himself being dragged by the momentum of the dead harpy's corpse with its sharp toe still dug into his shoulder. He felt the wound break open as he slid on the floor. His eyes were filled with read. Coller could not believe that it was his blood that was on his face. Finally he stopped sliding. Coller lay still for a moment. He waited until the pain subsided a little but it didn't. Finally he just ripped himself away from the harpy. He clutched his shoulder and cried out in pain. The chamber in which he had flown into was filled with every curse known to the Scotsman. Coller rolled on the floor not caring where he was. When he could mange, Coller kicked the harpy's corpse. He managed to stand himself and cursed twice as much. Coller cursed until he was out of breath and cursing aloud stopped helping and started to make it hurt more. He ripped one of his sleeves and did his best to tie it on his shoulder. He leaned against a wall
and hit his head hard against the wall. He screamed again as his head ached from hitting the wall. He turned and finally began to take note of his surroundings. The wall was made from a sort of clay stone.
The chamber was darkly lit. The color of the walls was a shade of gold. The chamber he was in was a round one plain with no markings anywhere. All it had was the window he had come through and three doors. Coller felt his head for a moment and began to approach one of the doors. As he walked away towards the door he passed the dead harpy. He kicked it once more and flipped it over. Underneath it he found his only pistol. He picked it up and reloaded it. As he reloaded he felt a slight tremble. He looked around and saw dust particles falling from the ceiling. He looked out where the window was and suddenly felt an odd sensation. For a moment it seemed like the whole tower was sinking. He saw as clouds floated up towards the sky. But then he thought, "are they going up or am I going…" Coller Put his pistol in its holster and ran towards the nearest door.
"Oh shit!"
Coller felt something sharp cut at his bad arm. He fell to the ground
and began to curse again. As he looked up to see what had cut him more
blood sprouted out from his left arm. Glinting in the light of the torches
on the wall was a sharp metal spike sticking out from the floor. Coller
nearly cursed again as another sprouted a half-inch away from his face.
He quickly got up again ignoring the enormous in his arm and began to run.
He did his best not to jump back when a spike popped up in front of him.
Behind him walls blew to pieces and he felt the small chunks hit his back.
He slammed into the door at the other end of the spiked room continued
running. The floor behind him slowly began to crumble, as did the floor
ahead of him. Coller leaped through yet another door and fell flat the
stone floor. He struggled to get up quickly but felt a moment of relief
the ground behind him stopped crumbling. But then a bigger danger became
apparent. Coller looked up as a huge pillar was falling from above. Coller
ran once again and the pillar came crashing through the walkway he was
running on. The chamber he was in now was high beyond his eye could see.
Coller could not see a ceiling above or a floor below. It seemed to be
endless in
both directions. The chamber was comprised of pillars, which towered
above him and walkways, which led all around a giant statue that stood
in the center of the chamber. The statue was of a woman but Coller did
not have time to exercise his artistic side. He continued to run and run
looking for a way out. Part of a walkway from above fell and destroyed
the path ahead of him and Coller was forced to jump. Coller came short
and managed to grab hold with his right arm. Coller clenched his teeth
as he raised his bloodied left arm to help himself up. Coller tried to
pull himself up but the pain was too much. He lost his grip and he began
to fall. Coller landed on stone and he felt himself beginning to let go.
He began to mutter about Gen and about how sorry he was. He looked up and
saw a light. He raised his head and put a hand to block the
light. Coller got to his feet and began to walk towards the light.
Coller walked ignoring the chunks of stone that were hitting up and did
not even realize that he was going up a flight of steps. When Coller was
in the light he fainted and fell to the ground. The last thing he heard
was the sound of the gears turning as the elevator began to go down.
"Coller," he heard Gen say.
"Gen!"
"My darling Scotsman…"
"Gen… Am I dead?"
"Far from it."
Coller opened his eyes and saw the smiling face of Actrise. He
growled and made to grab her by
the throat. Despite ignoring the pain from his arm Coller could not
close his hands around her neck. The chains holding his arms were not long
enough. Actrise smiled and looked at his hands as they continued to try
and stretch. Actrise merely continued smiling.
"Where is Gen you heathen bastards?!"
Actrise's face suddenly went grim as she looked away from Coller. Coller looked up. All he could see was a dark brown ceiling and a chandelier. Then he heard the voice. It was deep somewhat raggedy and ancient. He spoke a form of Wallachian that was slightly different form what Coller knew. But it was similar enough so that he could understand.
"Enough of this Actrise. You can play your games when you are not in my service."
"Forgive me…"
"Don't let me catch you again. Or else."
The man's face finally came into view. His face was gray colored.
Scars and wrinkles filled his
face and his breath was like a rotten corpse. His eyes were red and
inspected him like as though he were an insect.
"What is your name?"
"Coller. Who the hell are you?"
"Vlad Dracula, prince of Wallachia. Why are you in my castle? What game has Actrise made you a part of?"
"Gen Fernandez. That bitch twisted her soul. She put some kinda curse that made her do things…"
Dracula looked away from Coller, presumably at Actrise. "Who is she?"
"The Belmundes warrior," she said.
"Ah, I see." Dracula turned back to Coller. "We've met."
"Where is she?!"
"Awaiting my commands." Coller growled at him. Dracula moved out of his view and all Coller could hear was his voice. "She is lover is she not?" Coller did not respond. "Believe as you will but I know what it is like to love. But I also know what it is like to have that love taken away."
"Then let me have her back. Free her or I swear…"
"You can do nothing! You are not from this land. You do not belong here and yet you have allowed yourself to wander into the affairs of my land."
"Your land? Lissen you rotting piece of shit. It looks to me like you have been dead for the past hundred years. From what Jeremiah Oldrey told me this castle hasn't been up for almost that long. Don't give me a sack of lies like that. I don't believe a word of it."
"I am the rightful ruler of this land. I will rule it again and the whole world shall tremble at the name of Dracula!" Dracula then lowered his voice. "You are brave for coming here. And as I said, I know what a powerful motivator love can be. But I cannot forget that you are a trespasser not only in my castle but also in my land. For that you must pay a price. You will not die Coller. I will give you the same opportunity as your love. You will serve me."
"Never you sons of whores! I'll murder every last one of ye!" Coller continued to curse at him. Suddenly Dracula raised his arm up. Coller was lying on a stone slab. But the stone it was made of was not any stone. It radiated with a red glow, as did Coller's body. Actrise stared in awe as she watched Coller's body convulse. "Endgame," she whispered. Blood began to spread all over the stone table until it touched the floor. Then as quickly as it had spread, the blood began to go back. Coller's body seemed to soak it in. The red glare became so bright even Actrise turned away. When she looked back, Coller the hunter was gone. In his place was a lizard the size of a man. It's red eyes glared at the two that stood before him. It fought the chains that bound him down to the stone table. It's long tongue flapped in all directions and it hissed loudly at them. Finally it spoke, the strong Scottish accent totally gone.
"What haaave you done to meee…?"
"Today is the start of your new life, Coller." Dracula said without a hint of remorse or sympathy.
"Nooo!" Coller roared. But his was no longer the roar of a man who had lost everything, but that of an animal. His scream echoed through the dark halls of the castle. Actrise hid her smile as she turned away from Dracula and Coller.
"The game begins again."
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