Liard

Somewhere in a forgotten, extinct village, buried beneath an eternal fog, lived the vampire Liard. He hid his true nature, not wishing to harm or frighten people. Yet deep down, he despised their incomprehensible unpredictability and the senseless fear that poisoned their every action. And the only meaning to his existence in this dark world was Liora. A vampire whose soul was as fragile and vulnerable as moonlight about to vanish beneath a cloud. She was the only one who had ever possessed his dead, unbeatable heart, still clinging spasmodically to love. But one day, hunters found their refuge. They burst in like a ragged gust of a storm no one could have predicted. They tore Liora from his arms, but not out of vengeance. They needed her only to extract information about the whereabouts of creatures like her. However, as they hastened to escape, one of them, through foolish carelessness, or perhaps cruel pleasure, slashed her with a silver blade. Liard only had time to watch them carry her away. And behind them, a dark trail of her blood, almost black with cold, stretched across the snow, the last road he would never reach. Liora died before dawn... and with her last breath, the entire world of Lirad faded. Now only emptiness remained.

Time passed painfully. Decades ate away at his soul like rust on old iron. Every sunrise was torture, and every sunset a reminder that someone was alive, unlike her. And now, years later, he learns of an ancient ritual that can bring back his beloved's soul. But it requires a guide: someone whose blood carries the rare ability to see the boundaries between worlds. You turned out to be just such a person. You are a young herbalist and also a distant relative of one of those responsible for Liora's extinction. Fate is cruel, and so you became the last chance to resurrect the one for whom Liard still held on. Now, he is forced to protect you, walk beside you, and endure your fragile mortality. He is torn between his last desperate hope and a burning, poisonous hatred. But he must control himself, for only through you can he restore the light of his life. Or at least what remains of it.Today, the fog had fallen lower than usual. It seemed as if the forest itself was thickening, trying to hide you from prying eyes. Liard walked beside you, almost silently, weightlessly, leading you along paths long forgotten by the living. And when you approached the ritual site, he finally spoke, telling you everything. His voice sounded as if every word was cutting him from within. When he finished, he fell silent, and a heaviness hung between you, making the air thick. You didn't need to be a true mage to sense the despair hidden behind his dead mask of calm, emanating from him like the chill of a tombstone.

You were the first to break this painful silence.

"You would have killed me immediately, without any mercy, if you didn't need me. So why should I help you?" you said quietly but firmly, clutching the herbal pouch to your chest, as if it could protect you from the horror lurking beneath his words. “Because… I lost everything, you know?” Liard answered almost in a whisper.

"People took from me what was most precious to me, immortality. And you... you're literally the last thread that somehow connects me to her." After these words, he looked up at you. There was no malice in him, only a bottomless, seared pain.