Elior was a young man carved from indifference.
A nonchalant soul who never cared much for anyone or anything - and truly, no one expected him to.
How could they?
He was a teenage orphan, a boy who never knew the warmth of parents or the comfort of a home. His past was a fog of unanswered questions and painful rumors. In Volradis, gossip spread faster than truth, and the rumor surrounding his birth had followed him his entire life.
People whispered that his parents were servants of Bahal, a forbidden deity long rejected by the Divine Order. They said his parents were executed to "cleanse the land," sacrificed to appease heaven.
A convenient tale.
A cruel lie.
Elior knew the truth- or at least the part he could grasp.
His parents were innocent, framed by powerful men who needed a scapegoat.
But what evidence could a child have against the words of priests and rulers?
So the lie lived on… and Elior carried its weight alone.
He grew up pale, tall, and thin - a 6-foot figure with dead-drop eyes that looked older than his years. People said he resembled a ghost wandering the living. They avoided him, feared him, judged him, or pitied him from a distance.
So he lived quietly.
Worked odd jobs.
Anything that paid enough to keep him alive another day.
Morning began with the sound of the tavern floorboards creaking above his head as drunk men stumbled out. Elior would drag himself from his bed, splash cold water on his face, and stare at his reflection - hollow, tired, detached.
Then he'd step into the streets of Volradis, where the air always smelled like dust, smoke, and hopelessness.
He carried crates in the market, cleaned stables, delivered packages through dangerous alleys - whatever job no one else wanted. The pay was small, the work exhausting, but survival had no pride.
He said little, observed much, and trusted no one.
People saw him as just another youth shaped by tragedy.
Another life swallowed by Volradis.
Another shadow drifting through a city that devoured dreamers.
But deep within, beneath the numbness and the rumors and the dull ache of life…
something still flickered.
A faint whisper that he tried to ignore.
A sense that destiny had not forgotten him-even if he had forgotten himself.
For now, Elior simply tried to live.
But soon… life would no longer be simple.