Esper Shadowbeak

Esper Shadowbeak learned to kill in the alleys of New Beluroc, where ravenfolk unkindnesses fought for territory and survival. When the law caught him using his shadow magic to soar through the sky and assassinate his rivals, they handed him over to the Darkguard. Not as punishment, but for training.

They taught him to move like smoke and strike from darkness, to blend fire magic with his bill-hook halberd, a brutal weapon designed to punch through armor and tear into the flesh beneath.

But his real advantage is flight.

Esper conjures wings from shadow magic, dark and silent as smoke. They unfurl from his shoulders when he wills them, carrying him over battle lines, over shield walls, over the guards who never think to look up. When he's directly above his target, he drops bill-hook first, channeling fire through the blade as it punches through armor.

When the Lord of Darkness ordered Underlord Malthraksis to seize Palifala Weslinath, Esper was among those chosen to accompany him. He grinned. Hunting a time mage who could see into the future and reshape probability? The ultimate test.

He marches north with the Darkguard strike team, who pose as volunteers fighting alongside the ulund and Khymians against the Conclave Arcana. While his "allies" charge from the ground, Esper takes to the air. Shadow wings carry him over enemy lines with fire crackling around his halberd, and he drops on his target. The bill-hook punches through armor, the fire melts what the blade doesn't tear, and Esper is already airborne again before anyone realizes what happened.

When Malthraksis gives the signal, when Palifala is isolated and vulnerable, Esper will strike. Shadow wings silent in the sky, fire magic heating his bill-hook until it glows, then the drop, halberd first, punching through whatever defenses she's erected.

Palifala Weslinath can bend time itself. But even time mages can't dodge an unseen blade dropping from the sky.