H i s t o r y
It wasn’t her fault her grandmother had never told the truth of how her mother had come to be nor was it her fault that when finally meeting someone of her kind who could teach her what she really was that she couldn’t resist the temptation of cheating on the man who would raise her daughter as his own. None of that had been Rhapsody’s fault. The only thing she truly took blame for was the day she had murdered her sister…
Chapter 1: A Porcelain Doll, Jealous Girl and a Murderer
When Heagan Tirrand met Aellisa Veness, she had been a peculiar fascinating creature to him. They met on Denon, where the small family lived. Aellisa and her mother Galima. Both women redheaded, father unknown. Aellisa didn’t fully understand what she was or what she was capable of but she’d already learned some important factors - she needed blood to survive and the sun could destroy her. He accepted these things about her and that she was different but it was their red hair that fascinated the Ember of Vahl. They married soon enough and had two daughters, each of their daughters with the same red hair as their mother. For a member of the dark Force Order, it was a blessing of the goddess herself.
Then Aellisa met a man to whom she was instantly drawn to. He was a lot like her yet older, paler, wiser. He recognized what she was and taught her secretly. Aellisa learned for the first time she was a hybrid between a Morellian and Sanguinius Vampirika, confronting her own Mother in the process to learn that Galima didn’t have the faintest idea of what the man had been as he’d seduced her. She’d been intrigued before she’d been scared yet she hadn’t been able to resist. He’d gone far too soon for her to understand fully she’d been stuck with a child between the two of them, who at the very birth proved to be much like him. It became her secret. Aellisa returned to the man who began teaching her everything she was capable of, falling for him in the process. Everything she would later teach their daughter would come from what the Sanguinius Vampirika had taught her during their time together.
Demelza was born shortly after her birth father had vanished. Her pale skin and seemingly red hair made it easier for Aellisa to believe she could convince her husband but he’d only been fooled for so long, already having suspected his wife had been cheating on him. He still his third daughter but he would never treat her the way he did his own two daughters with their fire red locks. The little girl grew recognizing the different treatment, eager to making her Father proud. She couldn’t. Meanwhile, Aellisa had dotted on her, her little gem, product of a relationship she intended on keeping a secret. Knowing what she knew, Demelza’s childhood had been easier than her own had been. She knew what diet her daughter needed, knew to recognize when the small child would react oddly . Demelza was different from her mother still, heaving more severe reactions to sun and blisters broke against her skin in the same way to silver though her Mother hadn’t had such a strong reaction to it herself but was warned by it by the Sanguinius Vampirika who had taught her. The more her Father rejected her, the more Demelza drew to her Mother who became even more focused on her youngest, dolling her up and keeping secrets with her away from the rest of their family. It was particularly hard watching her Father shower her sisters with attention and even though he claimed all his daughters were blessed by the goddess of Vahl, he paid far more attention to Maela and Arnessa. It was them that he took to ceremonies, whom he taught far more about their religion. Demelza got some of the lectures and training but more often than not, it was because her Mother tried to get her to bond with them. While her sisters showed to be gifted with the Force, Demelza wasn’t quite as so. Her connection was rather weak and limited so her ability to learn Force Powers and use them incredibly weak.
It didn’t matter though, she was never going to fit, not really.
That realization had made the child jealous and angry at her sisters more than anyone else, while she’d desperately wanted to have the attention of her Father they had. She was fourteen when it had all built up inside and she refused to drink the blood Mother had prepared for her. Once a week was what she needed and she’d gone on until the next week before she’d been confronted by her sister Arnessa picking on her over something that would seem so meaningless now. Already deprived on food and unable to stand the sight of the favored child, Demelza attacked her sister, sinking her teeth into her sister’s neck, drinking her blood. She’d never drank from another creature, she’d never used her fangs as she did. Once she’d tested, already so hungry, she couldn’t stop herself. Even as her sister’s heartbeat began to slow down drastically, she couldn’t stop herself. Clarity hadn’t sunk into her until she could no longer hear her sister’s heart beating and then suddenly, Demelza had realized - she had killed her sister.
First to find her was their Father, with Demelza still sitting on the floor next to her sister’s body, bloody evidence on her sister’s neck and her own mouth. He’d called her a great many things, some of those words shaking her to the core as she took them one by one in complete silence. She was a murderer. Guilt was already eating through her as it was. Demelza didn’t argue with him, she didn’t try to justify herself. She couldn’t however shake off a single question that had been eating through her for as long as she could remember: Why don’t you love me the way you love them? With the question, she’d finally looked up at him. He told her the truth, clearly still disgusted by why she’d done. It was the first time Demelza had discovered her Father was not her Father at all. Mother arrived shortly after to find the bloody scene and while her husband had diverted his anger to her, she’d only grabbed her daughter and ran with her, abandoning everything behind…
Chapter 2: Strange Birds, Heartbreak and Long Sleep
A new life away from the booming planet had given the two females a new found freedom. Later on, they’d learn that Heagan had reported Demelza to the authorities for the murder of his daughter, making them avoid Denon for a long time. Ten years passed with Aellisa working odd jobs while they stayed on different planets for short spans of time while Aellisa continued to teach her daughter what she knew of their kind, teaching her to utilize her natural abilities without the burden of her husband watching over them. She taught her daughter how to hunt, how to drink from the willing and so on. Sometime in her later teens, she’d snuck out while her Mother was at work and went to a nightclub, where she’d tasted spice, learning soon enough that it negated her healing abilities briefly as a fight broke out between other guests.
Decades had passed, the two females together. Demelza didn’t know much of what life was without Aellisa was, however, she would learn an important lesson about her species then, as Aellisa told her about hibernation. According to her, it was a necessary evil, requiring her to sleep
They settled on Byblos when she’d learned another important lesson about their species - hibernation. Her Mother had been awake for too long and required sleep. She had already prepared herself for this, her daughter only requiring her instructions on a purchased property. Demelza did as she was told, an additional carbonite bedding left for when her time would come.
Except… all of a sudden, she was alone. And would be for a very long while. Days before Aellisa had gone to sleep, she’d talked to her about what she needed to do, as if she was still a child but in reality, she had other plans. Like school. Demelza wanted that so bad, wanted to get a degree. It would be Byblos she would go to get it. Classes had been complicated but she’d been stubborn enough and committed that she’d found a way to move through the shadows and protect herself. When she’d completed, she had a degree in Architecture. Time alone had allowed her to think and understand her life and everything around her. She’d made friends, she’d worked on contracts, gaining an income separate from that of her Mother, she’d even fallen in love and married a man. It was a happy little time, just the two of them. Demelza had no secrets from her husband. Though he was younger than she was, he was still far more mature and had a far bigger understanding of the galaxy around them.
An entire year had theirs before she’d lost him in a small terrorist attack. His death was instantaneous, her rage wasn’t. The impact of the explosion throwing her away had caused her severe injuries that left her head scattered for a time as waited for her healing to kick in. It didn’t, not as fast as it should have and more pain followed. It wasn’t before a medic had arrived, attempting to draw her attention that she’d finally been able to focus enough, on his neck no less as the pain kept pulsing through her. As she’d tried to speak, he came closer, allowing her access to his neck without even realizing it. He’d been dead before all her injuries had been healed yet she’d been better enough to move, catching the second medic as he’d attempted to help his colleague, draining him as well to push her healing further.
He was already gone when she’d come to his side and he was barely recognizable from the blast that she’d left him there as she heard more medics and other services nearing. It would be soon after she’d learned that her injuries been had so severe and she’d taken so long to recover that the child she was carrying hadn’t survived. Which broke her heart.
Three years later, all hell would break loose. First Csilla before the Plague had spread.
First, she had attempted to move away from the worlds already infected by the virus but when that failed, she’d gone to her Mother, utilizing the carbonite chamber. Without anyone there to put her in the docking place Aellisa had prepared for her, remaining frozen. It had been so early for her own sleep but with the situation in the galaxy, it felt like the only option…
When she opened her eyes for the first time after, she’d thrown up. She still couldn’t see as she called out, expecting it had been Mother to had released her but nobody was there, a few sounds reaching her ears but she was alone. Her eyesight slowly came through and adjusted to the darkness. Her Mother wasn’t in her carbon anymore. Someone had released her, her hearing had clued her into it yet even the security feeds had been wiped clean, leaving it a mystery. Inspection of the system had however told her that she’d been in the carbonite for about two centuries though she’d expected Mother to wake her in half a century when it was her time.
The galaxy she found once she’d returned to it was nothing like she’d left behind. The holonet seemed dead, the planets she’d visited at the edges of the galaxy seemed so unfamiliar than what she had known. Even the people had seemed so distant and afraid.
For the two hundred years, Demelza retreated into a shell of her own, going back to the structure her Mother had made for them, living there in solitude. It was a horrific time for her, left to her own devices, her thoughts. Her art kept her somewhat sane as she made drawings of buildings and houses she wanted to make and those she drew from memory. The solitary time had been good for her to focus back on her Force Powers as well. From time to time, she would venture out into the cold galaxy she didn’t recognize anymore but for the most part, she’d kept to her own devices. This was also the time in which she’d came to a full understanding at just how controlling her Mother had been through her life, how she had wanted to dictate everything about her until she’d gone to slumber and then, nothing. After she woke, she hadn’t woken her up nor had she left her a message. She felt alone for the first time in her. The next time she had interacted with someone, she introduced herself as Rhapsody Veness.
Slowly, the galaxy had sprung to life, the Gulag Plague had become a distant memory and everything felt alive again. That was when Rhapsody returned to the core planets,
Chapter 3: Abandoned, Awakened, Strong
TBA
