The idea of seeing Raziel's memories were something that many of the ponies where curious about and with the reasons being wildly different among them.

For Pinkie Pie, she was really curious about why Raziel was always so gloomy. She has never liked to see others with a frowny face, which is why she always tried to cheer them up and Raziel was no exception, especially after helping her on her birthday. Granted, it was hard to cheer him up because he lived in the Everfree and she didn't have enough time to go in there and cheer him up, but that didn't stop her from trying. With this, with Raziel finally telling her and her friends his past, she could probably figure out a better way to cheer him up.

For Rarity, it was a great opportunity to know more about this charming knight. She was always interested in knowing him better since he went to save her from the Diamond Dogs and she always found captivating how his past was so shrouded in mystery. Not even what Twilight informed her was enough, she wanted to know more, what did he went through to turn into the great and nice savior she got to know?

For Rainbow Dash, Raziel was among the most awesome things she has met in her life. He managed to fight against Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia, he fought dragons, he defeated an Ursa Minor, he defeated death, he could do magic and he feared nothing. She would never tell anypony this but she would be actually jelous of him if it weren't for the fact that Raziel couldn't fly, which it was also one of the reasons why she was so eager to know more about his past life. Every time Raziel looked at Raziel's wings, she always wondered what happened to them to get that appearance, in fact, what happened to Raziel in general? She was already aware of his powers (which were creepy and awesome at the same time) and she was more than eager to know how he got them.

Fluttershy wasn't very fond of Raziel. She understood that he had to feed in some... orthodox ways... and she was aware that not all the animals, or ponies, were nice but she still couldn't fathom the simplicity on Raziel's judgement as well as how easy it was for him to kill others. Not only she wanted to know what happened to him to gain such personality but she wanted to see more of him, she wanted to properly know him and hearing him telling his life endeavors seemed like the best way to do so.

Applejack was, perhaps, the one pony that had the most trust on Raziel, after Twilight Sparkle of course. After all, he saved Applebloom Celestia knows how many times, he helped Twilight with the Nightmare Moon incident and saved Twilight's life, he saved Rarity's as well as Aplebloom's life and he listened when he was asked to have mercy on Celestia. She may not approve of his ways, but she had no doubt that Raziel was a well intended... thing... and she may be aware that Raziel's story wasn't going to be a nice one, but, dang it, she wanted to know what kind of threat Equestria was facing now.

Both princesses were more than eager to hear Raziel's tale, even if for different reasons. While one princess was intending to listen to know how trustworthy was the wraith, the other princess was more interested in the kind of dangers he faced. Where one princess was curious about his looks, the other was more curious about the properties of his magic, and so on and so forth but there was one thing where both princesses agreed though. If Raziel was telling the truth, that meant Equestria was in danger from an enemy never seen before and they both wanted to know the magnitude of said enemy.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence weren't avaiable for this encounter but the princesses were going to make sure to include them in the next time Raziel decided to tell his personal life.

But, if there was one pony who was the most interested in hearing Raziel's life, that was Twilight Sparkle. After seeing him helping her with Nightmare Moon, saving her life in the Spirit Realm, helping her friends in more ways than she could think off and even opening himself to her, she was the most curious about his personal life, what was he so eager to hide that time when she interviewed him? What happened to him to get that appearance? What kind of monster was now putting Equestria in danger? Those and more, where the questions processing through her mind as she tried to remain quiet and waited for Raziel to begin narrating his story.

For Raziel, though, what he was going to do could be simply described as complete foolishness. Nobody in Nosgoth would ever put so much trust in even their closest friends, and yet, here he was, about to tell his personal adventures to a group of equines. It certainly was an unexpected twist on his life, one that he wasn't too angry about, for it also gave him a new chance to do things right.

Which is why Raziel was looking at the gem with wonder, trying to gain enough strength to show the secrets he has seen through his life. The feeling of dread and the desire to stop didn't last much, but he still took his time before using it, shining the room and allowing all the ponies to be amazed at what they saw.

They were now in a huge room which contained an architecture that was much different from Equestria's but, even so, they could feel the royal essence it had. As they stood in the center of it, they could see the columns and how they had flags on the top, they saw the entrance of light and how it illuminated the room while still avoiding the sunlight from entering.

As they looked around, they saw the room being surrounded by five figures around the room. They were all biped, pale and they all had flags of different colors with very specific symbols. Remembering what Raziel once told her, Rarity quickly deduced that this must have been clan leaders but, where was Raziel? Regardless, that question was swiftly drowned when they saw who and what was in the center of the room.

There were nine broken pillars, eight white and one (in the middle of the other eight) black and, in the black pillar's base, there was a throne and in said throne there was another biped sitting in there. This one had a long white hair but his body looked strong, the upper half of his body was uncovered but the lower half was covered with clothes, his eyes looked fierce, merciless and filled with power. His skin, though, was also worth noting. While the other bipeds in the room had a clear skin, this old one sitting on his throne looked like he had a thicker skin, as if his skin developed to be something different.

As the ponies were taking notes of what they were seeing, Twilight couldn't but notice how this old creature, this king, to have some type of weapon on his back. She deduced that it probably was a sword of some sort but she could only see the handle, which she found mysteriously familiar. She remembered quite well what Raziel told her when she asked him about his homeworld, Nosgoth, so it was easy to deduce that this king was probably the vampire emperor Kain.

Kain is deified
The clans tell tales of him, few know the truth
He was mortal once, as were we all
However, his contempt for humanity drove him to create me and my brethren.

In that moment, a new biped entered into scene, it was like the others but his face wore a certain trust that the mares could recognize but, haircut aside, the one thing that let them clear (or, at least, to Rarity and Twilight) his identity was the flag he was using. It's pattern was certainly familiar with the cloth Raziel always used to hide his mouth.

Seeing Raziel getting close to Kain quickly gave the mares the vibe that they were in a hearing. At the same time, they decided to take advantage of this to gaze and remember how Raziel originally looked like. The only thing they could see that Raziel kept back from this original self were the leg armor, the bandages on his arms, the hair on his head as well as the flag.

I stood with Kain and my brethen since the dawn of the empire
I have served him a millennium

"Well" -. Twilight thought. - "That answers his potential age but why Kain looks so different?"

In that moment, Raziel's flashback got to the center of the room and sit, revealing his wings.

Some years AFTER the master, our evolution would follow
Until, I had the 'honor' of surpassing my lord

The ponies had different emotions and thoughts when they heard this, Twilight saw it as a good thing and something that she found fascinating, the idea of a species that evolved after it's leader and that some could evolve beyond was something she wanted to research. Rainbow Dash thought that it was awesome to see how wings were seen as something above the usual, and so on and so forth.

But it's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the ones that noticed how Kain's eyes didn't look happy at Raziel's newest development, in fact, he looked worried more than anything.

This is why many of the mares started to wonder what would Kain do in the moment he raised from his seat and got close to Raziel. Nonetheless, just by remembering the limbs that were hanging in Raziel's back as well as the fact that his wings were boneless, all the mares quickly thought the same thing as Raziel continued to narrate and saw how Kain started to examine Raziel's wings.

They saw how Kain started to put his hands on each of Raziel's wings, even though Raziel himself looked worried.

They then saw how Kain moved his hand with complete strenght and savagely removed Raziel's wing bones, causing him pain beyond what could ever be imagined, forcing Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to flinch as they moved their wings in a protective manner, as they could partially feel Raziel's pain. As the mares saw Raziel's body falling to the ground and the other lords looking worried, all they could feel right now was sadness and a feel of repulse at what they were seeing.

All the while Raziel's words were hanging in their minds as the scenery changed. They no longer were in a palace, they were now in front of a lake that behaved like a vortex, waiting to catch something and drown it.

As they saw Raziel being dragged by those who he used to call brothers while his lord was looking at the lake's bottom, they couldn't but stop to think how would they react if this were any of them. Would they kill their best friend if Princess Celestia ordered them to? Would they obey? Would they rebel? And what about their friend? How could they see them if they accepted to murder them?

This, and many more thoughts, made the mares to indistinctly get closer together while Princess Celestia decided to use her wing to hold Twilight tightly, worried of what kind of things were crossing her mind right now. All the while, Raziel's narration continued.

I, Raziel
Was to suffer the fate of traitors and weaklings
Burn forever in the bowls of the lake of the dead

As Kain started to move away from the lake, not seeing Raziel's execution, all the mares could feel for him was anger and repulsion for ordering something so horrible but the one that was looking at him the most was Princess Celestia. She saw on him the worst kind of ruler she could possibly imagine, to send his best and most loyal subject to die because of something that should have been celebrated instead of being the reason of execution, not even counting what other kind of atrocities he must have done. She would always wonder what was crossing Kain's mind as he looked at the void with doubt before making the order.

Raziel tried to struggle, but he was too weak to do anything and couldn't stop his own brothers from sending him to die to the bottom of the lake.

Twilight and her friends will never forget Raziel's screams as he started to get closer and closer to the lake and they would never forget how Raziel was shouting and screaming as his body constrained in the vortex. All the mares felt pain and sadness in their heart with Fluttershy being unable to hold her tears.

Tumbling
Burning with white hot fire
I plunged into the depths of the abyss
An unspeakable pain
Relentless agony
Time ceased to exist
Only this torture
and the deepening hatred on the hypocrisy that damned me to this hell

In the end, all they could see now was the body of Raziel they knew today as his clan flag was now falling down to him, unable to speak or think of how this injustice was happening to him. All they could wonder was how did Raziel managed to remain so well behaved, kind and righteous after going through something like that?

It was then when they noticed Raziel's wings to no longer floating as well as his flag now dropping to the ground.

An eternity passed and my torment receded
Bringing me back from the precipice of madness

They could see how Raziel's body started to regain consciousness, his eyes started to shine the dark blue they know by now and they could finally see what happened to his jaw. Raziel looked at his left claw as he started to go back to his senses.

Raziel stood up, gave a look to his flag and used it to cover his mouth. By this point, the mares thought that they have seen it everything but it was then when they heard it.

Raziel!

From the flashback of Raziel to the mares, they all turned around as they saw something that they couldn't comprehend. It was a maddening sight of a creature they could barely understand and they were now starting to wonder how did Raziel managed from remaining sane after such a view.

You are worthy...!

They then saw Raziel starting to move around trying to understand where he was, all the while to voice, a voice that was familiar to both Twilight and Celestia, continued to speak.

I know you Raziel.
You are worthy

And all the while, the ponies could only look at what was in front of them. Unable to comment or think, just to see and listen.

You did not survived the abyss, Raziel
I've only spared you from total dissolution

The choice, is not yours

Raziel, feeling no longer able to argue and only wanting his suffering to end, knelt to the ground and continued on his resignation.

You are reborn
The birth of Kain's abominations traps the essence of life
It is that soul what 'animates' the corpse you 'live in'
And that, Raziel, is the demise of Nosgoth

There is no balance
The souls of the dead remain trapped in their bodies
I cannot spin them into the Wheel of Fate
They cannot complete their destinies

It then took a moment of silence to let Raziel assimilate what it was saying, how Kain was bringing destruction to Nosgoth, how it wasn't enough with only destroying him, even his beloved land was suffering from Kain's egotism. All Raziel could feel was anger and a simple desire.

Redeem yourself
Or, if you prefer
Avenge yourself

Raziel made his mind as he started to rise and move to the only exit avaiable, all the while Celestia and Luna were recognizing how Raziel was being manipulated by this... thing...

Settle your dispute with Kain
Destroy him and your brethren
Free their souls and let the Wheel of Fate churn again
Use your hatred to reave their souls
I can make it possible

As Raziel started to leave the cave, Twilight Sparkle would never forget how the Raziel leaving that cave looked so, angry, filled with hatred and with a desire that she could not understand, no matter how she looked around it and hoped to never fall into that ever in her life. All the while she was understanding what Raziel was meaning when he spoke about a creature far more dangerous than Nightmare Moon ever could be. Nightmare Moon was egocentric but this thing... this thing was manipulative to say the least. She was now curious with what kind of things it told to Princess Celestia to make her fight Raziel.

As for Princess Celestia, she recognized his way of speaking, his manipulations, how fool of her for falling into that. She decided that day to always be careful of who she listened, she would never fall into that trap ever again.

Become my... Soul Reaver...
My angel... of death...

And with that, Raziel's story ended and they all returned to Equestria, away from all of that madness and cruelty.

It took them a while to assimilate what they saw but, once they came back to their senses when Raziel decided to talk once again.

"That will suffice, for now. I would prefer to give you a moment to think after what you saw."

The first one to react was Fluttershy, who quickly decided to hug him while still crying, much to Raziel's surprise.

"Oh, you poor thing. I feel so bad for you. I didn't know what happened to you, oh, no wonder you act like that, is there anything I can do to compensate for what I said to you?"

Raziel took a moment to think on what was being offered to him but he couldn't formulate any type of answer since the other ponies started to talk to him as well.

"I know" -. Responded Pinkie Pie. - "I could finally make you that party I promised to make you and we can make it a super party for all the stuff you've been through and you can then explain us who was that meanie pants who threw you into that abyss."

They all remembered then who was the one who sent Raziel to that madness. They had to ask.

"Yeah, that reminds me" -. Asked Rainbow Dash. - "Why did that 'Kain' or whoever is he called did that to you?"

"Kain, the vampire king and emperor of Nosgoth. While I do plan to reveal why he did so, I will say for now that his motivations aren't as simple as one would think at first."

"Suffice to say that Kain, originally, only wanted to rule Nosgoth but, as he realized what Nosgoth's future was doomed to become, he decided to change all of it and he started with me."

"So" -, asked Twilight, curious at what she was understanding, - "he decided to save his homeland by ending your life? That doesn't make sense."

"It's true" -. Responded Princess Celestia. - "But I'm sure he had more knowledge around what was going on than what you are letting us know, is that correct?"

Raziel gave Celestia a look and recognized in her that common wisdom common from those who have enough hindsight and foresight to make risky gambles even though they planned their moves for centuries.

"Indeed. Kain wanted to rule Nosgoth more than anything, but he had no desire to rule a doomed land so he decided to make plans to ensure that he would rule for a far longer time."

The ponies took a moment to think, Twilight was going to ask Raziel more about Kain at a later date but... she was sure she wasn't going to like it one bit.

"I suppose that gives some answers for the time being" -. Rarity said, with a certain tone of doubt in her voice. - "But that still leaves a question regarding your... savior..."

That question was followed by a deafening silence which nobody wanted to break. They saw it, they heard it, they understood it but they didn't want to acknowledge it. Raziel, though, decided to answer anyways.

"While I have doubts about how much influence that monster had on my revival, I'll never see it as my savior. I'm still cursed into this form, no matter what I do or what I've managed to gain, this is a life that I'll never see as a benefit and that monster will only be another enemy to destroy to me."

"Still" -, Twilight continued, - "that thing is... what you told me was invading Equestria, right?"

The ponies took a moment to think. Not even Celestia or Luna, in all of their life, ever saw something like that. The idea of a monster like that invading Equestria and trying to take it over was... terrifying... to say the least. Still, Twilight had to ask.

"Beyond what any of you could believe. That is why I'm telling you this, so you can see and understand, first hand, what are we facing and why you must understand why one of my objectives is to search for it."

They all turned around and looked at Princess Luna, who was still looking quite collected after seeing all of that.

"Now we know why it was so centered into turning thee into our sister's enemy but, wasn't it worried about the fight's outcome?"

They all started to wonder around it but Raziel's answer was the best one that could have been made, one that made all the mares shiver for the implications of the kind of enemy they were now facing.

"He didn't need for Celestia to win against me. He only needed her to fight against me and fail on the attempt".

Legacy of Kain: Harmony's Rise

by Time Reaper

Memories I: Diving In