Fan Fiction ❯ The Soul Reaver and The Spirit Shield ❯ Anger Management ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten

When Raziel landed, Jenise was just above the halfway mark of the rock face. He quietly watched her as she almost too easily made her way down. Jenise could sense his eyes watching her.

"You better not be looking at my ass," she forewarned him. Raziel gave a slight chuckle.

"Hardly," he commented, though he continued watching her. Descending the wall, she seemed almost adept for this sort of obstacle, making only one or two slight, but easily corrected, mistakes. There was still something about her that puzzled him. After a few moments, Jenise decided she had come close enough to the ground to jump safely to the ground. Releasing her grip, she dropped the remaining six feet and landed with and echoing `thunk'.

"It's about time," Raziel teased, earning a glare from his comrade. The truth was, however, that she had descended the wall a lot faster than he had expected.

"Come on, let's go," the priestess replied to Raziel as she headed further into the cave. Embarrassed, Raziel realized that he was too lost in thought to notice Jenise was continuing. He quickly caught up to her after a few paces. They remained quiet through this section of the tunnel, illuminated by the crystal formations. Not after long, they reached the next opening in the cave, where there was the twenty-foot cavern separating one side from the other.

"Wait here," Raziel instructed as he shifted into the spectral realm.

"What the-" Jenise gasped as she witnessed his disappearance. She looked around beside her to try to find her missing ally.

"Jenise!"

The priestess looked up and across the cavern to see Raziel waiting there for her.

"Now how did you…" she began to inquire, before trailing off in thought. "You teleported there, didn't you?" Raziel snickered.

"No, though it appears I did, didn't I?" He could tell she was extremely confused by the bewildered look on her face. He decided to explain to her before the confusion tormented her to her second death. "You should know, having been a spirit, that there is a material and spectral realm, separate but interwoven with each other at the same time."

"Yeah. And your point being?"

"The spectral realm is my natural plane of existence, but I am able to manifest myself in the physical realm. At my will, I can give up my physical form and revert back to the spirit world."

Jenise nodded in newfound understanding. Before being able to do anything else, Raziel summoned the wraith blade and conjured the shadow element within it. He thrust the blade into the shadow glyph in the ground before him and recreated the bridge he had used earlier to cross the gap. Jenise watched his strange actions with interest. There were many questions she had to ask of him.

"Walk across," Raziel instructed her. Jenise's head snapped up in his direction.

"Are you crazy? There's no ground there! I'll fall to my doom! Is that what you want?" she shrieked. Raziel sighed.

"No. Look. I created a bridge for you," he insisted while walking onto the almost invisible platform stretching from one side of the chasm to the other. Jenise, although still very skeptical, carefully placed a foot on the bridge, then a second. Getting the idea that it was sturdy, she hurried across the bridge.

As she reached more sturdy ground, she turned to look at the bridge she had just crossed in time to see it disappear to nothing again. Her faced paled at the realization that she was just seconds from falling to the canyon below. Without saying a word, she continued through to the last section of cave before reemerging into the outside world. She could hear Raziel's echoing footsteps behind her.

"I was just curious," the reaver asked, "how was it that you crossed that gap the first time?"

Jenise glanced over her right shoulder and nonchalantly replied, "I jumped." Raziel's eyebrow shot upward.

"You jumped?"

"You heard me. Yes. I jumped."

"But that's impossible. No human could jump that!" he protested her claim. Jenise paused in her tracks, sighing with frustration.

"Look, I said I jumped the canyon. Okay? I was in a rage, chasing after the Sarafan Lord after discovering the destruction that once was my village. I wasn't going to let anything get in my way," she angrily gave an explanation. She barely waited a moment for Raziel to reply, but when he remained silent, she continued on her way, storming through the remainder of the cave.

Raziel could tell by her sudden change in mood, that perhaps he should keep off the subject for a while. She was obviously not over the betrayal of her once leader. Her past still seemed to haunt her. Though hesitant, Raziel was not discouraged to figure out what else it was he was sensing about her.

Raziel noticed that Jenise had left his sight, and he quickly strode to catch up again. It wasn't until he had emerged from the cave when he had found her. She had stopped just outside the cave, waiting for him, though her back was to the entrance. He found her gazing at the sun, just beginning to show itself above the peak of the mountains.

The former vampire quietly walked up to the priestess's right side, eyes captivated by the view. The sunrise was breathtaking. He never had witnessed anything so beautiful, at least nothing he could remember. The sun's rays were deadly to a fledgling vampire, and still harmful to a lieutenant like he had once been. Only Kain himself seemed the least effected by the sun.

But it wasn't only the fact that the sun had been harmful to Raziel for so long. He would have been able to withstand the searing pain of its burning rays long enough to watch a sunrise. However, the smog of the chimneys had blanketed Nosgoth's skies for centuries. The sun had only been visible through the thick smoke for a few moments only once or twice every century. Thrice if the humans were lucky.

Raziel and Jenise watched the sun rise quietly, until it was high enough in the sky to shed some light into the dreary canyon they occupied. By this time, Jenise's gaze had turned from that of the rising sun to the decrepit remains of the forest. Not a single tree was alive. In a year's time, this once lush forest had withered and died.

The two adventurers walked through the dead land until they came to the building containing the time streaming device. Jenise studied it carefully. After a few moments of assessment, she snorted at her own thoughts before sharing her realization with her companion.

"This forest is destroyed. My village is gone. All that remains is this building, unscathed. This building, erected centuries ago, represented protection over our village. It was a gift from the oracle himself. But I know who the oracle really was. It's funny how this edifice is all that remains, as if silently gloating on Mobius's behalf at the downfall of my people."

Raziel remained silent. He knew not how to comfort. Centuries of being a vampire had erased all knowledge of sympathy and compassion from his being. Suddenly, Jenise broke out of her stoic gaze and snatched up a few rocks from the ground. Throwing them violently at the building, she cursed wildly into the wind.

"You think you can knock me down Mobius? You think that by killing everyone I knew will scare me? You think that by killing me you will stop me?" she raged as she scooped up more rocks from the ground, hurling them towards a high window in the building. "Think again Mobius! I'm coming after you! And after you're dead, I'm coming after your precious Sarafan Lord!" she screamed as the sound of shattering glass filled the air.

"Jenise! Calm down!" Raziel commanded his hysteric friend, while grabbing her arms, preventing her from continuing her tirade. She struggled to free herself from his grip, but when she realized he was far too strong, she gave in. A single tear ran down her face.

"Look, Jenise, I know what you're going through, trust me."

"How could you possibly know…"

"I was killed once, just like you. In my absence, my cla-my people were murdered. When I returned from death, there was nothing left for me other than my own vengeance. I have learned to cope with my anger, to put it aside until I could figure out everything I need to know. I know it's hard for you, but you will have to learn as well. There is far more to your story or mine than what has been revealed on the outside," Raziel spoke to her, calming her down finally. A strange man's voice interrupted.

"There they are!" a Sarafan knight announced. "They must have killed our comrades!"

"Get them!" announced a second as a third joined their flank from behind the time chamber.

"You two get that demon! I'll take care of the girl!" ordered the third, a Sarafan priest. The three Sarafans stormed their prey. Raziel drew his wraith blade as an unarmed Jenise prepared herself for combat with her assailant.

"So, you are in aid of yon demon scum?" the priest interrogated Jenise. He sized her up as she took a defensive position. Noting her Sarafan armor, he added, "You are a traitor, and an insult to our holy cause, wench. Once I have killed you for your treachery, I shall display your head upon a pike as warning to all those he should even consider assisting a vampire!"

The priest thrust at Jenise with his sword, but she dodged to the right. The priest then swung his sword at Jenise. Unable to dodge a second time, she took a painful blow to her left arm, leaving a gash halfway between her elbow and shoulder. Jenise stumbled back a few steps, clutching her wound, hissing from the pain.

The priest attempted another thrust at her midsection. When Jenise jumped backwards to avoid the blade, she stumbled over a rock and fell backwards onto her rear. She looked up with wide eyes as the priest hefted his sword high over his head. His aura glowing, Jenise could tell he was summoning glyph energy with which to strengthen his final blow. Before she could stop her attacker, the blade came down upon her.