Raziel enters the Chronoplast chamber, and surveys its tiered walkways and arcane dials, noting both the mysterious device suspended from the domed ceiling, and the undulating portal on the far side of the chamber.  None of this interests him.  He is looking for Kain.
Raziel hears a voice, and Kain reveals himself as he steps out from the shadows of the upper tier.

Kain
At last.
I must say I'm disappointed in your progress.  I imagined you would be here sooner.
Tell me - did it trouble you to murder your brothers?

Raziel slowly descends the stairway, keeping his eyes locked on Kain.

Raziel
Did it trouble you when you ordered me into the Abyss?

Kain's only response is ironic laughter.  He steps back toward one of the arcane dials and prepares to turn it.

Kain
Eternity is relentless, Raziel.
When I first stole into this chamber, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of knowledge.

Kain throws the switch, and the Chronoplast device responds.

Kain
To know the future, Raziel - to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite...
As a man, I could never have contained such forbidden truths.
But each of us is so much more than we once were.
Do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods?
And as such, are we not indivisible?  As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion...

Kain descends the main staircase, and moves toward the second-tier dials.

Kain
Our futures are predestined -
Moebius foretold mine aeons ago.  We each play out the parts fate has written for us.
Free will is an illusion.

Kain punctuates his statement by throwing the second switch.  Raziel glares up at him from the floor of the chamber.

Raziel
I found the Tomb of Sarafan, Kain.
How could you profane a priest by turning him into a vampire?

Furious, Raziel launches himself at Kain - who easily stops Raziel in mid-air with one hand, and holds him by the throat, at arm's length.

Kain
How could I not?
One must keep his friends close, Raziel - and his enemies even closer.

Kain effortlessly hurls Raziel to the lower floor of the chamber, and then drops down himself, approaching Raziel's sprawled figure.

Kain
Who better to serve me than those whose passion transcends all notions of good and evil?

Raziel rises slowly, enraged and humiliated, and wheels on Kain.

Raziel
The Sarafan were saviors, defending Nosgoth from the corruption that we represent.
My eyes are opened, Kain - I find no nobility in the unlife you rudely forced on my unwilling corpse!

Raziel lunges at Kain.  Kain evades the blow, but Raziel attacks again and pins Kain against the wall, his forearm to his throat.
Kain is unfazed by Raziel's attack - he is composed, even slightly amused.  He allows Raziel to pin him there momentarily, and continues to taunt him, their faces inches apart.

Kain
You may have uncovered your past, but you know nothing of it.  You think the Sarafan were noble, altruistic?

Kain breaks Raziel's grip and propels him away with a blast of telekinetic energy.  Raziel flies backward and slams into a buttress with bone-shattering force.
Kain laughs and moves toward the final dial.

Kain
Don't be simple.
Their agenda was the same as ours.

Kain throws the final switch.  The arms of the Chronoplast device descend, and the portal flares into life.

Kain
(mockingly)
You nearly had me, Raziel...

Kain vanishes in a flash of light, and reappears on the upper tier, in front of the portal.

Kain
But this is not where - or how - it ends.  Fate promises more twists before this drama unfolds completely.

Kain turns and strides deliberately through the portal.  Raziel gets to his feet and races up the stairway.  He pauses briefly, then leaps through the portal to pursue Kain.

Raziel finds himself floating in darkness, and hears an unfamiliar voice calling to him out of the ether.  As Raziel drifts to the floor and the chamber coalesces, Moebius the Time Streamer steps out of the mist to greet him.

Moebius
Raziel...
Redeemer and destroyer.
Pawn and messiah.
Welcome, time-spanned soul.
Welcome... to your destiny.
 
 

 

Raziel has leapt through the Chronoplast portal in pursuit of Kain – fueled only by blind rage and a desire for revenge.  He appears in a different time and place.  As the room fully coalesces, he sees that he is in a small, domed chamber – similar to the Chronoplast room he just left, but built on a much smaller scale.  Moebius, the Time Streamer, is there, leaning on his staff for support (as though feeble). 

Moebius
(acting like a kindly sorcerer)
‘Where am I?’ is the usual question.
In your case, ‘when?’ might be more apt.

Raziel recognizes Moebius, and knows how dangerous he is.  He raises the wraith-blade in defense, but as he does so the orb on Moebius’ staff glows brightly, and the blade sputters out and retracts, the wisps of wraith energy receding completely.  Raziel is momentarily alarmed, and now even more suspicious of Moebius’ motives. 

Raziel
(alarmed; suspicious)
Very well, you old snake – if you’d prefer I use my bare hands...

Raziel lunges at Moebius and grabs him by his scrawny neck, throwing him up against the wall.  Moebius feigns surprise and fear for a moment –

Moebius
(feigned fearfulness)
This is completely unexpected!
This orb disables our vampire enemies, leaving them helpless and incapacitated.
Strangely, it seems to have the same effect on that peculiar weapon of yours.
But you must believe me - I mean you no harm.

Raziel
(steely)
You can drop the benevolent façade, Moebius.
I know who – and what – you are.
I should kill you where you stand...

As Raziel speaks, Moebius’s whole demeanor changes – he no longer appears to be an addled old magician.  This Moebius is composed, confident, in control.

Moebius
(chuckles)
Perhaps you should, my boy.  But you don’t.

Raziel tightens his grip a bit on Moebius’s throat.

Raziel
(icily)
Are you so certain of that, Moebius?

Moebius
(completely unfazed)
My role as Time Guardian affords me a certain level of omniscience, Raziel.
(pause)
No, you don’t kill me.  That honor belongs to your maker, Kain, some thirty years from now.

Raziel releases him roughly.

Raziel
(disgusted)
Hmph.  You two are a pair - you’re just as fatalistic as he is.

Moebius
(laughs softly)
Death comes for us all, Raziel.
It’s just matter of time.

Completely composed, Moebius turns his back on Raziel and moves toward the exit door

Raziel
(suspicious)
How is it that you know my name?  We have never met.

Moebius
(earnest)
On the contrary, Raziel - I know you very well...
The door slides open for him as he approaches. 
And it grieves me to see how cruelly Kain has used you.
I knew you when you were one of the Sarafan brotherhood, Raziel.
We were even close.

Raziel
(revolted)
Oh, please.

Moebius
(a bit rebuffed)
Fortunately, you need not love me now to be my ally...

Raziel follows him into the chamber beyond, and the door slides shut behind them.  They are now standing in an ornate, octagonal, domed room.  The walls of this chamber are decorated with scenes memorializing the slaughter of six of the Circle at Vorador’s hands, many centuries ago. The slain Circle guardians are depicted in beatific imagery; the vampire Vorador is demonized.  In the center of the room stands a distinctive basin engraved with arcane symbols.

Raziel
(intrigued)
Are we within the Stronghold of the Sarafan priesthood?

Moebius
Yes, but the glorious days of the Sarafan have long since passed, I’m afraid.
This is a more... cynical and indecorous age.
My mercenary army now inhabits this stronghold – we strive to honor the memory of the Sarafan with our own humble crusade.

Raziel
(looking at the murals; intrigued)
Is this the vampire Vorador?

Moebius
(with disgust)
Yes, the scourge of the Circle.  The most depraved and decadent example of his whole degenerate race.
He slaughtered six of my fellow Guardians as they cowered, defenseless, in this room.

Raziel
(suspicious)
And you somehow survived this massacre?

Moebius
I, and two others.  The Circle was devastated; only we three were spared.

Raziel
(incredulous; sarcastic)
How convenient.
(pause)
You’ll forgive me if don’t naively devour every scrap of information you toss me.
You have a reputation for deceit.

Moebius
(rhetorical)
And who has slandered me so?
Your malefactor Kain?  The one who betrayed and destroyed you? Our common enemy?
Consider the source, before you judge me too harshly.
(pause)
We’ll forget about rekindling our old friendship, then.  But consider an alliance based on our common ground -
We both want Kain dead.
I can help you do it.

Raziel
(dismissive; almost amused)
You don’t want to meddle in this, old man.
I know all about your sordid little schemes, but you’re simply out of your depth on this one.

Moebius
(slightly foreboding)
You underestimate me, Raziel.
Let me show you...

Moebius lights the four candles that stand on the basin’s edge.

Moebius
Even now, Kain is lying in wait for you, unaware that I’ve snatched you out of the time-stream and brought you here, to me.

An image slowly appears, reflected in the mystical waters of the basin. The image coalesces, and Kain is revealed. The image wavers, and we see that Kain is standing in a clearing, beneath the Pillars of Nosgoth, apparently waiting... Raziel leans over the basin and looks, mesmerized.

Moebius
See how he lingers at the very Pillars he is destined to destroy... foolishly confident that he has eluded your grasp.

Raziel
(fascinated)
The Pillars are still standing in this time?

Moebius
Yes, Raziel – they are the embodiment of the divine force which preserves the life of our world.
We who serve the Pillars maintain their delicate balance - and Kain is destined to be the fulcrum upon which that balance turns.
(pause)
I believe you have already endured the wasteland wrought by his terrible, selfish decision.
Kain’s very existence is a cancer upon this world.  As long as he lives, all of Nosgoth is in peril.

Moebius
You may never again be human, Raziel...
But you can re-embrace the essence of your humanity, and the nobility of your Sarafan heritage.
Go to him, Raziel, and end this.
(pause)
But first you will need to find your way out of the Stronghold – and in this, I’m afraid, I cannot help you.
My soldiers will not understand your appearance here; they will try to kill you.
You needn’t fear them, of course.  They’re no match for you.
Try to keep the casualties to a minimum, but do what you have to do.
(forebodingly)
All great movements require a few martyrs...

Moebius dissipates, leaving Raziel alone in the chamber.  He looks curiously at the room’s second time-streaming chamber – sealed, with a distinctive crystal mounted above the door.

Raziel V.O.
Alone now, I surveyed my surroundings and noticed a second time-streaming chamber, its entrance identical to the first, but with one distinction.
That crystal was significant, but how I had not yet discovered.

Raziel sees imagery in the Stronghold, lionizing the Sarafan crusaders

Raziel V.O.
Throughout the Stronghold I discovered evidence of my former nobility, and my life as a Sarafan priest.
This was the heritage so foully stolen from me when Kain raided my sacred crypt and defiled me.

His thoughts are interrupted as a group of vampire hunters attack.

Raziel feels the power of the Reaver returning, after being disabled by Moebius’s staff

Raziel V.O.
Away from the influence of Moebius’s cursed staff, I could feel the strength of the Soul Reaver slowly returning.
If that orb was as debilitating to vampires as it was to the blade, it gave Moebius a powerful advantage over his enemies.
I finally understood how Moebius’s crusade could decimate the vampires so successfully.  If he could immobilize his enemies, they were at his mercy.
But why, I wondered, would the staff have any effect on the Reaver?

Raziel has entered the Relic Hall of the Stronghold for the first time – as he approaches, he feels an inexplicable distortion.

Raziel V.O.
As I neared the Stronghold’s inner sanctum, a strange sensation crept over me – an indescribable feeling of displacement, a sense of vertigo as reality itself appeared to warp and bend around me. The disturbance seemed to emanate from the sanctuary’s furthest chapel. As I cautiously approached, the sense of dislocation intensified with each step.

Raziel crosses the threshold of the chapel, and sees the stained-glass window memorializing William’s murder at the hands of a demonized vampire, Kain.  Both are armed with the Soul Reaver.  He sees the sarcophagus of William at the end of the chapel.

Raziel V.O.
So this was the tomb of the beloved King William the Just – beatified here as the martyr and catalyst of Moebius’s crusade.
I was reminded of Kain’s journey as a fledgling vampire -
How Moebius coerced him to travel back in history and assassinate William, thus igniting a genocidal hatred of vampires among the citizens of Nosgoth.

Raziel proceeds into the chapel and stands before the sarcophagus, which he realizes now serves as an altar - for here, clutched loosely in the hands of William’s effigy, is the Soul Reaver, its blade broken in two.

Raziel V.O.
And here I discovered the source of the displacement – the Soul Reaver itself, laid out like a holy relic... And broken, apparently in the battle between William and Kain.
I had not thought such a thing was possible...
Until, of course, Kain shattered the blade against me when he tried to strike me down.

Raziel holds out his right hand and looks at it. As if in sympathetic response, the wraith blade manifests itself of its own will .

Raziel V.O.
Thus the captive spirit inhabiting the Reaver was released – and binding itself to me, became my symbiotic weapon.

Fascinated by the Reaver’s presence here, Raziel reaches out to gently touch the sword, running his hand up the broken blade, to the hilt. 

Raziel V.O.
And so the Reaver met its former self, still imprisoned in this corporeal shell...
I watched, mesmerized, as the wraith blade uncoiled itself, and snaked down the length of the physical blade...

His hand involuntarily clamps down on the hilt of the sword.  This is the will of the Reaver, now – Raziel is no longer in control.

Raziel V.O.
Embracing its twin, its mirror self, the Reaver’s long-dormant spirit was now fully aroused.
And for the first time, I felt the true presence of this other entity – willful, ravenous, and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment...
The Reaver was now in command – and I, now merely its helpless host, felt my soul being leeched to restore the blade.

Raziel watches in helpless horror as the Reaver draws his soul-energy down his arm and into the broken blade. The two halves of the Soul Reaver come together and are instantly re-fused.

Raziel V.O.
But the Reaver knew better than to destroy its host - and just as I neared the brink of oblivion, the blade released its hold on me.
As I recovered, I realized we were now bound together in a fragile alliance – the Reaver no longer merely my symbiotic weapon, but a sentient parasite, competing for control.

As Raziel recovers, he realizes that Moebius is behind him, watching with intense fascination. Raziel wheels on Moebius and menaces him with the now-conjoined Reavers.

Raziel
(enraged)
What have you done to me, Moebius?!
Is this your trap?!

Moebius
(genuinely apprehensive)
How mine?!
Don’t forget it was Kain who led you here, not I!
While you curse me – the only soul in Nosgoth ready to guide and assist you — Kain laughs at our folly and revels in your dismay.
 

Still recovering, Raziel raises the intertwined blades threateningly –

Raziel
These blades now coiled in sinister embrace have inspired terror in the hearts of creatures far more durable than you, old man.
Bound together as they are, I can only imagine what they could do to your soul’s fragile shell.

Moebius
(genuinely apprehensive)
Raziel, I beg you to stay your hand.
This was none of my doing.  I have sought only to aid you in your righteous quest.

Raziel
(taunting)
Why, you’re trembling, Moebius.  Has your confidence abandoned you?
You seem to have made a fatal error by leaving your precious staff behind.
Is that where all your courage comes from?

Moebius
(desperate)
Listen to me, Raziel – you don’t know what you’re doing.
I have taken an enormous risk by appearing here before you, so defenseless, yet eager to prove my good intentions.
If there’s anything left of the Sarafan in you, you won’t do this.
While you threaten me, your true enemy eludes you!

Raziel
(icy)
Don’t concern yourself with Kain, old man.  He’ll join you in hell soon enough.
As you said, Death comes for us all...

Raziel raises the entwined blades, fully prepared to strike Moebius down –

Moebius
Yes... the Wheel of Fate demands it.

Moebius’ statement stays Raziel’s hand momentarily –

Raziel
What did you say?

Moebius
The Wheel of Fate – the inexorable cycle of death and rebirth to which all men are compelled.
We serve the same God, Raziel.
(Moebius grows more confident as he sees this is having some effect.)
To strike me down would be striking God’s own attendant, and I don’t believe even you would take that risk.

Raziel throws the corporeal Reaver away in disgust.  The wraith-blade untwines itself and coils back onto Raziel’s arm.

Raziel
I tire of your games, Moebius.  Now that I know you fear me, I needn’t concern myself with you.
Kain is waiting for me.

Moebius
Go, then, Raziel.  Seek Kain out and destroy him, in the name of the One God we both serve.
You, who were once a Sarafan priest – murdered, profaned, destroyed and reborn again from His mercy...
You are now most powerfully equipped to be His agent – His instrument of restoration and retribution.
 

Raziel
My own vengeance is motivation enough.

Raziel turns his back on Moebius and exits the chapel in disgust.
Moebius slams and locks the gate behind Raziel, so that they are now safely on opposite sides of it.  He breathes a sigh of relief as Raziel stalks away –

Moebius
(quietly to himself)
By my soul, you almost had me, my little blue assassin.
But that’ll be the one and only chance you get, I assure you of that.

Moebius dissipates (teleporting away), and we return to Raziel, who has stopped to examine his newly-enhanced symbiotic weapon –
 

Raziel V.O.
I could now summon the blade at will, regardless of my strength.
But once summoned, the blade’s ravenous appetite could not be contained.
It devoured the souls of its victims... And if I allowed it to become over-aroused, the Reaver would now turn its hunger on me.

The Heart of Darkness

Raziel discovers a demonized image of Janos in the Stronghold, commemorating his murder at the hands of the Sarafan.

Raziel V.O.
So this was the legendary Janos Audron – reputed to have been the most ancient and diabolical vampire to have ever existed.
According to folklore, he lived high in the cliffs of Nosgoth’s northern mountains, and preyed mercilessly on the defenseless villagers below.
His reign of terror ended when the Sarafan finally hunted him down and tore his throbbing heart from his still-living body.
This relic came to be known as the ‘Heart of Darkness’, and was supposedly imbued with the power to restore vampiric ‘unlife’.
The Sarafan therefore guarded it carefully, lest the Heart fall into the hands of their enemies.
But I wondered – could Janos Audron truly have been as monstrous as depicted here?
Or was this merely artistic license by the Sarafan, who sought to lionize themselves by demonizing their darkest enemy?
 

Raziel sees the images in the Chapter House memorializing the Sarafan martyrs – his former brethren and himself.

Raziel V.O.
Strange, how my history came full circle...
This chapel, I realized, was a memorial to my former Sarafan brethren and myself... all of us martyred here, and then so cruelly profaned by Kain when he imposed his ‘gift’ on our noble corpses.

Raziel sees an heroic statue memorializing his Sarafan self

Raziel V.O.
For the first time, I beheld the image of my Sarafan self, memorialized here among my fallen comrades.
It tortured me to see how noble and pure I had been – and what a vile phantasm I had become.
And a profound sense of injury – of loss and betrayal – welled up in me, so overwhelming I could barely contain it.
All I wanted at this moment was to find Kain, and destroy him.