Castlevania: Refrain of Darkness - Chapter 3

[eiahmon]

Title: Castlevania: Refrain of Darkness
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own.
Summary: Aqua receives a mission to investigate a new world that's appeared on the council's radar due to a Heartless invasion, and finds that everything is different here. Now she must team up with Juste Belmont and track down the source of the Heartless in a world where souls have all the power and hearts don't belong.

 

3.

As was normal for him, Juste was awake as soon as the first rays of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. He sat up in his bedroll and pushed his hair, which had come loose from its tie, out of his face. The forest clearing was still dark, and a fine mist covered the ground. He shivered slightly, and the urge to lie back down and snuggle into his blanket for a few more hours was very tempting.

But they had places to go, and hunting creatures of the night made one not want to waste valuable daylight, so he forced himself to get up. He quickly slipped his boots back on, brushed and retied his hair, and then he got started on breakfast. The smell would no doubt rouse Aqua soon. He quietly sang a little folk song about Vlad III to himself as he cooked and smiled when it made him think of Alexandra and how she loved to hear her Papa sing. She loved to hear hear her mother sing too, and she often tried to sing along with them as best as a two year old could.

They had about a half a day's journey before they would turn off the main road onto the side path that led to Castlevania. It would then be another day and a half, plus one more night, before they would reach the bluff that overlooked the castle. Juste was fairly certain that they wouldn't find Dracula there; these Heartless did not feel like him.

Unless of course he was working with someone else.

He shivered suddenly at the thought, but a quiet sound from Aqua's tent made him break off his thoughts and look up.

The soft sounds of movement outside her tent woke Aqua immediately. She quickly opened her senses to figure out what was nearby before remembering that she was in a new world, searching out the Heartless root with Juste. She was so unused to traveling with anyone that she'd forgotten all about it. Relaxing again, she remained lying down, resting, for a time until the scent of food persuaded her to face the day. She fixed her clothes and finger-combed her hair into submission, then exited her tent, collapsing it in the process and fitting it back into her pocket so that she would have that already done when they were ready to proceed. "Good morning," she commented absently.

Juste looked up from the fire. "Good morning," he said cheerily. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did, though I admit I woke up startled because I'd forgotten that I was camping with someone. I usually travel alone," she said, smiling as she voiced her slight chagrin. She sat nearby while he continued to prepare breakfast. The flames licking the sides of the pan were a welcome warmth. The morning was slightly chill, but the clear sky she could just glimpse through the plentiful leaves above promised that it would warm up as the day grew older.

Juste smiled slightly at her admission, but he chose not to comment on it. "It looks like it will be a good day for riding," he said instead, "but we have to be careful. Weather can get hung up behind the mountains and spill over without any warning. Keep an eye on them and let me know if you spot anything." He turned the sausages over, which sent their tantalizing scent spiraling up from the pan. "We have a half a day's ride before we turn off of this road. We'll probably stop for lunch right after."

"Sounds fine, and I'll certainly keep watch for signs of weather. I visited an ocean once, and while sailing a storm came out of absolutely nowhere, so I can imagine it happens elsewhere." She had visited the world containing Atlantica once, and rather than dropping into the 'under the sea' portion, she found herself in the land kingdom. The prince had insisted on taking a ship out to sea, and she'd accompanied him. Happily, she discovered she didn't get seasick, but unfortunately, she didn't escape getting repeatedly drenched by a sudden storm.

Juste laughed. "I've only been to the ocean once, and nothing my parents did could convince me to get on a boat. I refused to put my feet anywhere but solid ground." He dished up the sausages, eggs, and toast and handed her a plate before taking a plate for himself. "My sister thinks I'm insane and wishes we lived closer to it."

"To each their own, right? I don't mind the ocean, but it's not really where I feel most at home," she commented.

"I agree. I prefer the mountains and forests, and since we have to pass though Ottoman territory to reach it, those of us from this area tend to avoid traveling to it anyway." His face darkened at the thought of their hated oppressors. "We're currently under their control right now as it is, but that is no reason to push things. So far they've left the Belmonts alone, but I'd rather not call their attention to me or my family."

"Of course, I can understand that." She may not have known what group he was talking about, but wars and oppression were universal.

"'Tis a shame that Vlad III had been so indiscriminate is his killing, or Trevor would have been better suited to let him run loose. The man that so hated the Turks in life and fought against them with everything he had killed more of his own people than them in death."

Aqua remained silent on this matter. She didn't know anything about the history behind the people and events he spoke of, and as such she felt it more pertinent to withhold any opinion. Wars weren't exactly something she usually involved her in; the fight against Xehanort was the only exception as it threatened many worlds and many people she loved.

Juste glanced up at her, surprised that she was not peppering him with questions. He knew that he would have been had their roles been reversed, but no matter. He finished his breakfast, quickly took care of the dishes, and began to pack up. He repacked the saddlebags, saddled his horse, and then slung the bags over the back of the saddle. He then rolled up his bedroll and strapped it down as well.

He then called Aqua over and showed her how to saddle her own horse. She picked it up quickly, and once that was done, he summoned a little water and erased his ward markers, so he wouldn't get notifications of it being crossed when they were a good distance away.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked Aqua as he turned to look at her.

"Yep," she agreed easily, and swung up onto her saddle much more smoothly than she had the day before. She was extremely grateful that she was a fast learner because it minimized the amount of embarrassment and clumsiness that she'd have to deal with otherwise. She was also grateful this horse was an obedient sort; Juste warned her that some horses liked to trick their riders when being saddled and would hold their breath when the saddle was cinched so that it would be too loose when they exhaled, and the rider would slide off in the saddle.

After they'd resumed traveling for a short while, she decided now seemed a good time to ask her questions she'd formed the night before. "So, last night before we went to bed, I heard you praying, right? Would you mind telling me about your religion? I find theology fascinating and it's interesting to hear different perspectives."

He gave her a sideways look. First she didn't know about souls, and now she doesn't know about Christianity? What next? Will she ask him if this is all to the world or if there is more?

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Well, what kind of god do you worship? What does he or she or it look like? What are some major stories that everyone in your religion teaches their children? What sort of traditions or rituals do you uphold?" she released a barrage of questions. "I find all religions interesting, but I don't know much about many of them because there really are so many. The scholar in me really wants to learn though. Religions define cultures which define people. Knowing about someone's religion can tell you more about a person, as well as help prevent terrible misunderstandings, like those we've already had."

Juste blinked at the torrent of questions, and he sat there silently in the saddle trying to process it all. "What do you mean what kind of god? There is only one, and no one has seen Him. No mortal can see the face of God. He is everything, all encompassing, the source of all of this." He waved his hand vaguely at the area around them. "He knows all: He sees all. He is the one that loves and protects us, yet He will not hesitate to smite those that oppose Him and those that worship Him. He grants me the power to destroy those that stand against Him, but I am fully aware that to anger Him could cause Him to take it away from me." He reached up and placed his hand over where his cross was hanging from its chain under his breastplate and shirt. "He is... everything to those that believe. We have fought for Him, bled for Him, died for Him, to protect what He has created against those that would twist it to suit their own purpose. He has given me everything; my life, my lovely wife, my best friend, and my daughter, and soon hopefully, He will see fit to bless my wife and I with another child to love." He looked at Aqua to see her looking at him with interest. "Do you understand that, Miss Aqua?"

"I suppose so. It doesn't sound terribly complicated. But what about the people that don't believe in your god? How is that handled?" Aqua inquired. She knew that many religions don't take kindly to those who don't believe as they do, and has to wonder if Juste's god is the same.

This woman could really pick the hard questions. "That... " he hesitated. "That depends on who you ask Yes, there are other religions with different gods and beliefs, and some are more tolerant than others. To my sadness, most of my fellow Christians are intolerant of others, and many outright hate those that do not follow the same practices. Even though I share their disdain for other beliefs, I try to avoid hating on others. The Ottomans would see us all wiped out though, so many Christians, Catholics, and Jews in this area try to keep the hostility to a minimum for our own safety. While we fight each other, those damned Muslims could sneak right up on us. It is preached that we shouldn't hate each other, that only God Himself has the right to judge, but it is hard not to when such attitude has surrounded you since birth."

"Hmm..." she hummed, considering his words. "I take it there are multiple religions in this one world then," she murmured, mostly to herself. "Your god is kind and loving, yes?" she asked, inferring such a thing from what his god had supposedly given Juste in his life. "And I would assume then that such a god would promote kindness and love to all people, regardless whether they believe in him or not, is that right? Then why would so many of this god's followers be intolerant of others, if one of the main characteristics of their god is love and mercy?"

"He is kind and loving," he replied, "most of the time. Angering Him... Sometimes He punishes those who anger Him right away, other times, He waits a while. And yes, He would prefer we act like He wants, but those who carry His word are human, Miss Aqua, and like all humans are subject to human flaws, like arrogance, spitefulness, and greed. It is also very hard to be tolerant of other god's followers when those said followers have attacked and sacked your homeland countless times over the past several hundred years."

"True, I suppose I can understand that," she conceded. "So tell me some important stories that make up your religion, like your creation story, or an important event that you tell your children about as they grow up," she requested.

Juste smiled slightly at the reminder of Alexandra. "Well, I can't tell you much there, since she is so young still, but I can tell you the stories that my parents and grandparents told me." With that he proceeded to tell her the story of Adam and Eve, and he found her interest endearing. It was nice to have someone that didn't know about these things, but was genuinely curious about it. He then moved on to the story of Noah and the flood, followed by the story of Moses, and then onto the birth of Jesus, as well as his life and death.

Aqua couldn't help objecting to the story of why humans now had sin on their souls. "Wait, let me get this straight. So your religion's etiology for why there's evil in the world and why women go through so much pain when it comes to reproduction is because she ate a fruit? She ate a fruit that God told her not to, and so the entire human race is forever doomed to struggle and go through pain and all that, because of a -fruit-?" Her indignation could not be more apparent. "Not to mention the story makes it sound like it's all the woman's fault, when the man could have just said no when she offered it to him. And he turns and blames her for all of it even though he is equally to blame."

"She was specifically told by God, not to touch something." Juste said firmly as he leveled a glare at her. "She did so anyway; do you think that He would have allowed that?"

"All right, fine, I concede that she should be punished for that, more or less. But to curse all of her future descendants for the choice that she made? That's hardly fair. At least Pandora's Box made more sense," she muttered, thinking of all the Greek Mythology she managed to learn last time she visited the Olympus Coliseum. "And you said that Jesus' death saved humanity from that 'Original Sin', so then why do women still suffer such pain from childbirth? Why must we still struggle so hard just to live in this world? Since this 'Original Sin' that Adam and Eve brought unto the world is lifted by the Savior dying on the cross, why aren't the effects of the curse gone?"

"Only He can answer those questions, Miss Aqua. Perhaps you should ask Him."

"Perhaps I would if I thought he would speak to a nonbeliever like myself. As far as I can tell, gods only speak to their followers, and even that is debatable. I don't believe in any particular god. Religion has never really been a part of my life, and I've never seen a reason as to add it since. Besides, how can I possibly choose which god to follow when they all claim to be the one and only?" she commented sardonically.

Juste gave her a patient smile. "It doesn't matter if you believe in Him, because He believes in you. Speak to Him, let the words come from your soul, or your heart if you prefer, and He will hear you. He may not always respond, but He will be listening. As to your other question," He shrugged. "Again, you have to ask Him for that answer, but who is to say that they are not all the same god, just in different guises?"

She looked up thoughtfully. "You know, I've wondered that on occasion, if all gods from all religions are really all the same one, just seen differently by each culture. I'm rather surprised to hear the possibility voiced by a devout believer such as yourself, though. Most people are simply certain that their belief is the only one that is true, and won't listen or consider any other alternatives, even those that still present their god as the true one. They are right, and anyone who thinks differently is wrong. Such rigid thinking can be a great barrier to people who might want to learn more about religion."

"Sadly my father-in-law and mother-in-law are like that, and it's something that I can prevent them from giving to their grandchildren. Lydie thankfully believes the same as me, but when you've been touched by true evil like the two of us have, it... makes you a bit more patient in regards to what others consider evil."

"It makes you more patient? Wouldn't it make you less, because you know what true evil is and they're so far from it?" Aqua questioned, but then she thought of her own situation. Maybe she interpreted his answer a bit incorrectly. Through her experiences with Terra, as well as others that were part of the war like Riku, who could use the darkness without falling to it, she had learned to become more flexible where darkness was concerned. Perhaps that was what Juste had meant.

He saw the understanding dawn in her eyes. "People tell me the Turks are evil, but I disagree, in regards to most of them anyway. There are some that I'm sure will be taking the direct route to Hell once they move on to the next life, but the rest of them aren't too bad. I loathe that they have dominion over us – I would be lying if I claimed otherwise there – and they have wreaked so much havoc on the people here, but they have nothing, nothing on Dracula, and they know it. I think that's why they haven't bothered the Belmonts, because they know we are holding him back."

"So does the whole of your world know about Dracula, then?" Yet another subject that sparked her curiosity had come up. She knew next to nothing about vampires or Dracula beyond what she'd read in the book back in Master Eraqus' study, and who knew how accurate that was in comparison to the reality? She wasn't even certain whether that book existed in this world.

"Not the entire world, no. So far he has been unable to spread his influence too far beyond this area. It doesn't help matters that there are actually two Draculas, and most people from beyond this area that know of Dracula only know of Vlad III, who was once the ruler of this region back during Trevor's time. He protected us from the invading Turks until he was betrayed and beheaded, and not long after he resurrected as a vampire. We still do not know who turned him or how, since beheading is fatal to all but the oldest, most powerful vampires. There is no way a newly born vampire could have survived it, and it is impossible to turn someone once they are well and truly dead."

"I don't suppose it could be genetic somehow?" she suggested dubiously. "I mean, I know there are places where things like magic can be both inherited from relatives or come from absolutely nowhere. I don't suppose vampirism could work like that?" Ah, and now she knew why this Vlad III had come up before, since he had apparently become a vampire. She'd missed the undertones of that before. Implicit meanings were difficult to pick up on in new worlds, especially when the world rules were entirely different from what she was accustomed to.

"Vampires can have children just as humans can, though that is uncommon. They can have children with humans or other vampires, and the other Dracula has a son that was conceived in such a way. But no, Vlad III's parents were completely human. He went by Dracula because his father took the name Dracul – which means dragon – as a surname, because he was a member of the Order of the Dragon. So naturally, his son took the name Dracula, which means son of the dragon.

"There is a possibility that he became a vampire out of sheer force of will and his burning hatred for the Turks. He was raised a prisoner by them as a child to keep his father in line, and there were rumors... that he... suffered while in their care. They released him to take the throne, and he spent his entire adult life fighting them. I've been told that someone with enough hatred in their soul can become a vampire or even a demon if their will is strong enough, but no one knows if that is true.

"At any rate, once he turned and rose from his grave, Vlad III began killing anyone that crossed his path, be in man, woman, child, Wallachian, or Turk. He didn't care; he killed them all. Part of that could be blamed on the transformation itself. Very few vampires keep their original personality upon turning, and it was made worse that Vlad apparently had no master to look after him and keep him in check. Young vampires normally stay in the care of the one that created them for a number of years until they are old and strong enough to take care of themselves, and until they have gained enough self control to not go on a killing spree, like Prince Vlad Dracula did.

"So as much as he was loathe to hunt down the one that had given us so much, Trevor had to chase our prince down and put him back in his grave. He wrote in his diary that the prince asked for release, even while attacking Trevor, and when Trevor was able to bring him down, Dracula died with a peaceful look on his face. He has been still ever since."

Aqua listened carefully, but she was almost overwhelmed by the history of this matter. "That seems rather problematic. I don't even know what to say about all of that. How likely is it that Dracula could rise again? And this Trevor you spoke of, is he a predecessor of yours?"

"Prince Vlad Dracula is dead for good; he will never rise again. The other Dracula, the one my family has faced multiple times, rises on average twice a century, with his second rise always being within a decade of his first rise. I am not sure when he will rise next, since I stopped him from fully resurrecting five years ago, so I have no way of knowing if that counts as the first or the second time. 'Tis a shame that we can't find a way to destroy the Crimson Stone and end his resurrection cycle, but we haven't had any luck in that regard."

"As for Trevor, yes he is one of my ancestors. He lived during the 15th century, and rumor had it that he was actually the grandson of Dracula – the vampire, not Vlad III. We know that his mother was the Belmont, that she already had Trevor when she married, and that her husband took her name instead of her taking his. He also adopted Trevor and raised him as his own son. Trevor was the first to face Dracula and the first to defeat him."

"I see..." she said, trailing off slightly as she tried to orient all the information in her mind. "Actually, no, I don't see. I'm getting lost. How did the not-Vlad Dracula get here, what's his origin story? I'm having trouble keeping them straight."

"That is a long tale, perfect for such a long ride." Juste gave her a rueful smile. "Dracula was once human. He was born as Mathais Cronqvist in the year 1062. His family was an old one, a magical family that could trace their ancestry back several hundred years, and they were nobility. They owned a great deal of land and ruled over it under the authority of the land's king. When Mathias was 14, his parents took in the newly orphaned son of another lord after his parents were killed by a fever. That child was my ancestor, Leon Belmont.
"The two were raised together as brothers, and by all accounts they were inseparable. Their friendship stayed strong as they grew into adulthood, even when Leon assumed control of his own family's lands and no longer could spend as much time with his old friend."

"So this Dracula is actually from centuries before Vlad III? Well that's confusing. Can't wait to hear why he didn't become a problem until so many years later."

Juste shifted in the saddle, which made the leather creak. "Marriage among the nobility, then and now, is all about making connections and securing your family's wealth and power. If you manage to fall in love with the person chosen for you, good for you, otherwise, you just have to bear it. Magical families that hold noble titles are no different, but Mathias was lucky in that his parents knew that magic had a way of... telling you things. When he was in his teens, he met Elisabetha Lindgren, and they were immediately drawn to each other, and they quickly fell in love. His parents recognized that it was magic itself nudging him towards her, and they quickly arranged a betrothal. They married when he was 19, and she was 16, and from Leon's surviving diaries, the marriage was blissful, with the two of them hopelessly in love with each other."

Aqua nodded, and waited for him to continue. She wondered what this had to do with the story.

"Of course, even with the church's stance on magic being the work of Satan, many magicals, including the Cronqvists, still worshiped our God, and Mathias was no exception to this. His faith was strong, his love for Him was greater than even his love for Elisabetha, so when the call came to try and reclaim the Holy Land from the Turks, Mathias and Leon went without question."

It never ceased to amaze her that men could feel a greater love for a being they would never be able to see or even contact in a meaningful, mutually responsive manner, than for their own family. She felt that love for one's family and closest friends should come before anything else, even a god. But then, she didn't believe in any, so what did she know?

"The pair were gone for months, and when they were finally able to return home, Mathias found to his horror that his beloved wife had passed away from illness during his absence." Juste frowned in thought. "It's been speculated that Mathias and Elisabetha had formed some sort of bond. Magic can do that if at least one member of a couple is magically powerful enough, and it would explain Mathias' reaction to her death.

"His grief simply destroyed him. With her gone, it was as though he had died with her. He became bedridden, and nothing anyone did could coax him out of it."

Aqua frowned in sympathy. "That's terrible. I've never heard of anything like that sort of magical bond between people, but it's well known, as you said yesterday, that older couples often pass away close together."

"It is. I can't imagine what life would be like without Lydie for me, so I do sympathize with Mathias for that. At any rate, life carried on around Mathias as it is wont to do. Leon continued to fight in His name and visited when he could. He was also betrothed though, and while his feelings for Sara Trantoul were not as quick to grow as Mathias' had been with Elisabetha, what he felt was no less real. He was delighted to have her and truly in love with her, when disaster struck.

"Sara's family's home was attacked, and she was abducted. Leon, in his search for answers as to why and who, ended up visiting his old friend. Mathais was still bedridden, but he was able to tell Leon that a vampire was in the area, and that he was the one who had taken Sara. Now, I can see that you're seeing the problem with this." Juste commented when he saw the look on Aqua's face. "I will be the first to admit that Leon was woefully naive and too trusting at times. That Mathias knew such information, when he supposedly hadn't been out of his bed in a year, sounds suspicious to us, but Leon never doubted him. He ran straight for the vampire's castle to try and save his love."

"But why take her? Was he jealous of Leon, that he still had his love? And how did he become this vampire that attacked her to begin with?"

"He didn't. Mathias had this grand plan to spite the god that he had once worshiped, a god that he now believed to be wicked and selfish. Mathias had devoted his entire life to Him, only for Him to steal away the one Mathias loved most. At least, that is how Mathias saw it. He had used his family's knowledge of magic and alchemy to create the Crimson Stone months before, which had slowly turned him into a vampire. By doing so, he hoped to spite God by never giving Him his soul and defying Him in any way he could.

"But Mathias had another problem to deal with. He was a vampire, but a young, weak one, one without a master to protect him, so he needed some way to gain power quickly. He found his solution in another vampire in the area, one that was much older and more powerful. The Crimson Stone works by using the soul of a vampire as a power source, so Mathias convinced this other vampire that kidnapping Leon's betrothed would be a great way to liven up his rather boring eternal life. He did this, knowing full well that Leon, whose naivete was only matched by his skill in combat, would successfully defeat this vampire, which would allow Mathias to claim his soul and imprison it in the Crimson Stone."

"Ah. I see," Aqua responded.

"Mathias' plan worked exactly as intended. Leon defeated the other vampire, Mathias claimed his soul, and he offered Leon a chance to join him. Leon spat in Mathias' face, called him a wretched fool, and refused. Mathis then basically told his most powerful servant that he could have Leon for himself, and then he left. Leon of course survived the battle, and then he swore that he would never forgive Mathias for what he had done and that the Belmonts would forever hunt the night." Juste shrugged. "And here we are, nearly 700 years later."

"Hm..." There were still a few things she felt she was missing, but she couldn't find a way to word them, so she let them go for the moment. She got the majority of the story anyway. "What year is it here, by the way? You mentioned 1062, and 700 years later, but I have no way of knowing exactly what year it is."

Hearing about the Crimson Stone, which was evidently what allowed Dracula to resurrect intermittently, she wondered what would happen if she were somehow able to take it off world. What would happen if his resurrection stone was placed in space? She didn't yet voice these thoughts, however.

Juste gave her another strange look: now she was asking about the year? "1753, or the mid 18th century, if you will."

She caught his look and just rolled her eyes at it. "You still don't accept that I'm not from this world?" She sighed. "Well regardless, the point is that Dracula was first fully destroyed about 300 years ago, and has resurrected approximately 6 times or so since, then?"

"Would you if you were me?" he asked, and then he continued on without giving her a chance to answer. "I honestly don't believe that it is possible to fully destroy Dracula without first destroying the Crimson Stone. He resurrected three years after Trevor and his wife defeated him, in 1479, and then he resurrected again 1546, and then again 1561. Those times he was defeated by Trevor's great-great grandson Christopher Belmont. He next resurrected in 1661, and then again in 1669, though that resurrection was brought about by my grandfather, Simon Belmont, because it was the only way to destroy the curse that Dracula had cast on him in 1661. His last resurrection attempt was five years ago, in 1748, but that was stopped before he could fully manifest in this world."

"Does that make it more or less likely that he'll return again soon?" she asked, more out of habit than actual concern. If it so happened that Dracula was the cause of the sudden Heartless insurgence, then so be it. However, if he was not, then he was not Aqua's problem to deal with, given that he's been taken care of time and again by this world's occupants. Her basic curiosity compelled her to find out more about this threat, but she knew that it wasn't her responsibility to handle.

"Honestly, I don't know. Sometimes he resurrects under his own power; sometimes his followers give him a boost. There is no way to know when he will come back. From the papers that my ancestor, Leon Belmont, left, Dracula was quite the genius in life, so there is a possibility that there is a reason to all of this, but if that's the case, only he knows about it."

"Followers? You mean the undead creatures you mentioned yesterday?"

"Sadly no. Dracula has living, human followers that worship him as some kind of dark god. They have been known to speed things along on occasion, and Dracula has been proven to be able to influence people from beyond the grave as he did with Maxim. His 1479 resurrection was brought about by him influencing one of his former generals, and helped along by a curse that he cast as he was dying at Trevor's hands. The curse caused famine, heresy, and violence in its wake, and it caused men's souls to be consumed by darkness and evil. The entire intent was to get one to fall to the curse so completely that he could take control of their body and use it to resurrect, which is ultimately what happened. His own general, a loyal follower is there ever was one, fell victim to the curse and was taken."

Aqua hummed softly as she quietly absorbed the new historical information. This world had such a long and detailed past. She could barely imagine it. Most places she'd been to until then had no more than a couple hundred years of history, and much of it wasn't talked about often. It was rare that she heard so much. Granted, she had asked for it. "Sorry, part of the curse was heresy? Would you mind explaining what you mean by that?" Of all the things to be part of a curse, why heresy?

"Of course. Good, honest, hard working, God fearing men and women, people who wouldn't dream of even taking the Lord's name in vain, turned their backs on Him and stopping following His word. Much of the violence was spread by these poor souls, as many of them committed many evils while under the curse's power: theft, murder, witchcraft. From the journals that Trevor wrote, it was a terrible, dangerous time to live, and it was ultimately why he and Sypha warded the Belmont lands."

"Strange...so it was sort of like mind control or brain washing then? Odd that something of that nature could be spread like a plague. I understand why he did it though, since he hated his god so much at that point. What better way to send a 'screw you' message to heaven than by taking away his followers?" She sighed as she surveyed the area around them, still forested. "Are we ever going to leave these woods?" she asked with irritation.

"Not until just before we reach the castle sadly, though they will thin out some as we start climbing into the mountains, which we will be doing right after lunch."

"If there's enough space at that time, perhaps I could show you my glider, like I mentioned yesterday. It will definitely help solidify the truth that I'm from elsewhere." It really had started to bug her that he simply couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of her being from another world, despite everything she'd told him thus far. Really, he'd seen how different her magic was compared to his, she owned a strange weapon unlike anything he'd come across before, they fought creatures he knew nothing of but she was well versed in, not to mention the countless references she'd made and giant gaps in her knowledge that had no natural explanation if she was supposed to be from his world. She knew that during this apparent time period, other worlds were an impossible thought, but hadn't she proven enough yet? She couldn't help feeling a bit frustrated. The one time she actually wanted to let an inhabitant of another world know that she was an outsider just happened to be the one time she wasn't believed. The irony.

"I will hold you to that, Miss Aqua." Truthfully, he still doubted it would be enough to convince him. Who's to say that she just wasn't from far off part of the world where they have magic more advanced that what he knew? He'd worry about that later though, he thought as he looked up at the light shining through the canopy. "Shall we break for lunch?"

"Oh actual sunlight, what do you know, it does break through the gloom occasionally. Yes, let's stop here before returning to the darkness." She couldn't help the immense amount of sarcasm permeating her first sentence. The truth of the matter was, she wasn't used to traveling so long through the same sort of landscape. Her glider was faster, and she usually traveled over forests rather than through them. Sure, forests had their good points, but darker ones like this with very little change around them became rather draining on her spirits after a while.

Juste raised an eyebrow as she dismounted from the saddle. What was wrong with her? Deciding not to worry about it, he did the same. Since they wouldn't be there long, he didn't worry about setting up wards. Instead he asked her to gather what was needed for a fire, while he fetched the food and cooking implements from the saddlebags.

Not wanting to be still long in the dark forest around her, she cast a quick Aero spell on herself to speed her movement without using her Keyblade as she flitted through the trees to collect fallen branches. The darkness was deeper farther from the path, and she wasn't exactly looking for a fight at the moment, which is why she didn't summon her blade to increase her spell's potency. She knew what a beacon she already was to the Heartless in this world. After finding a sufficient supply of wood, she returned to Juste and the horses.

It was a simple matter to ignite the wood that she had laid in a pile just off the side of the road with a thought, and once it had died down a bit, he quickly got to cooking. "We're having more of the same I'm afraid." he said apologetically. "It's easier to pack a large amount of the same thing to get the most efficiency out of the preservation spells. If we're lucky we might be able to bring down a deer or a rabbit on the way, but that's about it." He settled the pan down on the coals and retrieved the bottle of mead that he had squirreled away. It was dangerous for magic users like himself to get drunk, but there was no harm in having a drink once in a while. He pulled the cork, took a swig, and handed it out to Aqua.

"That's fine, I'm not exactly looking for a 4-star meal," she replied with a smile. The sight of the flickering flames cheered Aqua immensely. She accepted the proffered bottled carefully, and hesitantly sniffed it first. Finding that it smelled sweet, she took a small sip of the drink. It was rather sweet, with fruity taste to it. She was still aware of the alcohol, as she could feel the slight burn in her throat, but the sugar of the drink soothed it. She figured it must be honey. She handed the bottle back to Juste. "And sorry about my attitude lately. I just...really hate dark places. Remember how last night I mentioned being trapped in the Realm of Darkness for ten years? It's not called that for nothing. After so much time there, being stuck in dark places for long periods of time starts to wear on my nerves."

"I can imagine." he replied as he took another drink, corked it, and set it aside as he turned his attention back to the pan. In short order he handed his companion a plate, and then he plated up his own meal. "I don't want to think about being in such a place for so long. Spending a week inside Dracula's castle, where you can only see the moon and never the sun or stars, is horrible enough." He took another drink from the bottle and offered it to Aqua again. "More?" he asked.

Aqua paused, considering. Remembering the sweet taste of the drink, she decided one more sip wouldn't hurt anything, so she did just that before returning it to Juste once more. "Thank you," she commented. Then she formed a cup out of ice with her magic and melted spell-made snow within it, so she had a cup of water to drink with her food. Accustomed to her personal brand of magic, her hands weren't chilled by her ice. One of these days she'd remember to bring a cup along in her bag. Until then, a magic cup would do.

"That's a neat trick." Juste commented as he corked the bottle and put it aside. "I never thought about doing that before. We generally stick with wine and ale, since drinking water can be dangerous, and most magic users around here prefer not to use up their energy for the more mundane things. I'll have to give that a try sometime though."

"It doesn't cost me almost anything energy-wise, and I prefer water to anything else. It's a healthy option, first of all, and second, I'm never sure what drinks from different places are actually made from, so I'm usually a bit wary about them. And alcohol is something I generally avoid anyway. That, however," she gestured toward the bottle, "is sweet and I rather like it. What is it, exactly?"

"It's honey mead," he replied as he began to dig into his own food, "and we seem to have found another difference between your magic and mine. To do what you have done, I would have to constantly expend energy to prevent the ice from melting. Summoning water is easier, because once it is there, it's there, but anything that I would have to constantly maintain would be a continuous drain. Do you not have that problem?"

"Well, the magic I'm using is Blizzard, and is ice-based already. I don't have pure water magic. It's actually a bit more of a challenge to keep the water within from freezing again because I have to use just enough fire magic to melt part but not all of it. I suppose it was challenging when I first started out with this, but I've been doing it for so long now it's become habit, and thus, easy. I suppose it is melting constantly, but it's slow enough that I don't really have to worry," she added as a teardrop slid down the side of the ice. "It's sort of like a frozen treat, like ice cream or molasses candy," she offered, aware that ice cream might not be a thing yet, but that snow-molasses candy was a very old treat, that she'd read about in a book. She tried it once: it wasn't particularly pleasant, but she could see why it would've been liked in olden days when alternatives were scarce. "Since it's solid ice, it melts at a rate dependent on the surrounding temperature. That's why I keep it as far from the fire as I can manage. Were I in a desert, this would be significantly harder."

"Interesting," he said as he watched a drop of water drip from the "cup". "My magic uses a great deal of energy, and I can only expend so much as once before I risk harming myself. When I was a boy, I decided that my cousin, who was teaching me, didn't know what she was talking about, and I went out and started throwing magic around without a care or thought. I was having so much fun that I ignored it when I began to tire, and I didn't stop until I started to feel truly sick. I passed out and woke up two days later, sick and exhausted. It took me a few more days to recover, and once I was better, my parents lectured me, my grandfather lectured me, and then my cousin suspended my magic lessons for two weeks as punishment for nearly killing myself. That was one lesson I learned the first time." He smiled ruefully.

"Mm, I see. I can't say that's something I've ever really experienced. My magic has different limits, I guess. I have a vast supply of it, really, compared to others like me that I've met. I've only known a couple people that have surpassed me in magic, and that's because they're much older than me. I've always been sort of a prodigy where magic is concerned. But anyway, I have a personal limit that I won't go past in combat, that I've had set for so long that I never even try to reach past it unless I'm truly desperate. I have such a great supply of magic naturally that I usually don't need more. I ignored it last night setting the wards because I basically pulled out a large chunk of my store in one go, since I wasn't sure what I would need, and I had already used quite a bit of magic yesterday without restoring it, which is why I became suddenly exhausted. None of my spells ever call for so much magic in one shot. I don't think depleting it entirely would kill me, but I'm sure I wouldn't find the experience pleasant.

"As for that limit I usually use, I can set off whatever spells I like until I've used it up, at which point I can just down one of these," she paused, reaching into a pocket and pulling out an ether, which she then tossed at Juste, "and it fills completely up again. I don't know what ethers are made of, as I buy them from vendors I trust but don't make them myself, but they give me a boost in energy and my magic replenishes immediately. You can find them in most worlds I've been to, but I imagine this one has been so closed off from the others that nothing is really universal between them. My magic does rebuild with time, but during combat I don't always have enough time to wait."

Juste smiled as he held the ether in his hand. "We have these too," he said, "though they sometimes go by different names. My cousins and I call them Mind Ups, and there are larger versions called Mana Prisms. They do come in handy when you're in a dangerous situation with magic the only way out. I also know how to make them, and I have some in the saddlebags as well as a few in my coat pockets. They are basically magic condensed into either a liquid or crystal form, depending on how strong they are. They're tiring to make, but it's the most reliable way to come by them around here. Any place that's saturated with magic, like Dracula's castle for example, can form them naturally, which can then be collected. We'll probably see a few once we get there." He tossed the ether back to her. "If you are finished, we should hurry. We'll be turning off the main road and starting our climb into the mountains soon."

"Huh, wonder how the Moogles make them then? I don't really know much about them, but I didn't think they had magic themselves...maybe they do," she mused quietly as she replaced the ether in her pocket. She visibly perked up at the mention of the mountains. "Fantastic, I can't wait to get out of this forest!"

Moogles? Who or what are Moogles? Juste wondered as he took care of the dishes and doused the fire. He quickly packed things back into the saddlebags. "We'll still be in the forest, but it will thin out some as we climb."

"But I'll be able to see the sun more often, yes? That's what I'm concerned about right now. The gloominess of this place is getting to me," she complained as mildly as she could manage. She shattered her ice cup so that it would melt faster near the remains of the fire. It would melt with or without her help, so she might as well save herself the effort and let it go more naturally. Fire took her a bit more effort than Blizzard, but only barely. She turned to her mare to mount up, but before she could, she felt dark creatures infringing on her senses and stepped back, summoning her keyblade. "Watch out, Juste, Heartless are approaching," she warned.

Juste immediately turned towards the shadows and saw beady yellow eyes staring back at him. "I see." He unhooked the Vampire Killer from his belt. "Any idea how many?"

"Hard to say since they sometimes swarm in the ground. But at least a good handful." The first Heartless spiraled into their clearing, a Soldier intent on ramming into Aqua's head. She slashed it in midair instead, knocking it back, and she followed up with another strike to its own head, and it popped out of existence, leaving smoke and a crystal heart behind, just in time for her to block another attack from the Heartless charge.

The group seemed to ignore him in favor of going after Aqua, and Juste used that to his advantage, swinging the whip at at unprotected backs. The strange armored creatures weren't destroyed as they wer with Aqua's weapon, but it certainly knocked them down for a moment. Before he could move in for the kill, bell shaped Heartless that were colored a brilliant green and floating freely in the air moved in and showered the stunned ones with green pinpricks of light. The ones that he had knocked down immediately resumed their attack, none the worse for wear.
"What in the world?" He swung out at the flying green Heartless, but they dodged easily out of the way.

"Oh damn it, I hate the healers," Aqua growled, and quickly vaulted away from the melee Heartless to engage the quick-moving Green Requiems darting between trees. "Focus on the Soldiers and Shadows!" she called back to Juste, and closed in on one Requiem to hit it with her blade. These ones were irritatingly immune to magic, so one had to attack them directly.

Juste nodded in response and turned his attention to the armored Heartless – the Soldiers he assumed - and the smaller black shadows that were creeping along the ground. They did not move as quickly as the flying ones, so he was easy able to land hits against them. One of the Soldiers began to spin towards him while balanced on one foot, and he rolled to the side to avoid the point at the end of its metal boot. He threw his cross at it, and it struck it against the back of its helmeted head, which caused it to explode into black wisps that vanished quickly.

Thankfully, despite the various protections, Requiems were quite weak, so a couple hits were enough to dispatch them. Aqua took out the first one with a second well-placed hit, and then flitted through the trees to target the second. There were four of them hanging about in total, so three to go. This one she dispersed in one hit by using the more powerful Stun Edge. After that she had to search for her next foe between the trees.

Juste tossed a bottle of holy water to the ground, and the Shadows in front of him were destroyed instantly, while the remaining Soldiers were forced to back away. A Guided Frost spell sent ice rolling across the ground out in front of him, injuring those that remained and stunning them. A few whip strikes then finished them off, and he turned to see if Aqua needed any help.

She managed to hear the absence of battle noise from Juste's direction and called, "If you're done, help me get the other one! They like to hide." Then she sought her closest one, able to focus on her senses now with most of the Heartless gone, and brought it down with a couple quick hits.

He immediately looked into the trees just in time to see a flash of green and hear the tinkling of tiny bells. Any other time, and he would find the sound pleasing to hear, but not now. The creature was still hovering in Aqua's vicinity, though it wasn't attacking her. Perhaps it had no such magic and was strictly a healer?

Well no matter. It darted out from behind a tree, and Juste pulled out one of his daggers. It paused in mid air for a second, and it was all the time he needed. He threw the dagger point first, and it struck the Heartless right between its eyes. It vanished in a puff of smoke.

Aqua flared her senses to seek any other Heartless remaining in the vicinity, and found none. She sighed and dismissed her blade, then returned to the clearing where Juste waited with the staid horses. "Thanks for the assist. Green Requiems are a major pain. They have no attack ability, but they're fast, immune to magic, and heal other Heartless."

"Rather hard to hit too." Juste commented wryly as he coiled the whip and hung it from his belt. "Please tell me there aren't more like that."

"Healers? Not that I'm aware. But there are others fast and small like that. And immune to certain types of magic, just not all kinds. You probably saw some before. The red ones shaped just like the Requiems are Red Nocturnes, and they use fire, so they're vulnerable to ice, and probably water. Blue ones are Blue Rhapsodies, they're ice based so fire is great. Yellow Operas are thunder users and not weak to any other type but not immune to anything but thunder. They're also the fastest, so good luck with those."

"Thankfully, I haven't encountered any of those, but I think it safe to assume that that will change if things continue." He climbed up onto his horse's back. "It makes me grateful that Dracula rarely has purely magic types at his disposal."

"The melodic Heartless are all very weak to melee combat, so it sometimes easier to just ignore magic altogether with them and hit them a couple times till they die," she stated nonchalantly. Then she climbed onto her mare with some grace. She was steadily improving the longer she kept this whole riding venture up.

They urged the horses back onto the road and continued on their way. "I imagine that they're easier to chase down in a confined space, am I correct?"

"Very much so. And in a forest like this, with so many trees in the way, they're very annoying to chase down. Just about hit more trees than I do enemies."

"It doesn't help that we have such poor lighting here. Makes them difficult to see at times. If those Requiems hadn't been so brightly colored, I would have barely been able to see them at all."

"Very much so. Heartless are so much easier to fight in open spaces where it's easier to distinguish them from normal shadows."

"I'm sure that it helps that creatures of darkness don't like bright sunlight all that much?" Juste said with a small laugh. "Heaven knows that vampires, demons, and their kin certainly don't."

"Well there's certainly that. I don't ever spend so much time under dense forest like this. I haven't been many places that have such dark woods, and I rarely spend more than a few hours in them when they do. I prefer more open spaces, and this is the farthest thing from."

"Then I hope for your sake then that the castle doesn't resurrect itself, because that thing is simply massive, and it's entirely possible to spend days in it and not see the entire thing."

"If it's dark and claustrophobic, it's not really my thing. I have nothing against castles. I grew up in a place that was fairly similar to one. But we had huge windows everywhere, and bright glowing lanterns at night, so I was always surrounded by light. And yet, you could still see the millions of stars in the sky." She smiled at the memory of sitting outside and stargazing with her friends. Ven and Terra, and Master Eraqus, had always been her family. Her smile faded as she thought about her home world now. "It's all gone now though. It was destroyed, and afterward I had to change the fabric of the world to make it into a safe place for Ven after everything with Xehanort happened. I can't reverse it. It'll be the remains of Castle Oblivion forever now. Even if I could change it back, I couldn't bring back Master Eraqus. I couldn't bring back those peace-filled days we had."

Juste looked at her for a long moment without saying anything. Oh yes, definitely a story there, but one that was obviously very painful to speak of. He had to admit that he was very curious, but he kept that to himself. If she wanted to tell him the full story, she would; he wasn't going to make it worse by asking her about it. Instead he opted for the safer ground.

"Actually, the castle is surprisingly well lit. There are candles everywhere, and strangely enough they have little Mind Ups in them. I'm not sure if they form naturally or if someone puts them there for whatever reason, but if you're ever needing more magic to keep casting, smashing a few candles always helps. For some bizarre reason, the little Mind Ups are heart shaped, and what's even more bizarre is the candles reappear when you leave an area and then return. Don't ask me why; no one knows."

"Oh believe me, I know the feeling. Imagine opening a chest to receive an item, only to then watch that chest disappear," she commented, commiserating. She was thankful he didn't ask her about what she'd said before. That was a story that still hurt too much to really tell. She'd talked about Terra before, but the loss of her home, and really, her childhood innocence, was still an open wound, even nearly 15 years later. Then again, when ten of those years were spent in the Realm of Darkness, it's hard to say how much time had really passed for her. Regardless, she still felt the loss keenly. She suspected that this was one wound that would never really go away.

"Or having that chest get up and attack you. Have you ever experienced that one?"

"Yes! You have things like that too? Ugh, it's terrible. We have these Heartless that take the form of a large chest, so if you're not careful and notice that they're placed oddly, you think you're going to get a big prize, but as you try to open it, it lunges at you trying to bite you. We've also got barrel and pot spiders that are similar. You come too close and they pop their legs out the sides and go after you." She was rather happily surprised to hear that they have chests that attack you here too. She'd thought only Heartless did that.

"We have Mimics. They're lesser demons that lure their prey in by acting as a fancy looking chest; one that would contain something really good. Touching them causes them to grow feet and lunge at you. They move surprisingly quick, but since they collect the possessions of their previous victims, killing them can be worth it if you're in need of money or potions."

"Yeesh," she commented. "Ours are annoying, but they're standard as far as Heartless are concerned. Not the strongest, not the fastest, and certainly not the hardest to take down. They do carry more munny than some, but I think that's part of their act than because they actually beat anyone. Then again, I haven't seen Heartless attack many normal people. Maybe they do and I just don't notice it. I've seen Unversed attack people outright, so I suppose Heartless do so on occasion. I've seen them steal someone's heart before, but usually they're more intent on my Keyblade than anything else in the world once they sense its presence."

"I understand that problem all too well. Once we're in the area around the castle, I expect every creature of the night within miles to go: 'I smell Belmont!' and come running."

She laughed at that. "Yes, I know the feeling. At least the Heartless will be attracted to me, so you will only have the usual enemies to deal with," she joked.

"I don't know. They might see me and think 'Oh my, he is dangerous! We'd better take him out quick!'" Juste joked right back. It felt good to have something to laugh about after the past few weeks.

"Hah!" she mock-scoffed. "You don't look so tough as all that. The second they see my Keyblade, that's all they'll focus on. Why, you'll only be background noise," she teased, her tone overfluffed and pompous. She grinned. "Perhaps even your enemies will find me threatening if all the Heartless rush for me. You'll be left with nothing to do."

He straightened in the saddle and puffed out his chest. "I will have you know, Miss Aqua, that I am from pure Belmont stock. Night monsters are terrified of us. Perhaps it will be -you- that will be left with nothing to do?" He relaxed and slumped back down in the saddle. "And if Lydie had seen me do that, she would have slapped me with a dish towel for acting like an idiot." he said with a grin.

Aqua couldn't help giggling. "Oh, but it's all in good fun. Either way, we're both clearly competent and will be able to manage whatever comes our way," she replied.

"I'm sure, but if the Dracula's minions do indeed decide that you are the bigger threat, then I will endeavor to render you aid with all possible haste." he said with a smile.

"And of course I offer the same thing should the Heartless try to overwhelm you," she returned easily. She looked ahead again, wondering if the slight change in light she saw in the distance was a trick or if they really were finally nearing a less dense area of the woods.

"And here we are." Juste said easily as they rode forward. He pointed to a spot about a hundred feet ahead of him. "I know it's hard to see from here with all the undergrowth, but see that small bare patch up and to the right, just about where the forest is starting to thin a bit? That's our turn off, and it's all uphill from there."

"Good, mountain means less dreary forest, I'm all for that," she claimed, once again expressing her displeasure with her surroundings.

"As am I. One one hand the trees shield us from unfriendly eyes, but they also give creatures of the night plenty of places to hide." He shifted in the saddle. "Once we start climbing, we're going to have to slow down a bit. Otherwise we will reach the castle at nightfall, and you do not want to be there after dark. The castle is well lit on the inside, so being inside after dark is the same as being inside during the day. Outside however..." He shook his head slightly.

Aqua nodded. "That sounds fine. You know this place better than I possibly could, so I'll trust your judgment."

Juste nodded as well. "Well then, shall we? The trail is too narrow for us to ride side by side, so I'll take lead. Once the terrain starts to get rough, let your horse decide where to put her hooves; she'll get herself up there just fine." With that, he proceeded onto the narrow trail, and Aqua fell in behind him. As they rode, he glanced up in the vague direction of the castle, and he shivered suddenly.

Fully willing to let the mare handle herself, as Aqua surely couldn't do it with her minimal horse training, she noticed Juste's reaction when he looked off to something in the distance. "Everything okay?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm not sure." he said slowly. "The castle hasn't resurrected, but... call it intuition. Something is definitely wrong up there."

Reaching out with her own perception, she noted a strange disturbance in the general direction Juste had been looking towards. "I think I know what you mean. I definitely feel a lot of darkness over there, but I have no comparison to its normal state, so I'm not sure if what I sense is abnormal."

"If you're sensing anything like that, then it is very abnormal. The castle lies in a dormant state when it's in ruins like it is now, and when it resurrects, the wave of dark power can throw people sensitive to it off of their feet. Since we haven't had that happen, we know it hasn't resurrected, which means we shouldn't be able to sense anything from it, until we get very close."

"Well then, at least we know we're going to the right place. That's most certainly a problem area, it would seem."

"It would seem so. I would like to get there as quickly as possible, but I was very serious when I said that we don't want to be outside around the castle after dark, so we have to time it carefully." He frowned. The feel of anything from the castle bothered him more than he would admit. "Let's go."

She didn't see a need to respond to the more or less rhetorical statement, so she simply followed. Her mare snuffed softly at the changing environment and began to pay more attention to the path, picking her way around stones and bumps on the road.

Juste mentally calculated their route and the time it would take. If they camped early, had a bit of a lie in, and a leisurely breakfast, they would reach the castle around noon, provided that nothing went wrong. (And he sincerely hoped nothing would, but that went without saying.) He looked away from the castle's direction as the trail became steeper and told himself that they were already halfway there. Hopefully they could arrive before anything happened.

 

Chapter 2 -- Chapter 4
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