Presenting Ren ...

(Yeah, I know I didn't post this when I said I would, but here it is, in all its unedited glory.)

Abigail Ren Winter was born to Marshall and Layla Winter on December 9, named after her paternal grandmother and her mother's favorite bird, although "wren" was misspelled by a tired hospital employee. Luckily, neither parent was particularly upset, and the usually excitable Layla found the alternative spelling interesting. Seven years after Abby (as she was then called), the Winter family welcomed Evan Marshall, and the young girl immediately became very protective of her baby brother. She had a fairly normal childhood, despite the fact the family was forced to move around due to her father being a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force. They never stayed on one base for more than two years, so Abby developed a very outgoing, yet detached personality, often well-liked by her peers yet never delving much deeper than superficial relationships. However, she and Evan remained very close, as the younger boy had a more difficult time with adaptation.

When Abby reached the age of 12, Major Winter was stationed on Spangdahlem in Germany, and the girl decided to reinvent herself. She changed her name to Ren and would not respond to Abigail or Abby. This was the beginning of the souring of her relationship with her parents. She began to resent the lack of stability and the emotional distance that was required to survive military life. For two years, the Winter family had to deal with a very angry teenager, who lashed out at her mother and would sneak out to go to clubs with much older children. At fourteen, she met a young man named Deidrich, or Didi for short, who was involved in the underground music scene. Although he was nearly 19 years old, Didi found Ren to be surprisingly mature for her age, and so they began seeing each other, albeit in a non-sexual way, which irked Ren more than she cared to admit. She only told Evan about Didi, as the siblings were still exceptionally close.

Ren's parents discovered her relationship with Didi after Ren got into a fight with a bully at school who was mercilessly tormenting Evan. They began more ferociously investigating their daughter's life, claiming they didn't know the girl she had become. Her father forbade her to see Didi again, and Ren cut herself off from her family, even Evan, partially blaming him for all of this. Against her parents' wishes, she continued to communicate with Didi via the internet, and he emailed her his band's gig schedule, just to let her know where he would be playing. Instead, Ren stole $2000 from her parents' checking account and hitched a ride out of Germany to meet him in Romania. Instead of welcoming her, Didi rebuffed her, saying he thought she was wiser than that.

After he threw her belongings into a cab, he told her to go home, but Ren was hesitant to do such a thing, as she was sure they were realizing what had happened. She told the cab to drop her off at the nearest big city, which happened to be Constanta on the far eastern coast of Romania. She owned the clothes on her back, a few notebooks and pens, and approximately $1600. She stowed away on a ship that crossed the Black Sea and made her way across Russia, through Pakistan, living in India for a few years before moving on to Thailand, where she settled in Bangkok.

Initially, she was involved in petty crime, mainly for survival, but then she met a local Christian missionary there named Ben Forester who offered her a place to stay. Ben never asked her from where she came and why she appeared to be a runaway, but she eventually did come to view him as a second father, since she had abandoned her real one. He often told her that he could tell great things would come from her, but Ren dismissed his claims, getting jobs at bars and nightclubs as a well-known bartender.

One evening, in a drunken haze, a server friend of hers dared her to steal the car of a businessman who was patronizing her bar. She jokingly accepted his dare, fully intending to bring the vehicle back in one piece, but instead, she ended up in a fatal car crash, dead at 24 years old.

After what seemed like a second, Ren awoke in a Buddhist temple with a nun standing over her pensively. The nun explained that she had been dead for two days and asked if she remembered what she had experienced during that time. The young woman, skeptical of the nun's assertions, shook her head. The nun then said ominously, "They - the memories - will come." After the nun had worked on Ren's muscles for a few minutes, an older man who appeared to be a Catholic priest burst into the room with an air of perceived authority. He announced that she had been chosen by a higher being, his God, to be a member of the Legion, a branch of the organization known as the Guardians. Before she could refute anything he said, he presented her with her medical record and the news story describing the wreck, sending a gag reflex through Ren's stomach.

The priest, who called himself a Scholar, gave her an ultimatum. She could choose to fight in the Legion or she could refuse the offer and die. Again.

Without even asking what the Legion was, Ren agreed, eager to be alive. The priest then elaborated: the Legion is a small army of people, around 5,000 individuals who have previously died and who now banish demons. He left the temple and Ren, to be trained by the nun before her, who was actually a Vision, another aspect of the Guardians. For the brief span of five weeks, Ren became aware of her powers: extraordinary strength and resilience, an ability to sense demons, and an affinity for melee combat, although this trait is not something that is universal. The nun, named Somsri, also revealed that she would discover other things about herself as time went on.

Ren was also introduced to the Guardian doctrine, which has very strict rules regarding demons (or extradimensionals) entering into this realm. Even angels are not permitted, except on very specific business, and even then, they must be discreet. Somsri informed Ren of another rule: no one from her past could know she was alive, as it would alert them to things beyond their control.

At the end of her five week training, Somsri sent Ren to Italy on assignment, and it wasn't until after her first demon banishment that Ren found out that Somsri was attacked and killed by a demon named Thrasher. She returned to Bangkok, looking for the demon, but as of yet, it still remains at large.

Two years later, Ren is a seasoned Legion, for one is not expected to live much past the first week. And it is at this time that a field Scholar known as Mason Alderick imposes on her life. Thus begins "The Legion."