The Afterlife | Resident Evil Village FanFiction

Chapter 2: What’s next?

Chapter 2: What’s next?

      Once the dust settled down, the detached village between the mountain range somewhere near the outskirt of Romania is nowhere to be seen. No town square, houses, locals, or even the once beautiful landscape—Nothing left after the Megamycete explosion but the ruin.

            “No way—You did it, Ethan F_cking Winters. You did it” Karl looks around indifferently despite spending decades here in this very village after said those out.

      His siblings’ reaction wasn’t much different from his as they’re still in a state of shock. Letting the truth sink in, Salvatore is the one who broke out into an uncontrollable sob first, followed by Donna. It wasn’t unexpected from these 2 disgusting siblings of his, truth be told since they worship that wench Miranda that much. Yet, what surprises Karl the most was how calm Alcina is despite the fact she glorifies the women no less than those two.

            “What? That f_cking Winters also got your tongue when he shot you down from the sky? Hello?”

      Even with his best effort trying to annoyed her, so she would curse something back at him, Alcina just brushes past Karl without a word. She turned into her beast form after heard everything the Duke could tell to travel back to the village with haste while balance the cold shelter Donna built for the girls on her back.

            ‘Mother Miranda…is dead?’

     Alcina thought to herself while making her way through the ruin toward where the Duke mentioned was the last place he ever saw Mother Miranda. According to him, she tried to bring her dearest Eveline back, using Rosemary Winters as a vessel. Unfortunately, she failed and even lost her power. Made it possible for Ethan to kill her. While Alcina’s mind was occupied by the thought, she wasn’t aware of her surroundings. She just keeps pushing forward to the open field next to Heisenberg’s factory with her 3 siblings trail behind.

            “Also, nothing here as well, huh?”

      Again, Karl spoke his mind out, not care how it’d affect the others. But when he saw no one is bothering bicker back at him, he got bored and left the group with a shrug to wander around his former territory instead.

            “Motherrrrr!” Shouted Salvatore.

      His voice was painful as he longings for Mother Miranda’s affection the most. And now she is gone. Not a single speck of dust is left to recover. They all seem to share the same idea of, why are we here then? Afterward, the 3 lords just stand there in the dead silent wreck of their village.

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            “What? You’re all still here?”

      No one knows how long time had passed when Karl came back, already dressed in dirtied long sleeves shirt, dark brown pants, and an old pair of boots. He appears to be irritated by the sight of his elder sister froze in place the most. Karl stuffed something inside his pocket and wrapped his grips firmly around the handle of his hammer then smashes it down with all his might, aiming for the cold shelter on her back where his nieces are shielding themselves inside.

            “!”

      Alcina’s orbs widen the second she saw the incoming strike. The dealy aura her brother poured into his attack made it clear to the vampire lady that he truly meant it and won’t deviate his aim away. If she won’t dodge it, her daughters will die. With that, it awakened her protective instinct inside, and dashed herself along with the girls out of harm’s way.

            “What nonsense do you think you are doing Heisenberg!?”

            “Get your fat ass to move, of course”

            “How dare you! –”

            “Ah-uh. Stop your motherly complaining right there. I was just saving your life, you know that?”

      Alcina gives her brother a dead scowl as if to ask him what gibberish he’s talking about. This action of hers delights Karl to the point of him breaking into a thunderous cackle.

            “Isn’t this a sight to behold? My so-called high and mighty, intelligent sister whose bloodline could trace back to Romanian royalty is unable to understand a simple piece of truth”

            “Enough of your stupid game already. What do you want, aiming for my girls like that!?”

            “Me? Stupid game? –What I’d call stupid is the way all you 3 have been behaving after learned of that b***h’s death! What are you? A lost child? Standing, screaming, or grieving won’t do you any good and it gets you nowhere!”

      Though Alcina antagonizes to admit, Karl was right. Mother Miranda is gone and she can do nothing to change it. In the meantime, she’s still here. Alive, somehow. She may not know what to do next but stand still like a statue while the girls are here by her side, looking up to her for the next step of their life won’t benefit anyone.

            “This is what you get when you depend on that old witch too much. You forsake your life, tied your soul with her and now she’s gone, what are you going to do? Committed suicide to be with her again? –If so, be my guest”

            “…What about you? What are you going to do now when the mother you hate so much is now gone?”

            “Celebrate, naturally. And I already found a drink—Couldn’t believe this bottle survive the blast”

      Karl took a thing he once slipped inside his pocket out, popped a Sanguis Virginis bottle in his hand open, and swallowed plenty of gulps from it. The sight of a traditional Dimitrescu family wine brought life back to Alcina. That’s right. Even Mother Miranda was gone, she still has her knowledge and a way of supporting herself and the girls.

            “Ahhh—It’s nothing like my favorite kind of drinks, but I’m starting to kind of understand why you-sick-b***h favor this so much”

      Alcina grimaces at her brother’s remark before gives him a side-eye and be on her way toward the direction where her castle stood before the eruption. “Hey. Where are you going?” said Karl as he looks over his shoulder to the tall lady leaving. She ignored his question again. It’s nothing unusual though. Let another gulp slipped down his throat, He’s weighing his choices over if he should follow her or not.

            “Hell. Like I got better things to do— Are you two coming?”

      Nonchalantly, Karl turns his head back to Salvatore and Donna. When he sees no movement from Salvatore, he raises his eyebrow at his sister to ask her wordlessly one more time if she’d join him and Alcina or not. Donna called Angie back into her arms before rushes to Karl’s side, and together, they trail their beast-form sister to castle Dimitrescu.

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      Years passed and at the will of God, or the devil’s, or whatever, the once ruined village came back to life again. It may not be that cut out from the outside world as completely as it used to in the past, but an outsider, visitor, or any tourist is still rare in this village. It had become somewhat close to the Amish and their simple lifestyle in their Gelassenheit concept, so to speak.

      Once the 4 lords regain their composure and reason back, even when they don’t have much of those to start with, they got their life back on track. Starting with only a simple goal of getting what they used to have back, each of the places they called home was repaired, refurbished, and redecorated. Karl savaged what is left of his Soldat, assigned them labor work. Destroy what couldn’t be repaired and rebuilt the town back to its glory day, using money and resources provided by house Dimitrescu which Alcina built up over years of her Sanguis Virginis business. Salvatore was tasked with reclaim the dead land, polluted by the Megamycete explosion. For Donna and house Dimitrescu’s daughters, they were responsible for the redecoration and delicate-detail finishing task.

      In the 1st few weeks, they were being on the other’s throat, and a lot at that—Karl and his attitude of I want nothing to do with here. Salvatore and his never-ending grieve over Mother Miranda. Donna with her constant absent-minded nature and that rambunctious little doll named Angie. Lastly, Alcina and her beloved daughters with their needs of consuming blood to survive—As each of the lords have their problem and difference, it almost like a miracle that they were able to come this far.

      The blonde man named the Duke is still working for the lords as his end of the deal for them to let him live. He would do their errands, looking for supplies and convincing people to move into the village. Talking about people moving in, the lords found a new challenge about the difference between what’s right and wrong of the outside world and what they want it to be. While it’s a good thing that Duke was able to lure people to move into their village for them, the lords were annoyed by how stubborn these new people are, refused to change their beliefs to fit the village’s criteria.

            “What are you talking about? Why should we worship any of you like you own our life?” Said one of the new villagers.

            “He got a point. This’s the 21st century, yet why the 4 of you are acting like we’re in the middle age or something” Another supported the 1st to speak.

            “Listen to me, you little piece of s**t—This’s our village. Our territory. You’ll do as we say or you could prepare a shovel to dig your own grave. Your choice” And that’s how Karl replied. More like threaten, actually.

      Needless to say, the 1st batch of settlers didn’t make it. Some turned into Karl’s Lycan, some were sent to Salvatore and Donna for their Cadou experiment while the rest ended up in house Dimitrescu’s wine cellar. Later on, the lords learned from their mistakes and came up with a countermeasure.

      With Donna’s ability and her experiment on infecting the Mold to plants, the lords succeeded in induce hallucinations and manipulate the mindset of those who have inhaled the pollen of the infected plants. Hitherto, they use 2 specific types of extracts, made of mixed plants, for the task since each extract was meant for a different purpose of use—Concentrated Alkaloid Extract for those who want to move and live in their territory with the effect of permanently delete their old beliefs and logics of the outside world, so the lords would get no problem, manipulate their mindset to their preference. While for those who stray or come to their village for a short among of time, Donna came up with the milder effect extract, just enough for them not to cause a commotion during their stay.

            “I don’t get it why you have to make it this complicate when we could just get rid of them if they post much of a threat” Karl grumbled while he’s lounging himself on the couch inside Mother Miranda’s old tower throughout the monthly meeting between the 4 lords.

            “This’s why I don’t trust you even with child-proof scissors—What do you think would happen if there’s news going around that visitors and mountaineers went missing once they come to our territory? They would send a searching and rescuing team to look for the missing. Or even send an army to investigate around this area if the case of missing went through the roof. What’d you do then?” The vampire lady looked down upon her ever-foolish brother from her view of 9’6” above.

            “Like hell, I’d care! –How bad could it be if it means more prey for us? You and your horrid daughters would have more than plenty of food. I could also use more human parts, create Lycan and Soldat to guard my territory. Even these two would benefit because they’ll have many subjects to experiment on” Yelled Karl.

            “Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight.” Gleefully, Angie interrupted the two with her lunatic laugh.

      Alcina pinches the bridge of her nose because of her childish siblings and also her habit of calming down. She inhaled sharply, ignored Angie’s antic, and carries on her discussion with Karl without bothering looking at him.

            “Do you want it to end up like back with that filthy man-thing again? That is what will happen if we drew unwanted attention from the outside world”

            “...Well, she got a point there. We just done rebuilt here.” Donna welcomes Angie back onto her lap while supporting her sister’s statement.

            “T-they’re right. I don’t want to stay in the rainwater tank anymore if my reservoir was to be destroyed again” Salvatore hesitantly added his opinion up.

            “Whatever. You guys are no fun” Said Karl before left the meeting.

      Once the one who causes a stir the most left, Alcina feels like she could finally breathe for real. Their meeting isn’t yet coming to an end, but most of the important topics were already discussed and the 3 could work better without Karl’s occasionally ironic remark. That’s why she simply let him go.

            “*Sigh* Let’s carry on. It’s only one more topic left” Alcina talked to the remaining 2 lords.

      As mentioned before that the lords use a different type of extracts to keep things under control, the Dimitrescu daughters also suggested that in case of visitors, mountaineers, or whoever not the resident of their village should carry something, noticeably on their body at all time, as a sign that those need to leave their village alive. So, they could continue living in this isolated village without drawing the outside world’s attention like their mother fears.

      While the 3 lords consider what should it be, Salvatore’s optics flick to the black roses that the eldest sister pinned on her dress. He gives it a thought for a brief, hand on his chin.

            “How about a flower?” The fish-like lord finally speaks after got enough courage.

            “?” Alcina raises her eyebrow in question.

            “Ohh, that wasn’t a bad idea. It’d look harmless and made our village seems like a charming place, even when we’re not, welcome visitors with a native flora” Angie dances on Donna’s lap as speaking.

            “Very well. Any suggestion, Donna?” Said the tall Lady.

            “Too many, actually—Androsace lacteal, Androsace villosa, Dianthus spiculifolius, Dianthus nardiformis, Dryas octopetala, Gentiana lutea, Gentiana frigida, Gypsophila petraea, Geum montanum…”

      Donna promptly drifted into her absent-minded state again during giving a list of native flora they’re talking about. Alcina gives Salvatore a side-eye in signal for him to snap his sister back to reality, which he shrugs, not knowing what to do too. It brought the vampire lady headache and she could only ask herself, can’t I depend on anyone?

            “Donna. Donna!”

            “…”

            “If you aren’t going to respond any time soon, I’m going to slice your Angie into ribbons” A threat left the tall lady’s lips.

            “…” Still no response from Donna.

            “Very well then. 1…, 2…, 3…”

      Alcina took a step forward to her sister every time she counts. Her blade-like claws were growing out from her gloved hand until the moment she raises her claw-equipped hand in the air, ready to strike and that’s when Donna’s pupils expand. She held onto Angie tightly and jumped away from her seat.

            “No! Not my Angie!” Shouted Donna, followed by the sound of Alcina’s claws slashed the seat Donna recently jumped off. Donna then turns to her elder sister, protesting. “My Angie is unreplaceable! Why did you do that?”

            “Now, I understand why that fool Heisenberg aimed for the girls back then—Nothing could get you to move like when your precious was at risk, right?” Twisting her wrist side to side, Alcina puts her claws away and gets back to her seat.

            “Let’s just finished our discussion”

      Despite pouting at her elder sister still, Donna assumed she must be out of it again that her sister had to do something like that. Finally, they agreed to use Gentiana frigida as a sign that said, ‘Do not touch this human’. Alcina also asked Donna to do more experiments on this kind of flower, mutate it further to the point that Karl’s Lycan would flee just by the scent of it. A little payback for walked out of the meeting wouldn’t hurt, would it, the idea brings the vampire lady’s lips to curve upward without her noticing.

      Anyway. That meeting took place long ago, so there is no need to concern about it any longer. Presently, Alcina’s sitting in her office, located on the upper floor of castle Dimitrescu’s east wing. Spending her day over piles of work as the lord of her territory as usual.

         ‘*Sigh* Only if that fool Heisenberg would put a quarter of his attention on his machine to govern his territory, I wouldn’t have to work this much’

     Even though Mother Miranda was no longer here, yet the 4 siblings are living together on the same ground they used to. Alcina and her daughters got their castle back. Their Sanguis Virginis business is thriving since no other brand could top their quality or compare to their special, secret blend. While Salvatore got his reservoir back, his income from the mineral mining and fishery business still can’t compete to house Dimitrescu’s. Fortunately, it’s still enough for him to supporting himself and funding his experiments onward.  For Donna, she’s living in her house by the waterfall, continuing experiments on Cadou to find a way to bring more of her dolls to life, and still constantly lost herself into her blank state as usual. But at least, she could make a living out of plants and herbs she mutated. By partnership with the Duke, Donna had him posted as a freighter, sends her goods to a customer who favors exotic plants in the outside world.

            ‘But of course, since she lost herself in the dreamland often, Salvatore and I have to take care of some of her work for her as well’ The vampire lady thought, fiercely signed another work in her hands then moves on.

      As for Karl, he made quite a fortune for whatever he manufactures inside his factory nowadays, thus he uses that to pay his siblings to keep their mouths shut about him neglects his duty. Each half of his work over his territory was being taken care of by Alcina and Salvatore. Well, it wasn’t like they have a choice. If it’s not for them, no one else’s going to do it.

            ‘God, give me a break…’

     The tall lady keeps complaining internally, yet her senses never stray too far before all the works would be done.

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 To Be Continued >>