Aeric

**Aeric** is the main antagonist in *The Mystic Menace.* He is the king of Camellia and the husband of Queen Kinarra. He invaded Camellia, took over the throne, and set a plague on the people of Camellia, allowing him to extract their life energy and use it to keep him and his wife forever young.

## Background

Warning: This Article Contains Spoilers Below this Point

Before his arrival in Camellia, Aeric was known as Rowan. He was born and raised in the small kingdom of Celosia. From a young age, Aeric was ambitious, wishing to become a king like his older brother, Elisyan. However, Aeric was not naturally skilled like his brother, and trained to be a knight instead. Because of this, Aeric was jealous of Elisyan. Even so, Aeric and Elisyan were very close. They spent most of their time together, having pretend sword fights and wrestling matches, all of which Elisyan won.

When Aeric was fourteen years old, his father, the king, grew gravely ill. It was rumored that a sea dragon was fast approaching the kingdom. The dragon had caused havoc in other kingdoms it passed through, so the old king proclaimed that the prince who slays the dragon will become the new king.

Elisyan fought the dragon head on, but became severely wounded. The dragon knocked Elisyan unconscious, and before it could strike Elisyan again, Aeric entered the battle. He trapped the dragon in a fiery border, causing the dragon to cower back and transform into a human, a beautiful young girl. In shock, Aeric cleared the fires and approached her. The girl called herself Kinarra, but confided in Aeric that she was actually Princess Mayumi of Sampaguita. Aeric promised to keep her identity a secret, and came up with a new plan that would help them both.

Together, Aeric and Kinarra faked the dragon's death using old, shedded dragon skin. Aeric presented the dragon skin to the king's court, allowing him to be crowned as the new king of Celosia. Although a few commoners were suspicious of Aeric, Elisyan defended him and accepted his brother's rise to the throne. A week later, Aeric introduced Kinarra into the king's court as a snake charmer, claiming not to know her. Elisyan, however, questioned how the two knew each other and eventually figured out Kinarra's true identity, which Aeric denied anyway.

During his reign, Aeric often got into trouble (getting kidnapped, misdealing with emperors, etc.), causing Elisyan to step in and save him. As the years progressed, Aeric became increasingly interested in gaining eternal youth. For ten years, Aeric surveyed graveyards, searching for the mythical oscura, until finding an oscura one night, at dusk, during a full moon. Aeric killed the oscura and replaced his eyes with the oscura's eyes. However, the eye transplant was imperfect, near fatal. Kinarra sought Elisyan's help, and Elisyan used rubies to heal Aeric, unknowingly completing the eye/power transfer from the oscura to Aeric.

From then on, Aeric conducted experiments on the people of Celosia, creating fires in an attempt to steal their life energy (siela) with the oscura's power. He built a ruby sphere, a smaller version of the Maldoror, allowing him the final key in transferring the commoner's siela and using it on himself (and Kinarra). Once Elisyan discovered Aeric's plans, Aeric offered to share the siela with him. Elisyan refused and Aeric exiled him from Celosia before Elisyan could tell the commoners the truth.

For years, Aeric extracted the siela of the people of Celosia, greatly dwindling its population and eventually destroying the kingdom. He changed his name from Rowan to Aeric, abandoned Celosia, and searched for a new kingdom: Camellia. Twenty-eight years had passed since Aeric had last seen Elisyan. While Elisyan was in his late fifties, Aeric and Kinarra appeared as though they were still in their late twenties, as if they hadn't aged at all. Corvus Nominari told Aeric and Kinarra about Camellia's secret location, allowing them to enter the kingdom. To keep the people of Camellia distracted, Aeric set fires in the kingdom's downtown district (the first Great Fire) before going after Elisyan. Aeric and Elisyan fought again, but this time, Kinarra came to Aeric's aid as the sea dragon, much to Elisyan's surprise. Kinarra killed Elisyan and Aeric laid him to rest in the secret royal graveyard, removing any traces of the battle.

As the downtown fires worsened, the plague mark appeared on the commoners' wrists, spreading fast from one person to the next. Bewildered by King Elisyan's sudden disappearance, the commoners' grew to believe that Elisyan had abandoned them amidst the chaos. Aeric stepped in to stop the fires, and with little resistance from the panic-stricken commoners, took over the throne. From then on, he and Kinarra ruled over Camellia, using the commoners' life energy to extend their own lives in secret.

## Personality

Aeric is deceptive, manipulative, and charismatic. To the citizens of Camellia, Aeric puts on an image of a benevolent, selfless leader who put the interests of the people before his own. In reality, he is cold, callous, and destructive, showing no remorse over killing hundreds of thousands of people for his personal gain. His intimidating presence, attractive appearance, and calm, collected nature allow him to easily sway crowds and compel them to follow his commands. Even if people express doubt over Aeric's true intentions, he is able to circumvent suspicion, easily shifting the blame to his enemies or guilt-tripping his people into believing he is innocent. He also quickly picks up on peoples' insecurities and fears, which he exploits to either belittle his opponents or control them, a tactic he frequently uses on Isadora.

Aeric is clever and calculating, his true goals never fully discovered until he has already succeeded. Much to Isadora and Terrance's dismay, Aeric always seems to be one step ahead of them, accurately anticipating their next moves as well as planning his own. Likewise, rather than engaging in direct combat, Aeric often employs the royal guards, phantom wolves, and courtiers to fight for him instead, only entering the fight when he is certain he has the advantage.

Despite his otherwise calm nature, Aeric has shown to be overly dramatic and intense at times. He tends to make long speeches or grand gestures, often as a way of manipulating people into believing his words. Being sadistic and amoral, Aeric enjoys inflicting humiliation and suffering on others for the fun of it. At the thunder festival, he makes a game out of Isadora, Terrance, and Valerius' capture, and taunts the people of Camellia after he successfully extracts aither from the dark side of the moon. He is particularly brutal when it comes to fighting as well, nearly burning Terrance alive and permanently scarring Isadora's left eye without hesitation or remorse.

Although Aeric is usually unfazed by his own actions, he does show signs of guilt. He admits to Valerius that stealing the lives of the people of Camellia is cruel, but he attempts to resolve that guilt by claiming it's a "fair trade," since the people of Camellia live well and prosperously under his rule compared to those in poorer, war-torn kingdoms. Similarly, Aeric openly dismisses virtues like honour and nobility, but gets evidently bothered by being called pure evil, asserting that humans can never be completely evil.

Aeric is greedy, power-hungry, and egotistic. Because of his royal lineage and powerful materia, he believes it is his birthright to rule over the "simple-minded" commoners, who have little to no materia abilities of their own. He is dangerously ambitious, and his desire for status, power, wealth, and eternal life drive him to do whatever it takes to achieve it. He refuses to settle for anything less than what he thinks he deserves, chasing after his goals with a fervent obsession and determination, even going as far as to watch and wait for ten years just to catch sight of an oscura. This unwavering resolve allowed him to hold onto Camellia's throne and keep the plague alive for over three hundred years.

## Appearance

Aeric is a handsome, fair-skinned man with dark brown hair parted at the sides and curtain bangs that fall just below his eyes. He has strong cheekbones, a straight nose, sharp jawline, and cat-like, jade-green eyes. He alternates between wearing a red, fur-lined cloak and a hooded black cloak stitched with elaborate dragon patterns. He often wears a steel crown that branches out in jagged antlers. At the thunder festival, he also wears a pauldron on his right shoulder and iron armour on his right arm, leaving his left arm unarmoured for easier movement.

## Abilities

Because of his ancestry, Aeric's materia is incredibly strong. He can harness fire and control its magnitude, easily switching between red, blue, and white fire, with white fire being hot enough to melt steel and cement. Aeric can create torpedo flames and send heat waves that force opponents back or disarm them. He is also able to summon fire from the earth to create towering, wall-like fiery borders, trapping his enemies inside while keeping bystanders out. His greatest use of materia is the ability to summon volcanic eruptions, the strongest and deadliest form of fire. Though he is somewhat immune to fire, such as being unaffected by the toxic gas and heat of Mount Sentensiya's eruption, he is not completely immune, and still feels pain when in direct contact with fire. If the need arises, he can extinguish the fires he creates with just a wave of his hand.

Training as a knight during his childhood, Aeric was initially poor at sword fighting and frequently lost fights to his older brother Elisyan. However, over centuries of practise, Aeric perfected his swordsmanship and became incredibly skilled in sword fighting, particularly with the great sword (*Zweihänder*), Aeric's primary weapon. Despite the heaviness of the great sword, Aeric can wield it without trouble, usually cloaking the blade in flames to increase its damage.

Aeric has formidable strength and endurance. He can fire scorching-hot infernos at opponents repeatedly without tiring, a feat that would immobilize novice materia users, as seen when Isadora collapses after firing a single gold lightning bolt at the Maldoror. He easily dodges his opponents' attacks and shows remarkable speed and agility in combat, quickly adapting to unforeseen complications or unexpected visitors.

By possessing the eyes of the oscura, Aeric has enhanced regenerative capabilities. Because of this, he can survive any near-fatal wound, as seen when Valerius stabs him in the stomach and when Aeric uses siela to heal himself after crashing through the bell tower during Mount Sentensiya's eruption. Most notably, the switch between Aeric's eyes and the oscura's granted Aeric the ability to harness siela, albeit with complications. He can steal the life energy (siela) of his victims and use it to extend his own life, but not in the same way as the oscura. While the oscura can take siela directly by passing over graves, Aeric must take siela from living humans indirectly, through the plague. He also needs a vessel, the Maldoror, to store his victims' siela before he can transfer it to himself and to Kinarra.

Once the dark side of the moon appeared, Aeric was able to extract the moon's aither, a cosmic energy that merged/synced his materia and siela together. This allows him to set fires that instantly steal siela from anyone that comes in direct contact with the flames, rather than needing victims of the plague to come in direct contact with the Maldoror like before. Aeric can collect siela into the fires' smoke as well as into the Executioner, a sword he forged from the rubies of the Maldoror.

Aeric is immensely intelligent. He is fluent in several languages, well-read, and is able to devise various contraptions, such as the mechanical traps in the castle labyrinth, the soul-stealing Maldoror, and the dual healing/killing sword Executioner. He can also successfully bend the laws of nature, as seen when he gives the Nominari clan the ability to dual shapeshift, a feat he accomplished after years of experiments. In addition to his intelligence, Aeric is a master manipulator, cunning strategist, and has shown to craft several successful plans, including the capture of Amber and Saros at the thunder festival.

## Relationships

### **Family**

**Elisyan -** Aeric's older brother. Elisyan was the crown prince, a naturally skilled duelist, talented lightning wielder, and well-loved by everyone in Celosia. This made Aeric incredibly jealous of his brother, leading to a one-sided rivalry between the two. As a child, Aeric sought Elisyan's help in learning how to sword-fight, with Aeric recounting that he had to work twice as hard as Elisyan to become strong and powerful. He often got into fights with Elisyan and was determined to beat him, though Aeric usually lost these fights, much to his annoyance.

Despite Aeric's attempts to seem indifferent about his brother, he looks up to Elisyan and greatly values his opinion. During his reign in Celosia, Aeric frequently sought Elisyan's help whenever he and Kinarra got into trouble. He also initially kept his soul-stealing plan secret from Elisyan, likely afraid of what his brother would think of him, but eagerly offered to share the oscura's power when Elisyan found out the truth. In addition, Aeric was visibly irritated when Isadora wielded Elektron, Elisyan's sword, stating that she isn't worthy of even being killed by it.

After refusing Aeric's offer of eternal life, Elisyan left Celosia. This made Aeric extremely resentful of Elisyan, going as far as to change his name to sever any ties he had left to his brother. When Aeric discovered that Elisyan was now the ruler of Camellia, a much larger, wealthier, and more prosperous kingdom than Celosia, Aeric became so overcome with jealousy he spent nearly two decades searching for Camellia to steal it from Elisyan, no matter the cost. Though it seems that Aeric felt no remorse over killing his brother, he still harboured guilt over the ordeal, perhaps even still loving Elisyan deep down, since Aeric gave him a proper burial in Camellia's royal graveyard and kept some of his possessions, including Elisyan's throne and his armour and weaponry in the castle labyrinth, despite never using the weapons himself.

**Kinarra** - Aeric's wife. Despite all the deceit, treachery, and cruelty Aeric commits to others in the novel, to Kinarra, he is honest, loyal, and kind. Aeric and Kinarra genuinely love each other. Though they've been married for more than three hundred years, at times they still act like newlyweds, flirting shamelessly and teasing each other good-naturedly. They share a mutual respect and zealous passion, always working as a team, united and inseparable. Their devotion to each other is so apparent that Terrance claims "either of them would burn the world down if it meant another day together."

Kinarra is the only one Aeric fully confides in and the only one that is able to comfort him, as seen after Aeric's eye transplant when Kinarra hugs him from behind and he immediately feels less pained by the transplant. Aeric also greatly admires Kinarra, seeing her as more than a pretty face and instead as his equal. He freely admits his feelings for her, even in front of strangers, saying that Kinarra is "clever and fun and confident and...ethereal. Celestial."

Isadora notes that just the mention of Kinarra brings a softness to Aeric, making him seem more grounded and human. Without hesitation, Aeric always comes to Kinarra's defence, even when the offence is minimal, like when Valerius ridiculed Kinarra's snake-charming abilities. Likewise, Kinarra quickly comes to Aeric's defence without fear of the consequence, like when she threatens Elisyan after he warns Aeric to stop using the plague. Though Aeric usually looks out only for himself, if Kinarra is in danger he immediately drops everything and rushes over to rescue her. This is especially obvious during the eruption of Mount Sentensiya, when he abandons Isadora mid-battle to save Kinarra from Terrance's lightning strikes, despite having the clear opening to kill Isadora if he had stayed in place.

### Allies

**The King's Court** - Courtiers who serve as advisors, attendants, and associates to King Aeric and Queen Kinarra. To give himself more free time, Aeric leaves most of the king's duties to the courtiers, letting them handle the day-to-day affairs and any seemingly menial tasks involving the commoners. He gains their trust by granting them access to the secret passageways of the castle labyrinth, but Aeric still keeps them at bay. He doesn't tell them the truth about the plague or spare them from his end-of-the-year doomsday plan to kill all of Camellia, seeing them merely as sacrificial pawns in his elaborate schemes.

**The Nominari Clan** - Aeric's most trusted servants. Unlike the courtiers, Aeric spares them from the plague and assigns them tasks directly involving the plague and/or the dark side of the moon. He spent decades conducting experiments to grant them the ability to dual shapeshift, showing that he finds them valuable allies and worthy of such a gift, despite the Nominaris not being royal themselves. However, like the courtiers, Aeric still keeps them at bay. For instance, he doesn't tell Valerius his entire plan for the dark moon, and he keeps his and Kinarra's speculations about Terrance's true lineage a secret, since Aeric is still wary that Valerius will betray him just as Corvus Nominari had once betrayed Elisyan.

**The Phantom Wolves** - A centuries-old covert organization of assassins founded by Queen Kinarra. Aeric enlists them to capture "Amber," but he has little faith in their ability to do so, secretly using them as bait to lure Amber and Saros out of hiding.

### Enemies

**Isadora/Amber** - Initially, Aeric believes that Isadora is Elisyan's descendant. Because of this, he decides to recruit her instead of immediately killing her. He sees her as little more than a weapon, a means of extracting aither from the dark side of the moon. Aeric even gives Isadora the alias "Amber," a direct translation of "Elektron," Elisyan's amber sword. Before meeting Isadora, Aeric assumes that she is an older woman, similar in disposition to Elisyan, and sets up the cage trap in the Heli Bank in an attempt to forcefully capture her. However, after discovering that Isadora is just a teenage girl, he quickly switches tactics and uses psychological manipulation to recruit her instead, believing she would be easy to control because of her young age. These tactics nearly succeed several times, in part because Aeric seems to understand her quite well.

When Aeric encounters Isadora stealing bread in the castle cellar (not knowing she is Amber), he is unexpectedly sympathetic to her. Isadora reminds him a lot of his childhood self, which Aeric admits makes him "a bit biased," as he lets her dine with him even though it's not something he would normally allow a commoner to do. It is through this interaction that Aeric learns about Isadora's troubled childhood, something he also greatly relates to. However, after discovering that Isadora is not the true heir, Aeric instantly loses any sympathy for her, seeing her only as another worthless commoner. From then on, he attempts to kill her multiple times, either indirectly through the plague or directly with the Executioner.

**Terrance/Saros** - Initially, Aeric is indifferent to Terrance. He is somewhat impressed by Terrance's bravery, telling Kinarra, "He threw a chair at me and stole my sword. He's alright." He grants Terrance's request to change his alias from "the accomplice" to "Saros," but doesn't hesitate to try to kill Terrance every time they meet. Aeric also thinks he and Terrance do not share any family resemblance, despite Kinarra's insistence that they do look alike. However, once Aeric finds out that Terrance is Elisyan's true descendant, Aeric changes his attitude toward him, adopting the same cordial, manipulative manner he used on Isadora to Terrance. Suddenly seeing the family resemblance, Aeric further treats Terrance as if he *were* Elisyan and becomes competitive, such as claiming that he is the "better fighter." Despite this, Aeric is still surprised that Terrance is truly related to Elisyan, and quickly gets impatient with Terrance's ineptitude in lightning compared to Elisyan's natural talent. Aeric also gets visibly irritated when Terrance calls him uncle or grandpa.

**Valerius Nominari** - Because of the Nominaris' history, Aeric is suspicious of Valerius' true motives, especially when Valerius fails to reveal Amber's identity, despite Aeric giving him a clear lead with Lykos' blood-stained darts. However, he does seem to value Valerius' opinion, as seen when he attempts to justify his soul-stealing acts to Valerius. Aeric also chooses to "save" Valerius over Terrance at the thunder festival, showing that, if anything, he finds Valerius' powers too useful to destroy so casually. At times, Aeric uses intimidation and torture to keep Valerius in line. For instance, Aeric incites a heat wave to interrogate Valerius, putting him on the verge of suffocation and releasing it only when he finds Valerius' answers sufficient. It is likely that Valerius grew fearful of Aeric because of these encounters.

## Trivia

* Aeric is a Norse name meaning "eternal ruler."