Memento Mori

Early Life

Memento Mori has always been fundamentally different from other spirits, due to how exactly he came into existence. All spirits in the world come into existence spontaneously based on human's conceptions of the world. It's only as they grow, make contracts with humans, and become more powerful do they start to develop. Memento, however, was created intentionally by other spirits, not spontaneously spawned.

He was "born" to two spirits who are a part of a group of spirits that call themselves "Celestials." The Celestials are largely considered some of the most powerful spirits in existence, having existed since ancient times and having made a vast, uncountable amount of contracts. It has been long since rumored by spirits that the more contracts one completes, the closer they become to being reborn as a human, and Celestials are generally considered the proof of that, with their near perfectly human appearances. However, after becoming embittered by centuries of making contracts and watching the humans they cared for die, with nothing to show for it, they all eventually gave up and resigned themselves to stop making contracts.

Memento's "parents," in a final attempt at humanity, created him as a replication of a human's ability to create life. Each one split a piece of their magic away and they combined those pieces together to create him. While they were technically successful at creating new life, he was considered a failure because they didn't achieve the humanity they desired.

Memento's upbringing was a bit rough. He went through stringent and extensive training of his magic. To the surprise of many, he quickly surpassed his teachers because of his raw potential and talent. He was put up on a pedestal for how incredibly powerful he was by some, and for others he was looked upon with envy and hatred due to his strength being entirely innate, meaning he didn't have to take contracts at all to get it. He was considered to not be a proper spirit due to his creation.

Moving to Eden City

Having grown tired of both the idolization and hatred from other spirits, Memento decided to leave the plane of spirits and live in the human world. It was considered impossible for an uncontracted spirit to to enter the mortal plane, but likely thanks to his true nature, he was able to do so just fine. In the beginning, he struggled greatly to adapt to human world, and very nearly gave up on ever trying to live peacefully there, instead choosing to return to the world of spirits. His plans to return home, however, were interupted by the sudden disaster that occurred right outside of his apartment.

The bond between a human and a spirit became corrupted nearby where Memento was close enough to see the damages. The surge of magic that flowed through the bond to Blitz became uncontrollable and it transformed her. In the rush of panic, Memento had first opted to run, but when he suddenly witnessed someone die he made it his duty to stop the tragedy before anything else could happen.

He attempted an experimental magic on the human that he'd never tried before in order to bring her back to normal. He attempted to block the bond between her and her spirit, as the uncontrollable magic flowing through it was the source of the problem. While he did manage to get it to work, the magic had managed to destroy her psyche more than he'd thought and he hadn't taken it into account to fix it. While still alive and relatively unharmed physically, she was a shadow of her former self, with a severely impaired memory and personality.

In the wake of the disaster, Memento was first unsure what to do about her. He knew that eventually she'd be discovered as the source of the damage to the city, and in her new state he knew there was probably little she could do to defend herself. In the end, he turned to the local chapter of the church. The head priest there graciously took her in at Memento's request. Memento continues to visit frequently to check in on her.

As another consequence of his intervention, Memento also ended up outing himself as a spirit to the city’s police. They saw Memento’s powerful magic as both a tool, and a potential threat, and decided they needed to keep an eye on him. They contacted him and had him brought in as a consultant who would help out in other cases of magical disasters or similarly uncontrolled magic. They paired him up with a detective in the Magic Regulation Division, who tended to get into a lot of incidents in hopes that Memento would keep him under control.

Memento really dislikes his job. He hates using his magic on other people, especially after what he did to Blitz. While he would like to quit, he can't really afford to as the job allows him to live comfortably in the city, and he desperately would like to avoid having to go back to spirit world. He's also afraid that if he does leave, any incidents he would usually deal with may end up being handled in more extreme, unsavory ways.

Current

With the Ten Disasters starting to unfold in the city once more, Memento's been busier than ever before. With magic incidents popping up all over the city, he eventually ran into the Crimson Magician who's been running around the city to help stop these disturbances. The two of them quickly became allies and friends in protecting the city. While Shion may be wanted by the police for unsanctioned use of magic, Memento has made no attempt to arrest him or hinder him in any way. He's even gone about outright lying about their acquaintanceship.

At this point in time, he’s hardly doing his job anymore. He only handles cases he considers to be genuine threats to people, the rest just get blown off, or remain unsolved. One such case is that of Shirai's, who's ability to come back from the dead is considered to powerful to leave alone. He was given explicit instruction to permanently nullify her ability to use this skill, which would outright kill her.

When he's not working, Memento likes to hangout at the local bar and indulge himself in a few drinks. As a spirit, alcohol tends to not really affect him as much as it does humans, so it doesn’t really create any terrible side effects in him. With the amount he’s capable of ingesting, he’s one of the reasons the bar he likes is able to stay open, so the bartender is quite fond of him. He has a 100% win-ratio in drinking competitions.