Let the Symphony Last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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The portrait dangled by magical strings before him, spinning around as though caught in a steady wind. He raised the bit of artwork up to his eye level so as to better study it as it rotated, an intriguing bit of paint.
A warrior stood hunched over in a posture that hinted at one preparing to attack, legs parted in a battle stance, hands out with a whip in one hand. His mane of hair was the red of blood as though he had bathed so long in it that his hair just obliged his lifestyle. His armor was black leather with the sheen of polished spiked metal, with a thick black fur shoulder guard.
A hunter who was often lost to his own lust for the hunt and the kill often became that which they hunted. A ruthless killer that would eventually seek out stronger, better, targets. Despite that lust for blood for some reason this Hunters' humanity never fully disappeared. His eyes were still the sane eyes of a man on a mission rather than the eyes of someone lost to the lust. Yet out of a literal castle 'full' of hunters, it was important enough that 'this' particular Hunter be brought to him. Presented as a prisoner of the portrait with only a smaller picture as its message. Understandable since Brauner did not speak or write in a language that he knew. Only the Castles' arcane essence was allowing them to speak to each other at all. Though using art allowed for someone to misinterpret the image and give no further thought.
Clearly the artist felt there was an importance in capturing this particular Hunter, yet the moment he had, time had warped and resettled itself. Perhaps Brauner had saw something that put their plans at risk if this hunter died prematurely. He even may have realized it would sacrifice his own existence by sealing away this Hunter in the process. But he was not born the same way other vampires were, though the same could be said of Dracula.
How could Brauner realize the true scope of Dracula's powers when he only knew of the many defeats of the Vampire Lord? How could he realize that Dracula's strength would just continue to grow if not pruned by these hunters? Dracula now surpassed every hunter in the Castle at that moment, there 'would' be no way to overthrow the Vampire Lord. But if he restored the Hunter back into the world, the Castle would go back to its original, current, formation.
The Castle would split into two, part in Chaos, part in the real world, with that real world part being smothered by the halfblood and his human followers. Which served his needs better as the Castle had assigned this room as 'his' room. Already in the Chaos, he was far closer to the heart of Dracula's power than he would be here in the world. The Chaos Castle allowed for more freedom of movement for those with power due to its own unstable nature. Rather than say, the Normal Castle that was more rigidly in place, restricting his own movement.
Indeed, below his feet were the milling sacks of human flesh that came mindlessly together to join with that one demon. The infant core was even further down below pulling more corpses from around the world to join the obnoxious crowd at his feet. Talk about cramp living spaces. While Dracula was once again in his Master Chambers high above them all, and his source of power was completely sealed at the heart of the Castle.
This wouldn't work, he needed to get to the heart of Draculas' power, the core of Chaos that the Dark Lord was connected to. He opened his hand and looked at the painfully tiny sketch that had been sent to him via Brauner. There had to be something the painter thought would be accomplished if he sealed away this particular hunter. The picture showed the Clock Tower at the 13th hour, which he could only fathom meant that Brauner wanted him to stay his hand.
Perhaps Brauner anticipated that, by restoring Dracula to his throne, all the hunters who had remained would be exhausted fighting the restored forces of Dracula? There was a thought, and he lifted his hand up to scratch at his chin as he tried to decide if this was the path that had been in Brauners' mind when he made this move.
Certainly there were still Hunters who had defeated Dracula at one time or another, but with the Castle so passive before, no one had been in any danger of harm. The version of Dracula that had been called to the Castle had made the Dark Children as passive as the Castle itself. So long as the hunters had stayed their hand, and they remarkably had, the Dark Children never reacted with violence against them. However; removing that particular Dracula and restoring the Castle meant several things. One the Dark Children were more triggered to attack aggressors that they came across, and were stronger with Dracula's presence lending them power. Two the remaining Hunters would be undoubtedly pressed to fight and that would cause injury and fatigue.
Once they were weaken enough it would be safe to release this hunter for their strength would be weaken, easily captured. Once restored the passive Dracula would be brought back, and regardless of all the monsters, there 'would' be enough powerful hunters to go after him. The safety of the early Hunters of their lineage and the others would 'have' to obey the captors to protect their lines.
Destroy the passive Dracula and there would be no active Lord of the Castle, thus leaving the Normal Castle in the hands of the broken Hunter, while he would be granted more time to work his way to the heart of the Chaos Castle. The most powerful Hunter clan would be divided, with only their one 'protecting' the Dracula of this time, who would actively pursue the passive Dracula if given the chance. Which had worked well against Shaft and the Devil Forgemaster, but with 'this' change of the setting he and his allies would hold the greater power for they would have the very founders of the Clan at their mercy. Thus the whole of this mighty clan of hunters 'would' have slay Dracula.
The door across from his head slid open with a raspy hiss born from disuse and a flood of bats came swarming into the room. He turned to look at the door, distracted momentarily from his thoughts as the cloud of bats swarmed the space before the door. But just because one hunter disappeared taking the future with him, it didn't automatically stop other family lines from carrying on.
Of course those who didn't simply 'disappear' did end up with new job assignments. After all the Lady of Beasts was just another hunter turned servant, her doves gone to bats. Originally there were four females who had been brought to the Castle so that Dracula could find a bride. But with this strange change of history, three came of their own accord to offer themselves to the strongest of night. Strong enough to offer them protection from the Darkness that often slayed the helpless. This one spent her time trying to pry the fool girl from her path. She even tried to fight Dracula to protect the human, but well, all one had to do to see how well 'that' went was look.
Black, skin tight, it was a one piece with thin silver threaded details of all manner of animal eyes, from reptile to avian, to aquatic, to mammal. A 'cloth' of misdirection if anything was for it was a portal that called for all manner of beasts that matched the eyes on the attire. From Hunter of Vampires to Hunter of Vampire Hunters, the fox now served that which she just recently sought to destroy. Her long hair was bound up as an extra precaution, she 'was' a fighter after all.
She stood there with not even a casual glance at the horde of mindless bodies moving around his feet. Apparently waiting for his notice before she stepped upon the cloud of bats that she had summoned hovering at her feet. "Garamoth, our Lord has a task for you," she announced between each leap from platform of bats to platform.
"Oh? And what would Lord Dracula wish of me?" He rumbled out. His mouth wasn't exactly structured for the best in human verbalization after all. Though it also made it easily excusable for him to withhold words, thoughts, plans...
"The Prince has returned to his fathers' side, and Lord Dracula felt that the Prince could use his favorite toy. As that was why our Lord gave you power, make good use of yourself for the Young Prince to hunt. Though obviously this local will simply not due, I will return to hear of any plans you might have for such a game. Our lord does not mind providing you with a castle if so you wish. Have something in mind in time for my return."
She announced it simply and turned to leave, leaping off of each platform of bats that was made for her. When she reached the door she walked out without a backwards glance, then again the Lady of Beasts was called that for a reason. Why would the mistress of the animals of the Castle need to lower herself to a 'beast'? Regardless of his size, a mere garden lizard would never be viewed as more than something small and disposable to the Lord of the Castle.
At least that was true until Garamoth managed to topple Dracula and assume the role of Lord of Darkness. The thought of the creator dethroned by the very 'childrens' toy' he had created for his brat son was one that still gave the Lizard a vicious satisfaction. But even as he mentally salivated over the idea, the flurry of bats she had been using suddenly rushed themselves around the painting that Garamoth had been holding. Teleporting the portrait to their mistresses in a swirl of darkness, which 'was' something that instilled fear in the giant being.
"Though I have to wonder, when did you bother to take up works of delicate art?" She mused as she looked over the odd hunter painting. He certainly didn't look like someone she recognized, though the whip certainly was one of notoriety. There was a feeling of power to this painting, different from all the other paintings in the Castle. All the others were just oils or water on canvas, even the one that the poltergeist used was a normal painting.
It was far more than just a painting, though she couldn't quite tell 'how'. Paintings were not her thing and she couldn't think of a single Dark Child in the Castle who could possibly know. "I think I shall keep this piece, it is too delicate an item for a beast like you." She commented before walking out of the room. It 'was' rather odd for a beast to be focused on a painting, it wasn't the least bit visually captivating to an animal.
It was the Vampire Killer in this black clad warriors' hand that made her wonder if she was looking at a Belmont. As she studied the painting she faintly began to recall about the last true Belmont , Lord Dracula 'had' mentioned facing a singular Belmont twice, once. The first time they crossed paths he had been dressed in drab browns and his hair had been blond. But by their second encounter his hair and clothes had darken considerably. That the hunter was consumed by the Whips' own blood lust and that he was near a Dark Child himself by that point.
She pondered whether or not Lord Dracula would approve of such a painting being presented to him, after all it 'was' one of a hunter. Perhaps Annette would be the best judge of such things, seeing that she was pretty close to their Lord. Or perhaps if she could convince Death to entering a conversation, if 'anyone' was close to Lord Dracula in the Castle, it would most certainly be Death. But where to find the entity, now 'that' was the question.
The door shuddered its way back into position as the woman left, allowing Garamoth a moment to bare his fangs in outrage. Arrogant bitch to steal what didn't belong to her and the whole Castle full of idiots who looked down upon him for his creation. Once he took over the Castle he was going to hunt down that worthless huntress and make her suffer for this insult for ages.
All he needed was for a pawn to enter the painting and release the Hunter inside it to undo all the damage that was created when he was removed. Once done Dracula would return to the Chaos and history would be mended back to its original path. But if someone recognized the painting for what it was before then? If someone destroyed the painting before the hunter was freed and this become his existence? Dracula would never be overcome at this rate, his power now outstripped that of all the world.
Someone 'had' to find the painting and release the Hunter! Granted the best option would have been for the predecessors of this one Hunter to be wounded in a few battles before it happened. Enough to make them easy pickings once the rest of the time line was repaired. But if the painting was destroyed out right before the sealed hunter could be freed?
No, he refused to be the brat princes' 'toy' for the rest of time!
The brat prince... that was right, the Vampire Prince now Hunter was in the Castle and supposedly reconciled with his father. But Garamoth knew the secret that no one yet had realized, the 'father' that the brat was 'reconciled with'. It wasn't the current lord of the Castle, indeed the moment Garamoth felt his own power flowing about the Castle he knew something was up. The power that had previously been suppressing the chaos of the Castle had been the blend of Hunters, the brat among them. A suppression that had not happened 'until' the future version of Dracula had arrived.
Both that influence and the future Dracula had faded away with the capture of the Hunter, but now without the painting Garamoth worried. They never 'did' tell Brauner about the Lords' rebel son, the Vampire Prince. If anyone could destroy an otherwise brilliant play by Brauner it 'would' be the Prince. Who knew how years of uncontested ruler ship would have mellowed out Dracula in the presence of his son. The brat turned against his father due to Draculas' unceasing war on the humans, now that he had won he had grown comfortable in his position of power. Perhaps willing to listen to his son, or to humor his child in whatever manner the brat wanted. But what if the brat decided, to investigate the painting? He could find the way to free the Hunter and restore the original timeline! But if he approved of his father as the vampire was now 'would' he be willing to take a chance? Would the brat be willing to restore the hunter or just settle with the way his father was now?
The only way to save Brauners' clever ploy would be to find a way to manipulate the brat to steal back the portrait and bring it back. But how to convince him that it would be for the best to do so when as long as they have known each other, he had been the Brats 'arch nemesis'? How could he convince the brat prince that the future version of his father would be more palatable?