Let the Symphony Last for Eternity

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: Ahhh remember this? Back when you didn't offend my dice and there was hope for the future?

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For centuries the Castle of Dracula had stood as a symbol of demonic energy and power, a manifestation of hell on earth. Located on a cliff overlooking a massive lake it made many forms of assault difficult due to only being able to come at it from the front. The walls of the castle never seemed to be of gray stone, rather almost black and quite imposing. But for those who were not born human or born with powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity; the Castle was a symbol of something else.

Home.

Despite the appearance it held, regardless of the 'insanity' of the Lord of the Castle, it was home. Dracula had lived in this castle for well over a century before his Lady Wife appeared, making Dracula a little more social towards his servants. Granted vampires fed of the blood of the living, yet Dracula had been rather good at finding other sources of blood. As he had discovered very early on that by not feeding off humanity he was left to his own devices. Which, for a good long time, was just existing in the castle.

Humans had such short memories and fearful natures it was easy to overlook the once tolerant nature of the Lord. How he gave his castle to the monsters so they would have a home to live in, keeping the humans safe. After all, with the limitless power of the castle they had no need to leave, thus allowing humans to live normal, quiet lives. Until the day that the Lady Wife was murdered by the stupid humans ending those peaceful times.

So it would make sense that all who came of their own willing desire to the castle would fight to defend it.

Die to defend it.

Even those humans who were born with dark magics that made them undesirable to the church could find solace and comfort in the castle of Lord Dracula. Once upon a time even Hector thought himself home when he was in the Castle. Indeed, at that moment as he stood there it felt like he was once again home. Like when the Lady Wife lived and only the darkness pulsed through the castle like a gentle spring breeze.

Had Dracula found peace?

Cold stone stairways rose into the air, vast passages that seemingly reached into infinity while Hector stood there. He reached out to the wall, curious if the castle still resonated with Draculas' power or some other force had taken over. Perhaps the prince had assumed his fathers' throne? With that curious thought he reached towards the wall; and more importantly, the peaceful, darkness that seemed to have been restored to the castle.

The response came in a harsh rejection of the casual contact, the energies bristled at his touch as though he was a threat. He jerked his hand quickly back to his chest, surprised by the numbing sensation that was seeping into his body. Growing concerned, Hector backed away from the wall, while studying it more acutely with less physical senses.

He closed his eyes and focused on nothing save the blackness behind his eyelids as he stood there. The power was calm like a brook or stream, flowing over each crevice and step so docile so deceptive. The moment he started to reach towards that darkness it bristled, rearing like a snake defending itself. When he first lived in the Castle this was never an issue, the darkness just existed without really... an opinion? Perhaps that was the best way to explain the strangeness of the situation, that the darkness in the Castle seemed to have its own 'opinion'.

He backed down from his attempt at investigating the state of the dark powers within the Castle. He didn't want to draw too big an arrow towards him before he understood the situation properly. Though he could say with confidence that whoever it was that 'was' controlling the Castle? It was 'not' Dracula, so don't attempt to tamper with the Castle.

A creature of chaos though it be, the Castle was receptive of beings that shared a similar or same source of power as whoever ruled it. So darkness should have been receptive, even if it was defensive at the start, the presence of another dark aligned being should not have garnered such a response. It should have become warm, inviting, seductive even, as it welcomed a Darkling. Instead it was rejecting even Darklings, sheltering something within itself.

Hector shook his head in acknowledgment of the warning as he tried to figure out how he had gotten back into the Castle. Stepping out of Julias' modest home into the morning air 'had' been his intention. Yet instead he found himself standing in this room and knew from years of service that he stood in the Castle once more. The door had turned itself into a warp point and he couldn't be confident that the door would take him back to Julias'.

"Could it be that the young Prince has assumed his fathers' position over the castle?"

That would have explained the darkness and lack of chaos magic, as well as the rebuttal from his attempts to interact with the darkness. Hector, himself, had never the chance to meet the Prince, so to the prince, Hector could just appear like another follower of Dracula. Much in the same way that Trevor mistook him for such a servant. So was this a test and a summons from the new Lord of the Castle?

But what could a new Lord want with Hector? Well he wasn't going to be able to find out standing around in some hallway. He raised his hands and studied them as he flexed his fingers watching the movement and feeling only the sting of numbness. Extending his arms in front of him revealed that his shoulders weren't as stiff as before so he decided to get up. Somehow Hector felt as though this place could be mistaken for a typical grand castle for someone without power. But for those who 'had' power there was clearly something going on in the Castle of Dracula.

Climbing up the stairwell he kept his eyes out for any potential adversaries, all the while flexing his fingers in an effort to speed up the recovery process. Along the wall he saw, what an outsider would see, swords hanging ornate in design and crafting. But he knew on sight that nothing was 'holding' the swords up and that the blades were mildly sentient and mouthless. But the sword didn't move, in fact none of the sentient weapons in the area were moving. They just hung against the wall like ornate prizes of a typical collection.

Since when did any of the Dark Children do that? Creatures and Children based or bound to nonliving items tended to move about rather than post themselves like they were just another piece of unliving, unthinking furniture.

Suddenly the swords all turned as a loud sound from further down the hallway caught both theirs and Hectors' attention from introspection. Head tilted to the side he began stepping more lightly along the hallway, straining to hear anything more definitive. After all, he only had the normal limitations of a human, nothing as advance as many of the Dark Children or monsters.

It was the messy sound of hard soled shoes as it scraped along the ground like one fighting that called him to hurry forward. Hurried footsteps soon accompanied by the sharp swift slices of a bladed weapon being swung through the air. There was an occasional soft click of shoes and the whirling sound that heralded the opening of a portal. It seemed that a fight was taking place, with occasional words being spoken though Hector couldn't make them out clearly at first.

A battle that was still going one given the noise the fighters were making meaning that there was an even match. As Hector moved on he noticed that the Weapons were just as attentive to what was going on as he. Indeed he could even see a few suits of armor starting to move towards the sound as well. How interesting, more so when the combatants got into Hectors' sight.

When Hector last saw Isaac, his corpse had fallen to the ground after the defeat of Dracula. But at the time Isaac only wore his pants and boots, leaving his upper body bear of all but the tattoos that had been painstakingly marked into his skin. Letting all who saw him know that he was a Devil Forgemaster. Yet here was Isaac, clad in full battle armor as a Devil Forgemaster with his trident and Cain soaring through the air. His opponent wore a lavender tinged armor though it was less 'armor' and more formal attire if one wanted to call it that.

But more than that, it was a vampire.

A vampire that was seriously pushing Isaac to his limits as he moved more rapidly around the room than the Forgemaster could keep up with.

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"Traitor! Stand and fight!"

Ever since he had lived in the castle Isaac was well aware of the pecking order of who was the strongest. Those turned into a Dark Child were considered 'monsters' those turned by the attack of a true Dark Child or one who tapped into something beyond human. While a Dark Child was anyone born naturally and could access the supernatural abilities that set them apart from the rest of humanity. Anyone could elevate their position in the Castle merely by proving themselves, save the ranks of the Vampires and Death itself. Vampires were beyond what any human could be with their speed and strength, while Death was well, Death. Even if one was born with extreme speed, a vampire could heal themselves quickly with blood or strong arm a human down.

Which made the whole situation with that one hunter a strange anomaly.

So with the death of Lord Draculas' Lady Wife, there was a certain amount of fear that his Lord and Master might punish the humans who served him. Or turn them into food for the true Dark Children, which would have been within his right to do so. But Lord Dracula had been amazingly forgiving of the humans who lived under him, leaving them untouched while he slaughtered the humans who committed the heinous crime.

Yet now there was a vampire hunter traveling through the castle! A vampire strong enough to free the pirate in the clock tower of his curse and Isaac was not going to stand around doing nothing.

"You? A mere human wish to order I? I am no meager wisp of power that 'you' may be used to wielding."

So finding a vampire that had willingly served under Lord Dracula suddenly turn traitor? Isaac was scared, would Lord Dracula listen to a mere human forgemaster over a respected vampire? Before the Vampire could get to the Lord, he had to be defeated! But Vampires exceeded what a mere human was capable of doing.

Orlox summoned pillars of arcane flames from the ground that rose into the air as Isaac struggled to rush around them. Smoke drifted from Isaacs' armor he rushed past the searing hot pillars burning away his breath. Even with Cain diving down towards the vampire, both he and his faithful partner was struggling. The skulls were latched on to the Familiar with a death like grip while he tried to descend. Only to have Orlox send a pillar right into the path Cain had been taking, burning the partner into ash so fine it didn't even drift to the ground leaving Isaac alone.

"For the sake of our Master! To arms!" Isaac called out, and both the sentient weapons and skeletons began rousing up to join the battle. It would take time for Cain to heal so all Isaac could hope for was these under worked Children would be able to do some damage to the traitor before being destroyed.

"Your master is a weak vampire. Falling to a meager whip and a single clan of humans," Orlox replied scornfully, floating into the air as a black portal opened behind him. "Just look about you, weak humans serve him and pitiful monsters that can't stop a small 'child'. Hardly a 'Lord'," the Vampire mocked as he floated through the portal. An equally scornful laugh ringing out from him as he moved off.

Isaac collapsed to the ground once the portal closed, his shoulders heaving as he gulped down air from the intense fight. He slammed his fist into the ground out of clear frustration before he slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. Swaying slightly he used his trident as a crutch to help him stand, while dragging his legs under him properly. Frustration warring with anger marred Isaacs' features so perhaps the weapons took Hector's presence as a means to reassure Issac.

"Look, another Forgemaster to aid us," they spoke in voices none but the Forgemasters could hear. They pivoted around and moved to the side so Isaac could see the man, so apparently they forgot that Hector had abandoned Dracula.

"Hector? Where have you been? Vampire Hunters have infiltrated the Castle and not only that there are vampires that have betrayed Lord Dracula!" Isaac demanded as he struggled to hide his exhaustion.

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Hector stood there rooted to the spot in surprise, wondering how Isaac could have forgotten what had transpired between them. How could Isaac stand there with blank open honesty on his face that he was annoyed with Hector? Where was the madness of Draculas' Curse? Where was the rage?

"Isaac, Dracula is dead."

Hector spoke those four words with trepidation fearing how Isaac would react to that news, fearing that he might be fracturing an already damaged mind. Isaac merely stared at him as though the news was something he never could have imagined before.

"You sound like that traitor. How could Lord Dracula be defeated? Why have you not lent aid in the fight against the invading hunters or traitorous vampires?" Isaac demanded, trying to not breath so hard. He refused to make himself look like he needed 'help' if Hector wasn't going to be of any help. But then again, why wouldn't he? "What has happened that you have left the side of our Lord Dracula in his time need? The humans keep invading the castle with intent on destroying our lord. Even now the other vampires are starting to look down on him. How can you just stand there and let this go on?"

"I have no idea what is going on in truth, Isaac." Hector opted not to mention how long it had been since the fall of Dracula. Perhaps it was a trick, or perhaps the very nature of the Castle was causing this strange circumstance. Perhaps there was a chance at saving Isaac from his fate?

"That vampire claims Lord Dracula defeated and dead by the hands of humans. Even Lady Carmilla has made such statements!" Isaac spoke as though reciting scornful false news, yet there was an underlining fear. What if they were right? He and Hector had forged many devils in their time, to think they weren't strong enough to defend the Castle. Take awake the demonic aspect of the task no one liked to think their creations were failures.

Hector shook his head before sighing in confusion, "Isaac how could that vampire even betray Dracula? His power is supreme among Dark Children."

Isaac shook his head in answer, taking a step forward only to wince in pain. How long had he been fighting that vampire? Hector didn't know, even for a Devil Forgemaster it should have been next to impossible. Perhaps the drive that brought Isaac into the clutches of the curse was this level of devotion, perhaps in the end there was no hope for Isaac. But Hector couldn't bring himself to give up on Isaac, perhaps he could temper that heated passion. Maybe he could save both his wife and Isaac?

"Isaac, is there anyone besides you and the Lady Camilla who are trying to defend Lord Dracula? Aside from the Dark Children?"

"There is one, a Dark Priest who has broken a hunter to defend us, while he works to reawaken our Lord." Isaac explained, though the more he spoke the more he seemed to realize the simple fact about Dracula.

"Did he tell you why Lord Dracula requires aid in awakening?" Hector asked, after all that was 'the' question. Isaac didn't know of Draculas' defeat at the hands of the Belmont Clan, how would he react to that knowledge?

"No, however; first things first, the traitors must be destroyed," Isaac stated, pushing the unpleasant thoughts from his mind.

For which Hector had to agree, "yes, I agree they must be eliminated."

For Hector the reasoning was simple, traitors could easily attempt to take over and carry on Draculas' mission. Regardless of circumstance anyone wishing to start this war had to be stopped, but by saying that he would help, Hector could see Isaacs' relief. "You should return to your quarters and rest, I'll continue traveling through the castle, see if I can find out anything."

Isaac watched him for a moment before slowly nodding, his flesh was sore from the intense heat from the battle. Also Cain would need time to recover so it was probably for the best that he rest.

"Very well, thank you Hector, I knew I could count on you."