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Fanum-Divus had fallen. The city which had stood outside of time and hosted the immortal higher class of the Divus had crumbled like a piece of bread dropped into water and had sunk down into the black void of nothingness of which it had stood. The very stones transported there to construct it had ceased to exist. There was not even any debris. The city was simply gone and without the Tempus Crux to provide it stability, could never be rebuilt. The capital city of the Wheel of Fate, the example to all the faithful of their splendour and promised reward was gone.

But Fanum-Divus had not been alone, for constructed in the perceived safety of its shadow had been a vessel which would eclipse even its glory. A ship designed not for travel on the ocean or even through the air but to leave a world altogether, like it was merely a port, and travel out amongst the ocean that was the expanse of the stars. It had taken the Divus thousands of years and thousands of slaves besides to finish its construction and load it with samples of every type of life known to have ever lived upon the surface of Nosgoth.

The Ark was so precious a resource, so vital a construction, that there simply could be no risk allowed to stand to it. The moment the destruction of Fanum-Divus had begun, the ship had been launched. It had flung itself away from the city, sliding free from the dock which had held it as it was slowly complied and once clear had made the transfer out of the suspended pocket of existence outside of normal time and arrived at its prearranged point in causality.

The gleaming golden hull of the vessel emerged, almost fading into existence and forcing the air out of the space it intended to occupy with a shockwave which sounded in the distance like thunder. The light guided the ship in, a beam of piercing blue which churned the clouds above. A light shone forth by their master from beneath the lake of the dead to show them where to come to serve him. The Divus dutifully responded, the shadow of the vessel they had constructed for him stretching from the lake itself all the way to the huddled ruins of the sanctuary of the clans. The ship rivalled the Human citadel, just to the west, in sheer size and bulk.

"Asmodeus..." The words stirred in the king of the Divus' mind, slowly pulling him up out of a numb oblivion and into an alertness of pain. "Wake up, Asmodeus..."

His body stabbed at him, the pain forcing him out of any lingering grogginess in an instant. He drew in a sharp shuddering breath and even that normal action caused him agony. His wings laid out behind him on the smooth floor, the bones within them shattered and the limbs themselves numb and useless. The rest of his body had not fared much better, for he was covered in large cuts and gashes and other lacerations. His blue skin turning dark with thick bruises over his face and exposed chest.

Nor could he, he realized with a sudden start of utter horrified surprise, employ the Divus powers to heal himself. In fact, he could not fall upon those privileges at all. He had been stripped of those powers almost completely and only the gift of immorality remained, his only saving grace.

About him he could see he was in a large, vaulted, triangular shaped room which slopped at the far end down to an angular wide window. A shadow passed over that window and the body of the Dragon Thanatos shot by in a blur. The floor was made of polished jade green tiles and the walls were as smooth as glass as they arched up to a high ceiling which had many brass apertures running down the crease like a row of vertebrae on a spine. The apertures were of varying sizes but each was sealed shut with an iris of bronzed metal made of overlapping sheets.

Multiple floors set against the walls all about him were lined with many faces staring down at him, a veritable crowd. From this distance he didn't recognise them, could barely focus on a single face. Then his eyes sought out one in particular, looking at him from the side of a banister. Azazel. His dirty, thin face was gazing down at him with a pensive expression. Suddenly Asmodeus knew where he was. He had been here before often. This was the bridge of the Ark, the room from which the vessel would be commanded during its long voyage.

He tried to rise from the crouched position he had been set in but found to his confused dismay that he was restrained. Large metal cuffs had been strapped about his waist, shoulders, ankles and wrists and he was bound to the floor by a thick length of chain which rattled as he tried to move. He struggled, tugging as hard as he could but the restraints proved more then a match for his beaten and power deprived body.

"What is this?! Release me at once!" He demanded and even as he spoke he coughed wretchedly, bloody splattering over the smooth floor before him. No one moved. They all just stared at him silently. Blood running from his lips he glared all about furiously. "I am your king! I demand you release me!"

"The king of Fanum-Divus, that you were." A voice replied and Asmodeus turned his head to look as a figure walked towards him through the shadows that lingered on the rooms outer edge. As the figure stepped into the light he could see his black wings, bald head and blood red robe. Cold impassive eyes gazing down at him. "But as Fanum-Divus no longer exists, your title is meaningless."

"Ambriel! How dare you!" Asmodeus hissed, his anger rising to a peak in an boiling instant. He strained against his bonds, desperately trying to rise. Ambriel-Divus did not hesitate. He raised one hand and then struck him, slapping Asmodeus hard across the face. The echo of that slap echoed through the vaulted confines of the bridge. Asmodeus sat back, his cheek stinging and shocked that any Divus had dared strike him.

"Silence." Ambriel told him without the slightest emotion, not so much as raising his voice. He spoke was if he were merely talking to an errant child. "The master would have words with you before judgement is passed. So hold your tongue. "

The king of the destroyed city of Fanum-Divus struggled for breath as the reality of his situation and its bleak truth began to truly dawn on him. Fear leapt into his heart and its grip was like a vice made out the coldest ice.

"Judgement!?" He gasped, struggling now not out of indignation but pure stark terror. Ambriel stepped back away from him and suddenly Asmodeus realised that he had been bound in the direct centre of the chamber; placed inside a circle rimmed with brass. A noise from overhead caught his alarmed attention and he looked up just in time to see the iris of one of the apertures begin to creek open. The grating sound it made as it parted was almost painful.

Instantly a beam of blue light poured in, falling over him and encompassing the limits of the brass circle. But this was no simple illumination. Swirling through it were distorted, horrific images. Contorted faces spun about him, all screaming in silent agony and bent into hideous caricatures by their terror. It was a tempest of souls, ripped from their mortal lives by their deaths and swallowed by an alpha predator to have their essence drained of energy. The process was clearly not painless.

With a sudden flourish in the centre of these swirling mass of tormented souls a large eye opened, gazing down at him with its looped black pupil widening to focus on him. Around its edges a shapeless greenish mass bulged, tentacles like those on an octopus slipping free and wriggling like a nest of worms. Facing the true form of his God directly, Asmodeus drew in his breath sharply and leaned back to the utter limits of his restraints.

"Asmodeus-Divus." That same echoing, booming voice spoke to him and he froze as if paralysed. "You have been under the impression for some time, that it is possible to hide your personal motivations from me. That you could use your service to me to better yourself instead of devoting yourself to my glory. You believed this so much you felt you could conspire to use my enemies as pawns to further your own ends. This impression has been quiet erroneous."

His breath caught in his throat and his body began to tremble, a sweat breaking out across his dirty and blood soaked skin. The eye bulged over him ominously, the pupil contracting several times.

"I let you do as you pleased." The voice of his master went on, echoing loudly through the chamber. "I even allowed you to ascend the throne. "For a time I was satisfied that your greed did not prevent you from performing your duties." The pupil narrowed dangerously. "But your neglect has allowed the Keeper's shielded double agent to stand by your side for centuries and your incompetence has permitted the destruction of Fanum-Divus itself. The games you played to oust your former ruler and assume his throne had contributed to this loss. Your greed, your insatiable need to take from Raziel all that was his, has cost me and the Divus their proudest achievement!"

"Master.. I can explain, I..." Asmodeus babbled in a hoarse voice but was cut off.

"Your silver tongue has never had any effect on me, Asmodeus! It was only your own arrogance and ego that allowed you to believe otherwise!" The voice was a thundering reprimand that shook him down to his feet. The eye overhead was quivering with anger, pupil so wide it nearly eclipsed the rest of its form. Asmodeus fell back into his chains with a startled cry.

"I am no longer in need of a king. Only a captain for the Ark itself." The voice was harsh, an edge to it that spoke whole volumes of scorn. "And Ambriel has been given that role. I have ...faith... in his navigational and leadership skills."

Standing off to one side, Ambriel stood there calm and composed. He did not even react to the praise. He was as still as a statue.

"Wait, Master! I beg of you!" Asmodeus called up, his hands clasped supplicating before himself. His body was trembling violently. "I have delivered much to your cause! The Celestial Arrow! The Dragon! Please do not forsake me!" His voice grew so shrill it rose in pitch several actives.

The eye overhead was still for a long moment, its pupil twitching side to side. The tentacles wrapped about the edges of the aperture it was seeing through, squirming against the sides wetly.

"Do not fret yourself, Asmodeus. I am not casting you out." The voice told him, the tone sudden placating and soothingly pleasant. "In point of fact, I am going to reward you."

Asmodeus gazed up, pausing in confusion and a dawning hope for salvation from his current circumstances. He lowered his hands.

"Re...reward?" He asked.

"You have indeed contributed materially to the cause, as you said." The eye's pupil narrowed to so slender a line that it almost disappeared entirely. "Such service should be rewarded." Asmodeus began to let a smile touch his lips, relief touching his soul. A relief that was instant and violently dispelled as the blue light about him suddenly turned blazing white. The light grew so intense that it was blinding. A steady powerful heat radiated out from it, like being engulfed by a swirling tornado of the hottest flames. He cried out, struggling side to side but the chains held him fast and helpless.

"I am going to give you everything you ever wanted, Asmodeus." The voice of his master told him and that deceptively soothing tone was gone. The voice was harsh, implacable and laden with scorn. "I am going to give you everything Raziel had been given. All he had that you coveted, shall be yours." The pupil of the eye widened out once more and in that instant it was no longer a dark black void, but a blazing point of intense, unbearable light. "All the power and all the pain!"

Asmodeus raised his hands to try and shield his face. The chains did not let him.

"No..NO!" It came out a pathetic whimper. It was the last sound he had time to make before the flames closed in upon him and all that issues forth from his lips was a scream of upmost agony. His flesh peeled from his bones, his muscles pulled away strand by strand, his skeleton seperated into fragments so small they were invisible. All of this was done so quickly his scream had only an instant to echo.

"Take his place! Assume his role!" The voice of his God commanded him as his very essence, his soul, was taken apart. "And become my angel of death!"

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The End is here. Alliances forged. Journeys made. All or nothing. Salvation or destruction. Life or eternal death. Kain fights his final battle to either claim his destiny or die trying. The EQUINOX has come. Legacy of Kain - Equinox. Coming soon!

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Authors notes:

Ok. Let me get to the obvious first point that needs to be addressed quite urgently. My unscheduled break from writing which left you all in the lurch for more chapters of Insurrection and Soul Reaver 4 for over a year. Right here and now I will apologise for that. I don't even have the excuse of personal issues this time. I simply just lost my enthusiasm for writing it. I burnt out. My mojo was gone and I just abandoned it. I didn't get my enthusiasm back until I was discussing the series with a friend and I felt I could get into it again.

As such when it comes to Equinox... I'm not gonna risk burnout again. I will get to Equinox when its time and proper and I've had time to relax and do other things for a while. Equinox, due to its very nature as the final story, will probably be very long. Most of my stories have be near the 30 chapters mark. Equinox still be a LOT longer, at least if I want to do all of this justice.

But well onto my notes on references, which will be covering not just Insurrection but also Soul Reaver 4 since the two were really two sides of the same story. (and if you only read one then you missed a great deal)

Ronove - Yes she is the Priestess from the Cut Soul Reaver contend. The name 'Ronove' comes from demonology as a grand earl of hell. I would have liked ideally to do more with her but in the end I decided she had served her purpose.

Shield power ups (SR4) - When coming up with the ideas for how the 'gameplay' of Raziel's story ought play out, I knew I couldn't use do sword augments again. That'd been done to death. So I decided to use them defensively and environmentally this time. I think it payed off.

The Endurance - This one took a great deal of thought on my part. After all, this would be the first time an airship would be floated (no pun intended) through the Legacy of Kain universe. I thought that given the technology of the Humans during this time period, a zeppelin like flying vehicle was not out of the question and given the dynamic I was going for with the Hylden and the Vampires and their contested flying abilities it made sense to throw a spanner into the works for the two species' ego battle.

Ajatar Cadre's sexuality (SR4) - I'll confirm it right here and now just in case it wasn't totally made clear. Ajatar Cadre is a lesbian. 100%

Liese - You might have missed it but 'LIESE' is the ancestor of Lorenzo and the one who designed the Endurance. She was the creation of a friend of mine who's been serving as my editor. You can learn more about her in the audio dramas I created based off of the Nosgoth game. Yes yes, I know, I railed against it when it first came out and declared I wouldn't use it. But my intention in creating the dramas was to add more story where currently it lacked. You can find the audios on my youtube page 'Eyokir Videos'. Currently there are only two dramas, 'At Dumah's throne' and 'Forbidden Fruit' but I hope to be able to get to more of them during my downtime.

Ukko (SR4) - No he isn't named after a certain dwarf from the Slaine comics but rather the original, a god of the sky from god of the sky from Estonian mythology. Believe it or not my inspiration for how he would act and speak was the Genie from Disney's Aladdin. Robin Williams ftw!

The Forsaken - I actually had these guys down as a concept ever since SR3 if you can believe that. Largely their design is based off of some of the concept art for Vampire hunters from the original Soul Reaver which never got used. Look it up, I'm sure you'll find them interesting.

The Book of Raziel (SR4) - In Jewish mythology, the arch angel Raziel had a book in which he wrote down all he heard while standing at Gods side. I'd longed wanted to explore this given the name of one of the series' main protagonists and I finally got my chance here.

The Wall - You know...THAT wall. The one the Seer spend centuries carving billions of names into. Go to any WW1 or WW2 memorial site and you'll see my inspiration there.

Creatures of the demon realm - I actually had a lot of fun coming up with the various creatures besides classical demons to be found in this place. I was inspired a lot by the hypothetical scenarios supposed by Carl Sagan when he talked about creatures that might evolve on a gas giant planet like Jupiter.

The destruction of Fanum-Divus - Originally, I was going to have this happen in Equinox but I decided it'd make more flowing and climatic sense to make it the crescendo of this story. Plus it gives me more wiggle room for even more titanic events in the final chapters. What could possibly be more titanic then that? Well you'll see.

Have any questions? Feel free to PM me!