21st Century, Transylvania:
A black SUV escorted by two military transport trucks drove down a road into a small Romanian town. Some of the people in the town were going about their day, buying things from shops, eating lunch, and some were putting festive decorations on many buildings and lamp posts. Two squads of soldiers exited the military trucks while three men wearing suits and sunglasses exited the SUV. The man in the middle looked to be Caucasian with brown hair while the other two looked Japanese with black hair and English with blonde hair. A few of the locals waved and greeted the newcomers while others stared at them suspiciously. The three professionally dressed men walked through the town streets escorted by the soldiers. Townsfolk either greeted them politely or backed away nervously as they passed by. Eventually, the group of foreigners came to the town hall in the town square where a portly mustached man was waiting.
"Welcome to our country, my friends," the man politely greeted the men. "I am the burgomaster of this quaint little town. Tell me, what brings you here? As you can see, the entire town is preparing for the grand festival tonight. It's a night to celebrate."
"Is that so? I am Agent Miller of the United Nations," the Caucasian man introduced himself professionally. "I'm sure your people are aware of the recent national crisis that has plagued the world recently." He waited for the burgomaster to respond. When he didn't, he continued. "Mankind has been at war with the Demons." Several townsfolk gasped when they heard this. "Our intelligence has led us to believe that there are strange people dwelling in this very part of the country as we speak."
The atmosphere of the town suddenly became tense as people suspiciously looked around at each other. Some immediately went indoors. One shopkeeper ushered a young woman into his shop before locking the door. Even the burgomaster looked nervously suspicious.
"There are no strange people here I assure you," he assured the agents. "Two months ago there might've been, but now we are a safe and happy little town." However, the men weren't convinced.
"What about that castle in the mountains?" Agent Miller asked.
"Castle?"
"Our intelligence has been reporting peculiar occurrences happening there."
"In the castle?"
"Yes, perhaps we should check it out."
"No, no! You mustn't go there," the burgomaster nervously tried to dissuade the agents.
"If there are monsters in that castle…"
"If there are any monsters here, then you brought them here!" said an unexpected voice.
Everyone turned to find an elderly gypsy woman standing in the middle of the town square staring ominously at the men. Her left eye looked like a normal blue while the right eye was completely white as a fog.
"Madame, this is official government business," Miller told the old woman.
"You stay away from that castle!" she responded forcefully. "And those who dwell within its walls."
"So someone does live there," Miller said satisfied. Thinking this old woman was going to be more informative than the burgomaster, he approached her and took off his glasses. "Tell me who."
The old gypsy glared at the young agent for a moment. However, her glare faded as she looked into his eyes and saw something in his soul.
"Come with me," she whispered and led Miller and his partners to a nearby restaurant. "Table for two," she told the waiter. "The one by the fireplace." It was clear that she wanted to speak with him alone, so Miller ushered to his bodyguards to wait outside.
Inside, Miller and the old woman sat together at a table near a big warm glowing fireplace. The waiter came by and place a couple menus on their table. Some of the other patrons seemed to be staring and watching them in anticipation.
"Think about what you would like to have," she motioned to the menus. "We'll be here awhile."
"I followed you in here so you could tell me…" Brown was about to remind her.
"Hush!" she silenced. "I am a woman of my word. There is a creature living in that castle. A creature beyond your understanding. A creature with the power to change the fate of the world. If you are to understand, you must listen and listen carefully. What I'm about to tell is a tale, a tale of a man and a devil."
Late 1800s, Transylvania:
The sun was setting in the sky, a horse-drawn wagon driven by a group of armed Romani men were making their way down a snowy road. Their cargo was a large wooden coffin. The wagon was heading toward a dark ominous-looking castle in the distance. The castle was huge with numerous towers of many different heights and stood near the edge of a cliff overlooking a deep dark chasm. The ride seemed to be going smoothly until the sound of gunshots were heard. Suddenly, a group of four men armed with guns hiding on horseback appeared galloping through the snow and started firing upon the wagon. The men looked and sounded to be of British descent. The Romani started firing back at their pursuers.
"Quickly!" one of the pursuing Englishmen yelled. "We have to catch them before sunset!" Sure enough, the sun was setting fast. Time was running out.
Gunshots were exchanged from both sides as the Englishmen relentlessly chased the Romani down the road. A couple of the pursuers were able to get close enough to the wagon to engage in close combat with swords and knives. There was something inside that coffin that the Englishmen were desperately after and the Romani were determined to protect.
"We can't let them reach the castle!" another Englishman yelled as he noticed the wagon getting closer and closer to its destination.
The Englishmen continued to pursue and engage the Romani. A couple of the Romani fell to their pursuers but the rest did not relent. They continued to fight back as they made their way to the dark castle. One of the Romani managed to cause one of the British pursuers to fall off his horse. But he was immediately given a lift by one of his comrades. Soon more gunshots were heard and a couple more Romani fell, only this time it wasn't from their pursuers. Up on a hill stood an older-looking Englishman armed with a rifle and a young Englishwoman standing right beside him. The older Englishman continued to fire upon the wagon eventually hitting the driver causing the wagon to veer off the road and stop. They were only a few footsteps away from the gates of the castle. The four pursuers finally caught up and dismounted from their steeds. They then engaged the remaining Romani in hand-to-hand combat with swords and knives. A few Romani were slain but one of them managed to mortally wound one of the Englishmen with a knife in the back. His red blood stained the white snow on the ground.
"Hurry!" the older Englishman yelled to his comrades. "We must destroy the creature before sundown!"
As they continued to fight with the Romani, one of the Englishmen managed to slip away and climb aboard the wagon. He vigorously struggled to open the heavy lid of the coffin. He had to hurry, in less than a minute the sun would be gone. Finally, he managed to open the coffin and saw the horrifying creature that slept inside.
"NOW!" he called to his companions before drawing a knife, raising it above his head, and plunging it into the creature within the coffin before making a small slicing movement as well. A hideous inhuman roar came from within the coffin as blood squirted from where the Englishman had stabbed.
Not wasting another second, the wounded Englishman quickly climbed aboard the wagon and plunged his knife into the coffin as well. The creature within let out an even more horrific screech as even more blood sprayed from its new wound. The wagon began to shake as if it were experiencing an earthquake as smoke emerged from within the coffin as the creature inside groaned in deathly agony. The surviving Romani decided the best course of action now was to flee for their lives leaving behind their enemies, wagon, and unearthly cargo.
"Be gone, foul creature of darkness!" the older Englishman yelled to the coffin as he made a sign of the cross motion with his hand.
A moment later, the wagon stopped shaking and the smoke had cleared. Whatever was inside the coffin was now a huge pile of ashes. The Englishmen did not celebrate their victory. Instead they gathered around their wounded and dying comrade as the last light of the sun faded away.
Before taking its last breath and becoming dust, strange and horrific visions flowed through the mysterious creature's mind. Visions of a prehistoric Earth and of hideous nightmarish beasts of all shapes and sizes battling against identical multi-winged angelic beings of light. As terrifying as the beasts were, they proved to be no match for the destructive power of the angelic beings. The conflict seemed to turn in the favor of the beasts as it showed one of the angelic beings was leading them against its own kind. However, this did not last as more angelic beings descended upon the Earth obliterating it in a gigantic flash of light leaving nothing but a broken molten surface.
Modern Time:
Two people were exploring a dark dank cavern in the mountains of Transylvania together. One was an archeologist in his mid-thirties carrying a lantern and a tool bag. The other was a beautiful young gypsy woman, possibly late teens, with tan skin and blue eyes.
"Do you think we're getting any closer?" the archeologist asked in an English accent.
"Yes," the gypsy girl replied in a Romanian accent. "This cave was not too far from that abandoned castle we saw earlier. We're in the right place."
As they continued further into the depths of the cave, they finally came to a huge chamber. Inside the chamber was a large wooden coffin tied up by rusty chains. The chains wrapped around the coffin to form a cross symbol. Other chains were tied tightly to multiple stalagmites and stalactites suspending the coffin above the ground.
"That must be it," the archeologist deduced, amazed at the display before them. Both he and the gypsy girl started approaching the suspended coffin. "There's definitely something valuable in there. Someone really went through the effort of keeping somebody out."
"Or maybe, they were trying to keep something in," the gypsy girl ominously suggested.
The archeologist set his lantern down and started looking through his bag. A moment later, he pulled out two chain cutters.
"Here," he handed one of the cutters to the gypsy. "Let's cut these chains and see what's inside."
The two began cutting many chains tied to the stalagmites and stalactites eventually causing the suspended coffin to collapse on the ground with a loud thud. The archeologist then went to work cutting the chains wrapped around the casket.
"Tell me, sir," the gypsy spoke as she slowly approached the archeologist from behind. "What made you come looking for this?"
"Rumors from your country about a chest containing something valuable made it all the way to mine," the archeologist explained as he eagerly undid the chains on the coffin.
"Is that so?" the gypsy replied continuing her approach.
"Yes," he excitedly replied back as he was almost done getting rid of the chains. "The opportunity to uncover an ancient lost relic of the world's history, how could I resist?! Whatever is in this casket could change the future of mankind."
"You may be right," the gypsy replied as she picked up a rock from the floor of the cave.
When all the chains had been cut, the archeologist started clearing them away while the gypsy woman continued to sneak up on him with the rock in hand. Once all the chains were cleared away, the archeologist began lifting the coffin lid open. Eventually, he managed to completely open the casket and looked inside. However, instead of priceless treasures or old relics, what he found was a huge pile of dust and ash.
"What is this?!" the archeologist said in surprise and disappointment.
"That, my friend," the gypsy woman responded ominously. "Is what will change the future of mankind."
BASH!
Suddenly, the gypsy smacked the rock against the archeologist's head knocking him out cold. Once that was done, she reached into the tool bag and pulled out some rope. She tied one end of the rope around the man's ankles and hurled the middle up toward the cave ceiling until it got caught on the end of a hook shaped stalactite. Then she grabbed the other end and started pulling. As she pulled, the unconscious man's body was hoisted up into the air until his head and arms dangled right over the open coffin. Once he was in the right position, the gypsy tied the other end of the rope to a stalagmite to keep him in place. She approached the suspended archeologist and drew a knife she had hidden in her clothes.
"Rise Prince of Darkness!" she chanted. "The world has awaited your return for too long!" Then she slit the poor unconscious man's throat open spilling gallons of his blood into the coffin.
As the blood mixed with the ashes, a horrific and disturbing spectacle played out. The blood and dust began to form into a skeleton, muscle and tissue began to form onto the bones, flesh started forming on the muscle and tissue, a face started forming on the head. Eventually, smoke started rising from the coffin obscuring the rest of this gruesome spectacle. The gypsy woman watched and waited eagerly. For a moment, nothing happened as smoke continued to rise from the coffin. Then a left hand suddenly emerged from the smoke and reached up toward the ceiling of the cave. The hand's skin was deathly pale and wrinkly, its finger nails were long and pointy, and the ring and pinky fingers bore two rings. The ring on the pinky finger was gold and other one had a big red jewel embedded in it.
Author's Note: Here is part one of the prologue for the Crybaby anime version of the story. The other version is based on the original manga. In this version, the monsters are mostly based off their literature and historical portrayals.