1982 years after the clash between the factions known as the 'Purging War', all beings have forgotten what happened of the past.

Basic knowledge has been preserved, but only through books. The victorious were the humans, the vanquished the rebellious demons and angels.

No name was preserved from the vanquished side, only the human hero, Elliott, remained remembered and prayed upon by some.

His seal still in place, no one was able to free him. Around his crystal remains, humans built a temple, believing their hero would one day return.

After all this time, out of the 1.618 layers of seal, only 58 remains. Unknown to the world, the Unforgiving Elliot was close to being free from his prison.

During that time, somewhere in the world, a mysterious pillar of silver and gold hue descended upon the Forest of Albriar, at the center of the continent.

~

"What was that, an earthquake?"

"Look, what's this light?"

"Someone, quickly, go notify the Apostle!"

"Already on it!"

People were panicking, but remained quick to get their composure back, as if they were trained for any situations.

"This is strange, I should take a look."

A cloaked man high enough to be two meters took his weapon, got up and left, rushing out of the restaurant he was waiting at.

"It should take me around 20 minutes on horse to arrive."

The forest was quite far from the city of Albriar, approximately 18 kilometers away.

Nothing of importance happened during the trip to the forest. Everything was calm, yet far too calm for the man to feel at ease.

The birds flew away in a panic, while most animals were terrified thanks to the earthquake caused by the pillar of light's appearance.

That same pillar disappeared a few moments before he had left the city, though the man could still find where it landed, even after entering the forest.

He arrived in an entirely different area inside the forest.

It was surprisingly beautiful, many butterflies flew happily around the various flowers of the forest, some animals were finally coming from their terror, and looked just as surprised as the cloaked man.

A deer appeared from the bushes. It skipped around for a few seconds, and approached the center part of the glade. It sniffed around, looked down, and with a cute head movement, touched the small life in front of it with its nose.

"Wh-What is this?"

The man, stunned by the beauty of the scene, couldn't help but be amazed. But what surprised him the most was the baby that was sleeping peacefully even under the heavy breathing of the deer.

"A baby? Is it the source of the pillar? Impossible! If it is true, what is this being?"

After a few minutes of bewilderment, the man had no choice but to stop thinking.

"Over here, I think the pillar's base was around here!"

A loud voice could be clearly heard approaching his position. The voice surprised the deer, making it flee instantly.

The mood immediately changed, and the cloaked man took the quickest decision of his life.

In front of him, two choices. Either leaving the baby here and flee, or take it with him.

Of course, his choice had already been made.

He ran to the newborn, kneeled, and scooped him up fast but carefully. Then, without hesitation, he left the glade, leaving the place as nothing more than a beautiful area.

'What do I do now? I can't go back to Albriar with him. Something feels strange about this baby.'

'My instincts are telling me that this baby should be kept away from human civilization at all cost. I don't understand this nagging feeling...'

The man couldn't find a reason for thinking like this, but he knew to trust his instinct. He left the surrounding area of Albriar's forest in a hurry.

'Here should be good to stop.'

He looked around. A meadow was surrounding the forest, with lots of tall grass all around, gently caressed by the wind.

'Where would be the best place to go? If not humans, I can choose between three locations.'

The man took out a map from his bag, and took three pebbles near him, then said.

"We have the beastmen village, Auro, this should be the closest to me right now, and the best choice."

He looked at the eastern part of the map and placed a pebble.

*

Auro was a small village of around 150 beastmen. Compared to humans, they never had the freedom to grow in number.

As an oppressed faction, they were forced to follow humans order in the past. Nowadays, in some areas where the Apostles authorized it, the beastmen could live in peace. They just couldn't grow to become a threat.

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The population was constantly divided and regrouped to form other villages somewhere, or asked to live in the city to serve under the Apostle ruling the region.

*

"Next should be... Lahro? The city of the lamia Queen. This might be the worst choice for this little one."

He looked at the northern part of the map and placed a pebble where the city was located.

*

For Lahro, the fact that it was a monarchy still enforced in today's age was impressive. The Queen possessed the power necessary to keep it running, only if humans weren't controlling the Queen's actions.

The lamias were one of the most oppressed factions, a half-snake, half-humanoid species. They were in an incredibly dire situation, close to extinction.

They were treated like toys by the three surrounding Apostles, tortured and abused because 99% of their population were women.

*

"Further north, the fairies. This one might be impossible to get in touch with, but the safest for him. Though, since we can't even be certain they are even alive, this is definitely a lost cause. I shouldn't believe in those fairy tales at my age."

Since he didn't know where they lived, he placed the last pebble at the forest further north of Lahro.

*

The fairies were a beautiful species of winged humanoid, related to insects. They have no known habitat, with only a forest of white trees as a believed spot.

This species was hunted by human for having a friendly past with a destroyed faction, the angels. Their shells and wings were also very valuable, often prayed upon by unscrupulous humans. So they hid as best as they could, never to be seen by others again.

"From those three..."

He looked carefully, lifted his finger up, and flicked the pebble representing Auro.

"Auro will be the best for him."

"Lahro is too dangerous, anyone can denounce this child for not being a lamia either. This would be pointless."

"For the fairies, this is definitely not worth the try. I would perish before saving the baby. Auro will facilitate things, as they are beastmen I remember a good orphanage located in this village."

The cloaked man brought his hood to his shoulders, revealing his beastly features. Protruding fangs, short spiked white hair, furry ears and fierce eyes.

The man was also a beastman. Hiding one's faction was necessary to enter human facilities, especially in his case. Travelling was his way of gathering information to protect his factions' villages.

"I would have loved to bring him with me, but I fear the little one would not survive the long way south. It is rather cold down there."

His village was located 15 days away from their current location. For someone not knowing how to take care of a baby, taking the risk or not was obvious.

"I can't believe I'm doing all of this for a baby I don't know anything about."

He laughed lightly, and poked the baby's right cheek.

"Ugyaa."

A cute voice came from the baby's mouth, indicating that it was finally waking up.

"Even an old man such as me can find this one cute. Maybe I should get some children myself."

The man was thinking of a future where he played with his children. He shook his head and focused in front of him.

"We should get going, saving you is my priority right now."

He stood up and tried to move forward.

"Excuse us, beastfolk, please explain what you are doing here."

A soldier appeared to block his path.

'Beastfolk, huh?'

The word 'beastfolk' was an insult used by those seeing the beastmen as cattle.

"You, with a human baby? Which family did you steal it from? This is low even for the beastfolk, right guys?"

Another soldier cackled behind the beastman. This one was casually walking toward him with no sense of danger in his mind.

"Would you believe it if I told you the truth? That I have found him laying in the grass around here?"

The beastman tried the peaceful approach first. Humans were sometimes lenient towards other factions.

"You shouldn't lie, little fox. Do you think people let their newborn babies in the grass? What do you take us for?"

The first soldier barked at him and unsheathed his sword.

"If I were you, I wouldn't attack blindly."

The beastman smiled. Now was the time to spill blood.

'They ignored my warnings, they can't complain anymore.'

His blood boiled, his smile cracked his face, his eyes made him look feral, and his claws grew.

"We live once, human. Give your best, or you will die a worthless death."

He lunged at the soldier while carefully holding the baby with its right arm.

*SPURT*

He used one of the beastman's abilities, a rapid lunged followed by two rapid swipes at the chest.

Two slashes appeared on the soldier's torso. One broke his body armor, the second one tore through his chest.

"You underestimate us greatly, humans. Travelers like me aren't prey, you know?"

He looked into the eyes of the dying soldier, who had both his knees on the ground. Inside them, a faint red glow caught his attention, and he noticed that the man's gaze was on the baby in his arms.

After a few seconds, the soldier lost the light in his eyes, and fell face first in the grass, which turned red from the blood.

"CAPTAIN! How dare you! Lowly beastfolk!"

The remaining soldiers rushed to attack.

"Nothing will change. Haven't you heard of me anyway? Something like 'Do not mess with the traveling beastman named Dylan.'?"

The soldiers stopped, frozen in place.

"T-The b-b-beastfolk's 'Savior'! What are you doing here?! We heard you returned home after wreaking havoc near one of your faction's village!"

The soldier was shaking like crazy, he knew inside of him that he wouldn't make it to his wife tonight.

"Well, the fact is, I really found the little one in the grass, you just couldn't believe it. You were unlucky to think you would get a free kill today."

He shrugged lightly while looking at the baby.

"THAT'S-"

"You can't expect me to let you live after trying to kill me, right? I always give back, which is something a lot of you cannot understand, it seems."

He glared at the men with anger.

"I've already repaid the debt with Albriar's soldiers. I hope you won't have trouble with feeding your citizens now. That's what you get for stealing food and killing our men and women."

A very nasty smile mixed with anger formed on his face.

"Let's stop with the rumbling, it's time for you all to disappear. I wouldn't want any eyewitnesses, would I?"

A beastly smile akin to a predator scared the men.

"N-NO!"

The soldiers turned around and ran, showing their bravery.

"Pitiful."

He spat at them.

"Wait for me, little one. I'm coming in a minute."

He put the baby on the coat he left in the grass, wrapped him gently, and instantly vanished from the place he stood before.

"AAAaa-!"

The first voice went quiet.

"PLEAS-"

Another. This one couldn't even start apologizing.

"I HAVE A WI-"

The last one, as he expected, wouldn't be able to return home tonight.

All eyewitnesses died, leaving behind the sound of the breeze caressing the tall grass.

A minute later, the beastman showed himself, pacing in the direction of the baby.

"Alright, we should be- hmm?"

Something caught his attention when he crouched to pick the baby.

A little piece of metal glistened next to the baby.

"A name tag? Is it from one of those soldiers?"

"..."

"Probably not."

He picked up the bracelet like shiny object and observed it carefully.

"Let's see... Orion... Feales? Is that your name, little one? I don't know why, but it suits you well."

"Orion... Orion. Yes, a nice name!"

He laughed loudly.

"Alright, Orion, maybe we should finally depart to Auro?"

"Boo-Byaa!"

Little Orion smiled and grabbed Dylan's middle finger.

"Pffft-"

Dylan couldn't contain his laughter.

"Do you know what that finger is used for? Seriously, the first one you pick is this one?"

This was too much for Dylan.

'You know what, I'm going home after that. I want a child too. Eli might still be waiting for me after all this time.'

He looked fondly towards the south, where his village was located.

"I apologize for the mess earlier, Orion, I should not have let you see the gross part of this world. I hope it hasn't shocked or scarred you."

He carefully examined Orion.

"Po-paa-poo!"

Orion couldn't care less about the scene that happened before.

"I see, you're a strong baby. I hope you will do great things in your life."

Dylan felt like a father.

"Let's go, Orion, we have to get back to the horse near the glade, or else we'll never leave this place."

After a few minutes of walking, he found the horse grazing peacefully, caressed it a little, and finally, mounted it. With Orion in his arms, they left Albriar's forest in the direction of Auro, one of the beastman's village.