Rayna Zarie

Biographical Information:

Age: 16 (as of part 1)

Sex/uality: Bisexual female

Height: 5'5"

Birthday: April 17th

Ethnicity/Race: Hecadian, descendent of Zarie.

Magic: None naturally, but eventually makes a deal with the phantasm Leif and gains his abilities to stop time and create powerful blasts of pure magic.


Pre-Story:
Rayna is the second daughter of Fredrick and Delilah Zarie, the king and queen of Hecadia-- the kingdom of magic, known for its snowy north and grassy plains in the south-- as well as its violent history of conquest. Her mother Delilah died in childbirth, and her wet-nurse ended up being a woman named Elva Meriden-- making her daughter Lailah Meriden Rayna's milk sister.

From a young age, Rayna was always talkative and curious about the world. She had a talent for reading and could do so from a very young age, reading multi-chapter books before her classmates could even fully recognize the alphabet. Her teachers noticed her talent in the english language and put her into classes to learn other languages at a younger age than average which went well and she picked them up easily.

Despite her talent and skill in language, it was apparent from early on that she was by no means a genius. In all other areas, she struggled greatly, being terrible with numbers, sciences, history, and in general having a shoddy memory and attention span in all areas but language. Her overall intelligence was often called into question and everyone noticed it took explaining things in a very specific and detailed way in order to get her to understand them. Her social skills were also greatly lacking.

Rayna having niche abilities wasn't much of a problem for a long time. She was only third in line for the throne, so having a well-rounded skillset wasn't necessary and no one had a problem with her doubling down on her one skill and becoming one of the best translators the Hecadian court has ever seen.

That was until her cousin Magni Zarie-- second in line for the throne-- died of a stroke when he was 17 and she was 14. Suddenly moved up to replace him as the auxiliary scion, Rayna was expected to keep up with all the information an heir needed to know, be present at annual meetings, and prepare for the possibility of taking the throne if anything ever happened to her older sister Alaric. Rayna did not enjoy this. Being skilled in one area gave her a complex where now that she knows the feeling of being good at something, she can't stand being bad at something and just wants to keep doing what she's best at.

At the age of 16, Rayna is dragged along to the second annual meeting at Opabinia island she'd had to attend since Magni's death, and the story begins.


Personality, Interests, Quirks, Dilemmas, and Beliefs:
As a child, Rayna was bright and curious, wanting to know everyone and everything. It annoyed people sometimes but most just found it endearing. She took a great interest in magic and mages from an early age because Elva, her wet nurse and mother figure, was the mage general of Hecadia. She would ask to go to tournaments and would watch mages in the arena battle each other and she was completely mesmerized by it all. She looked forward to getting magic herself and would fantasize about going on adventures with Lailah.

But unfortunately, upon reaching puberty and receiving no magical power, Rayna realized she would never go on adventures like she had always dreamed of. As a merus (person without magical power), Rayna also experienced duller five senses than that of the 95% mage population, a weaker constitution, a vulnerbility to magic lifeforms in the wild, and more inconveniences. This turned Rayna into quite a bitter person, and she began to isolate herself and absorb herself into fantasy stories and live through them instead of having to live in reality.

Alongside reading fantasy stories, she also made her own stories in the form of daydreams. In these, she takes the point of view of Calypso-- an idealized version of herself with purple hair and magical powers. Initially, these daydreams were about going on adventures with her group of imaginary friends (all of which happened to be girls), but around the ages of 12-13 she got more invested in romance plots with imaginary boys. These were very shameless self-indulgent wish fulfillment. Her "type" when it came to imaginary love interests were morally gray bad-boys with a soft spot for her.

Rayna has the autism/adhd combo which manifests in various ways. Rayna has a general dislike of social norms that she sees as nonsensical and refuses to follow them if no one can convince her why she should. Whenever she asks questions, the answer "because that's just how it is" will never satisfy her, and she needs a logical explanation behind absolutely everything. The emotions of other people frustrate her and she could never understand emotions she saw as nonsensical. For example, if someone felt guilty, she would go "Why would you feel bad about the past even if it accomplishes nothing? If there's nothing you can change, there's no reason to dwell on it". This makes people learn quickly to never go to her for advice or for a shoulder to cry on.

Another issue stemming from her neurodivergence is intense rejection-sensitive dysphoria. She has trouble making and keeping friendships because she gets offended very, very easily. She also has a bit of a persecution complex and thinks everyone hates her-- thinking that because she's a princess, everyone's only nice to her out of obligation and don't actually like being around her. She dwells on her social missteps for ages and never asserts boundaries because she's worried about them being unreasonable and provoking a bad reaction. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: she gets no social experience, so she keeps messing up, so she goes back to old habits. Her isolation is her way of avoiding making any mistakes in the first place, but even so, she yearns for human connection that she feels incapable of.


Relationships:

Fredrick Zarie:

Rayna's father. He always coddled her, trying to give her as much attention as possible to make up for her losing her mother. Whatever Rayna wanted, her father would go to the ends of the earth to provide.

Fredrick's soft spot for Rayna is also because her behavior reminds him a lot of Rayna's late mother-- who gave Rayna the autism/adhd gene in the first place. Whenever Rayna would have a melt down or behave bizarrely, her father was one of the few who would know what to do because he had helped his wife through the same things.

Despite her father's overwhelming love for her, Rayna still couldn't shake the feeling that she was a burden. Thanks to Alaric's meddling (elaborated on in the Alaric section) she couldn't help but see her father's doting as insincere and forced as she grew up.



Delilah Zarie:

Rayna's mother, who she never met. She sometimes wonders what kind of person she would be if her mother was still in her life, even if just to hold her as a baby.


Alaric Zarie:

Rayna's older sister. Skillwise, they contrast each other: Alaric has above average talent in almost all areas but can't be considered a master in anything. Rayna, meanwhile, had far below average talent in all areas except language, where she's considered a genius.

Alaric was always a little bitter towards Rayna because of all the attention their father gave Rayna. Because Rayna was always a sensitive child and Alaric was much more stable and put together, Fredrick thought Rayna needed the extra help and attention and Alaric was doing fine. When Alaric would get perfect marks in her classes, her father would say "congratulations" and nothing more because that was just the expected result, but when Rayna barely passed after struggling a lot he practically threw her a party.

Alaric took it upon herself to try and offset what she saw as coddling. She would often criticize her little sister to "knock her down a peg" when she was used to endless compliments and praise from their father. This gave Rayna self-esteem issues and contributed to her fear of failure and doing poorly in anything and she found it hard to believe any compliments because Alaric would frequently tell her that others being nice to her were only doing it to make her feel better and she shouldn't let it go to her head.

Rayna's ADHD made her come across as lazy to Alaric who would grow frustrated with her "lack of effort". Rayna would insist she was trying her best but Alaric didn't believe her. Despite everything, Rayna wanted Alaric's approval more than anything. Alaric seemed to be the only one who had high expectations for her and meeting them actually felt satisfying because praise from Alaric was the only one she knew wasn't coming from a place of pity or coddling.


Elva Meriden:

Rayna's wet nurse and mother figure. Rayna latched onto her due to the absense of her birth mother and Elva got a soft spot for her in return. Rayna's interest in magic stemmed from Elva being the mage general and having a lot of experience in battle. Elva was her primary role model throughout her childhood.

When Elva retired from being mage general and got into teaching, she had a hard time balancing her maternal love for Rayna and needing to be honest about the state of her education. Elva coated her words with as much sugar she could find but Rayna still took every criticism personally as if her idol just spat on her face. Elva quickly asked Rayna's father to find another tutor for her since it was quickly obvious that her filling that role would do more harm than good.

When Rayna realized she would never use magic, she stopped going to Elva's tournaments out of bitterness that her dreams to be just like her were never going to happen. In Rayna's social isolation era, she pushed away Elva as well, but Elva still found all sorts of excuses to talk to her and keep her in her life because she still did see her as another daughter.


Lailah Meriden:

Rayna's milk sister who Rayna's much closer to than her actual sister. As children, Lailah was genuinely impressed at her talent in reading, and would always ask Rayna to read out loud to her. Lailah looked up to her a lot and saw her as a genius.

As the two grew up, the roles became reversed and it eventually became Rayna that looked up to Lailah. Lailah had a way with people and Rayna would follow her around like a lost puppy and only made social connections by making friends with Lailah's friends. When Rayna struggled in school, Lailah with her straight A's would offer to tutor Rayna, but Rayna being insecure interpreted that as some sort of humble brag.

When Lailah got her magic it became apparent that she was one of the most powerful mages of her generation and from a young age people placed bets on her being the next big star of arena tournaments. Rayna wanted to be happy for her but instead felt insanely jealous while also feeling bad about being jealous.


Garett Cardona:

Rayna's childhood friend. They met in the first grade and Rayna was fascinated with him due to him being an oddblood and asked him a bunch of questions about it, and soon realized she was being a little invasive and rude, so she decided to be a normal friend to him instead. They liked to play "dress-up" together and unlike the other girls Rayna didn't care that he was a boy and she just had fun showing him all her jewelry and dresses.

When they were both 12, she happened upon a scene of Garett being bullied where male classmates were asking him about a bracelet they found in his bag, asking if he was "going back to trying to be a girl". Thinking fast, Rayna approached them, saying "Wow, this bracelet is so pretty! You're the best boyfriend ever!". Garett played along which started their fake dating saga. It was extraordinarily scandalous for a princess to date an oddblood, but since the two were only children, no one really took it seriously and Rayna's father would only step in if they stayed together for more than a year. This went on for about six months before they decided to stage a dramatic breakup.

(If you want to know what an "oddblood" is, wait for Garett's profile. This is your teaser fireemoji)

After Brom broke up with Rayna (see the next section for how this relates to Garett), this caused Garett to be a little distant from her because of the guilt he felt for his part in it. Rayna took this distance in the worst possible way, thinking "oh no, he must hate me for some reason!" so she returned the favor and distanced herself from him too.

A couple years later, Garett matured and wanted to rekindle their friendship-- but didn't mature enough to have the guts to admit what he had done. Nevertheless, he tried talking to her again, but Rayna thought "oh he just feels guilty about abandoning me and he's talking to me again out of pity, but he still totally hates me, he's just forcing himself to talk to me". But because she didn't have the guts to admit that's how she felt, she just spoke to him awkwardly, hoping he would go away and stop "forcing himself" to talk to her. Garett noticed and thought "well, guess she just doesn't like me anymore, that's a shame" and left her alone, to which Rayna took to mean that he finally stopped taking pity on her and made the decision to leave her alone for good-- which must be what he wanted in the first place.


Brom Eldora:

Rayna's first boyfriend. They started dating when Rayna was 14 and Brom was 15. They met when Rayna started to watch Garett's training and mock tournaments. Garett got along well with Brom, which led to Rayna talking to him too, and the three started to hang out together. Rayna and Brom got along well, started crushing on each other, and eventually started dating.


But six months into their relationship, Brom suddenly broke up with her, saying he realized he wasn't ready for dating only to ask out Lailah two weeks later. Rayna was absolutely blindsided and had no idea where that came from. This pushed her deeper into her romantic fantasies, not wanting the disappointment that came from heartbreak in real life.

Unbeknownst to her, this happened because of Garett. Because Garett had feelings for Brom, he became unhappy when they got together and couldn't successfully hide his sadness when seeing them together. Brom noticed this and asssumed that Garett still "had feelings" for Rayna since breaking up with her, and when he confronted Garett, Garett impulsively lied and said yes, he still liked Rayna and felt jealous when seeing them together. Brom felt guilty about dating his friend's "ex" and "crush" so he broke it off with Rayna without properly explaining why because he didn't want her to resent Garett.


Childhood friends:

Rayna had a sizable friend group during her school days. She was always closest to Lailah but still got along well with the rest of them. The group fluctuated between 5-6 members and were all girls. Rayna was shyer around boys and preferred not to talk to them unless they were Garett, who sometimes joined her group in their shenanigans.

When they all graduated at the age of 13 and all went into apprenticeships, Rayna didn't bother keeping up with them, turning down Lailah when she invited her along to all spend time together. Rayna still thinks about them all sometimes, but when she does, it's with pain in her heart.


Marcius Tehra:

Upon hearing that the crown prince of Ferroburgh was only five months older than her, Rayna had been curious about him and would sometimes ask Alaric what he was like. Around the age of 13, when her imagination and really started to take on a mind of its own, he sometimes showed up in her daydreams as a love interest-- despite her never having had actually met him. She was told he was polite and graceful with an occasional sassy side and this painted a picture she became a little obsessed with. The whole "prince and princess of different kingdoms" thing made for storylines she had a lot of fun with too.

She first met him at the age of 15, after the first annual meeting she had to attend after Magni's death. She had to stop herself from staring at him during the meeting, and afterwards, found him alone standing over a balcony. She struggled to find any words, and at this point, it was undeniable to her that she was crushing on him. She decided to try asking him about the Alesian tribe-- an indigineous group in Ferroburgh that only ever communicated orally, having no written language. Having an interest in language, she wanted to know theirs too, and asked if it was possible for her to make contact with them and learn their language. Marcius simply replied: "Quite frankly, given that you struggle speaking to me, it seems unlikely you'll have any luck speaking with the Alesians".

From this moment on, Marcius became her enemy. He stopped being a love interest in her daydreams and instead played the role of the antagonist, the stories including but not limited to: Marcius taking the throne and invading Hecadia, Rayna uncovering that Marcius was actually a serial killer and exposing him, and Rayna teaming up with his missing twin brother to take him down. Once she daydreamed about being a boy and sleeping with his fiancée, Elise. She's not prepared to confront what that says about her as a person.


Sigurd Gunvor:

Her sister Alaric's fiancé. Rayna thinks he's ok but thinks that if he's with Alaric, that means there's something wrong with him she just doesn't know about. Once, he gave her some pointers when she was trying to paint, and mentioned that he used to paint himself and was even in art school. Rayna asked why he didn't paint anymore, and after a moment of awkward silence, he just said "I'm left handed". For context, he no longer has his left arm. Rayna felt so stupid she decided to never ask him for help ever again. Sigurd didn't really care but Rayna was convinced she just committed a crime.


Leith Brutus:

Rayna first met Leith in a dream. Unbeknownst to the people of the world, there exists a dreamscape that connects all people-- and sometimes, when fast asleep, two people can encounter one another in their dreams-- completely unaware that they're speaking to a real person and not a figment of their imagination.

At the age of 10, Rayna and Leith-- at the time Lilith-- crossed paths in the dreamscape. They found each other in a starry sky, walking through paths of stardust. Together, they ran through the night, passing by huge planets until they found a bright star that, with the behavior of a vortex, drew them into another world. Here they were faced with a giant tower that went up to the sky past the clouds. Since she's a child, Rayna ran in and decided she needs to climb it. Lilith followed her, but said: "I bet everyone tries going up. What if we try going down? That's gotta be where all the secrets are!"

So the two headed into the tower's basement. The stone walls of the basement became more and more surreal as the two headed down the stairs and everything became truly bizarre and dreamlike. The torches on the wall spoke to them, rigid stone walls became caves, and indescribable noises with no source haunted them. All the while, they held hands, going into the depths together-- knowing it was a dream and they had nothing to fear.

They went until there was a cave-in and the room started to fill with water-- quickly. Knowing this was the end of their dreamland adventure, Lilith hugged Rayna tightly, then pulled back and spoke despite being submerged by water, saying: "Don't forget me."

Rayna woke up not from her dream self drowning, but from Lilith's voice. Her dream started fading the moment she woke up-- all the bits and pieces being blown away from her. Barely back in reality, Rayna grabbed the journal on her desk and tried to sketch the last thing she saw and only thing she could remember-- being Lilith's face and the words "Don't forget me." She hastily used pastels to color in Lilith's red hair and green eyes. It was nothing like what she saw in her mind's eye which escaped her not even a minute later. It was a pathetic attempt, but it was there. Rayna wouldn't forget them.

Rayna found it hard to descibre to herself what it was that made the dream so meaningful to her. She couldn't even remember anything beyond her companion's last words to her-- all of their adventures through the sky and beneath the tower were completely lost to the ether of forgotten memories. Unbeknownst to Rayna, the two never even shared names during their time in the dreamscape-- nor did they talk about themselves at all. There were no introductions, no questions, just a spontaneous adventure into something incomprehensible with someone at your side.

Rayna wanted to remember it. She couldn't even remember if her companion was a boy or a girl. As she grew up, it's not like she spent all her time fixating on this, but it was often at the back of her mind and she wondered if there was a way to remember the rest of her dream. She looked into getting better at art, and tried to redraw the old sketch she had of her companion's face. She made a lot of them-- all with slightly different features, trying to see if any could "jumpstart" her memories and have them all come rushing back. None of them did.

But she did think the boy-- she decided he was a boy, because she wanted him to be a love interest in her daydreams-- she managed to draw was kind of cute. This is how Apollo was created. Apollo was a cute boy with red hair and green eyes who played the role of Calypso's primary love interest in Rayna's daydreams. He became a major source of comfort for her and ultimately served as an imaginary friend. Because Rayna technically didn't consciously create him, and she instead believed him to be a figment of her dreams, he felt more "real" to her, like a mysterious spirit who visited her in a dream one night that came back years later in her daydreams to be with her.

So when Rayna fell into the abyss when the ground on Opabinia Island opened up beneath her to swallow her whole-- only to be saved by a mysterious boy with red hair and green eyes-- Rayna thought she found herself back in a dream. He introduced himself as Leith and vowed to protect her and get her back to the surface safely. Rayna fell in love practically immediately and became fixated on every part of him. Everything from the inflections of his voice, the way he spoke with his hands, his confidence, his cocky yet caring attitude-- Rayna was obsessed with absolutely every part of him.

Later into the story, when Rayna finds out that Leith is actually a girl, she's not surprised. There were signs she had picked up on-- like the way her voice would rise to its natural levels when she became flustered and not wanting to be seen without the armor covering her chest. Rayna had brushed them off at the time but in hindsight, it was a little obvious. Leith's confidence began falling apart at this point and her insecurities shone through. Leith began saying things like "I guess that's it, the illusion wore off, I could tell you were in love with me but I guess that's over now" and Rayna was surprised to realize that no, her feelings hadn't changed.

Leith didn't believe her, especially after Rayna admitted how surprised she was and that she had never fallen in love a girl before or even considered a relationship with one. The reason for this was because Rayna's "type" is masculine people regardless of sex/gender and there are next to no masculine women/girls in her life. Leith was convinced that Rayna was only "making do" with her and would leave her when she found a "real man" she loved more. Leith returned her feelings but refused to be with her for those reasons.

Rayna was hurt that her sincerity and absolute adoration for Leith wasn't believed when it was something Rayna was more sure about than anything she's ever felt before. Rayna would say things like "Yeah, I could date a boy. I could have any boy I wanted because being with me means having the authority of royalty. But despite that, I still choose you. Why doesn't that mean anything to you?".

The two stayed in each other's company despite the question "what are we?" hanging over them unanswered. Leith's insecurities and issues took more and more of a toll on her and Rayna had trouble understanding them and helping her through them. Leith and Rayna had gotten along so well when Rayna was under the impression Leith was a boy and Rayna didn't understand why Leith was suddenly so on edge and upset all the time. For more details on Leith's mental state, wait for me to update her profile. I'll do it soon, trust.

Idk what happens next, I'm not done planning the story hehe