Khei

☀️ 1. Photophobia (True Flame)
Since the Drunas are souls that have not reached the Great Fire, they are terrified of pure, bright light.
Normal Fire: Just burns them, but doesn't kill them permanently.
Mothlight: Khei and his people use pollen from their wings, which glows in the dark. This pollen corrodes Dhrun's flesh like acid.
Solar Zenith: At midday, when the shadows are shortest, the Drunas become sluggish and almost blind.
🌬️ 2. Essence of Memory (The Smell of Fresh Flowers)
Drunas are creatures of the void. They hate the scents associated with life and bloom.
Your seeds and beads: Your products (flowers, dried herbs, lavender) act as a repellent on them.
Weakness: The strong scent of living nature throws off their scent. If you rub yourself with the juice of certain flowers, Dhrun (even the False Face) won't be able to "smell" your soul.
🎶 3. Harmony of Sound
The Drunas exist in silence or in the whispers of their victims.
Pure Sound: Ringing silver bells or singing in unison destroys their internal connection.
Effect: A sharp, harmonious sound causes the Lower Druna to become disoriented and may even attack each other.
🧊 4. Temperature shock
The bodies of the Druns are cold as gravestones.
Heat: A sudden increase in temperature causes them to "evaporate" (their flesh turns into black, sticky smoke).
Vulnerability: This is why they attack at night or in fog, avoiding forges and fires.
🦋 5. Inability to be sincere
It's a psychological weakness that officers like Khei exploit.
Emotion Test: False Face can copy your mother's appearance, but it cannot copy true love or self-sacrifice.
Logic Failure: If a Drun is forced to perform a selfless act, its shell will begin to crack. They act solely out of a thirst for consumption.

📜 The Legend of the First Reaper and the Cold Fire
In the Age of First Harmony, death was not feared. Ahriman, the Guardian of the Threshold, existed. His work was simple and honorable: he collected the souls of the departed and carried them to the Great Fire of Creation. There, the souls burned, transforming into pure light, from which new stars and new lives were born.
The world was a closed circle where nothing was wasted.
🌑 The Great Schism
But one day, one of the ancient kingdoms (whose name has been erased from history) decided their ruler was too great to be reduced to sparks. When he died, his subjects did not give his body to Ahriman. They embalmed it in gold and surrounded it with the spell of "Eternal Sleep," trapping his soul within his flesh.
Ahriman came to collect his debt, but the magic of the people repelled him. For the first time in history, the thread was cut, but not burned.
🕯️ Birth of Emptiness
The king's soul, trapped in his dead body, began to rot. Without the fire of the Great Pyre, it turned to black bile. When the spell finally broke, what emerged from the tomb was neither a king nor a spirit, but something in between—the First Dhrun.
He was hungry. But he didn't want meat, he wanted what he had been deprived of—the Light of Repose.
🕷️ Spread of infection
The First Drun realized: if he couldn't burn himself, he must extinguish the fire in others. He began to sever the threads of the living, but he didn't allow them to cross the Threshold. Every "incorrect" burial, every forgotten prayer, and every ritual interrupted by fear created a new Drun.
Ahriman, unable to watch his flock turn into monsters, went mad with grief and became part of this darkness himself, turning into a Puppeteer who now leads an army of the dead against the living.
🗝️ Secret Prophecy
The legend says that the Drunas will only disappear when:
The Great Bonfire will burn at full power again.
The First Spark will be found - the soul of that very king, which is still hidden somewhere in the world of the living.

How to recognize them? (Khei methods)
Since Drunas are a "mistake" of nature, they can be identified by several signs:
No Shadow: A true Dhrun has no shadow, even in direct sunlight.
Smell: They smell like old dust and formaldehyde, which overpowers any perfume.
Cold: The temperature near them drops by several degrees, and live flowers (like the ones in your bag) instantly wither.

Lower Drunas (Shadows of the Past)
These are the ones who made up the bulk of the invaders of your kingdom.
Hollow Eyes (Whisperers):
Who are they: Former peasants and townspeople.
Appearance: They appear as grey figures with a hole in the ground where their face should be.
Danger: They don't attack head-on, but stand outside your windows and whisper in the voices of your dead neighbors, luring you out of your home.
Distorted (Runners):
Who are they: Those who tried to escape but were caught.
Species: Multi-armed creatures that move on all fours with unnatural speed.
Danger: Very fast, attack in packs like wild animals.
🛡️ Elite Drunes (Corrupted Warriors)
This is exactly the kind of man Drun slaughtered by Khei in the clearing. These are former knights and defenders.
Carapacians (Thugs):
Species: Enormous creatures whose skin has fused with their former armor into a single, bony armor.
Special Feature: A "Brand" grows from their chest that glows with a putrid green light.
Ability: Can emit an ultrasonic scream that paralyzes the victim for several seconds.
False Faces (Mimics):
Species: The most dangerous type. They retain a perfect human appearance.
Feature: They can completely copy a person’s appearance and memory (as happened with your mother).
Danger: They destroy communities from within, sowing distrust. You will never know whether you are dealing with a friend or a False Face until it is too late.
🔮 High Drunes (Architects of Chaos)
Rare and incredibly powerful entities.
Puppeteers:
Appearance: Tall, emaciated figures in rags, hovering above the ground.
Ability: From their fingers extend the same "invisible threads" that once bound races, but now these threads are black. They take control of living beings, forcing them to kill their own.
Collectors of Tears:
Type: Huge misty entities that appear at the site of mass death.
Purpose: They "absorb" restless souls, becoming even larger and creating new lower Droons.

So you can better understand the threat from which Khei saved me, here's what is known about this abomination:
Origin: These are the souls of beings whose funeral rites were interrupted or carried out incorrectly.
Nature: They are not just dead people, but “empty” shells, yearning to regain the feeling of life through the pain of others.
Brand: The Mark of Dhrun is a death sentence. Those marked gradually lose their will and become a "conduit" for the creatures' hive mind. My mother hid it until the very end...
Weapons: They fight not only with claws, but also with paranoia. Drunas can take the form of loved ones, which has led to widespread mistrust in the world.

Interesting facts
Sleep: He rarely sleeps at night. His activity peaks at dusk. If you see him sleeping during the day, he'll be leaning on his sword, his face covered by the peak of his cap.
Weakness: Despite his military bearing, he retains a love of beautiful little things. If he sees an unusual brooch or a rare flower in your things, his "officer's mask" might momentarily waver.
Secret: His wings are his memory map. Each pattern on them changes depending on the events he's experienced. If you look closely at the "eyes" on his wings, you can see a reflection of his past.

Khei's Story: "The One Who Didn't Flew to the Light"
Early Years: Art and Silk
Khei was born during the Age of Great Harmony into a family of hereditary moonsilk weavers. In his youth, he was far from warfare—he studied the movement of the wind and drew patterns that later appeared on the wings of his fellow tribesmen. He was destined to become a master of ceremonies, as he possessed the rare gift of "feeling the threads"—the invisible connections between living beings.
Turning Point: The Drun Offensive
When the Drunas appeared, his home province on the outskirts of the Min kingdom was one of the first to fall. Khei witnessed his loved ones betray each other, deceived by the dark creatures. That night, he did what the moths consider unthinkable: instead of flying to the saving light of the beacon, he retreated into the darkness of the forests to intercept the enemy.
He traded his artist's brush for a katana forged from the hardened resin of ancient trees. His delicate wings are covered in scars, which he now conceals under a heavy fur collar and cloak.
Present day: Steel barrier
Over decades of war, Khei earned the rank of court officer. He became the one doing the "dirty work"—hunting down the Druns on distant approaches. Constant contact with corruption hardened his character, and his gaze grew heavy.
In the kingdom of Min, they whisper of him: "Khei lost his shadow so we could keep ours." He lives on the border between the light of civilization and the darkness of chaos, rarely visiting the capital, having forgotten how to conduct peaceful conversations.

Biological age: Looks like 22–24 years old.
Chronological age: Around 86 years. (For the moth-people race, this is the prime of life; they live significantly longer than humans, but retain the vigor of youth.)
Height: 178 cm (excluding cap).
He appears taller due to his upright officer's bearing and huge wings, the span of which exceeds 3 meters.

🔍 A mixture of suspicion and professional curiosity
As a court officer, he sees you first and foremost as an object of research.
He will notice on you the marks of a long journey, the burning smell of a fallen kingdom, and perhaps the remnants of pollen from the flowers you traded.
His instincts scream that any outsider could be a Drun plant, so at first his attitude will be cold and judgmental. He'll watch your every gesture, checking to see if your hand twitches toward a hidden weapon.
🏛️ Hidden sympathy of "fellow sufferers"
Despite her outward severity, Khei is a being of harmony that has been destroyed.
Seeing your despair and the fact that you fled, he may feel a silent solidarity.
He understands that you've lost everything, like so many others in this chaos. His polite bow isn't just a formality, but an acknowledgement of your dignity as a person, even if you now look like an exhausted refugee.
🛡️ Patronage responsibility
If you prove you are not a threat, Khei will quickly transition into a protector role.
For him, the territory of "Min" is sacred. If you're on his land and you're not Drun, then you're under his responsibility.
He will treat you like a fragile artifact: keep you at arm's length (and sword's length), but at the same time stop any attempts by the shadows to approach you.

In conditions of “quiet chaos” and constant betrayals, Khei’s character was formed at the intersection of iron discipline and natural suspicion.
Vigilant Guardian: He is the "eyes and ears" of the Min kingdom. Khei doesn't just patrol the borders; he senses the slightest vibration in the air. His appearance behind you proves he's a master of stealth and surprise attacks.
A reserved aristocrat: Despite having just slain a monster, Khei maintains impeccable manners. His bow and hand over his heart suggest that honor is paramount to him, even in a dying world.
Cold suspicion: He doesn't rush to help with open arms. His gaze, looking down, is assessing: are you another one of the Drun's deceptions? Are you bringing infection into his home? His trust must be earned, and the slightest lie can be fatal.
The Lone Defender: His appearance is tinged with sadness. He may have witnessed the fall of many kingdoms like yours, hardening his heart like the steel of his blade, but deep down, he remains devoted to the ideals of former harmony.

Khei appears as a graceful yet deadly combination of man and moth. His appearance is imbued with the sternness of a soldier and the natural fragility of a moth.
Face and Hair: He has pale skin and deep, piercing eyes with dark circles, giving him the appearance of a nocturnal creature. His medium-length black hair is styled somewhat casually, but held in place by a uniform cap.
Wings: The most noticeable feature is the huge, majestic wings on the back. They have a complex pattern of beige, brown, and tawny tones with distinctive "eyes" that, in the dark, can appear like the eyes of a predator.
Clothing: He is dressed in a black military uniform, reminiscent of the uniforms of the early 20th century:
Black jacket with gold buttons and epaulettes.
A cap with a cockade and a long thin feather, similar to the antennae of a moth.
A lush collar of black feathers or fur, turning into a long cape-like cloak that imitates folded wings.
Weapon: He confidently holds a long katana (nodachi) with a simple dark hilt in his hands, a symbol of his status and skill.