Yuzai Cai'ohe/Story

## History

A harpy and an elf, a myth so unlikely that many would choose not to believe it. Harpies, spoken of with tales of undesirable looks; Elves storied for divine beauty - it was a match the minority would be able to fathom. Born from this unique match was a hybrid boy called Yuzai. They would quickly come to realize that their son was the Shepherd, a warden of magic balance, capable of casting a divine judgement. Four had served their world up until this point, making the newborn baby the Fifth - an incomparable honor.

Unexpectedly, the infant Shepherd was taken from his crib and brought away by strangers. Even after months of intensive search, the Aetherbed servants could find no sign of the Shepherd's whereabouts. Only the Shepherd's Knight Nevaeh - a daimon with the Omniscient Eye of a seer - remained adamant in his quest to retrieve the Fifth. Seven years upon Yuzai's disappearance, Nevaeh finally received an elucidating vision of the Shepherd's whereabouts - a land of exiles who had been punished to spend eternity with low aether for generations to come, raising Yuzai among his ranks to use him as life source. Determined to return the Shepherd to the Aetherbed, Nevaeh issued the command to have his battalion infiltrate the plagued province. The conditions of victory made no arrangements for the denizens. Mercilessly, anyone who stood in his way was cut down, and with them anyone who dared to associate themselves with the enemy.

As it turned out, Yuzai had been rendered into an apathetic weapon by those who raised him, void of emotion and empathy and used for slaughter. The priests were presented with the choice of ending the life of the Fifth or leaving him alive at the risk of him unleashing a mental state of berserk, a risk none of them was willing to take if the fate of the entire world was at stake. Nevaeh, believing the Shepherd to be the Fourth' chosen reincarnation, rose a plea for a previously unconsidered alternative; A familiar. However, the creation was to merely follow the guise of such - in reality, it was generated as an enchanting module, operated through Nevaeh's Omniscient Eye to enable permanent surveillance and mind control of the Fifth. Yuzai would call his familiar Sha'sheru.

Growing up with Nevaeh and Sha'sheru, Yuzai was educated on combat, arts, literature, languages, politics, and moral-as well as social values. Given the circumstances, Yuzai was forced into isolation, away from any outsiders and forbidden to leave the Aetherbed until he could defend himself from danger. To make up for this, Nevaeh would try to spend every possible day at the child's side, play with him and let him know someone would be there for him, no matter the fears the priests harbored.

Eventually, years later, Yuzai started to feel the effects of aether radiation, causing his body to mutate. As it caused the child great pain, Nevaeh decided to let him rest in a pool of aether inside the temple, so he would get through the changes without feeling any of them.

Three years passed. Yuzai emerged from the pool, his body having significantly grown and sprouted two pairs of additional wings on his back. Upon catching up with the lost time, the Shepherd was finally allowed to go on outside missions. Upon completion, he would have to immediately return to the Aetherbed and slumber in the pool. Along the way, Yuzai began reading information about his past lives, including the Fourth, Itotia, whom he was believed to be a direct reincarnation of. Yuzai began to doubt that, feeling inferior to his predecessor.

When Yuzai became older, he came to realize that he desired for Nevaeh to become his Paramour, just like he had been for Itotia, ultimately vocalizing that request. The two of them engaged in a positive affair for a while, the daimon believing "Itotia" had finally remembered their past together. However, as more time passed, and Yuzai's envy of his past life grew, the harmony between them fell apart. Feeling suffocated by his life, Yuzai began to severely disobey the authorities, stealing off and spending time with strangers, including physical encounters. In direct response, Nevaeh and the priests chained the Shepherd down further, making the life of the Aetherbed dulling for the young hybrid. It was then that Yuzai decided to attempt a selfish strategy to sabotage his constant surveillance. [...]

At age 22, Yuzai was summoned for duty to investigate a series of murder in a big city. When confronted with the culprit, a battle ensued, in which the Shepherd desired to have his life taken. However, Sha'sheru switched places with their Master, being corrupted by the lethal curse that should have killed Yuzai. Finding himself unable to revert the curse, he used his Judgement to erase Sha'sheru from existence to end their suffering. With the help of a necromancer, Yuzai was later able to say his final goodbyes to his best friend, whose spirit told him to live free of their control and decide his own path, as well as take on a new familiar, a newborn he would name Padparadscha.

Yuzai remained in the city instead of returning to the Aetherbed, receiving a number of letters from the authorities to return home. Finding friends in two hybrids, a pixie cat sidhe named Faolán, and an elf-human named Eden, and with the guidance of Padparadscha's connection, the Shepherd became able to explore emotions that had been restrained through Sha'sheru for his entire life, trying to overcome the grief his familiar's death had caused him. A few weeks later, Faolán received news from his home, having to leave the city for a while. To cope with the loss of his new friend, Yuzai visited Eden almost daily instead, causing the two of them to become close friends who would soon understand each other blindly. Within time, Eden convinced Yuzai to read the letters that were sent to him. Shocked to find that the latest letters announced the disappearance of Nevaeh, Yuzai grew worried, expressing a wish to investigate. As if triggered by this, Yggdrasil's Realm swallowed the two, inviting them into the wicked Trials.