Memories II: Ozymandias
"He didn't need for Celestia to win against me. He only needed her to fight against me and fail on the attempt".
As all the ponies heard those words, the only thing they could feel was the coldness running through their limbs as they tried to comprehend all of the implications of it.
"He was planning for you to end my life."
Celestia said this with no shock or worry, the only thing she could feel right then was the realization of what play almost happened to her, and those surrounding her, and what part she played into it. Shame was what flew through her veins while anger boiled through Luna's.
"But, wait" -, interrupted Rainbow Dash, - "what could that... thing... win by making Raziel beating Celestia?"
Silence was her answer, both from those who couldn't understand the play being made by the monster and those who understood it and couldn't bear the idea of explaining its macabre nature. That is, until Luna decided to explain it with what little calm she could muster.
"That monster was planning for Raziel to end our sister's life and, in doing so, to make all of Equestria to despise him" -. She then looked at Raziel with contempt in her eyes as she proceeded with her explanation. - "It twisted her mind so thou could only foresee her demise as thou solution, despite being well aware of what consequences would come from it, is that correct?"
Raziel looked at Luna silently for a few seconds before nodding.
"Hadn't you intervened, your sister would have met her demise back then."
Twilight and the others were horrified at the way Raziel said this, why would he think this was the only option? They were about to demand a response from Raziel, but Celestia (of all ponies) called for tranquility.
"I suppose this has to do with the way your world works, is that correct?" - Seeing Raziel nod brought Celestia anguish, as she knew what kind of reasoning Raziel had to go through to even conceive the idea of destroying her. - "You already saw this scenario happening before, didn't you?"
Once again, Raziel nodded and Celestia only felt sadness at what she feared became true.
"Did you try to save someone and, instead, caused more havoc, is that correct?"
Surprisingly so, he responded negatively.
"It wasn't me who committed that mistake" -, as confusion was filling everypony, Raziel clarified with a shocking revelation, - "it was Kain who learnt this. He went back in time to stop a noble king from being corrupted, but all he did was ending his life when he was still a beloved monarch. In the end, all he did was creating a justification for the human race to hunt down and exterminate the vampires. Leading Kain to decide on whether to save Nosgoth, at the price of destroying the vampire race, or save himself and with the vampire race while dooming Nosgoth to an eternal decay."
As they all heard this, everypony's mind were stopped by the realization of what Kain did. In the search for doing good, he only caused more harm and, after choosing the salvation of his species, he now wants to rule over all.
"So..." - Reasoned Twilight, - "he was only trying to save his land since the beginning?"
Seeing Raziel denying this only made Twilight's ears go down of sadness.
"No, Twilight. Kain may do good from time to time, but, in the end, he only works for his own personal gain."
After hearing this, all the ponies decided to think and rest for some minutes before Raziel decided to continue his tale. Once they were ready, Raziel grabbed the jewel and restarted the illusion, embracing all the ponies into his memories and showing what he did after being told by the Elder God to go back to the surface and destroy Kain and Raziel's brethren.
To the surprise of all the ponies, the tale continued right where Raziel made his first break, showing how he started to move around the abyss with very weakened, as if he had very little energy to move around, but still determined steps. Just by looking at his eyes, Twilight could see that his desire for vengeance was the driving force directing his steps and that disturbed Twilight to her core.
And so, all the ponies saw how Raziel, step by step, slowly crawled upward from the cave he was under. It was interesting to note that the cave had a small road with a very soft steep that allowed Raziel to move forward, and it was even more surprising to see how the walls had some kind of structure, as if this once was a chamber of some kind, long ago abandoned. This idea was only reinforced by the next thing Twilight saw.
The next thing they saw was a chamber with a strange architecture. The walls were carved with figures as if it were a long forgotten deity and, in the center of the chamber, was a large arc that had a large crystal on the cornerstone whose symbol resembled the same as the one in the floor within the arc's radio.
Thankfully, the Elder God's voice clarified what they were all looking at, even if they shivered at the reminder that they were being watched by a creature that could be anywhere and at anytime.
This gates twist space
laying a path across great spans
As Raziel slowly reached the crystal on the floor, a light was illuminated both on the floor and at the cornerstone of the arc, making Twilight wonder how did it work in the first place.
After that, Raziel continued walking through his only path avaiable until he reached another chamber. This time, there was a pedestal with one hole at the center of the chamber; said hole was surrounded by a series of columns that gave the chamber a foreboding feeling. Especially considering that the hole in the center was expelling some kind of energy that was picking everypony's interest.
As Raziel entered the chamber, he had to rest on the right wall due to the fatigue he was feeling.
You are weak,
you must feed
Raziel looked up as he responded.
"The old hunger has left me. I have no desire for blood."
In that moment the ponies looked at the hole as they heard the conversation being exchanged.
You have changed,
your blood thirst is replaced by a deeper need
As it said those words, from the hole at the middle of the chamber, a green orb came out and started to float around. Many of them wondered what it was and what was that strange sound that was coming from it, but Twilight was already figuring out the answer to that and her coat started to bristle because of it.
You've become a devourer of souls
to sustain your strength,
you must hunt the lost spirits of the underworld
and consume the souls of your enemies
As it was heard, they all saw how Raziel started to open the scarf that hid his mouth, making the souls to be syphooned into his mouth. This was the first time for all of the ponies, except for Twilight, to see Raziel feeding on souls and while there were some variances (like Rainbow Dash being more curious while Applejack and Fluttershy felt more disgusted at what they saw) they all felt their stomachs churning at the vision of Raziel consuming a random soul, who knew who it was, just for the sake of feeding. If there was any doubt before, now it was clear to all of them that Raziel was an apex predator, one that was, thankfully, not wanting to feed on them.
After seeing Raziel feeding for quite a while, they finally stopped feeling disgusted as Raziel ended his feeding. Once he closed his mouth, he started to move faster through the path ahead of them. He was now so agile and precise with his movement, that he managed to jump across the many obstacles he found with complete ease. He even showed that his wings weren't completely useless, as he was capable of using them to glide across the air.
After that came the next chamber and it was filled with bipedal creatures, with pointed fangs, yellow eyes, completely naked and moved as if they were suffering an eternal hunger. The display only made the ponies feel disgust, with Twilight feeling concern around them (for she still remembered her encounter with the archon) while her friends felt fear at the unknown assailants; Celestia and Luna, meanwhile, only felt disgust at the creatures that didn't seem to be dangerous to them. Raziel, in the end, made the question they wanted to make.
"What scabrous creatures are this?"
As the creatures moved around, one of them picked up a soul and ate it.
Sluagh are the scavengers of the underworld,
their feral hunger claim countless souls,
spirits now shall never find their rest.
As everyone heard this, Raziel jumped towards the sluagh and fought them with his claws. The foul beast only saw him as another entity to feed on and jumped straight at the soul reaver, but Raziel proved to be faster than them and dodged their attacks with ease, using then their open flanks to attack them with his claws. In two quick strikes the monsters became transparent as they made a desperate scream, and then turned to run away from Raziel, but the soul reaver only had to open his scarf to suck all the sluagh and souls in the vicinity.
In the meantime, Twilight noticed once more how the chamber containing the sluagh had actual architecture, with well carved columns that only made it seem more as if all of them were on the leftover of a destroyed building.
After that, Raziel moved on and saw how the underworld tunnel he was in lead to an opening which, once he jumped over, lead to a place with no roof but where everything still looked bluish (as if they were still underwater) and decayed. It was desolated as there was only a group of destroyed, but very tall, pillars surrounding a blue circle on the middle of them. Anywhere else only had dusty rocks to be looked upon.
"Uh, girls" -, quickly added Rainbow Dash, - "not that I want to interrupt but, what happened to the sky?"
All the mares looked up and saw, to their horror, how there was no celestial bodies above them. No sun, no moon, not even stars and that sent shivers across all of them, except for one.
"There is nothing wrong with the sky."
All the mares turned to Twilight with shock in their faces as they tried to form a comprehensive response to her assessment.
"Hum, Twilight dear..."
"Not to be rude or mean but..."
"Didn't ya notice there's no sun or moon on the sky...?"
"How can you claim that there's nothing wrong with it?"
"Yeah that's like saying that you can have a birthday with no party!"
Twilight gave all of her friends, as well as the princesses, a serious look and answered.
"The reason why I say it is that we aren't in the Physical Realm, we are on the Spectral Realm and, last time I was there, there is no celestial bodies in said realm."
As the information started to dwell on all of her friends, they decided to look around once more to analyze what they were seeing, with all their looks focusing on the blue circle, wondering what was that about as Raziel started to get closer to it.
This portals are your conduit between the spectral and material realms,
with their aid, you may gather matter and will yourself to manifest on the physical world.
This is taxing however,
your strength must first be fully restored,
you require no conduit to return to this plain,
you may abandon your physical body at any time.
Raziel then moved toward the center of the circle and, as its light started to surround Raziel, the reaver of souls moved his claws around himself. This gesture made one of the biggest wonders that all the equestrians would remember through their entire lives, for they saw how the pillars started to dwarf and look more natural. They started to feel the cool breeze going through them, the rock started to look more lively (even if it went from bluish to brownish) and the blue circle dissipated from their sights. Only Celestia would notice how the path from which they came from was blocked by the moving rocks, never to be seen again.
The idea of seeing how the two realms connected and reshaped among one another was something to behold, it really made them feel how all they used to think about the world was shattered and put to the test. For Twilight, though, this was even more especial since, last time she was shifting between realms, she was too busy reentering her body to notice how the two realms were interconnected.
Sustain your strength to prolong your manifestation in the physical world,
if you fail to feed, or absorb too many wounds,
this fragile matter will dissolve.
As Raziel started to look around, he saw a large group of bars blocking his way to the east, forcing him to move to the west and into another hallway, directly to a small pound of water.
You are young yet, Raziel,
you still retain many of your vampiric weaknesses.
Immersion in water, while not fatal, will dissolve your physical body
forcing your return to the Spirit World.
Be aware that in the Spectral Realm
water has neither heft not lift,
it stands as thin as air
Raziel simply jumped over the water and continued until he found a door. Once he opened, yet again, another disgusting group of creatures met his eyes.
This were two bipedal creatures, they had a very dark skin and only three claws, like Raziel, which were surrounding a corpse on the ground. What made them different from the sluagh (and what made them even more disgusting to the ponies) how a small red trail went from the corpse into their mouths. It wasn't hard for the ponies to realize these were vampires, but not so much to Raziel.
"What are these creatures?"
Do you not recognize them?
They are the children of your brother, Dumah
Hearing this made all the ponies shiver as they tried to comprehend how something as horrendous as those vampires were related to the vampire that threw Raziel to the abyss.
"That's impossible - these foul, scuttling beast could not be kin of our high blood."
Do you suppose that time stood still for you, Raziel?
Much has changed since you passed from the world of men.
Hearing those words sent a chill down towards both Celestia's and Luna's spine. They easily understood the implications of what was said, especially Luna, who spent a thousand years imprisoned only to be received by a completely different world from what she once knew. Just how long has Raziel been down there?
The ponies meanwhile, despite being aware of being in an illusion, they still preferred to be above the ground as Raziel jumped toward the fledgling vampires, who quickly turned as they noticed his presence and prepared to fight. They were all wondering how was Raziel planning to destroy the two vampires but Raziel quickly laid down the how.
"I knew my opponents' weaknesses, having suffered them myself. Physical wounds are fleeting: a vampire's immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved" -. He then turned around and saw a small pool behind him. Beyond him was a spot perfect to impale a vampire and the roof had a small hole that let the sunlight to enter. - "Vampires only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight's touch" -. Raziel then looked at the two vampires the same way a predator looks at its prey. - "I would have to modify my tactics to suit my foes."
And that way, the battle began with Raziel quickly moving towards the vampire to the right of his. Fluttershy quickly turned away from the battle, as just seeing the sluagh was too much for her, and she was quickly followed by Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie PIe respectively. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, would look attentively how Raziel quickly started to claw the first vampire, while dodging the attacks from the second one, until his first victim was too tired (due to the wounds) to properly move.
It was here that Raziel took the vampire and threw him to the sunlight, the four ponies still watching the battle saw with complete wonder how the vampire started to burn, his cries of pain entering into all the ponies' skulls as it, eventually, stopped screaming and dropped to the ground, leaving the soul moving away from the body and staying in the air.
Unfettered from the flesh,
a creature's soul fades swiftly into the spectral realm.
Draw it in quickly, Raziel,
or you will be compelled to follow.
Raziel entered into the sunlight and quickly ate the soul as the fledgling tried to think of a strategy to win but, sadly for it, Raziel was too quick. Before anyone knew it, the vampire was stunned by claw and threw into the water, showing the mares how susceptible was a vampire to the purifying liquid.
Once he was done with them, and paying no mind to the human corpse besides him, Raziel moved close to a huge block that was on the room, quickly picking up his attention.
Your physical prowess surpasses what you in life.
Even massive obstacles can be moved effortlessly.
And, just like that, Raziel moved the block as if it were nothing, making Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash wonder just how strong Raziel actually was. After seeing that display of strength, Raziel jumped over the obstacle and moved forward, finding, and opening, a door that lead him out to a horrible display.
There was nothing left of Nosgoth or the empire he once knew. All he could see was a grey wasteland that extended as far he could see; there was no life on the ground, no plants, no animals or even insects. The sky was covered by the great clouds coming from the furnace in the north, creating a fog that only made Raziel's vision to be worse, and he could see in the distance were more Dumahim that, while they looked already developed, still gave off a sense of hunger that proved how lacking was the blood as a source of food.
"My God..."
Raziel's words were the only thing that could emote the feeling invading him as he saw the embodiment of death on the land.
The ponies, meanwhile, were being invaded by depressive thoughts that only made them feel as if a vacuum was sucking out any type of enjoyment out of them.
Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie felt distraught at the idea of seeing a land with no life. Nothing to care, nothing to love, nothing to celebrate. On Pinkie's case, her sadness was even more apparent as her mane fell flat to the ground and color left her coat while Fluttershy, at the same time, couldn't stop from tearing up at the sight, hoping to never see her homeland in such state ever again.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack felt how their competitive energy left them. What usually pumped them up with vitality enough to compete with one another was now gone and all they wanted to do was to go back home and celebrate the life their own homeland had.
Rarity was unable to properly think a way to digest what she was looking at, while Celestia and Luna only felt dread at the vision of how their own kingdom could have collapsed, had they never tried to keep it in place and protected it from hatred through harmony. Here it was where the princesses and Twilight had the same sentiment, they knew that this was the end result for Equestria, if the Elder God manages to get away with his plans, and that only filled them with resolution to stop it even more.
Besides Raziel was a large structure that had a simple flag of, what looked liked to be, a grand letter 'V' drawn as if it were a giant bat while, on the lower sides of the wall, one could see the other flags belonging to the other clans; design that Rarity approved, and it still managed to give the large structure some sense of grandiose and majesty that only reflected how decayed it actually was, as the crows were on the roofs, singing, while the walls looked torn and licked by erosion and ash.
"The Sanctuary of the Clans, reduced to ruin... beyond these walls lay the Pillars of Nosgoth, the seat of Kain's empire. How humble it now appeared, collapsing into the dust of its former magnificence. And yet I had only just emerged... In the instant between my execution and resurrection, centuries had apparently passed..."
As he said this, the earth begins to violently shake, to the point that Raziel almost falls to the ground, before calming down again.
This world is wracked with cataclysms
the earth strains to shrug off the pestilence of Kain's parasitic empire.
The fate of this world was preordained in an instant, by a solitary man.
Unwilling to martyr himself to restore Nosgoth's balance,
Kain condemned the world to the decay you see.
In that moment, the unraveling began...
now it is nearly played out.
Nosgoth teeters on the brink of collapse
its fragile balance cannot hold.
Raziel then decided to get close to the barriers that blocked off the Sanctuary of the Clans, hoping that they would also be eroded, but luck wasn't on his side.
"The doors of the Sanctuary were immovable, either barred from the inside or rusted shut. I would need to find another means of entry."
As Raziel was moving away from the Sanctuary, he spotted a large staff, with an extremely pointed end, that he decided to pick up and move on. It was this time where the ponies would try to voice their opinions, but any attempt of it only ended with silence, as none of them had their thoughts completely made up.
Not even watching Raziel sneaking (and impaling) a vampire from his back managed to earn a shock or wonder on them, not even when Raziel managed to find a portal room, from which to move great distances, did they found something new to discuss. All they could do by this point was to watch and think until Raziel found the place where he was doomed so long ago.
"This, at least, had remained constant" -. He then looked at the waters flowing through the place as they all converged on the still deadly waters. - "The endlessly swirling vortex of the abyss. My tomb, and the womb of my rebirth" -. As the ponies looked around the place, they noticed in the distance a small crevice, with the bridge connecting it to land being destroyed, which had a door on its place. - "Though much of Nosgoth's landscape had changed, these cliffs gave me my bearings. My clan territory was to the west" -. As Raziel prepared to jump forward, all the ponies realized what they were about to see. - "I was anxious to see how my descendants had fared during the centuries of my absence."
And, as Raziel got closer to the door leading to his clan, all the ponies prepared themselves for the worse. After seeing the descendants of Dumah, they were all worried of the kind of monster Raziel's descendants would have become, with the exception of two ponies: Celestia and Luna.
The two monarchs knew, very well, what were the potential repercussions of something as controversial as murdering the leader of a whole clan. And, in doing so, they were well aware of what could have been the decision taken by a monster such as Kain.
The princesses' heart only got worse as they saw their prediction being right.
"Utter desolation" -. Raziel moved around the place, only to find solitude among the buildings now devoid of life. - "My once-proud kin, wiped from this world like excrement from a boot."
As the ponies looked around, all they could find were vampiric weapons firmly stabbed on the ground and Dumahim trying to ravage the area. The buildings, capable of competing with Canterlot, in terms of magnificence, even on this decayed state, were showing signs of erosion by nature, with some pieces of structure looking as if they were either attacked by an enemy or the passage of time itself.
"I knew the hand that wrought this deed..."
The ponies would look silently as Raziel would move through the forsaken citadel, unable to stop, unable to feel, unable to talk. All they could do was to see the remnants of what probably used to be a great city, now gone and devoid of any kind of life.
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I was hoping we'd get back into Raziel's story.
Not long before the ponies see what Raziel's brethren became after 800 years.
Nice, soon they will see Raziel gain his blade.
So, I don't know how many times this question has been asked, but are you using all LoK games as references to this story? Or are you using one game in particular?
9780736
All games will be used but, since I'm retelling the story, Soul Reaver 1 is the one I'm starting out with.
I must admit, I don't know that game. The only LoK game that I know is defiance.
9781205
Do not worry, while the games are being mentioned, I do plan on showing more of them (I'm basically telling you the events of the first Soul Reaver game on these "Memory" chapters) so the story can be better enjoyed. Also, you can find the most important cutscenes on Youtube (as well as any random Let's Play) so you can enjoy the game's story on your own.
I hope you enjoy this.
I honestly haven't paid attention to any of the Lok games besides defiance, mostly because it was the only game I had played as a kid and I loved it graphics aside
but i will most defiantly look up the other games
Also I noticed in defiance which the last boss fight ( which is just a plant monster lets be real here) but the monster looks like something from Lovecraft does he not? Or am I thinking to deeply into this?
9781949
You aren't overthinking things, it's lovecraftian, which is why it looks like an octopus of some kind.
That explains a lot. HE must be a relative of Cthulhu then. It would make sense, I think.
Mlp meet Soul Reaver... To bad they are missing later on Kains parts...
A mighty King and a mighty Kingdom, reduced to Sand as times has reduced its rubble to its most basic element...