Alliance

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

The last thing Raziel remembered was sacrificing himself to Kain's sword. It wasn't the most heroic acts, he felt, but neither was running away. In the end he couldn't deny that he had wanted this all along; at the beginning of his journey, he recalled himself saying that death would be a release next to this travesty... he supposed that this was the closest to death he could get, since he was virtually indestructible.

He was no hero, nor in doing this was he a martyr, Raziel was as he had always been: a pawn in a game that he was never meant to win at. Pawns were expendable, Kain, well, Kain was then king, obviously. He was still in the game, and with this pawn's sacrifice, he would be ever closer to victory.

However, the eternity he was to spend in the reaver blade was a lot shorter than he expected...

Raziel felt as if he had just woken up from a long slumber. He couldn't recall what his stay in the reaver was like, it was like a dream that faded the more one tried to remember it. His vision was just as fuzzy as his mind and it took him a moment or two for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room.

Raziel was laid out on a simple, stone slab in an equally simple room. There were few torches, maybe a candle here and there, but for the most part the room was bare, not even a cobweb, the candles were fresh, too, which meant someone must have been there recently.

However, who the caretaker of his resting place was of little concern to Raziel at the moment. Why he was no longer imprisoned in the reaver was what he wanted to know.

Raziel went to slide off the slab, but found his legs surprisingly weak. He gripped onto the slab, leaning on it for support. What was wrong with him? He didn't feel the need to feed, such weakness only came when he was about to shift into the spectral realm but he was still very much in the physical plain...

He clutched his chest, scrunching hie cowl between his fingers, his brow furrowing in confusion... something felt like it was missing, but he just couldn't put his finger on it...  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Turel's last conscious memory was one he had no control over. And even then, he wasn't sure it was real. After what felt like an eternity of being dragged about in time-warps, abandoned in some pit, and having lost control of his body in a weakened state to vile creatures, Turel lost the ability to perceive what was real. Were those voices, chanting his name real? Was that voice, telling him he was now Hask'ak'gik real? And were any of those times he pictured Kain or Raziel coming to help him real?

His last memory involved Raziel, where Raziel came back from the dead to kill him. He'd always imagined Raziel would want revenge. Revenge for going along with Kain's orders, revenge for destroying Raziel's clan, revenge for being a spiteful, greedy b*****d who wanted Raziel's position so badly.

Well, in all of the years of being alone, Turel felt he would have rather been Raziel's permanent second than in the position he was in. Being blind have given him a sight he lacked- a sight that showed him his selfishness. His glory, his honor, and his power were all stripped from him during a point of weakness and now he was left in this miserable state.

After a while, he began to hope the tales of a mutated vampire running amok was actually his brother, coming back for revenge to put him to rest were true. It was either that or Kain evolved again.

But that last one had to be real, right? After all, Turel suddenly felt a strange displacement from his body- even stronger than the ones the vile Hylden cast on him- that also made him feel like he was his self again. His vampiric self. And he kept hearing Raziel's laments over and over. Was this his final punishment? Or was this stinging, stabbing pain that he felt much later another part of the punishment? Will this punishment end?

Near the end of these odd feelings, Turel began to question his very existence. Was he ever really Turel, the second son of Kain? Was he ever a vampire? Was he ever real? In this floating, dream like state, Turel finally became attached to a body again. It was body, right? What is this feeling, this feeling of lost and separation from one's own self?  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

When Raziel finally managed to muster some of his strength, he used the slab to help pull himself up. He then wobbled over to use the wall, supporting himself against it as he headed toward the doorway. He had no clue what was on the other side - it was pitch black outside the room - but something in his gut was telling him he didn't want to know, that he should just stay put until the caretaker of this room returned or at least until he had recovered more of his strength. Still, who knew how long that would be, he should at least try to figure out where he was.

Exiting the room, Raziel squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but even for a vampire it was hard to see much of anything. He didn't have the energy to summon his wraith blade - and even if he did he wasn't sure he wanted to try using it; it just didn't bode well, one minute he was preparing for eternity inside the soul reaver and next he was here, something wasn't right.

Raziel flinched when he saw a shape move in the darkness and heard a deep, raspy intake of breath. Something was breathing in this room and now he just saw it exhale, the large shape lowering.

"Who's there..." Raziel demanded once he found his voice.  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Who's there

What a good question. And that voice? Was it his brother? Was this the real meeting of his brother? What was going on?

Turel croaked softly but could not force a coherent sound out. The voice of Raziel forced Turel to come to his senses. He was lying on a hard and cold surface. There was some cheap, shoddy pillow underneath his head. He came to within his body- finally able to move his arms and legs. But it was dark. Was he still blind?

But in all this time he had not replied. Who is there. Who was he?

Slowly, Turel, breathed out his name, the name he decided to stick by,
"Turel"  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

"Turel...?" Raziel repeated bemusedly, his fiery eyes widening in astonishment. "But... that can't be... you're dead." Then again, he himself was suppose to be dead, so he supposed this wasn't too much of a stretch.

Raziel shook off his surprise. "How did you come to be here?" Although, a better question would be, where is here...  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Dead? Maybe he was dead.

Turel chuckled softly. "Maybe I am dead, Raziel. But perhaps you are dead as well." Softly, he added, "And I am alone no longer"
He used his claws and then arms to sit himself up. He wasn't blind as he could see what he was sitting on. But Raziel...that was Raziel, right...looked strangely different.
Turel looked at what smelled like his brother
"Are you...Raziel? You look different. But smell the same."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

This wasn't the deranged, blind beast Raziel had discovered in that pit in what seemed like ages ago. That was a relief, he could reason with this one, since there was no way he could fight like this.

"I see your eyesight has improved considerably since last we met, not to mention your state of mind." Raziel mused, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall for support.

"I was the same that time as I am now, you just couldn't see it. This is what the abyss has done to me." He explained, gesturing over himself with a cloven hand. "I'll allow you a moment of smug satisfaction for what you helped to turn me into, I know you of all people would be most pleased to see me like this."  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Turel stared in shock at his brother. This was Raziel? This is what the Abyss had done to him? Turel bit his lip quietly and cast his eyes down shamefully.

Pushing himself up, he got off the slab where he had been sitting and slowly approached Raziel. As he stood right in front of his mutilated brother, he could feel a blood tear slowly coming down from his face.

Shaking his head, he said "No. I was alone forever and learned. Learned of what I did. How terrible...how selfish." He paused and paced around Raziel, taking in his new form. He muttered various words, with "awful", "terrible" and "painful" being the most audible.

Sighing, he glanced away from Raziel, unable to bear the shame.
"I was alone for so long. Possessed. I hoped you would come." Under his breath, he muttered, "to kill me."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

Raziel was a bit in shock himself. Turel was now regretting his actions? And he was.... crying...? Raziel almost didn't believe it, in fact, he was still quite wary, especially as his brother stood before him, looking upon him like he was something to be pitted.

Raziel narrowed his eyes up at the other. "And so I did... that's why I'm wondering why you're still alive." He said, not being able to help but feel a pang of jealousy, Turel being alive and restored while he himself was alive but still repulsive as ever.  

[Lieutenant Turel]

"Did you kill me? I remember so little at times. I kept imagining I heard you." Turel continued to ramble on, as if confessing his sins, "After while I hoped you would, to remove me from this pitiful existence I was in. I imagined you had come back so much more powerful than any of us."

He paused and stared hard at Raziel. "I was told you killed them too. Are they here? Are we in hell?" Or is this just some transient place that we are in? Have we been given our unlife back? And if so...by whom? I do not see our father anywhere."

Pacing around the room, he spoke aloud still, but now more to himself. "Perhaps this is the gods punishment for me. For the jealousy of my brother and aiding to his downfall, I must aid to return him to his former glory."


His pacing ceased and he looked at Raziel again
"Can you ever forgive my jealousy, Raziel?"  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

"I don't know if the others are here but I do know we're certainly not dead... as for this place, I don't know where we are." Feeling a bit more of his strength return, Raziel pushed himself up from the wall, heading back to the room woke up in. He grabbed a torch, bringing it to the darkened room and lighting the torches on the wall there.

At Turel's plea for forgiveness, Raziel sighed. "I already killed you once, I'd say we're even." Raziel replied, he had already forgiven Kain, he supposed the next step was to forgive his brothers. He was actually pretty weary of carrying all that hatred in his heart, it was good to let it go, to just surrender it, like he had surrendered himself to the soul reaver - as painful as it was, it also felt good, like a weight had been lifted of his shoulders; he no longer had to worry about the fate of Nosgoth, he had done his part, now it was Kain's turn.  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Turel nodded passively. He closed his eyes and twitched his ears; his ears were very sensitive to any sound and he was hoping to pick up a noise. He walked a bit ahead of Raziel, eyes close but using his hearing to locate anything.

Walking down into a hallway, Turel stopped in front of an open room. He looked at Raziel
"Someone is in here as well. Just waking. Male." He closed his eyes again and thought deeply.
"...Dumah"  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

Raziel came to where Turel was standing, listening a little himself but his ears were nowhere near as adept as his younger brother's.

"Can you hear anyone else?" Raziel asked, starting to wonder if all the brothers were here --- and then it hit him... that feeling, like something was missing... it was his brother's souls.

It made sense that he could no longer feel their power inside him, if they were alive again, but it still felt a bit unnerving to have someone pull a soul out of him like that.

Without Raziel realizing it, he was once again clutching his chest as he waited for Turel's answer.  

[Lieutenant Turel]

Turel eyed Raziel, and then closed his eyes again, trying to listen for the others.

He breathed in the stagnant air quietly and twitched his ears, to listen again.

"Yes. There are more awakenings. Some may not be fully awake, but I hear...Zephon...Melchiah...and Rahab. In that order. That is the order in which they are closest to us; there is another hallway adjacent to this corridor and it contains our youngest brethren. Rahab is in a hallway adjacent to this, " he indicated the one leading to Dumah's resting place "however there appears to be more rooms beyond Rahab's crypt."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

"Who could have done all this..." Raziel said quietly, his eyes downcast. He was still clutching his chest and cowl. He couldn't remember a time when more desperately wished that Kain was there, their sire always seemed to know what was going on.

Then again... was it Kain himself who had done all this...?