Castlevania Nocturne: A Sneak Peak

A Nephilim's Advice

excerpt from the next chapter:

Contrary to Alucard's firm insistence, they stopped at the crack dawn. It was a bathroom break, short and quick. Emma took the opportunity to walk alone with Annette. The young woman was uneasily quiet since the marauders, and Emma had a hunch something was on her mind.

"I meant what I said the other day." Emma said as they walked along the river after they did their business. "You can always talk to me about the matter of spirits."

Annette nearly dropped the canteen she was filling. "How did you know that was on my mind?"

"Call it a mother's intuition." Emma winked. "Do they still appear to you?"

"Yes." Annette admitted. "Now they are in my dreams. I saw them surrounding me in the woods, shouting my name, before a three-faced demon came forth and lunged at me."

"That was your dream last night, wasn't it?" Emma realized.

"It was." Annette looked at the Nephilim like a lost child. "What do they want Emma?"

"I don't know." Emma said honestly. "I wish I could answer but when it comes to ancestral spirits, they're very selective on what they reveal to outsiders. I don't expect them to tell me anything else other than what they've already said."

"Find the light." Annette breathed. "It must have something to do with the prophecy. The Child of Iron shall cast light onto darkness. I'm the Child of Iron, the descendant of Ogun. Maybe that's what the spirits want me to do, cast light onto darkness. But I have no idea what that means."

"Neither do I." pondered Emma. "But it's best not to worry about it. Prophecies are always fulfilled, but never in ways you expect them to. Take my mother for example. There was an old prophecy saying she would unite the Speaker and Whisperer clans as one again. She never understood how, until my great great grandson of Whisperer descent married a Speaker woman, and united their bloodlines through their children."

"So we do nothing?" Annette questioned stunned.

"We do what we've already planned." Emma clarified. "Find Sekhmet's mummy, destroy it, and perhaps save the world. Let things play out the way they're intended. Don't try to avoid it or fulfill it. It'll happen when it happens."

Emma perked up at Alucard calling her. "It's time to go. Don't worry about the spirits. They want to help you, they're just being ridiculously cryptic about it. Typical."

"But the three-faced demon?" Annette puzzled.

"Perhaps the spirits are warning you." Emma figured. Alucard called her again. They walked back to the boat.

"I hope we do not find more trouble in Paris, now the vampires know we're going there." Annette worried.

"I hope so too." sighed Emma. "They probably would've caught our trail anyway."

"Probably, but I wish Richter hadn't run his mouth! How could he be so reckless?"

"He's a Belmont. They're all like that." Emma laughed. "There is one thing you should always know about Belmonts, Annette; They may be the biggest knuckleheads in history, but they'll stand by you to the bitter end. To have a Belmont's love is to have all the troubles of the world collapse at your feet." She winked, making Annette pause with a faint blush.

Back in the boat, Emma made herself comfortable and curled up by her father. "I think I'm going to take a nap." she pulled the blanket over her. "Wake me when we get to Paris."

Once they made their destination, it would be nonstop, and Emma took the chance to rest while she could. She felt the brush against her hair as she closed her eyes.

If she hoped her sleep was dreamless, she was mistaken.