Zachary, being given the powers of the Underworld when he became the 'Warrior of the Underworld', he can enter a powerful state called, 'Rage'. This 'Rage' allows Zach to be twice as strong and fast, but it also makes him a total demon, the complete opposite of what he is. When in Rage, his eyes are replaced with a burning fire and his voice becomes hellish and demon-like. This is because when he calls upon this ability by chanting, "Obsecro manu mali sanguis mortuis!" he is actually taking the power from souls that his sword absorbs from the people he slays. These souls are kept within the strange, Underworld-like gem at the end of the sword's hilt. Also, no one can wield his sword Incruentus, or else they take some serious damage, you’ll learn why in the story.

Zachary can sense evil within a person's heart such as a demon, if they have no soul, or if they have some sort of evil ability (but he can't tell what the ability is). This isn't an advantage or a disadvantage, for it does not affect anything (fighting, strength, weakness, etc.) It is just there for better story telling and plots.

Incruentus is Zach's blood hungry sword, if not fed the blood of another person, within time, the blade will use the master as food and eventually kill him/her. Also, after exiting the state of Rage, Zachary is very weak and is vulnerable. He is also a normal human being, he has the normal pain and emotions just as everyone else and can die the same way a human can. Incruentus has a weakness as well, if it does not feed, the blade becomes dull. So, the more blood, the sharper it is. And just to make it even easier to beat my character, let's say his 'Rage' (god I should really change that name) can only last for about 30 seconds to a minute before it kills him.

They say that some legends have been around since the beginning of time; those legends are passed down from generation to generation, eventually, fading away from existence. But some… some never die. They strive in the world of ours, remaining undetected, never to be shown the light of day.

A few of these myths and legends have always caught the eye of anybody that enjoys adventure or just an epic tale. The unfortunate souls that go searching for these myths never return home successful, some never return home at all. Storytellers would speak of great doorways to new worlds or powerful weapons that could spread devastation through the land; mass amounts of riches and amazing beasts that everyone thought had died out years ago.

But never has a legend been so well known as the story of ‘The Blade Forged in Hell’. It is said that this sword was crafted from the very stone that forms the walls of that forsaken place; that is was smelt within the heart of the ‘Lake of Fire’. During its creation, the spirits and trapped souls, known as ‘Cacodaemones’, intertwined with its materials, providing it life and a sense for death.

As the story states, the blade was originally created for the god, ‘Hades’. But the weapon grew a mind of its own; the moment Hades took hold if its hilt; the sword turned upon him and attacked his body by draining his power and immortal life. Hades fell and was forever concealed within the blade by the revealing of his veins upon the sword.

With Hades gone, there would be no one to rule the ‘Underworld’. Soon, the other gods would find out and chaos would break loose, so, the three judges of the dead, ‘Aeacus’, ‘Minos’, and ‘Rhadamanthys’, took his place. The sword was a powerful and deadly weapon, and they did not want to take their chances.

The sword soon proved that it would not accept an immortal as its master; it needed a vessel that could provide what it needed most… blood. The three judges devised a plan to search the world, for which they served, for a worthy carrier. The blade consumed every man who dared to accept the deal; this is how it came to be known as Incruentus.

When a man stepped forward with the simple name of Zachary Miles, Incruentus’ veins began to glow, something that it had never done before. The moment Zachary wrapped his fingers around the hilt, dark red energy shot through his body, turning the whites in his eyes blood red and his veins gleamed through his skin with an evil color.

When the light receded, Zachary was still alive with Incruentus in his hands. The judges knew that this is what they have been waiting for, the one man that could master this great weapon….

After receiving Incruentus, Zach was forced to follow orders from the judges of the Underworld. He would kill the targets they had laid out for him, he would kill each and every one. Until one day, he was ordered to murder the woman he loved, he refused and fought against the order. When he returned to his beloved, he found that she had been killed by another assassin sent by the judges to finish the deed. He swore that he would get his revenge upon the judges and abandoned the rule of the Underworld. Ever since then, the judges have created an army of 'Hunters' to find and destroy Zachary, who he now fights to survive. Eventually, Zach joins RHG, something that he believes will help him get back the Underworld and take his revenge.

Zachary is cold-hearted, proud, and uncaring. Many centuries of living and watching everyone he knew die caused this. He does not like to use emotions when he fights (but he is not emotionless), instead, he likes to use logic and what is best for the situation. Our time period of today has taught Zach to be laid back and chill as long as you don't get in his way. So, in someway or another, he really acts like the popular and cool kid in high school.

Zachary has brown hair, green eyes, and is from Ancient Greece. He wears armor he received from the Underworld, dark leather wrapped around his body except for his left arm, which is kept exposed. This is because, when in dire situations such as being in the middle of nowhere or when there is no people around to feed Incruentus, Zachary must sacrifice his own blood to stop Incruentus from killing him. So, his left arm is completely covered in scars.
A large metal shoulder-guard sits upon his right shoulder and has large spikes coming out of the top. To his right, he wears Incruentus in a sheath made out of the hide of the dog, Cerberus, the Underworld's protector and Hades' dog.

Zachary does not age as well. He does not plainly come out and say how old he really is, but when asked, he normally only mentions being in the battle at the Greek city, Troy. So one can only use this information to guess his real age, but his looks appear to be only around 26 or 27. This is due to the effects of giving up his freedom to serve the Underworld.

Incruentus has a dark blue, almost black looking hilt, with a diamond-shaped, emerald-green gem attached at the end. The metal blade is very large, about the same length as a yardstick from the top of the hilt to the very tip. Hades' veins run up and down the red tinted blade and glows blood red whenever it comes in contact with blood.

How long? How long had it been since he first set foot within the cool embrace of the forest air? Zachary didn’t know. He did not mind the chill of the night brushing against his exposed skin, or the quiet chirping of insects, or even the lightless sky: stormclouds. These things actually calmed his mind.

No, what did bother him was that his peace of mind must be interrupted once again to fend off the horrid beasts of the shadows. For once in his godforsaken life, Zachary wishes that he could sleep a full night’s rest without having his dreams interrupted, but that wish has yet to be fulfilled and it would not be fulfilled on this night, for this night was filled with dread and sweat, annoyance and blood, not that of fairytales.

Zachary raised Incruentus against his foe once more; he could feel the hunger emanating from within the blade now that it had tasted the beast’s blood, he could feel the tortured souls within the emerald-green gem at the end of Incruentus, and he could feel his own heartbeat as the beast snarled at him, baring its teeth. He was exhausted just as he always was, the lack of sleep and constant paranoia can do that to a person, but Zachary was more so exhausted by the fact that he had yet to kill this beast.

What was it about this one? He had fought so many others like it before, the mangled fur, the large, yellowed teeth, the soulless eyes: all the same. Except now, the beast’s eyes were not that of evil, they were not glazed with darkness like all the others, they held fear within them, something that Zachary knew all too well.

“You’re just like me, aren’t you?” Zach said under his breath as the beast continued to snarl. “What did they take from you? Your soul, a loved one, your humanity? I understand your pain, they took from me as well.”

The beast picked its head up and turned up one ear, as if to say that it understood what he was saying. Perhaps the beast was not a beast entirely, something of a human, yet not. Did monsters have the ability to feel anything other than bloodlust? Zachary liked to think not, but when reaching out towards this beast, he didn’t sense a dark evil coming from its heart. This beast was not born out of hatred and lust for all that was present was a sorrowful evil, one that almost made Zach feel so sorrowful himself because this was what his current state was born from as well.

“Your pain will be over soon, I promise you that. Obsecro manu mali--,” the beast pushed itself close to the ground and pressed it ears against its head and began to bark angrily at Zachary. “sanguis mortuis.” The sky roared and shook the ground with its fiery might: thunder.

A step closer.
A step back.
A step closer.
A step back.

This was the slow dance between the two as fearful beast and raging demon were intertwined underneath the dark night.

A step closer.
Stop.

Zachary stood above the beast as it cowered, refusing to look him in eyes. Zach raised his sword into the air, ready to bring it down upon the beast’s neck, but the beast retaliated by chomping down on his right arm. The beast almost seemed surprised as it looked up at the Zachary’s face and saw that the bite had done nothing at all, Zach did not react to having sharp teeth in his arm. Instead, he continued with the swing using his left arm and sliced cleanly through the neck of the beast. The fire in Zachary’s eyes subsided as the fire in the veins on Incruentus intensified--

The leaves above were rustling now, drops of blood came crashing down, impacting the earth as if to declare a victor with the sounds of clapping…. No, this was not blood at all: Rain. Zachary looked up into the sky, peering through the small gaps between the leaves overhead. The rain was hard and it was loud, what was this about, was the forest crying for this sorrowful beast, a beast that had so much taken from him? Zachary pondered this question as the light from Incruentus died down and left the forest trees black from the night once more. Could it be that the forest knew of the beast’s sufferings, as if the trees had their own sense of right and wrong?

Zachary looked down at the beast’s body, except there was nothing to look at for the body and head were now gone.

‘Right,’ Zachary thought. ‘Just like all the others.’ Zachary fell to the ground and knelt as he threw Incruentus down in front of him. He now had his answer, the forest did not only cry for the beast nor did it only cry for him, the forest cried for both... as they were one and the same.