Arcana

a mysterious phantom thief who masquerades as the ringleader of a flying circus. she leads a troupe of performers who secretly double as the members of her underground criminal organization, dedicated to uprooting the corrupt economic hierarchy in their society through theft. the knights have been after her for years, with no luck- however, recently, she made news headlines after finally being assassinated by one of the royal family’s personal bodyguards, only to magically come back to life the next day. perhaps it was a miracle that saved her life, or maybe someone else decided to fill the space that her departed soul had left behind…

unbeknownst to the rest of the world, a time-traveling dark spirit took control of her body soon after her death, pretending to be her in order to keep a close eye on the knight she went back in time to kill.

in the timeline that the spirit came from, the princess that Elowyn was formerly betrothed to, named Eris, was sacrificed and used as a vessel for the summoning of the spirit, as having a corporeal form to inhabit is essential for the spirit’s survival. she was originally intended to be used as a weapon by Eris’ family in the war between Eris and Elowyn’s kingdoms- however, rule #1 of summoning a magical eldritch beast is to never expect them to follow your orders. dedicated solely to self-preservation & relying on magic as a life-force for her survival, the dark spirit immediately turned on the kingdom that summoned her and began to feed off of the magic of the royal family, which would eventually allow her to grow powerful enough to consume the fabric of space and time itself & effectively become a god.

or so it would’ve gone, until the wealthy & powerful Anova family decided to step in. Corius, a famous inventor coming from a long line of technologically adept predecessors, created a sentient AI in the likeness of his deceased daughter to travel back in time and save the world by assassinating the princess whose body was used as a vessel for the eldritch spirit. of course, the inventor was not without ulterior motives- if his creation were to succeed, the Anova family may finally be able to seize the throne in the fallout after the death of that kingdom’s only heir & create a reality in which magic is outlawed and the world is fueled solely by the technology produced by his company. the price of salvation from chaos would ultimately plunge the globe into an unstable new world order- and with that knowledge in mind, Harlow was sent back in time in order to assassinate Eris, leading to the inciting incident which started Elowyn’s investigation into her former fiance’s murder. 

the dark spirit traveled back in time in pursuit of Harlow, taking Eris’ place in the past only for her body to be destroyed by the AI shortly thereafter. in need of a corporeal form to keep her stable, she ended up taking over the body of Arcana in order to feed off of her magic & keep a close watch over Harlow while the robot attempted to cover her tracks. however, things got much more complicated after Arcana met Elowyn during her investigation, and the two began to develop a bond that may put the fate of the world in jeopardy… 

Arcana herself is super charismatic & overdramatic, with a pinch of flirtatiousness and a secret soft side that she never shows anyone. the spirit possessing her adopts these traits in order to seem more like her, though their personalities aren’t all that different to begin with. she’s super glamorous and over-the-top, constantly calling everyone “darling” like shes the antagonist in a cheesy YA novel. she wears that mask to hide the fact that half of her face was destroyed during her initial assassination- if you lift it up, you’ll be able to see into the eyes of the dark spirit within. 

Relationships: 

Elowyn: formerly a curious friend of the enemy, now the person she loves most in the entire world. the two had a reluctant-enemies-turned-forbidden-lovers arc over the course of Elowyn’s investigation, because as much as they care about each other, their current circumstances make it a bit difficult for the two to be together.

Harlow: her greatest enemy, the person she despises more than anyone else. not only does Harlow pose a threat to Arcana’s very existence, she’s also insufferable personality-wise, but since she’s Elowyn’s best friend/personal bodyguard Arcana guesses she’ll just have to put up with Harlow for now… but the second she tries anything stupid, that pesky robot is DEAD to her.

Corius: technically her other greatest enemy being the inventor of Harlow and all, but she can’t bring herself to fully hate him because underneath the slight insanity and that whole corporate capitalist overlord schtick hes just a really nice old man.