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Raziel V.O.
These murals left no room for doubt – these winged creatures were indeed the architects of the Pillars.
And while the images were difficult to decipher, the Pillars appeared to banish or diminish their enemies somehow...
 

Raziel forges the Reaver with Light

Raziel V.O.
I plunged the Reaver into the forge, and imbued the blade with the elemental power of Light.
(pause)
Thus armed, I now had the means to re-enter the Stronghold, and finally use Moebius’s time-streaming device to accomplish my own ends.
 
 
 
 
 

As Raziel enters the Relic Hall within the Sanctuary, he discovers the fresh corpse of one of Moebius’s guards.  Raziel kneels to examine the body – his neck appears to have been snapped, his throat is torn open, and the pallor of his skin suggests that the victim has been drained of blood.
Raziel glances up and begins to rise.  He addresses the seemingly-empty hall – 

Raziel
Show yourself, Kain.

Kain’s voice emerges from the depths of William’s chapel –

Kain
Here, Raziel.

Raziel crosses the threshold of the chapel. Just as in his previous visit, he feels the distortion caused by the nearness of the Reaver. As he enters, he discovers Kain inside, standing before William's sarcophagus.

Kain
Everything is decided here...
Kain’s voice sounds unusually detached, almost melancholy.  This unexpected change in demeanor is enough to make Raziel pause. 
You cannot comprehend the magnitude – the rapture and the tragedy – of this moment...
And yet you must if Nosgoth is to be dragged from the wreckage of its damnation.

Whatever game Kain is playing, Raziel is tired of it.  He responds irritably –

Raziel
I understand only this, Kain – that you and Moebius have impelled me to this moment simply means I can trust neither of you.  I don’t know who’s pulling the strings, but it no longer matters – because I’m cutting them.  I set my own course from here.

Raziel turns to leave.  Kain pauses for a moment, watching him go, then replies –

Kain
If it were only that simple.

Raziel stops and turns back to Kain, exasperated.

Raziel
Your fatalism is tiresome, Kain.

Kain
– and profoundly ingrained, Raziel.
You must understand, our presence here doesn’t alter history.  You and I meet here because we are compelled to – we have always met here.
History is irredeemable.
Drop a stone into a rushing river – the current simply courses around it and flows on as if the obstruction were never there.  You and I are pebbles, Raziel, and have even less hope of disrupting the time-stream.
The continuum of history is simply too strong, too resilient.
 

Kain
(rhetorical)
Except... then how do we explain William, here?
Kain gestures towards William's funeral effigy, and turns to face the sarcophagus.
The beloved boy-king turned tyrant.
He gently lifts the Soul Reaver from the casket, the hilt in his right hand, the blade resting on his left palm.
In my youth, I witnessed William’s rise to power, and his transformation into the ‘Nemesis’ who laid waste to Nosgoth.

Kain turns back to Raziel, flourishing the blade.

Raziel
(steely)
Keep your distance, Kain.

Kain continues, slowly closing the distance between them.  He seems oblivious, almost detached, absorbed by his reverie.

Kain
Years later, I stumble upon a chance to journey back in history, unaware that the entire affair has been carefully orchestrated by Moebius.
In my wisdom, I seize this opportunity to murder the young king before he can ravage Nosgoth...
...and thereby provide the catalyst Moebius needs to ignite a genocidal war against our race.

Raziel grows more agitated as Kain advances.

Raziel
I warn you – no further!

Kain continues, his voice taking on a greater sense of urgency.

Kain
This one reckless act unravels the skein of history.
The Nemesis never becomes the Nemesis; William dies a martyred saint.
I, the vampire assassin, become the author of my own species’ extinction.
And Moebius profits from it all.  I destroyed a tyrant only to create one far worse.

Kain gestures toward the stained glass window, which depicts a lionized William and a demonized Kain in combat, both armed with the Soul Reaver.

Kain
But how can it be so?  How, if history is immutable?
Kain advances slowly on Raziel, gripping the Soul Reaver.  As he approaches, the feeling of displacement intensifies.
The answer is here in this room, Raziel.
Moebius propelled William and me together – but ensured first that we were both armed with the Soul Reaver.
The Reaver is the key.
Two incarnations of the blade meet in time and space... a paradox is created, a temporal distortion powerful enough to derail history.

As Kain takes a final step toward Raziel, the wraith-blade begins to manifest of its own will.  Raziel reacts in alarm –

Raziel
(apprehensive)
Is this your sorcery?

Kain
Not mine, Raziel – yours.
You have nothing to fear from me, Raziel.
You hold all the cards.
 

Kain turns the blade and extends it to Raziel, hilt first.  Raziel looks at him like he’s insane – this must be another trick. He reaches out tentatively and takes the Reaver, keeping his eyes locked on Kain.  Kain releases the blade willingly, and extends his hands to show that there’s no deception.  As Raziel grips the hilt, the convergence-effect intensifies around them.
Raziel addresses Kain icily.  As he speaks, the wraith energy of the Reaver manifests and begins to twine itself around the physical blade.

Raziel
Then perhaps I should test your sincerity.

Swiftly, Raziel brings the point of the blade up to Kain’s throat.  Kain takes a step back, and Raziel steps with him, keeping the sword at his throat.

Raziel
If what you say is true, you should be terrified.  I could kill you here and now.

Raziel doesn’t really intend to kill Kain here; he’s just trying to rattle him, to turn the tables on him. 
Kain responds, clearly apprehensive, but also strangely resigned –

Kain
And so you do, Raziel.

The blade begins to tremble slightly, as if possessed of its own will.  Raziel is confused and alarmed –

Raziel
What’s happening?

The trembling intensifies as Raziel struggles against the pull of the Reaver.

Kain
We are hurtling toward our destinies, Raziel.  What you feel is the pull of history rushing to meet us.
This is where history and destiny collide.

The Reaver lunges at Kain – he stumbles against William's sarcophagus, and falls to the ground.  As Raziel fights to resist the pull of the blade, Kain urges him with earnest intensity; everything depends on him getting through to Raziel.

Kain
(tense; earnest)
If you truly believe in free will, Raziel, now is the time to prove it.
Kill me now, and we both become pawns of history, dragged down the path of an artificial destiny.
I was ordained to assume the role of Balance Guardian in Nosgoth, while you were destined to be its savior.  But the map of my fate was redrawn by Moebius, and so in turn was yours...

Raziel struggles to maintain control.

 
Raziel
This is madness!

Kain
Fight it, Raziel... This moment does not have to be an ending – it can become a prelude.

The pull of the Reaver is too powerful; Raziel is losing strength.

Raziel
I can’t...

Kain
You can, Raziel – look inside and see that it is so.  You have the power to reshape our inevitable futures.

Raziel raises the Soul Reaver and brings it down violently.  Kain turns his head and winces, sure that this is the end, that he’s failed.  The sword crashes downward in a blinding flash of light, and Raziel staggers back, his hand now free of the blade.  He has diverted the Reaver's course, avoiding Kain by mere inches.  The blade stands embedded in William's sarcophagus, the impact having fractured the stone.
Kain can scarcely believe he survived this.  He rises shakily and regards the impaled, fractured casket.

Kain
(shaken; a weak attempt at a joke)
...poor William.

At once, their senses are overcome by an indescribable disturbance – their surrounding warp and blur, a colossal groaning fills the air as reality labors to admit this alteration to the historical continuum.
Raziel looks around the room in confusion and alarm.

Raziel
What is this?

Kain
(recovering)
History abhors a paradox, Raziel.
Even now, the time-stream strains to divert itself, finding its old course blocked by your refusal to destroy me.
The future is reshuffling itself to accommodate your monumental decision.

As Kain continues, the distortion begins to subside.

Kain
This is where we restore ourselves, Raziel, and reclaim our intended destinies.
It may yet be possible for me to assume my role as Balance Guardian and return the Pillars to their rightful inheritors –

Raziel interrupts disdainfully.

Raziel
(disgusted; incredulous)
- to the vampires.
(pause)
And this is the destiny you have urged me to discover?

Raziel is growing more incensed as he considers what Kain is telling him –

Raziel
I don’t know what game you and Moebius are playing, Kain – but I refuse to be your pawn.
Unlike you, I still revere whatever shred of humanity I’ve managed to preserve.
You will not use me as the instrument of your messianic delusions.

Raziel turns to exit the chapel, leaving Kain behind.

Kain
Very well, Raziel.  I’ll not ask you to trust me – your truths are for you to discover alone.

Raziel pauses briefly, and replies without turning –

Raziel
(sarcastically)
Humble words for one who presumes to teach me a lesson at every turn.

Kain
Then continue your journey and learn your own lessons, Raziel.
Remember – Moebius led you here, but you walk away unfettered.  A champion of free will, and conqueror of false histories.
 

Raziel stalks away without looking back.  If he had a middle finger, he’d flip Kain off.
Kain’s voice continues as Raziel leaves him behind.

Kain
There is much more for you to unearth, if you have the heart for the truth and the will to see it...
 
 
 

Following his history-altering encounter with Kain in the chapel, Raziel returns to the Circle’s gathering-room. Armed with the Light Reaver, he is now able to unlock the second time streaming chamber.
Just as the chamber's door slides open, Moebius rushes into the room, shaken and alarmed.  He thought he had successfully orchestrated Kain’s murder at Raziel’s hands, but now everything has gone horribly wrong.  He knows that Kain has survived, and that the course of history has therefore been changed.  This means Kain and Raziel both know about the Reaver-convergence which, up to now, Moebius believed was his little secret.
Raziel greets Moebius smugly, realizing that he has the upper hand and relishing it.

Raziel
(cocky)
Ah, yes – I like that look on your face, Moebius.  You really don’t know what to do now, do you, old man?
Here you are – caught without your damned staff – and I suspect things aren’t progressing quite as you’d hoped.
You’re not used to the fly turning to confront you in your web, are you?

Genuinely shocked and distressed, Moebius struggles to regain control of the situation.  But he also knows precisely how history has reshuffled itself, and is deliberately appearing vulnerable to let Raziel think he’s in control.  He admonishes Raziel –

Moebius
(entreating)
Kain’s devious influence has poisoned your mind, Raziel.
Now you see betrayal everywhere, even in your closest allies.

Raziel
(irritated)
We were never allies, Moebius.
Conspirators, perhaps.  Briefly.

Moebius
(upset)
Why did you not kill Kain when you had the chance?  He was at your mercy!

Raziel
(confident; enjoying this)
Precisely.  I had a choice, and I chose mercy.
(pause)
And now I know your sordid little secret – the significance of that...displacement I felt when the two Reavers came together.
Strangely enough, I was enlightened by the ‘devious’ Kain, not by you.
In fact, I’ve learned much more than you counted on – I understand now how you’ve tried to manipulate all of history for your own personal gain.
But now all your little schemes are whirling in ruin around you, aren’t they?
All because I chose to exert my will for once, rather than obey the demands of sorcerers and spirits and demons all singing the same tiresome refrain: ‘kill Kain!’
I’m setting my own path from here, Moebius.
I intend to discover the truth behind all of this.

Moebius
But you condemn us all with this impetuous act!

Raziel
Hardly impetuous; it took all the will I could muster.
Has my refusal to kill Kain reshuffled your carefully stacked deck of cards?

Moebius
(angry)
You really think that you’re exercising your free will, Raziel?
You’re simply Kain’s servant –

Raziel
(steely)
I do not serve Kain.  I merely did not kill him.

Moebius
(recovering himself)
Raziel, do not forget your purpose here – you are destined to be the savior of Nosgoth!

Raziel
(angry)
Oh, I’m sick of hearing that particular phrase.
As for saving Nosgoth, so far I see precious little reason to bother.
And I’ll choose my own ‘purpose’ from here on out, Time-Streamer.
Right now, I choose to manipulate you, for a change.
Go – in there.

Raziel summons the wraith-blade and flourishes it at Moebius threateningly.  Gesturing with the Reaver, Raziel directs Moebius toward the time streaming chamber.  Moebius refuses to move –

Moebius
(feigning surprise)
What are you doing?

Raziel
(sarcastic)
Come now, Moebius – you’re a cunning serpent... you’ll piece it together, I imagine.
Raziel shoves Moebius and brandishes the Reaver to usher him into the chamber.
This era is of no further use to me.  You will operate this device to provide me passage. I want to see the world in a simpler time – before the Sarafan began their crusade.

Moebius obediently adjusts the dials and switches of the arcane device, but continues to entreat Raziel –

Moebius
And what about Kain?  You’re leaving your quarry behind!

Raziel
You kill him, if it’s so damned important.

Moebius
You need only touch the two poles of the switch, and the device will transport you.
But I urge you to reconsider –

Raziel places his hands on the poles of the time-streaming device.

Raziel
You’ve lost your powers of persuasion, old man.
Rot here and forget me.

Moebius turns away dejectedly, but once his face is averted he breaks into a cunning grin.
Raziel throws the switch, and the chamber blurs around him as he is swept to another time.