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Day 1
My dearest Carmilla,
I know there are many things you want to know, but I will start with the thing I think you want to hear most: I am fine. Guinevere’s magic did not hurt at all, I simply closed my eyes, and when I came to, I was standing in the midst of people, and they looked so similar to the people back in the Empire… but also not. It was the strangest thing…
I couldn’t explore right away—it was day, bringing the treacherous rays that threaten us. However, when night fell, I found myself unable to stop traversing this mirror and parallel world. The nights were brightly lit, full of lamps, and steel and concrete buildings glowed with light that seemed stolen from the sun. Motorcars beyond my description, tiny gadgets that glowed in the humans’ hands—there were no need for torches in this world. If I hadn’t grown up under the spotlight of theater, I would’ve gone blind.
Do not worry about my lodging—I found refuge in a strange inn that thankfully took my gold. I shall rest when the sun rises and explore this brightly-lit world once more when it sets. Rest assured, none of these lights could ever compare to the beauty of your smile.
Your love,
Cecilion
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Day 15
Carmilla,
I have spent the past two weeks studying and acclimatizing to this world the best that I can, coated as it is with metal and steel and concrete, where everyone held contraptions both familiar and alien to me. While I am able to feed just fine, it has become clear to me that I have to find ways of making money, to find better lodging, dress appropriately, and perhaps buy myself one of their strange contraptions (a cell…phone? I do not know whether I have spelled it correctly.)
But if I am to do these things, I know I shall have to do them fast. And this is what worries me, my love—what little gold I have is disappearing fast, and with it, my chances of finding a home and way to hide. I do wonder though—no one has blinked twice about my actions or my looks or clothes. Do they not know what either vampire or Blood Demon look like? In the Empire, I took great pains to distance myself from humans, lest I be discovered and killed. Here, I walk among those with warm blood and heavy breath, and can come home unscathed.
But perhaps, home is the wrong word. When I close my eyes and dream, I am back in Moniyan with you.
Cecilion
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Day 30
My love,
I have a job!
This is what the people here in Earth (the name of this world—asking for it earned me some strange gazes, but I am used to that) exclaim after earning their keep. I have found a tavern—no, a bar—that will employ me at night, where I am to croon the customers while they nurse their whiskey and ale. I have been employed for around two weeks now, and these people have the strangest song requests. I was not trained to sing fast-paced music, if it can even be called that. One patron asked me to sing this song—it was entitled “Together”—and I almost balked from my job! These people do not know melody or rhythm! Though classical music from Earth is just as sweet as that back home…
The most exciting thing that happened to me today, though, is that I am no longer writing this to you on paper, but rather on a cellphone—this one, helpfully selected for me by my coworkers, has a notes app for writing letters. I have told them about you, you see, about your beauty, your smile, which is brighter than any moon or lamp or screen. I have told them about the letters I wrote, and how, despite their efforts to put mine in the mail, they will never reach you. They’ve downloaded various “games” and “applications” to help me pass the time, but I still yearn for your jokes, giggles, stories you can barely finish because you can’t hold in your laughter. I yearn for you, and I always will. No job or cellphone cannot distract me from that.
Cecilion
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Day 60
My lovely and cold Carmilla,
Today marks my sixtieth day away from you.
Today is also my last day of exploration on Earth, before Gusion arrives to take me back to the Moniyan Empire. I am happy to be going back home, truly, to the familiar castles and spires, but honestly, a part of me is also sad to be leaving this strange yet beautiful world—what of its buses and cars that travel at the speed of light, the light itself, in rays of yellow and orange and white, emanating from bulbs connected to nothing, the gadgets—“computers”, “phones”, and “tablets” with games and applications that I have learned to use over the past few days—Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, all amusing, filled with pictures static and moving, obscure yet hilarious humor that I chuckle at in the wee hours of the night…
Carmilla. I have to admit—this Earth, this place—it is strange and wonderful and beautiful, and I remembered the reason why I agreed to join Guinevere’s experiment in the first place—it was to find a home for us… a different place to settle down in, one where we can love and rest and laugh in peace. I want to walk these alien streets with you, sing the songs of Earth to you, frolick in its night-lights with you. I now understand why Earth wasn’t home to me, despite me reveling in its comforts. All I need is you.
Once Gusion comes for me…. once I get back home… I am bringing you back here, to this world. And once I do, we will finally have a home for us.
With all my love, Cecilion