6/

I awoke laying in a cold, hard ground. When I opened my eyes, I saw an unreal scenery. A gigantic room. There were two flowing streams of water at each side of the room, four statues of serpents at each side of the room, and in the centre, surrounding me, stone statues of maidens kneeling as in prayer.

I slowly stood up. The only sound echoing to the room was the flowing water. I could see a few exits. My heart was beating hard, and even though I wanted to move, I felt stuck to the floor. Somewhere. There was something somewhere in the darkness, waiting. Waiting, and watching.

A sound. I turned, and I saw myself. Except, it wasn't really myself. She looked identical to me but there was something subtly wrong with everything about her. That thing slowly walked towards the centre of the room, towards me. Its movements reminded me of a feral animal. Then, it stopped.

Only then did I allow myself to breathe.

"Who are you?" I screamed it, but it came off as a whisper that even I could barely heard.

It's useless to resist

An inhuman voice coming from a human throat. The voice seemed to resonate through the walls in such a way that it seemed like the voice was coming from the castle itself, and not from the thing in front of me. What was burning behind those eyes?

You are nothing now you can only take your place

A warped knife. The thing drives that knife into its hand… and I screamed. My left hand throbbed, even though there was no sign of a wound.

Somebody has always got to take the throne

It stabbed the knife on one knee, and it went all the way in. I fell down on one knee, panting, trying to regain my breath. Stop it. Had to stop it, before I would get killed.

It's your destiny

Laughing like the devil, it ripped open its stomach and started to pull out its intestines. I screamed, drowning out its laughter. The pain, the pain, the pain, the pain…! The pain was unbearable. I felt half-dead already, and I couldn't even move.

And when you do I will be there to welcome you home

A sharp pain in my head, darkness, then… I opened my eyes and I was back in that room. But it hurt, it hurt so much. All over my body, where I sustained those wounds in that dream. I had brought my pain from my dream to reality. Trying to control my breathing, I looked around.

Where was this place? I didn't know this place. Blackness, the bars of a cell, of a cage. Somebody had dared… to try to put me on a cage. The gritting of my teeth. Just something like this, to restrain me? They didn't know who they were messing with. Oh, but that was all right.

I would give them a good lesson.

Using only a little bit of strength, I pushed against my restrains. They creaked, and cracked. I sneered. Everything in this world was so fragile. Only the night and the pale moonlight seemed to have any weight. I slipped out of my broken restrains… something poked my arm. A needle. I laughed, and laughed. I grabbed the needle, snapped it half and threw it away. The contents had already entered my bloodstream, but just that much wouldn't serve to restrain me.

Foam was launched from tubes in the walls in all directions, clinging to me, dragging me down to my knees, obscuring my vision completely and making it hard to breathe. I heard… the sounds of bagging against steel, and I feel a phantom pain in my hands. Distant laughter. The total, unending darkness that seemed it could shallow me. I was here again.

I was in the locker again

in the locker in the locker

in the locker…!

The foam was all blow away from me. My arms were covered by gauntlets, which burned with an intense fire. I roared, and slammed myself against the bars. I went through them as if they were made of paper. Alarms going off. The sound of doors shutting down. Like that was going to matter. They were just locking themselves with me, not restraining me. They would pay for their insolence. But not now. Not now. There was something else I had to do before that.

I went out easily, bursting through the walls and into the outside. Destroying anything in my way. Screams, people trying to save themselves. I was shot at, but I barely felt it. Without any real opposition, I merely destroyed the glass of the door of the main entrance and went out into the night.

I was high up in a rooftop, looking up at the moon. It had been easy to make them lost track of me. In the darkness, everything was a hiding place. The rain had soaked me, but it didn't make any difference to me. I had become unable to felt warm since a long time ago, so it just made me felt a little colder. My whole body had gone into an overdrive. I couldn't calm myself down. Why? The answer was easy. It was not enough. I still didn't fully felt like myself.

I looked back down, and turned away. I would take over this city, and then, I would make this world bend the knee to me, like I had so many others. Everybody would fear and worship the Prince Of Darkness, the Dragon, Dracul.

Drawing out power from inside of me, I brought my castle back into reality, in the outskirts of this city. It appeared as if it was always there, illuminated by the moonlight. I jumped out of the building, and transformed into a swarm of shrieking bats. I quickly made my way through the night, and transformed back when I got over my castle. I landed in a crouch, and went up the stairs and into the balcony in front of the castle.

As I walked, I could heard shouts, howls, growls, all of the noise coming from the beasts mixing into a cacophony of welcome to the ruler of the night. I put my hands against the steel railing, and looked down. Below, there were my creatures, all grouped together. A darkness that didn't leave the ground visible. They were all waiting for my orders. In the distance, I heard the sound of the Endbringer sirens.

I opened my mouth to let slip the dogs of war.