Thus Kain is given a choice-sacrifice himself to purify Nosgoth, but as the last living vampire their race will be extinct. At this time Ariel reveals she has deceived Kain-the final Guardian he must kill is himself, for Kain is the next Balance Guardian, born to take her place. He fights Mortanius, who transforms into a monstrous demon called 'Hash'ak'gik', and kills him.

Kain continues on and finds that Mortanius was the one who killed Ariel and set the Circle's corruption in motion. He returns in time to watch Vorador, the oldest living vampire and in this alternate timeline their last besides Kain, be decapitated before a cheering crowd. However, upon his return he discovers that his round-trip in time triggered a genocidal hate-campaign against vampires helmed by Moebius, who tricked Kain into killing William so he could begin his anti-vampire war. In his quest, Kain also finds himself in the middle of a war between the noble King Otmar and the cruel Nemesis (formerly known as King William the Just), and with the Soul Reaver blade in tow, travels back in time with the use of Moebius the Timestreamer's witchcraft, and defeats the young King William. Only if Kain kills them and brings tokens of their power to their Pillar will he be cured and the world saved. As long as the Guardians remain alive, their corruption infects the Pillars that govern the world's well-being and so the world is doomed.

The ghost of Ariel, the former Balance Guardian, points him to the direction of the Circle of Nine, the Guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth and her former colleagues, who have all been corrupted when Ariel's former lover, Nupraptor the Mentalist, went mad with her death.

Mortanius the Necromancer offers him a chance for vengeance by resurrecting him as a vampire, and as soon as Kain avenges his own death, he begins to seek a cure to his own vampirism. The first game in the series, created by Silicon Knights of Eternal Darkness and Too Human fame and the only one to play as a top-down action RPG in the style of The Legend of Zelda: The story begins with Kain, a then-unknown nobleman, being assassinated by a group of thugs on the way home from a pub.

Legacy of kain elder god