Soul Reaver 2
Soul Reaver 2 is a 2001 action video game by Crystal Dynamics and a sequel to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
Dialogue
edit- Kain: At last. I must say I'm disappointed in your progress, I imagined you'd be here sooner. Tell me... did it trouble you to murder your brothers?
- Raziel: Did it trouble you when you ordered me into the abyss?
- Kain: [chuckles] Eternity is relentless, Raziel. When I first stole into this chamber, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of knowledge. To know the future, Raziel. To see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite. As a man, I could never have contained such forbidden truths, but each of us is so much more than we once were. Do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods? As such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion. Our futures are predestined; Mobius foretold mine eons ago. We each play out the parts fate has written for us. Free will is an illusion.
- Raziel: I found the tomb of Sarafan, Kain. How could you profane a priest by turning him into a vampire?!
- Kain: How could I not? One must keep his friends close, Raziel, and his enemies even closer. Who better to serve me than those whose passion transcends all notions of good and evil?
- Raziel: The Sarafan were saviors, defending Nosgoth from the corruption that we represent. My eyes are opened, Kain. I find no nobility in the unlife you rudely forced on my unwilling corpse!
- Kain: You may have uncovered your past, but you know nothing of it. You think the Sarafan were noble? Altruistic? [laughs] Oh, don't be simple! Their agenda was the same as ours. You nearly had me, Raziel, but this is not where or how it ends. Fate promises more twists before this drama unfolds... completely.
- Raziel: Ah, my ancient "benefactor". And I dared to hope we had parted ways forever. Your silence was refreshing while it lasted. No doubt you have a conveniently inexpressible reason for your presence here?
- Elder God: Do not be insolent, Raziel. I am eternally present, here and everywhere, now and always. I am the still centre of the turning Wheel, the hub of this world's destiny.
- Raziel But perhaps not so omnipotent as you'd have me believe. Your hold on me appears to be tenuous. I no longer seem to need you – yet I'm guessing you still need me.
- Elder God: This impudence is unworthy of you, Raziel. Do not forget that you have a task to fulfill here. You are indebted to me.
- Raziel: "Indebted"? You would have me show gratitude for a gift I didn’t ask to be bestowed?! Do you forget that you forced me to inhabit this vile carcass?!
- Elder God: I restored you to yourself, Raziel. It was Kain who destroyed you – the very enemy you've just let slip through your grasp. Do not fail me, my servant.
- Raziel: I serve no one – not you, not Kain, and not your lackey Moebius!
- Elder God: Moebius is my good servant. I have many.
- Raziel: And if I tell Moebius that he's worshipping a giant squid, do you think his faith will falter?
- Elder God: You have grown wilful, Raziel. But beware: to embrace a serpent is to invite poison into your heart. Kain is a sinuous beast; he will seduce and deceive you. You pride yourself on your free will, yet you let that degenerate deter your resolve.
- Raziel: I harbor no illusions about his integrity, nor anyone else's. In fact, I am beset by manipulation on all sides. I merely seek the truth.
- Elder God: These are the fathomless truths, Raziel. The agony of birth and death and rebirth – this is the Wheel of Fate, the purifying cycle which sustains all life. Vampires are an abomination, a plague which leeches this land of its spiritual strength. They obstruct the flow of life and death. Their souls stagnate in their wretched corpses. But the Wheel must turn. Death is inexorable and cannot be denied. Your destiny is irresistible, Raziel. You are my Soul Reaver, the scourge of the vampires, reaper of their apostate souls. Remain steadfast. End the vampires' parasitic curse, and restore Nosgoth. Kain's blood belongs on your hands.
- Raziel: Kain indeed deserves to die, for condemning me to this repugnant form. But if and when I kill him, it will be for me alone to decide.
- Elder God: Kain destroyed you without a flicker of remorse. He tore the soul from your noble corpse, and after you had served him faithfully for a thousand years, he discarded you in the Abyss on a jealous whim. Remember your rage, Raziel... let it guide your hand.
- Elder God: Raziel, the failed assassin. You had Kain at your mercy, but lacked the courage to fulfill the act. And now you see the wasteland wrought by the tyrant's hand – by his selfish decision to preserve his own life, even when it meant sacrificing the whole world. This is the fate of Nosgoth, as long as Kain remains alive.
- Raziel: An ironic condemnation, given this guilty scene. One would think you'd torn down the Pillars singlehandedly. What are you trying to obliterate as you drag your loathsome body through this chamber? And why, as Nosgoth descends into madness and misery, do you appear to thrive? Things in this world, I am learning, are rarely what they seem. You, apparently, are no exception.
- Elder God: I am the engine of life, the source of Nosgoth's very existence. I am the hub of the Wheel, the origin of all life, the devourer of death.
- Raziel: Or maybe you're just hungry. Could it be as simple as that? Wouldn't that be poetic irony? The great adversary of the vampires turns out to be the biggest parasite of them all!
- Elder God: Do not test my patience, Raziel. I made you, and I will unmake you if I become so inclined.
- Raziel: As your agent, I am beyond death.
- Elder God: There are fates worse than death, Raziel...
- Raziel: Oh, I see you now as you truly are – a cancer. A spooling parasite burrowed deep in the heart of this world.
- Elder God: Go now. Play out your pitiful rebellion, and take your place among the destroyed, the used and the damned. But know this: you are mine for eternity. You have always been, and will always be, my Soul Reaver.
- Elder God: You have failed me, Raziel.
- Raziel: I wonder, Old One – did you truly resurrect me, or were you simply there when I awakened from my torment in the Abyss? I suspect you found me merely convenient, dropped in your lair by Kain, indestructible for some reason, a durable and gullible tool for you to manipulate. This one thing I readily admit: I have been used by others time and again, but always I seem to stray from their path. What is it about me, demon, that makes me such an unreliable instrument? Why do I survive one trial after another, on and on, in an endless succession of humiliating deaths and resurrections? It seems there is much more to my destiny and my history than I know – perhaps more than you know, as well.
Voice Cast
edit- Michael Bell as Raziel
- Simon Templeman as Kain
- Tony Jay as the Elder God
