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The bright light of a full moon glowed through the stained glass in the Royal Chapel almost like sunlight, the soft sway of evergreen trees distorting the light back and forth. Maria was searching the castle almost frantically, but the beauty of the Royal Chapel made her feel nostalgic, though recent events make these memories bittersweet.
The trees' sway and the moonlight's fluctuation were meditative, as Maria thought more about the task at hand: finding Richter. This whole time she hadn't seen her at all, but Alucard claims that she is on the enemy's side.. Richter is a kind person like Maria herself, and couldn't possibly have found reason to attack Alucard, not the Richter she knows.
After Alucard had told Maria about their encounter, she left immediately to find her brother. The Castle Keep, the only place Maria thought she might find some answers, was empty, and her frustration grew tireless as she searched anywhere else. It seems like there are many places of the castle that are inaccessible to her, she realized it was foolish to leave Alucard the way she did, it seems they know this Castle well.
Maria was backtracking and continued to wander, checking for any possible sign of Richter, Alucard, or anything that might help her figure out what's going on here, and what Richter has to do with it. As she begins to descend the circular staircase leading to the antechapel, where the poltergeist sword floats idly, Maria is once again in awe of the complex glasswork; she doesn't quite understand why Dracula would have a Chapel if he is the devil incarnate, but it was enchanting.
The sound of a creaking door breaks Maria from her spell, it came from below her, she thought of the dead-end that lies through that door and felt eager that it had been opened, and optimistically expected her friend Alucard to pass by. But it was Richter- the bold and shining blue of Richter's coat struck Maria like a bolt of lightning, and she wanted to call out but opted to obscure herself in the staircase as she remembered what Alucard told her.
Richter walked at a fast pace, the heel of her shoes were blunt and echoed through the antechapel, it was clear she was in a hurry and didn't care who knew about it. Quickly Maria realized something else- the possessed sword was still and unmoving; was it not aware of Richter? The sound of Richter's shoes faded as she made her way through the chapel, and the sword remained unbothered.
Though she was still for a moment longer, Maria realized she couldn't lose track of Richter- she needed to confront her, or at the least find out what she was doing.. Richter's pace seemed to indicate a sense of urgency, Maria would have to hurry closely behind. Of course, as always, the large glowing sword branded its many other smaller swords in the circular rotating position they religiously take.
Hurriedly she made her way to the mighty staircase, of which Richter easily had made her way almost all the way down, and Maria paused until Richter surely wouldn't see her. As Maria expertly avoided the pillars of bone and the dutiful guards, she envied Richter pettily for seemingly being able to avoid the monsters in this castle, as if to joke to herself about the likelihood of Richter's allegiance being against her own.
Reaching the bottom of the staircase Maria heard the door to the Alchemy Laboratory closing behind Richter, trying her hardest to stay quiet, she turned the door knob slowly and peeked in, observing before making her way stealthfully to the other door, opening it the same as before, and as Richter moved quickly through the castle; Maria felt the could follow this rhythm of waiting and trailing to find exactly where the Belmont is trying to hurry off to.
Maybe something about this game of stealth was able to distract Maria from her fears about the situation, the motions were like that of chess, but where her objective is to go unseen and stay keen on Richter's location. Maria moved carefully as Richter barrelled through the castle with that sense of urgency, which Maria was now invested in knowing about.
As Maria followed, Richter made her way quickly up into the room marked with sigils, up the laboratory steps, down the hallway, and into the twisted corridors, the monsters just ignoring her as he trekked the castle with ease. Maria could hardly keep up, especially to avoid the monsters coming after her. Again, she felt envy for this.
Once they arrived at the Marble Gallery, Maria wondered how much longer she would follow Richter and whether she should just confront her now. But still, she continued to watch from a distance, and avoid having the monsters draw attention to her, it was troublesome, and even though she longed to say hello to Richter again, Maria needed to know for sure whether she was really with the enemy or not.
The sound of clocks drew near as Richter disappeared into the hallway, with Maria close behind, though once the Belmont reached the clock room, she stopped. Maria retreated to behind a corner, as she quietly summoned little Byakko to take care of the fleamen, so that she could spy in peace. It seemed like Richter's hurry was to arrive at this place, but why. Maria watched carefully from an angle behind Richter, he would not be able to see Maria, but still, she was cautious not to be spotted.
Richter continued to look around for something unknown, Maria observing closely and hiding further into the corner of the hallway, the sound of ticking clocks keeping her focus on point. As Richter focused on the skull carved into the clock, leaning forward almost to touch it, the ground below her shook and began to open up.
Shouting, Richter jumped back and Maria hid herself away entirely for a moment, and when the rumbling stopped she listened closely for movement. The sound of Richter's heeled shoes hitting stone ground beneath where she was standing before was Maria's cue to make her own move. As she entered the large clock room, Maria peered into the chamber below the floor and watched as Richter moved forward further within.
Patiently she waited for another noise to indicate something to her, but the large hole in the floor began to close with the same rumble, Maria was startled but she quickly opted to jump down, and it seemed the rumbling hid the sound of her own heeled shoes hitting the floor. A caged elevator similar to the one in the Outer Wall at the other end of the chamber, there were also rooms on either side which Maria ran for to find cover, quickly bringing herself back into this game of spying.
The sound of metal clanking against metal rang through the dusty stone chamber, surely Richter trying to work the caged elevator. Richter let out a surprised noise as the sound of gears suddenly shifting and turning lowered the cage further down to somewhere, silently Maria laughed to herself at Richter's exclamation, a metal cage of that fashion was surely a thing Richter would say is a death-trap.
As the sound of the elevator went further away, Maria snuck over to where it had departed and peered down. Underestimating the depth, Maria was taken aback; not exactly a fear of heights, but the way it was structured the elevator didn't even descend all the way down- it seemed there was even more below.
Cautiously Maria watched as Richter looked down assessing the depth herself, trying to find the best way to descend, before sitting along the edge and making the jump down to the bottom; Maria worried about Richter's safety as she jumped down, it seemed foolish, but Richter was unharmed aside from a pained grunt as she hit the ground. Richter's form was good, but it was still a long way down.
Maria was surprised the caged elevator began to move back to its original position, the loud sound of metallic gears turning and chains clanking now directly in front of her. Maria thought hard as she entered the cage herself and descended, how was she going to know when to drop down if she can't see where Richter is? It wasn't possible to keep track of where Richter was going with this noise, but Maria decided she needed to just hurry if she didn't want to track of her brother.
When the elevator hit the end of its length once more, Maria jumped down the long pit same as Richter had, though Suzaku assisted in giving Maria a lighter landing. The surface of the structure Maria found herself on was strange, it was large but there appeared to be more depth on all sides of it, and a slanted surface on all four corners of the structure with pentagrams carved into it. To her left she heard the sound of Richter's shoes hitting stone platforms, same as before, so she followed the sound to the edge of the structure and peered over as she caught another glimpse of the Belmont.
Maria listened closely as Richter's shoes echoed through the oddly shaped chamber, it made the sound even across the entire area, and she could no longer tell where it was coming from. There was a sound like gears grinding, but not like metal, like the sound of stone pushing stone, a mechanical yet primitive rumbling. Though she felt unsure, Maria decided she must push forward if she is to find out Richter's destination.
Dropping further down and attempting to remain as quiet as possible in this echo chamber, Maria finds the very bottom of the crypt, with a strange pillar almost holding it up in the center, though it didn't look very stable. This could have been what Maria heard, her heart raced as she realized this was a wide-open space with nowhere to hide, but she was determined to move forward yet.
It became apparent that this pillar was what she heard, it looked like an elevator to the strange seemingly floating stone structure in the center, Maria confirmed this for herself as she noticed a seam above it, where normally there must be a hole in the center. A gasp almost escaped Maria as she heard Richter's voice speaking, there must be another person with her in there. Listening closely, Richter's voice was only hardly audible, and the other voice was too far away from this seam for Maria to catch it.
".. I sent the minions after them, but it appears they were defeated…. The intruder made it through.."
Maria's heart dropped as Alucard was proven right, though she wasn't entirely surprised at this point seeing as no monster in the castle had cared about Richter's presence. Although she couldn't make out the words of the second voice, it sounded as if the conversation was important, and Maria could swear that Alucard's name was spoken, and Richter made a sound like she was thinking.
"Hmm, I'm familiar…. You're saying that was him? Well what is he doing here, I thought that happened a long time ago."
Maria was positioned directly below where this platform was raised, trying her hardest to hear this other voice, though only a few words she could make out.
"from slumber….. to stop us, so we must….."
She was annoyed at this being, it seemed they were pacing back and forth, as the audibility became better and worse every few moments. Richter's laugh startled Maria as she was focused so closely on the other voice.
"Hahaha, what a challenge! I underestimated him by not going after him myself in that Colosseum, if only I had known then-"
"No, you mustn't. If you are……… then it will be……. " Maria cursed this second voice for being so hard to make out
"Well, sure, if you insist.. So what should we do? We should be speaking with the others about this as well."
The feeling was uncomfortable for Maria, it was very strange to hear Richter's voice in such a context. Who are the others? Maria's thoughts begin to revolve around Richter's disappearance, and what could have happened, but Maria deafened her thoughts as it seemed the second being was telling Richter something important.
"Huh? What's the problem.."
The other voice was now too quiet for her to hear anymore, and Maria grimaced, this was too important and she was frustrated.
"What? Wait, you mean really dead... She's gone?"
Maria's thoughts were in limbo as she waited for more. Who is 'she'?
"That- that intruder?? He killed her? God damn it!" The sound of Richter's shoes indicated she was agitated physically, and now paced slowly as tension seemed to fill the space above.
It was a strange thought for Maria to try and wrap her head around, the idea that Richter might have new connections with new people since a year ago. Before she hadn't considered it, Annette told her that Richter cared for them very much, Maria didn't doubt this, but the thought of Richter caring for someone on Dracula's side like this made her fear for Richter, the worst scenario of which would be Richter truly aligning herself with Dracula's forces.
The second voice continued to explain something to Richter, still muffled too much to make out any words, only the passing noun or adjective and the tone of the conversation. As she listened to the cadence, Maria realized this voice was very eerily familiar.
"I understand... We will make sure the intruder pays for what he's done to Annette, whatever you need me to do."
That name stopped Maria in her thoughts immediately, and her heart started to beat hard and fast. Annette was at the village, she should've been; she wanted to come and find Richter but agreed to stay behind for Maria's sake, and for Juste and Maxim. Annette would never break her promise, and there is no way Alucard would hurt an innocent. This other person must be lying to Richter, she is certain this must have nothing to do with Annette!
Maria's thoughts were spinning as she tried to make sense of this, she started to feel like Richter is being tricked by this person, by Dracula's forces; she was so deep in thought she lost track of trying to hear the conversation, but she quickly found her focus and listened once more for any clues.
"Our power combined? So you will be a part of me..? That doesn't mean you can read my mind, right.."
This didn't sound good to Maria either, and she thought how foolish it was for Richter to trust this. The other person seemed to move closer.
"…. ritual that will lend my power to you, so that we can finish this intruder, and bring about the eternal battle."
There was definitely something about this voice that was grossly familiar.
"Good, it sounds like this Alucard won't know what hit him."
"Yes, surely.. Now hold still, I will commence the ritual." It seemed the person was right where Richter was now.
"Wh-what kind of.. Ahh- ow! Ahhgh- AAGGHH-"
The sound of yelling scares Maria as she stepped back, and as she worried immensely for Richter's well-being. The cries of pain began to echo through the wider chamber, she was frozen. Bright green light began to pour out of the seam she was eavesdropping from, and it frightened Maria greatly; stepping back she tripped down the ramp that led to the pillar, before she scrambled to run in the opposite direction, performing a high jump to reach the top of the structure that Richter was inside of, subject to this apparent 'ritual'.
The situation began to sink in deeply, and Maria stopped to look around her. This place was horribly eerie, and the subsiding of screams almost made it creepier. Maria could even hear loud and labored breathing, the thought of this coming from Richter scared her more and more, but she was frozen and unsure of what to do.
She wanted to hide, she wanted to find Alucard and warn them, and part of her once more wanted to confront Richter herself. The mechanical rumble she heard before shook Maria from her fear long enough to realize she needed to hide again, quickly she used her high jump to reach the top of the tunnel and jump past the elevator, before running to the room she hid in before.
"Hello?!"
A gasp escaped her as she heard Richter's voice call out from below, she must have heard Maria's movement, she must have been sloppy in her haste. Richter was still down the tunnel and didn't have Maria's mobility, so she quietly turned to hide in the room she had before, tucking herself neatly into the corner behind a pillar, and making herself still and quiet.
Maria listened closely for the sound of the elevator going up and then Richter departing off of it and making her way down the hall, and Maria had to refrain from peeking, but did so for a moment and caught the end of Richter's coat flowing behind her confident stride. Seems Richter decided not to investigate the sound. The rumbling stone indicated Richter was leaving, this filled Maria with relief and she was able to catch her breath, which she had apparently been holding in the entire time.
The sound of rumbling stone sounded once again and Maria realized she was losing Richter, panic struck as she ran to the center of the stone chamber, only to witness it closing her in. After a few moments of feeling defeated, confused, and overwhelmed by what she had come to witness, Maria collapsed to the ground and began to cry.
Maria didn't care how loud she was as it appeared no one else was in the chamber any longer, and she wouldn't have cared anyway- she was in shock and lamenting over her helplessness in the situation, both because of Richter disappearing and turning to the side of evil, and her being literally trapped in this chamber.
For a while Maria allowed herself to feel, Annette always taught her that those feelings are important and theyre healthy. It was at least fitting to mourn her memories of Richter's kindness and love. Though the mention of Annette's name here in the castle perplexed Maria, it at least made her feel certain that there is more going on here than some kind of betrayal.
The tears dried on Maria's face as she lifted herself up from the dusty stone, brushing off her outfit and wiping her face off with her forearm. This door was a big issue, but there must be some way to open it. Most of this chamber was empty and had very little mechanation aside from the elevator and the platform which raises into the central part.
The central chamber! Hastily Maria turned around and made her way back down the tunnel, ignoring the elevator entirely, to where she had been eavesdropping, sure enough, the platform was flat on the ground, with a hole appearing from the bottom of this impossibly floating chamber. Approaching the circular platform, the sudden movement of it startled Maria though she was eager to see the inside.
Though Maria had already assumed the inner chamber would be empty, she was relieved to be right about that. It was even more creepy than the larger chamber of which it was a part of. A large oval structure with three sections and a socket in the middle was the centerpiece, carved out deeply from the wall, it protruded far and seemed to have a larger organ-like structure around the base of it, like a brain, with huge clawed fingers wrapped around the whole thing.
The imagery filled her with some sense of dread, like she understood it, but also like she was looking at an illusion.
As Maria continued to observe the room, she noticed more eyes around the side, and even an upside-down platform on the ceiling, though what purpose it serves she had no clue. This room must have some kind of solution, some way out. After all, if that other person was in here, they must have been controlling the door to let Richter in. The more Maria thought about this whole thing, the more unsettled she felt, and the more worried she was for Richter.
The only thing that seemed like it was important was the empty socket in the center of the oval, it seemed concave like something could be inside of it, it could have even been a part of the 'ritual' performed on Richter, the remembrance of which made Maria shudder slightly.
There was little else to take in about the room, and so Maria's thoughts trailed toward Annette, wondering what she would do. It made Annette sad when she had to leave, they had talked so much about going out together to go and look for Richter, but once Castlevania entered the picture, Maria had to insist that Annette stay behind. Though not due to a lack of ability on Annette's part, she had even become strong enough to cause Richter herself to yield during their spars. What Maria feared was supernatural; regardless of her strength, Annette doesn't command divine beasts or come from an innately powerful bloodline, they are sisters, but the Renard blood is Maria's own.
Thinking about her options, she remembered Annette had given her something she said might be useful before Maria departed for the castle, a pair of old lorgnette eyeglasses, which Annette described as being able to 'see beyond evil illusions'. This situation certainly seemed like some evil illusion, so Maria slid the glasses out from the inside pocket of her jacket, extended the handle, and looked through the lens at the room.
It seemed like everything was the same, although as the lens passed over the empty socket, the same green glow that had come out of the seam was faintly emanating from deep inside the socket, though she could only barely make it out. Maria removed the lens to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and sure enough, the green glow was not there without the lens. This may be a clue, but the recent memory of Richter's yelling associated with the green glow was distracting Maria in an emotional way.
Maria is glad that Annette had not joined her, for this castle is proving sinister, in ways that she has never yet faced. This isn't like all those years ago, and remembering Richter using Annette's name and wanting to seek revenge for her death forces Maria to realize that if Annette had been here, it perhaps could have been the case. All of this was overwhelming to Maria, and she wished for nothing more than to reverse everything, and maybe she could have stopped Richter from leaving in the first place.
Tears cloud her vision as she stares up at the empty socket in the wall, feeling at a loss for what she could possibly do next, or what she should be feeling. Suddenly, the mechanical sound of the platform startles her.
"Wh-who's there-!"
"That voice... Maria?"
The sight of Alucard was a relief, they were somehow able to find a way into the chamber.
"Ah- thank god it's you, Alucard.. I-I'm sorry. You were right, Richter has joined forces with the enemy.."
Maria didn't quite know how she would explain what she saw, but she's glad that Alucard told her the truth.
"So it was a Belmont after all."
Alucard thought this was strange, but not impossible, though they almost felt smug about the irony of it.
"I believe someone must be controlling him.. Whatever we do, we can't hurt Richter! I think she may already be in pain.."
Pausing for a moment, Alucard tried to express to Maria that they believe her, though not through words.
"But Richter must be stopped.."
Maria felt sad, they were right, Richter is one with the enemy now; she knows that she would be able to stop Richter, but the thought of having to do so made her afraid.
"I..I know.. Alucard, will you stop him? I know Richter well, I-I couldn't possibly do it myself.."
Maria had no choice but to turn to Alucard with this vulnerability of hers.
"Of course."
She was grateful for Alucard, despite their few words, it did appear to her that they cared. Maria knows she wields practically endless strength, but she would hold back entirely if she had to face Richter. Alucard is the only person who could help, they seem capable, but they deserve to be warned.
"Richter is powerful, Alucard.. I think she has become more so than even I am aware. Alucard, can you prove that you're powerful enough? Do you know the extent of the Belmont's use of holy power?"
Of course, Maria didn't really know Alucard, she witnessed him fighting a Hyppogriph in the Royal Chapel, but it seems there's more going on here than either of them realize.
"How will I show that to you.. I knew Trevor Belmont, I've seen him fight.. Though I know not who Richter is, or what he is capable of, I have only fought his supposed 'servants'"
It's important that Alucard not underestimate Richter, as Maria understands it she is capable of incredible attacks that Belmonts like Trevor or Simon were not.
"Will you fight me here, may I test your strength? Richter trained me, our bloodlines were once the same, and we have fought and trained with our powers before.. I will not hurt you, but I ask that you show me your own power."
Maria thought of her spars with Richter, and Annette, and hoped that Alucard would understand the purpose.
"… As you wish, Maria, we will fight."