Zion

05

Name: Zion

Epithet: The Outcast

Motifs: thorns, vines, coniferous trees, mysterious forests, lost woods

Occupation: High School Student

Age: 18

Backstory: Zion grew up in a close-knit settlement near several boreal forests. He and his childhood friends would hike each year to explore and map out the land. One autumn night, while in an unexplored area, they stumbled upon a group of outsiders performing a summoning ritual. Before Zion or his friends could approach them, a burst of energy was released from the center of the circle, killing the outsiders immediately, and it all went downhill from there. For six days, Zion and his friends were trapped with a hungry eldritch spirit, and were unable to find their bearings. One by one, it slowly picked off all his friends, but eventually, the spirit had eaten its fill. As per the spirit’s contract, it granted Zion, the only one left, a portion of its power, and then disappeared. Zion was still stuck in the forest for two weeks before finally finding his way again, during which he learned to use his newfound abilites to defend himself and survive. After getting back home, rumors started to fly that Zion and his friends were the one that tried to summon the spirit, and he became shunned by his community. His parents sent him off to a different city for a fresh start, but he closed himself off and refused to make new friends, choosing to be alone himself rather than as a result of others ostracizing him. Thus, he seems to be the target of bullies and people looking for trouble, although he has no trouble retaliating. During his time trapped in the forest, he planted a tree in each of his old friends’ memories and still revisits the forest once a year to pay tribute to his them.

Abilities: Specializes in manipulating vines, branches, brambles, and tree roots. He can grow vines and roots up to 20 meters; however, the longer they are, the easier they are to snap and harder to control, so he usually extends them to around 6 meters to use as whips. He can extend and contract vines and branches one meter per second; roots take slightly longer because they have to break through the ground first. However, Zion cannot summon plants from nothing; thus, he stays close to places where trees grow to utilize their roots underground, and wears bracelets made from rose stems that are replaced frequently. Can control thorns and pine needles as projectiles as well, although they usually break on contact and are used to chip away at the enemy or as distractions rather than as a main attack. He can technically control poisonous vines such as poison ivy, but currently, he is not immune to their poison and has no way of healing himself or his opponents/allies if they get hit, so he prefers not to use them unless Percival is around. Zion once tried to see if he could speed up the process of growing a tree, but it still took around 3 months for him to grow a pine tree from scratch, so he gave up on trying to hone that ability for combat.

Personality: Extremely on edge all the time, and struggles to show affection to those he cares about. However, once someone has earned Zion’s friendship and trust, he is fiercely loyal and will defend them to the death (and expects the recipient to do the same). Speaks with sarcasm dripping in every word, mostly as a defense mechanism, and gets into aggravated often. Easily irked by people who are overly optimistic and idealistic, perhaps because he himself is jealous of their positive attitude, and especially despises those who delude themselves with their overconfidence into thinking they can achieve anything.