Welcome to Gaia! ::

Like most Shadar-kai, Anastasia and Lucian were born in the Shadowfell. Their house was among those in Gloomwrought, one of the last Shadar-kai cities. Their father built an empire and became known among nobility. His house was in secret, and not many, even family, truly knew what happened there.

He eventually took a wife. And it wasn't long after that he realized he'd need an heir. His wife gave birth to twins.. and that was when he devised a terribly wicked plan and had the twins bonded by magic, a visage of tattoos completed in each other so that no matter what they could never break away. No one truly knew the reasoning behind why, not even the twins themselves. (And sometimes Anastasia swears that only now some parts of his plans are unraveling..)

The twins grew together for a number of years. They were schooled in private by a number of maids and tutors, kept from anyone near their own age. Taking an interest in his own daughter, their father began to teach Anastasia the ways of magic. She excelled, even by his own hard standards. And so, he finally revealed to her that he was a necromancer and that in time, she too would excel in the dark arts..

Things hadn't stopped there. From that moment on, he used his influence to teach Anastasia everything he could in secret. In public, his daughter was taught how to be a proper lady, how to cook, how to clean, how to take orders, how to properly treat a man... Anastasia did everything she could to please her father, but it was never enough and more often than not she ended up bruised and battered. She kept these secrets even from her own mother and brother, not wanting them to have to also face his wrath for her mistakes.

At about the age of ten, Lucian was ripped out of his bed in the middle of the night and shipped off to private school where he would learn how to became a proper man and heir. Anastasia's own private lessons from their father never stopped and continued to grow worse. It got to a point where he would beat her every night, and upon seeing her mother as a weakness.. he began to drag his wife in front of his daughter and beat her too. He began to whisper to his daughter that he was going to kill her mother and resurrect her as ghoul.. just as he had done to Lucian... Anastasia had no reason to disbelieve him.. and for years grew up believing her brother was dead.

A few years later, their mother told Anastasia the truth and handed her a box of letters that the boy had written to her. Overjoyed, the twins began to write each other in secret. After having lost all sense of hope, it was something that Ana clung to.

At about the age of sixteen, Anastasia met a boy. Despite knowing her father could use this boy against her, they became close. She fell in love with him, and for the first time.. gave herself to him. Sharing her pain with him, she told him things she didn't even tell Lucian. Together they planned to run away and be free of everything that was haunting her.

Then one night, during the beatings, Anastasia saw him. She was beaten to the ground, blood spilling from her wounds when he crouched down, a grin on his face. "Anastasia... did you really think it would be that easy to get away?" The boy's grin was wicked, evil. Her father had used the boy to learn if Anastasia would be faithful. Upon learning of her treachery, he used the boy to sew a seed of distrust so that Ana wouldn't ever leave. And then, picking up his fist, the boy she had loved hit her.. just as painfully as her father would have.

She stopped believing in anything after that point. For a while she even stopped writing to her brother. She became the good daughter that her father was after, doing everything that he wanted without any complaint. She had lost what little bit of her soul she had left and delved deep into despair. However, her father wasn't done with her..

To make a point, one morning her father drug his daughter out of her bed and threw her to the ground. There in front of her was a beaten woman, with her clothing torn off her body. Her father's eyes were livid. "YOU TOLD HER!" His scream was loud and made Anastasia's body tremble. "How dare you! It is not your right, Woman!" The female shuddered, her eyes blood shot as she looked at Anastasia and mouthed how terribly sorry she was. "Don't speak to her!" He kicked her across the ground and she shouted in pain.

"Mother!" Anastasia cried out and ran to her mother's side, picking her up in her arms. Tears were filling her eyes when she saw her father near them. The woman sobbed uncontrollably.

"Be strong, Ana. Remember.. I will always love you and Lucian."

Those were the last words that she heard her mother say. After that moment, her father began kicking and slapping her around until Anastasia saw her mother breath her last breath. Anastasia screamed. The scream was so blood curdling that her tattoos flared in response. As her father began to kick and hit her, finally a hand reached out and grabbed his. There, standing in front of her, was her brother.. a bastion of light filling the room. "You will never hit her again!"

Taking the moment, Anastasia scrambled. She wouldn't let him. She couldn't let him. She wouldn't lose her brother too. Not again. She reached, grabbing a knife as she crept up from behind and plunged it deep through her father's chest, blood spilling out all over her garments. His body heaved and toppled over.. He was dead... finally. Her nightmare was finally over..

However, looking back.. Anastasia knows that powerful necromancers can come back from the dead.. It was too easy... much too easy... Was all of this part of his plan..?