This file was last messed with in September of 2005. I think that date refferrs to a random tweak, and the chapter really stalled out in August. I'm Sorry! I haven't made any changes to this file.
The stairway lead into an underground tunnel. Though Kain used a spell to light the way, I still relied on the vampires to make up for my poor vision. I unabashedly admitted that I was afraid of the dark and told Janos to take up the rear. After several twists and turns, we finally emerged into a cavern lit with a natural blue glow.
I gasped and backed up against Janos as I saw the shadow of a tentacle squirming against the wall. After a brief experiment, I found that I could only see it through my weaker left eye.
"What is that?" Janos asked.
"You can see that? But…" I suddenly realized that Janos must have been struck several times with the purified Reaver as he was fighting with Raziel. "It's a parasitic monster."
Kain and Raziel were already in the center of the chamber, staring in hatred at the Elder God's largest eye. Vorador only frowned in confusion, staying quiet as he recognized that he was a minority in not seeing anything.
"I put you down once, I shall do it again!" Kain bellowed in rage.
"Just go away," the squid whined, shielding his main eye behind a writhing mass of tentacles.
"You defeated it?" Raziel asked Kain.
"I hurt it, but only because your sacrifice allowed me to see it and provided me with a weapon that could wound it," Kain murmered, his pride towards Raziel evident in his voice.
The squid shifted again, trying to draw his main eye into his bulk. I hesitantly stepped forward, sensing an odd queasiness emanating from its slimy mass. "He's hungover," I remarked quietly, not wishing to provoke it.
"Leave me be," the squid growled, his tentacles bunching around him.
"He's what?" Raziel asked in confusion.
"He is, he's hungover," I repeated. I poked Raziel playfully in the ribs. "He admitted to being your stomach."
Raziel stared at me, a disgusted frown etching his eyebrows.
Growing sick of our presence, the squid lashed out with a tentacle and shouted, "Leave!"
Raziel pushed me out of the way. As the squid drew back for another blow, Kain turned to me and said, "I need the Soul Reaver."
I fished around in my backpack, but I came up empty. "I can't."
"Try again," Kain growled as he was forced to dodge another tentacle.
I concentrated and reached into my backpack again. This time, my hand closed on the hilt of a sword. I spared a quick glance and froze in surprise at seeing a comically stylized skull. I released the sword back into my backpack and shook my head in defeat.
"It's no use," I yelled. "Let's just get out of here."
Raziel continued to guard me from tentacle strikes as we ran back out into the tunnel. Kain followed close behind. Janos had already pulled Vorador out of the cavern when the squid started to squirm.
"You did have something in your backpack," Raziel pointed out to me.
"That was a sword someone made as an imitation Reaver. They did such a bad job that it's an insult," I mumbled in embarrassment. "I call it the Cheese Sword."
An awkward silence followed. I could feel the horrified stares of the vampires, however they didn't push the matter further.
We continued walking. Vorador and Janos were having a muted conversation, while Kain seemed lost in thought.
"Why does Kain remember more than I do?" Raziel asked me quietly.
"It's just the moment when you left your real story to be a part of mine," I shrugged. "I'm afraid that there's very little rhyme or reason in any of this."
"I do not like that I am missing memories," Raziel muttered.
"The difference isn't much," I mumbled sadly.
"What am I missing?" Raziel asked.
"Just the acceptance of your end, and the reasons why you stopped fighting," I replied dully. I blinked as I felt my eyes grow misty.
"Tell me," Raziel insisted.
"I don't think I understand it," I argued. "I think that you might've figured out how to stop the squid, and you were willing to give up your freedom to hurt it."
Raziel stared at me critically. "Do you really think that it can be stopped?"
"There is hope," I remarked whistfully.
"Is that all?" Raziel asked in dissapointment.
"Are you asking me if he'll always been in this reality, or in the one that you're used to?" I asked.
"Is there a difference?" Raziel asked.
"I honestly don't know if he'll be gone from the real Nosgoth," I grudgingly admitted, "but I think that he'll stick around in this universe for a while longer, though now he's just an overgrown squid instead if a psuedo-deity."
Raziel growled softly at this news. "Tell me everything you know about my missing memories."
With weary resign, I laid a hand on Raziel's shoulder and stopped walking. He naturally turned to face me. Before he could ask what I was doing, I pressed a finger to his forehead and called on my authoress powers.
Raziel's eyes widened in shock as he suddenly remembered his last minutes of freedom. I drew my hand away and tried to massage the feeling back into it. Raziel crumpled and clutched at his chest.
Raziel recovered quickly, as I knew he would. His eyes blazed as he adjusted to the new knowledge. "He must be completely destroyed," Raziel insisted.
I did not answer him. We both could see that it would not be as easy as Raziel made it sound. My powers were limited, and the squid was overwhelmingly enormous. I left it to Raziel to think how to eliminate it.
Walking through the underground tunnels had the same monotony as wandering through the empty field. The only difference was the darkness and the possibility of walking into a wall.
Eventually, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. I followed it eagerly, tired of the darkness and excited at what lay ahead.