Members of the proud Atzi tribe, a nation famed for producing men of great survival skill both in the wilds and in battle, Dese and Aviine were born and raised in a village close to the Atzi nation's Eastern borders. Dese, son of the village Chief, was next in line to rule the village. Aviine was the son of a Conjuskan general who had raped their mother, Nari, while on the way to capture a fort in Ezdenah. Despite this, the Chief took him in as his own son and treated him as such. Dese and Aviine grew close over the years, and their relationship did not change after they found out about the circumstance under which Aviine was conceived. Luckily for Aviine, no one else in the village could be certain that he was not the Chief's true son, and was thus spared the role of outcast. It is, however, evident in the fact that he is less masculine than Dese.

Dese was trained by his father on how to be the best Chief he could, and how to be strong as a warrior, hunter, and a leader. Aviine, being the second son, was trained by the village Shaman to take his place one day. However, the Atzi are a war based culture, and often contacted when mercenaries are needed. They are a nation of excellent sell swords, and thus Aviine was trained how to wield a weapon, for even the Shaman are expected to know how to fight. Ironically, the Shaman Aviine trained under was the Chief's younger brother, just as Aviine is to Dese. Dese would often talk to Aviine about the things father taught him, but being a Shamanistic apprentice, Aviine was not allowed to share any of his trade's secrets. This at first frustrated Dese, but he later came to accept it.

Life was good, until one day their mother disappeared. During the frantic disarray in the village, Dese told his brother that he was going to find her. Aviine offered to come, but Dese was determined that he should stay to help protect the village and finish his training, and so his younger brother did as he said. Dese took the village's best horse and was off.

Dese caught up to his mother in a short amount of time, thanks to his phenomenal tracking skills. He saw that she was being transported as a prisoner to slavery - illegaly. Without men to back him, it wasn't possible to try and free her alone, so he followed them for weeks to West Conjuska, where he saw her whisked away into a building. Knowing that he wasn't a quick thinker or too charismatic when it came to high pressure conversation, he stole some money to rent a room in an inn, where he planned out how he could make the discussion move in order to get Nari back. Being from the famed Atzi nation, he got many looks from all sorts of people. Some of disgust, others of awe, and hints of fear.

The next day he entered the building only to find that she had been sold off the same day she was taken in. He found the house to be owned by an older and forgotten Conjuskan general. The Conjuskan general immediately recognized him as one of the notorious Atzi warriors, and offered a deal: Should Dese work as a guard in his household for three years, he would return his mother in good condition. Dese, seeing no alternative, agreed.

The job brought Dese good money, and it was enough for him to buy himself decent clothes, armor, weapons, maintain his belongings, and even a guard dog to accompany him on the job. The money was a daily motivation, and he knew it would pay off in the end when he would reclaim his mother and bring gold back to the village. The general had only one son, Ishmaeru, whom he wasn't very close to, a dead wife, and because of the fact that the sands of Conjuskan history had forgotten him he had grown a dark heart. Ishmaeru was about 22 years of age and unmarried, and had picked up on his father's black soul. He seemed happiest putting others down, which was clearly evident when he called Dese barbarian scum and mocked his motives. Despite all this, Dese pushed on, keeping his mother in mind.

The day came when his mother was supposed to arrive, and he woke up earlier than usual and paced outside to relieve himself of all his pent up energy. It was a cool morning, and he was full of positive excitement until he heard the screaming. Grabbing a blade, he rushed to the source of the sound, hearing the general roar "I haven't had this in years!"

Upon reaching the doors of the room where the screaming came from, he encountered two guards, who he pushed past before rushing into the room. Upon entering, there he found his mother, helpless, being raped by the cruel general. She was still beautiful, having aged barely over the years since she first had Dese, and he had no trouble recognizing her. Enraged, he quickly slayed the general without any words. The two guards came in, heavily armed with much bigger blades than he, but Dese still killed them both. Afterwards, he cut off the General's head and attached it to his clothing, for it is an Atzi custom to carry the heads of those who have terribly wronged you. His mother and he grabbed as many belongings as they could, saddled his horse, and rode off.

That night whilst sleeping in camp, Dese awoke to the sound of his horse. It sounded troubled, and it's cries were suddenly cut off. Then, he heard muffled screaming and struggling. Upon exiting his tent, he found his horse dead and his mother being dragged away from the campfire. He was about to rescue her when several men pointed their crossbows, and from behind the group stepped Ishaemaru. He sarcastically congratulated Dese for making it this far, before promptly pulling out a dagger and cutting his mother's throat. Ishaemaru then commanded one of his best men to combat Dese for sick entertainment, and everybody watched the fight go on. Dese was an enraged fighter, and was about to cut down his heavily armed and armored foe when, during combat, the ground shifted. Both of them were too locked in battle to risk paying it any mind, but they paid the price when a wyvern erupted from the sands. It had been disturbed, and they had woken a close cousin of dragons.

Along with its mate.

The two wyverns immediately began to wreak havoc, one of them grabbing Dese's opponent and killing him with one sick, bone crunching bite. Some men ran, and others stayed to fight. Those who stayed didn't live through the night. During the confusion, Dese met with Ishmaeru, who insulted him, calling him barbarian scum and laughing about the death of his mother. Dese, no longer able to control his wrath, cut Ishmaeru to his knees and slammed two fingers each into his eyes, the tips of all of them reaching the insolent shit's brain. He took Ishmaeru's head as well. Immediately afterwards, the swinging tail of a wyvern smashed into him, damaging his left knee and sending him flying. His head hit a rock and he lost consciousness for a few minutes. After regaining it and memory of what had just happened, he crawled on his belly through the sands and grass to his tent whilst the wyverns gorged on their newly acquired feast. Slipping past them, he grabbed as many belongings as he could, putting them in a pack onto his back. Crawling out of the tent, he took a mournful look at his mother's body which lay motionless on the sands. The moment was interrupted as a wyvern picked her up and ate.

Dese trekked across North Conjuska for months. He feared that there would be a bounty out for him, and being an Atzi warrior with a limp in the left knee was not something common, so identifying him would not be hard. Thus, he rarely entered cities, and when he did he only stayed for one night, two on a rare occasion. In between cities, he survived and fended for himself in the wilderness. His speed progressed once he had stolen a camel.

He was at his last stop: a city south of his home village, and was relieved to know he would soon be home with his family once more. That all changed, however, when he spotted a girl he recognized at the city market. It was Izi, a girl from the village. They were glad to see each other once more, but Dese was confused as to why she was there. She led him to a dilapidated building, where he saw 16 other members of his village. All were women and children, save for Aviine.

Aviine and Dese reunited, and it was the first true happiness either of them had felt in years. Aviine explained that ever since Dese left and didn't return, their father thought his wife and son dead and dwindled into deep depression. Ezdenite raiders attacked the village about 6 months ago, and despite being heavily outnumbered, the Atzi warriors would not back down as a solid code of their culture. The village was burnt to the ground. The men and dogs: killed. The horses and most of the women and children: taken. The Shaman too was killed, right before Aviine had finished his training, and the Chief too fell, meaning Dese was now in charge. Aviine had to cast an offensive spell to save the rest of the village, and they all came to the city for refuge, where they had been living off of next to nothing. The building they were in didn't even have a roof. Dese's emotions boiled once more, and he seemed like he was about to explode when Aviine calmed him down and explained that was still hope: If they could approach the Tribal Council they could ask for money to help the village get back on its feet. The Tribal Council ruled the Atzi nation with an iron fist, and they knew it would be no easy task, especially since they would be frowned upon for being beat in battle.

And frowned upon they were. After Dese's limp healed they headed to the King's Village, where the Tribal Council, headed by the Atzi King himself, resided. The Tribal Council deemed Dese and Aviine's village unworthy for falling in combat. The King seemed like he wanted to testify, but pressure from his peers caused him too to agree that the village was a weak link, and should be severed. Dese and Aviine headed back to the city with hard feelings, and began to discuss taking matters into their own hands.

It was decided that all that was left for them was doing what the Atzi are known for best: Killing. And so kill they did; they quickly took up jobs as mercenaries, climbing the latter to more high paying jobs. Dese taught Aviine more about the blade, showing him new moves that he had learned in West Conjuska, and different weapons. Aviine still declined to share his secrets, but there was mutual understanding on that end. The brothers travelled across Conjuska, becoming well known in certain areas and working one or two jobs in the southern forests of Aeribis. They did whatever they could to make money; including their employers' dirty work. They spent all of their hard earned money supporting themselves and their village, managing to buy decent homes for their kin, put clothes on their backs and food in their mouths. Dese bought his own dog, Akimbo, who would accompany him on many of his missions. Life began to bear good fruit for the brothers, and they decided that they had earned enough money to take a break - until they heard about the demon threat, that is. Fueled by their sudden success in their past years, ambition drove them to head north to see what this job had to offer them.

If you actually read all this, wow. If not, scroll da fuk back up.