In Retrospect
Mirror
of Fate is an unnumbered sequel to the original
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, in which protagonist Gabriel Belmont met
a cruel and unusual fate. Though we were given a glimpse into a far-off future
wherein the former Gabriel now hid in the shadows as the tortured Dracula, attempting
to escape from his eternal damnation, the ending was in reality setting up Castlevania:
Lords of Shadow 2, which is set sometime in proximity to the original. Mirror
of Fate, the second in the trilogy, acts as a bridge to that finale, providing
us a quick look into Gabriel's past but mostly focusing on future Belmont
offspring Simon and Trevor, whose adventures are indeed their own but more or
less a reflection on Gabriel's misdeeds. Our
story opens in the year 1046, one year before Gabriel's encounters with the
Lords of Shadow.
- - -
Gabriel
Belmont grabbed his wife, Marie, into his arms, neither knowing what the future
hold. For soon, Gabriel, a young warrior and a member of the Brotherhood
of Light, would depart, taking on a mission only the finest of their ilk could
endure. Mounting his stead, acknowledging Marie's worried gesture of farewell,
Gabriel head off for unholy land. By sundown, he arrived at the outskirts of
a detoriated outpost, its central tower channeling a storm of dark energy. Aided
by three sword-wielding comrades, the hooded Gabriel began his march toward
an unknown destiny. When a pack of shadow crawlers began to stir, abandonding
their fleshy feast and emerging from the surrounding woodland to pounce upon
this new prey, Gabriel displayed his skill with the famed Combat Cross and easily
dispatched of them; his allies could not hold up their end, falling to the deadly
creatures.
A large creature fly overhead, its destination
the decayed tower seen in the distance. Now alone, Gabriel gave chase; he slid
down a mountainous slope and sliced through more shadow crawlers as he crossed
a stone bridge. He arrived at the tower and was greeted by the vile Daemon Lord,
which emerged from its innards with amused laughter. Gabriel without hesitation
plunged the Combat Cross' chain into the monster's eyeball and violently removed
it from its perch; the Daemon Lord in response viciously flailed its spiked
tail, pinning Gabriel to a tree and piercing his abdomen. Proud of the result,
it boasted, "Is this the best the pathetic Brotherhood could send?"
The wounded Gabriel would cede no such edge; he instead grabbed handfuls of
his own blood and tossed it onto the ground, the entrails forming the symbol
of a crucifix. Unimpressed, the overconfident Daemon Lord foolishly tread over
the symbol and soon learned of its meaning, as a powerful, painful force began
envelopining its frame, pulling the winged beast toward the earth and restraining
him long enough for Gabriel to pull out a magic seal, which was then used to
capture the creature's soul.
|
 The
mission was a success. The badly wounded Gabriel could only clutch at
the still-bleeding protrusion as he gathered himself and began the journey
home. Though he would ultimately survive, what would shape his future
was not be what he just experienced but the activity he was, you
could cynicaly guess, purposely scheduled to miss.
Unbeknownst to Gabriel, as he carry
out his mission, elders from the Brotherhood visited his lovely wife,
Marie, in their home. As she lay in her bed in a state of despair, she
could only stoically gaze at the vision as seen through a special amulet,
as shown to her by Pan; the clairvoyant artifact, somehow connected to
the Mirror of Fate, clearly revealed Gabriel's unfortunate future. They
had only one option: They must take from Marie her son Trevor, about whom
Gabriel never knew. Trevor and his offspring would be the only ones capable
of facing Gabriel in the future, and this lineage had to be protected
from Dracula and his war against the Brotherhood who wronged him. The
elders informed her that they would return at nightfall to take the boy
into their care. The shaken Marie could only weep, knowing that the Brotherhood's
plan was best for all involved.
|
Trevor
had grown to be a highly skilled knight, the Brotherhood having trained him
to be the best in their class. As he pondered his future, his wife, Sypha Belnades,
consoled the shaken warrior as she scold their son, Simon, for trying to grab
at the famed Combat Cross. "That's your father's," she lectured. "It's
not a toy." At the same timed, she wondered why the Brotherhood
waited so long to tell Trevor the truth about his father. Trevor could only
suspect that they believed the cursed Gabriel would not return. "It must
be me, Sypha," he believed. "It can be no other." For the honor
of his family, Trevor knew that he had to protect both Sypha and Simon from
the former Gabriel Belmont, now calling himself "Dracul," who had
taken residence in the mysterious castle formerly owned by the Bernhard family;
too, he must avenge his mother, whose death he blamed on Gabriel. As he prepared
to leave, he embraced Simon at the doorway, handing him a bracelet; he explained
that the bracelet originated from a magic mirror that reveals a person's true
fate. Though it never did for him, he hoped it would do so for Simon;
he asked that Simon always carry with him. Trevor then shared hugs with both
his son and his wife before making a request: Should he not return by dawn,
they were to assume the worst and flee to the forest. Sypha, distraught, could
muster only one response: "Come back to me, my love," she implored
as she grab hold of her son's hand.
Trevor approached the
wretched castle's entrance and breached its unholy church, where he discovered
a new boomerang sub-weapon; he put this new tool to use, shredding to pieces
a swarm of bats that crashed the party. His violent dispatching of the final
specimen caused one of the church's balconies to collapse, granting him access
to its upper levels, from which he sent a chandelier crashing into the ground,
smashing open an entrance into the crypt below. As he trekked through the many
caves, he discovered a large statue of a robed figure siphoning energy off of
a smaller statue placed below it--the large beam of light blocking off the path
downward; his reading of a nearby scroll, as dropped by a fallen member of the
Brotherhood, revealed that the smaller statue was emblematic of a woman whose
pitiful sobs could be heart emenating from the catacombs below. She was consumed
for the love of a knight who betrayed the Bernhard family and thus threw herself
into the pit while searching for him; her cries echoed for centuries under "the
light of a guardian angel." Unable to fully understand the story, he instead
headed the castle entrance's bridge.
As he walked upon the
bridge, he spotted a rather unpleasant hunchback, who was looting the corpse
of another fallen Brotherhood member; it took from the corpse a strange necklace
and tossed it into a nearby stream, after which it gleefully fled from the scene.
Though the necklace was of interest to him, Trevor continued toward the entrance.
That giggling hunchback, however, wasn't through causing trouble: He returned
not only with two of his friends but under their control the grisly Executioner,
who after dispatching of his hunchbacked "friends" put Trevor's skills
to the test. The determined Trevor cut down the hooded monster and approached
the entrance, itself; he was greeted by the mysterious Lost Soul, who told him,
"You cannot pass yet, Trevor," his words of a denial of entry. Since
he was as of now locked out, he detoured around the bridge's underpass and picked
up the previously tossed necklace, which turned out to be a Light Magic Medallion;
it would surely help him unlock some of the castle's many secrets.
Trevor headed back to
the crypt and used his new magic medallion to break the guardian-angel statue's
energy flow, eliminating the barrier that blocked his path into the crypt labyrinth
below. He descended down into the dark abyss, where after a bit of exploration
he entered the domain of the Lady of the Crypt--the transmutation of the woman
whose sobbing had haunted the castle depths. He defeated the accursed woman
only to find that her crypt-crawler form was merely an outgrowth of a much larger
terror--an enormous beast intent on squashing the one who disturbed its rest.
Trevor, reacting instantly, plunged the Combat Cross into the beast's hide,
quickly boarding it; as it tear through the castle's rocky foundation, Trevor
hung on, struggling. He carefully climbed his way atop the monstrosity's head,
from where the embedded lady controlled it; he grabbed her from behind, ripping
her from her perch. The beast, now out of sorts, carried Trevor back toward
the castle entrance, where it was finally felled--its cranium sliced in half
by Trevor's retraction of the Combat Cross. As it keeled over, it crashed through
the entrance's large doorway, granting Trevor forceful access.
It
was in the cold castle hall that greeted him where he again came face to face
with the Lost Soul, who was expecting his rather loud arrival. "How did
you know my name?" the impatient Trevor wondered. The Lost Soul explained
that it knew all; it existed for the purpose of making sure that everything
happened as it was supposed to happen, to act as destiny's guide. Trevor insisted
that the shrouded being step aside, rejecting its advice. Though, the Lost Soul
warned Trevor that he would not be able to complete his quest, for his
fate had already been sealed; nothing could be done to change it, and his wife
and child would suffer from his failure. Trevor at this prognostication angrily
drew his whip and struck the Lost Soul in the jaw, shattering the bottom of
its mask while robbing it of speech. Realizing that its presence was no longer
necessary, the Lost Soul faded away; Trevor stared at the mask's remains, seemingly
nonplused yet pondering its owner's words.
Trevor eventually arrived
in the castle's vertical prison, whose exit was sealed by four engraved symbols.
A slain Brotherhood's scroll held the key: By finding the author's four fallen
comrades, Trevor would learn the correct order in which the symbols must be
illuminated using a combination of light and dark magic. Thanks to some good
fortune, as he seach, he located a Dark Magic medallion as formerly owned by
yet another deceased Brotherhood member. After escaping from the prison, he
entered the abandoned mine, his access beyond cut off by a lengthy lava pit.
He had no choice but to climb up into the mine's upper tunnels, where he took
out a second Executioner and discovered an engraved holy symbol; placing his
weapon within this enchanted engravement upgraded it into the Improved Combat
Cross, which gave it the strength to tear through stone walls.
Continuing on this alternate
path, he took an elevator up into the clock tower and cagily maneuvered around
its many deadly mechanisms, his efforts carrying him to the tower's top, where
he came into possession of the long-jump-enabling Speed Boots, which were created
by the Toy Maker. Too, he managed to reach the belfry--the castle's belltower.
As he survey his surroundings, a troupe of pesky rafter-dwelling hunchbacks
spotted him; looking to have some fun, they hastily sawed throught he support
structure from which a large bell was suspended. The dislodged bell nearly crushed
the surprised Trevor, who dodged just in time. Though, this instance
of peril was far from over: The bell began rolling down the belfry's damaged,
sloped surface, forcing Trevor to carefully descend down the tower--wall-sliding
and swinging around the wrackage while the bell slowly drop through the barely
resistant woodwork above. While his efforts to avoid getting squashed were successful,
there was no solid ground; he could only fall to the castle's lower levels,
knocking himself unconscious upon impact. As Trevor lay there prone, the Lost
Soul reappeared momentarily and dropped before him a cube of unknown origin.
When Trevor came to his senses, he noticed the mysterious object and secured
it.
As fate would have it,
his long fall landed him back in the abandoned mine, site of the previously
impassible lava pit. Trevor used his new legwear to leap the fiery gap, beyond
which stood an unpenetrable door whose center lacked an essential cube-shaped
piece. What luck, then, that he had previously procured a cubical artifact,
which fit perfectly in the shutter. Inside lay not treasure but instead a trio
of witches, who were performing a ritual; as he watch on, Trevor could only
roll his eyes, knowing that this ceremony would result only in more pain for
him. His assertion was correct: The ritual beckoned the return of the sadistic
Daemon Lord, who was more than happy to carry out his benefactors' desire to
eliminate the Dark Lord and claim dominion over the castle. Perhaps sensing
that the demon's ultimate destination, Trevor made his presence known, plunging
his Combat Cross into the Daemon Lord, who even then charged his way toward
the castle's heights; Trevor could only hang on for dear life, releasing his
grip only to run across the castle's outer structures whose extremities
would provide the runway to summarily hop back on. When they crashed down at
the belfry's entrance, Trevor used the Combat Cross to grab hold of a stony
fragment and shotput it into the Daemon Lord's face; a few more well-timed swings
of the weapon deprived the demon of its arms and then its life, as the Cross
rip through its abdomen, cutting it in half. As the triumphant Trevor gather
himself and head back inside, an amused Toy Maker watched on from above, laughing
inexpicably.
Trevor
continued his acension, finally arriving at the castle keep. The Lost Soul watched
on as Trevor dash up the long stairway, again fading out with a silent expression
that could only be construed as disappointment. As it had foreseen, Trevor burst
into Dracula's throne room, demanding that the Dark Lord come out face him.
The former Gabriel suddenly materialized, unimpressed by Trevor's hubris. "It
was unnecessary for them to send someone special to meet me," he explained,
noting that he had planned to pay visit to the Brotherhood, anyway. He noticed
that Trevor was carrying the Combat Cross, the weapon as crafted by Gandolfi,
and deduced that the Brotherhood had in their desperation deceived him; that
is, Dracula would know the name of the warrior who holds the Cross, but
he wasn't aware of Trevor's existence, suggesting that he was merely a pawn
in their game. Feeling an introduction appropriate, Trevor characterized himself
as "someone for whom Dracula's very existence brings shame upon his family."
He knew who and what Dracula was, and he seeked to claim vengeance for
his mother's murder. "So it's personal," Dracula gleaned. That tohim
made things far more interesting, for revenge was a powerful emotion and for
many years his closest companion. Dracula's boasted that he killed so many,
sending them to a "better life"; he had no interest in getting to
know his victims and plead ignorance to the charge of knowing Trevor's mother.
"But you do know!" Trevor angrily countered. "You knew
her very well, and I'll cut it right into your heart!"
The two luminaries drew
their weapons, each ready to claim a kill. They battled using their skill, their
wits, and their command over light and dark magic. Their fierce, violent encounter
shook the castle keep in which the battle raged. In desperation, Dracula used
his magic to toss Trevor high into the air, soon accosting him as he fall. Trevor
got the better of the airborne tangle, the Count's back-first drop leaving him
prone. All that remained was for Trevor to dodge Dracula's last-ditch fireball
onslaught before earning the chance to plunge his Combat Cross through the Dark
Lord's heart. Whatever it was that ensued was obscured by the splattering of
debris as caused by the pair's crashing back to the ground.
When the dust settled,
Trevor opened his eyes and gazed upon the Mirror of Fate, which resided in the
castle keep. The Lost Soul descended upon him and hovered for a few seconds
before disappearing into the Mirror's light. This was surely not a moment of
victory for Trevor, who lay there bleeding and badly wounded, impaled by his
own weapon. "I understand now," he uttered, as he observed the "magic
mirror's" vision for the first time. "I understand everything."
He had fought against his fate even though it was in vain, whereas Gabriel had
accepted his fate, was betrayed at every turn, and yet still followed
the path even though it doomed his wife, Marie. Fate is cruel, he learned, expressing
pity for Dracula, who he acknowledged as "father." Trevor then pointed
at the Mirror, urging the befuddled Dracula to give it a look. As he gaze into
the Mirror, he could see a visage of Marie, which made everything clear. "Why?"
he gasped. "No!" He quickly teleported over to Trevor, taking
the breathless warrior into his arms. He removed the Combat Cross from Trevor's
chest, trying to revive him; as a desperate measure, he cut open his wrist and
let the blood pour into Trevor's gullet. "Son," he painfully
exclaimed in a moment of true sadness.
As a final gesture, Dracula
placed the lifeless Trevor in a tomb, the garishly decorated chamber enshrined
in the castle keep under the watchful stare of the Mirror of Fate. The tomb's
occupant could be only be surmised by the name inscribed along its cover: "Alucard,"
the meaning of which would be clear in time.
Intertwined Fate
The story from
this point chronicles the exploits of two separate heroes: Simon Belmont and
Alucard, thirty years after Trevor Belmont fell to Dracula. Since their respective
missions run concurrent, the details will be neatly combined into one episode.
To eliminate confusion, Simon's story elements will be typed in green text,
with Alucard's in white--a hero's portion of the tale told from his own perspective.
- - -
Simon
Belmont grabbed what rest he could, the grizzled barbarian nestled against the
wilderness as he sleep. As it was since the incident, he was haunted by the
same recurring dream: As his mother lead him into the woods, the two hand in
hand, the prepubescent Simon could only glance back at the pack of monsters
that gave chase. It was no sooner would they catch up to the protective Sypha,
administering a fatal barrage, that Simon would awaken in a hyperventilated
state. Though, there was no time to reflect on the past; after gathering himself,
he extinguished the fire that had burned through the night before mounting his
horse and riding off toward the village ahead. Not long after after entering
the cursed hamlet, he found himself under assault from a horde of zombies; one
such victim had embedded in its skull a special throwing axe, which Simon took
as his own but not before depriving the undead fiend of its cranium.
The tomb that for decades was
sole exhibit of the castle keep bristled with activity. Its occupant, identified
only by the name inscribed across its cover, had awaken from his slumber, nudging
the lid off of his coffin. As he remove himself from the garish chamber, he
surveilled his surroundings, his pained expressions suggesting
that he knew well this castle. He walked toward the keep's entrance and approached
the Lost Soul, who as always was waiting expectantly. "Who am I?"
he asked of the masked prophesier. The Lost Soul pointed toward the castle's
right tower, to a destination whose very structure told the whole story. The
aptly named Alucard fell to his knees, deeply anguished. "NO!" he
screamed. "Please not this! It's not supposed to be like this!"
When he asked of Dracula's location, the Lost Soul again looked toward the castle
heights and handed Alucard the Dark Pain, which was a dark version of the Combat
Cross. It was this weapon using which he'd have his final revenge. "It
is time for us to meet once more, father," he said, his eyes locked on
the distant tower.
As Simon moved beyond the village,
he neared the castle's outer wall, its drawbridge already drawing to a close
as if sensing his arrival. His entrance point cut off, Simon instead dropped
down into the depths, the watery caverns below no more welcoming; loitering
beyond the vast pools was the Lost Soul, which upon spotting Simon floated toward
the castle's lower entrance, as if beckoning him. His escape from the cavern
brought him face to face with the mysterious being. "Who the hell are you?"
has asked, not nearly as interested as his tone suggested. "Stand aside!"
Unable to vocalize its thoughts, the Lost Soul somehow made Simon's necklace
glow; Simon, fascinated, stared into the luminous heirloom, interested in the
vision it was projecting. His enthralled gazing was cut short, the Lost Soul
refusing to show him any more; even then, Simon gleaned enough to know that
one such image was of the Combat Cross, which was once wielded by his father.
He asked the Lost Soul if the weapon still hide somewhere in the castle, to
which it nodded approvingly but discouragingly. It was no matter--Simon would
reclaim the weapon, he swore, and this "Lost Soul" would not
stand in his way.
Simon's determined march continued
into the cavernous basement, where he happened upon a crystal resting in a pedestal.
He picked up the crystal and inspected it, hoping to realize its significance;
ultimately unimpressed, he tossed it aside. As he turn away, just then, he was
ambushed by an ill-intentioned gang of mermen and harpies. Overwhelmed, he could
only fend them off as best he could, failing to gain any tactical advantage
over the rabid pack. Responding to his plight, a robed female specter emerged
from the crystal and began acting as protective shroud, shielding him from the
monsters' attacks while allowing him to get the upper hand. It wasn't long before
he had crushed his venomous assailants, victorious only due to the spirit's
intervention. Otherwise thankful, Simon continued utilizing her services--particularly
for passing under the cavern's soul-infected, life-draining waterfalls
Thanks to his new magical power,
the Spirit of Belnades, Simon escaped from the watery depths and entered into
the castle hall. A few steps in, he noticed a grubby scaven scouring about;
upon being spotted, it hurried off to the adjacent room. Simon followed the
creature into the pillared corridors, whose side entrance opened ominously to
reveal the Night Watchman, who wondered what, exactly, had dared enter his domain.
The ghostly Watchman was in no mood to entertain guests and attacked Simon with
its flame-adorned lantern. After a long struggle, Simon's whip proved itself
the superior weapon, the Watchman rendered defenseless. As a last-ditch, perhaps
cowardly move, the Watchman gave a whistle, summoning forth a colony of scavens
that theoretically should have swarmed their master's attacker; instead, seeking
a much-easier-to-attain lunch, they pounced on the Watchman, whose mass was
enough to satisfy their hunger. As they conclude their feast, a large, shadowy
creature emerged from the foreground and crushed the scaven that was unfortunate
enough to still be lingering, the scene disturbing but not witnessed
by Simon.
Simon continued through the
guards hall and the dungeon-like cells, where he procured an oil flask sub-weapon
that would prove useful. When he breached the inner cells, he looked high up
to an open chamber, where hovered a sword-wielding specter--its intentions not
clear; though he lacked the means to ascend to such heights, Simon knew he'd
soon have to pay this specter a visit. For now, he could only climb and swim
up through the nearby vertical prisons, which thanks to his activating of certain
mechanisms slowly became flooded. Though the rising pool afforded him access
to the castle's upper levels, it also damaged the prison's foundation--the pressure
causing a sinkhole through which the prison's water drained, the contents filling
the craterous land outside.
Alucard
rushed down into the belfry and exited the bell tower through a portal, which
led out onto the tower link--a central structure that would conveniently and
hastily carry him over to his destination. He balanced his way across the steel
support and reached a central platform, where he was rudely greeted by the recently
resurrected Daemon Lord. "Look what you've become," the insolent demon
said in inspection of the pale warrior. "You don't remember me?" Not
caring for the creature's appraisals, Alucard drew his weapon and tangled with
the large antagonist. His power still weak, Alucard suffered defeat; the Daemon
Lord grabbed hold of him and slammed him to the ground. "I've been waiting
a long time for this," the creature disclosed before lighting Alucard ablaze
and dropping him to the craterous real-estate below; thanks to some good fortune,
the concaved surface had moments ago become a moat due to a sinkhole that had
emptied into it the vertical prison's watery contents. Alucard plunged into
the newly formed pool, still conscious; realizing that he had no more need for
breathing, the undead vagabond immediately swam to the right, entering into
the abandoned mine as foundation to the right tower.
When Alucard finally emerged
to dry land, he became encircled by a swarm of bats. Rather than destroy them,
he dispatched the fanged flock by tapping into his vampire sensibilities and
channeling their energy to create a Bat Projectile sub-weapon--the first step
in the slow regeneration of his power. He navigated his way around the depths
and arrived at the kitchen, where a group of sinister hunchbacks attempted to
dump onto his head the boiling contents of their cauldron; without even knowing
he had such an ability, Alucard shifted into mist form and evaded the scorching
liquid. He then killed off the irksome hunchback troupe and exited the kitchen,
his magical propensity increasing by the minute.
As Simon ride up the elevator
overlooking the castle's outskirts, he noticed an enflamed humanoid figure dropping
from the sky. Though curious as to what he had just seen, it didn't register
from him more than a shrug. Though, as he turn to exit into the kitchen, it
had curbed his focus just enough for him to not notice the blunt object
flailing toward his face; he was knocked unconscious by a devilish hunchback,
which grabbed his leg and began dragging him toward the boiling cauldron as
stirred by his giggling companions. Simon regained his senses just in time to
fend off their murderous plot. After again avoiding becoming a main course,
he escaped from the kitchen and entered the theater, where he jumped on stage
and dispatched some possessed puppets. As he shred them to pieces, he looked
to the ceiling and through a large grate, beyond which he noticed a figure furiously
sprinting about before fleeing. After the stage had been cleared cleared, he
got an up-close view of the mysterious figure, who dropped down and quickly
fled, declining Simon's request to "wait!" Seconds later, a
more-familiar actor appeared: The
Lost Soul, who Simon began questioning. Did it know who that busy figure was?
It gave no answer. Simon, growing frustrated, demanded that the Lost
Soul respond to his query, but the silent manifestation could only calm his
nerves by pointing him forward, its stare aimed toward the castle heights.
Alucard
entered into the upper level of the theater and looked down through a grate
to see something interesting: A red-haired man locked in battle with a seemingly
endless stream of macabre puppets. "It's not possible," he told himself
as he looked over the monstrous mechanism that rest before him. Sensing that
the large contraption and its weird elemental blocks had something to do with
puppet's continuous spawning, he swiftly moved the blocks about and sabotaged
their entire creative processes. Having saved the frisky warrior from the marionette
madness, Alucard rode down on a lift to get a closer look at the man. No words
were exchanged, and Alucard quickly fled despite the man's sudden demand that
he wait; ignoring the loud request, he jumped up to a balcony above and
again found himself kneeling before the Lost Soul. "Is it him?" Alucard
cryptically asked. The Lost Soul nodded yes to confirm whatever suspicions Alucard
had. "What is he doing here?" Alucard could only wonder.
Trusting the visual advice he
had received from the Lost Soul, Simon headed onward and upward, through the
library and into the courtyard, whose branching interior held the item he most
desired: The Combat Cross, which was conveniently enshrined upon a pedestal.
He took possession of the weapon, which moved him one step closer to completing
his mission. As he briefly mediate, the ghostly Necromancer appeared and yanked
the Combat Cross from his grip. "Your father, too, was unworthy of this,"
it said, its blitzing rush knocking Simon back
through the room's stain-glass window and down into the courtyard proper. Simon
quickly recovered and with the assistance of the Spirit of Belnades defended
himself against the Necromancer's initial offensive. It was just like Simon
to "hide behind a woman" it taunted before commandeering the power
into the tip of its scythe. Simon, left to his own devices, pierced the Necromancer's
veneer and shattered its scythe, evening the playing field. Simon eventually
floored the soulless phantom, extracting from its innards the Combat Cross that
rightfully belonged to him. This victory earned him the approval of the now-ever-present
Lost Soul, whose motivation at least to Simon was not clear. Now with the means
to do so, he headed back into the inner cells and used the grappling capability
of the Combat Cross to reach the upper chamber and approach the sword-wielding
specter; though it at first took a defensive stance upon sight of Simon, it
recognized the coruscated blue aura as projected by the Spirit of Sypha, which
reached out to the sword-brandishing Sprit of Schneider, who now knew he could
trust and join with the red-haired vagrant.
The theater's balcony gave way
to the terrace, where a large elevator awaited a passenger. Alucard's trip was
cut short by a giant Reaver (the remains of the Night Watchman), which landed
atop the elevator and destroyed it, forcing hum back onto the terrace's base.
The nasty Reaver and its execrable scaven offspring did their best to obtain
a midday snack, but the ever-capable Alucard instead cut them to pieces, thereafter
dumping the Reaver into a nearby abyss; as it fall to its certain death, the
Reaver grabbed onto Alucard and took the unwilling inhabitant into its creepy
clutch. Though his cagey maneuvering freed him from the creature's grasp, it
was another of his learned-on-the-spot abilities that ultimately saved the day--his
Shadow Claws, which allowed him to cling to the walls and climb back up to the
terrace and beyond that the clock room. Located at the center of the room was
an engraved holy symbol whose shape matched his Dark Pain. Before he could place
the weapon, the symbol retracted, its withdrawal beckoning from the clock's
sides two mechanized reapers that would ordinarily converge and strike a bell;
the target of their scythes this time, though, was Alucard, who thanks
to yet another suddenly-learned ability--his Wolf Form--was able to deflect
their blows and escape damage-free. His new wolf transformation was convenient
for another reason--it allowed him entry into the Toy Maker's workshop, where
he'd find the Stopwatch sub-weapon that was necessary to constrain the clock
room's electrical currents that served as obstacle to his ascension. Atop the
clock room stood the previously retracted holy symbol, using which he was finally
able to upgrade his weapon to the Improved Dark Pain, which increased its strength
and allowed him to ride along magnetic rails.
Simon
climbed back up through the library and entered the Toy Maker's funfair. As
he walk upon its grotesque carousel, the nightmarish device started to spin
rapidly; he tried to jump off, but some unseen force activated a magic seal
that blanketed the carousel and prevented his retreat. He was forced to hurriedly
tread against its rightward rotation, dodging the metallic heads that jut from
the carousel's center, and quickly gain some sense of equilibrium as it repeatedly
reverse its axis; when it paused momentarily, allowing him the precious seconds
needed to catch his breath, he looked down, through a grate, and once again
saw that mysterious figure working feverishly--this time pushing an odd-looking
machine. Without a sense that the ride would ever end, Simon ran to the point
of exhaustion until the carousel simply ceased functioning, seemingly under
its own power. Unrelated or not, the mysterious figure, now more readily identified
as a pale, white-haired gentleman, came into view and warned Simon not to get
any closer. As he look upon Simon's frame, he noticed the Combat Cross and asked
where he got it; Simon responded that he felt drawn to the weapon, which was
left there by his father years ago when he came to the castle seeking Count
Dracula. The pale-skinned recluse asked in follow-up: "What happened to
your mother?" Simon explained that she was killed by Dracula, who must
have been angered by his father's attempt to kill him. Now with a clear sense
of who the rugged Simon really was, the brooding figure warned that his father,
Trevor, was not able beat Dracula. He wondered, too, about what made Simon think
he could. "What do you know of my father?" the aghast Simon
inquired. He received no answer except for a non sequitur: "Know this:
You will not stand alone against him," the figure promised as he absconded
to a balcony above.
Using his new rail-riding ability,
Alucard breached the Toy Maker's domain and found himself in the carousel's
engine room; he looked through a ceiling grate and witnessed a scene that annoyed
him greatly: His red-haired friend had gotten himself in trouble again, now
trapped on an out-of-control carousel ride with no end. Noticing that a beam
emanate from the room's bottom-right wall, he acted quickly to line up a series
of reflective-orb devices and redirect the ray toward the carousel's underpinnings,
which damaged the structure while short-circuiting the terrifying attraction.
Again feeling the need to check on the condition of his stressed companion,
he came face to face with the man. "No!" Alucard warned. "Don't
come any closer." The red-haired man recognized Alucard as the one who
earlier saved his bacon and asked that he share his identity. "What do
you know of my father?" he asked.
The reticent Alucard had no desire to answer the question and instead made a
promise before making an unceremonious exit: "Know this: You will not stand
alone against him." Unbeknownst to the pair, Dracula had been eavesdropping
on their conversation, listening from the floor above.
Alucard's next stop was the
resurrection room, where the vile Daemon Lord was conducting his dark experiments
on behalf of his supplier, the Toy Maker. "I'm glad to see you've powered
up," he directed toward the intruder. It would be more fun for the Toy
Maker, he thought, to have a more powerful soul on which to experiment. Though
the Daemon Lord had, this time, even more tricks up his sleeve, Alucard destroyed
its mechanical toys and stood his ground long enough to deposit the demon into
a nearby chute, down which both parties fell; as if reliving a prior experience,
Alucard skillfully escaped the plummeting creature's clutches by chopping off
its limbs. The chute's particular texture impervious to his claws, the falling
Alucard was left without the means to scale his way back to the surface; instinctively,
however, he unlocked another highly useful ability--the Demonic Wings, which
allowed him to fly back up to the resurrection room.
From there, he worked his way
past the vampire tower and up into the throne entrance, where he happened upon
an large, emblazoned door with on either side a gargoyle-statue structure. He
would not be able to open the firmly sealed door unless he inserted into the
statues two blood orbs, which were currently missing. He located one such orb
in the nearby vampire tower but otherwise had to scour the entire castle to
find the other; he found it in, of all places, the kitchen, as clutched in the
arms of a dead hunchback. After some effort, he relieved the deceased nudnik
of its ill-gotten prize and headed back to the throne entrance; after placing
the blood orbs in their proper vestiges, he watched as their plasmic contents
spill into the veins that embellished the entrance's doors, forcing them open.
Simon
worked his way atop the deteriorated main tower, climbing and ledge-hopping
up to another locked door. Forgoing the search for a key, he instead crashed
his way through the stain-glass window that stood gloriously above the barricade.
As he enter the tower's hold, he came to question the reliability of his senses;
its interior was not that of an eroding castle but of a lush utopia.
Lurking on a nest above a pillar, a succubus called to him, promising him unending
pleasure should he enter her embrace; he hesitantly crept forward, his inspection
of the surroundings ongoing if not focused on the many seductresses lying about.
When Simon neared her receptacle, the Succubus clasped onto him; "We've
been waiting for you," she said as she lean over to give him a kiss. Fighting
against his natural instincts, he was able to resist her dire show of affection--an
amenity that turned into an assaultive soul-stealing attempt; he subsequently
slew the Succubus and her minions. As the illusion fade--the utopian setting
shattering to reveal the more-logical dilapidated setting--the grim, drab picture
came into focus. "Forgive me, my Lord," the dying Succubus pleaded
as her master look on.
Before Simon sat Dracula, resting
on his throne. "You fight well--worthy of the name 'Belmont,'" he
complimented. Simon wasted no time in making clear his intent: He had come to
avenge his parents and destroy the Dark Lord. Dracula laughed, wondering how,
exactly, he planned pull off such a feat. "With the Combat Cross?"
he asked, amused. "That relic has no power over me." Dracula
boasted that he had killed his father and then promised that Simon would suffer
the same fate. His arms becoming fiery with enchantment, Dracula made one final
threat: "You'll die in vain as did your father." Steeling himself,
the assured Simon held his ground: "We'll see about that, won't we?"
As the two prepare for battle, the tower's door suddenly opened, the light pouring
in as accompaniment to the figure who Simon recognized as his unsociable ally
but who Dracula knew specifically: "Good of you to join us, Alucard."
Alucard entered into his final
destination only to witness Dracula standing defiantly against his red-haired
friend, who in response to the new arrival exclaimed: "It cannot be."
Dracula, in contrast, was quite pleased to see the lugubrious figure: "Good
of you to join us, Alucard," he welcomed. Alucard had not come for a family
reunion--fate had given him a second chance, and he was there to finish what
he started all those years ago. Disappointed, Dracula explained that he had
hoped Alucard would join him in his war against the humans. Alucard could not
accept such solicitation, for he had no room in his existence for hatred. "No
matter," Dracula said, shifting his attention toward Simon. "The Belmont
blood cannot be allowed to continue!" As Dracula lunge toward Simon, Alucard
intervened, distracting the Dark Lord and giving the heroic pair an opportunity
to double-team the Count. The resilient Dracula managed to knock Simon out of
the picture, leaving him unconscious and evening the odds; father and son dueled
until Dracula retreated to his throne, from where he used his magic to take
control of the insensible Simon. Careful not to harm what he now recognized
as his son, Alucard continued to grab and shake Simon, eventually breaking Dracula's
control over him. Growing tired of the games, Dracula returned to action, grabbing
hold of Alucard using his weapon and draining his life-force; Simon regained
his senses and struck Dracula before he could apply the deathblow. Combining
their might, the duo ultimately overpowered the Dark Lord. Alucard grabbed Dracula
from behind, hooking his arms; "Now, Simon!" he shouted, signaling
to his son that he had procured for him the opportunity he'd awaited ever since
his mother's death. Relishing the occasion, Simon ferociously charged forward,
plunging his Combat Cross into Dracula's chest. There was no dramatic death,
nor were there any cryptic final words--Dracula had simply been obliterated.
As
they stand there, deliberating over what had just occurred, Alucard remarked,
"This is not how a vampire is supposed to die." His words left Simon
confused. Before any explanation could be given, a surprised Simon turned to
see the Lost Soul hovering before him, holding out its hand. It wanted the pendant,
Alucard explained--the bracelet he had always worn around his neck. "Not
a chance," Simon retorted, rejecting the request, for it represented
the only memory he had of his father. Alucard continued: "Your father gave
you that without knowing its true power." As long as Simon wear it, he
would not be able to decide or act entirely for himself; it would guide and
manipulate his actions forever. "Do you think you're here by your own free
will?" he quizzed. He had
to let it go, Alucard argued, because it didn't belong to either he or
his father. Bending to his wish, Simon handed the bracelet over to the Lost
Soul, who was the manifestation of the Mirror of Fate and the rightful owner
of the bracelet to which it was counterpart; it took the bracelet into its care,
returning to its place of origin. Simon had one last question for his dark ally:
"Will you tell me now who you are?" Alucard's only gesture was to
touch Simon's face and slowly walk away.
Alucard returned to his tomb
atop the castle's left tower. He noticed a crack in the ground and a bit of
debris wedged within it. He cleared away the rubble only to find to find a battle-worn
Combat Cross. As he take the weapon in the hand, the castle began to crumble.
In a fit of urgency, he transformed into a bat and smashed through the tower's
window, escaping the rotting haunt. Standing much farther away from the scene,
on a nearby cliff, was Simon. "Farewell," he said, directing his parting
thought at Alucard as he fly off into the distance. From his safe perch, Simon
watched as the castle collapse
unto itself, ending the nightmare.
Back to Page
1
