Greetings! Here is the third chapter! Again thank you for reading! See you next Friday!

Enjoy!

Chapter 03 - Mina

Several days passed after the incident had occurred and Mina Hakuba had been relieved when she saw her friend again, crossing the shrine's gates in a somewhat deplorable state. Soma had accepted the invitation of the young woman's father to remain in the sanctuary while recovering, and each day notably he was regaining his strength.

The young woman, after many years knowing her friend, began to notice the small and subtle differences that he came to possess after the kidnapping. Not something extremely apparent enough to draw attention from Julius, Yoko or Hammer who often came to visit to see how Soma was doing. Genya Arikado had returned to the United States so they haven't seen him since then. These changes she saw in some gestures and attitudes, sayings, and expressions that although they were undeniably Soma's, at the same time the priestess didn't remember having seen it in her friend before that dark ceremony.

Mina, as the week went on, began to secretly observe her friend as a feeling of worry also started to grow within her.

Perhaps, because of their great familiarity, she didn't notice the passing of years, always treating each other as siblings who hid nothing from one another and maintained a beautiful friendship that was unbreakable.

It was the first time she'd really noticed how much Soma had changed, no longer looking like the young and sometimes heated boy who always accompanied her in school and annoyed the teachers with his unconcerned air. That personality remained for some time still after they had accidentally got into Castlevania and discovered so many truths in the happenings inside the old castle. But the years made him mature, adopting a more imposing and self-confident attitude. Instead of rebellion, he became more patient and reserved, serious eyes that looked at everything observant and attentive, as well as his appearance, the silver hair that was now short and a light beard he'd grown on his face made him look a lot more than his current twenty-three years.

In this short period, during his stay and the recovery, she often found him standing somewhere in the shrine staring into the distance with grave eyes and an expression that clearly showed that he was lost in his own thoughts. She also noticed that sometimes Soma would keep himself away from everyone to spend hours alone in silence, and when he socialized the man would soon drift away, becoming more introspective and would not tell what seemed to disturb his mind. The priestess also noticed that on some nights her silver-haired friend seemed to walk alone around the surroundings of the holy place, either because he couldn't sleep or, sometimes she thought, because he didn't want to fall asleep at all.

Speaking with her father, the wise man told his daughter that Soma was still greatly affected by what had happened, for surely being kidnapped and going through a ritual summoning the darkness wasn't a very pleasant thing, but with some time, as always, he would eventually open to her because of the great friendship they shared.

And Mina waited.

A week went by, there were no changes. The second week passed, and that strange change in her friend only seemed to be more and more present before the woman's eyes.

At the beginning of the third week, during the night, Mina decided to talk with Soma.

…

The castle was in complete silence; the legions of creatures that lived there were concentrated in several points of the highest area of the old and imposing building, waiting with secret eagerness and reverence what was to happen. A large part was concentrated in the throne room whose only illumination at that moment was the pale light of the full moon that entered the place through the large stained glass windows and bathed everything.

At midnight the bells of the royal chapel started to ring, its melodic song echoing far across the immense forest that surrounded the castle. The creatures turned in unison to the entrance of the gigantic hall, and there was a man that stood high and proud, a pale and aristocratic face, dressed like a noble with long black hair and eyes of gold that shinned with a superhuman glow. His presence exuded austerity and command.

The crowd of creatures immediately split in half like a great sea separating into two parts, creating a path that ran straight and free to the other end of the hall, and the man walked slowly through the passage, his footsteps echoing lightly on the red carpet. Around his neck was a chain of gold that held a beautiful jewel above his breast, it shone like a gleaming star and was the fusion of the sacred stones Ebony and Crimson, which together, united, gave to its bearer the power and right to rule the Eternal Night.

As he passed, one by one, the creatures prostrated in respect until all of them, without exception, had bowed before his presence.

Reaching the far end of the hall, the man climbed the small staircase and turned to look at the servants in submission who awaited his command. Before them suddenly appeared a great floating creature with long black cloak, carrying in its hands a menacing scythe whose blade shone at the touch of the moonlight.

The one who called himself Death pronounced.

"My lord, king of the eternal night ... I and your other servants welcome your reign and we submit to your command."

The creature knelt, and the vampire with clear satisfaction showing on his face, sat on the throne of the night.

Soma woke up in a cold sweat.

The man sat on the bed and ran his hands over his face and hair. He was trembling and feeling uneasy about what he had just seen. He already knew that they were not only dreams, after so many nights seeing similar things, but visions about a past life that after the ritual began to awaken from the depths of his soul, slowly, making him remember...

Until that moment he had seen nothing significant, only a few scenes or memories that were unrelated and did not reveal much to him, but he was sure that they were occasions lived by Dracula many centuries ago, but that now, slowly they began to become occasions lived by himself as those memories came to him, and that certainty was far more present in his heart now than they had been five years ago, when he had been aware of being the reincarnation of the lord of darkness as he entered Castlevania for the first time by accident.

No... No accident... But by fate.

Wide awake, after dressing quickly, the man left the room, walked quietly down the corridors until he exited the building. He leaned against a nearby column and allowed the night air to caress his face, sighing, his distant gaze showing his far away mind, reliving the memory of the gloomy castle he had just seen in his sleep, still very clear and fresh.

A few minutes of complete silence passed, then a familiar voice called him softly.

"Soma?"

The man glanced at her.

"You shouldn't be awake at this hour of the morning, Mina ... You should go and rest."

"Yet you have done it often, almost every night." the young priestess said, standing next to him also staring at the night.

"Have you been watching me?" Soma questioned with a certain mistrust that didn't go unnoticed by the woman.

"Actually, I've been worried about you," Mina replied slowly, not wanting to cause a bad impression on her friend and anger him.

"No need to worry about me, I'm fine. I recovered well and I'm planning to return to my apartment this very week." The man said shortly.

"I don't want you to leave now ..." The priestess told him softly, looking directly at her friend. "It's been a long time since you last spent several days here at the shrine with us, even Papa has enjoyed your stay. It brought us back good memories... Why don't you stay a little longer?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Mina..." Soma answered uncertainly, his voice disappearing with the wind. The man ran his hand over his face. He was tense, she noticed.

"Stay, please ..." The woman asked, holding his hands in hers, surprising him. "I know you are going through a difficult moment, I see that something is clearly bothering you... Stay and I will help you in any way I can."

The man looked at her seriously.

"I believe you can't, Mina... Not this time... Not with this..."

The young woman looked at him for a moment, he turned away.

"You've... changed... Soma..."

She said slowly and he stared at her nonchalantly.

"We are childhood friends, I know you better than anyone else ... And I've realized how distant you've become ... you're isolating yourself, thinking of things that seem to worry you, and as much as Papa insists it is about the cult I disagree, I think it's about something beyond... something bigger... I haven't seen you smile for days; you've actually become a little darker with each passing day... You're not really well, I feel it, and I want to help you..."

The man disengaged himself from her and walked away a few steps, thoughtful, remaining silent for a long time and Mina sat on a nearby bench and waited patiently until he decided to speak for himself.

At a certain moment, Soma raised his face, looking at her for a long time. Then he seemed to make a decision and asked her.

"What would you do Mina... if Dracula returns?"

The content of the question surprised her but she answered him without hesitate.

"It depends..."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Would he be good, or evil?" Mina questioned. "I have heard from Yoko and Julius some of the terrible things he has done in the past, but I doubt he was born so evil... I believe more that horrible things happened and made him what he became..." She thought for a moment what she would say next, and feeling safe, she went on. "Dracula was evil when he was completely defeated and had Castlevania sealed inside the Eclipse... You, Soma, are his reincarnation... in a way, you are him, but you are good, you have a good heart ... I can't imagine you committing the same atrocities ... sometimes it is difficult to think that your soul and of that vampire called as a 'monster' belongs to the same man..."

"But it belongs..." He stated gently, looking at her with an intense look, and suddenly turning his head away, he told her. "They did it, Mina..."

The woman looked clearly confused.

"The ritual was completed successfully ... but not exactly like they had wanted it to be."

Those words took a very long time to be fully assimilated by the priestess who watched her longtime friend in daze as understanding started to sink and show in her eyes.

"You ..." She whispered.

"Yes," Soma confirmed, looking back at her. "I am slowly recovering these memories... Right now they are still strange, confused, I badly understand what they are because they still come to me somewhat disconnected, sometimes when I'm awake, others while I am sleeping... but in a short time I..."

"... you will remember everything." Mina finished softly and the man nodded in agreement.

Both stayed in deep silence for several minutes, this time it was he who waited until the young woman was ready to speak. Mina stared the ground and her shoes, lost in her thoughts, and then slowly lifted her head and looked back at her friend who was still there, standing near the column watching her closely.

"My answer ... remains the same as that day in the castle ... I don't care if your exterior changed, as long as you remain inside the same good person you are now ..."

Mina stared at him with eyes filled with emotion.

"Even if you remember everything about your past... don't forget your present, who you are... don't forget your friends, don't forget me..."

The silver-haired man softened his gaze and approached the priestess, without hesitating he embraced her as he had done many times before to comfort her, and in a firm voice, he said.

"You will always be like a younger sister to me, Mina ... I consider you as my family, you know that, I also hold close to my heart all our friends... I will never forget..."

…

The next morning at breakfast the silver-haired man greeted the workers of the shrine as he used to do every day, seated at the table and poured himself some bread and milk. A few minutes later Mina also entered the room, and when her bright and clearly relieved eyes met his, the man smiled.