The Afterlife | Resident Evil Village FanFiction

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

      Thunderous footsteps echo through the forest, somewhere near the outskirts of Romania as all kinds of animals reside there flee from a shockwave that shook the ground. In between the tree line, a blonde man is trying to his best capability, keeping his pair of steeds under control, so his carriage would stay intact to see another day.

            ‘What was that?’

      The blonde man thinks to himself once the steeds were calm enough for him to lower his guard down. The shockwave he just felt was not something he ever encounters before. It even sent a chill down his spine just recalling it. Shaking his head, he did so to clear the doubt away before brought his carriage to stop. He thinks he could figure it out later as of now, he needs to check and see if his possessions were still in good condition or not.

            ‘Let’s see…’

      Since his body is somewhere over the word enormous, compare to the average human size, he could only spin his head around and move in a limited motion. Then again, he isn’t a human, to begin with. A man he considered his loyal customer even once asked ‘what are you?’ to his face which he could only reply ‘even I can’t quite answer that!’.

            ‘I wish that shockwave has nothing to do with you, Mr. Winters…’

      He thought so to himself, then beacons his mind back to checking his possessions.

      --------------------

      The last thing she felt before her world turned completely dark was hatred. Through the years she spent in the remote village in the outskirts of Romania, being worship as one of the lords who serve Mother Miranda, there were so many times she has to deal with those cheeky bastard humans, assisting Mother Miranda in her experiments. 

      By doing so, she hopes she’d be of help to Mother Miranda to get closer toward her goal of bringing her dearest daughter back. And maybe come to love her more. She hated it when those stupid man-things dirtied her dress or looking at her and her daughters with their dirty looks, but worst of all, she disgusted it when they laid their filthy man-hands on her beloved daughters while they’re getting their assigned tasks done. Yet the hatred she felt before turned into crystal was much stronger than that.

           ‘The entire bloodline of House Dimitrescu is done in, by the likes of you? — Curse you, Ethan Winters’

      Her mind was occupying by the thought even when she isn’t sure with the state she is in if she even has a mind anymore. Her once 9’6’’ body is now gone, left only a little piece of her soul stuck inside this…crystal remains.

            ‘It was cold, wasn’t it girls?’

      The tall lady doesn’t see her beloved daughters in front of her as she whispered that phrase inside her mind since she lost her vision along with her body. She said that internally only because she could still feel their presents somewhere close to her. Where am I anyway, she continues thinking. She thinks she could feel her surrounding is shaking, crushing noises now and then, though she wasn’t sure. All her senses were gone after all.

      Suddenly, she feels as if the entire world is exploding, sending what is left of her stumbled onto something hard. She doesn’t know what to expect anymore nor does she care. She isn’t part of the living world any longer, why should she care? Everything she has was taken away and everyone she holds most dear was ended by him, so why should she care of the living world a second more?

            ‘I’ll continue cursing you even in the afterlife--stupid man-thing!’

      While the hatred she holds onto the man named Ethan clouded her awareness, she doesn’t take notice of the gust of wind blowing by as the curtain of the carriage flipped open. The blonde man emerges inside, hums a Romanian folk song in his soft-pitch voice while rumbling through his possession, checking if they have any damage from the shockwave earlier. 

     Unfortunately for the blonde man, he doesn’t know his simple action of flipped the curtain of his carriage open, let the outside air inside would lead to the unexpected. When the gust of cold windblown came inside his carriage earlier, it also carried hundreds, no, over thousands of spores of the mold which was the result of the Megamycete explosion. These very same spores, 4-5 microns in size which is smaller than any human bare eye could see, are now seeking a suitable host to reside itself in. Now, the Megamycete spores founded the hosts they were already acquainted with—crystal remains and the blonde man.

           “*Cough* *Cough* Where’s all this dust come from?”

     The blonde man mumbled, waving his hand back and forth to flick what he considered ‘dust’ away from the entrance of his respiratory system. Unmindful of soft cracking noises from the large chest, placed further in the corner of his carriage where he kept those crystal remains he bought from Ethan, he continues rumbling and rearranging his possessions.

      The tiny fragment of the tall lady’s soul feels the immediate warmth surrounded her stone-cold remain. What the, she thinks. It was cold up until now, so where is this warmth come from? She was confused, but once the mentioned warmth got closer to her remain and forced itself into her vein, her senses and consciousness are starting to creep back to her little by little. And that was when she’s starting to hear them…those voices of whom she adores the most.

            ‘—Mother’

         ‘Where are you mother?’

         ‘Please, mother—We’re scared’

         ‘Girls…you’re …here?’

      The chorus of mother emerges into her sense when her beloved daughters called her out in unison once heard her reply. Bela, Daniela, …Cassandra, the tall vampire lady calls out their name. She wishes she could just hold them within her arms no matter wherever they are, but fate is so cruel to her as now she no longer has even an arm to soothe them anymore.

            ‘My daughters…’

         ‘Where are you mother? And where are you sisters?’ said Daniela.

         ‘We’re all here, Dani--Mother, Cass, and I’ Bela replied when she could sense and confirm that they are all together. Somewhere.

         ‘But where is here anyway?’ Cassandra pouted along with her question.

      While the girls carry on their conversation in curiosity, the blonde man shifts himself around to move on with checking his possessions task. The movement from his gigantic body caused his carriage to shake back and forth, sending a Porcelain doll and the grotesque crystal remain flying from its place, knocking a larger chest the girls were in off-balance. Their ‘new home’ falls onto the carriage floor, cracked a small hole on one of the chest walls from the impact.

           “Oh! My apologies, miss Angie. My apologies, lord Moreau”

     The blonde man said with a gleeful chuckle as if he finds his clumsiness amusing, still unaware of the horror consequence from the cracked chest to come. He picks up the Porcelain doll with his left and the grotesque crystal remain with his right before checks both possessions for any fracture then places them back to their place. At the moment he turns his back on the cracked chest, there was a blinding light flashing from the inside, shining through every gap it has and followed by an unforeseen explosion!

            “*Boom! *”

            “Ahh!”

      The blonde man screamed before the blast would tear his carriage walls and roof apart, sending him to fly into the air then landed flat on his face on the ground. For several moments, he couldn’t move. Just lying there motionless. The torn skin, the ripped muscles, and the broken spine on his back from the explosion are healing themselves back at an unbelievable speed because of his regenerate ability, gained from the mold.

            “*Cough* *Cough* What was that? *Cough*”

     The blonde man flips himself off the snow-covered ground once his spine and surrounded nerves regenerated back, allowed him to move again. He tries to look through the thick curtain of smoke to where his carriage stands to see better what happened. His horses were spooked from the blast and loud noise, but lucky for him, they are unharmed. The carriage walls must decrease the blast effect from getting outside a great deal.  He looks at his horses who only stomp their feet skittishly in place since they were tied to a massive tree when he stopped his carriage earlier.

      Good lord. My carriage, the blonde man thinks. He takes cautious steps toward what is left of his carriage. Though walls and roof are gone, the base of his carriage is still intact. He hopes it’d be in good enough condition to travel to the nearest town, so he could find himself a new carriage there. Or at least, had someone fixed it. He starts crouching down to collect his scattered belongings and that’s when he took notice that his right wrist was broken from the explosion as well. His hand folds to one side sickeningly and his forearm bone pierced through his skin. 

      He tries to position it back to its place with a loud c***k. Unbelievably enough, but with only that much effort, his right hand is fixed. Well, this’s new, he thought to himself as he witnessed the regenerate speed of his own. Yes, he already aware of his ability, but it’s not this fast if his wound was this severe. It’s also true that Ethan tries to test his regenerate ability multiple times, aiming his grenade launcher and shot at him, though not directly but the closest to him, which he survives. Every time. But the explosion earlier wasn’t something like that. It exploded behind his back, directly without any obstacle. He could have died from it for real.

            ‘How am I still alive?’

      But that question of his was left unanswered for now as his gaze falls upon something more mystic once he navigated his eyes away from his hand. Through the smoke that gradually thinned out, he sees 4 figures. Once the said figures made their way through the smoke, it became clear to him that they are the ladies of house Dimitrescu!

            “L-lady Dimitrescu!?”

            “Seems like we meet again, …the Duke,” Said the vampire lady.

            “H-how!? How are you al--”

            “You meant to ask how are we alive, aren’t you? Well. We aren’t sure of that either” 

      The youngest lady of the house answered his question. The Duke swallows hard from fear as his brain is imagining the worst-case scenario. How could he not when he helped the man who brought the distinguished house Dimitrescu to the doom? He’s positively sure the vampire lady would release her wrath upon him, using her claws to cut him open as his deserving punishment this soon, so he sputters out pleading for her mercy.

            “P-please my gracious lady! Please spare this poor soul’s life just this once! I didn’t do any—”

      Duke’s word was cut short by the fearful sight of the vampire lady’s claw. She doesn’t form them out to their full length in an instant, instead, her blade-like claws are gradually growing longer inch by inch as her rage is simmering underneath those golden orbs of hers. Her lips stay still in thin line while muscles on her face flex as the lady grits her teeth.

            “Don’t you dare say you did nothing wrong when you’re fully aware of your own doing”

      Even the daughters couldn’t help but shiver at their mother’s furious voice. No. Furious didn’t even do her voice justice in this state. Murderously would fit the situation better when one could easily die just by her intimidating tone.

            “You settled your business into my house, bought my properties from that stupid man-thing even though you knew he stole them from me, was it not?”

            “W-well I, I—”

      The Duke stumbles while making his retreat from the tall lady. Her 9’6” body in flesh is now back. The same goes for her daughters. Though they don’t have any piece of clothing on their body, they aren’t completely naked. There’re still some fractures of crystal that wrap their flesh like a layer of a cloak. The tall lady presses forward the stumbled Duke with her full-length claws while her daughters huddle up together from the drop of temperature.

            “You assisted him, sold him supplies now and then, so he succeeded in destroying my beloved family—How dare of you to said you did nothing wrong!?”

            “P-please, my lady—” 

      The Duke sputtered as lady Dimitrescu gets closer to him. But when she’s about to slice his head away, a weak, shaking voice holds her back.

            “Mother—" Bela cried out.

            “We’re—are cold,” Said Cassandra.

      Bela and Cassandra try their best to speak through their chattering teeth. Nothing to be heard from the youngest one who is wrapped inside her sisters’ arms. The fact her children once again exposed to the cold frightened lady Dimitrescu to her core. She turns back and forth between the girl and the man she disgusted, 2nd only to Ethan and her useless brother, Karl Heisenberg, unsure of what to do. If she chooses to take this blonde man’s life now, it might be too late for her to take the girls somewhere warmer.

            “And when I thought you are all dead”

      Speaking of the devil. Her younger brother, Karl, hoists his favorite steel hammer on one shoulder, making his way toward the girls. On the other side of his shoulder sits still a Porcelain doll with Donna nowhere to be found. The tall lady assumes her sister is now residing in the doll, or else, she won’t be able to explain how or why that doll is on Karl’s shoulder without falling. She forces her brother’s name out of her mouth with noticeable enmity.

            “Heisenberg”

            “Alcina”

      Karl returned his sister with a sneer once he heard the tone she used to address him. Something never changes, he thinks. Even though they were all dead and come back to life again, the hatred the eldest sister has toward him is still the same. He shakes his head in amusement before throws a Porcelain doll off his shoulder, says.

            “Come on, Donna. Or Angie, or whoever—Wrap something around my poor nieces up before they’d freeze to death, will ya?”

      Alcina raises her eyebrow in skepticism before she’d dash back to the girls, turns herself into her beast form, and wraps her daughters within her immense wings.

            “I don’t need yours or any other’s help”

            “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that—I’ve nothing to do with you or your girls. I only despite your lofty Mother Miranda. And I assume she’s already dead, yes?”

      Turning his attention back to the Duke, Karl spotted that the blonde man is about to crawl out to his escape without any of his nauseous family take notice. The corner of his mouth lifts upward in delight. And in a split second, he threw his reliable, hard steel hammer right in front of the crawling Duke.

           “Ekk!”

           “Where do you think you’re going jelly-man? —Come on answer my question first”

           “I, I—” The Duke hesitates, stumbles with his word.

           “What do you mean Mother Miranda is dead?” A familiar voice to the lords shouted.

           “Oh, for Christ’s sake—Not now, you freakin' fish”

      As the situation got more chaotic with the bickering between Karl, the Duke, and her younger brother, Salvatore Moreau, Alcina opens her wings slightly to check on the girls.

            “My daughters, are you all feeling any better?”

            “Y-yes, mother” Bela whispered. Her face looks slightly better.

            “It’s-just a little cold. We’ll-live. N-now, Dani—Say something” Cassandra nudged the youngest after gave her mother a reply. A several seconds Alcina has to wait for her daughter to reply feels like an eternity when their death by Ethan’s hand not long ago still haunted her.

            “C-could we go somewhere w-warmer already mother?

      At long last, Daniela replied, looked up to her mother pleadingly. Alcina lets out a relieved chuckle as all the girls are still here with her. Slightly freezing, but alive. And that’s what matters to her the most.

            “Are you sure you don’t need my help sister?”

      The high-pitch voice came from a Porcelain doll which now in the hand of its owner, Donna Beneviento. Oh. So, she also got her body back, thought Alcina. Even out of all her siblings, she may favor Donna the most since she wasn’t much of a nauseous in her eyes. Still, it doesn’t mean she trusts her. Besides, she doesn’t like the idea of asking for help from her maniac family, including the feeling of being in their debt.

      The vampire lady considers Donna’s offer for a brief, looking back to her huddled-up daughters beneath her wings before gives a small nod as a yes. Angie, under Donna’s control, laughs pleasantly at the sight before dancing around, using her ability to assist her nieces in warming up. By divides her Cadou among whatever she could find here, Donna forms a small cold shelter for the girls. Alcina carefully let her daughters out from her wings, allowed them to move to the cold shelter instead. After a few more moments once they seem more at ease, the tall lady finally turns to her sister, mumbling out underneath her breath faintly.

            “…Thank you”

      It was rare of Alcina to thank someone and Donna knows that. Though, it’s understandable since her beloved daughters’ lives are on the line. Again. She couldn’t imagine what it’d feel like if to be reborn back to live together only to be parted away once more in less than an hour. She’d do the same if her dearest doll, Angie, was in the blink of being destroyed. So, instead of teasing her elder sister as Karl would do, Donna simply nods in acknowledgment and moves on.

            “Hell, we are getting nowhere here”

      Karl shouted out in annoyance when the Duke seems to fail to answer his curiosity. Using his ability to control the electrical fields, he pulls his hammer out from where it landed when he threw it earlier and hoists it upon his shoulder once more. Salvatore read on the situation and knew what his brother is going to do, so he tries to reason with him.

            “H-hey. No need to torture him. I’m sure he’ll be more willing to answer once he calms down enough—”

            “Shut up Moreau! I didn’t ask for your opinion. And whatever I’ll do to this jelly man is none of your concern”

            “P-please my lords! I’d be more of use to you all alive than dead—” Shakenly, the Duke interrupted the bickering brothers.

            “Then start being useful by answering my question goddammit!”

            “That’s enough!”

      Alcina roared that out to stop her foolish brother before he would smash the Duke’s head into pieces for real. Karl tilts his head, gives his vampire sister a side-eye before shrugs and steps away. “Like you could do better”, he muttered loud enough meant for Alcina to hear. She rolled her golden orbs resentfully before transforms back to her normal form. The 9’6” body strides forward and stops just an arm’s length from Duke.

            “You’re right about one thing. You’d be more of use to us alive than dead”

            “T-thank you, my lady—”

            “So, start answering my foolish brother’s question and tell us everything you know before I’d change my mind and throw you back at Heisenberg’s feet”

      --------------------

 To Be Continued >>