Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma or the Castlevania series. “Dialogue” [Thought] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: Eternal Darkness Stray not into the path of darkness or be lost forever….. -Unknown After the long, yet uneventful flight Ranma put his regular clothes back on and changed gender, to his luck his hair changed back to black and didn’t stay blonde. [Well…I wouldn’t mind one bit though…..] he thought to himself Next, he changed the rest of ‘his’ money and took a taxi, luckily for him the driver understood enough English and after a little confusion and explanation the man knew where Ranma wanted to go. The drive was longer than Ranma expected it to be and mentally grimaced at the amount of the money he lost once again, the sky was rapidly turning dark and the trip started around midday. But that didn’t bother him all that much since he finally reached his destination. Ranma looked at the ruins of what was once a huge castle, and thanks to the book in his possession he knew why there were only these ruins of the enormous castle present. Now he only needed to find the right room, the throne room. To his luck and surprise, the whole place was a known tourist attraction and everywhere he looked small signs were set up with information about the single rooms. After an hour of searching, he finally found the chamber, it was in ruins like the rest of the castle but he could feel a strange presence here. He walked up to the place where the throne most likely stood back in the past and took the arcane book out of his backpack, which he threw to the side. Ranma kneeled down and opened the book to a page he marked during his flight and read, “Hmmm… Let’s see… To open the gateway… … blood… … draw symbol… … read these words but do not, I repeat, do not say them wrong or something terrible will happen… Well, sounds easy enough…” Ranma placed the book to his side so that the ground before him was free, next he put the thumb of his right hand into his mouth and bit himself strong enough that he started bleeding profusely. He slightly winced at the pain but continued with the ritual, Ranma brought his bloody thumb to the ground and started to draw the symbol that was shown in the book. After he was finished, he looked at what he had drawn. It was an upside down pentagram and between each point of the arcane star a magical rune was placed. The symbol had two circles around it and on the outer one words of an unknown origin was drawn. The place between the circles stayed clear. Suddenly the whole symbol started to glow red and expanded, new symbols, words and runes, circles started to cover the ground, then the walls and what remained of the ceiling. Ranma watched in awe as this happened, he never expected such an effect. [Now it’s time for the words… Hmmmm… … what the…! I can’t read the last one, the ink is too smeared!! What should I do… maybe it’s enough if I guess it… I can read the first two letters…] Ranma stood up and held the book in his left hand. His other arm was raised in the air. Slowly he started to recite the three words that was written in the book, “Clatu! Verata! Ne *cough* *cough*!” Ranma put the book back to the ground and waited nervously for something to happen. Then suddenly clouds started to gather and swirl over the castle, the ground started to shake violently and the red glow that emanated the throne room went black and started to move. Ranma’s eyes widened at this reaction and shouted, “What…?! What did I do wrong?!? I said all the words!!” The glowing symbols in the room stopped moving as if they heard what he said and abruptly started to close in on him. They were so fast that he didn’t have the time to dodge them or even the time to shout in horror as they swallowed him up. And as soon as it had started, it was already over. The sky was clear once more, the ground peaceful, the walls empty and no trace was left of Ranma Saotome, except a backpack and a book. Another plane of existence… … He was wrapped in eternal darkness and futilely tried to struggle in vain through it. He couldn’t do anything except one thing. He could still use his voice. So he shouted, “Damn it let me go!! I’m not supposed to be here!!” The darkness didn’t hear him though, so he decided another approach, “Let. Me. Out! Moko Takabisha!!” The yellow beam of light that came out of Ranma’s hands was a force to be reckoned with but the darkness wasn’t very impressed and the light was quickly swallowed up until nothing remained and darkness surrounded him once more. Ranma’s anger knew no bounds, he never felt so furious before. He had come so far; he escaped Nerima, found the castle and used the ritual as described in the book, only to become a prisoner of eternal darkness. He wouldn’t be stopped by the darkness. He would find a way to escape from here even if it took all of eternity. His aura started to appear around him and as before by the goddess it went from blue to a bloody crimson, the darkness as if noticing this event came closer to Ranma and started to seep into his skin, into his body. As this happened a terrible coldness overcame Ranma, it was worse than the Soul of Ice. It chilled him to the core of his very soul as the darkness slowly but steadily entered his body. Ranma couldn’t do anything and knew that, so he closed his eyes and endured it and as the shadows came into his body, not noticed by Ranma, his aura grew from bloody crimson to a very dark shade of red. Midnight, Nekomi Ward……. The occupants of a temple in the countryside were woken up from their sleep by a wail full of terror and horror. Belldandy, Keiichi, and Urd rushed out of their rooms and looked at each other with concerned glances. Keiichi was going to ask to what was happening, when his question was drowned out by another wail coming from Skuld’s room. Belldandy and Urd rushed into the darkened room, with deadly magic at their fingertips ready for anything that would jump out at them, Keiichi turned on the lights. What they saw horrified them. Skuld, Goddess of the Future and youngest of the Norns, was in her pajamas thrashing around in her futon but what horrified them was that she was crying tears of blood and that she was clenching her hands so much that they too were bleeding profusely. “Squirt! Hey Squirt!” shouted Urd as she rushed to where her sister lay and cradled Skuld’s head in her lap and tried to wake her sister up from her nightmare, “Skuld please wake up!” “What’s wrong with her?!” Keiichi asked Belldandy who also took a spot next to Urd, “Why is she crying blood?!” “I don’t know, Keiichi.” said Belldandy in concern, “I fear that something has caused this to her…” Keiichi could do nothing but hope that the young goddess make through her nightmare in one piece. --== Skuld’s Nightmare ==-- Everywhere Skuld looked, she only saw ruins. “Where am I?” she asked herself, still wary of her surroundings. Everywhere she looked, Skuld only saw ruins of once magnificent buildings. Then she heard a sound coming from two directions, she looked to the north and saw people, to her surprise, with angels and valkyries forming up a battle line. They were all in golden battle armor shining brightly when the sunlight hit them. Her head swiveled to the other source of the sound and couldn’t help but scream in horror as her eyes gazed upon hundreds to thousands of demons, their ugly and hideous faces eager for the kill. She couldn’t help but shudder at the very sight of them. “What’s going on here?!” she shouted in anger, confusion, and a little fear. But both sides ignored her or couldn’t hear her and decided to charge each other. Skuld looked up and saw the dark clouds that gathered in the sky swirling as the two armies charged each other. She saw huge green rocks hurtling down from the sky right before the two warring factions collided. Before she could scream in warning, darkness surrounded her and saw that she had arrived in a huge throne room lavishly furnished an obvious show of great wealth and fortune. Suddenly the huge double doors that allowed entrance to the room opened and Skuld recognized the two figures striding slowly up to the throne. “Belldandy! Urd! Am I glad to see you two!” she shouted in relief but stopped when they kneeled to the figure on the throne that Skuld had not noticed till now. “My Lord.” They both said in unison shocking the young goddess But before Skuld could voice her objections the figure rose up from his throne and vanished only to appear in front of the two kneeling goddesses. Using both hands, the lord cupped their chin and motioned for them to stand and when they did, he began to slowly undress them. “What are you doing pervert?!” Skuld shouted in anger as she charged the mysterious lord only to go through him and tumble down on the ground in surprise. “That hurt…..” muttered Skuld as she tried to stand up only see both of her older sisters standing naked in front of the man and started to undress him also, only to pause to lick his exposed flesh. When they finally undressed him, the man started to have sex with both of them, their moans and groans of pleasure proof of their ignorance towards Skuld’s horrified indignation. Then, the man transformed into a huge demonic beast. But Belldandy and Urd gave his change no mind as their moans and groans became screams and shouts of pure pleasure with Skuld watching her older sisters be defiled by the being. She was too shocked and horrified at the sight to do or say anything. When the beast had finally dropped their exhausted and very satiated bodies on the ground, the demon turned its head towards Skuld and grinned maliciously, “You’re next my sweet!” Skuld screamed and tried to run and she was held down on the ground by some unknown force. She could do nothing but cry and scream as the demon ripped off her clothes and defiled her. She was fighting his intrusion with all her might but it was useless, she cried as the self-loathing grew within her. Not because she was too helpless to do anything. But because she was ENJOYING being defiled by the beast, enjoying every pleasure filled second of it. “Please……” she whispered as the beast ravaged her body, but Skuld couldn’t tell in her state if that was a plea to stop or a plea for more. --== End Nightmare ==-- Hino Shrine, Juuban Ward At the same time at the holy shrine where the Senshi of Mars dwelled, Rei Hino, shrine priestess and defender of love and justice was having an apocalyptic vision of things to come as she slept. --== Vision Start ==-- Rei was utterly terrified… She hadn’t felt like this except when they fought all those foes that stood in the way of Crystal Tokyo… But the terror she felt then was nothing Rei felt now as she gazed at the battlefield of death that surrounded her. Everywhere the Senshi of Mars looked she saw only hellish fire and thousands of bodies, their blood turning the very earth beneath them red. She couldn’t stand the heavy stench of death permeating around, so she fell on her knees and emptied her stomach. Rei heard footsteps coming in front of her and looked up and saw that she was no longer in the killing field near a cliff face. The shrine priestess saw a man in dark red armor that looked downright demonic, his back was turned to her and Rei could tell that he was talking to someone she couldn’t see. Rei stood up and moved closer and to her horror she saw Mamoru Chiba, the reincarnated Endymion and future king of the earth, bruised, bloody, broken, and being at held on his throat by the man in demonic armor. The man slowly moved forward until the ground underneath Mamoru was gone, Rei knew without a doubt that the man was going to drop her future king down the cliff. She looked down and gasped when she couldn’t see the bottom of the cliff as if…….. as if it was bottomless. Mustering up all her courage, Rei moved to stop the man however futile it might be until a voice she recognized stopped her. “Wait!!!” shouted Usagi Tsukino as she ran past Rei and towards the man. Rei was torn between Mamoru’s survival and Usagi’s safety when she saw the unthinkable happen. Rei saw Usagi slow down from her run and stood in front of the man and demanded him to release Mamoru, to which the mysterious man grinned and complied. He dropped Mamoru quite close to the edge and moved away from the two, as the priestess watched Mamoru standing up very slowly due to his injuries and was about to thank his future queen when Usagi suddenly grinned evilly and pushed him off the cliff. Rei would never be able to forget the look of shock and surprise forever etched on Mamoru’s face as he plummeted down the cliff nor she could ever forget the words uttered by Usagi in a cold, calculating voice laced with pure venom, “Hail to the King…….” --== Vision End ==-- She woke up with a scream as sweat came down on her forehead. The door to her room was flung open with her grandfather rushing inside with a huge pole ready to bring pain to the foolish intruder who dared to attack his granddaughter. After a few minutes of explanation to her grandfather about having a bad nightmare, Rei was reluctant to go back to sleep but she had to get some rest and tell the others about the vision she had, but had decided not to tell them that Usagi was the one who shoved Mamoru off the cliff. “After all it’s Usagi were talking about.” Rei said to herself, “She would never do that, right?” Rei thought that if she said it enough times, she would believe it. Higurashi Shrine, same night…. Kagome Higurashi, reincarnated Kikyo and strongest of all miko, slept quietly as she dreamed of finally gathering all the Shikon Shards to form the Shikon no Tama and defeating Naraku for good. But as she dreamt of her victory with the others and Inuyasha holding the Shikon no Tama high up in the air in victory, when a sudden chill went up her spine as she watched in horror as a demonic katana erupted through Inuyasha’s torso spraying his blood all over Kagome. She screamed as Sango was skewered by a rain of knives and saw that Miroku was swallowed up in a pillar of hellfire and watched as his burnt husk hit the ground. Kagome turned to Inuyasha and saw that the katana was being pulled out slowly and when it was removed from his bleeding body, more blood sprayed out like a fountain and the hanyou toppled to the ground where a pool of blood formed beneath him. “Too easy.” said a man covered in a dark cloak holding the hellish weapon in one hand as he chuckled darkly. Kagome was even more horrified and disgusted when the man licked some of the blood that landed on his hands and grinned evilly as he walked to where the Shikon no Tama lay a scant centimeters away from Inuyasha’s hands. “The power of the gods is mine.” the man stated as Kagome watched the man put the jewel on his chest and absorbed it, “Soon I will stand tall and shake heaven and hell, then this world will truly be mine!” As Kagome woke up from her dream turned nightmare, she hoped that it was all just a bad dream but the way Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha died, the miko wasn’t all too sure. She couldn’t help but shudder at the insane laughter that reverberated in her head even now. “Hm hm hm hm… heh heh heh heh… Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!” Three years later……. Wolfram and Hart Headquarters, Los Angeles “Good morning Angel.” Eve said in greeting to the boss of the L.A. branch of Wolfram and Hart as she entered his office. “Mornin’ Eve.” replied Angel as he took a sip of his morning cup of blood provided by Harmony, “To what do I owe the liaison of the senior partners for her glorious visit today?” he continued in obvious sarcasm. The woman ignored the question and said, “Can you get the other stooges because I have a very important matter to tell all of you.” “What’s so important?” asked Spike as he walked in the room only to catch the last few words that Eve had said. “Don’t waste my time by repeating myself!” snapped Eve at Spike who merely raised an eyebrow, “Just go find your other ‘friends’ and tell them to come here.” she ordered. Spike looked at her in disbelief and looked at Angel who merely sighed and motioned him to do what she said. A few minutes later…. “What’s the deal, Angel?” Gunn asked Angel impatiently, “I’ve got to go to a court hearing in less than thirty minutes.” “I hope this work doesn’t take too long.” said Fred, “I still have to do some more research on an unknown demon flesh.” “And I’ve got to meet up with Dick Clark to talk about another life extension on his contract.” Lorne said hotly “I know we all got stuff to do.” said Angel calmly, who then motioned towards Eve, “But Eve here is on a mission from the senior partners.” the mention of ‘senior partners’ got everyone’s attention. “Now that I’ve got your eyes and ears on me, I’ve come to tell you that a senior partner is coming to visit here in three or four days.” said Eve “So one of the old geezers is coming on an inspection tour?” asked Spike snorting in contempt “Actually, the thing is…this senior partner is actually a new member.” answered Eve reluctantly “WHAT?!” came the unified shocked response. “Yes, he wanted to meet the great Angelus he’s heard about, so in a couple of days be prepared for a visit from him.” said Eve, who ignored the surprised response and started to leave when Angel’s voice stopped her. “What’s the guy’s name?” he asked Eve turned to him and said, “Arikado.” she turned and left but not before saying, “Genya Arikado.”