The massive blood-stained door slowly creaked open.
A cold gust of air escaped from the darkness behind it, carrying the smell of rust and dried blood. Standing in the center of the chamber was Dracula, shirtless, his wrists bound by heavy black chains that stretched across the floor. Countless scars covered his body, some old, some fresh, each one telling a story of pain that had never truly ended.
A pair of footsteps echoed through the room.
Magnus, the Vampire King, slowly approached him with a satisfied smile on his face. His crimson eyes shone with amusement as he looked at Dracula like a masterpiece he had spent years creating.
"I've been doing this since the day you were born," Magnus said with a quiet chuckle. "No... even before that."
He slowly raised a finger.
"I separated your soul while you were still inside your mother's womb."
His smile widened.
"And every single day since then... I've made it suffer."
Darkness swallowed the room.
Before Dracula had ever opened his eyes to the world... before he had ever spoken his first word... his soul had already been imprisoned.
While his physical body remained inside his mother's womb, another version of him existed somewhere else entirely.
A place where no light existed.
A place where there was no escape.
There, Dracula endured endless torment.
His soul was forced to witness Tatsuo dying over and over again, every single day. Sometimes Tatsuo was torn apart before his eyes. Sometimes he begged for help before disappearing into darkness. Other times, every friend Dracula had ever loved was slaughtered in front of him until the ground turned crimson.
The nightmare never repeated the same way twice.
It always found a new method to break him.
But that wasn't the worst part.
His soul was thrown into endless deserts hotter than the surface of the sun, where every step burned beyond imagination. It was crushed beneath gravity so overwhelming that even breathing became impossible. It was abandoned in complete isolation where no sound, no light, and no hope existed.
Time itself became another form of torture.
A single second could stretch into millions of years.
There was no sleep.
There was no unconsciousness.
There was no forgetting.
His soul could never faint.
It could never escape.
It could only endure.
Even after Dracula entered Reikosha Academy...
Even after he smiled alongside his friends...
Even after he laughed...
His soul was still trapped.
Still suffering.
And according to Magnus...
It would continue suffering until the day Dracula truly died.
Dracula suddenly opened his eyes.
His breathing became uneven as scorching heat struck his skin.
He looked around in confusion.
The endless landscape of the Danakil Depression stretched before him, its burning ground shimmering beneath the blazing sun.
"W-Where am I...?"
"Dracula!"
He quickly turned.
Tatsuo was waving at him from a distance.
"Hurry up! We have to go home!"
"...Home?"
For a moment, Dracula simply stared at him.
That single word sounded almost unfamiliar.
Later that afternoon, the two walked side by side along a quiet dirt road beneath the orange sky.
The wind gently rustled the trees surrounding them.
Tatsuo smiled as he kicked a small rock across the path.
"Life's getting harder lately," he said with a laugh. "I just hope my mom comes back home today... maybe she'll bring me some chocolate."
Dracula forced a faint smile.
"That sounds nice."
Tatsuo glanced toward him before stopping in the middle of the road.
"You know..."
He crossed his arms.
"...you look terrible."
Dracula rolled his eyes.
"Just like you said..."
"...life's getting harder."
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Tatsuo slowly turned to face his best friend.
"Tell me."
Dracula looked up.
"What's really happening to you?"
His voice was calm.
"I want to hear everything."
Dracula looked away.
"You wouldn't believe me."
"I would."
"There isn't a solution."
"I'll still listen."
"There isn't anyone who can fix it."
Tatsuo smiled.
"Dracula..."
He placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're my best friend."
"I don't care how impossible your story sounds."
"I'll believe every single word."
"And I promise..."
"We'll find a way together."
Dracula's body trembled.
For years...
He had carried everything alone.
Finally...
His tears began falling.
"The vampires..."
His voice cracked.
"They've been torturing my soul since before I was born."
"I can feel everything it feels..."
"The pain..."
"The fear..."
"The loneliness..."
"It never stops."
"I never get a break."
"I don't even know what peaceful sleep feels like anymore."
Tatsuo stood frozen.
His cheerful smile disappeared completely.
He couldn't imagine living like that.
Not for a day.
Not for a year.
But since birth...?
His chest tightened.
He slowly hugged Dracula without saying a word.
"...I'm sorry."
Silence filled the road.
Then Tatsuo spoke again.
"I don't know how."
"I don't know when."
"But I swear..."
"We'll save you."
"No matter what it takes."
That evening, Dracula returned to Doom Sterk, the ancient fortress of the vampires.
The enormous black gates slowly opened before him.
Inside, countless vampires watched in silence.
At the end of the hall sat Magnus upon his throne.
The Vampire King smiled the moment Dracula entered.
"Oh... Dracula."
His voice echoed throughout the chamber.
"Perfect timing."
"I'd like to introduce you..."
"...to the man who ordered everything."
Heavy footsteps echoed across the hall.
A lone figure stepped out from the shadows.
Magnus spread his arms dramatically.
"Oza Fujiwara."
"The man who once lived an ordinary life..."
"And the man responsible for every bit of suffering you've endured."
Dracula's eyes widened.
His heartbeat nearly stopped.
"...Oh..."
Years later, fate would change everything.
Oza would eventually destroy Doom Sterk itself, bringing an end to Magnus's kingdom.
And from that day onward...
Dracula would have nowhere left to go.
Except...
To stand beside the only person who had never abandoned him.
Tatsuo.