Character Backstory - Arteyel Saik

My name is Arteyel. I didn’t have a surname until it was proved that my father was a spy from the Marids. After that, people did all sorts of things to me and Mother. They called me a Saik and I couldn’t do anything about it since it was imposed on me by Ifrit law. It meant that I was a bastard.

My mother was a very righteous Djinnah, but after the truth about my father was brought into the light, people used her righteousness as evidence against her, implying that she could even be a Marid herself with how good she was.

Nonetheless, my mother required no execution to die. After my father was arrested, Mother got seriously ill and died in just a few months. Having no one to stop me, I joined the Valiant Battalion of Ifrits. It was said that even if a traitor joined their ranks, he could easily gain enough glory to clear his name.

As I started service, the discrimination only got worse since everywhere, there were people who were happy to bring down a competent person just because he had a dark secret. Still, slowly but surely, I started to gain the respect of people who truly mattered and soon owned myself a company of skilled people. There, I saw a very beautiful djinnah sergeant, Tithi, who reminded me of my mother. We got close in the nick of time and with a little bit of effort, I coaxed her into marrying me. Our life was good on the battlefield. We had action, romance and everything we could possibly wish for. Although each mission was dangerous and lately, a lot of djinns had been dying mysteriously but still, life was good. But then, I noticed something. She never shot up.

The thing with us Ifrits is that we shoot up.

It’s actually a short term for hypertension of blood in the veins, it happens when we get too angry, and that happens a lot. We often get thirsty for violence and make a mess until we eventually get back to normal. And then I remembered how Father was always in the clear too. It made me realize that Mother always knew about him being a spy but never spoke out because she loved him too much for that. But I wasn’t like her. I was an Ifrit through and through.

Exactly the night I thought of this, I started telling her less and less data about each mission I commanded and then, once I became sure of my mind; I told my subordinate sergeants about her. We made a plan to catch her red-handed. One day, when we had no assigned mission, I decreed a made-up mission to one of my sergeants and told Tithi about it. Exactly when he reached on the rendezvous point, he was met with a Marid ambush and this confirmed our suspicions. We came out from behind them and met them with full force. It took a toll but we subdued them all, including the spy, my wife Tithi.

People praise me, saying that I did a noble deed for the Ifritkind, but it’s not true. I did it so that there wouldn’t be another Saik. I did it solely for myself.

Nonetheless, as a reward of my selflessness and patriotism, I was awarded the command of Fort Death, the most important fortress of Ifrits and a personal favorite of Shah Furaith. I was elated when I received the news and djinns from all over the kingdom sent me congratulatory letters.

On that fateful day, when I was bestowed the title: “Captain of the Guards, Capt. Arteyel Saik” I felt like even Saik was a good enough surname, since I had just touched the edge of nobility.

Yet I did not know that on my first day as Captain, my rank will be relinquished and I will be reduced to a mere babysitter for a baby that was not even Ifrit.

Still, he was a beautiful baby. His eyes were enchanting silver. His skin, a solid blue which was the characteristic skin color of Sleek royalty. I named the baby: “Neil.”