Chung woke up on a dark cell. His vision was blurry for a moment when he stood up. He was locked in a small and humid cell made of mossy stones and rusty bars. He could hear the sound of water flowing somewhere as well as the distant howling of the wind. The place wasn't warmth, but it wasn't nearly as cold as the blizzard outside. He had been stripped of his cannon and armor, and Moby was nowhere to be found. He pushed his face to the bars trying to see outside the cell. There was only a dark hallway that lead into a poorly illuminated room that he could only see a small part of it through its door. He tried calling for someone, but there wasn't an answer.

"Great, now I have to look for a way out here…" He complained to himself while examining the rusty bars.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" A voice suddenly said behind him. Chung turned around so fast that he felt dizzy again. He didn't realize there was someone else in the cell. And he couldn't blame himself for it. The other person there was a short girl. She was somehow hanging upside down from the ceiling. Her lips were between her teeth in a overly happy gesture, as if she were a kid that just got a new toy. She let go of her invisible support and landed in front of him "It's dangerous outside."

She looked like a doll. Her skin was even whiter than Eve's, and totally devoid of any kind of imperfection, as well as her well keeped black hair, which was left untied cascading over her shoulders. She covered herself with a red robe, and carried what looked like a dagger on her hip. Chung was unsure of what to make out of that situation. He wanted to ask for the girl's identity, but she stopped him with her hand.

"I'm sorry hitting you so hard, I thought you were dead," She stopped to giggle "But you are tougher than I expected."

"Are you the one that attacked me? Who are you?!" Chung demanded, though his commands weren't as imposing as he thought without his armor and cannon.

"Call me Ann. It's nice to finally be able to meet you, Chung. But don't get so alarmed, to be honest you were the one sneaking into our property," She complained back.

Although she was right, there was a good reason for him to be here. "Of course I was sneaking in, I came here to free my partner."

"Oh, yeah; the white haired girl. Don't worry about her, my sister took care of her wounds. She's fine now, maybe you'll see her." Ann said, she was lazily pacing through the cell, ignoring the menacing look in Chung's eyes.

"Like hell I would buy that, take me out of here or I'll have to make you do it. You just took me by surprise before, but I wont allow that to happen again."

"You shouldn't really say things you may regret…" She said, however her voice sound as if she was behind him instead. Chung instinctively looked behind to be startled by Ann. She was right there, outside the cell, with the same playful look in her eyes. He had to double check looking at the place she was standing in right a second ago. And she was nowhere to be seen. She moved from that point to outside the cell in the blink of an eye. Not even that, even faster, as he was already hearing her behind him while she was still in front of him.

"That was a mere trick," She said, answering the question that Chung didn't had time to make "Don't be alarmed Chung, I'm not here to hurt you. Actually, master told me to take care of you, so it's in my best interest that you are doing well."

"How do you know my name?" He asked. Still feeling confused by what just happen, he was now feeling even more puzzled. She was here to make sure he was doing well. That was awfully nice for his captor.

"Oh, right, you don't know yet. Let's call it magic then, to keep things simple," Ann said. While magic could be the reason, he was pretty sure there was something more hidden in her words.

All of the sudden, he heard a familiar roar and looked down the dark hallway to see a beast he thought it was dead. The white werewolf from before suddenly entered the illuminated part of the room. Chung could see the horribly darkened neck of the creature still painfully distorted. An injury that should have killed it, but that apparently was only enough to put it to rest for a while. The beast stumbled around the hallway, crawling its way through it. It passed Chung's cell and the girl in front of it without even raising its claws. He was surprised to see it so peacefully head for the light room at the end of the hallway.

"Oh, she's finally back. Poor thing, you really made a number on her, huh? Don't worry, she'll be fine." Ann explained seeing Chung's confused face.

"It should be dead. I broke its neck with my cannon,"

"Yeah. Werewolves, right? There are legends that say that they can only be killed with silver. Well, I don't know about that, but I can tell you that fire works too." Ann elaborated, shrugging and heading for the room after the beast "Call me if you need anything,"

As soon as she disappeared through the door, Chung moved away from the bars. If this creature was here, he should try to get his cannon as fast as possible.

"Eve… I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a bit longer…" He said to himself.

"I think I waited long enough, don't you think?" A familiar voice said. And for the second time Chung turned around startled. But this time there wasn't nobody hanging from the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes, now that they got used to the dark he was able to distinguish a small ventilation vent on the wall. Eve's voice came through it, sounding slightly distorsionated.

Although the castle was big and the rooms were arranged in a weird manner, Eve found it fairly easy to reach the basement. The place drastically changed, as the well tidied rooms and overly decorated walls turned into mossy stone and soggy floors. There wasn't any carpet, painting, furniture or any other sign of the wealth from the rooms above. Every room here was either empty or filled with dust covered crates. The entire place smelled like it was abandoned for years. Eve wandered alone in this dark corridors, having only Remy's torch as a light source until she finally encountered an already know face. Elisa was waiting for her next to some stairs.

"Eve, did you get lost? This area of the castle isn't very nice, and there are some dangerous things down there, like the creature that attacked you…" Elisa warned once Eve came closer.

"Is my friend also down there?" Eve questioned.

"Yes, I just checked on my younger sister, and he is down there. Don't worry, he's fine. And he'll be, after all, he's going to be needed." Elisa said, and didn't elaborate any further. She walked towards Eve expecting her to leave the place.

"I want to talk with him," Eve requested.

"But master forbid me from allowing you to go down there. I'm sorry, I can't disobey him,"

The situation was starting to look grimm. Chung was in a cell, and that means that anything that she does could end up in really bad news for him. Eve wanted to push further, try to go down even if Elisa opposed her and see him, but the risk was too much of a gamble. She needs to think now. Too many things have happened in less than an hour, but still, it was pretty troubling not being able to know about him in so many time.

"There is a way, though… I can lead you to a room connected with his cell. It's on this floor, so we wouldn't be getting into trouble," Elisa said, already walking and waiting for Eve to follow her.

Eve decided to follow her. There was a fundamental problem with this. As nice as Elisa was, she was her captor. This people was trying really hard to earn her trust, but at the same time they resort to all kinds of stratagems to keep her in a state of confusion. Elisa walked into one of the storage rooms and pushed aside some crates. Eve saw a metallic patch on the wall near the floor. With a few holes on it, it served as a way to keep the air inside those inner rooms flowing. She got closer to it and surely could hear Chung's voice on the other side.

She felt an unnatural wave of joy after knowing that he was alive that she immediately suppressed and prepared to convey a message for him. She looked at Elisa who was still standing there. She excused herself and walked out of the room. At least it seems that she'll give them some intimacy.

"How are you doing?" Eve asked through the ventilation shaft.

"I should be the one asking that… last time I saw you, you were lying dead in a pile of snow," Chung answered.

"You can save the sarcasm, we are in a delicate situation right now."

"Are you in another cell?" Chung asked.

Eve needed to update him on everything. From the people she met on the castle to the weird offer they made, and the source of the storm. It would be better if she had all this information already shorted out, but due to how things were happening, she was having some trouble with that.

"I found the source of the blizzard. Also, this people seem to have some special interest in me, for some reason."

"Did you manage to stop the blizzard? Also, could you get here and take me out of this cell?"

"I'm afraid not. They allowed me to walk around this castle mostly free, but I feel like they just want to held me captive without me realizing it. I'd say they want to earn my trust for something."

"Well, it sounds better than being in this cell."

"It's fine. I'll look for a way to get you out of there… stay out of trouble."

Chung waited for a bit before saying anything, but it seemed like Eve was already gone. Kind of a let down, she didn't seemed too much affected by what was happening, or at least not as much as he would have expected. He wandered inside his cell, trying to think, but only when doing this he realized that he was exhausted. Since they went out of that cave he didn't had a single moment to rest, being his time unconscious the only breather he had. He actually considered having some sleep, if Eve was really going to take him out of there he would need it.

Eve went back to her room, thanks to Elisa indications she was starting to have a mental map of the castle. Once she was alone again, she cleared some space on her room and began taking notes using her own blue display. She began by sorting out all the new info she had, and then tried to elaborate it. But she wasn't feeling well. Suddenly her head was hurting. She wasn't feeling tired, but something was off. It was as if she had been thinking too much, if that was even possible. As hard as she tried, she wasn't able to put her thoughts in mind. And just then, she remembered that she was forgetting something.

What was the offer that strange master made? He didn't explained it, he just say to think about it. It didn't made sense, or at least it didn't before. There's only one thing that man could offer her, and it was some kind of power. Elisa said it already, how the older sister power grew after joining them. But what kind of power? And more importantly, at what prize?

Eve knew better than to trust the philanthropy of such a suspicious person, not to mention that she already knew what could happen if it goes wrong. And it suddenly gave her an idea. She walked into the balcony and stared up at the frozen tower. It was a longshot, but in her current situation it was way better than doing nothing. She ripped the lower part of her robe to allow her legs to move more freely and without a second thought she immediately jumped onto the wall over the balcony, ignoring Remy's alarmed complaints.

The insides of the castle were pretty well taken care off, but the façade was still old. There was huge gaps between the stones to provide footing, not to mention some of them had even missing corners. It was fairly easy for her to reach the roof of the central part of the castle. She walked slowly over the darkened tiles that made the cover of the castle eyeing the tower in front of her. There was some windows up there that may not be encased in ice like the door. Remy tried to dissuade its master from climbing the tower, but she was already checking what would be the most suitable path for the ascend.

"I can't elevate myself with you alone Remy, unless Moby joins us again, there's no other way. And I won't wait quietly for this people to make more schemes,"

She finally decided on a path and started climbing the tower. The lower level was easy enough to cover. Although Eve never had to climb before, she quickly adapted to the task. As she ascended through the tower wall, she started to feel the temperature dropping either due to the proximity of the cold source or the edge of the barrier. She was almost at the pinnacle, only the corbels were in her way now. Trying to climb them without any help would be a suicide, luckily she had Remy still with her. While one drone wouldn't be enough to enable her flying capabilities, she could use it as a temporary bost.

Remy scouted the parapet for a suitable support point. There was a small breach on the stone railing that could serve as an entry point. It got in position, her master didn't hesitate before jumping towards it, Remy moved quickly to her back and boosted her upwards, just enough for Eve to reach for the edge.

She managed to climb the final part and finally sit in the parapet for a quick rest. She eyed down the long path she ascended. The balcony on her room was barely visible from up there. Once she recovered her breath, she stood up and examined the tower again. There was several windows that didn't had any glass on them but instead a thick layer of ice, pretty much like the door inside. She continued checking the different windows and doors that led into the tower, but all of them seemed perfectly frosted. Eve wasn't willing to admit that all this effort was in vain, but it looks like Sarah was really interested in not being bothered.

"Can you fly?"

The voice came out of nowhere, startling her and the little Remy. She looked around before realizing the faint shadow at the other side of a freezed window.

"Are you Sarah?" Eve asked. The shadow stood there without saying anything. As much as she wondered why, no matter how much she would wait, Sarah didn't said anything more "Yeah, I can fly. Not right now since I'm missing one of my drones but I can still lift of the ground."

Her answer prompted the shadow to move. Eve thought she left but she saw her in the next window.

"Then how did you came up here?"

"I climbed,"

Again, she saw something moving on the other side of the ice. She followed her, hoping that she would eventually came out or something.

"Are you here to take me away?"

Eve couldn't understand what she meant by that. She was here to interrogate this person, but at the same time her target was to stop her from spreading the storm again. However, communicating with her seemed a bit harder than expected. But she wasn't surprised, after all, this person has been imprisoned here for who knows how many time.

"I'm not, I just want to talk with you," Eve answered.

"Oh, how sad."

As the voice answered, Eve could hear ice cracking. She looked up and saw one of the windows clearing. It wasn't the ice melting, it was being morphed. It's irregular shape slowly became smoother, magically changing from a white cluster of ice into a totally transparent glass. Eve peeked through it, on the other side was a room poorly lightened. Everything was in the darkness and she could only make shadows out of it, except for the single person in there. A young woman, standing now on the center of the room, on top of a red bed. Her skin was pale like her sister, and so it was her eyes and hair. The strands of her mane were totally rigid, looking like ice, and a white mist emanated from her skin, descending towards the ground where it formed a thin fog. On top of her was a huge stalactite that reached into the dark top of the tower. Eve could see the heart of the storm inside the pillar of ice. A blinding light that poured freezing energy outside. There was some kind of magical barrier keeping all that energy from flooding into the castle.

"Oh, you're the one Elisa was talking about. I see, I understand now. She told me what do you want, but since you're here I guess you hadn't decided yet, huh?" Sarah said.

"What are you talking about?" Eve questioned. Talking through the ice was a bit frustrating, she would have prefered to be inside with her, but judging by the looks of the room, she may freeze to death in there.

"Master and my sisters are pretty intelligent, and you must be very confused. Let me warn you, Eve; what happened to me was a consequence of my own recklessness. I bet you're still considering the offer, even without knowing what it implies."

"Why don't you tell me?" Eve proposed.

"You already know, what you don't know is the part that they don't want to show you. Unlike many humans, you know what do you want. I know you'll accept the offer, that's why I'm warning you."

That wasn't the reason for Eve to be up here. She came here to assess the situation,this was still her quest. But clearly the other person had something else in mind. She didn't know how this people was able to know so much about her, while she never met them before, as strange as it was, she had to bear with it and keep pressing her own target.

"There's something I need to ask you. Why are you spreading this huge blizzard?"

"Spreading?" She answered, she laughed for a bit before continuing "I'm actually containing it. As you may already know, I can't control this power. That's why I closed myself up here, so I can use all my might into creating the barrier that it's containing the storm."

So the sphere shape blizzard was caused by her barrier trying to contain the storm? Eve was thinking to herself as the girl continued her explanation.

"But as you can see, I can't keep it under control entirely, every day the barrier expands a little, and it'll reach the breaking point at one time or another. Once that happens…" She made a pause before continuing "The barrier would only break when all my magic is spend, and, without my magical power to keep the storm inside me, I'll die.."

Which means that the problem of the blizzard would solve itself, however Eve was worried about the consequences that breaking the barrier would have.

"How come you have this terrible power in your body?" Eve questioned.

"I was born like this. Ever since I have memory, I was able the blue El energies at will. But it wasn't until I grow up that I discovered that my powers were growing too fast for me. I joined my master thinking that the power he offered me could help me keeping this under control but… well, you know the rest."

"Born with this power? That seems a little too impressive," Eve answered.

"It is. I wouldn't believe it hadn't I experienced it myself. The place where I used to live has many legends about my… kind. They call me… us: Snow women."

Eve wasn't familiar with popular legends, but in her journey with the El Search Party she saw enough things to not be impressed about this. A creature that has outstanding magical powers like this, she actually generates energy without effort, and she only exhaust herself while trying to contain it. It was such a wasted potential.

"Hey, wake up!"

Chung opened his eyes. He had a short blissful feeling of calmness before remembering where he was and who was talking. Ann was outside his cell, with her face pressing against the bars and her cheerful smile waiting for him to say something. He blinked a couple of times just to make sure he was awake and this was not a dream before standing up. He wondered how many time he slept.

"What is it?" He lazily asked.

"I'm bored, and you were just sleeping, let's do something entertaining!" Ann said.

"Did you wake me up to make fun of me?" Chung protested, he was about to go back to sleep.

"No! Come on, you slept a lot already. Isn't there anything you want to do?" She asked.

"Well, I would like to get out of this cell and look for my friend," He said.

"I see… That wouldn't be a problem, letting you out of this cell; however I don't know if you'll be able to find your girl. But I bet it'll be funny watching you trying to do it."

As she said, she snapped her fingers. The door cell slowly opened, making a rusty sound.

"Are you really letting me out of the cell?" Chung questioned, not trusting her intentions at all.

"Yeah, master said it would be fine to do so, as long as you stay with me," She said, gesturing for him to follow her.

He was still doubtful, but still followed her. They crossed the door Chung saw the werewolf disappear through last time. It wasn't anywhere near. The only thing inside that room was a long table with rests of food in it. This room was most likely the place where they feed it. They kept walking through doors and hallways. All he could see was what seemed to be the large kitchens of the castle. Many ovens and other instruments filled the walls of the rooms they passed.

They finally reached the stairs that lead them into the normal parts of the castle. Unlike the mossy and stony undergrounds, the obstentous and nice decorations here were warming and welcoming. The moment he stepped out, he saw a familiar black ball flying straight into him. The black drone Moby beeped happy from seeing him again.

"That thing has been wandering around the castle ever since I let it free, it was starting to annoy me," Ann protested giving Moby a stern look.

That was strange. Chung thought Moby would have already joined Eve back, probably it was trying to do it, but wasn't able to found her. However if he remembers right, the little drone can sense its master position, so it doesn't make sense.

"Now, you want to look for your friend, don't you?" Ann said. The drone looked at her with an aggressive stare. It moved behind Chung and stayed there like it used to do with Eve, ready to attack at his command.

"Yeah, and I hope you don't get in our way," Chung said.

Ann did nothing more than giggle at his suspicion. While Chung resumed his search through the castle, she merely follow him from a distance. It was a bit unnerving at first, but he quickly got used to her, and focused on the task at hand. He continued searching through the many doors and hallways, sometimes calling her out loud, but nobody was found. Not Eve, not any of the other mentioned sisters, neither the so called master. Not even a member of the staff or any other guest. It was literally him and Moby with Ann. The castle was perfectly tidy, the fire was burning in every room, there was no dust on the furnitures, no moist in the walls, not even dirty footprints on the hallways. Taking care of such huge castle would take at least the effort of a hundred of servants, yet this place seemed to run on a single young girl care.

"And how did you two came to know each other? You and the girl I mean," Ann suddenly asked. Chung looked back at her, thinking about dismissing the conversation, but he thought that maybe he could get her to talk if he gives her some chat.

"We're on the same team together," He answered back.

"Yeah, the El Search Party, wasn't it? A really unusual team, with an strange goal, if you ask me," Ann kept talking, she passed him and walked backwards to take a look at his face "And why do you want to find her so much?"

"To complete our quest," He said, paying no attention to her presence.

"Is that all? I thought there was something more," She said. Now she was walking, or rather skipping, in front of him.

"I guess that is all, indeed. I bet you'll get the same answer if you'd ask her," Chung added, stopping to check the

"Oh, I wonder if that's true?" She said with a smile "And what about you, Chung, how did you came to be a part of the team?"

"I joined them after escaping the demon invasion on my homeland," He casually answered.

"That's interesting," Ann said, despite her words, she didn't look even a little surprised "Hey Chung, do you want to take a rest?"

He looked at her, she was still smiling. Ann moved to a near door and pushed it, Chung peeked inside to see a cozy room… It was decorated pretty similar to the guest room in his house. The white and black tiles on the floor that contrasted with the warm brown walls. Two columns of beautiful marble, erected on both sides of a window from where he could see…

Chung had to rush to the window to believe it. From there he could see the docks and the bridges crossing to both sides of the bay. He could even hear the voices of the crowd, trading fish in the markets, and the caws of the seagulls, flying around the ships as they arrived filled with fresh fish. Even the salty smell of the sea could be felt from there. The bridges were intact, the buildings had their pure white walls unstained. There was no sign of demons, or any of their destruction. He stood for a while near the window, caressed by the smooth feeling of the blinds, before finally moving away from it.

"How is this possible?" He asked, looking back to Ann, who was serving tea from a trailing for him.

"If you want to know, I could tell you, but that would break the spell," Ann said, with her mischievous expression on her eyes.

Chung wasn't a fool. He knew this wasn't real. The real Hamel wasn't like this anymore. The bridges collapsed under the constant bombardment of fire from the demons. The white beautiful buildings had their façades burned and cracked, and there was no people around anymore. He was on top of a mountain, and he could still see the castle's hallway through the open door.

But for a moment, he felt back at home. This room, and the view from the window, looked exactly the same as he remembers. He even felt like his mother could enter the room through the door at any moment now.

But he knew this wasn't real. It was heartbreaking, but it was the truth.

"I want to know. I already know this is not real. Is it some kind of magic?" He said. Even knowing it wasn't real, he took a seat and accepted her tea.

"Not exactly. It's more of a reconstruction. I took this dear memory from your mind and painted it over my illusion magic. I thought you would like it," Ann said, innocently pressing her fingers together.

"Well, I don't dislike it, but I found it a bit disturbing, considering what did you just said."

"Oh, I thought you would know. Master told me that humans are tremendously superstitious about our kind after all."

"Your kind? I bet people would be superstitious about someone who can read minds, but I never thought it would be possible." Chung said. He was enjoying the tea. It was sweet and warm, probably the best thing he tasted since the last time Aisha cooked for the team.

Knowing that this was but an illusion painted over a fragile fabric was disheartening, but at the same time. Just being able to stand in that room once again was like a bless. Like recovering a memory he already accepted lost forever. It was blissful and painful at the same time. He definitely would love to stay longer in this room now.

Ann stood up and walked in front of him. Playing with the small decorations over the fireplace self. A small collection of porcelain Hamel Paladins. Chung remembered those, he made them himself when he was a kid in school. He made them as a gift for his father. His old man loved them so much that he put them in display.

"Reading minds is an overused term, most of the time in the wrong way. There's ways to reach for someone's thoughts and memories, but it's not as easy as casting a spell on them," Ann started explaining "And we can get to those kind of things through a very important, and necessary, source."

She moved in a nervous way. It seemed like this wasn't the first time telling this story. She was worried of the outcome it might have. Or so Chung thought. It was his first time seeing her worried instead of cheerfully toying with him.

"That would be blood, of course," Ann finally said. Chung had to think about it for a second. He wasn't sure how blood would help her know things like this memory in his youth.

"Can you elaborate?" Chung requested, taking another sip of his tea.

"Come on, you just have to join the dots. Illusion magic, striking and alluring beauty, the red in our eyes and the white in our skin. Not to mention how we nourish on blood itself. Chung, I am a vampire."

He had to make an effort. He heard the word long ago, in some fictional books on a Hamel library. A creature of the night that has the ability to turn into a bat to fly at night and that supposedly drinks blood as their only food source. However all depictions that he saw about this creature were more similar of some kind of old and strange man, rather than a cute innocent looking girl.

As if his lack of reaction annoyed her, Ann moved in front of him to check if he was alright.

"Are you not surprised?" She asked.

Chung took another sip of his tea "You know, I saw an horde of demons destroy my homeland. A man somehow convincing a picturesque raze of ram-people to steal things before turning into a half machine. A flying island filled with robots that weren't pretty nice to us, some really strange stuff in a huge temple, a blizzard contained in a bubble on top of a mountain and even a werewolf attacking me. To be honest, adding a vampire to the list is not such a great deal."

"That was a bit anticlimactic, but I guess it's better than you freaking out and hiding beneath the sofa." Ann said, taking her seat again next to him.

"And, did you drank my blood? Is that why you know so much about me?" Chung questioned. To be honest, he wasn't quite pleased with the thought of it.

Ann laughed, she jumped around the room again, distracting herself as if these decorations where something totally new for her.

"I did. I didn't really needed to, but I can't really let pass such a nice meal when it's put in front of my eyes, you know? And yeah, whenever we drink blood from someone we get a deep and intimate connection with them. There are some memories and thoughts inside everyone's mind that always get engraved in their blood."

"Knowing that you did that is a bit unsettling, to be honest," Chung said. He instinctively rubbed his neck at the though of it.

"You won't find any bite marks, don't worry. I'm not that messy anymore," She said with another sinister laugh.

"But you were able to get ahead of my words before, and I doubt those would be on my blood as well…" Chung said.

"You see, once you turn into a vampire, there are certain abilities that come with the package. Like a much better perception than any other human, or just keener senses in general. I can't read your mind but, just a look at you is enough. The way your pupils move when you speak, the change in your heart rate. Sweeting, blinking, moving your hands… Everything is totally exposed to my eye, and It's really easy for me to catch on. You could say it's like mind reading, but actually I'm just using that information to get ahead off you."

Chung reclined himself on the sofa. He finished his tea and waited for a bit. He wanted to stay in the room a little longer before going back to his duties, whatever they were. And this vampire girl was actually interesting, he would like to know more about her. He decided to settle down for a bit longer, just to take a well earned rest.

Hey! I hope you're enjoying the story.

When I started this fic my main idea was to introduce some fictional characters that aren't present in the game, however since there were too many I decided to reduce the selection to these two classics: werewolves and vampires.

However, I want to give to these werewolves a piece of folklore from my own land :D

Hope you keep reading till the end :3