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Killer Instinct
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Tusk
Thousands of years ago, Tusk commanded a Barbarian army, leading them against an invasion force originating from another plane of existence: a horde of human doppelgängers controlled by the monster Gargos. This rogue Shadow Lord had come through an interdimensional gateway to conquer the Earth with his band of Mimic fighters.
Tusk faced Gargos on the field of battle, but the Astral demon mortally wounded the brave swordsman. As Tusk lay dying he was teleported to the Astral Plane by the benevolent beings known as Ichoriens. They infused him with Shadow Energy—thus making him immortal—then gave him a powerful weapon, and sent him back to Earth to continue his duel with Gargos.
Tusk sprang back to life on the battlefield amidst the slaughter of his people, and attacked the stunned Gargos in his moment of victory. This time Tusk wounded the beast, forcing him to flee to a remote region of the Astral Plane. And then Tusk and his surviving men wiped out the Mimics, thus saving the world.
Ever since then Tusk has served on Earth as a “Watchman of the Gods.” He wields phenomenal strength and cannot be slain by anything of this universe. He can, however, be destroyed by Gargos who murdered the Ichoriens and usurped their godlike powers, giving him the ability to kill even an immortal.
Dwelling for millennia amongst the so-called Barbarian races of our world, Tusk learned these peoples’ languages and guided them from savagery to civilization. But he steadily grew weary of his burden of immortality, watching those whom he loved grow old and die, generation after generation.
For the last thousand years, the swordsman has made his home in the place known as Icehaven in northern Scandinavia (a cursed area where the ice never melts), waiting for the return of his nemesis Gargos.
But then Tusk was blindsided by one of Gargos’ newest creations—the sinister warrior known as Shadow Jago—who attacked Tusk with an Astral relic: The Oblivion Shard. Unable to kill him, Shadow Jago erased his memories. Tusk collapsed and fell into a coma; but he was discovered on the snowy plains by the last Astral Gatekeeper, Hisako, who brought him to an ice cave along with Warg-gram, sealed them both inside, and left Tusk to regenerate.
After two long years Tusk finally awoke from his slumber. As he slowly emerged from the memory fog created by the Oblivion Shard, he started to remember his origin and the quest laid out for him by the Ichoriens. Now the swordsman must decide whether to take up arms against Gargos, or let himself be slain by the Shadow Lord—thus freeing himself from his hated immortality.
His fate is utterly tied to his blade, for Warg-gram (Wolf-wrath) as he named it, is a living thing, embedded with a fragment of the Ichorien communal soul, and forged from the most primal and unbreakable element of the Astral plane. The sword guides him with visions, and, because of its Astral origins and adamantine properties, is one of the only weapons capable of piercing a Shadow Lord’s heart.
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