At first they thought Ruben was a typical abandoned child, but they soon learned different.
Life was good for Ruben in his hometown. He developed normally at first and made many friends starting school with his peers. At the age of seven everything began to change. One day his back started to hurt, and to everyone surprise a few days after the pain started little wings started to sprout out of his back, near his shoulder blades.
Everyone started to treat Ruben differently after that event. The kids would pick on him and the townspeople would avoid him, calling him a freak and an alien. His family still loved him, and even though they knew he wasn't a normal, he was still their son.
School got worse for Ruben, and he would get in fights here and there. One day a fight got very aggressive and Ruben found himself being pummeled into the ground. He started to cry and scream and told the bully to stop, but he wouldn't. Then, with one more cry from Ruben, a black vortex formed around the bully. He quickly fell to his knees in pain and passed out; Ruben's wounds were instantly healed at the same moment. But the other child nearly died and fell into a coma for 3 weeks.
Things seem to get worse as his wings grew after that incident, 'til he was nine years old, when even worse things began to happen. The hands of fate had started to move; global events were occurring on Expel, and that one dreadful day came when the big earthquake shook the town. The ground rumbled and Ruben cried; he yelled for his mother or father to come, but he was no where in sight of them. By fate's hands a kind neighbor saw Ruben, picked him up, and left with him to the hills as the city began to collapse.
They reached a safe point high in the hills only to witness the tsunami rushing forth to wipe out the town of Clik entirely. Ruben screamed out for his family, hoping that they had somehow survived the massacre. His face wet with tears, Ruben ran around the survivors to look for his loved ones. After some time passed he saw his dad slowly come up, soaking wet and holding his wife, with his eldest son behind him. Ruben ran to them, screaming out their names. Zaner placed his loved one on the ground and tried to revive her by performing CPR, which he was barely able to manage due to his own injuries. Billy, Ruben's oldest brother, held Ruben back as his father tried to help his mom. Despite Zaner's efforts, Anna died. Billy let go and Ruben ran to his mom and cried on her - yelling and screaming; hoping somehow, someway he could revive her. Yet Anna remained dead.
Time passed, but the family could never heal a scar like that. Zaner had suffered injuries after the incident and was never the same. He slowly lost the ability to walk, and his mind was next to go. Ruben and Billy did the best they could to keep their family stable, but things got worse. There was constant yelling; the family was always poor and lived in horrible conditions, roaming from location to location as nomads. Ruben finally figured out that if he was ever to get on with his life, he would have to get away from his home. One night, when he was 12, he simply left home without telling anyone and headed off to Linga.
While still a gifted child, Ruben enrolled in school in Linga. His wings were getting somewhat big now, but he found ways of hiding them. He studied in the heraldic arts and found he was actually quite good at it; it was recommended that he go to the new Guild of Heraldry for advanced studies.
At the age of 14, his eldest brother Billy was able to track him down and gave him the news that his father was on his deathbed. While Ruben was ashamed of leaving his home, he knew he had to go home to see his dad one last time. He reached where his family was living now and went to where his father lied. He was barely alive. Ruben cried over his disease-ridden body. He could not bear to see another one of his family members die. Things were different this time, though, and as he continued to cry with his head on his father's chest, Ruben's tears began to glow. That very same black vortex started to form around Ruben this time, and another white glow around his father. Somehow Zaner recovered and was now fully alive, but Ruben passed out after the experience.
Ruben was only unconscious for a day or so before he awoke to find his father fully healed. He was so grateful, and he had now begun to understand his powers: he could heal one in exchange for the life force of another, or perhaps hurt or kill one and revive another. This magic was nothing an Expellian had done before, so he was truly different from the others, but he knew nothing about his true background.
Once again his family life was stable, and this time he was able to make a difference by saving his father's life. Ruben had a new talent and had to explore what he could really do. This time he left his family in a good way, promising to visit them more. His father gave Ruben his prized weapon, a boomerang, hoping it would help him in his journey. He returned to the Guild of Heraldry to continue his studies.
At the age of 15, word had spread about his unique skills and now medium-sized wings which made him so freakish to everyone. Some people feared him and accused him of sicknesses, or just ran away. A few people were still nice to Ruben, but he found them to be rare. Under pressure he left the Guild to find his destiny in life, and perhaps his origins. While his wings were somewhat big, he still found ways to hide them in public, however, they still lacked the power to let him fly and at best he could slightly glide. Perhaps that was the extent of their flying ability, or maybe he was not fully matured yet.
Appearance:
Ruben is a young male who is of slightly above average height for a 15-year-old guy. He has short white hair down to his neck and electric blue eyes. He is pale, and a little skinny. Ruben wears a heavy overcoat to hide his wings from the public view.
Personality and demeanor:
Ruben appears dark and shady only to hide his true nature. He is self-conscious of his looks due to his wings, and is always afraid of being taunted and hurt. Although he appears shy at first, once he gets to know someone he can be happy and active. He believes, though, that he has no true friends, because he can never share his secrets.