It was a normal kind of childhood. The one with a white picket fence and the parents who loved each other and smiling faces. Normal, except for one thing. Mathias Kline? He was a Nymph. An earth nymph, to be exact. It was something he’d always known, something that was just part of his life. A pocket full of magical and special things he could do, all with the simple rule to keep it quiet, and the promise that one day his parents would teach him the extent of his powers. At the age of eight, Mathias was keen that they kept such promise (”I’m practically 18!” he said, still eight). It was as average a life as a supernatural boy could have until suddenly it got all too human. His mother had tied herself to a landmark before he was even born (she feared she wouldn’t survive the childbirth as her own mother hadn’t survived her own) and the extra power boost was assuring. At least, until the tree got ripped down. They had been careless in their bliss. It was late in the day, she was driving Mathias home from school. Then, it happened. The landmark ripped out, his mother felt every last bit of the pain, and then… she lost control of the car. The two of them crashed. She’d been blamed for the accident, of course, she’d been the one driving after all. Plus, she was dead. It was easy to shovel the blame onto a dead woman (and also the dirt). His father? He… struggled. While he still loved his son Mathias’ mother had been the light of his life. Life became a monotone for his father, who struggled to find the will to live it. Mathias himself? He didn’t know how to feel. Should he feel guilty? Angry? Rage against the heavens or cry his very heart out? He was young and he was alone. It hurt. It remained to hurt for the next four years, until the day his father came home with an actual smile. He’d met a woman, her name was Bea Frost. She…. she made him happy. It was something Mathias had been unable to do and that (yes, that hurt) but it also made him happy to see his father happy. As silly as such small thing was. Within the next year he met Bea’s family. From her eldest, Hannah, to her youngest Yvette. However, the one he bonded most with was her ten-year-old, Avery. Before the two became step-siblings (which happened awfully fast) they were friends. Mathias had been used to being alone, and then suddenly he wasn’t. The experience was new, to say the very least. (There was that nagging feeling though, that he hadn’t been enough for his father to be happy. What did he do wrong?)
The moment he turned 18 Mathis left home. He didn’t even graduate school. As time acclimated, it grew harder to have the reminder he hadn’t been enough for his father to be happy. It especially hurt when they had more children, and as much as he loved his half-siblings it was easy to see the difference in how his father treated them. So, he hightailed it out of there. The only one he kept in contact with was Avery, though even that was hard for him. Mathias desired a new life for himself, he just hadn’t an idea of what that meant. So he went into the world, met new people and had new experiences. He even stumbled onto a little town called Lethe, a place he wished to call home but found himself unable to stay. He feared being held down and wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to call it home. He wasn’t ready to settle down, not yet. Instead, he spoke of it to Avery, and then he moved on.
At 27 he finally decided to confront his demons. AKA (”hi dad!). It was awkward and it was painful and still an open wound. Especially once he found out that Hannah died. They hadn’t been as close as he and Avery but he did care, he did love her. They were his family, even if his father made him feel like crap it wasn’t their fault. Not only did Hannah die, but her daughter was left to Avery. Now, this made Mathias feel a lot of things. Hurt, that Avery hadn’t told him. But also the need to help. So her mother told him where she was, and much to his surprise, it was the same town he wanted to call home once before. And so, Mathis set out on a mission. To find his sister, his friend and to help her in any way he could.