Obi's first few years of life were good, and he remembers those happy times fondly. But other memories are stronger, much stronger, and they are etched into his mind forever.
One night he woke up smelling smoke, and ran out of the house like he had been taught and was caught by a pair of Hellknights, who tied his hands and feet quickly then gagged him.
“For crimes against the Church of Asmodeus” the Hellknights announced to the growing crowd drawn by the fire, “Lyle Canicus and his wife have been sentenced to death.” Obi was sent to the slave market and bought by a man a week later.
The man was decent toward Obi while he was learning what to do, but after that, the beatings started. Drop a too-heavy platter of food, bring the wrong book, or take too long to get a fresh quill? Bruises for a week. The collar he had to wear wasn't helping things either, because if the man was feeling particularly cruel, he could make it crackle with electricity. Many times did Obi feel the “lightning collar” paralyze his throat and keep him from breathing...
One day, while gasping for breath from the most recent shocking, Obi felt heat bubbling up inside him. He was to breathless to scream as the heat began burn his insides. He couldn't handle this new pain and blacked out.
He woke up surrounded by the remains of a fire. The parts of the house that hadn't burned down completely were smoking, and soft breezes stirred the ashes into choking clouds of gray. He stood up weakly, then began to stumble, then run. He couldn't feel the collar on his neck anymore, he was free! But his new found euphoria was short lived as he ran past a window and saw his reflection. Where the collar had once rested was now a white ring, sitting there like it was burned into his flesh. He hid for several days after that, unwilling to let others see the mark.
Eventually though, hunger drove him to look for work, and bad luck brought him back into sight of his owner, who sold him off quite quickly after a few beatings carefully given to avoid visible injuries. Luckily, Obi was sold off to a man that turned out to be a rather devote member of Milani's faithful, and freed him quickly. Out of respect for this act, Obi took up the faith as well and did most of his work at the temple for free and without need to be asked.
That changed when Milani's faith was outlawed and the temple closed by the Hellknights forcing Obi to take refuge in the temple of Shelyn instead. Seeing his goddess's temple fall into disrepair though? That he couldn't stand for anymore. So he did some listening around and quiet, unassuming questions for a while until, finally, he got a chance to meet a Silver Raven at an upcoming protest. He wasn't sure it was the best idea, but... he owed Milani enough to try something.
