Uncrowned Lord Eerikki

Lore

Firstborn son to a family of free-spirited tribesmen, Eerikki was raised in a kingdom of peace and prosperity. His youth was spent exploring the land with his betrothed, who enjoyed their adventures together yet became meek whenever he brought her back to her home. One day, they found an oddly shaped egg in their travels and decided in a fit of inspiration to raise it together despite their parents' objections. As the days passed, however, he began to see her less often, her arms marked with bruises whenever they spoke. Her silence with his questions infuriated him, and in the end they parted ways after a furious argument. He was heading home when he overheard a few of the villagers discussing a plan to attack a settlement not too far from theirs for mere amusement. Anxious, Eerikki followed them in the dead of night, and to his horror he discovered that a shadowy figure had convinced the people he had grown up with to raid the villages nearby. He tried to escape, but his betrothed suddenly appeared with a mad light in her eyes, her fingers dancing before his eyes as she put him to sleep. He awoke in the village square with a sharp pain in his chest as she withdrew the knife and wiped it clean, his house brightly ablaze as the screams of his parents climbed higher. His last memory was of her applying the red-hot knife to his face as he screamed, the egg cradled in his arms. Only darkness loomed thereafter.