Ferox Amata

**Ferox Amata,** otherwise known as **King Ferox of Myria**, is a minor, yet frequently mentioned character in *Challenge of The Shadows.* Even though he has not made an appearance, he has been revealed to be the king of the kingdom, Myria, who the kingdom across from them, Leiden, had disdain for after his old childhood friend and king of Leiden, Acacius, begun taking their supplies in an effort to strain Myria and subsequently take over the land, though failing after signing the peace treaty.

Ferox is one of the main participants in the Leiden-Myrian conflict, attempting to capture the shadow demon and spirit hybrid in order to get the rest of the land for his people that have countlessly suffered at the hands of the kingdom of Leiden. He, however, did not wish to kill the hybrid but attempt to bring him to justice fairly.

## History

### Early History

Little is known about Ferox's early life, though he has been frequently mentioned by many of the characters throughout the series. He was mainly raised in Myria after his parents have discovered the land and built their kingdom, being welcomed warmly by Leiden and eventually befriended Acacius I in childhood because of their passion for sword-fighting. However, his parents had died due to unknown circumstances when he was fourteen, leaving him as the only heir to the throne and ascended after, forcing himself to mature in order to make himself a responsible ruler.

### As king of Myria

Ferox is the king of the forest-like kingdom, Myria. Though it was not as vigorous as it's neighboring kingdom, Leiden, the people were happy and was described as being a determined and optimistic king, unlike the rather scornful and hostile king of Leiden, Acacius. It has been stated that both Ferox and Acacius used to be rather close acquaintances when they were younger, but had fallen out due to their views on the world and their opinion on freedom, where Ferox had a mindset that everyone should be treated equally, the king of Leiden only wanted the people to be his subjects and does not see them as equal. This had caused a rift in their friendship and they slowly started to become rivals with one another. Even though the two became rivals, Ferox showed respect and never said anything foul-mouthed or disrespectful to the king, as he wanted to get back where they were before.

When ruling Myria, Ferox gave more freedom and reasonable codes, but laws that would ensure no crime as they got to enjoy the freedom they had. He was described as a great ruler because of his leadership skills, and due to that, Myria was a peaceful kingdom with rather low crime rates, abundant in resources with people having enough to support their children and families and was described to be a kingdom that did not get into much conflict. In Leiden, however, it was much different than Ferox had hoped for: He had noticed there was high poverty and extremely high crime rates with an alarming death count, despite being so extravagant on the outside with a rather high development scale in richer areas.

As a result, many citizens of Leiden had managed to gain citizenship in Myria in order to live in peace, despite it being in a more developing stage and less wealthier than Leiden. Though, Acacius, the king of Leiden, had started to steal supplies from Myria that were being exported from both Elveria and Misterin. Ferox had confronted Acacius on the matter, but he dismissed the matter, saying it was delayed due to weather. Ferox found it suspicious, as the weather was said to be warm for most of the day and quickly discovered that Leiden had stolen their supplies.

Angered, Ferox went to confront him and attempted to use force to return the supplies, but Acacius refused. No matter how much he tried to convince him, Acacius still refused to return the supplies and launched an invasion on his kingdom, threatening any other kingdom who would send aid with bomb threats, even MIsterin, one of Myria's strongest allies, were stopped from giving aid after Acacius put a blockade up on the Emeritian Strait, the maritime border that is their only way to access Myria. After many subsequent invasions, Ferox started to fight back along with his people, and managed to get Leiden troops to withdraw from the land.

## Appearance

Ferox is a tall man around the age of thirty-three with a slightly muscular build with brown skin and messy, black hair that goes towards his back. His eye's are shown to be two different colors, one being a dark gray tone and one being white with one of his hands having a black claw to replace one of his arms that he had lost. On the left eye, he has a long scar that goes across his face, and on the sides of his head are two, black horns that curl down to his ears.

Ferox's attire consists of a gray bodysuit shirt that has darker sleeves with two, dark gray armor-like padding on the wrist area with a cross necklace hanging down from his neck. Around his chest is light silver chest armor with white rimming and a dark gray belt with silver lining that goes around his hip area. Ferox also dons white, slightly baggy pants with a gray cloak that slings on his shoulders and black boots with dark gray patterns.

## Personality

Even though Ferox was not seen throughout the course of the story, by many accounts of Myrian citizens, he is described to be a rather kind and gentle soul while having a strong sense of justice for those around him with a small distaste towards Acacius due to the treatment of his own people and his kingdom. According to Locaster, he has been described in some writing as being an efficient leader, always trying to fight for what is right with a rather positive view on the people around him and the world and seemed to have a similar personality to Damion Halloreen during the time of him being a Founding Demon, wanting the better for his people and did not want them to suffer, doing everything he could to make his people live happily without conflict. Ferox is described to have a soft, easily pleased aura and is not very critical of other rulers unless needed and surrounds himself with people similar to him, seen when he befriends Acacius after he shared an interest in sword fighting.

Despite being enemies with the king of Leiden, Ferox has demonstrated to be a very respectful individual. Even though Acacius has a distaste for Ferox and his kingdom after the both of them became rivals, he tries his best to never say anything that can come off as disrespectful to him, let alone disheartening or rude to him as he demonstrates that he has a desire to reconcile with Acacius to assist in helping his kingdoms. Because of his prior history with Acacius, he has a fear of saying anything against him, regardless of how he treats him. He shows an equal amount of respect for any individual around him, whether it'd be a merchant or one of nobility, and treats people with dignity and compassion, greeting Lyria with his utmost respect and hand-kissing her as a form of his courtesy.

However, according to Aka Asako, Ferox is overly empathetic and easily relates to others struggles, which is considered one of his major weak points.

## Abilities

**Overall Abilites:** Though, not much are said about Ferox's abilities, according to many, he had demonstrated to be not only a powerful individual, but was one of the best fighters due to being experienced in combat due to being trained by multiple military captains during his lifetime. Because of his intensive training by his father, he shows to have above average strength, despite his abilities not being shown much, and manages to rule without having to make his way of governing absolute, distributing freedom among his people.

**Immense Strength:** Though not seen, Ferox is implied to have above average strength. It is said by his mother, Ria, that he was able to tackle down a tuerana wolf that nearly attacked him and his mother while on a hunting trip and managed to outwit Acacius in strength when they were once friends, punching him to the ground while both were play-fighting with one another.

**Leadership Skills:** As a king, Ferox was trained vigorously and was required to excel in ruling a kingdom prior to the death of his parents. Though he is not seen much throughout the story, he has been described as an effective ruler and manages to sway his crowd by speaking in a soft, reasonable tone and only raising it when needed, and contributes to cracking down on the murders that have occurred in Myria and Leiden.

## Weaknesses

**Empathy:** Ferox proves to be incredibly empathetic, which many see as his weakness.

## Relationships

### Acacius I

Acacius was one of Ferox's childhood friends after being introduced to him at an alliance meeting. Acacius saw Ferox sitting by himself, offering to sneak him out of the council room so they would play hide-and-seek. Ferox reluctantly agreed, allowing him to drag him by the wrist and