Castlevania: Darkness Never Dies

Fan Fiction

Continued...

Part 1 Gathering darkness.

"Holy aret douse who believes without seeing. Now go, I send you to all the peoples in the world. Inform them of the good news. Do not be afraid, I shall allways be with you. In my name, you will find strength to do what you must do."

Mark 16.15.

Chapter 1. Prayers of a tragic queen.
Ice caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D. She gave them a dark look. If they hadn't put a curse on her eggs, she should have destroyed them all with one breath of her heart of ice. The snow-wargs, the steeds of the polar were-foxes, snarled and cried toward her. The polar were-foxes, she gave them a closer look. Tall and slim in built, with light-blonde, golden-coloured or light-brown hair, all dressed in well-polished gold and slivery-coloured Japanese armours and helmets, armed with two-handed Katana-swords. But it was seemingly three others, who seamed to have the command among them. A male crimson-fured were-fox, dressed in a simple black hood and cloak, a female silver-fured were-fox, in a gold-brimmed crimson robe with yellow sleeves, and a black-bearded male vampire in a gold and black Nazi-uniform, had all participated in putting the curse upon her children and in killing her male and her brother. Her thoughts where cut short, when a group of blue-fured were-foxes, dressed in black and blue coloured jackets, trousers, boots and golden helmets, shoulder and breast-plates, went in. "They have raised to do battle with us, sir." Their leader, a demon-looking lich, did a Nazi-looking salute to the male vampire, who she had heard been called general Reinhardt Reich Van Deer Hawk, nodded. "Silraphe, Maeglin, you now what Lord Dracula desired of you?" The two magicians bowed deeply before their commander, and went over to the corpse of her male and sat down aside it. This was wrong. Resurrection of the first race on earth was forbidden by God. She reached out with her mind and called for one of her other cousins, a golden one, and the most powerful of her race. She had to save her children, but their enemies where powerful and she had to be careful. One of the human mercenary looked up from where he and his fellow race-members where plundering the treasure she and her male had used hundreds of years to gather, but she didn't cared about that just now. She prayed that her mind-call didn't go unheard.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
"Take that, your bloody bastard!" He didn't like to use curse-words, neither to kill, but this thing was neither living nor among the throe dead of God. But he had to do this. "Forgive me my sins, amen!" He prayed as he fired a boom from his hunting rifle. The shoot made the were-skeleton blast into oblivion. The bleak remains of the were-panther had put up quite a fight, by blasting him with claw-swipes, rib-bones and burning projectiles. He used the medicine he had found in the old storage-room a while back. As he had discovered when he used them after his battle with a group of walking-dead and skeletons, it healed his wounds. He shook his head. Those crystals must have been powering his medicine-bottles or if it was a saint or an angel that did it, but he didn't care, as long as it worked. He once again used his rifle to blast some bats into oblivion. This was another strange thing, he had long since used up the ammunition he had carried with him, but those crystals he had found inside those strange silvery-coloured light candle-stands. gave him new bullets, he thanked God in his heart, that the castle indeed was a creature of chaos. He gave the new door with caution; one of those last doors had knocked him in the head, when he had tried to open it. But that had been the work of a poltergeist, with he later had cut into pieces with his sword, but it had been just a drop in the ocean, he knew he would have to battle more of them, and before he saw it coming. He used his left hand to shield his head, while he with the right one opened the door. "Not again." He grumbled as he heard a soft voice singing inside the new cavern. The last time he heard it, had been in that storage-room and that had been one of the first times he had been forced to kill something that bought looked human and was alive. It had been a succubus, a dream demon, but it had looked weary human and hadn't it been for the bat-wings on her backs, he may have fallen pray to that creature. A chill went down his spine as he thought about when he had pierced the female's heart with his blade. Before the ice, he had been an ordinary mailman in the office of Veros. He had only trained with using swords, because of his father and because it interested him, but now he had to use it to kill other creatures. the worst had been when they trawled to the ruins of the castle and they had come across a group of human traitors who had pledged alliance to Dracula and they had been forced to kill them. Even though they had burst into flames afterwards, because of their connection to the dark lord, he couldn't forget how he had killed them. The look on their faces when they died and the tears of Christian, sometimes it was too much. He took a deep breath; this was something he just had to do. He opened the door, and came face to face with another huge chamber. Stalagmites and stalactites where grown from the floor and ceiling, and huge pools of water littered the floor of the grotto. The walls where grown with moss and strange although beautiful flowers, but the strangest thing however, was the statues who where standing here and there throughout the entire hall. He took a moment of rest, to reload his rifle, it had to be gorgons around, if it was just the daughters of Medusa or Medusa herself, he did not care, but he had to take great care in battling those kind of enemies. Gorgons could turn you into stone with one glance of their eyes. Since the house of Morris where forged, by Richter Belmont's half-brother in 1780 when his fore-father had chosen to remain a Baldwin, as his mother, they hadn't faced a gorgon, Only John Morris in 1917 had done that, and he alone, together with his friend, Eric Lecarde, but that was beside the point, since he had no friend at his side for the moment. He unsheathed his sword and with that and his hunting-rifle at the ready, he started walking over the floor. "Show yourself, succubus." He shouted to the empty space. Best to take her out first and then take the gorgons next. "What wrong have I done you?" A soft female voice called to him. Careful not to look her in the eyes, if it was a gorgon, he turned around to face her. It was a succubus, he smiled without humour, if it had been the succubus, the commander of all the succubus's, he would have run, but as it was, he stood his ground. She was as beautiful as her sister who he had killed, dressed in the same black tunic and hip-high boots, but there all similarities ended. She had the same black bat-wings, yes, but she was shorter than her race-sister, and had blonde hair and paler skin than the last one, but her emotion-less black eyes where as cold and inhuman as the last one. "You are a servant of Dracula and his master." He answered her, as he shoot a boom from the over two hundred year old hunting-rifle. The demon flayed out of reach, and stopped half-way up to the ceiling. "I'm a lover not a fighter, which is way I have taken with me a friend of mine." She laughed down to him. He twirled around, as the far-end of the hall was crushed by an enormous creature. It was first then that he saw that this was a dead-end, or so they had tried to fool him to believe. He had new they had to be a way out of here. And since he had investigated the other end of the caverns, he knew that this way had to be the only way in or out. But that held little value as he now had to ready himself for the battle against one of Dracula's most powerful lesser servants, the bone dragon king. He thanked God for the crystals and extra bullets He had given him, before he again shoot a boom with his rifle. To his surprise and horror, the bullet just ricocheted off of the skeletal spine. The undead creature roared and opened its gap and fired a wavy ball of fire. He rolled to the side, and didn't care that he then rolled right into one of the pools of water as long as he survived. How had John Morris defeated this creature? He hadn't any throwing-axe in his possession, so how? The Bowie perhaps, but he didn't want to throw away his only momento of his great idol, Quincy P. Morris. He went to his feats and hung his rifle back and took a better grip on his sword. He then brought out one of the other of his weapons, a holy grenade. He took out the splint and threw it at the bone dragon king. In the following explosion, he raised his sword into the air and concentrated his mind on his faith in God. He gasped as the blade seamed to split into many blades with homed themselves into the explosion, giving away more damage or at least he hoped so. When he could see the creature again, he saw that it had lost some of its spine-bones, but beside of that, it was still ready for battle. He had to duck as some of the loose bones came flaying in his direction. To his surprise, when he reached for another grenade, he still had the one he had thrown after the bone dragon king on his belt. Those crystals where really wonderful assets in the war against these monsters. He didn't have much time to think, as the bone dragon king blasted another wavy fireball in his direction. Before it could reach him however, he again concentrated on his faith and this time, once again to his surprise, a massive wave of golden flames to counter the bone dragon king's blue flames. In the explosion which followed, he threw another grenade at the bone dragon king and once again he had to duck as the broken of part of the spine went flaying at him. He cried when a burning claw-like projectile ripped his shoulder and made blood colour his coat red. He cursed himself when he saw that it was that cursed succubus who had attacked him. It had been a great mistake of him to forget her. He concentrated his mind and this time, he threw his Bowie-knife at her. He only had a moment to rethink what he had done, as the Bowie split into multiply burning daggers and cut the female demon into burning pieces of it-self. He smiled when he saw that the crystals where still functional as his fore-fathers Bowie returned to him. He immediately had to pay the price for that little victory as some of the loose spine bones cut a gash in his back. He took some of the healing medicine and discovered that he now only had three crystals left and had to be careful in using their power in the battle. He acknowledged that he now only could use his sword and faith power in the battle just in time to avoid another pair of bones which the bone dragon king had sent his way. He smiled when he saw that all the damage he had dealt it had made it loose nearly half its spine but he also know that it was still a long way to victory. He ran over to one of the few candle-stands in the room and hit it with the sword. To his surprise, a throwing-cross fell out of it. It would come in handy later, but now he had too few crystals to make use of it. He jumped to the side, to avoid yet another fireball which came flaying toward him. He answered by blasting a wave of flames, followed up with a barrage of homing-blades. He snarled as some of the loose bones made gashes in his flesh as they went flaying at him, but he had it now, there where only ¼ of its spine left. But to his dismay, it looked like the bone dragon king knew it also, and answered the treat by starting firing of a barrage of smaller and swifter fireballs. He had to jump into one of the pools to turn out the burning of his coat and when that was accomplished, he sent another barrage of swords toward the bone dragon king. And that was it, or at least he thought so. The last pieces of the spine where ripped off and the skull fell to the ground. He took a deep breath; this battle had taken a great amount of his energy. He went over to the last of the holy candle-stands in the room. He smiled when he saw a roosted chicken fall out. He shook his head while he eats it. It was still warm and replenished much of his energy. He went over to the fallen wall to see what lay beyond it. Had it not been for one of the statues of a pegasi, he would have died there and then. An enormous wave of flames blasted the statue into pieces and he turned around just in time to see the skull of the bone dragon king rise up and fly toward him. He felt a chill go down his spine as he saw the unholy blue flames which shined in the empty eye-sockets of the dragon's skull. "Never underestimate the powers of darkness." He told himself as he concentrated his mind and sent a barrage of sword blades toward the skull. The impact made the skull shiver, but it continued on it way toward him. He dropped himself to the floor as another wave of flames came blasting his way. "Time to end this!" He shouted and threw the cross at the bone dragon king. What happen made his lower jaw drop? The cross also split up and where sat ablaze with golden flames and cut into the bone dragon king's skull, blasting it into oblivion. He almost instinctively took the cross when it come flying back to him. He then fell to his ground totally worn out after the battle. The last thing he saw, or at least he thought so, where the head of a dragon, a living one, looking down on him. Then darkness took him.

Cavern, Warakiya. The 5th of December. 2098 A.D.
"Can you heal him little one?" Adrian gave the towering gold dragon looking down on him and shook his head. "If Faire can not heal him, nobody can." The shining creature flouted over the unmoving body of the human who had broke the curse of the two gorgons. It had been a mistake to look at them when they had destroyed the two, but when you had survived many a battle you began to develop a trust in his own powers and abilities, but that was beside the point, as he, for the first time in his long life, was in debt to a Belmont. He thought back to the Belmont's he had met and none of them had ever helped him in this way before. But then again, he took a deep breath; he had never liked the Morris side of the family since Morris Baldwin had married one of the few women he had loved in his life. On the other hand, Morris had taken good care of bought her and his son, who she called Lecarde after his last name. Then again, his life was not one he would deal with anyone he knew. "HE is awakening." His familiar told them. His friend nodded and cast a spell on herself, changing her form into another more human form. "The dragon." The Belmont opened his eyes and looked around with a frenzy look in his eyes. "Easy young Belmont, the bone dragon king is dead. You killed it and freed us from the curse of the gorgons." He softly told him as he helped him to sit up. "The danger is over. We are safe from all danger from the forces of darkness, at least for the moment." The young man slowly nodded, before he spoke. "Who are you? And who is she?" He pointed at the golden-haired girl at his side. He bowed courteously. "My name is Adrian Lecarde and my friend is..." His friend took over. "My name is Ursula Draco of the house of gold and ice." She also bowed towards the Belmont who mumbled something before he found his head and tipped it in return to their bows. "I'm afraid to correct that remark." A ghostly voice cut him off and they looked around them. A pale light-blonde see-through woman flouted about them and looked down on them. "The queen of Moss." He told them as he looked gazes with the spectral creature. "Why have the dark lord resurrected you?" At first, it looked like the evil undead was about to answer, but then she stood her ground. "You are not in power to answer the commands of the prince of darkness! You and all the others are under penalty of death." The flouting creature raised its hands and the water started flooding the area. "Run!" He told them. "Run for your life!" He turned to his faire familiar. "Lead the way." He instructed her.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
Edward cast a glance behind him as he ran. The water was rising dramatically and the group of fishmen who was blocking their way, was not making anything better. The group had jumped up from the watery dept right in front of them and had fired multitudes of poisonous streams of green liquid which had made burn mark erupt on the strange clothing of the dark-haired man he had saved from the curse of the gorgons. He was a tall young man, with dark-brown hair and eyes, dressed in a black suit from the European Renascence period, a white scarf and a black cloak. He couldn't place him, he behaved like a man from many different periods of times, but he didn't have much time to ponder these thoughts as one of the fishmen fired a ball of flames in his direction. He threw the throwing-cross at the flame just as he sent his own wave of flames from his sword as the fireball was destroyed. "Balls of destructions!" Adrian opened his cloak and fired three balls of blue bat-inhabited flames and destroyed some of the fishmen. "Dragon breath!" Ursula opened his mouth and blasted the remaining fishmen into oblivion. "Run." Adrian once again called to him and Ursula and they started running again. As they now came into another chamber. This one was not as huge as the two they had run through just before. This one was a vertical one, with stairs leading up toward the access at the top of the cavern-wall. The water flooded in through the entrance they had went through and they hastily run to the first stair, he and Adrian had to cut some more fishmen down as they went along and they managed to reach the stair-case before the water-level had reached any higher than to their feats. "Dragon breath!" Ursula fired another flame as a bone dragon blocked their way. The tricky creature swung out of reach and fired a series of small fireballs in their direction and he had to jump to the side. "Crimson lightning!" Adrian spread his arms and a crimson bolt of lightning shot down from above and blasted the bone dragon into pieces and they continued up the stairs. Bats and more bone dragons made an obstacle as they climbed further up the stairs and reach the top of the stairs without that much of a problem but the constant fear of drowning made his stomach twitch in fear as the water now was rising frantically. His thought where cut short when something that looked like stacked dragon skulls fell from the sealing. Had it not been for Ursula he and Adrian would have been knocked out if she hadn't drove them back just in time. "Pillars of bones." The enigmatic Adrian told him as he cast a spell. "Bat shield!" A swarm of energy-based bat-shaped energy spheres shoved up in front of them just in time to deflect them from a barrage of blue and red flames from the dragon skulls. He made a dash for the pillars and slashed them with his sword and Bowie-knife. He smiled as he saw Adrian at his side, cutting the other pillar into oblivion. "Hurry! The water is rising and we don't have much time left." Ursula called to them and they run past the last two pillar of bones and into the door leading to the next chamber. "Blasted!" He uttered as he saw the new hall stretching far down the pillars rising from the watery depots of the caverns. But it wasn't that who made him utter the curse-word. It was the rocks falling down from the cavern-sealing and blocking the way out. It hindered the water from entering the hall but it also hindered them in leaving the same room. "It is a blue sea. A deep blue sea." Adrian mumbled at his side. "What?" He gave him a look but the man shook his head. "There is, as old master Shakespeare said "There is something rotten in the kingdom of Denmark". We must take great care." He slowly nodded and resheathed his sword and Bowie and brought out his hunting-rifle. And, while keeping a sharp eye on the water and the drifting mist, he jumped the first of the pillars. "They are Greece." Ursula's voice made him cast a glance down at the pillar and noticed she was right, but at that moment, their enemies made their move. "The pillars!" Ursula cried. "the pillar is rising!" She wasn't wrong, the pillar was rising to reach a platform high above them and he didn't think it was someone that was thinking to help them and he was right. When the pillar stopped, they stood on a huge platform, a stadium, where a huge formation looked gleefully at them. At the same time, the water started flooding inn again. "Weary well then." He removed his hat, coat and weapons, even his boots, and went for the edge of the platform. "What do you think you are doing?" Adrian asked him, he shook his head. "You know perfectly well what I'm doing." He told him with a grim look on his face. "The water is leaking in and I'm going down there to use my time-turned bombs to blow the hole shut once and for all." Ursula gasped but then straightened her pose. "You are going to need our help. There are sharks down there, I saw it with my own eyes. I will blast them from up here while Adrian defend me of the dangers that is to come, do you understand me boys?" He looked at her and shook his head. He never started to wonder aout girls, that plan was as good as he or any other man could have done it. But then again, it was Alicia who did keep up to the call of the family, he did it because he trusted her and saw the need in what the Belmonts stood for. "Let's do it." He gave them one last smile before he made a dive into the water. He had to do this right, or else they would drown all of them. That was his last thought before the cold water closed about him.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
She saw him jump into the water with a smile on his face and with seriousness in his eyes. She didn't manage to understand him. He was so different from the humans she had met in her long life, and yet, it was like she had known him for all her life. She shook her head and focused her mind. "Frozen flames!" She exclaimed and fired a series of waving flames into the water and the shark who had closed in on Edward burst into flames and disappeared into nothingness. She smiled to herself, not bad for her first cast of spells in a long time. "Do you have any ice-spells Adrian?" She turned around and found him looking like a fool on a golden-haired succubus who sat on the edge of the platform and song to the young man. "Males!" She mumbled before she cast another spell. "Dragon breath!" She looked on in grim satisfaction as the mermaid where blasted into oblivion. "Receive my most deep-felt excuse for my behaviour." He told her. "Shut up." She answered and fired another of her ice-spells. "Golden icicle!" Another shark where blasted out of this world as the spell hit home. "Impressive." A soft almost Chinese female voice told them as a sword fitting the accent of the voice came flying towards them. They avoided the somewhat curved blade on its turn and the sword returned to its owner. "Much impressive indeed." "Who are you?" Lecarde asked the stranger who by now, had turned back the hood on her gold-brimmed crimson and yellow robe and sowed forth the face of a female silver-furred were-fox. "Golden icicle!" She shouted and blasted a third shark who where closing inn on the Belmont underwater, before she turned to the were-creature before her. "My name is Silraphe. I am a wixard, or rather, a sorceress, of the silver-foxes." She introduced herself. "And this," She told them, turning to a large human-shaped stone-figure at the far side of the platform. "Is a golem. The master of this stadium. I am afraid he has fallen asleep, but there is no big bloblem in awakening him. What do you think?" The raw evil which her unusual look and beautifull features haf cowered now shined forth as what they really where, the features of a darkrobe, one of The Devil's servants. "Dark resurrection!" She said and the spell had its effects proven as the creature raised from its kneeling position and turned against them. "Have a good time with them my dear." The evil creature ook before she teleported away. "Blue fireball!" She destroyed another shark before she turned to him. "I'm sorry." She told him. "But this is something you have to do alone." Lecarde nodded. "Of course." He said. "You promised to help him block the leaking water and you must fulfil that promise. I shall take care of this thing as you do yours." He brought out his sword, saluted her and ran to do battle with the golem. She wished him good luck in her heart and turned to look for sharks. She only hoped that her friend who had called for her would be all right. "You think you are so powerful, well, I shall make you think again." A silver-fured hand with well-polished nails grasped her throat and pressed her windpipe together. At first she couldn't do anything but wave with her hands, then she gathered herself and managed to gather her powers and used a wave of fire from her hands and the grip around her throat loosened a little. She groaned as she break free. That cursed darkrobe had of course established a shield around herself to block herself from that sort of direct attacks but the impact had driven her back. "Dragon breath!" She cried as she blasted a wave of flames from her mouth and knocked the where-fox further back. "Star of silver!" The darkrobe were-fox shoot a star-shaped energy blast at her. "Shield of fire!" She deflected the bolt and countered with another spell. "Golden icicle!" A barrage of pointed icicles hit the darkrobe's spell and made it explode in mid-air. "Burning blast!" As the darkrobe was falling back, the burning projectile hitt home and killed her enemy and sent her burning corpse into the water. She looked around to see where Edward where. What she saw, made her go cold. Almost in a daze, she grabbed his weapons and jumped into the water. "Protective shiled!" She cast the spell to breath underwater and, knowing that the spell wouldn't last long, she hoped she would be helping him not bothering him. She once again wondered why she felt this way towards him.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
At first he had wondered why he could breath underwater, but then he came to think about that mermaid pendant he had found in the other end of the tunnel which had ended in a dead end. He smiled without humour as he thought about the blue armoured lord he had been forced to battle for the artefact. But it really came in handy now. His thoughts drifted back in time as he looked for the exit too this cave. He had to find it before the hall was entirely flooded.

Flashback.
He used his sword to slice the two bats into pieces. He didn't like to kill them, but they where not real bats, or to be more correct, something had been done to them to change them and do them more dangerous than they should have been. He shook his head, his mind on what he had felt about the feel of danger about Thomas Lecarde and John Belmont, but his thoughts where cut short as he entered into a hall at the end of the tunnel and gave a look around. Tapestries in gold and black with the crest of a crimson dragon hang on the walls, together with shields with the same dragon with spears and swords behind themselves. Torches lit with blue flames hung in golden chains from the sealing and in the end of the hall stood an towering blue and gold plated armour with a huge axe in its hands. But it was the pendant around its neck-armour, shaped like a mermaid, he felt his hands became drawn to the thing. As he took it, he heard a sound of moving metal and he froze and took a step back. But he didn't hear the sound again he once again raised his hand towards the pendant, this time, the armour raised its axe and did a swing after him. He jumped back and swung his own blade at the face of the armoured foe. When his family-blade met the axe blue lightning burst from them and enlightened the room with erie light. He jumped back and the blue armoured lord flung the twin-handed axe into the floor and a wave of blue flames raised from the floor and he had to use some of the water he had brought with him to drink to turn out the flames. He brought out one of the grenade and threw it at the armoured foe. When the smoke cleared he saw that the axe was destroyed but that the armour itself was still intact. He gasped as the armour throw one of its gauntlets at him. The gauntlet hit him in the stomach and knocked him into the wall. He concentrated on his faith in God and shoot a barrage of swords into the abdomen of the armour and was hit into the wall, again, in return. He jumped back and crushed his blade into the mail of the armour as he, at the same time, trust his Bowie into the breast-plate of the armoured lord. The possessed armour screamed and burst into flames, only the pendant remained. "Forgive him his sins and give him piece." He did a sign of the cross and picked up the pendant.

End of flashback.

If he only had thought about it sooner, but then again, one pendant was far to little for three humans so he continued to dive deeper into the water. Ursula had killed five of the sharks by now but he still didn't think it had been an overkill to take his beloved Bowie with him down here. For all he know his two friends could be attacked up there and then he would have been forced to fight the sharks with bare hands. He smiled as he found the tunnel they had came into this cave from and started investigating the rocks who had before blocked the way out of here. He then found that the fundament of the pillar before the entrance had collapsed under the crushing wait of the rocks which had fallen from the sealing which they had first entered. He then found out that he would have to blow up the entire wall so that the water itself wouldn't wash away the stones and rocks as it had in the first place. He brought out the first of the grenades and fasten it where he thought it best and then continued to do so with the fundaments of the stairs leading up to the exit. He sat each bomb to explode in 3 minutes and made a swim out of the "stair-grotto" as he called it. He smiled as he thought of when he had found them in that storage-room where he had defeated the first succubus. At first he didn't thought they would come in handy but that was the trick, you never wkow what you would need before you needed it. It was when he had set the bombs off, that a fishman grabbed him and took him with him to the bottom of the cave. "Not in my life." He shouted, or rather tried to, as he dug his Bowie into the heart of the underwater creature. It let go of him but now he didn't know where to swim to get out of the water, he swam in the direction where he thought he saw one of the pillars. But to his disbelief, it ended before he had gotten out of this place. It didn't help much to feel the shock-waves of the explotion as it shook him and once again he was totally lost in the dept of the water. He killed another fishman who tried to drag him along, but it didn't help much to lighten his mood as he didn't like to kill creatures, not even the fishmen. He felt something hit his right shoulder into something solid. At first he thought it was the wall and smiled, then he noticed that the "wall" was to scaly to be just that. In one part of his mind, he registered that he flouted eye to eye with a water dragon, and at the same time, he wanted to scream. He didn't have the weapons he needed to destroy this creature with. "Dammed it, Draco." He shouted inside his head. "Where are you?" He prepared himself for the coming battle with the water dragon. Then, to his surprise, Ursula was beside him with his sword and throwing-cross in her hands. "Let's do it." He hoped she could read the message on his lips. He gave her his Bowie and took the Morris family blade and mystic-weapon in hand. This was their turn, their battle.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
He saluted the golem with his sword and then jumped toward it with his left gloved hand shining with blue flames. The stone creature roared and smashed its fists into the floor and sent shock-waves toward him and shook him and made him fell to the floor. He rose to his foots and fired the blast of fire and hit the golem in the breast. The golem only roared again and opened his one eye and fired a long-range beam of green magma. "Bat shield!" He once again deflected by generating a shield of energy-based bats and answered him with a blast of his own. "Trippel flames!" He know he had to hit it in its eye to do any damage to this nearly unmanageable powerful rockl enemy. The golem again hammered its fists into the platform, but this time he managed to stay in balance. "Tripple flames!" He jumped and opened his cape and fired three balls of blue bat-inhabited flames at the golem. The lowest ball hit the hip, the middle one the stomach and the highest one the breast. As the golem staggered backwards he did a double-jump, changed form into a bat and fired a wave of flames right into the eye of the mythical creature. The golem roared again, but this time it was in pain. He watched in satisfaction as the golem seamed to shrink into a lower form in front of his eyes. He smiled and made a dash for the golem and took on the form of a wolf and bit into the golem, but only got the stones in his mouth. "Tripple flames!" He changed back into human form and once again opened his cape and fired the bat-inhabited balls of flames at the golem. "Crimson lightning!" He called as he shoot down three parallel bolts of blood-coloured energy. One of them hit the golem in the eye and once again it shrunk down to an even lower form. The golem opened its eye and fired several small blobs of green magma at him and this time he didn't have time to counter-strike it. He was shot far back and he felt his eyes closing. The last thing he saw was the golem closing in on him. He had failed his friends and now he would pay the price of it.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
With the help of Ursula he swiftly reached out of the water so that he could do better battle with the water dragon. "We must be careful." He told his friend as he flouted in the water. She nodded but was cut short as they saw what took place on the stadium where Adrian did battle with the golem. They saw that the young man had felt down and that the golem was closing in on him. "God let you live, and let me be saved for the sin of killing you." He mumbled to the water dragon as he swam towards the platform as fast as he could. When he came in reach of the platform he throw the throwing-cross at the golem staggered back and shrunk into yet a smaller form of itself. "Dragon breath!" His female friend did her best to destroy the golem utterly, but missed the eye of the creature. "Let me take care of him." He told her as he threw his Bowie and concentrated on his faith in God and the dagger split into three and at last destroyed the lower portion of the creature and sent the golem crashing to the ground. But that wasn't the end, not by far. The golem hovered up into the air and started firing small green blobs of magma and he had to dive to avoid to been hit. It was then a fishman grasped him and brought him up to the shore of the stadium and hold him ind a firm grip and hold him ready for the kill of the golem. "Golden icicle!" A barrage of frozen spikes tore the fishman apart and freed him just in time to avoid the blobs of magma. He gave her a thankful smile as he claimed up on the platform and jumped into the air and throw his throwing-cross at the golem but fatally missed as the golem countered with firing a new row of green magma-blobs at him. And although he managed to avoid the blasts and recover his weapon, he fell backward and into the water. He had to slice the trout of yet another fishman as it grabbed him and tried to bring him back under "Golden icicles!". It was then that Ursula jumped and fired seemingly endless stream of golden icicles and this time the golem was blasted into oblivion. He dragged himself out of the water and run to embrace her in gratitude. "You did it." He exclaimed. "You killed the golem and saved Adrian from being killed." She shook back her burning red hair and shook her head. "I did what I had to do." She said, but he could see she was smiling as she spoke. "The water is rising again." "What!?" They turned to see Adrian walking toward them. He pointed to his feets, and he was right. The water had already started flooding the stadium. "How is this possible?" He looked shocked down at the water. "I blocked the tunnel so this shouldn't be possible." Adrian smiled without humour. "It's the queen of moss. She is rising it again. I think it is best we start moving." His friend pointed to the gallery who went from the end of the stadium and toward another exit. They didn't waist time and started moving as fast as they could. Af first it looked like the hardest part of the battle was over. The only resistance was the fishmen and the bats, but that was only when they jumped from pillar to pillar, or even swam some distances, but as they climbed onto the ballery, thing got worse. "Watch out! Dragon breath!" Ursula blasted a skeleton, armed with a spear and armourd in a red weapon-robe and with a spiky belt, shoulder and breast-plate and black boots and wrist-armour and with a dome-shaped helmet, into oblivion. "That's a skeleton spear gurad." Adrian told him. "They are not as powerful as the armour spear guard but they are dangerous enough to us to form a more than enough efishent barrier for us to drown in the water." He smiled without humour, this was more of his game. This things where already dead and he didn't kill them, only saved them from the influence of Dracula. He threw his throwing-cross at a pillar of bones and saw it burst into flames on the return. He cought it as it returned to him and used his sword to knock out one of the candle-stands. He smiled as he saw that it was the thing he had been searching for this long. It was an throwing axe. He knew that the cross and axe he had found inside the candle-stands where not as powerful as the original axe and boomerang-cross which John and Christian carried, but they would do their work well. He sat his new weapon into use as he threw the axe at one new spear skeleton and it exploded just as the first had done. But now he had to pick it up after he had used it, because he had no crystals left. "Your weapons depends upon the crystals you find inside these candle-stands." Adrian noted as he used his blade to kill one of the skeletons, this one armed with a sword and shield and in a somewhat different uniform than the spear skeletons. "Our weapons are our own and dose not need them." He nodded as he knocked out yet another candle-stands, this time to find one of the crystals. "I would have to use my sword and the power of my faith until I have collected enough of these little beauties." He admitted before he concentrated on his faith and sent a barrage of sword into a skeleton archer who had prepared to fire an arrow at Ursula. She gave him a smile before she used one of her spells to kill another of the skeleton scimitars. "There it is." Adrian exclaimed and pointed to a door at the far end of the gallery. He nodded and they did short work of the remaining skeleton guards and run inside the door.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
"Where are we now?" She looked around the platform on which they stood. To the left there went another tunnel and right in front of them, there was a stair who went down to another gallery who went across another huge hall with more Greece pillars. The water from the other hall had stopped, but they feared that it had all been a trap to lead them into this hall. The reason why she thought so, was that the water dragon had followed them into this hall, most likely from the door in which they first had thought to exit the last hall from. "They want us to take the long way out of the water caves." Adrian conclueded. He and Edward had their eyes on a map in which the enigmatic young man had brought with him. The Belmont nodded. "I think you're right. We are dappled in battle from the golem and from destroying all those skeletons." He moved his hand through his hear before he added. "The left-most tunnel is the only way that I can see." At first it looked like Adrian should reconsider, but then he nodded. "What do you think?" The two turned to her. She smiled, thankful that they considered her a part of the group not only in battle but in planning as well. "I think yo're right." She told them. "Edward is right in that we have used to much energy to battle such a powerful servant as the water dragon. Not until we have rested and regained our powers." It was then Adrian took a deep breath and said. "I know about a secret path, one that will lead us behind bought the water dragon and the deepest part of the water caves." "Lead the way Adrian." Edward told him, and Adrian began leading them down the left way that the queen of moss had left clear to them, or at least, a little clearer then the power of the water dragon. Bats and pillars of bones did wath they could to stop them in their track, but beside of that, there was no greath threat who faced them down there. She was happy for Edward's sake, in this tunnel he found some more crystals to power his weapons, but he continued to mostly use his sword and Bowie as they where meant to be used. It was when they reached a fork in the road that Adrian brought out one of those strange cards he had used in the battle with those gorgons and his fairy showed up. "What does my lord command?" She asked. Adrian smiled. "No reason to be so formal." He told her. "I want you to show me where the false wall is, the wall who hides the way to my chamber." The fairy nodded and turned to find the exit to their friends sanctuary, as they had to fight of a few armed skeletons and lizardmen, who was armed with the shells of their dead kinds. They fired arrows from short horn-bows and that was a danger as they could damage the boys as they did battle with the skeletons. She had generated a shield of flames to defend them, but she couldn't guarantee that they where not hit by any arrow. "Master!" It was Adrian's fairy familiar who had returned. "Master I have found the access. Follow me quickly." They did brake away from battle and ran after the fairy, she could only hope that the enemy didn't see where they went.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
He looked around the chamber they had ventured into. "It's a tomb." He then whispered. Adrian nodded. "Yes. It is a tomb. My tomb to be correct." He gasped at the statement. "You are a vampire." Ursula whispered, turning her head from left to right in denial. "Yes. I am." He staggered backward and looked at his friend with shock in his eyes. "I think it is time to explain who and what I am." Their friends took a deep breath before he spoke. "I became a vampire not because I was bitten by another and neither because I bought it from the Devil or committed suicide." Adrian took another deep breath. "I became one because I loved my father too high."" Ursual looked at him without understanding. "What are you trying to tell us?" He questioned the youthful looking vampire. Adrian once again took a deap breath before he simply said. "My name is not Adrian Lecarde. My real name is Adrian Fearheight-Basraq. Borne outside of marriage by boyar Lisa Maria Fearheight and prince Vladimir III Basraq in 1456, in other words…" Edward ended the sentence for him. "You're the son of Dracula!" Ursula shook her head in denial, more forcefully this time. But they knew it was the truth. "I have heard about you from my grandfather." Edward slowly said. "He told about your influence in 1945 and 2035-6. You have allways been a friend to the Belmonts from day 1 and forward." He smiled as he said. "I still remember the legends about you and Sonia Belmont who defeated Dracula in 1476." He shook his head and gathered himself. "Is it so this time?" The vampire did a deep bow before them. "I brought you here to tell you this, and so that we could gather the weapons and magical artefacts you will need in the coming battle with the queen of moss." They nodded and he presented his hand to the youthful-looking vampire. "It would be a honour to fight alongside you." After a moment, Ursula did the same. "Let's do this, together." He told his friends. Adrian nodded and they split up and went to look for useful weapons. "This is something I have looked for in a while." Edward took out a mail from the many suits of armours and took out a mail of light armour rings. He then took off his coat and jacket and brought it on. He then dressed himself in his jacket again and tied a brown leather breast-plate over the dark grey fabric of the jacket, before he took on his coat and hat again. He was glad he hadn't lost it, though he didn't believed in it, it was told that the hat once had belonged to Abraham Van Helsing, one of the greatest vampire hunters in history. He then found a belt in which he could store his many weapons and sword in, and then looked around for his friends. Ursula had found a set of small rods with different coloured jewels at their ends. Not to mention that she now wore a red robe over her simple brown dress. But it was Adrian who had changed the most. He was now dressed in an red and gold-plated suit of armour and carried a shield on his back. He saw that the shield had the crest of a dragon on it, but didn't mind it. The only article of clothing he still had left was the cloak and his sword. "Now," He told them. "are you ready?" The vampire and the sorceress nodded and they left the tomb, prepared for the trap which they belived that the queen of moss had sat up for them in the lowest portion of the Greece/Roman-inspired water-filled caverns. Ursual prepared a shield, in the case of the skeletons and lizardmen still being outside the tomb, but to their relief, there where none to see.As they went down the tunnel, there where some waling dead and bats in their way, but nothing more serious. It was not until they returned to the fork in the road that they met up with the lizardmen and the armed skeletons again. But since they now had been resting and had regained their energy, they managed to dispose the monsters without that much of a problem. Ursula had to tend to some of the wounds which they had gotten from the arrows and swords of their enemies but their was nothing all to serious. The more serois thing was however, that he discovered when they turned to look down the two tunnels, was that they didn't know where to go. He and the fairy familiar of Adrian, waited at the fork as his friends went back to check the hall in which the water dragon nested, but came back with reports that it still was there and had received company in form of other water dragons and wyverns. "Then we have to go down here." He then made an could be dangerous decision. "We have to splitt up. I will go down the left tunnel. You will go down the right one. If God will, we may meet again." His friends nodded and shook hands before they left him. "Now." He told himself. "It seems I'm back where I started. Neither way, I hope this work." He went down the tunnel he had chosen.

Underground reservoir The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
She flouted over the reservoir arena on which she had planed to meet them. "You are shure of this?" The lich asked her. She turned to him and smiled. "If they really manage to fight their way into the reservoir, then we have no other hope than that I am shure of this." Her comrade in arm shook his head. "I cannot say other than that I am worried of this plan of yours." She gave him a dark look. "Then return to your little tree mistress and give her the pleasure you are powerful to still give her." She saw that it hit home, but she di not care. His mistress was the master of these waves yes, but she and she, her dead friend and her commander had been sent her by the dark lord himself and she hab been given carte blanch on this matter. The water caverns where here territory now and she was set on killing those who had dared to enter it without her permission.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
To begin with, he had met more of the bats, pillars of bones and walking dead, but as he went down the tunnel he had come across a new staircase who had led him down to another water-filled hall. But from this one, a huge brigde lead him across. Not that the stair with its bone dragons and crossbow skeletons had been easy to climb. He thanked God and Adrian for the mail and breast-plate for hadn't been for the armour he would have been killed by now. He now stood at the bottom of the staircase and tired to penetrate the mist inside the hall. He couldn't explain it, but he felt an sudden uneasiness inside his heart. Then he understood it, there where no pillar of bones, no fishmen or bats either, there where just to quiet in here. Was it just his imagination that he thought he heard footsteps behind him? It was then that two female creatures seamed to materialize out of the mist itself. They where human, or at least he thought so to begin with, then he saw how they really looked and he understood who they where. "My God." He whispered. "In Your hands I give myself in bought body and spirit." He ended the prayers with the sign of the cross and his enemies staggered backwards but was quick to regain their composure. They where bought lamias, he understood that now. Bought dressed in black robes who did little to conceal their gender to the world. The first had most likely been an nineteen year old Egyptian in life, with dark hair and skin. Her eyes burned like Hell's fire and yet he could feel the Serine's power flowing from her, insulting in him a desire to kiss her. The other was worse. She would have been an seventeen year old Brazilian, with dark complexity if she had been alive that is. She looked on him with a dark desire for him and his blood. And even then, he felt they didn't have the power they should have over him. He smiled without humour, perhaps that was because he already was in love with his own cousin, Alicia Schneider, but that was beside the point, he prepared himself for battle. He hadn't expected to battle vampire on such an early stadium, but as Christian had told them, always expect the unexpected from the demon castle. "In the name of God!" He saluted them in somewhat the same manner he had seen Adrian do it, with his sword and awaited their move. As he had expected, his mentioning of God sent them into a rage and they attacked him without any plan of attack. The Egyptian girl did a double claw-swipe at him, he avoided it, although he felt blood from a wound souk his coat, and slashed her in the face with his Bowie before he retreated back into his defensive stance. He then turned around to face the Brazilian one who had opened her cloak and fired a single ball of blue flames. This, if anything, made him sure of that they where low-level vampires with little power and experience in battle. But he did wice in not underestimating them, even low level vampires where dangerous and could kill you, or even worse, if you didn't killed them fast..He destroyed the flame with a swing of his blade and throw his boomerang-cross at her. She avoided it with little difficulty, as he had expected. But she hadn't expected that he would use his crystal-power to do an item-crush and make her burst into green flames. He then did a sign of the cross, which made the Egyptian stagger backward, but he knew it wouldn't stopp her for long and he was right. He smiled without humour, he had not been wrong when he looked her as the most dangerous of the two. He turned to catch the throwing-cross on its return, before he again turned to her and awaited her next move. "Swarm of darkness!" She cried and opened her cape to fire a swarm of bats in his direction. He did what he could to slice the bats but there where just to many. This had been an unexpected move for her. He didn't thought she was powerful enough to execute spells, then again, never underestimate the powers of darkness. He brought up his Bowie just in time to send her flying back when she did a move on his blood-vains. They watched each-other from either side of the brigde as they prepared for the next round. "Crest of silver!" The spell, formed like a symbol he had never seen before, like a silvery-coloured star, hammered itself into the floor, right in front of the Brazilian vampire. "Curse it!" He turned around to find Rsula at the top of the stair leading down to the bridge-walkway he was standing upon. He ten wheeled around to swing his sword right into the abdomen of the vampire who had used his confused state to make a dive at him. But thanks to his swift turn-back it was she who was sent burning into oblivion. "Must the Lord make mercy upon your soul." He told her burning corpse. Then he added, feling pitty for her. "If you have one." He then turned to Ursula who flushed at his inspecting look. "I thought we agreed on splitting up into two groups." He told her. "I thought you where supposed to go with Adrian." He then shook his head. "Why did you do this? In war we can't break deal just because someone think better of it." She stood her ground. "I don't like Adrian." She told him. "He is a vampire and vampires are our enemies. I think he is an ally of Dracula and this queen of moss." He shook his head. "He has allways been a friend of my family. He has always helped us in our battles with the dark lord. Why should he turn against us now?" She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, he cut her short. "I trust him and that's that. Now go back to him before he gets worries about you." He saw that she became hurt by his word, and he lay a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry for what I said to you, but we are at war and in war we have to trust each other more then we need in time of piece." He then shrugged. "My friends and family always told me that I should have been a politician or general, not a mailman." She smiled to him and started to say something, but once again was cutt short, as Adrian came running down the stairs. "There you are." The worn-down vampire said when he saw her. "I did almost looked myself to death for you." He thenh stopped and gave a look around and smiled as he dried the swath of his brow. "It look like you have found the right path in any case. This is the way to the underground reservoir and the path to more dryer parts of this caves." Edward gave him a look. "So." He said. "Let me get this straight. We are not inside the caste, then where in the name of God are we?" He had been sure they where inside the castle somewhere, but what Adrian said pointed to the conclusion that they where not. Adrian's answer corrected him in his assumptions. "We are inside of what the inhabitants call Ravenberg. Or so it should sound in your language. If my teories are correct, and I think they are, then we should be at least 50 or perhaps even 70 miles or so from the castle. It would take us at least some weeks to go there." "Let's go and see how these underground rewervoar look then." Ursula suggested and Edward and Adrian followed here across the bridge. Now that the vampires where gone, fishmen, bats and something who looked like huge fish heads who fired sonic blasts at them, returned to the grotto. As they ventured deeper into the mist, they now saw that the last part of the bridgte had fallen apart and that water who filled the cave, came from the opening of an enormous steel-pipe. "Do somebody need a plumber?" He asked without humour as he saw where they would have to go next. "Well." He took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." He jumped inside the huge pipe and his friends where fast to follow him. They knew that the hardest part of this battle now lay before them but they didn't turn back.

Underground reservoir.The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
"This place is humongous." Adrian uttered as he gave a look around. Edward couldn't do other than to agree with him. Huge metal-walkway went from left to right as pipes in every size and form, from the one they walked inside at the moment, to the smallest he had ever seen. Smal elevators brought them from level to level and faar below them they could hear the sound of flowing water. "Watch it! Dragon breath!" Ursula fired a wave of flames from her mouth as a small group of lizard worriers and archers made their way towards them. He and Adrian wasn't far behind her. "Balls of destruction!" He opened his cape and fired three blue bat-inhabited fireballs at them, just as he throw his boomerang cross and used the crystals to make an item-crush. Their combined attack killed the enemy even before they had made their way toward them. "That's the second group we just kill on sight." He told them. "I'm beginning to dislike this just as much as I disliked to kill those fishmen we met earlier." As if the mentioning of them should've been a summoning, a group of fishmen jumped from the watery depts and fired a set of poisonous streams at them. "Shields of bats!" Adrian's spell helped in deflecting the most poison, but it didn't hinder the fishmen in making burns erupt on their clothing. "This is war Edward, an in war someone get hurt, you of all people should know that. Was it not you who warned me of the same thing inside the water cave? Crest of flames!" A sun-shaped spell blasted some of the fishmen into oblivion. "I know." He solemnly told her, as he throw the cross, this time without the item-crush. As they took care of the fishmen and lizardmen who had avoided their first wave of attacks, Adrian defended them of the medusa head who came flying in at timed intervals. When they again was alone, the vampire brought out the map which they had found inside the servicemen's chamer and looked at it. "I am not so good in reading this technical draft of this time." He admitted. "But as far as I get it. The way out of the pipe-line would be upward." The other nodded, non of them could read the drawing of the reservoir any better than he could. After this, they went over to the nearest lift and started going upward. As they got higher and away from the water, they met less and less fish and lizardmen, not that it was any less defended, the medusa heads continued to show up from the mist and another, more dangerous treath, was the skeleton archers who occupied far of platforms and fired arrows of crossbow bolts at them. Adrian had to constantly generate the shield to defend them of those enemies, so it became his and Ursula's job to destroy the medusa heads. "Here we are at least." He smiled as they came through the elevator-shaft and onto the next level. They now stood inside a little room with nothing else then a statue of St. Mary inside. "That statue reminds me of something." Adrian mumbled and went over to inspect it closer, and as they watched in astonishment, a calm silvery light erupted him and returned him to his full state, his wounds healed and his armour free of the burnmarks from the fismen's poison. As first Ursula, then he, went over to the statue, he felt a caml sensation came over him and he felt himself healed and refresh. "Amen." They all said in unison, and did the sign of the cross in gratitude and respext for the One, before they left the room. As he opened the plain tree-door in the rightmost side of the room, they saw a simple stone tunnel, as they had seen them inside the water caverns, streatch out before them. "I think this may be the final round before we are forced to face her." He told them. Ursula nodded and Adrian said. "I think you are right. Let us go and see what we may see." On close watch, they started wandering doen the corridor. They knew this would be the place where the queen's most powerful servants would lurk and they where preparing of the worst.

Underground reservoir. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
The tunnel lead right down, it didn't turn either left nor right, and at first she thought they might had been wrong in their assumptions, then again, the queen was might only trying to fool them with this erie silence and this cold atmosphere. Wait a moment, silence and cold. "There are ghosts here." She whispered and Adrian nodded. It was then Edward did a sign of the cross and throw his axe at an eerie see-through woman who flouted just before them, she cried like she faced her uthermost horror then burst into flames. "I'm sorry." The young Belmont told the burning ghost. "I'm not Christian, he would bave found a better way to end your pain, but I beg you not to think bad of me." Adrian put a hand on his shoulder and to her surprise he dried some tairs from his eyes. She never thought a human could be like this. So strong in battle and yet, allways willing to forgive those who themselves had no part in it. Once again she felt this warm feeling well up in her. The same feeling which had made it possible for her to summon the crest of silver, but it was impossible. It was forbidden by the elders. Her thought where cut short as Adrian grasped her and brought her backward. At first she thought he was going at her blood, then she saw the axe dug into the floor where she had been only moments ago. "That's the axe of an axe knight, but that's impossible. Only the higher servants of Dracula have that kind of servants with them." "Fore once." Edward told him. "I think you're wrong. Look." A female vampire, dressed in an blue and black Japanese armour had manifested itself right in front of them, she wilded one of those Katana swords one of her white cousins had told her about, but it wasn't she who had cast that axe. The person who had did that, was a walking dead, dressed in black robe, overlapping body-armour and an open helmet, and to do maters even worse, he was not alone. Others like him, and armed and armoured skeletons stood behind him. "Crest of flames!" She cast the spell but the vampire was prepared for her. "Shield of bats!" A weaker form of their friends spell blocked her sun-shaped projectile and she was swift to counter. "Hell steam!" The Japanese vampire opened her left hand and fired a long-lasting wave of steam. "Dragon breath!" The two spells hit each-other and exploded into nothingness. "Undead lightning!" A bolt of blue lightning blasted from the vampires hand and she had bearly time to counder with one of her own spells. "You are strong." She called to her. "Indeed." The vampire countered. "The same thing could be said about you. Undead lightning!" "Golden icicles!" The spell outlasted the other onces force. "It seams." The vampire smiled, showing her fangs to her. "That this contest cannot be won by our knowledge about the skills of magic. But rather by our skill with the sword." With one swift move, the undead creature brought out her sword from her back and got into a battle-stance. She took a deap breath before she brought out one of the rods she had found in Adrian's resting-place. She had chosen the rod of sliver, with the white jewel at the end and prepared herself. The vampire did the first move, she swung her blade in wild bows which she only bearly managed to block. The metal didn't damaged the dor, something she was really thankful fore, but she couldn't defend herself for ever, she used the rod as a spear and managed to drive the vampire a little back, she brought up the rod and fired a blast of silvery-coloured light from the jewel, and although she knew it would only immobilize her enemy for a moment, she used her rod to strike a blow at her neck, where she knew the armour was on its weakest. But even so, with her throat destroyed, her opponent continued the battle. She was fast and well trained in the arts of a swordsman, but she had no friends who could help her, that's why that even in the midst of battle, Edward and Adrian had time to help her. Edward by throwing his axe into the back of the creature and Adrian by sending one of his fireballs into her shoulder. But damaged as she was, the vampire continued to swing her sword without stopping. She understood why, her opponent was a vampire, and you couldn't destroy one of them if you didn't decapitated their heads or destroyed their hearts you couldn't destroy them. In despear, she cast one of her most dangerous and destructive spells. "Wraith of the dragon!" She took on her original form, she thanked God for that the tunnel was big enough, and blasted the vampire with faire from her mouth. "God in Heaven!" She turned around and saw Edward look at her, completely taken aback by who she really was. "You are a gold dragon." He whispered, then shook his head. "I, I forgive all the things I ever have said to make you angry, your highness. I'm just a human mailman, don't kill me or my friend here." She once again took on her human-looking form, then she went to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am no judge." She softly told him. "I am just a member of a race, as you are. It is not I or my race that shall judge man on the end of days. We shall be judged by God, just as you and your race. And I think you and your kinsmen will be forgiven, and my race is not. I am your friend Edward, and nothing more." She then gave Adrian a smile. "I think that even you are a friend." Adrian shook his head, but bought he and the Belmont got to their feets. "Ursula, I think that Adrian know who you are, but I don't understand. What is your agenda with Dracula?" Now it was her turn to shook her head. "I have no, not until I met you. I was called upon by one of my friends who needed my help in protecting her children. But now that I see what is going on in the world, I see that I have to save my cousin, yes, but what you and your other friends, who you have mentioned, is much more wile than what I am doing. Let's continue on and do what we need to do." The males nodded and they continued down the corridor. The skeletons and walking dead the vampire had brought with her where either dead, again, or had fled when they saw who she was. She could see that Edward still was a little shocked by what has been reviled, but she was sure he would overcome it. When a man could forgive vampires and defeat fishmen in their own environment, he could cope with this as well. The corridor came to an abrupt halt, and they now stood before another huge hall, but this was just as different as all the other had been. From a set of three huge circular openings in the rock-wall, there flowed and seemingly endless supply of water. From their side of the hall, to a sett of stairs who lead up into the caves again, there run a huge bridge, but at either side and in between of the water-openings, lay platforms of metal, wich their went stairs and catwalks to the higher levels. "It's the spring of the water." Adrian told them after checking the map. "It is over the bridge, up the stairs and then we are out of the water caves." She nodded and Edward once again was the first to move. "Let's go then. But be careful, the queen is destenied to be lurking somewhere in this hall, if we haven't been entirely wrong." He was right, she made her rod disappear and readied some of her spells to be sure, as the boy s drow their swords. Edward has lost his axe, since she had blasted it with her fire, but he lay a hand upon his proch where she knew he had the throwing-cross. "Let's go." They went out on the bridge.

Underground reservoir. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
For the first time during this long haunt, he didn't worry so much for killing the fishmen and their fish head back up. The fish heads where only resurrected pieces of life and the fishmen had decided to join Dracula of their own free will, now it was Ursula who worried him the most. It could be well enough that Adrian had known that she was a dragon, but he didn't know it, and he was worried if she laid to him now about that she wouldn't judge him for who and what he was. He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. She had her hands filled with taking out a group of lizardmen who also had made their presence known. He made a dash to her side and throw his boomerang-cross and destroyed bought the arrow and the archer at the same time. It still amazed him how the throwing cross could do that to them, make them burst into flames when it hit home. But even so, they died just as he would if someone had cast an equal powerful dark spell on him. "Balls of destruction!" Adrian opened his cape and made short work of one medusa head. Those pesky creatures still did what they could to hinder them in their progress. When they reached the other side of the bridge, they where great by four armoured skeletons with spears in their hand and the queen of mos. "I salute you my friends." A faint smale on her pale lips and the dark glow in her eyes told them that she didn't meant what she said. "What do you want." He asked her, bringing forth his sword in an defensive posture. "Nothing really." The queen still smiled like the French noblewoman she looked like. "Only the little fact that I think I have something that I think is yours. Something you perhaps forgot upstairs." She held out her hand and something which shone like a star appeared in her hand. "It is my fairy familiar." Adrian shouted when he saw the flouting spectre of the queen holding his fairy inside something which looked like a lamp. "We cannot risk loosing her." Adrian demanded. "She is my servant and she has a demand that I help her." For the first time this night, he wanted to hit him in the head. How could he speak so coldly about his friend? Then Ursual stepped forward and slapped him in the face. "How dare you speak about your friend in that manner?" She demanded to know. Adrian gave her a confused look. "She is my familiar, and servant, not my friend." He told her, and got a new slap from Ursula. "She has been with you all this time." She told him. "She loves you." He gave her an even more confused look. "Love me+" HE just said. They where cut short by the evil queen. "This is all weary amusing," She told them. "But pleas, can we continue from where you left it?" The arguing silenced, and the spectre continued. "If you want your little guide to live, then you will do as I command" Again his friends seemed to ignore her and the queen was also focused on them, not on him. This was the time to react. He threw his boomerang-cross and this time made it an item-crush. He watched with grim satisfaction as the skeleton guards burned into nothingness. Then he threw a grenade at the queen. "Static force!" The ghastly queen blasted his grenade into nothingness and then flew into the air. He tried to attack her again, but without help he failed. "I am sorry Ursula, but I cannot understand your point of view. But I will neither the less rescue my servant." Ursula raised her hands into the air in dismissal. Adrian growled as he saw it. And for the first time since they met, he saw that he was indeed a vampire. But he didn't care, as he wondered how their enemy had been able to capture the fairy in the first place. He then came to think about what had happen after they left Adrian's tomb. He remembered that the fairy familiar had lead the way out again, but after that he hadn't seen her. He had thought that Adrian had called her back, but when he thought about it, Adrian had looked a little worried back there. Perhaps Ursula was right in that the fairy and her master where indeed friends. Then he discovered something which made his blood go cold with fear. "The water is rising again!" He shouted to his friends. He knew the queen was the most powerful of Dracula's servants inside the water cave and also knew she called herself its master. Well, now he got the proofs of her claims and power. But as he had looked down, their enemy had landed again. Her rist act really puzzled him and made him grow tense with dark suspicion. The spectre let loose the fairy. The little creature swiftly flew back to her master, who grated her with a warm yet formal welcoming. Then they all turned to face the queen. "Why?" Adrian softly asked her. "Why did you let my familiar go so easily?" The dark queen smiled. "To manefacture a battle with you of course." "So be it." He told her as he brought out his sword and throwing-cross. "I am willing to do battle with you young Belmont." She told him, as if she didn't see the weapons of his friend's hands and their determined looks in their eyes. "Lord Dracula sent the bone dragon king to test you. And after what I saw I am most interested in doing battle against you." She then turned to Ursula and Adrian. "For you two," The ghostly queen smiled diabolically. "I have a special surprise." He looked to the shadows behind the stairs where he could hear the sounds of matching boots. From the darkness beyond, a metallic skeleton, armed with twin-laser canons and plasma-blasters built into his own frame, emerged. "Head up!" Ursula cried and they looked above themselves. From the high sealing, a metallic wheel dropped down to face them. When it had landed, it rolled out and showed itself as a huge robotic-spider. "The scientists of this time made it possible for my master to make machines crafted by the crossover technology of magic and science which the lizard scientist developed during the 1830-50s." She told them in a mater-of-facts inspired tone . "Are they not marvellous? Frost and Brewster call these little beauties for shadow droids and destroyer droids." He nodded, before he turned to his friends. "I shall take care of the queen. Can you cower me from those droids?" They nodded and he gave them a smile, before he added. "Be careful though. Those shadow droids have missile-launchers and I don't think that's their only weapons." His friends gave him understanding looks, before they got into their battle-stances. "Let's do battle then." He mumbled to the queen, who laughed diabolically. He saluted her before he made a dash at the flouting ghost. "Static force!" She countered. The last battle was afoot. He knew this would set his powers and skill to the ultimate test. If he failed now, he would not be ready to face the hardships who laid beyond this ghost.

Underground reservoir. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
"Dragon breath!" To her surprise, the shield-generators of the destroyer-droid deflected her fire power. "Missiles at the ready." An unfeeling and inhuman voice sounded. "Ready an fire." From the front of the spider-like built of the droid, two small rockets where fired. "Burning shield!" She managed to counter, but the impact made her be flung far back. She was not used to droids and human technology and this was her first meeting with such craftsmanship. She didn't know how to counter it's attacks. And as she stood there pondering the problem, the destroyer-droid opened two other openings on it's back, bringing out tow small laser-canons. "Lasers at the ready." The inhuman voice again sounded. "45-70 watt shock laser." Two balls of white-blue energy shot against her and she lifted a magical shield to deflect her. Once again the shield where blasted down as the lasers hit home. She then thought about what the queen had told them, that these robots where combinations of bough magic and technology, she then cast one of the more complex spells. "To know the unknown!" She shouted as she lifted her hands, she would now be able to see how the droid was built and how it functioned. "Checkmate, your Hell-spawned droid." She whispered and again lifted her hands. "Touch of the day after tomorrow!" Beeing a descendant of bought the house of gold and ice didn't just give her access to the elemental of fire and spirit but to ice as well. As she cast the spell, an ice-blue star appeared before her and a devastating blast of ice-power blasted from the star and destroyed the droid. She brought out her ice-rod, since that was the closest, but she knew she wouldn't be able to use it. The last spell had entirely dappled her magical powers and it would take hours to regain it. She sat down on the platform and cowered her eyes with her hands, but not for long. She would have to relay of martial arts for a while but she was not out of the battle, not as long she still had power left. She went over to Adrian, who had his hands full with battling the shadow droid. "Resurrection program activated, destroyer-mode activated. Mission parameters codenamed: Command & Conquest is now activated. Step one begins." She felt a chill go down her spine and she turned to see the droid had re-established itself and was once again coming against her. She cast a clanse over her shoulder, Edward was good in battle, but he couldn't help her now. "As my old grandmother would have put it." She told herspelf. "It's time to role the dice." She brought out some of the throwing daggers she had hidden inside her dress and glared at the droid. She had weakened it, but it was still ready to fight.

Underground reservoir. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
He snarled and shoved his fangs as the shadow-droid activated some sort of black energy-shield and deflected his blow. He jumped back and opened his cape. "Balls of destructions!" The droid seamed to disappear into shadows and the bat-inhabited blue fireballs missed the metallic monster. "Twisted!" He murmeld as he himself had to generate a deflective shiled as the shadow-droid shot at him with bought its twin-lasers and plasma-blasters. He made a dash for the droid and this time his blade hit home. He smiled as his sword cut through one of the built-in plasma-guns where cut in two and left the droid ribbed of one ot its guns. He didn't have time to smile long, as the droid started firing wilde round of plasma and laser-fire at him. At least this droid didn't have a self-repair system as the destroyer-droid Ursula was fighting against, but it shadow-teleportation made this difficult enough as it was. "Crimson lightning!" He shouted and made lightning blast down all around the droid and it was blasted into pieces of itself. But even so, its pieces tried to continue the battle by crawling toward him. Whit a shudder, he kicked the remains over the edge of the platform, and he felt how his eyes widened themselves at wath happen. The remains of the droid burst into flames and burned into nothingness. It loocked like raw amounts of elemental power could destroy the droid made of evil magic and science as it could with the one who created them. "Watch out!" The warning came just in time. "Missiles at the ready. Missiles launched, 2.5 degree." The inhuman voice of the destroyer-droid was the only warning he got before the missiles blasted their way at him. "Shields of bats!" He cried but the rockets destroyed the energy-based bats entirely and sent him head first into the water. "Golden icicles!" Ursula shouted but nothing happened but to his luck, he managed to turn into a bat and fly back before he hit the water. "Undead steam!" He fired a beam of steam from his bat-mouth and the droid exploded. "We must find a way to destroy it utterly." Ursula run to his side as the droid started to rebuild itself once again. "You should not have used all your magic power in one spell." He told her as he saluted the droid with his sword, then he smiled. "We do not have holy water to our disposal, but I think the water we do have here would suffice." Before the droid had a chance to fully activate the self repair system he raised his hand and made a gust of wind blow the metallic creature into the water. The droid screamed, that was the only word for it, as it melted into nothing but small blobs of metal who sank to the bottom as they looked upon it. They saluted each-other, then he came to think of their friend, the Belmont. Had the queen killed him or did he still live? The last time he had seen them, they had battled out the room and up the stairs leading out of the water-caves. They started to run, he still hoped his friend was alive.

Caverns, Warakiya. The 4th of December. 2098 A.D.
He fell to his knees as the queen's counter-strike made the stairs under his feets break apart. He return to his feets just in time to avoid another of the queens electrical spells. "Static force!" The queen call made a circle-shaped charge of electrical force appear in her see-through hands and blasted it in his direction. He could see the snarl on her ghostly-pale face, but he didn't let himself be overcome by the anguish she could stalk in any living heart. He smiled without humour, after all, she was a ghost and he was afraid of ghosts. He threw the throwing-cross and did an item-crush as it went flying at the queen. "Lightning strike!" The ghost shouted in anger and he jumped right back down the stairs as not to be blasted into nothingness by the lightning she threw at him. "Do not lead us into temptations but deliver us from evil!" He shouted as he lifted his sword and made a barrage of burning blades appear in front of him. He made them dart for the queen. "I myself am a loyal servant to the king of Romania." He shouted to her. Although Romania didn't have no king yet, the people-election of which of them who had actually managed to trach their lines back to the last king, had only begun when the cold came and now Romania would have to wait. "But you makes even a warmly monarchist as myself want to destroy you." He lifted his hunting-rifle and fired a series of fast shots at her and grimly smiled as she cried in pain and smoke started erupting from her. She swiftly moved away from him and he started running up the steps to not loose glimpse of her. The stairs ended in a long hall with another wooden door at the far end. A happy outburst escaped his lips as he saw that there where many new candle-stands in the hall. But the smile quickly faded from his face as the door he had come in through, a strangely blue metal-door, banged shut behind him. "You have done well by surviving this long." The queen flouted at the middle of the hall, looked upon him with triumph gleaming in her eyes. "But now it is must be finished. Static force!" She blasted the spell and now he understood her look of triumph as he saw that the hall also was crowded with mirrors. If she shot correctly, her electric spells would be reflected and sent ricocheting along the tunnel. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for her counter-strike as he threw the boomerang-cross. "Static force!" The ghost cried and unleashed the spell upon him. But that was what he had been planning for. He had the Bowie in his hand and trew it at the flouting ghost, doing an item-crush as it flew toward her. The daggers split into three and shoot into the queen so more dark smoke came drifting from the dark spirit. "Lightning strike! Static Force!" The spells made him jump back and some of the electricity in the air made him cry in pain as he brought out his rifle yet again and shot series of bullets at her. He cursed as he saw that the most bullets missed her and he knew he would have to reload soon. When he run out, he cast the weapon down, and ripped out his blade but was thrown back by the electric force of the queen. Lucky for him, the queen was damaged enough so the spell wasn't at full force, he took a sip of the medicine, thanking God for it, and sent a barrage of burning blades after the queen. This time she hadn't time to block them. The blades ripped the ghost into shreds of its former self. He sank to his knees and thanked God as the rifle and sword returned to him. He rouse when the blue door at his side of the room opened, Adrian and Ursula came bursting into the room. "You're alive!" Ursula exclaimed as he saw him and run to help him to his feets. "Where is the queen?" Adrian asked in his usual cold manner as he looked around for the ghost. "In Heaven I hope, but in Hell I fear." He told them frankly as he, supported by Ursula, started taking out candle-stands and with gratitude picked up a rousted chicken from the ground. He broke of a leg and gave it to Ursula, who gladly bit into it. "Sorry Adrian, but we don't have any blood for you to feed on." He joked as he picked up a new throwing-axe and placed into his belt. "I must say I am impressed." He whirled around, the blue door was once again closed. "Who's there?" He demanded to know. Adrian and Ursula brought forth their weapons and turned into their battle-stances as the unknown fiend started to chuckle at them. "I am the true master of the water caverns. I am the queen of moss." "Impossible!" He shouted back. "I killed you." The queen, if it was her, started to chuckle again. "The one you defeated was merely my human form. My true form is still alive and I still want to do battle with you." A huge coil of mist started manifesting in the hall before them, then an explosion of bright light hindered them to see. When they could see again, he almost wanted he couldn't. Before them loomed a huge find of a ghost. A moth it looked like, but he could see the glow in its eyes and he recognised the same glow which had shone in the eyes of the queen. "Here goes nothing." He mumbled to himself. "Follow me!" Then he shouted to his friends as he made a dash for her with his sword and Bowie at the ready. "Wait for us Edward." Then he heard. "God in Heaven! Shield of bats!" The spell hindered the queen from blasting him into nothingness by spitting a fume-looking liquid at him. He felt a chill go down his spine as the energy-bats melted into nothingness in contact with the liquid. "We must be careful." Adrian used his words from before, and he wasn't wrong. The ghostly moth spread its wings and a swarm of giant moth-ghosts flew towards them. Without speaking another word, they all made their moves on the ghostly monster. He could see through the corner of his eye that Adrian was taking out the moths as Ursula used her throwing-daggers to kill the ones who came past his sword. He didn't have time to help them, not as he jumped into the air and throw bought his new-found axe and his trusty boomerang-cross. The moth screamed as he did an item-crush with bought his weapons, but it didn't stop her. She opened her mouth and fired a long-lasting stream of acid-fumes at him and he felt how his coat again was burned around him. He rolled onto the floor to turn out the flames before he jumped to his feats and again threw the axe at the flouting ghost before him. "Balls of destructions!" Adrian shouted as he run up by his side and opened his cape. The bat-inhabited blue fireballs flew at the queen in the exact same time she opened her wings and sent a new wave of moths towards them. The fireballs killed some of the smaller moths, if you could speak of smaller when they was on the size of small dogs, as did his axe. But it was Ursula who took out the biggest wave. They had lost trace of her as they defended each-other, but now she came jumping over their shoulders with an amazing jump-kick she crushed the last moths. "Forgive her of her sins and give her peace!" He half couldn't believe he spoke those words, but he did, just as he again throw bought his axe and boomerang. Adrian was also on the move as he threw bolt after bolt of the strange crimson-coloured lightning. The queen screamed at every hit and at last she fell back and burned into nothingness. They went still, looking at each-other as they stood there, unable to speak a word. The queen had almost killed them all and now it was over. "I hope you where right." Adrian said at last, Ursula nodded. They took a moment to rest, and it was then he looked at his watch and saw it was a new day outside. "It's the 5th of December outside." He told his friends as he made a sign of the cross. He almost couldn't believe that they had been down here an entire night. But then again, it had been early in the night when he and his friends had arrived at the site for the resurrection. "Look!" Ursula's cry ripped him out from his thoughts and back to the present. A glowing crystal-ball was lying on the floor where the queen had perished. "Is that…" He licked his lips and continued. "Is that one of the tokens of that you have defeated one of Dracula's servants as I have been told it is?" Adrian nodded and gestured for him to walk over to it. He shook his head, he didn't felt like he deserve it. But it seamed like Ursula agreed with Adrian and he slowly rised and went over to pick up the red crystal-ball. When he finally did, it felt like he was back in the village again, happy together with his friends. It was like all he had fought for this long terrible night had returned to him in this little moment to remind him why he did what he did. He took a deep breath and smiled as he turned his head to look above himself. "God, please." He whispered. "Give me strength. Not as I will, but as you will" He lifted the hand which held the crystal and a beam of simple yet beautiful silvery light shone down upon him. He felt refreshed and healed of all his wounds. He heard a voice talking to him and he fell to his knees. He was fearful, but not in the same way as when he had battled the servants of darkness. It was the feeling he often felt when he was inside a church. But this was stronger yet more breathtaking than he had ever felt before. "I am the God of your ancestors." The voice said to him. "I am the God of Leon, Sonia and Simon. I am with you, Edward Belmont, like I have and allways will with those who know me and have faith in my words." The light subsided and he could see thatAdrian and Ursula have done the same as he did. They must also have heard the vocie. "Amen." He spoke, strong and filled with faith. Dracula and all his darkness was still out there. But for now, he didn't feel worried or afraid. They went back to their feets and started walking down the corridor as the blue doors where now open.

Castlevania, Warakiya. The 5th of December.
He looked down on the check-table. They where indeed powerful. In two small days they had defeated bought the bone dragon king, the phantom bat, the wyvern and the child-vampire. All as he had planned it to be. Except for one little thing, he had underestimated the child cross-breed. Her connection to the forest made her even more dangerous than he had expected. But so far she had only destroyed one of his servants and it was not one of his most powerful. He looked around him, now all the seats in this part of the gallery where taken. His servants had returned to him empty-handed, as he had suspected they would. But it wouldn't be long until his scientist where complete in their work. Then he would send out his servants again and this time they would return to him with the means for his full resurrection. In the meantime he had other servants to send against his enemies. He called forth a set of new underlings. The plant, the wizard, the werewolf and the dragon skeleton appeared on the table. He saw that Medusa and the Hell hound still stood there. They where the new servant he had manifested when he realized there wasn't enough with five servants. Now he had presented them with new enemies and he was positive they would distract the Belmonts long enough. Soon it wouldn't matter what they did. He should live again and that was what he focused on now.

Chapter 2: The Story Continues | Back to Prologue