Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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It was so quiet.
The castle wasn't ever truly silent, even if the bats weren't attacking there would be bats shuffling about. Halls full of undead or demonic monsters meant there was always the sound of wing beats, feet, hooves among other things. When the castle had natural elements, running water or lava as an example, they made the sounds associated with them. Thus being in a church with no elemental sounds or sounds of living people...
Julius strode down the long hallway where at the end, a statue of the Virgin Mary stood. She was posed with her hands out in welcome of the soul that may approach her. She'd been there since Julius first came to the Vatican in fact. But it was such a generic pose for her that he never thought of her as more than that.
Until now.
As he walked down the hallway, looking about for any unwelcome surprises Mary stayed a constant in his vision. Her hands of welcome and compassion moved as she righted herself, in order to point down the hallway. Her feet stayed rooted to the ground, but the robes she wore flowed as fabric while she moved to direct him.
The castle didn't 'help', the undead did sometimes. It wasn't unheard to read about the random skeleton perched against something and point in a direction. So he turned his gaze to the paintings in the area, moments found in the bible recreated but at the moment they were still. Soma had been using the castle paintings to move about, but there were no signs of him or sentience among these paintings.
"Can you hear me?" Julius asked as he walked up to the statue.
She nodded her head, her mouth moving but given she wasn't hollow for a pair of lungs it made sense she was mute.
"Is his holiness safe?" Julius asked, but Mary shrugged her hands out in question.
"I... I guess that makes sense, you can't leave so how can you tell..." Julius voiced for Mary.
Her lips quirked into an apologetic smile before she resumed pointing down the hallway.
"So... is that where the Pope was taken?" Julius asked, feeling like he was stuck in a game of 20 questions. More over when she nodded, held up her index finger with one hand and pointed down the hallway with the other hand. Then down at an angle that made Julius realize she was also pointing out where his holiness, Dionysus was. 'Leon is going to Dionysus that leaves His current Holiness to me.'
Julius gave a nod of thanks before another thought came to mind. "Is he alone? So I know if I should check for the Cardinals to be around here or expect them to be with him."
Marys' stone face molded itself into expressions of concern as her hands flexed grasping for ways to express her thoughts. It wasn't like the castle. But it was...
Leon's roar rolled over the air, drowning the pair as it slammed into a wall of glass that shattered under its inevitable weight. Julius was taken aback by the sound and turned in response to it towards an empty hallway. Yet the air carried the sound of glass all about him, even as he put his foot down amid his turning he heard glass crack and break underfoot. The physical sense of glass was there, or some other crystalline presence.
A frown tugged at his lips as he turned to face the statue, as solid and whole as before the roar. She seemed unfazed, even possibly unaware that a roar even took place.
"Are... Mary maybe this question is easier. Are you, and the changes in the Vatican, an extension of the Castle of Dracula?"
She didn't shake her head in any way with conviction.
"You are but aren't..." He tried and she nodded more firmly, "Are... are you meant to be a holy opposite to the Castle of Dracula?"
Her expressions struggled, her mouth working soundlessly until her carved in eyes caught sight of something behind him. Encouraged she pointed beyond the Hunter, and while trusting a statue that might be possessed by a demon was against hunter instincts...
Julius turned around.
The paintings in the hall had changed. One had Soma's castle at night with the backdrop of the moon and a star filled sky while below was the vast forest that ever stood around it. Though currently that forest had been Scorch Earthed by Soma's rage in the real world. Across from it was a painting of the Vatican the sun shinning so brightly that the Vatican was hidden in its shadow, while below it was the rest of Rome.
The opposites were there, from night to day, nature to city, yet there was no sense of evil maliciousness from Dracula's castle. Or holiness from the Vatican... As his vision went from one to the other down the hallway, the space began to twist with darkness and light. It brought his mind to those Ying Yangs that he had seen during his time as a simple exorcist in Japan.
"The balance. The Vatican is becoming a type of opposite of the Castle to maintain balance...?" Julius asked as he turned to Mary. He watched as she began melting back to her original posture, the smile already on her white stone lips.
Still no glass appeared in the hallway, or thralls spilling out of the numerous doors in reaction to what was clearly a holy charged sound. 'What motivated Leon? No matter he's...' the energies from before began to seep back into the walls, ceilings and floor. The frown deepened on his face and soon his growling was almost lion like itself. He walked to the wall to study what his eyes were telling him was there...
Solid wooden panels were cracked, razor thin though they were. Thin as spider webbing outward and he was taken at how he didn't see these. 'Were these here when I first came to the Vatican?'
He moved away from the wall, and resumed his trek while his gaze studied the walls as he passed by. The cracks began to fade out, less numerous while all the paintings and statues retained their stationary appearance. Granted several statues appeared altered from how he recalled them, though if it was from Leon or something else... There really wasn't any time for him to investigate it at the moment.
Doors began to click open, causing Julius to pause. The old hinges creaked as they swung old reliable wooden doors open. Priest garbed thralls began to spill out into the hallway, beastly eyes, auras of corrupted souls. 'Why did I... No... its Leon...' Julius' hand went to his hip where he unhooked Vampire Killer.
Callous fingers simply brushing against the aged leather wrapped hilt sent a tingle of energy up through Julius' arm. Not the reaction to hunting Dracula, but a response that it was ready to hunt... 'No hope for these huh?' he thought to the whip even if the whip never 'talked' back to him.
There was no blood lust to kill, or the impulse like he had to face Dracula, only the wrongness of what he saw in front of him. 'If this was Dracula's doing and there was something worth saving they could be saved. But Dracula isn't responsible and the paintings Mary showed imply... what exactly?'
With the connection to Chaos destroyed, the Castle worked off pure darkness, so the polarity to the Vatican logically would be light. Yet here were Thralls...
'There were angelic archers in the Castle once, and Valkyrie in my second trip through the castle as well...' a part of his mind pointed out as he attacked the first lumbering thrall. Fire sparked into the air as the whip snaked out after its first prey. Striking the Thrall yet despite the sparks there was no consuming holy fire... 'I've never had Vampire Killer emit sparks or flame and it 'not' burn a threat in open holy fire...'
Even after years with amnesia, hunter borne concern was not to be stifled when presented.
"You don't belong here, get out!" one of the thralls ordered and soon the others began to follow suit.
"I'm here to rescue his holiness," Julius countered firmly. "So you can either go back to hiding in those rooms or you can cease to exist by attacking me. Your choice, for whatever is left of it."
"His holiness is down stairs," one priest answered and Julius was taken a bit with a smidge of guilt.
In the castle there had been numerous succubus who would take the forms of either Yoko or Mina. Not directed to obstruct him of course, but Soma had been another matter, the Minas were vocal, crying out for help and to be rescued. Given Soma had not been awakened at the time, it would have been compelling, maybe realistic to the teen. Julius just heard the dripping deceit behind it.
Only this was earnest, the thrall speaking was earnest about the information, 'I know Alexander is up here, its Dionysus who is down below... So to the thralls they are serving a vampire pope?
"If his holiness is down stairs why are you up here?" Julius asked, some thralls were attacking, with all the finesse of merely lunging at him. No better or smarter than the zombies of the castle, yet there was this out of place one that was willing to talk?
"I... don't..."
It was distress, the thrall sounded confused.
'Is Brauner trying to be Dracula?' it felt wrong, yet... 'No he wouldn't be that stupid, taking such a title only ends up with him getting my clan to hunt him down...'
Reason argued that was probably why Dionysus had been turned. If a new one, or an opposite to Dracula's darkness, version was made. The clans could be compelled by the curse to go after Dionysus 'instead' of Brauner. 'At least he didn't try to play the Jewish route. His records stated he was born to a Jewish family. Thank God he didn't try to scorch earth the whole Jewish community in his fight against Dracula.'
Julius thought to himself as the sickening implications didn't stop. Which was so far beyond a hand grenade and more in the global destruction area of tactical nukes. For a moment he had an insane desire to just go back to the castle and ask Soma if it was true.
'The man is fixated on his children and revenge against Dracula. Hopefully he didn't turn against the masses...'
In the distance he could see the turn he would need to take to reach the Pope's private office. Several Thralls were peeking out of open doors but made no effort to step out again. Almost timid if Julius was to be honest. A reassuring sight given everything so far, the hallway was littered with badly wounded or outright dead thralls. Ones who retained their humanity on some level were hiding... Or would come out if he tried to leave with the Pope. That option was still on the table, but it gave him two choices. Kill them all and condemn possible souls that could be save, or put the pope at risk on the way out.
Neither were welcomed, if they were lost souls that would be one thing... 'And its probably why I can't tell... Brauner isn't an idiot unfortunately.'
The pope and anyone still human with him were quiet at least, the paintings and the rest of the hall had not shown any 'living' qualities either. Unlike Mary at the end of it, if it was because of the roar, or something else Julius decided it wasn't as important. Around the corner there was the long hallway that lead to the popes private office. There were no other rooms, around it, as the Pope's protection was paramount. Not that it always 'like' this, when Julius first came to the Vatican the offices across from Dionysus were being shut down and sealed up.
Four thralls were stationed at the door, with their possession more obvious on their forms. From hunching over, to the distorted air. That air brought back to mind the fire that had ignited back to Julius' mind. What caused it? The whip 'could' naturally create fire, but Julius hadn't invoked that ability so what caused it?
'A spare flame to set fire to the Vatican?' The politics of the castle's return was already going to be messy. The city on fire with the Vatican now filled with thralls putting the Popes' life in danger? The thralls weren't stupid, they had turned to focus on him the moment he had appeared. A flick of the whip wrapped the tip around the wrist of the first thrall to approach him.
Another roar consumed the world. Leon's voice shook the very foundation of the hallway that Julius stood in. It vibrated through his body, rattled the vials he carried and burned the air with some acidic scent that Julius didn't recognize. While the Thralls in front of him fell back as they writhed in seeming pain before demonic forms erupted out of them. Wings sprouted from the back, bat wing in intention, but they lacked the membrane to afford flight normally.
'Dear Lord what outraged Leon and unleashed this madness?'
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"Your Holiness!" Cardinal Rocco was thrown from his prayers by some incredible force. It rattled the very foundations of the room causing him to struggle to his feet so that he could put himself between the door and Pope Alexander. The walls of the room trembled, with the curtains at the windows shivering in fear. Books tumbled from the shelves, while the Cardinals fell over in much the same way in mounting alarm. Cardinal D'Arist fell to his right and bumped his head against the low table that was meant for guests to the office.
Mounted on the wall was a wooden crucifix that stood rooted to the wall, though Jesus was made of an alabaster white plaster. That plaster didn't stop His surprise into turning his head to look towards the door as well.
"How long do they plan on keeping us in here?" Alexander asked when the ringing from the lions' roar finally faded from his ears. Around him, his supportive cardinals had formed a prayer circle and been praying since their brothers and sisters, politely yet forcefully, locked them in the office.
"Cardinal D'Arsit?"
Cardinal Bianchi staggered to his feet before hurrying over to where Cardinal D'Arsit was struggling to sit back up.
"How is everyone?" Pope Alexander asked as he moved from one to another of his Cardinals. "Dante? Here let me check..."
Cardinal D'Arsit lifted his head at the sound of his name, thankfully there was no sign of immediate blood. There 'was' some vivid red on the mans' skull just visible below the salt peppered black hair of the Cardinal.
"I have a flashlight in here so we could use that to check?"
"Your holiness its for the best to let us look after him." Cardinal Lodovico pointed out as he guided the Pope away. "After all these people are after you, so its for the best that you are on your feet rather than kneeling."
"I know you mean well old friend. But we're trapped in a room with no way out, kneeling or standing they'll have little trouble." Alexander pointed out, 'but that was a lion was it not? It sounded like a true animal, not one of these... Oh Lord forgive these children! I don't know if they strayed from your light or if they were forced. But forgive them these transgressions.'
"Thanks for the optimistic outlook," Rocco noted with a faint chuckle. "Yet there is no reason for a lion to be in the Vatican. I'd like to think its a blessing, a sign that help has arrived." Gesturing towards the front door, he extended it to a sweep across the room. "There haven't been any screams of our brethren just the guttural beastly sounds. Given the holy shields around the Vatican I will believe that those who have entered now must be of holy persuasion."
"Yes, that's the best we can pray for now," Cardinal Bianchi agreed as he ferreted out a first aid kit. "We must believe in God. The Belmonts are the only people with such incredible holy power and given that the Holy Water and Holy Oil are ineffective against these... whatever our brothers and sisters have turned into are. Just think of the slaughter if the police were to try and help!"
"But the Belmonts have gone to Dracula's castle! It will be days at 'minimum' before they will reach us," Dante pointed out. Wincing as he struggled to touch the mounting knot on his head. "Belnades, and LeCardes, Aulins, and Morris are there as well. There simply is no hunter that can reach us so soon."
"Well... there is Yoko's Stuffy Patrol..." Rocco pointed out with a small rueful smile, "Perhaps they are rescuing our fellows even now?"
"One is a lion I saw, but I don't think such a little precious toy could produce a roar like 'that'," Marco recalled, speaking with warmth. "My great nephew adores the Patrol, the idea that they came to be our heroes would be such a thrill."