The Birth of Evil
It was the 11th century, a time
of knights and knighthood. As the system decayed, monarchies began to weaken
as local feudal lords grew in power. The knights became their sworn protectors,
the defenders of the land and those brave enough to give their lives for the
lords they served. However, there remained a lack of any real order; as the
chaos spread, rival families continued to contend for control, in bloody fashion,
at the expense of the knights who wished only to protect them. It was one thing
to defend their masters' land--it was quite another to battle against rival
families' independent armies who were looking for nothing more than political
gain. The disorder would ultimately call for change: The increasing power of
the Catholic Church soon brought forth the Gregorian Reforms of the 11th Century;
it was during this period of religious constitution that the knights were elevated
to the role of "protectors of the peace and the Church." These knights
valued courage and honor, and they proudly fought against heretics and heathens
in the name of God. Some knights formed brotherhoods, sects that would fight
together with a sacred trust bonding them. In this age, one such company of
knights was said to be invincible; it was these two men, Leon Belmont and Mathias
Cronqvist, who would unwittingly bring about a new order.
Leon
Belmont was a courageous young man who feared nothing and whose combat abilities
were second to none. Mathias Cronqvist was a genius tactician whose education
made him a standout in a largely illiterate society. Together, these two men,
bound by an old friendship based completely on trust, had never suffered a loss
on the field of battle. One day, however, Mathias suffered a loss of another
kind: Upon returning from yet another victorious campaign, he was greeted with
the news that his wife, Elisabetha, had died suddenly. Mathias became stricken
with grief, and over the course of one year, his condition worsened to the point
where he became bedridden. In Mathias' absence, it was up to Leon to represent
the company on his own; Leon's efforts proudly kept their company undefeated.
But things certainly did
not become any easier for them: The reforms of the Catholic Church were a continuing
theme throughout Europe, and its burgeoning focus on the Christian Crusades
required an increased effort from the knights. Many fell in battle as the territorial
disputes became more and more petty.
Soon after, the next threat
arose. Without warning, a mysterious army of monsters suddenly appeared in Leon's
domain. Because the Church had not authorized any battles that were not against
its political enemies, Leon was helpless to prevent their sudden rising. When
Leon asked permission to sortie--to begin a military-led assault against these
terrifying besiegers--the Church had no intention of granting his wish.
One night, Mathias struggled
out of bed to relay a message to Leon: He knew for sure that the appearance
of the monsters was somehow tied to a vampire who resided in a castle within
the forest they called "Eternal Night." The more difficult part for
Mathias was informing his friend that Sara Trantoul, his betrothed, had been
kidnapped and brought to that castle. With no other choice, his pledge
to the Church binding him, Leon renounced his title as a lord and baron so that
he could attempt to rescue his beloved without committing heresy. He would now
have to hurry, braving the forest, to arrive at the site of the uninviting castle.
As he neared the outlying
areas of the castle, he was overcome by an odd sensation. He curiously surveyed
his surroundings and was taken by the voice of an old man: "Ah, he must
really like you. You won't be able leave here now." That old man was Rinaldo
Gandolfi, an alchemist who lived in this forest ruled by vampires. Rinaldo was
surprised to learn that this was the Belmont he had heard about; even though
he considered the youth's efforts in coming to this land unarmed to be foolhardy,
he bowed with respect. The earnest Leon told Rinaldo his tale and insisted that
they were now equals, both in their rank amongst men and in their plight. Rinaldo
knew that it was his job to help this troubled soul, so he led Leon to the safety
of his cottage.
It
was here that Rinaldo supplied him with much information: This particular forest
was shrouded in eternal darkness because its vampire master, Walter Bernhard,
was in possession of something that afforded him a power of encapsulation.
It seemed that eternal life frequently became monotonous, and Walter would entertain
himself by goading vampire hunters into his inescapable forest for an inevitable
duel. The fact remained that none could ever come close to defeating him. Walter
would initiate the game by taking something valuable away from the hunters--in
this case, Leon's beloved, Sara. Furthermore, Walter permitted Rinaldo to live
here because he approved of his helping the hunters by selling them necessary
goods--this made the game more fun. But how would Leon go about tackling
such a foe? There were no easy answers, but Rinaldo assisted by entrusting Leon
with the Whip of Alchemy, an artifact, he confided, that was more powerful than
any slain hunter's discarded sword. As one of the handful of people with such
knowledge, Rinaldo explained to Leon the principles behind its making in regard
to the secret arts; it was Mathias, coincidentally, that taught Rinaldo about
the arts, which had been handed down in his family orally.
Additionally, Rinaldo used
what power he had to channel energy into Leon's gauntlet, which would allow
for him to collect magic power by defending against and thus absorbing the monsters'
attacks. With the whip and his now-enchanted gauntlet, Leon was all set to retrieve
his betrothed. Rinaldo, ominously, had one final warning: To gain access to
the upper half of the castle where Walter lay in wait, he explained, Leon would
have to defeat five of the castle's supreme guardians to break its seal.
Leon entered the castle
and, suppressing his fear, used its portal room to transport to its five separate
areas where the guardians ruled. A Golem, Medusa, the Succubus, an Undead Parasite--they
all fell, one by one, to the determined warrior. It was after the defeat of
the vampire guardian Joachim Armster whence Leon learned that Walter was in
possession of the "ebony stone," which was the power source encompassing
the forest in eternal darkness. During his repeated visits to the cottage during
this time, Leon learned from Rinaldo about the ebony stone and the two others
(the crimson stone and the philosopher's stone) that when combined would allow
for alchemy's goal--eternal youth to he who was their possessor. To the vampires,
only two in particular were of value: The ebony stone, which Walter had, and
the crimson stone, an ultimate power source that had been since lost. Leon also
learned that Rinaldo's daughter was one of the unfortunate victims of Walter's
game-playing. Thus, at this point, his mission became an extension of his new
ally's, a quest to free more than just Sara.
The seal was broken, and
Leon entered onto the castle's second level, the Pagoda of the Misty Moon. Walter
appeared to him with Sara in his arms. Leon demanded that he release Sara, and
Walter willingly complied, for she was no longer of need to him. The infuriated
Leon leapt into the air and unleashed a mighty whip slash, but it had no effect
on the vampire, who laughed it off and belittled the effort; Walter then challenged
Leon to venture unto the castle's highest point, where they would duel under
the light of foreboding moon. For now, Leon's concern was Sara's health, so
he rushed her out of the castle and to the outside of Rinaldo's cottage.
Sara lay unconscious, and
Leon was becoming desperate. Rinaldo exited the cottage and as the voice of
reason demanded that Leon get a grip on his emotions and wait inside as he look
over Sara. Soon, Rinaldo came inside to provide momentary relief for the pacing
and anxious Leon: Sara was alive, having survived the encounter, and she was
resting in the next room. But Rinaldo had other, graver, news: Upon investigation,
the teethmarks he found on her neck confirmed that she had indeed been vampirized
by Walter, and her condition would only be cured if Leon were to destroy Walter
immediately. Unfortunately, Leon had not the means for defeating the all-too-powerful
vampire. Rinaldo, though, had the solution, however crazed it seemed: Sara had
inside of her a part of Walter, an evil sample that could be harnessed; the
Whip of Alchemy's potential could be fully realized if Leon were to kill Sara
by combining his hatred and the power of the whip, thereby collecting her now-conflicting
energies into a package of destruction that could be used against Walter.
Sara, who had been listening
through the door, realized the inescapability of her predicament. Because she
knew that she would soon become a vampire, trapped within an eternal nightmare,
she volunteered her life-force for what Rinaldo had proposed. If it would mean
that others would live on, she would gladly accept becoming one with the whip.
The overwhelmed Leon was not convinced; he was not prepared to let go, to just
let her die and be alone in this world. When the emotions built to a boil, spurned
by Rinaldo's pleas, Leon knew that there was no other choice--he would have
to accept his fate and strike down the woman he loved. And in one sorrow-filled
swing of the whip, the act was complete.
And behold: The Vampire
Killer whip was born.
Emotionally
exhausted, Leon swore that he would garner revenge on Sara's behalf. He raced
back into the castle and fought through its last line of defense en route to
the castle keep. One final staircase led him to the throne room where his target
lay waiting. Leon burst through the doors with words of impending doom for the
vampire. The overly confident Walter was none-too-impressed with the Belmont;
in fact, he saw his own heinous actions more as having given Leon a gift, a
whip of unspeakable power. What did impress Walter, ultimately, was a
taste of its power, one that not even his precious ebony stone could protect
him against. It was only a matter of time, then, before the determined Leon
finished the job. Though defeated, Walter bragged about an inevitable return;
this was only a temporary defeat, he thought. But Walter wasn't prepared for
what would happen next: An unimaginable pain that saw his life-force extracted
by the until-then camouflaged Death. The Reaper laughed off Walter's cries and
turned to offer the devastated vampire's life-force to he whom had recovered
the crimson stone, the lastest arrival to the throne room.
Mathias
appeared before Leon and was very pleased. Walter's was indeed the strong vampire
spirit that he had coveted. "Why?!" the shocked Leon cried. Mathias
explained that Elisabetha's death had hit him harder than anyone could realize.
His agony was so that he blamed God, whose name in which he had always fought,
for her death, and he would thus curse Him forever by procuring eternal life.
And he used Leon, Sara, Rinaldo and Walter to do it. "For if limited
life is God's decree," he said, "then I shall defy it!"
Mathias truly believed that
Elisabetha would have wanted it this way. Leon argued that the Mathias he knew
would never marry such a woman. Still, Mathias expected Leon to understand
his plight, for he, too, had unfairly lost someone he loved; maybe, he thought,
his friend would join him in eternal life to also express a pained hatred. Leon
contested that, yes, he struck Walter down with hatred, but he did it with the
intention that others might live, which is what Sara wanted; Leon was
sure that Elisabetha would have wanted the same. This is not what Mathias wanted
to hear, unfortunately, so he would disappointedly have to leave his friend
behind. "Death--he's all yours," he ordered, before assuming
bat form and flying off into the night.
Death transported both he
and Leon to a chaotic realm, where the two would see a final battle. Death,
too, was overly confident, but Leon knew better--the Vampire Killer whip had
the power to destroy vampires and all related to them, including a divine
being such as Death. "Nooooooooooooo!" Death screamed as defeat came
calling. The departing Reaper, like Walter before him, also bragged of a return,
but Leon had a message for him to deliver to Mathias in the meantime: "You
have become a cursed being, and I will never forgive you. This whip and
my kinsmen will destroy you someday. The Belmont clan will hunt the night!"
Death's violent banishment
caused the castle to shake, and it began to crumble piece by piece. Leon hurried
out, each step narrowly avoiding the falling debris. He eventually escaped the
castle and walked off with a quiet confidence and yet an empty heart. In his
wake, sunlight finally began to shine upon the forest, an event that brought
closure to at least one person. "So he did it," Rinaldo said as a
ray of sunlight beam through the cottage's windows. Rinaldo's burden was quelled
thanks to the Belmont's bravery. Leon, in contrast, would return to his domain,
where he would try to put the shattered fragments back together.
And so the Belmont Clan's
struggle against evil began.
The Stage-Setting
After leaving Leon behind in the
castle keep, Mathias escaped to foreign land, where he continued to curse God.
Eventually, he named himself Lord of the Vampires and King of the Night.
It would be many years before the Belmonts'
next battle with Mathias.
Page 2: The
Legend Begins
