Aaron (Old Epic)

Name	Aaron
Gender	Male
Born	2298 (Age 38–39 when adding extra year from time travel)
Height	5'10"
Weight	145 lbs.
Hair	Brown
Race	Human
Affinity	Fire/Sky
Alignment	Chaotic Good
Weapon of Choice	Sword or Revolver
Affiliation	Former Exalted
Player	Aaron

"Your goal here isn't to win. It's to hurt me. You can do that, can't you?"

—Aaron

Overview

Aaron is a young man taken from his own world of an Earth more similiar to our own (in the year 2006 A.D.) by an outside force for reasons formerly unknown to him. Unlike most, he initially appeared to have no distinguishing characteristics that set him apart from the many powerful beings in the Epic universe.

History

Early Life

Born on Earth in the year 1988 A.D. (2298 A.E.), Aaron was torn from his own timeline and universe, finding himself on Disparatus in Old Epic. As a child, he made few friends and spent much of his time to himself. In his high school years, he met with a girl named Sarah, with whom he formed a sibling-like bond.

Post-Transfer

Weeks before Seth had been taken from his own time, though Aaron arrived on Disparatus months after him, Aaron was taken from his own time. On a spectacularly average day in school, he began experiencing increasingly worse migraines and hearing broken voices contacting him in some sort of telepathic connection. That afternoon, he was torn from his world and shot onto the world of Disparatus, where he found himself in the town of West Unity, United Provinces.

Weeks after he'd gotten somewhat more accustomed to his new life, Aaron heard a rumor that the isle known as the Godspire was connected to other worlds. With no better leads, he immediately set out for the island to see what he could find. On his trek across the island, he met a young man named Seth, who had also been taken from his home (from the same country, no less), though he had arrived weeks prior and disappeared weeks later. In the weeks following, Aaron and Seth traveled together across the worlds, Aaron acting as sort of an assistant to Seth in his studies on history and artifacts of the Sister Worlds, one of which, by some coincidence no doubt, was called Earth. Seth also taught Aaron to defend himself, showing him the ways of fighting he'd familiarized himself with.

After nearly a month, Seth and Aaron found a way to return to their own world with the help of two strange women named Starla and Marlette. No sooner had they been able to state their relief at having returned home than Seth was engulfed in a huge explosion his own of energy, seemingly obliterating his body. In a moment of selfless concern, Aaron shielded Starla from the attack with his own body. In return for a favor of her choosing, she offered to take him to his home once, where she used his shower and fell asleep in his lap.

Heartless

During his travels, Aaron became faced with the choice of either death or forming an alliance with the sorceress Maleficent and aid her in her quest to obtain Kingdom Hearts. (This was an time in Epic where adaptions like this were still common.) Through this, he found himself fighting alongside a boy named Riku against Sora and his companions.

In the end, despite his turning against Maleficent and agreeing to assist Sora, Xehanort (then known as "Ansem"), in possession of Riku's body and the Dark Keyblade, unlocked the darkness in his heart, turning him into a vicious and powerful warrior who then turned on his friends. This "Dark Aaron" was defeated through the combined efforts of Seth, Kenshin, and the Beast, and he was left in Hollow Bastion to fend for himself after having returned to normal. Aaron, in a terribly weakened state, didn't make it far, and the Nobody Vaxish commanded the Heartless to consume him.

The next time Aaron woke, it was as the Nobody Xaanor, whom promptly joined Organization XIII as the replacement for a previously fallen member. Despite having second thoughts about it, he did as ordered for a time, until he left the Organization to pursue his own ends. Some time shortly thereafter, through a series of strange coincidences, he and Starla wound up becoming lovers, and would eventually fall in love. However, the matter of Aaron regaining his heart still plagued him, and he set out to find his Heartless. After a confrontation resulting from a chance meeting with his Heartless, Xaanor and Aaron's Heartless rejoined to become Aaron once again, whom immediately knew that his initial suspicion as a Nobody that he loved Starla was true.

World's Key

Late one night, Aaron had a dream in which he wandered across a surreal landscape reminiscent of many paintings by Salvador Dali, the appearance of the place he attributed to his interest in the artist's unique and disturbing style. After traversing the strange countryside for what he assumed to be hours, Aaron found something that made him more uneasy than the world he'd found himself in and the strange voice that had been nagging at him since: his hometown. The place was devoid of any life, any movement or sound, and yet it was as if it hadn't been touched at all. Upon entering his school, he was attacked by strange creatures that came out of the walls, creatures that wore his own face. The voice that had spoken to him before then guided him out of the nightmare world and back to consciousness.

Aaron imagined this was more than just a dream, and resolved to visit his hometown once again and investigate. He was able to return to his own world once again with the help of Starla, and upon returning he was reunited with a few old friends, who explained to him that there had been some strange attacks in the school, which had been shut down and under police investigation for days. He and Starla sneaked into the building and began to search for the ones responsible for the attacks. Upon entry, they met with an Orkan woman who'd been affiliated with the Suusaia at one point. She handed Aaron a Keyblade and instructed him to seal his own world's Keyhole before the creatures here got to it.

Aaron entered the lair of the creatures he'd encountered in his dream and there learned that they had been inadvertently created by him and desired to use the heart of his world to access the heart of all worlds and offer it to him, granting him unimaginable power. Aaron refused and subsequently destroyed all of the creatures, returning with Starla to Disparatus.

Silent Hill

On a bus ride across the United Provinces, Aaron, among the other passengers (his friends Elentra and Seth included), passed out and woke to find the bus rusted and destroyed, and the bus driver was gone, a trail of blood and bits of flesh leading from his seat and away from what had been the bus. Upon exiting the bus, the group came to realize that they were in the town of Silent Hill. In the town, the group met a prophet of sorts, who guided them throughout the town.

It was in Silent Hill that Aaron lost his right hand to the aberration they came to know as Pyramid Head, which had been acting under a woman called Dahlia Gillespie, whom revealed to him the horrifying truth that he hadn't been transported to another world, but that this "world" was the result of a planetary collision between Disparatus and his Earth that occurred within just a couple years of his departure from his home. Dahlia left the group but was later tracked down again, calling Pyramid Head to her side. The resulting confrontation led to a fierce battle, the outcome of which Aaron and the others were unable to remember.

Training With a New Master

Not long after his eventual (though partial) recovery from the torments he'd experienced in Silent Hill, now sporting an auto-mail for a right arm, Aaron had begun taking walks late at night. On one of said walks, he encountered a strange man who attacked him and sent him through some kind of portal to an alternate world, in some post-apocalyptic city. There he encountered more of the creatures from his dreams and the school, which he promptly dispatched.

After a brief period of exploration, Aaron met a man named Walter, who, after a conflict, agreed to join him. Shortly after the formation of their alliance, Walter attacked Aaron, and Aaron incapacitated him. The woman he'd met in his own time appeared before him once again, saying that Walter would only come back to cause him more trouble if he didn't kill him. With some reluctance, despite Walter's actions, Aaron complied, killing him with his own weapon.

When the realization that he'd taken a human life hit him, Aaron had a nervous breakdown, which was cut short by the Orkan woman, who had opted to hit him until he regained control of his emotions. The woman explained to him that she had come to help him and would train him to become strong, adding that he would someday face Zatenrai Seijun. This caused him no more comfort than he'd previously been experiencing, and she hit him again, saying that he would be many times stronger by then and would have many others fighting beside him.

Relieved to some extent, Aaron found himself able to press on and search out the hive of the creatures he'd been encountering more and more of. The two found their way into a hollowed-out skyscraper filled with the creatures that bore his face and were quickly surrounded. The woman, now his teacher, instructed Aaron to fight his way to the top of the building while she stayed behind to take care of the lesser enemies.

Aaron cut through the monsters in his way and eventually struggled to the top of the inner structure of the building, coming across a ledge with a door on the wall at the opposite end. On the other side of that door, Aaron met a monster more horrifying than any previous creature he'd seen: a monster than looked completely identical to him. This creature explained to him that they had been created by the memories of both his Heartless and Nobody when they rejoined with one another to create himself once more. He stated that his intention was to ravage the already scorched Earth and wipe out all life on its surface and to take Starla for his own.

The conversation was cut short as Aaron drew his Keyblade and attacked his double, the two of them becoming locked in a fierce battle. The confrontation resulted in Aaron being badly beaten and nearly killed, if not for his master's interference and almost effortless defeat of the doppelganger. At this point, Aaron was holding onto a ledge a thousand feet up by his fingertips. Despite his master's offering her hand to aid him, he refused the assistance and resolved to pull himself onto the ledge.

The two of them left the building and were attacked by a massive serpent that seemed to swim through the ground as if it were water. His master stepped out and told Aaron to face it on his own. With some effort, he managed to defeat the beast. Immediately afterward, his doppelganger appeared before them and demanded that they leave. It appeared to be greatly strained by its injuries sustained in the "fight" against Aaron's master and informed them with no pleasantries that its kind had been all but wiped out. For the time being, Aaron decided to let the creature be, perhaps taking pity on it for its unfair existence. He had the feeling it was a decision he'd later regret. A portal opened before the two and they stepped through, Aaron passing out sometime thereafter.

Hours later, when Aaron woke, he was in a small campsite in a large thicket. His master returned soon after he woke, two rabbits in hand. Dinner, she called it, not that he cared, as long as it was edible. After eating, she stood and left the campsite, telling him to follow. After they reached a clearing, she drew her weapon and swung at him, telling him that his training was to begin immediately.

Over the course of Aaron's training, his strength and knowledge of combat grew, and his abilities both in combat and the art of stealth grew substantially. His master also informed him that, in order to grow stronger, he would have to take on dangerous missions and bounties in addition to exercise and sparring. During this period of time, Aaron gained a small amount of fame as a 'hero' in some areas on Earth, most notably in the European, Hylian, and Zenan regions of Banivia. In such areas, he became regarded as a bringer of light ans justice to the people, due to several instances in which he averted some disaster or tragedy.

Following the encounter of more of the creatures he'd previously thought to be undone by the combined efforts of he and his master, he resolved to finish the job and proceeded to search them out and defeat them. Before long, some had even begun to pursue him, though their efforts always proved futile and they met with a quick defeat. Such encounters increased his prowess in doing battle with the creatures, serving to make him into a more efficient hunter and fighter.

Hunting Himself

Upon the near completion of his training, Aaron set out to explore the Banivian countryside and met up with his old friends Elentra and Seth -- whom he hadn't seen since Silent Hill, the former of which he apprehended a thief with. The three of them, along with other acquaintances of theirs, Kenshin and a paladin named Oujou included, headed to an inn in a nearby town, where Seth recounted the story of his training under a cruel and merciless teacher, and told them all that had happened in his absence.

It wasn't until Seth finished telling his story that Aaron received a telepathic message from his master, telling him of an attack on a nearby village made by the creatures he'd been hunting. Aaron immediately left the scene, running the entire distance to the village to find it destroyed and burning. His master informed him that, despite her best efforts to save the village's people, she had arrived too late to have done any good and was unable to help.

It was then, seeing those hundreds of innocent people dead -- brutally murdered by the hands of his own accidental creation -- that he became consumed with grief and hatred. He knew well why this had happened, and he knew what had been responsible: his doppelganger had done this because of him. Revenge, a warning, whatever it was, Aaron would not allow such an atrocity to go unpunished. This could not be allowed to happen again.

Aaron devoted his life to hunting and destroying the creatures he'd made, slaughtering any he encountered without mercy, killing every one in increasingly sadistic manners to sate his appetite for revenge, becoming further consumed with rage and the lust for their suffering with each kill and each new death they caused. For a time, it seemed as though madness would never release its hold upon him.

He caught wind of the death of Seth, the first true friend he'd had in this world, and the harsh realization jarred his memory of exactly why he'd been so bent on stopping his twisted double in the first place. He continued to destroy any of the creatures he met but had resolved now to find out where they were being guided from. Eventually, he tracked the doppelganger to a notoriously dangerous area on the western edge of Banivia, known as the Devil's Maw, or so the locals in a nearby village called it.

Within the cave, Aaron came face to face with "himself" once again. After a long and brutal battle that drained Aaron of nearly all of his energy and destroyed his former Keyblade entirely, his doppelganger rose again and mocked him -- once again, Aaron's master saved him from death.

Aaron realized then that he would need to attain greater power to be able to destroy his enemy. He set out in search of the fabled Soul Edge, and had been about to leave it when the man known as Zatenrai Seijun appeared to him, convincing him through his seemingly limitless cunning to keep the sword. Begrudgingly, Aaron conceded, believing it to be the only way to end his struggles. For a time, he retained his sanity, but through a series of shocking events, lost his mind to Soul Edge and reclaimed the armor of Nightmare from a museum in Banivia, effectively resurrecting the Azure Knight.

In the months following, Aaron, now Nightmare, cut his way across Banivia, killing any who stood in the way of his search. While awake, he kept some sense of self, though his personality became far more aggressive and prone to violence. In his sleep, however, Soul Edge asserted its control over his body and used him to murder and feed upon hundreds of people. For months, Aaron took these to be only nightmares, but it eventually began to dawn upon him that he was witnessing himself actually killing all those people. It was only through a chance encounter with Seth that Aaron was finally able to gain control over himself again.

Weeks passed as Aaron's search continued, Soul Edge's hold slipping further away with each passing day. He came to a port city on the Sea of Flames, staying at an inn and meeting a girl who had once briefly been a lover of his when he'd long ago visited a mining town called Azoia to rid the people there of an infestation of monsters.

He and the girl talked at length in his room and when she tried to kiss him, he pushed her back and told her of his love for Starla. Aaron then told her that he defeated Nightmare when she said that she was afraid of what might happen if he hit the city. She thanked him for saving her life twice, and saw that part of Aaron had not yet fully changed back from being the Azure Knight -- he told her that Nightmare had cut him with the demon sword and that the wound had caused his arm to mutate into a grotesque claw -- this was half true, as Soul Edge drove him to carve the gash into his arm and facilitate the transformation into a hand befitting the wielder of the evil blade. That morning, Aaron left, traversing the Banivian countryside back the way he'd originally come.

Aaron tracked the doppelganger, whom he now called the Dark Man, to Godspire Island. The two immediately became locked in mortal combat, and just when it seemed Aaron was about to be killed, the power of his Avatar, Fidchell, awakened within him and easily defeated the Dark Man. Upon launching his final attack, he pierced the side of the Godspire and drained a portion of its infinite energy. Naturally, absorbing a portion of an infinite source should have torn him apart instantly, but Aaron's body somehow held together as he slipped into unconsciousness. For over a day, Aaron remained unconscious, his spirit within the Godspire itself.

When Aaron woke, he set off to find the counterpart of Soul Edge, Soul Calibur. Fully aware that the opposing powers of the two could very well have destroyed him, body, mind, and soul, Aaron continued his search. When he finally did obtain the second spirit weapon, he became presented with the choice of sacrificing one of the things most important to him. In the end, he chose to give up his memories, rather than life or love, and in the following months struggled to slowly regain his memories as he became reunited with the various people he'd known before.

Silent War

The struggle to regain his memories was a difficult one, and Aaron found himself being attacked by men in black and taunted by a man called Bane, who claimed to be a member of a mysterious organization calling themselves the Judges.

Aaron had regained much of his memory by the time he met the Exalted and the Carbunculi, the latter of which he'd encountered once before. He met a man named Lufian and caught him as he killed a Carbunculus. Lufian told him it would be wise to follow him back to his home, lest he be caught by the Dark Jesters, a powerful organization of assassins killing people to gain their strength. Aaron reluctantly agreed and followed Lufian to the old Virad capital of Heavenrise, where he met a woman named Sandarga, who had been one of the highest ranking Virad in the war with Orka. She told him of their silent war with the Carbunculi, the Judges, and the Dark Jesters. Aaron left, electing instead to keep an eye on the group.

Later, in the days following, Aaron found himself led to Glass Rock, where the Carbunculi received him badly due to their ability to pick up Sandarga's scent on him. They allowed him entry to Glass Rock but spurned him as an outsider and an Exalted. It was shortly after that that Aaron made his choice to join the Exalted, seeing that they were the only organization who'd shown him any sense of being welcome. As a test, Aaron had to return to Glass Rock once more and spy on the Carbunculi. After learning as much as he could, Aaron ventured into a meadow where something called the Holy Mother was kept. This Holy Mother turned out to be a girl hardly even sixteen, and Aaron sprung her from Glass Rock.

Upon fleeing back to Heavenrise, Aaron encountered another Judge, a man of great stature wielding a gigantic hammer. This man called himself Catharsis and issued Aaron an ultimatum: give him the girl or die fighting. Aaron accepted the challenge and was able to outwit and outfight Catharsis for much of the battle, but the Judge was eventually able to overcome him through sheer brute force. Fearing for his life and that of the girl, Aaron fled, managing to escape the battle with both their lives.

In the some week and a half following his escape, Aaron found himself having to care extensively for the girl and began to develop a strong sense of protectiveness for her. He eventually came to love her as he would a sister, and he brought her back to Heavenrise where it was revealed that she was Rait Maladorr, the sister of Rudaiga, another Exalted member.

(The original history section of the article ends here, so the remaining details aren't as clear.)

After Clay was identified as the leader of the Judges, Aaron joined the group formed to take him down. After months of preparation, they entered the Tower of Babel and defeated Clay, ending the war and Clay's games.

Travelling to a New World

In September 2319, he, Seth, and Elentra discovered a link to another universe, New Epic. From the little they could learn from the link, this universe once contained powerful objects known as Keystones, which they believed could be used to finally defeat Zatenrai. After weeks of preparation, they departed for New Epic in early October, making use of the link to travel back in time to 2318 in the process, a year before they had even departed. While Elentra went off to the Elves, Aaron and Seth set about establishing themselves in the Banivian court, and at some point even gained a Dukedom over the province of Cydonia.

After a year apart, Aaron and Elentra met up once more as Edjejre attempted to make a bridge between this universe and their own. After some assistance from what seemed to be counterparts of Seth and himself from yet another universe, they defeated Edjejre. Shortly after, they met with Seth to discuss what they had learned over the past year, now that they had once again reached their original time. Putting their notes together, they sought out their best possible lead on a source of Keystones.

Unfortunately, time was no longer on their side. Back in Old Epic, Zatenrai had caught on to their plan, and attempted to enact his end game with a divine artifact that would affect both worlds. However, his plan backfired, and the artifact ended his life. The other results of this were much less pleasant. The barriers around the New Epic Universe fractured, sending a number of people from Old Epic to New Epic, and also activating the dormant Keystones which the group had sought out.

What happened next is unclear, as the final side effect of Zatenrai's actions was the start of the Two Year Gap. Little is known of Aaron's activities over the next two years, but when he was next seen, he and Seth had formed a friendship of sorts with the Banivian King Roland, and were hunting Zombies. Meanwhile, Nick Cobalt kept pestering him for use of his Cydonian castle. He said no.

Aaron and Seth had also started keeping tabs on Celice Anselm, the counterpart to Zatenrai, making sure he didn't turn out as another jerk. He participated in some exhibition matches at the Black Rock Tournament of 2322 to show his power to Celice for some reason before delivering him a warning about his other self.

Powers and Abilities

Aaron has recently gained many new powers due to extensive training and searching of the Sister Worlds.

Soul Blades

Through many hardships, Aaron was able to obtain both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur, the two weapons eventually forming a sort of bond with him as he wielded them more and more. Contrary to the outcome one would come to expect of the two opposing energies destroying him, Aaron remains unaffected by the conflicting powers. The cause of this remains a mystery.

Animus

Aaron gained the ability to use Animus when he inadvertently drew upon the power of the Godspire. He now possesses the ability to use his Verus Animus in an ESP-like fashion to ascertain facts about objects or causes for things. He can also manipulate his Animus into a cord that he uses to swing his weapons and attack at great distances. His signature Animus technique, though, is the Thermal Hammer, through which he compresses and superheats several air pockets around an opponent to unleash a devastating, concussive blast or scorching air and immense force.

Epitaph User

Aaron holds the Epitaph of Fidchell, The Prophet, within him. Though this fact remains unknown to him, Fidchell was drawn to Aaron not only due to his many concerns about his future and what it might hold for him, but also for his thirst for knowledge regarding both the loss of his memories, the cause of this, and his endeavors in the Sister Worlds in general, but also due to an interest -- a curiosity -- about the worlds around him.

Random Facts

• The .357 magnum Aaron carries is loaded with silver bullets, because he was once attacked by a werewolf while traveling in Banivia. He believes these bullets truly are effective in killing many monsters, and there is even a cross engraved upon each one for use against hellish creatures.
• His favorite color is red.
• No one knows his true surname, as he's never given it to anyone, though he has a false ID verifying him as Aaron Locke.