Author's Note: Whoo...I haven't written like this in a long time. I hope you guys enjoy yourselves.
Update:
September 24th, 2006, 2:08 AM PST
I changed the indenting and
removed it so that it matches the other chapters. It was bugging me.
Plus, I feel so bed that I don't update this as quickly as my FF7
fanfic. It makes me think, though. Even though I have a plot and
ending for this story in particular, it is hard to continue since the
story itself in almost all my doing. There are no fanfic elements at
all. At least, not yet. So far, everything's been original. I
better take these guys into Castlevania soon in future chapters.
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"Do we really need to know these things, sister?" asked a puzzled boy, watching his older sister flip through pages of an old tattered book. "Can you even read it?"
"Of course I can, Denek," said his sister, a gentle smile creeping up upon her sooty face. "Come over here. Even you can understand this."
Denek quirked his eyebrows and tilted his head to one side. I doubt I can, he thought. Letting out a faint sigh, he motioned himself towards a chair and sat beside his sister at the oak table. Leaning over a bit, he noticed that there were symbols drawn above the writing within the book. He could read simple words, yet there weren't enough of them for him to make any sense of the sentences. 'Stir,' 'place,' 'fire,' 'water,' 'sun,' and 'set.' What is this for? The symbols helped him a little, though he still felt left in the dark.
"Marielle? Are these spells?" he guessed while he ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair.
The smile his sister gave him never left her face as she nodded. She took his hand gently and made him run a finger along the writing, softly saying the words out-loud. He was surprised. He never knew that she could read. How did she learn? They were from a poor blacksmith family, just barely in the middle class. Not only that, they lived in a very illiterate town. Did our father teach her? These spells she read to him seemed to be useful to fend off creatures that were undead. Where did she get this book...?
"You never know when we might need to know how to cast these," Marielle assured, closing the tattered book. "Yes, you may be skilled with your daggers, but what will happen to you then if you are unarmed, or if your weapon is destroyed?"
"Even so, how am I supposed to learn? I've never touched anything even remotely magical before."
"It couldn't hurt to try."
Marielle pushed back on her chair then stood up, holding the spell book to her chest. She dusted off her old dress then walked into her room. Denek watched her closely as he sat there. Her bare feet tapped the dirt floor quietly as she walked. Her wavered blond hair swayed from side to side slightly with her movement. Looking closely, he noticed that her joyful expression left her young face once she disappeared into her room.
"There's more to this...isn't there?" he asked faintly. The question seemed to be more to himself than to her, knowing that she didn't hear him or didn't want to answer as she closed the door.
Late at night that day, Denek heard footsteps in his bedroom. He lay in his bed, his eyes closed. He felt a chill go down his back. The footsteps became louder at each step. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He listened carefully, pretending to sleep. Trying to think that it was nothing important, he turned to one side and tugged his blanket over his face.
"Denek...Denek?" a small voice called, "Denek? Please wake up, big brother."
"Mm…wha?" Denek murmured and opened one eye to see a small girl dressed in a dull coloured nightgown. "Isabelle...it's past your bedtime...what do you want?"
"I can't sleep and Marielle's not in our room."
"Oh?"
Denek pulled the covers to one side then got out of bed. Taking Isabelle's hand, he took her out of his room and looked and crept passed their father's room quietly. Reaching his sisters' room, he slowly opened the door and looked inside. She was right. Their older sister wasn't there.
Closing the door, his grip tightened around his younger sister's tiny hand. Biting his bottom lip lightly, he tried to think quickly. Where would she be? It took him a while for him to think until something clicked in his head as if someone wanted him to know where she was. He sighed in relief, yanking Isabelle towards the back door of their house.
"Where are we goi-" Isabelle was cut short from her sentence as Denek clasped a hand over her mouth.
"Shh…" he hushed her, placing a finger to his closed lips.
Narrowing his eyes, he knelt down by his sister's side and opened the door that lead to where their father made tools and weaponry. There was Marielle, dressed in a beautiful red robe that he had never seen before. A black sash was tied around her waist, complementing her slender curves. She stood at the doorway that went out into one part of town. Her back was turned away from them and looked up at the night sky. They watched her for a moment. She seemed to be...singing? Denek silenced his breathing and gently held Isabelle close to his chest. Their sister's voice was very pleasant to the ears. The words she intonated gave a soothing feel to the atmosphere. He wanted to go to her as if he were in a trance, but stopped himself, shaking his head. Standing back up, he closed the door and guided Isabelle back to her bedroom.
"Denek? Why was our sister singing?" Isabelle question as she hopped into bed.
"It's best not to ask, Isabelle," Denek smiled, "I wouldn't know what to tell you."
