the enchanted ❦ nightshade, leam l.

 Leam began his life according to his human memory at age 6. He as alone in a large castle and left to wander the tree’s corridors endlessly, looking for someone he may belong to. A young couple, both doctors, took him in and raised him as their own. They soon realized that their son was far more than just a regular human. He had abilities and skills that no other could hope to possess. They called this a gift, and he renounced it, accusing those among the living to be his brethren. I am not immortal, nor am I going to blindly receive gifts. Instead, he joined the Marine Corps when he came of age, and through teachings of an older being associated with the military, he was able to harness his mental and physical capabilities so that he was no longer in question about how to use them. After many years of going through the ranks and becoming more and more talented, Leam grew restless. He decided to be a hunter. He then sought someone who saved his life recently, Mael de Lioncourt. Wanted by the council for aiding and abetting Roman Crosse, as well as for being implicated in the murder of a former council president. He went under cover as an elf stationed in an alternate realm, and got a job to receive intelligence and return with reports. Once he was proficient, he got too confident, and ended up being saved by this Mael de Lioncourt. Leam fumed at the possibility that he now owed his mark a life debt. Mael read his thoughts too quickly for Leam to counter and they fought long and hard for almost 6 hours before Leam finally told Mael that in order to settle the blood debt he owed him, that he would cease the hunt. Mael then agreed and let Leam off the hook on the condition that he would stay and pick up where Mael left off. Leam wasn’t too overjoyed at the conditions, liking to travel, but Mael was able to give him incentive and thus, he stayed. The sole proprietor of everything belonging to Mael.
In his time on Lost Generations, Leam learned his origin and true race. He researched Mael's notes and during many an intense training session, discovered that inside of him lay the soul of the phoenix that had accompanied Mael on many a mission for many a millenium. After dying to save his best friend and master's life, his ashes were scattered in the wind and blew across the city. They stayed together only because of the nature of phoenix ashes, that they must bring forth new life. This happened, however, in the most unseemly manner possible. These ashes fell in a cup of tea brewed for a little boy at the age of 6.
After discovering his origins, and coming into his own, Leam formed an elite group of bodyguards under the proprietary of Ragnarok, a shop. Harnessing many different talented and gifted individuals, they were able to cover a wide spectrum of various threats, and throughout time, eventually split. During this time, he met the woman he once called the love of his life, Izaya Byakuren. She was a summoner and a naturalist, speaking to the things he never could, and appealing to his quickly growing love of all things natural and associated with nature. For some time, they dated, and eventually became engaged. Finally, Leam met with an assignment and had to take some leave of the world.
This next chapter of his life rocked the former master chief to his core. He was placed in command of a small unit, and given free reign to recruit many individuals to his cause. The mission was and has been kept near and dear to Nightshade only, never being revealed to any but the group that he gathered. The tortoise, the hare, the steed, the chameleon, the bull, the wolf, and the nightmare. Each code name met with another unique individual, with talents that corresponded to the mission’s needs. Various support roles were filled, and with those roles, a support group was formed. When the time came to fulfill their mission, the group was split up, and the results of the mission were never disclosed in any written memorandums, and thus, remains a blank page in this history.
Leam’s return to Lost Generations was to be momentous, but was quickly soured by the disloyalty of his to-be wife. She quickly ruined him in the worst way for a marine, and disappeared. Marred by the desertion of his love, Leam carried on, attempting to hold things together for the sake of his forest. However, only weeks passed before his best friend, Axos Deathseeker was lost to the void. A deep silence befell the planet he had managed to have such great times on, and coupled with the loss of his fiancee and best friend, Leam’s mind began to shamble. He made unwise choice after the next, and after time, was approached by a familiar presence.
The old man’s return had not been foreseen, and Nightshade needed his guidance more than anything at this point in his grieving. Cold words befell him, however, and he was told to pull things together elsewhere while the mess left behind was fixed. The overseer did not return with the old man, and the chief stayed for only a short time upon his arrival.
Leam’s departure marked the end of an era, and he accepted it, stepping back into a military role to force out the twisted world’s effects on him. Taking command of the newest craft, Leam was given a chance to roam the seas once more. He shifted each and every opportunity for shore duty to stay aboard his ship to command it, and quickly gained sea time befitting any admiral of the time. For his duties in the sixth contact war of Earth, Leam was promoted to Commandant, and his executive officer was given command of his vessel while, he remained aboard to manage the fleet. During the seventh and eighth contact wars, Nightshade grew very close to the female captain, and after many a battle, engaged in a physical relationship with her. The bond they shared was forged by steel and blood, however, not anything that would hold in the real world, and reality came smacking back down when his former vessel was sunk, his crew barely escaping death, and his flame, sinking to the bottom of the ocean with her ship.
Nightshade swam and swam, hoping to find some source of land to rest on, and eventually gave up, floating atop the waves and letting them carry him.
Suddenly he felt a jerk, pulling him to the depths and nearly drowning the man until he woke, coughing on the beach somewhere very different than he had just been. This place seemed very strange, and it didn’t take long before the natives of wherever he had ended up apprehended him. Having taken out every raiding party they sent to his camp, the leader came himself, and in a fiery rage such that Leam had never seen, outperformed the marine in the martial arts, bringing him in. Much time was spent on this small piece of land, and he never did learn the name of the man that had so utterly beaten him. Nightshade, however, found some small measure of piece in the village, and donned something other than military clothing for the first time in awhile. He was given a coat, to signify his strength that the villagers admired, and their leader ignored. Some say the leader hated him, and others that the leader was reminded of someone else, and was disappointed in his lack of prowess. The second would prove more true, as the leader taught the marine patience, and to choose his battles and movements more wisely. The man was asked a favor, then. Leam accepted, and this favor was never revealed in any of his memoirs. It is only known that he was given his uniform back, so that he may wear it if ever he were in need of it.
The only other entry follows as thus:
“I have come to the place I once loathed. Smoke billows from the remains of the place He once protected, and the old man loved. I may not ever understand why, but I am compelled to take action. To those who remember me, I say come know me in a different light. Come know me as --.”
And his memoirs continue…
Following his return on the heels of the pirate invasion, Leam took his duties as Overseer far more seriously, arranging for reparation of all areas found needing it, and personally meeting with the miraculously living Guy Stark and his counterpart Caspian Adelaide. As difficult as the decision was, Leam arranged for both of them to be granted a reprieve on the condition that they leave the dimension and never return. To ensure this was followed, and there were no mistakes, Leam accompanied them off-world alone, and planned to stay with them until such a time as he felt that they would not be returning. He was granted a place on the ship next to the Captain's Cabin, and though he initially found the crew and vessel untidy, unkempt, and bothersome, it grew on him quickly. Seeing an opportunity to take some time away, Leam requested to stay, and Guy cordially agreed, offering to allow for Leam to send for his girlfriend as well. This caught him a bit off-guard, but he remembered a beautiful young woman who had done nothing but tolerate his post-traumatic belligerence and bi-polar mood swings while still managing to fall in love with him. Having nothing but fond memories of Acedia, he sent for her via the only Hunter that he trusted to do so, Aurion Noctis. Owing him precisely one favor, Aurion agreed, and escorted her to the airship.
Over the next couple of weeks, Guy began to grow increasingly distant, and rarely spoke to Leam, making Leam and Acedia happier to have less observation; however, that would quickly be shown as a mistake on their part. Guy took his then wife, Caspian Adelaide to a small ship in the middle of the night, making use of their abilities to steal away and leave the rest of the men to do what they would. His protection of the guests lifted, the men would likely do as they pleased, and he would have his own twisted form of revenge.
The men did precisely that, and Leam found himself in the strange position of fending off attackers in the middle of the night. Allowing no one to touch Acedia, he easily fended off many of the less talented general populace, while Acedia held off the more skilled individuals with her elements until he could get to them. His fight raged for over an hour, but when he was done, he was standing above the vast majority of the crew, while some others had chosen not to partake at all for various reasons. Some of them claimed that they were smarter from the get-go, while others were honest enough to admit that after watching others fail, they chose not to in an attempt to spare their own hides. Leam appreciated the ones who stayed their hands, and kept them on as his crew, while effectively deep-sixing the rest of the blaggards.
He managed to get the ship to the closest air-docks, and went ashore alone to attend a ceremony for the captaining of a new pirate. No one knows quite what happened in that ceremony save himself, but upon his return to the vessel, he reappeared with a full compliment for his ship, a captain's uniform and cutlass, a team of salty ship-builders that could re-design the ship to his specifications, and a team of elite space mercernaries who made it their prerogative to train the general populace of his crew. The men were slightly frustrated with all the change, but upon improvement of the ship, they began to be won over by the powerful man who had made himself their captain by battle. He kept a strict ship, but over the period they were in the shipyards, he had completely won the crew over, and inversely, the crew had won him over. Acedia had her fair share of fun and training, though far less than the rest of the crew had, as she was quickly and easily the mother of the entire ship, tending to the men when they needed it, and keeping everyone with plenty of beer and food to warm their bellies, using her former talents from working at a tavern.
Leam's first year was productive, as by the end of the year he had not only a restructured ship and crew, but also a baby girl. Her name was Aeila Anberlin Nightshade, with her middle name being the combination of Acedia's two sisters and Mael's lifelong companion and wife, Amber, whom Leam had become very fond of in his time as Mael's phoenix, prior to his incarnation inside of a human form. Her life was to be as lavish as any princess', though nobody could possibly know that at the time. After a second year in the yards, Leam had finally finished his planned adjustments, and had a highly trained general crew, a team of elite crewmembers, and his wife and daughter to bring along with the nearly bankrupt organization. With the first voyage of the ship, they departed for one raid, and easily accomplished five, filling the crew and captain with a confidence unparalleled.
Over the next 18 years, the crew's success was storied, and everyone had anything they could ever want. The closest and oldest crew members had become so close to their Captain, that he gave them the title of "The Family". Every member had been through so many close encounters, missions, raids, and suicide missions with the ship that their captain's trust for them was beyond the shadow of a doubt. "The Family" was primarily made up of the most accomplished, notorious, talented, and indeed, lucky, crew that Leam had aboard his mighty vessel. Each of them were tattooed with the ship's seal, and had earned it through hard work and dedication. They handled the smaller matters for him, such as tactical control during raids, small missions, discipline of the crew, and ensuring that no one came close to the baby girl of every pirate on the ship.
Aeila was instantly accepted by every man and tough woman aboard. She enjoyed the most lavish of treatment, was showered with gifts, doted on by her father, and taught everything by The Family and crew. She was an accomplished crew member in her own right being taught by her mother to be a lady, by her father to be a badass, and by the crew to deal with any man. Easily as mouthy, sarcastic, and combat-trained as the vast majority aboard, she was an impeccable marksman and fighter, seeming to command little control over the special abilities or hidden talents of her parents.
Leam could not remember a time where he was happier, and his family and crew said and felt much the same. However, this all came crashing down on them when a rival ship, knowing full well the legen-wait for it-dary feats of the ship's fabled crew, raided them with the hired help of many other vessels. While this came as a shock to the experienced crew and mind-reading captain, they reacted swiftly, firing cannons and letting loose their fury upon attempted boarders. As the battle raged on, the crew seemed to be holding off the enemies when an ambush approached, sending many boarders towards the Captain's Cabin where Leam stood, directing everyone in his area. This next wave pushed even him back to the very entrance on his side as he cut down his would-be killers while the door on the opposing side was fiercely guarded by his wife. After an exhausting three hours of battle, the tide began to swing in the crew's favor again following the return of about half of "The Family" that had been out on a raid. They swept upon the attackers with a vengeance, destroying many of the ships, and quickly disabling the boarders attacking their Captain. With the heat of battle beginning to cool, and 20 bodies lay on the ground in front of Leam, he looked back at his wife, meeting her eyes with mutual realization that shook them both to their core. Aeila was nowhere to be found.
Rallying The Family, Leam began a frantic search of his ship, angrily cutting down and obliterating any enemy that stood in his way. This effectively cut down most of the boarders on the ship as they searched for the ship's effective princess before a scream was heard that set cool even the fire running through the phoenix's veins. The scream that stopped the hearts of every crew member aboard the mighty Ragnarok II, it would come to be called. Every head on the ship turned, but few eyes save those of the closest crew and the her parents managed to watch as a blade was brought down across the face of Aeila's attacker. It was in this moment that everything came undone, and her true abilities were recognized, and also in this moment, that the ship's next course was set, and the epoch continues...