Refer to Switch 7: Adrian seeks out his father's rival Olrox for help.

Ending of the Reckless

Olrox would be more interested in Castlevania than in him and his mother, Adrian felt. "I was hoping to get your help," he said. "Vlad forcefully brought my mother here, and I've followed to rescue her. I just want to get the both of us out of here, but he wants to keep us for some reason."

He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I see." Hopefully he would see this as an opportunity to make Vlad vulnerable, by distracting him. And on top of that, Olrox taking advantage of that opportunity should give him and his mother the time to get to a safe place. "Well I am not a malicious man, especially to ignore the bravery of a youth like you trying to navigate this place on your own. I think we can work out a deal."

And with that, Olrox snapped his fingers.

"Are you sure that we can trust this man?"

"I'm sure."

Adrian woke up with a pounding headache. He groaned and shifted his arms, trying to get back to the ignorance of sleep. When he did, there was the sound of metal being dragged, as well as recognition of a hard material around his arm. He opened his eyes, finding himself in a small dim room. He was on a wooden bed with only a thin straw-stuff mattress. Around his arms and legs, there were metal chains holding him in place. There was no door to this room, nor anything to keep him in aside from the chains. Why was he chained up?

Unfortunately, he could not remember. Part of it was the pain inside his head. Despite that, there was definitely something missing. He recalled Olrox snapping his fingers clearly, but after that, it was just fragments that made little sense. He looked around the area, hoping for some hint of what was going on.

Not far from him, there was the heart-wrenching sight of the dry husk of his mother's body, wearing the same pink dress he had last seen her in. It was like someone had ripped the heart out of his body and told him that all of his efforts were meaningless. Lisa was gone and there was nothing that could be done about it.

Eventually, he heard footsteps coming down the stone passageway. Olrox appeared, his armor stained as if he'd done some fighting to get here. "There you are," he said, coming into the room. "I was wondering where he had taken you." He grabbed one of the restraints on Adrian's arm and easily ripped it off.

"I, I don't know what happened," he said, trembling although his tears had stopped. "But I know that's my mother. I-I failed to get her back."

"He did a rotten thing to force you to do that," Olrox said.

Force? Had he really...? Adrian stared down at the ground, feeling new sense of dread. How could that happen? There was no way, no way, that he would hurt his mother.

"The blood lust can overwhelm anyone, especially the first few times," he said, kneeling to take off his leg restraints. "It's dreadful what you have lost, but we should get you out of your father's area quickly." Then he turned his face to Adrian's. "I can help you get revenge. Little else matters now, right? It will set things right."

His father had forced him into this. Grim, Adrian clenched his fists. "Right."

It was years later before Adrian realized that he had never touched his mother's blood. Olrox had killed her. Olrox had set the whole thing up in order to take advantage of him. And now, Adrian was a servant of Olrox, now recognized as Dracula and the master of Castlevania. By catching Vlad with his sentimentality, the two of them had been able to kill his body and destroy his spirit. To pay his 'debt' for Olrox's help, Adrian was to be a loyal and unquestioning servant.

Now that he knew the truth, he was going to stop at nothing to destroy Olrox. Even take advantage of one of his other disgruntled servants. "So you've turned back to devil forging," he said to Hector.

The man turned quickly on realizing that he wasn't alone. "What's it to you?" he asked, cautious. "And who are you?"

Dressed in a hooded black cloak and using some magical trickery to further hide his identity, he took a step closer. "Call me Alucard," he said. At this point, he would take on the name his father wanted for him. "I want to help you. You have lost much because of Lord Dracula, as have I. Since we have the same goal, it only makes sense to help each other."

Although perhaps not the same goal. Hector only wanted revenge for his loss; he did not even care if the effort killed him. But for Adrian, now Alucard, he wanted to get rid of Olrox and take over Castlevania in his place. He still had his father's book of alchemy, kept safe and secret all these years. Once he had the power to back up his plans, he would use that knowledge to make darkness and despair cover the whole world.

Much like his life since losing his mother had been.