The utter darkness would smother most creatures, yet Asher found it to be his only comfort in life. The darkness meant they had not yet found him. The they in this instance could be anyone, for midnight beasts were hunted by the entirety of the lightless realm. You see, midnight beasts were the spawn of orc and drew. Orcs looked a lot like you or I, yet they are larger and far stronger than we are with a green skin that makes them look quite foreign. The tusks protruding from their mouths distinguish their species from any other and come in various shapes and sizes and often make them look rather savage. Savage they truly are, yet with their tribes separated in all directions, and their consistent tribal wars they posed little threat to the "civilized" peoples of Pax.
The drew are a variety of elf. Their sharp pointy ears and tall nimble bodies were typical to those of elven blood, yet their ebony skin and fiery hair made them rather unique among the elves. The drew were as merciless as the orcs were savage. They would often raid the settlements of other species to claim new trophies or slaves to work tirelessly in their cities, or to perform in their great gladiatorial arenas. You see the drew cherished only their own lives.
Midnight beasts possessed the strength of the orcs and the agility of the drew yet managed to grow larger than either. They possessed tusks that made evident their orcish descent with the unmistakable skin and hair of the drew. Few survived to their teenage years as it was feared they would share the bloodlust of their lineage.
Asher knew none of this. He knew only that he had been hunted all the years of his life. Though he had not always been alone as he was now. He often thought of the years when he hadn't been.
In those days, his mother Nadra would teach him a great many things, and as they moved, they would practice moving quietly and swiftly from one cave to another. Never remaining in one place for long, always changing location. Always avoiding intelligent creatures. To Asher it was as if he and his mother were the only humanoids in the world, for she had been exceptionally careful to avoid any of the populated areas of the lightless realm as she taught Asher and swiftly Asher learned.
Nadra taught him a great many things, the foremost of which was how to wield and maintain a weapon. You see, martial skills were taught to every young drew from their family's weapons master. Most learned for centuries, carefully honing their skills with weapons both sharp and blunt. Nadra would ensure that Asher received similar training, though she would have to fulfill the job of weapons master, and their weapon selection was limited to those she had earned before she left. Fortunately, each of these were painstaking crafted with the enchant of silence. Regardless of what they touched, Nadra's weapons would never make a single sound. You see Nadra had always valued secrecy, and as they traded blows, she silently taught him the dance of death.
While always at the forefront of her teachings, combat was far from the only thing Asher learned in those days. Nadra taught him the language of the drew, and that of his orcish kindred as well. She taught him the language of merchants, the common tongue that few would fail to understand.
All these things Asher learned swiftly, always striving to please his mother. Cooking, sewing, and stitching, fighting, and speaking, these were the daily lessons they would practice.
But alas, all things must end. 5 years ago, Nadra had awoken with a start and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the dagger than had been aimed for her right eye as she lie on her back sleeping peacefully. The dagger struck the stone where her eye had been a moment ago with a loud clang. Nadra instantly knew these could not be just any drew, as few could manage to get so close without waking her.
Asher bolted awake upon hearing the clang of metal on stone.
Nadra quickly drew her short sword and dagger and began to circle her opponent as 4 more drew rounded the bend in the corridor.
Asher drew his longsword and lifted his mace carefully moving toward his mother.
The drew around them grew rather excited; midnight beast corpses were quite valuable on the markets in crystal cave. Many necromancers sought to reanimate their corpses. Due to their size, they could make quiet formidable skeletons or zombies even in their adolescence.
Nadra struck swiftly and slit the throat of her first opponent. He stared at her in disbelief as he grabbed his throat, the blood spurting through his hands as he fell to the ground. Gurgling sounds came from his throat as he attempted to breathe.
Nadra didn't bother to cast him a second look as she moved toward the nearest drew.
Asher quickly moved to her side, nearly slipping in the newly shed blood.
Nadra shook her head and Asher backed away as she charged into the drew.
She moved right, she moved left, Nadra became a blur as she danced her dance of death as her blades moved from one opponent to the next. Cleanly hitting their mark, a slice here a cut there, every movement she made caused her enemies pain and more blood to flow upon the cave floor.
As her opponent's blood drained and they became weaker, Nadra grew stronger, and the bloodlust grew more obvious in her eyes. As the bloodlust grew, her movements became far more daring and the drew began to fall in death.
But alas, even Nadra could not be everywhere. As she struck down the fourth drew, the fifth had managed to get behind her and stab her in the left shoulder, cleanly leaving his dagger embedded within her body.
Nadra quickly spun around, decapitating the fifth drew, thus vanquishing the last of their attackers.
Asher quickly approached his mother, unsure of what to do.
Nadra spoke. "Son, I can already feel the poison coursing through my veins, and I will soon be leaving you. Gather what you can from the dead. Take my amulet and wear it always, as there are those among the drew that know of your existence and will recognize you from its emblem. I doubt any of them will aid you, but they also will not hunt you and that, may prove to be a great blessing. I know it isn't much, and you still have much to learn, but it's all I can do."
Nadra used her right hand to remove the dagger lodged deep within her shoulder and carefully grabbed the hilt. As she drew it from its fleshy sheathe, a sickening smell of rancid meat began to emit itself from her shoulder. Nadra drowsily made her way to the drew she had decapitated and returned the dagger to its original sheathe as she continued. "This dagger carries the power of death. I recognize it from my time among the drew. Any who this blade touch will quickly wither and die just as I am now. Keep it in this sheathe, and only draw it when you have no other choice..."
Her voice grew fainter with each word until she collapsed upon the ground. Asher held her head in his lap long after the light dimmed from her eyes. He found himself unsure of how to proceed without Nadra's guidance.
Eventually he heeded Nadra's last words, Asher lashed the enchanted dagger in it sheathe to his leg and quickly removed the armor and gear from the dead drew and gathered what belongings they had possessed into a pile. The drew that possessed the dagger had many rings upon his fingers and a bag upon his back.
Asher opened the bag and began carefully placing the daggers and other small items the group of drew had possessed into the backpack. As he placed things inside, he found himself amazed that it never seemed any fuller. It didn't even seem to weight more. Asher continued to place all the drew's gear inside. While the bag seemed far too small to contain all that he had managed to pack thus far, he continued to place things in the bag in astonishment until nothing remained of the pile, he had gathered from the slain drew.
Carefully he gathered his and his mother's belongings, lashing those he could to his body, and adding the rest to the collection within his backpack.
Lastly, he moved to his mother, the scent of long rotten flesh had already become prevalent about her body. In mere moments, Asher watched her body return to dust. The enchantment of the dagger was incredibly powerful. In moments, Nadra's body had decayed more than it naturally would in years. This was just as well, as the floor was solid rock, so he could not bury her, and he knew nothing of the existence of fire. He gently removed Nadra's weapons and armor and carefully placed them in his backpack. He had already grown far to large for any of it to fit him, and as he continued to grow, he would fit into less and less of the gear his mother had made for him.
Asher shook himself back to reality. Remembering the long dead would not aid him now, and a great many more items had been added to his backpack from those that sought to slay him, yet still it remained as light as it did on that day.
Asher wasn't as merciless as his mother had been in her slaying. At times he had allowed intelligent creatures to flee from him after their comrades were slain and thus far, none who escaped had ever sought out a second battle. This please Asher, as he truly sought to be left alone.
Unfortunately, all actions bear consequences, even mercy. Asher had unknowingly grown quite a reputation in lightless realm from the stories and exaggerations told by those that had lived. With each telling, Asher's notoriety grew. As did his bounty.
As Asher's bounty grew, so too did the hatred for the midnight beasts. Asher stood as proof to the drew that they could become far too powerful to control, and their cunning and savagery could not be contained. As such, midnight beasts began to be slain in their cribs, no longer allowed to grow even to adolescence. The corpses that once fetched a great price from the necromancers of the realm, were now avoided, shunned, and destroyed.
Yet life is never quite so simple or definitive. Asher's reputation created opportunities for those in the illegal black markets of the lightless realm. Many had begun to breed their captive orcs and drew in the hopes of creating a champion for the gladiatorial games.