From the Ashes..

[Dremora]

Upon entering Vehl, and eventually continuing onto Center, he found a place to buy some armor, food, water and a rapier. A weapon that held dark memories that still clawed at his heart, but a weapon that made him feel safe as well.
He met a woman there; strange creature, always hiding her face behind a mask and never speaking.
She showed him some charity, giving him food and since she was as good as any to ask in his mind, he asked about a local garrison or merc band he could hook up with to make a life for himself, to prove to himself that he was right and his father was wrong.
He got his wish, she gave him a letter and told him to read it in private, which he did upon his journey home by road to Port Hempstead, even though it held nothing for him anylonger, it was a place where he could save money using the bank.

Upon arrival, and getting mixed up in the hustle and bustle of the hin market, he read the scroll and the Axioms it held within it, about the Creed or Pihlosphy or whatever they wanted to call it.. it was about how to be a mercenary.. and its something he would take on board regardless of whatever name it was saddled with.
Was this is chance, did he by some lucky stroke meet a mercenary woman, she certainly looked capable, and it was proved when their paths crossed once again.

Her bumping into him in the city eventually led to her taking him to the sewers, likely to evaluate the teenager and see if he was worth her time, or at least this was the assumption Sebastian had in his mind.
Having some difficulty by being overpowered by rats en masse, she stepped in and thats when he knew she was a warrior, it was like watching the Reaper take souls.. at first, yeah sure, rats, who cares but the buggers were spritley, fast and packed a nasty bite. Her blows never missed.. and then came the fish people, dispatched just as casually as the vermin.
Seb was hard pressed just to make any kills, but he managed here and there. The odd nod of approval meaning alot to him, and he didn't even expect to recieve that much when he did get something right.
He learned her name down there, in the blood and sludge: Viper. Strange strange creature...

Later that day, after the rumble in the sewers, getting out and being soaked by fresh rainwater (a blissful experiance after trudging through the grime). She took him to Vehl by boat, paying for his ticket, and trained him in adjusting to medium armor such as chainmail, and assisted Sebastian with his footwork, posturing and overall Discipline when it came to battle. She had aided him a great deal and it gave the young man hope that he may have a chance at joining whatever organization she was apart of.
Eventually however, she handed over to a witty, playful elf called Raze; proceeding to school Seb in the appropriate useage of the rapier's thrusting and how to incorporate a shield into the mix at Sebastian's request (since he didn't believe himself good enough to be without one).
Hell. On. Earth. He never imagined the nightmare of learning to fight with a shield at his side, all the while having to work on professional warrior stance and suffer that acursed, lumbering, annoying, uncomfortable, clumsy, ugly chainmail!
But they were valuable lessons from people who possessed a skill he sought. He had to sweat through it and learn, and upon being ordered to perform 10,000 thrusts with no shield to practise footwork and posturing with his blade, he parted ways with Viper and Raze. And continuied to practise until his muscles ached of fatigue and his lightly tanned skin gleaned with sweat.

A final thought he had as he collapsed on the bench, panting like he had run from death itself was "Raze called her Tiffany.."

[Dremora]

After a few days had passed Sebastian found boredom with the repetitive drill of doing 10,000 thrusts, he set out to follow the code written in the scroll.
He worked for the falconer, delivering messages that brought him into path with feral animals on the road.
He worked to clear out bugs and rats from the cellars beneath the crafting hall, where he found a huge Queen ant-like insect that he was forced to face and defeat learning to overcome his fear and focus by trial of fire that nearly cost him his life; and he also went hunting in the crypts of Center to find a lantern that the undertaker had gone and lost while on patrol down there. Sebastian just figured the moron dropped it while running for his life.
Supplied with an abundance of both claws and axes to face off against, Sebastian's skill with lurking in dark places grew as much as his skill with a blade and stance did.

With that all done and dusted, his wounds healed by the magical potion he was given by Viper; he set off on a boat to Vehl from his old home in Port Hempstead.

The memories of this route were not welcomed by his mind and to avoid thinking on it, he spent much of his time burning up the numbers on how many thrusts he was supposed to have done. There was little else to do and socialising with the other passangers did not distract his thoughts well enough for it to be a suitable way to pass his time. Sure the pretty lass with the blonde curls and fine bust... Bah! He didn't have the time for that, he had to stay sharp.... but  she was a fine creature. ANYWAY!
After eventually clearing his mind of flirting with the young lady passanger, he got off in Vehl and headed straight for the local graveyard for work.

It was there a deal was made to bring back the dust of some mummy, a walking sack of dried flesh and bandages, nothin' the hotshot could'nt handle right? That was his thinking atleast, and he headed down into the dark crypts to search for this mummy.

The dark shadows allowed him to easily slip past or take down isolated skeletons, sometimes pairs; he was determined to keep the advantage on his side and these undead he had had plenty of experiance with.. push-overs..
He came upon a darkstairway, the smell of rot and decay wafting up from the dank passage along with strange, eerie groans.
It was probably just some wounded adventurer, stop over-reacting he told himself, and he headed down.
The smell got worse... the groans and wails became louder.. and a constant thudding kept assaulting his senses.. growing heavier and louder the deeper he went.
The base of the stairs at last.. and four ways to choose from, each a tunnel blocked by a small portcullis that he inspected in turn.. and then he peered through the bars and finally understood what that nerve-wrecking pounding was.. it was the blood racing in his veins from and the beat of his heart. It was what he saw that made him figure it out, rotting corpses, walking around aimlessly with grosteque visages. He stole away into the shadows and continued on, not daring to take these things on; the mummy was his target, not the others.

More and more passages, more and more disturbing sights, and finally, the end of the trail. The mummy, guarded by skeletons and a zombie.. it had to be a  zombie, this stupid Mummy could'nt have just been alone?
Using his skill with a rapier, the skeletons were dispatched together, and with minimal effort; he was too fast for their sluggish movements. The zombie walked even slower, maybe he was overreacting to how it looked and not focusing on what it could do? Well if he wants the dust, he has to take it down.. and once it caught sight of him, it began its slow, lumbering walk towards the nervous teen.

Standing in the stance taught to him by Viper and Raze, he waited for the creature, the distance closing painfully slowly... the anticipation of dodging those broken, diseased nails on the clawing, rotten hands and the slack, blackened tongue inside a decaying mouth and its yellow teeth.

15 feet away.. white, unseeing eyes.
10 feet away, the overpowering smell of exposed guts.
5 feet away, it lunges..

Seb was not expecting that! It moved so slowly before! And that assumption led to its nails scraping along his studden leather armor while the zombie's mouth tried to bite off the young man's face. Forced to dodge away, he slashes wildly, opening the throat of the zombie while putting some space between the undead creature and himself.
"Remember the lessons" he kept telling himself; widening his stance for balance and bending his knees so he could take the force from another lunge, spring forward, or dodge away once more. He was ready for this thing, it had nothing on him!
He lunged forward as he was taught, the rapier thrusting its way through the zombies heart before being retrieved back to the form that tumbled away from the swinging of ravonous arms.. this thing wanted him badly.. depserately.. and it kept coming.. it-! He barely dodged another swipe, the claw raking open his cheek and earning a cry of pain from the young man, cut short by the zombie tackling him to the floor and snapping at Sebastian's exposed throat.
The blade scraped along the tiled floor and out of his reach, his hands forced to grab ahold of the zombies neck to keep it at bay, while flailing so its hands could not find purchase.. its foul breath that followed the hungry groans was vile and only made him panic and fill with adrenaline more. Growling and yelling for it to get off, he finally sunk his knee into its gut in a desperate attempt to send it head first over and behind Sebastian's prone form.. and thank the gods it worked. This was his chance!
He scrambled to his hands and knees, rushing over to the rapier.. so close.. so close! He's got it! Breathing out a sigh of relief, he soon feels his ankle caught in a vice-like grip and pulled back, the zombie dragging itself up his body to feast.
Forget the rules, anything goes with this  thing; he took his blade in both hands and began to hack down upon the head and shoulders of the creature in a fear-filled flurry of blows that stopped its relentless advance cold.. his head fell back and he caught his breath, panting on the floor.

Silence.. except for the sound of his laboured breathing filling his ears. And then.. he got up and began to walk towards where he caught a glimpse of the mummy. *Groooan!*.. He looks back.. "Oh for the love of-"
The zombie was on its knees... and slowly rising up and lumbering back towards him; but he knew its game now.

6 feet.. 5 feet.. 4 feet- He lunges like he was taught, his lead foot coming out and his body aligning itself accordingly, the rapier an extension of his arm and sinking its length in between the zombie's colourless eyes. Who's the man now? A sickening sound of flesh sliding off metal and he has recovered, wiping the blade on his leather before turning and walking off..

There was the mummy.. a sack of dry flesh, bone and bandages. No problem.
Wait.. what..? He narrowed his eyes and looked closely into the pitch black orbs that were its eyes.. and the grim expression on its cracked, papery lips.. slowly curling into a smile. This thing was aware. He felt his muscles freeze and blood turn to ice, he could'nt figure it out, but those eyes transfixed him, and that smiled chilled him. It was coming closer.. walking, not lumbering, not running.. it was walking, albeit with a slight limp, but there was a dark intelligence in that creature. "I am not getting near you.." He pulled free his copper throwing knives and beginning flinging them into its chest, throat and face. "Just die already!" It only came closer and he could only run further, throwing the knives at it once more, using the wide, decrepid hall to his advantage. He pants "H-how..?"
Its lips split and reveal its black teeth in a menacing grin.. it was coming for him and he cannot beat it.
He was not dying here, he bolted out of the room, knowing his weapons did nothing to it and slammed the door shut, leaping over the fallen bodies of lesser undead and vanishing into the crypt's shadows... where he lurked for a time until it gave up and he could make his way out of that place.

He succeeded.

[Dremora]

It had been a day or so since his encounter with the cursed mummy beneath Fort Vehl. He was recovered and prepared as best he could be and eventually returned to Center, where he did a few more jobs here and there to earn coin, and at the end of it all, he stumbled upon a gathering of adventurers and Toranites.

Three Toranites.. one of which was their Champion according to the title she kept receiving, a scout called Charlie Poetr, a bard called Lana Poetr, a gnomish warrior called riddick, and soon.. himself. He wanted another challenge to hone his skills with a rapier on, so he could advance his training with Raz; become sharper, faster, better.

And so they set off, himself and Charlie who soon became paired up as the group's scouting duo. The trip soon turned rough for the less experianced members, himself included. Though he felt pride as himself and Charlie distinguished themselves as competant scouts, despite their several disagreements and jibes at eachother.
It was here, against the swarming hordes of undead creatures that and the seemingly endless dark passages that filled the castle that they were exploring, that Sebastian Lex first felt fear.. and death's embrace.
The other undead put the ypoung man on edge, made him nervous, uncertain that he could do his task (even with the presence of the holy order). But did it was what he did, and even managed to score a decent number of hits in with his rapier, something that made him proud, and satisifed that he came closer to that  10,000 thrust milestone.
But somewhere in that dark nightmare, they had opened a door and inside, was a single creature of bone and glowing fiery orbs that served as its malicious eyes.. and in looking into those evil fires, he felt his blood run cold, and his body freeze as a ball of flame took him in the chest; his world exploding into white light and searing agony before it all became quiet and black with the sound of a CRACK.

Sebastian was dead, his neck broken on the rubble and his entire body scorched.

He felt the pull of the Soul Mother for the first time.. and yetsomething dragged him away... a shimmer of hope and light that brought him back to the world, and into the maimed body that lay on the stone floor of the castle. All he could remember was mind numbing pain from his burns, clawing at the nearest person while trying to breath before the Champion laid her hands over him and restored his body to what it once was.

He thanked her for saving him, but she only said to thank Toran.. and so he did; but that experiance chilled him to the core, and he was not the same for the rest of the trip, more silent and abit of a recluse. The pain and his last sights had branded themselves into his mind and they would not pass swiftly.

The rest of the hunt went as it had done before, he learned that Charlie had fallen too but his grandmother Lana had seen to him. He focused on using his throwing knives and scouting out an exit for them. He eventually found a layer of ivy leading out onto the ramparts that they could use to climb over and down to where they first began. He recieved some praise for his find, but it didnt little to stir any sense of pride in him.

He soon then left the group when they all parted ways and returned to Fort Vehl's arena to train in silence and avoid thinking on what happened in the dark castle..


Time swept by, and the spectacular show put on by Lana and her friend did cheer him form his sombre mood for a time; the show itself consisted of humorous songs and acts that the whole audience, even he, enjoyed immensly and ended on a note of rememberance for those who died.
There he saw Raz who reminded him that he had fallen behind on his drills; and after a brief talk with the Poetr family, he set off to do what he had been tasked with doing.

[Dremora]

Dead..  a shard of ice in the side of the head from some dragon that was swathed in mist. He had been taken to a Pit.. in another world alongside Viper and many others to try and locate a Dragonbane flower to help 'save the world'.
His reward? Sentry duty, deafening spells, flames that were so bright they blinded him, snakebite, a hostile environment not meant for those of Layonara and Death to go ontop of everything else alongside Viper's comforting: "Pain is just weakness leaving the body". At least someone brought him back from the threshold.. but this was the second time in a month he'd found himself in the cold, lonely Void..
Maybe he should stick a sword in her gut when she isn't looking and leave her there to become 'stronger'.
It was all beginning to get to him and after that event, the toll on his thoughts and soul was beginning to show.

Aside from being near useless, which did not help the kid's self-esteem, the trip itself was like a torture chamber and they were the victims.
Thankfully Moraken had his healers tend to the group, Sebastian of which especially needed it as it became necessary for Viper to drag him near the end of their hectic journey.

A few days of intense magical healing and he was on his way to get back to doing normal, paying jobs. This led him to encounters with a short, ugly little man called Frak and a kind elven lady called Miss Breanna.. or Bree, if he ever spoke to her. They helped him retrieve the mummy-dust in the crypts that he had failed at achieving alone, since he was without any skill in magic and only used copper weaponry.
It made him feel back on track abit, but still, he had a lot more memories in his head that kept pushing themselves intrusively to the front of his thoughts whenever life seemed to slow down.. he had to find a distraction.. starting off with finishing the thrusts he had been doing daily, he went to Leringrad. A last resort as his drills were finished.

A cold, dark, rainy night and a knock on the door. Slim chance; but 125 Leringrad.. Zarianna's home, a elven beauty (or so was his opinion) that wanted to help him out with his apparent poor choice in clothing design. Not as if such luxuries of looking flash had ever been found in his life before but.. well, Raz insisted.
Even that late.. or to be picky, early; Raz opened the door (go figure he would be here bedding her).
Invited into the dry, warm and rather lovely home, Raz toured him about the place, showing him paintings Zarianna had made and the statues he had sculpted, telling him that using a rapier should be like 'art' and that it was about time they discovered what sort he had an appreciation for. It had to be the sculpture.. so much more to look at and much more imposing.
It was then revealed that the two naked statues that were apart of the tour were of elven sisters was Zarianna and her sister. Strange that they'd keep naked statues of themselves in their home.. or at all.. but hey.. these were elves, and he wasnt in the mood to strain his brain understanding their fey race.

Raz hospitality was exceptional, something Sebastian didn't expect, and that certainly put him off-guard, but things soon got back on track when Raz took him into the studio, cleared a space and they began sparring once more.
Seb did the 10,000 thrusts roughly, and had exhausted himself on them only to find out that Raz was just messing with him and would've "bailed on 4,000"... grrr!
The kid really wanted to get better, he had his reasons and was wasn't willing to waste the oppurtunity to learn from a guy that had been around alot longer than him, and wasn't even asking for payment! ...... Yet..

But as the training went on, they covered more shieldwork, since his technique with a rapier was much improved, and finally moved onto parrying with the rapier alone, so he would become better at just pure swordplay; which is the direction he ultimately wanted to find himself walking on.
A mixed bag on his performance, he always had trouble copying moves exactly when they were new to him, but he did, on some occasions perform the most perfect executions with his blade. It made him proud.. and he needed that.
Upon the end of the drills with Raz, he showed him his sword collection and assigned him with 7,000 (after some haggling) drills of thrusting with a shield (focusing on the shield, not the thrust) so his technique would be perfected, and then recovering from the position AND performing an outward parry to swat aside an imaginary attack.
This would be a much larger challenge and so he headed out in the early morning with the sun beginning to cast the light of dawn on the sky a couple hours later to set about his task.

The training went on, whenever he had a spare moment, which were plentiful and eventually came across a Miss Bella and Mister Steel; he remembered Steel fromt he bardic event, blue-skinned and with horns sprouting from his head, he was something that took resolve to hold eye contact with and sent chills down Sebastian's spine everytime he tried.
The tiefling had given him a paying job that would either give him 750 trues or a month in a nice room. The Axions Viper gave him told him to be flexible.. so he left it open-ended until he had delivered the promised goods. A box of milk and a box of salt to help re-stock the pantry of Leringrad Arms. Apparently Steel owned it.

Leaving that place, since he was growing tired of the personality analysis he soon found himself under by Miss Bella, and eventually Raz who joined their company. He left and found company with a troublesome little gnome who called herself Jinxy. A young mage who wanted to acquire the Mummy Dust.. great. The Mummy was back.
And so he went into the crypts with her, using skeletons as practise dummies for his drills whenever he could manage it.

Between her spritely nature and the minor confidence he had in knowing he's taken down worse things, he held his nerve as they travelled deeper into the crypts beneath Fort Vehl. It eventually turned into a ranged competition between Seb's throwing knives and Jinxy's sling. The zombies moved so slowly and the ghouls were a rare sighting that they could often bring down between them and their concentrated fire. The idea was his, 'outrun/outgun' so-to-speak.
Turned out to be a good practise with his knives and kept his fitness up, besides getting on the wrong side of those diseased creatures wasn't smart.

It came down to Jinxy however, and a little bit of help from Seb's magic potion. The mummy was all hers as only she could hurt it with her magicks. Taking two attempts to finally bring it down however, she killed it and they completed the task Friar had given them (what was that guy's obsession with Mummy dust?). Dashing through the darkness while wailing undead at their heels, they made it out and barricaded the door so the creatures who soon vastly outnumbered their little duo could'nt spill out onto Vehl's streets.
Another day at work...

[Dremora]

Everyday for two weeks.. everyday, he was to enter Vehl arena and use one of the many martial weapons that were held in waiting on the Arena Racks. Everyday he was to train with one till his arm ached, until he could'nt swing it anymore.. this was harsh, his arm soon began to feel the ache and dull burning of fatigue and still he pushed himself on, day after day until he could'nt even use the arm anymore due to sprains and over-working every muscle in it... so much for good advice. He had burned himself out at the end of the first week. He needed some rest, he had nothing more left to give there.


Later, once darkness had covered the sky, Sebastian walked into the small room he rented using some of the money he got recently from a completed job (i.e just after his training with Viper).

It was small, barely enough to be used for practise but.. he would make it work. Setting down his equipment and removing all his clothing; he began to turn the place upside down.
The bedding was scattered at random about the floor, chairs were turned upside down so the legs stuck dangerously in the air, the drawers were pulled all the way out; some taken completely from their holds and cast about the floor. Finally, the bookshelf... he pushed his hand in from one side.. and sent the books tumbling to the floor to create even more of a mess.

Only thing he needed now was something to practise on.. his leather armor would do. He placed that upon the vanity upright, and against the mirror. It became his new target, but... what will he do about his arm? Its no point injuring it further, right? He needed a new plan. It was one thing to show true grit and determination, but it was another to be stupid. He took up his rapier, and began to practise his thrusts with a rapier, but using his left hand to thrust and parry; his right only to lightly excerise by using it to hold the shield. Needless to say, his attempts were no where near as good as his main hand, however; he has seen Raz fight with both hands, and he suspects that its likely Raz will eventually impose this training on him; well he'll have a surprise in store AND complete the assigned training!

He frequently stepped this way and then, thrusting in and stabbing the tip into his armor, before recovering and swatting away an imaginary blade or claw.
Occasionally he would stumble on the 'terrain', foiling a strike. It was usually the soft matting or the sudden sliding of a book out from under him.
Even when a particularely unlucky and poorly angled slip-up occured that brought his ribs into a near collision with the chair legs that could've broken them well and truly, he managed to twist his body and only get a vicious bruise up the side of his body, eliciting growls and curses aplenty.

He had proved something to Viper, and it was not purely for show, he was stubborn. And regardless of who said what about him having something to prove, it was driving him... driving him enough to hold back the tears from the pain that he didnt want to let show, even with no onlookers; he rose carefully and went at it again, improving his skill with the other hand while trying to complete the other half of Raz's drill assignment before the second week was up. It was intense enough to ensure he rarely left the Arena or his room, there was just no time.

The day finally came where he was to sail to Leringrad, he had completed 6 thousand of Raz's drills (3 in each hand) and just about every martial weapon he could find. His body was weary and agonized... time to face that devil.. Steel.

[Dremora]

He sat for a while, waiting on the blue-skinned devil to show himself, in perfect silence. To the onlooker, it amy appear he's just waiting and brooding, but in truth, he was fortifying himself to look upon Steel. Someone he found unsettling. But nevertheless, it was like the longer he waited, the more he wanted to leave; being the socially awkward person he was when outside his social circle didn't exactly make anything easier on him either.

Bella soon entered, he was becoming well-aquainted with miss nosey bartender who likes to be known as 'nobody' and always seems to be after what makes him tick.. grrr, he hated that, especially when it doesn't concern people. Actually... Viper.. Raz.. they were all asking what his goal was, and what was driving him yada yada; it always made him get tetchy and defensive, and hours later he always would regret coming across rudely. Hey wait a minute! They were the ones diggin' on him!
All of these thoughts slipped from his mind when she greeted him, and asked what he was doing there.. and so he told her that he was waiting to speak to Steel. Naturally she assumed it was about a minor errand Steel once tasked him with but, he told her otherwise and between the idle banter and the time slipping away. Steel arrived.

The discussion soon took a different turn once Seb slid the scroll Viper handed him listing the Axioms on it. She had told him to seek out lessons on them.. or so he interpreted.
Steel however, did not seem to directly address them as far as Seb could see; it was more orientated towards the philosphy behind the 'Dread Blades', how they were killers, life-takers, murderers depending on your viewpoint.
He even explained who the statue holding the huge blade that was rightly named 'Wicked', was... The Norseman, who codified the Axioms before he died.
During all this however.. the "what makes you tick" question that Seb loathed reared its ugly head, this time from Steel. As always however, Seb deflected the question and dodged giving answers. He was left however with something to ponder before their next meeting. It was who Seb's enemies were. In truth, he'd already made him mind up on that but he figured he may as well keep quiet and simply tell Steel at a later date what he figured.. maybe he would even get a revelation and have his answer changed before then. But his current 'lack' of enemies that he was aware of meant that it was unlikely.... for now.