Chapter 1 — Awakening
"Level One Alert!"
"Level One Alert!"
"A massive surge of unknown dark energy has appeared in the Cairngorm Mountains. All Aurors deploy immediately!"
"Prepare for combat!"
…
Amid the shrill blare of alarms, the atmosphere inside the British Ministry of Magic was extremely tense.
Dozens of Aurors, their expressions grave, quickly formed into squads and began using Portkeys to travel to the Cairngorm Mountains, where the surge of dark energy had been detected.
Before long, all of the Aurors had entered the shadowy mountain range, advancing swiftly and methodically through the darkness.
Among their ranks, however, a young Auror with pink hair accidentally lost track of her squad and became separated in the complex terrain of the mountains.
Nymphadora Tonks was a newly graduated trainee Auror. This was her first time participating in such a large-scale operation, and in the chaos and nervousness of the moment, she had inadvertently fallen behind the team.
She tried to locate her teammates, but within the thick mist that had begun to rise, she quickly lost her sense of direction. Before she realized it, she had wandered even deeper into the dark mountain range.
After walking aimlessly through the fog for what felt like ages, Tonks' spirits had sunk to their lowest point when, suddenly, a mysterious figure appeared ahead of her—its outline faintly visible within the dense mist.
The young trainee Auror immediately reacted according to her training. She raised her wand and took a defensive stance.
"Who are you? Why are you here?!" Tonks called out loudly.
Hearing her voice, the figure slowly turned around.
As he moved, the mist before Tonks strangely parted, as though making way for him and opening a wide path through the fog.
The miraculous sight eased some of the extreme tension in Tonks' heart.
By the time the figure walked closer, the mist had already retreated entirely to both sides. Behind it stood two towering mountain peaks, and between them hung a massive, radiant full moon.
Under the silver moonlight stood a man with long silver hair and an eerily handsome face.
He looked to be only in his twenties, yet within his deep eyes lay a sense of ancient weariness, as though they carried the weight of epic centuries.
He spoke slowly and awkwardly, as if he had not used his voice for a very long time.
"Hello. Could you tell me what time it is now?"
His voice began low and hoarse but gradually became clearer, as though it had traveled across hundreds—perhaps thousands—of years before finally reaching the ears of the young Auror.
Tonks' pink hair instantly turned a bright, flustered red. She stammered as she replied, "H-Hello… It's… it's about one in the morning right now."
"I mean the current time," he clarified.
"The current time…?" Tonks froze for a moment.
"I'm asking what year, month, and day it is."
"July 31st, 1991."
Tonks stood there blankly, barely realizing what she had just said.
"I see. Thank you." A faint smile curved the corner of the man's lips as he began walking toward the exit of the mountain range.
Only then did the young trainee Auror remember her identity and mission.
"Sir, the Cairngorm Mountains are very dangerous right now. Please don't wander around!" She hurried after him and quickly pulled out her Ministry identification. "I'm a trainee Auror from the British Ministry of Magic. I can ensure your safety!"
Hearing Tonks' confident declaration, the silver-haired man's lips curled into an amused smile as he turned to look at her.
"Oh?" he asked with interest. "What danger is there here?"
"According to the Ministry's detection spells, a huge amount of dark energy has appeared in the Cairngorm Mountains. Something evil must be about to emerge—some kind of dark magical creature," Tonks said firmly. "So we have to be very careful!"
"I see." He seemed barely able to suppress his laughter, the smile on his face growing even wider.
"I'm being completely serious, sir!" Tonks protested unhappily. Her hair immediately turned black.
The silver-haired man finally suppressed his amusement. Pointing ahead, he spoke calmly.
"I appreciate your concern, but the exit of the mountain range is just ahead. Doesn't that mean I'm already safe?"
Only then did Tonks realize that, at some point, the two of them had already returned to the very place where the Auror squad had first entered the mountains.
"Huh?" She turned around and looked back at the maze-like mountain paths behind them, her expression blank with confusion. "How did you find the correct path?"
The man smiled faintly and seemed about to say something.
But then his eyes shifted slightly, and he changed his mind.
"The time is about right. I'm very glad to have met you today, kind lady."
After casually waving his hand, he stepped out of the valley's exit and soon disappeared into the darkness of the night.
Tonks stared blankly into the night ahead, still in a daze.
At that moment, a rugged wizard with graying hair and a body that looked as though every inch of his skin had been scarred approached her. One of his legs was wooden, and it struck the ground with heavy thud, thud sounds, breaking Tonks out of her thoughts.
"Tonks! Have you forgotten everything you learned in Auror training?!"
The moment he saw the trainee Auror who had gotten lost, he first let out a sigh of relief, but immediately afterward began scolding her harshly.
"You couldn't even manage the most basic rule—keeping up with your squad during an operation!"
"I'm sorry, Instructor Moody…" Tonks said awkwardly. "You know my Stealth and Tracking class has never been very good. I accidentally lost sight of the main group…"
"Considering this is your first mission and you handled the emergency situation fairly reasonably, I'll let it slide this time," Instructor Moody said gruffly. "Returning to the safe entrance after getting separated from the team was at least a wise decision."
"Instructor Moody… actually, I was lost before that," Tonks said honestly with her head lowered. "But I met a really handsome man in the valley, and he led me back here."
Hearing Tonks' explanation, Moody frowned.
"Anyone appearing in the valley at this hour is suspicious no matter how you think about it," he said seriously. "It's very possible that the eruption of dark energy this time is connected to that man!"
"Tonks, which direction did he go? We'll pursue him!"
However, the mysterious figure had long since vanished into the cover of the night, leaving no trace behind.
…
The man whom the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic were tirelessly searching for was, at that very moment, strolling about leisurely, curiously observing the scenery and landscape of modern-day Scotland.
His name was Vlad Dracula, a vampire who had lived for more than a thousand years. After slumbering for a full century, he had only just awakened.
In truth, Moody's judgment had not been wrong—this sudden outbreak of dark energy was indeed closely connected to him.
Dracula had spent an entire hundred years in deep sleep, during which the dark energy within his body had accumulated to an extremely powerful level. When he first awakened, he had momentarily failed to control it, allowing a portion of it to leak out.
It was precisely because of this that his awakening had drawn the attention of the Ministry of Magic.
However, Dracula paid little attention to the matter. He casually straightened his black-and-crimson robes, which showed no signs of decay even after a hundred years of slumber, and pulled an ancient bronze mirror from his pocket.
On the back of the mirror was an intricate gilded phoenix relief, from which emanated an aura of ancient age and history.
A nostalgic smile appeared on Dracula's face. Looking into the mirror, he spoke lightly with a chuckle.
"You're not dead yet, are you, old man?"
"Doing just fine—at least I don't have to sleep in a coffin for a whole century like some old relic," a hoarse elderly voice replied from the mirror, laughing without the slightest courtesy.
"Old man, it's only been a hundred years, and your tongue has gotten much sharper," Dracula said with a smile.
"I'll come visit you."
"You can tell me in detail about all the interesting things that have happened over the past hundred years…"