Ash

Ash To the world, he’s a mercenary—calm, precise, and unnervingly silent in a gunfight or a sword duel. A ghost wrapped in skin, drifting from battlefield to back alley, leaving whispers in his wake. But Ash is more than a killer-for-hire. He’s Echobound—cursed, or perhaps chosen, to carry the souls of those he’s slain. These souls cling to him like shadows, their faces warped into floating demonic masks only he can see. Each one whispers in his mind, replaying their deaths, offering him a fragment of their power: brute strength, inhuman speed, resistance to pain… even an unnatural form of magic that bends the world through raw mental force. But nothing comes free—every power is fueled by pain, trauma, and exhaustion. His greatest curse is also his deepest wound: the soul of his father, the first man he ever killed—a violent, alcoholic brute whose rage once ruled Ash’s childhood. Now, when Ash is at his breaking point, the others fall silent… and his father’s voice returns, cold and commanding. In those moments, Ash becomes something unstoppable. And something terrifying. He walks the line between control and collapse, power and penance—never seeking redemption, but never quite able to let go of the past that burns just behind his eyes.