I was born in a remote village, in the northern most part of the continent. We were close to the darkness that covered most of the world, but the natural formation of mountains around us protected us from most predators. No one really knew we were out there.
It was quiet a life, a peaceful life. I was always told that people in the rest of the world would judge me for being a Tiefling, without really seeing past that to the person I was. Judging by looks first and making assumptions. Being told that, I had no want or need to leave the village. All my friends and family were here, I was happy.
Then the night that changed my world happened. We were all done for the day, working in the fields. The sun was setting, between the two mountains. I went home to have dinner with my family. As I went to bed and started dozing off, suddenly there was a bright flash and the world was alight in orange.
I rushed out of my room and out the door to my house. What I witnessed horrified me. Knights, in full black armor, were mass murdering everyone in the village. I could do nothing, but look on, horrified. I was frozen in place. Someone slammed into me and snapped me out of my trance. It was my friend, Hrendar. He looked up at me, his eyes bloodied, his body going limp. His last words to me were, “Run.”
As I laid his limp body to the group, I couldn’t help but feel rage boiling within me. What had we done to deserve this? Why was my friend dead? I felt something boiling up in my body. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a soldier standing over the body of my father. Blinded by pure rage, I ran at him. All I remember are black flames appearing around my hands as I got close to him. As I grabbed on to him, a blast of dark energy exploded from my hands. He melted before me. As his body fell before me, I lost consciousness.
When I awoke, the soldiers were gone. Daylight was beginning to shine. Everyone around me was dead. I wanted to cry, but for some reason, I couldn’t. Suddenly, in my head, I heard,
“Ascian….Ascian….”
I looked around, scared, but hopeful one of my friends was still alive. But I saw no one.
“Come to me....”
I had no idea where the voice was coming from, but I felt a pull in my mind, a pull towards the town center. I picked myself and went towards it. I don’t know why, but I felt like I needed to go there.
Once I made it to the town center, I saw not the fountain that usually adorned the town center, but a crater. As I got closer, the voice called to me again,
“Do you wish revenge on what happened here? Do you wish to kill the ones responsible?”
I held my head in pain, it was so loud, but I couldn’t not answer it. Through my tears, half from the pain of the voice, half from the pain of losing everyone I loved, I yelled
“Yes! Yes I want them all to die! I want them all to feel the pain that I feel! I WANT THEM TO SUFFER!”
The voice in my head seemed happy as he responded,
“Good...then take this in your hand.”
A blade appeared in front of me with serrated edges. I reached for it and clasped my hands around the hilt. I felt a wave of power go over me. I fell to my knees from the strain. But almost as quick as the pain began, it stopped. The voice spoke again,
“Now...we are connected. I will help you with your revenge...but you...you will also help me with mine. Revenge on the one who imprisoned me.”
I stood up. A part of me knew what I had just done was wrong and I had done something I could not come back from. But the rest of me didn’t care. I wanted my revenge, and if this voice could give me the power to enact it, so be it.
I buried the friends and family that I could find, promising them the justice they deserved. That for every life those soldiers took, I would take a hundred of theirs. As the sun came up, I departed, not knowing if I would ever return.