Knight captain of the Templars of Perfectum, Uther Collins. A world renowned knight who always fought with honor and justice, so well known many other countries have heard of the templar captain with the wide toothy grin.
The strongest mage of Solardarr, Igraine Collins. A mysterious master of all known flame magic and even a few of the lost sorceries, any worthwhile mage knows of the scorching witch with a noble and compassionate heart.
And in the age of 364 their only child was born, Mordred Collins was happily welcomed to the couple.
Mordred Collins, the next hero of Soladarr. the child had always been firmly stuck in the public's awareness.
The shining star of his generation, the boy who could learn and master a spell in a day. The child who had inherited the highlander blood that made the Collins family famous.
Many who had high hopes for the young Collins had their high expectations blown away by the boy.
But that time of hope ended in a horrible tragedy. Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, at the celebration of the birth of the crown princess Casandra.
…
Age: 379
The celebration had been going for almost six hours, the Collins being a vassal family of the royal family meant that Uther, Igraine, and Mordred were heavily involved with the newborn's baby shower.
Uther, along with the templars, stood guard at the gates of Ullworth castle and Igraine herself kept a magic barrier, with them meaning that nothing with ill will could enter.
But sadly for them the forces of the damned were smarter than that.
The arch demon Carladax had disguised herself as a simple maid and had worked for the royal family for over years.
Biding her time and waiting for the perfect time to strike and weaken one of the strongest kingdoms of man.
And finally it had come for Carladax's grand scheme to unfold: it was the fifteen year old mordred who stood in the demon's way.
But while Mordred was a prodigy what he faced was something that far surpassed anything he had ever faced.
The demon amused by the boy's suicidal heroics took the boy instead of the newborn.
Carladax then appeared in the middle of the celebration and the actions she did next would be the only thing spoke of the event.
…
Mordred struggled in the grasp of the arch demon, as she held him with one arm with her hand covering his mouth.
Uther and Igraine stood side by side as always did, yet neither of them moved or spoke.
It was Davan, captain of the royal guard who first spoke to the demonic fiend, much to the couple's fury.
"What is your goal, foul creature?" the captain said, trying to gain some control of the situation.
Carladax smiled at the question she did answer immediately.
She instead set her right hand alight, the hand holding Mordred.
While Mordred never made a sound just continuing his struggle, all who were there heard the searing flesh and the look in the teenager's eyes.
After burning her catch Carladax finally answered the question.
"Pain, torment, and devastation." she said and after that she vanished along with Mordred in tow never to be seen again.
…
The fallout of this tragedy was immense, Igraine completely disappeared from the public eye, The Templars had completely cut ties with the royal guard, and Uther was swallowed by a horrid depression that left him inactive for long swaths of time.
And sadly no matter where anyone looked, no one could find find hind or hair of Mordred.
Even after four years after his kidnapping every single thread that Uther and Igraine followed ended in failure and heart break.
…
Until on the first day of summer in the year 393, Uther and Igraine had been setting a plan to venture into sundered lands, the fifth one in the time of Mordred disappearance.
But before they could set their choices in stone, Falkner, a family friend and vice captain to the templar, burst through the door with a rare wide eyed look on his face.
Uther and Falkner just silently stared at each other for a moment, the vice captain keeping that wide eyed look.
Uther then took a moment to steadily leave his seat and ask as calmly as he could.
"Where is he?"
Thanks to Igraine it took no time for Herself and her husband to go to the national sanitorium.
But they were stopped by the head apothecary, Janet Wallace who had dealt with the family before.
…
The Collins had many times checked on any John Does that matched their son's age range, which would occasionally cause immense attention to be put on the patient causing problems for their physical and mental recovery.
And with the case of the patient there trying to see it would be incredibly irresponsible of her to do so without the patient being awake after the removal of his armor.
Uther sighed acknowledging that they had been zealous in seeing too every lead they could find when it came to finding their son.
But Igraine only became more irate at the idea of her and Uther's search for Mordred could ever be seen as an annoyance by anyone.
Seeing this was getting them nowhere, Janet asked them to follow her.
Janet had brought the Collins to a small grey room, the room held a table with a set of ruined red and white armor laid on top.
The armor had ancient and dead air about it, and Uther who was confused about why they were here or how the old broken armor had anything to do with Mordred.
Igraine had a completely different reaction when seeing this armor, because she knew what this horrid thing was.
"The Abadull Plate."
She said in a voice barely louder than a whisper, the voice she used being so unlike her made Uther know that this was important.
Jannet just nodded solemnly and affirmed Igraine's horror.
"The armor of torment itself. It's the original, the scars left on John doe confirms it."
Now Uther recognized that name, an armor forced upon the prisoners of the damned, damning the victims to horrible and ceaseless pain all throughout their body.
And the torment only gets worse if the victim is a mage, with the armor forcefully draining the mana from the poor soul housed within, causing a second soul shattering pain that would only ever end when the stress of the armor put on the body releases them from that nightmare.
The armor itself was only hearsay and many thought it was a story, a telltale to show off the cruelty of the damned.
As Igraine silently seethed at the idea of her child being entombed into that hell.
It was Uther who asked through clenched teeth the question what was both his and his wife's minds.
"How long has the armor been on that child?"
The head apothecary sighed at this question and answered honestly.
"The scarring on his body says that the armor was forced onto the young man four years and three seasons ago."
It didn't even take a second for them both to demand at the same time.
"Where is our son!"
…
The couple fought with apothecaries as they walked down the maze like corridors of the sanatorium.
"This is ridiculous he is obviously Mordred, for all's sake Falkner was an uncle to our son he would know if he did or did not see him!"
Igraine yelled and fought with Janet as Uther walked behind the two with a grim face and every shifting eyes, as if he was trying to find his child apathetic for the rage of the head apothecary.
Janet was exasperated and tried to appeal to the common sense of at least one of the couple.
"He's not even awake, and he claims that he barely has any memories. I know you just want to check but he is not ready!"
But this plea fell upon deaf ears and stern eyes, but before they could continue the argument a loud crash sounded in the room to the right of them.
Janet's reaction only confirmed what they already thought, the young man was resting there.
But before they could go in there and meet the john doe face to face.
The apothecary before she opened her door said her piece in a tone as soft as a whisper but held the intent of a dagger.
"If this hurts him, if you both can't control each other I will make you both suffer."
Her glasses hid Janet's eyes as she spoke.
Igraine ignored the threats as she opened the door, her and Uther's heart filled with the cinders of hope.
…
He was everything they wanted him to be strong, compassionate and happy.
They both had tried for a child for so long and when he was born it was like he was a gift from the divine.
Having Uther's soft golden hair and possessing Igraine's rich brown eyes, and when he smiled neither of them could refuse him.
Mordred meaning the wished for, he fit that name so perfectly he was everything they wanted and more just by being himself.
And with every day they love grew and grew for him.
Igraine loved him even more with every helpful action with his heart seemingly fueled by justice.
And Uther smiled ever wider with how his son would look at the world with wonder and joy at every new discovery as he grew.
…
A gaunt giant stood at the corner of the room, Ashen grey hair that gave the giant an even more beastly aura.
The giant was obviously encumbered by his size taking time to turn to them.
As he they got a good look at his face, both were shocked.
Bright amber eyes, looked at them with not fear or anger but apologetically, the mirror broken near his feet being obvious reason.
A bright red scar in the shape of a hand print marked his mouth and lower face.
But it did not stop his face from being emotive, and as looked at the two of them he tried but failed to recognize them.
So the giant spoke in a voice that crackled like logs in a fire, but filled with a large amount of compassion.
As he spoke he told of the shadowy memories he still could grasp, he spoke of promises and oaths that he made with his loving parents.
The oaths and promise that they too remembered, so after he soon stopped and waited for his answer.
They ran to embrace their once lost son, and as they held him they spoke in fractured sentences about all they hoped that he would return and how happy they both were that he was alive.
But as Janet watched this scene unfold she knew this was only the beginning of Mordred return and that there were going to be a lot more difficult challenges from here.