Jay

Jay never wanted to have to be hanging on to what pitiful slice of earth was left to him by the skin of his teeth, blind and wailing into the night. By day, Jay walks alone, a shadow of the once proud skydancer he use to be, strong and silent as the forests he surrounds himself with.

Jay was the youngest born of Faillon and Begale, and alongside his brother and his sister they vowed to do their clan proud, with Jay taking up magecraft from an early stage to follow in the footsteps of his father, whereas his brother Levi was to began training with Valerie and Winks as a warrior when he came of age. Maya, excepted to also take up magecraft on the accord of her wit and pristine magic potential, but was instead fascinated with the political and social conditions of the eleven flights and quickly strayed from her designated path.

One by one, the three siblings fell to darkness.

Levi was the first to crumble. Afraid and forlorn of the barbaric future ahead of him, the eldest brother waited until the cover of darkness to flee the clan's territory, making for the other side of the Sea of a Thousand Currents.

Maya patiently waited for her moment. She was well-aware of what the clan leader was hiding, and she knew that the tensions the plague clans carried with them simply couldn't be ignored as she boldly strode away from her home to find a peaceful solution to whatever they were bothered about. It took a week for her parents to realise she was missing.

Only Jay remained in the clan now, progressing with his druidic studies alongside being trained in the coliseum, taking up his brother's destined place. This is when Laika, a Gloomwillow Guide Jay had one as a prize of one coliseum scrap, took a particular interest in the young skydancer, and pretty soon the pair were inseparable.

It was dark, and Laika was resting on my shoulder. I knew I should have returned home hours ago, but I was foolish, too desperate to try out my newfound skills. I should have picked up the raid if I wasn't splashing around in a nearby stream or accelerating the growth of saplings. I can still hear their voices now, wailing, laughing, taunting.

Everything was a soothing splash of green, midnight blue, and the fuzzy glow of a familiar falling asleep between my shoulderblades. The forest was too quiet, a silence born from the flames of bloodlust and the fluttering heart of the hunted. As the world broke into a furious chorus of warbling cries and screeches, everything became a pulsing red, before slowly spiralling into the heinous hell awaiting me.

For several long nights, all Jay could do was stumble through swamps, guided only by the calls of Laika. His hearing became more acute, his touch more accurate, and luck soon followed his new gifts as he eventually stumbled into his clan, far away from their homeland and lost in the Gladeveins.

His guise was given to hide his disfigured face. Laika became his constant guide, emitting high-pitched clicks that, after many dark months, only he could pick up. Jay now has found comfort in the nearby forest's solitude and gentle embrace, the nest where sight was both gifted and averted.