Past
From the time he was born, Mal lived in the woods with his ranger father Grem Konstantin. They lived off the land reclusively with very few belongings and no money. The rare times he ever asked about his mother, Grem would get choked up and instantly shut down any further questioning. Due to this touchy subject hardly being brought up, Malus never knew about his true lineage. Grem was perfectly content to raise his son as 100% human and conceal any information that suggested he was in fact half-fiend. Despite this, Grem tried the best he could as a single father. Overprotective to a fault? Yes. But he loved his boy more than anything in the world.
When Mal was nine years old, his father passed away in his sleep due to natural causes. Malus at his young age didn't know why or how and could do nothing but run away as far as his tiny legs would carry him from the forest that he called home with tears streaming down his cheeks. He eventually collapsed from exhaustion on a random street corner of a place he'd never been before. In his sleep, a voice called out to him and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Powers stemming from the depths of Hel for him to survive on his own and find the mother whose lack of presence loomed over him for his entire life. The voice introduced herself as Samara and thus a pact was formed.
Mal awoke in the same unknown town with powers beyond a mere child's comprehension and he wasn't alone either. A lone mouse was napping on his leg. Instead of freaking out like most would, Malus picked the small creature up and decided that neither of them would be alone anymore. The two stuck together; traveling aimlessly from town to town, scrounging around for food, and doing whatever they could to survive. After walking for what felt like forever, they found their way to the doorstep of The Seven Sleepers Inn and Tavern.
Present
The innkeeper at The Seven Sleepers Inn and Tavern took pity on the seemingly regular human child and gave Mal an apple juice at no cost. While sitting alone at the bar sipping his juice, his attention was drawn to three bizarre looking strangers. A plasmoid, fire genasi, and Kenku. In Malus's sheltered upbringing, he had never seen anyone quite like them before. He was certain then and there that he needed to learn more about these unusual people. Within a few moments of meeting them, they also learned more about Malus than they probably wanted to at the time due to him not having much of a filter. The entirely non-magical human attendees immediately cast a weary glance at the odd group and soon understood that Malus was one of them as well when he revealed his supernatural abilities through a thaumaturgic tantrum at his new friends being mistreated. The four of them completely shook the worldview of this small conservative town within mere moments and that became a pattern as the group decided to join forces. Menaces at times and heroes at others, the group was dragged into tearing down organized religion, awakening long slumbering Norse gods, and saving the world from a prophesied cataclysmic event.
Throughout their many quests and journeys, the four developed a bond akin to a family. Something that none of them have completely had before. Malus now had a second dad and mom and a brand new brother to his absolute delight and he felt completely safe with them for the first time since his father passed away. They made lots of allies and friends along the way as well including: the awoken gods, a goblin named Sugar-And-Sack, and two brothers named Calvin and Ceaser who are invaluable to the prophecy. Calvin in particular became very important to Mal by fueling his interest in necromancy and inspiring him to multiclass into wizard.
The closest bond he had besides his found family and new friends was with his patron Samara. Every night when everyone else had varied dreams ranging from pleasant to nightmarish, Mal had the exact same dream in the exact same place: Samara's throne room in Hel. This was their only means of communication, however Samara made it clear that she was always there with him. Her face was constantly veiled in black smoke and Malus could never make out any features besides long white hair and sky high impressive horns. She was a being shrouded in mystery. Mal constantly questioned why she never asked for anything in return in their pact and why another authority figure in his life was concealing things from him. However... he eventually discovered why.
In a moment of downtime with his family and allies, Loki: god of chaos let it slip that they knew who Samara was as a frequenter of Hel. Mal's conversation with the god led to unintentional discoveries and realizations. There was no other explanation for why a succubus would be interested in a child on the mortal plane. Samara was Malus's mother. The Succubus gifted him warlock abilities to find his mother...when she was there all along. The confrontation between the two in Mal's dream that night went about as well as you could imagine. Lots of anger and feelings of betrayal, but they ended the brief talk understanding each other and the decisions they made. When all was said and done, Samara finally revealed her face to Malus and she also unveiled one last truth to him. The intense headaches he had dealt with since their pact began was in fact his demon horns growing in. When he woke up the next morning, he had two small, yet painful flesh mounds sprouting from the crown of his head.
Since his realization of being a tiefling, he has been focused on building his magical abilities as a warlock and wizard and continuing to save the world with his chaotic second family. To be continued...
