The Night

Chapter XV: Stay Gold

The Night

Chapter XV: Stay Gold

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August 23rd, 1860

Sora reached his hand out to the blue sky, fingers obscuring the sun...

"Vanitas, you were born mere moments before me. Why do mother and father trust you more than I, even now?"

"Perhaps to mother and father, those moments were a lifetime. Perhaps it's because I'm wiser, despite our age."

Sora guffawed, "If by wiser you mean that you haven't gotten caught yet!"

"Oh ho, 'yet'? Perhaps a burial in the sand should teach you mock my cleverness!"

Sora sprang up and they ran together, squealing merrily into the ocean wind.

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1871

Sheets of rain choked the landscape, as if the wrath of the heavens themselves where pelting the ground. In the lightning of the storm, the mysterious castle stood menacingly against the mist and flashes of light.

Despite all of this, a figure approached from the road, steady yet determined. It flung its hands against the door of the castle, crying out.

"Anon, monster! Open these doors! Let me speak to you, anon!" (1)

Between the sheets of rain and thunder, there was but silence. In the distance, he could hear a wolf's howl against the storm.

Then, the door creaked open, a red-eyed man peering down from the shadows inside.

"Are you the beast of this castle?" The figure asked, unperturbed by the menace leaking from the cracked door.

"Child," the man replied, "Cursed beasts have not lingered in castles for many years."

"Does that imply that you are no prince after all?"

"Nay, child, for I am boyar. I am the count of Castle Dracula. You would do well to fear me like the townspeople do."

"Let me in." He demanded, "I care not of your wretchedness."

The Count regarded him with fiery eyes.

"Your name, child."

"Vanitas."

He grinned wickedly. "My! A very demanding guest indeed. If you must insist to join me in my castle then it would be rude to turn you away. After all, the wolves can become agitated at night..."

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The 18th Century

Life became foreign upon the moment Sora's brother was sealed in their family mausoleum.

Beneath the shiny rosewood lacquer of a coffin, his brother's body laid against silk throws of nobility with a visage that bore more living aspects than that of a corpse. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working on the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as might be. (2) It was also perplexing to Sora that the marks on Vanitas' neck vanished; the two small needle-like punctures embedded against his jugular that worsened over the course of Vanitas' illness seemed supernatural, and strangely they were gone just moments before his brother's death.