The Ruined Aerie

Raziel (vo): This edifice was clearly not crafted by human architects. As the figure beneath the balcony silently attested, these were the aeries of winged beings.

Undoubtedly, I stood before the mountain refuge of the legendary Janos Audron - but the entire sanctuary lay in ruin, collapsed under the force of some ancient cataclysm.

As I suspected, the Time Streamer’s deception ensured that I was centuries too late to unearth anything of consequence here. With nothing behind me but the wasteland I had traversed, I resolved to press on and explore these canyons further.

Kain aparece tras Raziel…

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?

Kain: I’m biding my time. I see that Moebius has played a little trick on you.

Raziel: Yes - he clearly doesn’t want me to meet this ‘Janos Audron’.

Kain: Perhaps… Or maybe he merely hoped that it would harden your heart against me to see this wasteland which I single-handedly authored.

Raziel: My heart doesn’t need hardening, Kain. If I even suspected that destroying you would make any difference, I would do it this instant.

Kain: I knew you’d see through them, Raziel. 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 manipulator’ is their plaything. But the ones pulling the strings haven’t shown their faces, yet.

Raziel: They don’t like us unwriting their carefully choreographed history though, do they?

Kain: You must understand, Raziel - we haven’t unwritten history, we’ve merely rewritten it. The future flows around our petty actions, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations.

This is the reshuffling you felt, when you refused to kill me. And remember, Raziel, we are irritants in this regard, as well - history will not allow the introduction of a paradox.

Raziel: And if events cannot be reshuffled to accommodate the change?

Kain: It is the irritant who’s expelled. Bear in mind that this may be exactly the outcome our enemies are trying to provoke. We must tread very carefully.

Kain desaparece dejando sólo a Raziel. Éste continúa hasta encontrar el santuario del Aire…

Raziel (vo): The scenes I discovered here were unambiguous. This race of winged beings, the architects of the Pillars and the creators of the Reaver, were Nosgoth’s first vampires. Their blood thirst appeared to be a curse inflicted upon them by their vanquished enemies.

These images confirmed the truths that Kain had divulged to me, but I had been too incredulous to accept. I struggled in vain to see how the pieces fit together, how Kain intended to escape the dilemma of his destiny, and what role he had plotted for me, and why Moebius and the dark powers with which he seemed to be allied were so desperate to see Kain dead, and so intent on me being the instrument of his execution.

Una vez activada la fragua del Aire, Raziel hunde la Segadora en el altar y devora la energía del Aire…

Raziel (vo): As the Reaver drained the forge of its vital energy, the tempest receded. I recovered myself, and paused to admire my newly-forged weapon, now imbued with the elemental power of air. Thus armed, I hoped that I now possessed the means to escape this wasted land.

This elemental Reaver, I discovered, had the power to obliterate barriers that were cracked or compromised. At last I had the means to open that ruined Time Streaming chamber I discovered so long ago in the swamp. Now perhaps, I could leave this wasteland and return to an era when Janos Audron still lived.

Raziel vuelve al dispositivo de flujo temporal del pantano y abre la barrera que lo bloquea…

Raziel (vo): I had no choice but to act purely on blind faith. There was no way to tell what era the device was tuned to, and I had neither the knowledge, nor the means to set the machine myself. I hesitated only briefly, then, throwing the switch, I hurled myself into oblivion, and relinquished my will to the hand of fate.

Raziel se desplaza a través del flujo temporal…

Raziel (vo): Beyond all hope, and against all probability, it seemed that the device had unerringly delivered me to the era I sought. For these were Sarafan banners, and these vampires apparently the victims of their crusade.

The coincidence seemed too convenient to naively ascribe to fate, but whether my opportune arrival had been orchestrated by Moebius or some other influence, I didn’t know. If Janos Audron still lived, I would find him. I was wary of further deception and resolved to tread carefully.

Si Raziel regresa a la fortaleza Sárafan…

Raziel (vo): The frozen surface of the lake had bound the gates of the Stronghold shut. The Sarafan surely had some other means of entry, but this was the only one known to me. To infiltrate the fortress, I would need to find some way to release these gates from their icy bonds.

Avanzando hacia el noroeste, Raziel observa los vestigios de exterminio de los Sárafan…

Raziel (vo): For all the butchery of Moebius’s crusade, this massacre was somehow more chilling. The killing fields of the Sarafan betrayed a kind of orderly ruthlessness, the cold-blooded righteousness of the true believer.

Raziel observa por primera vez a sacerdotes guerreros Sárafan…

Raziel (vo): Here at last in the flesh, I beheld my former brothers-in-arms, the warrior-priests of the Sarafan order; their lives devoted solely to the annihilation of the vampire plague.

And while I confess I felt a twinge of longing, a pang of grief for what I had believed was my lost virtue, I regarded them now with none of the reverence I formally felt. For I had seen the human face of the vampires, and now I beheld the monstrousness of these men.

Raziel llega al saliente situado frente a la guarida de Janos Audron…

Raziel (vo): After my long journey, I finally stood on the threshold of enlightenment. For here was Janos Audron’s mountain retreat, intact and unblemished. The upheaval that would one day topple this ancient edifice had not yet occurred, and while I had no certainty that Janos still lived, this scene boded well, for I presumed that the collapse of the retreat must have followed the ancient vampire’s demise.

There was only one obstacle, how to reach the balcony suspended at that maddening height, so far beyond my reach? For this was the architecture of winged creatures. The tattered ruins of my wings were of no use. I would need to devise some other means into that mountain.

Una vez que ha entrado, Raziel observa la construcción desde dentro…

Raziel (vo): The mountain’s interior was hollow, I discovered, and graced with soaring architecture unique to its creators. As with the outer façade, these balconies and galleries could only be reached by those gifted with flight.

With only my ruined wings to carry me, this towering labyrinth seemed impassable. The object of my quest lay just beyond my grasp, for here, suspended at the apex of the chamber, was the threshold that surely led to the great vampire himself.

I didn’t know whether Janos Audron was the monster depicted in the Stronghold, or one of the noble creatures memorialized among the ruins of the ancient vampires, and I didn’t care. Demon or angel, he alone held the key to my destiny.