Castlevania: The Tower at Dusk
by: Porfirio Velasquez Jr.
Chapter 1: Irony
The moon was out and the dark sky was illuminated by its beauty. Xaaron walked calmly towards a castle where he knew there was evil to purge. Evil filled the world ever since Lord Dracula's return and thoughts of him made Xaaron want to destroy something. He had been weak and allowed himself to be manipulated by the dark lord's ambition. Regardless, he managed to escape his influence and from then he had been on the run, seeking a way to defeat him once and for all. That's when he heard about the legendary Sword of Question, that is said to have the power to defeat Lord Dracula. It was kept in an ancient tower known as the Tower at Dusk that only appeared just as dusk began to settle. The real task was getting to the tower since the path that had to be taken was very specific and filled with danger.
It made no difference to Xaaron, his life was in peril, so risking it just a little more so that he could retrieve an escape sounded like an excellent idea at the time. He was about to reach the castle doors when he noticed that someone was heading towards the castle as well. It wasn't another vampire since he could tell just by the scent, she was definitely human. She approached cautiously, she must have figured out that he was a vampire somehow. He gave her a confident smile, but it only seemed to alert her more. "Beautiful night under a full moon, no?" he said briskly, looking up at the moon as well.
"What are you doing around here vampire?" she questioned harshly as she drew out her sword. It gave off a pure aura and he knew that it was a blessed sword that could hurt him real bad.
"I think that we're looking for the same thing. An end to Dracula?" Xaaron guessed as her face became perplexed. She lowered her weapon, trying to make sure what she had just heard was correct.
"Why would you want to destroy Dracula? Isn't he your master?" she questioned.
"No. I have escaped his grasp, but as you can imagine he wasn't going to take that sitting down. I'm being hunted and I decided that the only way to stop them was to defeat Dracula," said Xaaron with a smile on his face. The woman pondered his words, vampires were very crafty creatures and never hesitated to tell a lie for food. Somehow, that smile was real and saying otherwise felt futile. She shook her head, realizing that that must have been what he was trying to do to her.
"I don't believe you vampire. Your kind is tricky and I'm not going to fall for your manipulations so easily..." she said before raising her sword. Xaaron was growing bored with her futile accusations, so he opened the castle gates. She was surprised to see him trying to flee, but it made her wonder why he would just leave?
"I really don't care if you trust me, but since we're both here you might as well help me out a bit. At least a name?" pleaded Xaaron. She put her sword away and decided to just be on full alert.
"Alexandra," she said simply, which brought another smile to his lips. That's when she noticed the vampire's qualities for the first time. She hated to admit it, but he was deadly handsome in a way. His eyes looked like a bleached brown that was so light it seemed like his eyes were once red, which made more sense. Vampires acquired red eyes when they transform, rejecting their form could have led to his eyes becoming somewhat normal again. His long hair was blonde and was tied back into a neat ponytail. He wore black traveling gear and seemed to be carrying various weapons.
"My name is Xaaron Knott," replied Xaaron with a bow. He outstretched his arm to give Alexandra passage first. She crossed her arms and gave him a does-it-look-like-I'm-that-stupid? look. Again Xaaron smiled and continued to stare at the woman. She was pleasing to the eye, but human women never were really his interest. Her eyes were a pearl aqua that were simply marvelous in color and texture. They seemed to be real oceans of clouds, water and vapor at the same time. Her hair was long and black, which she tied back loosely so that it didn't get in her way during combat. The vampire walked inside and realized that there was something wrong immideately. Supposedly, the castle belonged to a noble king, but there was no one there. Usually a castle would have guards at the door or servants to attend to you. There was no one there to greet them and there was an eerie silence that only protrudes where there is absolutely nothing in a certain area. It made Xaaron uneasy as Alexandra also entered, the same feeling must have consumed her because she wrinkled her nose.
"Too quiet..." she said softly. She scanned the area and confirmed that there were no humans or monsters for that matter. Xaaron shrugged his shoulders and headed for the huge flight of stairs before them. The stairs were lined with a soft red carpet that was trimmed with gold fabric to make it look more attractive. The second floor was just as empty, but there was suddenly a feeling of despair. It felt almost like death itself was present. Alexandra merely continued to walk, trying to find another flight of stairs. Xaaron followed her and eventually began leading her towards the flight of stairs that led to the throne room. If the king wasn't around, then it was confirmed that the castle was overtaken by something.
"This place is filled with an evil aura..." said Xaaron, feeling the evil presence become more powerful as they got closer to the throne room. The doors themselves seemed to be drenched in evil, but Alexandra continued forward without fear.
"Of course. This castle is the entrance to the Tower at Dusk. Dracula has some of his most powerful monsters in the towers and probably here to stop anyone from reaching the tower..." said Alexandra before touching the doors to the throne room and realizing that they were sealed by some magic force. When she removed her hand, a tablet with four buttons on it and text appeared before them. The tablet read: One hand plus one hand, makes three. Two hands plus two hands make fourteen. Xaaron was at a total loss for words, there was no sense in what the tablet said. Even so, he noticed that Alexandra was thinking hard about the information presented to them. She mouthed the words silently and her brow wrinkled some. Xaaron was about to tell her not to worry about it when her face lit up. "I got it!" she said before walking up to the tablet. She pressed the first button twice and then the third button. She then pressed the second button twice, the first button once, and finally the fourth button. There was a loud hissing noise coming from the door and the darkness that covered it vanished.
"Wow. How did you figure that out?" asked Xaaron with curiosity in his eyes.
"Simple. One plus one equals three. So obviously first twice then the third. Two plus two makes fourteen. So the second button twice then the number one and four would make fourteen. Get it?" she asked. After the explanation Xaaron wondered why he hadn't thought of that. Again they tried the door and this time it opened easily. Inside the evil presence felt as though it was all around them and even passing through them. The vampire was on full alert as he entered the room carefully, realizing that there was indeed a king sitting at the throne. Perhaps all hope for the castle wasn't lost, but as it turned out, the king had been dead for quite some time and all that remained was his skeleton.
"What in the world?" was all Xaaron could manage before the doors to the room shut behind them. Both of them jumped and turned to see who closed the door. As they both expected, there was no one there and the feeling of evil in the room quickly intensified and the vampire suddenly realized why he had felt the presence of death in the hallway earlier. Indeed, it was Death himself, the loyal servant to Lord Dracula. Alexandra must not have noticed because she was still more focused on the door than the increasing evil force surrounding them.
That's when the skeleton began to chatter its teeth and sit up straight as if it were still alive. A chuckle escaped the lips of the remains and it suddenly became apparent that the skeleton wasn't laughing. Once they averted their gaze to the area above the throne, Death appeared. He was a sinister being that always kept his body shrouded in darkness. His very garments were made of shadows that concealed his true form, except for his face. Well, he didn't exactly have a face. It was a skull that had dark orbs where the eyes should be. Only one of his hands was visible, which was also skeleton, holding his traditional scythe. "Well, if it isn't Xaaron Vara? Thought you could escape from Lord Dracula did you?" snickered Death. He twirled the scythe a little as the vampire ground his teeth and clenched his fists.
"What's it to you old sack of bones?" shouted Xaaron hastily. Even he should realize that Death was someone that you tried not to taunt, but something was destroying all composure he had.
"Lord Dracula wasn't too concerned with you at first, but now that you're here I'm afraid that your life is now over. We can't allow a vampire to aid a human reach the Sword of Question, that might actually succeed." Death couldn't show much emotion, but somehow Xaaron could tell that he was enjoying himself.
"You can go back to your old Lord Batty and let him know that I'm coming for him!" shouted Xaaron. Alexandra was confused and petrified at the mere sight of Death. Humans were a lot weaker than vampires and could not handle the sight of Death as easily as Xaaron could. She was trying to calm herself down, but somehow she just couldn't come to grips with the situation and she couldn't help but let out a muffled cry.
"You insolent knave! You dare insult Lord Dracula in my presence? Lord Dracula requested you be returned alive, but now I'm not so sure I can comply with that. Alive you'll last until my Lord is through with you, dead and you're mine regardless..." said Death darkly. Xaaron thought he was going to fight him directly, but he dropped his scythe onto the ground with the blade facing the floor. It tore through the ground on contact and created a deep crevice into a swirling limbo. At first, the vampire thought that the vortex would try to pull them in, but something was trying to crawl out. As a matter of fact, two somethings were trying to crawl out of the hole. Death retrieved his scythe and glared at the pair. "Unfortunately my orders prohibit me from killing you myself, so this spawn of Lord Dracula will have to do..." said Death grudgingly. The creatures emerged into the room and the vortex at their feet sealed up.