Fan Fiction ❯ The Soul Reaver and The Spirit Shield ❯ The Weakened Wraith Blade ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One

As soon as Raziel had regained enough strength, he searched within the Sarafan stronghold for a rift where he could shift from the spectral to physical realm. He knew he had to catch up to Kain quickly if he was to ever have his questions answered about Kain's bizarre outburst when last he saw his former master.

**flashback**

Kain's eyes focused and unfocused as new memories replaced the old that no longer occurred with the shift in history.

"My God! The Hilden…Raziel, Janos Audron must remain dead!" the vampire lord blurted out in a panic, just as Raziel, unable to sustain his physical form, shifted into the spectral realm.

**end flashback**

As Raziel shifted to the physical plane, he could still sense traces of where Kain's presence had been. He could tell that Kain had not gone to far as of yet, but the vampire's teleportation ability could allow him to travel great distances in short time. However, Raziel could sense that Kain had not traveled outside the Sarafan stronghold. His presence was no longer inside the stronghold, but there were no recent traces of him having left the edifice. Raziel paused to ponder the situation.

"If he hasn't left yet, where might he have gone?" the former vampire questioned out loud. "Of course! Not where did he go, but when?" Raziel immediately headed in the direction of the time streaming device located inside the stronghold.

Chaos from events happening only moments ago still seemed to be affecting everything inside the stronghold. The six Sarafan Priests had been slain by an unknown assailant. The surviving occupants of the stronghold assumed it had been the vampire Vorador who had murdered the priests as he attacked members of the Circle. Sarafan warriors ran from one blood bath to another in a panicked fashion.

Unfortunately, Raziel had to cross Vorador's true path of death in order to reach the chamber he knew Kain had fled to. Several murdered warriors had been left haphazardly in the corridors. Survivors were cleaning the blood and corpses from the scenes of death. As Raziel turned a corner, he stumbled upon three warriors and two sorcerers tending to the dead.

"A demon of Hell is among us!" cried out one of the female sorcerers, readying a fireball.

"Get him!" a spear-wielding warrior ordered. Knowing he could not avoid this fight, Raziel summoned his wraith blade to defend himself. As the first warrior approached, hefting a long sword, Raziel swung the Soul Reaver blade at his opponent. The blade made contact, but dealt little damage. Dodging the warrior's sword, Raziel brought his weapon across the back of the human, but again, barely a scratch.

`What is going on?' Raziel thought to himself, examining the Soul Reaver with a puzzled look. Unsure of the reason for the wraith blade's sudden weakness, Raziel dodged the warrior's sword again, and leapt out of the way of one of the sorcerer's fireballs just before it made contact. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the warrior with the spear in time, and received a blow to his left arm.

Using his claws, Raziel fought the spear-armed warrior, clamping down on his enemy's throat, crushing his windpipe. With a stomach-churning crunch, the warrior's neck was broken in two, and Raziel claimed the spear as a temporary solution. The now dead warrior must have been the strongest of the group, for the sorcerers fled when they saw his demise. The remaining two warriors, though now made very wary by the site of their leader's murder, still seemed to have enough confidence to continue the fight.

Raziel charged toward the warrior he had begun to fight with before, sensing his slightly weaker state from the two blows dealt to him earlier. The warrior sized up Raziel, before summoning glyph energy in an effort to deliver a critical blow. However, the time needed to collect this energy was more than ample time for Raziel to thrust the spear through the warrior's middle, causing him to lose focus and drop his long sword to the ground.

Grabbing the sword, Raziel turned to his final combatant. The third warrior now seemed very hesitant after watching his comrades' fall and after being deserted by the sorcerers. Apparently, he finally decided his neck wasn't worth the battle, at least not when he had no winning chance, and he turned and fled. Having taken some damage and using some energy during the scuffle, Raziel consumed the two souls that had escaped their now dead bodies. After regaining some strength, Raziel stopped to wonder about his almost ineffective blade.

"Why does the Soul Reaver inflict to little damage all of a sudden?" he inquired. "The reaver was never more powerful than before my return to the stronghold. Did the alteration of history cause my blade to be weaker? Was it from the strain of being entwined and then ripped away from its physical twin? Or was it because Kain defied the fates and pulled the twin blades from my body?"

Deciding that his questions of the Hilden could wait, Raziel turned back towards the room where he had last seen the physical Soul Reaver. This was the room in which he had slain his human self, and the room where the entwined blades of the Soul Reaver had turned on him. He didn't have far to go back, only a few corridors away. It was better to get the matter of his weakened weapon out of the way now, before he sent himself hurtling as many as centuries into Nosgoth's past or present.

The travel to the round room went without incident. Obviously no one was currently guarding that side of the stronghold. Raziel cautiously entered the room, noticing the still living occupants busying themselves with the corpse of the human Raziel. Silently watching the room, Raziel's eyes drifted towards the opposite side of the room. There, lying in the shadow was the unmistakable form of the Soul Reaver. Raziel was surprised the blade was still even there. If Kain had left in a panicked hurry and forgotten it, then surely the humans would have locked it away somewhere safe by now. But no, there it was almost out in the open.

Raziel stealthily made his way to the blade, and as he approached it, a faint blue aura seemed to seep out from the hilt, pulsing as it engulfed the blade. Raziel stared in awe at the physical blade, and before he realized it, the wraith blade manifested itself on its own accord. The two blades seemed to be attempting to reach out to one another. Trying to embrace each other as it once had.

Raziel seemed to be hypnotized by the lust the two blades held for one another. Suddenly realizing he was reaching for the physical blade with the arm symbiotically attached to the wraith blade, Raziel managed to pull himself out of his stupor in a terror-stricken fashion. The last time he had held both blades, it had almost spelled out his demise.

"Go ahead Raziel, touch it," came an all too familiar voice from behind Raziel. The former vampire turned to meet Kain's eyes.

"And if I do, does that mean I am put back into the same situation you had pulled me from only moments ago? Do you wish me back into that position, so that maybe this alteration of time goes back to the way it once was?" Raziel demanded of Kain untrustworthily. "I find it hard to believe, Kain, that you would actually wish me to destroy myself in the way you had just prevented from happening. But then again, you did banish me into the abyss."

"That all may be true Raziel," admitted the vampire, "but tell me this…Do you feel that temporal distortion that you experienced during that moment?" Silence. "What's happened has already happened. There's no changing that now. However, I know you depend on the reaver and right now it is almost useless to you now. The majority of the wraith blade's power is still residing inside it's physical self. What you see happening is not the remainder of the soul reaver wishing to leave you to rejoin the rest of its self. No. What you see happening is the wraith blade within the physical blade wishing to escape from its confinements and rejoin with you. You are the Soul Reaver, Raziel. Your soul wished to be with you."

If Raziel were capable, a disbelieving grin would have spread across his face. "You almost had me convinced Kain, that you would actually show concern for my well being. Tell me, is there not an alternative reason for my reaching for the Soul Reaver? It seems to me that you may have a self benefiting purpose of your own."

The vampire chuckled lightly. "Ah, Raziel, you seem to have me quite figured out don't you? You are quite correct. I do have motivation other than your survival through what you are about to endure. You see, there is a great adversary from my past that I must put back in his place. But I need the Reaver to do so."

"So why not take it now Kain? Why try to manipulate me into taking it into my own hands? Surely you are not afraid of it striking you down against your will?"

Kain let out a heavy sigh before he continued. "That is exactly what the Reaver will do, unless its rightful owner takes it into his own hand first. Why do you think these humans have yet to place it in a safer location? It was attempted already, and that poor fool was devoured, body and soul. The humans fear the weapon they had fought to claim."

Raziel pondered Kain's words for several long moments. Was it true what Kain had claimed? Was the Reaver now useless to all but himself now? What if Kain was wrong and the Reaver tried to devour him again? But then again, that temporal distortion was not present at this time. Raziel finally decided to take his chances. If he didn't risk losing his un-life now, then he may lose it later when he didn't have a choice.

The former vampire cautiously reached for the Soul Reaver. The spiritual energy of the blade seemed to reach back in wisps towards Raziel's arm, connecting with the bit of the wraith blade entwined with his arm. Finally, Raziel grabbed the handle in a sudden move. As the missing energy of the wraith blade released itself from the physical blade, Raziel could feel an almost painful electrical tingling sensation up and down his right arm. The energy seemed to happily resume its residence in Raziel's arm, entwining and encompassing the clawed appendage.

As the wraith blade completed its transfer, Raziel could no longer feel the presence of his twin soul within the physical blade, and to his surprise (and relief), he was able to release it this time around. With an echoing `clank' he dropped the blade to the ground, examining wraith blade, encircling his arm. The few humans remaining in the room turned towards the sound of the blade hitting the stone floor, but being unable to see anything within the shadows, they quickly returned to removing the Sarafan Raziel's body.

Intoxicated with the return of the wraith blade, Raziel didn't notice when Kain reclaimed the physical blade of the Reaver. Kain was about to leave Raziel to study his arm, but opted to leave Raziel with some parting words before teleporting away.

"I thank you Raziel, for entrusting me once more," Kain's voice pulling Raziel from his stupor.

"So is that it then Kain? Once my use for you is complete, you dispose of me as useless rubbish?"

"Quite the contrary, Raziel. I have far more uses for you in the future. I'd merely hoped you would heed my advice. For if you hadn't, you would be of no use to me when I would need you the most," corrected the vampire lord, as he turned to leave.

"Wait Kain!" Raziel called out to the retreating form of his former master. Kain paused a moment, but did not turn around. Raziel continued. "Tell me this before you go: what is this `Hilden' you speak of? And why must Janos remain dead? If you are to depend on my aid, then I must have these questions answered first."

"I unfortunately cannot provide the answers to you as of yet. But trust me, you will find the your answers soon enough. I must go now. I abruptly left a few associates of mine so that I may return to this point in time to retrieve the Reaver. I mustn't keep them waiting any longer. You will know, when the time comes, when I will need your assistance. Until then, I trust you will discover our altered history."

As Kain finished his last words, he disappeared into a wisp of stagnant air, teleporting, no doubt, to the time streaming chamber of the stronghold. Raziel stood silently in the shadows, alone for a few moments, allowing Kain's words to roll around in his head. Unsatisfied with Kain's vague explanations, Raziel decided that he would persue the vampire for answers. With one last look at the wraith blade, Raziel tried to call it back into his arm, but found he could not. Sensing the greater strength of the blade, Raziel realized he could not force it back within him, that its position entwined around Raziel's arm was a permanent position. At least for now.

Stretching his senses, Raziel could feel a flicker of Kain's presence in the time chamber, just before its activation, sending the vampire hurtling through time to his destination. With the disappearance of Kain's presence, Raziel resumed his journey to the time chamber. Most of the chaos had settled down into grief for the loss of life at the hands of the `infidels'. With only a few minor incidents, Raziel was able to quickly reach the door to the time chamber. Satisfied with himself that he would soon get the explanations he desired, Raziel pushed the doors of the time chamber. To his dismay, the doors were sealed shut.