The Corruption of the Pillars

Raziel opens the gates that lead to the Pillars…

The Pillars of Nosgoth… pristine, whole and uncorrupted. I had never beheld them in this undefiled state - yet something profound and indelible resonated within me at the sight.

And there, waiting at the very heart of the Pillars, was the canker that was destined to destroy them.

Raziel draws the Reaver and, approaching stealthily, prepares to fight Kain…

Kain: I know you are there, Raziel.

Raziel: Moebius led me to you, Kain, although I might have guessed you’d meet me here.

Kain: And if Moebius told you I was hidden on the underside of hell, would you throw yourself into oblivion to pursue me?

Moebius trawls for the ignorant and unwary, hauling his gasping prey from the streams of their destinies. Stay out of his net, Raziel -

Raziel: Spare me your elaborate metaphors, Kain. I have pursued you here for one purpose - you will pay for your betrayal, and Balance will thus be restored to Nosgoth.

Kain: And whose will is satisfied then, the will of Raziel, or Moebius?

Would I be better manipulated by you, Kain? Now turn and face me; the chase is over.

This isn’t a chase, Raziel - we are merely passengers on the wheel of destiny, describing a perfect circle to this point. We have been brought here for a reason. I have seen the beginning and the end of our story, however - and the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I.

Raziel: Face me, Kain. Even you shouldn’t die a coward’s death.

Kain: Isn’t it customary to grant the condemned a final request?

Raziel: I recall no such courtesy from you.

Kain: Indulge me, Raziel. All I ask is that you listen.

This is the sublime moment of our undoing, Raziel - the ineffable fulcrum upon which swings the entirety of our history. This is where all of Nosgoth is betrayed.

In this instant, Ariel - the Balance Guardian - is murdered by dark forces bent on overthrowing the Pillars. Her spirit is just now tearing free, lost in the ether, trying to find its way here. You have already seen how she comes to haunt these Pillars -

• bound here by your refusal to die. You are the reason this land becomes diseased - as long as you remain alive you condemn Nosgoth to an eternity of decay.

Kain: Be still, Raziel. See this.

The Pillars corrupt and begin to crack…

Kain: As Ariel dies, I am being born to take her place as Balance Guardian. Such is my destiny.

Raziel: …my god…

Kain: At the moment of my first cry, Ariel’s beloved - the Guardian Nupraptor - finds her corpse. Wracked with grief and tormented with suspicions of treachery, Nupraptor plunges into a madness which overflows and infects all of the Guardians, who are symbiotically bound. Including me.

The repercussions of Ariel’s assassination were expertly calculated… The entire Circle descends into madness, and I am tainted at the moment of my birth - instantly rendered incapable of fulfilling the role destiny has prepared for me.

Raziel: Shall I show you the same mercy you showed the rest of the Circle, then? You blithely murdered them to restore their Pillars, yet your hand faltered when it came to the final sacrifice.

What makes you exempt, Kain? You’re merely the last man standing. Why condemn me for simply carrying out what you hadn’t the courage to do yourself?

Kain: Let’s drop the moral posturing, shall we? We both know there’s no altruism in this pursuit. Your reckless indignation led you here - I counted on it.

There’s no shame in it, Raziel - revenge is motivation enough. At least it’s honest. Hate me, but do it honestly.

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’s 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.

Kain fades away, leaving Raziel alone…

Raziel (vo): I didn’t know what impulse stayed my hand, why I had so willingly allowed Kain to escape me when I had pursued him for so long. I had no reason to trust Kain, after he had valued me so little, and yet, I found myself intrigued by his words.

I had been too cruelly used to so gullibly play his pawn, but if this world truly had secrets to divulge, I was determined to expose them.

Raziel continues his journey and encounters the same birds he had seen before…

Raziel (vo): From the moment of my arrival I had the constant and palpable sensation of being watched. Someone, it seemed, was keenly interested in my presence here.

He then finds a strange door depicting a being similar to him…

Raziel (vo): From the look of it, this door had been sealed for centuries. I began to realise it was no mere coincidence that I found myself standing here beneath this winged figure with blue skin and cloven hands so like my own, and bearing this unique key.

Inserting the Reaver into the lock, the door opens before Raziel…

Raziel (vo): And so it was, with a sense of gravity and trepidation that I unsealed that ancient door and crossed the threshold.