CastleVania: The Unfinished Symphony Chapter 7

A New Beginning

By The Dark Requiem

The year: 1466.

The place: the palace of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary.

Vlad III Tepes Dracula stands before the altar of the chapel of the Hungarian royal family, dressed in finest attire.

Today he is to be married.

He will have himself a wife again.

And this time, he will not lose her.

The marriage to Elisabeta was a sweet time in his life, but he has never been stirred to the heights of emotion before than he is when in the presence of his soon-to-be bride.

Yes, he is to be married.

Not that he has much of a choice in the matter, of course.

He knows why this must happen.

But he would have gladly have chosen marriage himself in any case.

He casts a waiting glance at the decorated Roman Catholic bishop who stands before him.

Yes, when it happened four years ago, he hated God.

But, upon some further and calmer reflection, he had reasoned that, despite it all, he could have been killed himself. And he was now to be blessed with a new family.

Thus he would give God another chance.

There was also another reason. To be with his new bride he had to adopt the faith of Roman Catholicism, practiced and observed by the kingdom of Hungary.

These were his reasons…or at least he thinks so.

Behind him, a fanfare begins. He turns around…

…and sees his new bride…

…Ilona…

…"Lisa"…

…being led towards him by her father…

…Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary.

The king places his daughter's hand into the waiting hand of Dracula…and he looks at him.

The look is somewhat indistinguishable. It seems happy…

…and sad…

…and confused…

…and betrayed…

…and more, all at once.

The bishop begins his Latin intonations of the rite of marriage and, taking a beautifully embroidered cloth, ties their hands together.

In a rare moment of happiness, only seen a few times in the past four years, Dracula smiles.

The crowd begins to applaud as the newly-married couple is presented to them by the bishop.

The applause seems drowned out, however, by the sound of a small child. He looks over to the side…

…and sees his newborn son in the arms of his wife's nursemaid.

There he is, he thinks. There he is…product of our love.

There he is who came into being that lonely night when Lisa came to visit me once again in my cell.

There he is who hastened my inevitable freedom…and the inevitable marriage…by means of his conception and birth.

There he is whom I love so dearly…though not so dearly as my wife.

There he is…my dear Adrian…

* * *

Somewhere, in a far away realm of which we currently know nothing, Death laughed to himself.

Poor Vlad, he thought to himself.

Look at what he has done now.

He's given me some new toys…

He has reconciled with God…not of his own will, of course. He needed a bit of suggestion.

I could continue without such sentimental reconciliation but…I do think it is more fun this way…

Death laughed again, reveling in the divine gift of free will.

And he has married again. Perhaps I will save that fun for later.

And he has a son…

…a son…

…there is something about that boy that troubles me. I must needs deal with him soon.

Then I will watch as everything falls into place for him once again…

…and then watch as he is separated from them once again…

…and his soul becomes MINE!

.

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