history

→ Zale is the son of the great Shishi-gami… or rather, the forest god. Few people know of the creature that is the watcher and nurturer of nature. He lived mostly with his mother as he grew up however. A Tiger-shifter from India who was unsatisfied with her life and was being forced to marry a man she did not love. She couldn't bring herself to do it and ran away. Eventually finding her way to Japan, the home of the great spirit God. 

She found a village of kind people who were weary of her and her reserved ways, but still accepted and welcomed her none the les. Helping her make a house at the far edge of the village. It was during this time that she met the forest spirit, curious and intrigued, she shifted and soon followed the reserved creature around. To her, he was something amazing and magnificent, and took much of her time looking over him and protecting him, watching and just wishing to be near. It was a strange feeling for the proud woman, but she trusted it. Eventually, she found herself pregnant with that of the spirits child.

After his birth, the village became less trustful around her, finding the birth of such akin to a sin. It was wrong and unnatural. But they didn't turn them away for fear of angering the spirit god.

With his birth, his parentage could not at all be denied. He had the same strangely shaped eyes as that of the forest spirit, though unlike his father, they were not always red, the colour of his gaze regularly changing. His feet were the same, strange shape  and the same deep green. His hands were also not the normal hands, also bore the deep dark green of the feet. His slight antlering on either side of his head like that of the forest god.

As he got older, he was able to learn to hide the antlering on his head and turn his feet to normal feet as well as turn his hands and feet to the normal tan skin as well to appear more human, though his eyes remained their strange shape. His fingernails also remained the dark green colour. His hair a sleek black like a ravens’ feather except for a single strip of silver hair at one side of his bangs.

As he grew up, his parentage became more and more obvious. Everything grew better and more healthy around him… he could even grow whatever he wanted by himself. Animals too were attuned to him and tended to follow him around. Even the deer that so feared his mother came to rest and see him.

He had a kind and gentle soul for the most part, but seemed to instantly understand the balance of nature, and that of life and death. He was turned away from most of the village children because the parents ordered that they stay away from him. He was lonely, but found comfort in the animals that came to him.

As he grew, his sweet personality slowly started to even melt the hearts of the villagers. They were still weary, but they grew more open to talking to him and letting the other children be around him. One girl in particular he enjoyed being around. She was curious about him and his parentage, and asked questions one would be surprised about for a child. She was smart and brave, and was always welcome to join Zale with his animals.

As he went from child to teen, he began to develop a crush on the girl who never feared him, and had become his best friend. He never knew how to tell her, not the most eloquent when it comes to matters of the heart…. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry much as she liked him as well, sneaking a kiss.

He spent his time between her, tending to the natural world around him, his mother, and even spent time with his silent and elusive father… but even the forest spirit’s silence taught him much… he truly was born from an amazing creature. He grew up proud, and he grew up wise, and just as kind and gentle as his father seemed to be.

When they were almost eighteen, Zale proposed and the woman he loved accepted. He was happier then he could ever remember being... which only compared to the worst day of his life. That same month, something in him awakened. Like his father, he changed during the night, but due to only being a half breed, it was something he couldn't control. He turned into that of a beast during the night, attacking all he touched, sucking the very life out of them. When he had awakened after it had first happened... the village had been deserted. Animals, plants, and people alike were dead... including that of his mother, and the woman he loved.

Zale mourned the loss of his home, and for what he had done to the people he had so grown to love, and those that had grown to love him. Loathing himself for it. In the end, when he found his father, neither him, nor anyone else could help him with the beastly side of him. He ran as far and as deep into the forests as he could. He traveled and saw the world... but always saw it alone, refusing to risk killing anyone else because of what he became in the night. Afraid of taking more innocent life.

His life was long and lonely, taking whatever animals under his wing he could, always fleeing as deep into the wilderness and as far from living things as he possibly could until the morning came, and was back to himself. Sometimes risking going to villages  for the companionship before running off once more, never willing to risk staying behind and killing those who didn't deserve it.

Slowly, the human world grew, and the forests shrunk, and became harder and harder to find places where he, and those around him were safe. More and more often finding dead he had attacked during his night time rages.

The Nightwalker

Unlike his father's Daidarabocchi/Nightwalker form, whose size is large and glitters like the stars in the sky as he walks the length of the forest at night, his own size becomes smaller, still tall at 6'5. but his build becomes more lithe, his skin paler and his hair white, becoming breathtakingly beautiful, something not unlike the shi-shigami's nightwalker form. But he becomes more animalistic, nothing but the instinct of death and to hunt and to destroy. Clawed, graceful and wickedly sharp present as well an almost graceful pair of fangs, more like a snake's or a cats.

Despite his smaller stature in comparison to his usual daytime form, he doesn't at all lose power, but he becomes much faster. Just like when things grow around him during the day, as the nightwalker the area around him will begin to die and decay. This is the only time his eyes remain a consistent color,