January 30, 2005
Disclaimer: In the last chapter, Sarah was singing "Skin" by Oingo Boingo. She's my character, though much of what she says isn't. Everyone else belongs to Crystal Dynamics or Eidos or something.
Author's Notes at the top this time. Well, all except for a really spoiler note that I decided to stick at the bottom.
Post-revisionist note: In the last chapter, Raziel missed one of the braziers that would open the portal from the water shrine back to Vorador's mansion. When he went into the portal room, he simply noted that the portal was not open before he stared at the mural.
Another Post-revisionist note: I've decided to change things so that Kain found the fire fragment in the Sarafan stronghold on the same day that he rescued Sarah, but he doesn't have the main piece because Moebius decided to hide it from him. This doesn't make any significant changes to my story because none of the fragments work without that main piece.
Announcement: I stopped by the army surplus store recently, (not a normal one, but one that has swords and cannons and fish and nuclear armaments,) and if anyone needs to whapp me with something, go ahead and grab what you need. You can also borrow this junk if you need to smack around your muses, but I don't condone the use of the weapons on other authors. Btw, Varyssa, is Cpt. Kain one of your muses now? wink
Varyssa: I'm handing you a cardboard tube, I think you can guess what it is for. You've actually stumbled onto Sarah's main motivational thingy. (I had a brilliant way of saying that earlier.)
Tomlette: Yeah, it's getting kinda hard to make interesting descriptions for crying when she breaks down every two minutes. I'm like the eskimoes needing a hundred words for snow. What's it called when the tear perches on the eyelasses and just swells instead of going somewhere? Oh well, it's going with the rest of the good advice.
Lunatic Pandora: Sarah might have words with Vorador. shrug Keep trucking.
Kain created a makeshift shelter in the ruins of the vampire citadel. He could go several days without sleep when it suited him, but for now he was glad for the chance to think and rest.
His thoughts drifted to Raziel and his reaction to seeing the mural. Kain hadn't considered the possibility that Raziel was anything other than the instrument of Nosgoth's salvation.
When Kain awoke, he used his newest piece of the balance emblem to unlock the gate. He cut his way through some of the tribal humans that had somehow managed to find their own way past the locks and entered the earth shrine.
Kain stopped to examine the mural depicting the story of how the ancient vampires tried to preserve the binding by turning the human pillar guardians. He was mildly surprised to see that Moebius was among those that wrested the pillars from vampire control. Kain felt now that he understood just how deep his conflict with the timestreamer ran.
Kain wondered why some of the shrines had guardian statues while others didn't. Then he remembered that Raziel was wandering through these ruins as well. It made sense that whichever one of them entered the shrine first would have to clear its golems.
Kain frowned once he destroyed the statue that guarded the entrance to the air shrine. The murals depicted two outcomes to the heroes' battle. It was as if the prophets could not decide which one would win. Kain did not know what to make of this new information, just that he had come too far to begin to have doubts now.
Kain wound up back in the light shrine. Once he had gained the next piece of the balance emblem, Kain pulled out the other three and examined them. He could see by the representation of the emblem on the locks that there was a piece missing from the middle. Sarah hadn't mentioned that one; Kain would have to ask her about it when he went back to check on her research.
As Kain walked along the upper ledge of the light shrine, he thought about how he had needed Raziel's help to gain half of the fragments. Kain also thought about how it was Sarah's advice that inspired him to come looking for all but the first one. The Scion wondered if his destiny was meant to be so dependant on the actions of those around him.
Kain smiled slightly at the irony as he felt Raziel's presence in the shrine. He looked through the bars that were meant to block access to the portal that led to the fire shrine. Raziel seemed weary, as if he had spent far longer than one sleepless night worrying about his purpose. However, when he saw Kain, he immediately tensed into a hostile crouch.
Kain did not pass through the gate, preferring to keep the barrier between them. "I don't want to fight you, Raziel."
Raziel approached Kain slowly. "Do you really think that you can avoid it?"
"I told you that I would share with you whatever knowledge I could glean from these ruins," Kain insisted.
His curiosity piqued, Raziel relaxed slightly. "What have you discovered?"
"That whoever painted those murals could not accurately see what would happen to you," Kain said.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Raziel demanded.
Kain stepped back from the bars. "Perhaps you would rather see for yourself?"
Raziel wordlessly passed into the spectral realm and reappeared in the center of the main chamber's floor. After a moment, he managed to climb back onto the upper ledge.
Kain indicated the portal that led to the air shrine. "In one of the upper rooms there are two murals. They both cannot be correct."
"I don't know what game you're playing, Kain," Raziel sneered. However, the wraith strode purposely through the portal.
Kain was about to follow Raziel back into the air shrine when the crystal that powered the portal sparked and cracked. Kain watched in horror as it was deactivated and hoped that Raziel had at least come out on the other side.
The wraith was thrown from the portal. He clambered back to his feet and thought how his trips through the others had not been like that. Raziel watched with detached interest as the portal shuddered with one final burst of energy before parts of it cracked away.
He shrugged as he wandered deeper into the shrine. The whole point of following Kain's exit in the first place was because Raziel did not feel like going back to Vorador's. With any luck, there would still be the portal that led to the ruins west of the pillars.
Raziel leapt through a hole in the floor, and his eyes widened in surprise. So this was the dimension guardian's tomb. Raziel shifted to the spirit realm, wondering if the missing specter was here.
After an intense battle, Raziel used the portal in the corner of the room to return to the physical realm. He walked deeper into the shrine and emerged from a hole in the wall of the mind guardian's tomb. Raziel knew that the hole and not been there before.
Raziel finally managed to absorb the element of air from the forge. Using the plinths to get to the upper levels of the shrine, Raziel was able to glide then scramble to the room that contained the murals that Kain must have been speaking of.
Raziel stared at the murals for several minutes, his brows knit in a frown of concentration. Finally, he turned away and set about the task of reactivating his exit portal. The one that led to the earth shrine seemed to have suffered a similar fate to the one that Raziel had recently used.
Spoiler note: This chapter really sucks, I probably shouldn't have uploaded it. Actually, I tried to skip these events entirely, but the effect was too jarring. There's got to be some way to make this interesting.