Martyris
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The Hero Who Never Truly Dies
Mat Thew, as the hero Martyris, fights constantly against evil, in order to thwart the corrupting influences in the world he lives in - he of all people knows too well how tempting power can be, and how hard it can be, how unbelievably hard, to just do the right thing. Acting like a true gentleman to his friends, but a merciless angel of death to liars and deceivers, he refuses to compromise in any way to the forces of darkness, believing that to crack even slightly, is to shatter entirely. Capable of returning to life on the sorrow of the bereaved, he unleashes retribution on those who slew him.
History
Childhood
Growing up with a super-heroine for a mother, and a radical near-terrorist for a father, Mat Thew was never going to turn out quite normal. For the sake of him and his three siblings, the couple didn't divorce, inadvertently transforming the household in the English town of Sorrow, where his mother had insisted they move to after marrying his father in a whirlwind romance. (This was before she found out about his terrorist activities concerned with annihilating all celestial life and powers from Earth.)
In his early years, Mat was diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, which caused both parents to unite in teaching him how to adapt to society and people. They all worried about him going to school, afraid kids would pick on him because of his obvious differences - with good reason. Mat was remorselessly bullied all throughout his school life, almost driving him to suicide. However, every time, he pulled himself back from the brink, telling himself that it was cowardly, and he was stronger than he thought. Only three people outside of his family made his education bearable - in his school years, throughout all his various depressions, he had a grand total of three friends - Ryan "Barrel" Bell, Mark Riley, and Shaun Hardy. All outcasts themselves, Mat united them, and they reminded him that he was probably the strongest person they knew. They tirelessly worked to make him feel happy with himself, and in doing so formed an unbreakable bond with the young Mat, that would last well into adulthood.
Upon reaching his teenage years, he became more confident in himself - something helped no end by the restraint techniques taught to him by his now-aging and retired mother, who's techniques had saved her life in the field. She wasn't trying to groom him into the super-hero life, she was just trying to help him feel like he was worth a damn. His father helped too - giving him life advice, bonding with him, and teaching him lessons not taught in school that he needed to know about life - the value of money, etc. During these times, Mat discovered what fueled his father's near-pathological hatred of all things divine - he had witnessed his father being taken from their home in a flash of white light, cast by some sort of angelic figure, and his mother died of a broken heart shortly afterwards. From then on, all things divine had to die. Mat promised his father that he'd track down the angel responsible for taking his grandfather. Mat then finished school, passed his A-Levels in English, which he loved, and went to Sorrow University to study that self-same subject. That was, of course, when everything went wrong.
How It All Collapsed
In university, Mat was cut off from his family, his friends, and most importantly, dumped in a new environment with no idea how to adapt. "Welcome to university" he thought, but it soon got a lot worse. As bad luck would have it, one of Mat's main tormentors, a particularly malicious boy called Damon Radcliffe had also chosen Mat's course at Sorrow University. One day was all it took - Mat was once more a subject of the most meticulous torment imaginable. With no family or friends to turn to anymore (his parents had now peacefully separated and gone their separate ways, and his friends had moved out to explore their own futures)he made a radical decision, went out one day and purchased a dog, naming it Moriarty in honor of the Sherlock Holmes villain who had always fascinated him as a child. The pair fell in love with each other instantaneously - a beautiful German Shepherd hound, Moriarty was well cared for, well-walked, and definitely well-fed. With this constant companionship, Mat was able to shut out the unremitting bullying and specialize in Gothic literature in all it's forms, missing out on the social life of college but rising to the top of the class in marks.
Damon's attentions to Mat increased, seemingly in response to Mat's lack of response or care. It started with slight physical abuse, such as pushing in the corridors on the way to class. Then, minor thefts, such as small amounts of money or books, became the norm for Mat. But he didn't care. So Damon pushed the limits a little too far. One day, Damon took a paint-gun, and shot Moriarty in the front leg, in front of the entire class during a transition between classes.
Mat snapped, and broke both Damon's legs, his arms, and four of his ribs before he was dragged roaring and snarling off Damon's now-limp body. This twisted everyone's perceptions of Mat even more - but this surge of repressed rage was infinite in it's repercussions. If Mat and Damon had not both been placed on immediate suspension following this event, they would not have been present at the university during DEMON's attack the following week. And if they hadn't been there, the decision may not have been made that resulted in the creation of Martyris.
The Rise from the Fall
The following week, on the 4th of October, 2009, Mat and Damon (who was still recovering from Mat's assault) were stuck inside the university while everyone else was out on a field trip due to their suspension. Unfortunately for them, DEMON seized this opportunity to strike and reclaim a lost spell-book that was in the class-room the two young men were inhabiting. Upon realizing the place was under attack, Mat and Damon attempted to flee. However, Damon couldn't move fast enough because of his injuries, and just as Mat made it to the fire escape, was accosted and knocked down by two DEMON sorcerors, who prepared to destroy him.
The Choice
For Mat, this should have been a no-brainer. The man who'd made his life a living hell for over five years, the man who'd turned every single person in the class against him, and the person who'd hurt his dog. Mat should have just run and left him to die. Anyone would.
But something stopped him.
Something deep inside his battered, scarred and burned soul told him to go back and save his worst enemy, something made of pure will and righteousness, and Mat found he could do no else. He leapt back inside, catching the sorcerors off guard, and managed to incapacitate one. The second however launched a spell at the exact moment Mat charged at him, sacrificing himself for Damon. For Mat... all went dark...
But it was not the end. Something came through the darkness for him. Something powerful.
Dire, the Dark Divinity
As Mat lay in the clutches of death, something divine spoke to him - an dark, corrupted angel calling itself Dire, the Dark Divinity. This powerful force, intrigued by Mat's self sacrifice, challenged him with a simple choice. It would send Mat back to the time just before the sorcerors entered the room, and Mat could make the choice again. However, it slyly showed him the two different futures available; if Mat just walked away, the sorcerors would kill Damon, take the book, and leave. Over time, without Damon's negative influence, the people at the university would learn to accept him, and he would be in a state of bliss, feeling fully at home. Alternatively, if Mat sacrificed himself, the police would arrive, take away the incapacitated DEMON sorceror, and not only would Damon take the credit for defeating them, but he would say to everyone he met that Mat died screaming and begging for mercy.
Inside Mat, black fire roared into life, and Dire licked it's lips, confident that in this well of darkness and repressed hate in this boy, it would find a new champion to reflect it's glory into the world. However, when Dire sent him back, Mat sacrificed himself yet again, this time managing to hang on just long enough for the Dark Divinity to furiously berate him for making a fool's choice. Mat replied, "I think I've been a fool my entire life, foul deceiver. And if you have shown me truth, well - I shall be glad to leave such a world..." Enraged, Dire blasted the pure boy's skeleton to dust, before departing to find a new champion.
Time passed. The sun began to set. Damon had long since fled to his home to find comfort under the bedclothes. It seemed all had ended. Then, with a click-clack of paws on stone, Moriarty came to the place where his master had fallen. The dog sat down, stared at the black patch which was all that remained, raised his nose to the heavens and howled a long, pure, undiluted howl of mourning.
The Resurrection
The love the dog had for Mat, the sorrow it felt at his passing, combined with the residue of Dire's magic in the air as well as the incredibly resilient passion for good, made even sharper by the acute hate overshadowed in the young man's soul had an unbelievable rejuvenation effect. Mat's body reconstituted in a blinding flash of light, only different. He now had wings, red and white wings speckled with black that granted him the power of flight. His body thrummed with power, powers that he instinctively knew could heal, or destroy. A symbol of celestial might had appeared above his head, marking him out as possessing divine might, while his face was covered in arcane markings denoting the same.. His muscles had expanded, making him more powerful than before. He had become a fusion of purest human and darkest angel, that which Dire had been. A being of pure hate and pure good at the same time, a dichotomy that only served to heighten his new strength.
Martyris, the angel of sacrifice, had risen.
The Royal Sisters
After rising from the emotional maelstrom that had spawned him, Mat was a-full of questions. What had happened? How had it happened? What did these new powers mean? Was he alive? Was he undead? Was he immortal, even? However, first things first - Mat discovered he could retract the wings, vanish the symbols and make himself passably human, which was always a good start. Damon, upon returning to school the next day, was stunned to see him alive, and coming to the wildly illogical conclusion that Mat was either a) in league with DEMON somehow or b) immortal, he stayed well out of Mat's way from there on out and told no-one about the incident.
At night, Mat went to an old abandoned scrapyard, owned by his old friend Ryan's father, and tested his new-found powers. He could destroy whole trucks as though they were made of glass, he could fly fast enough to outpace cars on the nearby motorway - and then he concluded that he would have to become a super-hero with this kind of power. After ordering and "editing" a superhero costume out of some chaps, a waistcoat and a T-shirt, Mat found his way into the public eye in classic super-hero style; saving the university from a gone-rogue giant robot. As the arcane markings rendered his face unrecognizable, no-one guessed the quiet recluse as the mighty hero saving them with blasts of divine energy. However, a criminal trio soon arose to challenge the new hero in town, a trio identifying themselves as "The Royal Sisters," - Noblesse, Royalty, and Regalia. When asked for identification himself, Mat chose the word Martyris, a slight corruption of the word Martyr.
Over the next few weeks, Martyris battled the Royal Sisters, all of them trained swords-women and all wielding different types of blade, who managed to defeat the inexperienced super-hero every time. They only committed robberies, and oddly only took paper money, leading Mat to suspect they were saving up for something, probably nefarious in nature. On the fourth week, they committed their greatest heist yet - an entire bank vault, dragged down the motorway tied to the back of a truck. Martyris was forced to let two of them get away, but through strenuous effort managed to capture Royalty, the ring-leader, and the money. However, all was not as it seemed - the moment Royalty realized she was in captivity, she burst into tears. Stunned, Martyris learnt that the robberies had not in fact been for personal gain - their mother was in fact dying from cancer, and the money was to buy her treatment, and now she was captured she wouldn't be able to say goodbye. Despite having no reason at all to even believe her, Martyris broke her out of her holding cell, reclaimed the money, and traveled to their home with her. She was right - a former super-villain, Madam Edge, lay dying. At her side, crying, was the other two sisters.
Testing his powers of healing, Mat discovered he was able to cure the woman of her affliction, even though it left him completely exhausted as a result. However, the murderous hit-man Witch-Hunter, paid by a jilted suitor of one of the girls who also owned the bank the girls had just robbed, then attempted to kill the now recovered Madam Edge. In a act of pure gallantry, Mat threw himself in front of the woman and took the bullet, knowing full well that in his weakened state there was no way he would survive. His plan foiled - for now - Witch-Hunter retreated, leaving the girls with Martyris's corpse. As all the women wept for the loss of such "a gallant, honest, kind and good man" Mat's body began to glow with light. A few moments later, he was back on his feet, alive again. Astonished by this event, the group were informed by the witch-doctor Oov-Ood that Mat seemed to possess the ability to resurrect from the grief of those around him at his passing - but the catch was that they couldn't know about this power beforehand, as that would rob the sacrifice of all meaning and therefore, the whole point. Mat thanked the Sisters, all of whom then promptly gave him their phone numbers as a "reward" although Mat was terrified of girls.
Social Problems
After that incident, Mat emerged into the wide world and stopped all manner of crime, wherever it may be. This brought him to the attentions of UNTIL, several renowned super-heroes, and - unfortunately - several villainous organisations. The most prominent and the most tragic among these was the Divine Extermination of Cain (DEC), a military satanist group obsessed with stamping out all divine energy in the world. What was awkward was that this group was led by none other than Mat's own father, the vengeful Brian Thew, who naturally never even conceived that his son was the towering hero Martyris. Alongside this, Martyris had to deal with a common super-hero problem - former friends going to high places, normally super-powered places. He discovered to his shock that his former friend Ryan had become the inter-galactic conqueror and pirate Captain Hell, he was almost sacrificed by Mark Riley in an event that gave rise to the hero Devilrock, and he clashed with the now-UNTIL commander Shaun Hardy, and his philosophy that super-heroes have forgotten how hard life is and has a low opinion of them now as a result.
On top of this, more family troubles arose - his mother re-entered the super-hero business after accidentally receiving an experimental rejuvenation serum instead of her normal order of moisturizer, due to a postal mix-up. Kevin Lamprey, the ruthless billionaire in charge of Lamprey Weaponry, the military company that made him so rich and the original purchaser of the serum, sent trained soldiers after her with orders to extract the serum from her blood-stream - any way necessary. Martyris immediately rushed back to defend his mother, and the pair managed to fend off their attackers. They parted on friendly terms, Constraint not being aware of Martyris's true identity. At the same time, Mat's older brother Tom became known as Busk, a vampire super-villain driven by the same repressed rage pent up from his family tensions and school life that fueled Mat's quest for righteousness. The two brothers fought, and as Busk had not even bothered disguising himself, his identity was obvious. Martyris managed to stun Busk with intimate knowledge only the family of Thew would know, and defeated him using this tiny opportunity and moment of weakness. (Mat refused to destroy his sibling, so it is unknown whether Mat could have destroyed him.) While Busk was then summarily incarcerated, he deduced that Mat was Martyris - a fact that was confirmed when Mat visited him in his cell. The two brothers talked about their past and history, and Tom told Mat he would resolutely continue his search for vengeance for the wrongs he felt he'd suffered. Mat departed with this remark;
"You just want vengeance, for a crime that we can do nothing about, for reasons that are as fickle as they are stupid, and in the name of a cause as false as it is wrong. You can spend your life hunting for vengeance, Tom. You'll never get anywhere. So go find vengeance. I'll find justice. "
Busk would later escape, and their paths would cross many time more. Martyris and the Royal Sisters now fought alongside against evil, and in his civilian life all he needed was Moriarty to keep him company.
But fate would not let this bliss last.
The Darkened Angel
The villain Knavore, an alien from the planet Hythera where wanton destruction was all there was, was on a trail of, surprisingly, wanton destruction through the world. Heroes tried to stop him, and they all failed. There were even rumors he may have fought Grond at some point. Regardless, what is accepted as fact is where he turned up, in the town of Sorrow, in his alien battle-suit. Martyris, the Royal Sisters, even DEC fought to stop the blood-crazed juggernaut - all in vain. Knavore was simply more powerful than even Martyris's divine power.
Then it happened. As Martyris lay, weakened and almost destroyed, Moriarty, recognizing his master's scent hurtled from the cover of a nearby building and took an energy blast meant for the fallen hero that killed him instantly, and beyond even Martyris's ability to heal. The resulting energy surge from Mat's body was detected on arcane scanners the other side of the planet - Mat's anger and rage at this not only healed all his wounds, it also released the dark half of his nature - the power Dire had grafted to Mat's contained evil potential. Now, both divine wrath and burning hate were focused on one thing - Knavore's destruction. Martyris annihilated the battle-suit single-handed, succeeding where so many had failed but destroying nearly the whole town in the process, and mercilessly beat Knavore to death with his fists, ignoring the alien's pleas to surrender. As Noblesse commented after the incident -
"It was if Martyris had gone, and some... new thing stood in his place. It still looked like him and all, and the powers looked the same, but... it didn't act like him. It didn't feel like him. He didn't really... care about the damage he was causing. Or the pain he was causing. It was...inhuman. Definitely not him."
It was in the direct aftermath of this fight that Dire returned into Mat's life. Dire appeared to Mat, informing him that this was the power that Dire himself had unwittingly bestowed upon him - "enough power to break planets like twigs," provided he indulged it enough. Dire then openly mused that Mat was a living, breathing contrast - he was dark enough to be able to wield Dire's power, yet light enough to turn it to his own ends and focus on the divine aspects of it. In his rage, Martyris attacked Dire, only to be effortlessly repulsed - Dire warning that Mat at full strength might put up a good fight; but he hadn't exercised the power before, it was weak, fledgling. if he gave into it's power, the divinity would become the "infinitely more powerful" dark divinity. Looking over at his dog's dead body, Mat roared at the dark angel that he would rather die again, and charged once more. Dire responded by blasting Mat into unconsciousness, and left in deep thought. When Mat came round UNTIL agents were everywhere, led by no other than his old friend Shaun Hardy, now a commander. Before Mat could reveal himself, Shaun berated the hero for the destruction, and labelled him an arrogant idiot because of his actions. Unable to deal with this on top of his dog's sacrifice, Mat simply took Moriarty's body and flew away, leaving everything behind. He wasn't seen for a full week after that.
When he emerged, he seemed normal, at least to the Royal Sisters. He was kind, gentlemanly, polite, cracking slightly awkward jokes as normal - and then they went on a routine patrol together. They encountered a group of muggers attacking a woman and Martyris coldly and ruthlessly took them all out without a pause for breath. He may even have killed them had the Royal Sisters not held him back. The worst part was that he didn't even recognize why it was so bad, or even what the problem was. Worried, the Sisters took him to see their friendly local mystic/psychologist, Oov-ood. He told them that Mat was still in grieving, but in a unique stage of grieving found only in super-powered beings - "Nihilistic lack of care." The bereaved acknowledges how powerful they are compared to the average human, as well as how fragile they are. This then leads to a cold detachment and loss of respect for human life. Horrified to have this spelled out to him, Mat furiously tried to change his ways, helped no end by the suggestion that he take a lock of Moriarty's hair with him, as "inspiration."
With Friends Like This...
With the Royal Sisters checking on him, and monitoring his progress, Mat slowly came to terms with Moriarty's death, and was able to put the incident behind him and carry on with his life. And not a moment too soon - a planet-sized threat was coming in the form of the renowned all-conqueror, pirate, and ruler of the recently-conquered-by-him Shakden galaxy, Captain Hell. Commander of the largest spaceship in the universe, the Black Pit, he was coming to Earth with the intent to conquer. All the heroes not concerned with other affairs prepared for battle. Mat and the Royal Sisters accompanied Oov-ood to America, which as the most powerful (containing the most powerful super-heroes) nation on the planet, would prove the most arduous to defeat. Martyris met some of the Champions and several other prominent super-heroes during this incident.
When the ship arrived, it nearly blotted out the sun. More weapons than can even be imagined lined it's hull, and a whole galaxy's worth of blood-thirsty barbarians inhabited this ship. It stood to reason their captain was the most blood-thirsty of all. Through a miraculous twist of fate, Martyris ended up joining the Champions as they battled towards the Captain himself. When they arrived, Captain Hell simply blasted them around with incredibly advanced technology,and it didn't look good. However, a miracle happened - when a determined Martyris stepped up to fight, Captain Hell took one look at him and immediately surrendered. An astonished Martyris was shocked even further when Captain Hell removed his helmet to reveal the grinning face of Ryan Bell, one of Mat's closest friends. Ryan had recognized Martyris instantly, knowing his friend's face even underneath all the markings. After a long and lengthy catch-up session between the two friends in which their former friendship re-ignited, Captain Hell departed Earth, to try and conquer the Qularr.
After that event, Mat realized there was only one friend he still needed to re-contact, and so he paid Mark a surprise visit. As it turned out, Mat chose the worst possible timing - he entered directly after Mark had accidentally agreed to a deal with a demon to sacrifice the first person he saw in exchange for a demonic guitar-pick. After a mind-controlled Mark had sacrificed Mat he immediately resurrected from Mark's terrible sorrow, catching both Mark and the demon by surprise. As Mark had technically fulfilled the deal by sacrificing someone - there was nothing that said that person had to stay dead - the demon vanished, cursing. After very, very long apologies, Mark chose to become the (Martyris described this as "imaginatively named") super-hero Devilrock.
Mat then attempted to reconnect with Shaun Hardy, but found him fighting with his UNTIL troops against DEC. It reached the stage where Shaun and Mat's father were going at it in hand-to-hand, each fighting to kill. Adamant that no matter what happened, no-one he loved would die again, Mat revealed himself as Martyris to the pair. Shaun immediately stopped fighting and apologized, while Brian Thew disowned his son as a "traitor." Heart-broken, Mat fled the scene, Shaun breaking off the fight to pursue. When Shaun caught up, he apologized again for his conduct towards Martyris and re-offered the hand of friendship. Mat accepted, and the old team was officially back together - just a little tougher than before.
Cupid, You Rascal...
Not long after all these problems had simmered down somewhat, Martyris attacked a VIPER operation in Sorrow's ware-house district. He discovered that it had been focusing on creating Manimals similar to the work of Doctor Moreau. However, so far they only had one prototype - Project Amalgam. Martyris closed down this project, freeing the prototype in the process. Unable to leave the helpless and confused creature to fend for herself, Mat took her in to his home. She could never pass for human, not by any means, but Mat could still help her understand the world she lived in. He gave her a name, Amygam, an adaptation of amalgam. She was vaguely humanoid, and possessed human features, but she was radically different from humans in every way, physically and mentally. She possessed a tail and claws, as well as no hair anywhere. Mat described her as "an animal trapped in a woman's body."
After a while, she became his side-kick almost, looking up to him and following orders from him to the letter. She also started developing an overwhelming attraction to him, due to his kindness, manners, general demeanor, and not-too-shabby looks either. However, Mat was extremely awkward discussing sexual topics with her, and fluffed up several attempts at kissing.
On top of this, the Royal Sisters had also reached a conclusion on Mat - they wanted to share him between them, as he was too good for just one of them to have. They easily managed to intimidate Amygam, due to her being out-numbered and afraid of confidence - however, this earned them retribution from Martyris, who warned them he would sever all ties and hunt them down if they ever threatened her again. At the same time, Mat was equally angry at Amygam for attempting to get her revenge on them, so now all the girls were in his bad books.
Then she came. Tall, lithe, winged, dressed in the finest silk - Bliss, the angelic bounty-hunter. She had come to Earth looking for Dire the Dark Divinity and as Mat possessed his power, he fit the bill. After a long and lengthy fight where Amygam and the Royal Sisters redeemed themselves by working together and coming to his aid, Bliss eventually concluded that Mat was not the right target. After the sigh of relief, she announced that she would be staying in the area in case Dire came back to try and attack Mat. Somewhat spasmodically, she fell in love with him too after witnessing his valor and virtue contained within the awkward mortal shell of the boy.
And just when it could get no worse, Mat caught the attention of a powerful vampire. A vampire who was used to getting what she wanted, and she wanted him. Whilst Bliss was fascinated with his near-enough saintliness, Concealia was entranced with his dark side - with the rage that bubbled, unseen, beneath the surface. She watched him, watched how he dealt with it, and gradually began to understand the sheer strength the young man possessed. She found that she was irresistibly attracted to that strength, and made herself known to him by saving Amygam's life during a Destroid raid. A dual-blade swords-woman, she was dark, mysterious, strong and beautiful. How could any man resist?
Mat's reaction to all this ensnaring was to keep quiet in the hope it all turned out OK. It did not - Concealia invited him to an opera performance with a promise of passion. Enraged, the Royal Sisters invited Mat to another opera performance, at a different venue, on the same night. Bliss offered to teach Mat a new technique with his angelic power that required a specific night to work, and Amygam followed suit by asking him to come watch her favorite TV show with her.
As any man will tell you, even Mat recognized this was a Catch-22. "How in the hell am I going to get out of this?" He thought. "Alive!" he added. In the end, Martyris did what he always did. He went out and fought crime. During the evening he was knocked unconscious defending a young boy from a giant Destroid and was taken to hospital. That evening, the jilted women converged on the hospital bed with the aim of "kicking his ass" once he woke up. Unable to co-exist in the same room as each other for too long, it erupted into a barely-contained 3-on-1-on-1-on-1 brawl in the hospital room. This brawl was interrupted when the young boy Mat saved came in with his father and mother to say thanks for saving his life. The women realized that, had Mat chosen one of them, that boy would probably be dead, and that they have no right forcing Mat into decisions about his love life. When Mat awoke and apologized for skipping their dates, they told him that he can have as much time as he needs.
It was round about this time that Mat finished university (a bit late) and took up a job as a Gothic literature specialist for hire. Very simple, low costs, and easy and enjoyable for him. He took quite a few arcane employers who needed some Gothic scripts translated, and that paid for a whole year. It was also during this time he met Pheris Caen, a Gothic sorceress who specialized in Gothic magic, such as ivy manipulation and summoning statues and demons, and needed his help translating scripts.
You can guess where this is going.
Mat, now with another woman lusting after him, found himself in a very unenviable yet at the same time fantastic position. He was surrounded by women who all wanted to be with him, and he wanted to be with them. However, he would have preferred death by crucifixion than to try and convince them of that view. So, he decided to try the harsh route and force them to get along by inviting them all to a picnic he'd arranged, carefully located far, far away from any possibly destructible buildings. This worked for about forty seconds,and then it all kicked off - and then Dire turned up.
Dire revealed to the group that Mat was only so attractive due to the naturally seductive nature of the dark magic that inhabited Mat's body. The corrupting divinity had in fact altered their perceptions of the young man, and had found them excuses to find him attractive in order to drive them deeper into the depths of slavery. Laughing at Mat's appalled reaction, Dire left without further comment.
Stunned, Martyris urged Oov-ood to purge him of this feature. Upon doing so, the group of lovers swiftly dissipated - the Royal Sisters became love-struck groupies/ compulsory bodyguards to a delighted Devilrock, Bliss departed in order to catch Dire embarrassed by the whole deal, and Concealia found herself almost completely head-over-heels for the vampiric sibling of Mat, Busk. Pheris started to date Oov-ood, and then Mat waited for Amygam to leave.
But she stayed with him. She told him that he may have been the only person she'd ever known who'd treated her with naught but kindness, and who completely disregarded her "differences". She had fallen in love with him not because of any dark magic, but because he was "the most wonderfully awkward, wonderfully silly, wonderfully simple, just - wonderful man." She and Mat then started dating for real, fighting crime and seeing movies together. He remained the firm friend of all the heroines who'd left, though he became the butt of quite a few adult jokes at his expense.
The Upgrade
It seemed that the moment one fiasco subsided, another emerged from the ether - after Mat's remaining brother, Omar, got too close to a meteorite that contained the personality of a blood-thirsty alien killer imprinted on a super-intelligent metallic alloy, he became the super-villain Wreak, using the new "armor" to cause as much chaos and slaughter as many people as possible. When Martyris got involved, he and Amygam battled their enhanced foe to a stand-still. Only by ripping the armor off him physically could free him, but the resulting mental onslaught as the metal sought to overwhelm the new holder might result in a whole new host, and a whole new problem. Regardless, Martyris took the risk, and using his bare hands ripped the metal from his brother's head, freeing him. The metal consumed Mat's hands, forming gauntlets, but before the metal could assault his mind, Amygam knocked him out.
Mat awoke with the metal having been mentally subdued and now had a pair of indestructible gauntlets. The metal would seek out and consume Omar again and again, claiming to "like his taste." Now with an updated outfit and honed powers, Martyris was ready to confront the three most powerful threats in his life - the painfully rogue Busk, who was becoming a major problem, in terms of power and threat. The leader of DEC and Mat's own father, Brian Thew. And the source of his power, Dire the Dark Divinity itself.
The Ascent into the Inferno
Things came to a head when Busk was forced to ally with Martyris against DEC, who in turn had joined forces with Dire in order to defeat Martyris. (Busk only allied because Concealia asked him to.) The fight took place in Millennium City, and not a single witness could forget such a titanic clash. Some even labelled it a miniature battle for Detroit.
Busk, alongside Omar, Concealia and all Martyris's friends and allies battled the legions of DEC, Busk going up against his father in one on one, and Dire and Martyris engaging in aerial combat high above the city. The ground battle was fierce, but the aerial war was nothing short of cataclysmic. Great typhoons of light and darkness swirled around. Great streaks of energy dotted the heavens, and the earth cracked whenever the corrupted angel and the empowered human came together. Despite fighting harder than he'd ever fought in his life, Martyris simply wasn't powerful enough to take on a bona-fide angel. A corrupted one, but an angel nevertheless. After a long protracted torture, in which Dire revealed Mat's resurrection abilities to the entire world in order to prevent it, Martyris was finally slain.
However, then Dire's counterpart, the angel of purity Excellia, descended onto the battlefield. Paralysing Dire, she told the group that they would have the choice Martyris had. If they gave their lives, Martyris would be resurrected, with more than enough power to defeat Dire. If they refused, they would fall. But they all had to agree, or it would not work. The group agreed readily - with the notable exception of Tom and Brian Thew. After Excellia made them acknowledge that Mat would do the same for them in a heart-beat, despite all their sins, they also agreed. As they fell, Martyris rose, and he destroyed the terrified Dire with a single blast that nearly annihilated all of Millennium City. But when Martyris saw the price that had been paid, he wept, and begged the angel to restore them. The angel then gave him his very final choice, the last he would ever make. He could leave the Earth, ascend to a higher plain of existence with her, and use his now-godlike powers to save whole galaxies, and exist in a state of total peace. Or, he could resurrect everyone who gave their lives for him, but at the greatest possible cost to pay - not his life, but every single person on Earth, even his beloved Amygam, would forget him completely. His powers would also diminish greatly compared to their current state, and he would become alone in the world.
Realizing that, at this point, he would always make the selfless choices regardless of cost to himself, Mat voluntarily drained himself of power, resurrected his friends and family, and caused every single person on the planet to forget him completely. The effort of such a resurrection knocked him out, while a amazed Excellia named him the true angel of sacrifice...
When Mat awoke, all was quiet. His family had departed, his friends had gone. He was all alone.
He cried for quite some time after that. A very long time, he sat on a nearby rooftop, weeping for what he'd lost by choice. Then he overheard a nearby police radio telling all who heard that the Qularr had attacked Millennium City. The Champions were scattered, police were helpless.
Mat Thew, or Martyris to his friends, dried his eyes, stroked Moriarty's fur in his pocket, fired up his wings, and flew off to save the city. Like he would do now, and forever, and beyond.
Powers
Martyris possesses the ability to resurrect himself off other's sorrow at his death. However, he cannot resurrect off the same person twice, and not off one person if they know about his ability to do so.
He also possesses the power to heal, destroy, paralyze, and resurrect others, although this is limited to a few people to a time. He can also fly due to small angel wings on his back, at varying speeds depending on his level of focus.
He is also a very athletic person, his slightly augmented strength being supplemented by restraint techniques taught to him by his mother, who no longer remembers him.
Personality
Despite his "set-back", (losing almost if not all his power and everyone forgetting him just prior to the tutorial mission of Champions Online) he remains fiercely devoted to justice, and refuses to ally with evil in any context. He also never acknowledges when he is depressed or sad, choosing instead to smother it in implemented good spirits. Almost overly polite, as well as observing all matters of etiquette, he never lets anyone feel sad in his presence if he can help it.
Far from arrogant, he has an inferiority complex, and is always humble about himself. He is still apprehensive of girls, his Asperger's Syndrome occasionally rendering him incapable of recognizing romantic intentions or situations.
