think, Kain. I believe that you want to imprison me in your sword." Raziel said angrily.
"Don't be a fool," Kain growled. "That is the one outcome that I'm trying to avoid."
Raziel turned and stomped away angrily. By now he was familiar with the way that the forges worked. Always, the portal that would return him to the entrance of the shrine would become temporarily deactivated. He passed into a small side chamber. The room was flooded with two smoldering sconces on the opposite side. Raziel lit those sconces, assuming that they would re-activate the exit portal.
Meanwhile, Kain stood pensively in the main chamber of the shrine. Raziel's anger had served Kain well enough in the past, but now it was a liability. Kain was concerned that Raziel would again turn his attentions to killing him.
Raziel passed into another of the small side chambers, and Kain slowly walked into the room that Raziel had just left. Kain allowed himself a small smile of amusement; Raziel had cleared the obstacle to the next fragment of the balance emblem.
As Kain took the artifact, doors throughout the water shrine slammed shut. The vampire was unconcerned; it seemed that his new acquisition would open those doors.
Kain returned to the main chamber and watched Raziel in fascination. The wraith scampered into a chamber and disappeared, only to mysteriously re-appear in another chamber a moment later. Kain didn't pretend to understand Raziel's exact nature, but it was fascinating to watch.
Eventually, Raziel noticed that his way to the portal was now blocked. He tapped the lock with one talon and glanced at Kain, who smirked as he held up his new fragment.
"Let me go, Kain!" Raziel yelled.
"First, you will listen to me," Kain insisted. "I no longer wish to be your enemy."
"You should have thought about that before you had me executed," Raziel spat.
"Raziel, everyone is bound to their fate; except for you," Kain said. "Because of your remaking, you have a choice."
"I don't believe you," Raziel sneered. He leapt off of the ledge back down to Kain's level. "Besides, how am I supposed to exercise my free will while you insist on holding me here?"
"There is too much at stake," Kain said. "Haven't you figured out that your anger makes you vulnerable to the manipulations of others?"
"Such as yours?" Raziel asked. "I am tired of being your pawn."
"Do you want to see Nosgoth restored?" Kain did not wait for an answer. "If you do, then you must trust me."
"Or else you'll keep me here? I think that you'll starve before I do," Raziel challenged.
Kain sighed. He could see that this argument wasn't helping the situation. Grudgingly, he unlocked the door. Kain almost expected Raziel to depart immediately, but he also wasn't surprised when the wraith stopped in front of the portal.
Raziel stared again at the mural. "Maybe Vorador was right about me."
Silently, Kain stepped through his own portal back to the vampire citadel. He knew that for the moment there was nothing more that he could do for Raziel.
For those of you interested in roughs, I have a rejected copy of the conversation between Raziel and Sarah in my scraps at deviantart deviation 14446254. I'm still not completely happy with the version here; either conversation.
Tomlette: Yeah, Jennifer is my Mary-Sue. I didn't know about self-inserts back then and how annoying they can get. I'm honored to notice that you bookmarked/faved this one.
Lunatic Pandora: Why would Sarah confront Vorador about the Reaver? She knows that when he was done with it, it was merely an impressive sword. Of course, she could ask Vorador why images of the Reaver appears in places older than he is. As for what Sarah told Kain, "I am simply looking for the answers that Sarah indicated to me." I think I should add Kain saying with a sniff, "There's nothing west of the pillars except a dead end." Does that make it clear?
Varyssa: She doesn't drool over mister tall and powerful like you do. Exposing some of her backstory, Sarah did play Blood Omen first, but she's not Kain-centric. She became intrigued with eachcharacter as they were introduced. She also doesn't seem to hate the green and the purple vampires as much as you seem to.