Layla

Layla is the 21st hero that you will unlock at Stage 3050.

## Story

Layla grew up in Serin, a small camp near the southern woods of Celenis. Her parents
were gatherers, the forest provided for them and her. Since her early years, Layla was a
curious kid, she liked to explore the forest and wander when her parents turned their
look the other way. It was almost impossible to constrain her. At times she was leaving
at sunrise and returning home at … Well she wasn’t, her parents had to search half the
forest screaming her name in hope that she would return to them. It wasn’t that she was
irresponsible but instead she was so absorbed by the mysteries of the world. Most of
the time she would just stalk some weird creature or the stars. Her favorite place was
the ancient portal northwest of Serin. Every time she was there, she was thinking about
the armies that crossed it in the past and the amazingly strong mages and warlocks that
were keeping it active. Little was known about it but one thing everyone knew for sure.
Its walls had seen both great and terrible things.

The years were passing by peacefully for Layla’s family she grew up to be a teenager.
Growing up her curiosity only grew stronger and the portal, her favorite place, was
becoming more and more interesting for her. She could stay there and role-play even by
herself for hours at a time. It was a sunny summer day that everything changed
however. “Her” portal would change her life once and for all. That day Layla was
roleplaying a grand general marching through the portal, looking high at the sky, feeling
almost like a god. There she was and behind her, an imaginary army. As she was
passing below the portal arc, she stumbled on a small rock and tripped to the wall of it.
Somewhere between the pain, from her face hitting the ancient rocks, and feeling stupid
for what happened she saw a relief text. She stretched her arm and wiped the dust of it.
It was just some words not in a dialect that she could speak. They seemed like ancient
elvish. She tried to read them as the symbols were not very different from the modern
elfish. She said “Saeul, Tir neus”. She didn’t knew it at the time but that meant “Gate
open”. At first nothing happened, then she thought of it as a game, the words were cool
anyway. So she started repeating the words again and again. Louder and with more
emotion every time. Then she stood up again raised her arms and said it again. Nothing
happened again. Demotivated as at the moment her mind was creating scenarios and
possibilities of what would happen she bent her head and started walking away. She felt
hungry so going back to the camp seemed the right thing to do. She walked just a few
steps when the earth around the portal started to shake intensively. She was so terrified
yet excited that she didn’t know if she should run or look back. For a moment her
curiosity won, she looked back to see something spectacular. The ancient portal was
being activated. Beams of light and magic were forming weird shapes on the air. At that
point Layla started sweating in the thought of “what if?” . So she did what well…..a few
kids would do. She walked in it even though she knew that at some point her curiosity
would get her into big trouble.

Walking into the portal took her to a mysterious place. Pure energy was flowing in
abundance forming something like a tunnel. Something was telling her that she had to
keep walking to get out of it and so she did until she found an exit. Layla was now in a
very unfamiliar place. It seemed like a small alley. So she kept walking until she hit the
main road. There were people there; it seemed that she was in a small town. “Excuse
me sir”. “Where am I?” she said to a stranger passing by. “Where are you? You are in
Mythshore, where are your parents?” . Before she replied a tall and noble stranger
joined the conversation and said, “Here I am, Layla. I was looking for you, please follow
me”. Layla was terrified, she was in an unknown place and somehow a stranger was
calling her by her name. Yet something was telling her to trust him, and so she did.

“So what is happening? Who are you?” . “I apologize if I scared you, my name is Laine.
I am the wizard king of Stormspire.”, the stranger replied. “A wizard king? What is
happening?”, Layla was intrigued. “The whole magical world sensed the opening of the
portal you went through, it was deactivated for millennia. You are lucky that I managed
to find you first. I am sure that by now the evils of our world will be looking for you”. At
that moment cold sweat started flowing Layla’s young body. “But why?” she said. “I only
said a few words that I read on the portal. How was it activated?”. “There is a lot you do
not know about young girl. For now rest knowing that you are special, you need to
follow me to StormSpire and you will learn the rest in time.

Layla trusted and followed the wizard king and she was asking questions and getting
answers she never expected to hear or be true. Apparently she was not the kid of her
parents. Layla was a direct descendant of a very powerful evil and corrupted mage
named Sigmur. Her mother priestess Fara was blessed with great powers as well. That
was a very unsettling union. When she got pregnant on Layla her father practicing
necromancy learned a prophecy about his daughter. She was about to become one of
the most powerful magic wielders of all time. So he wanted to secure and corrupt her
away from her mother in order to train her in the dark arts once she would be born. He
got so consumed by the idea that he misled the mother of his child to follow him into a
dark forest. There he threw her into a cave and summoned an earth golem to make
sure she wasn’t getting out. Until she would give birth so he could steal her kid. For her
good luck, he was underestimating her powers and one day that he was not present
Fara cast a spell on the golem and crumbled it into pieces. She returned to Stormspire
and swore that she would never see Sigmur again. Yet she knew that her still unborn
daughter would forever be in great danger as her father would seek her for the rest of
his life.

The time was passing by and she eventually gave birth to Layla. She could sense the
great energy flowing her body and remembering Sigmur acts all she wanted to do is
protect her daughter no matter what. She started formulating a plan with King Laine and
they came up with a good, yet painful idea. They understood that no matter what they
did if Layla was going to grow up next to her mother she would always have a target on
her back. So the plan was to hide her somewhere that no one would ever look. So they
located a couple that wanted kids but couldn’t in the small camp of Serin. Layla would
be adopted and raised with love away from the danger she was facing.

That was until she opened the portal by accident, the target was on her again so hiding
was pointless anymore. When they reached Stormspire Layla was reunited with her
mother Fara and cached up for all the lost years. Now a teenager who apparently
already fulfilled the prophecy by opening the portal that hundreds of powerful mages
tried in the past and none could, Layla needed training. She knew that one day the evil
forces would come for her and she would need to be ready. She chose to become a
priestess like her mother and train using the holy power of light. During the day she was
training and during the night she was sleeping. No breaks, no vacations. Her whole life
turned upside down. The risk was so high for her that she couldn’t get out of Stormspire
to even notify her foster parents. Instead they send someone to deliver the news.

A few years later Layla, an adult by then and more powerful than ever, felt “ready”. She
couldn’t stay in Stormspire forever anyway, that would be a slow death by boredom. So
when she felt ready she decided to travel to the House of Prayer in Talamer, to study
the holy scrolls of the Elves. Fara suggested that it would be a good idea to travel
together for protection and companionship as the trip was very long. After all, she
wanted to see the Elven capital once again. So they rode their horses and started
heading there. Most of the trip was peaceful, full of laughs and stories. They were doing
regular stops in small villages for supplies and to assist the people and heal their injured
or sick. Things were about to change once again as they were approaching Mythshore
to take the ship for Celenis however. Sigmur, Layla’s father, had set a trap. He left them
untouched during the rest of the journey so they would let down their guard. He set an
ambush and took them both hostages. He then led them back to Bayshire. The now
abandoned village was his base of operations. As he had sided with evil the undead
were offering him protection and he was offering his services in return. Once they
arrived he took both of them to an Old house of Prayer and imprisoned them there. His
request was that Layla join him and forsake her mother and the good forces. He
promised her incredible power and knowledge. She only had to join the evil. Layla
refused, she would never leave her mother and be corrupted like her father. Her father
didn’t lose hope, he believed that a few time in his prison guarded by Undead would
make her change her mind. Layla’s mind was made however, no matter what he was
trying she wasn’t changing her decision. So he thought that it would be a “clever” idea to
use her mother as leverage. The following months he led her into starvation, he tortured
and abused her. Her mother was begging him for mercy and at the same time she was
reminding Layla not to become a monster like him. The things that Fara withstood are
enough to call her a hero. Eventually though, even a hero can perish. Sigmur
understood that his plan wasn’t working and in a sudden wake of his old emotions for
Fara he decided to end her suffering. Layla was devastated. That crushed even her last
hopes and she collapsed. Sigmur by now he understood that she wasn’t going to join
him and if he was going to let her walk free she would just seek revenge. So he left her
there to rot in the prison.

Layla thought that the end of her days was coming, but once again she was wrong. She
suffered prison for 2 years in total until one day that Sigmur was absent a group of
soldiers raided the house of prayer. This was Valerius' party that they were chased by
undead forces and they seeked refuge there unaware of the presence of Layla. Layla
was sleeping as she was exhausted by her long imprisonment. Fara’s ghost was still
haunting the House of Prayer. She was refusing to leave the world as long as her
daughter was there. She was channeling power to help her endure her imprisonment.
The voice that called Valerius and the light he saw, that gave him his powers, was Fara.
She blessed Valerius in hope that she would crush all the Undead forces so Layla would
escape as well. As she channeled her power her ghost vanished from existence though,
something she didn’t expect and that deprived her the chance to inform him about
Layla. As we know Valerius with his powers cleared the whole place destroying every
single Undead. A few hours later Layla woke up from her long sleep. For the first time in
2 years there was absolute silence. There was no sign of Undead, just broken bones
here and there. She didn’t know what was going on but she didn’t lose her chance. She
cast a spell that broke the lock on her cell and ran with whatever powers she had left.
She managed to return to Stormspire and told her story.

In time her wounds and her will recovered and her father was right for one thing. That
she would be filled with hate. From that moment Layla trained so hard to become
stronger than ever before. Her father learned the news eventually and he knew that it
was his time to hide because his daughter was now out for blood.

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