Chapter Eight - The Eternal Prison - "Bad Blood"
The Abode Of The Insane
Kain reaches the entrance hall of the Eternal Prison. The doors close behind him and a Prison Guardian appears.
Prison Guardian:
You there! I don't know you. Are you a guest? A visitor? An intruder?
We do not permit guests to disturb our routine. We are involved in important work here and nothing, nothing, must be allowed to interfere.
This is a place where those who have transgressed the laws of the gods and man, and so created a dangerous imbalance within themselves, contemplate the wrong that they have done, through peaceful, uninterrupted meditation, until they have regained the balance of their true, perfect inner nature.
This process must not be interrupted for any reason, until a spiritual transformation has been achieved, however long that may take. Thus no guests, no visitors, are allowed. And intruders, we know how to deal with.
Go! Now!
Kain ignores the warning. A short while later, the Guardian appears again.
Prison Guardian:
You there! I see you have not yet found your way out. I suggest you do so. Your presence may disrupt the progress some are making toward fulfilling the inner balance of their perfect nature, and that cannot be allowed.
Heed my warning, and depart at once!
Another Guardian appears and manipulates the clocks and time machinery in the room. Kain is transported to another part of the prison. He resumes his journey, but is soon confronted again by the first Guardian he met.
Prison Guardian:
You! Have I not told you that you do not belong in this place? Have I not told you to go? But you have not heeded my warnings. Now I must explain my meaning in a manner you are sure to understand!
Kain defeats the attacking Prison Guardian. He finds himself back in the room he was sent from earlier. He reverses the time manipulations, revealing a door.
Deep into the prison, Kain encounters a male wretch running through the corridors. He is being chased by someone speaking loudly, but the human's pleas drown the other voice out.
Male Wretch:
Help me! Let me out of here, I didn't do nothing! You can't let him get me! Help me, help me!
The voice becomes louder as the human's pursuer gets nearer. He arrives, shattering the railings in his path.
Magnus:
... It must be blanched, it must be poached, it must be fresh!
Where is my meat? Sopping with blood, running with gore.
Here, there -
Two Guardians intercept Magnus before he reaches the cowering human.
First Prison Guardian:
Stop that. You know you're not allowed down there.
Second Prison Guardian:
Get back!
Magnus:
Give me meat! Fourteen hundred ounces every day. And it will be fresh, and on two legs - or in this case four!
Magnus leaps at the Guardians. He then addresses the terrified human.
Magnus:
No, no. I've had my allotment. Fourteen hundred ounces or twenty stone.
You may go!
Magnus throws the human at the glass between him and Kain, shattering it and killing the wretch. He then gives chase to Kain. Kain tricks the deranged vampire into a pool of water.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Soon after, Kain sees Magnus again. It's only a short while before they meet, and for a second time, Kain submerges Magnus in water.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Kain continues moving through the prison. The Builder
Kain lowers a suspended cell. A prisoner crawls out, and Kain kicks him. This one is capable of rational conversation, but is clearly not human.
Kain:
Prisoner, I require information.
The prisoner stands.
The Builder:
You... You are not a jailer. I beg you, release me.
Kain:
First you must answer me. I seek a prisoner in this place, a builder. He created a large device that lies below the city of Meridian.
The Builder:
Seek no further. I am he.
Kain:
How fortunate.
I intend to destroy this device. I was told only you can tell me how.
The Builder:
I can indeed help you. But in return, I need an end to my suffering.
Kain:
Tell me of the Device and I will grant you any request within my power.
The Builder:
Yes, yes. The Device. The Device was built as a weapon aeons ago when two races warred with each other for dominance of Nosgoth. It houses an ancient creature, whose very mind is capable of killing any living thing with but a thought.
The Device was to channel the mental energy of this creature, and direct it onto Nosgoth. It would attune the creature's mind to kill all living creatures except for my race. Before it could be completed, however, I was imprisoned here, and the rest of my race was banished to another, far more terrible realm.
Kain:
So this Device was never finished? And yet, the creature still lives within it?
The Builder:
It was dubbed 'The Mass'. It is eternal and deadly, yet harmless without a channel for its mind. But we never completed the weapon. We needed a way to send its energy out of the Device and into the land itself. We needed a conduit throughout the cities - a network, if you will. Once this network was created, the Device would channel the mental energy of the Mass, and send death upon our enemies.
Kain:
You say 'a network'. Placed like a web throughout a city?
The Builder:
We never completed the network. We never used the Device.
Kain:
But the Sarafan Lord will. The Glyphs. He is using the Glyphs to channel the Mass to wipe out the city, humans and vampires alike. That must be his plan.
The Builder:
If this is indeed true, you must act quickly. It will be too large a task to destroy the Device itself. You must kill the Mass itself.
Kain:
You said this creature was eternal.
The Builder:
It has a simple weakness. Blood is like poison to its system. And not any blood, but pure blood from the elder races. My blood. My blood will poison and kill the creature.
Drink from me, vampire, and use my life's blood to kill that which I created out of arrogance and pride. Kill me so that the Mass will die, and the Device will be destroyed.
Kain:
You have suffered here an eternity, poor wretch. I will grant you release from your prison, and I will carry your blood in my veins. I will bring the Sarafan Lord's plans tumbling before him.
Kain kills the Builder and consumes his blood. He triggers the mechanism beside him and is somehow transported back to the familiar clock room. He is approached by two Prison Guardians.
First Prison Guardian:
You have ruined everything.
Second Prison Guardian:
Now these lives can never be redeemed. Our great experiment for nothing! For nothing!
Kain kills the two Guardians and continues. Magnus
Magnus appears, seemingly from nowhere. By controlling a bridge, Kain manages to drop the mutilated vampire into water for a third time.
Magnus:
(Screams)
Kain enters a maze. Through the bars he occasionally sees the mad vampire, evidently still alive. Kain exits the maze and finds his way into a courtyard. Statues surround a pool of water.
Magnus appears, perched within the broken courtyard wall.
Magnus:
So many enemies, both stone and flesh.
He jumps down. Crouched, he shouts -
Magnus:
I won't let them beat me! I will destroy you with my mind!
Magnus leaps on to the stone in the centre of the water pool. Laughing maniacally, he uses the Dark Gift 'Immolate' in an attempt to incinerate Kain. Kain hides behind the statues to avoid the attacks.
Before each use of his Dark Gift, the mad vampire shouts -
Magnus:
I will divine from your entrails.
or So many enemies, both stone and flesh.
When Kain knocks Magnus from the stone using 'Telekinesis', he will shout something different as he prepares his next attack -
Magnus:
Be glad I only incinerate you!
Kain knocks Magnus off the stone and into the surrounding pool four times. The vampire jumps out of the water.
Magnus:
Water is not my friend!
Magnus runs into another area, where a toppled and broken statue of the Time Streamer Moebius litters the ground. Kain follows slowly.
While Magnus is searching for Kain he shouts -
Magnus:
Where has he hidden himself?
or What? Where? Who? (usually after colliding with something)
As Magnus spots Kain and charges at him -
Magnus:
Prepare for oblivion!
or The spirits have told me to destroy you!
If Magnus collides with Kain -
Magnus:
Feel my pain!
or The earth shudders at my power!
or (laughs)
Sometimes, Magnus will add something to the phrases immediately above -
Magnus:
You've confused me with a mortal.
Sometimes, if Magnus collides with something, missing Kain he will say -
Magnus: (calmly)
I didn't think it possible...
Kain causes the broken Moebius statue to reform. Magnus is confused by it.
Magnus:
What strange magic is this?
Kain baits Magnus into striking the base of the statue and it falls. From amidst the wreckage, Magnus speaks to Kain. The impact has somehow returned his lost sanity.
Magnus:
The fog lifts...
Sire, wait!
Kain:
What trickery is this?
Magnus:
No trickery, sire. I am your servant once again. Your champion.
Kain:
Pathetic wretch. I have no...
Magnus? Could it be?
Magnus:
It is I, sire.
Kain:
How is this possible?
Kain V.O.:
Here in this cursed place was my finest warrior. The Sarafan had fallen before him by the score. Together, he and I were invincible. Until...
Kain:
Magnus, the traitor. Is this your reward for betraying me to the Sarafan Lord?
Magnus:
Sire, I did not -
Kain:
You left my camp in the night to join with my enemy, like all the others.
Magnus:
Sire, no. I wanted only to serve you. I thought, in my pride, I would strike a blow that would end the war. I went to kill the Sarafan Lord, alone. I was your champion.
Kain:
You never returned.
Magnus:
I failed you. I tried to kill him. Even now, I cannot remember how he defeated me. I was struck down, helpless at his feet, and then through his foul magic, he took my mind and transported me here to this... hellhole.
But what of you, sire? I heard that you were dead.
Kain:
Not so dead as some would like to have me. As you see, I have returned.
Magnus, my champion. You have suffered long enough. It is with pride that I grant you your death.
Magnus:
Sire, my thanks...
Kain kills Magnus, and draws the Dark Gift 'Immolate' from his ruined body. He says a final farewell -
Kain:
Go, my friend. Be free. As the rest of us, living or dead, can never be...
Chapter Nine - The Device - "Into The Depths"
Return To The Device
Kain arrives back at the Device. He enters the Beast's room.
The Beast:
I sense a change in you. You found the Builder.
Kain:
You are perceptive. He gave me his blood as a gift. I gave, in return, the gift he most wanted. Death.
The Beast:
You are ready to descend to the Device. Time grows short. My life is drawn from me. The Device is alive, you must destroy it.
Kain:
What can you tell me of the creature within?
The Beast:
The slaves speak of it as 'The Mass'. It has great power, yet it is just an animal. The blood in your veins will kill it.
Kain:
How do I enter the Device?
A door opens.
The Beast:
This passage will lead you there.
Kain:
I will return when the Device is destroyed.
Kain turns to leave.
The Beast:
Wait! You must know your true enemies, my captors. They are not of this world. They control the Glyph magic by which Meridian is enslaved. They pull the strings of the Sarafan while in the disguise of the Glyphwrights.
They are called 'The Hylden', and their leader is, of course...
Kain:
The Sarafan Lord.
The Beast:
They are powerful creatures, Kain. You will encounter them below. Beware their magic.
Now, find the Mass. Destroy the Device.
Kain:
You may toast my victory at days' end. Until then.
Kain leaves down the passage. In the room at the end, Kain witnesses a Glyphwright revert to its Hylden form. Kain triggers the switch in that room and continues.
Kain finally reaches a huge chamber. In the centre is the Mass, a towering creature that resembles a plant more than an animal. Its body is coloured in shades of red, green and orange.
Kain:
At last I had found it. The foul Mass, hidden within the bowels of the Device. Here was the Sarafan Lord's ultimate weapon, his trump card to be played against human and vampire alike. But I had my own weapon. I could feel the Builder's blood course coldly through my veins. If I could use it to poison this creature, the Sarafan Lord's plans would be ruined.
Kain follows the walkways to the top of the chamber. He cuts his wrist with his claws and allows some of his blood to poison the Mass. The creature shrivels and ruptures as it dies. Kain takes a lift back to the upper levels of the Device. The Restoration Of The Beast
Kain re-enters the room that held the Beast. The Beast has gone, and crouched in its place is an individual with blue skin and black feathered wings.
Janos:
You do not know me for the poor, oppressed beast that crouched here before?
Behold, I am restored.
Janos stands, stretching his wings.
Kain:
What are you?
Janos:
Not what, Kain, but who. My visage is unknown to you, but my name is not.
Have you heard the story of the oldest vampire?
Kain V.O.:
Janos Audron. The legendary vampire of ancient days. How was this transformation possible?
Kain:
But Janos is dead - his heart torn from his body.
Janos:
Not dead, but imprisoned in this place. My blood was needed to power the Device and feed the Mass within. Starved of blood and sapped of life, I devolved into that horrible creature. The moment you poisoned the Mass, I felt my strength return. That which is divine cannot be wholly suppressed.
Kain:
Divine? Your imprisonment has damaged your mind, Janos. The curse of vampirism is no mark of divinity.
Janos:
Ah. You must delve further back into history, Kain, to know the truth of our heritage. Long ago, and long before I first walked the earth, vampires were godlike, and our kind ruled the land. But we were opposed by another race, similar to ours in power, but different in method and intention. The wars between us flamed for a thousand years, but we prevailed at last, and we banished our enemies from the face of the earth by powerful magic, sealing them into another plane of existence.
Kain:
What has this history lesson to do with my task at hand?
Janos:
Patience, Kain.
The race that fought the vampires was the Hylden. The very Hylden that you have just encountered. They control the Sarafan, they are striving to wipe out the vampires, enslave the humans and reclaim all Nosgoth as their own. They are the evil that plague us once again. Authors of the demons, and the Device, and all else that threatens the land. They have returned to enact a terrible revenge.
Kain:
I thought you said that they were banished.
Janos:
They were, Kain, but several centuries ago, one of the Hylden was able to return to our world. He then used his magic to draw other Hylden through, but had not yet the power to begin a full invasion. He required an army here, and humans to drain of energy. He learned of a legendary order whose purpose was to purge the world of vampires long ago. He revived this order, and the Sarafan were born again.
Kain:
The Sarafan Lord. It was he that broke through - but how?
Janos:
Ah, now we come to your part in this story. When you chose to destroy the Pillar of Balance, you caused a rift throughout the world, sufficient to breach through the dimensions.
Kain V.O.:
Was it I then who had engendered this war? No. I had been set step by step upon the path that led to this outcome. Hadn't this all been a Hylden plot from the beginning?
My mind reeled at the implications.
Janos:
It was in this way that the Sarafan Lord was able to enter the world, by building a magical gate. This is the Hylden Gate. Close this gate Kain, and all the Hylden within Nosgoth will perish.
Kain:
The gate sustains their existence?
Janos:
Precisely. It is their umbilical cord to the other world. When it is closed they cannot dwell in our world.
Kain:
And so, all the Hylden will die, and the Sarafan Lord as one of them, dies as well. I see...
Janos:
Ah, close the gate, and kill the Sarafan Lord, Kain. Close the gate, and shut the Hylden from the world once again.
Kain:
And how is this to be done?
Janos:
Let us go to Sanctuary. Vorador must be informed of all that has occurred, and a plan can be drawn to finish this once and for all.
Janos transports Kain and himself from the Device. Sanctuary
Meanwhile, at Sanctuary, Umah is speaking with Vorador.
Umah:
You should have sent me with him.
Vorador:
You were wounded.
Umah:
There is no way to know where Kain has gone or what he is doing. Even you haven't been able to contact him.
Janos and Kain appear in Sanctuary. The Cabal vampires recoil, surprised by the sudden intrusion.
Vorador:
What's this?
No, wait. Do I dare believe my senses? Janos? My sire, they killed you.
Janos:
No, far worse. But that is a story for another time.
Kain:
But there will be no time for any of us.
Vorador, we need your counsel.
Umah:
We were wondering where you were.
Kain:
I've been doing what I said I would do.
Vorador:
Kain, the Device?
Kain:
I have destroyed it. But we are now faced with a peril even greater than before.
Vorador:
How is this?
Janos:
The ancient history I will convey to you in a better hour should any of us be so fortunate as to reach such a time.
For this moment, you must believe me when I tell you your enemy, our great enemy, the Sarafan Lord, is one of a people that come from another world. His plan, beyond all others, is to bring this enemy race back into this world from which my kind, in another age, once banished them. He must be prevented, or all our kind will perish.
Vorador:
Sire, what must we do?
Janos:
He has created a base in this world. The Hylden City, across the sea. There he has opened a gate to bring his kind into our world. My plan was to teleport us to the Hylden City, and launch a final assault on the Sarafan Lord, but now I find there is some kind of shield of magic that prevents me. If we are to fight them, that shield must be destroyed.
Kain:
Vorador, where is the Hylden City? Have any of your spies brought you this knowledge?
Vorador:
Umah, what do you know of this?
Umah:
There has been, in the past months, enormous activity at the Wharves. Warships, and freighters loading and unloading in great secrecy. Our people who have infiltrated the area, and returned alive, have told me that the ships all seem to take the same course out of the harbour. But we do not know their destination.
Janos:
It must be the Hylden City. Why else would there be such interest at this time?
You must take a ship to the city at once. There you must find and deactivate the shield, so whatever forces we can bring may come to your aid and close the gate for all time.
Kain:
Have someone show me to the Wharves. I'll make my way aboard one of those ships that's about to sail. When I have deactivated the shield, I'll contact you.
Umah:
I'm going with him.
Vorador:
But I will need you here.
Umah:
Sire, I know the Wharves. And where one may fail alone, two may succeed.
Kain:
I have no need of a guard at my back. You will find me perfectly competent for this task, I assure you.
Umah:
It is a chance we cannot afford to take. Not when all we have fought for is at stake.
Janos:
There is more at stake than you can imagine. Take help where it is offered Kain.
Vorador: (decisively)
It is settled. I will prepare our forces for the final attack.
(to Umah)
Go well, my child.
Janos:
Go well, both of you.
Kain V.O.:
Take help where it is offered. Yet I've always found that help offered when not needed, is usually no help at all...
Chapter Ten - The Wharves - "Betrayal"
A Conflict Of Interests
Kain and Umah arrive at the outskirts of the Wharves. Umah turns to Kain.
Umah:
Vorador has said we must seek out a war galley. We should search the southern docks.
Kain:
What about the defences here?
Umah:
The heaviest of all the Sarafan outposts. They control all trade and all travel to and from Meridian.
Kain:
The Sarafan are nothing compared to what I have faced, and destroyed.
Umah:
Don't be so arrogant. Their finest warriors will be waiting within. The Glyph Knights are deadly.
Kain:
We shall see.
Umah moves closer to Kain, looking at him directly.
Umah:
Tell me one thing, Kain, before we go in.
If you do kill the Sarafan Lord, and recover the Soul Reaver, what then?
Kain:
You know the answer to that.
Umah:
Tell me.
Kain:
Then Meridian, and all Nosgoth will become mine.
Umah:
And the Vampire Resistance?
Kain: (shrugging)
Well you may do whatever you wish, of course.
Umah: (quietly)
Of course.
Umah quickly grabs the Nexus Stone from Kain's chest and wears it herself.
Kain:
What!
Umah:
Do you take me for a fool?
Kain:
You dare -
Umah:
Vorador has told me all your stories, Kain. He said that you would stop at nothing to achieve your great ambition - absolute power.
And when you control Nosgoth, are we to believe that you would let us vampires live and do what we wish? We are the only ones who could stand in your way.
No. You will have to hunt us down and kill us, and how is that different from the rule of the Sarafan Lord?
Kain:
I will not defend or explain my actions to you, Umah. No one, not even you, will stand in my way!
Umah starts to walk away, stepping backwards, never taking her eyes off him.
Umah:
I thank you, Kain, for giving us this chance to defeat the Hylden for all time. But you have done enough. I shall be the one to find and kill the Sarafan Lord, and Nosgoth shall belong to the vampires once again.
Kain:
You fool. You have not the smallest chance of surviving such a battle.
Now, give me the Nexus Stone, or I shall pry it from your thieving fingers as you convulse in death.
Umah:
Now the beast shows his true nature... and so quickly, too. I wish it had been otherwise for us, Kain.
Umah starts to teleport
Umah:
Farewell.
Kain growls and leaps at her. The spell removes her before Kain's strike, and she appears a short distance ahead, out of Kain's sight. He follows her on foot. He reaches a gate in the market area.
Gatekeeper:
No one's allowed through here without the password. The fog's come in and no ships will be sailing until they turn the lighthouses on.
Kain overhears two men talking as he explores the waterfront.
First Man:
They won't let me down to the docks. They say it's because of the fog, but I need to get to my boat.
Second Man:
Just give 'em the password 'North Star'. He'll let you through.
First Man:
Thanks, mate. I owe you one.
Kain returns to the market and speaks with the gatekeeper.
Gatekeeper:
You again? Password?
Kain:
North Star.
Gatekeeper:
Good enough.
A short while later, Kain meets a man blocking a doorway.
Man:
Keep your distance!
Kain:
Never fear...
Man:
Are you Kain? They sent me to help you. You must reposition the lighthouse, so that the Sarafan supply ship will dock and the drawbridge will lower.
Kain does as the man instructed. The Price Of Betrayal
As Kain continues through the Wharves, he encounters Umah. She is surrounded by several Sarafan corpses, but she is severely wounded. Kain kills the last Sarafan Knight for her.
Kain:
We meet again, Umah.
Umah: (breathlessly)
Kain...
Kain:
Yes. Kain.
I thought you were to bring the Sarafan Lord to his knees.
Umah:
I thought...
Umah collapses to the ground.
Kain:
I know.
Kain drops to one knee beside her as she speaks.
Umah:
It seems... I was wrong. I could not carry the fight... alone.
Kain:
You were brave to try.
Umah:
Kain... I'm dying.
Kain:
Yes. You are.
Umah:
I need your blood. Please. You can save me.
Kain bends forward and takes the Nexus Stone back.
Kain:
I know.
Tell me, child. Do you see me ruling Nosgoth?
Umah:
Yes, yes. I see it now.
Kain:
And do you believe that Nosgoth rightly belongs to me?
Umah: (desperately)
I do - I believe it, Kain. Please!
Kain:
... Then you may die, knowing the truth.
Kain strikes Umah with his claws.
Umah: (dying)
No!
Kain:
You should never have betrayed me.
You could have been my queen.
Umah: (dying)
Kain...
Umah dies.
Kain: (quietly)
Now you have left me alone...
Kain continues as planned. He reaches a yard where a demon is suspended in a cage. Vorador contacts him.
Vorador: (WHISPERING)
You must unleash the demon out of its cage. Then use the empty cage to smuggle yourself onto the ship.
Kain - be careful.
The demon kills the guards around it, then escapes entirely. Kain gets into the cage and boards the ship.
Chapter Eleven - The Hylden City - "The Living End"
The City Across The Sea
The boat docks, and Kain leaves it. Outside the city, the Sarafan Lord appears.
Kain: (mockingly)
The charlatan emperor rears his head.
The Sarafan Lord:
You are far from home, Dark One.
Kain:
Spare your speeches, demon. Your secrets are known to me now. Your plans crumble like dust, brought down by my will.
The Sarafan Lord:
You have struggled longer than expected, but nothing is changed. You see before you your death.
Kain:
Know you not that your vaunted Device is destroyed? Your hope of controlling Nosgoth lies in ruins. This world is mine.
The Sarafan Lord:
You understand nothing. You are a degenerate remnant of a cursed race, doomed to walk the night as a parasite. Your life as easily snuffed out as those you feed on to survive.
My race is but a warped parody of our former beauty. We are like you - fallen gods, scratching for our former power. But we will prevail. We will cleanse this world of your kind, and bring about a new, glorious age.
Die, Kain!
The Sarafan Lord tries to cut Kain down with the Soul Reaver, but Kain is protected by the Nexus Stone.
The Sarafan Lord:
The Nexus Stone!
Kain laughs.
Kain:
Fitting, isn't it? The very item you used to defeat me, now turned against you.
You're finished.
The Sarafan Lord:
It matters not. The gate remains open, and even as we speak, my army, the likes of which this soft world has never seen, prepares to enter. Nosgoth is still mine for the taking.
The Sarafan Lord vanishes.
Kain enters the city by releasing the demon that is held in the entrance hall. Its trail of destruction clears a path for him.
Kain soon encounters two human slaves deep in conversation.
Male Slave:
It's not that simple.
Female Slave:
Why not? If we stay here, we will die. That's certain.
Male Slave:
And where will we go?
Female Slave:
We can slip aboard one of those vessels. They bring people every time. They must come from where there are others of our kind.
Male Slave:
What if we're caught?
Female Slave:
If we stay, we die. How is that different?
Male Slave:
The place the ships go to is worse.
Kain approaches them. The male slave does not see Kain until he is right next to them.
Male Slave:
Huh? What was that?
Female Slave:
He is the one, he must be - look at him. He is the one who is working against them.
Male Slave:
Sir, is it true? Are you the vampire who's been making war on the demons?
Kain:
I am Kain. Do you know this place well?
Female Slave:
We do, my lord.
Kain:
I must find the mechanism these creatures use to hide their presence in this city.
Female Slave:
He can show you.
(to the male slave)
Go on.
Male Slave:
It is there, my lord. That building. I've heard them talking. The device you seek is within.
Kain takes note of the building. He then asks about the container that is floating above the water, and going into it.
Kain:
I thank you. Now, tell me, what is that?
Male Slave:
That is the only way to get within. The doors to the building no longer function.
Female Slave:
Like so much of this place.
Kain indicates another building.
Kain:
And that one there?
Male Slave:
We don't know.
Female Slave:
But our stories tell us that is where the demons first appeared in our world.
Kain:
Stories? How long have your kind been in this place?
Female Slave:
We have been here forever. Our oldest fables tell us that our gods abandoned us here.
Male Slave:
There are others like us, new ones, soft ones. The demons bring them here from other places to work. They tell other stories.
Female Slave:
They had no knowledge of the arrival of the demons. We had to tell them.
Kain:
Enough. Be silent.
That building surely leads to the gate, but first, I must destroy the device.
Kain V.O.:
How long had the Hylden held a foothold here, while we, unsuspecting, fought and triumphed in our petty wars above?
The demon that Kain released earlier breaks through the elevator shaft and gives chase to the humans. Kain avoids it and continues his exploration. The 'Reinforcements' Arrive
Kain eventually destroys the shield generator device. Vorador contacts him.
Vorador: (WHISPERING)
Kain, the Hylden City's defences have been broached. Janos can no longer sense a ward barrier.
Kain: (WHISPERING)
It's my doing. I've shut down their foul magics, at least for a time.
Vorador: (WHISPERING)
Then we are ready to help you. Janos is casting a spell that will bring us to you in moments.
Kain: (WHISPERING)
Excellent.
Vorador: (WHISPERING)
I look forward to thanking you in person for saving Umah's life.
Kain: (WHISPERING)
Yes, of course...
Janos and Vorador appear in the room.
Janos:
I will try to detect the location of the Hylden Gate.
Vorador:
Where's Umah, Kain? I cannot sense her.
Kain:
She will not be joining us.
Vorador:
Umah is dead, is she not? Were you too late?
Kain:
No. She suffered the fate she deserved. She stole the Nexus Stone from me.
Vorador:
So you refused to help her?
Kain:
I dealt with her as I deal with all traitors. I killed her accordingly.
Vorador:
You did what?!
Kain:
I did as you would have done, Vorador, to any human or vampire who defied your will.
Vorador:
Monster!
Kain:
She chose her fate. Was she acting as the dutiful lieutenant, following her superior's orders? I care not. What's done is done.
Vorador:
We were wrong ever to trust you!
Kain:
Do you so wish to return to the grave, old friend? You are in no position to challenge me.
Janos:
No. We have no time for this discord. I sense that the Hylden Gate is nearby. I can transport us there.
Kain:
We will settle this in good time. Tonight, the Sarafan Lord dies. Tomorrow, we shall see...
Suddenly Vorador is knocked to the floor by a projectile from the Soul Reaver. The Sarafan Lord has arrived. He fires again, this time at Janos, also knocking him down. The Lord addresses Kain.
The Sarafan Lord:
This round is mine, Dark One.
The Sarafan Lord vanishes. Janos starts to get up.
Janos:
I must tend to Vorador. Proceed without us, Kain. I can teleport you to a place near the gate, but you will have to close it on your own. Use the Nexus Stone. Cast it into the gate, and the magic of the stone will destroy it utterly.
Kain:
Cast your spell then, and let us finish this.The Sarafan Lord
Kain is transported to the doorway he saw earlier, while speaking with the slaves. He makes his way through, then finds the gate itself.
Kain V.O.:
At last I had hunted my prey to his very lair.
The Hylden Gate was before me, from which the Hylden General, in his guise of the Sarafan Lord, planned to bring forth his alien armies, and destroy us all.
Kain spots the Sarafan Lord on another part of the platform.
Kain:
Turn, vile demon! Your reckoning day has come!
The Sarafan Lord turns sharply.
The Sarafan Lord:
Kain.
Kain:
Did you think you could defeat me? All your plans are revealed, together with your true nature.
Turn and enter the gate you have fashioned, and join your kind before I obliterate it. Or stay, and be destroyed upon its rubble.
The Sarafan Lord:
I confess, I did not expect to find you here, at the heart of my endeavour. You are indeed a more capable adversary than I had thought possible.
Kain:
You can ponder that thought when you have made your choice. Return to exile, or death.
The Sarafan Lord:
Do you think the game is over? Do you think it will end with me?
Have you not wondered why so many of your trusted henchmen, time and again, bend their knees before me, accept me as their lord, and join their cause to mine?
Kain:
Cowards and traitors deserve no second thoughts, only their complete annihilation.
The Sarafan Lord:
Did it not occur to you that perhaps my cause, and not yours, is the cause of right and justice? That your ambition to rule this world is but the youthful craving of a petty noble, who has gained too much power, but never enough?
Kain:
Silence, demon.
Your need to corrupt is only too apparent. But every traitor that you have turned to your will from my side, even Umah, your latest spy, is dead.
The Sarafan Lord:
Umah? I have no spy called Umah.
Kain:
You lie!
Kain and the Sarafan Lord fight. The Sarafan Lord shoots projectiles from the Soul Reaver.
The Sarafan Lord:
You and your damned stone!
Most of the time, he will shout one of the following immediately after -
The Sarafan Lord:
You are outmatched!
or Why won't you just die?!
or That stone won't protect you from the vortex!
Kain knocks the Sarafan Lord off the platform. He peers over the edge and hears the Sarafan Lord speaking to him. Moments later, the Lord appears behind Kain.
The Sarafan Lord:
Do you still believe you can prevail? While you possess the Nexus Stone, my sword cannot slay you, but while you bear the stone to shield your life, you cannot use it to destroy the gate.
Stalemate, Kain, and mine is the waiting game. As long as I have not lost, in time, I am sure to win.
Kain:
But I have not yet made my choice.
Kain removes the Nexus Stone and drops it into the gate.
The Sarafan Lord:
No, no, no!
The metal structure rocks as the gate becomes unstable. Kain and the Sarafan Lord continue their battle.
Now Kain is unprotected, The Sarafan Lord attempts to strike him down with the Soul Reaver.
The Sarafan Lord:
I have mastered the Reaver. I am your doom.
or I will rend your soul!
or Kneel before my might!
or As long as I wield the Reaver, I am immortal!
or I cherish the irony of killing you with your own sword, Kain!
Kain attacks with 'Immolate'. Eventually, the Sarafan Lord drops the Soul Reaver. He is walking over to pick it up when Janos arrives.
The Sarafan Lord:
You.
Janos:
Yes. Your prisoner. From whose blood you built your evil plans.
The Sarafan Lord:
What could be more righteous than to take our revenge and your freedom from the same source?
Tortured aeons of suffering are too good for you, Vampire.
Janos:
But not for you, Hylden, who has dared to set a corrupting foot upon this world after your banishment.
Return to the demon dimension in which you belong.
The Sarafan Lord:
And by what right, cursed one, did you send my kind to that place of evil?
Janos:
By what right did you lay on us the curse that drove us from the light, and made us predators of humankind?
The Sarafan Lord:
It was justice, for our banishment from the world. You see what it has made of our once fair race?
Janos:
I see you have taken your true form at last.
Janos leaps at the Sarafan Lord, but the Lord catches him easily by the throat.
The Sarafan Lord:
Then go, and see what it makes of you!
The Sarafan Lord releases Janos and physically attacks him. Janos is too weak to gain the upper hand against the Lord.
Janos:
Kain! The sword!
Kain reclaims the Soul Reaver. The Sarafan Lord lifts Janos up again.
The Sarafan Lord:
I sentence you to the hell of your own making - a prisoner for all time.
The Sarafan Lord throws Janos through the vortex of the gate.
Janos:
No! Kain!
The Sarafan Lord returns his attention to Kain.
The Sarafan Lord:
And now it is your turn.
The platform collapses, until only the central section remains. Kain and the Sarafan Lord retreat to it and continue their fight there.
The Sarafan Lord:
You are outmatched!
or Why won't you just die?!
or Kneel before my might!
or Face me coward!
or That sword will not save you.
Kain emerges triumphant. The Sarafan Lord is slumped before him.
The Sarafan Lord:
You have won the battle, but the war between your kind and mine will never end. Our banishment in the demon dimension also ensures our immortality. One day, we shall return.
Kain:
Should your kind ever breach that place of banishment again, I will be waiting.
The Sarafan Lord: (laughing weakly)
You will not live that long.
Kain:
I have lived long enough to dispose of you.
Kain thrusts the Soul Reaver into the Sarafan Lord, killing him at last.
Kain walks away from the gate as it explodes and collapses behind him, destroying the Hylden already in Nosgoth. He considers what the future will hold.
Kain V.O.:
Umah...
What was it she said to me in that fateful moment when she took from me the Nexus Stone? How would my rule differ from that of the Sarafan Lord?
If you had lived, Umah, you would have learned the difference.
You should have trusted me...
The war was over, and yet there was another battle to be fought. The cruel masters of Nosgoth, the Sarafan - now leaderless - still had to be put down.
There were cities to be rebuilt, and order to be restored. And a new rule, my rule would then begin.
To the victor go the spoils. At last, Nosgoth would be mine.