A bustling day begins. In the middle of the desert, lies one of the most beautiful yet troubling cities of all, the city of Vand Nae Ilya, The "Home to All". Once famous for helping every traveler, no matter who, is now a city ruled by humans. All the other species left, with the exception of the elves. Despite having created the city centuries ago, the elves are now slaves. Forced to do as the humans demand, or suffer the consequences.
Among the humans, there is one with power beyond measure, and his name is Leoxis. Leoxis was high class since birth, and studied the dark arts of magic since it's very childhood. He was capable of raising the dead as he pleases, and managed to become even more important and powerful through that.
Leoxis bought a palace for himself, with more than 100 slaves who served him faithfully out of fear. After all, they could be killed by their master's hands and his body would continue to work for him in the afterlife. The Necromancer became the most important human in the city a few years after that accomplishment.
One of the Necromancer's slaves intrigued him. She was an elf, born in the city and sold for slavery, yet, her beautiful body got even the master's attention. He observed her work many times, and he only became more and more obsessed by her. One day, he could not resist. He summoned her to his chambers, hold her by her neck and put her against the wall. Tearing her clothes apart with his bare hands, he penetrated her with such violence that she wasn't even capable of holding her screams. He kept going while hiting her for being noisy and then, once satisfied, he threw her out of his chambers to rest. However, that was just the beginning.
After many, many moons, a baby was born. A small creature, neither human nor elf, became part of Leoxis family. He couldn't stand the fact his first son was not human, but he could not have a slave out of him. And so, the baby was free from slavery, but an half-elf would never be accepted as a human. The boy was named Karyox, and he grew in the palace, having his father as the most important man of the city, and his mother, a slave.
A Standout Among The Rest
Karyox's childhood was nothing but despair. He saw his mother and half-brother being used, beaten and mistreated every single day for years. Leoxis then decided to send his son to a school, where he could learn the arts of magic.
However, he was never accepted by the other students. They beated him on a daily basis, and the teachers never seemed to care. Despite being the son of an important man, no one cared for him.
One day, he choosed to tell his father. He believed his father would make them stop, even by force, if necessary. Leoxis, ashamed that his son would not fend for himself, took his son by the arm and beated him up until he was near unconscious, only to leave him outside of his palace.
Haxons, Karyox's half-brother and his private servant, begun to act as a father figure for him. He treated the wounds, listened to the boy and was always there for him. But still, the help of a mere slave would never solve his problems. Karyox was beaten every single day in school, mocked by students and even teachers, and afterwards, at home, beaten by his dad for "weakness".
The Desire To Be Human
Karyox was finally a teenager. But the way he was treated never changed. He was still beaten by his school mates, mocked by everyone, even random humans on the street, and saw his elf counterpart trapped in slavery. He could not do anything for the elves, and the fact this troubling fate was the same of his mother and half-brother, only made him saddest.
The half-elf was looking at his reflection to examine his wounds and clean his blood and tears, but then, a sudden thought came to his mind. He was not that different from humans. In fact, he looked more like a human than an elf! What made people mock him so much if he was so similar to them? What gave him away?
His ears, of course! He had long ears, just like an elf! As long as his forearm, everyone could see he was not a human with such ears. Karyox started to imagine how things would be with normal, human ears. People would treat him well. There would be no mockery, no one would beat him, everything would be perfect.
From that, he made his choice, one he would always regret. He stole a dagger from his father's armory, one he always fancied for its beautiful blade and for the family symbol in it, a majestic wing, and came back to his room. Then, he hold the edge of his right ear, and cut off all the cartilage. The movement hurt him badly, so he had no choice but to do that slowly. By going back and forth with the blade and with a great amount of screaming, he managed to saw it off. He was crying, his throat hurt from screaming, not to mention the pain coming from his ear. But it wasn't over yet.
With no hesitation, he hold his other ear's edge and repeated the movement. There was no more tears to cry, no more voice to scream, only blood coming from both ears. And finally, his left ear's cartilage was cut off.
As he looked in the mirror, he had a moment of happiness. His ears were small, human-sized. He could finally see himself as a human, and not a freak. He was free from his curse.
Haxons opened the door as Karyox fell into the ground. His brother started to treat his wounds, crying, shocked by what he saw. Haxons managed to stop the bleeding, and put his brother to rest.
But, despite the pain, the suffering he submitted himself, Karyox was happy. There were no ears to set him apart from the others, no reason for anyone to mock him again. Karyox was finally human.
First Kill
Karyox went to school with confidence. After what he did to his ears, he knew he would be accepted. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Everyone started to laugh at him, slowly killing his confidence. Naomu, the kid who beat him the most, hit him the face and he fell. He grabbed Karyox by the ear and started to mock him. "What? Did you father cut them off to make you human? Is that how he think it works?" He said, while putting Karyox back on his feet by pulling the ear. The pain on his ear was stronger than the punch, for it was still sensible. Naomu punch him in the stomach several times while still holding the ear.
"You know what? I think I'll take you home and make you my slave, just like your whore mother". Everyone was laughing, but Karyox reached a new feeling. The pain? Gone. Sadness? Gone. He was feeling something new, one more intense than all the previous feelings combined. Wrath. Anger Hate. He felt such fury, his mind even started to work better. And it remembered something. The dagger.
Karyox never returned the dagger, for his was afraid of getting caught. In fact, he kept it for himself. He had the dagger at that very moment. Karyox played uncounsious and fell. Naomu simply started to mock the fact he passed out, without realising he fell into a trap. Karyox took the dagger and stabbed Naomu's leg.
The kid started to scream, and everyone got quiet. As Naomu fell into the ground, Karyox stood up and placed his knee into Naomu's chest. the half-elf stared into his eyes. The kid was crying, his eyes resembled and small animal in danger, while Karyox's eyes resembled the dead his father could control. He put the edge of the blade in Naomu's mouth, forcing him to stop with the screams.
"Relax. It's all over now". That was the last thing Naomu heard. After saying that, Karyox cut the kid's throat. He wasn't fast, nor intense, just slow and deep enough to kill. Karyox, despite his emotions, seemed extremely calm while killing his soon to be dead "friend".
Naomu was dead. spilling blood from the throat. As Karyox started to stand up, all the kids around him ran away. But he did not care about the others. He was satisfied with Naomu's death, and simply decided to go home.
The Great Escape
The following days brought happines and desperation for Karyox. Leoxis had to defend his son over the accusation of killing Naomu, which wasn't a challenge for him, but he promised punishiment for his son once this problem was dealt with. Still, for Karyox to see his father protecting him, he couldn't avoid to smile. He knew this would end badly, but there as a momentary joy for him in it.
But eventually, the joy ended. Leoxis summoned Karyox to his chambers. Once the son entered it, he saw his mother on the floor, bleeding, with her eyes and tongue ripped out and laying by her side. Karyox started to panic, but Leoxis used a spell that threw his son into the wall. Two other slaves came and put handcuffed him. "Wait!" Leoxis said. "I want him to see this". The Necromencer used a different spell, a gust of energy right in Karyox's mother. As she did her best to shriek in pain without her tongue, her skin started to dissolve until there were only bones left. Karyox was already screaming by then, but Leoxis hit him so hard he passed out.
Awake once more, he saw himself handcuffed against the wall, uncapable of tounching the ground with his feet. He screamed, yelled and cursed over and over, but no one was there to listen. Or that's what he thought.
Haxons appeared. He had two bloodied daggers with him, one was the blade Karyox used before and the other took from a guard, and also a key. He set his brother free and they ran away. But it wasn't that simple.
As they were fleeing, undead soldiers went after them. Haxons gave his brother both blades and yelled "Run!". He threw a rock on them to get their attention and ran into another direction. Karyox was confused, but he didn't want to make this sacrifice in vain. He ran to the other way and left the city.
Not many moons after that, a few travelers helped him get to a city. He obtained maps from Luvith, and choosed his destination. Mathidir, The Great Forest, the realm of the elves. If humans couldn't accept him, then he would stay with the elves.
The Forest
After a few years, Karyox reached Mathidir. A beautiful green land, where elves lived happily. They were not aware of the slavery in Vand Nae Ilya, but they weren't friendly with humans. He never knew why, neither he cared. All he wanted was a place to stay.
The elves were not pleased with Karyox. But they accepted him. They gave him a house more isolated from the city and told him to only come when needed. He thought that unecessary, but compared to his life before, that was an improvement. He lived there, by himself, training how to fight from books and self confidence. That was his life until the his was 20.
One day, as Karyox was at the river to get fresh water, something weird happened. A child was being taken by the flow, but before he was capable of doing anything, he saw another elf going for her. They were going extremely fast, so he followed them by land. He lived most of his life in the desert, so swimming wasn't his best quality. The elf managed to get the girl, but the flow was not allowing to get out. Karyox saw a tree whose branch was high, but right above the river. He ran and hanged himself on the branch, as he put one of his hands in the elf direction. Once the elf took his hand, the branch nearly broke, but managed to hold all of them.
They got out of the river. The man was laughing a lot and thanked Karyox. "Name's Poxes, by the way. Not sure what I'll do with weren't for you".They both went to the city, and, in a few hours, they found the girl's family. Poxes invited him to his place and they went there to chat. Poxes became Karyox's first friend.
Renegade
After reaching 22 years, Karyox's life changed again. He was walking in the city, buying food and clothes, when he saw a dense smoke in the sky. There was a fire going on. On a tree slightly far from the city. He knew what was there. It was Poxes' house. He left all things he bought and ran there as fast as he could.
The tree was burning down. Karyox climbed the tree and entered the house, only to see his friend's burned out body. He covered his friend with a mantle that wasan't burned and left the house with him.
When he left, the tree was already surrounded by the locals. Karyox had a very sad face on him, but the locals didn't care. He was blamed for what happened.
a old lady threw a rock on him. "What have you done to him??". Karyox tried to explain, but two elves tried to hold him. That moment brought him unpleasent memories.
Karyox remembered the slave elves holding him, as his father annihilating his mother. He couldn't do anything then because he was a weak child. But not anymore.
Karyox quickly freed his hands, took his daggers and killed both of them, with a quick stab on the throat. Everyone looked at him, shocked about what he did.
There was nothing he could do. Proving his innocence over Poxes was not relevant anymore, for he killed two people in front of the others. His choice was a more simple one. He ran away.
None of them could match his speed, so it wasn't any trouble. But going back to his house seemed stupid. Fortunately, he had his map with him, so he could go to his last option.
Karyox went to Toyur, the land of the dwarves. They were known for accepting anyone, no matter what species. That was his only chance of living, so that's where he went.