The Immortalized Soul (Book 3 Original version)

“Have you ever heard the story about how the sun loved the moon so much, that he died every night to let her breathe?” Alucard leaned against the tree as he shut the book he read.

Elisabeth had not spoken to her father much since mother had died, rather he made a point to avoid the subject altogether. She thought he was mourning, trying not to show his sorrow--she was a fool to think that. Father never loved mother, their marriage was not for love and no doubt her birth was unplanned for. Nonetheless Lizzy could not help, but believe her father’s words when saying he loved her.

He didn’t see her mother in their daughter, but saw their daughter for a person; she always admired him for that. Though she wondered often why he married her mother in the first place she never had the courage to ask.

“No, what’s it from?” Elisabeth answered clicking her phone off.

“A fairytale my mother used to tell my siblings and I when we were children.”

A man of light, one blessed with the power of the sun gave the world his brilliance to allow life to flourish. Humans could grow crops, see, they lived happily; he was happy to see this. The so-called Sun God however met a woman, she hid in the shadow of a large tree refusing to come out.

Time and time again the Sun God tried to approach the woman, but each time she would hide away, having her eyes burned by his light and growing weaker with each glimpse of him. One day, desperate to meet the woman he dimmed his light and with this she was able to peak out from her shadows. More and more his light lessened affecting the humans who relied so heavily on it, but the Sun God had been bewitched; he held no knowledge of his actions which harmed his children.

Gradually the woman of the shadows grew in strength and where his light lessened her darkness grew. When at last he discovered what he had done the Sun God was horrified and fell into grief. How could he see the woman he loved and allow his precious children to flourish as they had?

The woman, purposed an idea: why not allow her darkness to rule half the world and his light the other? If they alternated then they would be together and his children could live as they always had. Blinded by his love the Sun God agreed and every night, his light, his life, went out so his love the Moon Goddess could walk freely.

What he did not know, was the creatures that lurked in her darkness, ones that flourished at night who made off with his children who were foolish enough to step outside the God’s light. Her own children were at last able to be born into a world of their own--one perfect and full of the light of life they took to make way for their darkness. The Goddess noticed that at the peak before the God’s light arose and her’s diminished that his body aged more and more. Unlike her whose form was unchanging, the Sun God grew old because too late had he realized the damage he had done. To protect the light and his children he passed his light to another with the hope that perhaps he could appease the Goddess’s heart to do the same; that they might live out their days together in peace in darkness and light.

The Goddess of the Moon looked upon him with the same eyes his light had burned long ago. Crimson eyes that burned with hatred towards him and his light, they gave the answer he feared; she claimed his life without a second thought. To the Goddess’s dismay, the Sun God’s light continued to brighten the half she wished to claim, but it was not as if this would stop her. Her children, given life from the darkness were born in the Sun God’s world and thus the light did not sting their eyes as it had hers.

“What happened to the Sun God’s light?” Elisabeth was intrigued by this story, she recalled hearing it as a child and yet it seemed so long ago she had completely forgotten about it. “I don’t know.” Alucard answered leaning back on the bench.

“What do you think?”

“I think he gave it to the humans.” She was quite proud in this answer as she wore a smile, “I mean they were his children right? Wouldn’t he want them to be able to protect themselves?”

“Perhaps, but who would be give it to?” The king wished to see what a pure, innocent soul such as his daughter would think.

“Everyone.”

The Ancestor stared at his daughter for a moment, neither baffled nor dissatisfied, but rather sought for her reasoning: why everyone?

“If only one person has that power then if that one person makes the wrong choice it will significantly affect everyone, but if a lot of people have pieces of that power then the few will be canceled out by the many.”

For a man who has lived ten thousand years this generation is the most astonishing yet. Is it because they are too accustomed to peace? Do they not understand the pain and horrors of war? Maybe its because they haven’t that they arrive at a different answer than their forerunners. There was no right or wrong answer to his question, but upon his satisfaction Elisabeth left, wanting to share this story with Eona who needed something else to think about.

The queen sat in the library, within a hidden room behind a bookshelf on the second level just beside the fireplace. As a child this was her sanctuary, a home-away-from-home where she felt closest to her deceased mother. In the room Eona had placed portraits and pictures of her family and friends onto the walls, how many of them still lived she had no idea. Many of her pictures had been left at the house when she was taken and Alucard said that it had been burned to the ground, but by who he didn’t know. As she thought about it she really didn’t have any pictures of anyone from the Main House. She always thought there would be more time and put it off, but now there was none and only regrets remain.

There was a quiet tap on the shelf and as it was opened ajar, Adam slipped thru, shutting it quickly behind. Though his knowledge of this room’s location did come as a surprise, the fact that he had come was further astonishing.

“Where have you b--!” Adam clapped his hand over Eona’s mouth; his eyes looked toward the door. There was silence in the room and in the library the echo of footsteps gradually faded away.

He removed his hand, “My apologizes, Alucard is quite eager to see me and I’m more eager to stay alive.”

That came as doubtful reason, Alucard has no reason to kill Adam--unless he saw something he should not have then that would cause needs for concern. Adam sat in an empty chair, looking at all the photos and paintings in the room. It had been a while since he was last in here and without the aid of Carmella’s portrait he would have otherwise forgotten what she looked like.

“You really do take more after Wolfgang than Carmella.” He breathed, “But now is not the time to remember such a thing, I have come to give you comforting news: the Nation lives yet.”

Eona cried the moment she heard those words. Her beloved Nation still lives, they protect and work beside humans--together they fought. There was a small amount of hope that he would bring other news--‘Kira is alive’, ‘she’s hiding from Alucard’...wishful thinking. She had to ask, to ensure the truth from one she would believe: is Kira really dead?

Adam did not want to repeat it, he did not want to say the truth, but alas he had no right to ignore her question.

“Don’t make me say what you already know...” His face frowned, an angered response toward himself and the truth. If he had only tried harder, if he talked to her more maybe he could have saved her--that was an impossible wish, he knew that the moment he watched her carry her brother’s body. The ‘Kira’ Eona knew and the ‘Reaper’ Adam knew were the same person there was no denying that, but there was no way Eona would accept the ‘Reaper’ as the ‘real Kira’. In many ways she was still a child because of that ignorance, but there was no reason to try change her mind--they would never know which was the real one after all.

Eona choked on her words, but after a breathe of calmness her composure returned. Alucard tells her nothing of the outside, until Adam she was not even sure there was a Nation. Though the gunfire out in the far mountains did make her wonder, but these suspicions she kept to herself until she was sure. There is yet another war going on this time one vampire against the other and humans, for public status, have remained a neutral force. How long until the entire world is dragged into this war and ‘when’ that happens what will be left of what is destroyed?

There had to be a way to stop this fight, to protect that which Kira died trying to prevent--without killing. The human/vampire war waged for ten thousand years is over and Alucard must be tired of fighting after all that time. He must want to resolve this the same way she does, at least she hopes he does.

“I came to confirm my suspicions, forgive me but I must be sure.” Adam saw her shadow, the angel whose wings had yet to spread, “You ‘chose’ to go with Alucard; you are no prisoner, isn’t that right?”

Eona gave a smile when, “As long as I allied with him no more humans would have to die.”

“But they did die--thousands of them!” Adam could not believe his ears; Eona forsake everyone inside the Main House for humans?! She left knowing Kira would go after her; believing her to have betrayed the queen! Was this her plan all along? If so then their current situation, Kira’s death...it was all her doing!

“More than anything...” Eona continued to wear that fake smile, “I wanted Kira to come and save me, to run away from everything, but I couldn’t. I had to think about the future of our people, of the world so that’s why I stay. We’ve been fighting among ourselves for too long!”

Adam was without words. He had to remember to think logically; Eona is the Queen of Immortals, she has a duty to her people above herself and at times it becomes necessary to sacrifice the few for the good of the many. What was she doing while Kira was fighting then?! She knew Kira was the Reaper, but she ignored it, denied that that was her ‘human’ and not a murderous vampire! No...she did nothing because is no different than any other arrogant Pureblood!

Eona breathed, “Everyone at the house...I told them to leave, they stayed of their own violation knowing that if it came to I would surrender without a fight.”

The spy remained silent. They made their choice and yet he felt an uncontrollable rage towards her. It was their choice--she could have used her powers to force them; if she wanted to save them, she would have--! SHE WOULD HAVE TAKEN THEIR CHOICE! Adam’s mind screamed as loud as he could, but in reality he remained silent. He was pushing blame onto her, untended and done by his anger at what he thought to be unnecessary sacrifices. Of course he could not comprehend the queen’s choices, he has lived longer as an outsider, flying under a blank flag than actually belonging to anything. The moment he finally found something worth fighting for it was taken from him and now Adam struggled to find reason--giving reason to others to fight.

“You still have hope that this war will end with your honor intact.” Adam whispered when brushing his hand over his satchel, “But now you stand in the ashes of millions of dead souls; now ask the ghosts if honor matters.”

Adam had followed behind Eona until he could leave her shadow safety. That was not possible when Alucard and them crossed paths--only the king continued to walk, holding a silver plater harboring warm soup and an assortment of other dishes.

'The fact you both are here makes things more convenient for me.'

Alucard motioned for them to follow, to a part of the castle Eona was very familiar with, but had been blocked off since her arrival. The masked guards were dismissed, sent away because they need not know what they guarded. Alucard opened the door leading to stairs that continued down into a basement, constructed long after the castle had. In the center of the room a stone furnace, youngest of all in castle, burned with an open flame. Beside it were hundreds of AVWs continuously being thrown into its pit by Alucard’s most loyal human.

The weapons were consumed by the fire, pieces of a being combined back to the original single entity it had been. Adam had seen this furnace before, in fact it was rather the reason why he felt he should flee--the most heavily guarded secret for ten thousand years. The king set the trey on a small table and told the human he may take a break. To both Adam and Eona they could not determine what was more surprising: the fact that the source of Anti-Vampire Weapons was here or that Alucard had brought food for a ‘human’ he treated rather kindly. The human was an elder Asian man, most likely in his sixties who laughed with Ancestor as he sipped his hot tea. Seeing the king this way...it was a side of him no one had ever seen before.

'You must have many questions and as of today I will answer everyone I can, but first allow me to tell you what I know.'

It was true, he and his father turned against the humans who bit the hand that red them, while his mother, sister and brother protected them. Alucard and Dracula wanted to punish all those threatened their family and this caused obvious tension within the same family. It was not until much later that Alucard understood his little brother and sister’s choice, even after holding the dying brother he could no longer feel hatred towards them for siding with humans. As Natas lay dying, fatally wounded by Dracula’s own hand, he passed on a message to his elder brother. He must prevent their mother’s revival by every means necessary.

At the time Alucard didn’t understand, not until he took his brother’s life into himself--it wasn’t their mother he must stop, but the one who existed inside of her. Though he does not know exactly who or what he could tell from his brother’s fear that that person would bring ruin to mortal and immortal alike. Since then he has dedicated his life for the ‘eventually’ rather than the preventing of that person’s coming. His mother had done what she could, she gave humans the chance to protect themselves from that person, but they lost sight of that.

Alucard played the part of the villain; connected lines of power humans and vampires for the ‘eventually’ that their decedents obtain the necessary powers to stand a chance against that person. One person he placed a combination of a thousand of lifetimes of planning into, that person would be able to stand against the one who would bring calamity. All that effort was wasted the moment she died--maybe if he had told her from the beginning then perhaps they could have avoided this outcome.

Now he must resort to the worst case scenario, something his sister had purposed that would allow the strength of their family to grow even greater with the next generation. Alucard motioned to the book within Adam’s bag and after he brought it out it was given it to the king. It had been quiet a long time since he had seen this book, rather since its completion--Pages are missing? That’s quiet odd, those were the same pages referring to the Book of the Sun and to his recollection that book was kept by Natas, but never found.

'This book is the prophecy of our bloodline created by my first lover, a human who had the ability to see the future.' Alucard explained quietly, 'However my wife was killed and the book was taken before I could reach her.'

He lost sight of it for many years and often wondered the meaning behind its words; it wasn’t until recently that he believed Kira to be the one it spoke of. Once again he received half-truths, but he continued to believe the book harbored a choice to two paths.

“It wasn’t Kira.” Adam’s gaze widened, “She told me...Kira knew she was not the Child of Prophecy, but if that was so then why...”

The room fell silent and then it hit them: when Mina spoke about different worlds could ‘time periods’ also be thought of worlds? Humans during the time of the First Reign barely survived the Great White, the Ice Age that was their demise. The book is in chronological order--the person who was destined had already been born! Humanity’s downfall was already caused once before and now its begun again! Alucard is the last member of the original family, he knows the direct translation and somehow Kira also came across this same mistake.

'It doesn’t matter what she realized, in the end she failed, but we will not.' Alucard growled angrily, 'That woman is the cause of this situation--'

“And you are the cause of her!” The ex-human snapped quickly, “It was all ‘part of that eventuality’ remember?! You manipulated every horror she ever succumb to!”

Adam was correct, Alucard used Kira he wanted her to become stronger, to obtain a power that would even surpass his own. He intended to perform the surgery with his own organ, an idea Emily had given him. This was to be of course after he had persuaded Eona to his side, taking Kira with her. Events he did not take into account happened--Eona fell in love with the human and thus Kira fought back. He expected that of her, but his hand slipped; he felt a pitch black blade touch his throat and in his instinct he accidentally killed Kira. Further it was a surprise what she became, but with that transformation he was able to correct his mistake and bring her back. Who would have thought she would come to his very doorstep, but of course it was to be expected after he ordered Catherine to take over a London Association Headquarters. Back then her aura had been strange--it was not nearly as malevolent as at that moment, rather it was as bright as the sun.

He cultivated her powers, showing the same techniques as his brother once used, the fact she had awakened them was surely a sign. If that growth continued she would no doubt surpass it. She would stand a chance--humanity and vampire’s savior. There were of course things he did not take too fondly--Kira and Eona falling in love, Kira searching for that book (of course many things he could not say) and without a doubt the events at the Main House were his greatest regrets. In hindsight there was one thing that sent her off the edge: failing to rescue Eona.

'Many things I did not foresee, but yes I caused the events which led to the creation of the single most dangerous immortal in history.'