Emrys

Emrys was the youngest of three, hailing from a fairly poor family that lived in a small town not even worth putting on a map. His father was a baker and his mother protected the village from the threats outside their small town. In the early mornings, Em would help his father out in the bakery alongside his older siblings. In the afternoon his mother trained his sister and him as they both proved to have very powerful spiritual auras. She worried that, without training, the two would be targets of evil spirits and demons. Then, when Emrys turned eleven years old his father managed to pull some strings at the Academy in Rialton - a boarding school that trained people in magic, and got him accepted.

Emrys thrived at the Academy and it was there that he would meet and eventually become friends with a former student: Chalice, whose exploits had become something of an inspiration to him. He studied hard and eventually graduated at the top of his class - but after graduation he remained at the Academy, living in the dorms. There, he had easy access to the library to continue his studies. He earned his keep by completing various types of missions from the job board the school maintained. Of the money he made working, he kept only about 5% - the rest he would send home to his family.

Over the course of several years he began to make quite a name for himself and even got absorbed into a group of fellow graduates who decided to band together to tackle more challenging jobs and collect more difficult bounties. One particular contract, clearing out an abandoned fortress taken over by bandits, led to an encounter that would completely alter Emrys' life. In the dungeons, Emrys encountered a frail-looking prisoner who would later give him the name 'Delilah'. He rescued her and saw to it that she received proper healing, doting on her and checking on her as she recovered. Eventually, the two started to become friends, then Delilah became another member of the group, and after a few more years the two began dating.

Delilah proved to be a tremendous asset to the group. She had powerful magic, was very skilled with a sword, and was good at gathering information. In fact, there were several jobs that she 'found' and would bring to the group’s attention to have them complete. Unfortunately, by the time the group realized that the jobs were coming from her specifically and that her goals were of a more nefarious nature, it was too late. She had been collecting strange, ancient artifacts - the final one happened to be a crystal that seemed to fit into the hilt of her strange, curved dagger perfectly. No longer needing the group she made to leave but Emrys tried to follow her - not understanding what was happening. When it became clear that he would not just let her go she attacked him, nearly killing him with a lightning strike. If it were not for his friends grabbing his broken body and fleeing, he might have died that day.

He was taken to Iona, a healer that they had met once working another job. It took weeks for Emrys to heal in Iona's care, kept safe in her home along with his small group of friends - but once he was healed he and his friends took off to find Delilah. Em wanted answers and the group wanted to chase her down after several troubling rumors began to circulate about towns being wiped off the map and large groups of people simply vanishing in the night. For a while Delilah eluded them but eventually, she began to get irritated by them and set a trap for them and unfortunately they became caught in it.

Delilah had been planning on leaving the group alone but in her frustrations decided on punishing them - specifically Emrys. While the group was held in place by magic she stabbed her strange dagger into Emrys' heart, sealing two powerful curses on him - but instead of dying Emrys watched in pain as a growing stain of red began to form on his best friend - right over his heart. Then, to Em's horror, Delilah kept stabbing him. Over and over and over - the wounds themselves, besides the original, did not last even if the pain did. Instead, one by one, his friends began to drop dead, appearing to have been stabbed through the heart as well. She left Emrys alive as punishment, to live with the guilt of what his actions caused.

In shock, Emrys was not completely aware of what his body was doing. He wandered for days, eventually returning home where he collapsed. His family took him back in and cared for him as he slowly recovered over the course of a year. In that year strange...accidents and incidents began to occur. On a few occasions prior to the accidents, Emrys attempted to take his own life. The first time he cut into his wrists but in frustration - and later horror - watched as the skin opened, and then immediately closed. His older brother was found dead an hour later by his sister, with deep cuts in his wrist. Next, Emrys tried to hang himself - but once again he did not die - and his father was found the next day in his bakery with a snapped neck and bruising around his throat as if from a rope. Finally, Emrys wandered off into the woods and threw himself from a cliff. Once again, he did not die. It was days later when hunters found his mother's body - mangled nearby where Emrys jumped.

While he did not know the specifics of how this was happening, he was certain that it was his fault that his parents and brother had died. The town had begun to grow suspicious of him, as these accidents only seemed to occur after he had returned home. The elders of the town were certain that Emrys must be possessed by a demon and had decided that he must burn. A mob formed and they apprehended Emrys, dragging him off to the town square where a stake had been set up.

His older sister returned home later that evening - she made her living as a hunter and would be gone from home for long periods of time. She was alarmed by the thick smoke coming from the town and went to investigate. To her horror, she saw a crowd of fifty in the streets burning - and her brother, sobbing, lashed to a stake and unharmed despite the fire that surrounded his body. Having some magical ability herself, she summoned a rainstorm to put out the fires and raced to her brother as those that had refused to partake in the execution began to venture out of their homes, demanding that they leave. Seeing the fire jump from person to person as Emrys stayed alive was more thane enough proof for him - he was a demon, but they feared him and simply demanded that he be taken out of the village - which his sister did.

The two put as much distance between their home town as themselves as they could and hid out in a city about three weeks travel from where they grew up. There, reluctantly, Emrys explained to his sister what had happened in town, the death of their family, and how he now believed it to be connected to an injury he received from Delilah. Furious, his sister insisted that they find her and make her undo whatever magic she had placed on him - or kill her. Unable to convince his sister against it, Emrys agreed and the two began their search. Emrys returned to Rialton with his sister in tow. There they found multiple job listings to investigate strange disappearances and murders - as these seemed similar to what Emrys had seen before chasing Delilah the pair picked them up and joined forces with other adventuring parties. Over five groups, and just as many failed encounters with Delilah, occurred in just as many years.

Delilah was sick of Emrys. Irritated that he did not take the hint and stay away. Each encounter she sought to tear him down further, taunt him, hurt him - hoping that he would stop chasing after her. Eventually, she decided to mind control his sister and forced the two to fight - all the while taunting and insulting Emrys. His sister managed to get control of her body briefly, knowing that she was going to die - and in an attempt to save Emrys as much guilt as possible - she took her own life rather than continue her assault on him which would have led to her death anyway. It was her death that finally broke Emrys and he fled, putting as much distance and as many worlds between Delilah and himself as he could.

Emrys did not return to Rialton, nor did he return home for he did not have one anymore. He began to travel, keeping to medium and small-sized towns - and eventually began to pick up work from local job boards. He never stayed in one place to too long and very rarely worked with other people - especially in long term. He could not afford to get close to anyone again even though he began to get very lonely. Despite his best efforts he could not keep up his life of solitude. He found that as long as he was not physically close to people when there was danger there were less chances of them dying because of him. While completing jobs he eventually met Vihn and then later Reed - who would both become very good friends of Emrys, whether or not he wanted to openly admit the fact.

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