Lost to time and the world itself, lies a village clouded in a white mist, where the red moon would rise into the night sky for every harvest.
This village, for every harvest, would hide in their homes while the hunters faced the monsters of night: the vampires and their werewolves.
Like the hero he was, Sonic came to this dark and medieval village to confront these creatures of the night, as he had his suspicions about who they might be. But he didn't come alone; his closest friend, Blaze, came with him on this dangerous mission.
With the recent disappearances of their friends, they were both convinced that somehow this village had something to do with it.
What were their suspicions? Recently the village had been discovered by an architect in Transylvania, who, very strangely, had nothing to say about it to the public, but was able to get authorities to close and block off the entrance.
This was just something Sonic remembered hearing Rogue talk to Shadow about when they were attending his 19th birthday party. He didn't think much of it then, but now that some of his friends had been missing for 3 months, he couldn't help but remember that story… So after searching for so long, Blaze and Sonic finally found the place.
It was odd, the entrance was a cave surrounded by a dense and dark forest, but the only thing blocking off the cave entrance was a pile of large rocks and that classic yellow tape saying "Keep out" But none of this stopped the blue hedgehog and his feline companion.
"Why does it smell so bad?" Blaze asked, not wanting to move another rock.
"Uh… mildew?" Was the only thing Sonic could assume, but Blaze was, it smelled awful.
"It's like… rust? It's very metallic in scent" Sonic couldn't agree more with the cat, especially since her sense of smell was much sharper than his.
After making a big enough opening, the two stepped inside, and the smell only got worse, not to mention there was little to no light in the cave. There were maybe a couple of wall torches but not much else. Blaze thankfully was gifted with the power of fire, so she was able to use her flames to light their way.
Along the way, however, the smell was not only getting stronger, but there was the sound of water flowing, and a possibly small waterfall.
Before they knew it, their feet had reached the so-called water as it flowed down from the waterfall they had been hearing throughout the whole way through the cave.
“Sonic…this…isn’t water” Blaze said, looking horrified at the red staining her shoes. Sonic looked down at his own feet and froze, trying to run a million reasons why it would be red… and yet, with that heavy stench and rich red color… there was no doubt that this wasn’t water. It was blood.
“B-But how can there be so much!?” Sonic said, not meaning to shout as loudly as he did, trying not to panic at the idea of any of their friends being part of the blood flow.
“I don’t know… but this is looking worse than we thought… unimaginably so” Blaze couldn’t be further from the truth.
Finally reaching the end of the cave, the sight of the village came into view in the most horrific and beautiful view. The village had an eerie charm to it, but it was surrounded by a blood river flowing through it… The night sky was clear and the moon was full, beaming down its light as though it were the spotlight to the large old mansion in the distance that loomed over the village.
It was sat up top a large hill with an ominous smoke coming from its chimney.
“W…What the hell is this?” Sonic asked, but Blaze wasn't even sure what to say herself. This village was something out of a nightmare.
They stepped further into the village, noticing the stone bridge that led to a small dock. From there stood a tall stone wall that blocked the village off from the road that led up to the mansion, the wall did have a gate but it was locked under a key and chain, making it obvious going through was forbidden.
Suddenly, the ominous sound of a wolf howling echoed through the village, sending a shiver down Sonic and Blaze's spines, and leaving a sick feeling in the pits of their stomachs. But Blaze quickly began to understand the unsettling feeling, when she noticed the moon take on a red color.
"Sonic!" She called out, getting his attention before pointing to the moon for him to see. Green eyes quickly follow the movement and freeze at the sight of the harvest moon.
"Well, I guess we’re about to see just what exactly is going on here," Sonic said, trying to swallow any fear… even though he's not really sure what to do against vampires. So many stories had different ideas about dealing with such creatures, but that was exactly it, they were just in stories, so which rules applied in real life?
“Sonic, look!” Blaze said as a swarm of bats flew out from the mansion above, approaching the village as they screeched and chipped.
What Sonic and Blaze didn't expect was to see some of the villagers come out from their homes, armed with crossbows and knives.
They seemed to have split up into two groups. One headed towards the east side of the village and the other group headed towards the west side.
In silent agreement, Sonic and Blaze split up, as they had a better chance of figuring out what was going on if they could talk with the villagers, but they would have to protect them from the vicious bats first. So, Sonic would join the villagers of the East side, while Blaze would follow the villagers on the West side.
The strange thing though, was that it almost felt like the villagers didn't even notice them…
On the east side, Sonic watched as the villagers tried to find the bats, but the swarm seemed never ending, and anytime a bat would die, they would begin to crumble into ash.
“Are they all fake?” He said, picking up any nearby stick by his feet and started to smack all the ones he could, but his attention was caught when he heard the villagers scream, calling out “Monster!”
When Sonic looked over, he was shocked to see a familiar friend standing over the body of a dead villager. He couldn't believe it, there was no way this was real… and yet there he was, clad in a dark cape with a ruby pendant framed in gold.
“…Shadow?”
“Long time no see, Sonic”
