Baldric Yulen, the Dark Knight and known to some as the Umbral Blade, but only those who knew of the old ways of Dyzenza before the calamity happened.

Baldric is incredibly proficient in the Umbral Arts, a specific form of dark magic that uses the element of the dark but is not specifically used, or intended for evil intent. Light isn't always 'righteous' and shadows aren't always 'malicious'.

Ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｎｏ ｓａｖｉｏｒ. Ｙｏｕｒ ｔａｌｅｎｔｓ ｌｉｅ ｅｌｓｅｗｈｅｒｅ.

Formerly a regular rank-and-file knight of the Dyzenzen Guard, the military force used by the empire to defend their far-spreading home, Baldric was a family man who was savvy enough to perform well enough to not be kicked out, but not perform so well that he'd be sent to more dangerous, life-risking missions. The man had a family back then, a wife and child who he couldn't wish better for.

Ｄｏｅｓ ｈｅ ｆｅｅｌ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｈｅｒｏ ｙｅｔ？

A knight who isn't well-known but isn't a disgrace is one that wouldn't be noticed if they had went elsewhere-- the logic used by his Commander at the time, to offer him a place in the Dark Knights, a semi-secret group of knights that were often used for key assassinations or other manipulative actions. They operated further afield, but the jobs were far less risky than outright massive war scenarios like he had been in.

Ｉｓ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ, Ｂａｌｄｒｉｃ？

Long story short, the guy fit in well, he was a great Dark Knight-- but something had happened during an assignment, and the long trek back had done his sanity no favors, wracked with increasing guilt and PTSD and all sorts of ravaging to his mentality. Secretly, all along, he wanted to be the hero for once. Somewhat selfish, but justified.

Ｈｅ ｃａｎｎｏｔ ｅｓｃａｐｅ ａｎｇｕｉｓｈ.

There was nothing left for him. No survivors, no answers, no family, no empire. All of it sundered and gone. The last of his people, and unable to die. The Dark Knights are very much trained and outright enhanced by their abilities to make them incredibly hard to kill, and this hasn't left the Umbral Blade in the best of states.

Ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ ｔｏ ｈｅｌｌ, ｓｕｎｓｈｉｎｅ.

At least now, after everything, he has a boyfriend. He remembers he once had a family. Once.

 Oct0bre