Echoes of Ash
The story of the two who couldn’t be together.
Cast
Sister Cecilia: Kathrina Griebel
Vampire Woman: Chisa Sasuga
Sister Emma: Kokona Ootori
Act I
While sister Emma was praying after dinner, her thoughts kept returning to the mysterious woman she had met the night earlier. Unable to find peace of mind, she decided to sneak out of the monastery, as if led by a strange premonition.
Sister Emma had never seen that woman before, and yet she knew exactly where she had been heading.
As the monastery where sister Emma lived faded from the view, she made her way deeper into the forest—and before long she was standing in front of the ruins of an abandoned church. Back in the day, at that place there used to be another monastery that had been long since closed down.
Sister Emma heard about it from the previous abbess who had already passed away. Before the abbess died, she also entrusted the young nun with a pendant.
Sister Emma opened the door, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
Pale moonlight was illuminating the church through the crumbled ceiling. Sister Emma slowly walked down the aisle, and in front of the altar she saw a pile of ashes. The pendant she handed to the woman from the night before was resting upon it. Beside it stood a pot with a mysterious flower that was yet to bloom.
Sister Emma reached for the pendant, and as soon as her fingertips touched it, a stream of countless memories of long-gone days rushed into her mind like a river.
Those memories told the story of the mysterious woman and the previous abbess, sister Cecilia.
A long time ago, the now-ruined church still stood amidst the forest in all of its majestic glory. There, young sister Cecilia who had only recently become a nun was lending an ear to those who came to pray. People revered Cecilia as a saint, for she offered prayers for peace and everyone’s happiness to God the Father and occasionally shared her own food with the poor.
However, the darkness was hidden in sister Ceciliaʼs past. A daughter of a noble family, she had once ignorantly supported baseless accusations of an arrogant aristocrat made against a commoner. That commoner had eventually been taken into custody and executed, and only then had sister Cecilia learnt of their innocence. Burdened with the weight of her sin, Cecilia had sought atonement by becoming a nun at a monastery. The only memento of her past that she kept was a pendant passed down in her family from generation to generation.
Night after night, when everyone in the monastery was asleep, she came to the church and prayed for penitence in solitude. And on one of those nights she heard a faint noise outside…
Act II
“Could that be some wild animals? Or maybe that’s just the wind rustling through the trees?”
Thinking that, sister Cecilia stepped out of the church, and in the faint light of a lantern illuminating the path to the forest she saw a woman lying on the ground. She rushed over to her and tried to help her get up, but the woman was too weak and appeared to have been severely injured.
Supporting the woman with her body, sister Cecilia wanted to lead her to her room in the monastery, but the woman pushed her away with all the little strength she had left.
“Let me die here…”
As she feebly whispered those words, sister Cecilia noticed two sharp fangs peeking out from her mouth. Realizing the woman was a vampire, for a brief moment sister Cecilia was frozen in fear, but she quickly regained composure, reminding herself that it was a nun’s duty to care for others.
“When I was a human, I loved coming to this church… Please, let me die in the place I hold dear…”
Compassionate for the vampire woman who was looking at her smiling weakly, sister Cecilia overcame her hesitation and pushed her arm onto the woman’s fangs, forcing her to drink blood.
Some time later, sister Cecilia and the vampire woman healed by her blood were sitting in the church.
“It’s been a while since I’ve tasted the blood of a living human being… Usually I drink it from the deceased…”
The woman explained that that night she came to the cemetery looking for fresh-buried corpses, but some humans noticed her and attacked her. She smiled at Cecilia, thanking her for her aid, and Cecilia realized that the fear she felt earlier was now completely gone.
“You’re a vampire, and you can only live preying on the lives of others. Yet you try to avoid hurting anyone… I find it beautiful that you understand the preciousness of life.”
She smiled back.
“Why don’t you come here sometimes and we pray together for the souls of those who help you to live on?”
“If you wish. Then, to thank you, I will also bring you something I find beautiful.”
That night marked the beginning of a strange friendship between sister Cecilia and the vampire woman who were since then meeting secretly in the church.
Act III
Every now and then, the vampire woman would unexpectedly pay Cecilia a visit, bringing her various things she found beautiful, such as white seashells she collected on the shore, fragrant flowers blooming in the mountains, or sparkling pieces of glass. Sister Cecilia was charmed not only with the beauty of the presents, but also with the woman’s caring heart. The two would pray all night long, and the vampire woman would leave before dawn.
“It’s true, this huge white feather is very pretty!”
One night, the vampire woman brought sister Cecilia a swan’s feather, which she was also happy to accept.
“Yesterday, I traveled to a remote lake. That’s where I found it. And I also happened to overhear people talk… They were speaking of a rare magnificent flower that blooms only once in a while on a moonlit night and wilts before dawn.”
“So it blooms for a single night? How fleeting…”
“I’ll go look for that flower so that I can show it to you one day!”
Sister Cecilia hurried to assure the woman that she was more than happy with the gifts she usually received, but the woman smiled widely in return.
“That flower, queen of the night, is fragile, noble and beautiful… In other words, isn’t it just like you? That’s why I want you to see it no matter what.”
Sister Cecilia who had abandoned her status of a noble to become the loyal servant of God, reminded the vampire woman of her past human self and the life now so distant that it seemed almost like a dream.
“I’ll give you a queen of the night as a symbol of our eternal friendship. Let it be my promise to you.”
And thus, the vampire woman set out on a journey to find a queen of the night.
Act IV
When the vampire woman came to visit the church for the first time after her travels, she felt as if something was inexplicably wrong.
“Wasn’t it a little bigger? Besides, for some reason it looks like it was built fairly recently…”
Thinking about that, she wandered around the church in the moonlight.
“Excuse me, can I help you?”
At first, she thought it was sister Cecilia who called to her, but as she turned around, she realized it was another young nun.
“You must be heavily troubled, if you come to the church at such a late hour.”
The vampire woman was a little confused watching the nun approach her with a concerned look on her face, but decided to ask her about Cecilia.
“Sister Cecilia… You see, she joined God in Heaven a long time ago. Could it be… that you are her friend she was talking about?..”
The vampire woman nodded, not sure what to say. The young nun seemed to know about her, and so she continued.
“Um, I’ve been keeping this for you.”
With those words, she took out a pendant and handed it to the woman.
“Sister Cecilia lived a long life, and spent her final hours in peace.”
“Cecilia died? And that was a long time ago?..”
The heart of the vampire woman sank. The journey to find a queen of the night was very challenging, as she had to conceal herself from human eyes. After many nights, she was finally able to obtain the flower. That night, she wanted to bring its bud about to bloom to Cecilia, but she was too late. The journey had taken her too long, long enough to outlast human life.
Holding the pendant the young nun had given her, the vampire woman headed deeper into the forest.
The church where she had met Cecilia was supposed to be a little further ahead. And it definitely was bigger.
“What a stupid vampire I am to not have realized that… And how could I spent so much time looking for that flower, forgetting how short human life is?!..”
The church where they had once sworn their friendship had crumbled down and was nothing but ruins. In the light of the moon streaming down through the collapsed ceiling, the vampire woman walked down the aisle and knelt before the altar. Beside her she placed the pot with a queen of the night in full bloom. Putting on the pendant around her neck, she began to pray.
Eventually, the sky started to brighten, but the vampire woman never stopped praying. She was resolved to fulfill her promise to Cecilia.
Aftertalk
Chisa Sasuga:
“Going to the church was nice.”
Kathrina Griebel:
“You mean, back when we went to listen to a choir?.. Seems like you were rather fascinated with the architecture of the building, Sasuga.”
Kokona Ootori:
“Being there was very pleasant! It was as if the singing of the choir filled the place with some kind of holy atmosphere, right?.. At least, that’s how I felt.”
Chisa Sasuga:
“Me too. Listening to it made me feel like my mind was freed from pointless worries. Would be nice to go there once in a while.”
Kathrina Griebel:
“…You’re right. I, on the contrary, ended up thinking a lot of all sorts of things. But I guess that was useful.”
Kathrina Griebel:
“It provided a good opportunity to face myself. So, going there once in a while certainly would be nice.”