Onyx

Onyx is the “One” from the Occula's visions and the protagonist of Tears of Occula. She is a 17-year-old fawnfolk of The Fianna living in the village of Waldon.

Onyx' Parents were executed by the elders of the village, but ultimately they chose to spare Onyx out of pity. Instead of giving Onyx one of the family and role based tattoos, Calder insisted to black-out her neck completely, signaling no family or particular role in the village.

Other than this tattoo, Onyx has a large piercing on the top of her right ear made out of thorns from a *Gleditsia triacanthos tree*, along with a few other piercings. Like most fawnfolk, Onyx is of a petite build and is highly agile, with great proficiency in stealth. Her skin is a warm brown, with Vitiligo-like pigmentation. She is bald, which short antlers compared to other fawnfolk her age (they grow to full-size throughout her ensuing journey). She will also acquire more tattoos throughout her life

Her plant-fiber clothes are raggedy even relative to other fawnfolk. When she visits eventually visits Horaio, she is enamoured with their civilization and adopts their style of clothing.

Onyx is known to be a lover of life and enjoys the summer when she more able to indulge her curiosity and explore beyond the bulwark (much to the dismay of the village elders). Onyx's poor treatment in the village causes her to suppress her best attributes and exhibit open hostility; however, her few friends knew her to be empathetic, loving, passionate, sassy, and goofy--these traits made her natural friends with Skunkbat--an aptly named skunkbat. Unbeknownst to Onyx and the rest of the Fianna, skunkbats are spirit-protectors of the lifespring, and the faeries have bound Skunkbat to Onyx as a guide to unsuspend the anti-magic.

**Life in Waldon**

In Walden, Onyx is tasked with odds and ends--mostly, the tasks other village members didn't want to do themselves. Thusly, she can normally be found preparing for feats, cleaning, and helping take care of infants and children and the village daycare.

Growing up without parents, Onyx was raised by the village, particularly the caretakers and Naadra the storyteller who gives Onyx the neckiscope, which belonged to her mother and eventually becomes her arcane focus. Naadra is one of the only villagers Onyx can relate to, and enjoyed listening to her stories.

However, Onyx is usually left out of Waldon's social activities, considered a pariah by her peers and some of the elders. To them, Onyx is trouble, and her awkwardness and "smartass" attitude make her deeply unpopular with other fawnfolk her age. Her distinctly different style of tattoos make her an "other" to the children of Waldon. Onyx, rough around the edges as ever, often engages her peers in physical fights.

To some degree, Onyx has internalized what the village elders and peers say about her--that she is trouble.

At night, Onyx often sneaks out to the ramparts of the Waldon bulwark where she maintains a secret stash of hand-crafted tools, objects of interest, and sketches of astronomy in the observatory tower. The tools and trinkets includes charcoal rocks for drawing, bark and hemp paper, and a chard branch she uses as a pencil. She has attempted to recreate the star constellations on this rudimentary parchment, like her mother. She has also used the same thorns she's pierced herself with, in combination with carbon black ashes and stolen alcohol, to tattoo her own body--mainly places others won't see like her thighs. Onyx knows that if Calder found these inventions, he would be outraged, and so she keeps it all hidden. Moreover, if others found out, they might think Onyx was even more of a freak for wanting something that most likely "doesn't exist."

In her sanctuary, Onyx rests and dreams about living in a less strict time where she could hunt, and fantasizes about the stories Naadra has told her. If a festival is underway, Onyx has been known to steal wine and take it to her stash--after all, it's not like she'll ever find love at mating ritual with any of the other fawnfolk.

The elders fear Onyx' curiosity as it reminds them of her mother. They discourage and reprimand Onyx for indulging this characteristic. Consequently, Onyx stows away any objects of interest or tools she crafts in the observatory tower. Equally as worrying to the elders is Onyx resistance to authority, especially Calder.

Onyx' life in Waldon leaves her feeling unfulfilled, empty, and longing for freedom. She doesn't fit in with the village and loathes farming, but it scared to leave the bulwark fearing the dark forest due to the elders' warnings. Moreover, Onyx doesn't even know if there is anything beyond the dark forests. However, given Onyx' affinity for seeking the truth, it is unlikely she will be satisfied with the blatant lies of the elders for much longer.

Ultimately, Onyx is conflicted. Torn. She wants to be normal like everyone and belong, but everything she wants to do, she gets in trouble for (allusion to being gay in modern times). Onyx is stuck. She weighs leaving against potentially being completely alone. Eventually, Onyx' inner desires trump her cautions.

**The Magical Initiation of Onyx**

Onyx' peers break into her tower and see her inventions. They tattle on her to the elders, who come into and dismantle Onyx' sanctuary, hoping to make a lasting impression. This includes the star map Onyx drew--one of the first mappings of the sky since the Age of Enchantment (though some of these scraps were rediscovered by archeologists during The Great Rebirth.

Enraged at the destruction of her sanctuary, Onyx runs away from the village with Skunkbat. In a spirit of rebellion, Onyx throws her cautions to the wind and begins exploring. Following Skunkbat's nudges, she walks to a forest brimming with anti-magic and begins to hear faerie music. She follows the faerie music through a narrow, uninfected path in the anti-magic forest. The path is scary, and the music becomes harsher, but Onyx eventually pushes through to a clearing where she sees the Lifespring. She touches it and receives a jolt of power and a vision.

Onyx sees her parents finding the same Lifespring, leaving pregnant, and being executed by Calder and the elders.

Onyx' rage implodes, sending her remaining mental stability spiralling. The fury consumes her, causing her to shake and accept her worst self.

Skunkbat tries to lead Onyx past the Lifespring and towards Occula by biting her pants away from the village, seeing the vitriol and rage the vision induces in Onyx. However, Onyx kicks her leg sending Skunkbat gliding away. She makes her way back to Waldon.

Onyx confronts the elders and demands to know if what she saw was true. As Calder confirms her fears, a storm gathers around Waldon. It intensifies, directly correlating with Onyx's emotional state. Calder, noticing the correlation, repeatedly yells, "Demon!" at Onyx. The accusations cause her blood to boil. The tents and objects in Waldon spin, twist, and get violently ripped around, centering around Onyx. Her eyes light up with residual magic.

The village and it's inhabitants twist into a whirlpool into the ground and bury themselves around Onyx. Unbeknownst to her, Onyx has cast a wild gravimutation, spell, pulling the thread of time beneath the village and entrapping them in time in space spell. White fades to black as she is consumed by her rage, and she passes out.

Finally finding his way to Onyx, Skunkbat paws at her until she wakes up. As Onyx examines the destruction and the tips of buildings and huts poking out of the ground, she believes she has killed everyone in the village and thinks Calder and the village elders were right about her all along. The towers of the bulwark are warped like an abstract piece of art, pulled towards the gravitational source Onyx had accidentally placed beneath the village.

Terrified by her new powers, Onyx and Skunkbat return to the lifespring. Skunkbat helps Onyx trace its source to Occula's Flying Tower hanging over the edge of the mountain.

Inside, the tower is covered in scrawlings engraved over all the walls and opened books haphazardly adorning the floors. As Onyx enters the structure, it rumbles and lights up and the tower is imbued with Onyx's magic. The engravings start glowing and crackling and Onyx is taken back, shielding her eyes from the glowing craze in front of her. She hadn't seen anything more complicated, intricate, and incomprehensible than the stars before her now.

At the top of the stairs, Occula remarks that the tower has not been turned on in nearly 200 years. Outside, the tower has lifted off the cliff and is overlooking quite the potential freefall. Onyx, unaware she is controlling the tower, fails to focus her energy on guiding the vessel and it begins to plummet to the ground. As she braces to hit the ground, Onyx wills the tower to catch itself at the last possible second.

Occula have a long stare-off with each other, trying to figure out who each other are and what the hell just happened.

**Ascendance to the Cyclops Line**

During the final scene, Omnisha breaks Onyx' Neckiscope. Occula gets struck down by Ajax. Her eye transfers to Onyx as a third eye.