PART I. A long time ago, three siblings inherited the Earth: the Creator controlled everything that is Seen, Qtueba inherited the Unknown, and Ihutne received the Descent, deep underground. There she multiplied without her siblings knowing, molding the Quiuri into being out of the magma she bathed in. She considered them her children, but they were little more than a ravenous army, and once the hole they dug erupted, the Quiuri crawled out to take over the Seen and the Unknown.
Her invasion became the Burning War, and humans called the Quiuri Those Who Burn (or the Burned, or Burners), unexpected and overwhelming enough for the Creator and a reluctant Qtueba to call on other members of the family to fight and contain the Burned before they spread all over the world, turning it to ash with them. Pherenike, inheritor of War and Peace, led armies. Her uncle, Fhaeyra, used the conflict to profit off the misery and despair of those who lacked what he could offer: Wealth and Health. Ifshi looked out for humanity with Rain and Dance, and she cared for those who succumbed to Madness.
There were others in the pantheon, fighting or gaining from the Burning War, until enough Quiuri had been slaughtered and those who remained crawled back to their mother. Ihutne was be sealed in her glowing, suffocating kingdom, and the Creator worked with Qtueba to erase memories and records of the Burning War from history, as well as their names. Not every member of their pantheon was thrilled to lose their temples and worship, particularly Pherenike and Fhaeyra — but where the latter was smart enough to hide his opinion, the former had to be forced into a slumber for the following centuries before she created a war of her own.
Ihutne, trapped with the few children she had left, dreamt of the future, when she would try again. In the centuries that followed, she created only one more child out of her own flesh instead of the incandescent ocean: Vaerqui, the inheritor of Dirt and Rebirth. Vaerqui made her way up to the world her estranged family once controlled to make her mother proud and to make her own children, a new generation of Quiuri. She would not birth new monsters, however — this time she'd go after the species who once worshiped the pantheon that imprisoned her mother. The pantheon that agreed to never make new gods of their own again, the same pantheon that changed and pretended to be a part of society with human names, though some couldn't always help themselves and took breaks from blending in.
Posing as a woman, changing her identity and body as needed, Vaerqui mainly targeted humans who had fallen victim to gods they didn't even know existed, and named Ihutne's grandchildren the Reshaped.
Enter Petre Dodrescu.
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cw: murder, burned alive, suicide ideation
PART II. Petre was born into wealth in northern Romania — old money, as some would call it, in a class known for many rules of etiquette and high expectations, be they earned or acquired. The Dodrescus weren't the only ones who incorporated religion into their values, and their only son was among the most devout children in his school.
Studious with a particular interest in languages, Petre picked up enough to be proficient in English, Portuguese and Cantonese. He was shy and skittish, however, a trait that wasn't particularly appreciated among his peers and would often get him bullied by schoolmates looking to demonstrate their superiority or show off to the girls. Without the means or courage to reach out to adults for help, Petre's social isolation led him to find refuge in other places.
Church and family didn't seem to be enough to find happiness and help him make it through school, but he held on to hope that things would improve. He only had one more year to wait until he could move onto university. Then, on the last day before graduation, he lost both parents and home to a terrible fire. The causes were never determined, and the bodies were unrecognizable.
Consumed by grief and thoughts of suicide, grown ups did what they do best with sympathy and bureaucracy while keeping an eye on him. Petre had never been surrounded by more people than he was as an orphan, yet despite the support network provided to him by professionals and extended family, he felt more alone than ever — until he crossed paths with a woman called Rani.
She seemed out of place, but spoke to Petre as if she'd met many people like him before. Immediately entranced by her, part of him felt as if she knew she'd find him here and had come with the sole purpose to help. Rani was clever enough to make Petre believe that, fostering a one-sided friendship where she learned everything about him and smoothly dodged talking about herself. Over time she began isolating him again, finding increasingly immoral ways to forget about the pain, teaching him how to access his anger and building the belief that no one was willing to act in his best interest. As soon as she managed to make him into his own worst outcome, Rani started another fire in his new home and walked outside, leaving him to die.
She watched him as she had watched the Dodrescus, crawling out, face stained with smoke and tears, skin blistering from the heat. As she crouched, Rani became Vaerqui, and asked Petre if he wanted to live after all. Saying yes meant that he'd follow her for as long as she needed him to, helping her bring more like him to her mother's side. The answer was hoarse and desperate, and after taking his killer's hand, Petre fell into darkness. When he woke up again, no marks or burns on his skin, he'd already been reshaped. And he remembered nothing.
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cw: cannibalism, physical and psychological abuse, murder
PART III. The transformation from human to Reshaped was immediate, and if Rani — Vaerqui — had not been there, it would've been disastrous. She had to teach how to kill and consume flesh without drawing too much attention;
Petre was now a being who thrived on corruption, both instinctive and immoral, eager to destroy and take from those he deemed weak and needed a heavy hand to keep him in check. Violence always felt like the simplest solution to get what he wanted, so it was up to Vaerqui to mold him to be smarter than that, teaching her pet monster to manipulate and eliminate anyone who stood in their way. He became the first Reshaped to be groomed by her, and she took him under his wing for the remainder of their time on Earth.
The literal hunger for humans came after Petre had regained a sense of self and accepted his loss of memory, retaining only things like knowing how to blend in with humanity, the languages he'd previously learned, etc. His full loyalty was given to Vaerqui — growing into obsession — which is why he accepted any punishments dealt to him when he stepped out of line, or needed a lesson to be particularly substantial. Petre's mistakes were often out of impulsivity and unsubtle, so he had to be reminded that he and his creator were on a mission to be reined in and start fulfilling his purpose. These punishments were followed by moments of appreciation, so Petre became used to the cycle of abuse without so much as questioning it.
For the following years, Petre and Vaerqui would either stick together or go their separate ways, but always stayed in contact. While Petre had gained several abilities and a diet required to keep them strong, he'd lost almost every part of himself from the past, choosing to indulge in what life dealt to him. Thriving in corrupting others was fun, and he's gotten away with most of his actions without consequence.
It was during his first mission by himself that he met Caleb Waters: a young man living in Canada who caught Petre's attention, for whatever reason, reluctant to his advances at first, willing to let him worm his way into a facsimile of a friendship. Petre continued doing what he was good at and encouraged Caleb to indulge in violence, then sex, isolating him from the people Caleb still had left in his life. Petre had the habit of leaving and coming back without warning and unannounced; in one particularly long break, he returned to find that Caleb had promised his devotion to God.
Furious, Petre murdered and devoured him on the spot. This was a lesson that Vaerqui had spoken of but never put into practice. Petre did that just fine on his own.
 
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