Long ago in a kingdom lost to history on the continent of Valm there was a king who’s appetite for bloodshed and violence could never be sated. This king’s country thrived off war, and so they perpetually fought and conquered. It is said that the king came into contact with an unknown power, one that has never since been found again. With this new power the king became feared on the battlefield as a man who couldn’t be slain.
That was true for many violent months until he met his match against a young recruit. The tales say this youthful soldier’s swordsmanship was as divine as the heavens and a sight to behold. Their blade work trumped the king’s own as he had relied on his new powers for months. This amused the king and out of his own hubris ordered the two be left to duel. His orders sealed his fate. The minutes it took for their combat felt like hours to those who watched, but by duel’s end the king died standing on his feet.
“This will not be my end...” were the final words he spoke. The nearly conquered continent had been liberated and the tidal wave of bloodshed had been broken. The king was returned to his homeland where his corpse was put into an ornate casket. The heroic soldier was the only one to bid him a fond farewell as it was placed within a mausoleum at what was the kingdom’s original boarder. The hero went returned to his homeland peacefully while months later the Kingdom and all of its recorded history were destroyed as another country moved in on its now weakened state. What happened to these countries and the hero there after has been missing from history for countless centuries.
In the present day the king awoke from what should have been his eternal slumber. His powers granted from the past had grown, his death was the catalyst. He found his hunger for battle, for war, bloodshed and killing had grown. He’d found a new hunger though, he now had a hunger for the taste of the blood of his enemies, something he’d never had before. The king put a hand to his chest and found that he truly had no heartbeat, his death was not a dream.
Reports began to pop up all over Valm of a monster wearing the flesh of man spiriting people away and openly killing them. The only common link between all victims found was that they were completely drained of their life blood. His attacks were not random however, as the king had found that taking their blood for his own was recovering his strength.
Hundreds fell before he learned of the Ylissean royal family. The more he learned, the more intrigued he became with their past and current members. Months of him increasing his strength and retraining his body passed before the king finally made for the Halidom. Whether he liked it or not the former King stuck out like a sore thumb due to his armor. This extended to the point that he was continually hassled due to suspicion once within the capital city of Ylisstol. His approach to the castle wasn’t any easier, and in his patience wearing thin caused a commotion that sent a soldier sprinting as fast as he could to the castle to warn of what dangers approach.
