Basic InformationName: Zeke Majahal
Nickname/Alias/Etc:Magus
Gender: Male
Age: 342
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 255 lbs.
Home District: Beneath Eastover
AppearanceHair Color:Greying silver and black.
Eye Color: Bright amber
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Physical Appearance: An apparently inhuman beast, as part of a consequence from an ancient battle with his adversaries. Once a tall, fair-skinned man with dark brown hair, sharp features, and amber eyes - he looks drastically different nowadays. Feet replaced with massive paws, wiry legs, lean-chested, long spindly arms tipped with sharp claws, and an unfriendly face of something that looks a little more than wolf. Angular, mean, wrinkled in a way that makes it look as though he's in a state of eternal snarling. A rough mane collars his neck, and long white fur hangs from chin. His whole body is covered in fur. Black, grey, bits of silver - his long life is beginning to catch up to his hair color, but his body has maintained its prowess like any alpha beast, and just as capable of ripping apart man and beast alike as any other animal-type meta. His back is hunkered over, almost always slouching, and his voice is like sandpaper. His body, unexpectedly, is almost completely free of scars. His height and body weight, needless to say, has gotten larger since his transformation.
Attire: The first thing noticeable about Zeke's attire is a faded, washed-out purple/burgundy toga picta, and is embroidered a faded out gold that looks more like a spicy brown mustard at this point. However, underneath his wearable blanket is a Frankenstein suit of NEST armor, stitched together in a jury-rigged suit. Standard armor doesn't fit him, so it took a bit of tearing apart and restitching to get it to work. Collected by agents who carelessly treads on his ground on their own personal whim and without orders from their superiors, these agents were unable to be traced and were forced to be labeled lost in action. While the armor he wears may not be very neat or tidy, and maybe not even as good as a fitted set of armor, it supplements his protection and acts as quite the surprise should any enemies of his find that their assault wasn't as effective as they thought it'd be. It also acts as a show of competence, like a set of trophies that says: "here's a list of all the agents who thought they could beat me".
PersonalityInnate & Outward Personality:Zeke fancies himself a charivnyk - a sorceror. Having lived over three hundred years, there are quite a few aspects of himself that are passé beyond his belief in meta-human energy actually being magic, such the condemnation of pagan worship and black magic, going so far as being known as the hunter of vidma, or witches, during his time. He is fairly isolationist, preferring his own confines, and if need be, will only associate himself with few people at a time provided that they can pull their own weight. His composure and dialect hints toward a late 17th century influence - but his great age lends also to him great wisdom. In all his years of living, he has learned that age and time was no great concern to him. Zeke, although a restless and diligent worker in his studies, takes it easy - in the sense that we won't stress himself out over it, and will often take breaks to reflect upon whatever new information he has found. He takes his time, and this ensures he never skips over any relevant details, allowing him to keep meticulous records and construct complex machinations that many of mankind would be unable to do on their own within the time frame that Zeke can.
As an intellectual, Zeke is obsessed with learning new information and absorbs what he can. Purely fictitious literature from which there is nothing to be gleaned bores him, whereas mythologies that Zeke can learn about the region of its descent's culture are fair game. Informative writings, history, and encyclopedic coverage of topics are his preferred tea. To broaden his range of awareness is valuable to him, and often, his intelligence makes him arrogant and self-concerned - not quite the type of person you'd like to talk to on a first date. However, it is not often a side shown, and he will take interest in what you have to say if there is opportunity to learn from it; his years of experience taught him there was something to be found in everything. Unless what you do or say has no substance, he won't totally ignore you.
His long life has deadened his empathy. Life as we know it comes and goes, and no one person is so important as to escape death's clutches for very long. The sight of struggling goes right past him as he has seen it time and again, and he accepts its inevitability. In some respect, Zeke is a nihilist, just seeking to see how much he can learn before the world ends. However, part of his curse may be attributed to his lack of sympathy. Some days, his humanity shines through in the battle for control over his vessel. In those moments, so can his sympathy. In these events, he has a particular charisma that attracts allies and comrades, especially with the particularly intelligent and wise. In these events, his soft spot for the vulnerable also shows for the youthful or elderly. On the other side of the coin, if he his struggling in his battle, his ruthlessness can come seeping out between the cracks. Only when he has completely fallen to his temptations would he temporarily lose what's left of his humanity, and will become as savage as the wolfmen in folklore.
He would rather not dirty his hands when confronted by a threat. Whether he handles them with henchmen, or if they fail, one hasty blast of his power, they both reflect his busy nature - sooner removing distractions without a second thought so that he may return to his work. Using his own time to personally talk to them or argue or threaten is considered a waste.
Hobbies/Interests:Hobbies? No hobbies, just work. Always work. But Zeke doesn't hate his work, it's what he lives for. As far as his interests are concerned, let me reiterate: his focus is set on work. Also on learning. Fictitious material, from which there is nothing to be gleaned, scrap it. If he can learn new disciplines, about new cultures, language, medicine, sciences, life, antanomy - anything if it can teach him something. He's a sponge for information. His interest has been centralized mostly around the science of chemistry.
Skills/Talents:Living for almost three hundred and a half years gives a man a lot of time to pick up a couple of things here and there. Among these, most obviously, would be language. He is fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, English, and German due to necessity, and even picking up a great deal of Latin and Spanish by choice, the latter being almost obligatory due to certain... contacts. He was a political figure for the early part of his life so he knows the nuances of government and partook in warfare throughout his years. Most notably is his understanding of literature, history, and the sciences. His greatest niche is in academics, particularly in chemistry and pharmacology, dabbling in all sorts of chemical reactions and creating all wonders of elixirs and devices - from conventional medicine to wondrous science of meta-chemistry and even constructing chemical-based weapons as well as drugs (steroids, depressants, etc.) and weaponized reactions centered around meta-energy. Most of these devices he may leave lying around, whereas the truly dangerous might be locked away in a hidden safe.
Prized Possession:Nothing material is of real value to Zeke, save for his notes maybe, but even those are able to be reproduced. Keeping records is good for history, but Zeke's pursuit is for his own benefit. Perhaps the most tangible thing he prizes is this new life, the new band - the New Opryshoks. He likes where they've hidden themselves away, he likes that there are people who share his ambition, and quite frankly he gets weary of packing up and leaving all the time. If there are two things he doesn't want to give up, it is one, his pursuit for a cure and for learning, and two, the New Opryshoks. As far as he's concerned, he has enough power to ensure that nobody could ever be capable of getting in his way.
Quote(s): "If we have not made an appointment to meet, and still you insist on intruding upon my reading hour, then I'll be forced to politely ask one of my vassals to dispose of you."
"The Changelings? Haven't heard that name in a while. No, I don't care. Let them wreak what havoc they want. Those kids are no longer my concern."
"The wizards of my time were far more powerful than the magicians and mutants of this era. It's groan-inducing to hear you think we are of the same ilk."
"Anti-vaccination advocates are an embarrassing plight of the New World. Many of them prattle on like experts of the chemistry field, but they think that ethylmercury is a compound we should be concerned about."
History/Bio:Zeke Majahal, born to a line of shliakhta in Ukraine, enjoyed many of the privileges the noble upper class had during his time. His father was in fact a priest and held a very strong influence over Ukrainian politics. This incorporated, of course, education, the command over serfs, higher standard of living, and so forth. He was born, however, in the middle of 30-year long war referred to as "The Ruin". It was a war between the Russians, the Polish, Turks, and Cossacks where each of these individual states sought control over Ukrainian land. Through much of his early life, this war was all he had known. Nobility was a moot point amidst the devastation, and even he lived much like the peasants had, working hard just to earn his keep. When the Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686 came around when he was 16 years old, putting Ukraine under Polish control, it finally seemed as though the struggles were coming to an end. A year later, the Crimean campaigns began. Although both assaults failed, it became clear to Zeke as a young adult that the conflicts would never truly end.
It was in his early twenties that his powers began to manifest. However, meta-humans were not common back in the day. The spontaneous production of metas were only just beginning, making Zeke among the first metas the world has seen - but with powers being the furthest thing from anyone's mind, it was seen as one of a couple things: magic. Some of the more unfortunately early metas were seen as practitioners of witchcraft. The admired as divine blessing. Zeke proclaimed himself a charivnyk like in the tales. Sorcerors, wielders of mythic power. Zeke's ability served his case, as he was able to control his essence of power, the meta-human energy. His ability earned himself a place in the royal court as an advisor. Despite his misleading reputation as a mystic, his concerns were centralized around domestic affairs, due to his own experiences. Over the years, his reputation and power grew, and he studied diligently to learn the cultures of not just his own home, of their allies and foes alike. His cunning and power put him into situations slightly more dangerous than just advising. Being trusted by the court, he also carried the burden of the most dire and pressing matters of elimination in which there was no margin for error. When there was a political enemy just out of reach or military threat so secure, his orders were to reduce them to ash in a heartbeat and be out of there just as quickly.
It wasn't long into his career before his fears were confirmed. Another war had come to Ukraine's doorstep, in the form of a twenty-year-long war. The Great Northern War, fighting under Charles XII of Sweden, to fight the Tsardom of Russia. It was a long and brutal war. Even the political position that Zeke held did not protect him from the desperation his leaders felt, and used him like a weapon, obliterating their enemies, but sparing the poor, as well the the orphaned or widows. Six years into this war, he had already earned himself a couple of names from the enemy. Zeke/Majahal the Nemesis, the Archfoe - by far, the most flattering referred to him as the Opryshok. The power was starting to get to him, and he became a nigh unstoppable force that roamed the countryside, simply deleting armies. It was in that sixth year, after standing alone in a bloodstained battlefield, a young man walked through the spilled blood to face Zeke. He looked to be only sixteen years old, but met Zeke unfazed.
The boy, like Zeke, was one of the first metas in recent history. A cataclysmic battle was fought over the trampled bodies of soldiers. Zeke expended more energy than he ever had to, and the boy had control over the earth itself - dirt, stone, plant-life; all of nature, it would seem. His defenses were sublime, and Zeke's met it with raw power. In the end, Zeke was forced to expend more of his energy than he ever had to before, but his explosive power was made futile. The energy required for the boy to mount a greater defense was simply at a more efficient ratio. Zeke began to suffer ashing, and the boy ended the fight by placing a curse on Zeke. Condemning him for being so consumed by power, he had become beastly. So the boy would rip his soul from his body and replace it with a true beast, also granting him a powerful regeneration factor and long life so that he would suffer the anguish he has inflicted forever, forcing him to fight for his humanity. The regeneration estowed upon him from another's power saved his life, although his were shut off during the ashing since now there would be two different meta-energies swirling around him.
When he awoke, he found himself taking the form of a beast like in the native folktales, the vovkulaka, or werewolf. He knew there would be no returning to the life he had before now, and needless to say, he did not take the transition in stride. He immediately drove himself mad, which gave the curse all the leeway it needed to take over. He went feral and terrorized the countryside until the beast grew tired. He eventually woke up once more, finding himself bathed in the blood of cattle, sheep, and the shepherds that flocked them. He promised himself vengeance upon the boy, the fellow charivnyk, and also to condemn him for his practice in witchcraft. It was then that Zeke truly realized he was not alone in the world of metas. Due to his now beastly appearance, he wasn't given the choice to return back home. Instead, he traveled the Eurasian countryside studying ways he could somehow reverse the effects of his curse, and all the while, attempting to hunt down the boy who had done so.
However, during his time, he made sure to keep information networks that linked him to home. Between the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, and the Hungarian Revolution in 1848, signs were showing that the regioning was once again beginning to destabilize as Russian demanded compensation for their aid, and was seeking control over Ottoman assets via bullying methods. The police nation's expansionism was becoming ever clearer. When 1850 came along, Zeke decided at the ripe age of 180 years old to bring together men and women of power and righteous heart in the effort to defend Ukraine against the inevitable wars that would be fought in its land, in the crossfire between other powers. He had already established his network, he just had to be willing to expose himself to others. Charivnyks, wizards, magi, metas, whatever they called themselves, it was Zeke's hope that they would band together and make a difference. He traveled through the countries of Asia, Europe, and even getting on board ships to travel to America in the midst of its industrial revolution all to garner support. It was hard to find them, especially in those days, but by the time he picked up a meta-boy, named Luis and roughly 17 years old from a pile of coal in one of New York's harshest factories, they were fourteen men and women strong.
Zeke proposed a cause, to defend the weak and poor, the beaten, and to combat the horrors of war. He also proposed a name, a keepsake from his time as Ukrainian weapon: the Opryshoks. None were so fitting, or at least, none could think of one better or suiting. The name wasn't what was really important, it was what they did. As for his role, he didn't feel suited for leadership, and gave that honor to another. The group was made in time for 1854, when the Crimean War had broke out only a few months prior. They made their way overseas and plotted ways to end the conflict before irreparable damage was dealt. At first there were just skirmishes, but as they defended key locations, a strategy came to light. Posing as Russian soldiers, they made an assault against several French bases, forcing France to take a more dedicated leadership against Russian forces. They dedicated the most soldiers toward the war than its allies, and the Opryshoks fought them, as well as the Russians.
Zeke knew the region very well, and as a result, was able to lead a few of the Opryshoks toward certain cities where they could incite revolt by Cossack peasants and Ukrainian landowners, as well as the riots in Trafalgar Square, and the Epirus Revolt of 1854 in Greece. Between pitting the powers against each other, fighting all sides from inside Crimea, and inciting chaos in war-torn lands, the Opryshoks were ultimately able to bring peace to a war in three years that could have lasted up to a decade. The French were high in casualties, and the Russians were facing certain defeat. Both wanted the war to end. The Opryshoks, not allowed to expose themselves as agents of justice, couldn't face the brunt of Russia's armies and had to allow southern Ukraine to be taken, much to Zeke's frustration. The UK continued to weaken the Russian Empire from the inside.
Now without an immediate concern to unite the Opryshoks, there was question on where they should go from there. They ultimately fell off from being a reckoning force in war to Robin Hood-esque shenanigans. There was some sense of fulfillment to be found in bringing justice to the corrupt rich, and defending the poor - and certainly some dire trouble they had gotten themselves into, all worthy of story, and Zeke was ever the intellectual - but at some point they became little more than brigands. The Opryshoks began falling apart until there were three left, including Zeke, Luis, and a woman named Mary from Ireland. Zeke was virtually immortal. Luis has aged very slowly, looking as though he was in his early twenties. The latter wasn't much more than a sailor, fisher woman, and navigator. There was no unanimous agreement as Mary had no opinion of where to go, as long as she had a place to be. Luis sought to change the nature of the Opryshoks so as to preserve it. Zeke, while originally against it, complied as he had no better alternative on where to take it.
Opryshoks transformed itself at first into an organization of payed muscle, so that they could at least revitalize themselves. In the past, Zeke might have feared that the path the Opryshoks have been set on would eventually rear its ugly head, but his age has caught up with him emphatically and Zeke grew jaded. He proposed a change in name, to the Changelings. He said it was to punctuate the ever-changing nature of their band, and their fluidity, but the truth of his idea in a name change came from the Welsh legend of changelings. It was more of a bemusement to himself, as a comment on his prediction on where the newly-founded Changelings would take themselves.
The 1900s were a changing point. The Opryshoks between then and the 1850s practically did not exist and fell off the record. The Changelings rose from its ashes, but with new purpose. To self preserve, a unity or brotherhood of metahumans, and initially to preserve their secrecy. They had grown wise enough to expect the repercussions from the rest of mankind should they learn of the kind of god-like power some people held within their midst. They maintained a contract with a lab and they were a reliable and consistent source of income for their group. They were even enlisted as agents working in the World Wars, where Mary was their transportation, Zeke the brains, and Luis handled most of the operations.
Even through these years, Zeke diligently studied chemistry, medicine, and the body - even studying what notes that were left behind after the liberation of several concentration camps. There still were no answers to his search, and the boy that cursed him was likely long dead by now. He was quite known among the ranks for live experimentation on animal subjects, but there eventually came a time when even humans entered the mix. Initially it was volunteered service, before they fell into kidnapping. Up into the fifties, it seemed if any of the Changelings wanted to find him, he was back at home base in his quarters. Reading some informative text or experimenting. Mary was long gone from the Changelings by that point.
After submitting a personal request to his own organization, they managed to hunt down a special kind of power-class meta-human. Someone that could strengthen, give, or take powers away. Zeke didn't ask kindly, however... instead, they suffered torturous inspection, study, experimentation, before he eventually killed them. He stole their power in hopes the power he'd receive would cure him of his curse. Instead, he received a boon in the form of time-space abilities. It was around this time that the nature of the Changelings took a turn for the worse.
In the sixties, when they admitted a sick, insane man into their ranks, Zeke took a peek from his books and from his table and took a look at where they've been progressing. From the Opryshok defenders, to a feared mercenary meta-human band on the black market. They weren't defending anything anymore, not even the secrecy of meta-kind. No pursuit of knowledge, or enlightenment. Destruction had become their forte, and that could be found in even Luis' new pseudonym, a man who was once so gentle and yet fierce. So rare could a passionate heart be found, and it fell to corruption. With the admission of mad men, there really was no pride to be found here. He left the Changelings on his own whim - an act that he used to condemn, an act that he originally forbid in the first place, and he was the one who set in motion the punishments to be inflicted should that act ever be committed.
None but maybe Luis were powerful enough to so much as challenge Zeke's decision, but after the surge of power Zeke has taken from the power-class meta ten years prior, it would've been an indecisive match. It was far less risky to simply let him walk. So Zeke continued his travels and left the Changelings behind. From Eurasian regions once again, to the Americas, the frigid Canadian wastes, he studied life wherever he went. Maintaining control of the beast for the most part, save for a time in 1995 in Puerto Rico. It was his fault for the sudden craze in the chupacabra urban legend. Many years later, in 2003, he met a young man in Alaska: an animal-meta struggling through the thros of his transformation, and struggling to control those instincts. Zeke made a pause in his travels, and perhaps it was a day in which he was winning his own battle with the beast. His sympathy shone through, and taught the growing boy what he could about controlling the beast and fighting the urges and temptations that come and go, and what it means to be human. There was a bit of training involved (and he wasn't a very nice teacher, he was fairly cranky), and Zeke halted his progress for a couple days before picking up and leaving again.
Seven years ago, he met an older woman by the name of Faust. An alchemist, as she called herself, but she far more talented than the alchemists of three hundred years ago. He found an appreciation for her, and the practice of an art that he long thought dead. Though she didn't share the same interest in what he claimed was magic, and insisted he was the same like every other meta - the charivnyks that he saw these days were looking more like mutants and demons than they did in the past. Whether they were abominations or practitioners of witchcraft, or suffering animal curses, he saw his own powers as above theirs. Regardless, he made a proposition to Faust, to help him establish a long-dead organization, which would now be dedicated to the pursuit of learning, self-fulfillment, but differentiated itself from the Hands of Science via a more righteous cause. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and the curing of curses and ailments.
With her approval, he brought about the birth of the New Opryshoks. It became an organization of secrecy, and only the two's combined approval could admit those who were worthy - as to avoid the same fate that met the Changelings. Their methods weren't too radically different, but they didn't go out with the intention of kidnapping, rather, let prey conveniently come to to them. Ghastly procedure, absolutely, Faust thought of it. Zeke agreed with her, but it never did seem to faze him or slow him down. The more regular an occurrence it became, the more desensitized Faust became, but she never really did get used to it. On the bright side to this, the two made great strides in innovation, by bringing together the science of chemistry and meta-human energy. Some inventions and formulas they had beaten even the Hands of Science to, but never patented them or sought to slow down the progress of competitors. They didn't have any real concern over who got their hands on that technology. They just pursued their science for its own sake. For the longest time, it was just those two, until Zeke found an orphaned child with an intriguing and grotesque ability, taking on the properties of many different kinds of fungus, as well as being able to produce any kind of fungus.
This was one day his sympathy was able to shine through, much like the encounter ten years before. He invited the child, Marty, to the New Opryshoks and guaranteed his protection. Faust was indignant with Zeke's decision to go and invite people without the two's mutual consent, but he was able to make her agree with the argument of his ability's infinite use in her own experiments. A limitless supply of any fungus she could dream of was something that was simply... too good to pass up. In addition, he could even set up land mines of mushrooms that could puff toxic spores in the faces of invaders, so that was another boon. It wasn't before long did the three become like family, sharing the same quarters all the time, with the charm of a young, trusting child to lighten the mood. A family, like the original Opryshoks should have been. Recent events are not outside their notice, but seeing as how it does not concern them, they seen no reason to get themselves involved in the matters of the people above ground.
Underground caverns outside Verthaven became their base. It used to be a California gold mine that had been abandoned. The largest room holds a brick-layed tower that used to hold all of the necessary supplies and acted like what was essentially a checkpoint in a supply line. After a bit of restoration, it became their hideaway. The entrance to the caverns is easily mistaken for a bear's cave, and has tall fallen trees obscuring it. Rumors and ghost stories surround it as a place where people disappear should they go exploring the woods at night when they aren't supposed to. Mushrooms and other kinds of normally rare fungus have invaded the area, and can be found throughout the caverns.
RelationshipsFamily: N/A
Dynamics:Basically your character's relationship with other characters.
{Character Name} | {Impression (Good/Bad/Neutral} | {Relationship (Friend, Rival, Crush, etc)} | {Character Thoughts via in-character quote} |
AbilitiesPower Class:Power, Other
Power: Power.
Literally, his power is power. Zeke may not be aware of it, but he is a meta-human capable of using his very own meta-human energy to concentrate and condense it into a tangible, yet volatile, purple-colored energy product. With this product, he can use it to enhance certain aspects of himself or of others, imbue objects or substances with it, or use it and its tremendous impact to cause harm - with no collateral or consequential damage. No poison, or flames to set fire, or even strength sapping, just unadulterated violent power. As an energy, there is a variety of ways he can change its shape to and control it, but the energy release and the pressure of its containment is immense, so it would be more stamina-efficient and easier on his concentration to simply follow a "contain and release" protocol to take full advantage of any offensive usage in high-pressure situations. He can concentrate so much of this energy into one location, it can manifest as a small aura-surrounded crystal of condensed energy. When released, it shoots off like a comet.
Zeke is power-hungry, and went so far as to kill a very powerful meta-human in pursuit of it and of a cure for his curse. The act granted him powers reigning over space-time. However, his range is introspective, and most of its effects are isolated occurrences that solely surrounds Zeke and Zeke only. The range of abilities this new power grants him include the manipulation of time that surrounds him, allowing an isolated temporal dislocation. He theoretically pauses a moment of time that leaves himself behind. This effect lasts for about six seconds or so. During that six seconds, he can perform whatever action he wishes, suffer however much harm, and will be instantly transported back at the end of that six seconds or until he manually ends the effect. Whatever harm he has suffered is gone. This ability affects his physical self, so his memories remain intact. Whatever damage or actions Zeke has caused remains. This proves to be an excellent method of expending great amounts of energy with little consequence.
One other ability that his hunger for power brought was very minor teleportation. He can blink, move forward through space at a distance of 20 feet or so. This ability, in a way, throws him through space, so he has inertia coming out the other side. This has good and bad consequences, the good being it gives him something of a push-off to move quicker. On a scale, you can perceive this as a linear distance.
Limits: Crystalline forms of his energy is very taxing and is the pinnacle of his ability to condense energy. As for space-time abilities, there are very limiting factors. His ability to reserve himself a place in time has few, and fairly inconsequential aside from the 6 second time limit. The space-time fabric is a delicate mistress, and it'll be impossible for him to perform that action again for a duration of five minutes so that the fabric can refill itself. Displacement has a max limit of 20 feet and he must be able to see where he'll be landing. There has to be a physical foundation for him to land on. This is the ability able to be most frequently used, at about 30 seconds between each use, but the energy requirements is compounding. It takes more energy to use it after each consecutive use, and requires some recovery time in order for it to be energy efficient again.
Weaknesses/Drawbacks: One drawback is that he is throwing his meta-energy at his target, which means he will run out, but will eventually replenish it. His presence of energy, while much greater than most if not all meta-humans, isn't so great that it off-sets this drawback. One notable drawback is the barely noticeable transfer of energy from him to his target. His target will actually receive an amount of his energy to their system. It supplements their natural meta energy (assuming his target is a meta) and will actually reduce their chances of ashing unless he overloads them. On that same note, Zeke's has such great power in each of those abilities and each ability draws out so much energy that he has greater chances of suffering from ashing than anyone else. This has, in fact, already happened - Zeke's curse possesses a regeneration factor, and is separate from Zeke's own energy. So while his own powers are turned off during ashing, the curse is still fast at work. During ashing, his body is constantly tearing itself apart and building itself back together. It becomes an agonizing state in which he is left defenseless and has little choice but to retreat, or require someone to help him retreat. He begins recovering as soon as the ashing ends, and there is no predicting when that might happen.
ITD has one huge glaring drawback. The faintest image of Zeke remains, like a mirage. Just barely visible. He will return to that spot at the end of the six seconds or until he ends the effect himself. This can give his enemies some time for preparation if Zeke isn't already keeping their hands full. One drawback of displacement is the aforementioned inertia. If he blinks with the intention of holding ground and to perform a counter-attack, he'd first have to hold his ground and resist that residual force that pushes him along. The sudden inertia can be disorienting.
Unrelated to his power, there is one other thing that Zeke suffers from. Ages ago in a time long passed, a curse was set upon him by another meta-human in punishment of his hubris. In perhaps too naive a way to teach him what it is like to suffer losing himself, the Ukrainian savant was cursed to live as a beast, his soul stolen, and replaced with one of a rabid wolf. Following the traditional legends of werewolves with one outstanding exception: he cannot change back. Zeke, unlike animal metas, does not feel a sense of identity with his beast. Rather, the sensation of two entities within one cage, and they both eternally wrestle for the key and to establish dominance over their host body. Losing control of his emotions weakens the bind he has set on his inner beast, and may incite turmoil within him.
Other: Partial NPC, won't be posted as too terribly often, but may eventually play a more significant role.