The moonlight is like water, flowing through the courtyard shrouded in the depths of the church. The little princess of the vampire tribe was leaning against the window, her long silver-white hair falling down like a waterfall. She caressed a string of bone wind chimes with her fingertips, and the ringing sound was ethereal, as if responding to an unknown existence in the distance.
She remembered the coming-of-age ceremony not long ago, when the Origin Blood Crystal gave her a pure, princely light, and she was showered with all kinds of love. She also remembered that voice - through this string of wind chimes, it sounded when she was most depressed. It was gentle, powerful, and omniscient, giving her an understanding and guidance she had never experienced before.
Now, the sound has a shape.
Elias stood in the shadow of the cloister, his white robe spotless. High Priest of Mankind. Step by step, he guided her to feel the throbbing power deep within her body that even she herself had not understood; he praised her every insignificant progress; his blood, quietly mixed into her daily "blood food", was like the sweetest poison, catalyzing her growth and eroding some greater possibility in her bloodline.
The wind chimes still hum, weaving a gentle web.
The canary flapped its wings under the guidance of the hunter, unaware that the growth of each feather had already been marked with a price for sacrifice. When the war drums of the mainland finally sound, this carefully carved chess piece is destined to make the most poignant picture in the final battle between the angels and the vampires.
Intent: All gifts given by fate have their prices secretly marked - [The Beheaded Queen]