The Origins of Dracula and the Belmont Legacy

## **Beginnings Written In Blood**

Towards the end of the 11th century AD, many countries throughout Europe were gripped in near-constant warfare, whether seeking conquest over one another or even within warring factions amongst themselves. Though however much war could scar the land and time with it, the world would be forever changed by two dear friends, Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist.

### **Leon Belmont**

Leon Belmont was born in 11th century Romania, in a time of civil war where knights not only protected their lords, but also protected the peace and fought heretics in God's name. Orphaned at a young age, Leon studied the ways of the soldier, and in an unheard of move, became a knight when he was merely sixteen years old, his skills in combat and leadership being second to none. Now granted title, he chose the family name Belmont, alluding to the beautiful landscape and mountains of his home country.

Following his promotion, he soon joined a company of knights with the son of his liege lord and close friend, Count Mathias Cronqvist, together granting the platoon great renown and success on the field with their skills in combat and strategy. Leon was granted a baronship in recognition of his deeds, and the company evolved into a small army. Around the same time, he became betrothed to a woman in the service of his lord's wife, Sara Trantoul. Coming from the life of someone who had come from nothing, and started with even less, Leon felt as if life had truly come together for him, and thanked God for his gift to him.

But their triumph was cut short, as Mathias became bedridden with grief after losing his wife Elisabetha to a sudden bout of illness which not even his family's finest doctors could treat. Without Mathias's savant tactics to steer them, the company began facing their first defeats against their neighbouring enemies, causing plunging morale among the platoon and the land itself, seeing their finest champions fall from their pedestals.

As his fortunes worsened, hellish monsters began attacking Leon's domain, decimating his lands and savaging his people. He prepared himself and his personal knights to defend their home, but the Church forbade him to become personally involved, as they ordered him to focus on continuing to cleanse the land of enemies to the region and heretics, despite his growing losses. To add to his woes, his betrothed Sara , disappeared from his holdings. Between upholding his vows to serve the land, the monsters battering at his doors and now the apparent loss of Sara, he was near-driven into a breakdown.

It was at this lowest of points that he was approached by Mathias, seemingly having broken from his spell of grief and lethargy. Mathias informed his friend that Sara had been kidnapped by a vampire and brought to the monster's castle nestled deep within a dark forest, known as the 'Eternal Night'. Leon was determined to save his beloved and readied himself immediately to leave, but was once again stopped by involvement from representatives of the church, forbidding him to abandon his duties as a baron and a knight. Tired of the obligations placed onto him and his never-ending struggles, Leon renounced his title as a baron and as a knight to his lord's family. This action in turn outraged the church, who threatened Leon with excommunication should he not rethink his rash decision and submit himself fully to God in penance. But Leon had made up his mind; all he cared for now was his beloved, God and all be damned if she could not be saved.

He was stripped of his titles and lands, his deeds erased from record, and the name Belmont condemned by the church. Excommunicated and cast out, he made his way alone to the dark forest, steeling himself for whatever horrors he may find, all in the name of rescuing his betrothed.

### **Mathias Cronqvist**

In a world where knights flaunted their skill in battle but lacked overall strategical education, Count Mathias Cronqvist was a genius tactician. Born into Romanian nobility, he was seen as a prodigy from a young age, and became known as Cronqvist the Wise throughout the land before he had even come of age. He humbled the most learned scholars over both talks of battle strategy and games of chess, displaying his razor sharp mind.

Though he was certainly gifted, his knowledge had not come from his tutors alone. Mathias was the descendant of an aristocrat who had been obsessed with the occult, with the very castle in which he lived having reportedly once been the grounds for the summoning of a terrifying demon, that had in turn been slain by a group of knights said to have been blessed by God himself. The Count was captured and executed on orders of the church, but not before he cursed them, vowing his lineage would carry on his work and that his stronghold would once again serve to host the denizens of Hell itself.

While none since had carried out such an act, the Cronqvist family had retained a hidden library from the old Count's days, containing a trove of books and scrolls relating to the occult, with subjects on everything from devil worshipping to dark alchemy. While the catacombs where these were kept had been largely abandoned for centuries, Mathias had discovered them as a child, and educated himself in there teachings.

As he came of age, he joined a group of knights, along with his closest friend Leon Belmont. Though Leon was of a more lowly disposition in life, the two had formed a friendship in childhood, and he had risen to become a knight, and Mathias's personal protector. While Leon excelled in the arts of war, Mathias brought his genius to the platoon, providing them with foolproof strategies time and time over that saw them rise above the land's enemies.

The company's victories came again and again, with them being hailed as heroes by the people, lauded with praise and recognition. Already a Count, Mathias had his father bestow a baronship upon Leon, granting a title to his most cherished friend who had come from nothing. The company set out on yet another expedition, this time to quell a band of mercenaries who had been attacking local caravans and minor strongholds. It was soon after that a messenger arrived to inform Mathias that his beloved wife, Elisabetha, had passed from a sudden illness. Despite his family's access to the best doctors and healers in the land, none had been able to help Elisabetha.

Mathias was stricken with grief and immediately returned home, causing a great drop in morale among his comrades. Despite protests from those who had been caring for her, he pushed them aside and barged in to find Elisabetha's cold, lifeless body upon their bed. He cried out in rage and sorrow, demanding to know God had taken her from him. Collapsing once his rage had passed, he became bedridden, with a message being sent to the expedition to convey what had occurred. Leon was forced to continue the campaign, but having lost his friend and their key strategist. The coming days saw a defeat in the campaign, the first true loss the company had ever encountered. Their fortunes only continued to dwindle, with further losses in battle, and Leon's lands becoming plagued with monsters, forcing him to also return.

Mathias emerged from his state of depression in the coming weeks, shortly before Leon realised that Sara was missing from their homestead. Leon desperately searched for her, finding no leads until Mathias came to him, telling him that he had found out what had happened. Sara had been kidnapped, stolen away one night by a vampire that made his home to the east, in a secluded forest. Without thinking, his friend made to leave but was stopped, and his decision to abandon his former life left him an outcast. Mathias argued for his friend's sake, but even his voice among the nobility could not quell the church's decision. And so he watched as his closest friend left their home, and made his way to rescue his beloved.

## **The Lament of Innocence**

Soon after entering the forest, Leon encountered Rinaldo Gandolfi, an alchemist who lived his life as a hermit in the forest. From the old man, he learned that the vampire who kidnapped Sara was Walter Bernhard, who amused himself by playing 'cat-and-mouse' with powerful warriors before defeating them, manipulating them to face him by means of stealing away their loved ones and other nefarious schemes. Rinaldo was surprised Leon was not a baron anymore, revealing to him that he somehow knew who Leon was, before inviting Leon into his cottage and telling him that he had "unfinished business" with Walter, and though Walter had never been defeated, he allowed Rinaldo to offer aid to any who came to test their mettle against him.

Leon was armed with his trusted longsword but Rinaldo offered his assistance by giving Leon the Whip of Alchemy, a weapon imbued with occult abilities that could cause harm to supernatural beings that no mere blade could. Rinaldo revealed the principles behind the whip's creation, and that it was he who had once aided Mathias in his hidden studies. Leon began to question past events and Rinaldo's connection to his friend further, but the old man refused to elaborate further. Before Leon finally set off, the alchemist warned him that Walter could only be reached after defeating several guardians protecting the vampire's chambers, located deep within the heart of the castle. And to trust no one he encountered within.

Leon pondered the old man's meaning as he journeyed forth. What exactly had he meant be not trusting any within? Soon reaching the castle, Leon set about finding and defeating the guardians one by one, as he traversed the numerous hallways and staircases, fighting off uncountable numbers of horrors.

The first guardian he came across was a great stone Golem, who almost ended Leon's quest before it had begun with its mighty strength and brute ferocity. Upon defeat of the monster, Leon returned to the alchemist, who combined it with the essence of the fallen guardian, powering it even further.

The next he encountered was Medusa, a particularly powerful Gorgon who he found in a garden of stone statues, realising that all were her prior victims. Once she was defeated, she displayed astonishment at the whip's power, asking if it had been completed, with Leon being oblivious as to her question and passed it off as mere ramblings. Once again, he returned to Gandolfi who further powered the weapon.

Leon soon came across his beloved Sara, and almost gave in to her embrace, before coming to his senses and realising that this was not his betrothed, but an imposter. Sara's form was replaced with that of one of Walter's guardians, the Succubus, who had used her powers of illusion to try and seduce and subsequently feed on Leon. He slayed the monster as the others before, but before she died, the Succubus revealed Rinaldo's feud with Walter: the vampire had been responsible for the siring of his daughter, Justine. Leon returned to the cottage and learned the truth; Rinaldo had been forced to kill his own daughter after her vampirism had taken effect, and had himself once fought the guardians to defeat Walter, but had been unsuccessful in his task. Humiliated by Walter, he had been tortured by the vampire for years, and once Walter finally tired of this, he had relegated the alchemist to the life of a hermit, cursing him to be unable to leave the forest, and only serve as the guide to others who would come to challenge him. The whip was once more further enhanced with the essence of the Succubus.

Moving on Leon encountered a vampire by the name of Joachim Armster. Leon learned that Walter had lured Joachim by promising him eternal life with the gift of vampirism, a 'gift' he had came to forever regret. Later, after becoming a vampire, Joachim attempted to usurp the position of his superior, but Walter's mastery of the Ebony Stone, a vampiric artifact, proved to make him unbeatable to Joachim and he defeated him with relative ease. Amused by the fact that Joachim tried to defeat him, Walter decided to indulge him, and at the same time establish his own personal way of supremacy. Rather than destroying Joachim, he imprisoned him in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, sealing one of the keys to Walter's inner sanctum with him. As Joachim's current location was blocked off by streams of water, the touch of which was like acid to many vampires, Joachim could never leave. Maddened by hunger, Joachim was constantly reminded of the indignity forced upon him by Walter. The elder vampire used Joachim for his own amusement, luring any adventurer who had entered his domains to confront him.

By the time Leon confronted Joachim, the vampire hoped to slay the former knight, drain his powerful blood and break free from his prison, before once more attempting to slay Walter. As Leon killed him, he lamented that if only he possessed the Crimson Stone, he may have been able to defeat all before him and enact his vengeance. Leon was unsure as to the artifact to which the dying vampire eluded, but he understood that there was more at play here than he had been led to believe.

The final guardian proved to be Death itself. Professing to Leon that in Walter it had found a master of such evil and terrible power to feed it a constant stream of souls, it had pledged its loyalty to the vampire, and would permit no harm to befall him. Nevertheless, through the power of the whip and the essence of the slain monsters within it, Leon was able to drive Death of, with an ominous warning; none escape Death.

With the guardians defeated, Leon entered Walter's chambers. He immediately went to attack the vampire, but shortly discovered that the whip could not harm him, much to Walter's amusement and ridicule of the would-be vampire slayer. The vampire taunted Leon, telling him that he was too late, before disappearing and leaving the monster slayer alone with his beloved. But their reunion was not what Leon had pictured, for Sara seemed to be in a strange trance, and would not respond to him, treating him as if he were a total stranger.

Distraught, Leon took her Sara back to Rinaldo's house in hopes of curing her from whatever ailment afflicted her. But he and the alchemist soon discovered a grim repeat of history; that his betrothed had been bitten by Walter and was at the end of her mortal life. She had become enthralled by the vampire and would now follow only his commands.

Rinaldo confirmed that the only way to save her was to defeat Walter. But as Leon had found, the whip was not powerful enough to do so, and neither he nor Gandolfi possessed a weapon that could achieve the feat. It was with heavy heart that Rinaldo informed Leon that there was a way: Sara must be sacrificed and her essence absorbed into the whip, as with the guardians that Leon had fought and felled. At first, Leon refused to do so adamantly, but came to see that his love was no longer even human, nor responsive to anything, be it his words, his touch or her own surroundings. It was only a matter of time before she turned and the thirst would take over. Saying his final goodbyes to his love, Leon began the ritual along with Rinaldo, summoning Sara's soul and fusing it with the whip, creating the legendary Vampire Killer. After burying Sara's lifeless body outside of Rinaldo's house, Leon ventured to defeat Walter once and for all, his heart ablaze with vengeance.

Fighting his way through the remaining enemies blocking his path, Leon confronted Walter for the last time within the castle throne room. Armed with the newly powered Vampire Killer, he took Walter by surprise and destroyed the Ebony Stone protecting him, leaving the vampire heavily weakened and in shock. He outcried the impossibility of this fate, but was given no mercy as Leon unleashed a barrage of strikes, each blow causing Walter a burning pain and inflicting agony upon him. Again and again the whip cracked, with Walter now pleading for his life in desperation, all illusion of his power gone. But as Leon prepared to deliver the final blow, a light blinded him, with a menacing spectral figure having apparated into the room: Death.

Death stood over the dying Walter, swinging his scythe as the vampire screamed, crying traitor and betrayer, before Death proceeded to reap his soul, tearing it from his body and leaving him a husk of a man to crumple to the floor. It revealed a glowing red crystal, with Walter's soul steaming into the rock, before another figure appeared to reach out and claim it. Leon gazed in horror as before him stood Mathias, his oldest and dearest friend, now clutching the orb that held the soul of the monster that had taken Leon's beloved from him.

Leon demanded to know what had just taken place and went to make a move, but was held in place by the skeletal wraith. Mathias congratulated Leon on felling Walter, before revealing that it was he who had orchestrated everything up to this point. When Elisabetha had been taken from him, he had cursed God for the cruel and unjust fate he had inflicted upon him, vowing that he would seek vengeance one way or another.

The year he had spent bedridden, was in fact time he had spent preparing and scheming, learning of the history of vampires with their inhuman powers and immortality. It was during this research that he had come to learn of Walter Bernhard, and offered him a challenge he knew the vampire lord could not resist. Giving him the location and access to Sara Trantoul, Walter kidnapping her would inevitably draw out Leon, the strongest warrior that Mathias had ever witnessed, and knowing that Walter would be thrilled by the opportunity. Mathias had also discovered that by infusing a human soul into the whip of alchemy, it would create a weapon capable of harming Walter, and make him vulnerable for soul extraction. In Mathias's research, he had come across a vampiric artifact known as the Crimson Stone, far stronger than the Ebony Stone that Walter wielded, but lost to the ages. Through a series of occult rituals and scouring the land for lost remnants, he finally recreated the artifact, and with it, would claim Walter's soul. He had used Rinaldo's lust for vengeance to his advantage, providing him with the alchemical means to aid Leon and empower the whip. Leon, Sara, Rinaldo, Walter and his monsters and even Death itself had been his pawns in achieving his goal, abandoning his humanity and defying mortal life to become something more, and challenge the God who had taken that he loved from him. With that, he took in Walter's soul to his own, becoming the most powerful vampire the world had ever known.

## **Blood Feud**

Now successfully transformed, Mathias offered for Leon to join him, to claim life eternal and scar the very Heavens with their rage, becoming Gods and ruling over all together. Leon however, was disgusted by his former friend, and branded Mathias a coward and a traitor to all that they had stood for throughout their life. Mathias, unconcerned by Leon's denunciation, simply informed his old friend that Mathias died a long time ago. He was now Dracula, taken from their native Romanian 'Dracul', the meaning for dragon and evil. Offering Leon a final chance to join him as the two had shared the same pain and loss, Leon refused once more, with Dracula displaying his disappointment at his on time brother-in-arms, leaving Death to deal with him and departing, turning himself into shadow.

The final showdown between Leon and Death began, with Leon emerging triumphant thanks to the power of the Vampire Killer. Death began to depart, with Leon giving him a final message for his master: From that day on, he would vanquish all that was evil, stave off the dark and hunt down Dracula, as would his descendants and those after them until Dracula and all traces of his being were wiped from the world. Where evil would rise, the Belmonts would be there to crush it, and drive it back to Hell.

And so Leon emerged from the castle, now crumbling to ruins. He had lost everything; his livelihood, his titles and lands, his true love. But he had found a new purpose. The world would not be safe as long as Dracula remained, and so Leon would become his hunter, a task he would carry out until the end of his days.