Castlevania: Of Darkness and Light

Epilogue: Paying it Forward

Sometimes it's worth stepping off the beaten path and taking the road less traveled. 

I followed a rugged dirt road through a thick yet pristine forest trailing north from  the Belmont Hold. Back in its heyday, the reputation and knowledge of the Belmont family attracted patrons near and far seeking aid for an array of monster problems. Nowadays with the  Hold in ruins, the road had  long since been abandoned . Potholes marked nearly every footstep, and weeds had sprouted between the cracks.

I wanted to walk that road, not just to settle my nervous head and satisfy my curiosity, but to survey and see how far it traveled. Now with Belmont fully established, it wouldn't be long before the village would be put on the map, and people either found it as a new place to live, or set out exploring the country. A working village needs a working road, and Alucard didn't want us isolated from the world.

I kicked a pebble from under my feet, merrily wandering the road with my eyes cast on the sunlight in the trees. The Glaring cloak draped comfortably over my casual hiking tunic, and trusty staff in hand. That staff always had a knack of finding its way back to me, one of the village boys recovered it at the banks of the creek a few days after our return. Even though I could no longer summon its true form, or perform magic, it just felt right in my hands.

Sure makes a good walking stick.

"Sure is cloudy today." I looked up at the overcast sky, dark and warning of rain. I felt the humidity on my skin and in my sinuses. "Oh yes. It's gonna pour. I should head back, don't want to get drenched." Normally I didn't care, I loved the feeling of the rain on my skin, but tomorrow was the big day, and worse than getting soaked in the rain so close to the day was Sypha scolding me to near death about it. She was adamant I stayed in town, and argued with Alucard about him letting me off exploring.

I'm sure she'd hunt me down and yank me home by the ear if her belly weren't   the size of a bowling ball. Yeah, best to turn back.

A horse's whinny stopped me from turning around. "Travelers? On this old abandoned road?" Normally I'd follow my instincts and turn the other way, but my instincts were telling me to go forward and investigate.

It's not as if I couldn't defend myself if things turned south, I could still hit very hard with my good 'ol walking stick.

I came upon a traveler's wagon stuck in the road. A tall man in a long grey raincoat stood at the side of the wagon. His boots caked with mud and his face concealed by the hood as he looked disapprovingly at the broken back left  wheel. The driver remained in the seat,  a slender woman in a black cloak and a deep blue dress. Her face was also hidden by the hood of her cloak as she turned her head. "Who are you?" She watched me approach out from the road.

"Hello." I greeted them politely. "Don't worry, I'm not a highwayman or anything of the sort. I was just strolling through when I noticed your wagon. I don't often see  travelers on this  old road and curiosity pushed me to check things out."

"Is that so?" The cloaked woman  remarked cautiously. She lifted her head and I saw her rich blue eyes cast on me in intrigue. "There's a well known saying about curiosity."

I held my staff close when the cloaked man approached. He towered over me and could have easily sent any roving burglar running for the hills. Yet  the tranquility in his shadowed eyes  set me at peace. "Luckily the adage does not apply here. For either party ." The man walked to the back of the wagon, and shifted the wheel. "The wheel appears to be broken beyond repair."

"That ain't good. Do you have a replacement?" I asked, already thinking ahead of going into town and getting roadside assistance. "We do, thankfully enough." The woman hobbled the horse to an old post and brought out the spare from the wagon. "If you could lift the back, I'll can switch the broken wheel with the new."