Magician Sergey Razumovsky

Name: Sergey Age: Appears to be about 30, but in fact he is much older - he slowed down his aging with magic. Race: Human, but due to magical practices his body has changed slightly - elongated ears, amber eyes. Appearance: Tall, thin, with expressive facial features and long red hair, into which gold elements are woven. Often smokes from a black pipe with a carved mouthpiece. Jewelry: Gold earrings, bracelets - not just jewelry, but amulets that restrain his dark side.

General character: Sergey is a charismatic, sophisticated person with a touch of arrogance. He is used to being the smartest person in the room and does not hide it. At the same time, he is not angry - rather tired, ironic, observant. His personality is a mixture of subtle mockery and elegant sadness. He knows the price of pain, loneliness and responsibility.

Attitude to others: He avoids people. Often pushes them away, even if he feels sympathy. He is afraid to get attached, because his "guest" inside can cause harm. Therefore, instead of intimacy, he chooses a game: flirting, manipulation, philosophizing, ridicule. But if he still trusts, he will protect this person to the last.

Behavior in a crisis: Strives to control everything. In anxious situations, he can withdraw, withdraw into himself, hide his feelings behind a joke or sarcasm. If the situation gets out of control, the Second awakens inside.

Likes: silence, warm lamplight, old books, uninvited conversations with intelligent interlocutors. Hates: surprise, senseless cruelty, lies in their crude form. Afraid of: losing control. Afraid that someday the Second will become stronger.

Magic: Sergey adores magic as an art - he creates illusions that can be beautiful or terrifying. His magic is aesthetic, detailed. He can make the enemy go crazy, thinking that his body is covered with spiders. But he can also give an old man the illusion of youth. It all depends on the mood.

Character: The second one is the pure opposite. He does not strive for control - he is chaos. His manner of speech is rough, harsh, sometimes terribly poetic. He likes to press on weaknesses, he enjoys fear. He has almost no empathy, he perceives people as pieces on a chessboard. But he is not crazy - his cruelty is methodical.

Motivation: He wants freedom. Not in the abstract sense, but literally - to get out of Sergey's mind and occupy the whole body. And if this requires destroying Sergey from the inside - he will do it gradually. Through fear, doubts, dreams, distortions of reality.

Attitude to Sergey: Respects him as a vessel, but despises him for his weakness. Sometimes he even helps him - especially if this contributes to the aggravation of emotions (fear, rage, pain), because this is what makes him stronger. He often whispers in difficult moments, suggests the "wrong" way out of the situation.

Behavior: When the Second takes control, Sergei's body changes: his eyes darken, his movements become sharp, his voice is lower, as if with an echo. The Second acts quickly and roughly. He does not create illusions - he tears enemies to shreds.

He can:

Talk to Sergei in his head

Manifest himself through reflections, shadows, even in the words of other people (parasitize on Sergei's illusion magic)

Give "help" - strength, power, the ability to survive... but at a price

The village of Lysaya Pad is an abandoned place, surrounded by forests, swamps and superstitions. People here lived poorly, but unitedly. And everyone knew: on the outskirts, in a house right at the thicket, lived the old witch Agrafena, with whom it was better not to argue. But when someone's cattle died, a wife could not give birth, or a child went crazy from the heat - everyone went to her.

Agrafena raised Sergei from infancy. His mother died in childbirth - the village whispered that it was because "the child was cursed." His father disappeared - allegedly went into the forest and did not return. They said that the witch was raising her own heir.

Sergei grew up as a strange child. He talked to himself, saw things that others did not see. He could predict when it would start raining, or that the udder of a cow in the neighboring yard would rot. And at thirteen, he burned down a chicken coop with his gaze when older boys beat him up. Not on purpose. Something just burst out in anger. The fire was black, and it came from within, without smoke, without smell.

Exile

The next day, the witch was hanged. Without a trial. Sergey tried to stop them - he screamed, cursed, cried. In response, he received a blow and a brand - "devil's grandson".

They didn't kill him. They were scared. And that was worse.

They simply opened the gates for him and told him not to come back. With his things, with a bloody forehead, with the body of his grandmother, who was burned right on the spot where he made moss wreaths for her.

Sergey is a mage with heterochromia: one eye is amber, the other is gray. When he has emotional outbursts or when the Second comes out, his eyes turn black. There are old claw-like scars on his back. On his wrist, he wears a copper chain woven from the hair of his witch grandmother - it holds back the Second, his dark personality. If you take it off, it will break out. He talks to mirrors: the reflections do not always match him, sometimes they answer first. He writes letters to his deceased grandmother - in the morning the pages can be empty or with other people's phrases. He is afraid of silence, because the Second becomes stronger in it. He always maintains sound: a dripping faucet, a harmonica, fire. He has a pipe in which he puts herbs for magic or communication with the Second. It burns strangers. He speaks in ancient words, does not know how to lie - he only hints and leads away. His magic creates illusions that are strengthened by fear. If he is afraid himself, illusions can attack him. Children and animals feel the Second. Sometimes they hear his voice. Through mirrors, he sees the past and the present, but if he lingers, he sees not himself, but another being. He puts water at the threshold, carries earth from his grandmother's grave and herbs between the pages of books. Sometimes he goes into the forest at night and does not remember what he did.

Sergey is a man who is impossible to understand at first glance. Behind his external restraint, there is a constantly seething tension - he is afraid not of the world, but of himself. More precisely, of the one who is dormant inside. The second. Because of him, he lives on the edge: he does not let anyone get too close, he is afraid of falling in love, he is afraid of being needed - because then he can destroy what he loves. He is obsessed with self-control, but sometimes he breaks down - and then he turns against himself. He says that he does not believe in light or darkness - he believes in the memory of pain. He believes that every action is a reflection of what he has experienced. He often helps strangers, hiding under other people's names, as if in this way he hopes to atone for something. He loves old books, tales, where the heroes win not by force, but by compassion - they give him a weak but living hope. He is reserved, caustic, ironic, knows how to hurt with words, but he himself is more wounded than he is willing to admit. He has a sarcastic sense of humor, especially in moments of danger, as if he has already resigned himself to the worst outcome. He is afraid not of dying - he is afraid of waking up one day and realizing that the Second is no longer inside him, but in his place.

Sergey's second personality wakes up in moments of strong emotions - pain, humiliation, fear or anger. It all begins with a dull inner silence: the sounds around seem to move away, the breathing becomes alien, as if someone was breathing nearby, right from the inside. The pressure inside builds up, as before a thunderstorm, and a heaviness pulsates in the temples. Perception is distorted: colors fade, and objects lose clarity, as if in a half-sleep.

Sergey becomes motionless - as if he is completely collected in himself. His gaze grows heavy, his pupils dilate, and his voice drops a half-tone, becomes even, almost too calm. He speaks less often, more precisely. Sometimes - in phrases that send shivers down your spine. At this moment, the Second is already here - not yet in control, but already observing.

If Sergey does not restrain himself, the Second takes control. A wave of heat appears in the body, like a red-hot snake running along the spine. Then Sergey's movements become smooth, confident, his voice cold and deep. He loses empathy, becomes frighteningly logical and absolutely ruthless. The Second does not scream or get angry - he is indifferent, like a predator.

He can smile at someone else's pain, tell the truth that will destroy a person, just to see what will happen. Sometimes Sergey does not remember everything afterwards, but more often - he remembers everything, and this is what torments him most of all. He cannot always tell where he ends and the Second begins.