Main Characters

Salyah Jerephey

One's life mission is often thrust upon an individual. Salyah never had any intention of joining the company, let alone becoming a physician. Alas, life has a way of steering us in a different direction, leaving people feeling out of control and without the means to change it.

However, with Salyah's final exam leading her to discover what is likely the most deadly illness the world had ever witnessed, she finds a newly found purpose in life - to rid the world of this mysterious threat. Her mission takes her out of the blissfully ignorant life she had within the company and thrusts her into a nightmare that is the real world. Eqanor, her home, and the only continent the world is currently aware of is quickly revealed to be a place of hate, bloodshed, and suffering. The image she built of it throughout her life within the classroom walls becomes shattered, and she finds herself struggling to make sense of the events happening around her, as well as the ever-enigmatic history that leaves her questioning the path humanity is taking.

Luckily she is not alone in this endeavor, but perhaps not so luckily she finds help from the most unsavory of individuals - an escaped murderer, a religious zealot, a Valnessean war deserter, and twin cleptomaniacs.

Tylian Reeda

"Life and death. Two sides of the same coin. One becomes the other with a flick of a thumb."

Salyah fighting with Tylian.

What happens when one's life turns for the worst? Does the individual admit defeat, sink into melancholy, and ultimately end it at the end of a noose - or does the individual fight and try to find new meaning in the consequences he finds himself in?

Such questions plague Tylian Reeda, a once-respected professor of geography and history - now a convicted murderer of his own daughter. He chose the latter and decided to fight, though the fight he had in mind didn't involve the kind where he was forced to shed more blood. To survive he agreed to leave his previous life as a teacher to become a scholar of death. The prison arena became his new classroom, other like-minded convicts became his students, and the guards who barred his way to freedom became his audience. To become the champion of the arena was his goal, for if he achieved that he would be set free. Alas, the moment he earned his title of a champion, he found he had been played for a fool. He was never meant to be set free.

Luckily, he has a chance meeting with a physician from the Silver Company. Not so luckily, they found themselves in the epicenter of a deadly outbreak. By helping one another they manage to escape with their lives. They become separated, but Tylian's road to freedom leads him straight back to her, much to her dismay. He reveals that he knows her father, the Superiori of the medical branch within the company. As the daughter of his friend, Tylian is obligated to protect Salyah on her mission to end the illness that nearly killed them both. The shackles he had for years are finally broken - but he will never free himself of the shackles that plague his mind, for his past won't let him.

She won't let him.

"I could hear the pain in your voice. It is the same pain I feel right now, isn't it? Such pain only comes when you lose someone. That is your reason for clinging to life - a desire for revenge."

Carro talking to Tylian, having realized the truth.

Lance / Petrusio

"What do you suggest instead? Work without excitement? Marriage without love? Politics without trust? Tsk... The battlefield hides nothing and brings so much. Here I am, and yonder my enemies. Once the dust settles, the world shows mercy upon you by changing—ending the monotony of repetition. It is like being born anew every time. The battlefield is simple... or at least it used to be."

Lance debating with Salyah.

What is for an all-powerful nation to do once it reaches its zenith? Create a society of intelligent and accepting people? Share its wealth and knowledge with the rest of the world? Advocate for peace and understanding? Create an army of bio-engineered super soldiers and attempt to conquer the world. The isolationist nation of Valnesse took the bloody approach, ultimately creating a unit of invincible soldiers. Their name inspires dread in all who hear it - Tarconian knights.

Petrusio, a Shrike class knight questions the reason for his existence. Having lived several human lifetimes, he forgot his life before the army and is left with precious little of what he knows about himself. One of these things is a name he is slowly forgetting - a name given to him by his own mother, a woman whose face he had already forgotten. His new name, L4N:C3, is the only one that has any meaning in his life anymore. A code that reduces his existence as an individual down to a code etched into his armor.

In the eyes of his nation's leaders, he and his kind are nothing more than obeying dogs, indoctrinated to be loyal to a fault. He fought alongside his brethren in the war and together they earned a name that is the most synonymous with their work - butchers. The world sees them as monsters, perhaps rightfully so, but despite that, Petrusio finds solace in knowing what he is fundamentally, perhaps more than any of his kind - a human, with human emotions, fears, and dreams.

Throughout the war, he became disgusted with himself and sought a way out of senseless killing. Despite the brutality instilled into him, his honorable nature eventually led him to escape the army and find a life of solitude in the vast Arxenian desert. He came to regret his decision, for the loyalty Valnessean leaders forced into his mind is drawing him back home. Now homesick, he knows he will never be welcomed back, and if he is ever found his head will be mounted on a spike.

After years of peaceful isolation, he is found by Salyah and Tylian, but can't bring himself to kill them in order to stay hidden from Valnesse. He decides to help them, ultimately ending up invested in Salyah's mission, for his mysterious past is directly connected with not just Salyah and her mission, but her company as well. She gives him a new name, Lance, and thus creates a conflict in Petrusio's mind. He is left questioning himself once again.

To whom is he truly loyal - Salyah, or Valnesse?

Nicolas and Cindry Calhoun

"Life is serious business... except it isn't."

Why should one take life seriously when she is such a bitch? When life gives you lemons... then again, what the fuck is a lemon? Such fruit is reserved for the rich cats, and the Calhoun twins can't be further from that level of society. Having spent most of their teenage life in the gutter, they've seen what a lemon rind looks like, but have never tasted the fruit. People say it is sour. Funny. Their life turned sour years ago. They could cry about it - but making fun of it is a far better option.

Despite the sad turn their life took, one which forced them to beg on the streets, steal to fill their bellies, and fight to survive the alleyways of Zarna, their attitude on life is a carefree one. At least that is what they are trying to convince themselves. Nic the sarcastic one, and Cin the troublemaker are not just the masters of stealth and thievery, but also deceit. To hide not only their true emotions but to also protect themselves from the harshness of life, they decided to wear a "mask", lest others see them for what they truly are - two helpless teenage boys.

They've seen their fair share of hardship, despite their young age. Life in the streets was just a small part of their life. What came before is a story for another time, but what came after? Now that is interesting because they got to meet a representative of the Silver Company - Salyah. They couldn't help but annoy her until she accepted them, and in the process saved them from a life of poverty. Little did they know that their life got orders of magnitude more dangerous than before.

As much as they joke around, they know the world they live in doesn't look kindly upon those who don't take it seriously. Alas, they know the world doesn't care. Well, if it doesn't care, neither will they. All they want is to go home, but can't muster the courage to do so, for whoever they wounded when they ran away left them uncertain whether they will be forgiven and welcomed back. Until then they will keep Salyah company, not only because they feel obligated to do so, but also because she is perhaps the only one who not only laughs at their jokes but also understands them on a deeper level.

"CIN!? WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU FUCKING OMELETTE!?"

"FUCK YOU, NIC!"

Nic and Cin's normal brotherly conversation.

Tiana Reeda

...

"I am not going anywhere. I am a part of you."

Tiana to her father.