Back

Raziel V.O.
Throughout the Stronghold I discovered evidence of my former nobility, and my life as a Sarafan priest.
This was the heritage so foully stolen from me when Kain raided my sacred crypt and defiled me.

His thoughts are interrupted as a group of vampire hunters attack.

Raziel feels the power of the Reaver returning, after being disabled by Moebius’s staff

Raziel V.O.
Away from the influence of Moebius’s cursed staff, I could feel the strength of the Soul Reaver slowly returning.
If that orb was as debilitating to vampires as it was to the blade, it gave Moebius a powerful advantage over his enemies.
I finally understood how Moebius’s crusade could decimate the vampires so successfully.  If he could immobilize his enemies, they were at his mercy.
But why, I wondered, would the staff have any effect on the Reaver?

Raziel has entered the Relic Hall of the Stronghold for the first time – as he approaches, he feels an inexplicable distortion.

Raziel V.O.
As I neared the Stronghold’s inner sanctum, a strange sensation crept over me – an indescribable feeling of displacement, a sense of vertigo as reality itself appeared to warp and bend around me. The disturbance seemed to emanate from the sanctuary’s furthest chapel. As I cautiously approached, the sense of dislocation intensified with each step.

Raziel crosses the threshold of the chapel, and sees the stained-glass window memorializing William’s murder at the hands of a demonized vampire, Kain.  Both are armed with the Soul Reaver.  He sees the sarcophagus of William at the end of the chapel.

Raziel V.O.
So this was the tomb of the beloved King William the Just – beatified here as the martyr and catalyst of Moebius’s crusade.
I was reminded of Kain’s journey as a fledgling vampire –
How Moebius coerced him to travel back in history and assassinate William, thus igniting a genocidal hatred of vampires among the citizens of Nosgoth.

Raziel proceeds into the chapel and stands before the sarcophagus, which he realizes now serves as an altar – for here, clutched loosely in the hands of William’s effigy, is the Soul Reaver, its blade broken in two.

Raziel V.O.
And here I discovered the source of the displacement – the Soul Reaver itself, laid out like a holy relic... And broken, apparently in the battle between William and Kain.
I had not thought such a thing was possible...
Until, of course, Kain shattered the blade against me when he tried to strike me down.

Raziel holds out his right hand and looks at it. As if in sympathetic response, the wraith blade manifests itself of its own will .

Raziel V.O.
Thus the captive spirit inhabiting the Reaver was released – and binding itself to me, became my symbiotic weapon.

Fascinated by the Reaver’s presence here, Raziel reaches out to gently touch the sword, running his hand up the broken blade, to the hilt. 

Raziel V.O.
And so the Reaver met its former self, still imprisoned in this corporeal shell...
I watched, mesmerized, as the wraith blade uncoiled itself, and snaked down the length of the physical blade...

His hand involuntarily clamps down on the hilt of the sword.  This is the will of the Reaver, now – Raziel is no longer in control.

Raziel V.O.
Embracing its twin, its mirror self, the Reaver’s long-dormant spirit was now fully aroused.
And for the first time, I felt the true presence of this other entity – willful, ravenous, and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment...
The Reaver was now in command – and I, now merely its helpless host, felt my soul being leeched to restore the blade.

Raziel watches in helpless horror as the Reaver draws his soul-energy down his arm and into the broken blade. The two halves of the Soul Reaver come together and are instantly re-fused.

Raziel V.O.
But the Reaver knew better than to destroy its host - and just as I neared the brink of oblivion, the blade released its hold on me.
As I recovered, I realized we were now bound together in a fragile alliance – the Reaver no longer merely my symbiotic weapon, but a sentient parasite, competing for control.

As Raziel recovers, he realizes that Moebius is behind him, watching with intense fascination. Raziel wheels on Moebius and menaces him with the now-conjoined Reavers.

Raziel
(enraged)
What have you done to me, Moebius?!
Is this your trap?!

Moebius
(genuinely apprehensive)
How mine?!
Don’t forget it was Kain who led you here, not I!
While you curse me – the only soul in Nosgoth ready to guide and assist you – Kain laughs at our folly and revels in your dismay.
 

Still recovering, Raziel raises the intertwined blades threateningly –

Raziel
These blades now coiled in sinister embrace have inspired terror in the hearts of creatures far more durable than you, old man.
Bound together as they are, I can only imagine what they could do to your soul’s fragile shell.

Moebius
(genuinely apprehensive)
Raziel, I beg you to stay your hand.
This was none of my doing.  I have sought only to aid you in your righteous quest.

Raziel
(taunting)
Why, you’re trembling, Moebius.  Has your confidence abandoned you?
You seem to have made a fatal error by leaving your precious staff behind.
Is that where all your courage comes from?

Moebius
(desperate)
Listen to me, Raziel – you don’t know what you’re doing.
I have taken an enormous risk by appearing here before you, so defenseless, yet eager to prove my good intentions.
If there’s anything left of the Sarafan in you, you won’t do this.
While you threaten me, your true enemy eludes you!

Raziel
(icy)
Don’t concern yourself with Kain, old man.  He’ll join you in hell soon enough.
As you said, Death comes for us all...

Raziel raises the entwined blades, fully prepared to strike Moebius down –

Moebius
Yes... the Wheel of Fate demands it.

Moebius’ statement stays Raziel’s hand momentarily –

Raziel
What did you say?

Moebius
The Wheel of Fate – the inexorable cycle of death and rebirth to which all men are compelled.
We serve the same God, Raziel.
(Moebius grows more confident as he sees this is having some effect.)
To strike me down would be striking God’s own attendant, and I don’t believe even you would take that risk.

Raziel throws the corporeal Reaver away in disgust.  The wraith-blade untwines itself and coils back onto Raziel’s arm.

Raziel
I tire of your games, Moebius.  Now that I know you fear me, I needn’t concern myself with you.
Kain is waiting for me.

Moebius
Go, then, Raziel.  Seek Kain out and destroy him, in the name of the One God we both serve.
You, who were once a Sarafan priest – murdered, profaned, destroyed and reborn again from His mercy...
You are now most powerfully equipped to be His agent – His instrument of restoration and retribution.
 

Raziel
My own vengeance is motivation enough.

Raziel turns his back on Moebius and exits the chapel in disgust.
Moebius slams and locks the gate behind Raziel, so that they are now safely on opposite sides of it.  He breathes a sigh of relief as Raziel stalks away –

Moebius
(quietly to himself)
By my soul, you almost had me, my little blue assassin.
But that’ll be the one and only chance you get, I assure you of that.

Moebius dissipates (teleporting away), and we return to Raziel, who has stopped to examine his newly-enhanced symbiotic weapon –
 

Raziel V.O.
I could now summon the blade at will, regardless of my strength.
But once summoned, the blade’s ravenous appetite could not be contained.
It devoured the souls of its victims... And if I allowed it to become over-aroused, the Reaver would now turn its hunger on me.
 
 
 

The Heart of Darkness

Raziel discovers a demonized image of Janos in the Stronghold, commemorating his murder at the hands of the Sarafan.

Raziel V.O.
So this was the legendary Janos Audron – reputed to have been the most ancient and diabolical vampire to have ever existed.
According to folklore, he lived high in the cliffs of Nosgoth’s northern mountains, and preyed mercilessly on the defenseless villagers below.
His reign of terror ended when the Sarafan finally hunted him down and tore his throbbing heart from his still-living body.
This relic came to be known as the ‘Heart of Darkness’, and was supposedly imbued with the power to restore vampiric ‘unlife’.
The Sarafan therefore guarded it carefully, lest the Heart fall into the hands of their enemies.
But I wondered – could Janos Audron truly have been as monstrous as depicted here?
Or was this merely artistic license by the Sarafan, who sought to lionize themselves by demonizing their darkest enemy?
 

Raziel sees the images in the Chapter House memorializing the Sarafan martyrs – his former brethren and himself.

Raziel V.O.
Strange, how my history came full circle...
This chapel, I realized, was a memorial to my former Sarafan brethren and myself... all of us martyred here, and then so cruelly profaned by Kain when he imposed his ‘gift’ on our noble corpses.

Raziel sees an heroic statue memorializing his Sarafan self

Raziel V.O.
For the first time, I beheld the image of my Sarafan self, memorialized here among my fallen comrades.
It tortured me to see how noble and pure I had been – and what a vile phantasm I had become.
And a profound sense of injury – of loss and betrayal – welled up in me, so overwhelming I could barely contain it.
All I wanted at this moment was to find Kain, and destroy him.