Once and Future King

Legacy of Kain: Once and Future King

(A continuation fan-fiction for Legacy of Kain: Defiance)

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Note:It's hard to find a text character for section breaks that this website won't filter! We'll try '8's for now :-)

Big thanks to readers who took the time to comment, I'm glad to know this strange little yarn is interesting for others aside from myself. This chapter in particular took a few tries to get into the shape I wanted. Hopefully ch7 will be along in a few days, so stay tuned!

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/../- implies vampiric ‘whisper’ a.k.a. telepathy/mental projection.

The Soul Reaver isn’t capable of speech as such, but I gave it dialog anyway to show that Kain can interpret its wordless snark without difficulty? I have no idea. Just go with it.

The End: Chapter 6-

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“For a thousand years the vampire race has withered and faded away. Even their greatest champion, Vorador, could not overcome his fate.” The deep voice was resonant as it carried into the hall, seeming to encompass all the wisdom of heaven and earth in its measured tones. Accompanied by the ever-present sound of lapping water, and the scent of wet stone, the elder god’s litany provided ample warning that they had arrived at their destination.

“He was not the chosen sire of the new age, but merely a shadowy remnant of the old one.” The unseen abomination continued. “It is your duty, Kain. Your mission, if you will accept it, to reclaim this world for a new bloodline! A purer one! Through your grace, a new age will be revealed…”

Kain pressed himself against the carved stone filigree around the doorframe, wondering if his stealth was of any use against a potentially precognizant creature made entirely of eyes. Surely the fiend knew he was there? Or perhaps it was too busy soliloquizing to realize its audience had grown? The squid did seem to adore the sound of its own voice. To the beast’s credit, it was a well spoken monstrosity.

“And my Pillar shall be whole again? I will be Balance?” The younger Kain was lapping up the doggerel like fine brandy; clearly hanging on the false-god’s every word. He snorted at the fledgling’s earnest attention. He had never paid half so much mind to any of his tutors as a boy. As a newly-arisen vampire, Vorador had practically had to break his legs to make him sit still and listen. Maybe there was something to the false-prophet’s captivating voice after all.

“And the world restored to righteousness.” The elder god’s paternal tones set his teeth on edge as much as the fledgling’s shallow vanity.

Raziel moved with silent grace to mirror his position on the other side of the door, leaning slightly into the light to get a glimpse at the room beyond. Grey wings stretched out behind him and held flat against the wall, he looked very much like yet another carving in relief. An ancient poised in the act of taking flight. His pale skin all but glowed in the stronger light of the central chamber as he puzzled out the source of the voices. Kain watched the vampire, curious to see his reaction to the other Kain’s appearance.

The winged knight didn’t disappoint him. Raziel’s eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of his young-alter-ego chatting with the unseen god, glancing between the new vampire, and his hiding place several times, mentally making a tally. He spared a glance of his own, seeing that the fledgling was very much as he had been the day before. Standing assertively in the center of the shrine as he debated with his invisible mentor, the vampire made a very pretty picture, all starkly contrasting light and dark against the earthy tones of the room around him. There was no sign of wetting on the youth’s pale face and hands, his black armor as glossy and pristine as ever. However the fiend had transported him, the water had not managed to do him harm.

Raziel hissed softly, pressing himself backwards into the shadows of his hiding place, expression showing his confusion and distress. The knight looked over at him again, eyes beseeching an explanation. Kain sighed softly. He had his answer. The lord and master that his new-Raziel served, was undoubtedly some future variation off of his handsomer, and stupider, past-self. It was only natural, and fair, that it be the case… It wasn’t like he could go forward into the future again, heartless as he was. But still it depressing to realize that all his hopes rested in the hands of a mere yearling that, it was evidenced, still had a high probability of making a complete hash of his hard work.

At least he could ensure that the specific future he had plucked Raziel from would never come to pass. A moment’s explanation of the Soul Reaver’s nature to its new owner, preferably out of his current ally’s earshot, would go a long way towards correcting matters, he hazarded. He gestured to the knight to hold his position until bid otherwise. Not wanting to further confuse the matter by having Raziel dive in and either kowtow to, or rail at, the youth who shared his lord’s face.

“So why tarry here any longer? My course is plain. You have told me what is required, and as you have foreseen Nosgoth is already wracked with cataclysm. Why do I dally when there is no time to lose?”

“The fiend hunting you has an ally, Kain. A creature akin to your noble ancestors follows in his shadow, never more than a step behind. But unlike them, he is unquestionably mad, tainted by your nemesis’ curse. Together they may prove difficult, even for you, to surpass. First we shall separate them. Then you can do as you are destined to.”

“I fear no man.” The fledgling folded his arms, proud. “Let them come together, or singly. It makes no difference to me.”

“In that case, you’ll get your wish.” Kain gestured to Raziel his intention, even as he spoke the words aloud. Stepping out of the shadows to glare down the creature he had been. “For I intend to save you from yourself, vampire. Regardless of your own foolish desires.”

“Grab him and seek higher ground.” He hissed to the man behind him, feeling more than seeing Raziel springing into the air and over his head. The vampire navigated the wide doorway with a snap of his wings and dove for the platform before the false-god had time to untangle so much as a tentacle from the base of the Pillars. Kain leapt the watery moat at the same time, slicing through two of the massive limbs and blasting a third back into the water with a bolt of force, determined that this time the cephalopod would not get one of its greedy coils around his prey.

For his part, young Kain merely gaped as Raziel pounced, flaming sword knocked free of his stunned grip to spin out of reach on the stone platform. Not waiting for permission, the winged knight scooped his future lord up and vaulted again; dodging a newly-arrived tentacle and spreading wing back towards the relative safety of the tunnel. No sooner than Kain dared feel a hope of his wild-plan’s success, then a green coil lashed from the surface in a spray of water, striking at the arches of the door with titanic strength. Raziel banked off as the stones crumbled downwards, sealing any chance of escape by that route. Stymied, the knight and the fledgling had no choice but to come to ground again, landing next to him at the center of the platform, awaiting the inevitable battle.

“Foolish Kain.” The ancient oracle chuckled softly. “What did you hope to accomplish? You walk willfully to your death! All that is required now is for the Scion to defeat his Nemesis, and reclaim his sword. The world will be restored as your phantom-life ends… and you even save him the trouble of looking for you.”

“Nemesis?” Kain raised an eyebrow, turning slowly to keep pace with the twisting tentacles emerging from the lake. “Audron is defeated. Moritanius is dead. King William died a martyr fifty years ago. The creature, or creatures, composing Hash’a’gik are consumed by my blade. The Nemesis is no more.”

Young Kain struggled to free himself, but as before, it seemed he was no match for a mature vampire. Raziel easily subdued the youth’s frustrated thrashing, pinning the fledgling’s arms to his sides in a firm hug, and ignoring the hissed curses the youth spat at him. Looking from the youth’s bitter expression to Raziel’s grimly determined one, the implication of the ‘oracle’s’ words slowly became clear. Kain stared back at the water with a sinking feeling. “You are implying that in setting myself against you, I have become the Nemesis, the Dark Entity, that is recorded in history?”

“You have always been the Nemesis, Kain.” The pretender god laughed again. “It is only your own false history that tells you otherwise. The Wheel of Fate has rejected you, and so you are blind to its course, both past and future. My course. You refused to undertake the roll provided, so I simply found you a different one, more in keeping with your meddlesome habits.”

“I will slay you even now, evil one!” His alternate self crowed, twisting vainly against Raziel’s firm grip. “Tell your feather-brained familiar to release me, and we shall settle this once and for all! I will show the Pillars which Kain is the rightful one!”

“Hold your tongue boy or I’ll cut it out.” He glared back at the blond fool. “Children should be silent unless spoken to.”

“You dare call me a child?!”

“Do not speak ill of your better, boy.” Raziel hissed into the fledgling’s ear, furious. The youth drew breath to protest further, but the knight was in no mood to brook disobedience. Adjusting his hold so that he could muffle the vampire with his hand, he quelled any forthcoming outburst. Kain smirked, seeing the look of frustrated ire from his prior-self. It was a good thing the boy hadn’t caught a good look at the vampire before being caught from behind, or there might be repercussions in future. Raziel too he would be obliged to explain to the youth when all was said and done, he reminded himself. Either that or come up with a very convincing lie.

Nodding grimly, the dark haired templar signaled he could keep the idiot quiet and out of harm’s way, for the moment. “What now, my lord? We appear to be trapped.”

“Ah, dear sweet Raziel. Returned yet again… And just as enthralled as ever by your murderer’s pretty-lies no doubt.” The self-named-oracle sighed patiently. “But it has always been so, has it not? Free you are, and free you will be, vampire. Free to be the dupe of this pretender for all eternity. Ever the loyal dog trotting at your master’s heels. A slave to his every perverted whim. If only there was time, such a sordid tale I could tell you. ”

“It knows me?” The dark haired vampire flinched as the voice from the shadowy water addressed him directly. Turning to Kain, the knight frowned, confused. “Why does it call you murderer?”

Kain hissed, guessing the false-god’s intent. Of course the monster would name his child for all and sundry to hear. It had nothing to lose by doing so, and everything to gain. Turning the fledgling against his future ally was only one possible outcome. The immediate danger was more pressing. If it could talk his replacement child into defecting, his odds of victory would become considerably less favorable. If the so-called Oracle was even half-so-omnipotent as it pretended to be, it would have a catalog of his sins long enough to convince anyone that he was the incarnation of evil.

“The beast is a consummate actor, Raziel. It will say anything to trick people into being its pawns. Pay it no mind.” Kain played the only card he could against the unseen voice. Swinging the Reaver in a wide arc, he cut through a tentacle that dared to curl too close. Circling behind his lieutenant he carved off the tip of another muscled rope that was trying to intercept from behind. “Keep to the center of the platform, child. The creature has a limited reach.”

“Now now, Kain. I am not the one who has lied to your newest sycophant. I have nothing to hide.”

“Nothing?” He barked, grimly entertained. “What of your curious ability to council all sides as your own? One moment you are crowing about the ultimate defeat of the vampire race to the humans. Now you pretend to groom its next savior by cosseting the last vampire? What is that, if not a grand charade? If there were a Hylden here, no doubt you would tell the mad-creature that you were its god as well!”

“I am the Hub of the Wheel, Kain. All life and death must bow down to me.” The creature shifted beneath the water, sending small waves sloshing over the edges of the platform. “Even those deluded fools now long-banished.”

“Not so banished as you might hope.” Kain scoffed. “They’re coming back. And, I may say, they haven’t grown any sweeter on you during their long exile.”

“And yet they can do nothing. Just like you.” The god laughed darkly. The stage they stood on trembled with the movement of the massive body against the subterranean lakebed. Hanging forlorn from where they were embedded in the ceiling, several of the shattered Pillars shed a fine dusting of crumbs into the already dank air. “I am everything. I am everywhere. Do you honestly think anything you do now matters? It is all according to my plan.”

“Even this?” Kain bared his teeth, holding the purified Soul Reaver out from his body in challenge to the unseen.

“Of course.” The voice was jovial again with the pronouncement, never a good sign. Kain cursed as the room was suddenly framed by heavy tentacles. A virtual forest of dripping tendrils of muscle wavered and swayed as they broke through the surface of the lake, obscuring the murals and sliding in and out of the shadows cast by the broken Pillars. Instead of attacking directly, they smashed outwards instead, caving in each and every one of the frescos lining the circular chamber. A priceless visual history of Janos’ tribe disintegrated into crumbled plaster and pigment, raining down into the murky water. Raziel winced at the callous destruction and hunched forward, folding his wings around his shoulders to shield himself and his captive from the spray of dust and gravel.

Kain too mourned the lost of the paintings, but was more interested in the meaning of the watery beast’s gesture. Behind the now shattered walls were a series of small chambers, hidden for a millennium or more. In each and every cavern, a pair of eyes illuminated the darkness. A ring of bull headed, statues, each with four arms, stood waiting. Seemingly carved out of basalt, they were rough hewn and ugly in construction, reminding him almost of Turel’s early evolution with their cloven hooves and backwards-bent knees. Each of the brutes held an ancient weapon in one pair of hands, the other set free of props were posed as if striking the air with bare fists. Pole axes, war hammers, spears and glaives gleamed in the dusty light of the magical lamps.

As he watched, a flickering blue aura surrounded their stony hides. One of the beasts tossed its head, the movement very reminiscent of the animal it was patterned after. The others slowly animated as well, fingers clutching at weapons, nostrils expanding as they huffed and snorted, a parody of life. Kain twisted, counting the giant constructs. Nine totems; one for each of the Pillars? It seemed fitting enough. Perhaps they were some final protection built into the shrine by its desperate makers so many years ago. They seemed more than willing to defend against even vampires now. He did not put it past the watery pretender to have overridden their enchantments to his own ends.

“Stay with the fledgling and leave this to me.” He commanded his lieutenant when the man would have released his hostage. “The beast will grab him as soon as we are too occupied to stop it. We can’t afford to lose him again! Knock him out if you have to, but don’t let him near the water.”

As if to punctuate his ultimatum, the entire cavern shook. He hissed as the waters frothed and lapped at the platform again. Either the false-god was determined to drown them, and its pawn both, or Nosgoth itself was revolting against the new battle at the Pillars. He prayed the ancient temple would hold together long enough to allow them an escape.

With a weird chorus of cries, half of the golems lurking in the shadows vaulted forwards at the same time, four massive ox-headed, axe wielding, titans closing simultaneously on the center of the platform. Raziel wasted no time in following his edict, using the shifting of forces to his advantage. All but tucking the struggling fledgling under his arm, he mirrored their move. The knight leapt across the muddy channel and into the recently vacated cubby opened along side the chamber, claiming the pocket of rock as the most defensible position in the room.

His preemptive retreat cleared the platform of anything Kain might have worried about coming to harm when he willed the Reaver to awaken. He didn’t have time to thank the vampire however, blocking first one, then two axes together with his blade.

The titanic statues leaned on their weapons, seeking to crush him with their weight. His own strength was not without merit however. Two millennia of evolution had left him more than able to resist their might. The Reaver flared and sang as it shattered the twin weapons bearing down against it. Kain recognized the basso harmonic of the sound glyph as the sword’s usual shriek altered to suit the moment. The focused pulse of concussive energy smashed a carved arm to the elbow when one of his assailants swung a bare fist at the blade’s edge. Gritting his teeth against the bone-jarring hum of magic, Kain pushed forward against his reeling prey. Following up with a series of two handed blows, he knocked first one, and then the other monster back.

A blow from behind caught him across the shoulder, distracting him and the Reaver both. By luck the glaive only caught him with an edge rather than crushing bone or pinning him. Feeling the wound open down his back, Kain dove forwards, away from the strike. He heard the whistle of a second attack behind him as it smashed down where he had stood.

Persistent bastards, he granted them. Regaining his footing, he ignored the itch of the dust in his wound as he circled the maimed statues, judging how best to close with them again. They were missing an assortment of limbs between them, it was true, but he doubted it would slow them down particularly.

The Elder God was preaching again, he distantly acknowledged the deep voiced drone as he weighed options. Raziel was seemingly in conversation with it, angrily challenging the water with his own rebuttal. He ignored the argument in favor of staying on top of his pursuers. Whatever the old squid wanted, he wasn’t going to worry about until after he was confident that it wouldn’t cost him his head. Raziel was showing wisdom enough to have little interest in its commentary, and the knight could keep the boy in check until they were ready to depart.

Thinking of the pair of vampires seemed to trigger a renewed offensive from his attackers. Golems bayed and stomped, charging this way and that across the platform, dodging the remains of the Pillars and sprinting from one cubby for another in a riot of beastly sound. Kain spun and ducked around two clumsy lunges, deftly outmaneuvering a statue that sought to gore him. Swatting away another random charger, he tried to keep a tally on which were wounded and which were fresh to the fight.

It seemed the heavy beasts only had so much stamina in their frenzy. One by one the golems staggered to a halt, standing where ever they came to rest, panting after their sprinting attacks. Three of the giant stone statues stood wheezing in cubbies along the wall. Four more, in various states of debilitation were on the platform with him. Kain frowned, finding two that were unaccounted for.

Working around the edge of the circular platform, he swatted the tip off of an interfering tentacle without really looking to see where it fell, intent on finding his stubborn ally’s whereabouts. The bolt-hole his lieutenant had retreated to had grown a little more crowded since the last time he checked. The knight was blocking one of the stone monster’s weapons with his own, arms corded with muscle as he resisted the beast’s might. Shoving forward, he knocked the blade of one away in time to deflect the hit of the other with a summoned projectile of flame. The blast caught his new assailant square in the chest, knocking it back one perilous step too far. It stumbled off the edge of the floor and toppled backwards into the water, disappearing with a loud splash.

Kain had to grin at the strategy. It was a simple matter of weight after all. The golems were top heavy. Basalt might be damn near impossible to chisel, but neither was it buoyant. The lake surrounding their platform was more than deep enough to prevent anything sunken into it from easily coming back up unaided. Short of the false-god sparing a tentacle to flip its creatures back onto the platform, they would be obliged to stay down there and molder awhile. There’d be no way to know without giving it a try, he decided.

The golems already surrounding him made another spirited attempt to take his head, taking advantage of his distraction. He indulged their fury with a burst of his own, smashing them back with several glancing blows of the Reaver. Only when he had regained a modest amount of clear floor around him did he turn back to check on his lieutenant’s progress. Without his stamina, or enchanted weapon, the vampire was likely at a disadvantage.

Once again bringing his sword to bear, Raziel blocked his original enemy a second time, using both arms to better resist the awesome strength of the statue’s hit. Even with toe-claws scraping against the floor for purchase, the vampire was pushed backwards several inches by the blow. A small contest of strength, and the winged knight was able to deflect the titan to the side, slipping out from under its weight in order to ram the stone construct with his shoulder. The knight forced it back a precious foot, keeping between it, and the fledgling pressed against the rear wall of the cavern. Sparks danced along the templar’s sword as it scraped along the statue’s skin, carving chips free of the beast, but unable to pierce its dense body.

Kain spared a moment from his own fight to lend what aid he could. Reached out with his will, he grabbed the second golem in a coil of telekinetic force, yanking it backwards towards the water, sending it toppling after its friend. Raziel watched its sudden departure with a tired grin, free hand clutching at his damaged shoulder as he observed its descent. The vampire truly was in need of a change of wardrobe, Kain shook his head, amused by the random thought. His lieutenant’s original layers of shirt, mail and surcoat were becoming more and more haphazard with every battle they fought. Clearly the uniform had never been designed to stand up to such abuse as the Hylden and false-god were capable of dishing out. He owed the boy a new shirt at least, if they survived this insane little battle-royal. There was no way they’d be able to prevent some questions arising when he sent the templar home, but at least he could see to it that the vampire didn’t stagger out of the time streaming chamber in rags.

Luckily the vampire in question seemed wholly unconcerned about his increasingly bedraggled appearance. That was certainly a departure from his own Raziel-of-old, he considered. As a litch, Raziel had been justifiably apathetic and bitter about his appearance, but as a nobleman of the empire, his lieutenant had tended towards vain. Had he brought that version of his child back into the past, he had no doubt that the vampire wouldn’t have been nearly so sanguine at the loss of his coat.

Forcing himself to focus on the action at hand, Kain glanced down into the water, following Raziel’s curious gaze. It was probably too much to hope that the heavy beast crashed horns-first into the squid lurking beneath the platform. Regardless of where it ended up and how, it didn’t seem inclined to make reappearance. He smirked, wondering if they had found the limit of the squid’s potential. It could exploit the tools others had constructed for it, but lacked any sort of useful generative impulses. A consumer and a destroyer, with nothing in particular to give, despite claiming it was the origin of life. It was little better than a parasite; the proverbial worm in the apple.

“Behind you, Kain!” He looked up at Raziel’s worried command, moving in time to dodge a spear thrust. His enemies had multiplied again since last he’d checked. Kain mentally scolded himself for wasting time with musing over how’s and why’s when there was a fight to be finished. Swinging the Reaver around to parry and disarm yet another construct, he had to laugh at his own reaction to the warming. How easy it was to confuse one Raziel for another now that the new one had found a measure of confidence! The vampire’s voice, at first so timid and forgettable, had transformed into something eerily familiar. So much so that when the knight barked at him, he had responded purely on instinct, trusting the source of the alarm as much as the sword in his hand.

Four of the slab-formed creatures snorted and pawed at the stone as they made to charge him again. One bellowed and swung its hammer as its twin made to grab him with the two hands remaining to it. Kain let one play off the other, ducking beneath the outstretched arms just in time for the dull stone hammerhead to crash into the second fiend’s face, opening a crack from eye-socket to shoulder in the enchanted stone. The third’s weapon caught him in the arm as he spun to anticipate a goring from the fourth. Blood trickled, but did not run, despite the severity of the jab. His blade hummed in throaty annoyance as its magic coiled over the injury, sealing it with the speed of a thought.

Kain vaulted over the sharp horns of the closest minotaur and drove the Soul Reaver point-first into the side of the next available, trusting its magic to defeat the normally impenetrable hide. The serpentine-blade’s aura wavered from blue to green as it plowed deep into the stone, earth magic warping the statue’s fibers as it carved through the dense matter until the statue shattered into rubble. The explosive destruction of the one only added to the injury of the other. Already cracked and staggering, it too shattered, leaving only a pile of black rocks where it had once stood. Kain willed himself intangible, letting his body shift to a misty shadow of itself to avoid another moment of battery as he skidded away from the heart of the confusion. Getting his bearings, he had little to be pleased about. Certainly two were crushed, and two were drowned, but a fresh fiend had joined its brethren on the killing-floor.

Kain bared his teeth at the beast, summoning a kinetic burst along the Soul Reaver’s edge to blow the charging creature back. His sword had been steadily gathering strength, warming to the battle, and was unstinting in its willingness to help. The radial surge of power caused a micro quake of its own, pushing the debris from his earlier kills away from where he stood, shaking dust and rubble loose from the fractured Pillars overhead. Knocking one of the monsters onto its back, its visible shockwave caught the second full in the chest, smashing it across the circular chamber and into the far wall. The statue groaned as it was pinned against the rubble-blocked passage above ground and then plummeted into the water beneath as the pressure abated.

Kain laughed, feeling the Reaver’s handiwork along his skin even as it worked its deadly magic on the rest of the room. His wounds were knitting so fast he could hardly register the pain. The blade felt hot in his hand, alive with fury.

How naive he had been, all his life, thinking his sword was strong! How utterly innocent! Now that Raziel had come full circle and taken up residence within the weapon, its power was utterly unbounded. Yet again he was struck by the sensation that he was not in reality the blade’s master as he had always assumed, but rather its agent. The Reaver was destined for the Scion of Balance, he had no doubt. But it did not necessarily follow that it was a passive tool for his use. As furious and stubborn as he had ever been, Raziel’s soul gave the weapon a life as valid as his own. With such a sword as his tutor, even young Kain would be able to acquit himself admirably in the future. But together in the here and now? They were unstoppable.

He brought the weapon up to a guard stance, closing deliberately with the last upright golems. Two strikes were needed before he could get the angle necessary for the sword to bite into the stone. Once past the surface, the Reaver’s soul stealing power took care of the rest, vanquishing his prey with stone shattering force.

The next challenger was equally uninteresting. It was barely worth the trouble of parrying; he found as he knocked its spear away and drove his weapon point-first into its chest. The green fire of the Reaver once again did its cruelly necessary work. Cracks opened throughout the statue’s torso, radiating out from the blade’s heart. The fissures ripped his opponent apart even as it writhed in confusion, raising its hammer to attempt to smash him in turn. The weapon dropped uselessly to the floor as limbs and torso crumbled to bits. The fiend’s astral essence was drawn forth and into the voracious light of the Soul Reaver.

Turning from the corpse, Kain almost pitied the last creature to dispose of. Laid out by the force wave, it was only just beginning to regain its footing. It huffed as it righted itself, clearly worse for the wear. If the creature had possessed even the barest spark of self-awareness, it would have realized its imperative was futile. But the statue was nothing but geas and stone, and it was ignorant of what had befallen its brethren. Turning with a bellow, it too tried to gore him for lack of a better weapon. Raising his sword again, Kain locked it with the golem’s long horns, twisting its head away from his body to deflect the attack and then wrenching his blade back again, snapping one of the sharp protuberances off with a flick of his wrist. The debris on the platform was considerable, but did not quite seem to tally. One beast remained unaccounted for.

Out of the corner of his eye, he found his missing last, the stone monster had opted for a softer target and set its sights on his lieutenant and fledgling. Even as he turned to consider the problem, the golem broke through Raziel’s defense, smashing the vampire sideways and into a wall with a sweep of a glaive. The knight staggered and shook his head, addled as the beast made a grab for the younger Kain. To his credit, the fledgling was having none of it, and pulled out his own axes to defend against the titanic weapon the statue swung. Either he didn’t realize the fiends were in the employ of his beloved oracle, or was simply demonstrating his usual self-preserving instinct by not giving over to the menacing construct. Young Kain made a valiant effort to hold his own as his protector shook off what had to have been an ugly knock to the head.

Kain raised his free hand, intending to repeat his earlier prank and pull the creature away, however Raziel surprised him by beating him to the punch. Rising from where he had been flung with an angry cry, the knight threw himself onto the massive shoulders of the beast, sword forgotten as he dug in his claws. Once more fire bloomed from his fingers, this time less flashy than previously as the magical charge was directed down and into the stone beneath his furious grip. Black basalt heated to an angry red in moments under his concentrated attack.

Kain watched amazed. The strength of Raziel’s magic slowly turning the monster to slag before his eyes. Enchantments weakening as its structure collapsed, the golem wheeled and feebly tried to shake off its doom. The vampire clung tightly to the softening stone however, pumping all his strength into maintaining the awe inspiring fire he had summoned. Warped beyond repair by the internal pressures of its overheated body, the beast finally exploded. Kain casually deflected one of a hundred burning-hot projectiles that erupted from the event. In the shadow of the cave to Raziel’s other side, he could see his fledgling-self duck and shield his head with the flat of his axe blades as a similar shower was sent his direction.

Raziel’s hands burned as bright-white as the Reaver’s own fire as he fell to the floor, catching himself on hands and knees, his prey dissolved. Just as in the swamp, the unbelievable flames did their wielder no harm, seeming patently fake as they coursed up his arms. Only the fledgling’s horrified cringing, and the ozone smell in the air, reminded him that both the heat, and the danger, were very real. Drawing a breath to focus himself for the effort, his lieutenant raised his hands to draw the flames inwards as before. His fire quenched itself as absolutely as if it had never been.

The room was bizarrely quiet in the aftermath. The distant rumble of the earth shifting yet again, the slap of water against stone as the subterranean lake absorbed the last of the debris, were the only things audible other than Raziel’s labored breathing.

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His alter ego was the first to recover from the stasis the room seemed to be locked in. Pushing himself off the wall with a hiss of annoyance, the blond hooked his weapons back onto his belt and gingerly stepped closer to where Raziel sagged. Even armored, and sheltered from most of the fight, the fledgling had acquired a few scuffs and bruises. It almost made him look like he was actually a participant in their little endeavor, rather than just a bored spectator.

Kain spared a glance around their room, surprised that the false-god wasn’t going to immediately respond to his defeat, but didn’t dare take his eyes off his other-self for long. There was something avaricious in the young vampire’s expression that he didn’t like. His suspicion was compounded by the casual confidence with which the handsome fledgling reached out to caress the back of his lieutenant’s head.

“Are you harmed in any way?” The fledgling crouched next to his future champion, voice smoothly compassionate for once. “That was a heavy blow you took.”

“I- I am unhurt, I think.” Raziel looked as surprised as Kain felt. Tattered, and dazed looking as he crouched on the scorched portion of cave-floor, the knight was almost grey with exhaustion, too tired to think that the kind sentiment offered was wholly out of character for the vampire in question. Raziel smiled hesitantly at the hand he was offered, accepting it and the fledgling’s kindness as if the creature was entirely genuine. Kain felt himself tensing, waiting for the other shoe to drop as his alter-ego helped his lieutenant stand; the pale vampire tisking and making a show of concern over his scrapes and bruises. The infant blood-drinker was up to something, the question was what?

“So you truly are like me? A vampire?” Young Kain smiled again, even more warmly than before as he looked Raziel over, “I did not think that any of our cursed-race could be so beautiful. Yet here you are. I must confess. I am somewhat relieved. The only vampire’s I’ve encountered thus far in life are Vorador, and this wreck of a creature here…” The boy gestured in his direction, expression eloquently dissatisfied. “Hardly a pair of promising views of the future. But wings? Wings could prove useful, I think.”

Kain blinked, recognizing the alteration for what it was. A seduction? He resisted the sudden impulse to reach out and strangle his former-self. Of course the boy would be tempted by Raziel. He was still little better than a human of twenty-two, hot blooded and vainglorious. And Raziel, being Raziel, was as eye catching as ever, regardless of his battered appearance.

Had it been his own lieutenant standing besides the fledgling Kain, and not this new one, he had no doubt Raziel would have laughed in the vampire’s face at such a blatant attempt to be charming. His Raziel however, was as much a jaded and cynical bastard as he was himself. But this wasn’t his old lieutenant. What did his new child, from his wholesome and boring future, make of the fledgling’s sudden change of mood? There was no way he could have learned to defend against such obvious flattery. Blinking with pleasure at being recognized, Raziel seemed to light up at the praise gifted by the creature so similar to his own master.

“Raziel.” Kain was compelled to interrupt before the farce went too far. “What was it our aquatic troublemaker was spouting about earlier? I confess I wasn’t paying attention.”

His replacement-lieutenant looked at him as if remembering his presence for the first time. “My lord?”

“It spoke to you, did it not?” Kain deliberately didn’t grind his teeth. An eons worth of patience brought to bear. Sensing his annoyance, the Reaver buzzed in his hand, awaiting its next chance to feed. Its aura was easily the brightest thing in the cavern. Their recent skirmish, and the golems’ charging had stirred up dust enough to mute the already faint braziers. “Was there anything of use?”

“No… I don’t think so.” Raziel frowned, shifting slightly in response to the other Kain’s continued presence at his shoulder. They made a very pretty pair. It was insufferable, really. The fledgling didn’t help matters, raising a hand to support the tired vampire’s shoulder when he wavered. “It spoke some insanity about how you were going to bring about the end of the world…”

“Same old song then.” Kain snorted, darkly entertained. “And you, Kain? You seem remarkably congenial given that a moment ago you were promising to slaughter my companion and I both.”

“You, I still plan to kill.” The youth shrugged calmly. “But this one? This one I think perhaps I shall keep for myself. Sliding his gauntleted fingers over the knight’s shoulder to ruffle his hair gently, the fledgling granted his companion another dazzling smile, looking like a prince of the blood rather than the useless jackass he had proven thus far. “He is far easier on the eyes than you, certainly, and not without some remarkable skills.”

Resisting the urge to forcibly apply his palm to his forehead at the news, Kain sighed at the sight of Raziel’s incredulous expression. The gullible idiot would undoubtedly fall for the youth’s pretty speeches, he could hardly blame him. Here was a Kain that looked just like the one that had spurned him for his entire life, and yet spoke as a dear friend? The knight could hardly do otherwise than become enchanted. It would only make the inevitable betrayal all the more sickening. Kain had tortured his fair share of innocents in his heyday, but to see the pathetic little game played out in front of him now was simply too pathetic. After all he had put his replacement lieutenant through in the past two days; he could at least spare him the indignity of being played for a fool by a pretty face.

“You can’t have him, Kain.” He stated grimly, ignoring for the moment Raziel’s mute confusion. “He doesn’t belong here any more than I do. His very presence here is corrupting the time line.”

“Oh? Is there another of him running around somewhere?” The fledgling raised a pale eyebrow, curious, “Or are we speaking in hypotheticals.”

“I’m certain that if I put my case before the Oracle, it will find a way to unravel the means for me to keep him. Perhaps we will merely kill the other one. How can there be a paradox, after all, if there is only one of something left?”

“And what of the time line, and the Kain, he rightfully belongs to?” Kain folded his arms and glared at the youth. Kill the other one? It didn’t bear thinking about, not when that other was none other than the Soul Reaver itself. It was sadly true that at this jointure the blade was far more valuable than the man, whatever his personal feelings to the contrary were. Raziel had know that, and so volunteered for the sacrifice. Yet another instance when the vampire’s rare courage had shone through. He could sympathize with the youth’s partiality for the man, but he could not allow it to change what was necessary. “You are robbing your future-self of his favored champion. Not to mention adding to the chaos currently consuming the world.”

“Your riddles bore me, old one.” The young vampire rolled his eyes. “All I am able to understand from your ranting is that you are opposed to me taking this one for my own. Why am I not surprised? Be content with your demon blade, which I must grudgingly confess is a marvel in its own right, and leave this beautiful creature to me.”

“That isn’t an option. And you know it.” Kain felt the platform shiver as another micro quake jolted through the bedrock of the world. The others felt it too, crouching and glancing upwards in momentary distraction. He used the fledgling’s instinctive fear to his advantage, pressing his point as bluntly as he could. There was no time to sugar coat things anymore.

“You say you want to save the world by killing me and restoring the Pillars? You’ll end up killing him too. Both he and I are two out of the three of the currently irresolvable paradoxes that have crippled Nosgoth’s way forward. The timeline is already strained to the breaking point due to Moebius’ and your so-called Oracle’s meddling. If the obstacles we represent aren’t cleared away soon, all will truly be lost.”

Raziel stared at his pronouncement mouth opening as if to protest, but he was cut off by the youth’s faster tongue.

The blond hissed in annoyance. “Nonsense. If simply going back and forth in time was enough to cause the world to collapse, I’d have done it myself a week ago when I first used Moebius’ time streaming device to kill William the Just.”

Fixing him with a yellow eyed stare, the vampire deliberately turned and petted Raziel’s hair again. The knight simply turned to stare at him as well, stunned mute by their self-righteous debate over the end of the world, or by the vampire’s sudden affection, it was impossible to say. Clearly his alter-ego saw something that pleased him in Raziel’s expression, for the blond resumed his gloating with a triumphant smirk. “I think you’re bluffing to save your own leathery skin. The Oracle tells me that it is you alone, the false Balance, whose existence has left the world a confused and fractured place. Your death is all that is required to put us back on a proper course.”

“Your trip through time was a minor detour compared to the difference between this age and mine, or his.” Kain pointed to the knight, forcibly reminding his youthful self that as well-formed as the vampire was, he was at least a thousand years older than the young Kain likely suspected. “Our very existence in this stream is obstructive, implausible. We should not be here. It is only a matter of time before we must either return to our own futures, or be cast from history all together.”

Kain pointed again, this time at the shattered chunks of mural at the youth’s feet. “None of this was supposed to happen! This isn’t part of either of our histories! You were meant to find the Soul Reaver at Avernus, ready and waiting for your final battle against the Moritanius and the Dark Entity within him! You were not fated to spend days on end lurking in a watery hole in the ground conversing with a burrowing nightmare like an idle school boy while it settles the future to its liking.”

“Yes.” The young vampire nudged a chunk of fresco-coated plaster with his foot. The torso sized bit of ruin depicted the left hand side of the vampire race’s foretold-savior, from chin to chest, a hint of the Reaver’s outline apparent at the crumbling edge. “There may indeed be something in what you say. Perhaps I have been too accommodating of my so-called-advisor.”

Tapping his chin, young Kain looked around the general devastation of the room. Not even the cynical fledgling could see the shattered stumps of the Pillars and remain completely unmoved. Interestingly, there was not a peep from the water around them. Either the false-god was preoccupied with eavesdropping, or was plotting some new gambit that was time consuming in its preparation. Kain ground his teeth, awaiting the youth’s pronouncement, feeling vital seconds slipping away. The longer they stayed in the catacomb, the more the danger. Or perhaps, the squid knew already that it didn’t matter which Kain held the Reaver, having planned to come out on top either way? That was an unpleasant thought. The urge to escape was a pressing one.

“The Soul Reaver is destined to be mine, isn’t it… I see now it was a mistake to refuse to take your blade earlier.” The fledgling frowned, drawing his own conclusion. “Once in my possession, I will have nothing to fear from any foe. I could cut even you down without any effort at all, I wager. It is indeed a power befitting a Balance Guardian, regardless of its monstrously ugly hilt. Perhaps I can get it re-forged into something a little more… in keeping with my style.”

Kain couldn’t even begin to guess how the Reaver would feel upon hearing the news that its new master wished to make it over again on account of a fashion faux pas. The blade would probably scream fit to bring the roof down on them. Still, at least the vampire had finally recognized the weapon’s power, cosmetics aside, it was a critical step in the right direction. Their little romp with the Elder God had proven useful after all.

His work was nearly complete. Kain couldn’t help but feel a return of his tired hope from days before. Once his sword was in the proper Kain’s hands, the youth would be purified and prepared for the future to come. Then there was simply the matter of tying off loose ends so that the Pillars, and Nosgoth itself would recognize their new master.

Two Kains was one too many, he had know that from the very moment he had lead Raziel on their merry chase back in the snowy wasteland that had become the Oracle’ shrine. To attempt to undo the false history that had led to his dark empire, he had been willing to risk everything. He considered his life as a series of moves in an elaborate game. The pawns had been removed from the board early on. And one by one, the more valuable tools had fallen, necessary sacrifices in order to put his opponents in check. At this point there were very few moves left to make, and precious few pieces, on either side, to make them with.

He could try Moebius’ infernal device one more time perhaps, and see what became of the future in the hopes of finding a time and place where he could rejoin the continuum without forcing a conflict. But even that might not solve the headache inducing paradox. What if he went forward two thousand years, only to discover that another Kain yet lived? Would he go another millennia further still, vainly hoping that he could resume his life interrupted? Or would his existence prove a paradox without end?

The false-god, and Ariel, had been correct, in their separate fashions. The easiest way out of their current world-ending gambit was for the guardian of the Pillar of Balance to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world. Not only would his blood serve just as well as the youth who stood across from him in restoring the broken monument, but it would finish Moebius’ infernal meddling with causality once and for all. He was the last solitary link to the dark future that the time streamer had concocted, the result of his own youthful refusal to heed Ariel’s command and fall on his sword.

Like his Raziel had been, so too was he a dead-end, an unfortunate artifact. His lieutenant had been destined to die, if for no other reason that the Reaver was meant to be eternal, not the man. So too was he himself destined to be consumed by the very sword he had carried for so many years, although not at all in the vengeful manner that Raziel had assumed. A Kain fed to the Reaver would readdress the tilted-scales of balance between them, as well as the balance of the world at large, he realized with a grim burst of humor. Just as he had taken his lieutenant’s life, so long ago, it was only fitting, that this time, the roles would be reversed. How strange that two millennia ago he had stood at the Pillars and made his fateful choice, to live, and damn Nosgoth. Now here he was again, once more at the Pillars, once more with Nosgoth hanging in the balance. It almost felt like cheating, really.

It wasn’t like he’d actually be entirely dead after all. The boy would still be here.

Two thousand years. Considering the entire span of his life, he was a little impressed at its length, especially considering the recent reminders of how ineptly it had started. It hadn’t been all bad. There had been times, especially at the beginning of the empire; that he had particularly enjoyed. Even the last thousand years, mostly filled with waiting, and reminiscing, had held a certain aesthetic appeal. He had no regrets. What would he have possibly accomplished in another thousand years of life that he hadn’t already?

Idly he wondered if in being devoured by the Reaver’s wraith, if he would join with the soul already in the blade. As maudlin as the idea first seemed, it did have a strangely comforting sort of appeal. Undoubtedly the sword would be a trifle crowded with both of them elbowing each other for dominance, but how much more powerful would it be for its new wielder? Kain snorted in amusement at the idea of spending eternity harassing his younger-self much as Raziel’s soul seemed to delight in badgering him now.

Resolved, he considered the other factors in his equation; Raziel and Janos.

His own lieutenant had clearly seen what had to be done, and had done it, without so much as a ‘by your leave’. But the new one? Raziel with his smoky wings and thwarted history, what would become of him? If his soul was the same as the blade’s how was it he existed at all in an uncorrupt future? Shouldn’t the restored timeline have erased his human, and vampiric existence entirely? Or had one Raziel’s sacrifice absolved all the myriad others… Somehow Kain didn’t suppose he’d be so lucky.

Either way, there was a point in the future where a Raziel-shaped hole existed. His snatching the boy from his correct moment hadn’t really changed the boy’s destiny in the slightest. Perhaps Raziel’s was a paradox that could only be resolved in the future. By dying, or merging with the terrible weapon his Kain had entombed, the knight would set the events of fate motion one way or another. He couldn’t entirely see how the alternate future would unfold, but he felt in his bones that the boy needed to return to his proper place, whatever the result. The cruel necessity of it made his stomach twist. There was nothing that could be done, however. Kain was grimly glad that when that moment of painful truth came about, he wouldn’t be there to see it. Having already sacrificed his own lieutenant twice already, he didn’t have the heart to stand idly by and watch the vampire be cast away yet again.

He didn’t have a heart at all! Even if he followed the advice he was soon to give his new lieutenant, and use the time streaming chamber to return to the future, in the hope of finding a Kain shaped hole. Likely he’d die anyway, as soon as he crossed the threshold.

He almost laughed at the dark comedy of his predicament. Not only was he an irritant in the timeline by existing, but thanks to his Raziel’s caviler resurrection of Janos, he was still suffering the indignity of walking around without a heart of his own. Kain didn’t suppose that such a thing ought to have been possible for any vampire, even the supposed Scion of Balance.

It wasn’t his supremacy of power, merely the time stream’s complete chaos, and perhaps the Reaver’s magic, that had kept him on his feet after being robbed of the vital bit of muscle. Between Moebius’ trickery, the elder god’s schemes, Raziel’s furious one-wraith-crusade for the truth, and his own ham-fisted compensations in the timeline, the whole idea of cause and effect was becoming more than a little theoretical. His continued existence was the result of a clerical error at the cosmic scale. Eventually the continuum would sort itself out or collapse under the strain of the logical inconsistencies. The first would lead to his inevitable collapse and likely dissolution. The second would mean the end of everything.

Kain rubbed his chest and grimaced. Another reason why the young one must live, and he must not. He, Raziel and Janos Audron all were dead-ends. The ancient at least wasn’t a severe problem. In that sense the Hylden would be doing him and Nosgoth a singular service in a hundred years by removing the ancient vampire from the game permanently. The sooner all of them were swept from the board, the better for Nosgoth.

All this musing didn’t change the fact that the youth was still standing in front of him, waiting for him to finish their spat. Knowing how it would all end was one thing. Getting the fledgling to cooperate in the here-and-now was another all together. Why the boy had to be so damnably stubborn, he didn’t know. His youthful motivations were lost in the fog of ancient-history. Probably it was Nuraptor’s madness, the blind paranoia and egomania it had inspired in him for the first several centuries of his life that made the youth so difficult to deal with.

After allowing the Reaver to cure that particular taint, he would have his chance to clarify the number of other misconceptions the boy possessed as well. There was still a chance, as slim as it was, to shape the fledgling into the kernel of the man he was required to become.

He shifted his grip on the blade, allowing its hilt to balance lightly against his outstretched fingers as it balanced on its tip. The Soul Reaver shimmered like a firefly in the muted light, seeming to understand his intention. A small degree of entreaty might go further with the now agreeably inclined youth than a highhanded command. “If you truly mean to take up this sword, you’d better do it now. Until it is in your hands, the future is… unpredictable at best.”

“Just like that? You’re going to just give it to me? Even though I mean to kill you with it?” Young Kain glanced around the dark cavern, as if expecting a protest from his unseen councilor. “You’re supposed to fight me tooth and nail for it.”

“Let’s just say, my motivations are a little obscure.” He agreed calmly. “I told you back in Nachtholm that my ending was foretold. It is your ending I am trying to circumvent, Kain.” The handsome fledgling raised an eyebrow at his remark, but leapt over the narrow channel of water separating them. Standing toe to toe with his own history, he found he wasn’t entirely displeased by the curious, searching stare the youth granted him. Young Kain might be the dupe of the Oracle, at the moment, but with some careful handling, that would soon be corrected.

Getting something for nothing was clearly a sore point with the young vampire. Kain smirked as he watched his former self study first him, and then his blade, as if seeking the hidden trap. “There is no trick, Kain.” He stated for the record. “But if you would feel more comfortable, I will more than happily demand something of you, in trade for the fight we ought to be having. There is one thing I will ask you to do for me before eviscerating me with my own sword.”

Drawing a step closer, the youth matched his stare, amused. “Name it.”

“Look into the lake, while holding the weapon in your hands, and tell me what it is that you see at the bottom.” Kain smiled grimly.

“That is all you want?” The fledgling smirked, incredulous.

Strange to realize, that they had the same cynical smile despite the gulf of centuries between them. The pretty face, he had only faint memories of wearing. But the sharp twist of lips? That was familiar. For the first time since finding the boy, Kain felt a momentary kinship. When not being an ass, the young vampire’s vast potential was plain. No wonder Vorador had put up with him all those years ago despite his waspish temper.

“That is enough.” Kain nodded. “If you look, and can honestly say you are untroubled by what you see? Then I will accept that your precious Oracle was right all along, and my efforts in trying to keep you safe have been a pointless exercise.”

“What is down there?” The blond youth turned to consider the lake around their platform, curious for the first time.

“The truth.”

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Somehow he expected letting go of the Reaver to be more of a struggle. Holding fast to it against all comers but Raziel over the long centuries had gone beyond mere habit, almost as instinctive as breathing. His shoulders and hands felt strange, already missing the weight they had borne for the better part of two thousand years.

Transferred as it was, from Kain, to Kain, the sword’s aura had barely the time to flicker. Kain grinned, watching how the blade’s flames were still twined up and over the youth’s shoulder, likely paralyzing the boy entirely as the sword finished its work. Surrendering his weapon might have been anticlimactic for him but the fledgling’s expression had hinted that the new connections being made were anything but passive.

For Kain, the momentary burst of balancing energy the Soul Reaver had inflicted on him had felt more like an internal epiphany than any sort of external assault on the senses. He supposed that he didn’t really require much in the way of a kick to the pants, after a few thousand years of self-correction against his original madness. Ennui had done most of the Reaver’s work for it long ago. Not so with the youthful Kain now ensnared in the soul sword’s magic. The boy was wide-eyed and trembling as the blade made the necessary alterations to his body and mind, undoing Nuraptor’s damage without further delay.

“My god.” The pale haired fledgling spoke at last, voice rough with wonder. “The Oracle never said anything about it being alive.”

“It speaks?” Kain felt a momentary twist of bitter jealousy at the thought. With the correct Kain at hand, would the sword be granted further latitude? The petty unfairness of it was galling.

The youth shook his head slowly, still dazed. “No, but it feels.” Turning this way and that, the vampire didn’t notice Kain’s silent sigh of relief and subsequent guilt. “It seems to impart to me, that I should trust you, fiend. It is curiously fond of you for some reason.”

“The blade and I have spent considerable time together over the years.” Kain replied, already regretting have let it go. Petty it might be, but he missed the Reaver’s presence at his fingertips. The loss of the sword’s aura after several days of its elusive back-chat left him feeling restless, lonely.

“Everything looks the same… and yet, it isn’t. Is it?” The boy hardly heard his reply. The Reaver could heal ailments of the body and mind, but the only cure to being a self-serving wretch of twenty-two that he knew of, was time. Still staring at everything with calculating fascination, the vampire was oblivious to his critique. Even the ruined portions of mural scattered across the floor were worthy of inspection by the young hothead as he enjoyed his newly enhanced senses.

“You’ll find you adapt pretty quickly.” Kain shrugged, tiredly entertained by his younger-self’s antics. “It’s only really jarring when you realize something you’ve taken for granted has been an illusion all along. They’ll appear shadowlike, insubstantial. Also your ability to see magical phenomena will be vastly improved.”

“The Pillars!” The youth turned again, staring upwards at the broken lengths of column hanging from the ceiling. “They’re still glowing! Barely.”

“Yes.” It hadn’t occurred to him that they didn’t shine for someone unable to see clearly. Kain frowned, wondering how many other things he had been taking for granted. Raziel finally crossed the watery divide and joined them on the platform, apparently deciding it was safer now that they had stopped squabbling. Kain wondered grimly with which copy of himself would the lieutenant stand, now that he had the ability to choose.

To his surprise and pleasure the knight crossed to stand at his shoulder, watching the other Kain with a look of concern. “You’re mended?” Kain asked idly, also observing the fledgling as the boy first hefted the blade, surprised at its easy weight, and then took it in both hands and studied the skull on the hilt minutely. Would the fledgling make the connection between sword and man? Probably not for a few hundred years yet. He knew Raziel to see him, but nothing of his personality. Unless the sword told him outright, he would remain in ignorance until he started meddling with Moebius’ time devices, or, his so-called Oracle spilled the dirty secret.

He was distracted from his musings by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Kain turned, surprised by the gesture. Raziel was giving him the same worried sort of look he had moments ago given the fledgling, golden eyes making a thorough inspection of his face and chest. “I am fine. It is you that I am concerned about.” Glancing over momentarily, the knight fluffed his feathers before pinning Kain again with his searching stare. “Are you certain you want to do this? Give him the sword?”

“The future isn’t carved in stone, child, especially now.” Kain mused softly, not wanting to distract the young vampire on the other side of their platform from his initial joy at owning the sentient blade. What was Raziel’s soul communicating to the youth, he wondered? It was just like standing on the opposite side of a pane of glass from a critically interesting piece of conversation. Knowing that he would never be a part of that exclusive form of communion again, he forced the last of his jealousy aside.

Raziel seemed to sense his unease, for the knight’s hand tightened briefly on his shoulder, sympathetic to his distraction. Kain shook his head. “I think that between the Soul Reaver and myself, we can convince the youth to not be quite so negligent going forwards. With any luck, the future you return to will be a trifle different from the one you remember presently.”

“You mean that when I return, my Kain…”

“Will be a little more- as he should have been.” He watched the youth with a pang of reminiscence. Seeing for the first time from an outsider’s perspective, his own youthful persona, completed. The boy looked the part, at least. Between his autocratic profile, his knightly trappings, and the obviously magical totem he wielded, he had a convincing aura about him. Champion of the Pillars? Savior of Nosgoth? King of the world? Kain didn’t suppose the boy would have too hard a fight ahead of him. Compared to the odds stacked against himself, should he try such a maneuver in his current form? Yes, the boy had a very good chance of making himself heard. There was more than enough charisma about him to sway the mobs into following him. The Soul Reaver would ensure that anyone who sought to test his claims would learn to regret it.

“I don’t like this. I don’t trust him, Kain.” Raziel’s repressive whisper made him pause, surprised again. Turning to consider the vampire standing next to him, face plainly devoid of any of pleasure or awe exhibited earlier, Kain blinked realizing that he too had been duped into thinking the knight charmed by the fledgling’s pretty face. All his earlier wide-eyed innocence had been a ploy? A trap for a hunter? The templar was cleverer than he looked

“You were flattering Kain deliberately?” Kain mused, staring thoughtfully at his lieutenant. The knight turned to him, surprised by the mild accusation. “You knew his charisma was false.”

Raziel winced and nodded, looking chagrined. “You forget, Kain.” Raziel rubbed his head, “I have served one very much like him for- far too many years. I have seen him use many such tricks. And have fallen for my fair share of them.”

“I am sorry, for that.” He surprised himself with the apology, finding suddenly that he couldn’t meet the vampire’s eyes. Kain watched his fledgling self instead, mentally categorizing the list of advice he wanted to give as opposed to the list the youth was most likely to heed.

It was strange to seek forgiveness for a life he had no memory of. Kain conceded that he had more than enough to grovel for in the memories he did possess. Still, the very pettiness of the abuse the vampire must have put up with over the years was galling. Raziel had undoubtedly deserved far better than he had been given. He was owed an apology by someone, and as it was unlikely his own Kain would think of it, the deed fell to him instead. Bereft of the Soul Reaver, and soon of his own life, it wasn’t as though he had anything to lose from the humbling gesture.

His sometime-ally pulled his shoulder gently, obliging him to look at him once again. Kain felt the measuring weight of his stare for a moment before Raziel’s face relaxed into a winsome sort of smile. “You have nothing to apologize for, Scion. You are as different from the lord that raised me as night is to day. I don’t think I could express to you, how very glad- I mean to say, it- has been an honor to know you, even these scarce hours. It has been an honor to serve you. This, coming here, is one of very few things in my life I find I do not regret.”

“You haven’t known me nearly long enough.” Kain sighed. “Your lord and I are not so different. Both of us pawns of circumstance. Had you known me as my Raziel did, I don’t think you’d be nearly so forgiving.”

“Perhaps.” The knight looked around their dismal prison, and back at the softly glowing Reaver blade. “But even so, I think, I’d regret leaving you.”

“Necessity is a cruel mistress. As is Balance.” Kain smirked. “Moebius and I both have bent the rules on any number of occasions. But even in doing so, we knew. Bending them, doesn’t make them go away. Eventually debts must be paid, balances readdressed, even for Guardians and Emperors. Or the world might truly collapse.”

“And false gods?”

“Even they must find themselves weighted and measured.” Kain agreed darkly. “And that day will no doubt be soon.”

Raziel let his hand fall away, glancing over at the ribbon of shadowy water surrounding their stage. “It has been oddly quiet, since you defeated its creatures. It was plenty talkative until now.”

“Waiting no doubt.” He sighed.

“For your death?” The templar frowned again, turning back to him with renewed stubbornness.

“Most likely.”

“I can’t believe you’re willing to allow this.” Raziel’s wings shuffled in response to his anxiety, “To just stand there and let that- that boy destroy you? There has to be some other way.”

“And yet, I tell you, it is all as it should be.” Kain clasped a hand around the back of the fussing vampire’s neck, holding him firm until his temper steadied. “You will be returned to your future, I will do what must be done here. All will be well. You will see.”

“Will I remember?” The templar looked at the gravel strewn sigils etched into the platform and them up at him, haunted. “When I go back will I remember any of this?”

“Your memories will reflect the changes wrought in the timeline, it is true.” Kain shrugged. “It is possible that some phantom memories of your life-thus far will linger a while, but they shouldn’t cause you any confusion.”

“I do not think I should like it, if I forgot you.” Raziel confessed softly, looking up to study his face again. To that, Kain found he had no worthy response. To say he hadn’t intended to foster either the knight’s regard, or cause him pain by compelling him to go, would have sounded banal. Telling the boy that he’d be far happier with his new and improved lord, on returning home was mere wishful thinking at this point. He had no idea as yet, whether any changes he could affect in the here-and-now would ripple far enough to matter to the knight.

“Listen to the pair of you. You gabber like a pair of bad actors in a ten-penny romance.” Young Kain, it seemed had concluded his initial self-congratulations on obtaining the Soul Reaver. Curious about the remaining occupants in the room once more, the fledgling was watching them with a look of bored disgust. “I almost hate to ask, but which of you is supposed to be the girl?”

Kain let his hand fall away from Raziel’s neck as the vampire straightened, furious. Glancing at the ceiling and the sky beyond, Kain wondered what conspiracy of fate had let him forget what a snide bastard he had once been. The youth was oblivious, preferring to glare at his lieutenant in cynical amusement.

“I pray to god that it is you. At least you’re pretty enough that it wouldn’t be entirely appalling. For sake of my spleen though, at least have the decency to play at blushing-maiden to someone less horrible! Seeing you make cow eyes at an old monster like him is sickening.” The blond vampire made a face.

“At least he is only monstrous on the outside.” Raziel hissed, staring angrily at the vampire, feathers ruffling visibly with his ire.

“Tch. I dislike zealots.” The fledgling glared at Kain instead. “And you! You’re a properly bent penny, aren’t you? Your appetites are as twisted as the rest of you.”

“No more so than yours.” He pointed out their shared tendency for liking-as-like, enjoying the youth’s flinch immensely. It would be years yet, he remembered, before the tedious quasi-religious morals beaten into him as a human would be fully shaken off. The boy actually managed to look offended at the implication that he was not entirely skirt-mad. Still, it wouldn’t do to antagonize the creature. “Have you looked yet?” He opted to change the topic instead.

“Not as yet.” The youth’s eyes narrowed, recognizing the evasion for what it was. Watching them both a long moment, the vampire seemed to weigh his desire for the argument against his need to complete the current chore. “Is there someplace in particular you’d prefer I look? Or am I to make my own assessment.”

“As you please, Kain.” He gestured to the water. “All sides are as good. Look, and see if you have a question for me.”

The vampire shrugged, choosing the side furthest from them to conduct his investigation. Peering downwards for a long moment he frowned and shuffled further to the left, repeating his glance. Crouching between the ruined Pillars he rested the Soul Reaver across his knees and once more studied the depths beneath the water. Kain couldn’t blame the boy for wanting to get a good long look at beast below. No doubt the shock of what Raziel’s soul might reveal would prove most illuminating.

Other than the fledgling’s shuffling, and the ever present sounds of dripping water, the cavern was entirely quiet. A pleasant change from the bellowing and stomping of the elder-god’s nasty little herd of statuary. With everything was peaceful and shadowy in the underground shrine, he was surprised how comfortable it felt, even with the water so close at hand. Perhaps it was the proximity to the Pillars he found soothing. Even without the Reaver’s help Kain was able to make out the faint hum of energy coming off the ruined columns. Defeated they might be, but not yet entirely destroyed. He had built his throne room around them for a reason. Even in their permanently decayed state, they had been comforting to him, a place where he inevitably belonged.

The Hylden were no doubt taking full advantage of the broken barriers between dimensions. The youngster would have to be warned to step carefully should he venture near Meridian. Kain let the worries flow past him for a peaceful moment, turning to find Raziel watching him once again, brow furrowed slightly as he wrestled with his own thoughts. Several of the magical braziers had fallen with the false-god’s attacks, leaving them standing in half light at best.

Of the three of them, Raziel seemed the most out of place in the comfortable darkness. His wings looked dusty and disarrayed from being banged into the walls and floor so often in the past half hour. The knight’s face had a pinched, tense look about it. His posture oddly defensive as he stood a little to Kain’s right, and at an angle. Ready to shield him from the world at large if it was asked? Kain reached out again, cupping the back of the vampire’s neck to distract him from his pointless worries, ruffling the short hair at his nape in gentle encouragement. It was hard to recognize in the bruised and bedraggled knight the timid creature of a few days prior. If nothing else, his time in this reality had taught the templar to stop slouching. He was rather proud of the vampire’s progress, unexpected at it had been.

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“There’s nothing there.” The young vampire concluded calmly. Hooking his hand into a crack running down the side of the broken Pillar of Conflict, the handsome blond leaned as far out over the water as he dared, gazing straight into the murky depths. “This sword is truly a marvel, Kain, for I can see quite clearly all the way to the bottom. Did you know the Pillars descended into the bedrock? How deep do they go, do you suppose?”

“Nothing?!” Kain blinked, shocked. All serenity was forgotten at the unpleasant announcement. “There can’t be nothing. The beast was right there but a moment ago.”

“I know nothing of your ‘beast’, old one.” His alter-ego frowned, craning his neck to get a better look. “I see some ancient carvings, the broken shafts of the Pillars, and some underwater cavern portals. Not particularly appalling scenery, save the water itself. What was it you sought to sway me with?”

“A thousand-ton monstrosity lurking just beneath the surface?” Kain asked himself the obvious question, peering over the edge with considerably more caution than previously. Without the Reaver’s helpful aura, he could feel the moisture on his claws like an itch. Dipping a toe in would be painful.

The empty hollow beneath their tenuously suspended stage was indeed vacant. Every last knotted tentacle and sulfurous eyeball was absent, leaving only a series of guilty-looking grooves in the lakebed. The unspeakable squid had somehow managed to toddle off? It was unthinkable. He had underestimated the beast’s tenacity. “I’ll be damned.” Kain almost had to laugh at the absurdity of his adversary’s tactic. “That’s why the bastard was so quiet, it knew with the Reaver, you’d be able to see.”

“See what?” The youth gave up scanning the water in favor of glaring at him instead. “All I see is a madman who expects bogymen to leap out of every shadow.” The Soul Reaver’s blue nimbus cast weird shadows over his face as he rose and crossed to the center of the platform.

“I was intending to show you the truth of your precious Oracle’s nature.” Kain shook his head, feeling a fool for being defeated in such an utterly mundane fashion. It hadn’t occurred to him that the damned monster could manage a retreat. No doubt it was lurking in one of the watery passageways, or all of them, waiting the moment when their backs were turned. Such a stupidly successful ruse, and yet it had worked! He had squandered his chance to make the youth believe him. Sane the boy might now be, but he wouldn’t appreciate being made a fool of.

At least Raziel could corroborate his weak story, for all the good it would do. The winged vampire had moved as well, jarred into action much as Kain had been. Crouched a few feet further along the platform’s edge, the templar peered into the rippling surface of the lake. “It’s completely gone, Kain.” The knight stared up at him, mystified. “Where has it fled to?”

“I don’t know.” He pushed himself to his feet, looking around the crumbling chamber. The false god had seemingly abandoned them. Good in a sense, since it meant he could concentrate on a means of escaping their little tomb, but most unfortunate, just the same. If he could not produce proofs enough to satisfy the young vampire soon, the boy would claim his head before he could warn him of any of the other dangers in store. “What good is it to have the ability to recognize the unseen, if the unseen runs away.” He grumbled to himself as he considered their resources. The only way out was exactly as it had been before, buried beneath a half ton of carved stone.

“I have no idea what the pair of you are babbling about, but really, I think I’ve been more than patient.” The fledgling rested his blade’s point against the platform as a new quake shook them all. Whether the beast was on the move, or Nosgoth was crumbling further, was impossible to guess.

“I have looked, Kain. And I am not impressed.” His alter ego sighed. “I trust you are satisfied that I have held up my end of the bargain?”

With no option left but to try and stall the youth for time. Kain hissed his fury at the lake before matching the vampire’s bored look. “I am not satisfied, but I cannot hold you accountable. The thing I wished to show you is no longer here.”

“That isn’t my problem.” The fledgling waived his free hand dismissively. “Come. The quakes grow worse. We must finish this nonsense and restore the Pillars before we are obliged to swim in order to do so.”

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