Life Story
Page 1
Raffaello was born and raised within the hallowed halls of the Grand Temple of Fidelis, a place steeped in centuries of tradition. By the time he came of age, he had devoted himself to the gods and become one of the devout faithful.
Life at the temple was full of pious faith and boundless compassion. At the same time, nonbelievers were subjected to harsh inquisitions. The sight of it all held no fear for Raffaello. Nor did he feel pity for the heretic. He simply understood that insisting on one's own way within the group would lead to nothing but harm. Raffaello carried himself with polite grace, striving always to earn the favor of all, and he applied himself to his studies with tireless diligence.
In the years of his youth, he found his heart captivated by Evelyn, a woman five years his senior. She became his world, his everything. Years later, they exchanged vows in matrimony.
"It pleases me greatly, Evelyn, that you are my wife."
So spoke Raffaello, a gentle smile upon his face.
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Evelyn, the woman Raffaello took as his wife, was as merciful as a goddess and beloved by all. Raffaello could not help but wonder. Why did his wife direct that beautiful smile at anyone other than him? Raffaello's possessiveness, little by little, became tinged with a growing madness he could not contain.
"My beloved Evelyn is my world-my everything."
"She must be made to feel the same of me. I must guide her rightly."
Whenever Evelyn defied his teachings, Raffaello would brand her in places normally hidden beneath her clothing. He struck her until bruises formed. He cut her hair and tore her nails. And yet, as long as she remained faithful to his teachings, he adored Evelyn to a fanatical degree.
Evelyn, ever obedient, believed that her husband would guide her through her shortcomings as a devout member of the faithful, and she endured his punishments, and eventually lost her life.
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Raffaello resurrected Evelyn, who had died from his punishments, and whenever she broke his teachings, he repeated the punishments until she died yet again. To Raffaello, these were trials meant to lead his wife onto the righteous path. But then it happened: resurrection did not occur, and Evelyn's body crumbled to ash. Raffaello was overcome with sorrow from the depths of his heart, and he rapidly wasted away. With tears in his eyes, he told the others that she was a brave woman who had succumbed to a long and tragic illness. He was so trusted by the faithful that there were none among them who questioned him.
Raffaello, drifting through hollow days, one day heard tales of alchemy from a passing traveler. It was a secret art capable of bringing forth new substances from base materials. Upon hearing the tale, a revelation struck Raffaello, descending upon him like a gift from the heavens.
"With the right materials, perhaps even she, vanished though she is, might be called back into the world of the living."
"Ahhh, Evelyn! Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn. Wait for me.
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Raffaello threw himself entirely into the study of alchemy, devoting all his time and thought to its mysteries. At first, he used remnants left behind in the punishment chamber-Evelyn's blood, hair, torn nails-attempting to resurrect her, but every experiment ended in failure. Next, he added corpses stolen from the Grand Temple to his material components, but once again, Evelyn did not return. Eventually, the priests discovered the stolen bodies, and Raffaello's misdeeds became known to all. The trust he once shared with the faithful crumbled, yet Raffaello no longer cared. Having cast aside all semblance of propriety, he was driven from the temple as a heretical sinner.
On the run, Raffaello slaughtered those pursuers sent to capture him. Then, kneeling in their blood, he thanked his God for granting such useful materials for transmutation.
In pursuit of even-higher forms of alchemy, he hunted down mages; he killed them for their knowledge and spellcraft. He experimented with every dark art at his disposal, even putting his life in danger by carving away parts of his own body for materials, but Evelyn was not brought back to life. His cries of despair echoed beneath a lead-tone sky-raw and utterly alone.
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"If I use a powerful monster as a material component, then perhaps..."
Having tried every method of resurrecting the human body, Raffaello, in a deseperate hope, added the flesh of a dragon to the alchemical array. Then, before his eyes, the transmutation circle flared, bone knitting together, muscle pulsing and growing as the body offered in sacrifice swelled with unnatural life.
"Evelyn...is it you!?"
Raffaello's face lit up, trembling with jubilation. Yet what appeared before him was in the form of a monster. The abomination vanished into the night. Giving chase, Raffaello discovered the monster in none other than their former homeland. The monster had torn through the buildings, including the Grand Tempel of Fidelis, and the faithful were slain to the last.
Raffaello, who had pursued the monster all the way there, was himself devoured by the monster he had summoned in Evelyn's name. And with the death of its creator, the creature, too, fell lifeless.