Name: Karina Silva
Age of Appearance: 23  | Actual Age: 1844
Birth Location: Italy | Current Location: Evermore City, Colorado | Status: Immortal
Species: Niveis
Family: None
Faceclaim: Kim Jennie
Traits:
Positive: Skillful, Pure, Optimistic | Negative: Broken, Awkward, BegrudgingThe skies were clear and night was serene the night that Karina Silva was born, her parents, Giovanni and Maria holding her close as they welcomed their precious girl to the world. The couple had long believed they would never have a child after suffering from a miscarriage and many years without child but as they sat looking down at their newborn they knew she was worth waiting for, their loved baby girl, their Karina.

Karina’s parents led a nomadic life for most of their existence, their love story one of the most forbidden of the supernatural kind, an Initia and a Phoenix. They did their best to shield their daughter from it all, despite all the moving around, for the most part she had a normal childhood, she played with the other children, learned things from her parents and peers. The words supernatural were never even uttered around her and so for most of her childhood, Karina was human.

Karina was a cheerful and bright child, always seen with a smile on her face and always trying to make others laugh, she thrived on making other people happy and found herself quite the comedian in attempt to entertain others. While most girls in the many villages they moved to spent their time watching their mothers cook and learning to sew, Karina was more interested in watching her father in the blacksmith, striking the metal with a hammer and shaping it into whatever he desired. She begged him to let her try and became somewhat of a prodigy in their mobile business.

Karina often found herself lonely though, her parents gave her a lot of love and care, but all the moving meant that every time she got close enough to someone to consider them friends, they would need to move on. Karina never really understood why they moved so much, why her parents always acted like they were scared of something, waiting for something to happen. At least not until she turned 7 and the red markings appeared on her arms and legs.

Panicked her mother had waited til Giovanni to come home to give him the news. She was a phoenix, just like her mother, which meant that life was about to get much more complicated than they ever imagined. Her parents sat her down and began to explain the supernatural world to young Karina, she was confused and had a lot of questions for her parents but she wasn’t mad they had kept it from her, it made sense now, why they were always moving, never staying long enough to be recognize. Her parent’s story was of whirlwind love but it didn’t come without the sacrifice of leaving everyone they loved behind.

Now more aware, Karina had a sense of identity she hadn’t had before which only developed through the years as she moved into her teens. Her obsession with blacksmithing turned into a desire to learn to handle the weapons her father made, knowing it would make her stronger should her parent’s tribe ever come for them. On her 15th birthday her father gifted her with a Katana he had made specially for her, symbols etched into the blade representing their family and team that they all were.

While the homes were plenty and life was never really normal or settled, Karina enjoyed the thrill of travelling with her parents, seeing the whole of Europe one bit at a time, furthering her skills and knowledge, meeting new people from different cultures. It always felt as though they were teetering on the edge of luck and that something was one day going to come crashing down. And crash it did.

It was about a month after Karina had turned 16, the Silva family found themselves in a small inn in an unfamiliar town. The night was simply supposed to be a stop over before they moved onto their next location but the young phoenix awoke to screams in the middle of the night. Grabbing her Katana she had braced herself for a fight but by the time she had made it down the stairs all she saw was nothing, her parents were gone. Karina was about to run outside when she heard the groan of pain from her father who collapsed to the ground in front of her.

Karina was in shock, frozen to the spot as she tried to process everything that was happening. She sank to her knees by her father’s side, desperately trying to bind cloth to stop the bleeding from his chest but Giovanni gave her a slow shake of his head, his voice croaky as he spoke to her “You have to go on Karina, you’re the proof of our love, our Karina” he reached up to touch her face as her eyes filled with tears and then he fell limp, falling back onto the floor and taking his final breath. Her entire body wracked with sobs as she ran outside, shouting for help from anyone. Her father was dead and her mother was missing and would likely soon share his fate.

Inconsolable, Karina burst into an angry ball of flames which became bright purple blaze wings. Without another word she moved up towards the sky and began to fly, she told herself she was looking for her mother but she had no idea where to go or even how to control her wings, she’d always refrained from using them knowing it may expose her but she didn’t have a reason to hold back anymore. The young phoenix kept flying, flying as though if she kept going then eventually know what to do. Flying until she was at the point of exhaustion and her flames began to slowly die.

Unable to go any further, Karina found herself falling until she landed into the water. The moment she was submerged she felt the cold water surround her and her survival instincts kicked in, she started to swim, desperately kicking as she tried to find something to hold onto or a place to go. In the distance she saw faint lights and started to move toward them but before she could reach the shore of the island she found herself slipping into the darkness, giving in to the numb feeling that surrounded her until she didn’t feel anything at all.

When she awoke she felt like her entire body was burning, her limbs stinging, she realized she couldn’t move as she watched the flames move over her body, engulfing the entirety of her. The flames, which usually felt like a welcome caress against her skin now burned, her entire body feeling like it was going to explode. The heat kept rising, she wanted to squirm and scream but her entire body was paralyzed, her lips sealed shut as she did her best to push through it.

And then the burning faded, leaving her with the feeling of grainy sand below her. In the distance she could hear the roll of waves as they crashed against the shore, she felt dizzy, like she was a stranger in her own body and so she stayed still, waiting for the feeling to subside. That was when she heard footsteps coming from the other direction and shout from a female voice. Her eyes opened to the concerned face of a redhead, the female stared at Karina for a few moments before she shouted for help and she found herself slipping into the darkness again.

When she awoke again she felt much warmer, a pile of soft blankets covering her and her head resting against a plush pillow. As she opened her eyes she found her eyes meet the same female from before. The girl, who introduced herself as Argent told her of how she had been found washed up on the Isle of Skye. Argent explained how they had spotted what they thought was a wildfire on the isle, only to find Karina laying there when they arrived.

Hesitantly the redhead had lifted a mirror up to the young Karina who’s mouth fell open in shock at her reflection, her hair, which had once been a mousey brown was now a raven black and her once blue eyes were now dark hues of onyx. Scared, Karina had asked what had happened and Argent had explained how a phoenix was prone to rebirth to a new shell when they passed. The news was overwhelming for her, after losing her parents and now her own life in one day she didn’t know what to say or do.

Argent stayed with Karina through the night, talking to her and assuring her things would be okay until she fell asleep from exhaustion. In the first few days Karina spent on the Isle, she would meet the ailward aspects, a legendary group who spent their lives protecting the core functions of the world. Argent, her new friend and the only person Karina really spoke to, was the aspect of light, tasked with protecting all the light in the world, however that was perceived.

Venetus offered Karina the opportunity to stay on the isle as long as she wished, to allow her to recover from everything she had been through and to ready herself for whatever came next. She graciously accepted the offer knowing that she stood no chance of taking down whoever had taken her mother as she was. Karina spent a lot of her time around the guards, watching them fight and learning their techniques, wanting to be as nimble and strong as they were.

Throughout this time she developed a strong friendship with Argent, the girl who had saved her when she had washed up on the beach and generally kept an eye on her as she recovered from what happened and accepted her new self. The two of them would often stay out all night to watch the sunset and then wait for the sunrise together, they’d sit and talk about everything and anything.

A few months passed, Karina began to train alongside the other guards, learning to become a fighter, someone strong enough that they were able to take down those who threatened those she cared for, she was nimble and strong, giving the impression she was much older than she really was. Seeing her talent and the impression she had made on the guards and aspects alike, Venetus offered her a position with them as a member of their guard.

Karina graciously said she would consider Ven’s proposal but no matter how much she could see herself staying and being happy here, she knew that she had to find out what happened to her mother and that particular loose end was one she refused to burn, not for the guard, not for Argent. And so she informed the aspects of her decision and readied herself to leave. She felt saddened as she hugged her friend goodbye, after nearly a year on Skye it was time for her to find her mother, even if she no longer recognized her daughter.

This time when she flew towards the sky, setting off once again for the life ahead she didn’t feel so afraid, she felt determined and ready for whatever life wanted to throw at her. What she found however was a series of dead ends, no one could tell her who had taken her mother or where she was now, if she was even alive. Without a single photo of her mother and the possibility she had also rebirthed in the time they were apart, Karina didn’t know who to turn to.

Over the years of searching, Karina met many different phoenix groups, each able to provide her advice on where to look but none able to give her any concrete evidence of what had happened and where here mother was. Eventually however her search lead her to the stories of a group of phoenixes who had disappeared into the icy waters close to America, never to be found again. The tribe was known to take in those who had lost everything and a few phoenixes she met noted that a woman matching her mother’s description had been with them.

Finding the tribe that had disappeared however wasn’t something that came easy and Karina spent years panning the area before she finally came across a set of snowy islands in the sea. At first when she landed on the isle she assumed there was nothing there but seeing the smoke of a fire in the distance she felt hope once more. She started to make her way towards it, her entire body filling with hope as she started to wonder if this would really be the moment she saw her mother again.

What she didn’t expect however was a sneak attack from behind, shooting her in the ankles with arrows tied to rope which sent her stumbling the ground. She tried to fight them off as the dragged her along but without the use of her legs and the temperature seriously affecting her fire she found herself at mercy to their trap and being dragged against her will to whom they referred to as the chief.

When she arrived she was faced with the chief, a mad with wild eyes who referred to himself as Coldren. The male was debating what he should do with the phoenix he had managed to trap. It became quickly evident to Karina that these people weren’t phoenixes any more, they looked like phoenixes but all of their tattoos were blue and they seemed completely unfazed by the cold temperatures. She knew the man was planning to kill her, likely in some painful way. Luckily that was the very moment her mother entered the room.

Despite the fact that Karina no longer looked like the girl she once was, she called out her mother’s name. Part of her believed it was some kind of delusion brought on by the cold, showing her what she wanted to say before Coldren put an end to her but the woman echoed her daughter’s name back, pushing aside the guards and swooping down to hold her baby girl in her arms. Maria pleaded with Coldren that they could trust Karina and despite his cold and terrifying scare he backed down, telling her mother as long as she was one of them he would spare her.

The two of them went back to Maria’s cottage where she explained how she had survived through the years, after being taken prisoner by the Initia and later being saved by Coldren’s people. She stayed with them because the initia had convinced her there was no one left to go back for. She explained how the tribe had been in a stalemate with the initia for a long time but were attacked and many of their people killed which was what led them here. Where they became something else.

Karina was happy to finally be with her mother but as she talked to she started to feel herself getting dizzy and tired, like something was messing with her brain, she didn’t realize that the tea her mother had given was filled with poison until it was running through her veins, unable to be stopped. “I’m sorry but I won’t lose you again” he mother had spoken before taking an unconscious Karina’s body out into the snow and laying her lifeless figure face down in the ice.

It was agonizing for her, as she felt the entire of her body being enveloped by the cold, she couldn’t move once again and she was reminded of the first time she had rebirthed, except this pain reminded her of numbness and cold, like the ice was touching her bones through her skin. Her heartbeat began to slow and her body started to shut down, losing feeling in her extremities first before the rest began to lose all feeling and she felt the tiredness take her own.

When she woke again she felt the same sensation she had the last time she rose from the dead, except this time her veins felt ice cold. It felt wrong to her, like it was unnatural. Looking down at the tattoos that once blazed red against her skin she now saw blue spiral patterns which told her she was no longer a phoenix. Now she was something else, something she had never asked to be.

Karina was angry, angrier than she even knew she could be. Her mother had turned her into this thing without even asking if it was what she wanted. The woman seemed to believe in the chief Coldren no matter how crazy he sounded or how much he forced them all to stay on this island away from civilization. Several times she voiced her wish to leave only to be threatened and told that she couldn’t. Karina couldn’t believe her mother, someone who had once lived such a free and carefree life could allow herself to be cooped up some prisoner, or force others to endure the same fate.

In her desperation Karina turned to other members of the Niveis tribe, there were others like her, unhappy they had been forced to turn, angry with the decisions Coldren had made in the name of revenge, those who sought to be free once more. Karina thought back to her life on the Isle of Skye and the friends she had made over the year, she missed it dearly and part of her wished she had taken their offer and stayed, became a fighter for the good of the world rather than a prisoner to a mad man’s whims.

Karina did however find sense in some of the other members of the tribe, the ones who would talk to her behind hushed backs, the ones who feared an upcoming war that would no doubt kill them all. Those who saw a better future for Niveis kind such as the chief’s daughter Anivia. The whispers started to become real conversations, conversations slowly lead to an uprising that the whole tribe slowly embraced, knowing it would lead them a brual civil war.

And rise they did, the night that Coldren stripped the leader of the rebellion of his wings was the night the fighting started, it was a bloodbath and Karina was there on the front line, fighting against those who sought to oppress people, fighting for a life where she could see her friends again and she could take her life into her own hands. A future where Anivia, the clear destined leader of the Niveis kind would lead them to a better life.

The battle came and the rebels came out victorious as Anivia took her father out in a 1 on 1 battle. Those who sided with Coldren left either dead or ran before they could face their fate with their new leader. Before long a vote was presented to the tribe and Anivia was voted as their new leader. Karina still wanted her freedom but she didn’t feel the need to run to get it, there were people here who relied on her and she believed Anivia would one day lead them to the future she sought.

And so she stayed, helping with the search parties that were sent out into the world, advising Anivia of the state of the world outside and who they could trust in it. For the most part her stories were about the Ailward, the group that had taken her in, regardless of her being a complete stranger and cared for her. She truly believed they were trying to better the world and that getting their help was the way to move towards a peaceful future. She had heard Argent speak about their aims to end the feud between phoenix and initia, something she had told her redhead friend was impossible. But she knew if anyone could do it, it was her.

Karina became one of the pillars of the Niveis community over those years, supporting those who needed her and being a strong voice for what she believed was right. While her mother remained in the community and with time Karina embraced the species she was, she never forgave her for taking her choice from her and for siding with Coldren. When the time came for the Niveis to leave and find their new home in Evermore city she was excited, excited to finally be free to live her life for herself once again and excited to see her friend.