Cessa Somnium

Personality:
   Cessa is extremely headstrong and has an unbreakable will. Once Cessa sets out to accomplish a task, he'll get it done. Cessa has a fractured sense of empathy, only truly caring for those who are close to him and nobody else. Kinship is important to Cessa, he believes in traditional values such as family, school, democracy, earning a living and justice. Cessa has never been very outspoken, always understanding his place in the world. He is able to improvise in times of need and has confidence in his own ideas, he needs heavy convincing before considering plans or options that are not his own. While Cessa is a good person at heart, driving him to commit the worst of crimes would be a relatively simple task. All one would need to do is endanger his family and make demands to ensure their safety. Cessa has a refusal to let go of things he loves, his clingy nature makes it difficult for his loved ones to have room to breathe. 

Story:
Childhood:
   Cessa was born to a nameless woman who died upon his birth. As Cessa spent his childhood in the Willow Creek orphanage, Cessa never had a face or a name in his mind for his parents, he was left to wonder what his life could have been like, he was left to envy the children who had what he never could. He was treated with little sympathy and little remorse as a child. He got his first job at the age of 6 years old, making cuckoo clocks in a factory owned by an Ethan Sanae. Pay was small, hours were long. Cessa felt as though he couldn't continue, he felt as though his life was ending, that is until he met Rem. Rem Sanae was a young girl, 2 years younger than he was. He'd met her at the age of 8 years old and the two became fascinated with one another. She was the daughter of factory owner Ethan Sanae, one of the wealthiest men in the province. Cessa was a boy who came from nothing, surviving off of whatever scraps he could. After meeting Rem, Cessa finally found a purpose. His dream was simply to have a family and to give them a better life than what he had. The two would meet in secret whenever they could until Cessa was found out by Ethan. He was reprimanded and fired, barred from ever seeing Rem again. Days later, Cessa would discover his ability to Dreamleap for the first time, the ability to enter the Contingentplane once achieving REM sleep. Frightened and afraid of what may happen to him as a result of this ability, Cessa fled and hid in the forest, taking shelter in an abandoned shed. The night he fled, he had a nightmare of a haunted oak tree that tried to tear him to pieces. He was able to avoid death by the monster which he eventually called Denver, a namesake inspired by the name of the forest that he'd made into his home. Cessa spent his childhood roaming the city streets, hoping to find Rem once more. Notable dreams and nightmares that Cessa had throughout the remainder of his childhood: A bipedal beast with reaperlike claws, it slashed him across the back and slightly on his face. An undead deer that attempted to impale Cessa using it's antlers.


Teenage Years:
   As a teenager, Cessa knew if he wanted a family and a purpose he would need to reenter society. He got a job at a coffee shop, taking orders and serving patrons. Through this occupation he met Rem once again, completely by chance. He first assumed that she didn't recognize him, until he noticed that she started coming back to the coffee shop again and again and again, always looking at him strangely. Eventually he approached her, the two began meeting again on a daily basis. Rem's father Ethan was away on business regularly for long periods of time, and when he wasn't he was cruel to Rem. Rem's social behaviors and tendencies were greatly affected by her father's, he was her greatest fear. Cessa eventually offered her an escape from it all, he gave Rem the ability to Dreamleap. Rem's reality was a massive city, similar to those that Ethan would take Rem to during business trips. Cessa and Rem would spend all day together in the Neutralplane, all night in the Contingentplane. When Ethan found out that they were meeting again it was too late, they were connected through an entire plane of existence that he couldn't access. Cessa and Rem first encountered Totemgeist within Cessa's reality, the totem simply appeared in his reality and disappeared when they weren't looking.


Early Adulthood:
   To the outrage of Ethan, Cessa married Rem. The two lived together in a home that Cessa would pay for through his job as a contractor. Rem became pregnant when Cessa was 22, he became a father at 23. Cessa's dreams of a family had finally been realized. He named his firstborn Corydon Somnium. Cessa strived to be the best father he could, though his job wasn't very suitable for a family of 3. Two years later it would become a family of 4 as Spook Somnium was born. Cessa loved his family more than anything else in the world, Rem didn't feel the same way. Rem had protested against the idea of having more than one child, it had happened on accident. Rem's mental health had been declining in the years since she first became a mother, the haunting memories of the nights when her father would randomly storm into his home and scream unspeakable words at her would return every night. She felt as though she was incapable of raising a family, Cessa felt the opposite way. Whenever Rem told Cessa of her struggles, Cessa didn't understand the severity of her words. Once Spook reached the age of 2, Cessa was 27 years old. Ethan Sanae was hospitalized after suffering a stroke, Rem went to visit as a formality. She wouldn't return home the same woman. Rem came home rambling to Cessa of her plan, to return to the hospital the next day and suffocate her father in his sleep. The idea horrified Cessa who tried to talk her out of it. This was Cessa's final mistake in his relationship with Rem, Rem lashed out at him, Spook ran away and went missing in the struggle. Rem left afterwards. Cessa and Corydon went out looking for the two of them. After being unsuccessful in their search, the two returned home in a daze. Knowing there was hope of finding Rem in her reality, he slept. He was unable to find her in the Contingentplane, when he awoke Corydon had gone missing as well. Cessa left the home afterwards as well, knowing fully well that his family's disappearance wouldn't be a good look for him. Cessa went back into hiding, leaving society for what he thought would be the final time.


30s to 40s (Pre Twisted Reality):
   Cessa would dedicate himself entirely to the goal of having his family back, a task that grew increasingly difficult with time. Cessa discovered Spook's reality, it was a barren wasteland that filled Cessa with dread. He couldn't find her anywhere. What really confused him was a new reality that appeared beside Spook's, a snowy reality that was much too dangerous to travel efficiently through. He spoke to inhabitants who had never heard of Spook, leading Cessa to simply avoid the reality full of people who would interfere with his ambitions. To Cessa's horror, he would discover a horrible monster created by Rem, a monster called Tresn which was intended to kill him. In order to have a fighting chance, he strived to discover everything there was to know about the Contingentplane and the nature of the plane of existence. He discovered how to repurpose monsters and beings that had originally intended to kill him. He would suppress their violent default personalities and allow their true personalities to develop and grow. Denver, the silent loyal oak that had once tormented him repeatedly. Scythe, who he would affectionately nickname Backache. Scythe was kind hearted and devious, a troublemaker who Cessa had to regularly check up on. Wrath, the ill tempered rotting deer which Cessa realized was immortal. Wrath took time and patience, eventually she opened up to Cessa, although her awful temper never left her. The being that truly puzzled Cessa was Totemgeist, a being Cessa thought could have dated back to his earliest ancestors. The totem was silent like Denver, yet there was a more sinister quality to it, though over time it proved it was trustworthy to Cessa. He was horrified to learn what had become of his son, Corydon Somnium. He had been mutilated and disfigured, turned into a mockery of what he once was which was eternally tortured by a monster tugging strings. Cessa decided that more assistance was needed, Tresn was taking control of threatening creatures as well. A massive rotting man who could control people like puppets, a silent stalker who would kill without sound, a colossal jellyfish capable of scorching the land beneath it. In order to suit his needs, Cessa learned of how to somewhat consciously create beings who could fulfill any purpose he desired. He only managed to do it once due to the intense difficulty of the task. After 19 attempts he created Bringer, a being specially created to retrieve his family safely from the clutches of danger. During an encounter with Tresn, Cessa and Bringer were forced to flee, accidentlly leaving behind an important notebook in the process, detailing sensitive knowledge of Cessa's. As time went on, Tresn became more and more intelligent. Cessa was running out of time to save his family.

Other Stories Featuring This Character:
Stories:
TTR: City of Light