story
Childhood
Matouš was born to Vera Kučera and Eduard Kučera. His older sister named Dita was three when he came along. She was quite fond of him after a while. Of course, she was jealous at first, but that began to wane whenever she looked in his gold eyes--they seemed to carry something quite heavy within them, despite his age. As they both grew older, Matouš would often go off by himself to play in water or chase birds, and Dita had to go rescue him from whatever folly he found himself stuck with. A scraped knee, a bloody nose--even though she was only so much older, she took care of him just as well as their mother did. And then Malenka was born, and both of them were jealous. She was a smart kid, picking up on things quite quickly and obsessed with little math toys. She was adorable and gifted. Their parents doted on her, and Dita and Matouš felt sick of it after a while. However, when Malenka started to talk, all she could talk about was how excited she was to have siblings like them. It didn't take long for the jealousy to go away. A few more years pass, and Jakob is born. He's annoying, but all three of his older siblings adore him anyhow. The family was happy, but poor. Eduard and Vera loved each other very much, but their four children and their bills piling up took their toll from time to time.The two of them did their best to support the family, though. Vera was a skilled seamstress, and Eduard a bus driver for tourists in Prague. However, it wasn't enough, so Eduard went to the underworld for help...
Luck
The family seemed ecstatic when they won the lottery--Vera was thrilled to be able to spoil her children a little bit, letting them choose hobbies to invest in. Dita wanted a writing desk, Malenka wanted a math kit, Jakob wanted action figures, and Matouš...well, he wanted a falconer's glove and a mentor for apprenticing. He'd grown to love birds of prey, finding himself unable to stop thinking about them. They were quite special to him, and he wanted to be up close and personal with them. So he got his wish. However, things started to go downhill when the underworld found out that they had the winnings--and worst of all, Eduard had lied. He hadn't shared his money, hadn't paid them back. He refused to. His family finally had what they wanted. His children smiled and his wife was excited. Everything seemed to be going back to normal, and he didn't want things to get muddied up with the dealings of the Russian mafia. However...his hand was forced. His wife's aunt was killed before their eyes, and when he still didn't pay up, the night grew darker the next day. Matouš was an intuitive child--he could tell when something was wrong. One night, he couldn't sleep, and shook Dita awake. She looked at her little brother, confused, before they both heard a noise outside the door. Shuffling, and then dragging. Screaming. Gunshots. And the two of them knew that their little siblings were gone.
Murder
Dita was taken by the mobsters, dragged by her hair into the living room, and Matouš was lucky enough to get away. He stole a gun from one of the intruders and saved his sister by shooting the perpetrator. After that, it no longer became about the money--but the blood. And as Matouš grew older, life became harder. He was without Malenka and Jakob, and they had meant so much to him. Dita was still around, but for how long? His fears were valid. He only had three more years left with her before she would be killed. But he didn't see it. Him and his mother were knocked unconscious, and the trauma was so severe that he didn't wake up for 6 months. When he did wake up, he went through physical therapy, but then he escaped the hospital on his own with his mother's heirloom dagger. He had killed once. He was sure he could do it again. The call for vengeance was deep inside of him, and he couldn't deny it. At 15, Matouš became Phoenix--born anew, with a goal in mind. He was going to wipe Prague clean of the mobsters, getting revenge for the loss of his family members.
