Loopshard

Adam led the carriage in through the open gate of the stone wall. Thick roots wrapped themselves around the fortification and shifted like great serpents as he passed at them. He deftly steered the horses, while dozens of elphin watched him suspiciously from both above and inside the city. Within the vehicle sat Belamouranthe, although her face was pressed up against the window in the door so she could look out at her home.

He felt weird, and it took him a moment to realise why.

I can’t control my body. It’s like I’ve been possessed!

Am I in a cutscene?

Adam blinked and was transported somewhere else, suddenly standing on his feet. In front of him was a tall and strikingly-beautiful elphin woman who looked a lot like an adult Belamouranthe. Her golden hair reached all the way down to her legs and her lithe figure was like that of a ballerina. She wore a loosely-draped ephemeral silver dress that paired well with her ashen skin, and her eyes were lit up like two miniature suns that glowed even brighter than Bel’s. Most striking were her horns. The two largest ones curled back from her brow and fanned out to the sides like the horns of a stag. Several smaller ones sprouted around the top of her scalp, creating the impression of a crown. From her back hung a single translucent-red wing, like that of a butterfly, and the pattern on it shifted mesmerizingly.

This has to be the elphin queen.

She was holding Belamouranthe’s hand and the girl was looking up at her and smiling.

Around Adam were many muscular and handsome guards wielding longswords and spears. They too had red see-through wings hanging from their backs, though theirs were much shorter than the queen’s.

I wonder if the wing is a mark of maturity, since Bel doesn’t have one.