Chapter 79: Haunted Village
It's only the beginning of autumn and yet… my village… the graveyard of my people and family… is surrounded by cold mist, which makes the silent atmosphere of the place becomes more haunting, especially for me who still has memories of this place.
The broken wooden structures… untouched and rotten, exposed to the elements for years since the massacre… the dried bloodstains… the skeletons of its former inhabitants… familiar streets and homes… memories of familiar faces… I can't bear the thought of coming here.
I shiver, not from the cold but from fear… of what Lord Necromancer has in store for me and my family.
The trauma of those days resurfaced, causing my breath to become labored. I can feel Lord Necromancer's eyes watching me, no doubt enjoying my suffering. I was a fool to underestimate him. But… what else could I do? Die at the hands of Van Helsing? At this rate that option might be more preferable to this… though even then I doubt I could escape a ruler of death through death.
I walked the familiar ruined streets in the company of Lord Necromancer and his Acolyte along with a company of his elite undead guardians. Though… I noticed his steps are… slow… even for me. The Acolyte and his undead guardians matched his pace and so did I. I didn't say anything as I didn't want to further incur his wrath.
Suddenly he stopped walking, all of us also stopped along with him. I could've sworn that his breath is labored too. What is going on? A monster like him can't be tired already, right?
He summoned his staff and started walking again. I could've sworn he's using the staff as a walking stick to help him walk.
We arrived at the town plaza… which just so happens to be the place where my mother was slain by Gettan. Her skeleton is still there. I wasn't in the right mind so I didn't give her a proper burial… I now regret that… but I regret making a pact with Lord Necromancer even more.
"We shall do it here. Now watch, apprentice. I shall open the gate to the spiritual realm… which will allow us to perceive the spirits of the dead." Lord Necromancer said to the Acolyte, who nodded silently.
Lord Necromancer then used his staff to draw a big ritual circle on the ground and write some foreign runes around it. He finished it off with a pentagram in the center of the circle. His undead minions then placed and lit candles all around the circle.
I watched with bated breath as he stood in the center of the circle and started the ritual.
"Now come… spirits of the dead. Show yourselves!" He commanded and the ritual circle began to shine with green light, the signature color of his sickening unholy magic. The air becomes colder, forcing me to cover my normally exposed shoulders with my kimono.
Then… I started seeing… lights… several fox beastkin shaped white lights surrounded us. No… he has done it… The spirits of my people…
"There they are… the spirits of the dead. Can you feel it, apprentice? How… disturbed they are? How they are… unable to rest?" Lord Necromancer said to his Acolyte in a gentle tone, like a teacher.
"So that's why… you said you wouldn't do this to my parents…" The Acolyte responded. Her parents?
"Correct. The dead are meant to rest. Wanting to see the dead is too much burden for the dead."
What!? Then simply summoning the spirits of my people is enough to cause them great suffering!? So this is my punishment!?
"Lord Necromancer! So your summoning has made them...!" I glared at him with hatred, no longer keeping my emotions in check.
"I didn't summon them. I only allowed us to perceive them. They've always been here, unable to slumber as they should. And you know why, don't you?"
I gasped… He's right. They met a violent end… and I never buried them… or pay them any respects… or even prayed for them. I was too busy amassing power for myself in order to survive and get revenge… It's all… my fault.
Tears started flowing down my cheeks and I dropped to my knees… and started begging.
"Lord Necromancer… I beg of you. I am prepared to pay any price… my soul, everything I own… I pledge them all into your eternal service. Just please… grant their souls-"
"Brace yourselves! Here they come!" Lord Necromancer cut my words off with a shout of warning. And I saw the spirits… wearing familiar faces, started becoming feral and attacked us with claws and bites.
Lord Necromancer conjured a magic barrier to shield us all from their attacks. His undead minions went to strike them with their swords but was unable to touch them The swords passed through their spiritual bodies harmlessly.
"Tch. I knew it. Apprentice! I must start the exorcism ritual and thus I cannot maintain this barrier!"
"I'll create a barrier!" Acolyte replied as she conjured her barrier as Lord Necromancer dispelled his. He started another ritual in the middle of the ritual circle… whilst the Acolyte's barrier protected us.
His behaviour is strange. In this situation he should've remained in control and would've happily basked in my suffering and would've enslaved both me and the spirits of my people. But instead he… decided to…
"Lord Necromancer! What's going on!?" I asked whilst panicking.
"In order to perceive the spiritual bodies, my ritual was forced to expose our existences to their perception as well. Basically not only can we see them, they can see us too now! And they're hungrier than I anticipated!" He answered in an uncharacteristically alarmed voice.
"Hungry? For what!?"
"For our life essence… for warmth… for what little comfort they could've gained by preying on our living souls!"
I gasped. The spirits… they're suffering so much that they've lost their reasons and would prey upon us living beings!?
"Lord Necromancer! I can't hold on!" Acolyte shouted as her barrier is already faltering against the relentless attacks of the spirits.
"Keep that up! We've barely started!" Lord Necromancer shouted.
Eventually her barrier shattered, exposing us to the spirits. Lord Necromancer then did something I didn't expect out of someone like him. With his palm, he pushed the Acolyte away from the spirits' encirclement, saving her life.
He then used his green magic to fend them off and I can only watch…
"Yukime…"
I heard a voice… no multiple voices… calling out to me…
"Yukime…"
"Yukime…"
"Yukime…"
"Yukime…"
No… please… I'm sorry… If my soul can grant you even a little bit of comfort… then eat me.
I resigned myself to my fate and closed my eyes, expecting the spirits to tear me apart.
But that didn't happen. When I opened my eyes, I saw Lord Necromancer's back protecting me with his magic.
"Lord Necromancer… why…?"
"I still need you! For my purposes! I command you to survive!"
Lord Necromancer… is commanding me to survive? He wants me to live…? Why?
"Yukime… My daughter…"
That voice… mother?
I saw her… the spirit of a three tailed fox beastkin woman… looking at me with cold dead eyes…
"Mother…!"
Mother's spiritual claws becomes bigger and she started to attack me with it, Lord Necromancer shielded me with both his barrier and magic. But my mother's attack is stronger than I thought as it shattered his barrier, allowing her claw to pass through his body. Her claw didn't cause any wound on him but…
"AAAAAAARGHHH!" He screamed in absolute pain. I have to assume that his soul is the one that is harmed by her attack. I can only imagine how painful a spiritual wound is.
Why? Why would he go so far for me?
But we'll die if this keeps up!
"Lord Necromancer! Let me help! Please tell me how to fight them!"
"Use… pure magic power…!"
"Right!" I started imbuing my fan with pure magic and started fending the spirits off. I couldn't harm them of course, only pushing them away from us.
After some time has passed I finally confronted my mother… who is still staring at me with those cold eyes.
"Mother… please forgive me…" I muttered as I prepared to fight her. But she didn't come for me and merely smiled.
"Mother? What are you doing?" I asked her, not expecting her to reply.
"Yukime… You've achieved Nine Tails… I'm proud of you…"
"Moth…er…?" She's… proud of me…?
"The ritual is finished. Good work, Yukime." I heard Lord Necromancer's voice from behind. He has finished his ritual and the spirits stopped attacking. In fact they looked like they're no longer in a frenzy and is in peace instead. They smiled at me as if they finally recognized me.
"Yukime… Thank you…"
"Yukime… You'll do fine…"
"Yukime… Please survive…"
"Yukime… Don't worry about us…"
"Yukime… Go and achieve happiness…"
"Yukime… Goodbye…"
They continued giving me words of encouragement and farewells. I then looked once again at my mother and she merely smiled as she… and everyone else vanished. When they left, the mist that envelops the village also vanished, allowing sunlight to grace the village once again.
"Mother…. Everyone… Thank you…" I whispered. I shall treasure this memory forever… and I shall give you all proper burials.
"Ughh…" I heard Lord Necromancer grunted as he fell to his knees… though I noticed tha his voice is no longer in his usual distorted demonic voice… but in a… young man's voice.
I looked back and… I saw him unmasked. His mask probably fell off during my mother's attack. I may never meet him in person before but I recognize that face from the newspaper. Claude Normann, the infamous Midgar prodigy who is said to be the prime candidate to be the king of Midgar. Why is he here!? How is he…?
Author's Note:
Welp I have a bit more time and energy than I thought I would have this week so I wrote another chapter. Having short chapters does have its advantage.
Mini arc with Yukime before the Don Jon arc. I once intended this arc to happen before the vampire arc but I decided that would be too fast.
Zero: It be cool that alucard goes release his full power Dracula form aka level zero bird of Hermes aka lord of chaos.
Answer: I had to have him weakened in order to make this arc work unfortunately.
HundredMasks: I thank thee for this chapter author, and I'm loving the menace necromancer going at it again, at this point I want him to quote lich from adventure time simply because of how close he's getting to that level of menace, well, he's not universe ender and embodiment of atrophy yet, but he sure does radiate 'Death' in front of others now, as for the Godzilla vs Ghidorah and John smith vs Don Jon, I will simply watch you cook
also, this is a perfect opportunity to create a cult based off of dracula and them trying to revive him a la Castlevania, though I'm not really sure where it'd fit so it's more or less just an idea on how the Dracula persona could make a return
Answer: He was about to go at it again but stuff happened and now Yukime knows his true identity. But we shall see what he has in store next.
Perhaps… if I have need for more Alucard.