History

Cassius, before he'd become Cassius, has been told that he'd started out as a massive pool of worms working in unison to make what would be his first shell in the heart of his Garden. He doesn't actually remember this time - his first memories are of sudden, violent light and coming to some hulking, bleeding creature he'd known even then could kill him if it wished.

It didn't. Instead, it unraveled into something smaller. A child, one wet-eyed and alone and host to something they would only ever refer to as the Song. Grasping onto whatever they could at that point, they took comfort in meeting a fellow monster, moreso the temporary peace his home brought them.

They would be the one to give him the name of Cassius, and in turn, he named them his Hunter.

With a patch-work shell and threadbare understanding of how to function, Cassius inserted himself snug into the life of this struggling, monstrous pre-teen. It was a beneficial relationship on both ends - the stillness of the Garden helped soothe the Song in his Hunter's bones, and in turn, Cassius would learn a love of humanity and the means to communicate with it.

He'd also learn that not all monsters were creatures like him.

The peace that Cassius’ sanctuary offered his hunter was temporary, and soon the Song's demands were too much to resist. His hunter ventured into the outside, where the stench of humanity called to the primal, bloodthirsty thing inside of them. It was luck that brought them to their next victim: a monster preying on civilians, something that brought both his hunter relief and the Song excitement.

It was here that Cassius fell into his role as their keeper, reining them in with his worms and luring them back into his Garden when it became obvious the Song's influence was too great. It was also the point where his hunter realized that they could aim the Song at those that deserve it, instead of the innocent.

And so, Cassius and his Hunter fell into a cycle of hunting down monsters (both human and not) villain-of-the-week style. It was a comfortable thing, a routine that accompanied them across state lines and made the entirety of the U.S. their hunting ground. With time came control - his Hunter grew into a monster unchallenged, and Cassius refined himself and his Garden, the former aging and seeming more human while the latter became more of a home.

Years passed by in blurs of late-night hunts, reeling in his Hunter’s more violent impulses, and shitty offbeaten diner burgers. For a while, Cassius believed this was all what life was supposed to be.

Cue the arrival of his Gardener.

Kind, confident, and with a tongue as sharp as the monstrous bits in his hair, Hugh Argyros (a different one than the one that's found himself in Karteria, mind! There are many Hughs across many worlds - Cassius, too) quite literally dropped into their lives in the middle of a monster hunt. The resulting chaos was… loud. Too loud. The sudden addition of a new, panicked presence drew far more observers than they’d had in the past, and with it, a problem that they’ve never really had to deal with before: being known.

Despite spiriting Hugh, his hunter, and the monster away into his Garden as quickly as he could, it wasn’t enough to keep evidence of their workings off of what Hugh would call “the internet”. Obscured as the proof may have been (and it was obscured - hard to capture a good photo or video with a shaking hand as a mass of meat and teeth bounds across the pavement), it didn't keep strangers from dredging up his hunter's old ghosts when a connection was made. Cases that were long thought to have gone cold were once again in the public's eye, his hunter's image buzzing in screens across America.

But the nameless masses weren't the only ones interested in cold cases and cryptid sightings. It had also attracted the attention of something Cassius hadn't even known existed: another of his kind, metamorphosed beyond mere worms and maggots. Ophira.

Accompanied by a hoard of followers and a cloud of mosquitoes, she’d come for his Garden when he was furthest from it, having been lured away with his companions to a murder cult basement by her people and given a preview of the hunger that plagued her. It was here that Cassius had learned that creatures like him could be hollowed out and consumed before they were birthed, and it was here that everything started to crumble.

Invading and forcibly rooting his Garden from the inside, she’d ripped Cassius’ consciousness back to his birthplace and trapped him there in a ring of sickened smoke and salt. From there it was a race against time, a question of whether his hunter and gardener would find him before Ophira completed her ritual.

They managed to, but not before Ophira had taken partial control of Cassius’ Garden. With both worms and mosquitos under her command, she did everything she could to keep them away from Cassius until the ritual could be completed. For a moment, it looked like it would work, but Cassius’ gardener pushed through at the last moment, breaking the circle just enough to weaken its hold.

And Cassius broke free furious.

Taking control of what was left of his Garden, his anger pushed him to new heights. Wasps bloomed from his worms by the hundreds, and together with his hunter and his gardener, he wrenched his home free of Ophira's hold and shunted her and what was left of her followers out into the space between his Garden and the Earth.

Recovery was slow, but steady. When it was clear the threat had passed and the effects of the ritual were thoroughly stamped out, routine welcomed them like an old friend.

At least until his gardener and hunter wake up one day to find him completely gone, spirited away to a different world completely: Karteria!