This is a story of a man who went from rags, to riches, and back to rags, a story of glory and betrayal. This is the story of Lupus Nocte. Gabriel Lupus stands 5’10” and weighs a near 180 lbs. He is a handsome fellow with short black hair and bright blue eyes, but don’t underestimate him for his looks for he is a very smart man knowing many things in a variety of fields. Gabriel can just about talk his way into or out of anything. He is an all around multi-talented man; he is skilled in combat, stealth, and even rhetoric.
Gabriel was a skilled archer, learning the trait from his father as a child. Gabriel and his father would hunt the nearby lands for food and animal skins in order to make profit. His mother would tend the farm outside of their small wood and thatch house in the town of Scitila. His younger brother Niccolo, being three years younger than Gabriel, helped with the farming. Gabriel would always watch the legions pass through the town dream of becoming a soldier some day. Then on one day, at the age of seventeen, he had his chance. While the soldiers marched through, he rushed into his home, grabbed his bow, said good bye to his family, and joined the men. An older Legionnaire named Marius let Gabriel hop on the back of his horse for the march and supplied him with an extra set of hide armor.
Marius became Gabriel’s mentor. He taught him the formations and tactics in the legion as well as how to wield a sword efficiently. Being from a commoner’s background and not having a good education, Marius taught Gabriel about history, science, religion, and language. Gabriel became an expert archer, by this time the best in his legion gaining him attention of more elite units and higher ranking soldiers. He rose up to some of the best legions in the country and moved into a higher social status, becoming a wealthy man.
By this time Gabriel was one of the emperor’s greatest archers. Serving through multiple conflicts across the region, Gabriel was a seasoned veteran of battle, seeing his fair share of blood on the battlefield. Eventually he rose to the rank of Legionnaire and worked alongside some of the greatest generals and battle strategists in the world. Emblazoning the colors of his kingdom, red and silver on his Legionnaire armor, and fought throughout many more battles.
The emperor saw Gabriel’s talent and hired him to be one of his personal body guards, which was only for the best men in the entire military. The emperor gave Gabriel his own manor along with servants and a massive amount of money. Without being a man of politics, Gabriel was in one of the highest possible social classes at the time.
After about three years on the emperor’s guard, being at the age of twenty-seven, Gabriel walked in to the emperor’s throne room to begin his daily routine. While entering the room Gabriel witnessed Marius, now the head of the imperial guards, assassinating the emperor. After hearing the screams from the emperor, the rest of the guards rushed in. In a panic, Marius blamed Gabriel for the act almost so quickly that it seemed like it was planned. Gabriel, now shocked, took off from the building only bringing the clothes on his back and his bow with him.
While on the run Gabriel returned to his parent’s home to tell them about what had happened. Gabriel’s parents had received a letter from the Head of Imperial Guard saying what Gabriel had done. It was a plan, one a long time in the making. Being his parents they believed Gabriel. His brother had told him to run to the woods and find these men that had ruined the Lupus name and not to quit until they were all dead and that he would do the same.
As a token of good luck and a symbol of their family, his father gave Gabriel their family heirloom, the Lupus Bow. Carved into the bow was their family name, “Lupus”, meaning “The Wolf” and at the center of the bow there was a metal wolf’s head with its fangs bared, its mouth open and hollowed out to allow passage for the arrow. Gabriel thanked them for the bow and vowed to hunt down the men who did this to him and dishonored their family, and then took off into the woods.
While in the woods Gabriel came across a pack of four wolves. Gabriel managed to kill off three of them including the alpha wolf. Having lost its leader, the final wolf took Gabriel as his new leader. Gabriel skinned the wolves and wore its pelt to cover his parts of his uniform to distinguish that he no longer belonged to the group of men that had betrayed him. Gabriel Lupus then took on the alias of “Lupus Nocte” or Night Wolf and claimed the wilderness as his new home.
Spending his time as a hermit, Gabriel refined and honed his survival skills. From his time hunting he already knew basic tracking, trapping, skinning and other basic traits but through time he used these skills to his advantage. He was now able to track down and find just about anything. He also worked on being as quiet as possible, being able to sneak up on a deer being less than five feet away, enough to be able to reach the animal.. Lupus was quite the force to be reckoned with.
After about four months in the forest a small convoy of soldiers caught Lupus’ eye. They were on their way to a legion outpost to deliver supplies consisting of weapons, food, and clothing by command of the newly crowned Emperor Marius. Leaving his pet wolf behind, Lupus made sure not to be detected and managed to get near a messenger talking to a legionnaire. He caught only a glimpse of their conversation before they parted their separate ways but in that short time Lupus discovered something horrifying, Marius was planning on killing Lupus’ family.
In retaliation Lupus waited until the night when all of the soldiers were sleeping and snuck into the encampment. Checking the three caravans for anything important, he found two finely crafted short swords within the second caravan. He had seen these swords before; these swords belonged to his family. The swords were little over a foot and a half long and were engraved with the words “Vitam Familiae in Duritia Difficillimis Exitum Vincit” meaning “With the Strength of Family, You Can Overcome Life's Toughest Trials”. Niccolo and Gabriel were given the swords by their parents but in such a rush Gabriel never took his with him. This meant that they had taken his brother. Gabriel took the swords and mounted them both to his waist, one on each side.
Searching the last caravan Lupus had found his brother. Niccolo was tied up and blind folded. Lupus cut the bindings with one of swords and removed his brother’s blindfold. Not seeing his brother in months and assuming the worse, Niccolo was speechless. Lupus was in amazement and his eyes began to tear up at the sight of his brother. He then grabbed his brother and set the caravans alight. Hearing the fire the men stared to wake up. A recruit had caught Lupus and Niccolo trying to escape and warned the others.
All of the men had now been awoken by the shouting. One of these men fired an arrow at the two escapees. The arrow pierced through Niccolo’s lung. He dropped to the ground instantly, choking on his own blood. Lupus turned to see his brother lying on the ground dying. With his last breath Niccolo told Lupus to find Marius and when he does to cut off his head. Lupus fell into shock and grabbed his brother’s body and took off into the night.
After fleeing the area and losing the men Lupus put Niccolo’s body down and gave him a proper burial. He was infuriated but he had to tell his parents of what had happened. Lupus made the five day journey back to Scitila. After arriving at his home, he had found that it was burnt down with his parents’ remains inside. Lupus had broken into tears and let out a loud yell.
Everyone Lupus had loved was now dead and it was Marius’ fault. Lupus returned to the woods planning to exact his revenge and to this day he waits for the perfect opportunity to strike. On the day Lupus finally decided to take his revenge he came across a parade of over two hundred Legion soldiers, Marius the head of the march. Without a plan or strategy Lupus jumped right out into the middle of the soldiers. One by one the soldiers fell only with Lupus' anger at Marius rising. By the time the two enemies made it to each other Lupus had pierced Marius' heart with his brother's blade, sending his nemesis into the depths of the underworld.
Having his time occupied by slaying Marius, Lupus was overwhelmed by the rest of the soldiers. Lupus fought to the death, as he had been trained, taking hit after hit until he slowly let out his finally breath. Lupus vengeance and hatred ultimately led to his downfall, although he had completed his goal he died trying.
