I was raised to be the head of the castle guard, from the time I was able to wander about on my own I was scooped up by my mentor and trained daily. The training was often harsh and oft times left me a bloodied mess, but it was always tempered with love and respect. Oh how a part of me craved those lessons and the way my mentor would take the time to explain my mistakes, after he threw me to the floor and slapped me around a bit. He would always tell me that I would one day take his place and that I would be expected to pass on the things I had learned to another, for we were the defenders of our home and we were the ones who would pay the price if we lost our focus. I would joke and tease him telling him no one could best him for he was the strongest warrior out of all of us, and that he would strike down any who dared attack our Castle.

"Lad," He replied. "The day ye think ye are the best is the day ye will fall, and I for one know I am nae the best. I have seen the hardships of war and I do nae care for the outcome. We are defenders and we will defend our home, but never should we welcome battle or forget of the memories of those who have fought before us." Being young and the thought of conquests swimming in my head I paid little attention to his words if only I had listened more, perhaps he may have still stood with me today.

Years passed with a few skirmishes, but none ever proceeded far into the castle for as darkness replaced sunlight we awaken and swoop down driving any would be attackers away. As time passed more rulers came along. In time we were forgotten and viewed as a luxury, a fail safe, that would always be there to protect the mortals whether they were friends or not. The head of the royal guards and my mentor worked closely together to assure the strong defences of our home. Unknown to us was the fact we were losing favour in the eyes of the mortals we defended and protected. The Captain defended us constantly; unbeknownst to us he too was losing favour for his beliefs. He refused to divulge what the king said and we thought he was being modest, oh how naive we were. Patrols went out nightly sweeping over the countryside looking for any signs of trouble that may befall the castle. On one fateful night our peaceful coexistence was shattered, 't was my turn to patrol, but something in me said this night was nae the night for me to leave the castle, if only I hand listened to that inner voice.

As I patrolled the area, it seemed like just another night. I was just about to return to the castle to report in when a distant light caught my eyes. Adjusting my flight, I headed for it, for it was my duty to report any strange occurrences. I Landing a safe distance away from the light and made my way through the woods to the clearing where I had seen the light. As I broke the edge of the woods, my eyes opened wide spotting a mortal woman sitting alone by a fire.

"M'Lady, ye are well?" I inquired.

"Aye, gargoyle, I am fine." She replied never once turning to see what approached. "My sisters and I have been waiting for thee. We offer thee the answers ye seek, but are ye willing to pay the price for them?"

"Sisters? M'Lady we are quite alone."

"Are we now?" She turned to face me her silver eyes seemed to look right through me for a moment, and then she looked to the right and the left of me. Without thinking my eyes followed hers. There standing to the right and left were two more women.

"What sorcery is this?" I roared. "Nae one may approach me without me being alerted!" My wings fanning out as I spoke, my claw going to the blade on my waist but it was nae there.

"Come now, gargoyle, if we wished thee harm ye would be dead already. Come sit with us and let us talk. We can offer each other much. Ye are curious I can see it in thy eyes."

"I will nae sit nor will I listen! I have much to do this night and I will return to the castle now."

"Ah, aye, thy castle." She laughed softly and at the laugh the two women moved to the fire forming a circle. "I will give thee a glimpse of thy castle." The three joined hands, as they did so the fire erupted into a pillar of flames. Instantly my claw went to my eyes shielding them from the sudden burst of light.

When my eyes drifted open again I stood in the inner courtyard of the castle, I Looked around and say a battle being waged before me. Instantly, I clutched for my blade. "Ye may nae interfere, Antagony. Ye are here merely to see what is happening. Ye can nae be involved in this." The woman's voice rang out.

Turning to face her rage dancing in my eyes as I spoke, "What is this? Nae one attacks the castle at night! Nae one is foolish enough to do so".

A slender arm raised and pointed to the parapets. What I saw mortified me. A cloaked being stood their mace in hand smashing stone statues one after another "Meet the Hunter, Antagony."

"Stone? How can that be?" Searching the sky I saw my answer. Twas nae night any longer, but the noonday sun rained down it's light on my brothers and sisters. "How can this be?" Looking at my claws still flesh. "I should nae be flesh in this radiance"

"As I said, Antagony, we have much to offer each other. We have given thee life, and in return we enjoy the misery ye will be forced to live with."

In an instant, I was in the air lunging at the woman, forcing her to the ground, my claw raised and for the first time in my life talons emerged from each finger. I had been trained to use a sword, but this was more than I could bear, my only thought was of her blood on my claws. "Make this Stop!" I roared enraged.

A Smile glided across her face as she spoke, "I can nae do that, Antagony. T'is what the fates have decided and it can nae be changed. Ye will go on and in that will we take much joy, for in ye will the hatred of humanity brew and one day ye will be ours to control. Come, Antagony, Take thy first mortal life in hatred. I will be the first of many!" Her words both taunted me and scared me. The rages in me so strong that I could nae fight it any longer. My claw rushed forward at her neck, but as I was to make contact her image faded away from me.

"Where are ye Witch? Do ye fear the afterlife so?"

"Nae, Antagony, I welcome it, but t'is nae my time." Her voice echoed from behind me.

"Who is this Antagony ye speak of? Is he the one who is the Cause of this?"

She laughed as she spoke. "Aye he is ye and ye are the cause! Ye were warned nae to leave the castle this night, but ye would nae listen to the inner voice. Ye could have shared their fate, but now ye have sealed it! Ye and those on patrol this night will be the last of thy kind and one by one ye will be hunted until nae one of ye lives. Ye will be the last to pass we have seen to that, and oh how we long to see ye at our command. Ye will meet us again one day and ye will bow to our feet in servitude!"

"I serve no one. I am a gargoyle I protect and defend my home and those in it! I am Nae this Antagony ye speak of for gargoyle nae have names. We need nae such restrictions."

"One day dear gargoyle ye will wear that name, it will be a constant reminder of the burden ye bare and that pact that is made this eve."

"I make no pact with ye nor thy sisters. I will nae ever bow to thee. I will hunt thee if it takes me to the grave to find thee. I will taste the blood from my claws, and know ye this mortal. This night ye have made a bitter enemy!" Turning to her as my eyes flashed like lightning across the night sky.

"It has begun. Already ye show thy true self. Ye are the strongest and best of thy kind. He trained ye well. Ye will be a most savage hunter for us. Ye will accept thyself as the beast that ye are and in that ye will only grow stronger. Oh, aye, ye will make a fine pet for the sisters. I have done my part the deed is done. Oh one last thing before I let ye see the devastation first hand." A slender finger extended and pointed to the cloaked one as his hood slid back. The face was that of the Captain of the guards. "Ye have been betrayed by the very one who defended ye the most, and why? Oh that t'is the best part! He tired of defending ye to the King. See what these mortals are, Antagony? They can nae be trusted! Now go do what ye are destined to do, become the Hunter".

Whether I wished it or nae it was to be. He had killed my kind and for that he would pay with his life, as would those in the castle. I willingly took the name the sisters had named for it rang true in me. The agony in my soul was indeed what drove me. Thus began the dark time of my life, I was indeed a hunter and a part of me craved it. With each hunt what was me slipped further and further away as the beast truly emerged, but the sisters had nae claimed me yet and on one fateful night they lost their hold on me forever.

The others that had survived that night had each gone their separate ways, a few stayed me for a time, but after seeing what I had become they too went their own ways. The loneliness only fuelled my hunger for the hunt for when I hunted I felt for a brief time that I had a purpose a reason for my miserable existence. I had, of course, by now made several strong enemies as my vengeance cared neither for class nor being. I hunted one night long after that night and at long last was captured, but nae before taking out most of the party who opposed me. Those that remained knew it was foolish to try and kill an injured beast as my fierceness only intensified with each blow. There I stood my back to wall in a puddle of my own blood. I refused to stand down, but also knew I was nearing the limits of what I could endure. I felt surely this must be the time for the sisters to intervene for I was on the verge of death. With the last bit of strength I had I lashed out at the few remaining of their feet. Luckily for me, my past crimes spoke for me and they quickly retreated into the night as I fell to the ground awaiting the end of my life. As I started to drift away, I could have sworn I heard someone speaking and something touch me, but I was unable to hold on and lost consciousness.

I stood on the edge of oblivion for what seemed an eternity the faces of those I'd killed greeting me at every turn and their blood carpeted the path I walked. Death was playing a cruel joke on me forcing me to relive each and every episode of my life. The joyous ones of my youth seemed to be the hardest ones to deal with were: who was I and what had I become? I knew what I had become was nae what I was planned to be. I was to be a defender nae neither a hunter nor a killer, but how could I atone for the sins of my past and would I ever again be able to look at a mortal the same way? Those questions plagued me as I drifted from one event to the next. I sought the answers in my past to no avail. A part of me knowing the answer lay in the future nae the past. So the fierceness rose in me again, but this time it pushed me forward to fight for my existence nae run from it.

I fought long and hard to get back to the plain of the living, which raised another question. Why was I not healed while I slept in stone or was I truly dead and refused to accept it? As my eyes drifted open my answers where given to me.

"Feeling better are ye?" a deep voice rang out.

I tried to focus in on it, but I was still too weak. My lips formed one word, to this day I am unsure of whether I asked or he just answered: Who?

Still far to weak to dispute with him my eyes drifted closed and I went to a quiet peaceful slumber. Twas the first I could ever remember. I had no vengeance, no fear, and the biggest surprise no urge to hunt.

Over the next few months, we became close and I actually put my life in this wizard's hands. Other strange things had happened as well with the spells he had weaved to save my life my own natural healing abilities had seemed to have heightened. When I slept I would awake feeling like a new gargoyle. My healing seemed much deeper than it had ever gone before and another side effect was that I was gaining a tolerance to the sun. For short periods of time I was able to actually walk in the sun before it's rays caused my stone state. We two were like brothers reunited after being away for far too long. I taught him the skills of tracking food and he taught me the ways of magic. Many a night I was the entertainment at the fire trying to weave spells only to have them blow up in my face. Our laughter would fill the small hut as I swore never to use magic again, of course the next night or two I was weaving them again with the same results.

The loneliness finally became far too much for me to handle, and I returned to the castle of my hatching only to find in abandoned and nae as inviting as it had once been. Looking to the parapets I could still see the faces of my departed family members. I tarried there a few days and slept on my old tower perch, but the past proved to be too much for me to bear. I had by now embraced what I was. I would never again be what I was. I am now a skilled hunter with the powers of a Level 6 wizard, but this too was not the end of what the fates had decided for me. My last night in my old home I built a large fire and spent much time in quiet contemplation over the path I had walked and the sorrow I had inflicted. I shed tears for fallen friends and even more for the innocent lives I had ended. At this my new path opened to me, I was chosen by the gods for a higher cause. I gave up my wizard training and stepped into the ranks of Paladin. I communed with the gods and walked the path they had opened for me. At long last I was again what I was meant to de a defender of the weak and a protector.

I travelled for years staying for short times here and there, but no place called out to me. I would stay for a time only to be taken away again some night to wander once more. A few places caught my eye, but none as much as The Castle on Drakemoore Island. The first time I saw it, I saw my home almost a twin to my home as a hatchling. Upon entering it's gates I knew I belonged there. I had found a home and its people there welcomed a beast with open arms and soon accepted that same beast as their King. There in Drakemoore I have found what I had craved for so long, a family. I now reside on Drakemoore Island ruling hand in hand with my Queen, Pendragon. At long last after years of wandering and torment I am at peace, but is this end or merely the Beginning?

Here we stand on the shores of our new home a family once more and I am proud to say nae a soul was lost during the evacuation of Drakemoore. The heart of our family through hurt continues to beat strong. many lost all they had in the fall, but here slowly things have fallen into place. Pendragon and I now rule ABI hand in hand, after the death of her Father, and here happiness has graced us and our bloodline carried on. For soon after we came to ABI we were graced with the birth of our twins. A daughter, Christiana, whose appearance is that of her Mother when she was a wee lass, and a son, Circenn, Mommy's little Cenn. Circenn has taken after my line and as such bears the proud wings of a gargoyle, much more reserved than his sister for his appearance, but nae the less proud in his own right. Nae ever look upon these two and forget what they truly are, for in both of them burns the fire of their heritage and when they are of age they will take the reigns of ABI and lead her to a new dawn of glory and greatness, again in the time where I felt most at peace the fates threw me a bitter curve, and I was once again set to the winds as I removed myself from those I held dear and began my wandering once more.

My travels led me to the small land of Eternity's Horizon, and there for a time I did set a camp to heal my tortured soul, but in that search I found in them a means to do more than heal. I found an opportunity at redemption. So as of now again do I have a family, I will nae forget the family I left behind for to my heart they be near and dear, but to my new family I offer the same warm at loyalty that my old family has come to expect from me.

My time in Eternity seemed to be short lived. Though I cared greatly for the people that inhabited that home, both inner turmoil and personal demons drove me away from it's borders. Though pleaded with to stay within it's guarded walls. I could nae do so, as the person I once was continued to slip away from me. So it was I turned my back on them and set off to live a life of seclusion in the abyss. Briefly, now and then, I would return just to look in on old friends and see what the future offered to them, but as time passed, I nae longer seemed to fit in among mortals. Gone were the days of looking past the face to see the inner beauty, and with that most of my connections to the mortal realm were severed, only a chosen few still set eyes upon the creature that once haunted the realms of men so proudly.

It was after this revelation. That I did happen upon Graez, and in it I felt a place where a creature such as I could come and be welcomed. In a few short days there did I accept its family's friendship and claim it as my new home. I trust in time that the ill feelings of the mortal world may pass, but, if nae, here I have found a place to be and a place to belong.

After a few short months in my new home, a young woman entered its borders and made her way to Graez castle. Nervous and scared was she in this new place, but in me did she at once find shelter. I took it upon myself to show her about my home and did personally ask her to spend a few short days here with me. Nae knowing that those few days would turn into so much more. It was a year later Aria and I were wed and joy again filled my heart and soul. Though mortal. I contacted an old friend and with her did we two make a potion that would ensure Aria's beauty and age would nae ever move on. Part of my wedding gift to her was this potion that ensured she and I would always walk side by side.

The tale does nae stop there, eight short months later did the cries of our child fill the then empty halls. Skylar Rayne Blackethorne was born to Aria and Antagony, and a sense of peace filled me once more. My family stood with me and again, joy filling a once cold heart....

Though few see his human persona, on occassion Antagony takes on the guise of a mortal man to better fit into mortal society. His image and stats are below.