Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Juste flattened himself and did his best crawl motion with the tips of his paws while at the bottom of the cart. Dashing under the cart as the routine visit from, what could only be a thrall, was carried out. The foresight that Simon showed in those seemingly demeaning 'training exercises' were suddenly greatly appreciated. Who knew doing those belly crawls would be so useful?
Foot steps and the rustling of plastic and fabric was heard in time and he listened patiently as he did so. Even as things were dropped in the trash bag in the cart, the priests' routine undisturbed as he moved behind the cart and began pushing it out of the vault. With only the two front wheels to block Justes' view from the north west and east corners of his vision he began crawling on his belly.
It wasn't even enjoyable, with him lacking a living body or breathing system. The vault wasn't kept up with save for his Holiness. Dust and dirt began to accumulate between his arms and against his chest leaving Juste pretty confident there would be sneezing and coughing... 'And possibly causing people to realize where I've been...'
Thralls were tricky.
They weren't bitten, it was a form of spell work performed on a human by a vampire, and Juste had a book on that.
When a Vampire seeks to create a new vampire, they will use their bite to start the process. If they drain all the blood from the intended neophyte the transformation will happen quickly. However; if they merely provide a bite and leave the neophyte untouched, the turning vampire 'will' continue living their lives. Unaware they have been bitten unless notified by an observant person. (This can happen due to how a person chooses to wear their hair, due to social class or era of fashion and style.)
As such the neophyte only slowly starts to depict the aspects of transformation; losing interest in drink. (This is due to the nature of liquids and their closeness to water, while meats can still retain the blood of the animal.) Preferring meat and will start shifting towards wishing it to be closer to raw the further the transformation. Once the neophyte is actively eating meats that are nearly raw there is no way to reverse the process.
However if the sired Vampire is slain prior to this point the neophyte will start to revert back to their human state. They 'can' however retain some vampire attributes they may have been manifesting depending on the type of vampire they were turning into.
Thralls are not bitten and are instead turned into such states via alternative methods. However; for some reason, the mark of a thrall can manifest as a type of bite mark on the person. Not all vampires have the ability to create a thrall due to a required affinity towards magic. (See also alternative cultures.)
Thralls lack the awareness that they are even being put into such service.
There was, for a time, a conflict between deciding if Thralls and those Hypnotized would be classified as the same thing. What has been settled upon is that 'thralls will do things they wouldn't if they were in control. Hypnotized victims will only do things they would do were they awake.'
That is to say, a person Hypnotized to kill someone 'will' commit murder if they were already inclined to do so already. Often times the reason being that laws, or the liability of being caught causes the person to refrain. Thus they would utilize a hired assassin at most. A person with no desire to kill can 'not' be hypnotized to perform murder due to it going against their fundamental principles.
A Thrall has no such say as their principles are overwritten by that of the vampire.
'And that was written before Dracula reincarnated...' Juste thought to himself as he crawled along. 'Dracula has no problem with murder, Soma seems to have some. Meaning that Dracula's 'principles' could override Soma's under certain circumstances.'
Justes' crawling was now on auto pilot as he continued eyeing approaching possible safe spaces for him to duck out from.
They do not retain any awareness of their time under the control of their vampire. More over their effectiveness is found in this aspect. Since a magician with foreknowledge can prepare to prematurely severe a thrall from their master. Thus often times thralls have a pre-planted instruction to self terminate upon discovery in an effort to protect the vampire in question.
The book had been transcribed two generations prior to Justes' birth. Written by a member of the Belnades clan, transcribing an oral tradition of an even earlier witch. There was a list of ingredients that were needed. One set was for severing the control, another was to recognize those who were thralls.
'And I have no idea how many of the priests and nuns of the Vatican are thralls...' Juste thought to himself. His brief time with Dionysus had proven interesting, the man turned vampire couldn't explain much due to his state. But he had made it clear that the church could not afford to be depleted of the priests. Not if there was a Vampire attack.
'If I could get access to that book again... And a willing pair of human hands,' Juste thought ruefully. Glancing down at his rounded puppy paws. Recalling the history from a book was easy, the complex spell components mentioned in said book was another matter.
'Not that I can do much with these paws. I can draw spells but that was due to the garden. Here... I would need paint, since using a bag of salt or spices would be... difficult.' Juste thought to himself as he saw a pair of feet walk across the hallway in the distance. It was reassuring to see signs of life in the Vatican. Even if there was a thread of worry that they, too, were yet another thrall. There wasn't any sign of his family, while everything appeared normal from this distance.
Traveling down the hallway he was eventually able to break away from the bottom of the cart before he found where it was stored. Trapped in a vault with an imprisoned vampire and having company was one thing. Trapped in a cleaning closet was just degrading.
He hid himself under one of those helpful tables where Elmo could be found when he was lost sometimes. The small table cloth that covered the table moved as it was disturbed by the passing cart. Thus giving Juste the opening he needed to slip out from under the cart and watch it continue rolling away. Only the faint sounds of distant prayer or conversation touched Justes' ears as he sat there. He swatted and worked at his paws and body in an effort to get all the dust all of him.
'Dionysus couldn't tell me where he hid the journals and while I imagine Simon will not be happy about this. We need to find out what he documented before he was turned.' Juste thought to himself as he sat there attempting to shake yet more dust off him. 'Though the Vatican is seemingly more active in unique ways. Honestly it makes me think of the castle and given that there have been vampires in the Vatican. I might not be far off. But would someone try to make the Vatican 'into' another castle?'
It was a viable thought for a moment. If the Castle of Dracula was a haven of demons and Dark Children. It made sense that the Vatican could be made into the reverse in a very literal sense, but turning the Pope into a reverse Dracula? Two prior Popes turned into Vampires and he could only wonder how long until Alexander would be turned.
'Dionysus didn't seem to think that was a possibility though, and he's had enough time imprisoned to think on it further.' Juste thought as he finally stepped out from his hiding spot and began making his way back to Yoko's suite. He kept his eyes on everything, checking the paintings and the statues for anything that stood out strangely.
There was movement from time to time but for now, that was not his focus. 'Granted the rest of the family have probably seen enough that I can just listen to their accounts of the Vatican.' Juste mused to himself as he passed the large staircase and continued on his way to Yoko's room. Though he was starting to realize there was a distinct lack of his family. 'Where are they? I expected them to be out investigating, are they done already?' he found himself wondering as he turned down the hallway where Yoko's suite rested.
Beating his paws he hit the door with the force usually reserved for knocking that they used, while turning to eye the hallway. Empty of anything that was suspicious he heard the door click with its usual swing style of opening.
"Where have you been?" Simon grumbled as he stood there before a large dog shoved its head right out the door.
The sudden appearance was enough to send Juste into a sitting position as he leaned back to try and keep eye contact with this dog. 'How is there an actual dog in the Vatican, and even then in Yoko's suite?'
"Grandfather?"
Juste's ears couldn't have gotten stiffer if he had shoved cement into it as the living dog growled awkwardly. There was this strange dog standing in the suite! Floppy eared, stern looking... 'Did that dog just call me...'
"Richter?" The growling 'could' be an attempt to actually talk using the mouth...
"Move back Richter, let Juste back into the room," Christopher could be heard further in the back and the dog obliged and began backing up...
'Now that I think on it, the colors of his fur are strikingly similar to Richters'...' Juste thought to himself as he made his way into the suite. A quick look around and he could see that his grandson wasn't in the room at all, just Simon at the door, Christopher further back, and this large very real dog to his left.
"We've figured out what the spell Soma cast on us is," Christopher offered in this deflated helpful tone.
Juste turned to look back up at the dog who proceeded to lay down again, his tail starting to wag.
"Its interesting certainly, though I'm starved and would like to eat. But I realized that it could also mean I'd have to go relieve myself and..."
"He doesn't want to be taken out for a walk," Simon smugly finished.
"You realize you'll need one too if you get turned into a real bear and carry out that threat to eat the children's choir..." Richter deadpanned as turned his muzzled nosed face in Simon's direction.
Juste turned to look at Christopher, and just the way the man hung his head and shook it told the magician hunter all he needed to know.
"I would offer my apologies for my absence, however; I have discovered something of immense importance to our clans and the world at large." Juste began and with just that the other three hunters turned their attention to him.
With that he began his tale, the journey down to the vault where the Vatican kept its holy relics and the startling discovery he made at the back of the expansive vault. His family settled around, Christopher sitting on the ground as was Richter. Simon stood there with his arms folded and a frown on his face while his ears wiggled. No one interrupted Juste as he spoke, leaving him free to convey the whole experience.
"So our corpses were an attempt to stop a vampire from taking over..." Christopher repeated with a frown now on his face. "However; that doesn't explain why there is a distortion when we try to contact Kazu while here, or why our fellow dead can not visit here."
"Yes it does, our corpses are distorting it because there's a vampire in the Vatican. Not 'just' a vampire either, but a vampire who was the pope for a time." Simon corrected, his tone dour, but also distracted as the man thought things through. "We've never really had, in our collective life times, had vampires who refrained from killing an innocent enter the Vatican. So we have no idea how the holy grounds would treat that."
"But how could they have turned Dionysus into a vampire? A thrall maybe, but a 'vampire'? That 'has' to be considered 'killing an innocent'." Christopher argued, looking up from the ground to his fellow bear.
"The pope doesn't just stay imprisoned in the Vatican," Simon explained. He couldn't even be annoyed as he explained that. "The popes took far more trips out of the Vatican in the past century than they did when any of us were alive. Since protections are much better, well when dealing with 'human' threats," he explained. "Though that 'did' get phased out and now they take far fewer..."
"So they could have gotten the Pope while he was out visiting some other nation? But it sounds like they've gotten into the Vatican. If they're turning the priests into thralls," Richter noted, before opening his mouth in a huge yawn.
"Who says they're 'in' the Vatican to start with? They could be just relaying orders from outside the grounds... And with Soma not actively on the throne to control the Vampires..." Juste asked, finally able to have other people to bounce his thoughts off.
"No... there's a piece missing," Simon grumbled, his bear nose scrunched up in annoyance. "Something is missing. Dionysus knew something was up just not 'what' was up and then wakes up a vampire? That vampire has to be 'in' the Vatican, once our corpses were brought here, depowered or not we should have enough holy power between the four of us to keep a vampires' control at bay."
"You think the Vampire is on the grounds?!" Juste asked in shock his ears flipping against the back of his head in alarm.
"Impossible! Turning an innocent..." Christopher began when Simon shoved his paw into the air to silence him.
"For God to be Good, it needs a polar opposite, and when this was going on what was Dracula 'like'? Was he being evil?" The others grew silent as Simon began pacing the floor. "No, he was semi behaved except when he was fretting about Alucard clearly." He threw a slash into the air directed outside the grounds. Encompassing the whole of the horizon, as the puzzle just wouldn't fit together, that one piece.
"Simon..." Richter was quiet, his tail long since stilled as he laid there, a worm of a thought wiggling through the muck and mire of his darker thoughts. "Are you suggesting that without Dracula, God..." he shook his head as he tried to force the thought out into the open. "Started to, or has shifted alignments? If there's no 'Absolute Evil', then God is going to become an 'Absolute Neutral'?"
Juste and Christopher shared looks before looking at the other two while their own minds spun on startled wheels of thoughts.
"But if God becomes an Absolute Neutral, it means what exactly?"
"Imagine a hate crime, a person is about to do something out of hate," Simon began, his voice directed inward. "They pray for good fortune on the crime, but the intended victims are praying for safety and protection... Which side does God favor?"
"The side that is good, clearly, in an ideal world." Christopher answered automatically, "the question would then be 'what side does God consider 'good'?"
"Without that mirror opposite," Richter mused... "So maybe God can be, persuaded to adjust their perception of 'good'?"
"What makes the Pope 'Good' though?" Simon asked in a growl. "Just because they slap a stupid hat on his head and everyone bows to him it doesn't default him as being 'good'."
"The sins of the father are carried onto the son?" Christopher asked, and watched as Simon began nodding. "If God is going by that, no one is innocent..."
"Or rather, the title of 'Pope' is not pure. There has been a great deal of evil committed in Gods' name on behalf of the church... So perhaps the church has fallen out of Gods' favor?" Richter asked even as he tried to deal with the scope of that idea.
"No," Simon shook his head his ears going wild. "That sounds far off, possible but that doesn't feel like the prey I'm hunting. The oils, the groups of hunters... Its more like... its like... Sway the church in a direction, the followers go blindly and become the majority necessary to cause God to adjust his actions." He began nodding slowly as he settled on the idea. "As though someone is trying to build a Holy version of the Castle but twisted."