Castlevania: Nightmare of the Azure Moon
Chapter one: The Tragic Prince
Cover image: Alucard facing the moon and brandishing his silver sword while Arnice stands beside Lilysse.
Within Curia's main cathedral the Pope stood alone in her chambers gazing up at two large portraits, one of Mathias Cronqvist and the other of Leon Belmont, two knights from the 11th century.
"It's been too long…" The Pope touched the portrait of Mathias with a sorrowful and regretful look on her face. "Will you ever forgive me?"
The Minerva had arrived at its destination, the unmapped island Rusewal and Arnice was just about ready to set foot on dry land, she hated travelling by sea more than anything else and the irony that her work for Curia required almost constant travel was not lost on her in the slightest.
"So, this is the designated island…" Arnice looked over the horizon to see the docks followed by the distant city enshrouded by the night sky.
Arnice walked out of the ship and onto the docks, feeling like she had just survived a horrible ordeal.
"Friggin' Curia. Sending me on some rickety old boat to an island that's not even on a map." Arnice raised her fist in anger as she thought of everything she had to go through during her trip. "I'm so seasick right now…"
"Are you always this excitable?" Alucard stepped out after Arnice, not as shaken by the trip but still somewhat uncomfortable due to the bias vampires have against running water, even if he was only a half breed.
"I just hate boats…" Arnice spoke up, still annoyed at the seasickness she had to endure during her weeks of travel.
"We have company…" Alucard, through his heightened senses as a dhampir, heard footsteps a distance away.
Those footsteps belonged to none other than Lilysse, who was waiting for the knight Curia would send to assist her on her mission.
"Are you the knight the Curia sent?" Lilysse curiously approached Arnice and Alucard from the distance, knowing someone would meet her at this time.
"Oh, are you the priestess I'm supposed to…" Arnice's eyes widened in shock as she saw a familiar face. "Lilysse!?"
"Arnice!" Lilysse gave her friend a beaming smile as she clasped her hands together. "I didn't expect to be partnered with you for this fiend-slaying mission!"
"Yeah, I'm surprised, too. I never thought we'd do another mission together." Arnice smiled at the welcome surprise of seeing her childhood friend again after what seemed like an eternity apart.
"I'm here to assist the agent sent to slay these fiends." Lilysse giggled in response, similarly overjoyed. "Pleased to be working with you, my Lady knight."
"Right back at you, Priestess." Arnice smiled in acknowledgement and amusement at Lilysse's words.
Both women smiled at each other and shared a laugh, happy to see each other once more, but them, Arnice noticed the mirror pendant hanging from Lilysse's neck.
"He never came back… did he?" Arnice spoke solemnly about Hunter, who disappeared two years earlier.
Lilysse held the pendant close and nodded, she didn't have to say anything for Arnice to know how hurt she still was over losing Hunter.
Arnice didn't know what to say to comfort Lilysse, so she silently pulled her friend into a reassuring hug.
"He's not dead…" Lilysse teared up as she spoke, though she probably knew the truth deep down, she wanted to have hope that her beloved would return to her someday.
"Lilysse…" Arnice held her friend in a tender embrace, knowing better than to correct her when she was this sad already.
Alucard watched Arnice and Lilysse's exchange from the distance, closing his eyes as he thought of his mission at hand.
"Oh, sorry." Arnice smiled nervously as she let go of Lilysse. "I forgot to introduce my new companion." She gestured at Alucard, hoping he could get their minds off the sad subject. "This is Alan Lecarde, he was on the boat with me."
"Pleased to meet you." Alucard bowed his head politely to Lilysse.
"Nice to meet you, too, my name's Lilysse." She held her hand out in a kind gesture. "Thank you so much for taking care of Arnice, I know how much she hates travelling by sea."
"She told me…" Alucard shook Lilysse's hand as he replied. "Arnice has… interesting tastes in literature."
"The Tragic Prince, right?" Lilysse giggled as she let go of Alucard's hand, thinking about her friend's fondness for the old fairy tale. "Arnice said she'd marry him one day when she was a little girl."
"Don't tell him that- " Arnice blushed slightly from embarrassment before covering Lilysse's mouth.
"Anyway, what brings you here, Mister Lecarde?" Lilysse asked after Arnice let go of her mouth.
"I'm here to research the recent phenomena." Alucard told Lilysse and Arnice a half-truth regarding his objectives. "Lately the residents of this island have been having the exact same nightmare, and some haven't woken up yet…"
"Curia mentioned that to me…" Arnice added to Alucard's statements. "Do you really think there's a bigger reason behind all of it?"
"I know there is…" Alucard nodded and turned his attention to Arnice. "And I'll get to the bottom of it."
"You two must be tired from your journey." Lilysse smiled at both Alucard and Arnice. "Shall we make our way to the hotel?"
"Hotel?" Arnice asked curiously upon hearing Lilysse, resting her chin on her hand with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes." Lilysse smiled and nodded. "It is owned by one of the Curia's associates. I went to see it, and it's a pretty nice hotel."
"I figured as much." Arnice sighed. "Say what you want about the Curia, at least they're generous. Oh well. Let's head to the hotel." She nodded.
"Yes. Let's go, Arnice." Lilysse smiled and gave her friend a polite nod.
"Thank you for your kindness, Miss Lilysse." Alucard bowed his head respectfully.
As Alucard, Arnice and Lilysse made their way to the hotel, they noticed the nightscape was enshrouded in a blue fog, but they paid no mind to it as they kept walking.
Lilysse let out a faint giggled as they walked, gaining Arnice's attention.
"What's up, Lilysse?" Arnice turned her attention to her friend. "You seem awfully chipper."
"I can't help but feel happy knowing that I'm with you again." Lilysse giggled once more before giving Arnice a fond smile.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Arnice chuckled as she noticed Lilysse's excitement to be around her again.
"Remember how inseparable we were as students?" Lilysse clasped her hands as her smile brightened. "We were always hanging out; we even lived in the same dorm, too."
Alucard walked closely behind Arnice and Lilysse, but he was too focused on the task at hand to pay any attention to what they were saying.
As Alucard walked, he heard growls and clawing nearby, so he materialised a thin-bladed silver sword with an ornate gold hilt.
"They're coming…" Alucard placed one arm behind his back and his sword forward in a combat stance.
Arnice noticed something as well, when her Rosier Clock started to glow, reacting to the presence of fiends nearby.
"Let's get this over with… stand back, Lilysse." Arnice stood protectively in front of her friend as she summoned her greatsword to her hand.
Several Nightstalker fiends resembling blue-eyed hounds made of pure shadow crawled out of the blue mist. The creatures growled and clawed at the ground, preparing to strike the trio at any given moment.
Three of the fiends attacked Alucard first, baring their claws and fangs at him as they charged in for the kill.
Alucard was quicker, though and with the grace and speed of a trained fencer, he took all three of them out with a single strike.
Not wanting to remain outnumbered, Arnice summoned her three Servans, a Wood Golem a hulking humanoid tree, an Aluraune, a small green faerie and a Dinosword, a miniature red dragon armed with a sword all at once.
"Go!" Arnice commanded her Servans to fight by her side as she charged at the remaining fiends, attacking in tandem with them to destroy the rest of the Nightstalkers.
Though it was not over, for three more fiends would enter the fray and this time this time they were towering Gargoyles with wings.
Alucard stood back to back with Arnice, surrounded by her Servans and the enemy Gargoyles.
Though the Gargoyles would mainly focus on Alucard, seeing him as the easier target since he had no Servans protecting him. With a loud roar, the called more Nightstalkers out from the shadows to deal with Arnice.
"Why you-" Arnice frowned in frustration as she fought off the new pack of Nightstalkers, commanding her Aluraune to heal any wounds she and her other Servans received along the way.
The Gargoyles concentrated their attacks on Alucard and with claws and fire, the struck at him mercilessly.
Alucard managed to block a few strikes from the first two Gargoyles, but the third one took advantage of the confusion to shoot a large fireball.
Arnice defeated the Nightstalkers, but she could only watch helplessly as the flames incinerated her new friend, but that wouldn't be the case, for she sensed a powerful burst of dark magic erupt from the scene.
Instead of being incinerated, Alucard discarded the illusion that hid his true form and powers and now, standing before Arnice was the true visage of the Tragic Prince himself.
Alucard, now in his true form, unleashed his dark abilities. He cast blue flames over his sword and stabbed one Gargoyle in the neck, burning it from the inside.
Enraged, the second Gargoyle charged forward, baring its claws at Alucard only for the dhampir to teleport behind the fiend and fire three dark meteors to incinerate his enemy.
"Come forth!" Alucard summoned his Sword Familiar, a gold and green sword with a face on the base of the blade to fight alongside him.
Alucard commanded his Sword Familiar to pin the last Gargoyle to the wall before it could attack and as his opponent was incapacitated, the dhampir cast blue flames over his sword once more and decapitated the fiend.
Arnice stood in shock and awe, Alan, the man she had just met was in fact Alucard, the hero she admired since she was a child.
Alucard was about to speak to Arnice, when he saw someone in the distance, a young girl with aqua hair and amber eyes who was dressed in a blue and violet dress with a mask covering half of her face.
"Christophorus…." Alucard spoke the name with a sense of familiarity in his tone.
Christophorus had seen Alucard's transformation and her curious expression changed to that of a scorned lover from a dramatic past. With that she left as if to lead the dhampir somewhere.
Before Arnice could say a word, Alucard ran off to follow Christophorus, disappearing into the night after the mysterious newcomer.
Lilysse caught up with Arnice, almost out of breath as she stopped running, only to notice her friend's awed expression.
"Arnice, what's wrong?" Lilysse approached her friend, concerned since she was so quiet and appeared to be staring into the night.
"It's him… he's really here." Arnice was still entranced by Alucard's appearance, he was everything the book described and more and seeing her hero in the flesh was almost too much for her heart to take.
Unknown to Arnice and Alucard, Messengers, small, pale and ghoulish creatures, had been recording their encounter in writing.
Within the Hunter's Dream, the Messengers delivered a letter to Hunter from within their bath. He opened it and read of the presence of a Holy Knight and the Tragic Prince.
"I have to see this for myself..." Hunter took the put down the letter and picked up his Burial Blade scythe before heading to one of the gravestones.
As Hunter touched the gravestone, he awoke in the Waking World on the streets of Rusewal next to a lantern with a pale blue glow. He stepped out into the shadows, determined to find out more about the island's newcomers.
Author's note: The new chapter has been released and the story truly begins now. It opens with a small hint regarding Ludegert and Mathias' fates and Arnice finally sees Alucard, her Tragic Prince.
Alucard and Christophorus have a complicated history together, and what I'm willing to say was that she's in love with him and his decision to side with humanity deeply hurt her. More about her and Alucard's past together will be revealed next chapter.
Next chapter, Lilysse gets captured and she is rescued by an unlikely savior. Alucard faces his past and Arnice must look for Lilysse but find more than she bargained for. Hunter makes his move and encounters Arnice and Lilysse, who believe he was lost two years ago.
Now to answer my reviewer
Alhazad2003
I know, right? Castlevania and Nights of Azure crossing over is a match made in heaven in my opinion and thank you.
Don't worry, Ludegert still becomes the Nightlord, but Mathias believes she died and the presence of the Skull of the First Saint later in the game confirms this. She switches bodies every now and then to cheat death, but she's still the Nightlord. Come to think of it, both Ludegert and Arnice share slight similarities to Gabriel Belmont/Dracula. Especially Arnice.
Arnice still becomes the Nightlord for Lilysse, but also for Alucard and Hunter to an extent. Aluche isn't quite as cool as Arnice, but the game itself is solid and the characters are great, especially the villain, Malvasia.
Thanks for your support and I hope you like this chapter.