Sorath

In the beginning years of the Bridged Worlds, the oldest and most malevolent of the Goddess’s eight Children, Apol, created his own people in his image: savage and demonic. He created the leader of his people, Sorath, to be the strongest and most resilient of them all. He would eventually lead the Apollyans into battle against the other seven Children when they went to avenge the Goddess. Sorath was created to be almost as powerful as Apol himself. He was ferocious and full of rage. He was the fastest and strongest, as well as the most intelligent. He wielded two dual longswords as his signature weapons. He also had dangerous powers of the elements. He could summon lightning and fire from his hands, and project them into his swords, as well as any other weapon he wielded. When Apol and his people were banished to Firzen, Sorath was as well. However, when Apol created the demonic warrior, he would put a curse on him that made it possible for any being in the eons to come that, if they exhibited the true traits of pure rage balanced with equally important determination and an indomitable will, Sorath would manifest himself within said being and become one with it.

 

Jethro Langdale was born far frailer and weaker than the average Skymarn. In addition to this, he never knew his real mother, Ursula, as he discovered she had passed giving birth to him, and his father, Victor, was unaware of his conception and had left back to his home, his current whereabouts unknown. Among the orphans and in school in the run-down Skymarn island of Millstead, he was extremely unpopular and was relentlessly bullied and terrorized. He was beaten, up by some of the people in the city. As he grew older, he was continuously ostracized for his appearance and social standing. Jethro longed for a way out, and since he had no money to purchase a weapon to kill himself, he turned to drugs, alcohol, pornography, and prostitutes to get himself out of reality. His issues only continued to worsen, as he could barely hold a job for over a week, and he had started to become overweight.

Depressed and alone, he sauntered into an alleyway one night, only to be followed by two men, one of them appearing to be almost seven feet tall. He tried to run, but a third man stopped him. He was confronted by the two men, one of them a Skymarn spy of sorts, the other revealed to be a Tyrak, explaining his immense size.

“Hello Mr. Langdale. Our people have been watching you for some time, and we would like to help you.”

“No one can help me!” Jethro exclaimed, as he pushed the other soldier down and ran for his life. He ran and was confronted by yet another Symarn, who tried to subdue him. With a burst of energy, he punched the man with surprising force, and tried to fight him, but the Tyrak eventually caught up to him and subdued him.

“Where are my manners? I am General Deken Zarnaeus, and we would like to offer you a second chance at life, Mr. Langdale. As you have just demonstrated, you have the potential to become one of us, but you must trust us.”

Zarnaeus explained that he had spies within Skymar looking for suitable candidates for some sort of position that his master was looking to fill. He then inducted him into training, which saw him give up all of his addictive, self-destructive habits and obsessions, shave his entire body, and clean up.

The military was a secret army that trained in a space station hidden from the other worlds, and it recruited young men and women from all races. He would then go on to begin his actual physical training. He was horribly clumsy, quickly becoming a laughing stock, and was about to be removed from training if he did not perform better. Zarnaeus privately met with Jason Gunter, a current Skymarn Staff Sergeant and one that was currently on base. Zarnaues knew that Gunter was one of the most kind-hearted within the entire army. He explained that his master needed Jethro specifically to fill this position, and that Gunter needed to motivate him to improve. One night, Jethro was contemplating suicide, this time having access to weapons. Gunter caught him and told him that he was destined for greatness, and that with his improvement, he could change the course of the Bridged Worlds. Jethro truly found the spirit to fight within him.

Over the next few weeks, Jethro furiously trained during the sessions, and practiced on his own. During down time, he mercilessly weight trained and ruthlessly sparred on punching bags and with other recruits, soon besting every one. His transition to a healthy diet and rigorous exercise regimen would soon transform his body from stout, plump and weak to much taller (6’5’’), with a chiseled muscular physique, firm and solid bone structure, and with overall  outrageous strength. He didn’t just improve his physique and appearance, he also trained himself to focus intensely, and he began to memorize everything that the instructors would tell him that none of the other recruits could. He went from being unable to hit a single target to shooting straight bullseyes every time. He could now use any firearm or heavy weapon in the arsenal. He ran faster than any other recruit. He had even perfected and mastered countless different martial arts techniques, as well as knife fighting and using nunchucks and bo staffs. However, he found that his most favored weapons were dual-wield longswords.

He graduated basic training at the top of his class, and received an award for most improved. Upon graduation, he and the other graduates were told by Zarnaeus that this organization had a name: Novus Ordo, and that they seeked to wipe the Bridged Worlds clean of all corruption and make it the progressive utopia it was meant to be.

Jethro would then rise quickly through the ranks, honing his combat skills and becoming more stealthy. He would eventually receive elite specialized training, becoming even more skilled than ever before. Through these trainings, he would even learn skills on how to effectively lead platoons, battalions, or even entire armies. His elite training had gained him the qualifications to become an assassin, or even a general, if he so desired.

Jethro had excelled so much, that he had surpassed every last member of Novus Ordo, even the most hardened veterans, so much so that he was on par with the likes of Zarnaeus. Zarnaeus informed him that he had exceeded his master’s expectations, and that he was ready to finally meet him.

Jethro was escorted onto a ship that brought him to a dark, desolate world. He then realized that this was the eighth world that he thought was only a myth, Apollya. He was brought into a large, intimidating yet majestic castle. He was brought into the throne room, and there sat the master himself: Lord Dominus.

“Jethro Langdale. It is truly an honor. You have come a long way from being that poor, scared young man that the good General recruited that one night.”

“The honor is mine, my Lord.”

Lord Dominus instructed him that he was to be inducted into his inner circle. Aside from Dominus and Jethro, this consisted of General Zarnaeus, his adoptive Skymarn daughter, Althea Everton, who was an assassin herself, Zulyrian Fleet Admiral Orthon Tritus, head of the fleet and genius war strategist, and Col. Dr. Codu Alekai, a genius Luthornian scientist and the leader of the Research and Development sector of Novus Ordo.

After this induction, and several private yet challenging missions that all ended in success for Jethro, Lord Dominus took Jethro into a secret room. He revealed it as his private ritual room, that no other person has ever been allowed in. He revealed his true intentions for Jethro.

Dominus revealed the legend that before he was banished to Firzen, the oldest and most powerful of the Goddess’s children, Apol, had cursed his general into being able to manifest himself into the being that was deemed worthy. Dominus revealed that he had abilities in the realm of sorcery, that he learned from an ancient journal, Collectione Carminum Grave. In this journal was where he learned of Apol’s general. The general’s name was Sorath, and Dominus believed Jethro to be the next incarnation of the demon. Dominus would go on to explain that with Sorath’s return, he would wipe the Bridged Worlds clean of the corruption that had plagued it for so long, and once this was accomplished, Apol himself would be released from Firzen. Jethro was alarmed to hear this, but also intrigued. He was then given his next task.

This was, according to Dominus, the ultimate test as to whether he could use the powers of Sorath or not. Jethro was instructed to wait in the wide open, barren field of rock on the Apollyan surface. Then, out of the clouds in the always-dark sky, a massive creature flew down and landed several yards away from the warrior.

It was a dragon, something that Jethro thought to be long extinct. A voice then whispered into his head, that belonged to Dominus:

“My abilities allow me to communicate with supernatural beings that I can connect to. Anyway, this is Codrairos, the Undead. He was created by Apol himself and he serves only one goal: To destroy all those who threaten Apollya. I have led him to believe that you threaten his home, and your test is to defeat him.”

For the first time in a very long time, Jethro felt true fear. However, he managed the courage and used his knowledge and training to attack the dragon. When all hope seemed lost and he felt as though his death was imminent, he felt his hands heat up. He felt as though they were to burst into flames, and one of them eventually did. The other one eventually lit up with lightning, and both coursed through his swords. Sorath then ferociously attacked the winged beast, slashed its throat and killed it, but it would eventually resurrect.

Sorath returned to Lord Dominus’s secret quarters. He revealed that no other being has defeated Codrairos in the history of Novus Ordo, and that he was truly the reincarnation of the demonic warlord Sorath.

“On your knees, my son.

“What is it that drives you? Now, before you answer, you must think clearly. Think of all those who have wronged you, who have persecuted you, DEMONIZED you. All that you despise.”

“I am driven by my desire to cleanse the Bridged Worlds of all those who are causing it to decay from within due to their moral decadence. I am a product of everything they fear. Strength, capability, intelligence.”

“You are my greatest weapon, forged in the raging fires of pure hatred. You are fueled by rage.”

“Rage is my primary motivation, but my desire to prevent cases like my own is why I will never cease to fight.”

“No. That is empathy. Empathy is a weakness. A true warrior has no empathy, He fights to annihilate his enemies and leave nothing remaining. Jethro Langdale was a weak, foolish, senseless individual. Sorath is not. Sorath seeks to place Novus Ordo in the position of the utmost power over all others, to rule over all of the Bridged Worlds. To do this, all feelings of altruism, empathy, and love, must be extinguished from within you.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“To prove this point, I will now share with you the memories that I have yet to share with anyone else. These are the memories that motivated me to become the man I am today, to start the path that eventually led you to me.”

Dominus then touched Jethro’s forehead, and he was suddenly in what appeared to be a school. It was Skymarn, due to the architecture, and the presence of only Skymarn students. He was standing in the middle of a circle of many adolescents, with a large, burly one walking up and punching him. Right before the impact, he was then in a small house. There was a man and a woman, seemingly someone’s parents. He opened his mouth, but he had no control. A shaky, terrified voice spoke out: “It’s not my fault, she made me do it!”

“Don’t talk back to us you disgrace!”

With that, the mother reached out and slapped him, and the father began removing his belt. Right before he struck the little boy, Sorath was taken into the third memory.

He was tied to a bed, with extra rope being used for the small boy’s frame, and he was also gagged. He was completely naked however, and in walked a middle-aged woman with a bag. She set the bag at the foot of the bed, and reached into it.

“All the other little boys at your school would kill to be where you are right now, so enjoy it while you can!”

Sorath, feeling sick to his stomach, was then taken to the fourth, final, and by far the most unsettling memory. He was back with the parents, bloodied, beaten, and on the ground. He then seized a knife and stabbed the father through the chest, and then slit the mother’s throat. He made his way to the neighbor’s house, went quietly up the stairs- seeing as it was nighttime- and snuck into a bedroom. He went to the bed, and recognized the one sleeping in it to be the same old woman from before.

The boy drew the same knife he used to kill the parents, and did something incredibly  barbaric that greatly disturbed Jethro. He placed his hand over her mouth, and he plunged the knife as hard as he could between the woman’s legs. She awoke and screamed in agony, a geyser of blood gushing from beneath the hole in the sheets, and the boy did it again and again until she could no longer scream out of utter shock and unimaginable pain, and she slid off the bed and bled to death.

Sorath was then taken back into the room with Dominus in front of him. Sorath felt nauseous, but did not throw up. He gathered himself.

“You have just witnessed my own past experiences. I have seen the absolute worst these Worlds have to offer. What happened will only become even more severe and frequent, if the Worlds are not cleansed.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“On your feet, my son. On the ground a few moments ago, Jethro Langdale took a knee. Just now, the man who rose to his feet before me, is Sorath. That other name has no meaning to you anymore, it is worthless to you.

“I have one last assignment before your wretched past is completely erased for good. The Skymarn island you grew up on, Millstead. It must be destroyed. The government has separated itself from the rest of Skymar, and they will pervert the rest of its respective World if it is not completely destroyed. You are to go there and send that miserly cesspool into extinction, as it should have always been!”

“It will be done, my Lord.”

“Today is the day that Sorath is reborn, and will assist the almighty Apol in emerging from Firzen once and for all!”

Sorath was given his own stealth fighter per Lord Dominus’s orders, and it came with a cloaking device and silent engines. He landed undetected in a the middle of a forest on Millstead. He snuck into the city, and found there was a meeting occuring in the city hall. He infiltrated, and found that all of Millstead’s major leaders were present. He silently killed the guards to get in, and sprang down and massacred everyone inside. He moved outside, and activated his fire and lightning powers. He fired on the buildings and structures, destroying them all and wiping out everyone in sight. He was met by a platoon of soldiers. He recognized the face of the commanding officer to be that of the same boy that used to bully him, and Sorath became enraged like never before, his vision actually turning red, and charged at the man. While he became angry, he noticed that his face had started to feel pain. He knocked the man down with impressive force, even by his standards, and almost effortlessly wiped out the platoon, before crushing the leader’s skull, finally killing him. Before he died, he reacted to Sorath in a surprising way. He gasped and looked at Sorath as if he were the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

Before he went on to finish the mission, Sorath caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror before it was shot by remaining soldier. Sorath, to his slight alarm, saw something unrecognizable. As opposed to his normal black hair, blue eyes, and handsome, chiseled features, he could have sworn he laid eyes on a horrific face: An elongated chin, an absurdly long, forked tongue coming out of a massive mouth with long teeth almost as sharp as the blades of his swords. There was brown, crusty-looking skin, only nostrils where a nose should be, and the most terrifying feature of all: Massive, bulging eyes that were more red than any blood that Sorath had ever seen spilled in his lifetime.

Once he was finished, the island of Millstead was nothing but a smoldering ruin, with nothing but death around it.

A few years later, Sorath would be enjoying his down time between missions, on a small industrial area of Luthorn. He would be walking through a marketplace, no one knowing who he was. He then noticed that he was being followed by a hooded woman. He led her into an abandoned warehouse, where he disappeared. The woman would search for him, only for him to jump down in front of her. He threatened to kill her, with her begging for mercy. She introduced herself as Veronica Dross, a former agent of SCAR. She claimed that her father, Ivan Dross, who ran the organization, sent her to kill him, but her father’s cruel and sadistic nature caused her to abandon him. Sorath still thought about killing her, but was curious to learn more. She revealed that she had nothing left on Skymar, and wished to start a new life. She told him of how life was before SCAR, and Sorath began to feel a strange feeling: Empathy. He realized that Veronica’s history of abuse at the hands of her father mirrored his own childhood on Millstead.

The two eventually started a new life together on a small farming area outside of the Worlds. However, three years later after moving there, Novus Ordo would track them down.

Jason Gunter, now a Major within Novus Ordo, would lead an entire battalion of soldiers to apprehend Sorath for abandoning Novus Ordo. However, Gunter, still having sympathy for the man that was once his friend, wished to be diplomatic, so he told his people to stay behind.

Sorath saw Gunter through the window, and told Veronica, who was with child, to hide. Sorath let him in, and Gunter explained the situation.

“Come with me, and there will be no trouble, I promise you that.”

“Jason, you have to leave all that. Dominus is evil, he’s damaged from what he’s been through.”

“You know I can’t do that. Please, listen to me, I’m trying to help you!”

“NO!”

A trigger happy soldier outside shot at Sorath, only to miss. The bullet would hit the hidden Veronica in the arm instead. Her cry of pain caused Sorath to become angry.

He looked at Gunter, and punched him so hard he went flying out the window behind him. He grabbed Veronica, and the two dashed to the nearby forest. They were suddenly surrounded by Novus Ordo soldiers, and the trigger-happy one fired a few rounds, until Gunter, who had regained consciousness, sprinted to the clearing, furiously screaming at him to stop.

It was too late, however. Veronica was hit by the bullets, and collapsed to her death, taking the unborn child with her. Sorath then fell to his knees, and to the astonishment of the soldiers, he began to cry uncontrollably. Veronica was the only person who had ever loved him, and she was taken from him.

Sorath looked up at the soldiers. The mercilessly trained and battle-hardened soldiers backed away in horror of what they saw. His rage caused not only his face to transform, but this time, his entire body morphed into a terrifying demon creature with long, sharp claws. This was Sorath’s true form. He engaged the horrified soldiers, killing them off. After the slaughter, only Gunter was left alive. Sorath moved toward him, but hesitated.

Then, Lord Dominus himself arrived, and subdued the demon. He took him back to the castle on Apollya, and locked him in the dungeon. He was bound by cursed chains that nullified his powers.

One of the people that visited him was Jason Gunter. Gunter, despite witnessing what Sorath was truly capable of, set him free. Sorath slaughtered the guards, and his final words to Gunter were, “You always were there for me.”

“But you didn’t need me for long, brother,” Gunter tearfully stated, knowing that these were his last moments. “Go out there and give Dominus what he deserves.”

“Along with Veronica, I’ll be thinking of you too.”

“Before you go, I want you to know my real name: Alan Stavries. Jason Gunter was just what Dominus gave me when I made the mistake of joining this. It’s the least I can do to be honest anymore.”

Sorath, still weakened by the effect of the chains, made it out of the castle while being covered by Alan and stole a fighter and left. Alan was severely wounded by NO soldiers. Lord Dominus then appeared, ordering them to stand down.

“Alan, why have you turned on us. It’s not like you have anything left back on Skymar, so why leave?”

“I helped out the only real friend I ever had.”Alan, knowing it was pointless because he would die anyway, fired his pistol at the sorcerer, only for him to block the bullets with a conjured shield, and blast him back with a bolt of energy, falling into the dark chasm to his death.

Sorath escaped into freedom once more. He went on to live a life vigilantism, targeting terrorists, mercenary groups, murderers, other supernatural beings, and even Novus Ordo themselves, making his mark among the Bridged Worlds as one of the most dangerous and feared beings to ever walk them.

 

Personality-

Jethro, prior to his training, was extremely timid and cowardly. However, he evolved into a far more confident individual. He became a fierce combatant and never backed down from a challenge. After the situation with Veronica, he grew very distant to people around him. He stayed away from forming any relationships after that, until he came across the team. He was very selective over romantic partners. He was unfortunate with the women on Millstead, and ignored his romantic urges when he was with Novus Ordo. After Veronica, he abstained from any urges that arose within him, honoring the memory of Veronica for the rest of his life.

His greatest fear is having Apol take over control of him, and killing his friends.