Mishka Filitova lived in the city of Altene with her sister Olya and her parents Mishka and Vatutin Filitova. As is customary for most Altene-born children, her father introduced at an earl age the art of the staves to her and her sister. Her sister took great interest in it, becoming better every passing day, while Mishka's obsession was with the gladius. She trained in the staves until she was strong enough to get a job to buy a gladius for herself. During the course of many years, she worked night and day guarding many different customers. Although it was a long, hard road, she finally had enough to buy herself a shiny new gladius. She quickly forgot about the staff her father had given her as a child and trained to a higher degree in the gladius. Her father watched in silent frustration as her daughter broke the family tradition of learning the staves. When he could stand it no longer, she and her father had a big argument, which ended up in Mishka leaving her childhood home to go look for a place where her arts were appreciated. Not wanting her sister to get hurt, Olya followed close behind. After gathering what little things they needed, they set out for the Gret City of Iridine. Upon arrival, Mishka was astounded. She had never been anywhere outside her homeland, meanwhile her sister had often come here to train under the great master of staves, Leda. Olya gave Mishka a tour of the city, and introduced her to a man named Gilven. They soon became friends, and she often visited him to train under his mastery of her beloved gladius. Having become very skilled with it, she told her sister that she was going back to Altene to try and make ends meet again with her father. Willingly, she agreed and they were on their way. When they arrived, they found the most horrible thing they had ever seen: where their house once stodd now stood a charred piece of land where nothing would grow. Although Olya was very depressed for a prolonged period of time, Mishka took it the worst. She cried for a long time, and put her gladius in her scabbard and gave it to her sister to throw away. She thought all her childhood memories were gone, but upon further inspection, she found her old staff given to her by her father as a child. She took up her staff and took an oath to find her parents' assassins and rid the world of them. She strapped on her sack and was making for Iridine again when her sister met her at the exit. Olya convinced Mishka that she was not skilled enough in the staves to go hunt for anyone, and placed in her hands a scabbard with a brand new gladius laying just inside. She strapped on her old scabbard and wielded her gladius in her hand and shouted her battlecry into the sky above. With her old weapon at hand, she trained under her sister for some time with the staff, trying to make her father proud of her. Upon arriving in Iridine again, she found a place to stay and, little by little, she found happiness again. Upon being able to take care of herself again, she carved into her gladius something her father had always said to her:
'The past is history. The future is a mystery. Now is a gift. That is why it is called the present.'
If you are ever in need of a bodyguard or just someone to talk to, do not hesitate to seek out Mishka Filitova, friend of all those who need it.