Nico

As far back as Nico can remember, he has always had to compete with his twin sister Nika, usually at her insistence: who could eat the fastest, who could reach the highest tree branch, who could dodge more traps in training, who could climb the hill fastest... There was only one moment where Nico felt at ease: discussing theoretical matters with his father, while his sister's eyes glazed over. Once they had gone to bed, Nika would poke her sleeping brother and demand he give her a simplified explanation of everything they were supposed to have learned.

For Nico, developing a phobia of blood was the straw that broke the camel's back. Unable to bear his training any longer, he left his potential life as an assassin behind, unsure of what the future might bring. From time to time, Nico would look back on the times he spent with his sister, perched in the branches of a tree, scanning the horizon. Back then, for just a moment, they were still on the same path. But his reminiscence never grew into regret. Nico knew full well that he and his sister were fated to live entirely different lives.

Nico can still remember the way he felt the first time he laid eyes on a set of schematics, immersing himself in the complex designs on the page. He sat in his cramped lodgings, lost among the hustle and bustle of Dawngrad. But the gears and mechanisms on the page transported him to another world, where he felt as free and joyful as a fish in the sea. At last, Nico understood the path that lay before him.

For a long time, when he closed his eyes, Nico could still see the wild rabbit hanging in front of him, its chest cavity split open. He felt himself swallowed up by vertigo. Sudden catastrophes had taken away the people important to him too many times. He felt death drawing near, but could only stand dumbstruck, unable to avert it—just like the rabbit. But on the night the Darklings flooded the land like an almighty tidal wave, Nico fought until dawn to bring Daybreak and his injured captain back to Dawngrad. It took all the strength he had, but when it was all over, there was one thing he knew for certain. Any doubt he held in his heart had dissolved with the dawn. He no longer feared the sight of blood.