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Fantasy DARK FANTASY - The Betrayer's Circle

Bunesh

Filled with DETERMINATION
(Inspired by elements within Tales of Bersaria, Dark Souls, Mortal Kombat, and Berserk)

One Man's hero is another man's villain, a story of two heroes who are also each other's villain
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"Come here my child," your father pleads with you as he lay on his deathbed, his once-proud stature now whithered, his skin sagging, his eyes drooping, the vibrancy and strength of his younger days now gone as he looked into the twilight of his life, "I have a great and terrible secret I must share with you, the burden of truth that you must bear and for that, I am sorry my child."

And once you are seated, alone with your only family in the royal chambers, he reveals a horrid truth, one that splinters your world, twisting you up with pain and emotion. Almost twenty years ago, when you were but a young child, you had a twin brother who was born sickly and frail but with a good and pure heart. Your family, the royal Solai family of the nation of Ostovia had earned its place much like the other rival families; through the magic within their bloodline. A power only nobility could claim, each of the great family's bore a different sort of power, be it over wood and animals, water and ice, or as in the case of your family, Fire, and light. The people saw your family as heroes who had defended the nation against jealous rivals and unnatural forces time and time again, but there were those who looked on with bitter envy at the rewards granted to your house based solely on the circumstances of their birth.

The closest rival family to yours was the Argento family, who had long sought the same position and prestige as your family but never quite got to the same level as they used the power of wind which had less power and strength than fire or light. For generations, this rivalry plagued your houses, but when catastrophe arose, Solai and Argento set their differences aside and stood together as Ostovians to face the threat that crossed their borders.

In an attempt to mend years of bitter feuding, Ser Giles Argento had sent his daughter, Lady Lilith Argento to befriend you and your brother, in hopes that once you came of age you would see each other as companions, not as enemies. She was your closest friend and confidant, as the rivalry between your family names meant nothing to you, until one day when it all changed. It was your brother Tamir's birthday, and Lilith had come bearing a gift of her own for him to celebrate and went to give it to him in his chambers. You were alerted by the screaming of your maid and were horrified to find your brother, your sweet, gentle, and loving brother, dead in the arms of Lilith, who was splattered with his blood and her gift open at their feet; biscuits that she had made herself. Your maid swore she poisoned him, you had let her into your house and she had murdered your twin brother, your heart screamed in anguish, deafening you to her cries of innocence.

For your father and mother, it was the final straw.

The entire Argento family were rounded up Ser Giles and his wife Marianne were executed by beheading but for Lady Lilith, there was a different and far harsher fate instore: she was cast into The Black Mirror, a cursed magical prison to suffer in undying misery for eternity. It was cold comfort, as you laid your brother to rest, as it had not brought him back nor undone the mistake your family had made. The death of your brother was too much for your mother who fell into a crippling depression and then two years later, took her own life, leaving only you and your father to carry on, alone.

For years, for almost two decades you had bore the burden of those terrible events in your heart, they had shaped you into the person you were now, but as you sat there and listened, your father revealed a horrible truth: The Argentos were innocent. To crushed with grief and despair he had acted out of pain and a desire to avenge your brother, but in the time following the executions and the seizing of the former noble family's assets, he had make an accidental discovery; journals of the family that spoke of a genuine desire to mend the rift between Argento and Solai, sweet writings of admiration from Lilith and begrudging respect from Ser Giles, hardly the words of a traitor. But it was the second discovery that sealed it, a plot by a group called the Silver Vipers to destroy the noble families, a plot that included several members of staff from both houses, including your maid.

They had been innocent, framed for a murder they had not committed.

This stunning realization shattered your mother who in the combination of grief from the death of your brother and the guilt of seeing a crying little girl lose her family then be cast into that horrid black mirror proved too much to bear and she ended herself. Your father kept these details from you for years, fearing that you would too be overcome by grief, and being too afraid to lose you as well. Not to mention the fear of the people rioting should they learn that an entire noble family was executed for no reason and that the Solai had grown materially more wealthy as a result of it. But now on the eve of his death, he feels the need to unburden his conscience.

One year later, after your father passed and you have assumed his position, the black Mirror shatters and a swarm of bats emerge from it; it seems that your family's sins have come to call. Lilith has survived but was changed by the experience, now a creature who survives on the blood of others, and possessing a host of strange, dark magics, you are faced with the unenviable position of facing your betrayed childhood friend to protect the kingdom from its own collapse.
 

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