Cysero

Overview
Lance Cysero is Lumina's greatest mystic, and at the time of Dawn of Blood and Chaos, he had been alive for upwards of 2,000 years as a result of bonding his spirit to Ung the Sun deity, and siphoning his life force. He lived through every major war and shift in Lumina's recent history by the time he first meets Rhys with the goal of imparting his wisdom upon him and nudging him in a direction that would facilitate the conditions for what he believed to be the ideal future. His overall goal in life and in the books is to destroy all of the gods, including the one he serves, and place the power of determination back into the hands of man. Only through this, he believes, will Lumina know peace.

Near the beginning of his long lifespan, he read ancient forbidden texts of unknown origin in the library of the Jetta which he spent years deciphering. It spoke of something called The Divine Procession of the Ethers which said that the god Zzaro, who was viewed as the devil and antithesis to Draemor in Luminian mythology, was destined by the Laws of Nature to inherit the world. These texts stated that in all of creation, there had only ever been one god. One god that was praised and all powerful, and another God that was despised, hidden, and stifled, both of which came out of the ethers together. They battled for eons for supremacy and the right to rule the world until one reigned Triumphant over the other, and buried them deep within the earth with very little power and influence. It became his world. But the rules of nature dictate that in all things, especially in the case of celestial beings, there must be balance. No god could remained suppressed forever. Every 2,000 years, there was supposed to be a changing of the guard where the other god rules, but Cysero learns that Draemor had been putting off the transition for almost 5,000 years and that in the coming year, 5,000 years of chaos will begin leaking into the world.

By this point he believes that both gods are having a negative impact on human affairs. He scoured every library in search of ways to accomplish the Herculean task of destroying the gods, and it appeared he found one in the Procession. His plan required seeing the future and planning accordingly. Everything and everyone had to be in the right place and doing the right things in order for his plan to work. He spends all three books playing the mastermind and leading the world into the apocalypse.

Early Life
He was born to wheat farmers in the Jetta Empire on lands that would eventually become the kingdom of Phargon. Eventually his father left them to start a new family with a younger woman in a higher social class within the empire. From that point on his mother raised him as if he was a burden, and became nauseatingly pessimistic. She constantly lamented her shortcomings and the life she ended up with. Cysero remarks that you would think she played no part in ending up where she did with how much she whined. He says he learned the importance of controlling your own destiny by watching his mother act as though she had no hand in theirs.

Plan
Cysero is well aware that he is in the middle of an assymetrical war against divine beings which he cannot possibly hoep to prevail against. Not even his hosting of the Sun God would empower him to do so. He explains to Brand and Allanda that the idea was always to work towards something of a compromise, and go with the flow of the god's wilms. When the time comes, and provided he do the right things, the gods would destroy themselves.

His bond with a god helps him get a glimpse into the wishes and plans of the gods, though his view of a utopia for Lumina remains distinct, and he believes it can only come about if the gods themselves were destroyed.

Ung
When he was nine years old, his mother committed suicide by overdosing on Dox and left the farm and what little money she had to Cysero. At first he was devastated that he'd lost the only person who had cared for him all his life; the closest person to him in Lumina. Then he couldn't help but think how selfish she was for abandoning him, a nine year old boy in this world because she could not bear her own misery.

The priests said it was respectful to burn her body, though Cysero was reluctant to do so partly because of his fear of fire, and partly because he was not quite done grieving, but he went about it anyway. When he burned her body, the flames danced upon her wrapped corpse for seven days in a very unusual display which beckoned to his spirit. In looking into the flames at night on the third day, he could feel the warmness of his mother's spirit. A warmness that was absent when she was alive. It was as if he was finally feeling her love and happiness for the first time. Every laugh, every smile, every love, and every pleasant memory. Then the flames died and he was left in cold reality again.

When he asked the priest what sort of magic could have allowed for that, they gave a canned response about the power of Draemor and how it was most definitely him that was the cause of such a feat since he was known as the God of Light and The Redeemer. For a while Cysero believed that, and went to the library to learn everything there was to know about Draemor the God of Light. He burned offerings to Draemor in hopes that his sacrifices would become engulfed in everlasting flames again, but they died out like regular fire, and were dim and ordinary. In reading even more about Draemor he'd found that though they called him the God of Light, there were no myths or legends about him dealing with fire and giving humans sensations as Cysero experienced with the fire.

He went back to the priests and asked them whether there was a God of Fire, and they reluctantly told him that such a god was known, but he was a pagan god that was created to siphon glory away from Draemor, and it was quite possible that said god didn't actually exist. Cysero asked for the name of this god, and the priest with the same reluctance stated that it was Ung.

He went back to the farm at once, took a lamb, cut its throat, and burned it ceremoniously with the intent of summoning the God of Fire. "Ung, God of Fire, I summon you," he said before lighting the lamb on a pire. Nine year old Cysero was delighted to find that the fire did not die out as the others had. The flames danced and jumped with the same liveliness as they had when he burned his mother's corpse. This time, however, the flames danced down the pire and rushed over to the young Cysero and ignited him. Yet, he felt no pain. Ung spoke directly into his mind, though without voice, making his presence known, and detailing to Cysero his unique experience.

It was said that when Zzaro and Draemor fought in primordial chaos, every blow they struck on each other created a new beast. The power of said beasts was dependent on the strength of the blow dealt. A light pushback would create something small, maybe a deer. A strong left hook however could create powerful and divine beasts. Cysero found out that Ung was born from the blow dealt by Draemor which incapacitated Zzaro and buried him deep within the earth. He can feel the age of the fire god, as well as the negative emotions that resulted from witnessing terrible atrocities throughout his lifetime. He can see and feel everything that Ung had ever witnessed. In an act of empathy, Cysero could tell what Ung was trying to communicate with these visions. This was a cry for help. A god showing their emotional vulnerability to a young boy that may understand. Though he did not know it at the time, this act was a god choosing their champion. Ung seemed to be nonverbally asking Cysero to save the world from the atrocities Ung had seen thus far, and to put him out of his misery, and Cysero in his awe and with his good hear agreed to do so.

When the flame died, he was left with a fever, and was surrounded by villagers. One priest appeared to scream prayers at him as though excorcising a demon, while another laid on the ground with his hands burned to crisps. He asked what had happened, and people told him they heard him screaming, and came to find him engulfed in flames but with flesh that appeared to be unharmed. Eventually they got the priests because they figured it was a demon, but they were of little help. He had bonded with the fire god. He was beyond the need for priests, and they could no longer help him.

Cysero from that point forward, with the guidance and support of Ung dedicated his life to eradicating misery and bringing Lumina to paradise.

The Dove, The Flame, and The Rumbler
Cysero finds Brandin Tyzerion and Allanda on the run from bounty hunters in an evidently unstable situation with Brand insists is fine, but Allanda is growing more and more tired of. They were staying in a dingy inn near the border of Praedium in Marimur, a city infamous for its depravity and crime. Understandably when Cysero appears at their door in this kind of city, they are both very skeptical as to what his intentions really were. Eventually, through explaining his story and what he was asking of them, he gained their trust, and even inspired enthusiasm within Allanda.

Cysero appeals to Allanda by telling her that he shares her distaste for Draemor and Zzaro. Though he remains devoted to the mysterious and lesser god of the Fire and Sun named Ung, he has no problem seeing them all destroyed. When asked why Ung would help him destroy himself, Cysero replies "Perhaps immortality is not all it's cracked up to be. Perhaps the old fire god is ready to die."

Cysero travels with them on his mission to ensure the apacalypse and the death of the god, but as he does with many of his companions, he keeps a world of secrets, and maintains a distance between himself and those he works with. One of his biggest issues is his inability to open up with the people who are willing to open up with him.

Cysero around the time when they reach Renovamen informs Brand and Allanda that they were approaching the day he couldn't see past, and he took this to mean this would be the day he would die. He prepares them for the possibility of continuing without him. This turns out to be completely unrelated to his death, and had more to do with all the concurrent storylines forcing the Divine Procession to happen early, meaning his stirring of chaos was working, but the cost was his ability to see the future. The future was now in flux, and too unstable for him to predict.

Their story in this book ends with the death of Brand, and Allanda blaming herself and Cysero. She no longer wishes to continue on the journey with him and leaves unceremoniously. Cysero is left alone to complete the next portion of his plan. This much he could not forsee. For the first time in a long time the universe surprised him.

Desolation of Ruin
The second book opens with Cysero in the prologue bringing baby Willa to the Mother Attisai. It's revealed that he was the mystic who convinced King Norvid to spare her life, though this was only after he murdered her mother Whitney Alistair for her inability to provide him with a male heir. His assistant at the time, Jin D'Java was seeing to the birth and placement of Archer around the same time, and she'd helped deliver Rhys a couple months prior. The storyline of this book consists of Jin D'Java and Cysero reconciling and setting the apocalypse into motion.

Keeper Controversies
There was a time where Cysero brushed shoulders with The Keepers in order to obtain their knowledge and practices. Once it was discovered that he was the host of the primoridal god Ung and could draw upon the powers of the sun without genetically acquisition, as well as able to live for centuries without conducting plasmic rituals, resentment began to brew with regard to the high council. He was forbidden from ever setting foot on Keeper grounds or asking for their assistance.