AND THE SKY WENT RED

A warrior born and bred for battle, Dalibor spent the first few years of his life bathing in the blood of his vanquished enemies. But war and death can only sustain a man for so long, and the barbarian of a Pegasus found his violent heart tamed by a beautiful mare. Allana was his opposite in every way, kind where he was harsh, clever where he was straightforward, beautiful where he was rough edges and scars, and compassionate where he was unmerciful. Her gentle nature and radiant beauty soothed his angry soul and he pursued her passionately.

The pinnacle of Dalibor’s existence came when Allana became pregnant with his child, and the warring Pegasus vowed to be the best father he could possibly manage. He devoted his entire self to his family and the love he held for his unborn child was only rivaled by the love in his heart for his mate. But fate was not to be kind.

In a horrific battle of piercing horn and beating wings, Paladin the Valiant, son of the Crimson King Riekahn, murdered Allana and cost Dalibor not only his mate, but his child that had yet to taste life. Broken and empty, stripped of everything he loved and held dear, Dalibor vowed with every hateful, vengeful sinew in his body that he would not rest until he had repaid Paladin in full for his crime and taken the Unicorn’s life.

That was years ago. Paladin escaped Dalibor’s bitterly murderous grasp and eluded the stallion, despite his best efforts. Over time his hatred for the single, dark Unicorn morphed into an abiding, simmering distaste for all horned ones bordering on outright loathing. When Allana was murdered, Dalibor left and traversed the skies for weeks, stopping only to feed and rest. His aimless flight brought him to the land of Anrior, where Pegasi were slaves to Unicorns. A broken will and utter exhaustion from malnourishment and lack of sleep saw him fight this enslavement with only the feeblest of resistance – but it did not take long for his warrior’s spirit to return. Worked mercilessly under the hot sun, Dalibor’s mind warped everything around him. He was a slave to the horned ones, the horned ones who were responsible for the death of his family. The humiliation could go on no longer.

On a cold winter’s morning, Dalibor murdered his master in his sleep, though when faced with the master’s mate and young filly, the Pegasus withheld his violence. Fleeing and taking to the skies once more, Dalibor drifted from band to band of roaming Pegasi, loaning himself as a mercenary for hire. One such job found him wiping out a coastal settlement of Unicorns and razing their home to ashes – an unfulfilling act of vengeance against the wrongs perpetrated upon him by the horned beasts.

Still a wanderer, and finding himself without purpose, Dalibor has chanced upon the borders of Helovia and wonders if perhaps half a decade of exile, murder and plotting revenge that he will never see has finally come to an end.