Greetings! In this chapter I wanted to explore a little what has happened in the mysterious battle of 1999, I've written it all seen through Dracula's eyes. Let's see how it worked out and what you think of it. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 12 – 1999 – The Demon Castle Wars
"After the battle of 1798, when the lord of darkness fell by the hands of Alucard, Richter Belmont discovered the prophecy of Nostradamus: After 200 exact years from that date, in the year of 1999, Dracula could be definitively defeated and have his resurrection cycle broken by the hands of a Belmont, but no heir of that family could touch the sacred whip, the Vampire Killer, before that moment, to allow the power to be accumulated, passed from generation to generation, so that the chosen one could then put an end to the Reign of Darkness once and for all."
...
Near the end of that week, after much insistence, Hammer had finally managed to convince Yoko to go out with him in a friendly meeting in the village and taking advantage that Alucard would go to the same direction to take care of personal affairs, they took ride in the dhampir's car, who also offered to bring them back later as they would spend the same amount of hours out.
During the afternoon, while talking with Mina, Soma was descending the main staircase when he was suddenly struck by a severe pain and lifting his hands to his head, the silver-haired man stepped on his feet and fell, rolling down the stairs until he stopped stretched out on the floor of the entrance of the old mansion.
With the great cry that Mina gave echoing through the corridors, in less than a minute Julius appeared there on alert and found the woman kneeling beside her unconscious friend, lying near the staircase, shaking him violently.
"What's happening to him, Julius?!" The priestess inquired desperately and the hunter knelt beside her and touched the other man's feverish face, frowning.
"Is happening..."
Mina looked at him with watery, confused eyes.
"His body has finally succumbed to the effects of the energy of chaos that has been absorbed during the ritual and is now completely transforming." Julius explained to her and quickly took Soma on his arms and started to climb up the staircase while Mina followed him close.
"What...?" She inquired in a frightened voice, understanding coming up to her. "You mean he's... really going to turn into a vampire?!"
The hunter nodded briefly and ran in the upper hallway, entering the room that belonged to the silver-haired man and laid him on the bed, then stood observing him with a stern expression, and Mina stopped beside him.
"What are we going to do, Julius?"
"We cannot do anything Mina, everything that will happen from now on will depend only on Soma... It is not only his body that is transforming, but his mind as well, because all his memories are also returning completely."
The heir of the Belmont clan looked at the young woman, and tried to tell her as gently as possible.
"On one hand, its good Alucard, Hammer and Yoko are not here in the mansion now, or else they would have immediately discovered what is happening... But Mina, the man... no... the vampire who will wake up after this transformation may still be the friend we know... or not... It will depend on whether Soma will have the strength to overcome the great darkness of his own past..."
Mina collapsed on a chair, looking extremely worried at her friend who continued to tremble severely and seemed to rave on the bed. Silent Julius left the room and returned a few minutes later carrying in his hands the Vampire Killer that he deposited on a small dresser and sat in a chair next to the woman, who looked at the sacred whip with great fear, but said nothing.
"Anyway... everything will be decided today." The heir of the Belmont family spoke, his eyes never left the silver-haired man.
A tense and heavy silence reigned in the room as the hunter and the priestess waited.
...
For a long time he felt himself falling into the infinite darkness. The terrible pain that had struck his body seemed to burn his own soul and with anguish and agony he screamed without stopping, but his voice seemed to not leave his throat and his suffering was something veiled and silent.
After what seemed to be an eternity he finally felt himself lying on a solid and cool surface. Trembling, his suffering then gradually started to diminish until it was completely extinguished. The darkness around him was like a living entity; approaching him slowly, touching him with tangible hands and then forcing itself on the man, whose body began to unite completely with the mass of blackened energy.
And it was in this way that he felt his strength and his powers returning fully and with them all his memories that had previously been fragmented, now striking him with the full weight of its completeness.
He saw in his mind the early years he had lived with Leon, his fall into darkness with the death of Elisabetha and the beginning of the long war against the Belmont clan and against God.
He saw when the light come back into his life when four hundred years later he had found his deceased wife reincarnated as Lisa and the happiest years of his existence that he had spent at her side and with his son as a child, only to, seven years later after his birth, see her executed by witchcraft. It was the end of his revenge against God, only to give rise to his hatred over all mankind.
He watched Adrian flee from Castlevania and disappear from his life altogether a few days later, and then he felt the complete darkness falling upon him again and with each new day, more and more his mind succumbed to the power and madness of chaos.
He watched as he began to spread his hatred and revenge for his wife's death all over Europe, and when among men came the then-current heir of the Belmont family, Trevor, to fulfill his ancestor's oath to defend the humanity. Not only that, but also brought with him Adrian, who had grown up into a man and according to his friend's ideas, had returned to Castlevania to destroy him.
He saw when after Trevor, with each passing century and after each new resurrection, another heir of the Belmont family rose up against his plans; First Christopher, then Simon, Juste and finally Richter and Marie, who also allied with Adrian, came to stop him.
He saw when Nostradamus's prophecy had been created, when Richter, for the sake of the complete destruction of Dracula, passed the Vampire Killer into the hands of the Morris family, and the Belmont clan was silenced for two hundred years.
He saw the brave warriors who took upon themselves the burden of facing and preventing him from executing his hatred against humanity during those two centuries; Shanoa, Nathan, Cornell, Reinhardt, Carrie, John, Eric, Jonathan and Charlotte.
And then, when he finally remembered everything, his mind brought him the exact memory of what had happened in 1999, when, after two hundred years, the chosen one, Julius Belmont, had taken up the Vampire Killer to fulfill the prophecy.
…
Dracula was standing by the window and coldly watching all the chaos that was taking place in the lower areas of his castle. The infantry mounted by the church invested with all the forces it possessed against the creatures that inhabited the demonic castle, and many of its soldiers were surprised by the devastating force of the enemies or by the terrible traps Castlevania possessed.
Several explosions echoed loudly, raising high fire and flames in many parts of the old building, consuming what it touched, and the castle shook partly with the force of the explosions and attacks that were aimed to destroy its defenses and to force the entrance of the troops.
The vampire took a sip of blood from the goblet, and impassive, he observed everything that happened without showing any reaction.
After a long time the front door to the Throne Room opened, and the lord of darkness didn't have to turn to look at the newcomers, for he recognized them only from the smell of the blood running hot in their veins.
The fragrance was undeniable.
"Did you come here to try to fulfill that foolish prophecy, Belmont?" He asked harshly. "Do not expect me to lie down and just let her do the ritual."
"My name is Julius... I have prepared myself my entire life for this moment, Dracula. I know it will not be easy, but I will destroy you now, once and for all!" The hunter's steady voice echoed throughout the hall as a sentence of death.
With great disdain and contempt, slowly, the vampire turned to watch the newcomers. The current Belmont heir was a tall man, with long brown hair and greenish eyes, in his prime of his twenties. Had an arrogant stance and a defiant air, eyes that reported the characteristic force of the true lineage belonging to his family.
Beside him stood a young woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a long coat with a frock fur and carried in her hands a book of spells that she would undoubtedly try to chant during the battle, for he felt a magical aura surrounding the witch, who he could easily say was a descendant of the Belnades family.
Dracula then turned his attention to the last member of the small group, his golden eyes filled with a voracious hatred.
Adrian... No... Alucard was there again, always committing to the goals of humanity. This time, however, instead of his black armor he wore a modern dark suit characteristic of that advanced century and with a magical charm that completely hid his real appearance, now showing a man with aristocratic features, straight black hair that fell to the shoulder line and eyes that were equally black, staring at him indifferently.
"Still helping these pathetic mortals, Alucard?" The vampire inquired sarcastically.
"I've came to do what needs to be done... It's time to finish all of this... Father."
Dracula tossed away the goblet that broke on the floor into a thousand pieces, and walked towards his opponents, still looking directly at the dhampir. He sneered.
"Yes... But this time, I won't show mercy."
The vampire teleported, appearing closer to his enemies and with great fury attacked them, using his powers to invoke great balls of fire that he throwed against the three invaders, who quickly managed to avoid the sudden attack. The witch, who had gone as far as she could from the enemy, opened the book in her hands and began to quietly chant a series of words in ancient language to conjure a spell.
Julius and Alucard attacked together, charging against their opponent, driving him away from the witch to cover her while they used all of their knowledge in combat to keep the vampire busy, who was defending or evading the blows to immediately counteract them with powers of fire and shadow.
The hunter raised his hands and threw jars of holy water at the vampire, who teleported to a safer point, dodging them. The curious thing was when the jars touched the floor and broke; some were spreading the transparent liquid that suddenly flamed, raising large bluish and dangerous flames, but some others broke apart to only spread a red blood-like liquid on the surface of the ground that seemed to draw something disconnected in many parts of the room.
Alucard avoided one of his father's blows by briefly turning into mist, and resurfacing next to him, struck a sequence of cuts with his sword which he ended by invoking the spiritual force and cast it against the vampire in the form of three white translucent spheres, that danced in the air and invested against the opponent, who retreated a few steps and destroyed the spirits with a precise counterattack of fire.
At this moment Dracula sensed the danger coming from somewhere close to where he was, and turning quickly, he saw Julius being enveloped by a strong light; Vampire Killer took on an intense golden glow and the Belmont heir, accumulating of all his strength, struck a powerful blow with the sacred whip, fast and inevitable. The vampire could not dodge or defend the attack that hit him fully in his chest and threw him back, falling completely to the ground, paralyzed and stunned, right in the center of the room.
"Yoko!" The hunter's voice sounded loud and filled urgency.
The witch exclaimed authoritatively the last phrase of the spell and the crimson liquid scattered at strategic points in the room began to shine strongly; they suddenly created several lines that joined itselves, forming a magical barrier that trapped the dark lord inside it.
"It's over, Dracula..." The Belmont heir told him with an unwavering gaze. "I do not hold any personal grudges like my ancestors on this... But I did what was expected of me and now, all the evil that has been spread over mankind by your hands during all these centuries... will disappear!"
At this moment the circle was filled with a very strong light that almost blinded them, and the screams of the vampire echoed through the Throne Room filled with agony as the magic enveloped his body and soul, causing it to burn severely.
Alucard, standing just a few paces from the circle, abruptly turned his face away, unable to look anymore as the horrible cries reached his ears and shook his spirit deeply. At the same time his reason was firm in his purpose to completely annihilate the great evil that the vampire was causing to humanity; his heart reminded him that the one who was there at that moment in suffering is his father.
The harsh words that Dracula had told him once, when he had returned to Castlevania with Trevor, Sylpha and Grant, come back to his mind as cold and filled with sorrow and rancor as they had been uttered that same night.
Traitor, unworthy...
And he was right... The black-haired man thought, opening his eyes to look at the vampire again. He may have become a traitor, and for centuries, done all he could to be a barrier between Dracula's intense hatred and humanity, but...
The dhampir suddenly took several steps forward towards the magic circle.
There would be no more resurrections; it was the last time he would see him.
"Alucard! No! It's dangerous!" Julius's voice called him, mixed in warning and concern.
The black-haired man fell to his knees before the circle, his black eyes filled with emotion stared at Dracula, lying down while his body was completely consumed by the magical flames, unable to even scream his agony. The dhampir reached out his hand and ignored the sudden pain that struck him as he crossed the barrier of the magic and touched his father's hand, holding it in his.
He never ceased to care...
The vampire's golden eyes parted and stared at his son's face in surprise, then slowly, at that last moment, it became something that resembled tenderness and acceptance as a single tear fell across his face.
A strong light completely enveloped the Throne Room; Alucard was hurled away with the propulsion of the magic, just as Julius, who crashed into a column and hit his head hard. Yoko hid behind a stone wall and was able to protect herself from the explosion.
The vampire's body was completely disintegrated.
…
"After Dracula's defeat and Castlevania being sealed within the solar eclipse, to the surprise and astonishment of those who knew the dark side of human history, a new prophecy was made: In the year 2035, in the new total solar eclipse that will appear over Japan, the reincarnation of the lord of darkness will rise and return to his castle to regain his power and reclaim the throne of The Eternal Night that belonged to him by right."
...
Mina observed her friend with growing concern in her heart. As the time passed, she saw him stop breathing completely, his skin growing paler, white as the falling snow on the outside of the mansion.
He seemed to be dead, she thought, and her body shook involuntarily.
Julius stared at the silver-haired man intensely. In all that time the hunter barely moved from his chair and never turned his attention away from the bed. He sometimes seemed to be immersed in thoughts that obscured his face and brought a certain cloud of sadness in his greenish eyes.
The priestess thought to say something in a brief moment, but then, when she looked back at the silver-haired man, the woman was surprised to see a lonely tear falling across his unmoving face.
Suddenly the heir of the Belmont family stood and immediately grabbed the Vampire Killer. The woman looked quickly back to the bed and saw her friend slowly start to wake. His eyelids opened revealing eyes that were completely golden, glimmering with a superhuman glow.
Eyes that certainly belonged to a vampire.
Soma set his attention first on her and Mina shuddered involuntarily. The weight of the silver-haired man's gaze, aware of the young woman's uneasiness, grew softer, and then he stared at the hunter next to her and at the Vampire Killer he held tightly in his hands.
"You can lower your whip, Julius..." The vampire spoke with his voice on the edge of a whisper. "You will not need it..."
"Soma..." The heir of the Belmont family said with clear relief in his face. The hunter lowered his weapon and approached while Mina sat at the edge of the bed to hold the vampire's cold hands in hers.
"Soma..." She spoke trembling and at the same time happy, and the silver-haired man gently stroked her cheek.
"It's alright Mina... See... You don't have to worry... I will not become the same shadow of my past." And looking at the hunter, he spoke to him. "I remembered, Julius... Everything... And also what happened that night on 1999."
The hunter slowly nodded his head in understanding, and watching his friend seriously, he frowned thoughtfully.
"We need to start the spell before the others return..."
Mina looked at him.
"I tried to look into Yoko's things, but I didn't find the spell she used to hide the true appearance of Mr. Arikado!"
"The book is not with her, it is with me, Mina." The priestess stared at him with great surprise and Julius explained. "The spell is on a book that has belonged to my family since ancient times and has been passed down to each generation of the Belmont family... Alucard performed the procedure here in this mansion about forty-two years ago."
The heir of the Belmont family took a key from the pocket of his coat and handed it to the woman.
"I've already set it apart on my desk in the first drawer. Just get it."
"Yoko will know if I cast the spell on Soma?" She asked.
"No, this magic adheres to the body of the target, it becomes like a second garment. Even Yoko, having performed the spell on Alucard, she cannot feel the magic present on him. It can only be undone by the will of the bearer himself."
The priestess nodded her head in thanks and hurriedly left the room.
Soma sat on the edge of the bed, his thoughts taking him for a brief moment to the battle of 1999, and raising his right hand before him, the vampire stared at it with eyes filled with deep emotion as he remembered his son's gesture. Julius, a few paces away, watching him silently, immediately understood what was going on in the other man's mind.
"You... were right..." The vampire whispered. "He..."
"I didn't understand his gesture that night, knowing Dracula only as a monster, author of severe atrocities, that my family had to fight for centuries without ceasing." Julius told him truthfully. "I understand now, after meeting his human side... you."
The silver-haired man stared at his friend with genuine surprise on his face.
"Seeing you both together now, knowing what I know... You're a friend I'd fight to help. For him, you are a father worth fighting to save."
Wordless, thrilled, Soma couldn't speak to reply the other man's words.
At that moment the woman returned. The spell itself was not as complicated to accomplish as Mina believed it would be, and after chanting the Latin words a magical cloud of greenish color enveloped the vampire and dissipated after a while, revealing the normal previous appearance of the silver-haired man as if nothing had happened that late afternoon.
Within minutes the whole procedure had been successfully completed.
Half an hour later, as Julius had predicted, Hammer, Yoko and Alucard returned to the mansion after the sun had set on the horizon. The three of them greeted their friends as they usually did, not noticing anything different, which brought great relief to the vampire, the priestess, and the hunter, whom secretly tense had waited for their reaction.
Hammer and Yoko were in a good mood, and the blond-haired woman had a beaming smile. It had been a wonderful day and she was totally willing to propose something different that night for herself and her friends. She suggested a dough-based dinner in which she would serve as a dessert a cake made by herself, a proposal that was widely accepted by all, although Soma in the deep was thinking about how on earth he would avoid drawing attention to himself now that, with the transformation, he was certain that he no longer would be able to eat ordinary food, and he didn't doubt that in a few hours, like in the past, he would soon start to feel the relentless thirst for blood.
The silver-haired man shuddered involuntarily and ran his hands over his face, worried. That was another problem he needed to find the solution for, and very fast.
As he watched Yoko, Mina, Julius and Hammer talking, he felt a hand touch his shoulder and the vampire looked at his son who was standing beside him.
"Are you okay?" The dark-haired man asked.
"Yes." Soma gave a small smile. "Did you get everything you wanted in the village today?"
"I did." Alucard nodded. "I also brought you something, too."
The dhampir handed him a small dark package, and with curiosity Soma opened it and removed from inside a chain that had a beautiful silver pendant of the Route 66 on the end.
"You... remembered…" he whispered astonished, tracing the small object with his fingers.
"I said I'd think about your case." The dark haired man replied softly.
Soma stared at him in genuine surprise and saw a small smile appear on the other's lips.
"Thank you..." The vampire nodded slowly, putting the chain around his own neck.
Alucard and Soma stared at each other in silence and the silver-haired man felt a lump in his throat. The dhampir didn't move away, nor did he withdraw the warm hand still on his shoulder; there was something in the other man's black eyes the vampire tried to read, but a sudden exclamation from Yoko made the moment get lost.
"Oh, I can't believe it!"
The witch realized that one of the ingredients of the cake was missing, and seeing an opportunity to leave the mansion alone to be able to think straight and put his head in place; Soma was the first to volunteer to go to the village to get it.
"I'm sorry, Soma! If I had known we were missing the eggs I would have bought them myself before we returned to the mansion!" The witch told him with a guilt sympathetic look.
"I don't mind it, be at easy, Yoko." The man smiled at her.
"Are you sure, Soma? Wouldn't you prefer I go in your place instead?" Julius approached and observed him with a meaningful look that contained a veiled question.
"Yes, I will go." The other nodded in affirmation and the hunter handed him the keys of his car.
"Don't get lost in the woods." He teased.
"If I crash into some tree, don't worry, at least the eggs I will bring in one piece."
Soma waved goodbye, laughing, and walked out of the front door while the hunter shook his head, amused, smiling softly, despite everything that happened in the afternoon, feeling at easy in his heart.
…
Traveling by car under the already starry sky was very easy for the vampire, his eyes could now see perfectly in the darkness and all the details of the scenery the forest portrayed, from the road he drove, trees and even some animals who ran frightened by the noise of the vehicle, he could now see them perfectly. Always taking care of the path, he allowed his mind to wander through the memories he had recovered.
His memory was now before him like an open book with nothing more to hide, and for a long time the silver-haired man reflected on everything that had happened, from his days as a knight alongside Leon during the eleventh century, the terrible choices that he had made to become a vampire for the first time, the joy that broke the long years of loneliness when he had lived with Lisa and Adrian, to so drastically fall into the deepest darkness when they were both abruptly taken away from him, and the numerous conflicts with the Belmont family that lasted for hundreds of years.
Lisa's death, for the second time, had completely destroyed him, and the memory of her, even at that moment after so many centuries, was still fragile and painful to him... He couldn't say why Adrian had fled from Castlevania at that time, but he was absolute aware that it was his own actions in the following years that had drawn the dhampir away from his life.
Adrian... He was the last living remembrance he still had of his wife and the only person of his family that remained in his life, but... Even if he could now believe that he was on good terms with his son, strange as it was in the present situation, he couldn't believe that it could change.
I pushed him away... He heard his own words spoken to Mina once echoing inside his mind. My son... I lost him completely…
It was impossible for the dhampir to discover the truth and accept that situation, it was impossible after all that had been said and done made him believe that his father, aware of everything, had really changed, abandoning all darkness in favor of giving himself completely to the light.
Julius accepted... His traitorous mind told him. Why couldn't Adrian?
Because Adrian was his son and his failures to the dhampir were greater and more serious… wounds and sad memories that cut deep and were not easy to deal with. His son had shown this, perhaps without realizing it, the first time he had tried to approach him after so long.
"It's impossible..." The vampire whispered to himself in the silence of the vehicle, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
But still… his memories showed him Adrian's spontaneous approach in the last few days, the genuine concern on the other man's face in the night that he had regained Lisa's memories, as well as forty years ago in the last time they'd met when the dhampir knelt before the circle of invocation and ignoring the strong magic that consumed his arm, he crossed the barrier only to hold his hand.
It was impossible… he told again to himself. So why did his treacherous heart insist on trying to prove it was not so impossible? And worse… to feel that he wanted that too.
The silver-haired man suddenly was deeply moved by strong emotion; he stepped hard on the brake and the car stopped abruptly. Trembling, he laid his head against the wheel and took a deep breath.
"Stop it..." He scolded himself.
Forcing those thoughts out of his head and purposefully avoiding thinking about it again, Soma realized he was already near the village and returned to drive until he parked next to the supermarket a few minutes later. He went inside, took the eggs and paid. When he left the facility and walked back to the car, he stopped by the side of the vehicle, feeling something strange in the air.
It was a different, subtle smell, which to the ordinary humans it was utterly imperceptible, but to him, now transformed, and with his keen senses and memories that were marked deeply by fire and by the strongly burned smell exhaled by old constructions consumed by the flames, it was something completely unmistakable.
Frowning, the vampire searched the city for the focus of the fire, but the movement at that time was quiet, there were no people running in desperation or panic. Then his attention involuntarily went to the forest and his eyes widened. High in the middle of the dark night, in the distance he could see through the trees a cloud of smoke rising above and mingling with the black cloak of the sky, completely unnoticed, in the exact direction where the Belmont mansion was located.
Taken with great urgency and a sense of uneasy, the silver-haired man threw himself into the car and stomped on the accelerator, he ran down the central avenue of the village and made his way through the forest at high speed. Minutes that seemed like an eternity passed and the vampire finally arrived at his destination and parked the vehicle near the entrance of the old building.
Soma ran out of the car, his blue eyes filled with astonishment and disbelief as they stared at the Belmont mansion, completely on fire.
"No... It cannot be!"
Taken out of desperation he threw himself indoors and running through the corridors, he searched for his friends in every possible room.
"JULIUS! MINA!" The vampire screamed in vain, his voice soon suffocated by the sound of rafters falling in one of the mansion's upper parts. "YOKO! HAMMER! ADRIAN!"
There was no answer, he found them nowhere.
He was there, alone in middle of the ocean of flames and fire that mercilessly consumed everything around him.
