White Thorn

Many years ago a tavern owner and his wife awaited their first child. It was a hot and humid summer night, when the woman was in labour and finally delivered a baby, a healthy boy. Their happiness could not be any bigger until they realized that something was wrong with the child: It had a tail like a devil would have it.

The man was in anger and accused his wife of betrayal. He kept on yelling she had sex with a demon and it took hr two sisters to finally calm him down. Something had to be done and they called for the villages doctor to come and see the baby boy. One hour later he arrived and examined the child, just to see he was healthy and fine, the only abnormal thing was the tail which made the baby a Tiefling creature. And then the decision was made: They amputated the babys little tail, hoping the problem would be solved forever if the boy made it through the night after such a heavy surgery.

He made it and got the name Elias. Everything could have been fine if not the child started to now develop horns over the next years. The tavern owner was shocked and desperate, in his eyes again he had to watch the proof of his wifes betrayal living in his house and he hated little Elias with all of his heart. The mother though loved her boy and accepted him as the Tiefling that he was. Horns or not, this was her child and she knew that she never betrayed her husband, even though he did not believe her.

Elias grew up and became a big and heavy man who did not only help out in his dads tavern but also he trained diverse fighting styles as he seemed to have a real talent with it. He knew he would not stay in his birth village and the big world called his name. The day that his mother died of a blood poisoning, he finally left and from then on lived the life or a mercenary who traveled the lands and did all the things that people would pay a Tiefling for. He became rather successful doing this over time and everyone called him "Thorn" because of the unique look of his horns until his birth name seemed to be forgotten.

Of course his job brought him into trouble many times. He slaughtered bandits and monsters, searched for treasures and explored dark places... it was just natural, that one day it had to happen... that something really bad would happen to him.

Thorn never talks about this incident, so nobody really knows what exactly happened. What is known for sure is that one evening a desperate Tiefling knocked at the door of a Monastery up in the mountains, calling for help. The monks who opened him saw a man who looked horrible: He was weat by sweat, pale, had huge black rings around his eyes and he seemed to be feverish and very weak. The minks took him inside and called for brother Iridan, who was known to cure pretty much every disease and curse.

After examining the weak man, it was clear: Thorn had been infected by a vampire and was now transforming into an undead himself! The transformation was not done yet and the Tiefling was on the edge, something bewteen a mortal being and a cursed child of the night. He did not want to talk about what happened but when brother Iridan told Thorn about what was going on, Thorn for sure knew that he would rather die than becoming a vampire himself. Iridan however knew about a solution.... maybe not a remedy but he told Thorn, that he knew about a way to stop the transformation but that it would be a very risky task and the chances were high that Thorn would not survive it. "I do not want my soul to be cursed even more than it already is, so go ahead and do what you have to do. If you succeed, you will never regret that you helped me".

So it was done. It was the night hich changed Thorn forever and there was no way back. It was the night where brother Iridan implanted a tiny sealed vessel into his ribcage, right next to the Tieflings heart. The vessel contained a little peace of paper with powerful magical words on it and it is said, that when the vessel entered the mans weakened body, his black horns and hair turned snow white at the very moment, such as his blue eyes.  Thorn was in pain and it was not sure if he would make it, so the monks prayed to the gods all night for the Tieflings recovery and his soul to be safe.

And the prayers were heard. When Thorn opened his now white eyes the next morning, he was still weak but also, he was still alive, at least sort of. The transformation had stopped indeed but also it had been already too late to turn him back into a full mortal. That was the morning, that Thorn became White Thorn, a Dhampire, half mortal, half undead, a creature between the worlds of light and darkness. From now on he would always have to live with the lust for blood while he would never be allowed to drink it as this would destroy the vessel in his chest and make the transformation complete. 

It took the man a long time until he accepted his new form but the day came, that he made peace with his existence as it now was. While the constant hunger inside of him felt like pain at times, he now was also stronger, faster and more agile. He was much more efficient in his job as a mercenary now and could never complain about getting job offers and contracts. While he already was lonely before though, being a Tiefling, he now turned his back more and more from the living as they could sense that not only as he a Tiefling but that there was more going on with this strange white hunk that traveled the lands.

~

Thank you very mucch for reading (well, if you did...) and taking a look!
DAZ Studio Iray render and Photoshop for the hair painting. Character is mine.

I am no native speaker and I do many typos, If you find mistakes, you may keep them.