| abstract | - Soon after Raziel once again reached the chapel of the sanctuary cathedral within the stronghold: where murals commemorated the murder of William the Just by Kain decades earlier - with both armed with the Soul Reaver and the Soul Reaver itself placed on the sarcophagus of William like a holy relic. As Raziel entered the gated area he realized that Kain was there waiting for him. Despite Raziel's declarations of his independence and free will, Kain began to explain the complicated mechanics of Nosgoth's time-stream: starting with the revelation that "History [was] irredeemable" and unchangeable. Kain went on to explain the means surrounding the death of William the Just by his own hand and how this action had altered the history of Nosgoth, removing William and his Legions of the Nemesis and replacing them with Moebius's vampire hunting army. Reconciling the contradictory accounts, Kain exposed a deeper loophole within the structure of history to Raziel: how with the presence of two versions of the Soul Reaver blade, a paradox would be created that enabled one to reshuffle and briefly change history. Surprisingly, Kain willingly gave Raziel the Soul Reaver from the chamber - recently restored by Raziel from its formerly shattered state - causing the wraith blade to manifest and present Raziel with just such an opportunity. At first Raziel sought to test Kain's sincerity, but soon the wraith blade began to act on its own, forcing Raziel's hand and dragging him to assassinate Kain. At that point Kain revealed that he was destined to die there by Raziel's hand. Kain urged Raziel to fight it and assert his free will; and with great effort Raziel was able to just barely divert the blade, sparing Kain and in the process creating a second paradox and third timeline. As the change subsided, Kain congratulated Raziel and conjectured that with this change it might still be possible for him to reclaim his role as balance guardian and return the pillars to the vampires. Raziel however was far from convinced by this outcome, still revering his humanity and believing he was being used as part of a game between time guardian Moebius and Kain, he left intending to be influenced by neither. Kain meanwhile congratulated Raziel as he left on being a champion of free will and promised that there was more for him to unearth.[SR2-C5] Raziel continued on through the stronghold and made his way to the Circle's gathering-room, unlocking the time-streaming chambers using a Light Reaver bolt. He found Moebius within, apparently shaken and alarmed by the recent change of history. Moebius accused Raziel of succumbing to Kain's devious influence and condemning them all by sparing him, but Raziel countered that he had a choice and denounced Moebius for his own devious manipulations of history. When Moebius reminded Raziel of his messianic destiny, Raziel opined that he saw little reason to save bother saving Nosgoth and threatened Moebius with the Light Reaver, forcing him to activate the time streaming device and ostensibly set it to a period before the Sarafan crusades. Rejecting Moebius's pleas, Raziel activated the device and was swept away, but not before Moebius - away from Raziel's gaze - broke into a cunning grin.[SR2-C5] When the dust cleared Raziel found himself in the same chamber in a different time, but immediately suspected treachery as he found that the stronghold he had emerged in was abandoned and collapsing into ruin, with demons regularly attacking the material realm and the humans formed into ragged demon hunters to counter them. As he made his way through the stronghold encountering demon and hunter attacks, Raziel found his way to sanctuary again where a new statue of Moebius holding aloft the severed head of Vorador commemorated the final kill of Moebius's mob: confirming that instead of being sent to the past, Raziel had ended up in the Post-Blood Omen era, a century after the fall of the pillars. Stranded in this era Raziel made his way to the exit of the stronghold and soon found himself faced with the specter of the deceased Moebius, who justified his act as a necessary evil; an attempt to show Raziel the wasteland created from Kain's survival. Dubious of Moebius, Raziel countered that these events were set in motion by Kain's original refusal at the pillars and would not have been effected by actions against his elder incarnation. Expressing continued doubt in the time-streamer, Raziel speculated that Moebius wanted Kain disposed of simply because he was unsure what he was planning and that Kain was "a wild-card" in Moebius's 'carefully shuffled deck of cards'. Raziel finished by expressing his doubt that Moebius even was a spirit and offered to consume his soul and confirm this for sure, causing Moebius to vanish and retreat.[SR2-C5] Finally escaping the stronghold through the destroyed dock doorway, Raziel was able to follow the trail to the pillars and find the spirit of Ariel there lamenting her fate. The two debated Kain's decision at the Pillars and against Ariel's wrath Raziel found himself defending Kain's actions, retorting that the pillars were toppled by forces invited by the guardians themselves and raising the possibility that Kain's choice would have brought down the Pillars either way; and the scenario would have been worse had Kain chosen sacrifice. Whilst Ariel argued that Kain had to die for the Pillars to be restored, Raziel taunted her with the thought that Kain's death might not restore the Pillars and she would be trapped and bound at the pillars for all eternity. Distressed at this Ariel fled to the spectral realm, but Raziel was able to follow and after exhausting all lines of questioning he left Ariel with a final promise that she was merely at the threshold of her purgatory.[SR2-C5] Progressing further beyond the pillars to the Subterranean Ruins and into the Sub-Pillars chamber, Raziel next found himself confronted by the Elder God - bloated and grown large in this era - with its tentacles wrapped around the shattered Pillars. The Elder chastised Raziel for his failure to kill Kain and condemned him for the fate of Nosgoth. Raziel meanwhile returned to his earlier distrust of the entity, observing the guilty scene as if it has pulled down the pillars and commented on its apparent thriving in this era of devastation. As the Elder used its usual bombastic claims about fate and death, Raziel countered by claiming that it was simply a hungry parasite and the two parted ways.[SR2-C5] Passing through the ruins and into the now mutant-infested swamp, Raziel found that the time-streaming chamber in the swamp was still sealed, although its entrance bore several deep cracks in this era. Progressing further, Raziel found that the tree blocking his way to the northern mountains had fallen and he was able to follow the passage northward through several mountain passes until he arrived in the village of Uschtenheim. Recognizing the legends surrounding Janos Audron implicated Uschtenheim as Janos's hunting ground, Raziel speculated that he was not far from the retreat of the ancient vampire and soon after venturing beyond the hamlet he found Janos's Aerie – a high cliff-bound dwelling with a large winged sculpture beneath a high balcony – however the years had taken their toll and the retreat was collapsed into ruin, impenetrable to further exploration.[SR2-C5] As Raziel turned to explore the canyons further, Kain arrived at the scene and the two discussed Moebius's deception with Raziel openly admitting that he no longer believed that Kain's death would make any difference to the fate of Nosgoth. Kain encouraged Raziel to make his way into the past to meet Janos but warned Raziel of the forces being "marshaled to eliminate [them]", assuring him that regardless of Raziel's sentiments they would be regarded as allies. Kain soon departed, cautioning Raziel that greater unseen forces were at work and warning him of another ominous possibility – that if history were pushed by either one into a "fatal paradox", they could both be expelled from the time-stream – and that their enemies may be intending to trick them into such an act.[SR2-C5] Left alone at the foot of the retreat, Raziel explored the canyons furter and a short distance west of the aerie he found another ruin that was possible to enter from the ground, and using the Reaver to unseal the door, Raziel entered the Air Forge.[SR2-C5][SR2-C6]
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