Name: Eltana Remathia
Age: 25
Race: Half-Elf
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 110 lbs.
Physical Description
Eltana has a strikingly feminine appearance, and can easily be mistaken for a woman. He takes strongly after his mother, and his brothers would often tease him about entering him in beauty pageants when he was little. His facial features are softer and gentler than most males, although his constant frowning and scowling gives him a harsher edge. He has a delicate build and pale white skin, mostly as a result of his illness and sheltered lifestyle, and long, thick black hair that falls down past his shoulders in waves. His gray eyes usually seem sad and listless, but they can quickly fill with almost demonic fury when he's angered.
Despite being a fashion designer, Eltana doesn't have a particularly varied attire. He almost always dresses in loose robes with long, drooping sleeves; these robes are usually shades of white, purple, and brown, and are decorated with black designs. His outfits are designed to accommodate his illness, allowing for maximum comfort and easy maneuverability. Eltana also dislikes wearing shoes due to their constraining nature, so he usually opts for high socks or slippers. On the rare occasions that he goes outdoors, he wears specially-made boots to avoid hurting his feet.
His illness has taken its toll on him. Eltana's body is especially frail: He looks like he could easily break bones if he so much as fell over, and his skin bruises easily. He also looks exhausted most of the time, despite abstaining from any sort of physical labor.
Personality
Eltana Remathia, the founder and head of the Remathia fashion house, has a reputation for being a notoriously difficult person. He is rude and condescending to most people, and contemptuous of those he deems unworthy of his time. Most people who know him dislike him, and many of his business partners only work with him because he is a major name in the industry. Despite his frail appearance and sickly nature, he is not a person one would want to cross.
Perhaps his most noticeable quality is his utterly brutal nature. Eltana pursues his goals ruthlessly, and will not hesitate to do everything in his power to take down anyone who stands in his way. He has ruined the careers of various independent tailors who dared to own a shop near one of his, even if they were there first. The models and tailors who work under him will quickly find themselves out of a job if he does not believe they make a meaningful contribution, and he is known to fire his workers and even blacklist them in the industry over perceived slights. Eltana's brutality, however, is most evident in his underground dealings: Those who jeopardize his criminal trading, be it through trying to reveal his activities or simply knowing too much, have a habit of "disappearing" or losing their loved ones in tragic accidents. Eltana does not look for confrontations, but if he perceives someone as a threat, he will retaliate in full force and show no mercy.
Although he has a few close friends and genuinely loves his brothers, Eltana is mostly apathetic to the lives of others. He views the world from a distance and can rarely bring himself to care about anything other than his business and hobbies. Workers with personal troubles and "clients" struggling to pay their protection bishani find no empathy from him. He usually doesn't care enough to hold any enmity towards them for their failures, but will do whatever it takes to rectify the problem, even if it means bloodshed. Eltana has difficulty seeing people as anything other than obstacles or resources, but he values the few people he considers worthwhile and is incredibly protective of them; for example, he and his brothers have frequent disagreements and live very different lives, but he will bring down hellish wrath upon anyone who harms them. He also has a soft spot for his wraith ally Vanyusha, whom he views as something between a pet and an adoptive brother.
Eltana also has a morbid fascination with death, which mostly stems from his early family life and his connection with Vanyusha. His father Halistrum was an older man and exceptionally unhealthy for his age, and Eltana himself had many brushes with death when he was younger, especially during his time on the streets with his brothers. Although he feared death at first, he embraced it after meeting Vanyusha and now sees it as an effective solution to most of his problems, which explains his willingness to have people killed over petty squabbles. He firmly believes in the power of death, and often uses Vanyusha as a grim reaper-esque figure to terrify his enemies into submission. Death is, in his mind, an old friend that he can always turn to for a favor or two.
Although Eltana is entirely devoted to his work and runs his fashion house like a mob boss, he does find time for hobbies. He considers himself a patron of the arts and frequently attends art galleries, plays, and operas. Even though he primarily attends these events for his enjoyment, he usually tries to tie them back into his work by socializing with prospective clients or business partners.
Possessions
Remathia - Eltana owns and operates a fashion house that he named after himself. Its primary headquarters is located in Belleza, and it has numerous stores and warehouses throughout Eyropa. Remathia produces its own clothing line and various other products such as jewelry, perfume, and cologne. It also runs a small and exclusive beauty salon in Belleza, but it is currently in an experimental phase. Remathia employs various models to showcase its products; although most are professionals, more than a few have murky backgrounds and some criminal history.
Although Eltana is technically the owner, he leaves most of the day-to-day operations and business decisions to his subordinates and primarily acts as a creative consultant. He mainly oversees Remathia's more shady activities, which include underground human trafficking, disciplinary services for bandit gangs and other criminal groups, and frequent drug smuggling through its warehouses. Eltana and several of his closest subordinates oversee this side of the company, and they hire independent workers separate from the usual employees to carry out this business.
Remathia does not operate a store in Marn, although some of its products are sold in other stores. Eltana primarily conducts his illegal business in Marn and does not want to be bothered with running a legitimate store there, as well.
Bishani: As the owner of a successful business, Eltana is quite wealthy and has a large disposable income; however, he has lowered his own salary in recent years to help fund more projects and expand Remathia's horizons.
Drugs - Eltana owns a large collection of drugs and poisons. While many of them are relatively harmless, such as the medication and sedatives he takes for his condition, others have more malicious purposes. His private stock is separate from the products that Remathia deals on the side.
Homes - His main home is a manor in Belleza, but he also own a small house in Marn's residential district, which is where he currently resides. These homes are finely furnished with expensive art and fine furniture.
Strengths
- Vanyusha - Eltana relies heavily on his wraith accomplice to conduct his illegal business. He primarily uses Vanyusha to deal with troublesome clients and competition, and will also assign him to various bandit gangs to serve as a disciplinarian or torture technician. Their partnership is mutually beneficial: Eltana's business flourishes, and Vanyusha is allowed to indulge his sick desire to harm others. Although Eltana used to interact with Vanyusha frequently when he was little, he very rarely sees him in person these days; instead, he communicates with him through messengers or letters that he leaves in various drop locations. He does not use Vanyusha as a bodyguard because he does not want to risk being seen working with him.
- Model Guards - Eltana often hires attractive mercenaries to act as covert bodyguards while working as models for his business. He usually travels with at least one of these men or women, and they are his only line of defense against attackers.
- Fashion Baron - Eltana's primary strength is the great deal of power and influence he holds in the fashion industry. His name carries a lot of weight among many designers and tailors, and a negative review from him can be potentially career-ruining. He has blacklisted various competitors and subordinates over the years, and his words have put more than a few people on the streets. However, he only wields this influence in the fashion industry and doesn't have much pull anywhere else.
- Tailoring - As one would expect from the head of a fashion house, Eltana is a talented tailor and can sew high quality clothing.
- Poison Crafting - During his time with Vanyusha, Eltana worked with creating poisons and became quite skilled with it over the years. These days, he mainly uses poisons on individuals he wants to punish personally. One of his favorite methods of punishment is to sew through flesh with a poisoned needle, which inflicts great pain on the target and can result in disease and infection. Because he has no combat experience and fighting in his condition would be useless, his poisons cannot be used in combat.
- Intelligence - Eltana is a bright young man with a talent for running a business. He's a skilled planner and good at thinking on his feet.
- Underground Influence - Eltana doesn't have much public influence outside of the fashion industry, but he's fairly prominent name when it comes to underground criminal activity. Bandits and criminals frequently make contracts with Remathia for their illegal services, and Eltana is considered off-limits as a target by many groups because of the services he provides.
- Illness - Eltana suffers from an unspecified illness - possibly several - that greatly affects his physical condition. He is far more susceptible to illnesses than most people, and often feels run down and lethargic. His sickness prevents him from fighting and frequently leaves him tired, which often affects his mental capabilities and awareness. He needs to sleep often, take a lot of medication, and cannot be active for long periods of time.
- Abnormally Weak - Largely as a result of his illness, Eltana has an incredibly frail body; as such, he cannot fight and can be harmed rather effortlessly. He's only attacked one unrestrained person in his entire life, and only succeeded in killing him because his brother had him distracted.
- Childish - Eltana has a tendency to act like a brat, and he sometimes has little tantrums when things don't go his way. These tantrums are rare, but usually involve him throwing stuff at people and ranting angrily about how nothing goes his way. His spoiled nature sometimes negatively affects his decisions and has cost him a few clients and workers over the years.
- Depression - In addition to his physical illness, Eltana also suffers from depression. He has a tendency to fall into deep depression for weeks; during this time, he usually tries to avoid leaving his home, and becomes far more irritable and nasty.
- Unethical - Although Eltana keeps his illegal practices under wraps outside of the criminal world, he and his fashion house have a negative reputation among many people for their unethical practices. A lot of Remathia's clothing is made in sweatshops, and it frequently participates in inhumane animal experimentation. Needless to say, this behavior has resulted in more than a few protests.
- Creepy - Eltana can be fairly creepy at times. He has no sense of personal space and can be fairly clingy with people he likes. If he takes a sexual interest in someone, he makes it very obvious and his flirting can border on sexual harassment. This has cost him a bit of business over the years, and models who know about his behavior are often hesitant to work with him.
- Openly Disrespectful - Try as he might to reign himself in, Eltana has a nasty streak that often can't be contained. He's openly disdainful of most people, and although he tries to control himself around people he needs something from, he's made more than a few slip-ups over the years. If a client is acting especially stupid in his eyes, he will be tempted to put the well-being of his business aside and deride them for being idiotic.
Family
Halistrum Remathia (father) - DECEASED
Sarenia Remathia (mother) - DECEASED
Mazalan Remathia (brother, 31)
Azalas Remathia (brother, 29)
Prologue
Halistrum Remathia had never been a successful man. He worked as a blacksmith in a small village in western Eyropa, and although he was passionate about his work and greatly enjoyed it, he was mediocre at best. His wares had a reputation for being poor quality, and the only reason he saw any business at all was because he was the only smith in town. But despite his lack of talent, he worked hard every day to support his family.
He was generally clueless about romance, so he avoided relationships for most of his life. When he was fifty, he eventually settled down with an elven woman named Sarenia. Sarenia was a traveling tailor and made only enough bishani to scrape by, so she was looking for a more permanent and comfortable position. Halistrum, who was desperate for companionship, was more than willing to support her. It was a marriage of convenience, but the two grew to love each other platonically and became close friends over the years. Sarenia continued to work as a tailor to provide extra income on the side, but not to the extent she did before her marriage.
The couple had their first two sons shortly after marrying. Their first son, Mazalan, was a solemn child and strangely mature for his age. He frequently helped Halistrum at the forge and showed great interest in becoming a blacksmith. As he grew older, he recognized that his father wasn't especially talented, but he loved him all the same and respected his devotion to the trade. Halistrum and Sarenia had their second son, Azalas, a few years after Mazalan. Azalas was far more rambunctious than his older brother, and often landed himself in trouble at school.
The Remathias loved their children very much; so when they heard they were due for a third, needless to say they were ecstatic. They were experienced parents by now, so they knew the drill well enough. Halistrum took the crib out of storage and touched it up, and Sarenia cleared out space in their bedroom to put it. Mazalan was slightly anxious about having another little sibling to look after, but Azalas, who decided that the baby had to be a little brother, was looking forward to showing him the ropes and being his boss.
Unfortunately, despite Halistrum and Sarenia's extensive preparations, there were complications during the birth. Their third son was born prematurely, and the doctors were uncertain about his survival. They kept him at the hospital for weeks, heavily medicating him and running various tests. Although the doctors were ultimately able to save him, they informed Halistrum and Sarenia that their son was very ill, but they were not able to specify exactly what disease he suffered from.
The couple despaired over the fate of their newest child. They knew that he wouldn't have a normal childhood, and that he would have to be monitored and medicated around the clock. Meeting his needs would consume a lot of time and bishani, and there was always a chance his illness would worsen and take him from them. Sarenia named him Eltana and became determined to ensure that he lived a long and happy life.
Chapter One
Eltana spent most of his early childhood in his room, always under his mother's careful supervision. Halistrum watched after him whenever he could, but the demanding nature of his job left him with little time to spare. Sarenia would often read him stories, and whenever the weather was nice and he was doing well, she would take him out into town for the afternoon or let him sit on the porch with her while she knitted.
His brothers empathized with him, but they struggled to cope with his condition. Mazalan could see that Eltana's condition was weighing down on his father, so he devoted more time to helping him at the forge. Azalas, meanwhile, helped his mother clean around the house and took over most of the yard work. The extra responsibilities weighed down on them, and although they would sometimes feel frustrated, they cared for their brother and understood that he needed care and attention.
Little changed for Eltana as the years went by. The risk of his illness claiming him severely diminished, but he still required frequent rest and medication. Sarenia and Halistrum wouldn't allow him to go outside and play with other children because of his condition, which greatly upset him. They tried to arrange play dates for him at home, but Eltana never connected with his parent-approved friends. Eltana was grateful that his parents were trying to socialize him, but he still felt weird and isolated.
The play dates ended when Halistrum and Sarenia noticed that Eltana was bonding with his brothers. Mazalan often played games with Eltana and supported him whenever he became frustrated with his secluded life. Azalas grew close with Eltana when he discovered that they had a shared love of mischief: Although Eltana couldn't participate in Azalas' pranks, he frequently helped him come up with new ones and enjoyed hearing about how they turned out. Eltana loved his brothers because he felt they were the only ones who truly understood him; and more importantly, they made him feel normal.
Eltana also developed a special bond with his mother. She would often sew while looking after him, and he quickly took an interest in it. He knew that Halistrum was teaching his brothers to smith, and felt that learning a trade he could perform in his condition would help him feel more normal. Whenever Mazalan or Azalas were busy with their father or at school, he would spend the day sewing with his mother. Although Eltana was too young to create anything impressive, Sarenia noticed that he had a natural talent for the craft.
When Eltana turned seven, Halistrum arranged a private tutor for him. Eltana performed well enough, but his illness prevented him from doing too much work, so his classes moved along at a slower rate. Mazalan, who was something of a bookworm, often helped him in his studies and explained topics more clearly than his tutor. Eltana particularly enjoyed learning writing and history, but tailoring remained his true passion.
Chapter Two
Even from a young age, Eltana could tell that his father wasn't a healthy man. Halistrum would often head to the bar after work to smoke and drink with his friends; he also loved fatty foods, which resulted in a significant weight problem. As a result, Halistrum struggled with work as the years went by, and he eventually came to rely more and more on both Mazalan and Azalas. Although Mazalan was used to helping his father, Azalas hated smithing with a passion and forced himself to suffer through it.
Halistrum began to fall sick frequently, and soon became a shadow of his former self. Mazalan and Azalas took over most of the forge duties whenever he was ill, and he spent most of his time bedridden. The once burly blacksmith degraded into a worn, gaunt figure, and he began to suffer from coughing fits that would sometimes bring him to the floor. Although Eltana had never known his father well, it disturbed him to see him in such a broken state. He could tell that Halistrum was nearing death, and Halistrum's next visit to the hospital confirmed his fears.
After Halistrum's death, Sarenia moved the family to a smaller house in a neighboring town and found work as a tailor's assistant. She knew that she wouldn't be able to make enough to support the family, so she arranged for Mazalan to officially apprentice as a blacksmith under one of Halistrum's old work acquaintances. This meant that Mazalan would live several towns away, which greatly upset Eltana, who had become very close with his eldest brother over the years. Sarenia promised Eltana that Mazalan would stop by and visit, but Eltana still didn't take his departure well.
Sarenia couldn't afford to keep Eltana's tutor, so she reluctantly arranged a place for him at the town's schoolhouse. Eltana was initially very excited about finally having the opportunity to make friends outside of his family, but his time there quickly went south. He was shy and withdrawn around people outside of his family, so he had trouble making friends. Although he got along well enough with most of the other students, a few decided that the weird sickly kid would be a prime target for bullying. Eltana suffered through it because he didn't want to cause trouble for his mother, but the trauma began to weigh down on his mind.
For the first time since he was very little, Eltana felt weak and pathetic. He hated how he wasn't able to fight back because of his condition, and how his illness made it difficult for him to have fun with the kids he did like. His shyness was soon replaced by bitterness and a natural distrust of other people. Azalas, noticing how withdrawn his brother had become, forced the truth out of him and personally beat up every kid responsible.
Although the bullying stopped, Sarenia was so disgusted with the school's failure to address it that she pulled Eltana out. Since Eltana still had a passion for tailoring, Sarenia decided to ask her boss if he could have a part-time job at the shop so he could learn the tricks of the trade. Sarenia's boss didn't like the idea of having a child around the shop, but after a lot of convincing she begrudgingly accepted. Eltana was primarily responsible for keeping the store neat and tidy, but he would sometimes mend simple tears and knit scarves and gloves for customers. Whenever business was slow, Sarenia would teach him how to make different articles of clothing, and she'd purchase fabric from her boss so he could practice.
Chapter Three
Eltana's life became fairly mundane over the next few years. He spent most of his day at the tailoring shop, and after work he would head home with his mother and help her with dinner. As much as he enjoyed learning how to sew properly, he felt like he was missing out on life. He asked his mother if he could reconnect with some of his old friends from school. Sarenia wasn't wild about the idea, the memories of her son's withdrawn behavior and self-esteem issues still fresh in her mind; but when she saw how much it meant to him, she eventually relented.
He began seeing his old friends again over the next few months. They would usually meet at one another's houses and play out in the yard, but sometimes they would head out into the forest that surrounded the village. Sarenia wasn't wild about Eltana wandering too far from town, so she told him the woods were off-limits when she found out. Eltana, not wanting to miss opportunities to have fun with his friends, disobeyed her and sneaked out with them whenever he could. Eltana and his friends would mainly play tag and have pretend battles where they fought one another with sticks and pine cones. Sometimes the rough-housing was a little much for him, but he never had so much fun in his life.
One day, Eltana's friends invited them to go camping with them in the woods. Eltana agreed to go, as long as he met them after his mother fell asleep and returned before she woke up. As Eltana headed through the forest to meet with his friends, he was confronted by one of the bullies who tormented him at school, who had heard about the camping trip and wanted to cause trouble. Before Eltana could react, however, everything went black.
When Eltana regained consciousness, he found himself and the bully tied to wooden tables in a dark cave. He noticed a large, intimidating man sharpening a knife in the corner. Eltana recognized him as a beggar from town, and nervously asked him where he was and what he wanted with him. The beggar merely smiled in response and continued sharpening his knife. Eltana, terrified at this point, closed his eyes and expected the worst.
Suddenly, a deep voice told Eltana to open his eyes. He hesitantly did so, and paled when he saw a tall, demonic-looking figure in a steer skull mask peering over him. The demon introduced himself as Vanyusha, and told Eltana that he had been mistakenly abducted. Vanyusha explained he had been targeting his “little friend” for about a week now, and that his beggar accomplice, thinking a second child would earn him a larger reward, brought him along too. He said that while he had no plans for Eltana, simply letting him go would be too much of a risk, and that he couldn't afford to relocate again with so many interesting test subjects nearby.
Eltana quickly offered to do whatever Vanyusha wanted in exchange for his freedom. Vanyusha paused and considered the boy's proposition. He already had an assistant, but the idea of a young child conducting one of his disturbing experiments interested him. He told Eltana that he would need to help him torture his friend to death in order to earn his life. The sickly boy stared up at the wraith with wide, horrified eyes, then looked to the boy strapped down beside him. The boy who mocked him with all the others. The boy who made him feel weak and worthless. After about a minute of reflection, Eltana turned back to Vanyusha and agreed.
Vanyusha had his assistant untie Eltana, then took the knife from him and offered it to the boy. To his surprise, Eltana, his hate-filled gaze fixed on the bully, rejected it and asked to use the sewing needle and thread in his pocket. Interested, Vanyusha agreed and left Eltana to his work. As Eltana looked down at his slumbering enemy, he filled all of his repressed rage and sorrow boil within him. He woke the bully and smiled down at them, holding up the needle for him to see. The bully stared up at him in horror, but before he could beg for his life, Eltana began sewing through his flesh. Eltana fell into a mad frenzy as he worked, intensified by his victim's screams and blood.
When Eltana finally finished, he stabbed the needle into the boy's eye and collapsed into a nearby chair. He stared at the mutilated corpse in horror, then fell to his knees and vomited, shocked by the atrocity he had just committed. Vanyusha, impressed, placed a hand on Eltana's shoulder and asked him how he felt. Eltana stared at his enemy's remains for what seemed like an eternity, then looked up at the wraith, smiling, and answered him:
“I feel... powerful.”
Vanyusha knew at that moment that Eltana would be far more useful than he had imagined.
Chapter Four
Sarenia was furious with Eltana when he showed up the next morning. She asked where he had been, and he told her that he had gotten lost in the woods while looking for his friends. As much as Eltana hated lying to his mother, he knew it was better than telling her the truth: Learning what he had been through would break her, and he didn't want the rest of the town to know he had played a hand in another boy's death, even if it was supposedly against his will. But more importantly, he wasn't sure he wanted to close the door on his new friend.
As he suspected, the villagers noticed the boy's disappearance the next day. Most of the children were rounded up and questioned, and the bully's friends admitted that he had gone into the forest to terrorize Eltana and his friends. Eltana's friends swore that they never saw the boy, and Eltana maintained that he hadn't seen anyone in the woods. Although Eltana knew his alibi was flimsy, he doubted that any of the adults would suspect that such a shy and sickly boy would have anything to do with his disappearance. Of course, he didn't escape justice entirely: Sarenia grounded him for a month for running off, and she had to escort him to his friends until she could trust him again.
Eltana lay still in his bed the night after the questioning, staring up at the ceiling. Just the other week he was out catching fireflies with his friends, and now he was a killer. He knew it was wrong, but the boy's terrified eyes and blood-chilling screams filled him with a sense of power he'd never felt before. No longer was he a pathetic bedridden child; he had been in complete control of someone's life and death. But as much as he felt the little bastard deserved his fate, a quiet horror had seized him ever since and wouldn't let go. Part of him wanted to go back and erase the past couple days, to fess up and close this dark chapter of his life. But he knew he couldn't live with himself if he went back to being the shy little boy he once was.
There was no escaping it; he needed to see Vanyusha again.
A few days later, Eltana went back to the wraith's cave. On his way down to Vanyusha's inner sanctum, he noticed the bully's corpse displayed on a wall. The sight disturbed him at first, but he smiled to himself and took it as a tribute to his triumph. Vanyusha, who had anticipated Eltana's return, met with him and asked him what he wanted. Eltana said that he wasn't entirely sure, but that he didn't want to lose the power he had felt. The wraith offered to take him on as an apprentice, and promised he would put his tailoring to better use.
Eltana visited his master once a week to assist him with his experiments, always in the secrecy of night. The beggar took him aside before each session and taught him how to mix poisons and administer them to his needles to make his sewing more effective. Eltana wasn't nearly as talented with poisons as he was with tailoring, but he eventually became fairly skilled with them. The thought of sewing the sickness and disease that had plagued him all his life into the flesh of his enemies made him quiver with delight.
At first, assisting Vanyusha with his targets was easy enough: Most of them were wanderers and criminals, so Eltana felt little guilt over going to work on them. His first major challenge came when Vanyusha abducted a small family from his village. When he went into the cave to assist his master, he was alarmed to discover that one of the wraith's specimens was a friend of his. He didn't want to harm his friend, but he knew that if he wanted to continue to work with Vanyusha, he wasn't in a position to refuse. If he couldn't eliminate these targets without guilt or remorse, then he was nothing more than the weak little boy he was trying to forget.
Eltana pulled Vanyusha aside and shared his thoughts, then asked how it was so easy for him to perform his experiments. Vanyusha explained that his specimens existed solely for his experiments, so there was no reason to feel remorse for them. Although Eltana didn't accept Vanyusha's explanation, it helped him understand that he needed to be distant and objective. He had to bury his conscience and separate his actions from himself. Like Vanyusha, he had to see his victims as pieces of meat and eliminate them as a butcher would a cow or pig. With a newfound resolve, Eltana poisoned his needle and went toward his friend to begin his work, ignoring his cries and pleas for mercy. As far as he was concerned, the Eltana that his victim was pleading with no longer existed.
His thirteenth birthday came and went. Eltana used to look forward to his birthdays and pester his brothers about all the cool stuff he wanted to do, but now he just felt emptiness. A few of his friends came over to spend the afternoon with him, but most of their parents wouldn't let them out after the recent disappearance. Sarenia and Azalas noticed Eltana's growing apathy toward life and grew concerned. Sarenia asked Eltana if he wanted to learn how to cook with her after they came home from work, but he simply waved her off. Azalas made an effort to spend more time with Eltana and brainstorm misadventures with him like he used to, but he stopped after he noticed how bloodthirsty and brutal many of Eltana's suggestions were.
A few months after Eltana's birthday, Sarenia passed away in her sleep. The funeral was the first time Eltana had seen Azalas cry, and the always reliable Mazalan seemed utterly lost and confused. As Eltana stared at his mother's body in her coffin, he had difficulty separating her from the hunks of flesh that he would dispose of for Vanyusha. He recalled memories of sitting on her lap as she read to him, of watching her sew at the shop, of clinging to her when he was sick as a child – and yet he felt nothing. He still loved her, but her death only brought emptiness. After looking over the corpse for a few moments, Eltana returned to his seat and sat quietly for the rest of the funeral.
Chapter Five
After Sarenia's death, life quickly fell apart for the Remathia brothers. Mazalan hadn't been able to find a job as a blacksmith after his master passed away, and he didn't have nearly enough bishani to support himself and his two brothers. He had been renting a room from a neighbor, but he knew they didn't have enough room to take Eltana and Azalas in. Even worse, Sarenia's boss felt no sympathy for Eltana and jumped at the chance let him go. They soon lost the house, and with nowhere else to turn they soon found themselves on the streets.
Eltana briefly considered revealing Vanyusha's existence to his brothers and asking the wraith if they could stay with him, but he knew that was a horrible idea. He still cared for his brothers, and he knew it would destroy them to learn what he had been doing these past few years. Still, it bothered to see his brothers in such a dire situation, and he wanted to do whatever he could to help him. The night they lost the house, Eltana went to see Vanyusha and asked him for advice. Vanyusha said he understood his situation, and suggested that he put the skills he learned under him to use in order to survive. He wished that Eltana would leave his brothers and simply stay with him, but respected his wishes and said he would always be welcome to return.
The Remathia brothers traveled to Morua, where they hoped to start a new life together. They used the little bishani that Sarenia had saved up to continually rent a room at a hotel. Mazalan explained his family's situation to the owner, who agreed to give them a discount and reserve the room for them as long as they had the bishani. Although they were off the streets for a while, there was still the matter of paying for food, and more importantly Eltana's medication. Mazalan couldn't find any smithing-related work, but managed to land a part-time job sweeping at a barber shop. It wasn't exactly glamorous, but he took what he could get.
Azalas was less lucky. He couldn't find a job, so he decided to put his street smarts to use by stealing and swindling. He kept Mazalan in the dark, but Eltana eventually found out. Eltana agreed not to tell Mazalan since they needed the bishani, but insisted that he be allowed to help. The two brothers became partners in crime and came up with various schemes together. Their scams mostly involved Eltana playing up his condition: Sometimes, he would collapse in the street and Azalas would pickpocket onlookers while they were distracted; others, he would play up his condition while Azalas begged for charity to save his dying brother.
Eventually, the brothers ran out of Sarenia's bishani, and they didn't have enough to keep the room at the hotel. They began staying in abandoned tenements and under bridges. Mazalan lost his job at the barber shop, and the brothers began to worry about how they would be able to afford Eltana's medication. Mazalan and Azalas began to do odd jobs around the city, but they only made just enough to scrape by. They often went without food to pay for Eltana's medication, which greatly bothered him. Eltana began to feel weak and useless again, and he hated that his brothers had to sacrifice their own well being to help him.
Azalas and Eltana began to steal more frequently, but their luck ran out one night while they were scamming a traveler. Azalas attempted to pickpocket the man while Eltana distracted him, but he caught Azalas and started attacking him. When Eltana rushed to his defense, the man turned on him, pulled him up by his hair and began punching him in the face. Azalas, enraged, pulled the man off and tried to push him to the ground, but failed. Eltana fell into a frenzy and pulled out his needle, then leaped onto the man as he fought with Azalas and shoved it right through his throat. Their attacker fell over dead, and Azalas stared at his brother in horror. After regaining their composure, Azalas tended to Eltana's face, and then they hid the body outside of town. A shaken Azalas told Eltana their bandit days were at an end and that they had to fess up to Mazalan in the morning. Eltana protested, but Azalas insisted they would all have to find legitimate jobs, no matter how long it took.
After Azalas fell asleep, Eltana decided that he had to leave them and return to Vanyusha. The sorrow he felt for his brothers was undoing his efforts to kill off his personal attachments. Eltana knew he would never be able to stop loving his brothers, but his life with them was turning him into the pathetic, dependent little boy he had grown to hate. Eltana wrote up a note telling them that he had found a way to support himself and that they shouldn't worry about him, then left in the middle of the night.
He wouldn't be anyone's burden anymore. It was time for him to create his own life.
Chapter Six
Eltana made his way back to Vanyusha's cave alone. As much as he hated to admit it, traveling by himself frightened him a little. He was used to relying on Azalas or Mazalan to support him, but he knew he had to take care of himself. He begged for bishani to pay for his food, and would steal from merchant stands whenever he could get away with it. At nights, he would sneak into barns to sleep or rely on the hospitality of temples. It was a degrading experience in his eyes, and he vowed that he would never stoop to such a level again.
He reached Vanyusha's cave about a week and a half after leaving, and found the wraith and his usual assistant hard at work on another vagrant. Eltana once again offered his services to his old master, but this time with a condition: Since he no longer had much to learn from Vanyusha or the beggar, he wanted monetary compensation for his services. Eltana explained to Vanyusha that he had left his brothers to start a new life, and that he needed bishani to make that happen; and more importantly, he also needed it for his medication. Vanyusha didn't care as long as Eltana did his work, so he agreed to start paying him with valuables from their targets and their homes.
Eltana spent the next four years living with Vanyusha, and came to know him much better than before. He was grateful to the wraith for all his help over the years and started to see him as part of his family. In his mind, Vanyusha became symbolic of the strength he yearned for: a horrifying, yet mysterious being who held the fates of many in his hands. The masked wraith was death itself, a grim reaper who claimed the unworthy. It was an image that Eltana wanted to live up to.
However, Eltana also began to notice that Vanyusha himself was not nearly as terrifying or powerful as the image he projected. He had always known that the wraith had an almost mechanical nature, and seemed to be interested only in his experiments. As time went on, he noticed that Vanyusha's experiments were his sole purpose in life; he had no thoughts or opinions outside of them, and he spent every waking hour planning more. Even worse, it seemed like there wasn't an actual point to his experiments. Vanyusha was merely interested in watching how his subjects reacted to their horrible torments. Eltana realized that Vanyusha was nothing more than an ambitiousless creature, and that following him wouldn't get him anywhere in life.
Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Eltana left Vanyusha with enough bishani to give himself a decent start. He traveled to Belleza and purchased a small home for himself, then found a job as a tailor's assistant. His experience from his mother's shop and talent for the trade soon earned him a reputation as an up-and-coming new tailor, and his clothing designs proved especially popular among young women. After about a year of working in Belleza, Eltana caught the eye of Lady Vahstri, an influential fashion designer and business owner in Belleza. Vahstri was impressed by Eltana's designs and saw potential in him, so she approached him and offered to take him on as her personal assistant and apprentice. Needless to say, Eltana jumped at the opportunity.
Eltana worked under Lady Vahstri for the next few years. His new position provided him with much more bishani than before, so he was able to purchase a larger home and enjoy more luxuries. After teaching him for about a year, Vahstri appointed Eltana as her chief designer and would take him to parties to introduce him to her various clients. Vahstri, never one to waste a resource, also took advantage of Eltana's girlish looks and used him as one of her models. Slowly but surely, the name Remathia became influential in Belleza's fashion circles.
As comfortable as Eltana was under Vahstri, the time soon came for him to set out on his own. Vahstri was an older woman, and she announced her retirement from the business a few years after working with Eltana. Eltana worked under her successor for a while, but found the man insufferable and soon left to start his own fashion house. He named it Remathia, and his reputation and connections helped it take off immediately. Although Remathia was quite popular when it first opened, it soon fell out of public interest because it lacked the notoriety of its competitors. Even worse, Vahstri's successor held a grudge against Eltana for jumping ship and tried his hardest to drive him out of business.
He met with Vahstri and explained his situation to her. Vahstri told him she regretted her choice for a successor, and that she would have chosen him if it weren't for his age and lack of business experience. She felt that her successor was running her name into the ground, and that she was willing to endorse Eltana. Aside from that, she no longer had any power over her old fashion house or its decisions.
The odds were stacked against Eltana. He decided that he needed to resort to more... drastic measures if he wanted to succeed.
Finding Vanyusha again had been fairly challenging. All he had to go on were rumors of a masked demon that he would occasionally hear in taverns, along with his knowledge of Vanyusha's fondness for caves. After about a month of searching, he finally found his master and approached him with a proposition: Eltana wanted Vanyusha to remove Vahstri's successor from Belleza permanently, and he would allow Vanyusha to do whatever he wished to the man in return. Vanyusha, eager to experiment on such an influential individual, agreed without hesitation.
Arranging the abduction was easy enough. Eltana knew that Vahstri's successor frequented a bar in Belleza, and that he would often take a shortcut through an alley at night to get home more quickly. Vanyusha had his thugs assault the successor on his way home, and they took him outside the city to have their fun. With its new leader missing, Vahstri's old fashion house fell into chaos trying to find a suitable replacement. Vahstri, disgusted with the state of her old company, publicly endorsed Eltana as her successor and sealed its fate.
With its primary competition out of the way, Remathia flourished once again and began to fill the void that Vahstri had left behind. Many of Vahstri's old employees joined up with Eltana after their business dissolved, causing his fashion house to expand rapidly. By the time Eltana was in his early twenties, Remathia had become the leading fashion house in Belleza and and one of the top three in Eyropa. Eltana owed much of his success to Vahstri's old advisers and managers, who helped him with most of Remathia's day-to-day affairs and gave him prudent business advice. Remathia was in many ways Vahstri under a different name, but it operated under Eltana's vision and showcased his designs.
Eltana had finally achieved the power and influence he yearned for all his life, but it still wasn't enough. It wasn't the same power he had felt with Vanyusha. He wouldn't be satisfied until he recaptured what he felt when he took his needle to that terrible bully those many years ago.
Chapter Seven
Eltana resolved to meet with Vanyusha again. The wraith had nothing left to teach him, but their business with Vahstri's successor proved to him that Vanyusha was still a useful ally. He visited Vanyusha's latest cave and offered to form a partnership with him: If Vanyusha served as Eltana's enforcer, Eltana would set him up with more specimens for his experiments and allow him to do as he wished with Eltana's targets. As Eltana expected, Vanyusha agreed without any objections. The terrible demon that had abducted him that fateful day and changed his life forever was now at his command.
When he returned home from his meeting with Vanyusha, Eltana was surprised to find his brothers waiting for him. Mazalan and Azalas were overjoyed that their brother was alive and well, but they scolded him for leaving them so suddenly and not staying in contact. Eltana apologized, then took the week off to spend time with them and catch up. He was pleased to hear that Mazalan had managed to become a moderately successful blacksmith in Marn, and rather shocked to learn that Azalas of all people had become a teacher in a small village in southern Eyropa. The brothers spent the week partying in Belleza and reminiscing over old times.
After his brothers departed, Eltana began using Vanyusha to expand Remathia's business into less-than-reputable areas. He employed Vanyusha and his thugs as intermediaries for various bandit groups and criminal organizations. Eltana became heavily involved in illicit activity, such as drug smuggling and human trafficking. He took on several experienced criminals as “advisers” to oversee these activities, and hired attractive members of bandit gangs to double as models and bodyguards. Eltana also started to hire out Vanyusha to gangs as a professional torturer and disciplinarian. Whenever a client failed to pay him properly or betrayed his trust, he would send Vanyusha in to convince them; and if he felt especially offended, he would torture the person himself with his favorite needle.
Eltana soon styled himself as the don of the fashion world. He used the bishani from his underground activities to expand Remathia even further, branching out into jewelry and perfume production and opening a hair salon in Belleza. Reveling in his power, the sickly fashion designer used his influence to destroy competition and put many upcoming tailors and designers out of work. He went on such a power trip that he began sending Vanyusha after the families of the bullies from his school days. As far as he was concerned, he, like Vanyusha, was now a master of death, and he would see to it that everyone who crossed him would meet a messy end.
Unfortunately, life once again became too predictable for Eltana's tastes, and he decided he needed a change in scenery. He remembered that Mazalan was living in Marn, and decided to move there to be closer to him. Eltana purchased a home in Marn's residential district and surprised his brother with a visit one day after work. Mazalan was glad to see his brother and looked forward to spending more time with him.
Of course, Eltana had other reasons to come to Marn than merely catching up with family. Marn was a big city, and more importantly an untapped resource. With some hard work and a little bit of luck, Eltana hoped to make new connections and further his business' success.
