Akule grew up in a small village in Ittowaj. From a young age, he realized that he was different from the others that lived alongside him. He didn’t find value in the same things, and didn’t feel in the same ways that they seemed to feel. His disinterest in people was apparent, and he began to become more and more ostracized as his negative reputation manifested like an aura. With a bad attitude and discontent disposition, Akule wanted something more than the world seemed to have to offer him.
And one thing did seem to catch his attention: magic. It was used commonly throughout his village, and seemed to be able to do lots of different things, but the ways in which it was used around him were lacking. Akule could see, could feel, the power that was abundant in the universe, and knew that no one he had seen so far was living up to anywhere near that full potential. So he threw himself into studies, digging up anything he could. Quickly into this mission, he met someone else who seemed to have the same drive as Akule- a near-sighted boy named Hachi. Hachi was easy to be around, and seemed to share Akule’s distaste for people. The two found themselves spending more and more time in each other’s company.
They both began to learn magic, Hachi taking on a healing course as his eyesight made it difficult for him to hunt or help out in other ways. But there was still something lacking from anything that Akule could be taught there. Why be so delicate with the practice and learning of magic? Why attempt to be sacred and careful?
One day, while visiting another village to pick up books, Akule stumbled across a small section in the back of a shop with old, foreign books. When he picked one up and flipped through it, he found a spell for a type of necromancy, violent necromancy, that he’d never seen before. He ripped out the page and put it in his cloak.
Later that night, he snuck into the outskirts of the village and practiced the spell on a vole. It took a while to get the knack of, but just practicing it was like a new vein, a new power that he’d never experienced before. It made sense that not many people in Ittowaj would keep this type of book, why would they; but what a world of magic they were missing out on! That Akule was missing out on!
Around this time, both he and Hachi were getting anxious. They were beginning to learn all that they could while being grounded in the same place they’d grown up in. Hachi wanted to travel and see the world, gather as much knowledge and see as many sights as they could, and the two decided that they would begin to make plans to leave their home village and live nomadically. But in the months that they prepped, Akule began to uncover a darker side to magic that he hadn’t known was there. It was hard to come by, and often had to be stolen or fought for, but there were all sorts of powerful spells and practices that had been struck from official books. And Akule wanted it. He spent his nights chasing back alley deals, hunting down leads, doing whatever he could for another taste of power. He knew he had to keep chasing it.
The night before he and Hachi planned to leave, he revealed all of this to his friend, the magic he wanted and wanted to chase. The path he wanted to follow was darker than the one that he and Hachi had spoken about. He knew Hachi probably wouldn’t have gone for it, but he was usually so far removed, maybe it was worth asking.
But even Hachi had a moral code; that was something Akule alone seemed to be lacking. His drive for power mixed with his drive for knowledge, and brought him onto the path of no return. Akule left that night, alone, ready to face a world of evil that he was eager to join.
