The Sanctuary of the Clans

Advice from the ancient god…

Elder god: With Melchiah’s gift, your way is opened. Return to the seat of Kain’s ill-omened empire - its sterile silence has secrets yet to unveil.

Raziel enters the Pillars chamber and finds Kain…

Kain: Raziel.

Raziel: Kain!

Kain: The abyss has been unkind.

Raziel: I am your creation, Kain - now, as before. You criticize your own work.

What have you done with my clan, degenerate? You have no right–

Kain: What I have made, I can also destroy, child.

Raziel: Damn you, Kain! You are not God! This act of genocide is unconscionable!

Kain: Conscience…? You dare speak to me of conscience? Only when you have felt the full gravity of choice should you dare to question my judgment!

Your life’s span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light… To know that the fate of the world hangs dependent on the advisedness of my every deed – can you even begin to conceive what action you would take, in my position?

Raziel: I would choose integrity, Kain.

Kain: Look around you, Raziel - see what has become of our empire. Witness the end of an age. The clans, scattered to the corners of Nosgoth…

This place has outlasted its usefulness – as have you.

Kain draws the Soul Reaver ready to attack Raziel…

Raziel (vo): The Soul Reaver, Kain’s ancient blade - older than any of us, and a thousand times more deadly. The legends claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims.

For all our bravado, we knew what it meant when Kain drew the Soul Reaver in anger - it meant you were dead.

If Raziel is defeated and returns…

Kain: My wayward son returns…

After three attacks from Raziel, Kain leaves him unconscious and attacks him with the Soul Reaver. It destroys…

Kain: The blade is vanquished. So it unfolds… and we are a step closer to our destinies.

Kain vanishes in laughter. Raziel falls into the spectral plane…

Raziel (vo): I swore I saw a glint of satisfaction in Kain’s eye when the Soul Reaver was destroyed. I did not understand the game that Kain was playing. But I knew the finishing move.

Upon grabbing the Soul Reaver, it merges into one with Raziel…

Elder god: From this moment and ever afterward, you and this blade are inextricably bound. Soul Reaver and reaver of souls, your destinies are intertwined.

By destroying the sword, you have liberated it from its corporeal prison, and restored it to its true form - a wraith blade, its energy unbound. No longer a physical blade, it can only manifest itself in the material realm when your strength is fully restored. Once manifest, it will sustain you.

The specter of Ariel appears…

Ariel: What are you, little soul? Another of Kain’s creatures, come to taunt this bound spectre?

Raziel: I did not intend to disturb your rest.

Ariel: Rest…? A body is needed for sleep… Flesh and bones are required to recline. No, child, all I may do is watch, and remember, ceaselessly conscious as this wretched world’s history unfurls. Ghastly past, insufferable future, are they one and the same…? Am I always here?

Raziel: How have you come to haunt these Pillars?

Ariel: Kain refused the sacrifice. The Pillar of Balance, corrupted to its core, stands as a monument to his blind ambition.

Now these pillars serve only to bind me here – my prison and eternal home, thanks to the avarice of your master, Kain…

Raziel: That bastard can claim no allegiance from me.

Ariel: Then we share a common foe, Raziel. Return here when you have need. Ariel remembers what others have forgotten…

If Raziel stands over any energy recharger…

Ariel: Aquí puedes encontrar la paz, Raziel.

Raziel leaves the Clan Sanctuary armed with the Soul Reaver…

Elder god: Your brother Zephon’s keep lies far to the east, beyond the ruins that greeted your first exit from the Underworld.

He and his brood have cocooned themselves in a derelict cathedral, having murdered its human guardians.