Before Ouroboros

I was born on the 17th of Tamirog, 1775, to Thorus and Elise Mørksverd, in the small village of Baorinn, Helorthim. Thorus, my father, was a blacksmith by trade; while Elise, my mother, was an enchanter. Elise was a court wizard in Trypholta before she met Thorus and fell in love with him. They eventually decided to settle down in the quiet town of Baorinn to have children. When I was born my eyes shone brighter than the sun and my hair was as white as the snow, as celestial blood flowed through my veins. My parents thought this a blessing, some saw it as a curse, it turned out to be both. Growing up I was both parts hated and liked by other kids. I had a knack for starting fights but at the same time I had just as strong of a knack at making friends. I hated the fact that I was treated differently and it was a constant source of strife at home. My parents told me that I should accept the gift and embrace it, but I never wanted to the servant of some Angel with no understanding of the Material Plane or human nature. When I was 9, my brother Alaitas was born. I always envied him because he got less attention than I did. Even though he was the younger child, my parents expected me to be something of a prodigy and often let Alaitas get away with murder because all of their attention was focused on me. I got along relatively well with my brother but he was always somewhat of a dunce.
 
As I got older my patron began to pressure me more, saying that I would be a "Paragon of Justice" and promising power beyond my comprehension; but I hated it with every part of me. I became a bit of a celebrity in my town; everyone thought me a prodigy that I did not want to be. Eventually, his unwanted gifts became too much. On the night of my 16th birthday after a lecture from my father about the new responsibility and how I should take my "duty" more serious, I lost it. I let all of my emotions out at my father in a flurry of yells, but the power of an angry celestial cannot be limited to just words. Radiant energy flowed out of me faster than I could contain and my father was torn a sunder by it. As my father was ripped to shreds, my blessing suffered the same fate; my hair darkening to a jet black, my star white eyes turned to a midnight purple. After it was done, my mother was unconscious and my brother ran to get help. My biggest regret to this day is not staying to make sure my mother lived; I have no clue if either of them are still alive and I may never find out. But still, I took my father's sword, some food, and a heavy coat, and ran.
 
For days I wandered through the cold wastes of Helorthim. Directionless. Useless. Forsaken. I struggled against several beasts of the tundra as I was attacked by wolves, hid from yetis, and hunted rabbits. Eventually I reached a point where I was out of food, energy, and warmth. I found myself awaiting my own demise as I walked aimlessly. I wondered if I would starve or freeze first. Eventually my vision became blurred, then black.
 
But when I awoke, I wasn't in a frozen tundra; I was in a warm keep laying by the hearth, with a strange looking dwarf and a young human girl standing over me. "My, my, you are certainly a lucky young man. If I had found you even 5 minutes later you would have been dead." The dwarf said. After a few confused and weak questions, the dwarf revealed his name to be Oracus, a blood hunter; and we were in Itunadol Keep. The girl's name was Coela, she appeared to celestial-blooded as well, and she had been keeping watch over me while I was unconscious. I weakly introduced myself as Kadvius, and after being asked what I was doing out in the frozen tundra all alone, I said that I had just gotten lost. I think he knew I was lying but he did not prod further. "Look kid, I think you've ended up here for a reason. We train talented and tough kids that don't belong anywhere else, and that description fits you pretty well I think if you managed to survive out there alone as long as you did." Oracus pointed out. "It's up to you if you want to stay but this seems like destiny to me". I was left with nothing to my name and no family to run to, so I didn't really have a choice. But if I did I still would have chosen to stay. At the keep everything is run in 2's, 2 people to a room, 2 apprentices to a master, and 2 to a party to watch each other's back.
 
I studied swordplay and esoteric secrets while she focused more on history and information gathering. I was weary of Coela at first; never had anybody be openly nice to me without me giving them a good reason to. She told me about her life before she ended up at the keep. Her family was a wealthy noble family from Laeroth; she had a younger brother and sister and she had left for the keep in order to study and train at her parent's request. I didn't think I could ever tell her about my past, a noble born like her would never want to associate with a lowborn like myself. But I would find that prejudice like that was not in her nature. She was a bright-eyed, cheery person, while I was a tragedy-ridden mess. I was darkness. She was light. But we were both treated with the same distrust and coldness from the other initiates. About a week into our training I discovered two of our pupil's pushing Coela around. I told them to fuck off and to leave her alone. They turned to me and asked what I was gonna do about it, so I stepped in front of Coela and punch one of them in the face, breaking his big, ugly nose. After that I got the shit beat out of me, and fell unconscious.
 
Again, I awoke to see Coela staring back at me with worried eyes. She had dragged me back into our room to patch me up. Immediately, her expression changed from worried to angry as she slapped me and called me an idiot, but she thanked me in the end. I started to open up to her more after that. I told her I was from a small village to the West called Baorinn; I told her about my childhood and how I was expected to be a prodigy by most of my village; I told her about my family, my younger brother, my loving mother who was a skilled wizard, my father... It took a lot of prodding from Coela to get what happened to my father out of me, but eventually I told her the truth. I expected her to react by calling me an awful person and hating me, but she was nothing like that. She was very empathetic as she understood the pressure of having the world expect miracles from you, and she explained that if she didn't have parents that could support her wishes--she would have ended up in the same boat.
 
Eventually, we neared the end of our training as I turned 19 and Coela turned 18. We had but one trial left until we had completed our training and become real blood hunters. As the deadline quickly approached, Coela and I grew anxious about what this test would be and if we would pass it or not, but we promised that we would stick by each other no matter what happened. The day of the test, all of the students were gathered in a room around a cauldron with a vile liquid in it. One by one, we were handed cups and told to drink. The liquid was a mutagen that changed us; each transformation more gruesome than the next. When it came my turn, I remember drinking, and then darkness.
 
Rousing from my slumber, I awoke, for the third time, to Coela staring back at me worried sick. As soon as I awoke she hugged me with the force of a polar bear, nearly finishing me off. I'm still not entirely sure what happened that day but my theory is as follows: the void left behind by my previous celestial patron was filled with a darker presence: a lich that wished me to serve their dark purpose, and when my body was absorbing the mutagen from the Hunter's Bane they took control. Thankfully, while I was under control I did not kill anyone, although I hurt many.
 
With this new revelation, Coela and I weren't sure what to do anymore; without the Hunter's Bane you cannot further your training as a blood hunter. We decided we would go back to Coela's hometown to stay with her parents while we figured out our purpose. For many weeks we traveled through the cold mountains that led to Itunadol Keep. Coela didn't grow up in the freezing cold like I did and Itunadol Keep is in a valley with a much more temperate climate, so she relied on me very heavily to guide us to warmth. After a few months of traveling we ended up in Laeroth, this was the first time I ever left the cold and thus I was very uncomfortable while I adjusted to the change in climate. When we arrived in Laeroth's captial, Aquillo, I was overwhelmed by the massive city; I had never seen a city even a fraction of it's size in Helorthim. Bazaars lined the streets as buskers and criers populated the town with noise; the sheer amount of people was overwhelming. We arrived at her parent's house in the evening, the large mansion of a house advertising luxury and warmth inside. I was very intimidated to meet her parents, because I might as well be a peasant as far as wealth compares. They at first treated me with caution and confusion as they wondered what their daughter was doing with such a demonic looking man; but I'm nothing if not charming and pretty soon they treated me as if I was their own son.
 
We stayed with Coela's parents for nearly 3 years. To be honest, it made me kind of homesick. I loved my mother and father just as much as any other kid, but that time was long past; there is no way to bring my father back now. Coela's parents put us to work of course. I was often used as a bodyguard or just as general muscle for their business, as when you are as wealthy as they are, you want to protect your assets. Eventually I regarded her parents as my own, for the first time in my life I felt I belonged somewhere. But that could not last forever and eventually Coela received a calling from her celestial patron to go and repair an old temple in Jineum. She told me that she would go on her own but I wouldn't let that happen, so I went with her.
 
We spent about a year on the road to Jineum. Looking back on it I think that was the best time of my life. There was nothing to worry about, just Coela and I against the world. We went through Valdan, the seat of the empire, to get to Jineum. The swamps of Valdan proved a difficult area to travel through; many days I would end up slogging through the swamp carrying Coela so she didn't have to walk through it.
 
After a long journey we made it to the abandoned temple of that Coela was tasks to repair. We had our work cut out for us as Coela's patron was Sarosa, Goddess of Beauty, and as such would have nothing but the most beautiful of worship spaces. It was kind of fun repairing that temple, for the first time we had no deadline or pressure to complete a task quickly and could have fun with it. After about 2 years we had returned the temple to a lovely place of worship visited by many. Everything was not perfect though, ever since the Hunter's Bane Trial I had been hearing whispers of dark power awaiting me and evil temptations appearing in my dreams. I needed to figure out what was wrong with me and I didn't want Coela getting hurt because of it.
 
I left the temple alone to seek out what was wrong with me. While I was wandering Jineum I ended up meeting some companions to travel with. A gnome with eyes that shone like the sun and a strange obsession with mushrooms. An Elfira with a worried look in her eyes all the time and the inability to keep her hands out of other pockets. And a celestial-blooded Blood Hunter who always seemed to have luck on his side.