Born into house Rubinfeuer, Ceribu was always a more muted child. His firered hair inviting attention, altough he always enjoyed the opposite. Everyone in his family had quite a temper, especially the men.
During his childhood, he didn't py a lot and focused on reading and learning proper etiquette from Mort, his butler. Mort is a taller man with dark gray hair who caries himself with the properness his position demands.
Ceribu's father, Lucius, tall and with long firered hair, is a noble warrior in the king's army. He cares deeply for his son, but struggles to express it, due to his own upbringing. Knowing that his future had to lie with the sword, he trained Ceribu from age 6 in the hopes to bring glory to their house one day.
But against all odds, Ceribu developed magical abilities at the age of 10, most children would have gained theirs at age 7, if at all. His father, not wanting to accept this, demanded he forget about magic and ordered the swordmaster to continue training his son.
By age 11 magic was but a faint memory in his head, as none in his family practiced it. He continued researching the bde as to not disappoint, but struggled to grasp certain techniques. His biggest breakthrough had been a movement technique that he acquired not long after his birthday.
[Illusion Dash] (Rank F)Dash forward as a blur, your form wavers back and forth, but your overall position remains the same.Range dependand on skill. "Blurryness" dependand on skill level.
After unlocking it, he rushed to tell his father, but he was in a meeting with the other well dressed nobles, talking about the ever approaching graduation ceremony and the following friendly tournament of the houses.
"I am telling you, his majesty might not be able to attend the ceremony." A man, wearing an ornate white suit with golden patterns, said annoyed, as if he was repeating himself.
"Isn't there anything we can do? Are you sure he won't get better, Xarnas?" Lucius said, trying to hide his worry for the king, with mixed results.
"What if he passes? Who will lead the kingdom? Surely not his useless son!" Another man, wearing an ornate green suit with orange petals, said with a hint of utter bewilderement of the idea.
"Shush, can't you see the child of Lucius? What if he starts insulting the prince, due to your 'joke'?" A woman in a blue dress said, annoyed by the insult to the prince.
"He would never! My son probably has better manners than all of your brats, Cecilia!" Lucius almost shouted, struggling to cool his temper."Now if you'll excuse me for a moment." He added, while moving towards Ceribu and guiding him out of the hall and closing the door.
"What is it my son? Did something happen?" Lucius said as calm as he could, as to not let his festering anger control him.
"Oh father, I have gained a movement technique!" Ceribu shouted enthusiastically, "Can I show you?".
"That is great news, I was beginning to worry you were not meant for the sword." Lucius said, his temper cooled, getting infected by his sons enthusiasm.
When Ceribu wasn't even 12 for a month, the king died suddenly and his only son took to the throne. The new king was a brute, measuring strength only in physical ability, decring that all noble houses had to keep the standard high and only produce the strongest fighters.
He wouldn't even have bothered giving his father a proper burial, if he wasn't pressured by the masses. In accordance to his new rules for the noble houses, he decided that the friendly tournament be repced with a competetive one, to see which bloodlines were privileged enough to stay on top of the commonfolk and which needed to be weeded out.
During Ceribu’s graduation ceremony, a few months ter, the tournament was held and the amount of pressure on the young nobles grew to an almost unbearable degree. As an only child, he was the only chance his family had to keep their title and prestige. While other houses had multiple children that could help protect their position, Ceribu had to train extra hard the past months, in order to not disappoint his father.
A lot weighed on his shoulders that day. The contestants were not allowed to watch the fights, as to not gain an advantage over potential opponents. His first match was the third in line, against Xernias Diamantfrost, son of that Xarnas, Ceribu assumed.
He was led through a big stone corridor, leading towards the inside of the arena. The arena was decorated with many pilrs and stands for spectators to sit. It had two entrances, one on either side.
As Ceribu walked towards the light of the center, he saw Xernias, a young child roughly his age, cd in a white combat robe.
The robes were simple, padding near the legs and torso, soft shoulder pads and a hood. Light, practicle and sturdy.
As the announcer opened the fight, Xernias sprinted towards Ceribu, who quickly activated his only skill and became a blur. His opponent momentarely froze up, as if he had something in his eyes, but managed to block the attack in the nick of time.
"Is that all you got?" He uttered, trying to provoke Ceribu.
"Watch out behind you?" Ceribu responded, causing Xernias to look behind himself and be hit by an attack from the front. "Falling for that old trick?" Ceribu mused.
"Screw you!" Xernias roared, preparing an attack. "Take that!".
A bde of pure light began to fly towards Ceribu, who activated his dash, causing him to blur once more, barely dodging the bde and hitting Xernias another time.
Xernias began to pant and blood seeped out of his nose. "Enough!" the announcer shouted, "Winner is Ceribu Rubinfeuer!".
Ceribu let out a sigh of relieve and began scanning the croud, hoping to spot his father. "Well done son!" he heard from the other side from where he was looking. There he was, Lucius, cheering and cpping.
After the croud calmed down, he went back through the corridor, awaiting his next match.
His next match went much the same way, but his opponent couldn't even block one attack and went down so fast, Ceribu barely recalls what they looked like.
Three more Matches passed and Ceribu won each one of them. Feeling confident he examined the fight schedule.
His next fight would be against Xernias' brother Xylon, or so he assumed, as they shared the same name and overall looks.
"You embarassed my brother and in extension our house" Xylon shouted, while pointing his bde towards him.
As soon the fight started, Xylon disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of dust. "Huh" Ceribu muttered, while looking for him.
He started hearing a distant 'wooshing' coming from above and growing louder fast. Ceribu wasted no time and started running to the edge of the arena, in his desperate attempt to avoid his opponents attack.
Xylon nded only a few meters behind Ceribu with a loud bang. As Ceribu looked at him, he noticed that he was sluggishly trying to raise back up, using this opportunity, he used his dash and raced towards Xylon, hitting him square in the jaw.
Xylon fell and kept ying there for a few seconds before Ceribu was decred the victor of this match.
Ceribu started to get overly confident at this point and decided to not immediately use his skill when the fight began, as to give a chance to his unfortunate opponent.
Next he went up against Cudine Obsidianbruch, a girl cd in a bck battle robe. As the fight began, Cudine began to sparkle and reflect light in all directions. One beam hit Ceribu right in the eyes, blinding him momentarely.
"Ah" he yelped, as he was hit in the stomach by the hilt of her sword. He fell over and lost consciousness.
After a few hours he came to his senses, just to be told that the tournament was ending soon and all his fights were cancelled.
Ceribu came in 8th out of the 10 current noble houses, even if only for the fact that he was an only child, and so only one loss could be attributed to his house.
His family has been branded as weak. Annoyed by the overall performance during the tournament, the king, Xavier Goldhammer Eisenfaust II, gave a tired speech:
“This here spectacle was a disgrace to Goldhammer, the kingdom shaped by my ancestors' tears, sweat and blood.” he said before taking a deep breath. “The two weakest houses will be stripped of their titles and be required to serve as the frontline in any battles to come. In addition, the next 3 will have to fight again in 3 years time, to show their worth to me and my kingdom. Only the victor’s family will be allowed to retain their title. Until then their titles will remain, as to give proper incentive to improve. Lastly, not even the highest ranking families will be spared from my probing eye. If you fail me once, the future of your family is sealed in blood.” he spoke without pausing.
"Away with you.” he commanded with finality.
Ceribu looked for his father, but could not find him in the crows. After a while, he decided to head home.
Back home, Lucius demanded Ceribu come see him. “You failed our family, but in his majesty’s ‘grace’, not all hope is lost.” he spoke almost frantic. “You must travel and improve, in order to beat the other competing families. Three years are not long, Ceribu. Improve or our family is doomed.”.
Ceribu went to his quarters and id down on his bed, thinking his father was just exaggerating. The next morning arrived zily and even before breakfast, a filled travelpack was shoved into his hands by Mort. “Young sir, master Lucius has commanded me to pack this back for you and escort you off the premises.” Mort spoke softly, with a hint of regret in his voice.
“But-” Ceribu tried to interject, but was quickly silenced by another butler pcing a sword on top of the pack. “Please leave willingly, I have never seen the master so distraught and I don’t know what he will do.” The butler almost pleaded.
"Tell father I will try to sent letter at least." Ceribu said, as he left the premises of his home, House Rubinfeuer.
