Aurora Magazine 2019

Backstory: Kairon, son of Malakai and Nemia, rather enjoyed the hustle of big city living with his twin brother, Barakas, and his younger sis - ter, Mira. His parents taught him to always be righteous and just, which enabled him to ignore any insults thrown his way for being a tiefling. Despite their ability to brush off the negative comments and actions against them for their race, Kairon, Barakas, and Mira knew few people their age who treated them with kindness. This only drew the siblings closer as they grew up, making them strong. It wasn’t until Mira’s death – caused by being in the wrong place at the wrong time amidst a particularly ugly gang war in their city – that Kairon found himself following Barakas through an apprenticeship to the paladin order, The Order of the Creed, partially because it seemed like the thing to do and because he felt that he needed to help somehow and didn’t know of another way. For five years, as part of the Order of the Creed, Kairon was devoted to justice and helping but he often wondered if he joined up because Barakas and his parents were a part of it and it was familiar or if he had because he wanted to. No matter what he told himself, something seemed off to Kairon. On of the jobs that Kairon was a part of, a fellow member of the Order – a human named Cendred – found an odd stone off a crazy lich they faced, one of unknown magical abilities. And against the better judgement of the rest of the Order, Cendred kept the stone. When Cendred found the stone, something changed. While everyone else forgot about it, Kairon couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that something about the stone was malevolent, like it was dangerous and out to stir up all kinds of trouble. Months later, Kairon and Barakas were sent out to deal with a few stray bandits, which was a simple enough job for the two of them. Neither of them were prepared for what happened after. They returned to their headquarters to find a rather gruel - ing scene. They found everyone they knew – brothers and sisters 69