Location: The Village of Iridwen - Blaidd's Hometown
Over two thousand years ago...
The village of Iridwen basked beneath a soft silver moon, tucked deep within the forest's cradle. Children's laughter echoed among moon-kissed treetops and old boulders.
A young boy with raven-black hair and bright steel-blue eyes sat beside a gently flowing stream. Blaidd, barely more than ten winters old, dipped his hand into the water as fireflies danced around him.
"You think the stars are watching us?" he asked without looking up.
"They're bored. Of course they're watching," said Mysha, nudging him with a grin.
Glonk sat nearby, still and silent. He was the 'Child from the Woods' that appeared in the village one day and stayed. His arms were crossed, expression unreadable even at such a young age. Despite being quiet, he was Blaidd's closest friend--someone who simply stayed.
"We'll always protect each other," Mysha said. "Swear it."
Blaidd and Glonk linked pinkies with hers. "Swear."
But nothing pure stays untouched forever.
Later that night, agony came like a scream in the dark.
Snarls. Fire. Blood. Creatures not of this world tore through the village--beasts covered in ash-black fur with glowing violet eyes. Blaidd's home burned as he clutched a small dagger, covered in soot and tears, helpless as Mysha was dragged into the flame and Glonk was thrown from sight by a beast's swipe.
He ran. Through the trees. Through the screams. Through the cold.
And just before the shadows swallowed him whole--
"Enough."
A blast of dark energy erased the beasts in an instant. Standing above Blaidd, surrounded by curling wisps of black flame, was a cloaked man with silver skin and eyes like shadows--a Shadowfell Descendant.
"You've seen what the world is, boy," he said. "Come. I will teach you how to reshape it."
Blaidd trained for centuries beneath the last known Shadowfell Wizard on a secluded island off the coast of the continent. There, where time drifted like mist, Blaidd studied dark arts, philosophy, Ice-magic, and blades. When he was finally strong enough, he left the island to learn of the world on his own terms.
Not long after, he crossed paths with a young, fiery swordsman named Rikushi--and mentored him for a few years. Though Blaidd kept his distance emotionally, he respected Rikushi's spirit.
But that peace was short-lived.
During a magical skirmish in the northern wilds, Blaidd and his mentor were ambushed by a rogue unit wielding anti-magic weapons. Blaidd was saved--but his master was struck.
The wound wasn't fatal.. not immediately. It was worse.
It drained his essence.
Over the following centuries, the wizard's health declined. Blaidd tried everything, until Stasis Chambers were invented by the scientific sect of RJ&Co. Just as his mentor's breath was beginning to fade, Blaidd sealed him in one, promising he'd return with a way to reverse the curse.
One rainy night in a half-forgotten town, Blaidd walked into a grimy bar and found someone familiar hunched over a chipped drink--Glonk.
The reunion was quiet, but genuine.
After trading stories of survival and ghosts, Glonk made a choice.
"I've got nothin' else, Blaidd. But if you're still fighting to bring him back... then count me in, brotha."
Months later, Blaidd and Glonk raided an underground trading hall operated by Tenebris defectors. Amidst the gold and stolen relics, they found Ceri, bruised, bound, and barely conscious.
Ceri, once a noble-born heir, had been sold off by family for power debts.
Blaidd gave her a choice. "Follow us, or stay forgotten."
She chose to follow.
Three years before they reconnected with Rikushi, the trio ran into a sharp-eyed human girl named Gem during a bounty job. She was unusually fixated on them--specifically on how they didn't treat her like trash.
Turns out, her parents were wealthy mage-hunters... who died under mysterious circumstances only a few weeks before.
She had inherited a fortune.
And she gave most of it to Blaidd.
"Just... don't abandon me," she said.
With that money, Blaidd upgraded the stasis chamber, shielding it from time and entropy.
Back in the present, Blaidd stood at the top of the Tower of Harmony, watching the gentle rise and fall of Hoshina's chest.
His eyes drifted to the small, crystalline necklace around her neck--the same crystal type embedded in the Stasis Chamber that kept his mentor sealed.
The same magical signature...
He clenched his fist. His breath slowed.
Glonk was beside him, but silent. Ceri and Gem waited outside. None of them said a word.
Blaidd didn't need to speak. Not yet.
But his thoughts--dark and rising--echoed alone in the hollow of his mind.
"If only I take that necklace..."