Tinnitus {One Shot}

[Backstories]

[Melody - Granger's backstory]

Life is a fickle thing, we cannot choose where we are born into. It's paradoxical in nature, in its imbalance it creates balance. The dice of faith can lead to many interesting stories. One such story is of a boy that has been dealt a bad hand. Though impartial, some circumstances make faith seem unfair. The boy lived a simple life with his family, they worked in the Monastery of light in the Monyan Empire. However such as life the only thing permanent is impermanence. His normal peaceful routine, was broken. Winged monsters flocked through the night sky. Leaving nothing but death and destruction at their wake, sadly for the boy the Monastery wasn't safe from their rampage. With a final act of love from a parent they knocked him out and hid him in the floorboards saving him from a twisted faith. Despite the kindness they gave to their child, those screams would pierce his unconscious mind and would fester in his dreams. A place of divine worship, devotion and service brought down by demons. Though forever scarred, the boy lived on, the Monastery rebuilt. However the scars left at that night were more than physical. The Monastery became a concentration camp that turned children into soldiers. Fueled by loss and rage, many would fall in battle never finding peace. Something this place offered long ago. A perversion of what once was.

Our boy was one of these soldiers, undoubtedly traumatized he still kept going. He developed trauma based tinnitus, he would hear constant rigging in his ear that would haunt him. Reminding him of his past, what he lost. He would find solace in the music room, where he met a priest. The priest lost his ability to speak the night the demons came, but he found another way to touch people's hearts. His proficiency with the violin was unmatched. The first time the boy, Granger heard him, the ringing in his ear that tormented him disappeared. With the eagerness of a child, Granger's face lit up for the first time in a very long time. The priest.... Did his best trying to teach Granger the violin. He wasn't any good yet. But for him kindness and perseverance was the beating heart of talent. Granger who was orphaned by war still had that in spades. Despite everything, deep down he maintained a child's innocence and pure heart. However never got to ask what piece the priest would play for him, nor the priest's name. It was too late. Another attack was faced by the monastery, yet again lives were lost. The priest being one of them, this was the turning point for Granger. The last thread of what he viewed was sacred, gone, violated by the very same creatures that took it from him all those years ago. He vowed that his hands would be stained in the blood of those demons. Their cries would replace the rigging in his ear, they would act as a requiem for the fallen. Undergoing the most treacherous training, which only a few were given. He came out as something else, his innocence was taken away. He was cold, single minded, obsessive, and rage filled. He almost became no less than a demon as well.

His weapon of choice while undergoing training was a new line of weapons to the region. Originating in Los Pecados, other regions quickly took inspiration such as Eruditio, and the Monyan Empire. The one formally given to Granger after his training has an unholy twist. So to speak, they used fire with fire, forged with abyssal flames and then cooled by the blood of demons. This pepperbox used souls as munition, it would harvest the souls slain by the user increasing its load, and damning both the user and it's target's soul. An unholy creation that will be used to kill those who are unholy. Granger was also given another weapon, it was similar but packed more of a punch. They had this on the works for a while, a cannon that did the very same thing. As it was being conceived, Granger visited the priests grave. The place where he learnt his name. As he recollected his memories, his love for the violin resurrfaced it had never faded. His promise to soak his hands in the blood of demons changed, he had wrapped his body in bandages. So that those filthy creatures wouldn't stain his hands. The very same hands that will learn the violin. With that act he may very well have been saved by the priest even from beyond the grave. Keeping a small portion of that innocence with him that kept him walking this dark path. He then would request for his cannon to be hidden by a violin case, a homage to the one that kept him human.

[Choice - Guinevere's Backstory]

We saw a boy given very little, go so through so much faith is a cruel mother. But winning the lottery of life doesn't guarantee success- another twist of faith. Guinevere of house Baroque, a brilliant hand to hand combatant, and proficient magic user. Nothing could stop her, even the confines of the ridged patriarchal society she was brought to. Even at a young age she rebelled, a trouble maker at heart but still caring. She found wonder in magic, which her brother Lancelot had to... Unfortunately withstand. Despite being the unwilling guinea pig to a young Guinevere learning magic, him and Guinevere still had a strong bond. Where most princesses and ladies would learn etiquette, she would rough house with her brother. Where most of her peers in her circle would engage in parties and banquets she opted for magic. At the time while being mostly female lead, royal houses only wanted their son's to pursue it. She said no, she didn't want her hand to be limited, she did not allow them to clip her wings. Many view her as entitled, spoiled- but she had to work more than twice as hard to get where she was because of what she was. And she did it all will a smile.

After a while graduating with flying colours at the magic academy- pioneer in her own form of magic to enhance her hand to hand capabilities. Her... Womanly duty to her royal house caught up. Her father wanted her to marry into another royal house, she could not care less of who and from what house they came from. She did not want to be leashed to something she did not sign up for. The very thought of it made her sick to her stomach, she got away with it this far so she figured if she kept pestering her father it'd work again. But her father used treating her with the bare minimum against her. Allowing her to study, allowing her to be with her brother while the girls her age would only stay within the lady's dorms. He used those kindness as a leverage to blackmail her echoing the sentiment of people who barely know her. Labeling her as nothing more than an entitled, selfish, brat. Her own father would look at her achievements and toss it aside to label her as something lesser to get her to kneel to his whims. She was always just a ticket to him, a ticket to use to achieve greater political power and influence. If letting her play rough with her brother and learn magic was what it took for her to obey. So be it.

She never had a choice, she was too blind to that fact. But she didn't work this hard just to give in. Her brother abandoned the house for a woman, despite being the more obedient sibling. He was always absolute in his decisions, his whereabouts unknown. He was about the only one she could ever rely on, the only one who'd understand. She didn't know where to start, she didn't even know what she was looking for. All she knew is he's with his partner now, and that they live in a castle far away from everyone. The uncertainty alarmed her, she always wanted to know every variable of a situation- control. But... Uncertainty of freedom is better than a certainty of confinement.