«oh, child of earth.
you looked upon the gods and mistook distance for destiny.
divinity was never yours to claim.
now become what neither heaven nor death will have.»
❖ ────────────────── ❖
BETWIXT
36 years old │ 186 cm tall (6'1")
kind: former human sorcerer / now a transformed liminal being (a mortivor)
status: officially dead, fell in a fight against excalibur two years ago
alias: “betwixt”, possibly self-chosen or later attributed; original name unknown
mortivor: driven by the delusion of achieving immortality and becoming divine, he has become what can best be described as a mortivor—neither dead nor alive, neither human nor monster, and yet far closer to a monster than to anything human.
betwixt now resembles a being that must draw on the essence of others to sustain itself, whether through blood or absorbed energy, in order to remain present and strong.
still, there is something deeply unsettling in the way he exists: in his movements, his presence, the subtle wrongness that betrays him long before reason can catch up, making it unmistakable that no human stands here anymore, but rather a creature that clings to life while endlessly taking it from others, even after having reached what it once called immortality.
but that is the game with the gods, isn’t it?
those who try to outwit the gods, who seek immortality, are forced to feed on what they once were in order to continue existing at all. they become parasites.
background: nothing is known of his past, nor even his true name. to the world, he was known as betwixt, though most simply called him the dark lord.
among sorcerers, there is nothing more sacred than one's true name. it is guarded more strictly than kingdoms and hidden more carefully than any spell. the true name of every human and creature is a source of immense power for a sorcerer. knowing it gives one the means to bind and command the will of its bearer. for this reason, betwixt buried his own name so deep that even history, and perhaps even he himself, eventually forgot it.
maybe that fear was born from a practice long abandoned.
once, throughout the great kingdom, noble houses proudly took in magically gifted children born to the lower classes. they were known as wards, raised beneath noble roofs, educated, fed and promised a future they could never have dreamed of. in return, those children swore lifelong service to the house that had "saved" them.
but behind this facade lurked nothing but pure abuse.
through ancient rituals performed using their true names, the “wards” were magically bound to the lord and his bloodline. obedience was not something they could choose for themselves, but a law woven directly into their souls. they became little more than living tools, stripped of their freedom and unable to defy the family that laid claim to them.
the practice was officially outlawed after the infamous house morvayn tragedy, when an entire noble bloodline was slaughtered overnight, allegedly by one of its own wards. whether the child truly acted alone or whether darker forces were involved was never uncovered, but the massacre was enough for the crown to forbid the custom forever.
for decades, betwixt spread misery throughout the great kingdom. consumed by magic until it devoured what remained of his humanity, he sought not merely to conquer kingdoms but to reshape the very order of the world. he believed mortals were never meant to kneel before the gods. they were meant to replace them. obsessed with ascending beyond humanity itself, he pursued divinity through forbidden sorcery, whatever the price may be.
his ambition came to an abrupt end on the battlefield. in the decisive battle, the dark lord was killed before he could attain the godhood he so desperately sought. he left behind only ruins, misery, countless dead, and, of course, a name the world continued to fear long after his death.
appearance: tall; long crimson-red hair; striking red eyes; an eerie presence that made him seem inhuman even during his lifetime; a pale complexion; an unnervingly calm gaze; after his death, fear of his return became so widespread that red-haired newborns were hunted across the great kingdom, for fear that the dark lord might be reborn.
