Kyrill/History

{{Article| {{ExtraHeader|Past Life}} Kyrill was the first daughter born to King Cato and the reigning queen of Angelou several centuries before the fall of their home continent Lacuna, making her the heir to the throne by birthright. Kyrill would be born a Kindred who could communicate with Celestials, a fact hidden from the public by her parents. Four years later, her little sister Eponine was born. One year, on the day of Un'Rauncu, Kyrill and her mother would visit the palace's fountain where the young toddler first met Nabita, the first queen of Angelou and mother to all Crei. Kyrill learned to cherish this memory, remembering the colors of the tree's flowers fondly.

Although the sisters enjoyed a primarily sheltered childhood, the mainly undisturbed family life took a turn for the worse when Kyrill's mother was beginning to wither away from her queenly duties. Wanting to prolong the queen's life, the elders of Angelou decided to use Kyrill's soul to create a phylactery. However, as her mother dearly loved her daughter and saw a hidden potential in her birth condition as a Kindred, she sacrificed her own soul to pave Kyrill's future, allowing her to inherit her connection to the ley lines, thus making her the new queen. Following these events, Kyrill's father grew to develop a distaste for his eldest daughter, blaming her for the early death of his beloved wife. These ill feelings were only further nourished, when Kyrill refused to accept the horrible traditions of the kingdom and began to actively rebel against her role and her father. In response, she suffered horrible mistreatment from both her father, and the entirety of her home city, Imroth, as the citizens despised how Kyrill dishonored the memory of the beloved late queen before her.

As a result for her disobedience, Kyrill was eventually sent to live with a mentor, Malakhai, inside Palinoia, where she was tasked to undergo training to become a proper sacrosanct. There, she often visited Iglas and Charlotte in the caretaking district of the farm, where Kyrill and her sister became friends with Lorian, a foster child taken in and raised to become a sacrifice to create a powerful phylactery. Over a few years, Kyrill and Lorian became closer and eventually fell in love, causing the now teenage girl to question the cruel methods of Angelou. Upon being threatened with the thought of having her first love forcefully be taken from her, Kyrill agreed to overthrow Palinoia together with Lorian, as her position of a queen would allow her to abolish ancient traditions. However, before being able to free Lorian from his cage during the night of his supposed sacrifice, the couple was found out by Iglas, who summoned the Mistwalker Cudeiya with intention to kill the Crei mage through the creature's cursed kiss. The destructive ability repelled upon contact with Lorian's magic, sending a shockwave across the farm that caused Kyrill's body to mutate and her ash brown hair to split into a lighter shade. Magic now caused her body to blister and bruise, prohibiting the heartbroken girl to ever touch her beloved again. Following the events at the farm, Cudeiya's reality altering presence merged the two continents, transporting Kyrill several years into the future, without aging her a day.

Growing up
Fifteen years old and without family or friends to comfort her, Kyrill would have to adapt in this new strange land, raising herself and the only ten year old Eponine. At some point during her early time inside Kalon, the sisters lived with Lord Armond and Iglas in the West, though fled when realizing that he intended to harm the survivors of Angelou. Seeking shelter, Kyrill took her sister to live in Oriflamme, where the two could settle down with the help of Lorian. During their years in the city, Kyrill learned and taught her sister common tongue, and began to build a life inside Kalon, though was visibly suffering from the mistreatment of the past, as she went almost no night without crying herself to sleep. Despite being unable to touch, she continued her love affair with Lorian for two years, though refused to accept the phylacteries he was gathering for her, slowly driving Lorian to succumb to despair, as he was unable to cure her condition. Not wanting to witness his downfall at her hands, Kyrill took Eponine and ran once again, without letting Lorian know where they had gone, marking the inevitable end of their relationship.

With little experience as an almost-adult of 17 years, and even less education needed to secure reliable work, Kyrill was forced to settle down in a fisher's village near the capital, Jaraska, the only city Lorian did not dare to get close to. Work in the village was hard, but paid enough to keep her broken family afloat. Eventually, she would learn to appreciate the challenges of a trader's life, embracing her new oceanic knowledge and stepping up in the ranks of the sailors retrieving the supplies for the capital.

Though despite all seemingly going well on the surface, Kyrill's trips to the nearby cities would take a toxic turn when she got herself caught in a carefully constructed web of false promises and ill instructions. Believing that only her physical beauty had a worth to others, an ugly feeling that would end up haunting her for years began to devour the last bit of self worth she have had. Whispers in her head and an insatiable craving for affection coursing underneath her skin, the young girl would give up her virginity and innocence to the spitting image of the devil, falling into a pattern of seducing men who desired her. Using her innocence and inexperience with physical intimacy as bait that would lure the oblivious admirers into bed, she would spend long hours of passion with them in which she would allow them anything they desired, suffocating the screaming in her head that cried out for touch. After using her partners for a night's worth supply of dopamine, Kyrill would abandon them before dawn, maintaining the image of something beautiful and desirable that no one could chain down for themselves. Kyrill's depression would worsen over the course of the time spent exploring her sexuality and desires, as the lines between pain and pleasure began to blur, her suicidal tendencies spiraling into episodes of emotional breakdowns in which she tried to scratch the skin off her own body, feeling tainted by the unhealthy addiction she had cursed herself with. Despite hating it, she found herself unable to stop searching for comfort in the arms of strangers, developing a contradicting state in which she endlessly craved pleasure from the touch that felt like fire on her skin.

A Ray of Hope
Two years later, at the age of 20, Kyrill would once again be granted a new role in the village, including the secure delivery of the village's fish supplies to Jaraska. The city's awe-inspiring architecture and culture rekindled the young woman's passion for her new homeland, though her interest would soon be occupied by the rumors spreading through the streets that praised the royal family of the city. Though she only managed to catch short glimpses of him, Kyrill would develop a head-over-heels crush on Lord Avandias, the brother of Lady Kastairn, as his generous and considerate nature towards Jaraska's citizens sparked a feeling of familiarity she had only known in her mother. Newly intoxicated by her affection for this stranger, Kyrill's sadness seemingly evaporated, replaced by a hope to one day meet Avandias in person and learn what she had missed in all these years: the secrets to becoming a loved and well-respected leader. But seeing as she was not ready yet, she would only watch him from afar until, one day, he was simply gone. Gone, taking her newfound hope with him.

Her life after that remains mainly unrevealed, though Malakhai described her to have "shown up every now and then, before disappearing again for years". Not long before Aislin's Tournament, Kyrill abandoned Eponine in the woods near Ulmery, hoping she could live a life away from Angelou. However, seeing as Lorian attended the tournament, she joined the battlegrounds as well, hiding away in the shadows.

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Chapter Two
Kyrill first met the group during Lord Aislin's tournament when a fire raged through the hedge maze of Palinoia, where she assisted them by opening a path to safety. Although she shared a brief exchange with Iglas, she fled soon after, as she had no interest in being caught by the ice mage, who had been hired to hunt her down in Lord Armond's name. It was first revealed by Iglas then, that Kyrill's body repelled all magic. After the group managed to escape the maze and its horrible secrets, Kyrill put the Harbinger to rest, however, was soon made aware of Lorian being nearby, who demanded her to stop butting into his business, as it caused him agony to see her. Although Lorian insisted that he was winning something he called the "phylactery races", Kyrill stayed behind, questioning whether he was truly winning anything or if he was being eaten alive by his guilt.

Aubade
After Iglas retreated to an inn room to sleep out his exhaustion, Kyrill entered the inn through an open window, where she cancelled out the magical effect of the paste applied onto Iglas's stab wound during an earlier point inside the maze, effectively preventing him from taking potentially fatal damage. After escaping back out of the window, she was spotted outside by Iglas the same night, causing her to retreat into hiding. Her presence was later briefly detected by Enjin, though she successfully managed to evade being noticed until climbing onto Imaine's ship later on, where she waited to make herself known until the group took off onto their sea travel.

At Sea
After overhearing the group's plans to travel to Ulmery and revealing herself, Kyrill requested to the dropped off at the border near the neutral grounds, as she was trying to avoid the South, where everyone had unwillingly ended up at. Upon being asked where she was headed, she explained to Elias that she had no clear travel goal besides getting away from both the South and Iglas, as she only intended to investigate what had been up with Aislin's tournament. Being recognized as the royal chased by Iglas, she was instantly approached by Avandias, as Eponine had mentioned that she had knowledge about finishing phylactery, though she turned him down quickly, as she wanted to have solid ground under her feet before discussing such risky topics, in case they would want to see her dead as well after spilling the beans. Unamused that Eponine had told the group about her, Kyrill reluctantly agreed to share whatever else they wanted to know, once they would arrive at their destination. She then introduced herself, revealing bicolored hair similar to that of Eponine and Iglas, and warned the mages of the group to keep a few feet away from her.

During the following ten day ship travel, Kyrill spent most of her time enjoying the trip, avoiding questions like a little shit, and bonding with Imaine over fishing, a hobby they both seemed to enjoy.

Chapter Four
Once able to leave the ship at the coast, Kyrill finally approached Avandias again, announcing that she was going to tag along with him for as long as needed, not accepting a no for an answer. After deciding that the two would travel together with Elias, supplies needed to be covered, including food and transport. While Kyrill covered the first with whatever gold she had left, it appeared as if they would have to travel by foot, leaving them to considering to follow the river in case they would need to fish for additional food. While buying supplies, however, they appeared to be recognized, forcing them to prepare their leave, much to Kyrill's curiosity who couldn't wait to find out why they were so sought after. Conveniently enough, the suspicious men staring them down turned out to be a group of friendly horse traders, who would offer them horses to ride back to a farm near Ulmery, requesting no payment besides delivering them back home safely. Taking up the offer, the three began their travel back to Ulmery on horseback.

Seeing as they were now riding in privacy, the two men asked their questions about how a defect phylactery could likely be finished. Concluding that it had to be Palinoia's unfinished phylactery, Kyrill advised against attempting to finish it, and elaborated that the reason Iglas was chasing her had to do with her being a former sacrosanct, though one who had lost her privilege to finish such an artifact. Despite Avandias's almost forceful request at having her help their cause of either finishing or fixing the item, Kyrill focused on the ridiculous belief that a phylactery promised immortality, correcting that ancient phylacteries merely gifted the user a new body, and expressed her doubts about Aislin's intention to use the farm's phylactery for anything than a bait, considering how powerful and thus instable it was. Again, she emphasized that she would be of no help, elaborating that her body's condition would lead to her being ripped apart and the phylactery being destroyed, if she were to try and fix it. Instead, she offered to seek out her master, who may be located in the North, if it were the person Enjin had located with her scan. As Elias wondered further about Aislin's intentions, Avandias questioned if he would not also take steps for prevention if he knew someone was planning to overthrow his power, leading Kyrill to slightly hesitate to join back into the conversation, as she remembered something painful. However, when he went on about the importance of protecting a royal's life over more insignificant peasants, Kyrill butted back into the conversation, joking that he shouldn't forget to also sacrifice the mages, before asking if the two actually knew what went down in Palinoia prior to falling to ruins. Unfortunately, instead of taking note of her mocking tone, Avandias took her statement serious, insisting that sometimes sacrificing the life of a person that had commited a crime horrible enough would be for the greater good. Rolling off from his heartless statement, Kyrill then explained that Palinoia served exactly that purpose, sacrificing maledict mages, and revealed that, even though it would be possibly with a phylactery, these mages had been considered unworthy of being cured. She elaborated that Maledictions would all eventually lead to death, one swifter then another, while the newer, modern phylacteries could no longer save these unfortunate souls.

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Chapter Five
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Chapter Six
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Chapter Seven
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Chapter Eight
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Chapter Nine
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Coronation
Inside Imroth, the day of the queen's official coronation had come, preparing Kyrill to accept the crown of the dying kingdom. Assisted by her adviser, the girl arrived at the palace plaza, where she received the crown of her mother from the elders of Angelou. Plagued by regret, Kyrill finally realized the weight of what she had given up by accepting her role, finding the cheers of her people, which had been promised to give her a feeling of adoration, to be a painful ringing in her ears. Now crowned, the queen would have to fulfill her duty of restoring the connection to the world's ley lines, which would allow the withering civilization to return to its former glory. Defeated by the feeling that she had let her father win after so many years of rebelling against these cruel traditions, Kyrill reluctantly ceased to struggle against her fate. Following the ancient ritual, she entered the palace's fountain of her ancestor queens, where a construction of chains and a helmet formed from runic mithril aided the kingdom to re-establish the connection between the queen, the ley lines, and everything that depended on their nourishment inside Angelou.

Waking up in her chambers several hours later, Kyrill realized she had failed to stay awake during the ritual, though it seemingly was a success, as the city of Imroth illuminated with the energy of its queen. Noticing her adviser talking to some soldiers, the girl inquired if something had happened, but was assured that an opportunity for a potential alliance had occurred and that it had been taken care of. Claiming they would soon meet with said ally, the man continued to promise that Kyrill's sacrifice would inspire her people and mark a turning point for their inevitable return as a flourishing nation. However, Kyrill could not find herself sharing the enthusiasm, feeling no comparable joy to the feeling she have had at the lodge, with the person who truly made her happy.

Chapter Ten
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