A drizzle drifted on the wind beneath a sky choked by dark clouds, where flickers of lightning danced faintly within the gloom.
Below, mountains of severed limbs and shattered remains soaked in rain. Crimson rivulets spread outward, pooling in the downpour.
The stench of blood and rot clawed at the senses. How many had died here? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? No one knew.
Was this hell itself?
Rain fell relentlessly, as if even heaven couldn’t bear the sight.
Yet heaven was indifferent—such thoughts were mere comfort to mortal hearts.
The only being that stirred here stood silent atop the corpses.
Rain slicked her long black hair, tracing slow paths down her skin.
Her crimson gown blazed brighter than the blood-soaked earth.
"*Slightly* too full..."
The girl’s face remained shadowed as her tongue flicked delicately over blood-stained fingers. Her voice dripped with unearthly allure.
Her arm lifted slowly. A feverish smile spread across her lips.
"Come. Become part of me. And live... *forever*."
***BOOM!***
Scarlet storm erupted before her words faded.
Thunder cracked. Lightning split the sky. Wind and rain howled.
Behind her, a pitch-black rift tore open. Countless pairs of crimson eyes blinked into existence within—locking onto this world with ravenous hunger.
The bloodstorm swirling from the ground answered the call. It surged upward, flooding into the rift like a living tide.
Bodies stripped of blood crumbled like paper in flame, dissolving into glittering dust that scattered on the wind.
Long after the rain softened to a whisper, only the girl remained—standing motionless amidst the emptiness.
...
"*Hah...!*"
Yuri jolted upright in the wide bed, gasping for air. Her pupils tightened slightly. Complex emotions flickered across her face.
Minutes passed before her breathing steadied. She collapsed back, arm flung over her eyes. "*A dream*...?"
Dreams were a luxury for this body.
After all...
"*Can the dead even dream?*"
Truth was, she was undeniably dead.
No heartbeat. No need for sleep.
Only one instinct remained sharp: the hunger to *consume*.
Sleeping wasn’t about clinging to humanity—that was a hollow lie. Yuri knew exactly what she was. Without that truth, she wouldn’t exist.
She slept simply to kill eternity’s boredom.
Most of her sealed existence was spent in slumber. Only when hunger sharpened to agony did she wake.
But let’s be clear: feeding was *pleasure*, not necessity. Starvation couldn’t touch her.
Yet endless sleep would grow stale. Feeding was the spice in the void—like reading books to fill hollow hours.
After that unsettling dream, sleep fled. Or rather—she refused it.
Moonlight pierced the vines outside, the only light in the dark. Its silvery glow bled into the burgundy carpet, weaving a hypnotic haze.
Darkness couldn’t blind Yuri. Once the undisputed Sovereign of Night, even sealed, the night still bowed to her.
Bare feet padded silently to the window. Luck favored her—the swollen moon hung perfectly in her view.
This world’s moon was larger, brighter than the hazy one in her memories.
Beautiful.
"*Perfect*," she murmured, fang pressing against her fingertip. Her pupils narrowed to crimson slits. "*Makes me crave blood even more.*"
Maria brought only small amounts of blood. In this human-dominated world, survival demanded caution. That Maria always found her preferred type was effort enough.
But it couldn’t hide the truth: the blood was *stale*.
For her blood-dancing lineage, blood was food. Servant. Toy.
The craving was bone-deep. Years of stale meals bred quiet disgust—even when the taste remained sweet.
The hunt’s call roared in her veins: *consume, kill, feast!*
No human soul could erase that instinct.
She was a monster. A Night Sovereign. Not human.
"*No... no. Must endure.*"
Her fang pierced her finger. Blood welled—gone in an instant beneath her tongue.
Her eyes narrowed, faint red embers glowing in the dark. Sinister. Alluring.
Sealed here, endurance was her only choice.
But how long could she hold on?
Years? Days?
Yuri didn’t know. Or refused to.
She only craved freedom.
Rebirth meant nothing if it led to another eternal cage.
She needed a key. A key to shatter these chains...
