A/N: I am sorry, so sorry, that I haven't updated in forever, I feel really badly about it :'(. My teachers have been piling on the projects and homework and I somehow have contracted mono (even though I've never been kissed) and I just haven't had the time or the energy to write. But I'll try, really I will. Oh, and I don't own any of the quotes from Dream Theatre's songs.

Chapter XXIV

I saw two hawks swooping and diving in a mating flight over the Great South Lake outside the marvelous structure that had once belonged to the Sarafan. Now it was ours, the vampires'. I sat cross-legged on the balcony outside my bedchamber, my elbows on my knees, my hands clasped, my mouth leaning against them. I was in a precarious position, I knew, but I had superior balance to an ordinary person. Besides, I would survive the fall if it came. For now, I just wanted to enjoy the cool breeze in my hair and the mating dance of these beautiful birds. I studied them curiously, noting how the male strove to impress the female despite her apparent disinterest. Having never been a hawk, I didn't really know disinterest from lust in their case, so I was making an educated guess. Magnificent creatures, hawks. They reminded me of Raziel, though in many ways he more resembled a tiger. I smiled thinking of him and all that had since passed. When I woke from my little blackout, we were all back in the present where we belonged. Much had changed because of what Kain, Raziel, and I had done in the past. The Pillars were once again pure and beautiful. The land was cleansed and uncorrupted. And the Sarafan Stronghold was now Kain's palace. At some point in the time-stream, Kain had apparently resurrected new lieutenants to serve him. Raziel, however, was no longer one of them. He would never again be Kain's lieutenant.

Now he was a prince.

I was startled by this, but I suppose it's the least Kain could do after everything that had happened to Raziel by his hand.

'Reflections of reality
are slowly coming into view…
How in the Hell could you possible forgive me?
After all the Hell I've put you through?'

Now where did that come from? Oh yes, Dream Theatre, "The Mirror". Always one of my favourite songs, actually. Small wonder that particular line was passing through my head at the time when I found out about Raziel's elevated status. There was another line too that would be apropos, now how did that one go again…?

'It's time for me to deal
becoming all too real
Living in fear,
why'd I betray my friend?
Lying until the end,
living life so pretend,
it's time to make my amends
I'll never hurt you again!'

Ah, yes, that was it. There was no way for Kain to ever truly make amends for what he had done to Raziel, but I think that Raziel forgave him long before we ever returned to the present. Raziel was just like that. He had helped my friends to adjust to their new "unlife" and what they had to do as Guardians of the Pillars. It really wasn't as complicated as it sounded, all they had to do was stay alive and uncorrupt and the Pillars would be fine. The Sarafan were all eradicated, and the few humans who still despised us were a small threat not even worth mentioning. No, my friends would be safe. I would see to that. I didn't want to think about insurrection, though. I wanted to watch the birds.

I smiled again, comparing Raziel to both tiger and hawk in my mind, trying to determine which he was most like. Probably the hawk, since hawks can fly. I laughed inwardly, remembering how I had told Kain that if he even thought or looked like he was thinking about taking Raziel's wings again, I shove the Soul Reaver so far up his ass he'd bring a new meaning to the term "metal mouth". He had laughed, but he knew I was serious and reassured me that he had no intention of ever hurting Raziel or me ever again. I knew now that I could believe him. I could trust him as I once did.

The hawks had flown away together, so I turned my gaze down on the growing metropolis below. Meridian would soon no longer be the capitol of Nosgoth; a new city was being built around the Lake and the Stronghold. Its name would be Golgonath.

Golgonath…

I remembered that place. I had almost remembered it before, when I woke from my coma in the bedchamber in Kain's keep. What was it I had thought in those moments? 'I realized then that I never really had a permanent home before, except in the Hylden dimension. I had always either stayed with Janos Audron or Kain, and traveled with my parents all around Nosgoth. Something in me told me this wasn't entirely true. There was somewhere…' That was it. The 'somewhere' was Golgonath. Golgonath was the city where I had been born and partially raised. It was my home. And it had been destroyed by Moebius's mobs. It was a beautiful city, renowned for its artwork, landmarks, and music. Not only that, but it was the first and only city where a vampire tavern – the Caupona Sanguinaria, or Tavern of Blood – had been opened and run successfully (no pun intended) for more than two decades. In retrospect, the city was so young when she was brutally raped and murdered. It was I who had asked Kain to name his capitol Golgonath. He readily agreed. Peace and balance were restored to the land. At last, I could rest.

Of course, I was often hearing the voices of those who were being released to the Wheel, but I could shut them out or off. I only went to those who were truly afraid to die, who had no one else, or who deserved punishment for crimes in life. Some of the people – the humans, that it – were deifying me as the new Elder Goddess and building temples in my honor. I didn't ask for all that, but I didn't stop it either. Humans need something they can believe in absolutely, or else they go mad. So I let them have their temples, and I granted some of the miracles requested of me if they lay within my power. On more than one occasion had I purged the illness of a small child or a parent whose children still needed them. There were those children who I had to let die, but they were those who had lost everything in life. I led them to where their families waited for them in eternal peace and made sure they would be at rest. I also asked Courtney to help with some of the weather- and nature-related miracles requested of me. She was glad to oblige.

I turned my thoughts back to New Golgonath, as it had been christened. With the preternatural strength and speed of the vampires, it would be done in no time. Kain's new lieutenants – Mikatay, Zephyr, Brogan, Cestmir, Damek, and Reznik – and their "offspring" were building the city so as to complete it all the faster. There were even a considerable number of humans helping, mostly those who had been vampire-worshippers before and now celebrated the rise of the vampire monarchy. Everything seemed perfect.

"You needn't linger in the shadows, Raziel," I commented, smiling. Raziel had been standing behind me for a few minutes now while I mused and meditated. "I know you're there." Raziel gave a small laugh.

"Who says I was trying to hide?" he replied. I laughed and spun around to face him, sliding fluidly off the balcony rail and onto the floor. Raziel drew close to me and we kissed. I had been wrong before. Now everything was perfect. We finally pulled apart and leaned our foreheads against each other, smiling. "Soul," he said hesitantly, shyly almost, "I have something I'd like to ask you. A very important something."

"What?" I asked in a shy tone. Before he could answer, however, my left ear twitched. That meant someone somewhere was dying and I had to attend to them. "Hold that thought, will you?" I asked. Raziel sighed and nodded. "Oh don't be like that, Raziel. I'll be back soon; I promise." I kissed him again and vanished, transporting to the dying woman. She lay on the ground, ebony-black hair obscuring her face, blood pouring from a wound in her side. There were men standing over her with knives, spitting and cursing at her.

"Traitorous whore!"

"Hylden bitch!"

"Murderous cunt!"

I had heard enough before I had heard anything. Roaring a terrifying roar of retribution, I lunged at the men. They did not see me as I was; they saw what they were each most afraid of deep in their hearts. They turned tail and ran screaming. I quickly dropped beside the woman, fearful.

"Madam?" I asked. "Madam, can you hear me? You're going to be all right, don't worry. I can heal you." The woman only moaned in response. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." Quickly I sliced the palm of my hand with my knife and pressed it to the wound. My blood mingled with hers and closed the hideous crater in her flesh, replicating the lost blood. The woman sighed in evident relief, and I removed my hand and let it heal. The woman pushed herself up and shook her hair out of her face.

"Oh," she sighed, much more comfortable. "Why, thank you." I only smiled a gentle, warm smile. Once again I had defied the Wheel, denying it another soul, but I couldn't let this woman die. I didn't know why one of the men had called her a Hylden, but I figured I had misheard.

"Can you get up?" I asked. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Yes, and I don't think so," the woman replied. I helped her to stand slowly. She seemed steady enough, and she could stand on her own well. She pushed her hair back out of her face and over her shoulders and I stared. The woman was beautiful; there was no doubt about that. Her hair was as thick as mine and nearly as long, glossy and black as a raven's feather. Her skin was a pale, creamy colour like Umah's had been, and her eyes were deep, fathomless indigo. Her features were sculpted, elfin even, but this was not why I stared. I could barely breathe for a moment while I looked at her. Then I uttered one single word that changed both our lives forever:

"Mommy?"