Akhryuusa

Akhryuusa
Character description:

Akhryuusa is a forsaken priest who has only recently been raised back from the dead after his demise at the hand of an assassin attempting to kill his once superior, Archmage Ataeric. He is still getting to grips with his new life as a forsaken, but is slowly coming to terms with the whirlwind of undeath that he has been sucked into. Through life and undeath, Akhryuusa holds a great interest in the conflict between the Shadow and the Light, knowing that they are opposite sides of the same coin, although his solid knowledge of such powers is very vague. Fiercely loyal and compassionate, two traits that seem to be diminishing in the forsaken, he is yet to align himself truly to a cause and to find a purpose, although he has found a home in the Church of Shadows as an initiate where he hopes that some light will be shed on the greater powers that he is so interested in.

Appearance:

Akhryuusa stands at roughly 5ft6, although he is always hunched over in his stature and so looks even shorter. His skin is slowly rotting away, and his jaw has completely degraded to the point where it fell off, although this does not affect his speech. Saying this, Akhryuusa does have a prominent stutter that has been carried throughout his two lives, and is a key feature to distinguishing him from the other forsaken.

Background and history

“I know now I must choose a side in order to find the source of this p-p-p-power”

Akhryuusa was not always Akhryuusa. Once, he was known under the name Atlow, a spellcaster drafted into the Kirin Tor at a young age due to his thirst for knowledge and mental strength. Atlow, although being instructed to follow the path of the arcane, always harboured an interest in the ways of priests and paladins, although he knew he lacked the physical ability to become the latter. His superiors picked up on this and after a begrudged decision allowed him to follow the path of priesthood. Atlow studied in Dalaran for a few years, increasing his knowledge of light and darkness, often spending his time philosophising and seeking knowledge. However, it wasn’t long until he was assigned on a mission. A dormant ley node had been discovered in the small village of Ambermill, and its reactivation would be a great boon to the Kirin Tor. Placed under the leadership of Archmage Ataeric, Atlow travelled with other mages and spellcasters to Silverpine Forest where he would assist Ataeric in his task.

It was never meant to be.

One fateful night, a mysterious humanoid appeared on the doorstep of Ambermill. When questioned by two of the warders and instructed to turn back, the creature drew a pair of daggers and killed them where they stood. The assassin continued to enter the village, slaying arcanists and making its way to where the Archmage resided. Ataeric fought well, but was bested by the cloaked figure. Atlow witnessed this, and was about to witness his master’s death when he uttered a prayer of desperation to the heavens.

I would give my own life ten times over to save Ataeric!

Little did he know that his prayer was to be answered. He opened his eyes when he felt an intense stabbing pain in his chest to realise that the assassin had plunged its daggers into his chest and that Ataeric was stood where Atlow once was. This gave the Archmage enough time to swiftly teleport to safety thanks to the priest’s martyrdom.

Atlow’s corpse was buried nearby, but was dug up and graverobbed by the gnolls in the area, and it wasn’t long before he was a mindless servant of the Lich King. After being killed again by a wandering warrior, he answered the call of Sylvanas and was raised as a forsaken. He didn’t remember anything immediately other than his name, but when asked his identity by a fellow forsaken, he stuttered out the first syllable, much to the amusement of his peer. The forsaken decided in an act of sadism to give him the name Akhryuusa, a name that he still struggles to pronounce to this day. Throughout his short time as a forsaken, Akhryuusa has found that his powers as a priest have been slowly returning to him, as has his thirst for the knowledge he once sought out as Atlow. After a chance encounter with Deliana, Akhryuusa became an initiate of the Church of Shadow, a cult which he hopes will provide him with the answers he seeks about the Shadow and the Light.