Chapter 4

Regret of the Son

I cried and cried over the ruble of the castle, mourning for my dearly beloveded. What would I do now? If Slypha is correct, then my Mother would now hate me, along with the rest of the village. I cried harder, letting myself drown in pity. But, Dracula never broke a promise. On the other hand, it took twenty-six years for Dracula to be resurrected, and this time it may take even longer. If my ideas were correct, then I was the only living diciple left of Dracula.

I got up, whiped the tears from my cheeks, and walked into the forest. It was peaceful and welcoming, but this meant nothing to me. My sorrow was too great to care about nature. My pitiful amble became a jog, and that jog became a sprint. I ran faster and faster, yet... I didn't know just why. It was like the swifter I would run, the faster my love would return to me.

A thought suddenly struck me. Shaft used the Darkness to revive Dracula, and perhaps I could do the same. But how exactly would I do that? Maybe Shaft wasn't killed. If I could find him, then he could help me revive him. But... I didn't get my hopes up. They had been crushed under the weight of my sorrow before, and I wasn't going to let that happen again.

"To love a man and lose him twice. What a strange world." I said outloud. I turned around to go back to the ruins and rubble of the castle. As I walked, my mind wandered off. My life was flashing in my mind. Everything was runing through my mind, like a play. My parents, my house, my village, everything was a big blob. Then I arrived at the ruins.

Everything was destoried. Nothing was left except rocks. I hadn't noticed how wrecked everything was with it before. Some of the rocks were slightly smouldering, and smoke was rising off of them. I stood there staring at the rising smoke for hours. My thoughts made my head hurt, and it seemed that the world had stopped turing. My passion was still burning strong, but it hurt now to feel it. Before, it made me feel like a new person. But now... it only made my heart ache.

I sat on the ground again. It seemed like all the runing I did was in vain. I was right back where I started. I started to cry again. Softly. Quietly. Without care. My life no longer mattered. I wanted to be with my love. The pain in my heart grew. I needed to be with Dracula.

"My Love!!! Where are you!?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I unleashed my pain through my scream. All of my emotions serged through my body. I screamed again, letting out all of my anger, my pain, my sorrow, my passion. I hoped that Dracula would just appear in front of me, but it didn't happen.

"You... you evil demon!" said a familiar voice from behind. I turned around and saw the son of my Love, Alucard.

"You! You evil wentch!" he yelled at me.

"What? How dare you call me such a thing!" I barked back at him.

"You were the one who planted your seeds of evil into his lost soul! He was once a righteous man, who was sworn against the evil! But you! You evil temptress! You made him sell his soul! Now he is wandering in the pits of Hell! How could you do such a thing!"

"You fool! I never corrupted him in any way! He came to me in the night, and he gave me this dress. The dress the represents his promise. And he shall keep that promise."

"A promise of lies! My Father was once a great man, who indeed, kept his promises quite well. But now! But now I would not doubt if everything he told you was a pack of lies! You taught him the ways of evil and trickery! This cannot go unpunished!"

"And what about you, Alucard? You are also a vampire like my love, are you not?"

"Do not call him 'your love'. I am only vampiric because my father was already turning into the dark evil man he is."

"Aha! You just said is! So you know he will be back!"

"Perhaps, but don't get your hopes up. I will make sure he doesn't come back again. But..."

"But what!? Answer me!"

"But what if... what if what I did was unjust... he was my father."

"You should have thought of that before you killed him!"

"Yes... I... I don't know what is right anymore. What result will come if I kill you? It might not save my father's haunted soul. Maybe, maybe if I would have spared him, perhaps I could have rescued him from the blackness of his heart."

"There is nothing you can do. No matter how much I want my love to return, he won't. And it seems that there is nothing I can do either."

"That may be so, but you corrupted my father. I will take a gamble. Maybe the result of killing you will be fredom for my father!" he yelled loudly, brought out his sword, and ran at me with an angry passion. Using my new abilities, I jumped in the air and avoided his sword, but he flew up into the air after me. Unknowingly, I could also fly, which was a feeling I was unused to. I used my passion to push myself farther from Alucard, and it seemed to be enough. However, my heart was still heavy from the loss of my love, and out of sadness, I fell to the ground. I landed on my feet, and made a run for the forest.

The moon was still high in the sky, and helped me find my path. Not that I needed it, since now I was a Dunmer. I ran in circles to try and confuse Alucard, but it wasn't working. He could smell my blood. I could sense his anger growing. I ran faster but I tripped over a large tree root and fell flat on my face. I tried getting up, but Alucard tackled me. I was barely able to knock his sword out of his hand.

"You fool!" he yelled. He got off of me and went after his sword. I used this leadway to get away from him. My legs began hurting, though I didn't know why. Could the sun be rising? If it was, would it hurt me? Or Alucard? I wasn't going to take any chances. I started to run back to my village, even though the fear of hate was fresh in my mind.

"You shall not excape!" yelled Alucard. I then realized that if I went back to the village, then he would surely find me. I ran to my left, and didn't look back. I gathered what little of my energy I had left, and ran faster than I ever had before. Perhaps I could excape him. I ran faster, but my stomach began to hurt. I forced myself to go on, but this seemed to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life.

I called upon all of my strength to go on. My stomach felt like it was going to burst. But I went forward. I knew that if I survived, then I might find away to bring my love back. However, my legs gave out from under me, and I fell yet again. Out of sheer irony, I was somehow back at the ruins of the castle.

"I have you now!" he yelled. I was cornored. There was no way out. Was this the end? Would I never see my love again? No, there must be some way. I wasn't going to die here. If only there was something... Alucard approuched me, with his sword drawn. It now appeared to be the end. I had suddenly accepted it. Now I waited for Death to come for my soul.

As if a symbol from my love, Alucard stopped, yelped in pain, and fell forward. His back was smoking from some kind of impact. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was amazed, and I was saved. I then noticed the source of this. Shaft was standing a few feet from where Alucard was standing.

"Shaft! Oh, Shaft! You saved me! Thank you with all the fiber of my being!" I exclaimed, and my hope was restored.

"My Queen! 'Twas the least I could do." he said, modestly. Tears flooded down my face, but they were not tears of sorrow; they were tears of joy beyond all understanding.

"I know you are dying to ask, so I will answer your question now. Yes, there is a way to revive our Lord." said Shaft. My heart grew wings and flew out of my chest. All of my passion seemed to fill my body.

"How Shaft? We must do whatever we must do soon. I want to be with him again. I can't stand life without him. Every fiber of my being burns for him. He must be brought back. I shall not rest until we do so!" I was hyper.

"We must gather certain things to do this. And unluckly, they were scattered when our Lord died. They are his five artifacts. His ring, his eye, his heart, his tooth and his rib. When we find these five things, we can preform the rites to ressurect him."

"But where are these arifacts of his? We must find him at once! Each second that I am away from my love my heart grows colder. Life without him is meaningless."

Alucard awoke and got to his feet slowly.

"I know where they are..." he said with pain in his voice.

"Perhaps I can sooth my soul by reviving him. His soul can still be saved. I shall help you find the other three; I already have two." declared Alucard.

"You will truly help us?" I asked.

"Indeed."

"Then so be it. Where are the other three?"

"It would be prudent, first, for us to split up. We can obtain the artifacts much faster that way. You, Camilla, do you know where Sui Cave is?" asked Alucard. The name of this cave didn't ring a bell to my mind.

"No, I don't think so. Why? There must be an artifact there. But where is the cave?"

"Hmmm... do you know where to waterfall near town is?"

"Yes! I do."

"It is behind the waterfall. Deep within the cave, the artifact should lay waiting. As for Shaft and I, we shall also split up and find the others. Come back here when you find it."

"Will you be all right my Lady?" asked Shaft.

"Yes, my passion will protect me." With that said, I ran off deep into the forest. Would Alucard and Shaft be all right? Of course, what was I worrying for? Right now I had to worry about myself. Anything could happen. What else besides the artifact could be hidden within this cave? I tried to push these thoughts out of my mind as I ran faster to my goal. I was almost out of the forest, and I stopped to look up at the moon. It seemed as if night would not end. I started running again, getting ever closer to the waterfall.

I was now back in the village. The waterfall was to the north, and I began running in that direction. My legs were getting tired again, and even though I was a Dunmer, my body was beginning to weaken. I turned my running into a jog, trying to get to the waterfall before I became too tired. My breath was coming in short stoccotas, and I was about to keel over. I was demanding too much from my body, and this was obviously not smart.

I had to rest, so I fell on to the ground. I caught by breath, and tried to get back up, but I couldn't. But out of the distance, I heard the water falling. I tried to get up again, and the pain in my legs was receeding. I got back up, and followed the noise. I could smell the water and I knew I was very close.

I couldn't see very well for some reason, and I tripped on a rock and went head first into the river. The water was cold, but I was hot and this was very comforting. I swam up stream trying to get closer to the waterfall. The thundering sound of the water was becoming ever stronger and I could clearly see the waterfall.

I got out of the river and started walking to the waterfall's side. The sound was close to deafening, but I attempted to ignore it. I was now right beside of the waterfall, but I saw no cave. What was I going to do now? I jumped back into the river, and swam to the other side. Still, no cave. I sat upon the ground, and started to cry. Had Alucard been lying? Was this all just one big trick? I suddenly got an idea. I again got back into the river, and swam into the waterfall itself. Sure enough, as I passed through the water, I was inside a cave.

My heart raced, and I ran deep into the cave. It was pitch black, but I could hear where I was going. I didn't understand how I was able to do this, but I didn't question it. I went deeper in, and it didn't seem like anyone else was in here. In the distance, I could see a dim red light. I ran faster to it, and I saw a ring upon the floor. It was golden, and as I picked it up, it's glow became a brilliant shine. I put it on my finger, and a vision of Dracula filled my mind.

I saw myself with him, and we were talking, but he abruptly turned away from me. I was ingulfed in a mysterious mist, and I heard him scream. This scream struck me like lightning, and I screamed too.

The vision stopped, and I ran out of the cave, into the river, and through the forest...