Marcel

Hailing from House Paxley, he is an elegant, mysterious and bizarre artist whose divided soul has merged with his camera.

Marcel Paxley, the elegant but mysterious talent of Castle Aberleen.

Itself is a masterfully composed double exhibition: the first exhibition captured the refined character of the Paxley household: Marcel, the boy; the second exhibition captured a torn soul, fragmented by black magic: Clemar, his camera. Since then, they have looked at the world through two viewfinders.

One retains a veneer of impeccable elegance; the other carefully documents reality. Together, they believe that pain is the best chemical for development, while imperfection defines true depth of field. Yet a finished work always presents itself as its own individual “self”.

Instant

"In the entire Moniyan art circle, if you ask which name is the most searched for today, the answer is undoubtedly: Marcel! This art world darling has talent and a mysterious past! Our journalists dug deep and finally found the face behind the lens!"

On the cafe counter, a dark magic camera quivered wildly, its lens focused on the newspaper below – the front page of Lumina City Entertainment Weekly.

Indeed, the truth is hidden behind the lens.

"The greatest photographer of this century, from the illustrious house of Paxley, possesses superb talent and enviable favor..."

Marcel was born in the dark corridors of the House Paxley estate. He inherited his father's powerful dark magic, as well as his infamy: after a series of infighting within the family, his father committed suicide to escape judgment, and Marcel was labeled "the son of a traitor". The latter had tainted Marcel's childhood, as his peers used violence to "discipline" him, to turn him into a skilled person named Paxley, but Marcel always smiled kindly and stood up straight. He believed he was worthy of the name, not because of the pain he endured, but because of the deep love that guided him through it: his mother.

Marcel's mother came from a distant branch of the Paxley family, chained to House Paxley by marriage, but with a soul yearning for freedom. His mother loved embroidery and photography, and on one of her birthdays she gave Marcel a camera, teaching him how to frame and freeze moments, then take those photos and turn them into memories on film.

Mother was everything to Marcel, but she didn't reciprocate. After receiving a “discipline” that almost killed him, Marcel returned home covered in wounds, only to find the silhouette of his mother walking away. After his father's suicide, Marcel's mother had endured all sorts of exclusions and pressures, ultimately securing a chance to escape House Paxley. However, the family forced her to leave behind her magically gifted son... In the end, she was the only one to escape.

Departures from the Paxley House are always silent. With eyes blurred with tears, Marcel watched her leave, and she never looked back.

"...And his goal of soul capture comes from his gift of dark magic. Naturally, Marcel became Duke Aamon's right-hand man. It's undoubtedly a perfect 'hand and glove' story!"

After Marcel's mother left, the "discipline" intensified, but he no longer wanted to resist, letting himself be tormented and mocked like pouring rain. That is, until a moment near death, when consciousness was fading, Marcel glanced at the camera on the wall.

His mother didn't take it. He had watched him – watched his struggle, his madness, his pain beneath the surface –

Marcel felt himself break away and step into his lens, watching coldly as the little boy named Marcel Paxley stood up elegantly with a bloodied face. This objective perspective was clear and indifferent; all pain had been sealed away by the lens. When his consciousness returned to his body, his hand was already holding the camera next to him! The camera screamed and dark magic poured out, freezing everything around him.

Marcel's powers had fully awakened. Simultaneously, a soul named "Clemar" was born inside the camera.

Unlike the elegant Marcel, Clemar was direct and volatile, but the two became inseparable. Relying on dark magic, Marcel became an aide to his distant cousin, Aamon, paving the way to becoming leader of Paxley. Those who had harassed him in the past no longer dared to look this terrifying “enforcer” in the eyes, fearing his camera.

Alas, it is better to be feared than to be loved. This is the Paxley method.

"...Great art is often born from deep love. After the death of his mother, Marcel channeled his grief into creation. There you have it, a true flowering of talent! It's as if his camera had a spirit..."

In the years that followed, Marcel never felt like he had lost anything. Indeed, he felt neither pain nor anger. His emotions had long been locked away in his camera, Clemar.

That is, until the news of his mother's death came.

He had learned the truth: after leaving the Paxley household, his mother remarried, opened a tailoring shop and gave birth to a daughter named Melissa, before dying of illness seven years ago.

It was old news from years past, but fate and hatred hid it from him. Clemar roared in Marcel's ear: "She had a new life! A new child! What am I?! Why all my suffering?!"

Marcel thought he was impassive, but the dark magic within him was becoming even more uncontrollable. Clemar was no longer content to reside in the camera, frequently attempting to take over Marcel's body. Marcel began to suffer from memory loss and fainting spells. He would wake up unpredictably on street corners near Aberleen Castle, surrounded by crowds frozen in time. Even Aamon was left helpless, until Marcel, after studying every clue, returned the loan and directed it at himself!

The moment the shutter clicked, Marcel entered the camera. The interior was chaotic and desolate, with rolls of floating film sweeping like tidal waves, inflicting endless pain. As he walked past all his memories, a scarred figure stood alone at the end of the corridor...

Marcel saw himself.

It had been a means of escape, but also of self-protection. Years ago, Marcel split his soul, naming the new entity "Clemar". Two sides of the same soul were isolated inside and outside the camera, experiencing their own pain and sorrow. Marcel got rid of the pain time and time again, storing it in the Clemar camera.

The pain has not gone away; he was simply carried by another, in solitude.

Eventually, the camera caught the tragic news, causing chaos inside Aberleen Castle.

Years ago, step by step, his mother passed out and never looked back. Now Marcel looked at Clemar and advanced step by step towards him.

He reached out and embraced the self that was “frozen” in the past.

...His memories ended and Marcel gently pushed the newspaper away.

After their episode in front of the camera, Marcel and Clemar reconnected. Today, Clemar is no longer just Marcel's camera, but his witness, his companion and his peer. He is her other half.

“They don’t understand our art at all!”

Marcel patted Clemar: "It doesn't matter. We know what we are...and what art is."

Instant-

The shutter froze the moment: warm lights shone on the dark stone streets of Aberleen Castle. This world has many flaws, but it is precisely because of them that it seems incredibly real.

His mother chose freedom, even if it meant leaving him. He understood his limits and learned to accept his half-sister, Melissa. They had lives of their own, and how could the photographer who understood art best ruminate on the incompleteness of life?

Now he stands beside Clemar, looking through the viewfinder, ready to move forward into their future.