Jason "Solyss" Fitton

Solyss makes every effort to embody the stereotypes of his element. A theatre kid at heart, he is outgoing and lively, eager to crack a joke at nearly any situation. He enjoys acting, storytelling, doing voices, and singing, often not noticing if his antics are bothering anyone around him. If all else fails, he'll even make fun of himself. Solyss enjoys seeing others happy, even at the cost of his personal dignity. He seemingly never runs out of energy, and very few things can cause him to shut up for a significant length of time. This could be chalked up to his age or his naturally happy-go-lucky demeanor, cultivated by a loving family and positive life experiences. However, there is a dark side to him that very few notice. As mentioned, he is an actor, and one of the purposes of acting is to wear a mask. He grew up playing fantasy games with his younger sister, Ella, and was always fascinated by underdog stories. If faced with a situation that goes against his morals, he will not show his disgust outwardly, but will channel it towards covertly working against that which offends him. He revels in the idea of being an undercover hero; the eventual satisfaction from the victory is what keeps him going, no matter what other people think of him. And he's good at it, too—he weaves fact and fiction so effortlessly that it is difficult to catch him in a lie.

Before Arriving on Eranocta

Solyss was born Jason Fitton in an upper middle-class English family. He got along well with his sister Ella, and the two used their vibrant sense of imagination to play games and invent stories together. Though Jason was intelligent, he tended to slack off in school in favor of playing pranks, learning magic tricks, and getting involved in theatre. His comedic tendancies combined with his boisterousness made him one of the most popular people in his school. As expected, he was not loved by everyone. This didn't bother him much (he often laughed off the insults of others, exchanging much more eloquoent ones), but what did bother him was when things would get physical, as he was very short and fairly fragile. He began taking martial arts lessons, and then purposely putting himself in harm's way of bullies who would go after more vulnerable classmates. His classmates' opinions towards him became even more polarized, as some admired him for standing up for others, while some found him to be attention-seeking and a show-off. One day, Jason and a few other students were working on a set for the next theatre show, and Jason slipped off into the wings by himself to grab some more supplies to bring onto the stage. But some particularly irritated bullies were waiting, planning to use to fly system to drop something heavy on him and play it off as an accident. However, Jason shocked everyone, including himself, by unleashing a blast of light so strong that it temporarily blinded those around him, then blew out the lights in the whole auditorium. No longer able to carry out their plans with spots in front of their eyes and darkness all around them, Jason's bullies escaped, and his theatre friends came by to find him. His new powers were easy enough to hide, but Jason wanted to experiment more, so after rehearsal, he returned home and showed only Ella. Over the next few days, it only became for tempting to use his powers, and finally, he was contacted in a dream by a voice calling itself Kaltath, the god of Eranocta—a different world. Kaltath explained with urgency about his history and how his disappearance had unbalanced Eranocta, causing elemental disasters that would surely spill over to Earth if he were not allowed to return to Eranocta. He implored Jason to help him, and the Light Catalyst accepted. Kaltath's original plan had been for Jason to remain in hiding on Earth, should Lythios come searching for him, but Jason convinced him to train him as a spy that would eventually betray the group, reasoning it would be easier for him to make connections and potentially recruit more Catalysts to the cause. The two made the deal. Jason began doubling up on his martial arts training, and also began working out, while Kaltath would give him elemental training at night, advising Jason as a voice in his head. They continued this as long as possible, but with having to maintain a presence at school, stay involved in his extracurriculars, and hide his true intentions from nearly everyone around him, Jason was becoming exhausted from dividing his attention. He packed up supplies and ran away from home, leaving a coded note for Ella under the alias "Solyss," one of his fictional characters they both knew. Finally, the newly-named Solyss could devote his full attention to training and learning about Eranocta through Kaltath. He spent much time surviving by himself, but would also town hop, never drawing attention to himself as he roamed farther and farther from his hometown.

The Fire Within

Solyss remained a traveler for two years, and grew extremely proficient with his powers. His scheming personality was a perfect match for the sensitive and strategic light he wielded, and Kaltath kept him shielded from the watchful eye of Lythios, so he could practice as much as he liked. Finally, when Kaltath began to see that Solyss was excelling, he would periodically send him to Eranocta to go on raiding missions, where he would break out Kaltath supporters from prisons. Around December, the two also divised a multi-step plan to free the largest group of captured Kaltans on all of Eranocta. Kaltath was beginning to estimate that his return would coincide with the day of the summer solstice, so Solyss traveled to Urdythsh, the Cursed Lands, and drew the sign for six in addition to a sun as a warning. (While this had little to do with the plan... Solyss thought it was amusing anyway.) Then, he dyed his hair and attended the Winter Solstice festivities in disguise as a spirit named Syn. There, he spoke with Ember, giving her enough cryptic messages about Kaltath that she would have much to think about the next few months. Finally, he slipped away and broke out the prisoners while the whole of Eranocta was celebrating the festival. Due to the scale of the breakout and the large possibility of discovery, he laid low on Earth for several months after. Kaltath alerted him that Lythios was coming to Earth to search for him, and to prevent Lythios from potentially following a breadcrumb trail that alerted his family or put them in danger, he released a light signal, alerted Lythios, and subsequently played this off to him and Ember as the first discovery of his power. He came along readily and made an effort to get along well with everyone, especially Ember, whom Kaltath suspected would be most likely to join them with enough persuasion. Solyss also pretended to be a naïve and overzealous individual, purposely slowing down the progress of his own training by acting overly excitable and dense. Eventually, tensions in the group (Solyss was well aware of Val's dislike of him, but acted like he didn't notice) in addition to the increased frequency of disasters caused Lythios to split them up, and Solyss wound up with Aeran and Ember. Solyss viewed Aeran as a lost cause, but continued to work his charms on Ember, who grew to appreciate his company. When they Catalysts came back together, Solyss sought out his elemental partner, a dove named Bright. After, he pretened to be winded by the effort of getting his partner while being so "inexperienced," and when Ember came to check on him, he spilled the truth of his purpose, which threw her off-guard. Armed with this knowledge, he recommended she start cutting ties—including confessing her crush on Tida to her, which Solyss noticed—as things were likely to get messy, whether or not she joined him. Solyss returned to his usual jolly demeanor over the next few days, intending to hide his motives to the end, but Ember picked a fight with them on their travels to the Seal about his heartlessness. He argued that he was doing what he thought was right, but before things could heat up much further, they were broken up by Gravel. When they reached Urdythsh, Solyss stood apart from the rest and proclaimed that he was refusing to give up his power. Ember joined his side, as did Gravel, which Solyss didn't expect. Lythios and the remaining Catalysts seemed about ready to throttle him, but Kaltath arrived in the nick of time, whisking his team away.

The Fire Unleashed

After Kaltath's group makes their escape, he brings them to Ardrakk, the place of his old, ruined base, and answers their questions about him. Solyss is overjoyed to meet his mentor in the flesh. Kaltath leaves all duties of leadership up to Catalysts and his followers, expressing his disgust for Lythios' way of feeling the need to tell humans what to do all the time. They start rebuilding the base and recruiting—many of Kaltath's supporters were still in the area. Solyss comes up with the idea to launch an attack on nearby Mendrus' supplies in order to cripple them passively. Their attack goes smoothly, and Kaltath leaves to find more allies. The day after, their base is seiged by two other nearby towns in revenge for Mendrus, and they are forced to hide until Kaltath returns. It's Solyss' first major failure, which admittedly rattles him. He and the others manage to drive off the beseigers, and begin expanding south. They come across a hurricane-ravaged town and decide to help, but cross paths with Lythios' crew, who is currently tending to the town. They call a temporary truce, but after the town is saved, Aeran and Val go after Kaltath's crew, and they are forced to escape into the jungle. They find that many people neutral to the conflict reside there and work to earn their trust—however, a forest fire causes them to retreat north, to the Hemi Mountain. Kaltath explains that the one thing that can stop the wars and the disasters is the object known as the Scepter of Hope, and that the world is on a search for it now. Solyss offers to aid in the search, eager to make up for his mistake, but Kaltath explains that the world will be doing the searching for them, and that they must train and remain vigilant. Upon returning to Ardrakk, they find Val waiting, who insists that he's decided to turn traitor with them. Solyss is immediately suspicious, and shares this with Kaltath, who agrees, but decides to let him join anyway in hopes that they can learn from him while feeding him false info. Val insists that it's in their best interest to lead an attack on Lythios' temple, so they decide to follow through, only to be ambushed by Aeran in addition to Val, who had been lying to them—Solyss isn't surprised. Returning home reveals that Val had sabotaged their base, but Kaltath had anticipated all his tricks; he even has a secret underground valley as a backup location, and Solyss enjoys the spot. While Kaltath leaves for the island Jhu, Solyss and the others commence construction on the underground valley, though they have more free time to bond as a group, Ember's friend Cato even being included as an honorary Catalyst. They assume everything's going well on Jhu, but one night, Ember alerts them that she got news from Tida—her group is to attack them in the morning. Solyss rallies Kaltath's crew, and when the battle commences, they are prepared. However, it tragically ends with Ember knocking Tida comatose. Lythios calls for a retreat, but Solyss manages to prevent them from making off with Tida's body using some trickery, earning Ember's gratitude. Thankfully, Kaltath returns, informing them that the Scepter is on Earth in a museum, and they'll need to pull off a heist to nab it. Their adventure is successful, but they return to the terrible scene of Ardere, Cato's healer younger sister, defending Tida from an onslaught of Lythics. Kaltath calls for a final battle at Urdythsh for control of the Scepter, on the condition they leave Tida with them to heal. In fact, Tida revives (though without her powers anymore), deciding to join them. Solyss is eager to conclude the story, fighting hard, and by the end, Kaltath's team is victorious. After the demise of the two gods, Solyss and the others must rebuild society and trace down the rogue Catalysts (Val, Aeran) in order to force them to give up their powers forever. Solyss makes huge advancements in earning religious equality for Lythics and Kaltans, though he dreams of returning to Earth once things are settled in order to write a book or play about his adventures and reunite with his sister.