Arima Castell

Arima is headstrong and confident. She believes wholeheartedly in her abilities and her ultimate destiny to save the world. She does not falter, even if fear is threatening to take over. Heroes have to be strong for the people they protect. She is highly intuitive, and can easily discern others' intentions and motives by simply being around them. Only when she is with someone she truly trusts does she let her guard down. When among friends, she teases relentlessly, and is very cheeky. She does not handle loss and grief very well, and enters a berserker-like rage when she loses someone she loves. She becomes reckless and throws herself into any confrontation she can, and always, always refuses to cry unless she is either completely and utterly alone or too distraught/overwhelmed to hold it in anymore.

STORY:

As a child, Arima knew that she would never be as important to her parents as her brother Spyridon. Spyre was training to be a blacksmith alongside Yulgar, and always seemed to do everything right. Arima, on the other hand, spent her days beating up imaginary monsters in Surewood Forest with Ash and practicing her innate Ice magic. Her parents' attitude towards her often left her hurt and confused, and more than once she went to her brother's room in the middle of the night to cry into his arms. Once, they took both her and Spyre to Tkaanie, a country across the ocean, and the memories of its silver trees with pink leaves and the way magic seemed to sing through the air have stuck with her ever since.

Growing up in Falconreach, Arima saw great and powerful adventurers on the regular, and one day decided that maybe becoming an adventurer herself would let her prove herself to her parents. And so, she set off, with enchanted armor and an Ice-imbued scythe forged by her brother, and a strange dragon-shaped amulet she had received long ago from a kind stranger.

And there, her journey began.

Book 1: The Elemental Orbs
Adventuring out on her own for the first time, Arima encounters the Priestess Celestia and her moglin friend Twilly and discovers that she is part of a prophecy involving two special dragon eggs and a fight for the fate of Lore itself. She learns that her mysterious amulet, called a Dragon Amulet, will allow her to communicate with dragons in their native language, and grant her future dragon companion enormous power. She also meets the deposed prince Drakath, who unbeknownst to her at the time is working for a dark higher power. While questing to retrieve the Black Dragon Box which contains one of the eggs, she meets and befriends a half-dragon rogue named Alexa, who decides to help her on her journey. They also meet Tondra, a fulguramantress (or energy mage) and acquaintance of the Blue Mage Warlic, and she aids them in finding a place to keep the dragon egg safe once it is finally recovered. Before they do, however, it quite literally falls into the clutches of a half-spider race called the ChaosWeavers, and during the war to retrieve it and also save Falconreach from destruction, Spyre is captured and presumably killed. Arima's rage at the loss of her brother allows her to defeat the ChaosWeaver Spidermancer on her own, but it nearly costs her her life. His weapons and claws leave severe scarring across her back that Warlic tells her will never truly disappear. When the egg finally hatches, Arima names the little dragon Erion, and after finding that his elemental alignment relies on her, chooses Wind. Simultaneously, the egg from White Dragon Box is revealed to be in the possession of the DoomLord Sepulchure, who Drakath works for, and once it hatches he immediately turns the little dragon into a dracolich and names it... Fluffy.

After learning of Sepulchure and his intention to gather all of the elemental orbs in order to become unstoppable, it becomes Arima's task to retrieve them all first. With occasional help from Alexa and Tondra, she manages to recover five of the eight orbs. The Wind Orb is found on Sho'Nuff Island, where pirates and ninjas reside and have been at war with each other for generations. Light is found in the scorching desert known as the Sandsea, where with the help of Zhoom, the last Sand Elf, Arima deposes a tyrannical, immortal emperor named Sek Duat. Ice, fittingly, is found in the frozen Northlands, in the possession of the Ice dragon Aisha, who is bent on covering Lore in solid ice. The Darkness Orb is mysteriously bound to the soul of the Necromantress Vayle, a childhood acquaintance of the Paladin Artix. Energy is with the gnomes of the floating city of Popsprocket, where Arima has to fend off an army of malignant machines. The other three orbs are lost to Sepulchure. The Fire Orb is taken from Yulgar's apprentice Konnan, who fell into rage and despair at Arima's failure to defeat the Great Fire Dragon Akriloth and save his family and eventually became the Pyromancer Drakonnan. The Water Orb is spirited away by one of Sepulchure's spies in the Locker, an undersea city where Arima very nearly falls to darkness under the sway of the Eldritch abomination known as Kathool. Earth is snatched right out of Arima's grasp after it was finally merged together from the Stone and Nature orbs.

While searching for the orbs, Arima is pulled into many other adventures. The most important of these is her adventure in Ravenloss, where she meets Tomix Danao, "a SoulWeaver on a mission" to destroy the Corrupted Elemental Spirits he had accidentally let loose as a child while taking a dare. He has managed to track the one called Greed to the dark undercity and is more than willing to accept her help in banishing him. While searching for the keys to the Equilibrium Gate, they meet the Arachnomancer Riadne, and Arima is reunited with Spyre, who was rescued by Riadne soon after his capture years ago and has also become an Arachnomancer. They also meet Izaac Stellini, an old friend of Tomix from their school days. During the adventure, both Arima and Tomix find themselves falling for each other, though they try to push it aside. Before the final confrontation against Greed, Tomix decides to train Arima as a SoulWeaver. She becomes bound to Aegis, an Ice spirit, and quickly picks up the skill and finesse of an advanced student. Arima, Tomix, Erion, and Aegis finally reach Greed in Pellow Village, where he has reached the Judgment Wheel and seemingly been granted his wish to become human. In the battle, Tomix's SpiritLooms shatter, leaving him gravely injured and enraging Arima. Once Greed is defeated, she and Tomix share their first kiss before he leaves to track down the final two remaining spirits.

At long last, the final confrontation with Sepulchure is nigh. Everyone bands together to defend Falconreach from his massive undead army, and they do eventually succeed. However, during the fray, the Guardian Tower is destroyed, and Lady Celestia is killed. Sepulchure manages to retrieve all of the elemental orbs, and before Arima's eyes, he merges them together into the Ultimate Orb. Then Drakath pulls the ultimate betrayal, stabbing Sepulchure in the back with his own sword, then taking the orb and merging with Fluffy. It takes Arima and Sepulchure teaming up to finally defeat Drakath. Sepulchure's master shows up, stealing the DoomLord's blade and merging with Drakath's body, becoming the largest darkness dragon ever and covering the world in darkness - even going so far as to literally eat the sun. Only Falconreach is spared, as magic and gnometech create a light barrier around the city. Through many, many time shenanigans courtesy of Cysero, Arima gathers eight different iterations of the Bacon Orb and merges them into her own Ultimate Orb. She and Erion set off to defeat the mega darkness dragon, but every wound they create gets filled in with shadows. Then, Fluffy calls out to them from within the evil dragon and tells them to strike at its heart to destroy the Ultimate Orb. The darkness dragon is finally defeated, and light returns to Lore.

Book 2: Elemental Dissonance
Lore has been thrown into elemental chaos after the destruction of the Ultimate Orb, and in the mess, Warlic has gone missing. Rifts begin opening across the land, and a strange race called the Atealans arrive, asking for refuge and aid. They are not alone, however. Fire monsters known as Infernals follow them through the rifts and begin wreaking havoc. Soon the one the Atealans are running from, the tyrant king Wargoth, arrives as well, taking over the Pyromancer Xan's lair and taking Xan himself prisoner. To combat this new threat, Arima, Aegis, and Tondra work closely with a small group of Atealans: the Ascendant Isiri, the RiftwalkerAlz'ein, and the CrypticsNirios and Etaos.

Wargoth possesses an Ateala named Veyla to use as his general, and eventually possesses the Fire Avatar Fiamme herself. After breaking free, Fiamme tells them that Warlic is their only hope of defeating Wargoth. Arima is frustrated, as Warlic has been missing since the elemental dissonance began. The Atealans offer an alternative - the Professor, who helped them escape Wargoth when he attacked their world, Somorah. Arima, Aegis, and Tondra find him hiding in the Deadlands, and they also find Konnan, heavily scarred from having fallen into lava after their final battle that ended the Great Fire War, who is working as the Professor's apprentice. The Professor is reluctant to help at first, but after the group proves themselves friendly he resigns himself to the fact that if he does not help, Wargoth will never be defeated. They rescue Xan from Wargoth's clutches, and with his help, they free someone special from an enchanted ice crystal - Jaania, the lost love of Warlic and Xan, and the catalyst for their rivalry.

Upon returning to Falconreach, all except Xan are distressed by the sheer amount of chaos the elements are wreaking across the land. Leaving the rest at the Guardian Tower, Arima and Aegis rush off to rescue innocents caught in the chaos. When they return, the Professor reveals that he and Wargoth are two halves of the same person - Warlic. They must merge back together in order to stop Wargoth once and for all, but the process is potentially catastrophic. He proposes a fight on two fronts - Arima, Aegis, Tondra, Xan, and Jaania attack in the waking world, while the Professor and Konnan attack in the dreamscape. With no other options, they go along with it. After a long, grueling fight during which Erion is forced to grow to his Titan form in order to help fight, the Professor and Wargoth finally merge and Warlic is restored. He claims to not remember the events after his divide, but Arima knows better, and also knows better than to press it. Warlic attempts to apologize to both Xan and Jaania, but neither wants to hear it. Finally, Jaania attacks all of them. Arima shoves Tondra out of the way, and is imprisoned in a block of ice along with Xan and Warlic.

Book 3: The End of Magic
Five years have passed since Arima was frozen. Xan and Warlic have both already escaped the icy prison, leaving only her behind. Finally, the ice crystal shatters, and she is left kneeling on the cliff where her journey began. A group of soldiers attempts to capture her, but they are thwarted by Rolith. He tells Arima that a group called the Rose, led by Jaania, has gained traction since she was frozen, and is attempting to end magic throughout Lore. She returns to Falconreach, where she is reunited with Erion and several of her friends, and discovers that Falconreach is one of the few places left that openly welcomes magic. She also learns that Warlic has hidden himself away in his tower, presumably in shame for his role in everything. Robina, disguised as a boy named Cinquefoil, helps Arima in her early quests against the Rose. As she soldiers on, Arima finds herself on multiple occasions working with prominent members of the cult, mainly Magi, who claim to only be using magic until they can end it for everyone.

When she manages to catch a break, Arima returns to Ravenloss, and she is in awe of how it has improved in her absence, despite how part of it has been devoured by the Void seeping through the Equilibrium Gate. She enters Pellow Village and reunites with both Aegis and Tomix. Tomix tells her that his former SoulAlly, Aspar, has really been the Corrupted Elemental Spirit of Envy all along, and is heading to the Void Core for some reason. Arima immediately agrees to help track him down. Together they gather a crew of both new and old friends and build a ship able to withstand the Void. Once within the Void, they are sabotaged by one of Aspar's minions and left adrift after entering the DeepVoid. After finding a forest and gathering wood to repair their ship, Pandora, Tomix's current SoulAlly, tells them that she is Aspar's mother, and thus feels responsible for everything that has happened. Aspar does everything in his power to stop them from reaching him when they arrive at the Void Core, even using the cursed Seal of Ativa to tie two children's life forces to the lock on the door, but together, Arima and Tomix finally reach and confront him. Aspar has created a human-like body in Tomix's image, but after their battle, it falls away. When the rest of the crew catches up, Aspar reveals that Tomix died thirteen years ago when he released the corrupted spirits, and Aspar brought him back. As a result, Tomix's life is tied to Aspar's - if the spirit dies, so does the man. He then attacks Riadne as a distraction in order to synchronize with Tomix's soul and use him to manipulate and absorb the Void Core. Arima is forced to fight him, and eventually, Pandora steps in and locks Aspar's soul out of Tomix's. However, it will not last long, and Tomix sees dying as his only option. With a tearful farewell to the crew and a fiery kiss from Arima, he falls into the Void Core.

Enraged at her beloved's death, Arima throws herself full throttle into fighting the Rose. She joins the Vind, a resistance cell led by the Wind Elf Kara SuLema, and fiercely advocates their cause. Arima helps them gather much-needed materials and ultimately agrees to Kara's plan to have her infiltrate Espina Rosa, the Rose's most secure prison fortress, and recover one of their prisoners. Disguised as a new transfer named Edd, Arima gains a place in the Elite Force, befriends a soldier named Sam, and generally improves the atmosphere of Espina Rosa. She also discovers that her bond with Erion has grown strong enough to allow them to communicate telepathically, which bolsters her own spirits. After finally gaining entry to the Third Floor, Arima finds and frees her target, a powerful mage named Elryn. At the same time, Dracelix and Navon, two members of another pocket resistance group led by the MageKnight Leon, reach them, accompanied by Erion and Aegis. Elryn aids their escape after telling them that Akanthus is a pathological liar and may be stringing Jaania along with his schemes. He then tells Arima to visit Swordhaven and get to the bottom of everything.

Interestingly enough, Jaania herself soon sends Arima an open invitation to Swordhaven. Upon entering the city, Arima sees what must obviously be the best side of the Rose, a stark contrast to the members stationed around Falconreach. She meets Jaania's Thorns, her personal guards Ahimsa and Tipu, who tell her than Jaania is currently away from the city but will meet with her immediately upon returning. She also reunites with Konnan, who is working as a blacksmith for the Rose and is obviously bearing heavy guilt from his past actions. She encounters Circe, an old enemy, but manages to convince her to help her break into Jaania's tower. Once inside though, Arima barely has a chance to explore before she is knocked out by a strange Nature elemental. The elemental turns out to be the mysterious BeastMaster, and the ensuing battle is swiftly interrupted by Jaania's return.
[in progress]

EXTRA:

• Theme Music:
  • The DragonLord (BLESS YOU CEDREI)
  • Soulseeker
  • Blizzard
• As a SoulWeaver, Arima is bound for life to Aegis, an Elemental Spirit of Ice and Valor. As a DragonLord, she is also bound for life to the "World Destroyer Dragon", whom she named Erion and primarily aligns with Wind. Arima herself possesses powerful innate Ice magic, and it heavily colors her SoulWeaver magic.
• Her brother forged every piece of her starting equipment, and to this day the scythe he made for her is the strongest weapon she owns besides her SpiritLooms.
• The irises of her eyes are highly expressive and seem to melt or solidify depending on her mood.
• She is predominately left-handed but has trained herself to be ambidextrous.