Ahriman

Ahriman is a man who ended up being Angra Mainyu's first human heart.

## Story

### The World's Evils

Ahriman was born in a country besieged by Angra, a Demon God who sought to truly understand human nature and the concept of Evil. To appease the terrifying Deity who tortured his people, Arhiman's father offered, before his birth, to make him a symbol of evil.

Thus Ahriman was made to torture and tortured every second of his life, curses engraved in his skin. He was shown all the world's atrocities and deemed responsible for it, then was forced to repeat them. He had no possible escape and for seventeen years was hated and cursed as the ultimate symbol of darkness. Then, he was offered to Angra who devoured him.

### The Prisoner and the Saint

One day however, Angra Mainyu used the Venatio, posing as its Player. Due to the Venatio's mechanisms, Ahriman was incarnated as a pawn there. Taking the name of the Prisoner and hiding his face out of shame, Ahriman swore to make the Venatio's game endless, in order to survive as a human - never to return to Angra again.

To this end, he captured the second Player chosen by the Venatio, Levy Dawne, and sequestrated her. He was however quite annoyed to see that she sought to help and save him. Not wanting to endanger her, he rejected her, then abused and even raped her, under the influence of the corruption within, but she remained there for him.

### The End of the Board

Ahriman, in a moment of lucidity, ran away with Levy in order to gather allies, feeling his mind crumbling once again. As they encountered allies in Calamity, Fiona Glendria and Gehen, they were interrupted by Alruna's attack over Michael Dawne, Hina and Eyna Harumageddon. Ahriman, in his first selfless act, broke the locks on Levy's existence and allowed her to regain her full powers as a Player, allowing her to save her brother.

Although Levy was quite angry at Ahriman for hiding this true nature to her, fiercely slapping him in return, she swore to find a way to exit the board without forcing Ahriman to disappear. With the release of another Saint, Abel Dawne, Levy was told of a way to seal away Angra Mainyu's darkness, which she did, shattering the Venatio, and allowing Ahriman to finally exist as a human being.

### A Slow Redemption

Ahriman stayed with Levy after the Venatio, having nowhere left to go, attracted by her kindness and protection. She would stay with him for years, as shown with their Future Child Omniya. Levy also eventually brought back home the Exorcist Eliora Dawne and the Prophet Aniko Dawne, who helped her take care of him and eventually heal some of his traumatism.

## Appearance

Ahriman is a massive man with long black hair, dark yellow eyes twisted in a constant scowl, and a torn body, covered in scars, curses and insults in aramaic. His musculature is slightly twisted and his physique is inhuman due to the Miasma within him, granting him a very monstrous appearance. He hides that body in a black and red suit of armor.

## Personality

Ahriman is cruel, violent, sadistic, spiteful and ruthless, the perfect monster created for Angra Mainyu's pleasure, but there is much more to Ahriman than the evil within. His mind broken by Angra's influence and the torture received as a child, Ahriman only wants the pain to stop.

Knowing how much of a monster he himself is, he attempts to distance himself from others, hurting them in the process, and finds solace in violence, fighting against other monsters to forget the psychological pain through physical suffering. He rejects the possiblity of salvation, not wanting another of his dreams to break like all others.

Levy however wore down that dark armor and healed the broken man within, showing Ahriman's softer, protective side, something he only shows next to her. Although still brutal and brooding, Ahriman showed love and even selflessness, something that was supposed to be gone from his mind, to help her. Now that he has been untethered from Angra Mainyu, he would lay down his life for her without hesitation.

## Powers

* **Supernatural Physical Abilities:** Even weakened by the Venatio, he proved to be a formidable fighter, striking down Onis one after another. He is evidently strong, as shown by his ability to punch through concrete and knock down doors in a movement.
* **Dark Authority:** As part of Angra Mainyu, he has dominion over part of his power through Divine Magic, as he is the dark messiah of an even darker deity.

## Storylines

* Venatio : True Evil features him as an ambiguous antagonist.

## Trivia

* Ahriman's song, as chosen by his creator, is Run Away by Aviators.
* His name is one of Angra Mainyu's other names in Zoroastrianism.