The Shark Beast

Aquarius, also known as Shark Beast in his small underwater village, was born into a small family consisting of his mother, father, and his oldest brother, Tyrus. At the time of his birth, Aquarius was born with the most yellow eyes, as bright as the sun that shined on the drylands above. His yellow eyes came from a rare gene from his mother’s side of the family, and he was the only one to have them in his immediate family. Of course, the close friends of the family were aware of the rare gene and saw nothing wrong with it. But not everyone in the village knew, and Tyrus’ mind thought one thing and one thing only; someone was going to think that their mother cheated on their father and Aquarius was the result of an affair. 

As a child, Aquarius was rather carefree, getting excited whenever his father brought home new shells for him to look at or getting overly curious when his mother brought him and Tyrus to the market during the day. Aquarius didn’t feel a need to worry about anything in his future. Well, on the other hand, Tyrus was working on something that would in fact, change Aquarius’ future, involving those bright yellow eyes of his. He needed to find a way to make it so Aquarius’ eyes matched with the rest of the family, so their reputation wouldn’t be ruined by any rumors of an affair. And what better way to fix all of their problems than with a spell?

Aquarius was about 10 or 11 when tragedy stuck, he was at home with his mother and Tyrus while his father was at work. He was in the main room of their house when Tyrus asked him to follow his room. Being the curious child that he was, Aquarius followed his older brother to his room with no questions because he knew his brother wouldn’t do anything bad, right? Once they were in Tyrus’ room, Aquarius was told to sit in the middle of the crudely drawn circle that was in the center of the room. When Aquarius was rather hesitant to do what his brother had asked, Tyrus got rather annoyed and forced Aquarius to sit in the circle. 

Of course, being scared, Aquarius begged Tyrus to not do anything stupid. His brother just got even more annoyed with Aquarius and told him to shut up as he pulled out a rather tattered notebook with scribbles on the inside. Basically being afraid of Tyrus at this point, Aquarius complied with the other’s demands, sitting quietly in the middle of the circle as his body shook in fear. He watched as Tyrus took a seat outside of the circle, putting the book down, wide open, in front of him. He watched as his brother began to chant foreign words that Aquarius didn’t quite understand.

That’s when the burning sensation started. Everything was really a blur to Aquarius. He remembers bits and pieces of what actually happened, all he knows was that he was in pain. It felt like his eyes were on fire and were about to fall out of his skull. His screams and cries were enough to alert his mother, causing her to rush into Tyrus’ room just as the spell was almost finished. But, their mother pulling Tyrus away from the notebook caused the spell to fail, almost blinding Aquarius in the process. After that, he blacked out from all the pain he had just endured.

When Aquarius had woken up, he was accompanied by his parents and the village cleric, who had checked him for any serious injuries from the spell. And that’s when his parents broke the news to Aquarius; about how his older brother had successfully changed Aquarius’ eyes from the bright yellow to the fairly dull blue that everyone in the family had. That was probably the last time Aquarius had fully spoken as he sobbed in his parents’ arms, asking them why his big older brother hated him so much, why his big brother wanted to hurt him so badly.

There was no trial held for Tyrus, since he had admitted to doing what he was accused of when arrested by the guards. Once the story had been confirmed by Aquarius and his parents, the village council had Tyrus exiled from the village for his violent use of magic and the study of the arcana. A day after that, the practice and study of arcana was banned in the village and only appointed tritons were allowed to continue their studies and practices; such as the clerics and the paladins. 

Aquarius spent the next few years absolutely silent, only speaking when he needed to. He didn’t last long in school after the incident either, many kids basically bullying Aquarius for what happened and calling him over dramatic because “it probably wasn’t that bad”. So, it was no surprise to his parents when Aquarius just stopped going to school all together, not furthering his education at all. But, he did pick up a new hobby in his free time, especially with his new found rage.

The village had ring fights biweekly, where the toughest and strongest tritons would fight to see who was the best. Whoever won got to take home all the earnings from the bets. Aquarius wanted to do that, he had so much anger and other emotions built up in him that he didn’t think he could express it in any other way besides fighting. So, Aquarius’ training began.

At the age of 15, Aquarius had started training under a retired guard by the name of Nerissa. She was friends with his parents and offered to teach him how to fight so he could get in the ring fights. Nerissa was a good teacher to Aquarius, making sure the teen was throwing his punches right and defending himself where he needed it most. Aquarius then joined the biweekly fights when he turned 16, slowly but surely making his way to the top charts. Him taking part in these fights did help with the unruly amount of anger he had from his childhood, but sometimes, Aquarius’ anger would get the best of him in a fight and he would end up going crazy in a fight, basically throwing punches in a blind rage.

One particular night, Aquarius’ opponent had been making snarky comments well before the fight towards the teen, talking about how “he can’t make everyone forget that his parents already failed with one kid” and how “his coach is the only reason why he was rising in the ranks.” That all pissed Aquarius off greatly, he could feel the rage racing through his veins even before he got in the ring to fight this guy. Once they were in the ring and the starting bell had gone off, Aquarius didn’t even wait to get the guy to the ground, starting to beat him senseless as the rage kept coursing through his body. It took Nerissa and a few other people to pull the teen off the bloody guy. And that’s when Nerissa noticed the fact that Aquarius’ eyes were the same yellow that his eyes used to be. She kept an eye on the teen as he slowly started to calm down in the training pit, his eyes turning back to their blue color. Turns out, Aquarius’ eyes turn their old yellow whenever he rages.

After that fight, Aquarius didn’t stick around the scene much longer. He got the money he needed for his parents and that was all. Nerissa kept telling Aquarius that he was the best fighter there and he should continue to take part in the biweekly fights. He just kept shooting the idea down over and over again, but, no matter how many times he said no, Nerissa kept pushing. It was only so long before Aquarius lost his cool and snapped at his former coach, telling her to basically back off and that he wasn’t going back to taking part in the biweekly fights. That was probably the most Aquarius has ever spoken in the last six years. After that, Nerissa never once asked Aquarius to go back into the ring.

Like every other person, Aquarius left home when he was 18, needing a change of scenery after everything he’s been through. He knew he was able to handle himself, even if he wasn’t as smart as his peers, he had the muscles to keep himself safe. And to him, that’s all that mattered. His parents gave him a decent amount of money to start him off before he left, promising to stay in touch. Before leaving his village once and for all, Aquarius got himself a two-handed ax to protect himself, just in case his hands weren’t enough. It took Aquarius a while to arrive at a different village, this one being way far west from his village.

This was when Aquarius was convinced that bad luck was on his tail. About spending a week in the village, a decent sized group of bandits ambushed the village and Aquarius found himself having to help defend the village with the guards. Although he did put up a pretty great fight, Aquarius did get hit quite a bit and ended up passing out from the pain in some alleyway near the inn he was staying at. When he woke up, a smaller triton (about half the size, give or take, of Aquarius) was tending to his wounds. It took Aquarius a moment or so to speak up, catching the attention of the other triton, who was just relieved to know that he was alive. Apparently, according to the new triton (who Aquarius found out was named Aegir), he had found Aquarius wounded and bleeding out in the alleyway and had some help bringing him home so his wounds could be taken care of. Aquarius had thanked Aegir for his help and stayed with him and his family for a few weeks while he healed up.

Upon staying with Aegir and his family, Aquarius learned that Aegir was in fact, an adult (19 to be exact), despite his short height and about his warlock studies. He learned about how the village rich girl bully that tormented Aegir was murdered by her husband. He never asked about Aegir’s missing eye, though Aquarius thought it would be rude if he asked. Of course, while staying with Aegir and his family, Aquarius couldn’t help but get feelings for the other, which he had no idea how to handle and blurted out how he felt one night. Thankfully, Aegir felt the same. Soon, it wasn’t long until Aquarius was finally healed up and was ready to venture out some more. This time, he ended up inviting Aegir to join him on his travels. It took a bit before the two of them actually left, both of them saying goodbye for Aegir’s moms and his sisters (and Aquarius being forced to promise that he’ll keep the other safe), going a bit north to a different village before making their way to the drylands, where they end up joining a rather chaotic group and start to kick ass with them.