An Evening in Corpus Carmesi; Or, A Reflection in the Blood of Aiva Melrose.
When an object bleeds, so too does it hunger — and near death, hunger found Aiva Melrose; a timepiece enchained to her heart, bleeding her own blood.
There are never any stars in the distant sky. The firmament above only knows three suns and three moons. The city is an industrial labyrinth built on top of its own rotting carcass, generation after generation repairing, renovating and expanding. The pipes push steam and smoke, the gears turn brass and steel, and the hooks hoist colossal whales to bleed.
Blood is overturned by hunters in hidden alleys and spilled in dark forests. Sometimes its a vampire slashing throats or their claws carving between ribs. When life ends, blood is always there. But so too does it connect distant siblings. The first blood spilled on any person is when their mother gave them life. Blood is the foundation of all life. It's the heritage passed down through umbilical cords.
But this world rejects those who predate in blood: Vampires.
Embraced by a mysterious Sire and cruelly attached to a Bleeding Object, Aiva is stripped of the privilege called 'being human.' The girl comes to discover the many colours of life she used to miss, through eyes no longer her own. It's in the fortune of the rich, the exploitation of the poor, and the ostracising of the undesirables.
Blood that humans reject, blood that humans accept... what made the difference? Aiva didn't know. She used to not care. But Aiva's own sister is among the deranged, obstinate imbued that reject vampires more harshly than anyone else. She loves her sister, but she fears how the knowledge of her transformation could tear apart their relationship.
If Aiva ever wants Mara to be able to accept her, she needed to first come to accept herself.And before she could accept herself, she needed to keep her heart beating.And to keep it beating, she needed to feed the chain.
What To Expect:
- Weak To Strong with slow, earned progression.- A setting primarily occupied by humans and vampires, though other monsters roam the world as well.- A mature exploration of identity and human experience.- Slowburn romance subplot- Slice of life interspersed between rich action and thriller mystery. - Fights won through tactical judgement over raw strength.
5 Weekly chapters released Monday - Friday | 6pm AEST.
Cover art by SempaiPatz.Inspired by the setting of Vampire: The Masquerade.
