Marja

The Ash Weaver

**Marja** is the 68th Hero in the game Arena of Valor, classified in the categories of mage and tank.

## Profile

* Date of Birth: Mar 1
* Place of Birth: Mt. Orphean
* Height: 186cm
* Age: 1000+

## Lore

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

The champion maiden of the Veda, the skilled of the skilled, the top apprentice of Edras, the Vedan Magician… Marja was all of these at once and the world loved her for it. Even Volkath, a captive of Edras, put aside his prejudice and hate for the Veda to pursue a romance with Marja.

Brave and cunning, Volkath could do no wrong in Marja’s eyes. Though everyone was mortified by this union, the two fell deeply in love. However, they were blessed by none and doomed to split, for their backgrounds clashed and their ideals were in complete contradiction. After a public fallout between Volkath and Edras, poor Marja was in a dilemma. Her master, should she stand by her master, who stood for all of her beliefs, or her lover? There was no way she could choose.

The Veda expected all of its members to stand together against their common enemy, leaving everyone displeased to see Marja sitting on the fence. Though Edras understood and supported Marja’s concerns, the others treated her as a traitor. Marja was a stubborn girl, however, and did not back down despite the controversy. Instead, it only made her more convinced that she was not in any way at fault.

The war continued for a thousand years until Edras fell and Volkath retreated, injured. Marja was now hated by all in the Veda. She was no longer considered Edras’ successor, and was instead fingered as the one who had worked with the enemy to bring about the great leader’s demise.

The Veda had evidence that Marja had lent a hand to Volkath, helping him gain powers that were not supposed to be his. Marja herself admitted that it was so. “I did help Volkath, but that was before the war began,” she explained. “This doesn’t mean that I’m against the Veda—I just supported his beliefs. Never did I give him any aid when he was fighting Master Edras.

The enraged crowds did not let her finish her speech. The verdict was out immediately, and Marja would be punished by the hands of Ilumia, the new Seer.

Your title, your powers, all will be taken from you. You will spend the pitiful remainder of your life slowly being devoured by bugs in your dark, cold cell. So, that’s the price you must pay for love, huh? How sweet! I’m so jealous!” Ilumia cackled, finally able to get her much-desired revenge, for she, centuries before, had also loved Volkath from afar, yet her love had always been unrequited.

Marja did not deign to reply to Ilumia’s snide remarks, considering it pointless to pick a fight now. Unable to get a rise out of her, Ilumia left with a disappointed shrug. The shadow worms in the Phantom Pit, however, were getting ready for the time of their lives. Marja, with her boundless angst, would taste so good! But Marja also looked a bit creepy. Dare they come close to her?

“Eat away, eat away! I won’t be able to escape this prison unless you guys are well-fed,” Marja said, comforting the terrified shadow worms.

As the judgment was carried out in haste, no one really knew the details of how Marja helped Volkath with entering the Abyssal Fissure through the Phantom Pit and obtaining dark powers from the Lokheim. And Marja herself had also received precious dark powers from Volkath, one of the rare few gifts he had sent. Though no longer a goddess, though no longer powerful, Marja was still ready. It was only a matter of time. Soon, she would rise again.

“The day will come when I return and bring judgment to you all.”

## Trivia

* DDth Month YYYY — introduction of HERO.