Raziel floated within the Reaver’s black heart. He had accepted
his fate as the Soul Reaver and now wondered how on Nosgoth he was going
to entertain himself until the monumental point in history when the Soul
Reaver would smash against his own body from another time. Until then,
he would be bored with unimportant and non-cataclysmic swings of the blade.
He could, however, see from the hollow eyes engraved in the blade’s skeletal
hilt, thus watching his and Kain’s histories unfold. He was at the moment
buried within the Sarafan Lord’s hide by the hand of Kain. He heard the
Hylden warrior sputter at Kain something like the war wasn’t over….
* * *
In a split second, the web fluid was out of his wrist, and splattered
on the side of a building as Spiderman swung to avoid Carnage jumping on
his shoulders from a nearby awning. He knew nothing of the absurdly convoluted
fabric of interwoven destinies in the nearby plane. Raziel, Kain, and the
Reaver meant nothing to him. Spiderman’s world was about fighting crime,
and protecting those he loved. And, at the moment, avoiding Carnage’s big
red fist. Two jets of webbing, a well placed kick, and wet cement gave
Spiderman time to catch his breath, and wait for Carnage. Soon, the threadlike
bonds would break, and they would fight again. Spiderman was hiding in
a back alley, while Carnage screamed, “Run little Spider! We’re coming
to get you!” He looked around, and noticed a dark figure talking to someone
apparently invisible.
“No! You have to stay down! I have a job! You’ll ruin everything!”
“Nonsense, Brock! We have to get Web-head! Our revenge! Did you
forget how much he hurt us? C’mon let us out! Pleeeeeaaase?”
“Re…revenge? Yes…no!” the figure shouted. It was Eddie Brock,
a rival reporter for the Daily Bugle. He also happened to be the human
half of the symbiote Venom. Venom was trying to come out again. Suddenly,
Carnage came around the corner, and, seeing Brock, turned his attention
away from Spiderman. Upon sensing Carnage, Venom was out and had control,
whether Brock liked it or not.
“Hey, Pops! Long time no see, eh?” screamed Carnage.
“Shut up, freak! We’re here to end this once and for all!” Carnage,
like Venom, was a symbiotic duo consisting of an angry human being, fused
with a blob-like alien. He also happened to be the offspring of Venom.
The two began to fight. Spiderman watched on as they settled their differences
in a very violent way. Venom had an advantage over Carnage: he could shoot
webbing just like Spiderman’s out of his wrists. Carnage, however, could
mold his hands into any weapon he wanted.
So as web fluid and red blades shot everywhere, Spiderman let
his mind wander away from the two monsters locked in deadly combat. He
looked to a nearby yard, where something seemed to be popping out of the
ground. It was a house-sized pyramid! It had a magenta-colored jewel mounted
over a triangular door. On the door was a large carved infinity symbol.
Gold and silver gears were positioned carefully around the outside walls.
The strange structure gave off an aura of peculiarity, and wonder.
“Hey, could you two cut it out for a second or two? You might
want to look at that over there….” Surprisingly, the beasts stopped to
see the out-of-place pyramid.
“What the?” said Carnage with uncharacteristic stillness and
marvel.
“What’s that coming out of it?” Venom yelled, pointing. It looked
like an old man carrying a staff with a snake on it, followed by a band
of medieval-looking soldiers. He wore a blue and gold hooded robe. He began
to speak.
“At last! My master will be well pleased! A Time-Streaming Device
on this strange new world! Raziel might have ruined our plans on Nosgoth,
but here on Earth, his destiny cannot interfere with our goal.”
“Who’s Raziel, I wonder?” said Spiderman. Carnage and Venom were
too preoccupied with the Time-Streaming Device to continue fighting. The
symbiotes receded, revealing Carnage and Venom’s true selves: Eddie Brock,
and Cletus Cassidy.
“We’ll finish this another time!” hollered Cassidy.
“Yeah, yeah….” Brock waved him off. Spiderman swung over to the
old man.
“And who might you be, little man?” asked the old man.
“Just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman,” recited the Webslinger.
“Interesting. My name is Moebius, the Time-Streamer,” said the
old man. “Go, my warriors, seize him!”
* * *
Ah, finally, after centuries, maybe millennia, Kain drew the Soul
Reaver against Raziel’s past self. Raziel opened his eyes, and watched
as his former master and his former self fought. Then, at long, long last,
the paradox of the Reaver reaving its own soul shattered the corporeal
blade. He was free! Well, sort of. Then, he watched himself touch the image
of the serpentine blade. How ignorant of his destiny he was! And yet, somehow
humorous how he was manipulated and surreptitiously guided to his own full-circle
Purgatory.
After a few weeks, his journey brought him to his first elemental
bath. The force of arcane Darkness was now fused to his soul. A little
more patience, and Light, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Spirit were added
to his elemental résumé. He saw himself strike down countless
demons, Sarafan mercenaries, and even his last brother, Turel. Then, the
moment of truth arrived. He saw the Blood Reaver pierce Moebius’s reanimated
corpse. Raziel’s other was now the Soul Reaver. He felt himself break loose
from his own arm, though he was still without form, twisting and reshaping
his soul as a wraith-blade. Then, Raziel saw Moebius! He hadn’t taken his
soul after all…or maybe this was the Moebius of the past. Raziel watched
him disappear, and he knew he was returning to the material plane. That
old meddler did more jumping around time….
Then suddenly, Raziel felt himself reshape. Not like a constantly
moving serpentine blade, but something different, something unfamiliar.
No longer adhered to a sword or arm, his soul was free to move about. He
had become one of the glowing entities that he had always considered spectral
fodder, a lost soul! He watched in terror as a Sluagh drew him in. Ironically,
he was reaved and swallowed, just as he had done to so many others before.
* * *
The guards were pinned to the ground, walls, poles, and anything
else around with Spidey’s webbing. Moebius pointed his staff at Spiderman,
hoping to disable him. No effect.
“What kind of vampire are you?” inquired Moebius.
“That’s the second time I’ve been accused of being a vampire!
First Blade, now you! I am not a vampire!” Spiderman yelled. More vampire
hunters emerged from the Device.
“I will take this world over for my master! Nothing can stop
me! Ah, he is arriving now! Though, you cannot see him, his presence is
felt by all.” It seemed he was right. Spiderman felt the ground shake as
a huge sinkhole appeared by the Device. Something wasn’t right. He felt
a great power, a great unexplainable evil in that hole. Soon, the hole
was filled with water. Then, a hollow, deafening voice drifted up from
the depths.
“Well done, my good servant, my Time-Streamer! Now, nothing shall
stand between me, and my goal. That naively self-righteous fool, Raziel,
has no idea what is happening, and neither does Kain! You have pleased
your master, Moebius.” The voice sounded remarkably like Tony Jay, powerful
and compelling as he was.
“‘Death would be a release, next to this travesty!’” Moebius
mocked. “Stupid fool!”
* * *
The sluagh vermin had no idea what it had just consumed. After calming
down, and focusing his mind, Raziel burst forth from the belly of the sluagh.
With spectral blood staining his hide, Raziel turned and reaved the dying
soul that had tried to destroy him. The Reaver of Souls, the Angel of Death,
spirit of the Soul Reaver itself, was back again, freed from all bonds
of any kind. Raziel was truly unfettered, and angry. The first thing he
did was traverse back into the material plane. He journeyed back to the
Sarafan Stronghold to use the Time-Streaming Device to go find Moebius.
He looked into the basin of water that Moebius used to spy on his victims.
He saw what Moebius had done. The Elder had somehow made a copy of Moebius’s
soul, and then brought it back to physical life. Moebius then had sent
a new Time-Streaming Device into a totally new plane of existence.
It was material, but it was not Nosgoth. It had strange and seemingly
magical new machines and devices, but it was not spectral. It was not purgatorial,
like the Eternal Prison or the Demon Plane. It was new. There were no vampires
that Raziel could see, and no Sarafan. After turning away from the basin,
Raziel focused, and imagined materializing on the new world, and felt himself
change, as he did when shifting into the spectral plane. His endeavor worked.
He emerged near the new Time-Streaming Device. He suddenly felt the foreboding
and very irritating presence of the Elder God, who considered himself master
to Raziel.
Raziel watched as two unfamiliar creatures struggled with a group
of mercenaries of Moebius, near the dark presence.
* * *
“Stand back Parker, and watch the masters!” Venom was back, and fighting
the Sartafan, or whoever they were. “We gotta feeling you’re gonna need
our help, Webhead.” Soon, the two spider-like creatures made short work
of the crazed men and women. Then, more showed up. The tables turned, and
the hunters had Venom and Spiderman pinned down with swords and halberds.
There was a flash of light, and the warriors were blinded. Spiderman could
sort of see a thin shadow taking down the warriors, one by one. Then, when
their vision cleared, Venom and Spiderman saw what might have once been
a man. He had a cloth around his shoulders and neck, obscuring his lower
jaw. He had glowing white eyes, black hair, and blue skin. He had cloven
claws on his hands and feet. Two torn up wings with no bones in them hung
useless on his back. He was thin and decayed-looking.
“I am Raziel, the Soul Reaver. I come here to help you. Moebius
wants to rule the world with his master. You might be able to aid me in
stopping him.” The creature gave Spiderman a sense of power. He knew Raziel
was much, much more than meets the eye. Suddenly, Venom’s symbiote melted
off of Eddie.
“No! Venom, come back!” yelled Brock. The symbiote split into
two, just as it had at the birth of Carnage. Half went back to Brock. “Yes….
Don’t…leave us…just yet….”
While Venom appreciated the presence of himself, the other half of
the symbiote slid over to Raziel. A viscous tendril grabbed the cloth on
Raziel’s neck, and pulled it off. He had no bottom jaw. A ghostly green
light radiated from where his throat would be. The alien blob swallowed
the cloth, and reached for Raziel.
“What is this-?” he began.
“Don’t struggle…” Venom directed. The black substance surrounded
Raziel’s decaying flesh. Soon, Raziel was covered. For a moment, he looked
like Spiderman, when he wore Venom’s costume. Then, his claws emerged from
the arms and legs of the symbiote. His wings popped out the back, with
bones made for him by the gooey alien. The black substance completely covered
him, all but his head.
His cloth reappeared. It was now dark blue, with black clan symbols
adorning the ancient threads. The same white spider insignia that Venom
wore came into sight on Raziel’s chest. Rather than a large spider, an
image of the Soul Reaver appeared in white. The symbiote fully closed around
Raziel’s skin. He now looked muscular, as if his lack of flesh had been
refilled. He looked at his new hands. He clenched and unclenched his fists.
Two jets of webbing just like Spiderman and Venom’s shot out when he moved
his claws just so.
“What is this?” Raziel demanded.
“Venom’s offspring has chosen you. You should be honored to receive
our power!” Venom told him.
“So does this make you the Spider Reaver?” Spiderman asked.
“I suppose so…but I never imagined myself as a superhero, especially
one outside of Nosgoth. I must learn to control these webs, along with
my other new powers. What else can I do?”
“Aside from the web, that’s pretty much it,” Spiderman told him.
“Super-strength and super-agility, too, but you kinda already
had that,” Venom chimed in. “And by the way, after we sort this Time-Stream
thing out, it’s back to being three mortal enemies!” Venom exclaimed.
“But I’ve never even met you two,” Raziel said.
“Yeah…but…ah, we’ll figure it out after we stop Moebius,” Spiderman
decided.
The three lowered themselves with web into the pit. They swam
under the water, searching for the Elder, Moebius’s master. When they started
to see a dark mass ahead, the water began to swirl around them. The next
thing they knew, they were in a large revolving machine, standing on a
platform. Hovering above them, was a very large blue gem set in a gold
bauble. It was suspended in some kind of energy field.
“What is that?” Venom said, reaching for it, only to be burned
by the field.
“I know what this is! Kain told me about it. This is the Nexus
Stone. It makes you invincible to the Soul Reaver’s blade.” It took about
an hour to fill the two creatures in about Raziel’s history and destiny,
and Kain’s, too. Raziel used a telekinetic blast to break the machinery
generating the field. As he grabbed the stone, their world distorted and
bent like it did when Raziel shifted to spectral. Now, they stood on an
island in a sea of space; stars and planets whirled around them. There
were several more rocky islands leading up to a very large floating land
mass. Perched in the middle was the Sarafan Stronghold. Raziel looked down
at his right hand. The Soul Reaver’s wraith blade was coiled around his
arm!
“How? The Reaver cannot exist anymore, I am the Reaver!” Raziel
exclaimed.
“My guess is that this warped reality has combined elements from
New York and Nosgoth and maybe a few other worlds into a theoretical dimension
of no true reality, an Unreality, if you will” Spiderman ventured.
“You have way too much time on your hands, Parker,” Venom said,
shaking his head. Suddenly, Vorador’s bone sword appeared, strapped to
Spiderman’s side, along with red armor that looked just like his costume.
His spider insignia on his back had turned into the symbol for the Spirit
Reaver. A cape appeared over Venom’s right shoulder, along with the partial
armor that Raziel once wore. The symbol on the cape was also an image of
the Spirit Reaver. The Unreality had made Venom and Spiderman Nosgothic.
“Shall we get to work?” said Raziel. They began jumping, web
slinging, and running across the many stone islands. Soon, they reached
the first large stone platform. A form just like Spiderman’s waited. As
they came closer, they saw it was Spiderman, with a different costume.
His was solid red, with no black web pattern. He had metal bands across
his ankles and wrists. He also wore a blue cutoff sweatshirt with the spider
insignia on it.
“That’s Ben Reilly. He’s Scarlet Spiderman. Hey, Ben!” There
was no answer. Suddenly, Scarlet Spiderman attacked the other Spiderman.
They fought for a bit, and then Spiderman used Vorador’s sword to cut off
a little red blob on Scarlet Spidey’s back. It looked like a piece of Carnage.
“Whoa. Spiderman? And Venom? Who’s this guy?” demanded Scarlet
Spidey, gesturing to Raziel.
“All in good time, human,” Raziel told him, and moved on. At
the next platform, Carnage waited for them. He had the Soul Reaver! The
physical one, anyway. Raziel carried the true Reaver.
“Let us handle this!” Venom sprang forth, and began to fight
with his own offspring. Soon, the big black symbiote fell to Carnage and
the Reaver. He lie on the ground, and waited for the serpentine blade to
bite into his flesh. Raziel took the opportunity to seize the Reaver with
his telekinetic powers while Carnage ranted on.
“Hahah, yes! We win, we win, we-hey! Give it back!” yelled Carnage.
Venom stood back up, and slugged Carnage with everything he had.
“We’ll finish with you later. The webhead and the zombie over
here got a job to do,” Venom said, with an aberrant sense of duty. For
some strange reason, Carnage got up and followed the two Spideys, Venom,
and the Reaver of Souls. At the last platform before the Stronghold, Kain
himself, the most ruthless of all vampires, the Scion of Balance, waited.
He had the Blood Reaver strapped to his back. The Blood Reaver was the
earliest incarnation of the Soul Reaver that Raziel now carried.
“Raziel, I am not here to fight you. I want to aid you in your
struggle with Moebius.”
“As I said before, I am not your enemy, Scion of Balance,” Raziel
told him.
“Now, we go to Moebius, together, Reaver of Souls,” Kain replied.
Suddenly, Spiderman noticed a change in their eyes. Venom’s second offspring,
dubbed by Spiderman, Spider Reaver, drew back out of sight, leaving only
Raziel.
“Damn you, Kain! You are not God! This act of genocide is unconscionable!”
Raziel suddenly shouted.
“What are you-?” Kain began. Then he too, began to yell for no
real reason. “Conscience? You dare to speak to me of conscience? Only when
you have felt the full gravity of choice, should you dare question my judgment!”
“You’re a righteous little fiend, aren’t you?” Raziel said, turning
and talking to someone only he could see.
“Apparently I am…” he said, answering himself.
“You should have never betrayed me, Uuma. You could have been
my queen….” Kain, too, began to speak to someone visible only to him. This
continued, until Venom and Spiderman shook them to their senses.
“We must have been reciting old memories….”
“We have to stay focused, Raziel! Moebius is trying to stop our
cause.” The six strange and unlikely heroes marched on to the Stronghold.
At the front door, Moebius waited. Raziel had already become Spider Reaver,
again. Kain winked at the group and raised the Blood Reaver. Raziel raised
both incarnations of the Soul Reaver, coiled in a deadly embrace.
“Go, then! To oblivion!” Raziel shouted, pretending to recite
his memories.
“Raziel, no!” Kain shouted, playing along. Raziel kicked him
over to Moebius.
“‘Vae Victus…” Raziel said, raising the two Reavers. Moebius
began to laugh, thinking they were reliving Kain and Raziel’s last conflict.
“Indeed,” Kain replied. The two turned, and thrust all three
incarnations of the Reaver right through Moebius.
“What? No!” he shouted. Raziel opened his cloth, and drew Moebius
in for the second time.
“Now it looks like we’ll need a plan,” said Scarlet Spidey.
“Me and the red freak will fight, and create a distraction. When
the guards come out, we blow ‘em over, and get inside,” Venom suggested.
“Then, I will fly up to the balcony in the absence of the guards,
accompanied by Kain,” Raziel proposed.
“Scarlet Spidey and I will climb up the side of the building,
and use stealth until we meet up with the rest of you. We’ll go from there,”
Spiderman added.
“Well that worked itself out. Let’s go!” Scarlet Spiderman said.
“C’mon Grandpa, can’t you keep up?” Carnage hollered as the two
ran over to the door to do their part. Raziel used his newly regained wings
to fly up to the balcony, followed by a Kain, in the form of a cloud of
bats. The two web-slingers began to make their way up the side of the building.
Raziel and Kain encountered a few guards. They then gorged themselves on
blood and souls. Venom and Carnage were already making their way through
the corridors to King William’s tomb, and the mural of Janos Audron. The
two web-slingers were waiting for the rest of the band of ridiculous advocates.
When all six were together, they went forth into the tomb of King William.
There was a deep pit full of water where the tomb should have been. When
Kain went to the mural of Janos, it began to shake. The glass smashed,
and a legion of creatures of whom someone of the preposterous posse
was familiar with. The small army included Uuma, Sebastian, Magnus, Markus,
and Faustus, the vampires Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon, and Melchiah.
When the flow seemed to stop, more came out: several of the X-Men, the
Fantastic Four, clones of Peter Parker wearing each and every one of his
past Spiderman outfits, Daredevil, Punisher, Hulk, Black Cat, Captain America,
and Blade. Then, more people came out! The mutant forms of each of Raziel’s
brethren, the witch who had given Kain his telekinesis, and even Kain’s
past self as a young vampire. Masses of unknown vampires and demons came
out, too. Then, Vorador, the smith who had forged the Reaver, appeared
amid the broken glass, followed by Janos Audron, himself! The army of defenders
of justice and abominations to all humanity turned with one accord to the
six heroes. Janos spoke up.
“An army of Sarafan approaches. They are immeasurable in number,
and the six of you cannot defeat them alone. We will hold off the army
of self-righteous fools, while you take care of the evil.” With that, the
army ran to all exits to the stronghold and prepared to fight off the Sarafan.
The water in the pit began to bubble, and large tentacles pulled a huge
mass out of the water.
“You! I thought I told you to burrow deep, creature…” Kain said,
waving the Blood Reaver. Four tentacles whipped out at the group. Venom,
Spiderman, Scarlet Spidey, and Raziel used webbing to pin the tentacles
down.
“Kain! We must use all the elements of the Reaver! Only then
can we defeat this creature,” Raziel shouted. He raised the wraith blade.
“Now take the forces of elemental Darkness!” The room filled
with black mist. “Light!” The Elder screamed, and his eyes rolled back
into his head…face…body? “Air!” A tornado appeared around the creature,
whipping his tentacles around wildly. “Fire!”
An explosion struck amidst the wind and tentacles. “Earth!” Dirt and
mud began to fly up from the ground and pile up on the Elder God. “Water!”
the water in the pit rose up out of the pit and froze into shards of ice.
The shards flew to the being, stabbing it in hundreds of places. “Now Kain,
use your Reaver!” Kain sprang to stand beside Raziel, his Reaver raised.
“Flame!” Fire just like Raziel’s erupted around the Elder. “Lightning!”
Electricity crackled everywhere, and lightning struck the monster in the
pit. “Dimension!” Kain’s Reaver glowed green, and he teleported around
at lightning speed, slashing with planer flame. “Time! Raziel, use the
Spirit Reaver, combined with the Balance Emblem!” As the storm of elements
began to tear pieces of the walls off, and the Elder’s black blood began
to mist around the room.
“Spirit!” Raziel yelled.
“Balance!” Kain shouted, simultaneously. The final elements swirled
together from the blades of the twin Reavers. With one final deafening
scream, the Elder God’s flesh ripped open, revealing his black heart. The
two Spidey’s used webbing to secure the flesh from closing, while Carnage
and Venom leapt forward to hold the heart out for Raziel. He raised the
physical Soul Reaver, and pointed it at the Elder’s heart.
“I am your servant no longer! Fate and destiny are no longer
your playground, you vile creature.”
“You fool! You have no idea what you are about to do!” screamed
the Elder.
“Oh, I think I do. Now die!” Raziel shouted as he plunged the
Soul Reaver up to the hilt into the black heart.
“Noooooooo!” the Elder shouted as the twelve elements all ceased
to turn about the room in a deadly storm, and were all sucked into the
hole made by the Reaver’s serpentine blade. The six heroes stepped back,
and watched the Elder inflate like a balloon and then burst like one. Black
blood soaked everything. The room began to shift again, and the six heroes
found themselves back in New York.
Scarlet Spidey resumed his double life as Ben Reilly/Scarlet
Spiderman in another part of town. Carnage departed from the company and
his short career as a hero before he felt the overwhelming desire to kill
them all. Venom became Eddie Brock again and left with pictures of the
Sarafan Stronghold for the Daily Bugle. Spiderman shook hands with Raziel.
“Pleasure working with you, Raziel. Hope we can do it again sometime.
But after the death of the Elder, who else is there?”
“Not many. I, too, enjoyed fighting by your side.” Kain abruptly
pointed out that all three Reavers were gone.
“I am assuming that all is back as it should be. Farewell, Peter
Parker. I will use this Time-Streaming Device and return to Nosgoth. Raziel,
do you wish to join me?”
“No…I think I will stay here, on Earth. This superhero business
intrigues me.”
“The world could always use another hero, Raziel. Or should I
say, Spider Reaver?” Spiderman said with schmaltzy lexis.
“Superhero? Ah, well…. Farewell, Raziel, Reaver of souls.” From
that point on, Raziel, the Nosgothic pawn of destiny, wielding the key
to fate itself, lived as Spider Reaver, the symbiotically empowered New
Yorker, wielding razor-sharp claws, and twin web-shooters behind those
claws.
(if this were a movie, this would be the part where the sound fades
out, and Chad Kroeger’s “Hero” would play softly as Spiderman and Raziel
web-swing into the sky. Then, credits would roll, and the music gets louder,
and the lights in the theater come back on.)
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