Bumedyada was destined for failure.

Incarnated to the lowest caste of Rakshasa, the maligned and mistreated Raktavarna, Yada was born with the body of a feral serpent - a fate his kind could only transcend through loyal service to greater varieties of Rakshasa in hopes they might reincarnate into a higher caste in their next life.

Abandoned at an orphanage run by the church of Desna, the priests there didn't know what to do with him. At first they thought he might sport the blood of Lillends, a common herald of their deity - but soon they became convinced of his true nature, driven to burn the poor babe alive to scour the fiend from this land.

That was when Yada discovered his species' ability to mimic objects of roughly his same size. Instinctively, he was forced to transform into a replica of his own skeleton in order to convince the priests of his demise.

It wasn't long before the boy was found by a Rakshasa master. Then another, and another. He traded hands quite frequently, always the inept tool and target of abuse for his fiendish masters. Every time their schemes were undone by his incompetence, and they met their ends due to his ineptitude.

But at last, he found a master that gave him purpose - directing him to his mother's killer, the very person responsible for him ending up in that terrible orphanage and the tragic life he led thereafter.

He transformed into a Starknife - a replica of the sacred weapon wielded by his mother, and mailed himself to the estate of Anizhar Vishadim Sanjana Mridrafiq Amitrajesh. It was finally his time to strike, to take revenge for the sordid lot he'd been cast in this life.

He failed. Utterly. Disarmed and subdued in a flash by the Rakshasa's bodyguards, he was brought to tears before his mother's killer - unable to do anything right, even to his last breath.

Anizhar paused his guards before they could end the boy, having recognized that weapon he disguised himself as. It was Teddi's, his long departed wife and wandering priestess of Desna. He spoke with the boy, comforting him to understand his story. It was then the two realized the truth of the matter. Anizhar was responsible for Yada's predicament, in a sense, as he was the boy's father. A life on the road was no place to raise children, so the wandering faithful of Desna often left them in sacred orphanages while they continued their travels.

Anizhar had long felt the pangs of guilt over his many spawn that no doubt roamed this world without a father, but now, face to face with one such individual, he could not help but open his heart and his home to Yada, embracing him as his long lost son.

Now Yada serves as Anizhar's familiar, often disguised as a shimmering blade or as his mother's own scarf that the Rakshasa wears to stunning effect. The two travel together, strengthening their family bonds as they work to heal the damage that's already been done.

Outstanding artwork courtesy of Min.