The distorted world of the spectral realm faded around Raziel as he found himself kneeling on the ground, his memories of what in his mind had occurred only moments before, flooding back to him and making him let out a small groan of painful realisation.

"Are you alright!?" 

The voice was also real, and sounded concerned and as Raziel looked up he saw that not only was he no longer in the Sarafan's stronghold, he appeared to be in Nosgoth's past, very distant past, for around him was grass, running water, all clear and sparkling with life and vitality.

"What kind of trick of yours is this Moebius?" he muttered.

"I'm sorry?"

Raziel's gaze fell upon a human figure standing not so far away from him, dressed in a simple cotton robe. She had delicate features, long auburn hair which was platted with strips of leather down her back and around her belted waist were many little carrying pouches as well as a short sword, which hung by her side. Not sure what to make of a human who was not either running in terror to calling him demon, Raziel tried to stand but found he was pathetically weak and fell back to his knees.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice quavering through its weakness.

"I want to know if you are alright," came the bold reply. "I was simply walking when I came across you lying here. You appear to be somewhat dazed."

"I am," he replied bitterly. "Could you possibly tell me where or even when I am?"

The female laughed, "I believe we are in a place called Grichdenstein. I am a traveller in these parts, so it seems I know this land as well as you do. But, here you are weak, let me help you."

Raziel raised a claw as she moved a little closer towards him.

"I...wouldn't do that," he replied, easing himself onto his rather wobbly legs. "Thank you for your concern but I must be leaving."

"Where?" she asked, "If it's Grichdenstein then I am heading that way too."

"I don't know if you have realised," Raziel said sounding rather irritated, "but we do not seem to be following the normal stereotypical plot here."

"And what might that be?"

"Wait a moment," Raziel replied, accusingly pointing his claw at her. "Are you trying to keep me here? Are there more of your little human friends who are waiting just round the corner to empale me on their bloody weapons? For if you are maybe I should save you the trouble of journeying any further."

Seeing the glint of anger and hatred in Raziel's eyes the woman stepped back slightly, her hand wavering towards her sword.

"Maybe I shouldn't have stopped and asked if you were alright if that is the way I get treated in return!" she snapped. "I told you I am a traveller...a lone traveller. I come from beyond Nosgoth, but I have travelled far from the place I once called my home to come here, to see what lay beyond the confines of my village. Where I come from if we see a man is lying hurt in the road a person will go help them, obviously it is not the same in your case."

"My apologies," Raziel muttered. "I am just not used to the persons whom I encounter on my journeys feeling any remorse for me, in fact quite the opposite."

"Then that makes two of us...." she sighed under her breath and walked over to where she must have rested a pack of her belongings for she swung it up onto her back. She then reached down and picked up a canteen of water and took a swig from it.

"I tried to revive you with some," she said slowly, watching him, "but....I..."

"It's alright," he replied in his normal gentle tone. "It helps if you are not lacking as many bodily parts as I am."

"What happened to you?"

"That is something I do not wish to discuss." he replied, shaking his head, "I am confused myself at what is truly going on at the moment. I feel like a pawn in some giant celestial game of chess, used by others and dispencible."

"Well," the woman said thoughtfully, "even a pawn can be made a queen if it reaches the end of the board."

Raziel was silent for a moment.

"I don't believe I caught your name."

"Triane," she replied, "Yours?" 

"I'm Raziel," he said and nodded slightly, adjusting the thick brown length of heavy cloth which formed a cowl of kinds around his neck. He felt secretly repulsed at himself for letting her see what he truly was, an abomination, yet still she felt it necessary to help him. He could have killed her for all she knew, and he would have been lying if he did not suspect her of some kind of treachery.

"Pleased to meet you," she smiled.

"Tell me," Raziel questioned, "have you been in Nosgoth long?"

"Some time," she told him, starting to walk with Raziel following, "I like the place. Very beautiful. Some of the structures must have been built by some superior race for they surpass all magnificence I have ever seen. My destination is a place just beyond Usinhelm, a Sarafan stronghold. The people I have met on my journey all keep telling me to go there."

"No wonder," he said contemptuously. "Why do you want to go there? Are you a sorceress?"

"Me? No!" she laughed, "Not a chance. I'm just Triane, the wanderer. I have heard that the stronghold was a very old, grand settlement. I simply wished to visit it. I have heard many tales of the Sarafan and their war."

"Haven't we all," Raziel said in his smooth sarcastic voice which made Triane smile.

"I take it you are not great friends with them."

"What makes you say that?" he asked equally, as mocking, gesturing down at himself, "I couldn't ever guess why."

"Ahhh. Heh, well I too was surprised when I found Nosgoth seemed to be plagued by vampires. I lived beyond the great border and have grown up with hardly any contact with their kind. You don't seem like the typical vampire I must say."

Raziel paused, so even in this time they had vampires, this was at least a start to his understanding where he had ended up. Maybe he had been transported to a time in the early years...the very beginning of Kain's empire. A time when he and his brethren were beings not so hideously deformed and polluted by the unbalance of the Pillars and Kain's self indulgent reign.

"I'm...not exactly one of their kind."

"Ahh thought not," she smiled, glancing round at him. "I have never seen anyone like you before. You're somewhat unique right?"

"More so than you may ever imagine," he replied slowly, catching up the pace so he walked beside her. He had, at first, had no intention of staying with this human, and was expecting at any minute to be set upon by legions of hunters, but so long as she was willing to speak with him, he might as well learn all he could about his current situation. However he did feel ever so drained and whenever he looked at the human beside him, a yearning emanated from inside the very core of his being....a yearning to.....

"Unique....you could say that," he replied, trying to block the rather disturbing thought from his mind.

"So you're not going to suddenly turn on me and suck out all of my blood huh?"

Raziel would have grimaced had he had a jaw to do so. Had she read his mind possibly?

"I...don't do that," he tried to explain, "That thirst was sated a long time ago and I am thankful for it. Now some call me the Soul Reaver......"

"Oh so instead you eat peoples souls, oh I feel a whole lot better now."

"Triane..."

"I was joking," she replied, almost laughing at his seriousness. "If I had thought I was in any danger from you I would have hardly have helped you."

"How did you know then?" he questioned.

"I just had a feeling," she said, giving Raziel the impression she was not quite telling him the whole truth. "Besides I felt sorry for you."

"Oh I am pitied by a human. How lucky I am."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. Like I already explained, next time I wont bother helping."

Ever the one to get in the last word, Raziel made a snide remark about humanity in general, then feeling slightly annoyed at himself, went silent and walked along with Triane for a while in silence.

"I see you once had wings," she said slowly as they arrived at a high ridge which looked down upon a long snaking river which wound its way slowly along the valley below.

"Kinda woulda been handy right now. We have to walk all the way down there then cross at the bridge. It's going to take until late evening to travel all that way."

"I can glide but little more," he said, then added sarcastically, "You could try you know, just jump off and flap your arms."

"And force you to jump off after me and save my life? No thanks, I don't want to be indebted to a....whatever you are."

"Thanks," Raziel replied, "The feeling's mutual."

"Well talking's not going to get us very far is it?" she said readjusting the pack on her back, "Come on we had better get going."

"What's the rush?" Raziel questioned, admiring the view, "Do not tell me that the fearless Triane is scared of the dark."

She shook her head but continued onwards without even looking to see if Raziel was following her. He decided to follow finally, what else could he do? There was certainly nothing back the way he had come and maybe the answers he sought lay in the heart of Nosgoth. He had been walking a while and had realised something strange. His life force seemed stronger somehow, he did not feel the continual drain of his energy, trying to drag him back into the spectral realm. Yet he still felt weak, and knew that if he did not do something soon, maybe he would end up slipping into that infernal realm without having any real desire to do so. Just as he was speculating this particular fact he heard a scream from up ahead.

The Soul Reaver sprang from his hand, its wispy spectral tendrils snaking up his arm.

"Raziel!"

It was Triane confronted by a number of rather ugly looking creatures which Raziel had never seen before in his life. They appeared to be human, but were extremely distorted, almost as if they were halfway between the real world and the spectral. Triane had her sword drawn and was menacing the creatures by making little jerky stabbing movements towards them.

"Do you know what they are?" she asked, seeing him come to her side.

"Just because I look like I have been the worse side of a small famine, doesn't mean that I necessarily know these things which stand before us."

"I'm so sorry," she replied, getting used to his way of talking, "Any idea how we get past them?"

"Ask them politely if they would mind moving out of the way?"

"Remind me never to ask you anything ever again if I am looking for an answer that is not steeped in double meaning or metaphor Raziel."

The Reaver gave her a look with his bright eyes which was a mixture of 'does this look like a person who cares' and 'whatever'.

One of the things lunged viciously with its claws at Triane and she backed away slightly out of range, swinging her sword across the things chest and cleaving it straight in two. The second one let out a howl of annoyance and advanced on her. Once again she swung but her blade went through empty air. So shocked at not making contact she stumbled forwards with the weight of the sword, only to feel the creature's claws slash down across her unprotected back.

"Yargh!" she cried in pain, trying to regain her balance and guard position as quickly as possible, ignoring the searing pain which now bit into her back. 

Until that point Raziel had watched, almost impressed at how well she handled her blade, pretty sure that he need not waste his own dwindling energy by helping her when she seemed quite capable of seeing off these creatures herself. However when he was injured he thought it maybe best to step in. It was obvious these things could switch very quickly between the spectral and real plane, which would make hurting them very difficult. Raziel was loth to swap planes, he hated the spooky swirling demon infested place, but if it meant a peaceful life he would. Raising his arms he felt the treacle like sensation wash over him as all around him gained a ghastly green aura. 

"Can't I get any peace?" he questioned the wraiths as he swung the Reaver expertly at the creatures who were so surprised to find someone in their own plane of existence which until then had been their haven and it was not long before Raziel was feeding off of their miserable downfall. 
 
 
 

"Whaaaaaa!"

Triane gasped as Raziel materialised in front of her.

"What...what happened? Where did you go? And what happened to those monsters. They just vanished!"

Raziel, who felt somewhat sated in his appetite now that a few monsters had been finished off, felt slightly more inclined to be forthcoming towards Triane and laughed gently.

"I saved you the trouble of taxing yourself further."

"Riiiiiight."

"There's really no need to thank me."

"Oh...err thank you," she replied hastily, noticing that Raziel seemed a lot more.....alive than he had done a few minutes ago.

"What was that thing which came out of your hand?" she asked, looking towards where he now stood, only a faint glow remaining.

"The Soul Reaver," he said, if not a little proudly, "My symbiotic weapon which is both a curse and a blessing at times."

"I....I've never seen anything like it before.......but yet..."

She placed a hand to her forehead.

"We must be getting on."

Raziel watched her. There was something strange about this Triane, but what it was he could not quite place a finger, or claw to be more precise, on it. She walked a few paces onwards through the forest path, only to stop, her hand leaning against a tree, a pained look on her face. Where the wraith had struck her, dark crimson stains were tricking down her clothes and bare flesh of her arms. The wound was deep and she was obviously in a lot of pain.

"Can you continue?"

She nodded, "I'll be fine," she tried to laugh, "No dark beast has ever got the better of me yet. And I don't plan to start now."

Raziel tilted his head to one side. Despite all he had been through, some sliver of humanity remained in him and he could not help feeling something deep inside which told him to help her, after all one good turn deserved another.

"Let me help you," he said finally, going over to her and taking her arm carefully and helping her ease her weight onto him. She said nothing but allowed herself to be assisted thus, feeling Raziel's strong body help her forwards as he gripped her tightly so that she would not fall.

"There must be a settlement near here," he said, "You will need to get that wound seen to. It may be poisoned."

"No.." she said quickly, nervousness appearing in her voice, "No....I mean I really will be fine. All I need is a little rest."

"You're hiding something," Raziel replied in a low smooth voice, "How intriguing."

"Spare me your conspiracy theories," she snapped in a tone which made Raziel quite surprised at her sudden change in emotion. "I said I would be fine. I do not like staying in one place for too long, besides there are no settlements around here until the next valley. When we reach the bridge, we will stop there. I can bathe my wounds and make camp for the night."

"As you wish," Raziel consented, although wondered why if she knew this land so little, that she was well enough versed to know that no settlements lay until they reached the next valley. This made Raziel more than interested in his new companion and decided that he may as well stay with her a little while longer, just to see how things turned out. After all, he had been dumped in the middle of nowhere and there was little use rushing off when he had no real plans, although if he bumped into Kain or Moebius on the way, he would certainly have one or two things to ask them......at the end of the Soul Reaver's blade.
 
 

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