Sheela

**Sheela** was a Katolis women who originally served Viren during his invasion of Xadia before betraying the dark mage and joining the Dragon Lord and Princess Darkness. Becoming a member of the Black Army, Sheela would lead several Greers during Princess Darkness's second invasion of Xadia and the Human Kingdoms and oversaw construction on the Wooden Bridge that was being built to connect the Shadowlands and the land of Celtica in preparation for invasion.

## History

Sheela was born in the Kingdom of Katolis during the year of Deragoth, making her a Dark-born — one born under the Birth Sign of Deragoth, Spirit of Darkness. At some unknown point in time, Sheela joined the Dragon Lord under the belief that Dark-borns should rule above those of all other signs and became a Dark One, being given the Mark of the Wolf upon her inner left forearm, becoming one of the several hundred Dark Ones situated in Katolis, waiting for the Dark Lord's signal to drop their facade and strike out at the unsuspecting members of the community while the Dragon Lord's forces invaded, crippling the entire nation in a single day. Sheela, like all the Dark Ones based in Katolis was placed under the command of Viren and during a Dark One meeting, she openly declared her loyalty to the High Mage when he spoke of how any Dark One that turned against their cause would be eliminated.

At an unknown point in time, she joined the Katolis military and eventually rose to the rank of commander, becoming acquainted with Soren during this time. She took part in the Moonshadow's Elves Attack on the Katolis Castle, and was among the few soldiers defending the royal bedchambers that were not killed, and, alongside several other soldier, successfully killed Callisto, with Sheela striking the fatal blow. After the battle ends with the deaths of King Harrow, Ram, Skor, Andromeda and multiple soldiers, Sheela, Soren and several other survivors surround Runaan, holding the assassins' leader at spear point before Claudia orders them to step down, telling them they can find more practical uses for him. She later attends King Harrow's funeral and watches with a mixture of fascination and horror as Claudia sets the king's coffin alight with dark magic. Sheela later accompanied Viren to the Pentarchy, but was kept from entering the meeting the the Pentarchy guards, forcing her to wait outside for the High Mage. This the first sign of her loyalty to Viren. Later on, she stands guard over the dungeons where Viren is being kept after being accused of going against the High Katolis Council. Despite this, she allowed Saleer and Kasef after being bribed by the traitorous advisor and was later revealed to be associated with Saleer's plot to set Viren up as king of Katolis, making her a secret traitor to the throne. The evening after Ezran is forced to set down from the throne to allow Viren to take the throne, Sheela is among among the assembled crowd of soldiers, smiling in triumph as she watches her master take power. He tells the Katolisans that he's humbled to stand before them, the greatest fighting force in the history of human-kind. They cheer at this, and he continues that Xadia hates them and would destroy them if they let them. They, however, will fight back. He tells them that before they embark on this journey, there is one unpleasant matter. Ezran's last act as king was to insist that those who no longer wish to fight will be allowed to lay down their arms. The crowd jeers at this. Viren tells the "cowards" to leave, that they don't want them anyway. At this, Marcos steps forward and stabs his sword in the ground. He takes off his helmet and places it above the sword, renouncing his loyalty to the crown. He is joined by Esperanza, Fen and around a quarter of the crowd. Sheela and her remaining confederates jeer at the warriors in disgust, but Viren tells them to let them be, to return safely to their families. He continues that even their families will know their families are deserters. He holds up a badge, saying that they will wear the badge of shame and cowardice on their clothing, a broken link. He tells the crowd that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and it is better to be rid of their weak links today. The crowd cheers excitedly at this statement and let out a scream to delight at Viren's declaration of war. The next day, the remaining warriors of the armies of Katolis, Del Bar, Evernere and Neolandia march towards the border, lead by Viren, Soren, Claudia, Kasef, Brenthor, Saleer, Sheela and Viren's other original followers. As the armies arrive at the destroyed Breach, Sheela canters forwards on her chestnut battle-mare to Viren, asking her lord what they should do now that they were stranded of the human side, telling him their only other option would be to march south or north and sail past the border, which would take months. However, Viren tells her that there is no need to ask, pulling out the Dragon Horn Claudia had given him, telling her that "impassable is just another kind of passable." She then watches as Viren a spell of dark magic that parts the lava entirely, allowing a clear path. She tells the armies that their way is clear before screaming "*DEATH TO OUR ENEMIES*" where she is answered by a united cheer before urging her horse forwards to follow Viren as the soldiers surge forth, onwards into Xadia. Sheela later asks Viren where they should march now they are within Xadia, nervously pointing out the lands around the Breach are constantly patrolled by Sunfire Elves and does not wish to risk an encounter with the elves, which would weaken their armies. Viren assures her that it will not come to that, telling her that they are after the Dragon Prince, and must therefore march to the Storm Spire. When she asks if he really wishes to attempt to cross the Midnight Desert, he assures her that he has a different idea in mind and commands the army to began marching north, much to Sheela's incredulity, as the march would lead them straight to Lux Aurea, the Sunfire Elves' Stonghold, asking if Viren was mad, only to be silenced by Viren, who assures her he has a plan, causing her to (albeit reluctantly) order the troops forward. As the army approaches the elven city, Sheela notices the caterpillar perched on Viren's ear, asking Saleer through the corner of her mouth if Viren was talking to a bug, only to be answered by a shrug. After Viren returns from a destroyed Lux Aurea, Sheela stands next to the other commanders as Viren announces his intentions of bestowing his followers with "a gift", and watches as he transforms Prince Kasef into a monsterous, humanoid creature, a strange smile flickering on her face, in contrast to most of the soldiers horror. Due to her valued skills as a commander, Viren does not transform Sheela into a monsterous soldier and she is later seen riding her chestnut mare towards the spire, slightly behind Claudia, leading the army and urges the battle-mare forwards to follow Viren as he gallops forwards, leading the millions of "humans" towards the battlefield.

As they approach the battlefield, Sheela, now wielding a spear, smirks at Claudia's sarcastic comment about retreating and, alongside the other still-human commanders, begins shouting orders and using the butt of her spear to keep the enhanced soldiers in line before letting them loss with a flick of her hand at Viren's command. She then rides quickly to safety to avoid being trampled and joins Viren, Claudia, Saleer and the rest of the generals on a hill as they watch the slaughter, Sheela ruthlessly saying that their dead warriors are no great loss. She then watches as Claudia casts "Noctu Igne", releasing a ball of energy that destroys the formation of the elves, laughing aloud at the elves resistance. However, her laughter is cut short as Zia sends a whirlwind of fire on the monster army, consuming and killing hundreds of the army despite their thought immunity to the flames, much to Sheela's shock. Appalled that the flames could bypass Viren's magic, Sheela whips around to questioning the mage how this was, to which Viren answered that the fire must have some sort of enchantment before quoting her back with her words of how the deaths of a few hundred of the soldiers were no great lot, causing her to blush with furious embarrassment. As the dark forces seem to be in sight of victory, Ezran finally returns on the back of Pyrrah, accompanied by several Dragons, which boosts the morale of all allies, including Soren. The dragons fly over the army and scorch Viren's followers, while Claudia protects her father, Saleer, the commanders, including Sheela, and herself using the spell "Tenebris Praesidium", creating a force field. Due to their fiery enchantment, the soldiers prove to not only be immune to fire but are strengthened by it. The dragons begin to descend onto the ground, where Viren's men have prepared ballistae that shoot them down using heavy chains, Sheela gallops forwards and shouts to fire, before joining the generals in charging into the fray, spearing a Sunfire Elf, only to have her spear knocked out of her hand by a rampaging Neolandia soldier, causing her to scream in rage and lash out at him before tearing his axe out of his hand, leaving him defenseless to be crushed as Prince Kasef forces the dragon he was riding to crash to the ground, causing Sheela to reply "go riddance". Though victory seems to be in sight, Sheela stops to watch Kasef hold Callum by the throat. Just then, and arrow pierces through his palm, followed by two more, one going through his chest and other into his skull. The archer turns out to be Aanya, Queen of Duren, whose men launch a volley of arrows onto the enemy army as soon as Kasef is taken out. Aanya is accompanied by Opeli, Corvus, Barius, Marcos, Gren, Ezran's other loyalists and the resistances of Del Bar, Evernere and Neolandia, who have called Duren for help in the dire situation. Together with Ezran on Pyrrah's back, the allied forces storm towards their enemy, where each of them shows an exceptional display of skill to eliminate the foes. Knowing the battle is over, Sheela turns her horse and ruthlessly abandons the army and Viren, successfully fleeing into the hills and is therefore not captured. Because of her betrayal of the royal family and her crucial role in Viren's invasion, Sheela became wanted throughout the lands for her crimes.

Sheela eventually willingly joined the Dragon Lord's side alongside many more of Viren's former allies. She was made commander of a troop of Greers, but the first plans for an Xadian invasion was halted by winter. Eventually, after Darkness began making preparations for her invasion, she sent a group of Black Army members alongside a small army of Greers and Wargals to raid the kingdom Celtica, which was separated from the eastern Shadowlands by the Celtic Fissure and capture and enslave the local miners. She then uses these slaves to build a bridge across the Fissure which separates Celtica and the Mountains of Rain and Night, where her headquarters was, enabling her to march part of her army across it and attack the allied army from the rear in the upcoming battle. She also sent Sheela and a Neolandia man named Wrass to oversee the construction, along with a platoon of monsters to reinforce the guards stationed there. One night, as Sheela and Wrass watch over the bridge, Sheela complains to the Neolandian man about their current situation, grumbling about the coldness to the sector of mountainside they were camped in and protesting about their alliance with the Skandians, who she viewed as "untrustworthy mercenaries", though she is cautioned against her complaints by Wrass, as Darkness had eyes and ears everywhere. Unbeknownst to the two, the group were being spied on by Callum, Rayla and Claudia, who realize from their conversation that the plans the allied army had captured earlier were actually false after Claudia identified Sheela and Wrass as former followers of Viren who double-crossed him to join Darkness's side. Callum was enraged by Sheela's presence especially, as, even though she had been a member of the Katolis Royal Guard, she had bowed and scrapped at the Dragon Lord's feet. She later took part in trying to save the bridge after it is set alight by Callum, Rayla, Claudia, Soren, Horace and Evanlyn, and suffers a arrow in the shoulder, which is blocked mainly by her shoulder armour plate. After the bridge collapsed, she and Wrass return to Darkness to report the bridge's destruction, ordering their warriors to return to the main body of the army and await Darkness's instructions. She presumably participated in the following battle.

Sheela and Wrass later sacked and made camp at what they though was Raladin, the capital city of the Ralad tribe, leading a small army of Greers on the false city in the dead of night. Due to Raladin's lack of resources, many of their Greers froze to death in the freezing atmosphere, as winter had come, but were forbidden to return to the main force of the Dragon Lord's army. Sheela spoke to Wrass about the state of the war, complaining to Wrass about their stationing and asking why they cannot return to the main body of the army, not seeing any sense in guarding a destroyed village, expressing a belief that all the Ralads were dead with hunger by that point and believing that the lack of bodies to be seen by Slithraa and his dragon that observed the village to make a report to the Dragon Lord was the reason for their situation. She also displays a disgust for the Greers, wishing that they had proper troops instead of "these disgusting objects" and complaining about their slowness, inability to move silently, all-but-useless nocturnal vision and their next to no intelligence, which she compares it to that of a "brute beast", and grumbles that their master was to impatient and that he should have perfected his foot soldiers before his invasion, believing that if he had, they would have destroyed everything in their path and successfully reached Skandia's shores before the winter began, which Wrass cautioned her against, since the Dragon Lord had spies everywhere. A moment later, a shadow appeared over the camp. Thinking it was one of the thirteen dragons of the Forsworn sent to kill her for her disobedient words, Sheela threw herself on the ground and pleaded for her master's forgiveness and Wrass's aid in explaining herself as her companion attempted to remove himself from her presence, earning her curious glances from the Greers. However, Wrass identified it as a wild blood red earth dragon, which had been sent by the Ralads to provide a distraction so they could rescue Callum, who was hiding nearby.

In the following spring, Sheela's fraction of the army was replenished with a fresh troop of Greers to finish off the remaining armies of the north of Skandia and march on to Xadia and the Human Kingdoms. She, a Duren Bandit commander named Trell and a few other commanders, were ordered to lead the first forces of the Dragon Lord's armies in their attack the city of Hira, which was the last bastion of resistance in the north and had already been able to repel them once before. However, after the army enters the plains, which was surrounded on all sides by the Broad River, the Ralads had destroyed the bridge, forcing the army to press on to Hira not just to destroy it but also to seize its boats for transportation. As the army approaches the city, they behold around a thousand Plains warriors—a tenth of the numbers they faced—arranged on across the plains, much to Sheela's bewilderment, as she did not understand why they had left the safety of Hira, only to be snapped at by Trell, who tells her they had only been forced to retreat from Hira because the snow overtook them and tells her that, by destroying the the bridge, which had raised their master's anger and caused him to desire Hira's destruction first, which Sheela disapproves of, believing fury to be no good reason to attack as city as strong as Hira, though she reluctantly quells when Trell savagely asks her if she'd care to tell this to their master herself, causing the woman to shoot him a frightened, resentful look and fall silent. This confirms to Trell the warning Wrass had given to him of how Sheela's months of isolation in the Ralad Wilds, away from the main army camp, had "given her a belief that she had the right to think for herself". However, these months with her isolated forces had also caused her remaining Greers and Wargals to become accustomed and loyal to her to an extent that Trell is uncertain how they may react if he struck her down before their eyes, causing Trell to begin plotting on possibly getting rid of Sheela and her surviving forces after the Shadow Army took Hira. As the Greers finally catch sight of the Plains army, Sheela and the other human commanders begin shouting at the Greers, ordering them to keep step, although it soon becomes clear that the Greers could not control their bloodthirsty nature for much longer. As the Greers begin their reckless charge at the Plains lines, Sheela urgently turns her horse's head and, alongside Trell, gallops across the front line of Greers till they reached safety beyond the army lines, where they turn to watch the charging monsters. Concerned due to the Plains troops confidential taunting the Greers, Sheela begins a suspending that they were walking into a trap and tried to warn Trell, but he ignored her attempt to warn him, shouting that she was as foolish as she was ugly and claiming that she and her fears meant nothing, causing her to snap her mouth shut as Trell orders his Greers forward to fight the Plains soldiers. As a result of this, all the Greer's under her control, which were among the army's first lines, were killed falling into the pit trap the Ralads had constructed on the slope of the Hira Plains. Frantically, Trell shouts at a frozen-faced Sheela to do something, which she rebukes by asking how she, who Trell claims meant nothing, could do. The pit eventually filled with bodies, allowing Trell's army to engage the Plains soldiers, but by this point reinforcements from the Humans, Elves, Jalis, Ralad, Dwarf, Nomads, Urgals, and Dread Gnome tribes had left the city and were decimating the Greer forces, causing Trell to gallop forwards. As Sheela gallops across the battlefield, she beholds a separate enemy army of horse, goat and magical animal-riding Mere, Dwarves and Elves attacking the forces, alongside a few Dread Gnomes and the black clouds of Bees from the once haunted Place of Spirits stinging to madness the remaining Greers who the attackers were not slaughtering. Sheela is the first to realise they were not simply facing only the Plains people, knowing that no Plains person was so small of stature or skilled with the bow, to Trell's incredulity and pointing out that the new forces now stream out of the city were not all Plains people, but also Mere, Humans of the other kingdoms and elves and how Ralads were carrying the wounded away. As Tell attempts to regain his confidence by claiming that they will still overwhelm the forces, prompting a bark of laughter from Sheela as, at that very moment, hundreds of armoured Jalis and Urgals surge onto the plains from behind the city, closing in on both sides of the army like avenging furies, causing Sheela to comment with interest that that was what a Jalis knight looked like. Realising the battle was lost, and that she was no longer needed, Sheela prepared to ride away. When Trell questioned her, she mocked his incompetence in the battle, causing him to stab her through the heart. As she died, Sheela thanked Trell for giving her a quick death over facing their master's wrath. Sheela's body then slumps and falls to the ground. Her chestnut mare, now free from her hated burden, gives a snort of pleasure and canters away. It is unknown what became of her body.

## Personality

Sheela was short-tempered and was known to speak her mind. She was slightly overconfident in the fray of battle, and, like all Dark Ones, believed that being a Dark-born made her superior to all others born under another Birth Sign and especially loathes Light-borns — those born under the constellation of Deragoth's counterpart and wife, Lytherin. She was also a decent and cautious commander, shown during the Battle for the Lands where she was suspicious of the Skandian army's choice to meet the Greers outside the walls of their city. Though she was loyal to Viren, her true allegiance lay with the Dragon Lord and she was willing to betray the Mage and join the Wolf and his lieutenant, Princess Darkness's Black Army. She also displayed a disregard for the enhanced warriors of Viren's Army's life, willingly watching a soldier being crushed without a flicker of regret.