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HISTORY (warnings for violence, sexual assault, mental and physical abuse...etc)
He was born with the name Benjamin -- (Ben for short). His mother, Rosaline, and father, Santos, were both kind, hard-working people. They received a lot of help from their neighbors with taking care of Benjamin, who was apparently a very easy child to deal with. Three years into his life, his sister, Atolee, was born. Things were great for everyone. The world was, for the most part, at peace. So much so, everyone's guard was incredibly low. Which could explain why it was such a tough blow to everyone when everything went to hell.
Two months after Atolee's birth, things changed for the worse.
The entire world, itself, went into a massive war, almost as though something had possessed each and every countries' leaders. The smaller, weaker, ones were quickly picked off. Immediately, there was nothing left, other than famine and chaos. Only two countries remained after a matter of weeks—the two strongest countries. Despite how brutal it was, the unnamed war ended surprisingly quickly.
Once the new king ascended, things quickly got better. King Lucious ensured that everything was stabilized financially. Food supplies and drinking water were even restored at a remarkable rate. Then, everything went to hell, again. Everything was “taxed” in a ridiculous way. In exchange for even the most basic of needs, all citizens of the newly founded “Kingdom of Eternisa” were required to give up an item of value. The king would determine just how valuable said item was. The amount of value each item had, determined how much a person could eat or drink. Usually, the king's judgment was based on how good of a mood he was in...
Those who failed to give something of value were oftentimes punished. For Val's sixth birthday, Santos and Rosaline attempted to give him a birthday cake- he'd always wanted one. Unfortunately, that required they save quite a bit of money (considering just how difficult money was to save, it was a lot for them). Because of this, they didn't have enough to buy a suitable gift, eight days later. The price they paid was Rosaline's sight- in the form of "poison dust" (powder made by drying out a poisonous flower, then grinding it using a mortar and pestle) smeared into her eyes.
This is the world Ben grew up in.
Rosaline would constantly speak of the “days of old”, despite Ben not feeling any particular way towards it. Finally, some time after he turned eight, he told his mother he no longer cared to hear about happier times, because “it [did] not help”. Despite her smiling and telling him it was alright, he could tell how sad she was about that- she must have genuinely wanted her son to know and appreciate the past. Santos was far from happy with his son's uncaring attitude. They got into yet another fight over Ben's words, which ended with Ben screaming how much he hated them for bringing him into such a terrible world. He was talking out of anger, saying things he knew would hurt them. Ben told them it was their faults he couldn't see any joy in the world, because they didn't give him anything to be happy about.
It was two days after that, when two soldiers stormed into Ben's home. Unfortunately, those two men were much stronger than Santos and Ben. The soldiers quickly slaughtered Val's father. One stabbed Ben in the chest, then the two made their way to his sister's room. Both Atolee and Rosaline were waiting in silent fear inside the closet. Ben quickly mustered up the strength to run to their aid. One soldier, who already had Atolee by the hair, punched Ben in the chest (exactly where he'd been stabbed) the second he got into the doorway. As the world around him started to go black, the last thing he heard was the sound of Atolee screaming at the top of her lungs “No! Let go of mommy!” The last thing he saw, was a man ripping his mother's clothes off and pinning her down.
The Experiments
Ben awakened in a laboratory to the taste of blood and something incredibly bitter. He quickly discovered that his entire midsection had been sliced open, stitched up, and bandaged. Not only that, but the back of his head felt numb. Despite the new injury, his chest had been carefully tended to. There was a blue mask placed on his face that he was unable to remove. While in the laboratory, his only friend was a girl in a pink mask that came to change his bed sheets and bring him food and water.
When he found out, five years into his captivity, his sister was the one taking care of him, he made a rather elaborate plan out of it. Atolee's only part was to get the key to the front gate--after all, she was a favorite of the soldiers and was allowed to act as their personal servant.
She never did. In fact, the plan was “somehow” discovered by the soldiers. His sister was released from the laboratory, and Ben underwent really strange experiments. For the next six months, he spent most of his time telling himself (over and over again) that Atolee was “a good sister, and would never do such a horrible thing”.
He never found out what happened to his mother or father.
It was not until he had been released (for reasons still unknown to him) for a week (also, a year after Atolee's betrayal), that he discovered that he had "strange", new abilities. Unfortunately, with the good, comes the bad. He was missing random memories—such as the one of him being betrayed by his own sister. It never became an issue, though, since he never realized it. Ben decided to make a new life for himself. He took up the alias “Val”, and he began looking for work. Work at the age of fourteen was difficult to find, though.
In the meantime, he began to spend hours, a day, practicing with his new “powers” (basically, people watching was taken to a whole new level). He would wait for a person to walk by...then, he would make little things (such as food items or books) fly out of their hand. He used this as a distraction, for a while.
That wasn't enough for him, though. Val realized that his hatred for the soldiers was still there. He wanted to make all of them pay for what happened to his family, years earlier. With that, he began finding lone soldiers and practicing his abilities on them. Almost a year after his being released from the lab, he discovered that he could gain knowledge by looking someone in the eye. He was able to gain the person's name, as well as a random assortment of memories. Not only that, but, Val could also force certain people (he assumed the more weak-minded people) into answering questions. Questions pertaining to the location of weapons, valuables, and certain people of ranking were the only ones he ever tried, though.
Meeting Kai
One night, on his fifteenth birthday, he decided to go “hunting” for soldiers, so he followed one to the “park” (it was more like a group of trees with a couple of run-down benches). It did not take long for him to discover that he had fallen into a trap—after all, he was immediately surrounded by ten of them. He gave a valiant effort; but, unfortunately, he was unable to defeat the last five. They were stomping on his seemingly lifeless body, in a matter of minutes. Just as Val began to give up hope and slipped into unconsciousness, he thought he saw a man with fiery red hair approaching.
When he finally came to, he immediately noticed an odd figure standing over him. When Val's eyes adjusted, they landed on a set of crimson eyes. That was the start of a “unique friendship.”
He learned that the stranger was critically injured—even more so than himself. After sneaking the man into his apartment, Val also discovered that the “man” was no ordinary man. He had pointed ears, fangs, and could control fire. The “Fire Clansman” was called Kurakai, and had come to his world to find a human “host.” In exchange for offering their body, the host would gain a certain amount of “abilities” -- abilities that would last for years, even after the contracted time was up.
After mere minutes of deciding, Val agreed to it.
As soon as the 'contract' was formed--a very simple process that required nothing more than Kurakai giving Val what appeared to be a simple bracelet, Val was granted some pretty powerful abilities. He could produce flames as large as two basketballs put together, lift over five hundred pounds, and run faster than a horse. He was quickly able to form a name for himself within the kingdom. He was actually quite feared by soldiers -- making it so the king had to force men into joining his army.
Meeting Kiran
Two years after forming the contract, Val was out "hunting" soldiers. A blond-haired young man happened to be out for a walk. He happened to witness Val killing three of the men in one go. Val started to shoot the stranger, but something prevented him from doing it -- there was something very familiar about him that far outweighed his risk of getting found out. With that realization, he went down to speak to the stranger. The blond's sense of humor turned out to be on par with Val's sarcasm, and it immediately created a "friendship"...of sorts between the two.
The young man introduced himself as "Dousuke".
Not long after their meeting, Val infiltrated the castle walls. After taking several bullets, he met a young soldier by the name of Dereck Frieghly. For some reason, Val could not bring himself to kill the "pathetic"-looking young man. After letting the man live (which happened to also be after using him to escape, and then promising to kill Dereck if he said anything), he made his way to the park. Fortunately, the young man named "Dousuke" happened to be visiting the park. He ended up helping Val back to his apartment. After Val passed out on his bed, the young man tended to his wounds and stayed by his side until he awakened.
Once Val awakened, he and the blond ended up having a rather lengthy conversation. It turned out that the blond-haired young man's name was actually Kiran. It turned out that the name Dousuke belonged to the Storm Clansman that resided within Kiran. With that, the answer to why Val felt compelled to not kill him, had been answered. Unknown to Val, the two were connected in many other ways (only through the ones residing within them, however).
During their conversation, soldiers came banging on Val's door. Apparently someone had reported seeing Kiran (AKA an "unregistered resident") helping Val into his apartment. After escaping through Val's bathroom window and onto the rooftop of the store next door, they barely managed to escape to the park. It was then and there, that Val was taught about the portal that led to Kiran's "dimension" -- also the home of Kurakai and Dousuke. There was a spot between two trees that, if anyone with supernatural potential passed between them, they would find they'd ended up in a new world.
The World Between the Trees
When they arrived through the portal, Shalana (hereafter, referred to by her preferred name, Shëa) was waiting for them. She sent them to Layamon's home and demanded that Kurakai and Dousuke be separated from their hosts. Layamon, after some seemingly quick thinking, told Shëa that he would have to wait for two "dark moons" (new moons) to pass. Shëa fell for it, and Layamon assisted both Val and Kiran in escaping back to the "human world". It was after that, Val was told about who Shëa was, by Kiran. It turned out she was the leader of Kurakai and Dousuke's dimension. Everyone hated her, because she was beyond ruthless, and liked to abuse her powers. A small group was actively seeking a way to kill her.
It was after escaping back to Val's dimension that Val and Kiran met Karyen and her resistance group. Apparently the group had been working hard to dethrone King Lucious for several years. They had been discovered and had to relocate, recently. Karyen attempted to talk the two into joining them, after overhearing them talk about their abilities. Neither of the men would agree. Kiran didn't want to help, because it wasn't even his world. Val didn't want to help, because he simply didn't care. He had his own way of getting back at the king; he preferred to work alone. In spite of that, the young woman was able to persuade the two to live with them. They agreed because they literally had nowhere else to stay at the moment.
When Val and Ki-Ran returned to check on Layamon, a month later, they discovered that he had been killed for his betrayal. Val called Layamon an idiot and Kiran's entire demeanor shifted into a much more serious one. Shëa quickly captured them and went through with the spell to separate her brother and Kurakai from the humans. The process nearly killed Kiran, who only seemed to have managed to survive because Val kept yelling at him to "hang on" and "keep fighting it."
Shëa planned on killing the humans, but Kurakai and Dousuke both teamed up to assist the "idiot humans" in getting back home. Not even five minutes after they crossed through the portal, Val was nearly killed by a mysterious assassin, who had (unknown to him at that time) been hired by King Lucious to take him out. Karyen's group managed to help him get away. Once Val got Kiran to a safe place, he returned to discover half of the group had been killed by the assassin. He went into a rage and blindly attempted to kill the woman. During a struggle, her mask was sliced in half (right along with her face).
It was his sister, Atolee.
She appeared to come out of a trance when he said her name, and she immediately broke into tears. Val could not help but to want to help her, when she said she needed to hide from some "man." She claimed that he was keeping her "drugged up" and that he would send someone to find her if she did not follow his every order. Val attempted to get her to explain more details, however she broke down crying whenever pushed too far. Val begrudgingly gave up on his questions.
Without revealing her identity to them, Val convinced the resistance to hide her. That night, Val was awakened by another murder attempt on him... by her. Val still felt guilty about everything that happened when they were children, so he didn't tell anyone about it (about not being "strong enough" to protect his family). The next morning, the same thing happened. She was sobbing the entire time. After that attempt, Val made her leave. When nobody was around, he broke down and cried. He wasn't sure what to do with her, since he couldn't bring himself to kill her -- or even let someone else do it.
Over six months passed without incident. Val and Kiran agreed to help the resistant with a mission- they were not official members, but they would help to infiltrate the castle. During this infiltration mission, Val came across Dereck a second time. The soldier ended up helping the group not get caught, and even escape after the mission was complete. Thanks to the assistance, the group succeeded in stealing very valuable information--it was paperwork on the plans for the kingdom. The king was planning on doing a large scale sweep. He was going to "weed out any unnecessary civilians." Any and all civilians who were over the age of twenty-five were going to be either killed or sent to the laboratory.
Dereck joined the resistance as a permanent member, leaving the military and angering his presently former comrades. Dereck never explained his reasons for leaving; Val never questioned him too hard. He and Val ended up becoming "almost friends" (as Val casually put it). It was short-lived, though very fulfilling, for Val. Dereck managed to help Val obtain the exact location of the lead scientist within the king's laboratory. Three months later, both Val and Kiran agreed to help with one more mission. Unfortunately, the mission was a bust. Sergeant Brendan Hanze managed to aid the castle in locating the group. After Dereck covered for the group, much to Val's anger, they managed to escape. Val attempted to go back and
Everyone took the death hard.
A month afterward, Val and Kiran took some of the members of the resistance through the portal. The resistance attempted to talk Kurakai and Dousuke into helping them take down the king. They both all but laughed in their faces. The group attempted to rationalize with the two non-humans. The seemed to be considering it, but Val lost his temper with how long it was taking and yelled at Kurakai to just forget it.
It ended badly, and Kurakai told them to get out (Dousuke easily backed Kurakai). The group was kind of pissed at Val; Kiran thought it was funny. Still, nobody said anything to him. Val overheard a couple of them whispering that they shouldn't bother, otherwise he might "kill them" in their sleep. Val simply smirked at those words, not even bothering to hide that he'd overheard. When they stepped back through the portal, Val was hit by a poisonous arrow to the chest. He almost died, again. It turned out to have been another attack by Atolee. After Val passed out, some of the members went after Atolee, but she easily got away.
Final Chapters
The fifth, and final, time she attacked Val was not long after he woke back up. Kiran was momentarily out of the room, but happened to walk in just in time to stop it. She snapped out of it, after being given a fatal wound from Kiran. With that, she explained the truth- she had been experimented on by the same scientist who did all the experiments on Val, that she was under his control and could never go against anything he said, and that she truly didn't want to hurt Val. She explained that Val was declared a "failed experiment" due to the fact that he hadn't returned to the laboratory after being set free.
Afterward, she begged for Val to kill her, while she still had some control over herself. Kiran simply stood there, quietly watching with an unreadable expression on his face. It took everything in him, but he did manage to do it. With a blank look on his face, he shot her in the back of the head. It was in that moment, his emotions started their "shut down" process. With the last bit of his rage, he used Dereck's information to hunt down Carl McCalroy, the man that had done that to Atolee, and kill him. He ensured that the death was as slow and painful, as possible. After dealing the final blow to Carl, Val became apathetic and detached from the rest of the world.
Two months after that, the group was surprised by an arrival to their headquarters- Kurakai and Dousuke finally agreed to help the group go against the king. A month later, the king was dead. Even with that exciting news, Val remained pretty stoic.
Just over four years passed (Val had turned 23 several months ago, by that point).
Dousuke was at half-strength, Val had the strength and speed of an average human (as well as zero fire abilities). All remaining members of the Fire Clan (aside from Kurakai and Selestia) were either killed by disease or had underwent the general misfortune of having been a member of the Fire Clan. The human realm had been restored to a happier time however.
It was time to repair the other realm. The group created a plan to take down Shëa. Unfortunately, it did not go well. The plan failed, and it left nearly everyone dead. After just barely escaping with their lives back to the human realm, they regrouped and counted their losses. They'd been left with four people. They didn't even have time to recover, however, before they discovered that they'd been followed by Layamon (a zombie version, anyway). Kurakai and Dousuke managed to take him out- with a bit of luck in the form of a surprise ally. After thanking Elena, the group, once again, attempted to recuperate.
A little less than two weeks later...Shëa herself showed up in the human realm. It was in that moment that she began toying with Val and Kiran. Kurakai and Dousuke were out gathering supplies at that time. With a cruel smile, she attempted to make Val choose between himself and his "friends." It was in that moment, his emotions returned to him just long enough. He exclaimed that he would never pick his own life over anyone else's life. She seemed disappointed and sent a fatal blow Kiran's way- just as Kurakai and Dousuke showed up. Val jumped in the way, taking the impact. In that moment, Kurakai and Dousuke attacked her with everything in them. As Kiran leaned over Val's body, demanding to know why, Val simply smiled at him and called him an idiot.
He didn't understand why it was such a big deal to do something like that, for the person he loved more than himself.