Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: You know I named her long before that stupid app.
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The area had stories that went with it.
A thick, verdant forest with trees, bushes and underbrush that never were bare, with only one winding dirt road. A road that was slender enough that it didn't even break the illusion that this forest was untouched. Once long ago there had been a village, in the area resulting in the need for a road for travel and the brush pushed back so people could see it easily.
And as all stories go, 'then something terrible happened'.
The closest village had been abandoned by all other villages when it was discovered. Since it hadn't been 'abandoned' in the sense that people left it en mass. Rather everyone who had been found in the village was dead. Slaughtered to be exact, and 'that' kind of situation could scare off anyone. With that it was only natural for nature to return to the area. Encroaching towards the road until it was difficult to tell the road apart from the rest of the forest.
With only the gutted remains of the church, strangely enough, remaining for ages though the building had been pushed back. Since it oversaw the villages' lone graveyard, with its roof that had crumbled long ago. The walls had fallen stone by stone transforming walls that once sheltered the village during mass into puzzle pieces.
The road wound its way from the next still standing village through the remains of the ruined one and onward. Towards a massive lake with an outcropping of rocks that rose from it. An outcropping that once supported the structure of a mighty castle. A castle that housed a terrible vampire lord who waged a war against all of humanity. Something that was written off as a superstition of the 'unenlightened' masses as no stones or signs of a castle rested in the area around or upon the lake.
Because every time Dracula showed up, he essentially had a few hours out of the coffin before a member of the hunting clans shoved him back in.
Unless someone investigated it patiently. As the castle 'would' start to manifest, albeit slowly, as time marched to the hundred year mark, cut stones would start to appear. Seemingly randomly placed, which would lead, in theory, to a full foundation for when the Castle would make its return from the Chaos. Though it spent more time being ritually summoned forth by impatient, over eager, followers of the Lord of that Castle. Ensuring that Dracula never fell into the same tropes of being merely a 'made up person'.
While a human might not live a full hundred years to see the return of Lord Dracula, there was always stories that could be passed on.
But it was different now.
The once standing remains of the church and the full standing mausoleum that once house a dhampire were gone. Destroyed by both time and the Vatican, while the other graves had been consumed by the forest, time and the Demon Castle War had destroyed what remained of the church. Only for the Vatican to destroy the mausoleum as it was found empty of any coffin. Invalidating its purpose now that what used to rest in there had seemingly left.
Perhaps they didn't know that Alucard took his coffin with him when he left the land. Though they were able to override the will of the Belmont Clan when they extracted the remains of the ancestral hunters who faced Dracula. But idle speculation was not wise to have in a truck while under cover with a stranger. The driver in question was not part of the cult, just an average joe who was doing as he was paid to do. But that didn't give her room to speak freely.
Alexis rode in the passenger side of a supply truck carrying wooden boards down that road. Looking out the window and able to gaze upon the trees, many of which, had stood in silence as Belmont after Belmont traveled through out time. The sky was still bright as the sun was slipping past noon and towards the western horizon.
Yet just by her blood as a huntress she was able to see the remaining spirits of the area that the living would hopefully never encounter. The trauma of the Demon Castle Wars had yet to be fully cleansed, and while there 'was' ages of war that had been held on this land. The recent war had been one of people who knew not what they were facing and came unprepared.
The echo of the war haunted the forest with the memories of those days. While many of those bodies were eternally lost within the Castle. Now to serve as its eternal defenders.
Already she could see a spirit or two sneaking about the forest, recalling that this was explained away as a 'training' exercise. Locking souls into eternally 'practicing' infiltration maneuvers as an early warning for the Castle possibly. Its haunted nature and the war had resulted in the local government having to accept that the threat was 'still' here. Despite all of modern sciences' advancements. Resulting in their panic and desperation to find someone, anyone really, to deal with the threat of Dracula.
Making the area viable for the Cult that was now trying what had to be the most outrageous plot that she had been allowed to know to date.
Build a 'church' over the Castle's foundation.
'I suppose this was to be expected. Dracula didn't actually unleash an 'army' of any sort since Richter's first battle against Dracula.' She thought as a frown lightly dipped the corners of her lips. 'Sure the Dark Children were still 'here', but they kept to themselves and it probably allowed for the people to wave away Dracula's presence.'
The truck suddenly breaked slightly causing them to be flung forward, tensing the seat belt strap. Before the truck made a strangely sharp turn off the main road, onto a recently paved one. A road that the Belmonts had traveled over the centuries. 'It would take time and money to lay out an rubber road from here to the Castle proper. So how long have they been doing this? Hell where did they get the 'money'?' she pondered in concern. Was it really 'that' large a cult? Could it be considered a cult when it was 'this' large, if it was the case?
"Sorry about that Ms.," the driver apologized as the trucks' cabin rocked about in response to the sudden shift in speed and direction.
"Ahh..." was all Alexis could offer as her instincts made her grab the upper handle with one hand while the other was thrust out in front.
Perhaps in response to her strained response it compelled the poor man to defend himself, or maybe just to reassure himself. "Roads' new, I'm not used to this being anything other than a dirt road."
She shifted her weight and posture slightly to give herself a better view of the road, while mentally drawing a map. Only to remind herself about the army in general, 'I suppose this is to be expected. They probably prepared the forest by pushing back the woods when they came here the first time.' She thought as she observed the ditches on the sides of the road as they traveled further.
"Oh, its fine, it just startled me is all," she replied as the truck continued to slowly ease back into its normal ride.
"Yeah well, you have a ride coming for you? My instructions were to just drop this load off and the nearest village is miles away in the opposite direction."
"Oh yes, I'll be fine, I'm just going there first to make sure everything is as it should be for my superiors. They can be a bit particular, as it were," she explained casually.
It wasn't perfect, of course, the sun dipping down dragged out the shadows hiding the edges where the forest met road. Not to mention lacking the military training to know 'how' they dealt with having to clean up this road. 'But at least I'm here... As bad as it is to say 'I'm glad Mitchell died' is. If she hadn't I'd still be stuck being a part of those horrid ritual sacrifices...'
But it was what gave her access to this part of the 'White Light' cult. Her duty was to consecrate the boards for the Cult. Coating the wood with an oil that was intended for Vatican use only, the fact that it was somehow in the hands of White Light was disturbing to be sure. Though that disturbed feeling was currently in a war with the rest of her outraged. As this was the first time she ever heard even a suggestion that the oils were in the 'hands of a cult'.
'I don't know if I'm lucky because they know how it affects Dark Children, or unlucky because they know. I mean how in the hell did they get the recipe to make the oils in the first place?' It wasn't even a regularly used recipe, ironically though what she was being sent to do 'was' the normal application of it.
'I hope that Lord Alucard is part of this group I'll be working with... This whole church construction over the Castle must have his attention.' She thought as she watched the shadows cast by the trees seemingly dance as the truck rumbled along.
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"You sure its ok to leave you here?" the driver asked once more, as he prepared to climb back into the truck.
The area in question had two flat bed trucks and a small crane that had been transferring the wooden boards to the drop off area. With a large series of cement ready mix bags near by with large blue tarps resting over the large stacks of wood. The bright blue of the tarp was about the only thing helping show where the wood was as the sun was almost gone from the sky completely. Only a single sliver of light remained causing the forest around them to be dark enough that it justified concern.
There were no work lights or generators to help see at night, for the work crew it indicated that the site would only be active during the day. Yet here was a lone woman, expected to wait until 'dark' out in the middle of no where? In a place where thousands of soldiers had been killed in a sudden attack. On a site known for paranormal activity?
"I'll be fine, I have my phone and I got a text message that they got held up by a flat tire on the way. So there's nothing to worry about," Alexis offered.
Which was true, amazingly enough.
It was so hard to retain a straight face at that news and not burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. Here was this huge cult who had murdered a near thousand of innocent girls and boys, so far, in an effort to summon Dracula. Fail repeatedly because 'he was already here you bloody bunch of wankers'. Spanning the globe with their nefarious plots. Join up with a kinda-sorta-not-really-going-with-it-anyway rival cult in a unified effort to try to get Dracula back.
Stranded on the side of the road trying to fix a flat tire.
A. Flat. Tire.
It didn't even matter if somehow the spirits were trying to defend their lord. Tossing that out of nowhere whatever the heck spike that stabbed the tire through to its 'heart'. The irony not lost at 'all' on Alexis, even as she tried to act professional. There were a series of men and women, her 'superiors', on the side of the road trying to fix a tire.
Texting her for help, because they had no clue how to do it themselves. Making her near squeak in amusement as she continually thought up her gratitude to her brother for helping her learn. Even if Lord Alucard 'was' with them, this was amusing to no end for her.
"Ahh well, ok then. Uh.. here..." The man walked over and pulled out a business card from his pocket. "There's a nice guy who runs a local bar, he knows the taxi drivers and can get you a ride if you need someone. He's a good guy, keeps an eye out to make sure the girls go home safe. Even has one of those warning signs in the women's bathrooms."
Alexis blinked in surprise before accepting the card with an honest smile on her lips. "Thank you, I appreciate your concern! You have a safe drive back!"
He nodded while she walked away waving a thanks to the crew as they began piling in to their vehicles, one guy taking her place as a riding partner to the driver she was leaving behind. The rumble of the rigs shook the ground while their headlights pierced the area with pure, hard, white light that momentarily blinded her. But as the light was there, she held up the card to read it and nearly choked on another laugh.
'The Nasty Bar' was scrawled lazily across the card with contact information, address and directions.
'Nice play on names guys...'
The trucks rumbled away, one after the other taking the light with them and casting it out into the forest behind them. Their headlights bounded lightly over the road until they found their way where the dirt met asphalt. The time in the headlights of the trucks aided Alexis' vision as she saw more of the truck's profiles as they rumbled along. The white light piercing the darkness ahead while the red tail lights stared back at her moving away from her and allowing the darkness to consume her.
They moved steadily along, encouraging her to believe that no one could see the human shadows walking amid the forest in the headlights as they rumbled by. So long as the spirits didn't bother the crew she didn't really mind what they did. After all if they didn't cause wrecks against decent human beings why should she get upset? Instead she stood there watching as each truck disappeared further and further into the darkness. Left to herself, the cooling air of evening and the faintest sounds of military drills.
As the lights faded further away she popped open her slender purse and produced her compact, before tucking in the business card into it. Tucking the purse under her arm she held out her right hand and allowed a small flame dance to life above her palm. She raised the compact up to her face and began touching up her make up. 'I wish I knew who was going to be there. If they 'have' captured Lord Alucard I should be more careful. Though should I heighten the protective spells? I'm not scheduled to meet any of the other magic wielding members tonight... but...'
But she didn't know who she was supposed to meet now. The arrangement had been for her to inspect the wood so they could begin the process to enchant the woods to receive the oils in the morning. Granted the conversations over text had been nothing major. At first. Initially saying they would wait for road side assistance to help. Only to get a strange plea to know if she knew anything about changing a tire. That 'he' was getting annoyed waiting.
'Hey Babs, would you know how to change a tire? He's getting angry and I really don't want to anger him.'
'He who?'
'THE Cardinal.'
'We Vat now? Yeah sure its a bit to type give me a sec...'
It was strange, there 'was' no 'Cardinal' rank in White Light, though Graham's group 'did' have their own version of Vatican ranks. However; every 'Cardinal' she had met had been remarkably friendly, despite the whole 'sacrifice humans to find Dracula' thing.
'Maybe its Lord Alucard?' She wondered growing hopeful while the flames' dance grew merry to reflect her own hope. She applied the powder, touching up as quickly as she could as her thoughts continued. 'If there exists anyone who could attain such a high rank while intimidating the unsuspecting it 'would' be him!'
She snapped shut the compact and cast a glance behind her, searching out any speck of white headlights or red taillights that might have remained from the work crew. Nothing but darkness remained of the forest towards the road and the village long gone. Encouraged she left that small flame to hover on its own as she packed away her compact into her purse. Backing up a touch she allowed the small dancing flame to ignite into a proper flame. Casting the warm golds and red hues of light against her frame and casting her own shadow along the grounds of the site.
Alexis tugged the hovering fireball behind her as she walked about the site casting more source less flames. Soon the whole site was alight with warm golds and reds dancing about in time with the elation in her heart. While in the distance she could see a new pair of head lights approaching her location and that meant help... Since the tarps were large and she would need the help to uncover them so they could set to work.
With the quiet construction site warmly lit with enchanted flame the sound was disrupted by the sound of the car driving closer to her location. The headlights sharp white creating a stark contrast to the warmth of her fireballs while mixed in their clashing union were the shadows of soldiers and innocents. The lone car drove along the empty road and she could faintly sense from even there the power of a Dark Child.