Part 11: Rowan Attacks! (Second Boss Fight)

The room our heroes were in had a few platforms to step in supported by stone pillars. There was one next to each wall, for a total of three and two in the middle, both parallel to each other and to the walls as well. All of them were just one jump away from the floor so they were easy to get on to. Rowan was standing on the platform by the west wall; looking down on them. He immediately recognized Vishno and as he did, his expression turned to anger. He couldn’t seem to let go of his grudge against him. Vishno saw him too but his face didn’t seem to show any emotion. Sarah took one look at him and only saw a potential enemy. Each of them had their own motive for being there and because of it, they now had to fight. Sarah felt how the Vampire Killer whip irradiated anger; almost as if it knew there was a vampire in the vicinity. Since neither Vishno nor Sarah made a move right away, Rowan did. He stepped close to the edge of the platform he was on and spoke.

Rowan:
Vishno, I did not expect to see you here. What an... unpleasant surprise. Who is your new friend?
Vishno:
That is none of your concern.
Rowan:
You should be careful around him young lady, or he will prove to be your undoing.
Vishno:
You have every right to hate me for what happened to your sister, Rowan. But that is all in the past now. Can’t you find a way to move on?
Sarah (whispering):
What are you two talking about?
Vishno (Whispering back):
I’ll explain later.
Rowan (Shouting):
Will you two be quiet? I came here to collect the soul of a vampire hunter and that is precisely what I’m going to do. By the way young lady, your brother has been turned into a vampire by the lord of this castle. We caught him during the night and I have to say, he’s hopelessly naive; isn’t he?
Sarah:
You lie!
Rowan:
I also know the person who sent the scorpions after your parents.
Sarah:
You bastard! Tell me what you know right now or you shall regret it.
Rowan:
I will only tell you if you beat me.

Sarah’s expression turned to anger as Rowan used a spinning jump to get from the platform he was on, to one of the ones in the middle of the room. After he did that, Sarah changed the properties of the whip so it could return to normal.

Sarah:
Vishno, can you keep your chakram glowing white and attack with it at the same time?
Vishno:
As long as I keep it in my hand, yes.
Sarah:
Keep the room lit then and let me handle this. You keep watch over our enemy and attack as soon as you get a chance. Preferably with your lightning spell.
Vishno:
Are you sure you want to do this? I should be the one to fight him because of my history with him.
Sarah:
Of course I’m sure! This guy is going to pay for saying those things about my brother.
Vishno:
Very well then my friend. But please do be careful, he was very strong back in his days as a human. I’m sure that he is even stronger now that he’s a vampire.
Sarah:
Just back me up! I know what I’m doing.

As Sarah grabbed her cross, it seemed to have split into two. The original cross remained on her belt, while a copy was on her hand. She noticed this but rather than being freaked out by it; she merely threw the copy at Rowan. Rowan didn’t expect her to throw anything at him so he couldn’t avoid the attack. The cross went straight through his chest as it damaged him. Vishno kept his concentration going as Sarah and Rowan exchanged blows. Rowan threw punches and kicks at her while she blocked most of them with her arms. At every chance she got, she lashed at him with her whip and though most of them didn’t land, the ones that did, hurt her foe more than she had expected. Rowan was very impressed with her opponent, as no one other than Vishno had managed to hurt him this badly before. He knew he had to do something quickly before he lost to the girl. Just as the cross Sarah had thrown made its way back to her, he did a back leap exactly at the same time the cross was about to hit him. He only saw the cross as it traveled under him to reach Sarah’s hand. He landed at the other platform in the middle of the room and as he did, he threw five knives at her. Sarah tried to catch the cross as it came within her reach but to no avail. She figured that the cross she had found had to be magical in some way. After seeing her enemy throwing the knives she knew she had to destroy them somehow. To this end, she performed a few of protective moves with the whip in front of her. These moves destroyed the three middle knives as the others kept going straight for the wall behind her. Immediately after the three knives were destroyed, three hearts appeared in their place. Sarah reached out to touch them and as she did they disappeared. Nobody really understood what the hearts were about but now was certainly not the time to ponder about it. Rowan frowned and realized his knives wouldn’t be any trouble for her to get rid of so he had to think of something else. He pulled out a sword from behind his back and assumed a ready position with it. As Sarah grabbed another cross to throw at her foe, he had already jumped to the platform on the wall to Sarah’s left. She thought that maybe she could trick him into making a jump towards her after throwing another cross at him and then nailing him with her whip. She had to wait for this however as Rowan was planning something similar. He threw even more knives at her before leaping in her direction with his sword drawn. Instead of whipping the knives away like before, she jumped to the other platform in the middle of the room as she threw a cross in his direction. Not being able to change directions mid jump, Rowan got hit by the cross but what got injured the most this time was his pride. After they both landed Rowan aimed his sword for Sarah’s right arm as she lashed at him. Rowan’s thoughts were that if he somehow could cut her whip in half it would be left useless. To his surprise, that didn’t happen as it was his own sword that was destroyed after Sarah’s attack. His hand also suffered the result of his failed attack. Far from feeling defeated, he decided to use a different approach to fighting this girl. Before she could launch another attack at him he leaped in her direction and grabbed both of her arms in an attempt to immobilize her. Completely forgetting about Vishno, he went for her neck to bite it. Sarah was unable to do anything but Vishno reacted quickly enough, unleashing his lightning attack on Rowan before it was too late. Even though Sarah was somehow affected by the lightning attack, she merely got knocked off the platform while Rowan got knocked all the way to the far wall. The damage done to him was bad enough so that he couldn’t stand up anymore. Suddenly, the platforms in the middle of the room began to drop down. The platforms on the walls began to recede as well. It was as if the room itself was getting ready for the end. Sarah was left stunned for a moment but she quickly regained her form. Before Rowan could do anything she grabbed him by his black collar shirt and started to question him. At the same time, Vishno followed Sarah to make sure she didn’t do anything rash.

Sarah:
It’s over fiend! Tell me what I want to know, now!
Rowan:
Do you really think this is over? Your brother is being held in the throne room of this castle and you can only get there by defeating two more enemies. One of them is the one responsible for poisoning your parents and the only way to get to her is by bringing this medallion to the door under the staircase. It is useless for me now since I could not kill you. Curse you Vishno, if it had not been for your interference I would have won this fight. I’ll never forgive you...
Vishno:
...

Just after uttering those words, Rowan vanished little by little. The damage caused by all those attacks was enough to destroy him completely. Especially Vishno’s last lightning bolt spell as the longer the charge was held, the more damage it delivered. Sarah was left both baffled and upset by this. She simply turned around and headed towards the door.

End part 11.

Part 12: A Grim Tale.

Before Sarah could even reach the door, a white circle appeared near it and began to glow brightly. She stopped and remembered something her father had told her about his adventure. She turned around as Vishno noticed the glowing circle on the floor. Vishno was going to say something but Sarah spoke first.

Sarah:
Look Vishno! My father told me about these. If we step on it we’ll likely arrive at the beginning of the area we are in.
Vishno:
Hmm, that does look like a magic circle indeed.

He then peeked at his chakram and seeing as it didn’t glow red, assumed it was safe to step in.

Vishno:
Let us go.
Sarah:
Yes, we need to find my brother. I hope the things he said were lies. By the way, what was he talking about back there when he said I should be careful around you?
Vishno:
Are you sure you want to hear this? I’m telling you right now, it won’t be pretty.
Sarah:
Just tell me. I don’t want to have a reason to mistrust you.
Vishno:
Very well then, I shall tell you what happened between Rowan and me. It happened long ago when we were children. I had 3 good friends back then who lived in the same town. We were always playing around and got into so much trouble together. We always managed to get out of every nasty situation we got ourselves into; except for that one time. (he said as he let out a Sigh) Back then I was training to be a magician just like my mother. Cecil was a gifted fighter who wanted to grow up to be a knight; Andrea was a mage like myself; however, she not only studied white magic but black magic as well; and last but not least, Beatrice wanted to dedicate her life to illusionism. As much as she liked magic she wanted to give the illusion of magic rather than the real thing.
Sarah:
Let me guess, she was Rowan’s sister wasn’t she?
Vishno:
You’re very perceptive. The day we lost her everything changed between us. Before that he wanted to be an inventor. You see, he wasn’t a part of our group because he didn’t approve of what we did. We were always looking for challenges so that our abilities would progress. But there was one time when we bit off more than we could chew. On that occasion, we strayed far away from town looking for something that could be a worthy challenge for us. Soon after sunset we found a few people in trouble in the middle of a road. They were being attacked by some strange creatures so we decided to help them. Cecil went ahead of us and started the fight. What we didn’t know was that the creatures were not all the same. Some were vampires while others, well, I never did find out what they were. Anyway, while Beatrice and I stayed at a reasonable distance Andrea & Cecil fought the enemies at close range. At that time, I had mastered my lightning bolt spell called fulguralis and I was learning two others. One was a powerful but dangerous attack spell called Ardere and the other one was a healing spell called percurare. My mother had taught me to only focus on one spell at a time but I wanted to speed up my training. I don’t want to bore you with all the details so to make a long story short, the battle went badly for us; especially because we did not know what we were up against. Cecil was still trying to take some of them down but before Andrea could attack a few others, she was taken down. I ran to her and I left Beatrice at what I thought was a safe distance. That was my mistake because she was attacked as soon as I left her side. Everything fell apart as I tried to use ardere against the enemies attacking Andrea. My spell didn’t work and I was hurt by the foe’s attack. By the time Cecil was finished with his opponents I could barely stand up. He came to my aid but I urged him to look after Andrea instead. I went to help Beatrice as soon as I could and I would have done so if I had mastered my healing spell. Even though I managed to fend off the attacker with my lightning spell, by the time I got to her she was badly hurt. I figured that by using my percurare spell I would be able to completely heal her. I don’t know what went wrong but by the time I was done with my concentration, not only Beatrice was killed, but the enemies and my friends around me were left injured; as for me, I was injured badly so I blacked out as well and to make matters worse, the people we were trying to save didn’t survive. After I regained consciousness I was in a nearby inn. Andrea and Cecil barely survived the encounter and when I heard about Beatrice I was in shock. I gave up magic and started training to become a vampire hunter.
Sarah:
I... I had no idea. That must have been awful! How did Rowan found out about the incident?
Vishno:
Even though Cecil & Andrea tried to back me up on what happened, he couldn’t accept the truth and he blamed me for his sister’s death. I came to realize that it was my fault but I couldn’t do anything about it. He disappeared a few days after the incident and I found out years later that he had become a vampire.
Sarah:
I can’t say that it wasn’t your fault but he still had no right to blame you like that. So, did you see Rowan again after that?
Vishno:
As a matter of fact I did. I saw him on two separate occasions. On one of them we even faced each other and I left him badly wounded before he retreated. That’s how I ended up here; I was merely tracking him down.
Sarah:
I see... Was there a reason in particular you had to fight him that time?
Vishno:
No... nothing like that. At first I didn’t know it was him I would face. I thought I was after a random vampire but it turned out to be him. He had attacked some people on a village and I was hired to exterminate whoever the attacker was.
Sarah:
Oh my God! We’ve lost much time as it is. We better move along before time runs out for my family.
Vishno:
I’m right behind you.

They stepped on the white circle and vanished almost immediately. They reappeared at the center of the great hall where they had started. They noticed that the door under the right staircase looked different. The reason for this was that there was a hole in the middle of it, right next to the keyhole. It was in the shape of the medallion held by Rowan so Sarah assumed right away that the door to use next was that one. Vishno wasn’t feeling tired at all but he saw that Sarah looked somewhat fatigued from the previous battle.

Vishno:
Hey Sarah! You look tired; wouldn’t you like to step in the safe room before we move on?
Sarah:
Never mind me Vishno, we need to keep moving.
Vishno:
As you wish then...

Sarah quickly got to the door and placed the medallion on the hole she suspected was meant for it. Just after placing the medallion there, the door opened to reveal the next area. The room ahead also had pedestals keeping the room lit, as well as tons of gold coins scattered on the floor. On some parts of the floor, there were so many of them they even formed mounds. There were also a few treasure chests among them. All chests were big enough so that only one person wasn’t enough to carry one when full. They entered cautiously, by now they knew danger awaited for them in almost every room of this castle. This room seemed peaceful enough so they kept walking towards the next door. On the way though, they put out all six of the pedestals so they could get more hearts. Walking carefully enough to avoid traps, they got to the next door and opened it. What they thought was going to be another simple room was nothing of the sort. This was a huge room; even bigger than the great hall and in the middle of it, was some kind of gap. Inside of it, a lot of melted gold could be seen and there was no way to jump across to the other side. On the sides of both doors, were two pedestals. On the ceiling, there seemed to be some kind of stalactites made of gold. In this area of the castle almost everything seemed to be made out of gold; even the walls. In the middle of the ceiling though, were a couple of strange rings coming out of it and they all had bat like wings on their sides. This time, an obstacle required for them to make use of their brains.

End part 12.

Part 13: Castle’s Treasury.

Just before they began to wonder how to move along, the golden stalactites began to shake. Vishno’s chakram began to glow red again but they weren’t sure of which way to look at. Vishno reacted as he saw the golden stalactites sprouting wings. The supposed pieces of rock were actually bats with gold coating so they looked like stalactites. These quickly flew in their direction as Sarah and Vishno barely managed to duck and avoid them. It was then that Vishno threw his holy weapon at the bats. There were many of them this time; eight to be precise. The chakram flew but without any direction in particular, returning to his owner without hitting any of the bats. Sarah and Vishno were quite shocked, as this should have taken care of most if not all, of the bats. Vishno then realized that the gold coating could be the reason why his holy weapon was not homing in on any targets. Sarah immediately thought of using his whip against them and to this end she made it change its properties to lightning. After getting to a ready position Vishno spoke to her.

Vishno:
Sarah, I need you to provide cover for me while I concentrate.
Sarah:
Take your time.

As Vishno started to concentrate Sarah lashed her whip against the bats. She was very shocked to find out that these bats weren’t harmed by her whip’s elemental properties. She was shocked to see that the gold coating somehow protected them from her whip in its current state. Nevertheless, she had to do something to keep them at bay so she made her whip return to normal. She quickly discovered, as one of the bats was torn apart, that this was the only way to defeat them. Vishno had finished his concentration so he threw his chakram at the nearest bat. While Sarah had already destroyed a few of the bats, the holy weapon finished the job in a few seconds. They were now free to figure out how to cross the big gap in the middle of the room.

Sarah:
Now how are we supposed to get past this darn thing?
Vishno:
Do not get discouraged my lady, I think you hold the key to get across this gap.
Sarah:
You don’t mean...
Vishno:
Have you discovered how? It’s quite simple.
Sarah:
I think so... my whip could be used along with those rings, right?
Vishno:
That is exactly what I was thinking but I am foreseeing a slight problem.
Sarah:
And that is..?
Vishno:
I doubt very much that your whip can handle both of our weights. You would have to move forward without me.
Sarah:
Are you sure? I don’t think weight would be a problem here.
Vishno:
I have my doubts about it too but I don’t want to risk your well being. I know you can handle this one without me. So stop wasting anymore valuable time and go get the cure your parents need. Get me?
Sarah: (with a disappointed look on her face)
Fine then. Will I see you at the great hall after this?
Vishno:
You won’t get rid of me that easily young lady. Now get moving, I know you’ll do just fine.
Sarah:
Thank you Vishno, I’ll see you when I get back.
Vishno:
I know you will.

As Sarah crossed the huge gap using her whip Vishno opened the door but before going back the way they had come in, he looked at how she was doing. Sarah only had to snag the two rings in sequence to reach the other side and she did it quite admirably. After reaching the door, she turned expecting to see Vishno. She was a bit surprised to see him still there as she imagined he would leave without hesitation. They both smiled at each other and went through their corresponding door. The next room was similar to the first one she had seen in this area. However, this time a few skeletons could be seen over certain objects. One was on top of a treasure chest, one was beside that same treasure chest and five more were scattered on the floor around the mounds of gold coins. Almost all of them were regular looking skeletons and didn’t seem to move at all. Two of them were different as they seemed to be covered in gold. Sarah noticed that these particular skeletons were also twitching sporadically. This was very suspicious as these could be like the red skeletons she had faced earlier but with a twist. She thought these could have the same elemental resistance as the bats encountered earlier. She didn’t have time to think about this anymore as the gold skeletons rose from the floor and walked in her direction. Sarah got into a ready position and threw a cross at the undead. The cross hit one of them on the way forward and tore it to pieces. The other skeleton mindlessly kept walking towards her and started to throw bones too. His attack pattern was rather strange, as it walked about three or four steps forward and two steps back. Sarah thought this to be silly but she also figured it could have been some sort of tactic. She had to protect herself from the bones instead of attacking directly. She didn’t have to keep that going for long as the cross was making its return trip. It crushed the gold skeleton with ease and it disappeared soon after. Sarah had to keep moving if she wanted to save her family so she didn’t even destroy any pedestals in this room. After going through a couple more rooms in a hurry, she stumbled upon one with a red door like the one in the great hall. Not feeling as tired as before, she kept walking towards a door near the red one. As soon as she entered that room, a few gold bars fell on the door and only a strange woman welcomed her. She looked around the room to see that it was rather large, a lot of gold coins were scattered on the floor and thus many mounds could be seen. The woman stood atop the largest mound and looked at Sarah as if she was pleased to see her. On the far side of the room, behind the woman, was a large gold statue of a demon with human like form. It had great wings and a head much like a dragon’s. Its mouth was open and the jaws seemed to be made of diamond. The body of the statue had big muscles and a few scars on its chest as well. Sarah was impressed by the statue’s looks as she had never seen anything like this before. It was then when her host spoke to her.

Morrigan:
Enjoying the décor child?
Sarah:
Who are you?
Morrigan:
I’m the one who sent the scorpions after your parents.
Sarah:
You fiend! Why in the world would you do such a thing? What have we done to deserve this?
Morrigan:
It was nothing personal child, I was just hired to do that.
Sarah:
Hired? By whom?
Morrigan:
That is none of your concern child. I do have the antidote if you want it.
Sarah:
Stop calling me child! I have a name and it’s Sarah Belmont. Now let me have the antidote before I am forced to hurt you.
Morrigan (chuckling):
Ha-ha-ha! And what makes you think you can beat me?
Sarah (Showing off her whip):
This makes me think so. Now, are you ready to hand over that antidote or will you fight me for it? For your sake I hope you do not choose the latter.
Morrigan:
Ah my dear child, if you seriously think you can win you must be delirious. My scorpions and I will make sure you don’t get out of this castle alive.
Sarah:
Why can’t you listen? I told you my name is Sarah! Are you deaf or just plain stupid?
Morrigan (Her expression turned to anger):
Now you have done it you insolent little brat! Now I shall grant you no mercy. Prepare to die!


End part 13.

Part 14: Morrigan Attacks! (Third Boss Fight)

As Morrigan jumped off the gold mound, Sarah back flipped and prepared to attack. Seeing as her adversary wasn’t exposing any weak spots, she made no changes to her whip at that time. After Morrigan landed Sarah attacked her with an extended whip attack. With this, Sarah tried to hurt her opponent with only the tip of the whip. Sarah’s attack hit Morrigan on her left shoulder; this seemed to make her a bit angrier while making Sarah smile. As Sarah prepared for another attack, she decided to upset her opponent a little more.

Sarah:
Is that the best you can do wench?
Morrigan:
What did you call me? Do you really expect me to just stand here and take this?
Sarah:
Just let me have the antidote, I have no time for this.
Morrigan:
Don’t worry child, you have more than enough time for a fight.

Just as Sarah heard that final comment she lashed at Morrigan. Sarah’s foe was quick enough to get herself out of the way but not quick enough apparently, as the whip still got a hold of her arm. With that, Sarah pulled it towards her and sent Morrigan almost flying into Sarah’s foot as she kicked forward. Morrigan got loose as she rubbed her stomach from that awful kick and, before getting lashed at again, she rolled to avoid it. Sarah thought it would be a good idea to try and throw a cross at her enemy right then; but as she grabbed the cross on her belt Morrigan whistled and five scorpions rose from the gold mounds behind her.

Morrigan:
Let’s see if you can handle that whip so well against my dear scorpions. Go my scorpions! Let her feel your stingers so she can experience hell on earth.

Sarah didn’t reply, she was amazed to see that the animals seemed to listen to this woman’s commands. She also noticed that one of the scorpions was just like the one that had attacked her parents, while the rest of them seemed to be of a different kind from each other. While Morrigan recovered from the blow, her scorpions advanced slowly at Sarah. Having no other choice, Sarah decided to use both her cross and her whip against them. As she threw a copy of the cross towards one of the scorpions, they suddenly stopped moving slowly and evade the cross by scurrying across the floor as fast as their little legs allowed. This worried Sarah somewhat so she started to make combo attacks with her whip to try and hit as many of them as possible. Seeing as crosses would be too slow to hit any of them she decided to save them for Morrigan. Just before a scorpion jumped at Sarah, she reacted with her whip and cut it in half. Two others took the chance to attack from behind but she ducked in time. The scorpions didn’t even have time to land as Sarah lashed at them, killing them instantly. The scorpions that were left took different positions, hoping to catch Sarah from both sides. Morrigan kept a close watch, but she didn’t like what she was seeing. She soon realized her precious scorpions didn’t stand a chance so she did what any mother would have done.

Morrigan:
Enough! Retreat my beauties; I’ll handle this from now on.

The scorpions retreated almost immediately. Sarah was touched; she never expected someone like Morrigan to care for anyone or anything. Then again, she thought this could have been some sort of trick to make her think the scorpions were out of the way so they could attack at a most favorable time. Nevertheless, she had to keep her cool if she was to emerge victorious. Morrigan then pulled a small, thin sword she had concealed on her back. Instead of retreating, Sarah stayed still to watch for her opponent’s movement. Morrigan charged at Sarah and lunged at her with her rapier. Missing by barely a few inches, she kept aiming for Sarah’s heart. Not being able to lash at her foe with her whip while dodging attacks, Sarah decided to try her luck by throwing a cross at her. Between a couple of quick strokes deal by Morrigan, Sarah managed to grab her cross and pull out another copy of it. The cross went through Morrigan’s rapier striking her arm, dealing quite some damage. This caused Morrigan to loose some balance and trip over. This also allowed Sarah some time to get a better position to hold her whip and deal an attack with it. Before Morrigan could stand up again, Sarah had already lashed at her. This attack got her right in the stomach and even though she wanted to cry out in pain, she held her own. Now she was even madder, as she couldn’t believe she was being bested by a mere teenager. “She must not be an ordinary human”, she thought to herself; “maybe this was the reason that Mathias fellow asked me to take care of her.” Now the stakes were higher for Morrigan as she finally understood what her role was in this plot. Before any of them could do anything else, the cross was making its return trip, hitting Morrigan’s back and dealing even more damage. As that happened, Sarah knew she had to take advantage of it and lashed at her enemy once more. This time her whip grabbed on to Morrigan’s foot just before she could react. Sarah pulled on the whip with all her might to pull Morrigan close. As she did she grabbed yet another cross from her belt and threw it. This time Morrigan could not escape so she whistled for her scorpions to come out and attack Sarah. Right as the cross hit Morrigan once more, the scorpions attacked Sarah just as she was busy holding on to Morrigan. The stingers pierced Sarah’s flesh as she cried out in pain. She quickly grabbed one and threw it on the floor; after doing so she stepped on it before it could recover. The last scorpion tried to get away but Sarah’s whip was already loose so she managed to kill it rather quickly. In the mean time, Morrigan turned around to see where the cross was so she could evade it by the time it returned. She didn’t have to wait long as the cross was already on its way back. She barely managed to evade it because of all the damage she had taken before. This battle had taken its toll on Morrigan and she knew it. Hoping her scorpions had weakened Sarah, she had to do whatever it took to take her down once and for all. As she turned to where Sarah was however, she discovered that both scorpions had been finished. There were some good news as Sarah had been stung and was poisoned. Morrigan knew this was her chance so she lunged at Sarah yet again. Sarah was quick but she had lost some of her agility because of the poison. Even though she managed to avoid a very painful death, the rapier still pierced her left arm. Sarah then somehow managed to lash at Morrigan once more. The two combatants retreated for a moment so they could catch their breath. Sarah then ripped some of her clothing so she could wrap it around her left arm where the blood was gushing out from. This was not the time or place to bleed to death for sure. This poison affecting Sarah was different than the one affecting her parents, as she began to experience some paralysis and muscle spasms. Sarah wished Vishno was there to help but she knew she had to handle this matter on her own. Even though they were both too badly injured to keep attacking each other, they both knew that the poison would eventually paralyze Sarah completely. Once that happened, Morrigan could simply walk over to her and take her life. Sarah knew she had to do something quickly before this took place; but how? Meanwhile, Morrigan figured that all she had to do was simply to wait for the poison to affect Sarah fully; so she slowly sat in front of the gold demon statue. Time was running out for Sarah as she quickly discovered that she couldn’t get her arms to move well. There was no way for her to make a quick motion straight forward so it left her without the ability to use her whip. This also annoyed her in a way that she couldn’t throw a cross straight at Morrigan who, was smiling and waiting for her opponent’s demise. As she was, thinking of a way to get herself out of this desperate situation, she saw something that gave her an idea. Around the neck of the gold statue a crack could be seen. If she couldn’t get to Morrigan directly, she thought that this might have been another way to get to her. As she threw a cross, Morrigan laughed at her pathetic attempt as she failed to realize Sarah’s true target. The cross flew across the left side of the room near the wall, it then hit the neck of the statue, flew across the right wall of the room to disappear right next to Sarah. Both women looked at the statue which began to make some nasty cracking sounds. To Morrigan’s surprise, the head of the statue fell on her. Barely escaping being crushed, she didn’t have enough strength or agility left so the head of the statue fell on her legs. Morrigan cried out in pain this time as both her legs were crushed. Sarah slowly crawled towards Morrigan and wrapped her whip on Morrigan’s neck.

Sarah:
Come on, give me the antidote.
Morrigan:
You... How did you come to possess such cunning and strength?
Sarah:
I’m the descendant of a great family of vampire hunters. Now give me the antidote or I’ll swear you’ll regret taking on this job.
Morrigan:
Here, take it and be gone. I failed to realize my dream of supreme wealth. The vial with the green liquid is for your parents, the one with the yellow liquid should take away your paralysis condition.
Sarah:
How do I know you’re telling me the truth?
Morrigan:
Just go, get out of here and leave me be child.

End Part 14.

Part 15: Reunion.

After Sarah drank the yellow liquid she regained control of her muscles but her injuries remained. At that moment, another white circle appeared near the door and its light made Sarah turn her head. She knew it was time to leave so she directed her steps towards the circle. Before she could take more than two steps however, Morrigan called out to her.

Morrigan:
Wait! If you hope to make it further ahead in the castle you will need this key.

Sarah turned around again and faced Morrigan with a suspicious look on her face.

Sarah:
Why would you want to help me?
Morrigan:
Take it... don’t take it... It’s of no concern to me. This key is useless to anyone unless it can trap a soul inside it. All I know is that in order to make it to the throne room, this key is needed along with some other item. What that item is or where to get it you’ll have to find out on your own.
Sarah:
Very well, I shall do as you say. I am just sorry we had to meet in these circumstances. You do not seem to be such a bad person so I think we might have been friends in a different life.
Morrigan:
Do not be sorry. Just take the key and leave.

Sarah felt bad for her opponent even though she was the one responsible for putting her parents in danger, she couldn’t forget that she was also a human being and not a demon.

Sarah:
Would you like me to help you get out of here?
Morrigan:
No, just leave me alone child.
Sarah:
Are you sure there isn’t something I can do for you? You look like you’re in a lot of pain.
Morrigan:
I said get out child! I certainly don’t need your pity. I can take care of myself just fine without anyone’s help. I have done so all my life and I’m not about to start now.
Sarah: (Sighs)
Fine...

With the skull key now in her possession, Sarah made her way into the circle which; immediately made her vanish into thin air. After a few moments of struggling, Morrigan freed herself from the statue’s head. Before she could do anything else, a dark figure emerged from the shadows in the room. It quickly leaped onto Morrigan and broke her neck. It was Joachim! Somehow his trial went without a hitch and he had more powers than before. By feasting on Morrigan’s blood, he is left recuperated from his ordeal in the chaos realm. Meanwhile, Sarah arrived at the great hall where she found Vishno staring at the door to the left of the one leading to the armory and catacombs. Sarah was glad to see Vishno alive and ran to his side. Before she could say anything to her friend though, he spoke without turning around as if knowing she was there.

Vishno:
This door leads to the castle’s library you know...
Sarah:
How are we supposed to get it open?
Vishno:
Did you get the key from Morrigan?
Sarah:
Yes I do, is that the only way in?
Vishno:
Actually, no... This door is open already. It must have opened before I returned from the castle’s treasury. It was wide open by the time I got here so I decided to explore while you were in another area.
Sarah:
Did you find the other item we need to proceed?
Vishno:
No but I did find that the library is a small maze with many rooms. I did find a way to proceed that has less monsters so we don’t waste anymore valuable time. The door to the last room is sealed and apparently, it can only be opened with a skull key; which you have right now.
Sarah:
Oh, so that's how you know about the key... that’s great but could you wait for me for a moment? I need to go to the safe room before proceeding. I have a few injuries and I sure could use a rest.
Vishno:
Listen Sarah, there is no time for that. We need to move fast if you want to rescue your brother. You do want to save your brother from becoming a vampire don’t you?
Sarah:
You’re right I... I should just take a potion now and move on. I’m sure there will be a chance to rest later. (At least she hoped so)
Vishno:
Good, let’s move on then.

They opened the door and entered the next area in a hurry, but not before Sarah took one of her potions out and drank it. The first thing they saw was a big round room with three doors in front of them. Vishno took the lead and Sarah followed, taking the door in the center took them to a small room with a small flight of stairs leading down. As they made their way to the end they opened the next door to another large round room with three more doors. This time Vishno took the door to the left and Sarah quickly caught up. As they opened that door they discovered a medium size room with a few cases on the walls. These cases had shelves and on them, many scrolls could be seen. As soon as they stepped in the room some of them flew off the shelves in their direction. Vishno evaded their tackle attack quickly and so did Sarah. Sarah was about to take her whip out when Vishno noticed and made a gesture to her to indicate they should forget about the floating scrolls and move along. They kept moving and dodging the scrolls’ attacks until they arrived at the door. After setting foot inside the next room they kept moving from room to room. One of them had some sort of living armor in it but it was so slow they managed to slip by it quickly. Finally, they arrived at a big room with a big door on the far side, right in front of them. To their right, another one of the red doors could be seen. This of course, led to another safe room. Sarah arrived at the big door ahead of Vishno and began to search for a keyhole. Suddenly, a keyhole magically appeared in the center as if the door sensed the key in her possession. Sarah was shocked but it didn’t make her loose time as she promptly inserted the key inside and turned it. After opening the door to the last part of the area they discovered a huge room with a lot of cases embedded on the walls. An enormous chandelier hung from the ceiling in the middle of it but it wasn’t the only light source. There were also plenty of pedestals keeping the room lit next to the walls, between each case. All of the cases were as tall as the walls themselves and almost all of them were filled with scrolls on their shelves. There was one detail bothering Sarah here and it was a strange looking scythe in the middle of the room. The scythe was plunged in the floor as if someone had left it there. As they stepped further in to investigate, a figure emerged from the floor right next to the scythe.

Death:
Sarah, Vishno, what is your business here?
Vishno:
Ah, if it isn’t Death itself. We have come here seeking an item that will let us get to the throne room. Do you know what it is?
Death:
As a matter of fact I do.
Sarah:
Do you happen to have it with you?
Death:
I most certainly do. It can only be yours if you defeat me. Are you up to the challenge?
Sarah:
I don’t have time to loose but if there is no other way... Vishno, can I count on your help?
Vishno:
Yes.
Death:
Come! I shall feast on your souls this night.

End part 15.