A Knight's Decision

[Throndir]

[spoiler]This was posted in my character's bio, but I want the free exp too![/spoiler]

Annia Siadon, of the renowned Siadon family, is the second and middle child of the family. Like the other girls from noble families, she was fated to eventually be married to another house and live the life expected of one such as herself. However, that all changed when her brother Celendel, did something unexpected: he ran away and escaped his duties.

Her brother Celendel was in line to be taught on how to become a knight, a paladin of sorts. Day in and day out he was taught the ways of knighthood, as well as going over many scrolls and books to further increase his knowledge. Annia, as well as her younger sister, Emmeline, was always there supporting him. They knew their brother wasn't really cut out for that sort of thing. But as they say, familiarity breeds contempt. So as the years drew by, Celendel grew further and further away from his sisters, his family, and eventually even his role-to-be as a paladin. He vanished. The last thing that Annia can recall was meeting her brother during the night he had vanished. He simply saluted her, then walked off. Of course Annia didn't think much of it back then, or she would have tried to do something.

Her family, always encouraging her brother Celendel to become a knight, never paid much attention to Annia. Being the middle child, she wasn't given the high hopes given to Celendel, nor the amount of attention given to the youngest, Emmeline. Instead, she's taken to striving hard for things, and never giving up, if only to show the people around her that she does exist. When Celendel disappeared both Annia and Emmeline took it hard. The three were close siblings. After his disappearance, Annia decided to become a knight; to take her brother's place. Her family however, did not care the least of her decision.

Early in her training, she once ventured out alone. She found a strange blade that she had never seen before. Later she had found that the blade was called a Katana. After grasping the weapon, a creature made out of shadow formed into being right in front of her (at least in Annia's point of view). Like any sensible person, she immediately threw down the weapon thinking that it was some sort of cursed weapon, and started running away from the supposed cursed object. It didn't take her long, however, to change her mind. She had stopped running, and out of pure simple curiosity slowly started walking back. She was young and naive and believed that it would have been courageous if she were to take the weapon and give it to the authorities. Picking up the blade again, the shadow creature appeared once again. Even though she was afraid she still held on, staring at the creature where she thought its eyes must have been. To her surprise the creature bowed. And to her greater surprise, it talked.

She found out that the creature had a name and that it came from a different world, though similar to the one she was on. She also found out that his own world was destroyed, and as a last effort, their civilization, which apparently was very powerful in magic, sent many mementos throughout gates. These mementos carried an essence of themselves, it was like a time capsule meant to preserve their civilization. In a past life, the shadow creature was once a swordsman, using that very same blade. Out of all the items that he had, his sword, the very one Annia was holding, had been his most precious.

Annia was shocked. She didn't know what to do, and in some ways she started feeling guilty about turning in a person. Knowing that her own culture would probably destroy the seemingly evil blade, instead, she kept it for herself. The shadow creature wasn't an evil person, she thought, and though his form seemed evil, he had his own set of moral guidelines and beliefs. More so than her tutors, trainers, paladins and clerics alike, who were more concerned about memorizing laws, history, and conduct in court, the shadow creature taught her more; morals and blade skills alike.

Every day she would spend time with her new tutor, learning the history and culture of his own world, and learning how to use the strange blade that he had given her. Ever since then she would secretly practice with the blade, and when she was with her "official" tutors she would proceed to switch to her training sword given to her by them. There was one time when she had attempted to use a fighting style she had learned from her mentor, her shadow, during a spar, though she was quickly reprimanded and told not to use "that undisciplined way of fighting".

Years later when she was finally initiated into a Knight of the Golden Dawn, her shadow told her that the reason he was able to exist was because of Annia's life-force. Annia had suspected for awhile, for she always felt weakened when she held the blade, but said that the mentor and friend was well-worth it. For awhile, she was happy. Her family accepted the fact that she had become a knight, she was on her way of becoming a higher ranked member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, and she had someone to teach her as well as guide her through the choices she made in life.

Yet, not even a year after her initiation to knighthood, it all came crashing down.

After her initiation, she was sent to help bolster for forces of the Silver Arms, an organization that methodically arranged their members to places that needed help or support, in times of war, or with any any general problems a town or city might have. She started to gain comrades in arms, she had trusted them. Though Annia chose not to use the powers of her sword very often, in the dangerous situations that she and her fellow Silver Arms found themselves in, more often than not in some of the situations she had no other choice but to release the shadowy manifistation within her blade. Not long after, the order of the Golden Dawn called her back. The order demanded she relinquish her "evil" blade. It was then that Annia realized that one of her companions in the group that she had traveled with, betrayed her.

Even with all the force that the order had to bear, Annia stood her ground. It was either the order or her friend.

She chose her friend.

It wasn't hard for her to escape the compounds of the temple where she was once trained. Its layout as well as the layout of the surrounging areas was something she knew like the back of her palm. She had journeyed far, choosing to avoid authority figures, as well as any other order that might have connections with her own. Then... she found them:

A guild in the bustling city of Ternadan who called themselves members of the Guild of Galas'nor.