Base

Character Name

Demetrix Santail

Player Name

Levi Ratliff

Background

Demetrix Santail played in the cool meadow, looking up into the tree tops, his older brother, Ravion, and older sister, Alexzandra, were on the other side of the grove when all of a sudden a disturbing noise had sounded from the village they lived in. Demetrix looked over as Ravion shouted, he couldn't hear what he had said but without warning he turned and ran toward the village, their sister watched as he disappeared over the hill. Not knowing what to do Demetrix stood and began following after Ravion. He ran through the forest and came to the road leading into the village when out of nowhere he hear the sound of a horses hooves on the dirt road, galloping very close to him. He was scooped up and carried away, before he knew what happened. He could tell who or what had him, all he knew was his home was getting farther and farther away, until the forest and his abductor were the only things around him. Everything he had know was now just a memory. Demetrix flailed about, kicking and screaming until he was exhausted. Several hours had passed before the horse came to a stop, the man that had taken him gently sat him on the ground. Demetrix looked up at the man, he looked human but there was something different about him. He didn't look like those from his village, this man was bigger, stronger. He wore black armor with an hourglass inscribed on the breastplate, the sands within in constant movement. Demetrix scanned him up and down, noticing he also carried an unusual looking sword on his side, it appeared to be make of some kind of black metal with a crystalline glow to it, he could feel something magical about the blade as if it were slightly pulling at his essence. He recalled the men from his village mostly used harvesting tools if they had need for a weapon, he found it strange, most of the humans he had know had never even touched a weapon, let alone carried one, a magical one at that. He had assumed the humans didn’t rely on combat as his people had, he laughed, realizing that thought was incorrect. The man climbed off his horse, which was equally as armored. He bent knelt down attempting to reach eye level. “I am truly sorry, but your village has been destroyed. Due to the amount of soldiers I saw, it is most likely everyone that you have known is dead. I was unable to prevent the elves from finding your family but hopefully you will survive long enough for your people to repopulate. Unfortunately I can not take you with me on my journey, but I’m afraid you must stay here. If you are to survive it will be by your doing, just be careful and you allow your surroundings teach you everything you need to know. Do this and you may yet grow into a strong dalari.” The man stood to his full height and pulled a dagger from his waist, “It's not much but from what I know of your kind it will be more than enough to keep you fed and clothed.” Demetrix reached for it, how he would survive in the wilderness all alone he did not know. He watched as the man turned and climbed back on his horse, “I would take you to another village but I think you will have a better chance if you remain out here. Farewell and I hope to see you again once you have grown up.” The man turned his horse and galloped off into the distance. Demetrix looked at the dagger the man had handed him, his people believed in training for combat at an early age and he had already started his own but was nowhere close to being finished. He turned and continued into the forest.

His father had taught him construction of various weapon. He had gathered many supplies from the forest. The first thing he needed was to build a decent bow. Nearly a full day had passed before he finished it. The arrows took no time at all once he had finished the stone arrowheads, using stripped vines to secure the shaft to the head. Once he had completed the bow and arrows he went to work on a spear. His stomach was growling at him, he had already forgotten when he last ate, it didn’t matter, he thought, he now had the tools needed to hunt. He searched the surrounding forest for anything, rabbit, squirrel or any other small animal, would suffice. He stalked a rabbit for nearly an hour before it stopped long enough for him to draw his bow and take aim. He alined the fairly straight shaft to the small prey, the unsuspecting creature looked directly at him just before the arrow struck, pinning the rabbit to the ground. The small creature would have died very soon but he felt wrong to let it suffer until that point. He took the dagger from his waist line and slit the small creature's throat. He heard a mild wheezing sound as his prey took its last breath, which escaped from the gash at its throat. Once he had a small fire, he recalled watching his father skin and clean small game. He had never done it himself but it would be a needed skill, and now seemed to be the appropriate time to learn it. He pulled the skin and fur from the carcass, cutting and stretching as his father had. He laid it on a rock close to the fire allowing it to dry out. He set the rabbit on a large rock in the center of the fire, allowing it to cook. The food was filling but hadn't tasted nearly as good as he had remembered, due to the lack of spices he thought. After the skin had dried he tied it to his dirt covered tunic, the nights were cool and he was going to need something to keep him warm if he truly was all alone now.

Several years had passed and Demetrix was now a young man by human standards, the it had been quiet some time since he had any contact with another person, he had learned to track and stalk in the forest. His bow was upgraded as soon as he outgrew his previous. He wore furs and hide for clothing, the items worn as a child having been outgrown and worn out. The dagger that was given to him by the mysterious man remained on his side. It had been the one thing that had kept him fed and sheltered over the years. It was worn and weathered but still a useful tool. Demetrix had taken to protecting travelers who passed through his forest, as he referred to it. The travelers were whole-fully unaware of his presence since he never alerted them to him, he always kept them within sight making sure they safely reached the other side. Occasionally a band of thieves would move in and set up an ambush but he quickly dispatched the threat as soon as he was alerted to its existence.

Demetrix protected the large section of forest for nearly two centuries. In that time he continued protecting the forest and made sure its occupants remained free of danger. He had found a new home, the memory of his family and past home were still with him but it was so long ago and if his family truly were dead it did not aid him to dwell on the thoughts. He sometimes found himself wondered what would have happened if he had been able to find his way home the night he had been rushed away. One morning he stumbled upon the remains of several wagons, each one recently destroyed. The people that had accompanied it had been slain, their bodies being ripped apart and scattered across the forest floor. He searched the area for tracks of any kind but only found those made by the wagons before they had been attacked, not even those of the travelers were found. He guessed the attacker had to have been off the ground during the attack, catching them off-guard, attacking so quickly that they didn’t have time to react. Demetrix gathered the remains of both the wagons and travelers, piled them up and burned them. He searched the forest for over a month, looking for whatever or whoever was responsible for the attacks. He had discovered several other sites exactly as the first, none of them giving a single clue as to what was responsible. He continued to search, paroling the forest as he had for so many years. The sun had just risen one morning when he heard a strange sound not far from him, he climbed into the nearest tree and rushed to the site. He watched, horrified as the huge winged creature stretched, it was bigger than anything he had seen before, reptilian in appearance, its black scales reflecting the sun, making them glisten. Demetrix had heard of such creatures but had never seen one before now. The creature had large spikes running from its head all the way down its back and tail. It roared, moving its head to each side. Demetrix new this creature was a dragon, a black dragon to be exact. He carefully moved closer toward the creature, unaware of what to do. He stopped as it began to sniff the air, he had a arrow notched and ready to fire when the huge wyrm turned and glared at him, “Why do you disturb me, dalari?” it asked. Demetrix was disturbed, it seemed strange it could not only talk but knew of the dalari. He quickly replied, “I have resided here for a very long time, If you belonged here I would have seen you seen you before and I feel that you are a danger to the creatures within my forest. I ask that you leave immediately.” The dragon began to laugh and said, “You tell me to leave? I'll leave when I choose to do so.” The dragon stood and reared back, flapping its wings, sending a strong gust of wind directly toward Demetrix, he lowered his head in an attempt to withstand the wind but was unable to do so, instead he began to slide backward, falling from the tree he had been positioned in. He picked himself up, drew his bow and took aim. He fired a single arrow through the wind, making sure it would not effect the shot. The arrow sank into the dragons hide at the corner of the mouth, the dragon ceased his flapping and licked at the arrow with his tongue. Demetrix notched another arrow and took aim again, this time the dragon was ready and swung his tail knocking him down. The dragon approached him, all four legs moving in sequence, it lifted one of its front legs and placed it over Demetrix, pinning him to the ground. Unable to move Demetrix watched as the dragon moved his head close to him. The loud booming voice made the trees shake as the dragon spoke. “You amuse me little one. Perhaps you will serve my purpose one day and for that reasoning alone I am not going to kill you today, but the next time we meet one of us is going to die.” The dragon laughed one last time before ducking close to the ground. A moment later it leapt up and disappeared into the sky. Demetrix felt a rush of energy flowing through him and the world went black.

The day way warm, fall had taken its hold, most of the brown and red leaves had falling from their trees, leaving a few desperately clinging to their branches. The road was often traveled, being the main trade route between the towns of Arumin and Tamora. An old man made his way down the path, guiding his mule and cart, recently filled with supplies. He slowed, noticing something laying in the leaves off the side of the road. He stopped the mule, and grabbed his walking stick from the cart. Carefully approaching he used the bottom of the stick to investigate the half buried mound. He knelt down and quickly brushed the leaves from the unconscious body. He scooped it up and placed it on top of the mule, securing it as best he could. The young man couldn’t have been older than sixteen. The old man was surprised, the boy had probably been laying on the side of the road for days and somehow he was still alive. He led the mule on down the path. Two days passed before they finally reached his home. It was a small farm house with a slightly larger barn, strangely there didn't seem to be any animals on this farm aside from a few wild critters here and there. The old man parked his cart and led the mule to the barely standing stable. Once secure he return to the cart, picked up the young man and carried him into the house. The old man placed him on a small cot and covered him with a thick blanket before returning to unload the cart. The old man had gathered a bucket of water and readied some soup, The boy remained unconscious the entire time, he hadn’t even awoken when the old man held his mouth open to force feed him. He had bathed him, while inspecting for injury, only finding a single black scale embedded in the boys shoulder. He tried to pry it out but it was too deep, as if it had healed into position. The old man, unable to determine the cause of the unbreakable sleep, went to work building a small room off the side of the barn. Nearly two weeks passed before the boy awoke. The old man was sitting on the porch, sipping from his tankard, watching a group of deer play in the distance. The young man sat up, obviously scared, he was looking around, unable to identify this unfamiliar place. The boy stood and began looking for anything that might be able to explain where he was. He found the door and pushed it open, being blinded almost instantly by the bright sunlight he jumped backward knocking over a chair and several items that had been resting on the table. The old man stood as soon as he heard the crash, rushing inside to see what had happened. The boy was getting back on his feet when the old man entered. He ran over to help the boy up. Noticing the helpful manner in which the old man came toward him, he accepted the offer and got to his feet. “Who are you? How did you end up on the roadside? Where is your family?” The old man continued, not allowing him time to answer. The boy started to sob once he realized that he didn't know the answers to any of the questions, even the simple ones. The old man placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, “Its alright lad, we'll get it figured out.” He calmly asked again, this time much slower, fearing he might have startled the boy with his first bombardment. “What is your name?” The boy looked up at him with tears in his eyes and replied "I…I don't know!" The old man, comforted him as best he could, “Well, I suppose we'll just have to give you a name until you remember your own or someone comes to claim you.” He smiled. “I am Mordimus. This is my farm, you are welcome to stay here as long as you like, in fact I have already built you a room.” Mordimus showed the boy around the farm and eventually into the barn where he had placed a bed and small table. The old man noticed the room was the least of the boy's interest he stared in wonder at all the objects standing and hanging in the barn. He noticed the look of confusion on his face. “I was once a young man myself, in that time I was a Knight of Justice, my unit roamed the lands, bringing order and law to those that harmed others. This has been my home for nearly four decades. In the past this was where I trained.” He led the boy through the barn, showing him each weapon and explaining how it was used. “I would be more than happy to train you if you wish to learn, I can not promise it will be a pleasant experience but I guarantee it will be a life altering decision.” The boy was scared by all that he was discovering but he felt a strong connection to the weapons and the training the old man was offering. “I would be extremely grateful if you would be willing to invest your time and energy into teaching me.” Mordimus looked ecstatic, he had been alone for many years, his last trainee having left over twenty years prior. The rest of he day flew by and night fell quickly for the boy.

The next morning Mordimus entered the barn to find the boy using a stick on one of the training dummies, he watch in silence for several minutes, studying his movements and potential. Finally the boy noticed he was being watched and hid the stick behind his back, clearly embarrassed. The old man stepped forward, “You want to turn to the side when fighting a single opponent, this way less of you is exposed. It also gives you more control over your blade.”, the boy listened carefully, hanging on every word and trying as hard as he could to remember what was being explained to him. When Mordimus had finished instructing proper stance and weapon handling he asked the boy to follow him. He walked from the barn and toward the rear of the small house, the boy at his heels. He leaned down and started removing several stones from the base of the wall. When enough stones had been moved there was a hole leading underneath the house and a large wooden chest just inside the hole. He grabbed hold of the chest and pulled it out from its hiding place. He reached down the neck of his tunic and removed a key which had been hanging from a chain around his neck, placed the key into the lock and slowly turned it until it clicked. The lid of the chest sprung open. Inside there was a large shield on the very top covering anything else inside. Mordimus removed the shield and placed it on the ground beside him, next the boy saw a helm laying on top of a breastplate with other pieces of the set stuffed inside it. He removed the armor and then reached back in for the final item that had been hidden for what the boy could only guess had been years. Mordimus pulled a large sword from the chest, how it was able to fit he had no idea, it was almost three times as long as the chest but somehow completely contained. Mordimus turned to the boy, “I had a spell cast on the chest years ago, I can hold nearly every item in both the house and barn so long at it is small enough to fit through the opening.” He picked up the large sword and handed it to the boy, “This is Kane, it was given to me by my teacher when I was just a squire. I now pass it to you, and hopefully one day, long from now, you will pass it to a squire of your own.” The boy was surprised but gladly accepted the sword. “Thank you Mordimus, I don’t know what to say.” The old man laughed, “Statement is not required, so long as you train as hard as possible and use my teachings to better the world around you.” The boy smiled, “I will do my best.” “I have fought many battles with that blade, may it protect you as it protected me.” He continued, showing him how each piece of armor fit together and how to get around it when fighting an armored opponent. Once the lesson was over he placed all but the sword back into the chest, returned it to the hole and began piling the rocks back over it. “I just had a thought, you have no name, so until we find your rightful one how would you like to use the name of the one object that I cherish more than any other…..Kane?”

Several years passed and even though Mordimus had taken Kane to every village within ten days travel no one had ever recognized him. Once they had returned home they had focused most of their time training the ways of war, weaponry, honor and justice. They had also touched a little on creating and repairing weapons and armor. Mordimus treated like a son. He was becoming too old to travel to the nearest village so Kane had taken the responsibility of restocking the supplies. One night when Kane had been away at the village he had heard gossip about several farms being raided over the past few weeks and that there were never any survivors to say who was responsible. Kane, thinking nothing of the stories he had heard, loaded the cart with as many supplies as he could and set his path home. The three day journey was uneventful until he was almost home, he could smell smoke in the air and knowing the area fairly well knew it couldn't be coming from anywhere other than the farm. He broke into a sprint, leaving the cart in the road. He reached the farm within a few minutes, the barn was at a full blaze as was the house but he couldn't see anyone. As he investigated he discovered the hole leading under the house had been pushed in and the chest that contained all of the gear was laying on its side with the lid wide open, however the chest was completely empty. Kane ran into the burning house, searching for his teacher but as he took his first step he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, he looked down to see a long black shaft sticking from him. Pulling the arrow out, he looked the direction it had come from but all he saw were trees and shadow. Kane began to walk closer to the forest, knowing his attacker was hiding there somewhere when he realized the shadow he had seen in the forest seemed to be moving closer to him. all of a sudden the shadows dissipated and standing there were three tall, black skinned people with long white hair. Kane took a defensive stance when out of the forest sprang Mordimus, the three beings made a strange sound and turned in surprise to their attacker. Mordimus cut one in half from his shoulder to his hip with his first swing. the two remaining quickly moved on Mordimus and overcame him as quickly as he killed the first of the three. Within moments Mordimus had been wrestled to the ground and stabbed repeatedly until the ground around him was soaked red with blood. Kane, unable to move due to sheer terror, watched as his only friend bled to death as two creatures turned back toward him. Fearing he himself might end up like his instructor, Kane leapt between the two creatures, the large sword at the ready. He let out a battle shout that shook the ground and seemed to startle the two beings. Kane quickly swung the large two-handed blade and severed the head of one of the attackers, the other lunged toward him with vengeance in his eyes. Kane quickly recovered from his last swing, spun around and felt the blade catch as the last mysterious being fell to the cold hard ground. He dropped the sword and walked to his teachers limp body. He lifted Mordimus into the air, as his master had done so many years before, carried him over to the burning house. Holding his breath, he went into the house and laid his instructor's body upon the bed, turned and walked out. Kane retrieved the blade he had been named after and began walking. Everything he had known was burning away as he walked.