Daemon Mansleir

## Biography

Born into a poor family in the town of Grash'Khal on the Western Twin, Daemon had a hard childhood. His father was a layabout and a drunk. and his mother was rarely home, as she spent most of her days at the local whore house, earning barely enough money to keep her family alive. Whenever his mother was away, Daemon's father would beat him, for whatever reason he saw fit. Yet Daemon never let any of this keep him down. He never spoke much, in fact he never spoke at all. But he always seemed happy, as if he were blissfully unaware of his situation. He spent his days playing with the local urchins, and was generally happy. Until one night, when Daemon was eight years old. During that night's beating, his mother came home early, hoping to surprise her family with a cake she had been saving up for, instead she found her husband drunk and beating on their only child. Furious she tried to intervene. Yet in his drunkenness Daemon's father did not recognize his wife, and lashed out at her, striking her square in the side of the head. Startled she fell backwards, and hit her head on a table. Her neck snapped. Daemon watched as the light faded from his mother's eyes, and for the briefest moment, Daemon felt rage. Pure all consuming rage, like a vast storm surging up from the deepest depths of himself. Yet just as soon as it came, the rage dissipated, along with the world around him. Daemon felt himself falling, falling through blackness, and in the blackness a voice called out to him, *I'll take it from here kid, you rest for now.*

The next thing Daemon knew he was lying in a bed he did not recognize. As he rose to his feet he noticed they were quite a bit farther away than he remembered them being, and his arms were quite a bit longer than when he last saw them. Looking around he saw that he was no longer in his home, instead he was sitting alone, in a windowless room with no other furniture besides the bed he was sitting on. Again he heard the voice, *It took some doing, but you're safe now kid, you can thank me later.* Just there was a knock at the door, and a young Xuag girl walked into the room carrying a bowl of porridge. She smiled at Daemon, as if she'd seen him before, "Good morning sleepy head!" she said cheerfully, in a sing song tone that reminded Daemon of his mother. Daemon said nothing as he was want to do. The girl seemed to deflate a little. "So you weren't kidding huh?" Daemon looked at this strange girl, completely and utterly confused. His last memories were of pure and unbridled rage, yet now he seemed calm as ever. "So I guess that means you're Daemon huh?" Daemon was taken aback slightly, now the strange girl knew his name. "Pleased to meet you, my name's Lyza."

Thus began Daemon's life on the Eastern Twin. He never found out how he got there, All Lyza ever told him was that she had met him three years ago, and they'd been together ever since. Together they looked after a group of urchins in the town of Jahree. They lived in a hovel on the outskirts of town, and would daily venture into the markets to beg. Well, Daemon would beg, Lyza preferred to pick the pockets of those who wouldn't stop to give him alms.They never had much, but they were happy, and they spent the next two years as such.

Then came the men in the hats. The first time he saw them they were standing in the middle of town, preaching about something that Daemon paid no attention to. What he did pay attention to was their headgear. Large pointed hats adorned with all sorts of strange insignias. But aside from they weren't very remarkable. They never stopped to give him alms, and Lyza was never able to find anything in their pockets, so they were lagrely ignored by Daemon and his compatriots. Until one day they cam to the hovel. They offered the urchins something they called "salvation", a word Daemon had never heard before. They told the urchins that they could be part of something so much greater, that they could rid them of all their suffering and hardships. Daemon had no interest in this "salvation", he was quite happy with his current situation. The other urchins seemed to jump at the chance to leave the hovel, but Daemon forbade it, pointing at the men and shaking his head. Disgruntled the men asked him if there was a way they could convince him to at least let them show him what they offered. Daemon thought for a minute, and then pointed at the man's hat.

And so Daemon with his new hat, traveled with the urchins and the men for three days before they arrived at a cave. The men hurried the urchins in and instructed them to sit in chairs that had been carved from the stone in a circle around a basin that had been cut into the center of the cave floor, with a small channel leading from each chair to the basin. The children did as they were told, after all these men were offering them a chance at a better life. They each sat down in a chair, the men going on about salvation the whole time. Lyza had taken the seat next to him, she looked at Daemon and smiled, "Don't worry, we're just looking, it can't hurt to look right?" And then Daemon felt the chair move. Daemon found his wrists and ankles clamped to the chair, from behind him he heard a man say, "The sacrifices must be prepared", he produced from his robe a file, and with a strength that Daemon had never felt possible, he held Daemons mouth open and began grinding each of his teeth to a point. The screams of protest told Daemon that the same was being done to the other children. Then came the chanting *"Oh great Yag'vor'il, as you gave blood unto us, so to do we repay you in blood"* And with that one of the men produced a knife, and slit the throat of the boy sitting next to Daemon, his blood spewed for from his neck, and flowed from the channel beneath his feet into the basin bellow. The chanting continued, this time accompanied by the screams of the other children, as the man with the knife moved in the the next child. One by one he slit their throats, and their blood pooled into the basin. Daemon once again felt that primal rage he had felt six years prior, and he struggled against his bindings, wearing the skin off of his wrists and ankles. His ears were filled with the screams of his fellow urchins, but loudest among them was Lyza who pleaded with them to take her instead, surely her blood would be more than enough, just let the others go. Yet the man continued, slowly making his way around the circle, until only Lyza and Daemon remained. Daemon watched as once again the most important person in his life was taken from him, and as the man finally came round to Daemon, he felt himself once again falling into darkness. *Alright, time for you to rest again, you've been through enough. Ima kill these fuckers, don't you worry.* The last thing Daemon felt was the knife pressed against his throat, and the last thing he heard was the sound of metal being wrenched from stone.

Daemon awoke, once again in a strange bed, and once again in a body larger than he remembered it being. Over his mouth was a mask, upon his head was a hood, and at his hips were two daggers. He had never seen the daggers before, yet he somehow knew he could shove them between the chinks in a full set of plate armor to get to the man inside. Once again Daemon heard the voice. *How's it going kid. It took a little longer this time, and I had to do a lot of bad things, but I finallyy did it, you can finally be safe now. You're on a boat that'll take you somewhere you can start over. Hopefully this'll be the last time we speak. You behave yourself now kid.*