Verlian followed the trail of blood left by Ravynne from the village to the forest with Ashke and Dino in tow. It was easy to find where the battle had taken place. He looked around at all of the blood and snarled. The snow was dyed a deep red and the bark of one of the tree trunks looked as if someone had splashed paint on it. He felt sick as he imagined what Ravynne went through in this very spot.
Ashke was feeling just as disgusted. He stood there with one arm crossed and the other covering his mouth with his hand. Ashke looked at Verlian who's dark eyes were beginning to shimmer and contort. He'd only ever seen Verlian get like this once before and that was long ago. Did he really have such strong feelings for Ravynne? He clenched the fist of his crossed arm. How could he compete against Verlian for her? At the same time he didn't want to give up his own feelings.
"They went this way." Verlian's voice sounded distorted and evil. Ashke's eyes widened as he jumped in front of him, to get a better look at his face. Verlian had such a look of anger that he looked like a demon. Ashke could feel a terribly dark aura emanating from him. "Verlian! Calm yourself! You're going to lose it if you keep letting your feelings consume you!" Dino ran over to see for himself and immediately hid behind Ashke, who then held out a protective arm in front of him."
Verlian pushed past the two of them and followed a lesser path of blood, which he assumed was from one of the men that attacked Ravynne. "Ashke! What are we going to do?" Dino yelled as he looked up with a look of concern.
Ashke returned his look, "I don't know Dino. I'm going with him, if you want to go back I won't blame you."
Dino shook his head, "No! I'm going too!"
Ashke chased after Verlian, his hands clenched into a tight fist as memories of their past flooded into his mind.
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Many years ago there was a time in which the gods lived in peace together. They were separated by two clans; the clan of Creation and the clan of Destruction. The gods of light (Lita) and the gods of darkness (Tenebris) were the only gods to have dual powers - with the Lita controlling both light and creation, and the Tenebris controlling both darkness and destruction. These two were the ruling class of the others. Numerous other divisions served these gods in their respective clans such as the phoenix gods of the creation clan and the dragon gods of the destruction clan.
This system was hailed as the Celestial Kingdom where strict rules where in place to avoid conflict and keep harmony amongst the clans. However, one day the crown princess of the Lita ran away with a human whom she had fallen in love with. This was a forbidden act in the Celestial Kingdom which was punishable by death. The destruction clan sealed off the entrance to the human world and headed after the princess.
She was brought in and held at trial while her human lover was killed. The destruction clan stated that she had very blatantly disobeyed the laws of the Kingdom and would be punished accordingly, but the creation clan was not yet ready to give up their beloved princess. With no higher power to make a decision and the two clans unable to come to an agreement, the princess was locked away in the land of the destruction clan until a mutual agreement could be reached.
Thousands of years passed and no progress had been made. The creation clan grew tired and initiated a war against the destruction clan to get their princess back. Both clans sent out their strongest divisions to fight as soldiers. The phoenix were sent out to fight on behalf of the creation clan and the dragons on behalf of the destruction clan.
Verlian, the crown prince of the dragons, fought against Ashke, the youngest prince of the phoenix. The two had grown up as friends and hated going head to head but there was nothing they could do. This was their fate.
The dragons spit their fire, snarled their teeth and raised their razor sharp claws but the phoenix simply rose up again with every defeat. Thousands of more years passed before the war finally concluded with the creation clan coming in victorious. Verlian, who had access to even the most secretive places and was a menace on the battlefield, was approached by the Tenebris and instructed to kill the princess....and her child. They may have lost the war, but they would stay on the side of the law. The princess had given birth to the child shortly after being imprisoned. Due to its half human blood, the destruction clan had frozen time around the newborn to prevent any contamination.
Verlian carried out his duties as ordered. The Lita created a new empire which would be solely under their rule. They called it, The Aurelian Empire. The Tenebris would be their underlings and as such, would bring their princess, and heir to the throne, back to them. When they discovered that Verlian had killed the princess, they banished him from the empire to walk the earth.
"You will walk alongside humans as the only one of your kind. Even something as small as a mere rock will be able to cause you bloodshed and disease will invade your immune system. If you are unable to control your anger, your soul will be devoured by the evil that plagues the human race and your godhood will dissipate, condemning you to the world of demons for the all of eternity." That was the verdict.
As additional punishment towards the destruction clan and Verlain, the dragon gods who had served as soldiers in the war, were completely wiped out. Except for their crown prince of course. So Verlian walked the earth, living in solitude. He discovered pain from the smallest and most inconvenient of things and he found that he got angry so often. His immune system was much better than a human's still, but he found himself ill numerous times. He was angry at his clan, he was angry at the Lita, he was angry at their laws and he was angry at this world. His anger flared so much that he began to lose himself in it as he vowed to get his revenge.
Ashke had been sneaking into the human realm and watching his friend from afar, hoping he would stay safe. Once he witnessed Verlian begin to lose himself, Ashke abandoned his life. He had no claim to his throne and had the same feelings as Verlian when it came to The Aurelian Empire and the Lita. He gave up his royal status to become a servant of Verlian, vowing his eternal loyalty.
Together, they walked and eventually found others who had been abandoned in some way or another and soon Evania was founded. More and more people came and they built a wonderful community. Verlian had learned to control his new found anger and became a great leader to Evania. That was what Ashke wanted, but he knew it didn't satisfy Verlian. No, Verlian was after much more than that. He wished that they could just live there as they were, but he was willing to go wherever Verlian wanted.
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The trio came upon the bandits main camp which was quite a bit aways from the battle site. They were tending to their injuries and cursing out the stupid girl that ruined everything for them.
Verlian grabbed one of them by the back of their neck and growled in a low, demonic sounding voice, "Prepare yourselves. Tonight you are going to die in such a horrific way, that you will beg to be reborn and die again just so your spirits don't remember what happened tonight." The man being held screamed and grasped at Verlian's hands while the other men stared in horror and sat frozen in fear. Verlian smirked as he watched their bodies begin to shake.
By the time Ashke and Dino got there, a black cloud was swirling around Verlian. "Verlian, be careful!" Ashke warned.
Verlian clenched his hands slowly, squishing the man's neck between them. His screams turned into a groan as he began to choke. His arms fell to his sides as his neck broke, paralyzing him. Ashke called out for Verlian to stop but he continued until the man's eyes practically popped out of their sockets and he fell to the ground dead. One of the other men began vomiting at the sight and ran off into the woods.
Dino clenched his jaw, "It's too late isn't it." The two stared in horror as Verlian let out a horrifying laugh. "We need to take care of them, Dino hurry! The fewer he kills, the better!" Ashke pulled out his sword and began fighting with the 'big one' as Dino pulled out his dagger and began skillfully slicing at another with blinding speed. Verlian stared at the 'boss' and smiled devilishly, "We meet again. Did you think I would not remember you?" They were the very bandits that had attacked Evania the previous summer which caused Verlian more anger.
The 'boss' grabbed his long sword, his hands shaking in fear, "I-I'll do to you what I did t-to that girl." In an instant, Verlian appeared before him, "You were the one that did that to her?" Sharp teeth appeared in Verlian's mouth as he grabbed the man by the neck of his shirt. "You really shouldn't have bragged about it."