Valdren Wraithshade

*"Has the world forsaken you yet?"* -Valdren

Chaotic Neutral

## Origins

Valdren, rumored to be a love child of the Goddess Zura and a mortal, has shown incredible prowess over the control of Blood in his more recent time of being a Soldier for the Empire. Able to manipulate the blood of his enemies and make them choke on it before inevitably cutting them down, he is not a force to be taken lightly. However, recent events within the Empire have made his stance with them uneasy and have defected to the Rebellion where he is not exactly accepted wholly but he is welcomed as another member to fight against them.

*"In a world surrounded by bloodshed, it's best to make it a bloodbath than to drown in it."*

Where he was born is unknown, but he was raised in the smaller city of ==, nothing special to note but he is definitely not a normal civilian compared to the rest. Fair skin, white hair, and deep, blood-red eyes that all point to him not even being a human, some of the more religious ones even thought to kill the child because he was reminiscent of the monsters from fables; Vampires. Luckily, one of the townsfolk who lived on the farms on the outskirts of town took him in and promised not to bring him near the town out of fear that he'd be slain for misidentification, and should he turn out to be one of those monsters, that he be taken care of appropriately. And that was the last that town ever saw of Valdren.

Fast forward 35 years and Valdren now stands amongst the soldiers of the Empire, as one of their own, as an advocate of 'evil'. Believing himself to be doing the right thing, Valdren has been a soldier for most of his life, starting when he was only 17, making many friends and losing many more along the way. It seems like wherever he goes, death follows but a mere few steps behind him, and one time it was a bit too close for comfort. During one of the battles in which he was taking part in, Valdren and his comrades encountered something that they did not expect, and subsequently were wiped out, he laid there in a pool of his own blood mixed in with the blood of his friends and enemies alike, barely clinging to consciousness as the life started to fade from his eyes- that is, until a shapeless figure began to close in on him from the sky, a single, echoing voice trailing his thoughts in his head, "Rise, and become a Child of Blood.." Valdren could not speak, he could only think at this point, gurgling on his own blood as it gently spilled out of his mouth and rolled down his cheek, 'Save.. me..' he thought in response to the voice. His vision went black, and all went cold for Valdren, he believed his life was over.

*"Blood, ever-flowing, never-ceasing, will flow from me to you, and those you deem worthy. Go now, and act as a child of my own blood."*

Valdren awoke in a panic, heavy breaths and covered in a thick layer of dried blood and soot from fires. He was laying on the battlefield where he fell amongst his deceased friends, he sat up fairly quickly which caused his head to throb painfully, putting his hand to his head he would hold it there for a moment while he closed his eyes and thought to himself, 'How am I alive..' Though this was no time to think, he was in enemy territory and it was only a matter of time before- Oh.. He looked around him for a moment before he realized that someone had already spotted him and several of the rebels had him at spear point.

They took him as the only prisoner, bringing him in shackles and armorless to the town mayor, who was a rather young looking woman, this particular woman was what he and his men did not expect, a mage. They had never fought someone who used magic before, and it was powerful magic that she used; at least second level spells! His eyes widened as she stood and walked over to him, lifting his head to look at her eye to eye, "How is it that a feeble thing like you still lives, from that strangely fresh scar over your stomach you should've been disemboweled and long dead by now. I want answers- now!" She demanded something that not even he knew, a scar? What scar? He looked down after his head was free to see that there was a long horizontal scar running across his entire stomach, he poked at it with shackled hands curiously, seeing if there was any pain associated with it, and there was none.

The town mayor waited for his answer for several moments before she got admitted, "Are you going to speak or are you mute? Huh, pretty boy?" Valdren searched his mind for answers, what could he say? What happened? He's only been awake for a few hours and he's being inquisitioned over something he knows nothing about, he finally spoke, "I... Do not know, I was dead, for sure I know that much... But now I am alive here, now, I do not know, truly!"