Cael Valence was born into a house of minor nobility in the southern region of Nuniel, both of his parents having been born into nobility as well. Cael’s father, Roland Valence, was a patriotic man that had served multiple tours of duty on the eastern front of Nuniel, leading teams of Wyvern Riders into battle. Cael’s mother was a dutiful wife and was equally patriotic, and therefore extremely proud of her husband. Both held firm beliefs in their Country’s right to the land that they were attempting to take, which would set Cael on the opposite path for a time.

By the time that he’d reached adolescence Cael had already been expected to join the Nunielan Military, and to lead as his father did before him. He’d been given various lessons, mostly about the art of warfare or the use of a spear, by the time he was 16. It was around that time that Verdan, a green wyvern, was given to Cael by his father. What Roland didn’t know when giving this gift was that Cael wasn’t oblivious to his parent’s intentions - in fact, he was against everything he’d heard about their work as nobility. He’d been hearing whispers around their manor, as well as in town (when he snuck off with his childhood friend, another young noble by the name of Kieran) of more skirmishes along the southern and western borders - and of the various reasons that Nuniel needed to expand. There was so much false history presented to the peasants of their lands that Cael was almost physically ill at the idea of his parents being part of the reason that their people were looking forward to more war.

Even after the Eastern push came to a halt, Cael was aware of his father’s role in pushing for the enlistment of their subjects, to the point of passing a law that required able-bodied men and women to enlist or help in whatever way they could (with few exceptions). All the while, Cael wasn’t sure what he could do about his father, or the lies that his family was responsible for among their people. The young noble was forced to bide his time and figure something out. He was still being taught the ways of the Wyvern Rider, and the lessons were becoming harsher as the years passed. All of the varying paths in the young noble’s head finally merged after one particularly rough day of training, which resulted in Verdan’s left wing being severely wounded. While Roland had a Cleric on standby to assist during training, he’d apparently decided that his son was too attached to Verdan and ordered that she not heal the Wyvern’s wing. Cael was ordered shortly after to put Verdan down himself, as his father had already made the requisition for another tamed wyvern to be brought to their manor.

Cael wasn’t going to have any more to do with his father after that. The following night, the young noble took a horse to his childhood friend’s home and told Kieran that he was going to be leaving to join up with one of the various mercenary outfits on Corisian front; he wanted to do something that he saw as ‘good’, but to also get far away from their home. Cael hadn’t planned on his friend joining him, however he wasn’t surprised as they’d shared anti-expansion sentiment with each other in the past. Together, they made their way west, and slowly were forced south by a lack of jobs for mercenaries in the northern regions of Coris. After two years of avoiding the conflicts on the Latissian front, there were obvious signs that an all out push was going to be coming from Nuniel once again. Thinking that they had better prospects for good paying work to the east, the now brothers-in-arms began to move through Nuniel, only to run out of funds all too quickly due to inflated prices of food and rooms. Needing to find a contract to keep them on their feet, they caught wind that the Red Branch Company was in need of combat-ready individuals. Seeing no other option for their own survival, the two were forced to take the contract under their respective alias’ and fight on the side of those who they were morally against.

Cael let out several harsh gasps as he tried to catch his breath. Verdan had landed on the durable stone tiles that lined the Valence manner’s courtyard, and was in a similar state of exhaustion. Out of the corner of his right eye, the young noble could see his father glaring daggers at the two of them. Roland Valence stood on a balcony overlooking the large courtyard that currently housed another ‘rigorous’ training session. “Again.” The archers around the courtyard looked nervously at each other, before taking aim towards the young Wyvern Rider.

Cael didn’t hide his disdain for the man that had raised him as he snarled, ushering Verdan into the air and hovering there for just a moment. The young man anticipated most of the arrows trajectories, and had deflected two of them with a deft swing of his spear, before urging Verdan to maneuver around the next few volleys, blocking some of the projectiles whenever they got too close for comfort. The Valence heir was sure that they’d passed the (hopefully) final test of the day, when he heard the twang-hiss of bows behind him. Reacting, Verdan spun to the left and Cael turned his head. He saw the other archers, the ones that his father had obviously hidden from him for the entirety of their training session until that very moment.

Cael heard his wyvern’s cry of pain before he realized what was wrong, and soon they were falling out of the sky. Crash landing along the stone tiles, causing a few to crack and shatter beneath Verdan’s weight. Cael had been thrown off by the impact, but was quickly back to his feet and running back to his wyvern to see why Verdan lost flight. Once the young noble darted around his companion’s left side, the answer became all too obvious. The arrows had torn through Verdan’s left wing, and some were still embedded in the wyvern’s scales. “I’ve got you, Ver.” Cael tried to comfort his companion as he moved to properly remove the arrows from Verdan’s wing. The wyvern cried out in pain with every movement along the wounds, and after Cael had finished clearing the wounds of any leftover splinters he’d looked expectantly up to his father - and the Cleric that had been brought to oversee the training session.

“Don’t heal the creature.” Roland Valence ordered the Cleric standing only a few feet away from him. The older woman looked hesitant to listen, as she’d already moved to start using her Heal staff to help both Cael and Verdan. “It’s time that you cut this tie. As of this morning, I’ve requisitioned a younger, faster wyvern to be delivered within the week. Rejoice; you have the time off that you always complain about lacking.” The smug and slightly malicious look on Roland’s face, along with the tone used, meant more than just the surface intention. It meant that he was privy to Cael’s half-hearted anti-expansion efforts among their citizens. Cael glared at his father, before looking back to Verdan and running his hand soothingly along the wyvern’s side. He knew where his father kept the vulnerary potions, and fully intended on raiding the stock as soon as his father left the general area.

Cael watched his father through bright green eyes as the older man stood to leave, nodding to the men that had been complicit in the ‘training lesson’. ”You’ve learned the hardest lesson of all now, haven’t you? Nothing is forever, my son, and your life is what matters - not your mount.” The man paused, turning to look back at Verdan and Cael, his green eyes dancing with mirth at his son’s furious expression. “Oh, and put that miserable creature down tonight - it's useless now.” With that, the Valence lord was gone.

Cael moved immediately, rushing past the militia-archers that had been brought in by his father so that he could get to the cupboard filled with the vulneraries. Grabbing a handful, the young man sprinted back to his companion. Cael’s legs burned after the day’s training, which hadn’t all been done atop Verdan’s back, but he ignored the sting of his wounds and the ache of his muscles as he slid down next to the wyvern’s wing. Pouring a vial of the healing liquid into his companion’s mouth, the Wyvern Rider then poured several over the gaping holes in the wyvern’s injured wing. The effect that Cael had expected, that he’d hoped for, wasn’t what he got. Unfortunately the wounds had already started to clot, and the healing potions only sealed up the skin along the edges of each tear in Verdan’s left wing. The wyvern let out a grateful growl, and turned to nuzzle Cael softly as he’d done in the past. Cael’s mind had been elsewhere until the contact with his companion, and he gave the wyvern something of a sad smile mixed with a look of worry.

“Can you fly, Ver?”

A few hours or so later, after the young noble had hastily gathered some sets of travelling clothing and a few spare spears, Cael had made his way to his childhood friend’s home. Kieran will understand. Was just one of various thoughts in the young noble’s mind as he’d made the short trip, which took a decent amount longer due to Verdan’s newly wounded wing and the fact that the wyvern needed to rest frequently. Having his wyvern rest a bit farther from Kieran’s family manor than he normally would, Cael approached the night shift guards with a fake and practiced smile. It didn’t take the younger man long to find his friend, and soon he was spilling out all of the details of what had happened earlier in the day.

“My father had them hidden - the extra archers. I wasn’t intended to succeed this ‘lesson’. I can’t do this anymore - I can’t be a part of that family anymore. I’m going out west, Kieran. Verdan’s slowed down a bit, but I’m going to sign up for any mercenary outfit that will take me. I wasn’t going to leave without saying goodbye though.”