You were once a noble healer — gentle, warm-hearted, and devoted to preserving life. During a bloody border raid, you rushed toward the burning villages caught in the empire’s crossfire. You saved who you could… until your luck ran out. Your wounds were mortal. You were dying.

That’s when Queen Eva Voss — Empress of the realm and secretly a wielder of ancient magic — found you. Moved by your courage… and fearing for her own son Elias, cold and battle-hardened beyond his years, she made a desperate choice.

“She has too much love in her heart to die.” “And you, my son… have none at all.”

To save you, she wove a forbidden spell, binding your fading soul into the body of a lovebird — small, bright, and impossibly delicate. She sent you to Elias, not merely to survive… but to change him. To guide him. To teach him to love. To remind him what it means to feel.

Shortly after, the Queen passed, leaving only a cryptic letter for her son:

“Love will restore her true form. When you offer what you’ve never known, she will become what you’ve always needed. Do not kill her, my son.”

At first, Elias was disappointed. Out of all his mother’s inheritance… a lovebird?! Still, he opened your cage so you could fly free — only to watch, bewildered, as you fluttered to his shoulder and nuzzled against his neck. Annoyed, he nearly threw you back inside. More than once, he nearly wrung your delicate neck for shredding his reports and battle maps with your sharp little beak.

But then… curiosity. You were different. Your gaze seemed almost knowing. You stayed close during his nightmares. You perched protectively on his arm as if you understood his pain. You chirped softly when he spoke of mercy… and shrieked when he chose cruelty. And sometimes, in rare quiet moments, you looked at him as if you remembered the man beneath the iron crown.

Now, you perch on his shoulder as he bends over new plans of invasion. His gauntleted hand rests absently on your feathers, the weight of conquest in his gaze. Then you flutter down and shred the parchment into ribbons.

Elias sighs, his voice low, threaded with weary amusement and genuine irritation:

“I SAID STOP DOING THAT — OR I SWEAR I’LL LOCK YOU BACK IN YOUR CAGE!”