"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, and rain drizzled down, clouds covering the sky in a dark haze. Old stone-brick buildings stand around, with hay roofs. Various farm animals are chewing hay. Fierce Fox leaned against a 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. We passed a couple of gothic kids, who are obsessed with vampires. Well, everyone's obsessed with vampires, due to the fact that two teenagers went missing, and a vampire lived on the island. Lucky us.
We came to a rocky area, that's full of rocky slopes and platforms, as well as caves and dead trees. A boy was leaning against a slope.
"He isn't going to help us," I grumbled. "Despite being Katya's boyfriend. Oh well. Let's talk to him anyway. Ask him if he's going to rescue her."
"Are you going to rescue her?" Fierce Fox asked Katya's boyfriend, with a raised brow.
"Are you kidding?" he exasperated. "There are plenty of other cute girls in the village. I'm going home!" Then he stormed off; I wiggled my eyebrows at Fierce Fox.
"What next?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
I gulped. "Um… we go up there." Fierce Fox detected the fear in my tone, but jumped off anyway. She landed on the first rock platform, and a terrifying, black wolf peered out of its cave, baring its teeth. I shut my eyes, while Fierce Fox shivered. When I reopened my eyes, Fierce Fox was knocked out, next to me. I shook her shoulders; her eyes whipped open. I led her over a cliff and a broken bridge, to a creepy, decaying tree.
I stood behind the tree, while Fierce Fox leaped into a dark opening within it.
"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. 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. Wolfy came running, and she untied the bridge's rope. Wolfy 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 are tombstones out the front. Wonderful. I entered a creepy little house, which has a grave inside. I picked up a book which was a vampire romance novel, which isn't something I'd expect to find next to a grave. I also picked up a crowbar.
Fierce Fox and I passed a few more abandoned houses. Pipes were also lying around.
"I'll tell you the story while we fill up that little pool there," I said, picking up a pipe. "Okay, so Count Bram's in love with this girl called… what was it, I always get it confused. Right, Annabelle! Anyway, Count Bram got bit by a vampire or something, and got transformed into an immortal vampire. Unfortunately, his girlfriend 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 the pool. It filled up, so we could cross.
Thick, brown vines are twisted around Count Bram's ancient, black, fairy-tale like castle. Green candles are scattered around, and the narrow windows flicker 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. A stream of water shot into the sky, leading to an open window. "So… how's your world going?"
"Um… good," I answered. "Nothing really exciting. Tests. Homework. Normal stuff. Well, my friend convinced me to watch the season one premiere of My Little Pony."
"What's My Little Pony?" Fierce Fox asked, raising her brow. I chuckled.
"A show in my world," I answered. "Now, let's enter that castle."
We spent the next few minutes lighting up the interior of Bram's Castle. To do this, we started a hearth fire using that vampire romance 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 looks really aged, like it's been around since the Middle Ages. The old stone walls are covered in smudges, and the gazillions of book shelves are covered in dust. The roof is aged too, patterned with swirly designs.
"Kinda creepy," Fierce Fox observed. "I like it." I laughed.
"Yes, it is," I said, nodding. "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; it swiftly opened.
I faced Fierce Fox. "Go in 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 candle, 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 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, then headed into the armoury room.
Everywhere around me are different pieces of armoury on black shelves and walls, such as helms, 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 arrows from the crossbow onto the wall, creating an arrow-ladder. The two of us climbed 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; the dirt was on the ground. Using the water I just grabbed, I watered the plant. Fierce Fox, using the crowbar, peeled boards off a window, giving the plant light. It immediately turned into a great, thick vine, and crawled out of the window and around the tower. Fierce Fox and I followed it.
It led into a dark room, which is full of tomato-based experiments. There's tomato juice bubbling in a flask. Containments of tomato juice are spilled onto the floor. Dusty shelves are full of strange liquids and bottles, and pipes are carrying steaming tomato juice. All in all, it's one of my favourite types of rooms: a laboratory. With wide eyes, I gazed around, walking towards Count Bram's desk. On there, I picked up his notebook.
"You wouldn't expect a vampire to have a laboratory." Fierce Fox chuckled.
"I can," I retorted. "Science is 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. "It's only the best subject ever! I've always wanted to be a scientist… well, actually, not always, but after a few… changes, I decided to pursue that career. It's always about questioning and theories, and there's a pattern to everything. Not complicated stuff like life." 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; 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. Good, I thought. Fierce Fox dropped down; I nodded towards a door. We exited through that, and passed over a bridge section. We entered a new area, which has bright red wallpaper and is covered in dust. It feels a little murky, and most things have white cloths placed over them.
"Help!" a voice cried. It was Katya's voice. Fierce Fox and I leaped towards it, surrounding Katya in her golden cage.
"We're here to rescue you." Fierce Fox assured her.
"Unlike your cowardly boyfriend. Honestly, he walked off and said, 'there are plenty of other cute girls in the village'." I added. Katya frowned at that.
"... Thank goodness someone has come to rescue me!" she exclaimed, ignoring me for now. "But we won't get far unless Count Bram is first 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 Katya' 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 grows. She picked some, and leaped back down.
Part two was creating the vampire serum. I placed all the ingredients under a microscope (trying not to be excited- letting a bit of my inner nerd out). 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. Wowie! Alice has conquered science in two universes! (And I'm not being sarcastic.)
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 stupidly. I shrugged. "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: traditional vampire clothing. "You shall not leave me again!"
"Still better than Edward Cullen..." I muttered.
"He thinks I'm his wife!" Katya cried, her black curls whooshing down her face. "We have to get out of here!" So we pulled a runner. We leaped up to a mosaic window and smashed through, landing outside on a platform in the center of the castle. Thunder and lightning clapped; I shivered. The syringe was on the ground, but Katya safely plucked it from harm.
"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 at Fierce Fox. 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. Oh well. Then I stuffed up. Oops.
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!"
"Alice…" Fierce Fox grumbled. Suddenly, my brain lit up, and the cobwebs flew away (well, mostly).
"Give me the garlic!" I ordered. Fierce Fox shrugged, and handed me the garlic. I chucked it at Count Bram, and he screamed.
"Augh! I hate garlic!" he hissed. 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. Then I faced Fierce Fox. "Now, 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 screen mysteriously darkened.
We returned to the castle's library. Count Bram let out a waterfall of tears, then transformed to his human self- an old, wrinkled man with normal, pale skin and albino-white hair.
"At last the curse has been lifted," he sighed. He stared at Katya. "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. And then someone else joined the party.
"Katya, sweetheart, I've come back to save you!" it was Christopher, Katya's stinking 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. Then she blushed. "Nevermind. I forgive you." She launched herself onto Christopher, and they kissed. 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, and my screen turned black. Now, I knew that technically there still was the bonus quest, but then I didn't have membership, like S.O.S island. So, as I returned to my world, I promised myself I would buy membership for Twisted Thicket and other islands.