It was a beautiful morning. Sun was about to rise, and it already lit up the horizon. Soon, everyone would get up. But not yet.
The town was peaceful. Everything was quiet.
A young woman opened the door quietly and stepped outside. She looked around. There was no one to be seen. She smiled
to herself and closed the door behind her. She smiled as she walked along the road to the other side of the town,
the edge of the Moor of Silence. She looked around - she was searching for something.
She walked along the road for a while, then turned and followed a narrow path leading south. Finally she stopped. She stepped off the path and started picking the flowers that grew near some bushes. She took all the flowers she could carry and headed back to the town. Suddenly heard a voice behind her and stopped.
"Mother?"
A four-year-old girl stood there, looking at her.
"Sypha! What are you doing outside, it's still dark out here."
"I saw you leave. I followed you."
"You shouldn't have. It's dangerous. Come on, let's go home."
"What are all those flowers?"
The woman smiled. "It's your father's birthday. Let's go now and try not to wake him."
"Okay."
The woman put down some of the flowers and took her hand. They walked towards home.
They were almost there, when suddenly three werewolves rushed from the woods and stopped just few feet away from them.
The woman dropped the flowers.
"Sypha, run. Run home. Now!"
"Mother?"
"Go!!"
The little girl stood there for a while, then stepped a few steps away from her mother. She hesitated. The woman glanced at her quickly, staring the werewolves at the same time. They were staring back, about to attack.
"Sypha, I told you to run!"
The girl turned around and ran to the fence. She stopped there, looking at her mother. She was now surrounded by the werewolves as they attacked her. She tried trying to keep them away, but she couldn't. The girl stared, not knowing what to do. The woman screamed.
A man came out from the house. He stopped, then started to run towards his wife.
"Catherine!!!"
"Christopher... Sypha..." Her voice was weak.
He run to her, not noticing his daughter was standing further away. The werewolves were still there, but he didn't care. He knelt by his wife, who lay on the ground, covered with blood.
"Catherine..." He shook his head. He fell down as the werewolves attacked him now. He covered his wife with his own body.
"Mother!!!" The girl screamed. "Father!!"
"Sypha! Oh my God!" Christopher tried to look, but the werewolves were there. He closed his eyes.
A bright ball lightning hit the ground. Then another one hit one of the werewolves, then the other two. They all fell down, dead. The red mage come out from the woods. He run to Christopher, who pushed him away and picked up his wife.
"Take Sypha. She's there."
The mage turned around, just to see the young girl run to them. She stopped by her father and touched her mother's hand. She didn't move.
"Mother?"
"Sypha..." She couldn't open her eyes. "Chris... take care of her... I... love... you... both."
"Catherine..." He put her down, and touched her face. "Catherine... No! No...!!!"
"Mother!!!!"
"Sypha. Sypha! Wake up!"
Sypha opened her eyes slowly. She was shaking. She looked up to her father's face, tears in her eyes. He looked back at her. His brown eyes were cold as ice and so was his voice.
"You were having a nightmare. You screamed."
"It was... mother..." she sobbed.
Christopher turned around and went to the door. "I see."
"What are you two doing in there?" Jonathan yelled from the other room. "Shut up, it's too early. I want to sleep." He coughed. "And bring me that tea of yours, before I... " He couldn't say anything else, he just coughed.
Christopher walked to the door and looked at his father. "I'll bring the tea in a minute."
"What is the matter with you, son? Can't you make your daughter to stay quiet? Oh well, what should I expect from you..."
Christopher shook his head. He would not listen to that. He took some hot water and put some herbs in it, thinking. Why did he have to be a healer? He would curse the day he decided to become one. Right now he had to go out to get some more herbs because he was lacking several of them. And his father was such a...
"Father?"
Sypha walked to him, wiping her face. "Is there anything I should do today?"
"Actually..."
Someone knocked on the door. Sypha went to open it. It was a man wearing a dark green cloak. He looked tired and worried.
"Christopher Belnades?"
"I am. What now?"
"There's some weird illness in Aljiba. No one knows what to do. They say you know how to cure it."
Christopher sighed. "Alright. Sypha, take that tea to father." He went to collect some of his things as well as his healer equipment.
Sypha took the tea to her grandfather, who lay in the bed, looking pale.
"What took you so long?"
"Some man from Aljiba came to see father."
"Great. Now he's going away for who know how many days... Help me get up."
Sypha helped her grandfather. He walked to the living room and glanced at the man standing beside the door. "Chris..."
"What? Back to bed, old man, you're going to get yourself killed this way!"
"As if you would care. Going somewhere?"
"There's some illness in Aljiba..."
"Of course. Just go. And who's going to take care of the animals? Sypha?"
Christopher looked at his father's eyes. "Stop arguing, there is a stranger in the house... Just go to bed, I'll take care of things."
"Right..." Jonathan turned around and went to his room, leaving Sypha standing there, not knowing what to do. She looked at her father. He took his bag and turned to the green-cloaked man.
"Wait for me outside. Now. Sypha, I may be away for a few days. Take care of the house for me, okay? Take care of father, and don't let him out of his bed. And... you know the herbs I'm missing. If you could find any..." He knelt in front of his daughter. "I'll tell Bruce to take care of the animals."
Sypha blinked her eyes. She looked puzzled.
"Don't worry, everything's going to be alright. I promise. Just watch your grandfather, okay?"
"Okay."
Christopher walked to the door. "Sypha... check that old mage some time today." Then he went out and closed the door.
Sypha stood there, looking at the floor. She heard two horses leaving. Her father was gone. He had been gone before, but never more than a day... Now he might be gone for days. She was alone with her sick grandfather.
But then her thoughts were interrupted.
"Sypha!! This tea is cold!"
The day was windy. Sypha wrapped her cape around her and walked towards the fields. She was looking for Robin Stone,
her neighbor's son. His father, Bruce, had told her to find him to clean Christopher's animal shelter.
She found him sitting on the fence near the woods, drawing.
"Again? You know what your father is going to do to you if he finds out..."
He looked at her. He was three years older than her, dark-haired like his father. He grinned.
"He won't, if you don't tell him..."
"What if I do?"
"You wouldn't dare... Besides, you're the healer's daughter. You should be as emphatic as he is... Yes, we both know what father would do to me." He jumped off the fence. Sypha slapped him gently.
"I'll tell him. I will. Believe me."
"You won't."
"I will. I will... Unless you show me what you were drawing."
"That's blackmailing."
"Come on..."
"I hate to show my drawings to anyone."
"Why? You are a real artist. You could make a living with those pictures."
Robin shook his head. "Oh no. I'm supposed to be a farmer, like my father. Lucky you, your father is not."
Sypha raised her eyebrows a little and smiled.
"So what. Oh, about farming... Your father sent me here. My father went to Aljiba. He'll probably stay there for some days, and your father promised to take care of our animals. You are supposed to clean the shelter."
"That's not fair... Okay. But only if you help me. Let's go."
"I won't. Oh, unless you show me the drawing."
"Here. Just some birds. Can we go now? And put that away before father sees it."
Sypha looked at the picture for a while and then put it in her bag. "We can go now."
Cleaning the animal shelter took them a few hours. Then Sypha went inside, made some lunch for her grandfather and
collected the equipment she would need. She was going to find the herbs her father needed.
She left the house. She walked down to the beach, then up a small path that lead to Simon Blackwood's cabin.
The castle far away from her looked dark and cold. Well, she didn't have to care about it.
She arrived to the cabin. It was quiet. She knocked on the door softly.
"Who is it?"
"Me."
"And who's that supposed to be?"
"Um... count Dracula?"
The door opened. Simon, wearing his red cloak as usual, looked down at Sypha.
"He's dead. Fortunately." He sighed. "Well, who else could it be but you... the only child in town who isn't afraid of me."
"Should I be afraid of you?"
The old man laughed. "No! I actually like children. But don't you tell that to the others. They might think I'm friendly... I'm supposed to be mysterious. Come in."
Sypha followed him. "Why?"
"Because I'm a powerful wizard that lives near the town. I work for the lord of evil, and I kill innocent children..."
Sypha looked interested. "Really? Well, they say you are a mage."
The mage laughed again. "What have your father taught you? You know me, I'm just an old man. But I'm a good fighter, that's why the townspeople still tolerate me. At least I used to be. The great warlord... ha. And about that mage part, well, if this" he snapped his fingers and made his hand burst into flames "is what it takes to be a mage, I guess I am one."
Sypha looked, eyes wide. "I don't care. You tell good stories."
The mage smiled and shook his hand a little. The fire disappeared. "So, why are you here?"
"Father told earlier me to check you. Last night he left for Aljiba. Probably going to stay there for a few days."
"Christopher thinks someone needs to check me? Tell him he's paranoid. I'm fine. How is your grandfather?"
"Sick?"
"As always. That's what he's been for three years now after the accident."
Sypha sat on a chair next to the door. "What exactly happened to him? No one ever told me."
"They never told you? Well. It was a stormy evening. He was coming back from the fields, when some big bird attacked him. Probably one of those eagles that live in Castlevania. He fell off his horse and hit his head. Later that evening your father became worried when he hadn't returned. So he went out looking for him. He searched... and he run into me, carrying your grandfather. A friend of mine had found him lying on the ground near the woods, covered with blood. Adena and your father took good care of him, but he never recovered completely."
"Oh." Sypha leaned forward a little. "Who was this friend of yours?"
"Just another man like me who lives alone somewhere. He visits me sometimes."
"Ah. Well, here." She took something out from her bag. "Father sent you this, so you won't starve to death."
"Bread. Can't remember when I last saw some... Ha ha ha. Tell your father - when he comes back - that I buy food from the town every day. I'm not starving."
"I'll tell him." She got up. "I got to go now."
"Take care of yourself. You're still a child."
"Don't worry."
The mage took a short staff from a chest that was next to the fireplace. "Here. If anyone or anything attacks you, hit them with this."
Sypha smiled. "Right."
Sypha closed the door behind her and left the cabin. She headed down the path, on her way to the Moor of Silence to find the herbs.
Behind her, on the roof of the cabin, a dark figure knelt down beside the ridge of the roof and looked as she walked away.
The figure stayed there for a while, then transformed into a bat and flew away.