The Assassins

Creighton's earliest memory is when he lived with his Uncle Bray and Auntie Adai in the small village of Three-Trees east of Niole Dra the capital city of the Kingdom of Keoland. He worked as a kitchen/stable hand in their tavern - The Traveller's Rest. Uncle Bray and Auntie Adai weren't his real family, of this he was certain. They were dark-skinned, obese people as were each of their six children while Creighton was tall, fair and gangly.

His early life was one of misery and pain; he was constantly beaten and abused. He slept in the stables and ate the food scraps that customers had left the night before. He was forced to work hard but accepted his plight and, by the age of ten, he knew no better life. Any memories of his natural parents had faded and soon he began to welcome Auntie Adai's daily beatings - any contact was better than none... Cody, the eldest of the children, was perhaps his only friend but even he bashed and tormented him. Cody was the first person to discuss his left eye. "Did ya know ya eyeball is milky white and it aint got a black thingy?" When Cody covered Creighton's right eye he discovered that he couldn't see. This came as a shock to him and gave Cody and the other children a great source of amusement. He was quickly labelled a freak and retard and was forced to always play the 'One-eyed pirate' in the other children's games.

Creighton was about fifteen when the fire began. The stables burned while he slept and when he did wake - coughing in the smoke - he discovered that the flames surrounded him. His bedclothes and nightshirt were already burning but he felt no pain. It was with some surprise that he noticed he could see clearly through the flames and smoke - in fact he could see with his supposedly blind left eye. Creighton stumbled, shocked and amazed, out of the stable leaving the burning horses and carts behind. Only two people saw him leave the burning stable - Uncle Bray and a stranger.

Uncle Bray blamed Creighton for the fire and began whipping him with his cane. People from the village started putting out the fire in the hope to save The Traveller's Rest from a similar fate. Later that night, as he lay battered and bruised in the orchard, the stranger approached and asked how he had managed to survive the flames - Creighton told him that he didn't know. The stranger sized him up; feeling his biceps, shoulders and thighs. Seemingly satisfied, he asked Creighton to accompany him back to his home where he would be cared for and treated like an equal. Before he could answer he lead him into The Traveller's Rest and let him watch as he cut Auntie Adai's and Uncle Bray's throats. Creighton felt strangely liberated - years of pent up hatred for these people being released in two deft slashes of the stranger's dagger.

The stranger invited Creighton to join him, and his Family, where "no one will be your master, no one will bash you and you'll learn to become a professional warrior". Like most children he had fantasised of one day becoming a knight, astride a valiant charger, battling to overcome the dark legions from The Abyss. This seemed to be an opportunity - and he accepted it wholeheartedly. As it turned out he was groomed to be an agent of darkness, an assassin. He was given the best training, the best equipment and even taught how to read and write - something Creighton thought was reserved for nobility. The stranger was a 'talent scout' for the Family and, when he saw Creighton exit the burning stables, he decided to recruit him. The tutors on the Island where he trained were unable to shed any light on his left eye other than to tell him it was magical and gave him immunity to the effects of fire. Where it came from, and how he got it, no one knows...

He quickly grew in size and stature and excelled in his lessons graduating first in his year. To this day he does not know how he came to live with Auntie Adai and Uncle Bray. He also has no idea where he came from - though his olive skin indicates the North Western Regions. In addition to normal 'fighter' training, he was also trained in the art of stealth and tracking.