Aarik Erikson, also Aarik Risktaker.
Aarik. A Gray Mage, Elvish in nature. Controls all three magical energies of the world, Black, White, and Red, the Evil, Good, and Neutral Magics.Calling upon them is the only thing that saves his life.A high elven lad, his parents were killed in a raid by an orcish band. In a fit of rage he unlocked the magic that laid dormant within him, a spell of Color Spray, knocking most of the orcs unconcious. Not content, he released another magickal burst, a large, acidic fog covered the field, the mist eating through the orcs and their armor. Their screams comforted him, as he watched them die, the acidic mist staying away from him and the corpses of his kin. A day later, a roving band of his cousins, Wood Elves, came upon him. They saw the orcs and looked about for the army.They called to Aarik in his own tongue. "What happened here?"
He called back to them, quite mad with his power at this point, "I killed them.All of them.See?They all dead now, torn to shreds." Most of the elves within the back of the war party snickered at the lad. Aarik turned his forceful gaze upon them, another magickal burst erupting from his rage that someone dared doubt his words. One of the elves quite suddenly dropped dead where he stood, not a mark on him. All they saw, and heard, was the single word, the lips of the child moving. "Die." The child had used the powerful Power Word:Kill spell!This was amazing.They approached him cautiously, pointing out many times they were friends. He made no moves to cast spells but also made no moves toward them. The leader of the war party moved to the child, placing a hand on it's shoulder, then lifting him up before he could utter any magickal words. Aarik felt quite powerless, in this much larger elf's rough grasp. They took him back to their city, or rather, outpost, in the forest. The child proved a wonderful asset to them. Every time he saw an Orc he struck it down with a single word. Unbelieving in this child's magical powers, they called one of the more powerful mages of the land, to see if they could get through to the child. The mage entered a small hut with the child, moving toward him gently, speaking words of magic. Spell after spell was flung at the child. Detect Alignment, Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile, Melf's Acidic Arrow, each spell growing in power, being deflected by the child's very being, until the mage reached his highest spell. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. He let it loose toward the child. The same acidic mist Aarik had used against the orcs so effectively filled the tent, shuffling away from both him and the mage. Aarik tilted his head toward the mage. "Wilt." he said simply. A green puff of smoke launched from him, curling around the form of the mage. It exploded into a very concentrated form of the same spell, enveloping the mage's entire body with the mist.The screams were abundant from inside the tent. None of the elves dared approach, except one. A scout. It cautiously opened the tent flap, the acidic mist spewing out from it, though not harming him.The spell unable to harm creatures not hostile to the caster, and in truth, none of the elves were hostile. The scout looked toward the pile of burnt rags, and bones, that was the mage. The scout looked at the child, his brown skin turning white as the blood drained away from his face. He simply turned and ran from the tent, lest the child loose his powerful Magicks upon him as well. Aarik pushed off the chair he had been sitting on, walking past the door of the tent. He simply walked out into that forest, alone. None of the War Elves dared follow. Aarik grew in that wilderness, learned to harness his magick in ways never imagined by conventional wizards. His eyes saw the Black Moon above as clearly as the other two, though he did not think of himself as evil. Somehow, something within him, told him what the moons symbolized. Every orc he passed, however, did not survive the meeting. A single word, a single spell. Disentigrate.Power Word:Kill. Lightning Bolt.Chain Lightning. Magic Missile.Nothing too great or too small, every spell fatal to the target orc. In truth, the Gray Mage had inherited one ranger power, increased damage against a racial enemy.Quite obviously he had chosen orcs to be his special bane, for, after a mere three months in the forest on his own, not a single orc existed for a league in any direction.
Aarik's affiliation with the Erikson clan is out of necessity than any real need.He needed a clan name, and now, knowing nothing of the clan, he has assumed his chosen name, Aarik Xytaris, Aarik Risktaker in the common tongue.
