Soul Reaver 2

Raziel:
So its true... what Kain and Vorador told me. I am some kind of unholy vampire messiah.

Janos:
Unholy? No... Messiah? Perhaps.

Raziel:
I dont like that word... it smells of martyrdom.

Raziel:
You can drop the benevolent fa?ade, Moebius, I know who and what you are... I should kill you where you stand!

Moebius:
Perhaps you should my boy... but you don't.

Raziel:
Are you so certain about that, Moebius?

Moebius:
My role as Time Guardian affords me a certain level of omniscience, Raziel. No, you don't kill me, that honor belongs to your maker, Kain, some thirty years from now.

Raziel:
You two are a pair... you're just as fatalistic as he is.

Moebius:
Death comes for us all, Raziel... it's just a matter of time.

Moebius:
All great movements require a few martyrs.

Raziel:
You said it yourself, Kain - there are only two sides to your coin.

Kain:
Thirty years hence, I am presented with a dilemma... let's call it a two-sided coin. If the coin falls one way, I sacrifice myself and thus restore the Pillars... but as the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth, this would mean the annihilation of our species... Moebius made sure of that. If the coin lands on the reverse, I refuse the sacrifice and thus doom the Pillars to an eternity of collapse. Either way, the game is rigged.

Raziel:
We agree then that the Pillars are crucial and must be restored.

Kain:
Yes, Raziel, that is why we've come full-circle to this place.

Raziel:
So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die so that new Guardians can be born.

Kain:
The Pillars don't belong to them, Raziel... they belong to us.

Raziel:
Your arrogance is boundless, Kain.

Kain:
There's a third option, a monumental secret hidden in your very presence here. But it's a secret you have to discover for yourself. Unearth your destiny, Raziel. It's all laid out for you here.

Raziel:
You said it yourself, Kain... there are only two sides to your coin.

Kain:
Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, it lands on its edge.

Moebius:
'Where am I?' is the usual question. In your case, 'when' might be more apt.

Raziel:
I really am some kind of unholy vampire messiah.

Janos:
Unholy? No... messiah, perhaps.

Raziel:
I don't like that word. It smells of martyrdom.

Janos:
Raziel, your role in this world's is more crucial and more benevolent than you've allowed yourself to believe.

Raziel:
As Melchiah and Zephon fell before my blade, I felt the Reaver's blood thirst as keenly as I ever had when I was still a vampire. I could sense the boundary between us dissolving. The Reaver was consumed with my rage and I was intoxicated by its bloodlust. The blade had a vitalizing effect on me. My physical energy no longer decayed over time and the wounds inflicted by my enemies healed almost instantly. The Reaver had made me invincible.

Raziel:
You're a righteous fiend, aren't you?

Raziel:
Apparently, I am.

Raziel:
History abhors a paradox.

Moebius:
Every movement requires a few martyrs.

Elder God:
Your arrogance will spell your demise, Raziel. Deny my will, and the arc of your destiny will reach a sudden conclusion.

Raziel:
Your threats are unmoving. Even now I'm beyond your reach.

Elder God:
My reach is longer than you realize.

Elder God:
Do not test my patience, Raziel. I made you, and I will unmake you if I become so inclined.

Raziel:
[mockingly] As your agent, I am beyond death.

Elder God:
There are fates worse than death, Raziel.

[after killing his past-self]

Raziel:
I renounce you.

Elder God:
I'am the engine of Life, the source of Nosgoth's very existence. I'am the hub of the Wheel, the devourer of Death.

Raziel:
Or maybe your just hungry. Could it be as simple as that? Wouldn't that be poetic irony? The greatest adversary to the vampires turns out to be the biggest parasite of them all.

Raziel:
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 with out your damned staff, and i suspect things aren't progressing as you'd hoped. You're not used to the fly turning to confront you in your web, are you?

Moebius:
What are you doing?

Raziel:
Come now, Moebius, you're a cunning serpent... you'll piece it together, i imagine.

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

Raziel:
You kill him, if its so damned important!

Raziel:
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?

Kain:
Janos is indeed the key to your destiny, but you'll need to find your own way back into Nosgoth's past. Make no mistake though, Raziel. You and I are now in great danger. We are irritants here. Malevolent forces are being marshalled to eliminate us.

Raziel:
You talk as though we're allies

Kain:
Regardless of your sentiments, Raziel, in their eyes... we are.

Raziel:
Well, they're certainly trying to eliminate you, Kain, there can be no doubt of that. I am assaulted relentlessly with demands for your demise. As for me, I suspect they made a grave error when they allowed my unique resurrection. I don't think they know how to destroy me.

Kain:
You mustn't underestimate them, Raziel.

Raziel:
And who exactly is this diabolical "they" to which we keep referring? If there's some grand conspiracy going on, the right hand doesn't appear to know what the left is doing. Even Moebius seems to be caught out at every turn.

Kain:
Moebius is a puppet, Raziel! Haven't you realized that yet? That's the sweetest irony in all of this. Nosgoth's 'great manipulater' is their plaything! But the ones pulling the strings haven't shown their faces, yet.

Janos:
Raziel? My child, what have they done to you?

Raziel:
I have been dragged through hell and back, all it seems to reach this moment. But i don't yet know why?

Raziel:
Mankind seems to only have brought you torment and grief. You must hate them.

Janos:
They fear what they don't understand; and despise what they fear. But no, i do not hate them.

Raziel:
You knew i would lead the Sarafan to Janos, you vile bastard! You've been orchestating my every move!

Moebius:
[Simply laughs]

Raziel:
My destiny is an amusement to you?

Moebius:
It was fun, while it lasted.

Moebius:
Poor, deluded Raziel... did you somehow imagine you had the guile to change history on me? I'm the Time-Streamer! I knew your every move before you did, you imbecile!

Raziel:
Ah, my ancient 'benefactor'... and i had dared to hope that we had parted ways forever. Your silence was refreshing, while it lasted. No doubt you have a conveniently inexpressible reason for your presence here?

Elder God:
Do not be insolent, Raziel. I'am eternally present, here and everywhere, now and always.

Raziel:
But perhaps not so omnipotent as you'd have me believe. Your hold on me appears to be tenuous. I no longer seem to need you, yet i'm guessing you still need me?

Elder God:
Do not fail me, my servant...

Raziel:
I serve no one, not you, not Kain... and not your lackey Moebius!

Elder God:
Moebius is my good servant. I have many.

Raziel:
And if I tell Moebius that he's worshipping a giant squid, do you think his faith will falter?

Vorador:
I distrust your origins, stranger, seeing you crawl from the putrid depths of Moebius' keep make me question your purpose here. And what should i make of your appearance human, clearly and more demon than vampire. And the Pillars? It is no mere coincidence that your arrival in that clearing heralded the Pillar's decay. And so i ask you plainly; are you the instrument of the Pillar's destruction or their salvation?

Raziel:
Neither.

Vorador:
You don't know what you are, do you?

Raziel:
I have been many things. If you find me ignorant, enlighten me.

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

Kain:
If only it were that simple.

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 continum of history is simply too strong, too resilient.

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

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

Moebius:
Raziel, do not forget your purpose here, you are destined to be the savior of Nosgoth.

Raziel:
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.

Raziel:
[to Moebius] I don't think this has anything to do with the Pillars or Kain's failure to sacrifice himself. I think you're afraid, because you don't know what he's up to! He's a wild card, isn't he, and you don't want his influence in your game. Which is why you wanted me to eliminate him. Now that he's survived, you have no idea what's coming, do you? Maybe for the first time in your entire life. You're terrified that he may truly have found a thrid option out of the dilemma you orchestrated for him.

Ariel:
Kain handed them their victory. They sought to topple the Pillars, and he was their willing instrument.

Ariel:
Why do you hound me, demon? You can see that i am captive here. Show me some mercy.

Raziel:
Like the mercy you showed your fellow Guardians when you set Kain on them? Or the mercy you showed Kain when you kept him ignorant of his destiny while you used him as the Scourge of the Circle? Or perhaps like the mercy you showed your beloved Nupraptor when you made him Kain's first kill?

Raziel:
Oh no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens. I don't think i have the stomach for it.

Kain:
No drama this time, Raziel.

Raziel:
You are persistent, crossing time like this to follow me. Still waiting for that coin of yours to land on its edge?

Janos:
The Pillars choose their Guardians from birth, Raziel and vampires are no longer born. This is the crux of our dilemma. And this is the terrible irony, with their vampire purge, the members of the Circle have assaulted the very architects of the Pillars they are sworn to protect. They have embarked on a treacherous path. With every vampire they kill, the humans are slitting their own throats.

Kain:
Raziel! Janos must stay dead!

Raziel:
And so it ends. My history comes full circle. Sensing its twin, the wraith blade uncoiled itself from me. And instead, wound lovingly around its former self. I felt its grip loosen. And as the blade left me, its absence chilled me more than its presence ever had. A foreboding sense of emptiness and loss stole over me. And a terrible revelation gathered like a storm at the edge of my awareness. With all other foes exhausted, the conjoined blades turned themselves on me! And I realized, finally, why I had sensed nothing when Janos offered me the blade. The Reaver was never forged to be a soul-stealing weapon. The ravenous, soul-devouring entity trapped in the blade was... and always had been... ME! This is why the blade was destroyed when Kain tried to strike me down. The Reaver could not devour its own soul. The paradox shattered the blade. So, this was my terrible destiny... to play out this purgatorial cycle for all eternity. I could not bear it. Despair overwhelmed me.