Soldier

NAME:	Helios
ELEMENT:	Dreams/Prayer

Powers

• Golden Crystal: While Helios does not carry the Golden Crystal, he does possess the power to channel its power through his own body. This grants him all manner of abilities, though on a lesser scale than that of the King. This includes healing, the manipulation of the earth itself (terraforming), minor elemental manipulation (fire, air, water, etcetera), along with other assorted minor talents. Helios also has an innate connection to the life force of the planet itself, able to keenly feel when the planet--or Mason--is suffering. In terrible situations, Helios can (and has) acted as both barrier and filter to spare his Prince--now King--the worst of an attack by Chaos upon the Earth.
• Transformation (Alicorn): Though not his true form, Helios is capable of taking the form of a winged pegasus, an alicorn. To be entirely honest, Helios is fairly certain he's a better fighter as an alicorn than he is in his human form.
• Dreamwalker: The dream realm is one that Helios knows intimately. Not only is he able to freely walk the dreams of others, enabling him to converse with them, but he can also alter the fabric that dreams are made of and even hide his consciousness in them. If necessary, though he does not like to do so, he can also put someone to sleep so he can enter their dreams easier. One other thing to note is that dreams can allow for conversations outside of the usual confines of time. Helios still has faint memories of someone from a strange future that once talked to him, though all he has left are vague feelings and a heart pained with the knowledge he forgot something--someone--he should not have.
• Crystal Stasis: Helios can encase himself, or another, in crystal to protect them. This often puts the individual into stasis and is only carried out when there are no other avenues to save them. When it comes to himself, this is often a failsafe in the event he is compromised or horribly injured so that his body can recover slowly.
• Blessed Prayer: As the High Priest of Elysion, Helios can channel energy into prayer and create an area that cannot be touched upon by Chaos as long as he is praying. Those of Chaos would be hardpressed to cross into such an area while those blessed by the Silver Crystal--and the Golden Crystal--would find themselves feeling rejuvenated.
• Empathy: A true empath, the feelings of others weigh heavily upon Helios. While he once considered it a curse, he has learned--over countless centuries--how to only let in the emotions of others when he needs to because it will help him better understand a situation. Considering that he has spent so long away from people, he needs to more than he likes. Mostly this just means he has a calming presence as an innate talent born of his empathy. If not careful, or mindful, he can very easily be overwhelmed by the emotions of the world around him. Something else that can put him down, though usually just with a blinding headache.

History

Helios was adopted by a family that were servants to the royal family. Unable to have children of their own, it was a delight to them to find Helios and bring him into their lives. It was a surprise, however, when their child became a friend and playmate to the young Prince. What was not expected--what came as a surprise--was the discovery of Helios' spiritual powers. While it wasn't unheard of (rarely happening), they were strong for someone of his young age, and they did not know what to do.

Thankfully the King and Queen did.

Helios was very quickly taken under the wing of the Priests (and Priestesses) of Elysion. It was within the most sacred halls that he learned how to channel his power, more than that: he was able to realize why he had been drawn towards the young Prince. Within him rested the Golden Crystal and Helios could feel the gentle pulse of it as an echo within his chest.

When he was not learning, not trying to become stronger to serve the young Prince, he was still his playmate. As he grew older, it meant he became one of his first advisors and watched as each Heavenly King was picked. Yet nothing could prepare Elysion--or Helios--for what would happen when the Prince of Earth fell in love with the Moon Princess. Their love was destined, something that Helios knew through the sometimes prophetic dreams he had, but a great darkness worked to swallow it whole.

Eventually, it did, the Kingdom of Earth all but destroyed and the Moon Kingdom in ruins.

It was the gentle pulse within his chest, the faint warmth of the Golden Crystal that he could distantly feel, that told him this was not the end. So Helios sunk deep within the earth with Elysion, the only company with him the Maenads that had also survived. For centuries beyond counting, he slept, sometimes waking to see if the pulse of the Golden Crystal had strengthened.

Yet when he finally felt the first stirrings of the Golden Crystal, she came: Nehelenia, the Dark Queen. If she could not have what was hers by right, then she would take what she could. It was in his dreams that he found guidance, the voice of someone he thought of as Princess Lady who told him to seek out a maiden. Here, Helios' memories become fuzzy because everything tells him that Cynthia was that maiden but it does not stop the whisper in the back of his mind that he has forgotten something important.

Regardless, the Dead Moon Circle along with Zirconia and eventually Nehelenia were defeated and Helios was finally able to meet once more with the Prince--with Mason. More importantly: he was able to see both Mason and Cynthia together and finally see the Golden Crystal join the side of the Silver Crystal.

Yet he still could not leave Elysion, for he considered it to be his charge. All that changed when the Prince and Princess were finally wed, shedding those titles and becoming King and Neo Queen. Helios could feel it within his bones: Elysion was responding to the union. Perhaps he should have given the newlyweds a heads up but, in his own way, he thought the rising of Elysion to be a somewhat belated wedding present to them.

Since the reveal of Elysion--and of his existence--Helios has worked hard to help the land be excavated and recovered. Yet Mason also encouraged him to find a life outside of the land he has been bound to for countless centuries. It's because of that he took the name Nasir Vasile, though he's not quite sure what he's supposed to do with himself sometimes.

The problem with taking it easy is that Chaos is rising but more than that ...

Helios has never shaken the fact that he has forgotten someone. Someone he cared for a great deal and only catches fleeting memories within his dreams. He only hopes that one day he might find them again.

Writing Sample

Within his dreams, Nasir sensed a presence he knew but could not remember. Oh, they were constantly out of reach but sometimes he thought he could hear them whisper to him.

It was a warning.

Give the rise of Chaos, the Dark Kingdom making its return somehow, he knew that that was likely part of it. Yet this time, as he thought he heard a panicked voice call to him in his sleep, Helios knew that was not it. More than that, as it jarred him from his nap, he knew that he was mixing things up again. Dreams were not always linear, not even when they appeared to be so. Nasir knew that without considerable time dedicated to dissecting and picking apart his dream, he likely would not be able to discern what it truly meant.

There won't be time to, he thought suddenly, having made it to the kitchens of the Crystal Palace. The sensation he felt was one often referred to as someone has walked across my grave except in this case it wasn't his grave, it was Elysion. Nasir felt as if the world was fading away, a great roaring in his ears that drowned out all other noise.

His hands clutched tight to the counter, an effort to keep himself standing upright, but only barely so when he felt something slam into him--spiritually--with force. All the breath was gone from him, a fire in his chest making him cry out in pain. Nasir's knees buckled and he sunk to the floor as the insight came to him: Chaos was taking Elysion.

Worse: there was nothing they could do about it.

Yet Nasir instinctively knew that this pain within him would only spread out further, would potentially incapacitate Mason and the Golden Kings, perhaps even Cynthia. It was something that he could not allow, not as High Priest of Elysion and not as a friend. So Nasir sunk deep within himself, seeking out the threads that bound not only him to Elysion but the others as well. It would have been easier to do with in one of the prayer chambers, not within the kitchen of all places, but it could be done.

His breath was coming faster and faster as the rush of Chaos was pulsating quicker and quicker along the threads that bound them all Elysion.

Nasir reached for them, grabbing them within spectral hands, and held tight. He was not even sure if the scream that he heard was one he made or if it was within his mind. It did not matter because he redirected the flow of Chaos, turned it back towards itself, and not giving it the chance to come at them any further.

Chaos could do what they would but he was the High Priest of Elysion.

He would not let those he cared for suffer.

Not even as he collapsed with pain. Not even as his brilliant silver-white hair started to turn black. Not even as crystal spread along his body slowly encasing him.

Not even- he thought but it faded, consciousness lost.