Ada

Ada is a knight of the Kingdom of AshSpire, appointed by The 16th King himself.

Daughter to the King's right hand and archivist, Ada surrounded herself with ancient texts and scriptures, such was par for the course because of her fathers work, her mother had passed away when she was only a child, and the cause of her death has remained a mystery, which meant Ada was always around her father, tugging at his cloak or following obediently behind him to The King's lectures or parades.
Being born into royalty meant free roam of the kingdom and its privileges. but she never wished for anything more than to befriend other children. Sadly, most of them were commoners, and none that her father wanted her to interact with. 

When Ada turned 16, she had taken up a job as her fathers apprentice, and by 20, she was responsible for the watch of the entire royal library, sorting texts and repairing books, a simple job for a still-young girl. 

Ada's father never enrolled her in schooling, as he much rather preferred to educate her within their own chambers, teaching her of the kingdoms history, reading, mathematics and art. He was often protective of her, and wanted her to be safe and secure. He never allowed her outside of the castle, much less out into the commoner streets, unless accompanied by himself. 

One day, the dreaded arch-necromancer, who had a grip on an area of the kingdom scheduled an attack on AshSpire. He had released his army of thralls into the area, and the King quickly dispatched a fleet of his knights to finish them, having him and Ada's father leading the assault.
The end result was catastrophic. Many knights lost their lives, and Ada's father was severely wounded on the left side of his body, the necromancers magic still coursing through him after hours of care by the castle priests. While still being able to function well, his physical appearance would never recover. 

While she kept herself in the library halls, her father and The King grew weary of the arch-necromancers influence on the surrounding area of the kingdom. While his magic grew stronger, the larger his domain became. Local farmsteads and laboring workhouses were becoming slaves to the magic that engulfed the area, turning them into mindless, ravenous thralls. The King needed a plan if the necromancer's influence got too close, as he couldn't risk his kingdom and his people. 

As the last line of defense for Ashspire, The King appointed 5 knights to fight for him and his kingdom.
The Argus, The Faith, The Malice, The Devotion and The Miracle were the titles given to the 5 knights, hand-picked by The King himself, and trained extensively in combat. Their names representing virtues the kingdom had upheld for nearly 1700 years. They were willing to sacrifice themselves to save the kingdom, and were ready to fight until death.

During the appointing ceremony, Ada watched from her own chair, but she couldn't sit still for long. Midway through the ceremony, she stepped down form her chair and demanded she become the 6th Knight of The King. Her father, dumbfounded, begged her to go back to her seat, but she refused.
She looked at The King, insisting that out of anyone, she deserved to be appointed as a knight. She wasn't there for her father when he was wounded, and she wanted to be there for her kingdom in any way she could. She vowed to The King to protect the castle walls from the necromancers magic, and wished nothing more than to be something other than a librarian until her own death. 

The King saw a fire in her that her own father didn't, and commended her for her courageousness, but insisted to her that becoming a member of his knights was no easy task, but she was up to any challenge, be it big or small.
Right then and there, Ada was appointed as The 6th Knight of AshSpire, and was given the title of The Spire. The King hoped she would not disappoint him.

The first months of training were grueling for a once-librarian. No knight referred to each other as their birth names. Endless physical activity, sword training, heavy lifting and studying militaristic tactics took a toll on her health, and she occasionally become ill while training, to her embarrassment.  The other knights taunted her for her lack of skill, but she was determined to defend her father, and continued despite the constant cries for her to give up. What she lacked in physical ability, she excelled in written text studies, and always passed with excellent grades, much to her colleagues dismay. 

Every time she returned home from her training her father would look back at her with a bit more disdain each day. He never wanted this for her, and his disappointment grew so much that he barely spoke a word to her some days. He loved her, but was constantly worried for her, and prayed by his bedside each night that no harm would come to her.

After nearly 3 years worth of training, Ada had become an incredible knight. So much so that The King entitled her with being the leader and foundation for the other knights. Her academic knowledge combined with her cunning combat tactics had made her a model leader, and she vowed the safety of her 5 comrades.
She had been given her first set of armor, one hand crafted by The King own blacksmiths themselves.

Eventually they had to plan an assault on the necromancers domain, organizing endless fleets, with the Knights of AshSpire leading the assault. It was almost a near-war, the soldiers and the necromancers endless army clashing in between the fields of his domain and the kingdom itself. Countless lives were lost as every fallen knight instantly turned into a thrall, attacking their own friends and comrades. During the attack, 3 of The Knights fell to the thralls, being killed or ripped to shreds by claws and teeth. Ada, The Argus and The Faith had no choice but to retreat further into the necromancers domain, hoping to find refuge in the desolate, somber environment.

Little did the three of them know, their safety wasn't secured. The necromancers aura over the land could cause them to transform into thralls just by the exposure to the magic, and none of them had realized until it was too late.
The Argus was the first to go, the aura tainting his mind and causing him to thrash about wildly, his arms and legs slowly turning a wicked black color, with wisps of smoke-like haze coming off his body. The magic taking over his brain has caused him to have intense hallucinations, and he had died purely of shock and exhaustion. It was Unknown to Ada and The Faith why it happened to him, but they had hoped the same would not come to them.

Making camp in the decrepit land, Ada desperately tried to start a fire in a place no flame could hold. The air was thick and cold, and it felt as if a dreadful smoke had taken over them. Ada's hands were turning dark, but she would never tell Faith, not now, while they were still trapped.
The Faith sat next to the pitiful flame, her helmet hiding the fear on her face. She was scared, and rightfully so. She could feel her body change shape under her armor. She started to weep in front of her leader. She couldn't handle her slow transformation.
Grabbing onto Ada's shoulders, she had begged The Spire to kill her, to free her from the torture that was spending even another minute in that forsaken place. Ada couldn't bear the thought of taking her own comrades life, having to live with that kind of blood on her hands...
The Faith's death was quick and painless.

Ada couldn't stay in this domain for long, the emanating aura of the air make her skin crawl and her back tense. She could see her hands and arms start to turn a sickly grey color, as smoky wisps enveloped her body. She had quickly taken the swords of her fallen friends, and without looking back, she had started to run, as fast as her legs would allow.
It had taken what felt like hours to escape Ozghul's domain.

As Ada approached the castle, she witnessed the bodies of hundreds, even thousands, of soldiers. Deep claw marks embedded in their armor. Some even barely standing in an almost zombie-like fashion, their voices gurgling and becoming near indescribable, as their transformation into The Necromancer's pawn began to take hold of them.
As she combed her way through bodies, both dead, and barely dead, she had gotten to the castle walls, where the guards at the entrance celebrated her survival, but there was no celebration that was needed. She was tired, weary, and nearly fainted from exhaustion. The guards had helped carry her to the castle. She softly called out for her father, but he was nowhere to be found. The guards had offered her food and water as courtesy, and as she removed her helmet to take a nibble of the bread and fruit laid out for her, the guards saw her for was she was now.
Her head had become black and smoke-like, her eyes a piercing white, and her face gaunt, with no human features to speak of. The guards drew their swords, shouting at her to get back, calling her a monster in their leaders clothing. A fearful and scared Ada made a run for the door, dashing outside and quickly running through the outside halls of the castle, as guards and peasants alike screamed at the sight of her.
A low-ranking commander issued knights to run after her on horseback, to chase and kill her. They were unaware of who it really was underneath the corrupted exterior, but their rational minds were gone, and they quickly focused their crossbows and swords in the direction of Ada. 

As she fled the castle walls, she could hear the calls of men on horseback. Refusing to go back to the accursed and of Ozghul, she had ran around the perimeter of the gigantic kingdom, hoping to lose the knights. She ventured for awhile until she stumbled upon a woodland, filled with trees with branches like gangling hands and eyes of yellow piercing through the dark night. She thought nothing of it, for her fear of being slain by her own men concerned her more. She hid behind a large tree, and once she heard the horseshoes cease stomping, and only the crickets of night, did she come out of hiding. 

As she looked into a nearby river, the reflection of the moonlight showed her what she had become. A thrall, but not quite so. Perhaps even the own of her kind now. She wept and screamed into the forest, her sorrowful cries echoing off of the wood and leaves. She hobbled over to a nearby tree, passing out from the tears and exhaustion of running.

Only to be awoken by a timid, almost scarecrow-like creature....