Rekka’s origins first start with his mother and father. His mother was a Great Swamp pyromancer and healer, using her talents with flame to create a soothing warmth that healed wounds. His father was a minor noble of Catarina, a knight errant looking for honor and glory. The two met one day when his mother, banished from her home due to monsters, was saved her Rekka’s father. They fell in love after fending off the dark beasts, and soon Rekka was born in his father’s home country.

Rekka took after his father mostly, as the knight dearly wished for his son to become a knight as well. Even as a lad, he began his training with his father, and as he grew older and stronger Rekka became more accustomed to his father’s skills. Unlike most knights of Catarina, his father favored heavy weapons like the axe or hammer, citing that while a sword can slay beasts, one needs a heavier blade against a worthy foe (I.e. other knights). Indeed, while his father was certainly a skilled knight of Catarina, there were some dark rumors that he often turned his blade against other noble knights for pretty reasons. But as his father tells him, Rekka’s father only used his blade against the unjust and corrupt. And while the Catarina knights are generally known for being jovial and honorable, Rekka’s father assures him that no one is perfect.

But Rekka was still only a young man when his mother and father were struck ill by a plague. His father was the first to die, as he caught the plague while he was out on a campaign with his fellow knights. Widowed and grieving, Rekka and his mother left the lands of Catarina and hoped to find somewhere where they would be safe from the plague. They intended to head to Astora, but Rekka’s mother was stricken with the plague and died as well. Well aware from any friend, family, or home, Rekka was left alone in the wilderness with nothing but the momento of his mother and father.

With no other choice, Rekka turned to thievery and robbery to try and survive. But he was far from successful, and even the few times he managed to get away with something, it was only a minor victory. Soon Rekka became envious of the knights and nobility who were free to feast and fatten themselves on the labor of others, while Rekka starved in a ditch. He grew more desperate to the point that instead of robbing others, he simply invaded people’s homes and killed them for their belongings. Countless amounts of people, from peasants to minor nobility, were slain by Rekka’s blade, to feed his hunger.

Of course it wasn’t long before wandering knights heard of his menace, and soon a mob was formed to hunt him down. When they found him, Rekka fought long and hard, but was ultimately slain. But not for long. Soon he rose back up again, near an old campsite he had passed so long ago. He was no longer hungry. No longer tired. He felt no pain, and his body was whole despite being drawn and quartered. But when he felt a pain on his neck, and saw something in a water’s reflection, that Rekka realized what had befallen him; he had become an undead.

Rekka had heard of the undead, and relished in it. Still filled with fury and vengeance, he sought out those who participated in his execution hunted them down, killing them in whatever fashion he felt most satisfying at the time. He relished in other acts of violence and banditry as well, typically robbing and pillaging, with a side of raping and burning. Once more a band of knights joined together to take Rekka down, as well as other brigands and hollows, and once more Rekka fought until he was ultimately defeated. Knowing that simply killing him wouldn’t stop him, Rekka was put into chains and sent to the Undead Asylum, in the far off lands of Lordran.

It was here that Rekka spent many a unknown years rotting in his cell. Without any way to gather humanity or even company, Rekka was slowly going more insane. He lashed out against the walls, attempted to commit suicide many times, but alas, he was confined to his cell. It wasn’t until one fateful moment when a corpse fell into his cell did Rekka find his freedom. The key was dropped by a fellow inmate, another hollow seeking to liberate himself from the asylum. Rekka, in his insane state, chose to follow this man in hopes for some sort of freedom. Of course, he didn’t realize he was being used.

Soon Rekka and the inmate were confronted by the Asylum Demon, where Rekka was left behind as bait. With nothing but a broken short sword as his weapon, Rekka was sure he would die. And he did. Many times. And each time his fate was the same, attempting to bypass the demon only to find no escape. It wasn’t until after one resurrection that he came across the same inmate who had betrayed him. Rekka didn’t listen to his excuses and attacked him, disarming the hollow of his knife and slaying him with his barehands. With the key to his freedom, and more importantly a weapon, Rekka was able to escape the asylum demon and flee.

From there Rekka was left to explore Lordran. There were a scant few people where, aside from hollows and those soon to be hollows. There was a morose fellow who gave him some direction in the form of ”ringing the bells”, but this was something he only did when it presented the opportunity for himself. With little else to go off of however, Rekka did go and explore the area, trying to figure out what to do now.

Later Rekka would be recognized as a “Chosen Undead”, but he knew this title was empty. He wasn’t chosen for anything, he thought. He was merely another piece of fodder to throw into a fire. While he initially journeyed throughout Lordran to find something to do, meeting a few friends and killing many enemies along the way, he wasn’t until he arrived in Blight Town did he find purpose. It was there he met her, Quelaag. At the time, she was not immediately hostile to him. She simply told him to turn away, lest she turn him into a feast for her gross chaos beast. But Rekka refused, admitting a certain one-sided infatuation with the Daughter of Chaos. With her interest piqued, she decided to make use of Rekka and allowed him to join her covenant: the Chaos Servants.

His task was simple: Collect Humanity and give it to Quelaag. She was honest with Rekka as well, stating that she needed it to alleviate the pain of her sister. Her sister whom under no circumstances would Rekka ever get to meet, which was fine with him. He felt… Fulfilled collecting humanity for her. More so since one of the best ways to collect humanity involved his most favorite activity, hunting rats killing other hollows. To best facilitate this, he was given strange objects known as cracked red eye orbs, which would allow him to invade other worlds as an ethereal phantom and slay its host for their souls and humanity. While Rekka wasn’t always successful in this task, he made a steady career of hunting down other hollows and their allies for their sweet, sweet humanity, which he offered to Quelaag.

However, his supply of red eye orbs were limited. He needed to find more, but without anyone who sells them or knowing a foe that could reliably have them (And basilisk proving too much of a nuisance to farm), Rekka unknowingly continued on his quest as a Chosen Undead in search of humanity. He braved many hazardous zones, such as Sen’s Fortress and Ando Londo, obtaining the Lordvessel and having no idea what to do with it (It had been quite some time since he had returned to the Firelink Shrine). And though Gwynevere was certainly a tempting misstress to be a knight of, Rekka had already made his vows to Quelaag, and thus departed from the Princess of Sunlight’s company in search for humanity.

It was during this search that things spiralled out of control. Rekka had arrived to the ruins of New Londo. Rekka had learned of the existence of another covenant that would facilitate his need to gather humanity from other hollows: The Darkwraiths. Little was known about this faction, only that they reside in the flooded ruins. There he would need to traverse a realm known as “the Abyss” to contact it’s dark lord. However as this area was unfamiliar to him, Rekka dared not risk traveling through without knowing what he’ll be facing. Thus, he laid down a white soapstone sign near the entrance, and awaited for someone to call him. This way he could scout the area and learn what to expect when he goes through here.

But the flow of time itself is convoluted, with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. When Rekka was summoned, he arrived in New Londo unlike the version he knew himself. Here New Londo appeared, not as a ruin, but as a city. A city under siege. He looked around and saw his host, some sort of knightly fellow. He asked Rekka to accompany him on this siege, as the gates have fallen and now they must clear it of its defenders. Rekka was unsure why or how he arrived here, but did not question it and followed.

But much to Rekka’s surprise and awe, he had not merely arrived to another parallel world. He had traveled back into time, because as he accompanied his host to the next enemy, Rekka came across none other than Artorias The Abysswalker. Not only him, but also the other four knights, such as Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Lord’s Blade Ciaran, and Hawkeye Gough. These four knights were here to beseige New Londo, and from what Rekka could understand, they were here to rid the city of the Darkwraiths. The same Darkwraiths that Rekka had wanted to meet. He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on, but he wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to fight alongside these legendary warriors.

Truly it was glorious thing. Their enemies, the Dark Wraith and the monsters from the abyss, were fearsome opponents indeed. Often Rekka nearly lost his life to the wretched beings. But time after time, the knights saved him from an early demise. He cut down foes with Artorias, riddled enemies alongside Gough, assassinated Dark Wraiths next to Ciaran, and faced off against great beast beside Ornstein. For the first time, Rekka could feel the joys of jolly cooperation.

Unfortunately it would not last. As they neared the inner sanctum of the Dark Wraiths, great abyssal monsters emerged. Though the four knights held their own they were occupied handling their own foes while Rekka’s host was in a bind. Swarmed by Dark Wraiths Rekka rushed to his aid, cutting down a few of the skeleton knights before falling to their life draining magics. Rekka’s last memories of that fight was seeing Hawkeye Gough fire a great arrow at the Darkwraiths, impaling two at once and causing an explosion that knocked the rest off their feet.

When Rekka returned to his world he had tried to be summoned again, wishing once more to fight alongside those knights. But alas, there was no response. He had waited for some time but he was never summoned. Growing tired of waiting, Rekka made his way back towards Blighttown, to the inner sanctum of Quelaag.

But the world has changed.

When he went to find Quelaag, she was nowhere to be found. He had waited in her chambers where he always met her for days on end, but she never arrived. The only thing he found there was an old ring. As his mind was slowly beginning to crack under the pressure of not only his time in the Abyss, but from the thought of losing his mistress, Rekka dared venture further into the ruins to look for Quelaag. But what he had found instead… Was the Fair Lady. Quelaag’s sister. She was paler than ice, with hair as white as snow. Her body was fair and weak. Unlike Quelaag, her sister would have no hope in defending herself… And then she spoke. Rekka could understand her perfectly, and for the first time since he was undead, Rekka cried.

He cried because he knew Quelaag had died. During his absence, she was slain. He cried because her sister, his Fair Lady, thought Rekka her sister, and appreciates all that he has done to alleviate her pain. Despite all the blighted sacks of pus surrounding her, the dead eggs from her body, the humanity that Rekka had worked so hard for was, in some ways, healing the Fair Lady. But Rekka was lost now. Because while he still called himself a Chaos Servant, Quelaag was dead. He had failed her, and was unworthy of servicing the Fair Lady, less he fail her too. Grief stricken Rekka poured his humanity into the Fair Lady, leavening behind much of his belongings. He exiled himself from the lands of Lordran, believing that even if he followed the path as a Chosen Undead, he is unworthy of whatever fortune he had in the end.

Rekka walked, one by one losing his belongings. His weapons, his equipment, his gifts. The only few things he kept were his rings, and the silver pendent. Even his memories began to fade as he only vaguely remembers Lordran, and whenever he remembers them he always felt sadness. He traveled for what felt like eternity until he was confronted by armed brigands looking to rob him of his few possessions. But while Rekka had lost much of his memories and nearly all his equipment, he never lost his bloodlust. These brigands, more used to robbing hollow peasants then hollow warriors. Despite being weaponless Rekka disarmed one of the robbers of his short sword, and proceeded to make short work of the other two. He donned their armor bits and continued onwards, assaulted by more bandits. They too fell to Rekka’s blade as he collected their arms and armor until soon he was able to piece together crude, rather intimidating armor.

After dealing with even more bandits, Rekka left one alive to question. This bandit told Rekka that he was in the lands of Forossa, which has recently begun to fall apart due to it’s constant state of war with it’s neighbors. It’s common citizens have now become bandits, much like the ones Rekka had slain recently, with many warlords trying to unique what is left of Forossa to reclaim the kingdom’s glory. Rekka cared little about the politics, but felt that this was a good opprotunity to revel in some good old fashioned violence. So slaying the helpful bandit, Rekka finished his armor and found himself another axe, and proceeded to sell his service to the warlords.

Rekka’s memories of the war is vague considering that there was very little of it that he considers interesting. Sure there were plenty of fights that had brought him to the brink of death (And quite a few more where he did die), and he remembered prominent figures such as the Lion Knights, Vengarl, and even fought alongside the renowned Ivory King. But these battles were just fodder to stave off Rekka’s approaching hollowing. Without a sense of purpose, the only thing that fueled him was his bloodlust and battle rage, and soon even that would be consumed by the oppressive darkness consuming his fire.

At some point Forossa was lost. The Lion Knights became nothing more than mercenaries, Vengarl was reported dead, and the Ivory King left the lands of Forossa to found his own kingdom. Once more Rekka was left with nothing to do, nothing but time and other hollows to kill. So he traveled once more, lost, bored, and slowing growing mad when he heard of an order of warriors made to counter the growth of the Abyss. A familiar concept to the mad warrior. And upon hearing more about these “Abyss Watcher”, a hint of nostalgia and regret resonated inside of him. Rekka could not remember why he felt these feelings, but he felt that this group was far more… Relevant than being a mercenary right now. Although uncertain, Rekka sought these Abyss Watchers, hoping to find meaning among their ranks.