Fan Fiction ❯ The Soul Reaver and The Spirit Shield ❯ The Spirit Reaver ( Chapter 32 )

Chapter Thirty-Two

"What are you doing?" Jenise asked Raziel as he dumbfoundedly stared at his right hand.

"The wraith blade. It's still under Moebius's influences somehow," he enlightened the priestess.

"Didn't you say that when you distanced yourself far enough from Moebius and his staff that the wraith blade returned willingly?" Jenise offered a suggestion.

"Yes. But Moebius is dead and his staff is destroyed. Surely, I would be able to use the blade by now," Raziel commented, attempting to summon the blade once again for emphasis. This time, however, the blade's desire to comply with its host was apparent. An essence of the blade's energy coiled around Raziel's arm, beginning with his bicep. It slowly curled downward around his arm until it came to his palm, where it stopped. Raziel stared at the wisps of energy with surprise.

"See, it's coming back," Jenise replied in an `I-told-you-so' manner.

Raziel corrected her. "No, it's barely there. The blade is very weak. I can sense that it's struggling to retain its partial manifestation."

Raziel looked from his hand to the crystal above the streaming chamber door. Hopeful that he could activate the door, he attempted to summon the light element, but with the blade in its weak condition, it could not gather the strength needed to shift elements.

"Maybe if we left the stronghold, it will regain its strength," replied the priestess, still stuck on the thought that her idea would work.

"How are we going to leave? We can't open the stronghold doors with all the water outside. And the bridge we used to get to the balcony is gone."

"I don't think the lake is flooded any more," explained Jenise. "Remember what Moebius said? He used his magic to raise the water level in an attempt to thwart Kain. Moebius is dead now, so he can't possibly be able to keep his spell active."

"His influence is still affecting my blade. How do we know its not still affecting the lake outside? And even if the lake wasn't flooded anymore, I cannot open the stronghold doors. The blade is too weak to use. There has to be another way to restore the blade's strength," Raziel surmised.

With his last sentence, Raziel seemed to enter a deep thought. Jenise remained quiet so that he could concentrate. For several moments, ideas were formed and were quickly discarded in Raziel's mind. Until, finally, a realization hit him.

"I believe I've an idea!" the vampire wraith suddenly exclaimed, nearly startling Jenise. The priestess quietly waited for Raziel's plan. "Upon my first visit to this stronghold, there was this strange structure at the bottom of the lake. I believe it may be an old forge of some sort. The problem is that I'm not sure how I'm going to activate it since it's underwater."

"Then let's go find it," Jenise encouraged the idea.

"No. I need you to guard the Heart," Raziel turned down the priestess as he handed her the wooden box containing the sacred relic. "Stay here in this chamber. It is well fortified against an attack, though I doubt anyone will give you any trouble. Kain seems to have decimated any humans within the stronghold. I shall return here once I've succeeded. Then we can use this time streaming chamber to travel back to your time."

Jenise huffed a frustrated sigh of defeat. She had no desire to wait around again while Raziel went off on another one of his little escapades. But she knew she didn't have much of a choice. At any moment of his choosing, Raziel could shift planes and leave her there, and there was nothing she could do about it. It was best she wait while he attempted his plan.

Thankful for her compliance, Raziel left the outer time streaming chamber and headed towards the balcony of their entrance. This, however, required another unnerving trip through that forsaken room of his abhorrence. As he traveled through the stronghold, bloodied bodies of vampire hunters lined the corridors. Obviously, the doing of the fledge Kain.

Finally, Raziel reached the final barrier before the balcony of his release. If all went well, this may be the last time he would have to enter this vile edifice. Focusing on the task at hand, Raziel passed through the room of the Sarafan priests without so much as a second glance.

When he reached the balcony, and took in the sight of the lake, he was in awe. Merely an hour ago, and the water's surface was only ten feet below his current location. Now, as Jenise had predicted, the lake was far below the balcony, nearly forty feet down to the surface.

Raziel paused to stare at the bare essence of the wraith blade still around his arm with narrowed eyes. Though Moebius's spell over the lake had diminished, his manipulation over the former vampire's weapon had not. Deciding not to waste more time, Raziel dove into the cold waters below.

The reaver of souls swam to the lakebed, towards the center of the body of water. His memory served him correctly, the decrepit ruins of an ancient shrine lie on the sandy depths of the lake. The structure was of a circular stone. Three skeleton-like remains of arches rose from the edges of the platform. In times past, these arches had risen over the center of the structure.

Uncertain as to how he would activate the ruined structure, Raziel swam closer for a better inspection, hopeful to unlock its secrets. As he did so, the wraith blade seemed to take control once again. When Raziel neared the destroyed forge, instantaneously, the blade's strength had increased exponentially.

With its growing strength, the blade was able to manifest itself once again. As it uncoiled and extended from the vampire wraith's arm, it pulled viciously at its helpless host, tugging Raziel towards the center of the platform. Once the blade successfully forced Raziel into the center of the structure, it wrenched Raziel's arm vertically, so that the blade was pointing upwards. A flash of bright light ensued as energy from the blade sparked into the remains of the three arches surrounding the platform.

With the blade releasing its energy into the structure, Raziel began to feel a sick pull from the pit of his stomach, as if his energy was being drawn from him against his will. The blade increased the output of energy it was releasing. Just as Raziel began to wonder if the blade would ever relinquish its hold, and suspicion that the blade intended to suck Raziel dry of all his energy, the world around the former vampire swirled.

As Raziel's vision blurred and he became extremely disorientated, the wraith blade released its grip on its host. Raziel shook his head to clear himself of the haze created by the blade's antics. As he did so, he realized he was on his feet, and that the pressure around him had dramatically decreased. The vampire wraith opened his eyes, and noting the twisted angles of objects around him, he knew he had shifted to the spectral plane.

Inspecting his immediate surroundings, Raziel noticed that in this realm, the forge he now stood on was complete. The arches were whole, and rose up over his head before connecting with each other at the center. Below his feet, was the symbol of the spirit: two circles, one inside the other, with curves branching between the two. In the middle of the center circle, and between his feet, was the hole for which to insert the blade. A soft pulse emanated from the hole.

Without hesitation, Raziel thrust the blade into the socket. After a moment, he was flung upward as the blade was baptized with the essence of spirit energy. When finished devouring every last drop of energy, the blade relinquished its dominance.

Raziel held the newly imbued blade up for inspection. Being an element of the spirit, it made perfect sense that the wraith blade could behold this element in the spectral realm. With this new attribute, Raziel could sense a wisp of a connection between this realm and the material. It was the same connection he could feel while standing on one of the conduits he so often used to shunt him into the physical plane.

Deciding to give an idea a try, Raziel attempted to shift to the physical realm without the aid of a conduit. As he twisted his extended arms around himself, trails of energy were left in the wake of his hands. When the two arcs came full circle around him, the scenery began to bend into a more natural looking form. Raziel found himself swept off his feet as the water around him became substantial once again.

Now all that lay before him was returning to the time streaming chamber. Swimming underwater, Raziel emerged on the other side of the stronghold. After climbing to shore, Raziel took a moment to assess the wraith blade. The power he was sensing from the energy blade caused a slight quiver of fear deep inside the former vampire. He realized that the blade might very well be much stronger than him now.

Switching the reaver to the properties of light, Raziel opened the doorway to the stronghold, and entered the building. Not before long, he was outside the doorway to the outer chamber of the streaming device. Giving the door a push, he silently entered the chamber where an extremely bored priestess waited.

Jenise had taken a seat long ago, and leaned up against one of the stone columns. Her back was to Raziel when he entered. Somehow, despite the lack of noise Raziel made upon entering, Jenise was aware of his presence.

"I take it that because you're back, you were successful," she calmly replied, still not facing the reaver of souls. Without need of a visual confirmation, she knew it was he who had entered the chamber.

Raziel approached her nonchalant form and gave his own comment. "It's nice to see how keenly aware you are of everything around you," he began a compliment, "despite the laid back technique you use for guarding something important."

His comment turned half-scolding, half-joking towards the end. Under other circumstances, Raziel would be reeling with anger at Jenise's carelessness. But with virtually no threat at the moment, he found it amusing that she had to suffer through mindless boredom.

"If you haven't gotten too comfortable, I believe we best be going," Raziel suggested while at the same time, pointing out the obviously painful stone floor Jenise was sitting on.

"You know what? I HAVE gotten pretty comfortable sitting here," the priestess replied sarcastically. "I was actually thinking about taking a nap. You don't mind, do you?"

With that, Jenise closed her eyes and slouched down slightly while placing her hands behind her head. Raziel was slightly dumbfounded and confused. She wasn't serious…was she? He stared at her for a few moments, trying to figure it out, when he noticed a crack in the priestess's façade. A slight twitch at the corner of her mouth was more than enough indication that she was trying to suppress a smile.

With the theory that two could play at that game, Raziel threw Jenise a curve ball. "No. I don't mind if you take a nap or not. I'll go on ahead with the Heart. I guess you'll catch up to me in about three hundred years or so?"

"Yeah, okay. Sounds like a plan to me," Jenise waved him away with her hand. "Oh, and it's actually 324 years from now to be exact."

Raziel took the Heart from Jenise's lap and started to walk towards the streaming room. Using the blade, he opened the door to the chamber and stepped inside. He turned back to Jenise for a final confirmation.

"Okay. So 324 years from now…that is, if you can open the time streaming chamber without my assistance," Raziel added at the end, knowing full well that once the door slid shut, Jenise could not open it. The realization finally hit Jenise at Raziel's last comment. Her eyes snapped open and she instantly jumped up to her feet.

"You wouldn't dare leave me here!" she scolded.

"Wouldn't I?" Raziel replied as he turned away from her and began to walk towards the center of the time chamber.

When he did so, the door began to slide shut. Jenise's eyes grew wide with momentary shock before she ran into the chamber. With an echoing thud, the door slid shut behind the priestess. Raziel turned back to face the priestess.

"Oh, so you weren't that tired after all?"

Jenise narrowed her eyes at him. "You are so mean."

Raziel snickered. "I know."

As the former vampire tinkered with the devices, Jenise joined his side and properly adjusted the dials to the correct time coordinates. With those in place, and the chamber buzzing with energy, the duo walked towards the device, which would propel them into the future.

"You know, it's a good thing for you that I did come along," Jenise announced, her mood sounding more cheerful. "If not for me, you wouldn't be able to go to the correct time."

Raziel `hmphed' at Jenise's statement. She had a very valid point, but he wasn't going to admit it out loud. Both the time travelers grabbed hold of the central devise. But before they turned it, Jenise wanted to ask Raziel one question.

"You wouldn't really have left me, would you have?"

Raziel didn't answer. Instead, he just looked at Jenise. She couldn't discern what he was thinking.

Worried, she repeated, "Would you have?" But before she could get her answer, Raziel turned the central streaming device, sending the pair to their destination.