Reposted from Original Boards: The origin of Eujin

Ok,
Reposting this from the original COH boards before they changed formats, and removed the Origin board. This is a bit long, so bear with me. I hope you enjoy it atleast a little, and please post any feedback.

-Eujin
(PS. I greatly appreciate the friend of mine who went through and edited my original draft of it. It hurt the eyes badly. :P)

There is always at least one point in every person's life when drastic changes happen: some for good, some for bad. But for Eujin Sutsuratsutonu these times came again and again and again.

Eujin was born to a family that could trample the brightest of souls: his father a physically abusive alcoholic; his mother an egocentric, mentally deranged, chain-smoking powermonger; his siblings all had their own torturous idiosyncrasies. At the age of four his first bit of luck came with the departure of his father who took with him his drunken presense. Yet this fortune was offset by the deepening derangement of Eujin's mother; and for years he was almost constantly plagued by illness which some thought was caused by birth defects from his mother's smoking while he was still within her womb. In time, his eldest sister also left the family, desiring to flee its turmoil; in response his mother focused all her anger and hatred on Eujin, and his remaining siblings, sensing that they now had a scapegoat for all the family's ills, followed suit.

In the face of such adversity many might grow bitter and blame the world, but Eujin would not allow his spark to be diminished. From the moment his thoughts became rational he had one goal in life: to be absolutely nothing like his family. His family was full of deceit, so he became bluntly, though not brutally, honest. His family was full of ignorance, so he studied every subject of enlightenment from every source he could access. He did not allow his pain and sorrow to be lashed out upon the world but instead controlled them, mastering his emotions; not even upon his malignant family did he bear ill will, believing that to do so would only make him more like them. With his honesty, his intelligence and his calm demeanor he made many friends, and though he lost many from his family's frequent moving he always made new ones. Many of his friends' families loved him and extended their homes and their hearts to him. They gave him what protection they could from his own family, but there were many things that no one could protect him from.

Eujin was afflicted with a luck both merciful and deadly. Although he was far from clumsy or foolish, tradgedy constantly befell him. Throughout his life he had been struck by lightning (remaining fully concious of the pain all the way to the hospital), burned so badly he lost his skin on the back of his legs, hit dead-on by a tractor-trailer -- and more terrible things still. But each time he lived and he healed, and despite these terrifying brushes with pain and death he went on with his life as normally as he could. By his sixteenth year his luck was beginning to take a turn for the better.

Already past middle school and studying independantly, Eujin had a plan: he would bypass high school entirely and go straight to college, hopefully an out-of-state one. He studied for equivilency tests that were required and passed them all -- with incredible scores. Many colleges eagerly accepted him and, at the earliest opportunity, Eujin left for the one furthest away as possible from his family. The first drastic change of his life had allowed him to escape.

Two years passed.

Now Eujin stood six feet and six inches. Despite his best efforts to tan himself, his complexion always remained very pale. His jet-black hair, contrasting sharply with his pale, plain face, grew down to the middle of his back and was always kept in a ponytail; it was lucky that he loathed facial hair for it rarely grew in. One of his birth defects, a compressed muscle structure, made it impossible for him to bulk himself up; he was very well toned from the density of his muscles, but his body appeared quite odd. He didn't care what others thought of his appearance: they were entitled to their own opinions.

It was his eighteenth birthday; he was not celebrating it, never really having done so before as his family did not deign to, but he was out with his friends that day. As dusk came on he parted with them and headed back to his dorm -- but he never made it. On the drive home the car's rear axle seemed to snap and tear away, and the car went screeching off the side of the elevated highway. It exploded the moment it crashed into the ground below. But Eujin's remains were never found: not even charred bones after the blazing gasoline fire was put out.

The second great change of his life was beginning.

Eujin had seen a bright flash, then darkness as he fell unconcious. When he awoke he was not in his car, but found himself in a dark, quiet place. As he examined his surroundings, a hint of fear touching him from the strange circumstances, he thought, "What happened? Where am I?" It seemed to be some kind of refinery long abandoned. Dust covered everything; rust consumed heaps of machinery; grey rats scurried in the corners. Conveyor belts criss-crossed the vast space between hulking machines; heavy boxes lay scattered across the floor, each marked red with "WARNING! EXPLOSIVES!" so faded and scratched it was almost unreadable. Seeing all this, Eujin thought to himself, "Well, I'm obviously not on the highway anymore, but where does that put me? This looks like a refinery, but there shouldn't be refineries (or even warehouses), abandoned or in use, for hundreds of miles."

He explored this graveyard of machinery, finding no exits, and though there were windows they were so high up he could not hope to reach them: not even if he stacked all the boxes on top of each other. All he could do was be thankful for the sunlight that shone in -- and, he decided, shout for someone who might be near. "Hello?" he called, "Is anyone here?" His deep, basso voice echoed through the musty building, but nobody seemed to be there. In fact, it seemed to grow utterly silent, even the little sounds of the rats growing still. Then, out of nowhere -- rather, out of everywhere -- an even deeper voice intoned: "Yes-s-s."

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a cacophony of metal screeching against metal, bending, crushing and tearing. Eujin was startled to see the machinery, once dormant, now contorting together to form some gargantuan, beastial entity. It had a horrible mockery of stretching arms that ended in long, rusty claws; a gaping maw seemed to grow out of the end of its hulking body, full of fangs as long and as sharp as its talons. Containing his growing anxiety -- his outright fear -- Eujin searched desperately for something to aid him: a way out, a weapon, anything that could get him out of this situation. But he found nothing and hope dimmed, for he certainly had no training to go toe-to-claw with this thing. And now the noise pounding in his ears turned into a boom, and then a long screeching: the metal beast was pulling itself toward him.

Part 2

Eujin's luck would once again turn deadly.

As the creature crawled closer to him, he summoned what courage he could and jumped high, trying to kick what he thought to be the creature's eyes. But before he even came near he was slammed into the cement floor, pinned beneath a set of steel claws. The blow knocked the breath from him at the same time it drew out a cry of pain. Looming above him, the creature paused and seemed to wait for something to happen. Eujin struggled with every ounce of strength to free himself from the beast's grasp, but to no avail. After a few moments, the creature's jaws contorted into a terrifying facsimile of a frown and its voice boomed: "Failure!"

The beast's opposite set of claws came down around Eujin's right forearm and twisted away. Eujin heard a loud snap, and for a moment he could only register a dull warmth -- but then a searing pain flooded his senses. He looked down at his arm and saw blood spilling from a gaping stub below his elbow. Another crack filled his ears and he screamed in agony as the same thing happened to his other arm, the world flashing in his eyes as his body struggled to quench the fire in his nerves. The metal claws pinning him down lifted away, closing into a glinting fist above him, ready to drop. Clinging to the last vestige of his mind through the pain, Eujin rolled himself away from the swinging fist as the ground where he once lay was shattered.

Now the world was darkening for Eujin, the life already draining from his eyes. The creature, looking down at the pitiful being below and seeing its inevitble victory, gave a cold, hollow laugh that tore at the ears. But Eujin, even in his dimming vision, could see flames flickering and glowing in the creature's grossly spread mouth, a terrible beacon lighting his way to both death and salvation. An idea grew in his muddled mind. He brought himself to his feet using what was left of his arms, crying in agony as his bloody wounds were ground against the dirty floor; then he staggered to one of the boxes, half-knelt over it as he looked back at the monster behind him. As loud as he could, his voice wavering from the blood loss, he yelled, "If . . . you're going . . . going to kill me . . . then come and kill me!"

Anger and surprise twisted the creature's face as it saw him again on his feet, still clinging to life. Quickly it began dragging itself toward him again, intending to swallow this pest whole into the now burning inferno of its maw. Eujin rolled himself over the box and landed behind it, and with every last drop of strength he could draw into his muscles he kicked the box straight into the gaping maw, screaming, "BURN IN -- !" Before he could finish, an explosion that the box had urgently warned against blew apart the beast's head in a shower of shrapnel. The blast was so strong it hurled Eujin right through the metal walls of the building as the refinery was consumed in flowering blossom of fire fed by so many other little boxes full of explosives.

Eujin landed quite some distance away, barely concious and exhausted. His skin was blackened and smoking, and as he looked down at the remnants of his arms he saw their stumps charred, cauterized by the intense heat. Closing his eyes, he began to fall into unconciousness -- but then he heard that voice: that basso voice deeper than his own.

"Perhaps you're not a failure after all, my son."

Opening his eyes, Eujin struggled to sit up with the stumps of his arms and looked towards the voice. No longer faced with danger unspeakable, he wondered if what he was seeing was a dream. Before him stood a figure eight feet tall and clad in a long leather jacket; but he was like the shadow of a man filling that jacket: a shadow that not even the sun could burn away, his skin dark as the deepest night and his face blank and featureless -- except those eyes. His eyes were like two holes of deep blue, glowing beacons that warned of malice in a black sea. The figure held a metal staff topped with a blue sphere. That deep voice speaking again brought Eujin a little out of his shock.

"You just might be of some use to me, Eujin."

"Who the hell . . ." Eujin begins, wavering from exhaustion, "who are you? I need a MEDIC," he croaks. The figure only looked Eujin over and gave a cold laugh.

"You need nothing of the sort," he replied. "The condition of your arms is . . . unfortunate -- and irreversible even by magic. Your birthright causes that. Technology, on the other hand, can easily amend it."

Eujin was dumbfounded and shocked with anger. "What the hell are you talking about? The only things I could get are plastic caps and hooks!"

The figure laughed again. "That's only technology from this world. I'm almost sorry I brought you into it. However --" as he spoke, he tapped the base of his staff upon the ground. Two mechanical limbs of gleaming steel rose and levitated before him. Before Eujin could say a word, those limbs sped right at him, digging their ends into the stumps where his forearms once were. He cried in pain as the nerves of his throbbing phantom arms were suddenly burned by new steel flesh. The sensation passed as he hunched over and grasped the ground -- and suddenly it dawned on him that he was indeed grasping at the dirt, feeling the sun-baked soil between metal fingers right down through their tips.

"Amazing isn't it?" the figure said. "That you can still feel through them is thanks to a bit of magic on my part."

Eujin's mind reeled as as it tried to make sense of it all: magic, new arms beyond compare, giant piles of scrap trying to kill him. Then he remembered the voice that taunted him while he was fighting for his life -- the same voice that was speaking to him now. He lept to his feet, the pain in his body subsiding as he sensed a new danger before him. "Who are you," he began, his voice tense and rapid, "and what the hell was that thing that ripped off my arms? Why am I still alive? What are you, and why do you keep calling me your son?"

Leaning casually on his staff, the figure looked down on Eujin with eyes full of cold laughter. "So many questions. First and foremost, you are still alive because you are one of the two remaining Archdemons in existance. That thing," he motioned toward the burning remains of the refinery, "was me: the other remaining Archdemon -- and your father."

All this was far too surreal for Eujin, and he stood there trembling with anxiety, unable to believe what was happening. But there he stood, feeling the heat of the collapsing building, feeling the metal hands that replaced the ones torn off. He looked at the dark figure before him and clung to what he thought he knew. "I have no idea what is really going on here, but you are definately not my father. I think I would remember the lack of a face."

The being that called himself Eujin's father sighed with exasperation. "Oh yes, I suppose you remember me something more like this." For a moment his form suddenly changed, and to Eujin's surprise he saw the unkempt man he remembered from his tortured years; then the dark figure was before him again as he continued: "Now be quiet and I will explain everything. Your questions are beginning to annoy me.

"I am -- rather, I was -- the last in the line of Archdemons. Our line was that of the most powerful demons in existence, and the only reason we did not rule all of it was because we chose not to. Unfortunately, internal fighting made our numbers dwindle. Thirty years ago I slew the last one besides myself. He was unworthy of our race. I was content for many years, but then lesser demons began to hunger for more power -- specifically, my power. So rather than bother myself with such trifles, I fled.

"Even before the other Archdemons died, I was one of the only ones who knew how to traverse dimensions. Oh yes, there are other dimensions: other earths, other hells. But despite all my travels, I never found other Archdemons, although I did run into some interesting women. . . ."

Part 3

Eujin barely registered his father's words, trying to make sense of what was said. Demons? Other dimension? He tried to focus and find out what his father wanted.

"About twenty years ago, I decided that being the Last wasn't an option anymore. I needed someone to help me stop these foolish lessers from trying anything against me. I needed another Archdemon: one who wouldn't oppose me. I needed a servant. Of course, that meant making one that wasn't up to my full potential: a half-breed. Instead of taking a chance with a lesser demon, I came here and found one of these disgusting mortals. Your mother --" Eujin grinned inwardly at the thought that this mad being had to put up with her insanity along with his own, "was a sickeningly nice woman, but the only one I found to be a suitable recepticle of my essense. So I impregnated her with you, my son, and slowly altered her mind and that of her previous children so they would be better suited to prepare you for the world. Once you were born I left shortly thereafter; I was afraid I would awaken you too quickly.

"To properly wake your true self I had to make sure you weren't human. The easiest way, of course, was to put you through as many of their diseases as I could. You survived those quite easily. After a few years I had to deal with some lesser demon uprisings, so was forced to leave you unattended for the moment. Once I was again free I began checking your resilience against pain. It was most . . . amusing, especially when you got hit by that semi. You should have seen the look on the driver's face when I made your brother throw you in front of it. You survived all those trials well, but still you did not awaken: there was still a chance you were merely a resilient human. So once again, after I had dealt with a few years of more lesser uprisings, I thought I'd give you your final test. You would either pass or die: the ultimate birthday present of sorts. That was today -- and you almost failed, too, but look at you now! Unfortnate that your arms were removed before you were awakened: they will never return to normal. But your new ones will make you stronger than even a normal Archdemon, so consider them my birthday present to you as well."

The Archdemon was obviously enjoying this, the cold light in his eyes like a malicious grin as they watched Eujin's face slowly twisting with terrible understanding. He approached the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Eujin. Look at the worlds we shall conquer!" As he spoke he tapped his staff on the ground, a mass of doorways came into being all around them, portals to other worlds. "Look at all the different dimensions. None of them have one full Archdemon in them. Look at that one!" He pointed to a portal with horrifically desolate landscape behind it. "That one is truly twisted: no form magic can exists there, or can exist besides this staff. It'll be ripe for the picking.

"Now my son, my slave, choose one. Choose a world and we shall go there to conquer it. We will take the women, kill the men, and destroy every last vestige of life. It will be glorious!" The Archdemon handed Eujin the staff, but Eujin barely registered taking it. It was too all much for Eujin; his entire life sped before him once again, this time seen by eyes tempered by his father's words. All the pain he had suffered through his childhood, both of body and of heart -- because this evil creature wanted to train him? Wanted to see if he was human or some twisted demon? And in the end, this demon father was willing to kill him -- he had managed to take half his each his arms! It was not only what he had done to him that fueled this growing rage. What of the lives that were ruined to fulfill this terrible purpose? His mother -- maybe she would have become a kindly old lady. His brothers -- perhaps they could have become great men doing great things.

And now this creature wanted to take more lives, every life: lives replete with innocence!

Eujin snapped. All the rage he had stored, as though for this very moment, flooded through his body and set all his world in a vindictive fire. His eyes turned to the portal the Archdemon had pointed out, his new hands gripped the staff given to him. "I'm sorry, Father, but I am a failure."

The Archdemon snapped his gaze upon Eujin and snarled impatiently. "What?"

"I don't hate life as you intended," Eujin replied, his voice filled with doses of anger barely measured. "I don't want conquest or power. I am a failure to your cause. So you should leave!"

With that, Eujin lifted the staff and, awash with unbridled fury, swung it upon the Archdemon's head, shattering the sphere on its end and knocking the creature down.

"No!" The archdemon was more alarmed by the broken sphere than by the pain. "The staff! Without it, the portals will be uncontrollable!"

Eujin's face was drawn in a death's head's grin as fury overwhelmed him. "Go, Father, to your own personal hell!" he screamed as he swung his foot in a vicious kick that sent the Archdemon flying into the twisted, magic-barren lands of the portal behind him. But Eujin's father, seething with his own rage at this betrayal, intended to take Eujin with him to torment for this unforgivable sin. A shadowy tendril burst from the Archdemon's chest and clung to the startled Eujin, pulling him forward with the same force he had imparted upon his father. The tendril disappeared the moment the Archdemon had passed through the portal, and the portal itself faded before Eujin reached it, but Eujin went flying headlong into the portal still open behind it.

When Eujin awoke, he was in a cold, quiet place. He quickly came to. "Not again. . . ." Looking around he saw that he was in a warehouse; it was not dusty, but it was empty. He looked down at his arms, hoping it had all been a strange dream, but he saw the steely mechanical arms still there -- and to his shock he saw he was unclothed, and that his skin was now the same pitch-black as his Archdemon father! All this was making him naseous, and as he explored the warehouse for an exit he felt lucky to find a restroom.

In the restroom he looked into a mirror, and with a surge of shock and rage he threw his fist at what he thought to be his father. But as the mirror fractured he realized it was himself he was looking at. The sight did little to improve his nausea. He looked exactly like his father did: no face to speak of, not even his hair remained; he was a shadow now. But he was still only six and a half feet tall, not grown to match his father's eight feet; and his eyes were a deep red to his father's baleful blue. He had not even been breathing since he got here.

Eujin sighed, literally breathlessly, and the fact that he had not even a mouth began to bother him. "What are you going to do, Eujin?" he thought to himself. What was he going to do? He certainly wasn't in the same place as before: maybe not even the same dimension as before. Could he return home? Could he return to normal? Would this be normal for him from now on? And worst of all, if he could return home -- could the Archdemon free himself as well? Those final moments with his father did not seem so final now.

He turned away from the mirror and again sought for an exit from the warehouse. There was a closed trucks' gate; it was locked, but supposing he had nothing to lose he decided to see if he couldn't pull it open. To his surprise, as he reached under the metal door and pulled up with all his strength, he found the gate deforming with a terrible screech until an arch had formed high enough for him to walk through. He did not hesitate to leave the warehouse.

Outside it was deep into evening, and Eujin realized despondantly that either he had been out for a very long time or ". . . I really am in another dimension." Looking back a moment, he noted a "Crey Industries" logo on the opposite side of the gate. Dashing away, he saw what looked to be an empty office building in the same complex. He hoped to find some clothing or at least a phone book. The place seemed to see use in the day but was closed for the night so he crept inside: not particularly stealthily as he flashing lights going off, probably from a silent alarm, but no guards came so he continued further in. His search yielded only a white lab coat and some discarded documents from a trash can. Donning the labcoat, he sit down and began to read the papers.

"These look like pseudonyms . . . of super heroes? And their powers . . . and surveillance records? Paragon City?" He leaned back in the half-broken office chair, looking at his new coverings before he shut his eyes from the reminder of his strange new circumstances. He wished he had his old leather trench coat, some normal clothes, just anything to help him forget all this strangeness. Suddenly he felt a rustling sensation over his body and his eyes snapped open; he saw that he was now fully clothed, the lab coat gone and in its place a black leather trench coat much like the one he had owned hours ago -- it seemed like ages. Under the coat was a red shirt, and he wore a pair of black pants and black shoes. "How did I do that?" For a moment he tried his hardest to make the change happen again, but he couldn't. Then he heard sirens approaching in the distance and decided now was the best time to depart and disappear into the night.

"Super heroes . . . Paragon City? I guess I could check that place out: might even fit in, from what I read. But . . . super heroes. . . ." As he slipped into the darkness of the surrounding city, he wondered at what had happened to him, and at the idea that he might actually see real super heroes...

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Thats it for now. I'll most likely continue his story, or atleast
upto his arrival in Paragon City, at another time. Please post
any constructive comments you'd like.

-Eujin

Wow, been almost half a year since I made a post. Here we go;

Hello all, Eujin here, back again. Still hoping to get more insight on my modification of my character Eujin. I had a photo to link to of him, done by the awesome talent known as Jet Blue, however her web space is a premium, so it's no longer hosted there...I think. Anyway, there were actually 3 responses to this thread that mysteriously dissapeared, and I never got to respond to them. I'm sorry. Any posts with comments or anything related to the character is appreciated.
I just wish they'd impliment long jackets, Eujin looks so inadequate running around with a t-shirt a jeans. Especially after seeing all these awesome costumes running around.

Plus: has anyone seen any good way in the costume creator to make a person look like they have no nose or mouth? There's a full-face mask, but it still looks like they have a nose, and the mouth looks like its covered with cloth


-Eujin