It was completely silent; so silent that it felt like the time had stopped, and he knew it had not. It did not concern him; time was a trivial matter, as it had no effect on him. It didn't seem to have an effect on this castle either; days passed, but Joachim knew the night here was eternal.

The night would always be eternal, even though the master of the castle was not around right now. Walter had left a few days ago to take care of something, and he would probably not return for another day or two. That of course meant all there was to do was wait, and Joachim hated waiting. When Walter was here, he always had something to do; if nothing else, he could spend his time trying to seduce the older vampire. Walter rarely fell for it since he liked to be in control. That didn't matter; the game itself was very entertaining.

He had stayed here long enough to have time to explore the castle about a hundred times now, but since sitting still didn't exactly sound fun, he wandered around with no purpose. That was how he had ended up here, in the House of Sacred Remains. Joachim thought it was just a fancy name for a bunch of chapels and corridors; Walter didn't seem to care. It was an unholy place, perfectly suited for a vampire.

And it was silent, and Joachim didn't know why. All the rooms he had passed had been empty. It was like the whole place had been abandoned; the spirits that normally guarded the area were gone. Joachim idly wondered if they were dead... But then, weren't they dead in the first place?

He stopped in the last chapel, not wishing to go downstairs. He sat on the steps that led to the altar and looked around in the large room. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why the monsters were gone. He would have known if Walter had forced them to some other area, and there was no logical explanation other than that.

Unless, of course, the monster had moved somewhere else on their own. No, that was not possible. Most of them were mindless spirits with no rational thoughts whatsoever; they simply circled around the rooms Walter had summoned them into.

But most of them were bitter souls full of vengeance, set on revenging their own deaths. Walter said those kind of spirits were easiest to control... Joachim had to wonder if it was true. They were also the kind of spirits that would attack anything that moved.

It didn't matter in the end; none of the monsters would ever attack him. If they for some reason would, he could dispose of them very easily. Still, the thought bothered him. What was the purpose of those spirits? Restless souls eternally wandering around, mindlessly searching for something...

Death was so useless. Joachim decided he would never die. Walter had given him an eternal life; there was no point in wasting time thinking about insignificant details like this.

He stood up and headed back to the main part of the castle. Who cared if the monsters were gone? Maybe Walter had done something, and the younger vampire just didn't know about it. It didn't matter really; it was none of his business. He had better things to do than wonder where a couple of pitiful souls were. Lying comfortably in Walter's bed sounded nice...

And yet, while he was leaving the area, he idly wondered if he was just one of those poor spirits, lost in the depths of the night that was eternal.

Author's notes:

Set pre-game obviously, when Joachim wasn't locked up in the castle drainage, um, Dark Palace of Waterfalls yet. Totally pointless, really... just another challenge entry.

- Elmina (August, 2005)