Species: Shadow Blooded Wytch
Full Name: Benjamin Michael Camillus
Birthday & Age: October 31st, 1991 / 21
Level: Familiar
Occupation: Treasurer of Theta Order Fraternity
Neighborhood: Theta Order Fraternity Chapter House
Residency Status: Born & Raised in Deadwood
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual
+ modest, loyal, hard-working, & extreme.
- shy, hard on himself, , & extreme.
most wytches are in fact born wytches. this is a genetical gift that is passed down through generations, however, not every family member receives the gift. while some think that wytches are a symbol of dark magic - but that is not always the case. wytches have a choice, while dark magic does exist - it is not something a wytch needs to perform. dark magic can be extremely dangerous and life threatening and is quite difficult to control. wytches are by all accounts human, they just possess a special supernatural ability. this ability starts to manifest itself around the age of twelve, though sometimes sooner - and in others it happens later. though wytches are considered to be ultimately powerful - they did in fact create vaympires and weyrwolves… though this was through the use of dark magic.
trigger warning: child neglect / abuse & animal abuse.
perfectly centered upon the black hills sits a tree of dark oak. if others were wise and aware, they would notice that before october 31st, 1997, the tree wasn’t there, not a trace of its roots could be found. in the blink of an eye, there it was. through the thicket surrounding the camillus manor, a family of wytches settled not far from it’s territory. they married out of power and had a child to increase said power. the birth is awful, a mess that took the mother’s life as benjamin michael camillus is forced out into this world. the father did not cry for his beloved vivienne but celebrated that it was indeed a son, a child worthy of greatness.
the tree, suddenly there, looks so close to death, even in the springtime, the branches bared nothing, no leaves or flower buds, no fruit or seeds, a symbol for the life through the thicket. benjamin’s childhood is full of rigorous testing and training. before the babe could speak properly he was moving his hands in a precise manner to perform spells. his first words recited a spell, and nathan camillus, the stoic father who refused to bear emotions, was visibly proud of his son for the first and only time in his life. the father’s pride stayed within because no congratulations or praise came to benjamin, just more hard work.
the tree couldn’t be worse, twelve years since it’s mysterious happening, it was struck by a bolt of lightning, shattering the bark, a scream coming from the open as if life was hurt within in, an no-one heard that scream, except the boy who was now inside the woods.
he was in the lush forest to escape his birthday, a horrible event when he awoke with no powers. he would usually escape into the woods to avoid his life, not being one to speak up and retort his father in anyway. with his father looking forward to this day, the inevitable day a wytch’s powers bloomed, ben knew he needed to avoid the wrath to come. the boy ran into the woods, through the thicket and into the calling of the tree.
the tree’s branches blew in his direction, beckoning the boy to come closer. ben made his way to the burnt bark, and with a soft hand placed it on its wood. he felt it, though so much deeper than a normal touch. he felt its pain, and excitement, and ben, for the first time in his life, felt happiness being alive.
ben’s powers would grow from that day on, manifesting into a certain type of power he couldn’t’ do before. but before his father, he couldn’t perform. mister camillus would yell at him, beat him when he didn’t do a spell fast enough, and after a while benjamin stopped trying to impress his father, he held onto his new powers and kept them to himself.
the heartwood. the tree grew after meeting the boy and as the powers within benjamin grew, as did the tree, the lightning strike leaving a groove in its bark, but nothing more. branches extended out, sprouting leaves for the first time, the flower buds, though those stayed closed until the night of benjamin’s sixteenth year, the signing. nathan was a devout worshiper of lucifer and believed that the only three crowned princes would be nowhere without his king. ben believed differently, not seeing his path involve signing the book of lucifer, benjamin felt his calling with belial, and this only lead to more violence and repression from his father, and more escapes to the heartwood.
under the the crowd prince, and his next visit to the tree, that’s when his powers truly came to him. maybe it was coincidence that a small blue mockingjay flew into the heartwood’s trunk, and that benjamin came across the dead bird at its roots. he couldn’t tell what made him pick up the bird and hold it in his hands, some force came over him and he uttered some spell he never heard before, then fluttering. his hands opened and the mockingjay flew away, alive as can be. ben performed a spell of resurrection, he brought something back to life. ben decided to keep this new power to himself, not wanting to fail again in front of his father, to face more punishment.
the repression and violence didn’t only come from his father, yet it was the worse of his upbringing, it also followed him to school in the form of the unholy trinity. valentino, lucius and the prince all had their ways to deal with ben. ‘val’ was physical, pushing him around, beat on him, violently, and then all the sudden flirt with him, in front of everyone, embarrassing the boy. lucius went for the mind, playing mental tricks on him, exposing him in the locker room, sneaking up on him as val flirted only to pull his towel off; the two were a horrible duo. he felt cursed, having someone attack him verbally or physical wherever he went, but he dealt with it, as he always would. but with the prince, he felt something different, for sure the other would tag along in their jokes to embarrass ben, but he wasn’t nearly as hard on the wytch as the others were.
ben believed his escape would be just that, an escape, but one day that proved false as the prince found him and ben believed his paradise to be ruined. only it didn’t. he would promise over and over that the bullying wouldn’t continue, but as ben went back to school, the laughter and jest never ceased to end. regardless ben did something he never thought he would do; fall for the boy. a love blossomed underneath the tree. most days, the other would find benjamin under its branches, some days bringing a picnic for them to enjoy. they would spend their days away from their real lives, tangled in each other’s arms. birthdays came and went under the tree rather than at home, just to be with him. on his eighteenth, ben slept with the prince under the stars, and never felt closer to him.
the following day however was just like the others and this sent ben over the edge.
back to the tree he went, storms looming in the sky and much like the time before, a prize was waiting for him at the trunk of the tree. a squirrel, eyes darting around as he ate from the heartwood. the same voice was inside him that brought the bird to life two years ago, but it was darker, and controlled ben in the same way as before. with a hand in the air, the squirrel lifted into the air and over to ben where he cupped it in his hands, like the bird.
it fought, scratching and biting the boy’s hands, but he felt nothing as he recited another spell and instantly the squirrel stopped, dead in ben’s hands. blood dripped out of Ben’s nose as he tossed the animal aside, sitting down in the wet grass, light headed and disturbed by his newest power, and finding that odd feeling that he in fact loved this spell disturbed him even more.
the tree knew a choice was coming. it knew many things about benjamin, his father’s wrath and tries of corruption, and benjamin’s goodness. despite where he signed his name, there was goodness in his body. but a choice had to be made, ben couldn’t stay in the camillus manor, he couldn’t take another day of the torture. so, he left, college-bound, and that meant leaving behind the heartwood as well. but as he left that thicket for the last time, as he went through the old iron gates of his home, he felt stabbed, as did the tree, a loss in power in both.
the tree lost its flowers, and it’s leaves, it still lived, but hibernated, swaying in the wind, it turned back to its invisible self, knowing that ben will return, someday, and no-one was going to see him until that happened. the boy’s powers left as did the tree, suddenly he couldn’t perform the spells he had before, and along with adjusting to his new life he had to adjust and learn the powers again. he knows why he lost his powers, but benjamin couldn’t return to the camillus manor, it wasn’t his home anymore, but a prison and return would either mean imprisonment or death.
the years passed, and benjamin as a new life now, one without the heartwood. for the first time in his life, benjamin is fully happy, throughout his day, he doesn’t have to escape to a tree to be happy. a new family formed in a fraternity ben was weary to join the first place - now brothers he would trade nothing for… almost nothing. the dark oak tree lays perfectly centered atop the black hills of home, if others were aware, they would have noticed that one moment it was there, fruitful, and now, it’s gone… at least to their eyes.
come back to the heartwood and retain your power, there’s so much more in this world for you. a more complex connection to my roots, to my branches. you must be strong, to face your demon, to overcome it and return to me, your new life isn’t your prophecy, but i am.
benjamin awakes in a pool of sweat in the pitch darkness of night, clinging to his chest.
✗ THE UNHOLY TRINITY - LUCIUS BELMONTE, the ringleader with a whip for a tongue; VALENTINO LENNOX, the bored skeptic with a vivid, horrid imagination; & THE PRINCE, the pained beauty with a need to be desired. through each step in his life, they were there. teasing him, ridiculing him in front of their peers. no one did a thing to stop them; to be part of the church meant fending for one’s self. hell, his father had even implored for lucius’ fraternity to pledge him. he harbors a twisted vengeance that has loomed over him since their elementary days and one day they’ll be on their hands knees begging for his forgiveness - though one of them gets on his knees religiously when they rendezvous in the middle of the night. there are days he wants to simply erase the trauma inflicted on him. but harassment never leaves the mind and none of his vices will ever fade the pain away.
✗ THE PRINCE - due to his unfortunate upbringing, he spent most of his time alone growing up. there’s a tree in the heart of black hills he went to as a child; with the size of the dense forests, he was never interrupted there. till he came walking in, a child fitted in slacks and blazer in the middle of the woods. a privileged child, like himself, but who had grown up much different. he feared the boy followed him to poke fun of him for his buddies. they acquired an unlikely, hidden friendship from that day on. still, whenever the man’s friends made an appearance, the other would retreat back to their side, acting as if they weren’t just talking. years passed and their secret friendship turned into an unbreakable romance. he sees behind the facade the other wears so well and he’s enchanted by the man not many truly understand. a bubble has veiled their relationship till now but it’s only a matter of time before one slip up creates a shift they won’t be able to avoid.
His face claim is DYLAN O’BRIEN and he’s played by PUNLORD.
