Lenn's Bio
"No one ever promised this life would be a fair
one."
Lenn Shimura
42 years | 6'6'' (193 cm) | Demon Hybrid
Swordsman | Rider | PTSD | Anxiety
|| ORIGIN.
Lenn
was born the only child of James and Akira Shimura. His appearances had come
mostly from his father whether he favored this fact or not, including the
hybrid blood that flows through him. The man was a demon, whom
had successfully hidden from punishment in hell by taking up a mortal
life. In doing so, the man had found himself infatuated with a human woman
during this time. Thus our story begins. What little Lenn
had received from his mother, was her calm, emerald eye color. It was
approaching the age of fifteen when his mother had grown ill, and ultimately
passed away. Lenn faced much abuse the next few years from his father's grief
of his wife's death, and his inability to move forward after it. His true lack
of empathy to whether his offspring was present or not. In the
end, the buildup of this abuse led to the death of the man at the hands of his
own son, whom possessed the same cursed blood in his veins as the man. The next
couple years after he had left what was his home remain vague in his mind. During
this time, when he had traveled off on his own he had learned how to carry a
sword and wield it. He learned self defense. Ultimately, he was
educated on his demonic inheritance and was trained in order to
suppress the biological trait. The man responsible for teaching him said
skills mostly unknown, and never truly brought up.
|| PART I.
Throughout the midpoint of his
life, Lenn had covered some ground in his traveling. He had taken in an
adoptive first son, naming him Cyrus. Not long before this, he found himself
associated with the Warlord Territory, and the vast army within it. Staying in
the Army only for a brief period of time, the territory harbored dangers he had
never faced before, such as the assassins that lingered within the grounds. One
of which he met, was a woman named Shizuka. The two eventually found themselves
in a relationship, and she would later father his second son, Mercer. Among the
dangers of the territory, he came face to face with a monster known as Anubis,
executioner for the Warlords. It was spoken that, to those that were dragged
down into his realm, they were said to never be the same person again, if they
escaped the realm at all. From the struggles and horrors that came from these
years, his dealings with protecting his family and himself wore at his person.
It was some time near the end of
his involvement that devastation occurred: he had lost his first child, Cyrus.
The death lingers heavily on his mind. His relationship would also falter as he
and Shizuka separated with much bitterness as well. As the final blow, from a
fateful encounter with Anubis he found himself among the ranks of those who
were dragged down into the realm the monster commanded. Unspeakable things
occurred during this time, to which, PTSD and anxiety, as well as Night Terrors
gripped him from then onward. He will not speak of it, even in current day.
|| PART II.
Within
the Warlord Territory he had faced demons, men, and monsters alike. However, it
was upon his leaving where he made the fateful step in walking across the
border that brought him into the Nightwing Empire. Within Nightwing he
encountered dragon-kind for the first time, beasts larger in scale than what he
had ever seen in his life. Within the expansive territory, the mountains held
domains of the dragons, each one larger and more dangerous than the next. The
forests housed deer made dangerous by their carnivorous tendencies. The swamps
held beasts most vile in nature, where bones and skulls lined the trees to
their homes. Despite the dangers it came with, Nightwing would prove to be
Lenn’s place of protection, and ultimately, where he settled down and called
home. The dragons were not enemy. They became friend. He no longer feared the
inhabitants of Nightwing (Well… most). He respected them.
During
this time he made a choice that would prove to be the most important commitment
in his life. He had found himself asked for partnership by one of his closest
friends. A dragoness named Skya. Against all phobias of heights and fears of
flying, Lenn accepted, and thus begun flying lessons to become a Rider. Like
most things he had faced, his fear of flight dissipated with time and he
eventually would master the art. The evidence remains in the form of a
tribal-esque mark upon his right arm, hiding just under his sleeve. Skya
remains as Lenn’s oldest remaining friend, his mentor. His watchful guardian.
Even when she is no longer at his side, the two’s connection has remained.
The
Warlord Territory had become eventual ruins. To Nightwing, the great wars were
over and they found themselves in peace. Aside from the demons in his head,
there were no battles to be fought and no war to be waged other than keeping
his children safe and his mind at peace. Concurrently, Lenn gained a new son,
Seere. Related as Mercer’s step brother on Shizuka’s end, when Seere requested
kinship with Lenn, he accepted. During this time, Mercer proved to be the
highest challenge as he tested his father’s patience time and time again.
Eventually he lost contact with his son, whom had went to live with his mother.
It is unknown whatever happened to his son.
|| PART III.
For Lenn, this time of
peace in his life did not only come from the absence of conflict, but also the
addition of something. For it was a second act of fate that he would not be
paying attention in the street, only to be bumped into by the woman that would
be his eventual wife. Suki Kurien. Following their run in, their light
conversation turned into a date to get lunch. That afternoon date turned into
the man walking out of his way to cross paths with her. It turned into him
stopping by her art gallery to visit when he was able. It turned into his
willingness to learn how to cook when she would come over to his home. The two
learned soon enough that each were battling their own demons and instabilities.
It grew more and more evident that their troubles canceled one another out.
From this relationship, a pregnancy would follow. With some initial hardship of
a miscarriage once beforehand, Lenn found himself a father yet again. Suki gave
birth to not one child but two. A set of twins. One girl, one boy; to
which they had named Naomi and Veren. Much like Lenn himself had, they carried
much resemblance to their father.
It
was within the younger years of his children’s upbringing where Lenn’s mindset
had taken a turn for the worse, however. His medicines for schizophrenia were
growing notably less effective. Anubis, the Warlord’s executioner still
lingered about the man for some unforeseeable reason. Upon the edges of his
property. In the trees. Seen in the windows, at night, just watching.
Ultimately, in his mind. Although Suki had no knowing of why he was absent
sometimes for weeks or even a month or so at a time, these two factors served
as the sole reason. To protect his family not only from the monster that
lurked, but to keep his children from witnessing him at his worst. While his
wife remained ever-loving faithful to him throughout this time, eventually he
would distance himself entirely with the belief that his absence would do less
damage than his repeatedly watching his children grow up.
“Death,
in the end, holds dominion over all…”
|| PART IV.
The
night prior, Lenn sat beside Skya. As they spoke he had been laughing, rambling
under his breath about how he had been a fool for so many years, thinking of
the things they had done. He had been ill in health for some time, as his body
no longer held the strength to fight off the world around it. He thought about
his comrades, enemies, past lovers, his wife, and his children. To these
thoughts he exhaled. He was content. He had not been for quite some time. He
spent this lingering time with his oldest friend in this world, until he felt
the need for rest and his tiredness took him. He let himself lean back and
close his eyes, only to never open them again. Lenn died at age 72
without knowing what had happened to his children, survived by his wife, Suki
Shimura whom he loved very much.
“…but
demons can break rules. And that’s part of their charm.”
|| PART V.
Lenn
should have passed. His soul should have vanished from this world. He should
have remained where he had been buried, along the outskirts of the old Shimura
house. But he didn’t. It was mere months after his passing that barbed wire
tendrils had torn upwards through the ground. Being the work of Anubis, it
seemed that the executioner's connection with the man persisted even in death.
Returned to the state he had last entered Anubis’ realm, Lenn awoke at age 42
and in disorientation. Years upon years would pass. Minutes on the outside
would feel like hours within the realm. For what seemed like an eternity after
waking up in the dreaded world, Lenn from them on would do what he possibly
could in order to survive. Aided by the katana that had been mistakenly dragged
down as well from his resting place, this meant to stay alive. To keep moving.
In the executioner's realm, the
sky was darkened like an ink washed presence above, with the dim circular patch
of red that hung in the sky. The grass stood nearly knee high, blades sharp,
rust colored like much of the scenery. The forest depths a labyrinth to those
that enter. The buildings and structures within parts of the realm stood tall,
decrepit. Their corridors and undergrounds were home to monstrous beings
ranging and varying in size and grotesqueness. A constant feeling of dread
emanated from the world itself, like a heavy gravity upon its residents. In
this world, no wounds were to heal, and death was an ideal that simply would
not occur.
Years
upon years passed, all relative in this dark world. It passed by substantially
slower, as minutes were to feel like hours in the foreign hell. Lenn lingered
as a traveler, never stopping for long, keeping constant vigil on his
surroundings. Avoiding crossing paths with Anubis wherever he could. Soon as
time went on, the longer he remained in the realm, the smaller monstrous
creatures grew less and less offensive as Lenn became a notable threat. By the
final ‘days’ he spent in the realm, nearly all inhabitants but Anubis himself would
no longer confront him. And so, he faced the executioner. The fight between the
two spanned onwards through all tiredness on Lenn’s part, sword against
massive, rusted sword. Within the real world, the executioner would have fled
to the realm. Healing, regenerating, until ready to return. Within the realm
itself, this was not the case. By the end, after years of tyranny, the monster
would finally be put to death by Lenn. He knows not whether the monster truly
disappeared, but in his mind he has told himself so.
|| PART VI.
In
winning, he gained many things. For one, a piece of his sanity was returned as
his mind was put to rest from the Night Terrors and paranoia the brute had
caused him. Secondly, without its master, the realm around Lenn soon dissipated
to return him to the 'real' world. He woke up just where he lay the last time
he exited the realm, upon the ground not far from the old house. Finally, he
found himself returned to the younger age in which he had been restored to from
his last encounter. It is unknown whether he has become immortal or not.
However, one could assume his aging is based upon the rate of time within the
realm, from his long-term exposure there. His swordsmanship is now honed from
what had been practically a century trapped, in the timeline of the real world.
What can be said for certain, is that he is very much in the flesh. No longer
prohibited by the damage Anubis had caused on his mentality, his inability to
sleep faded with the realization that he had bettered the demon, once and for
all.
"There is no home to be had in an empty shell."
||
PART VII.
Since his
return to the mortal world, Lenn had done his best to resume. Much of the world was foreign. He had to catch up with technology, reclaim a residence to stay in.
In this time, he resided alone in an apartment within the city where the
door was kept firmly locked. He had to re-learn some of the landscape both in
Nightwing and the neighboring city that was made to be home. The old Shimura house
remains empty to this day. Along with gaining a "semi-normal" life, Lenn made efforts
to reach out to whatever family that remains. He wrestled with the grief of his
wife Suki's passing, knowing the woman loved him despite all of his wrongdoings and instabilities in the end. He was forced to make peace with the fact that his guardian Skya
was in slumber within the mountains of Nightwing. He has made no
connections with Veren, nor the grandchildren in which he has been informed of. Primarily, he was given the opportunity to once again see his only daughter, Naomi. Being only a small portion of her life
growing up, he did not take her acceptance of him being around for granted.
“No one ever promised whether we make it out alive.
No one promised it was worthwhile when we do.”
An uneventful evening in his quiet apartment set the course for what would be one the disappearance of Lenn Shimura leading up to present day. Not much can be said about what he felt, or what happened after the fact when dragoness Skya had passed on and left the shrine within her den flourishing with life in her wake. All that was left of the man can be found as a broken coffee mug that had scattered about the apartment floor that was now abandoned. Found by his old friend and fellow Rider Spencer, it marked the end of the dragoness' life before the white haired man could discover for himself. Upon reaching Skya's shrine he came to discover the black coat that was once worn incessantly by Lenn, folded up neatly within the cavernous room. Alongside it was the sheathed sword that had kept him safe for so many years.