Kei Takahashi

Kei Takahashi was a healer-in-training with the natural magical ability to sense danger and to prevent damage. He was the student of Ayesha Tanaka and the healer of Tetsuo Umezawa's entourage.

Kei had a rough youth, but his life took a turn for the better when Ayesha discovered his natural abilites and decided to train him. For a few years Kei lived a happy live while training under her.

When Ramses Overdark wanted to lure Tetsuo to the Edemi Islands he had his master assassin, the eumidian Xira Arien infect Kei with her brood. Kei fell seriously ill, not only having the larvae grow inside him, but also suffering from insectoid mutations himself.

Tetsuo and his entourage tracked Xira down, hoping she could provide a cure for Kei, but there wasn't any. Tetsuo and Ayesha did manage to kill the insect growing within him, but Kei had to live with his mutations. These turned out not to be just physical, for he had become vicious and hungry for battle after this ordeal, emotions he had never expressed before.

A few weeks after this Kei, just like anyone else in Tetsuo's entourage, was forced to join the Kentsu for the role they had in the failure of Overdark's attack on the Edemi's. Kei was placed in a squad of healers, but longed to fight alongside the soldiers.

While Kei served on Kusho, Ayesha had taken the Sylvan Library from Lord Magnus and tried to warn her student about the poisoning of the mna lines on Kusho. But she could only contact Kusho via evergreen trees transplanted from Argenti. Kei and Tor Wauki, Tetuso's second, whent looking for these evergeens after the only one they knew had been burned by Barktooth Warbeard. They didn't find any, but did discover the sick Kushoans and Ramirez DePietro who was guarding them. But while he was taking care of the ill, Kei was suddenly attack by Tor!

In the following fight, Kei discovered that he the "Tor" who attacked him, just like the "Warbeard" that had destroyed the evergreen tree, was actualy the shapeshifter Halfdane. Kei and the real Tor where both mortally wounded by 'Dane and Xira Arien, but Kei used his last energy to heal Tor.