Setting & World Info
Alice was born as a boy named Lucifer, a child sent by the heavens to the legendary hero Ulrich to help guide mankind as his adopted son, a messianic figure for the world. A child born without sin, who would bring mankind to its enlightenment...
Of course, that was all false. In truth, Lucifer was the child of Ulrich and a demon woman, hidden in the human world to learn more about them. They fell in love, and the woman bore a child... But Ulrich was unmarried, so could not publicly admit to a child without causing a scandal. So he proclaimed that he found the child in the wilderness, sent from the heavens. In truth, Lucifer was simply a child- Pointed ears and odd markings around his eyes aside, he wanted nothing more than to make his father happy. He fully believed the stories that had been told about him, even if he didn’t remember them, and so he believed it his solemn duty to help people.
But when he displayed special powers none understood, it became a sign of his holy nature- A miracle. In truth, this was nothing more than magic, but none understood it- Demons had their own form of magic, and humans had their own, but a half-demon hadn’t been born in so long, none knew what to make of this magic. So it was called his miracles.
It was then his father gave him a mission- To wear a mask, and to go use his miracles to chaos and destruction at certain places. Lucifer was horrified that such a thing would be asked, but his father soothed his worries- He wasn’t going to hurt anyone, just frighten them. They were people who didn’t believe in the church, so it was better to scare them into joining the church so they’d receive the church’s blessings and protections, instead of just letting them be helpless when real threats came, right? Of course, his father knew best, so Lucifer put aside his worries and did what was asked of him.
But as he grew older, he continued to have doubts. Then, finally, he worked up the nerve to tell his father than he believed this method of converting people was wrong… but his father beat him to the punch. Ulrich told Lucifer that his last attempt to scare people had gone too far, and someone had died. And that being the case… Well, since Lucifer was already a murderer, he may as well continue to assassinate people for the church, so no one else has to get blood on their hands, right? And Lucifer, still a child, was horrified and traumatized by this enough that he agreed. And so he wore the mask of the messiah, the holy child by day, and by night, he wore the mask of the devil, a demon who killed without remorse, at his father’s orders.
As an older teen, Lucifer was sent out once more on a task- An agent of the church, Aran, was infiltrating a party to retrieve an artifact, warded against those of ill intent. They needed a party, pure of heart but also stupid enough to not ask questions, and Aran had found it- An alchemist in training, Sophie, a mage named Lucille, Valencia the knight, and a ranger who had fled from military academy, Marie. With Aran retrieving the artifact from them, it should have been simple.
But somehow, it wasn’t. When Lucifer donned his demon’s mask and fought the party, their power of teamwork fought back, driving Lucifer back. And their loud concern for Aran, failing to realize he had betrayed them, confused him. The way the party cared for each other, even though they had not been together long, confused Lucifer, awakening strange feelings in him.
It was his eighteenth birthday when he returned to Ulrich to report his failure. And as he waited, he overheard something- His father, talking to another. Speaking of ‘Lucifer’s mother’. Which shouldn’t be possible- He was a holy child sent from heaven, so he shouldn’t have had a mother, right? Upon confronting his father, Ulrich finally revealed the truth- Not only was Lucifer the product of the union between a human and a demon, but now that Lucifer had failed, and knows too much, it was time for Lucifer to become a martyr. With nothing else to do beyond allow himself to be killed or escape, Lucifer fled.
But Lucifer was far too famous. Unable to hide as himself, in pure desperation, Lucifer awakened the power of his mother- Though weakened and diluted, as only a half-demon, his mother was still a shapeshifter. And so Lucifer used that same power, taking on a new body to hide in- A female body. She reasoned to herself it would be much easier to hide in… And tried, for a time, to deny that she was much, much happier this way. That didn’t last long.
Speaking of things that didn’t last long, her hiding didn’t either! It was a scant few months- Using her magic and her experience in causing destruction and chaos, she instead reapplied those skills, along with some training from those she passed on the road, to act as a traveling doctor. Fueled by guilt, she at least wanted to save as many lives as she had taken. And for a time, though as guilt-driven as she was, she had found a measure of peace. Naturally, that was when the very same party she had betrayed before came to her in a panic, begging for help. One of their number- Sophie, the alchemist- had been injured, rather badly, and none of the others in their party had the means to heal her.
Of course, Alice was terrified. Though there was no way they could recognize Alice, or connect her to the person who had betrayed them, she nonetheless believed they knew, and were here to make her pay for her crimes. So she treated Sophie’s wounds, with bandages and medicine and a bit of healing magic, and attempted to leave. But the party wouldn’t let her, and basically dragged her along until she would accept some kind of payment.
Alice, fearing this was a trap, snuck away in the night, and was gone for merely a couple of days. However, at the next town, she was careless. In her haste to get away from the party, she hadn’t covered up her ears as well as she should have, and her pointed ears, along with the markings around her eyes, led some rowdy people from the village to realize she was a demon. Or, half-demon, at least- But they recognized the pointed ears from the ‘demon’ who had attacked their village to make them join the church, and no one seemed to notice or care that Lucifer had also had those ears. Recognizing her as a demon, they attacked her.
She finally simply resigned herself, giving up to let the village take her life, if that’s what they wanted. But then the party showed up, and protected her, completely misunderstanding why she had fled in the night. The party swore to Alice they would protect her, and no one would hurt her just for who she was. Even though they didn’t know who she really was, she ended up crying anyway, and joined the party officially.
It was here the party shared their quest, and Alice was surprised, and horrified- Even she hadn’t known just how deep Ulrich’s plot went. He was collecting artifacts, using the power of the entire church, to collect… Something strange. Pieces of a suit of armor, it seemed- Beyond that, it was an armor that could even restrain the gods. Ulrich, they had discovered, was intending to summon the god Caleigh to the earth, and then use the armor to seal the god inside himself, to stay in control but to have all of the god’s powers for his own. Alice was horrified, but couldn’t bear to reveal her true identity now especially.
It is here the bulk of the story happens, but Alice is mostly peripheral to it. The party quests to find the remaining relics, and they mostly succeed. The Church’s minions get a couple, and they encounter a few of the Legendary Heroes in the process, but they always manage to escape. Aran rejoined the party, this time as an ally as well. This continued for long enough for the party to settle into a steady rhythm, and it seemed all would go well. Ulrich would never assemble the full armor, so his plot would end in failure, and they would surely find a way to expose to the public what kind of person he truly was--
But that all ended when Ulrich made an appearance in person. Clad in full armor, wielding his own sword from his days as a hero, his pressure was too much for the party to bear. Especially Alice- One look at her, and Ulrich understood. He understood everything. She couldn’t escape. She could never escape him.
Her trauma, her terror, her fear, her desire for his love, everything took over. Without any will of her own, like a puppet, she took the pieces of the armor and handed them over to Ulrich, who proceeded to fight the party.
It was almost overwhelming. The party would have been wiped out without a chance to resist, had it not been for Alice. Not because she did anything, but just the opposite- Ulrich ordered Alice to fight, and she couldn’t. She was unable to act, like she was broken, and Ulrich decided to make the most of it and to just kill her there. It was then the party sprang into action, to save Alice, who couldn’t fight back.
Somehow, the party managed to repel Ulrich- Or rather, they took Alice and ran, abandoning the pieces of the armor that Alice had given up. And they fled, successfully, as they were simply less important to him than the armor.
From there, nothing seemed to go well. The party attempted to steal the pieces back, or recover the last few pieces, and failed. It soon came to light that the party simply would not be able to stop them, or defeat Ulrich. They could not even approach Ulrich to fight, as the legendary heroes had some manner of divine protection. It was impossible, and so the party searched for a way to fight him.
There were several character side-plots here. Marie grew to distrust Alice, with Alice’s true identity revealed, until Alice could prove herself. Lulu’s lost mother, Lunetha, was found, and sacrificed herself for the party. Aran rescues his self-charged charge, the blind prophetic street urchin Celadon.
Upon Lunetha’s sacrifice, though, it was revealed to the party that Lunetha had been Leta’s high priestess. And her sacrifice had managed to strip the divine protection from the remaining five heroes. No longer untouchable, they could find the chance to defeat these false heroes, if they were strong enough.
Ulrich had collected the entire armor, but the party had broken his protections. And so, the party climbed the mountain towards the Great Temple of Ahlhal, where Ulrich watched over the world to watch people doing pilgrimages for the sake of his power, ready to fight him and end his schemes.
