Hours had passed. Six hours had passed, and there was no one that was still alive.

Blood. Blood used to be everywhere. Not just the men, but even the horses and animals too. More to the massacre of this dark day.

Within the outskirts of Britannia, the monster began drinking all that was left of a person's blood. It had already drunk all the rest, both inside and outside the kingdom. With unholy sounds of feasting, it looked up when it finished.

And what it saw…fascinated it.

A light. A strange yet odd light. Was it more coming? To feed it? It was still so hungry. And there was still some more blood just nearby, a few feet in front of it.

The hunger. The hunger. It began to consume it. It staggered forward toward the blood puddle, focused only on it and nothing more.

It reached out. Wanting to get closer. As the hand reached the blood, the strange light pushed the blackness back…

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The demonic scream from the creature echoed as it pulled its hand back. It hurt. Hurt bad. But how?

Light was dangerous. It had to hide. But…the blood…so tasty…

But danger. But hunger. But danger. But hunger. But danger. But hunger. But danger. But hunger.

Too much…so hungry. Drink…it needed to drink…

It felt like it was burning alive from the thirst. It forced itself to go to the blood, not wanting to let the cursed light take what was precious to it.

It screamed. It screamed as the light burned it alive. The shadows ran away even more, the creature shielding itself from that damn blinding and burning light.

It fell to its knees. Couldn't feel them. The creature crawled to the blood, letting out one final scream of pain and sorrow as the arm turned to bone, and bone to dust.

The screams echoed in the wind. And when the sun rose, all that was left of the creature was…nothing. Nothing but dust and ash scattered in the morning's cold and snowy winter wind.

This may seem like the end. But you see, dear reader…this is only the beginning (This IS still the prologue, after all). But I wasn't kidding when I said that someone died.

On that dark night, Vlad Dracula Tepes the Third, Lord Impaler and Son of the Dragon, did indeed die. And on that night…evil was born…

…

January 10th, 1577

"AWAKEN…"

The deathly sound made him yell as his eyes shot open. His body shot upright as if he was awake from a nightmare.

Vlad panted as he looked around. He was…was…he didn't know where he was. It seemed like a chaotic mass of a green abomination of space and time. Tentacles formed from nothing and grasped at nothing. And he heard things. MAD things. Sounds he couldn't describe. Sights he couldn't comprehend. Things, THOUGHTS, he couldn't quite understand.

"W…What is this…?" He gasped in a voice no longer his own. "Where…where AM I?!"

He looked upon his form. His hands were a pale ghostly white. He had claws. And fangs.

And before him was…was…

He had no idea. But it seemed to be a giant squid-like head. And unstable mass took form. At least, he thought it did.

The head belonged to a massive being atop a throne of frozen mortal agony. A staff that reached into the heavens was in its grasp, and it peered down at him like a giant.

And just like that, he found himself airborne, facing the thing and looking directly into its eyes, which burned like two chaotic stars.

"Who…what…what ARE you?!" Vlad asked, trembling. "Are you…SATAN?!"

"WHAT STANDS BEFORE YOU IS FAR WORSE THAN SATAN. FOR THE DEVIL HIMSELF HAS LOOKED UPON ME…AND CAST HIMSELF INTO HIS OWN FIERY PITS, AND INTO THE TENTH CIRCLE OF HIS OWN HELL."

"Then…are you worse? W-What happened to me?!"

"ARE YOU NOT PLEASED WITH YOUR RESULTS? YOU FOUND THE MEANS TO TRANSCEND YOUR HUMANITY. YOU NOW HAVE POWER THAT IS FOREVER UNMATCHED. AS FOR MYSELF, WHAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU IS HOW YOUR LIMITED MIND COMPREHENDS MY TRUE FORM. I…AM FIER."

Fear? He called himself Fear? Of course, he felt like the ultimate horror. Vlad felt going mad from terror just by staring at him. Yet he could not look away.

"What…what have you done to me?"

"YOU MADE YOURSELF MORE. YET IN YOUR MIND, YOU ARE STILL A MERE MORTAL. YOU STILL FEAR THAT WHICH YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND. BUT WHILE YOUR FORMER KIN ARE FRAIL, YOU ARE STRONG."

"H…How so?"

"YOU HAVE MADE YOURSELF A GOD OF THE DARKNESS. YOU LIVE IN IT. THRIVE IN IT. AND FEAST UPON THE BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMIES. MUCH AS YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE. YET YOU HAVE…IMPERFECTIONS. THE SUN HAS DESTROYED YOUR PHYSICAL FORM. BUT WE ARE BONDED NOW. YOU ARE BUT A HERALD OF MY RISE TO POWER. ONE HUNDRED YEARS HAVE NOW PASSED. YOU WILL LIVE AGAIN."

"One…hundred years?"

"YES. VLAD THE IMPALER IS DEAD. NOW YOU WILL BE KNOWN BY A MORE FITTING TITLE AS A DARK LORD. COUNT…DRACULA."

The chaotic void and abyss of madness seemed to shriek at the mention of that name.

"CAN YOU FEEL YOUR POWER GROWING? SOON YOU WILL EVOLVE BEYOND SUCH WEAKNESSES SUCH AS THE SUN. SOON, YOU WILL BRING ABOUT A NEW AGE. HANDS DRENCHED IN CRIMSON, THE WORLD FILLED WITH BLOOD AND AGONY, YOUR DREAMS FULFILLED. YOU ARE A GOD, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IS BUT DUST. THE LUSTFUL BLOOD CONSUMES YOU. LET LOOSE YOUR SHACKLES AND BE UNBURDENED. YOU…WILL BE THE ULTIMATE MONSTER…"

Yes…he could feel it. He looked at his hands and gripped them into fists. He felt the dark magic course through his veins.

A god…yes…why be a prince, why be a king, why be an EMPEROR…when he could be a god?

Dracula only laughed. The sensation was incredible. All this power…all this might!

"OH…YOU ARE INDEED CORRECT, MAD ONE." He declared. "I WILL BE A TERROR. I WILL BE A NIGHTMARE. AND I WILL BE A GOD AMONG MEN AND MONSTERS! BUT…THAT IS WHERE THE COINCIDENCES END!"

"OH? HOW SO?"

"FOR YOU SEE, YOU ARE BLIND AS YOU ARE AN IDIOT! I WAS ALREADY A POWERFUL FORCE BACK WHEN I WAS A MERE MORTAL! BUT NOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE YOU A GOD, I SUPPOSE I SHOULD THANK YOU FOR MY RESURRECTION! THERE IS ONLY ROOM FOR ONE GOD UPON THE THRONE OF THIS EARTH! NO MORE SHALL I BE USED AS A PUPPET! NO MORE SHALL I SERVE AS A SLAVE! NO MORE SHALL I EMBRACE THE WEAKLING THAT WAS VLAD TEPES THE THIRD! I AM COUNT DRACULA, AND I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"

With a dark pulse of black magic, Dracula broke himself free of the being's control. The abyss began to fade around him, yet Fier did nothing.

"SO YOU ATTEMPT TO DEFY ME?" It chuckled. "VERY WELL. IT WILL BE AMUSING TO SEE YOU TRY…"

The eldritch laughter echoed as all went to blackness. And the new vampire king conjured forth a longsword ablaze with red flame.

"NOW…THE NEW WORLD ORDER SHALL BEGIN!"

He impaled himself with the blade…

…

And then he woke up.

He was trapped. Inside a coffin. Normally, a mere man would panic and die trying to escape. But he was a mere man no longer.

"Hmph."

Using his supernatural magic, he opened the coffin lid. Almost instantly the dirt poured in. He yelled as it tried to sting his eyes, but the God of Monster flew out of the hole, bursting out of the ground as shadowy bat wings formed on his back.

This was indeed Wallachia. But no longer the land he knew. Dracula noted how he could see and hear farther, down to the microscopic level. His senses were improved by great lengths. Eyeing a nearby lantern, he could see an eighth color emanating from it.

He landed on the ground with a thud. He looked at an arm, clenching his fist in and out. He then eyed something in front of the large full moon. A castle. In the distance of a village. One that seemed old, abandoned, and greatly terrifying.

The same castle he used to rule in as Vlad the Impaler.

Dracula smiled. "AT LAST…"

He took off as a cloud of darkness, phasing through the walls and landing in the old throne room. He stared at the moon, then back at himself.

It was time to see what he was capable of…

He raced from one end to another. All in a millisecond. He punched a wall as hard as he could. A large hole was made.

He smirked. Superhuman speed and strength. Interesting.

He leaped high up into the air and came back crashing down. It felt…good. This sensation was…something else.

He tried flying again. This time, he felt his form change painlessly into that of a bat. Then he turned again. Into a rat. And then, once more, into a black wolf. He emerged back into his true form, marveling at the shapeshifting abilities he now possessed.

He stabbed himself in the heart with his sword. Nothing. He felt no pain. It still continued to beat. Immortality, he realized. That mad thing was right. He was FINALLY a god.

Dracula laughed at this as he pulled the sword out.

"AT LONG LAST…I HAVE ACHIEVED IT! I HAVE DRUNK FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF ETERNAL YOUTH AND HAVE GAINED IMMORTALITY! STRIKE ME DOWN, GOD! YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU CANNOT! FOR YOU DO NOT EXIST! I HAVE TAKEN YOUR PLACE NOW! I HAVE TRANSCENDED AND REJECTED MY HUMANITY! I AM VLAD TEPES THE THIRD NO MORE! NOW AND FOREVERMORE, I SHALL BE KNOWN AND FEARED BY ONE NAME, AND ONE NAME ALONE! I AM…DRACULA!"

He let out a superhuman roar. Both similar to a monster, a dragon, a demon, and a bat. With a laugh, he sat down on his throne, reclaiming what had been lost.

"I BID YOU…WELCOME. TO A NEW WORLD. OF GODS…AND MONSTERS…"

The thirst. He could feel the hunger. And soon, he heard something. A swarm of vampire bats that had occupied the entire castle in his absence.

He reached out to them. Reached out with a hand. Dominated their minds by sheer willpower alone. He closed his eyes…and he could see all around him.

The pulses lit up his surroundings. His enhanced hearing heard the bats coming closer. He seemed to be emitting a sound of his own. One only they could hear.

Echolocation…

Finally, the room swarmed with bats. But they didn't attack him. They circled him in a deranged frenzy, obeying their only god.

With superhuman speed, he grabbed one. And bit its head off in one fell swoop.

The blood. It tasted even BETTER now. More delicious than any feast. Yet he would soon grow to overcome the hunger…

Dracula stood up and saw through the window behind him. The land outside. Soon, they would all know his name.

An army. Yes. He'd need an army. To work in daylight hours when he could not. He could not risk judgment at the sun's hands. He would sleep underground in coffins, where it would not get him.

Nothing can stop me now. The vampire thought as he smiled, the bats flying off and out into the night to do his bidding. Nothing…and no one…

…

Present Day

He had been growing stronger as the centuries passed. Dracula had come to know of other weaknesses, like garlic and wooden stakes. Yet he evolved to withstand them as well.

He sat on his throne in his castle. The army he amassed was nothing compared to that of his mortal years. Spirits, ghouls, giants, every creature imaginable. He had even gathered some of his own. Nightwing, Yvonne, Fifi, Orlok, even three brides and Bloody Mary.

He even had a bride. A wife. Elisabeth. And with them, a son. Alucard.

With his dark magic, he viewed the past. The past of all the monsters he had gathered. From the bizarre and the strange to the deadly and dangerous. The yeti survived being frozen. The werewolf was revived after drowning in quicksand. And the mantis was made large from a fuel source of a vessel beyond the stars.

Yet some tried to resist. Like the wooden man. Unlike his siblings, he had the power to match the Dark Lord. But he paid the price for defying him. As did many others.

"So many monsters." Dracula cursed. "So much potential. Squandered. For so long…"

It was then that a pale woman entered the throne room.

"My lord." Bloody Mary kneeled. "General Imhotep has readied the main forces. They simply await your command."

Dracula only turned back to the machine. The device he had constructed so long ago to harness the power of the seven Moonstones. All but one had been attached.

It wouldn't be long now…

His eyes glowed a pale red as he reached out. Out to his greatest minion. Through the eyes of the half-breed, he saw it. At last, her transformation was finally complete.

Through the shrieks and roars as she struggled to break free from her restraints, he eyed through the room's window. The hideout was vast, packed with all those left to resist him.

There. The final stone. Simply waiting for its master, and there for the taking.

His vision returned to the throne room. And he smirked.

"It is time. Send them into the Mystic Realm. Van Helsing's base has been discovered. And the final stone along with it…"

He rose and headed off towards the nearby balcony. Mary simply left to inform the mummy.

"Invade the hidden world." He called out to his monsters through the many. "Tear down everything that might protect them. And then…when it's too late…when they're powerless and alone…they will realize the truth."

He looked down at the horde below. An army of nightmares. An army of darkness. An army of the night.

"They could not stop it. Man's domain over the world…is over…"

Dracula raised his hands. The immense roars and howls from the creatures that followed seemed to echo throughout the land. His dark magic was immense enough to open portals to the Mystic Realm. And the monsters charged through.

And those were only the main forces mentioned. The rest would remain behind, awaiting their new world. Once the era came, THEN they could start invading the other worlds.

Soon…darkness would rule the universe…