Zeroth

Timothy Kai Zachariah Edward Linton-Van Dreesen, known by his preferred name 'Kai' amongst his friends and 'Zeroth' to others, is a human magi and mezzite user. He is Volt's arch nemesis and harbors an obsession with trying to befriend him, to understand why he cannot absorb negativity from him and and convince him to join his Legion of Disciples group to overthrow the governments of the world from within. If he cannot understand Volt then he will destroy him by any means necessary.

He was supposedly killed during the Manhattan Incident by Volt, but has since somehow returned, with augmented magic.

### **History**

Born to British con artist Alan Linton and South African treasure hunter Arla Van Dreesen, who was herself a magi, Alan and Arla broke up and Alan took the boy to London when he was 1, believing Arla to be a psychopath after she almost killed him over possession of their child.

When he was 12, he lived in Trellick Tower in London and was often the subject of his father's drunken beatings

### **Personality**

Very intelligent, manipulative and cunning, Zeroth's greatest wish was simply to understand all that he could, and when an opportunity to gain control of his life rose, he grabbed it thoroughly and promised himself that no one would again use him; but since being severely bullied and physically abused by his father he has grown a dark but silent hatred for most people, seeing them only as tools to get what he wants; total control.

Timothy has a tendency to monologue and despite his high intelligence, is often blinded by his own ideals, failing to realise that he himself has become the controlling force he fought against; although later this may be in part due to Caliga's influence and it's likely connection to The Sideways,

### **Appearance**

Zeroth was a tall, pale, skinny and gaunt man with a relatively young-looking face, though he did have stubble, it was slight and very light, he has very long, blonde hair that he left loose, rarely tying it back for any reason and Volt often referred to him as a "blond Separoth wannabe". He had steely grey eyes and a triangular nose that stood out prominently on his face. He often wore black, usually in the form of tidy, simple trousers, tucked-in shirts that reveal a belt with a golden buckle. He often incorporated actual gold into his clothing, including in the use of it to modify his leather talisman gloves and it's protection wards and mezzite-harnessing circles inlaid on their surface.

### **Powers and Abilities**

#### **Powers**

**Magic:** Zeroth was one of a handful of Humans with the ability to tune allowing him to sense and ultimately manipulate 'magical' frequencies that pour in from the greater universe. Zeroth's skill in magic was passed down from his mother, Arla Van Dreesen, who was a South African treasure hunter, thief and witch known as the White Shadow.

***Cogitaromancy:*** Kai's first and basic magic spells were based around the mind, were mostly passive and were essential in learning to later control the darkness of other's via the magic of the Caliga mezzite, in particular he focused his effort around empathy and mind-reading, as the '*caligaintus*' or the '*darkness within*' was based around negative emotions, he learned to create spells and hexes that would sway people's emotions or let him view memories and thoughts, at first Kai had to speak the incantation for the spell to work, but after finding his mother's sword Cavum that contained the crystal halves themselves, no longer needs to.These spells are activated by vocal commands and mental concentration. Before Zeroth casts a spell he must do a number of things; visualize the effect, feel the mana (magic energy) that flows around and in to his target, and visualize it's conversion in to strings that attach to people's minds and, in turn, to the information that resides in them. He must use spoken word to cast the spell as with most forms of magic. As mana is regarded as a universal vibration, the spoken word, and as such, written words and symbolism has a powerful effect on the intensity and success of spells.

* **"Motus":** Essentially a form of magic-based telekinesis that manifested as a mandala ring of yellow mana around one or both of his wrists, whatever he focused on was surrounded by a similar yellow glow and he could move that object to a limited degree. He was limited in what he could move and for how long until he started using the Caliga.
	+ **"Motus Radi":** A cogritamantic blast of mana which manifests as as a beam of yellow light often accompanied by additional mandala rings around the beam.
	+ "**Motius Oppilo":** A shield of telekinetic mana light created from mandala disk glyphs.

* "***Cogitaro Vomica.":*** A hex that brings out the aggression, fear or sadness of a target depending on the individual's personality. This spell does not destroy willpower and the target can still do as he or she wishes, including overcome it if their willpower is strong enough, but the spell will 'hang about' the person for several hours and may re-activate should the target drop their guard. He can choose to direct the targets emotional state at another person or object.
* ***"Cogitaro Animus.":*** This spell allowed him to see the memories and learn information and even skills through a 'portal' in front of his vision that only he could see, he could pinpoint specific thoughts or search through a multitude of memories and other forms of information which he would use to intimidate and blackmail others. He learned most of his swordsmanship and martial arts skills through this spell.
* ***Empathy:*** A passive power that lets him sense the emotions of others and where they are coming from, he can also use it to detect residual emotional energy on objects and track people, especially negative energy.

**Caligaintirmancy**

Zeroth has become a master of a unique type of black magic arte developed by Arla after studying the power of the black mezzite she found in a leather-wrapped African spear which she called 'the Caliga' ("the boot") which she first placed into her sword, Cavum as a foci, although later removed from the sword it would retain small amount of the Caliga's power and become a talisman foci for Tim enabling him to increase his focus and power.

The spells and information that she devised to control the energy of the magic crystal were passed down via Arla's diary that became her first grimoire and in turn, Tim's spellbook. After coming of age, Tim's ability to tune came about, helping him find and steal the diary that his father had locked away in the attic, studying his mother's notes and spells. Tim's hatred of his drunken father, and his urge to find out more about his mother fuelled him on to learn to control the residual Caliga magic in her leather gloves. His mother's book stated that the Caliga absorbed negative emotion and transformed it within the crystals, then re-emitted it as a versatile and twisted black fire, and was amplified and safely channelled by natural leather. but one law about his magic was that his power is that it would not work on himself and the arte is incapable of using his own caligaintus, and absorption of other's darkness in to his own body could result in insanity or death. Caligaintirmancy is essentially a form of '*empathic alchemy*' that lets him transform the negative emotions of others into a harmful and destructive type of biomagical energy.

* ***"Caliga Revincio.":*** A quick binding hex that brings out the caligaintus of others and transforms it into leathery binding straps that emanates from their own body and will tie around them tightly. This spell lasts for around seven minutes but Zeroth can extend that time if he wishes. He has also used this to physically bind the two half of the crystal together using it's own energy.

* *"**Caliga Dilato.":*** This spell essentially a replacement for and amplification of Cogitaro Vomica that lets Zeroth amplify the inner darkness of others, making the target's mind a twisted, more disturbed version of itself. This spell also has the capability of directing emotion the darkness creates at whomever, or whatever he chooses, causing the target to speak or act highly aggressively or destructively towards said object or person.

* "***Caliga Amotio.":*** This spell let's Zeroth dissipate the darkness of an individual's soul, causing a total negation of all associated emotions, resulting in the target being unable to perform acts of self-defense, unable to feel fear or pain, anger or hate but let's them become very easily influenced by commands. When first used on a target the spell often knocks a person unconscious for a few minutes and will awake a different person. This effect wares off after several hours normally but he can make it last for days if he wishes or return the darkness beforehand by saying "reditio".
* ***"Caliga Custodibus":*** Manifests impish shadow creatures that do his bidding, usually act as personal guards.

* ***"Caliga Anicindia Imperium.":*** A spell that lets him draw out a soul's darkness and manifest it in the form of a dark '*soulfire*' or '*anicindia'*, and manipulate it's form. When absorbed into a talisman, such as his gloves or sword he can store and project an altered, destructive version of it immediately or at a later point and use or alter it's properties as spells without incantation.
	+ ***Umbraictus**:* Blasts of black anicindia that emanate at will either from his foci talisman, mezzite or from the target as flaming black spheres and will then attack the target they emanated from, or other targets in the area as Zeroth commands. They cause pain and a feeling of being struck very hard, although the blasts do no physical damage initially and cause pain at a psychic level as well as initially causing tiredness when first drawn out, they can, however be used to disrupt the flow of other energy sources. After he has stored it within a talisman the blasts gain the ability to cause actual damage to organic matter and with the direct power of crystals will effect nonorganic matter too.
	+ ***Umbramanus*:** A spell that let him enhance the power of his punches and hand-strikes, it could also let him crush objects as hard as steel.
	+ ***Umbratexi:*** A leathery shield around Zeroth that actually emanates from whoever tries to strike him, bending the inner darkness of his enemy away from him, this sometimes creates powerful recoil effects on the target. Kai, can, however also create a field directly from his crystals or foci which can also protect him from various forms of energy.

* "***Caliga Exiomorbus.":*** A spell that allows for the removal of wounds, sickness, diseases, insanity and even corruption by converting them in to anicindia and forcing it to leave the body in a flame of darkness. This spell is very difficult to use and requires precision and absolute concentration. However Zeroth's willingness to use this usually comes at a price as part of an unscrupulous "deal", or promises of its use, which usually turn out to be lies.

* "***Caliga Peiormorbus.":*** Although he can't actually manifest a disease or bring about sickness, this spell allows him to make existing diseases, infections or injuries many times worse, and can use this spell to very easily kill.
* "***Caliga Tradomorbus.":*** This spell allows Zeroth to transfer disease or injury from one person to another.

* "***Caliga Terminatio.":*** Simply put, this power totally engulfs the soul of a target, killing them by tearing their body apart from the inside out from mind to body, usually resulting in the disintegration of said target to dust. This spell requires direct contact with his talisman on to a target and requires a lot of energy and concentration.
* ***"Caliga Caligae.":*** A spell that allows him it impart leather with his Caliga's and cause it to essentially act on it's own, usually negatively, either transforming into bindings, attacking an enemies' allies or turn into creatures that attack his opponents.
* ***"Caliga Belua.":*** A spell that let's him summon a leathery, shadow creature representing a person's fear, which will them attack that person.
* ***"Caliga Sica":*** Manifests blades that Zeroth can command.
* ***Caliga Pinnae:*** After his return from the dead, and with his Coat of Alaepalli destroyed Zeroth demonstrated the ability to manifest black, leathery-featherd wings from his back, seemingly without incantation, and fly at supersonic speeds.

#### **Abilities**

* **Taijijian Master:** He is a very skilled swordsman and while he is not physically strong on his own, is skilled enough that he is on par with the likes of Volt with his jian. He absorbed this skill using his empathic magic but still had to practice to perfect it and since has become one of the best swordsman in the world.

* **Subterfuge Master:** Zeroth is a skilled manipulator and claims himself an expert at lying and deceit, misdirection and overall beguilement. It's uncertain if this skill was truly absorbed via his magic or learned regularly, but he claims to have this skill 'naturally' as part of his personality.
* **Master Tactician:** He has picked up a multitude of experience during fights, both learned and magically absorbed, pertaining to battle-tactics and predicting movements of individuals or groups during a fight.
* **Alchemist and Chemist:** He knows a little of creating chemical mixtures and formulas, mostly of a magical nature.
* **Skilled Tracker:** He is a formidable at hunting and locating human targets as well as being able to recognize signs of counter-tracking and ascertain if he is himself being followed.
* **Persuasion:** Zeroth is a gifted and confident speaker and knows how to win arguments, even through lies, rally and rile-up crowds or individuals.
* **Near-Genius Intellect:** While his true IQ isn't known, his literacy, general and mathematical knowledge, and calculative speed puts him on a high pinnacle of intelligence.

### **Weapons and Equipment**

Like most magi Kai requires a foci to control his magic and is particularly essential for Kai in order to stop negative emotions and dark soulfire entering his body.

* ***Foci Talisman: Gloves:*** Zeroth's first talismans were foci created by his mother from a pair of simple leather gloves that acted as focus for other spells she had previously learned, but when she altered and sewed on pockets for the dark mezzite she unwittingly turned them into talismans and discovered that the Caliga's power seemed to flow better and be amplified by natural leather, over years they began absorbing the mezzite's ability to itself absorb and transform negativity, which allowed Kai a taste of the crystal's energy and use caligantic spells in a very limited capacity before he got his hands on the crystals proper. As this energy would eventually disparate Kai set off on a quest to find his mother's sword Cavum and the legendary dark crystal halves that existed within it's handle.
* ***Foci Talisman: Cavum:*** Cavum was a particularly powerful foci and talisman created by his mother that is a hand-forged, folded Chinese Jian sword with a black handle and unusual brown centre. It was plunged into the brickwork of a forgotten Indonesian temple, although when and why is still unclear. It's handle contained the split Caliga although why and how it was split whilst still in the spear in Africa is unknown, but it was abandoned by his mother altogether, perhaps wary of it's growing hunger and twisted power.

* ***Cloak/Coat of Alaepalli:*** Was once an ancient and mystical cloak possessed by mage Arielle Lofdahl of Pura Arcana who Zeroth almost killed. It allowed her to fly by transforming into a pair of white feathered wings. He took the cloak after forging a fake relationship with her and preformed alterations to it, binding it to a leather trenchcoat and performing a caligaintic alteration ritual upon it, the coat bound to Zeroth's will and transformed instead into a pair of black feathered wings that allowed him to fly. The cloak was destroyed by Volt during the Manhattan Incident. Arielle was thought to have later recovered the components of the original cloak and dispelled it, but since his return Zeroth has seemingly gained the ability to manifest black wings without the coat.
* **The Caliga:** The black mezzite crystal that exists as two separate parts, each once attached to his gloves and transforming them over time into talismans, the crystal was found in an African spear that was considered cursed. When Zeroth's mother researched it she placed it into one of her artefacts, the sword Cavum which gave her it's power until it was broken, unknown to her. When Kai finally found the sword again he removed the now-broken crystal and attached each side to his gloves. The crystal still acts as one and let him magically manipulate the 'darkness' and negativity of a person's soul and transform it into physical form using leather as a focus.

### **Limitations and Weaknesses**

Zeroth's biggest weakness is his tenancy to monologue and be somewhat theatrical which can be used against him.

Despite his incredible magic power he actually only knows a few non-caligantic spells, meaning that if his talisman or mezzite should be sealed or destroyed, he will ultimately be limited to only a few moderately-powerful spells. However since returning from the dead with the mezzite within his heart, his biggest weakness now being that without a doubt it will drive him insane.

Kai cannot, or rather, should not absorb the transformed dark emotional energy into his body without severe consequences to his sanity, however he believes doing so will also make him more powerful and may be the only way to truly 'understand' Caliga.

Most of Zeroth's body is devoid of muscle despite his extensive swordsmanship skills and his physical strength is as that of a normal human and must use his magic to enhance his sword strikes.