Sabina I

The first life I took was my mothers. I did this innocently enough through the perfidious act of being born. Since that fateful day I tread the line between darkness and light, sustaining impeccable balance, but this was not always so.


My father was in the room when I was born and though it may seem strange I’ve always felt that something transpired that day. Something superb and sinister to which I credit my uncanny prowess in the arts of death magic. Of this I spoke only once before to my beloved brother Malach. Ten years my senior he was always something of a confidant and companion when we were growing up - raised at the Hall of our Father on Battle Isles. Malach and I share the same mother. His memories of her are as precious to me as if they were my own, yet I take no solace when I am told how much I resemble her: uncannily too much.

Our memories of our father are disparate even though we grew up in the same household. I think that he exuded characteristics best suited to propel his children to the pinnacle of achievement in our respective disciplines of study. Malach’s strength is in controlling the elements. It is a formidable power that coupled with his grasp of necromancy leaves him a force to be reckoned with. When I think I have forgotten how to smile thoughts of my brother strain unfamiliar muscles of my face. Unwittingly I seek my reflection in the glint of my blade, surprised at the crescent curl of pallid lips that greets me.


Malach and I share the same mother. This sets us apart from our brother Ateuchus whose mind is as nimble as his body and who, born in distant lands, remains eternally ‘set apart’. I often think it is his perpetual displacement that allows him to view the world from without, to think abjectly. It is what renders him a brilliant and ruthless tactician and yet forges a longing to belong that is like a ceaseless hunger gnawing at his soul.





I embrace this hunger. I welcome it for I have seen this man, my brother, command armies and would not wish him for an enemy. So long as Ateuchus thrives in his yearning, so long as I feed his craving I…we…are safe.