Backstories

The children in the town gather around a child. A child that has been blessed with a gift from his father, who he must never speak of. He sits on the floor, smiling while from his hands comes a bone. He places the bone on the floor and manipulates it, making it into a sword that stands almost as big as him. The adults start to gather behind the children, creating a circle around him.
“That’s our protege child!”
Everyone around him watches as he continues to create these bone weapons, continuously producing bone from himself.
One of the men in the crowd pushes through and places his hand on his shoulder.
“Valak, when you feel light-headed, you can stop, you don’t need to keep doing this.”
“It’s okay, I can do this. If I don’t, next time when the Knights of the Blue Rose attack again, we might not survive.”
“well, don’t exhaust yourself too much. Tomorrow you’re to attend the ceremony. And please be careful not to cut yourself.”
Despite Valak’s young age, he had a desire to protect the village he lived in, along with all of his friends and his mother. For years, the Knights of the Blue Rose have raided and attempted to concur what’s left of Red Rose. But, every time they have tried, they have been pushed back by a mercenary group called The Band of the Red Bloods, whose reputation has become almost legendary.

The next day, Valak prepares himself for the ceremony. A secret festival that occurs every year to worship their God. A God that is looked down upon by the whole realm except by those who follow him. They are to celebrate Yōkai, the God of absolute freedom.  The village uses this ceremony to welcome those that have turned sixteen into adulthood.
As he walks toward the secluded cave where the ceremony is held, he can hear moans, cheers, and screaming. A mixture of emotions runs through him. He doesn’t know what to expect. Anything that anyone has ever desired is being done inside that cave right now and he is about to walk in the middle of it. Behind him are other children, and some his friends, that are also attending. They all look at each other before heading inside. Once they step in and walk deeper within the cave, they’re greeted by a man in amour holding one of Valaks blades.
“Valak! Welcome to your first ceremony.”
He opens a wooden door that is behind him, letting all of the children through.
“Enjoy.”
The door closes behind them and they are faced with all of the desires of the village. There are too many things to look at at once. Some men and women are having sex, some are fighting with their knuckles bloody, and others are drinking ale and singing songs of the Blood Valkyries. At the back wall of the cave is an altar with people kneeling in front of it. On top of the alter is a transparent egg the size of a wooden shield. Inside is a pure white baby that doesn’t move an inch.
When everyone in the cave notices that they have arrived, they all stop and join those praying, whether that be naked or not. A man steps up to the alter.
“Children, you’ve arrived! We will now commence the coming-of-age ceremony. Please, line up in front of this altar.”
Valak stands in line with the rest of them.
“One by one, come up and hold out your hand, I will draw blood and feed it to the baby of Yōkai.”
They do as he said, one by one they walk up to the altar and hold their hand out, the man cuts it and the blood drips down onto the egg. As soon as the blood touches the egg, it swirls like blood in water.
“Now, for our protégé, the now man who will protect this town and all of Red Rose in the future.”
Valak steps up to the altar and hesitates.
“It’s okay Valak, this is your own bone blade, it won’t hurt. You’re a fine craftsman. I will just prick you so you don’t bleed too much.”
He holds out his hand and the man pricks his finger. Valak flinches and his blood drips onto the egg. The man instantly wraps a bandage around his finger. Unlike the others, his blood doesn’t flow into the egg, instead, it continues to drip down the side. Everyone is in awe.
“I will try the other hand.”
Valak holds out his other hand and the same thing happens.
People begin to murmur.
“Valak was rejected.”
“Yōkai doesn’t approve.”
The man who pricked him looks at him with a disapproved look.
“We thought you were the one.”
As they all begin to shout at Valak, underneath their voices, the sound of cracking can be heard. The transparent egg has hatched. Everyone stops and stares. The white baby falls to the ground lifeless and slowly turns into a puddle of blood. Everyone begins to charge at Valak. The man next to him grabs him and Valak pushes him to the floor and tries to run but slips in the puddle. When he falls, he tries to break his fall with his hands and lands in the puddle again. Without him realizing it, his bandage comes off and his blood is mixed in with the puddle. When everyone reaches the altar people start to swing his own bone blades at him. He hears someone in the crowd of people.
“Cut him once and he’ll be done for! He has the disease of the Royals!”
He quickly stands up and tries to run out but the front is surrounded. He begins to feel his skin burn but can’t stop now. He feels someone grab his arm and pick him up. It’s his mother, she shields him from their attacks and runs out of the cave.
“I’ve got you Valak.”
She runs as fast as she can while she’s still being chased. Valak starts to cry. He looks at his hand and his skin begins to peel.
“What’s happening?!”
His screams get louder and louder.
Valak looks at his mother’s back while she holds him and it’s all cut and bleeding from shielding him. He pushes off of her and falls to the ground.
“Valak, we need to run!”
“You’re hurt because of me!”
“It’s fine! Let’s just go!”
He hides his hand from his mother but he can feel his skin being to peel all over. His clothes slowly burn off leaving him naked on the floor. His mother grabs him again and runs into the woods.
“Just hold on tight, when we get to safety, we’ll work out what’s happening to you.”
He starts to hold his mother tighter and tighter. Suddenly she falls on top of him.
“Mother!”
He gets out from under her and her back is filled with blood. His crying hasn’t stopped. He turns his mother over and her chest is caved in. He killed his mother. That blood on her back also isn’t hers, it’s his. His skin is no longer skin. Its flesh. His skin had peeled leaving him a flayed man. The people chasing them finally reach They stop and look in shock as he is sat on the floor weeping over his mother’s corpse. He looks them at them with so much hate that some take a step back out of fear.
“This boy has killed the son of Yōkai and his own mother! And look at him! A flayed man with hemophilia. We should put him out of his misery now!”
Valak stands up and out of his hand comes a bone sword. He plants his foot in the ground and rushes toward the group of people. The ground below him cracks and creates a hole in his wake. Dirt flies  everywhere and Valak unleashes all of his emotions upon the worshipers of Yōkai. One by one he slices them into unrecognizable parts. He uses all of his strength, with every swing that hits the ground, it cracks and creates a small crater. Every time his bone sword breaks, either from hitting the ground, hitting one of his bone swords that the villagers use or from the impact of someone’s skull; he creates a new one. Each sword slowly getting harder and harder to create. Throughout his massacre, he slowly makes himself amour wherever he is about to be hit. He runs through the people like they’re nothing but dust in the air. The screams and cries of the wounded alert the rest of the village, who run towards them. The villagers think that the Knights of the Blue Rose are attacking and they prepare for a battle. They ready their weapons as they see blood fly and splatter everywhere. When Valak finishes off the last of the Yōkai, an arrow is shot by one of the villagers straight towards his head. He creates his helmet just in time and the arrow hits, not even creating a dint. The villagers then all begin to release their arrows. Valak is so enraged that he can’t even think. All he sees is red. He slowly walks towards the villagers while the arrows bounce off his armour. When he reaches them, the person directly in front release an arrow point blank and it does nothing. He looks into Valak’s eyes and realizes who he is.
“Valak?”
Valak grabs him by the throat and squeezes as hard as he can, his throat bursts and his head rolls off. Everyone begins to attack. With one swing of his sword, Valak cut four men in half. His massacre has not ended yet. He cuts, bashes, and minces the villagers until there is nothing left but pools of blood and fragments of bone.

The village is quiet. Valak takes a second to indulge in the silence before looking at what he has left in his wake. Craters riddle the ground; all of the grass is ripped up and trees have been broken at the base. No one in the village is left but him. He walks toward the woods where he left his mother’s body and as he walks, it sounds as if he is walking through a swamp. Each step is a squish and his foot is being driven into the wet ground from the amount of blood that’s watered the dirt. Once he reaches his mother, her corpse is gone. Nothing is left but a crater stained with blood. When he charged at the Yōkai he hadn’t realized his strength and vaporized his mother. He’s left with nothing. He has taken everything from himself. He has created his own worst nightmare. He looks down at his body and between the armour that he made, he bleeds without it stopping. He thought to himself that he should be dead. He tries to make a bone sword with all of his strength but nothing come out of his hand. His breed has been replaced. He walks to his house and into his mother’s quarters. He opens a chest where his mother had kept the bone weapons that Valak’s father had made for her. He picks them up and begins to leave the village. Nothing is here for him anymore. He’s destroyed everything and everyone that he has ever cared about. His journey will be filled with the pain of carrying his sins beneath his bone amour until the day he dies.