Posted some fanart on my deviantart iHateFridays, tumblr ihf-arts, etc
The voices kept me up at night. Booming and thundering through my dreams. My heart and head were pounding.
"She'll notice I'm gone," that girl again. Who was she? Why did I feel like I knew her from somewhere?
"It does not matter," the man thundered back. "There is not much time now."
The girl gazed at her hand, narrowing her eyes.
"Alright," she clenched her fist. "The end is nigh."
"My darling Katya is missing!" a woman cried, tears streaming out of her eyes. "Oh, she and her boyfriend are nowhere to be found."
Thunder boomed overhead, rain drizzling down, its clouds covering the sky in a dark haze. Old stone brick buildings stood around. Various farm animals chewed hay, Fierce Fox leaning against an old church.
"We're here to help," she assured Katya's mom. "We'll see if we can find your daughter."
She nodded at me, and we set on our journey to find Katya (and her boyfriend). We passed a couple of gothic kids, who were obsessed with vampires. Well, everyone was obsessed with vampires, due to the fact that two teenangers went missing, and a vampire lived on the island. Lucky us.
We came to a rocky area that was full of rocky slopes and platforms, as well as a cave and dead trees. A boy was leaning against a slope.
Fierce Fox began walking over to him, but I grabbed her arm.
"He isn't going to help us, despite being Katya's boyfriend," I grumbled.
"Wow," Fierce Fox made a face. "So it's up to us?"
"Yep," I deadpanned. "Let's continue on."
We trudged through the dark and spooky forest. My arms began to shiver. Fierce Fox glanced at me with concern.
She jumped up and landed on the first rock platform. A terrifying black wolf peered out of its cage, baring rows of sharp teeth. I shut my eyes, shivering away.
When I reopened my eyes, Fierce Fox was knocked out, next to me. I shook her shoulders, and her eyes whipped open. I led her over a cliff and a broken bridge to a decaying tree.
I stood behind the tree, while Fierce Fox leaped into a dark opening.
"Now," I instructed. "Fling that branch onto Wolfy when it runs here."
Fierce Fox nodded, and gripped the branch. Wolfy bolted straight towards it. BANG! It was out.
I gave Fierce Fox a thumbs up, "Now, climb up to the top of the tree."
Fierce Fox nodded, and did such thing. That was until Wolfy came back for revenge, and knocked Fierce Fox out for a second time. She landed in a pile of stinging nettles, which I cringed at. On the positive, she received a log.
With my instruction, Fierce Fox climbed onto a rope bridge, and waited at one end with it. Wolfy came running, and she untied the rope bridge. Wofly went plummeting bye-bye, and Fierce Fox and I were free to go to Bram's Castle… aka the vampire's castle.
We came to the courtyard of Bram's Castle. To make us feel more welcome, there were some tombstones out the front. Wonderful.
I entered a creepy little house, which had a grave inside. I picked up a book which looked like a knockoff Twilight. Oh yeah, I also picked up a crowbar.
Fierce Fox and I passed a few more abandoned houses. Pipes were lying around, as well as a red pipe.
"I'll tell you the story while we fill up that little drain there," I said to Fierce Fox, picking up a pipe. "Okay, so Count Bram was in love with this girl called Annabelle. Count Bram got bit by a vampire or something, and got transformed into an immortal vampire. Unfortunately, Annabelle wasn't immortal and died, though her spirit became part of a picture. Count Bram has been trying to get her back ever since. Now, lift up that pipe, and… there we go!"
Water rushed through our pipes and into a pool. It filled up, so we could cross.
Thick, brown vines are twisted around Count Bram's fairy-tale-like castle. Green candles were near the outside, and the narrow windows flickered green light.
Fierce Fox and I talked while we shoved boulders onto fountains.
"So… what happened to Katya?" Fierce Fox asked, water spraying over her head.
"Count Bram kidnapped her," I explained. "Because he thinks she's his 'Annabelle'. She looks like her."
"Oh," Fierce Fox replied. "Sounds… dumb."
"That's vampire romance for you," I sighed.
A water stream shot into the sky, leading to an open window.
"So…" Fierce Fox turned to me. "How's your world going?"
"That girl I was telling you about still isn't at school," I told her. "I mean, she could just be sick, but…"
Fierce Fox frowned at me. "Hmm…"
"Yeah," I sighed. "I don't know, I can't get this bad feeling out of my chest."
We entered the looming castle. We spent the next few minutes illuminating its interior. To do this, we started a hearth fire using the knock off Twilight novel and the log, and lit up some chandeliers.
Soon, the room was bright enough for my eyes to adjust, so I gazed at it with wonder.
It was old, at least as old as the Middle Ages. The old stone walls were covered in smudges, the gazillions of book shelves were covered in dust. The roof was aged too, patterned with swirly designs.
"Kinda creepy," Fierce Fox observed. "I like it."
"Yes it is," I agreed. "Now you get to see more of the castle."
I picked up a glass eye, and placed it in a tiger's head. Its mouth opened, and I received a key. I used the key on the armoury door, and it swiftly opened.
I faced Fierce Fox. "Go into there and grab a crossbow. Then, put a cannonball into the cannon." I headed over to the hearth, and lit up a candle. "Ignite the cannon with this. Do it thrice."
Fierce Fox accepted the cannon, and set off to do what I ordered. Soon, a cannonball rolled out of the armoury room, landing near my feet. I rolled it along, sweat beads forming on my arm from the weight.
I grabbed a poker stick by the hearth, and gently pushed the cannonball into the flame. I waited for a few moments, before the ball started glowing red.
Reaching in with the poker stick, I pulled the hot ball out, and shoved it along the carpet. I stopped at a dumbwaiter, and let the ball slide in. I nodded approvingly, and headed into the armoury room.
Everywhere around me were different pieces of armoury on black shelves and walls, such as helmets, spears, clubs and so on.
Fierce Fox was standing near the black and gold cannon. Above her head was a destroyed roof, which led into an uncanny room full of plants and a wall where you could shoot arrows.
Fierce Fox shot her arrows onto the wall, creating a ladder made of arrows. The two of us climbed up it, as well as grabbing a bucket. I had to race outside to fill the bucket with water.
Back inside, we came to a little dark, moist room, full of… interesting plants. One pot plant was tipped over, and the dirt was on the ground. Using the water I just grabbed, I watered the plant.
Fierce Fox, using the crowbar, peeled boards of a window, giving the plant light. It immediately turned into a great, thick vine, and smashed out of the window and climbed around the tower. Fierce Fox and I followed it.
It led into a dark room, which was full of tomato-based experiments. There was tomato juice bubbling in a flask. Containments of tomato juice were spilled onto the floor. Dusty shelves were full of strange liquids and bottles, and pipes were carrying around steaming tomato juice. All in all, it was one of my favourite types of rooms: a laboratory.
With wide eyes, I gazed around, walking towards Count Bram's desk. There, I picked up his notebook.
"You wouldn't expect a vampire to have a laboratory." Fierce Fox chuckled.
"I can," I retorted. "Laboratories are awesome. Who wouldn't have a laboratory?" I rolled my eyes. "Alright, he really has a laboratory here because he's trying to cure himself from his vampirism."
Fierce Fox grinned. "You like science a lot, don't you?"
I nodded vigorously. "I've always wanted to be a scientist… well, actually, not always, but after a few… changes, I decided to become a scientist. It's always about questioning and theories, and there's a pattern. It… makes sense. Well, aside from chemistry, I guess." I breathed in slowly. "Anyway. Stand under that green gas, and you'll… uh, get temporary flight. Fly up to that shelf and grab that garlic."
Fierce Fox nodded, and stood under a pipe. Her head transformed into a tomato with fangs, complete with leafy 'ear-wings'.
While she got the garlic, I focused on the dumbwaiter. My hand gripped the lever, and I pulled it down. The hot cannonball rolled out, and went under a cauldron, heating it up and producing a plant - Wolfsbane. I grabbed it.
Fierce Fox dropped down, and I nodded towards a door. We exited through that, and passed over a bridge section. Then we entered a new area, which had bright red wallpaper, as well as being covered in dust. It felt a little murky, most things having white cloths placed over them.
"Help!" a voice cried. It was Katya's voice.
Fierce Fox and I leaped up towards it, surrounding Katya in her golden cage.
"We're here to rescue you." Fierce Fox assured her.
"Unlike your cowardly boyfriend," I chimed in. "Honestly, he walked off and said, 'there are plenty of other cute girls in the village'."
"Wow, then thank goodness someone has come to rescue me!" Katya crossed her arms. "But we won't get far unless Count Bram is cured of his vampirism."
"We've got it covered," I replied. I bent my knees. "Let's go, Fierce Fox."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Katya asked. We quickly nodded. "Um… Alright then. Good luck, and make haste before Count Bram gets back!"
Part one of our 'Find the Vampire Serum and Save Everyone' mission took place in the courtyard with the pool and gravestones. Fierce Fox, using the crossbow, fired arrows onto a wall and made a ladder.
She nimbly climbed up the ladder and jumped onto a windowsill, where mandrake root was growing. She picked some, and leaped back down.
Part two was creating the vampire serum. I placed down all the ingredients under a microscope.
With a syringe, I sucked up a little of every ingredient, and placed the new liquid onto a vampire cell. It turned into a normal cell. Yeah science!
Anyway, we made the vampire serum, and returned to the room with Katya. Now it was time for Part three - curing Count Bram. And freeing Katya, of course. That was the easy part.
Simply, we had to go to a cell, which is full of weird objects. Then, using a cane, we picked up the key for Katya's cage.
Volia! She was free.
But our troubles weren't done yet. A bat's shadow flew near our heads.
"What was that?!" Fierce Fox shrieked.
"Batman!" I answered. "Just kidding. It's Count Bram."
"My dear Annabelle!" Count Bram cried.
He had ghostly-white skin with thick dimples. His eyes had red around them, and his sharp, black hair was styled like the Wolverine's. He was wearing a black cape underlined with red, and traditional vampire clothing. Two fangs were poking out of his mouth.
"You shall not leave me again!" he boomed.
"He thinks I'm his wife!" Katya cried, her black curls whooshing down her face. "We have to get out of here!"
"Still a better love story than Twilight…" I muttered.
So we pulled a runner. We leaped up to a mosaic window, and smashed through, landing on a platform in the center of the castle, outside.
Thunder and lightning clapped, and I shivered. The syringe was on the ground, but Katya safely plucked it from the ground.
"I've got the syringe!" she said. "Let's go!"
She raced off, Fierce Fox keeping up with her. I was a little behind as usual, but at least I didn't fall off anything. Yet.
"My dear Annabelle!" Count Bram cried, suddenly appearing on that platform. "Why do you run?!"
"Darn!" Katya groaned. "Don't let him catch me! Keep up and use the garlic to keep him away from me!"
I nodded to Fierce Fox, and she let out the garlic, filling the air with the strong scent. It was enough to drive Count Bram (and almost me) away. Then we focused on following Katya. Fierce Fox and I kept a grip on each other, so no one fell off. It didn't feel as humiliating as before, though I felt a shiver of fear.
Katya was way ahead of us. Fierce Fox and I were still holding on, until I did a wrong turn. Then we fell down, and Count Bram was able to reach Katya.
"My sweet Annabelle!" he cried. "Give me a kiss!"
Fierce Fox held onto my arm. "Alice…"
I grimaced, looking away. Then, I got an idea.
"Give me the garlic!" I ordered.
Fierce Fox shrugged, and handed me the garlic. I chucked it at Count Bram, and he screamed.
"Augh!" he hissed. "I hate garlic!"
He wobbled away from Katya, near the edge. One little push, and he would fall off. But he was weakened, and we could easily hit him with the syringe.
"Shoot him now, Katya!" I cried. I faced Fierce Fox. "Lean over and prepare to catch him!"
"Let's hope this goes well…" Fierce Fox grumbled. She stood near the edge of the platform, and I joined her, to make sure it all went well.
Katya aimed the syringe at Count Bram, and it landed in his flesh. He tumbled over, like most bad guys do in Disney movies. Fierce Fox and I caught him, and the area mysteriously darkened.
We returned to the castle's library. Count Bram let out a waterfall of tears, then transformed into his human self - an old, wrinkled man with fair skin and albino-white hair.
"At last the curse has been lifted," he sighed. "Young lady, forgive my troubled mind." He faced Fierce Fox and I. "And to you, dear strangers, I offer my thanks. Once again I am mortal and can join my darling Annabelle."
He started glowing, and suddenly transformed into shimmering dust. He floated into the portrait above the fireplace, and was reunited with his 'darling' Annabelle. Despite how sappy it was… it was pretty adorable.
Then someone else joined the party.
"Katya, sweetheart, I've come back to save you!" it was Christopher, Katya's boyfriend.
"Is that so?" Katya asked, narrowing her eyes. "Really, I heard that you walked away and said 'there are plenty of other cute girls in the village'."
"Uh…" Christopher gulped, sweat appearing on his forehead. "Well, I'm back now!"
"Honestly!" Katya tearfully scoffed.
"Please, my love?" Christopher puckered up his lips. "I realised you're the one for me! No one else is better!"
"Hmmm…" Katya sighed. "Oh, I can't stay mad at you, Chris! You're so cute!"
She launched herself onto Christopher, and they made out right there. No more details required.
"Sheesh," Fierce Fox cringed. She stared at Count Bram's discarded clothes on the ground. "Hey, looks like the count left something behind."
It was the medallion. She picked it up, however, I didn't return home just yet.
That was because we were doing our first bonus quest. I had figured out, through a little research, that unless I had membership, I couldn't do the bonus quest. Thankfully, my mother had bought me some membership for a month.
"My darling Katya," Christopher said darkly. "I have a surprise for you." I didn't want to be involved with his 'surprise', so I leaped behind a bookshelf. "When the count sent me away from his castle, he gave me a special gift. He made me one of his creatures of the night!"
Fangs appeared out of his mouth, and Katya screamed.
"Hold it right there!" a new voice called. It belonged to an oily man, wearing a ranger's costume. "It is I, Cactus Von Garlic, vampire slayer! Back whence you came, fiend!"
"It's too late for you, vampire hunter," Christopher hissed. "And for you, Fierce Fox!"
He bit into her flesh, and she turned into a little blue bat. Then he ran off, while Katya weeped.
"I'll destroy every last one of you vampires!" Cactus Von Garlic cried. "Stay back, my lady!"
"No!" I shouted, popping out from behind the bookshelf. "We're not killing any vampires! We need to cure them!"
"And who are you to say such words?" Cactus Von Garlic demanded.
"The prophesied hero!" I answered. Cactus' face paled. "And I say in my name, we cure the vampires!"
Fierce Fox the bat narrowed her eyes.
"Never!" Cactus bellowed. "The only good vampire is a dead vampire!"
"Katya," I faced the two girls. "Fierce Fox. We have to make a cure. We need to stop this."
"I will keep him distracted!" Katya offered. She ran over to deal with Cactus Von Garlic.
Meanwhile, I led Fierce Fox the bat to a hole in the roof, which had the garlic. Since I couldn't fit in there, she had to go. She came out shortly after, carrying garlic. Then we raced out of the castle, which was easy due to Katya's help.
Our next area was another tomb-house, which is for a cat (I think) called Mr. Mittens. There were lots of vines in there, so it would be tricky for me to get in. So I decided to YOLO it, and barged straight in.
Rats were sleeping on the tombstone, and freaked out when they saw me. I got the wolfsbane, no problem.
The final area was the place where we were attacked by Wolfy. We had to enter a closed off area, go through another sharp and dangerous (and a little scary) maze, until we finally got the last ingredient. Basic stuff.
Then, we headed up to the good old laboratory. Except someone was waiting for us.
"Hello," Cactus Von Garlic said, holding up his hands. "I've… come to help make a cure, don't worry."
"You have?" I asked, surprised. "Glad to see you're changing your ways."
"Yes," Cactus sighed. "I have been devoting my whole life to vampire-slaying. I didn't realize there was a cure. So, to make up for what I have done, I'm going to be a vampire savior instead!"
"Good for you," I replied cheerfully. "And you can start by making the cure."
And so, before long, Fierce Fox was back to her human self. The bonus quest was over, but sadly, I still smelled like garlic.