A Dark Past
“Do you hear them, mommy? The voices?”
The small elf child tugged at her mother’s skirt with bloodshot eyes. Her red hair was knotted in a mess making the lack of sleep even more evident.
“Ven, there are no voices. It’s all in your imagination. Please try to get some rest – it’s already midnight and you haven’t slept in days over this.” The little girl’s mother sighed and rolled back on her side on the bed facing away from the child. Her tone showed obvious annoyance.
Ven said nothing more and turned away and left her parent’s room. She laid down in her own bed and tried to close her eyes, sobbing slightly.
“It’s not time for sleep! Wake up and play!” A voice called out of the closet in the corner of the room. A crack of moonlight revealed a red eye staring directly at the girl.
“Mommy wants you to go away! I don’t want to play with you anymore.”
Ven pulled the covers over her head immediately and started shaking. Several weeks had passed where the same voice has constantly spoken to her each evening. At first, she thought of the presence as a friend. It kept her company, as she never had many friends to play with growing up. They would joke together and pass toys back and forth through the closet. She never opened the closet to see who or what was inside, however.
“Mommy doesn’t know what is best for you. She turned her back on you and doesn’t believe you. She doesn’t love you like I do.” The voice became slightly hostile and its gaze turned into a glare.
“That’s not true! She does love me and I know it.” Ven peaked out of the covers to look at the closet.
“I can prove it to you – I have a present for you. I’ve been waiting to give it to you for your birthday but I think you’ll like it now. Come on – we’re best friends, remember?” Suddenly, a small black blanket in a bundle slid out of the closet at the foot of the bed.
Ven trembled but her curiosity always beat her fears. She slowly pushed the blankets off and sheepishly walked to the end of the bed, picking up the gift. She unwrapped it as the one eye turned into two not missing a single move Ven made. A small black dagger adorned with black jewels and bone carvings was inside. She ran her fingers over the side of the blade admiring its dark beauty.
“Don’t tell your mom – she wouldn’t want you to have this in case you hurt yourself. But you’re a big girl, I know you can handle it. I have something else for you though – but you’ll have to come closer for it.” The closet creaked open a little wider, but still did not reveal what the figure inside looked like.
The excitement of the gift clouded Ven’s judgement. She had so much fun with the friend over the past few weeks. She felt attached in a way she couldn’t describe and no matter how many times her mother told her to stop talking to it, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to feel alone again.
Ven slowly took a few more steps to the entrance of the closet. She looked up with her bright blue eyes and held both of her hands out directly in front of her.
A withered, gray arm reached out of the darkness. The fingers were boney and long; nails sharp. They wrapped tight around Ven’s hands. The feeling of ice and dread hit her immediately. Her initial reaction was to back away, but the lifeless arm seemed to hold her tight. The eyes started glowing brighter and a grin of shiny white fangs appeared.
Ven’s eyes grew dark, the blue slipping away. Her mouth dropped, and she immediately was in a daze. Something passed through this creature into her. The grip released, and the closet slammed shut without leaving a trace of whoever was inside.
Ven’s cheeks were no longer pink. She turned pale and breathing grew shallow. All she could hear were whispers in her head.
“Ven, kill them!”
“They don’t love you.”
“Join us, we are your friends.”
“DO IT NOW!”
The last voice hit Ven hard. She felt like she lost control over her mind and body. She looked at the dagger again and felt a surge of power in her. A new thirst grew inside of her and she didn’t know what it was. Anger and rage started pouring inside of her heart.
She walked slowly from her room to her parent’s door. She slowly pushed it open and walked in. Her parents were sound asleep in their bed still facing away from her. Emotionless, she held up the dagger over her mother with both hands and immediately brought it down on her.
“VEN! What are you doing?!” The mother immediately grabbed the handle of the dagger to attempt to pull it out. Ven’s father jumped out of bed and started running at the little girl. Whispers started filling the room and he was pushed by an unseen force into the corner, hitting his head against the wall.
“Ven… please, why are you doing this? Who are these voices?” He was disoriented and couldn’t get up.
As the mother took her last breaths, Ven pulled the dagger out and walked over to her father. Without hesitation, she finished him off as well.
Almost like snapping out of a dream, Ven’s consciousness came back. Shock immediately took over as she stood over her father. This was the scarring point of her life.
Years followed as Ven traveled as an orphan. She went from town to town living on scraps and rare kindness from strangers. Nothing came easy to her. One thing didn’t change though, she couldn’t stop hearing the voices in her head. She wanted to find a way to control them and to never commit the act that she did as a child. A part of her died, and she wanted it back. She never parted with the dagger even though she refused to ever use it again. Why did she have this bond to something so evil?
Eventually, as a young adult, she found an organization called
The Night's Song . The members there listened to Ven’s story. They were initially scared of the evil power that might live inside of her, but they wanted to help and use it to their advantage as well.
They trained her in combat and informed her of the evil that plagued the world. They wanted to eliminate all threats of it, one mission at a time. As she trained, Ven did her own research on death. She wanted to find out who was the creature in her childhood and how the supernatural forces work during life, after death, and in between. She was fascinated by the power she still felt inside of her since the horrible event. She felt it in her veins and used that as reason to experiment with blood.
The odd looks and suspicion she received from outside of the organization did not phase her as she was used to being alone most of her life. Other’s opinions did not bother her. Scars covered her arms, but she had no shame for them.
Ven’s goal is to become stronger and defeat all evil while fighting off the whispers and darkness inside of her own heart.
Shedding Some Light
Venatrix worked with the Night's Song for many, many years; growing close to a fellow operative, a gruff, grizzled man called
Rolf. She considered the Song to be like family, but unfortunately, every family has secrets. During her time with an adventuring group combating the forces of
Cataclysm, the "spirit" within Venatrix became more agitated and aggressive. Ven found herself acting strangely at night and came close to harming her comrades on several occasions. Upon confiding this to the Night's Song, it was revealed to her that it was them that had introduced a powerful demon to her in the first place: Amalgam, they called it.
Amalgam was of a rare breed of demon that was far more deceptive and duplicitous than its more bestial cousins. The Night's Song mantra was using its enemies weapons against them, and to that end they had been "cultivating" this demon for generations, and Venatrix was only the latest in a long, long line of hosts. What's more, they were disappointed to find that Amalgam's influence was spreading so quickly. If the Night's Song had its way, Venatrix would have spent the rest of her life confined to their compound, only to be sent out on supervised missions and studied profusely. Fortunately, her fellow adventurers, along with Rolf (who had had a change of heart) sprung her from the compound.
They initially sought a means of expunging Amalgam from Ven, but upon confronting him directly within her mind, the demon offered a deal Venatrix could not refuse: he would give her access to substantially more of his power and he would back off.
Amalgam held up his end of the bargain, at least for a while, and Venatrix proved to be an invaluable ally in the battles against Shepherd and the Reckoning. Ultimately though, Amalgam seized back control, and Rolf again sought the aid of the adventuring party to deal with it once and for all.
Amalgam was finally exorcised, but the mark he left on Venatrix will doubtlessly linger for a long time, if not the rest of her life. While a gestalt of demonic souls living within her mind finally being rid of her is doubtlessly a good thing, she has been left with a gaping, unfillable hole in her psyche. This demon has been with her since childhood; for decades of life, and its absence is going to doubtlessly be a huge hurdle for her to overcome. And unfortunately, this is an enemy she won't be able to engage with her bow.
As of 1590, her elven blood allows her to still wander the face of the world, though many of her companions have long ago passed from this mortal coil. During the events of
The Extinction War, she found herself in the possession of the diabolical Wand of Orcus. Whatever became of that unholy artifact remains a mystery...
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