The Resurrection of Janos Audron

Al regresar del Averno, Raziel observa cómo la mansión de Vorador ha sido asaltada por Moebius y sus soldados…

Raziel (vo): In my absence, the estate had been overrun by Moebius’s soldiers. I hoped that they had not yet found the entrance to the crypt, or discovered the body of Janos. Of Vorador, there was no sign.

Moebius: Raziel - the conquering hero. I understand we are to offer congratulations. Kain, at last, is dead.

Raziel: I suppose you expect similar congratulations on the death of Vorador? Or has he eluded you?

Moebius: We have him. But not without a considerable price in blood.

Raziel: That will have pleased him.

Moebius: Let it sustain him until his head is off, and every vampire in Nosgoth at last is dead.

Raziel: And will that knowledge sustain you? You too are going to your death.

Moebius: For a true servant of the one God, death is never bitter. I will go - again at peace with the knowledge that I have played my small part in our master’s plans.

Kain is at last destroyed, and you have carried out the deed. Which hero do you think you are now? The vampire savior? Or the other one? Have you realized yet that it didn’t matter to us which one either of you thought you were, so long as the result was the same in the end?

And now, Kain is dead. Really, I cannot thank you enough.

Raziel: So this has all been arranged, every step of the way. And Kain thought I truly had free will.

Moebius: Oh, but you do. And there’s the greatest triumph of all, to have compelled the one player who could choose into doing exactly what we required.

Well done, faithful servant. And now - I have an execution to see to.

Después de que Moebius lo haya dejado, Raziel continúa su camino hacia la cripta donde se encuentra el cuerpo sin vida de Janos Audron…

Raziel (vo): This relic had come at so high a cost – my blood offering for the answers I sought from this enigmatic corpse. It was the price of my freedom, for which Kain had paid with his life.

Raziel devuelve el corazón a Janos Audron, aunque no parece suceder nada…

Raziel (vo): Had I journeyed so far, and forsaken so much, only to have it end like this?

Entonces, el pecho de Janos se cierra y éste vuelve a la vida…

Janos Audron: Aaahhhh… I remember – – Raziel, the heir of prophecy… You came for the Reaver - just before the Sarafan found me…

Raziel: You’ve been entombed here for five centuries. Your murderers are long dead.

Janos Audron: Five hundred years? And Vorador–

Raziel: –also dead. Your bloodline is erased. The age of the vampires is coming to an end.

Janos Audron: Then we must waste no time -

Raziel: I’m not who you think I am. Nor is this a benevolent act. I have questions that apparently you alone can answer.

Janos Audron: Raziel, there are forces in this world that will strive to deceive you and pervert your destiny. But you must believe - your arrival foretells the salvation of the Vampire race.

Raziel: Why then would the Vampires devise a weapon to consume and imprison their savior?

Janos Audron: No - that cannot be…

Raziel: While the blade yet exists, I am drawn inexorably toward my doom. It was you who bound me to this fate. Only you can release me.

Janos Audron: Raziel, you have been misled - you are ordained by prophecy to wield the Reaver.

Raziel: And so I do - though not quite as you’d envisioned.

Janos Audron: Redeemer and destroyer… Is it possible? Did I misread all the signs? It seems your destiny is more labyrinthian than I had imagined. You must trust me, Raziel - we may have very little time. I will convey you to the place where your answers lie.

Janos se teletransporta junto con Raziel a la ciudadela de los vampiros…

Raziel: Where have you brought me?

Janos Audron: We are within the ancient citadel of the Vampire race, long ago defiled and abandoned. This fortress endured through centuries of war against our great enemy -

• the Hylden.

Janos Audron: Yes. From this chamber we witnessed the summoning of the Pillars, and the banishment of our adversaries from the land.

Janos dirige su mirada hacia los Pilares…

Janos Audron: This is a dire omen… The Binding is in peril - the hour of prophecy is at hand.

Raziel: It’s too late. The Pillars are already damned.

Janos Audron: As long as a single one of us stands, there is still hope. The Pillars must not remain under human guardianship. They are not competent to serve.

Raziel: Why then did you allow the Pillars to fall into human hands?

Janos Audron: Raziel, there is no time…

Raziel: I want answers. The world can end this instant, for all I care.

Janos Audron: Very well. The Hylden cursed us as they fell, afflicting our race with a predatory blood-thirst. But with this transformation came our enemies’ true revenge: immortality.

Raziel: They liberated you from the Wheel of Fate.

Janos Audron: They imprisoned our souls in this flesh, expelling us from the purifying cycle of death and rebirth.

Raziel: And yet you passed the curse on.

Janos Audron: It was a necessary evil. Our immortality banished us from God’s grace - He turned His sight from us, and fell silent. Many took their own lives, unable to bear the separation from our God.

Raziel: Not you, though.

Janos Audron: Curse or blessing, it is the price we pay to keep the Hylden banished from the land. To sustain the Binding, we had to preserve our bloodline. And so we passed the dark gift to the human successors of our fallen Guardians.

They rebelled, inevitably, refusing the curse and seizing the Pillars as their own.

And so we come to our present dilemma. While mankind governs the Pillars, the Binding decays. The Hylden strain against the barriers of their prison, scratching to gain a foothold back into this world.

Raziel: And what does all this mean to me?

Janos Audron: We stand at the threshold of a new aeon, Raziel, and you are the fulcrum upon which our destiny turns. Beneath this room lies our innermost sanctum.

The outer chamber has been opened. It appears events are already in motion.

This token is the key to the mysteries you seek. I cannot accompany you; you must face this trial alone. If you prevail, you will have your answers.

Raziel: And if I fail the test?

Janos Audron: Then you will not return.

En esa cámara, Raziel encuentra al dios antiguo…

Raziel: I should have known I’d find you here.

Elder god: Here and everywhere… Now and always. I am the Wheel and its turning; I am the Circle of life and death.

Raziel: And I am beginning to think the Vampires committed suicide only to escape your voice.

Elder god: Do not forego my favor with your impertinence, Raziel. You have finally fulfilled your purpose. I am pleased.

Raziel: What are you trying to obliterate here, then? What is it about me that has you so afraid?

Elder god: Your fate is trivial, Raziel. It was Kain’s destiny that mattered all along.

Raziel (vo): My master seemed keen to extinguish the purifying fire of the Spirit Forge. Perhaps the Reaver would loosen his grip.

Tras conseguir que el dios antiguo libere su control sobre la fragua, el espíritu de Ariel se aparece ante Raziel…

Ariel: It is accomplished. The Forge summons the spirit of every Balance Guardian to itself, for this final purpose.

Raziel: Ariel? You?

Ariel: Yes, Raziel. Yet I am much more than I was. The veil is lifted from my sight. My spirit, united with the souls of my predecessors, is drawn here now for the final baptism of the blade.

To restore Balance, the sword must be rendered pure by Spirit. Release me, Raziel - the Soul Reaver has the power. Release us all. For this we were called.

Raziel toma la mano de Ariel y purifica la Segadora…

Ariel: You have done well, Raziel. But there is one more trial for you to bear. You must unite that which has been set asunder… only then will the Scion of Balance be armed for his true endeavor. Only then…

Raziel (vo): The Reaver now blazed with purifying flame.

But far from being enlightened, I found myself entangled in an even greater web of mysteries. What had Janos expected me to learn? And what of Ariel’s cryptic message? If the sword was endowed for the Scion of Balance - for Kain - and he was now dead, what hope remained?

I needed to find Janos, and soon. I dreaded to think what these ominous rumblings might portend.

De vuelta a la cámara superior, Raziel observa cómo Janos mira hacia los Pilares…

Raziel: Janos! What is this?!

Janos Audron: The Binding is failing - all is lost.

Raziel (vo): We had arrived at that cataclysmic moment, when a younger Kain faced his fateful dilemma as Balance Guardian. Choosing self-preservation over sacrifice, he doomed the Pillars to eternal ruin.

Janos Audron: Raziel, there may yet be hope. There is One who will be called; you must seek the Scion of Balance–

En ese momento, el joven Kain rechaza sacrificarse para restaurar el Equilibrio. Los Pilares son destruidos…

Janos Audron: Dear god…

El hylden que parasitaba a Mortanius toma posesión ahora del cuerpo de Janos…

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): Ah, Raziel, we meet again. You have played your part flawlessly. It is gratifying to attain both freedom and vengeance in a single stroke.

Janos Audron: No - you can not…

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): This one is strong… good. My next move requires a more durable host. Mortals are such fragile vessels. Willing or not, you have provided the instrument of our victory.

Raziel: I wouldn’t celebrate just yet.

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): You pathetic creature - you haven’t got a clue. The seduction of the Circle and possession of Mortanius; Ariel’s murder; the corruption and collapse of the Pillars: all orchestrated as a prelude to this moment.

We sought an incorruptible vessel, and you provided one. We required the blood of our ancient enemy, and you delivered Janos Audron - having first been lured to the Heart of Darkness. Best of all, you murdered the Scion of Balance to get it. We’ve already won.

Janos Audron: Raziel, you must not allow them to carry out their plan. Kill me, and you end it now.

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): Suicidal, like the rest of them. Know your place, Raziel. The true hero plays his role, and then steps aside.

Raziel impide el paso al hylden…

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): You deluded ghoul. Do you so wish to die a martyr for the Vampires’ lost cause?

Raziel: You’re not leaving this chamber. I will destroy Janos if I have to.

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): Very well then, I’ll indulge you…

La lucha comienza y Raziel consigue derrotar al hylden. Entonces, Janos habla a Raziel…

Janos Audron: Raziel… Finish it - before he returns…

Raziel se dispone a dar el golpe de gracia pero no encuentra fuerzas para asesinar a Janos. El hylden aprovecha la ocasión para volver a tomar el control y destruir el cuerpo de Raziel…

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): You should have listened to him.

Raziel: Aaaaaaarrgghh…!!!

Janos Audron (The Hylden Lord): Now it is finished. And thus a new epoch has its beginning.

El hylden se marcha y Raziel aparece de nuevo ante el dios antiguo…

Elder god: Do you see? However far you stray, you will always return to me. Surrender, Raziel.

Raziel ataca en vano al dios antiguo…

Raziel: Never!

Elder god: Your efforts are wasted, Raziel. That weapon you bear, however endowed, remains only a wraith blade. It cannot touch me.

Raziel: I will not be your prisoner -

Elder god: You have no choice. Your task is fulfilled. Kain has been cleared from the board, and this chamber made ready for my more malleable servants. There is nothing more for you to do.

Raziel: I refuse to bend my will.

Elder god: It has always been my will you satisfy, never your own.

Raziel: You parasitic fraud. You’re forced to imprison me because I possess free will.

Elder god: You possess nothing. As you are undying, your soul cannot be returned to the Wheel - but it may console you to abide here in eternity with me.

Moebius, my good servant, I call you to the place of our first meeting. Return to me here…