- Ysevete(src)
Ysevete was a follower of Akarat and later, member of the Spiritborn.
Biography[]
Ysevete was the most trusted acolyte of Akarat, later known as Akarat's First Dedicant.[2] Her father was from Nahantu, and she spent her childhood years on Xiansai where her parents had sought refuge, as many from Nahantu had fled their homeland due to Mephisto's Hatred overtaking the land.[2] As children, Ysevete and Akarat became very good friends and bonded in a manner of brother and sister. Their bond was so deep that when Akarat left Xiansai she accompanied him, and remained his steadfast companion on all of his travels throughout Kehjistan, Nahantu, and the Spirit Realm.[2]
When Akarat Came to Nahantu[]
Ysevete and three other Dedicants of Akarat (Adavin, Istabela, and Guilla) traveled with Akarat when he journeyed to Nahantu.[2] When they arrived, they found the land was twisted by Hatred, and it felt like the jungle itself was seething at their presence. Despite the overwhelming corruption, Akarat and his followers were able to use the Light within them to see the Light within Nahantu, and knew they must help cleanse the evil that had consumed it.[2] Akarat and Ysevete were able to sense something else, the Spirit Realm, which Akarat believed was due to his mother and Ysevete's father being from Nahantu.[2]
During their first night in Nahantu, Akarat and the Dedicants were beset by Hate-twisted beasts, and Ysevete fought with a golden mace which had a head shaped like the sun.[2] They were rescued by an Umbaru warrior named Tusega, and offered to help him find his missing brother.[2] The next day, the party set forth to find Tusega's brother, and to their dismay he, and the family he had sheltered with, had all been mercilessly slaughtered.[2] Akarat convinced Tusega to join them in their quest to heal Nahantu, and they began using the Light to purge the Seeds of Hatred that plagued the land.[2]
For eight days, Akarat and the Dedicants had fasted and listened to the Light within them, before setting out into the jungle once more.[2] They arrived at a glade which was not any of their maps, and which the locals called Nahantu's Gift[2] It was here that Akarat discovered the Spirit Realm.[2] After Akarat discovered the veil that separated Sanctuary from the Spirit Realm, they spent many fortnights studying this new realm before Akarat became the first living body to cross the veil into the realm. Ysevete and the others eagerly wished to explore the Spirit Realm and Akarat taught them how to enter it, but this would prove to be a fatal distraction as the Seeds of Hatred began to regrow around Nahantu and Akarat and the Dedicants had failed to notice.[2]
Akarat and the Wolf[]
When he first entered Nahantu, Akarat had sensed that there was a "final enemy" responsible for the corruption of the land: Mephisto.[2] Ysevete's close relationship with Akarat had allowed her to sense there was something troubling him, but he had refused to explain as he felt it was his burden to bear.[2] Akarat had learned much of the Spirit Realm and those that dwelt within it, and eventually a spirit guardian named Ah Bulan told Akarat that Nahantu was in peril again and the only way to stop the Seeds of Hatred would be to defeat their maker. Akarat kept this a secret from the Dedicants, and instructed them to construct the Vault of Light which would be a bastion that stood in both Sanctuary and the Spirit Realm, a safe haven for all those who sought the Light, and a place of safety against evil.[2]
On the eve before the Vault of Light was completed, a great celebration was had by the Dedicants, but Akarat knew what he must do, and delivered his Valediction in which he warned against Hatred and reminded his followers that the Light was within all of them.[2] This speech left Ysevete unsettled and concerned for her friend, and though her fellow Dedicants returned to their merriment, she began keeping watch over Akarat.[2]
Before dawn, Akarat rose and ventured off into the rainforest, with Ysevete following unseen.[2] Ysevete was ashamed for doing it, but she kept hidden as Akarat purged the Seeds of Hatred and healed the wildlife, though she would have readily helped if needed.[2] Akarat continued deep into the jungle, where the evil was so oppressive that Ysevete nearly turned back in fear if not for the Light, and she watched as Akarat entered a dark cavern.[2] Ysevete knew that within that cave would be the origin of Nahantu's blight, and she feared for Akarat's safety as she had never felt evil of such strength, which burned her heart and mind with Hatred.[2]
Akarat and the Bloodied Wolf, Mephisto's astral form, stood face to face, and when the Wolf talked its words left Ysevete paralyzed in agony.[2] The pain was not as much as the mental suffering from knowing she had failed to stand by Akarat, though some would later believe that the Light had kept her back so she could bear witness to Akarat's sacrifice.[2]
Nahantu itself trembled as Akarat and the Wolf went to battle - trees fell, rivers changed their course, and animals cried out in mass.[2] Akarat knew he fought a deathless foe, and so rather than fighting to his last breath, he made sure that Mephisto would not go undefeated.[2] Akarat lured the Wolf into biting him, and when it did he embraced it and unleashed all the Light within him in an unforgiving splendor, as if the sun itself had descended from the skies and was now in the cave. The Light burned the Wolf, searing the flesh from its now-charred bones, and it fled down into the depths of Hell when Akarat's strength wore out and he couldn't hold it any longer. The Wolf had never felt such pain, nor such fear, and this memory led to a festering hatred of Akarat and Nahantu.[2]
Ysevete rushed to Akarat's side, and as he died he smiled in joy at the sight of his beloved friend, a smile which remained on his lips even in death.[2] Ysevete carried his body back to the Vault of Light, and she and the other Dedicants were overwhelmed with grief and a sense of failure. The Dedicants questioned as to how they could best honor Akarat's sacrifice, and Ysevete was enraged when it was proposed they should write scriptures to spread his teachings.[2] Tusega and Jualin proposed that they could put Akarat's teachings within fables, songs, stories, and art so that they would be spread and passed down from generation to generation as the old stories of Nahantu were.[2] Ysevete objected because Hatred could corrupt anything except the Light, and, with all the other Dedicants against her, put aside the conflict so that they could see to Akarat's burial.[2]
Dawn of the Spiritborn[]
When it was time for Akarat to make his final crossing into the Spirit Realm, it was under the watch of his most devoted followers, Ysevete included. Ysevete had decided that they should entomb Akarat in the Vault of Light, where he would be safe from those who would desecrate his body.[2] The body was brought over into the Spirit Realm, and they finished the construction of the Vault of Light around him. The tomb was protected with wards and spells cast by Istabela, and Ysevete was the last to leave before it was sealed up, having spent much time alone in her sorrow.[2]
Back in Nahantu, Ysevete's cries of sorrow reached the Spirit Realm and were met with support from the spirits. She would go on to form the basis of the Spiritborn culture using the tenets she and Akarat created. The Spiritborn continued to follow these tenets millennia after her death.[3]
References[]
- ↑ Diablo IV, Protection of the Prime
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 When Akarat Came to Nahantu
- ↑ 2024-7-18; AWAKEN THE FEROCITY OF A NEW CLASS: SPIRITBORN. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2024-7-18