Dark Hours: Sernak

Sernak:

|Territory: Global |Rank: Q6 |Height:3-120 Meters | Gender: Masculine|
|Classification: Anomalous Avatar of Sentience|

Stats:-|

Vitality: [10+]
Strength: [9]
Defense: [7]
Speed: [10]
Intelligence: [7]
Regeneration: [6]
Firepower: [9]
Combat Ability: [10+]

|Personality:-| Sernak is a soul that has experienced much. In the beginning, there was little to be seen outside of a zealous idealism, a vocal love of humanity that seemed to smother everything else like an ocean would a candle. However, this only lasted until he witnessed what people could do to themselves even under his care, wars, genocides, and other such atrocities that would plague him for the rest of his days. This led Sernak to becoming overprotective and gathering man up into a society where he never had to let them out of his sights. Even this was wrested from his grasp after several events, and after deep, personal losses, the Fifth became detached and cold, refusing to allow his former love of sentient life pain him any longer, ever choosing to protect, even if it was from himself, or even later still, from themselves.

|Abilities: -|

-‘Branding’: Sernak is capable of placing a small, easily recognizable mark upon a form of life remaining under his charge. This seems little more than ornamental, but bearing his brand marks and organism as one under his power, able to be summoned or imprisoned, whichever is needed, as his whim. Sernak detests this ability, only using it to remove those whom he cannot bring himself to destroy.

-Cosmetic Control: Sernak has not always resembled the armored humanoid he is remembered for. In times of duress when his current form is not enough, he is able to manipulate his abilities over time to better fit the situation. This requires him to be reduced to the pure soul-like state where he is at his most vulnerable, so it can only happen in moments of relative safety, but when finished he reappears in a more powerful state. This is what led him to becoming the armored giant he is so remembered for.

Significant Events:

-Sernak the Fifth is created upon Spinovah’s delight in the foundation of mankind. Born without a form, Spinovah sends him out to find one for himself. Sernak spends much time seeking this out, eventually settling on a crocodilian shape after a significant encounter on a riverside.

-Sernak watches out for the survival of humanity very closely, until terrible threats from unknown stretches drive him to want nothing more than to distance himself from them.

-Sernak is forced to battle family, a fact that changes him forever.

-Sernak is defeated, his soul split into five pieces, in the Muurian war, just as the ancient godslayers wished.

Bio: Man. A word that speaks volumes. Unlike all that lived and all that have come and gone upon this planet, no beings behave quite like them. Some animals are capable of the same things, but no creature operates with the same verve, the same pride, the same sense of awareness, the way mankind does. They are spoken in whispered roars by the others that traipse this blue sphere, of their never-ending greed, their capacity to nurture, their obsession with what they cannot see. . . but for me, man does not stay in my mind long before I am forced to recall one particular entity. No one could meet man’s most vocal fan and just forget him. The Fifth of the first seven, a soul unforgettable.
Spinovah seemed contradictory at this point, for he spoke in a very bittersweet tone, but his face showed little more than contentment. Then the Haven began to pulsate with neverending vistas of the lives of them, man, woman, child, young, old, as far as the eye could see. They moved, they lived out their lives, they died their deaths. He looked like he wanted to reach out and grab them.

“Mankind was something that neither Secenscion or I saw coming. Entities capable of asking big questions, of doing more than surviving, nay even living. Free will, sentience, something I never wished to hold in my hands, and yet now that they were there. . .” He wistfully looked around, taking in the many views. “I could not bring myself to let them go.” I have heard the word used by man to describe what I saw in Spinovah’s face, and though I still do not know if I have felt this myself, it is what I picture to this day everytime I hear the word. The word is love.

“They meant everything, were more important than anything, they learned overnight what took my kind ages, how to see value in things. I had to make sure nothing would happen to them, not even myself. I realized what they had was the same as I did, the ability to choose, and so I decided I needed another of my children, one different than the first four. One who’s form was his own.” His tone became even more somber. “Sernak.”

The Fifth was easily recognized, and of the first Seven, I would say the one that impacted me the deepest. I only met him twice, but each encounter impacted me greatly. Thus I was quite curious as to where he came from. The story was finally becoming than a lesson in history, it was growing personal.

“Sernak was form without form, little more than a loose life free to observe but not to interact. I gave one unstoppable command to him, the command had no words, only the push to spread his wings and find a way for himself in this world. He searched alone amongst the world, the seas, the skies, the lands, even amongst man. It would be on the banks of a great river that he would make his choice, though. The day he saw something I was perhaps too lenient on. The other side of man.”

This was a rare moment, when I knew exactly what he meant. For unlike the rest of life on this earth, man saw no limit to what they could attain, they acted as though we weren’t even there a lot of the time. And from what I knew of the fifth, he was more afraid of this than anything.

“He saw man turning upon itself, at first the same way you would see a pack of wolves turn on another pack, only this was something else. This was slave trading, stronger, more armed men transporting scrawny malnourished prisoners to a place where their lives would be not for themselves. Sernak was not happy at the sight, but he could do nothing. Fortunately, nature intervened.” I was once again treated to the view of the incident, courtesy of the Haven. I beheld a sight I have seen before, but I did remember the first time I saw mankind repress itself, and I remembered the confusing feeling that accompanied it. I then beheld what some humans call ‘karma.’ A powerful predator of the river, the crocodile, emerged as the men crossed it. In a strange twist of fate, the reptilian predator only targeted the larger, heavier men, who when chest deep in water are just as helpless as anyone. The slave drivers all met a grisly end, and the prisoners scrambled back the other way, but upon reaching the bank, they did something that surprised me.

They abruptly turned, bowed in respect to the mighty arbiter of nature that chose to spare them that day, and fled. The scene faded into the whiteness, and Spinovah spoke again,
“To Sernak, this was a moment of enlightenment, a realization of what man was and where they rested. He chose a form then and there, taking after the crocodile that served a role very much along his own. And thus an era began, a time where man was safe, even from themselves. But not everything was right, there was one last snag I had to take care of. One I’m sure you would love to hear about.”

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Yay for Sernak, you sobek/thor/every monster killer ever piece of work, you! The fifth is one of my favorite monsters out there, and it honestly could be said that he is one of Dark Hours three main protagonists, the other two coming much later.

Design-wise, I'm pretty pleased with the refinements. Not sure how I feel about the background but then again each one of these is basically a photoshop experiment so I'll get over it. I'll need to make a little inked 'study' series one of these days to go into detail about their designs and abilities. Enjoy!

Next in Dark Hours: Fueranin