We set off around 6 PM. It's still light out. "Hmm, I still can't believe this world follows a different set of rules for time. I'd say it's probably night time on earth." I think to myself as I look forward and see a split in the path. One leads to a nearby town that has a castle on the top of the hill. The other path leads to a swamp that has a sign with a skull and cross bones on it labeled 'dangerous'.
Walking on the path to the town we notice a few things about the town, everyone here has beautiful pale skin and they all seem young. I have no doubt in my mind that they're alot older than they appear. We stop by a weapons shop, and decide to go inside to see what they might have. Inside the shop looks rustic and old. I can see that time has been very kind to this place.
Everywhere I look there are different weapons on the wall.
I walk up to a sword that is alone on the wall, I decide to pick it up and feel a strange feeling within the sword. "It seems to be alive?" I say outloud as the shopkeeper comes out of the back room and spots me holding it. He rushes over to me. "Sir, I would advise being careful with that sword. It's a very dark sword by nature." He says noticing that I'm perfectly fine.
"What do you mean dark sword by nature?" I ask the man. He clears his throat and looks me up and down. "The sword was owned by one man 500 years ago. The fabled dreadnought. It was said that the had bathed the sword in the blood of his enemies giving the sword more power than anyone could have imagined, eventually however. The sword was told to have gained sentience and betrayed the man, believing his power was not enough the sword slowly drained the man of his life force and then eventually the man was no more." He says smiling.
I look at the sword with wide eyes. The sword vibrated and shook with great force. The shopkeeper seeing this put his hand to his chin. "It would seem that the sword has chosen you as its master. I would say that was a compliment. But with this cursed sword I'd say that you have something dark within you." The man says intrigued. I can feel Vestis fighting with the sword. "You will not win, I will be the owner of this body. I will not allow you to harm him." Vestis says in my mind. I hear the swords' voice in my head. "If your master is not strong enough to handle me, how can he keep you in his head?" The sword says back.
"If you do not give up, I will swallow your essence and add you to my collection." Vestis says showing the sword all of the souls he has eaten. "HAHAHAHA." The sword laughs and then lifts off the veil that had been covering the blood and souls that have been taken from him.
Vestis smiles. "You'll be a great addition to the family if you give up." I look to the shop keeper. "How much for this sword? The shop keeper looks alittle shocked. "I can't say, I never really thought anyone would ever want this sword. I guess you can have it for free. Just remember what I said." The man says as I put the sword into the darkness for later.
The shopkeeper squints his eyes. "So you have a shadow dimension. Interesting." It's my turn to be shocked. "You know of this power?" I ask. The man laughs. "I guess you can say that." As soon as the man says that he opens up the darkness next to him and pulls out a book and hands it to me.
I grab the book and look at the man and ask. "Does the darkness ever talk to you?" The man looks confused. "Talk to me? No, never. I haven't hear anything talk to me before. Why, have you?"
I shake my head. "Nevermind, don't worry about it." I try to walk away and the man grabs my arm. "Did the darkness tell you his name?" He asks. I nod my head. "It said his name was vestis." I say. The man drops his hand and backs away. "It can't be possible. He was supposed to be dead." I look at the man with a weird look.
"Who was supposed to be dead?" I ask. The man looks at me. "The God of Calamity, his name was Vestis." I look at him with a look of shock. "Could have Vestis been the god of calamity? I have to ask him later." I think to myself. "What do you know of Vestis?" I ask the man. "Well, everything about him is in that book I gave you. There's a special bloodline that derives from him. There were rumours that he was a very dark and twisted man, going town to town and devouring people he thought were weak and mind controlling the one's that he thought would be useful to him in the future. He eventually had kids and gave them a part of his power. Eventually he was met with opposition and was sealed away. No one knows how long he has been sealed or if he would ever get out and come for his revenge." The man explains as he turns around and walks behind the counter and reaches for something.
He picks up another book and hands it to me. "Here, this is a book on the powers that he supposedly had. Not everyone could use them, the closer the person to the original bloodline then the more powerful one would be. The originals were to have said to be one of the most powerful clans in the world. Except for one man. That man is Dracula. He quickly went through the ranks getting rid of the vampires that didn't want to follow his rule. The rest were forced because of his massive power." He explained further.
"Thank you, but why are you telling me all of this?" I ask the man. The man smiles and pulls off his glasses and I see his eyes, they're pure black. "Because I'm one of the originals that didn't want to follow his rule but was unfortunate enough to get away and now I'm stuck here. But seeing your power and knowing that your power talks to you confirms that Vestis has returned. But it's strange that he's inside of your head. I'd watch him, he's liable to try and steal your body. Read the book." The man said and then went inside the back room and never returned. I look down at the sword and notice the red veins running down the shaft of the sword, and see new black ones following them.
"Interesting." I think to myself as I walk out of the shop and motion for the group to move forward to the castle. Jenny looks at me curious. "What was the shop keeper talking to you about? I heard something about Vestis, how did he know about the voice in your head?" She asks. I shake my head. "I'm not sure exactly." I lie.
Looking up I see the castle, it's beautiful. It has gargoyles setting up on top of the castle one of them moves its head and stares at me. I look at the gargoyle and it moves its head back into the default position before turning back to stone. "It would seem that they're alive but stuck inside stone prisons." I think to myself as we reach the gate.
Elizabeth walks up the gate and knocks. The gates were suddenly opened with a butler at the door. He seemed timid and weak. "My king has been awaiting you." The butler says in a deep monotone voice. We walk inside and notice that the place is immaculate, no signs of dirt or anything. "This place is amazing, how on earth do you keep it clean?" I turn around to talk to the butler but he's gone.
A few seconds later we hear someone clear his throat. We all look at the man ontop of the stairs. He's tall and broody with long black hair and red eyes with black and white following the red of his eyes. His presence is.....oppressive.
In a deep booming voice. "So, you are Kamen. It's nice to finally meet you in person. I hear you are....talented." The man said walking down the stairs. As he walks down the stairs the pressure gets more intense. Everyone falls to one knee feeling like their insides are getting squashed. "I've never felt power like this. It's like he's squeezing the life out of me." I think to myself.
"Damn it Drac, do you have to do this everytime?" Elizabeth growls out. He stares at her and puts more pressure out. "What have I told you about calling me that?!" He yells out. Dracula calms down and releases the energy and everyone feels calmer and can finally breathe. "You really never know when you stop do you father." Alistair says. Everyone looks at him in confusion.
"Do not call me your father you filth, you're a disappointment to our family." Dracula says finally reaching us at the bottom of the stairs. He looks at me. "Why have you come to me boy?" He asks in a neutral tone.
I stand up and breathe out. "I've come here for answers. Why have you been watching me, what is so special about me?" I ask. He thinks for a second before responding. "You remind me alot of my oldest child Alucard. Your powers are very similar. Except for that other disgusting power within you." He says with disgust. "Do you mean the light?" I ask.
He stares at me and then nods. "That power that has plagued the vampires for thousands of years. Why do you have it?" He asks. I sigh. "I'm not exactly sure, once I was turned I only had the darkness, some call him Vestis and the light his name is Lumen." I explain.
He squints his eyes. "Vestis and Lumen, I haven't heard those names in years. How could he have them with him?" He thinks to himself. "You have a strange life do you not?" He jests. "I never knew that you were one to try and make a joke." Elizabeth says rolling her eyes.
"You would be smart in realizing your place woman." He says. Elizabeth gives him a death stare but decides not to say anything. Turning around, Dracula turns around and motions us to follow him. "Follow me if you truly want answers." He says as he leaves the room.
We enter the Tepes family library. I look around and notice the amount of books they have is astonishing. "I thought the Algost family had a huge library, but this is different in comparison." I say amazed.
Dracula sits down in the middle of the room at a table. He motions for us to come and sit down. He holds his hand out and a book flies off of the shelf and lands on the table infront of me. "What is with this book?" I ask. He stares as me and says. "The book that man in the weapon shop gave you is only half of the truth. The book that he has is lacking alot of what Vestis' powers and his true nature. In this book you'll see what man....or monster he truly was." He says as I pick the book up.
I open the book and quickly flip through the pages until I land on one that describes his powers. "It says that he had the power to manipulate peoples minds and change certain aspects of people to show their real colors." I say outloud.
Dracula nods his head. "Alot of what people know about him is a lie. The man was a monster, but he wasn't all bad. He was simply corrupted by the ones he trusted the most. Family. They wanted pure power and a pure and evil rule. He was blind to trust them. With his power they had everything they wanted. They had even made him share his power through their kids and down the generations." He says looking down at the table while tapping on it, clearly annoyed.