Chapter 16: Passed the Looking Glass

Disclaimer: I do not own Castlevania nor the characters.

The rest of the stairs case seemed to be just a breather taken at a comfortable slow pace after spending so much time running and jumping around while fighting the armies of the undead. Simon felt good that he had a chance to take a breath after having to run around so much, but still he felt that he was letting the enemy get a head start on the situation. It was after a few minutes of slowly walking, Simon picked up his pace so as not to fall back in time too much, but at the same time he was going at a pace that wouldn't tire him out. Each step had lost its push and was now very soft, almost acting like a cushion with each step. His breaths came at like sighs of relief and his muscles started relaxing.

"That was the first guard but I am quite sure that there are other such creatures here," said Alucard as he continued to walk up the stairs until he came to a solid steel door that was meant to be opened by a sense of force that all of them had. "This is meant to tire out long groups though it probably couldn't affect us so much here, but yet I fear that some of the old servants of my father have also returned to their rooms."

"Can you tell which room they are in then," asked the Belmont as he pushed the door open, crushing some mindless skeleton behind it.

"The castle is never the same and as such, I cannot tell which room one would be in, but I am able to identify certain monsters," said Alucard as he walked along and saw that the path out of the marble stairwell was split into two paths, one path obviously meant to lead to another part of the castle. "Damn, it appears that each one has control of a different part, yet I cannot tell which devil forge controls which wing of the castle."

"Then I believe that this would be the most opportune time for us to split up and confront ech devil forge," said Simon as he looked towards the left path. "I will take this one with Sonia while you can take the other path that leads to the other devil forge. I'm confident that this one leads to the tombs since I can sense that Iscariot went here and he would most undoubtedly be going to his beloved Draculina who lies in her tomb. The other one should be bested by you since you are more knowledgeable in the matters of sorcery and dark powers."

Alucard was unsure of how to take that last comment but he knew that he was only angry at the truth of the matter, not at the person who pointed out the cruel truth. It was his lot in life as a dhampire and he had long since made peace with that thanks to his exploits with Belmonts of the past. With a nod, he transformed into a wolf and started bounding up the path that led to the right tower while Simon walked on the left path to the tower that he knew for a fact held Iscariot. He could only hope that the one named Leto would not prove to be the better of the two, a thing he highly doubted since Leto had been the one using the most power this whole time.

As he walked up the path, Simon would look over his shoulder to make sure that Sonia had not fallen behind any before turning back to make sure that he didn't trip over his own two feet. He could sense that he would have to fight soon because Vampire Killer was acting crazy and he was answered by skeletons dressed in armor, both leather and bronze plated, the leather armor skeletons being armed with scimitars while the skeletons in bronze carried short swords. He waited for one of the skeleton to make a stab at him with a short sword before using his enchanted whip to grab the sword out of the hand of the skeleton and use it to cleave through two others. Then he unsheathed his own sword and started cutting down the ranks of the skeletons with each stroke, cutting through spine and head like it were just a piece of meat being cut by a sharp axe. Sonia was also using two weapons to fight as she blocked each attack with the spear held in her left hand and attacked with the sword in her right, falling back to back with her lover as the two fought through the formations of skeletons until the room was nothing but a pile of bones unable to be distinguished from the catacombs.

"It would appear that the devil forges have been busy making sure that each place fit the personality of the person who makes it," mused Simon as he kicked aside a helmet with skull still attached and then proceeded to make his way onwards. "I do, of course, fear that Leto's path maybe a lot more devious than this one and therefore fear for the safety of Alucard."

"I'm sure that he is probably expecting the same thing of Leto, but Leto cannot do that much to harm him," assured Sonia as she stood next to Simon and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure that we will meet with Alucard when this is all over and we have Lydia back."

"Yes, I am sure that you are right," said Simon as he walked on to the other area that was hidden behind a strange door that appeared to be a mirror, but at the same time it showed the path ahead of them. "Such a strange looking glass that it would be reflecting our image, but at the same time showing us what is on the other side of it, don't you agree Sonia?"

"Yes I do," said Sonia as she touched the glass on the door and then wrapped her hand around the handle, pulling it open to reveal what seemed to be the opposite of what was on the door. On their side appeared to be a chapel with a cross hanging in the background of an altar, but the reality of it was just a plain corridor. "And thus the mystery of this door gets deeper, so deep that I wonder if I will be able to discover the solution."

"Ah so you wish into Iscariots castle, given to the original owner by one of the celestial beings of Japan," said a familiar voice from behind them. They turned to see the smiling D. Schneider as he stood before them and examined the door. "The castle is a special one, one that was something of an earlier design from the time of Walter Bernhard, an arrogant fool whom your patron was acquainted with for a night and then dispatched of him in the morning to say. This was made by Bernhard as a bit of sport but he felt that it would be too unfair since he expected any man was supposed to be testing his strength, not his brain. I'm glad he was that much of an idiot or else you wouldn't be here helping me out."

"Who are you might I ask," asked Simon as he looked at the magician curiously and then began to see that the magician had increased in height and his hair was now of a silver color.

"The last name of Schneider is a fake, but my name is D," replied the magician as he pushed at the mirror and to the surprise of the two vampire hunters, his hand went through. "I suppose you now see the dream castle beyond the looking glass."

With those words, the magician went through the door and they could see him walking down the chapel. They wasted no time in jumping through and following the magician, their boots hitting the concrete of the floor as they asked him to stop, but the magician was either ignoring them or already lost in his musings. Such a strange man this is and yet he has been the best help that we have received on this quest, thought Simon as he followed through the door that the magician had gone through only to find the magician was gone. All that was there was a large monster that was composed of the body parts of other dead bodies and was stitched together in so shoddy a manner that Simon was surprised that it didn't unravel at the seam. The odor coming from the creature was altogether ghastly, even for the castle, but Simon had put up with the smell once before and the creature didn't smell as foul the first time around when Simon was forced to fight while trying not to vomit at the smell. Such a thing was a terror of man trying to achieve something that it should not do, the end result of an experiment that produced one of the most frightening results in years.

"So it would appear that there is another thing that requires our attention as well," said Simon as he prepared himself for another battle with a dangerous creature.

Iscariot watched over the fight with great anticipation, his eyes never looking away from the orb that showed him everything that his opponent did. He absolutely loved being in this role and could see why his lord, Dracula, would always be watching whenever a Belmont made his way through the castle. It was the most exciting thing and would make fighting him all the sweeter as he would have defeated the man who went through Dracula's castle three times. Such a man would probably give Iscariot the best fight he had ever had in a long time. He drank his wine as he set it down and felt a cold hand caress his neck as Carmilla came to sit by him.

"You know that he is probably using you to help him gain more power or summon his true lord," asked Carmilla as she took her seat right next to him, causing him to tear his eyes away from the joy of the orb and look at her beautiful pale skin that reminded him so much of the moon as well as her full red lips that he had kissed so often.

"Do not worry about that my delicate beautiful creature, I will not kill the Belmont until after I have prevented Leto's treachery," said Iscariot as he cupped her cheek. "Leto may think he is clever, but all of his schemes have placed him into a difficult position where I could easily over power him and then I will simply defeat the Belmont only for him to enact his plan thinking me weak and I will easily kill him. I will have done Lord Dracula such a service that he would entrust me to everything and wouldn't be bothered by me receiving the dark gift from you."