Far up north in the distant reaches of the continent, nestled somewhere within the shimmering white tundra of the Taldera stands one of the five great Holds, the villages of the Vantha, places of comfort in the harsh never-ending winter these lands are subject to.
One among these five holds goes by the name of Whitevine, its inhabitants are blessed in the arts, perhaps even more so than most vantha and if they're not weaving beautiful tales or sculpting breathtaking statues they spend their time communing with each other. Save perhaps one vantha child hos has no talents for the arts nor the inclination to make many friends. This one would rather spend his time watching the ever-changing landscape atop of of the taller structures in the compound with only a cup of hot chocolate for company.
This vantha is Toshi, the 13th successor to an unnamed near-extinct martial art style handed down through generations. As the sole heir to their martial for his father demanded much from Toshi, perhaps too much from a child but the boy was obedient, he accepted his lessons and found the novelty of studying martial arts amusing.
Years would pass before Toshi would pay a high price for his mistake. Having taken his lessons for granted the fledgling pugilist would return home one day to find his family slaughtered, the corpses of all those he had known and loved littering the floor and a beautiful stranger, fair-skinned and clad in black holding a bloodied scroll in one hand - the very same scroll his family had been protecting through all these years, the scroll that carried their family's martial secrets.
Noticing the young man the figure turned around, a smile flitting about the woman's lips - for now that she was looking at him against the light he could make out the fine figure of a person who was undoubtedly at the peak of her health beneath all that fabric.
In his rage Toshi charged forward, his fists and feet flying as he used all he had learned and his flux-magick to deliver done-splitting blows against this murderer. The opponent only laughed, her voice teasing as she moved like water and struck like lightning. Before the fight even began he was sprawled across the floor, his body undoubtedly bruised and a few of his bones fractured.
Smiling his opponent raised a hand over his head and was going to drive it into his neck when her gaze snapped up, beyond Toshi's broken form. The vantha followed the murderer's gaze to meet the eyes of a brown-skinned woman, one who resembled the murderer perfectly save for their clothes and her bronze complexion.
The twins fought, they fought with impossible speed and power. And by the end of the fight, one which the tanned woman barely won, Toshi was almost dead from the wounds he had received earlier.
The strange saved his life and for the next few days accompanied him, nursing him to health until a time when he could stand up again. The woman, Alala told Toshi that she would be leaving because she had a mission to fulfill. With his parents buried and an empty home to tend to Toshi begged the Alala to take him with her, he wanted revenge and this stranger's power was undeniable - he could learn from her.
Moved by the desperate manner in which he pleaded for her help Alala allowed the boy to accompany her on her journey and he discovered that his family scroll was only one among many. There were twelve in all, four of those already in the possession of Alala's twin including Toshi's and the other one that was still accounted for in Alala's safe keeping.
He also learned of her mission, that was to stop her twin from getting all of the scrolls through any means necessary.
Eventually the pair crossed paths with Alala's twin again, this time however the battle was overwhelmingly to the evil one's advantage. Strange sigils on her body Toshi swore he'd never seen in their previous encounter gave the evil twin greater power and the ability to do impossible things that defied logic.
The fight was an epic one but Alala was still only human and this woman who was once her flesh and blood appeared to no longer be human. Again Toshi charged at the evil twin only to be thrown back with enough force to incapacitate him. When the vantha came to his traveling companion and teacher was lying against a rock cradling a fatal wound near her heart.
She told the boy to go to Syliras, that he would find a person known as Master Ten who might know where the other scrolls were hidden. Taking her hand in his he swore that he would finish her mission, in the last moments of her life she reached out to draw him close and kissed him softly before dying.
