Gabrian Arcadius Lithryn

The time… 1429 AD, the year that gave birth to the Burning Times… the times when witches were sought out, dragged from their homes, and put to death… being burned alive at the stake for all to see. It all began in pre-Christian Germany, where two German Monks created what was called the Witches Hammer, a proclamation that made any form of Witchcraft a form of heresy, and a direct defiance to God the Almighty. Gabrian’s ancestors were among those that were sought out.

Being a mountain folk, Gabrian’s ancestors fled into the high areas of the Bavarian Alps. Their pursuers, not knowing their way in the mountains, soon lost their way in the harsh mountain storms, and retreated back to the mainland. It was in those mountains that Gabrian’s ancestors kept the old beliefs alive, keeping their magicks potent as well as revered.

Time marched on… the year is now 1828. The year when Gabrian’s mother, Bella, and father, Victor, left the coven high in the mountains to set sail for the free world… America. They settled down on the outskirts of a little village called Salem, in the state of Massachusetts. Bella and Victor built a small cottage where Bella sold her herbal remedies and Victor sold the game he hunted in the forest. It was the next year that Victor and Bella were blessed with twins… a boy and a girl… Gabrian and Gabrielle.

The family lived together peacefully, making their living off the land, and keeping mostly to themselves. Little did they know of the trouble brewing in the hamlet of Salem. The people became more and more suspicious of Victor and Bella’s association with witchcraft. Shortly after Gabrian and Gabrielle fourth birthday, a few of the residents of Salem came to the cottage and accused Victor and Bella of witchcraft. The young parents were hung on the beautiful willow tree that stood so beautifully next to their small cottage.

Gabrian and Gabrielle were sent to a convent where the nuns cared for them. Despite the nun’s persistence that they accept the catholic religion, Gabrian and Gabrielle stayed secretly devoted to their beloved Goddess of the Moon, knowing one day she would light their way to freedom. That day finally came soon after the twins turned sixteen. Gabrian led his sister out of the convent to flee into the night. They ran away from the convent to the dense wood that surrounded the region.

Gabrian and Gabrielle ran as fast as they could, unbeknownst to them that they were being hunted. Not by the nuns, mind you… but by vampires. Gabrian finally allowed himself and his sister to rest, and they sank down onto the forest floor, their lungs and legs aching from the exertion. Gabrian was just about to drift off to sleep when his sister’s scream woke him with a start. Gabrian looked to see his sister being held up by a demonic, but beautiful woman… a vampiress. Gabrian yelled out his sister’s name as he say Gabrielle’s blood spray about the forest floor. The vampires dropped Gabrielle’s lifeless body to the grass and looked upon Gabrian with hungry… lustful eyes. “You shall make a fine slave…” she said, her voice dark yet harmonic.

Gabrian reached down and lifted up a large tree branch with which tired to hit the vampires. She simply laughed at him as she pulled the branch out of his hands and crushed it in her hands. She grabbed him by the hair and bent his head back, exposing his neck. She plunged her fangs into his jugular and began to drink. Gabrian felt the life slowly ebb from him as the vampires drained his life away.

Just as Gabrian began to feel his soul leave his body, the vampiress stopped her feast, bit into her wrist, and allowed a few drops of her blood to seep into Gabrian’s mouth. Gabrian felt new life again… his face contorted into a demonic grimace… his teeth extended into fangs, and his eyes turned from his gentle violet to a malicious yellow. Gabrian bit into the vampiress’ bleeding wrist and began to drink. That's when a shaft of moonlight fell down upon the glen.

The vampiress pulled her wrist away, stopping the transformation halfway. Gabrian fell to the forest floor as he heard the vampiress flee into the night. He looked to see that his sister’s body gone as well. Gabrian reached up to feel the bite wounds on his neck, but they were gone. He then looked up to the moon to see the most beautiful face he had ever seen… the face of his Goddess… the Lady of the Moon.

It was then that Gabrian knew his purpose was to walk the path that the Lady has set out for him. He traveled many places, seeing people that followed the Lady in order to teach him the ways of the Ancients… the teaching that his parents taught to him as a child. He traveled all over the world… and finally… in the year 1996, Gabrian returned to Salem to find that Witches were now revered there. He soon became Salem’s High Priest, and one of the Elder Witches. He lived here happily… until the year 2000, when the Goddess visited him in a dream.

The Goddess had warned him that the world was due for another dark time… darker than any time the world has yet seen. She told Gabrian to flee into the mountains, like his ancestors did ages ago. So, Gabrian packed a few sets of clothes, grabbed his guitar, and fled into the Appalachian Mountains, where he was led by the spirits of the wind to a low cave… in which he fell into a deep slumber that lasted 40 years.

When Gabrian woke in the year 2040… to find the Earth decimated… all traces of the old magick was gone from the air. Gabrian knew then and there he was to devote the rest of his Dapmhyric life to the preservation of what was left of the old religion, and to begin the healing of the Mother Earth…