Story

Early Life

Lena was born in Highland to Cosimo and Melanie Laurent on 21st September. Her family wasn’t very rich, so when Lena reached the age of 5, she started to help her parents out with work. Higland wasn’t the most safe and tranquil place. Since the town where she lives was close to the Land of Monsters it was a frequent target of monster attacks. Lena often dreamed that one day she will be able to protect her family and home from the attacks. When Lena was 7 years old, her brother Lukas was born. Shortly after Lukas’ birth a sudden wave of monster attacked the towns of Highland, causing a commotion. During this chaos Lena got separated from her parents while they were fleeing the town. She wandered into a forest and unknowingly crossed the border to the Woodland. Due to the attacks the borders had to be closed and Lena had no way of returning. She spent few days wandering the forest, trying to find some civilization while also seeking food and water. She was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion when a man named Arthur Kozlov found her. He took the poor child home where his wife Martha and their maid took care of the girl. She explained what had happened to her and they had to inform her of the situation with the borders. The pair had always wanted a child but were not able to do so due to some circumstances. They offered Lena to stay with them and she obliged. Arthur always wished to have a son who would one day join the island’s military. He was very pleased when little Lena showed interest in learning swordsmanship. He began tutoring her with the basics and when she was old enough, he sent her to the capital of Woodland to undergo a year of intense military training. She improved her swordsmanship and learned a great deal of new things such as archery, alchemy and enchantment. After absolving the training, she was sent to the army in the Deadland of the duchess Nyatia Arenam. In there she spent more time training in the army itself under general Christopher Katsaros. During her time in the desert she met with the owner of the island’s biggest weaponry merchant guild, Vance Girard. They got along well and eventually developed a romantic relationship. Cristopher saw great leadership potential in Lena and gave her individual training as well. She was later promoted to a Guard Captain and was given her own little division. This division included: Káron Johnson (Lena’s right hand), Lorenzo Aita, Jonatan Blackwood, Viktor ‘V’ Líška and Sebastien Damiani. Although the situation in Highland has gotten calmer in the recent years the borders were still closely patrolled. Lena was stationed in Highland's port town where Vance had his residence.

Encounter with Andra

When Lena was 22 years old, there was another monster attack, this time targeting the port. The assault was led by an evil enchantress Andra, who was working for one of the most dangerous mages in recent history, Mathias. Lena was captured by Andra’s minions during the fight and taken to their camp deep in the mountains. Andra was appointed by Mathias to develop a potion, which would turn one into a dragon. She previously attempted the same with duchess Nyatia, but the experiment was unsuccessful and left Nyatia disfigured. Impressed by Lena’s abilities, Andra offered her a partnership which Lena declined, refusing to partner with someone attacking her people. Andra wasn’t pleased with the answer but didn’t want to waste Lena’s talents so she took a more drastic route. She completely brainwashed her and made her into a perfect puppet whose only purpose was to serve her. This also allowed her to freely experiment on Lena, with no way for Lena to fight back. Lena successfuly transformed into a dragon and went on a rampage, destroying villages and murdering innocent people, until the form eventually wore off. Besides the experiments Andra used her to satisfy her personal pleasures as well which enraged Mathias who soon developed a burning hatred for Lena. She was captive for several months until Lena’s division with some help from the army in the Deadland infiltrated the camp and destroyed a huge portion of Andra’s army. Andra managed to flee and Lorenzo was able to dispel the magic that was controlling Lena who regained her consciousness. However, the memories of what she did while she was under Andra’s control remained and Lena was left completely devastated. Despite being excused for the crimes she had committed she couldn’t cope with the amount of innocent lives that she had taken and what terrible things Andra had done to her in person. She dropped communication, her eyes that once sparked with enthusiasm were now empty, she didn’t let anyone close to her and backed off from any form of physical touch. She became a shell of a woman she once was. Vance was very patient with her after her return and still loved her but despite all the help he tried to provide her with she couldn’t go back to what she was. After a very difficult debate they decided the relationship was lost. They did remain friends, but Vance wasn’t taking the loss well. Lena remained closed to herself and the only person she felt slightly more comfortable talking to was Lorenzo. She kept a few samples of the poiton, which was used to turn her into a dragon and let Lorenzo study it. She didn't want anything to do with it.

Family Reunion

Two years after the incident Lena was on her usual patrol in the mountains when she encountered a stranger with a little girl. It was apparent that they were hungry and tired and were probably traveling for a long time. Lena brought them to Vance’s mansion where his servants gave them food and warm clothes. Lena and Vance then questioned them about why they were traveling the mountains. It was revealed that the man was actually Lena’s father Cosimo and the little girl was his daughter Layla. Cosimo explained to Lena that 6 years after her disappearance a sickness fell upon Melanie who later died, and he did not take the loss well. He began going out to drink and eventually left to try and find her. He stumbled into a brothel at some point where he spent a few nights in the company of a certain woman. After finding out she was pregnant the woman was kicked out from the brothel. He wasn’t certain what happened to her but was positive that she was still alive. He found Layla a few weeks prior and while searching for Lena they were trying to search for her mother as well. Lena had very mixed feelings from this. She wasn’t sure if she should be happy that her father found her, sad that her mother was dead, or angry what her father did afterwards. Little Layla, however, had something that softened Lena. She couldn’t make up what it was but after years of mental isolation there was a tiny bit of affection emerging in her. She started spending more of her free time with Layla and grew very fond of her. She wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for her little sister. Not even a month after her reunion with her father another two of her family members appeared in town. Her brother Lukas and her uncle Matteo. Matteo immediately recognized Lena and as soon as she realized that she is in fact seeing her uncle and brother after so many years she broke into tears of joy. And it that wasn’t enough, thanks to V’s reports Lena’s division was able to save a neighbouring village from a monster attack and in this village, they found Layla’s mother, Joanne. All of this greatly improved Lena’s mental state. She was starting to come out of her shell more and more each day. Her father found a job in the port town and her family was soon able to buy a new house. Lena also helped them get some new clothes. She would often come and visit her family when she was off duty. Her time there was spent teaching her siblings horse-riding and combat, helping her father in his shop and having tea debates with Matteo and Joanne. Joanne eventually married Cosimo and since Lena had developed a great relationship with Joanne, she was very happy for them.

Mathias' attack

A few years went by and everything was relatively peaceful. This did not last. Mathias wasn’t going to give up on his plan of capturing Highland and his hatred for Lena gave him an even greater motivation to achieve it. Thousands of monsters attacked the land and Mathias himself targeted the port town. Lena soon realized that she was his primary target. Her division made sure to evacuate the civilians and her family somewhere safe and sent word to other provinces about the dangers. To save the town from being destroyed Lena lured Mathias into the mountains to face him. She was accompanied by her division and her two siblings who became quite proficient at magic. Mathias transformed into an alternate form which was about 5 meters tall and fighting it wasn’t at all easy. At some point Káron didn’t calculate his attack and was struck down by Mathias which resulted in him losing an eye. Lena had brought one bottle of Andra's potion with her, but wasn’t certain if she should use it, since she still had aversion towards it. When Mathias eventually struck a very serious blow to her sister knocking her unconscious it was as if all the doubts disappeared. Her entire body was filled with pure rage and she quickly chugged the entire flask with the potion. She transformed into the dragon and in this form attacked Mathias directly. It was a battle of two titans. Lena was able to physically overpower him and pushed him off the mountain. His body got impaled on one of the rocks and just like that, one of the most feared mages in the whole land was finally dead. The rest of the monsters were an easy target after Mathias’ death. A lot of the island’s citizens died during the assault including Christopher and the duke of Highland. Due to Lena’s enormous achievements during the battle the citizens of Highland declared her the new duchess.

Relationships

Cosimo father

She thinks her dad is a pretty cool guy once one gets to know him better. Doesn't think of him as exactly the brightest fella, but admits he's very good at manual tasks and overall a nice person. When he panics about things it is usually her who tries to calm him down.

Lukas brother

She thinks her brother is a little irresponsible shit that acts before he thinks, but she loves him and would protect him with her life.

Lorenzo best friend

One of her closest friends. It took time for them to warm up to eachother. He is the only person Lena trusts fully to share even the deepest and darkest struggles. Their friendship got even stronger after she was saved from Andra.

Vance ex-partner

Despite not being in a romantic relationship anymore Lena and Vance still value their friendship a lot and support eachother constantly. They have come to peace with the fact that they could never be together again and although it was a painful process they did get through is.