Maximus Martillus Justinianus

Maximus Martillus Justinianus is the young son of the proud Flavian blood. He has resided in the world of Rathnir for 18 years, and is a skilled warrior as well as a brilliant scientist. This is his story.

Early life
Maximus Martillus Justinianus was born in the magnificent palace of Fortuna. Being the son of Kogan Martillus Justinianus, and Rhaelys Justinianus, two high nobles, there were always high expectations to fulfill. He would spend days of rigorous training accompanied with his mentors, Jericho and Hiiro who taught him everything from brewing a complex concoction to the most lethal fighting arts. Despite spending so much time working on his fighting skills, Maximus never managed to understand fighting. He didn't know how to move correctly, and would often hurt himself from mishaps during training, scuffling away with an embarrassed expression, ashamed that he could not achieve what his trainers worked so hard to help him with. Hiiro and Jericho understood that fighting.. just wasn't for him, he lacked the awareness to be a glorious warrior, and taking him to help with conflicts would be a foolish decision. Sadly, Maximus did not know this, he thought he had failed his amazing teachers, and accordingly his confidence took a big blow. The two mentors decided to play to his strengths, science and brewing, which brought back some of Maximus' playful behaviour. Over the years Maximus mastered many brews, even inventing a few of his own! Eventually he even brewed a lightning producing brew, Jericho and Hiiro had taken the right path, but alas, everything was destined to change.

Christmas has come around the Flavius House! Decorations are up, extravagant dishes are prepared, it's a wonderful time of year. Near the huge tree, grandpa Rex is telling Lukas and Ignatius stories of the olden days, while Kogan and Maximus play a heated chess game, both refusing to lose (they're the best chess players in the family). Near the fire place, Maximus' aunt and uncle (Arcadia and Foolscrow) play a game of lantrunculi, and grandma Kaiserin surveys them, trying to look un-interested but secretly cheering for Arcadia. As Kogan takes Maximus' king and they both laugh at his feeble attempt to run across the board from his queen, Maximus' mom walks into the room and ushers everyone over to the dinner table before the food gets cold. As Rhaelys is saying grace Maximus and Ignatius both open their eyes to see who else is peeking and snicker when they see each other. After the gorgeous dinner they play some more games and all head to sleep, although the brothers still are up to mid night pranks.

Education
It had been a casual retrieval quest the day that everything changed. Lucas and Maximus had been walking on a worn dirt road, scanning the charred building around them for any kind of hint to what they were looking for. Their father had told them they were looking for some kind of chest, containing an heirloom of the Flavian family, but nothing else was known. As they passed what looked like a church, Maximus saw a spark out of the corner of his eye. He rushed over and beckoned Lucas over, the chest had been found! As Lucas opened the chest he snorted, and tossed the dry scroll inside to the side, "waste of time, the heirloom is just a simple scroll", but the Maximus' eyes were shining, "It's.. a recipe! A brew recipe actually! Oh my it's expensive, look at these ingredients..". Lucas laughed, it was funny to see his little brother nerd out about a potion, they shuffled over to the horses, but as they were about to depart they heard hooves coming from the castle. Their father had sent a messenger, the royal families in the vicinity had planned a dueling tournament to celebrate the 10 years of their alliance, and Maximus had to fight, otherwise their family would show weakness. The ride home was filled with a deathly silence, and upon arrival Maximus disappeared into his brewery, searching for comfort in the familiar smells. Hours passed until his Father, Kogan, came to the brewery. Not much is known about what happened in the brewery, but Kogan had tried to comfort and encourage Maximus that no matter the outcome of the tournament his family would still be proud of him, but Maximus thought otherwise, if they had chosen Lucas everyone would have praised him, and the family would be known for strong warriors, now they'd be known for weakness.

Maximus could not allow this. He rifled through his book, looking for any and all brews that could help him, until an idea dawned in his mind, a risky one, but possibly an excellent one. He took the heirloom out of his coat, it said, "for a bit of a kick" and prepared the brew, working tirelessly day and night, until at long last, after 5 days, it was ready. There was only one day left until the tournament, and this was his only chance. He slugged down the stark white drink, regretting his choice as soon as the bitter liquid touched his lips, but he pushed on, drinking the whole cauldron. The cauldron dropped with a thud and he floated up one foot. "THAT'S IT?", he screamed, "5 DAYS FOR A WEAK LEVITATION POT-", but he was cut off as he was slammed onto the ground and a ghostly white figure crawled out the remains of the cauldron. Riddled with scars and donned in armor, standing in front of him was the spirit of Fleefo, a seasoned warrior who died fighting for Kogan's mercenary order. Maximus had heard the tales of Fleefo, and cowered in front of the huge warrior. But Fleefo was as confused as Maximus, "So as I was saying before I fell down for no apparent reason, Barend, I will-", he stopped as he surveyed the surroundings. "Well this is quite a pickle I'm in now is it", he grumbled, "Who are you and what kind of dark magic did you use to summon me back into this world", Fleefo said, a thin line of threat in the question, "I'm M-Maximus", Maximus stuttered, "Kogan's s-son". Upon hearing that Maximus was Kogan's son Fleefo's expression glowed, "Kogan had a son? Interesting, but in all honesty, Why am I here?!". Maximus was about to answer when a there was a brilliant white flash and an eardrum shattering boom.. and the world went dark. Maximus woke up hours later and immediately surveyed his surroundings, the brewing room was a mess, but the spirit was gone! He had thought the whole affair was a simple hallucination from the potion, but he was gravely wrong. Once Maximus had stood up he looked at a mirror to check up on injuries he could have obtained, but swiftly realised there had been more from the potion, his appearance had changed to that of a half human - half axolotl hybrid, and his muscles were not his, highly toned and with immense strength. Somehow, taking this risk had benefitted him in the end. Yeah there could now be the spirit of an ancient warrior possessing him, and yeah his new appearance was rather shocking, but now he could make his teachers and family proud at last, he could finally be known for his strength and not just his knowledge. He examined himself some more, admiring his new horns with a strange fascination as he quietly spoke to himself, wondering what had happened to Fleefo. As if by magic, there was a quiet popping sound and the spirit of Fleefo re-appeared, "wha-" he said, but was cut off by another popping sound as Maximus said his name again, the brew had given Maximus the ability to summon Fleefo's spirit!

Fascinated, Maximus said Fleefo's name multiple more times until eventually Fleefo begged him to stop, the spirit floated in the air looking exhausted, "kid, I know you're Kogan's son, but do that one more time and you'll have an angry spirit haunting you until the end of your days", Fleefo said irritably, "sorry, sorry, just fascinated how this is possible..", he trailed off. A sudden hopeful expression dawned his face, "hey Fleefo, sir Fleefo", he corrected himself as the spirit raised an eyebrow, "how about we make a deal?", he finished with a mischievous grin. Intrigued, Fleefo motioned for him to continue, "I have this little tournament ahead of me, and I need to become an amazing warrior within the next week to bring honor to my family, in exchange I won't do this-", Maximus then proceeded to repeat Fleefo's name multiple times, "STOP", Fleefo roared, "you could have just asked without the whole- teleportation through different planes magic, difficult to give up chess with Barend in the afterlife, but I suppose if I say no that won't be happening either way, I will train you the best I can, just.. stop with the constant magic alright?". As Maximus was about to answer he heard rapid steps from the rustic staircase, and his father appeared in the hall. Kogan stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Maximus, with wide eyes he exclaimed, "Maximus? What have you done!", the son proceeded to explain how he had made the brew from the heirloom his father had sent them to retrieve, and that it had turned him into this.. thing, but he left out Fleefo, as Kogan had not noticed him Maximus assumed than only he could see and hear the spirit. Once he finished the story his father proceeded to scold him and lecture him how foolish it was to drink an unknown brew, Maximus could have died, but he rapidly switched the topic to the tournament, Kogan had managed to ask for another week to prepare his son and seeing the new strength Maximus wielded he had hope at last. Maximus agreed eagerly, him and his father had not trained in years, and he was excited to prove himself, after which Kogan departed to slumber as it had gotten quite late, and encouraged Maximus to do the same, but the son had other things on his mind. The following nights Maximus would summon the spirit and train until sunrise, determined to become stronger, once the sun had risen he would rush to his bed and get the short hours of sleep until his father would wake up, with whom he would train during the daytime. Kogan was astonished with how quickly Maximus was improving, although he still was yet to beat Kogan in a duel, Maximus had improved marginally, and Kogan was proud of him. Similarly, Jericho and Hiiro would watch Maximus' training sessions with awe, amazed that their student had grown so much.

Career
By the day the tournament came, Maximus was a changed man, although his training had just started, his skill was already un-recognizable. As he walked onto the sandy field of the tournament, surrounded on all sides by bleachers full of spectators, there was a confident look to his step, and his eyes blazed with a fiery urge to win. Out came the first contestant, Athan II, as Maximus examined him he noticed a nervous look on this face, an aggressive approach would finish him quickly. Behind his shoulder, Fleefo and Kogan both whispered words of encouragement, and the fight began. Maximus circled around Athan, his sword held to the side in a position ready to strike, while Athan stood in the middle of the menacing circle awaiting the first shot. With a sudden lurch Maximus dived forward, catching his opponent off guard, he tucked into a roll off the side of Athan, and as he landed on his knee he swung behind his back, slashing Athan's back as a spurt of blood sprayed onto the gritty surface of the field. The first attack had been struck, and now the advantage was Maximus'. The rest of this first battle was quite simple, Maximus controlled his opponent like a puppet master with his toy, and the fight was over when Athan knelt down sword at his feet, admitting defeat. The crowd roared with joy as Maximus bowed for them. The next 3 battles followed a similar manner, each being in strong favour of Maximus, but then an un-expected enemy entered the field, a humanoid-orca being.. Bomby. Bomby had been an amazing friend to Maximus from a young age, but a recent incident had severed the two's relationship, and although both wanted to re-forge their friendship, their familie's had a burning rivalry, and would not stand for it. Now the two enemies stood across from each other glaring at each other with stone-cold eyes. Where before Bomby would always win sparring sessions, Maximus now had the upper hand, but Bomby did not understand that and was expecting an easy win. The orca rushed forward with sudden aggression, aimed to severely hurt Maximus, but with unparalleled speed Maximus side-stepped his blade and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to the back of Bombie's head. Shocked, Bomby struggled to the sidelines, and admired the opponent who had escaped with no damage. He convinced himself it had been a lucky break, but proceeded more carefully now. The two circled each other and Bomby faked a step to the right side of Maximus, who foolishly followed the fake, allowing Bomby a lethal stab which was aimed at his opponent's liver. The old Maximus would have suffered a terrible injury from this, but Maximus was not the same and managed to twist, evading the stab which would have pierced his liver. Instead it sunk into his stomach. Maximus staggered to the side and fell to his knees, his head dizzy and all hope lost. Bomby told him to give up, to drop his sword, but Fleefo told Maximus to push on, to not waste all his training. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself up using the sideboards, clutching his bloodstained robes. Bomby sneered at his weakened opponent, and rushed in for the killing blow, but Maximus had one last trick up his sleeve, he ducked under Bombie's swing, kicked out his right leg, and swept Bomby off his feet additionally knocking the wind out of Bombie's lungs. Maximus stood over him with the blade of the Viesten sword pointed to his throat. He had won.