I still remember the confused look on Leon's face.
He was Mathias's dearest friend, a brother in all but blood. Mathias leaned on him when his wife Elisabetha died of sickness, and Leon never held it against him when later he began to grow distant and secretive. So why was Mathias there in that dark castle, too pale and eyes glowing with power?
"Excellent. I never spent a better night." Mathias tried to feel nothing when Leon reacted in shock. "You didn't disappoint me, Leon. I knew without a doubt that you would accomplish this." And it hurt to taunt his friend, to stand there triumphant through the pain of knowing all that he'd sacrificed. Not just lives, but bonds as well.
"Your betrothed, Sara... Rinaldo... and Walter... I used all of you."
Leon would never forgive me....
He noticed the Crimson Stone, felt the hate of the soul trapped within his whip, and that was when he finally understood what I'd done. That I'd abandoned humanity, cast aside mortality. That had been my goal all along: an eternal life in which to defy and curse God, for taking away my beloved.
"If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!"
He understood. He had suffered greatly, and though it was at my hands, he still empathized with the bitterness and hatred I felt. He should have attacked me then and there, but he understood.
And yet I still offered him eternity with me. I loved him, the brother of my heart, and if we were both doomed to be bereft of our cherished ladies then we could be together in our sorrow. Of course he refused, I'd become a monster. He raised Elisabetha's memory, threw her back at me and said that I would never have loved a woman who could accept what I'd done. I knew he was right. I had walked willingly into the darkness, embraced it, and separated myself from her soul for all eternity.
Yet I couldn't let go of my hatred. Elisabetha and I... we had done much in our devotion to God, and yet he stole her away from me at such a young age. Was that our reward for our love for Him? Just as Leon's assertion that I could not love Elisabetha if she had been selfish, I could no longer love God. That fruit had withered and died on the vine. Leon's heart, too, was tainted with hatred for Walter, the pawn I had set upon him and Sara. I thought I had proven hatred's power over God.
"Eternity without her... would be nothing but emptiness."
Eternity without Elisabetha... without Leon... with no one... hatred cannot fill that sort of emptiness. I had lost everything, but I had come too far to turn back. If I had thrown myself to the sun at that very moment, I would still be separated from my love forever. I had naught to lose by seeing my pain through to the end.
And so I left him there before dawn broke, hearing the vow from the depths of his heart, that his descendants of the Belmont clan would hunt me and my kind for the rest of their days, to spare others the same cursed fate I had brought upon his betrothed and myself. So it has been for nearly nine centuries, a cycle of darkness, death, and hatred....
I: When I was Mathias Cronqvist.... [cw: blasphemy]
He was Mathias's dearest friend, a brother in all but blood. Mathias leaned on him when his wife Elisabetha died of sickness, and Leon never held it against him when later he began to grow distant and secretive. So why was Mathias there in that dark castle, too pale and eyes glowing with power?
"Excellent. I never spent a better night." Mathias tried to feel nothing when Leon reacted in shock. "You didn't disappoint me, Leon. I knew without a doubt that you would accomplish this." And it hurt to taunt his friend, to stand there triumphant through the pain of knowing all that he'd sacrificed. Not just lives, but bonds as well.
"Your betrothed, Sara... Rinaldo... and Walter... I used all of you."
Leon would never forgive me....
He noticed the Crimson Stone, felt the hate of the soul trapped within his whip, and that was when he finally understood what I'd done. That I'd abandoned humanity, cast aside mortality. That had been my goal all along: an eternal life in which to defy and curse God, for taking away my beloved.
"If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!"
He understood. He had suffered greatly, and though it was at my hands, he still empathized with the bitterness and hatred I felt. He should have attacked me then and there, but he understood.
And yet I still offered him eternity with me. I loved him, the brother of my heart, and if we were both doomed to be bereft of our cherished ladies then we could be together in our sorrow. Of course he refused, I'd become a monster. He raised Elisabetha's memory, threw her back at me and said that I would never have loved a woman who could accept what I'd done. I knew he was right. I had walked willingly into the darkness, embraced it, and separated myself from her soul for all eternity.
Yet I couldn't let go of my hatred. Elisabetha and I... we had done much in our devotion to God, and yet he stole her away from me at such a young age. Was that our reward for our love for Him? Just as Leon's assertion that I could not love Elisabetha if she had been selfish, I could no longer love God. That fruit had withered and died on the vine. Leon's heart, too, was tainted with hatred for Walter, the pawn I had set upon him and Sara. I thought I had proven hatred's power over God.
"Eternity without her... would be nothing but emptiness."
Eternity without Elisabetha... without Leon... with no one... hatred cannot fill that sort of emptiness. I had lost everything, but I had come too far to turn back. If I had thrown myself to the sun at that very moment, I would still be separated from my love forever. I had naught to lose by seeing my pain through to the end.
And so I left him there before dawn broke, hearing the vow from the depths of his heart, that his descendants of the Belmont clan would hunt me and my kind for the rest of their days, to spare others the same cursed fate I had brought upon his betrothed and myself. So it has been for nearly nine centuries, a cycle of darkness, death, and hatred....