Verric Phoel The Gifted One

Destiny.

Whether I believe in it or not, is irrelevant.

The facts speak for themselves.

Here I stand, on a parapet wall of an ancient fortress. On an alien world light-years from the one I grew up on. I'm looked upon as the "Promised Savior " by those of this world. At least those who are not touched yet by the ravaging plague of darkness that is slowly devouring their world called Varcath.

My eyes once again scanned the battle torn field below me, searching for any sign of a renewed attack by the twisted and deformed beings that make up our enemies siege force. My mind once again replays the events that placed me as a major figure in a battle between light and dark…good and evil… on a world that was not my own.

Or wasn't it?

I am Verric Phoel, a Senior Medic for the Stellar Union's Exploration Division. My home world is Zencath. At the time of my birth, it was one of the newest members of the Stellar Union, a Union that spans several Galaxies.

The Union's central governing offices are located on Earth. When I was a child, my parents moved to Earth, as Ambassadors from Zencath. It was there I became interested in both medicine and space exploration. I graduated and worked my way up the ranks of the Stellar Union Corps, till I was accepted by the Exploration Division. Over a period of several Earth years, I accompanied several surveillance missions to new worlds. Then I moved on to the "First Contact Department".

After six years serving on First Contact missions, I moved on to the Liaison Division, working as Chief Medical Officer; an adversary position to the Emissary Team. This team was sent to a New World after First Contact to act as liaisons between that world and the Stellar Union. It was at this point in my career that my parents retired and moved back to Zencath. After my third Liaison mission, I learned of their accidental deaths on our Home world.

I was devastated!

Returning to Zencath to mourn them, I took a year leave from the Corps to heal my loss.

At the end of a year, the Stellar Union contacted me on Zencath about a First Contact mission.

I accepted.

It was time to put the past in the past, and move on with my life. I took only one item to remember my parents by when the Contact Team departed.

An ornamental staff my father carried with him wherever he went. It was an heirloom which had been in our family for generations. The staff itself was made of an unknown kind of wood. Rune markings similar to ones found in our temples ran the length of it. No one, not even our priest, knew the meaning of them. Crowning the staff was a large purple gem held in place by sculptured gold prongs. The gem also was unidentifiable by anyone on Zencath, or anyone in the Stellar Union. My father had made inquiries about it after we move to Earth, only to find no more than we already knew... nothing.

Little did I know then, that staff would one day reveal it’s forgotten mysteries to me.

I owe my life to that staff!

Something went wrong as we approached the New World. I was in my quarters, strapped into my bunk, waiting for the impact that was inevitable. The last thing I remember before blacking out from the high G force, was the gem exploding to life! The ship crashed, killing all but me.