Jhordon's History

[criticalfault]

I've never been asked about my past before, I guess a large part of me hoped the question would never come up, but as they say, the heaviest burden of all is the story unspoken. So, see how this plays out I suppose.

I was born in Tol Rhun, a place that is perhaps more like these lands than people realize. The exception to that rule is that nethrium walk a bit freely there. Often you'll see a construct pulling a handcart for some sorcerer or a living shadow tracing through the streets. You know know if you were being spyed upon or if the dead guard you saw staring vacantly until a violation occurred was actually listening and waiting to report back to its master. Life there is a constant struggle to understand just exactly what the hell is going on. Still, as far as things go, I had it pretty well.

I was one of two children, my older sister the prized child of the family, because of her natural inclination to take after my father's talents with sorcery. She alone was the saving grace between my mother and father, while I, the failure of the gift to take. My father loved his daughter more than life itself, spending every moment he could to train her to become the sorcerer that Tol Rhun values so much. My father began to get more distance as the years went on, my mother as well but she was still there for me when i needed it. As time pasted i decided to try to explore other options, hoping to make a bit more of myself than a day to day worker, I had a knack for numbers and being able to lose myself in my work. I had hope to take up a position in banking, so I began speaking to everyone i could to make that happen.

While I had my heart set on escaping, my mother had her heart set on similar goals, after finally lining myself up with a good job, my father came to me to explain the news. That he and my mother had found someone to offload me onto. She was from a good family, actively involved in sorcerous training and willing to marry a complete stranger because my father could afford the dowery. I never met her once, she was beautiful, tall and dark, though she was cold as ice, completely devoid of emotions beyond the desire to achieve whatever she could at whatever cost. I saw the writing on the wall and knew it was time to go.

I told my mother I was out, i wasn't going to marry someone who wanted to use me. She plead with me to go through with it. That it would make the family stronger, that people like Melanie may be could learn to love someone if given a chance and that it was the best I was going to do. That was the last time I had spoken with my mother before she was...different. I packed my things and got ready to leave when I heard the argument break out. My mother and father shouting, which wasn't unheard of...but this time it was different. I decided however that it wasn't my fault anymore, that you can only let someone down so many times before...well before they should know better. I am pretty good at lying to myself when i need to be, i even made to the front door before I heard the shot.

After that day everything was different. I couldn't leave, not...like this. My father and sister were...unchanged or perhaps just were a bit more prepared to deal with the ramifications of my fathers anger. My mother was never the same, though. The shot that had been fired had struck her heart, killing her in that moment. My father never the one to lose face had put her back together again, but that thing that walked our halls wasn't my my mother anymore. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep and she never blinked. Still, I felt like I had to do something, but all of this was a bit beyond me. Sorcery and magic just...wasn't what I was good at. So I did the same thing I always did...I relented and fell into the life my father wanted me to. I courted Melanie and played the game until I saw my chance.

The stress of my new life in my fathers shadow was pretty intense. Walking of eggshells to avoid drawing any of his ire and being around that thing that he called my mother. Over the nights, I had the same nightmare, listening to that gunshot ring in my ears. Every morning was the same, I wake up covered in sweat. It was soon after this I would wake up to burning sheets, seared pillows and even burnt clothing. That's when I reached out to the university. They had explained how what I had experience was completely normal for someone with the gift and that they would speak with me to both get it under control and see about opportunities within the college. I spent two more weeks trying to explain what I had planned, how the offer I was given was an honor just as high as a sorcerer.

The fight that ensured after that conversation was almost as bleak, though significantly less dangerous than his last fight, but being a will worker himself, he understood what may have happened should a fight erupt between an impassioned pyromancer and a house full of nether. I packed my bags and head out, never saying goodbye. I often wonder if Melanie married, if perhaps I over reacted and we could have been happy. Maybe life would have been easier if I had just...accepted whatever my father told me. If my mother would still be alive instead of...that thing he keeps in the pantry. A new life was ahead of me, the university giving me a second chance and I am damn sure gonna make the most of it and once I have become a master of Pyromancy...my father and my sister had better watch themselves...because i'm burying my mother...and if things get messy, i'll dig that hole deep enough for three.

-Jhordon of Tol Rhun