'When the full moon descended, from shadow shall our Queen be born.'
Lethandiel. Its night was never silent.
From where moonlight failed to reach, shadow stirred and merged into one for humanity to slay.
Different forms emerged from them.
Some horrendous, with grey skins and gnashing teeth.
Some dignified, clad in caped armours and armed with jet-black broadswords.
Some malformed, with lions for heads and snakes for tails.
This was the event of 'Nightfall', where shadows thrived, only to fall when the new dawn arose.
But this night, the full moon cast a miracle upon an abandoned village, in the form of a small white lily.
It bloomed in the midst of excited groans, from monsters who gathered to witness such a simple sight.
They all anticipated, for this was a grand ceremony.
And when the lily withered, it'd be the first sign of birth for their new Queen.
—---------
Ciel was tired. Really tired.
She remembered when she was first born, her first life birthed by the shadow amongst countless other brethren.
It soon decided her shape: a twisted abomination of a humanoid and a fish head, bound to be hunted by humanity everywhere she was seen.
And so Ciel was born. Not as a 'Queen'. But just as a mindless monster amongst many Nightfalls.
Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes flashed by into hours. And hours into days, months, years.
And her mind soon only knew slaughter.
And upon the dawn's rising, she would slumber into the shadow, before finding herself sunk into a deep black sea.
She enjoyed the place, her eyes softening instead of burning with hatred.
Her bloodlust and rage would sometimes be cast aside for a vague memory of when she used to be 'Ciel'. And just 'Ciel'.
When she was simply a high-school girl from another world, worrying about her skirt's length and when the school's bell would ring.
It brought her clarity. Comfort. And peace.
Before the lingering memory was shattered once again when another moon rose.
And she would bloody her claws again to fend off humanity. The clarity once inside her muddled itself, replaced by a sheer need to survive.
And with each flesh torn apart, the sea she returned to would grow much, much noisier.
It began first with a dark whisper: a promise of more strength to survive against humanity.
And when she refused, those whispers only blew louder into her ears.
With every whisper, the water rippled, a tremor Ciel would shiver against.
The peace Ciel had only known began to shatter. And every time the tremor began, she would cover her ears to withstand the pain night after night.
Yet just as memories of her past life began to fade, something flashed across her vision, the black sea welcoming a square glowy panel.
[ Visitor of the Other World. ]
[ Choose. ]
Ciel almost laughed, just like her mindless brethren.
Was she ever allowed to? Wasn't this simple 'panel' just like those dark whispers that hoped to enslave her?
But the white texts, silent and undisrupting, looked so tempting to her hazy mind.
[ Endure. Or Become Nothing like any others. ]
Endure?
Endure.
The simple word was like a command. In a second, everything clicked.
She glanced at her claw, the lengthy finger thick with bones sticking out of the skin.
Ciel realised soon she never properly looked at herself. Looked at her own monstrous body.
She wished to keep it that way.
And so she accepted the offer.
Years soon turned into decades. This time, decades dragged on endlessly.
The panel from the past didn't ease away her fear. Instead, the whispers only sharpened into cold, hard voices she recognised in her past life.
The sighing father she once warmed up to after her rebellious phase.
The scowling mother she once chuckled at after an exam screw-up.
The grumbling teacher she once smirked towards after a sneaky chat was caught.
Those voices, once warm and filled with worries, mingled together in taunts and scorns.
It made her realise: there was a Will behind those shadows, behind the black sea.
That Will was a cunning strategist, using the monsters as chess pieces.
It guided the mindless monsters: when and where to strike humanity to hurt them the most.
And it recognised that she bore 'clarity' unlike the 'others'.
So even as pain assaulted her mind, she laughed inside, not of mockery, but of warmth.
Because that 'Will' has underestimated her ability to 'remember'.
Because with each twisted voice of the past, that seemed now so, so familiar-
Her heart felt, little by little, more whole.
Gradually, slow decades blurred into millennia, until Ciel remembered the moment she died: saving a cat crossing the street, before her face met an 'untimely' truck.
A really, really comedic death.
But it was the final piece that pieced together her very soul.
And as if that was a sign, her body relaxed in the deep black sea instinctively.
That 'Will' took it as a sign of giving up. The voices finally faded to be replaced by delighted laughter.
It could see the potential in Ciel. After Millennia of slaughters and endurance, she was granted the highest honour: The Ascension to be a new 'Queen'.
Though Ciel only gave up, having finally found her peace that came with not silence, but a fulfilled self.
Just then, as if to complement, the System panel appeared again.
[ ....]
It first started with white texts of alarming null, as if not expecting the results.
And finally-
[ Noted: You will be left powerless after rebirth. Proceed? ]
Ciel didn't hesitate to nod this time.
Over at the surface world where the full moon arose, the first petal from the lily fell, and with it, the black sea shook.
Ciel felt her body twisted and re-mingled, moulding into something anew. The process was unpainful, almost empowering even.
A new humanoid form emerged, as white hairs fluttered with the black sea's current, her black eyes mirroring its darkness.
[ Please register your name. ]
The panel asked.
Ciel blinked. Her eyes. Her arms. Her legs. They all moved so differently compared to her draggy, large limbs from before.
For now, she settled for something else.
Coughing twice to ensure her voice would come out correctly, her lips twitched clumsily for a slight practice.
Then, the lips curved into a gentle smile.
"Ciel."
For the first time, a Queen who knew how to smile was born.