Valen

On summer nights in Port Peril, countless rowboats broke off from trading armadas to seek out thrills in wine, gambling and women. along the murky waters in the lowest part of the docks was a particularly debauched brothel owned by Veritus the Vile. A lowlife pirate turned pimp when he saw pussy beat plunder in profits. Among his offerings was my mother, Elionora.

The conditions in which she was kept was but a half measure above slavery. Veritus had a reputation for fulfilling any fetish to any fiend frenzied for a fucking. Veritus made many terrible acquaintances during his time as a pirate, and even worse ones as a pimp. In particular, a group of necromancers from a neighbouring island. Veritus had a problem, and they offered an ominous solution: 20 coppers for a moon cycle with any whore who was with child. Those who came back were no longer encumbered by the child, but would never speak of what happened. Elionora feared the necromancers and what happened on that island, especially since she knew she was with child.

Elionora kept her secret and tried her best to avoid working directly with the rabble that came through looking for a cheap thrill. She attempted to work at the front as a barmaid and pick up shifts cooking but ultimately she could not refuse lest she be dealt with by Veritus who made quick work of whores refusing to lay by taking them out on his old vessel and making them walk the plank over the shark infested reefs covered in animal remains from the previous nights supper. One summer night as she tended the bar, a group of traders came in dressed in high society garments. They were tall, slender and looked like they had never seen the sun which was unusual for seafarers. The leader of the traders took a particular interest in Elionora who could only describe the glance as a wolf observing a sheep. The man handed Veritus 200 gold pieces and told him to close early for the night so he and his men could have the establishment to themselves. Hours passed as women were taken back with groups of two or three men at a time. Eventually, the leader of the merchants took Elionora by the scruff and forced her into a nearby chamber. Elionora pleaded with the merchant and begged him not to pick her admitting she was with child. The merchant uncontrollably lets loose a grin that struck fear into Elionora, sending a wave of chills down her back. The merchant leans in and gently takes a strand of her hair and places it behind her ear as in to whisper. He said, “that is precisely why I chose you”. Before Elionora could process what happened the merchant sunk into her neck and feasted on her blood, all the while infecting her with Vampiris Sanguinaris. The merchant took his fill and left my mother to slowly bleed to death.

After hearing repeated screams from the brothel, a wandering cleric of Tsukiyo barged into the brothel to find bodies strewn everywhere, jugulars ripped open and drained. He began praying and searching the brothel for any survivors. There was no sign of Veritus, but in one chamber he came across Elionora, half dead and fading quickly. He took her to his small hut in the port he had rented and began using everything in his power to heal her. By no small miracle, he managed to bring life back to Elionora. Over the next few months, The Cleric Lushaun worked vigorously to cure Elionora before the infection completely overtook her. He exposed her to the sun as often as possible to scald away the infection. It almost killed her. Elionora could feel the disease overtaking her, and made Lushaun promise her that if she fully turned he would end her life, and if the child had the disease he would show it the mercy of a swift death. Lushaun kept her alive long enough to bring the pregnancy to term. Elionora died giving birth. Lushaun saw before him a palechild, slender and innately evil. He reached for his jade dagger to fulfil his last promise to a dying woman. As he placed the blade to the babe’s throat the child opened his eye to reveal a bright crimson. Lushaun closed his eyes for one last prayer granting him the discernment to follow through. As he opened his eyes one last time to deliver the blow, the child’s other eye had opened. a bright green, Jade like the God he worshipped. Lushaun vowed to purge the evil from the child and raise it in the faith to be a vessel for good against all odds. That child was named Valen per his mothers request. It was her father’s name.

For the next 20 years, Lushaun tried to teach me the ways of the cleric, and how to heal those who have broken. I knew I owed him, and more importantly, Tsukiyo my life. A debt I was not so quick to cast aside. I tried it Lushauns way, as we established a small temple in Port Peril, offering to treat wayward travellers and those afflicted by wounds. Lushaun knew my visage was close enough to pass as human or elf, but he feared for those who gazed into my crimson eye and saw my true nature. Lushaun began wearing hoods in the temple and all the followers would as well. No one in Port Peril was any wiser that Tsukiyo clerics didn’t customarily cover their heads. After that two things became painfully clear to me: I would never be accepted no matter where I went. The other, it didn’t matter if she shat rainbows and wore nothing but sock around or cocks, people don’t pay attention to religion. My faith and devotion to Tsukiyo is unwavering, as I know without a doubt that it was his light shining through the darkest night that saved me. As the moon is of light but thrives in the darkness of night, so would I.  I would become the darkness that Tsukiyo would need to bring denizens to the light. I was sick of dealing with the aftermath of rape, murder, and atrocity after atrocity. It was time for me to cut out the sickness myself.

I earned my way in Port Peril at night, sticking to the shadows and stealing all I could from those scum traders that would come to my city to abuse those without means to defend themselves. I started to get damn good at it too. When I was 17 I was making my usual rounds around the shadows of Port Peril when I came across a trader from one of the armadas corners a young girl on the docks. He had his blade out and was trying to force her to lay with him. I didn’t think twice when I emerged from my hiding and slit his throat with a rusted boat nail. The girl screamed in horror and ran from me like I was a monster. I went to Lushaun to tell him the good news. I was met with disapproval, disdain, and disgust. Lushaun told me there was no place for violence as a cleric, and that I had allowed myself to succumb to my evil nature. He was wrong. Tsukiyo is not a passive God. He thrives in darkness, just as he has thrived in me. I was exiled from the temple and have not seen Lushaun since. Before I left I took his jade dagger, the very one that was held to my throat as a babe, and my mother’s journal. The only memories I have of her.

I lived the next 8 years in Port Peril learning every nook and cranny, preying on the predators, and dreaming of starting my own guild of like-minded Tsukiyo worshipers who see that there is a place for darkness in the light. The money I take from the traders has barely kept me alive and stocked on equipment. It is time that I stop living off scraps, and start making real money and fulfilling my destiny: whatever Tsukiyo sees fit for me.