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[h3][color=fff79a]VALERIK MANCINI[/color][/h3]
101 years old
11/03/1104

While Valerik never set foot into the battlefield during the rebellion, he was forced to acknowledge the reality of war and what happened to those left behind. He had never gotten married nor had children of his own, but Valerik still considered his students [i]his kids[/i] no matter how much he denied caring about them. School was still in session during the beginning, and Valerik felt himself break a little every time a student came to him in tears over the deaths of their family. It was worse when a student just suddenly stopped coming to class and his only comfort was maybe, they were not dead, and were just staying home to be safe. School was eventually shut down as the rebellion turned more serious and bloody, leaving Valerik alone at home with nothing to distract himself with. Valerik tried so hard to keep himself together, especially when Valcyon and Valora died, but he failed and turned to drinking in order to escape reality.

He probably would have holed himself in his home the rest of the war if it wasn’t for his brother Vallix. With Valcyon dead, Valis fighting, and Valente, Valerio, and Valereon all missing, Vallix was afraid of losing one of his two remaining younger brothers. Valerik did not exactly want to be alone, so he went with Vallix without a fuss and went to their childhood home to be with their parents. Valerik spent half his time trying in vain to comfort his grieving mother and the other half drinking. It was easy for him to get angry when he got drunk, and the worse the war became the more he would yell at anyone who crossed his path. When he was not angry, he was in despair, and would just mope around pessimistically claiming that things would only get worse. His worst episodes were when he panicked about his family or himself dying, and he would lock himself in his childhood room until he became sober. The day his father died in order to save them was the absolute worst and Valerik could no longer bear to stay in the manor anymore. He said sorry to his mother for leaving her too, and returned to his own house. He ignored how trashed and damaged it became, even ignored how it was obviously broken into a few times. The only reason he did not drink himself to death was because he had finally ran out of his large stash, and Valerik did not bother looking for more. 

When the end came four years later, he wasn’t particularly happy because so much of his family had died and their side lost to the rebels. Valerik was lost in his grief and lost track of time, so when he heard a knock on his door one day he didn’t expect it.

He nearly cried when he received a visit from Bellerophon, who he thought had died during the rebellion. Bellerophon had been the closest thing Valerik had to a childhood friend and even considered him his best friend, despite them falling out of touch. Valerik was so, so relieved that he was not dead. He was not thrilled at all founding out Bellerophon’s plans, however. The last thing he wanted was to lose another family member, but Valerik could not ignore the amount of hatred he could see in his cousin’s eyes. He realized nothing would stop Bellerophon from leaving so Valerik resolved to help him. Just like when they were kids and he would prepare Bellerophon’s study guides for school, Valerik worked all night to create a journal full of spells to help Bellerophon on his journey. He returned to the castle early in the morning and gave him in the journal, and surprisingly was given Belufasa to take care of in return. 

After Bellerophon left for good, Valerik went through the last of his alcohol and finally let his tears fall, clinging onto the mane of the equally sad Belufasa for comfort. The lion actually saved Valerik’s life, because making sure Belufasa was taken care of became his main motivation to get out of bed in the morning. Belufasa would bother Valerik until he gave him food and would demand to be brushed, which forced Valerik to do something other than sleep and drink alcohol all day. Valerik did not truly appreciate the lion until one day he got severe alcohol poisoning, and fell unconscious before he got get help. Belufasa found him and carried Valerik on his back all the way to the castle, the same way he carried Bellerophon during the war. The guards were alarmed at first until someone remembered the lion that always roamed the castle, and finally noticed Valerik dying on Belufasa’s back and called for a healer.

Valerik, fully appreciating what a treasure Belufasa was, vowed to always feed him the best possible meat once they returned home. It was a turning point in his life, because he could no longer afford alcohol since he spent his money on Belufasa’s premium food. He stopped his alcoholic ways, but quitting cold was difficult for him so he still drank at least once a week. He felt withdrawals constantly so he tried to distract himself by caring for the lion. One of the ways was to help the lion get exercise, so they took long walks together out in town and Valerik thought it was hilarious watching people look at the pair in either confusion or fear. It was one of those walks he encountered one of his old students, Flarynn, looking half dead in the street. Alarmed, he brought him home and let him rest in his bed, tending to him carefully until he woke up.

Flarynn looked relieved to see Valerik again, and started crying, saying that he had been homeless ever since his parents were killed during the rebellion, had been struggling and starving on the streets, and admitted he constantly felt horrible withdrawals for the drugs he was addicted to, but no longer had access to. Valerik impulsively offered to let Flarynn live with him, and Flarynn accepted gratefully. Falling into the role of a guardian was easy since he had experience as a teacher and big brother, and Valerik easily bonded with him since they both struggled as recovering addicts. Valerik still felt sorrow from all the deaths in his family, especially as more of his brothers died after the rebellion. But when he looked at Flarynn, he felt like his pain was nothing compared to the hatred and anger in his eyes; it looked just as bad as Bellerophon’s expression before he left. Flarynn constantly expressed just how much he despised Seraphion and the rebels, claiming that they had destroyed Wiz and he especially loathed them for their role in his parent’s demise. Worried over his mental health, Valerik stayed mostly at home in order to watch over him and only did part time jobs that would not take too much of his time away from Flarynn.

When Belisario became king, Valerik had no idea what to feel but he could tell that Flarynn was absolutely thrilled. Belisario earned Flarynn's eternal loyalty for killing the rebel scum who had taken over Wiz, and would tell Valerik just how amazing King Belisario was for saving them all. It was this constant praise from Flarynn that eventually led to Valerik seeing Belisario in a positive light, even if he was wary of all the demons he brought with him. He was also happy to see that Flarynn had finally seemed to feel happy, despite Valerik’s worry over Flarynn’s fanatical worship for Belisario, so Valerik felt okay to leave Flarynn alone with Belufasa at home to try to reclaim his job as a teacher.

He was hired once again, although he was surprised by some of the curriculum changes and he could tell that part of the lessons he was to teach was obviously propaganda to support Belisario. But Valerik did not mind talking positively about Belisario, and saw this as a way to teach younger generations to respect the new king and ease tensions over the demons that still existed among wizards. He has continued with his teaching job ever since and noticed how extreme the propaganda has gotten, but by the time he first realized it Valerik had already been ensnared by Angelic’s hypnotic song so he hardly cares if he is brainwashing students into admiring and worshiping Belisario with his teaching. Valerik is a lot harsher on his students than he used to be, and will punish any student who does not respect the Dark Overlord, as well as report any student who seems to resist or not be affected by the loyalty potions in order to send them to detention for ‘conditioning’. When he is not working in his school, Valerik is usually at home spending time with Flarynn and Belufasa if they are there since Flarynn works and Belufasa likes to spend time with Belisario. Valerik sees Flarynn as the closest thing he has to a son and even after Flarynn managed to put his life back together, allowed him to keep living with him instead of forcing him to get his own house. 

The deaths of his parents, most of his siblings, and his niece and nephew the past years had nearly made Valerik start drinking again, but thankfully Flarynn usually prevents him from going back to the alcohol just like Valerik would keep Refrain away from him. However, there are times when Valerik finds a way to drink because he feels so overwhelmed by his life that he becomes desperate to escape. Angelic’s hypnotism wears off sometimes and Valerik realizes just exactly what state Wiz is in and what he has done to help the younger generation see the horrible reality as normal. This makes him want to drink until he dies of poisoning, but thoughts of his remaining family and Flarynn and Belufasa shakes him out of his terrible thoughts and crossing the line. Valerik becomes fully aware of how wrong Belisario’s reign is when the hypnotism loses its effects, but his fear of the overlord overrides the loss of loyalty towards him. After drinking himself to near death, Valerik listens to the song again the first opportunity (he noticed the pattern a long time ago, how he would change after listening to the idol), desperate to return to that unfaltering state of loyalty so he can once again feel indifference, or better yet feel approval, towards the horrors being done to Wiz. Valerik willingly throws himself into this cycle of pain, not knowing what else to do.

[hider=Living Family]
Adoptive son: Flarynn Suga
Brothers: Valentine Mancini, Valroya Mancini, Vallix Mancini, Periellis Lereon Alexius, Valente Mancini, Valerio Mancini

Nephews: Valiance Mancini, Valexander Mancini, Grazio Merlani, Illuminato Perei de Montisquieu, 
Nieces: Valrose Isara Mancini, Valalee Kairi Mancini, Valstell Mancini
Grand nephew/nieces: Valarc Mancini, Valeri Mancini, Valtiaro Mancini, Valkristo Mancini, Noel Siran

Cousins: Bellerophon Black, Belial Black
In-laws: Pericles Alexius (via Perielles), Persia Illiana Alexius (via Illias), Perfecta Morgana Alexius (via Valencino), Valvatorez Isaiah Mancini (via Valrose), Valtier Kaiden Mancini (via Valalee), Rinoa Mancini (via Valiance), Zahndros Black (via Bellerophon)
Pet: Belufasa

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