Chapter 2

A Thousand-year promise

(One thousand year earlier.)

“Eek!” A piercing cry filled the air as a maid and the plates she was holding crash to the ground. “Hey! Watch where you’re….” The girl froze instantly the moment she looked up at me. “I’m sorry please kill me!”

“It’s fine, just be careful next…”

“We’re sorry!” Two maids ran to the girl side and prostrated themselves before me. “It was an accident please forgive her.”

The hall fell silent as everyone attention was on me. Every single one of their eyes were filled with terror. “How cruel, is he really going to kill them?”

“I heard once he killed a man for simply breathing the same air as him.”

“Wait, does that mean we’re in endanger too?”

You bastards, if you’re going to talk about me then at least whisper so I don’t hear it! I let out a sigh and focus on the girl who slams into me. Her entire body was shivering with fear, and her face grew paler the longer she looked at me. 

Knowing there was nothing I could say or do to get this girl to be less afraid of me, I walk past her and continue down the hall. The crowd quickly disperse before I could reach them.

“You think he’s holding our king hostage? I mean why else would our Lord allow such a repulsive creature to roam freely around the castle?”

“Shh. Be quiet, or else he’ll kill you.”

These girls really can't whisper, can they? I quicken my pace so that I could escape from the maids’ gossiping.

As much as I hate being treated like a monster, I fully understand humans can’t help but see me as one. If I was human and I bump into a tall (handsome) dark red creature that had sharp horns and pointy teeth, I would probably be running in the opposite direction too.

As sad as that may sound, that pretty much describes every interaction I had with humans. The moment someone sees me, they’ll either run in the opposite direction or try to kill me. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t gone insane yet. Then again, I did try to destroy the world once….

I stop at the end of the hallway, to see two giant iron doors that look like they belong in a prison stood in my way. The doors make a loud grating sound as I push them open. On the opposite side of the iron doors was an extremely pale girl with long brown hair staring longingly out a window.

“Anna…”

“Ah!” The girl jumps slightly at the sound of my voice. The shock looked on her face slowly transform into a gentle smile the moment she looks at me.

“Sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“Oh no, not at all I was just simply staring outside.” The smile on Anna’s face vanishes as she strains her neck to look over me. “My dad didn’t come with you?”

“He’s at a meeting, but I’m sure he’ll come by to see you once it’s over.”

“I see…” Anna returns her attention to the window, letting the room fall into awkward silence.

Did I say something wrong? Her mood drastically changes the moment she mentions her father. Did they have some fallout or something?

What can I do to cheer her up? I don’t really have any exciting stories to tell her besides me burning cities down and people chasing me with pitchforks. I doubt either one of those stories will cheer her up, or me for that matter.

“Demon King, I think you should leave.”

“Ah” Was the only word that came out my mouth. For some reason even though I’m use to people running from me. Hearing her say that greatly hurt me.

“Right, sorry for bothering you.”

“No, you’re not bothering me. Its just I don’t want to kill you.”

“Huh?” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow she does know I’m immortal right?

“My dad didn’t tell you that I have a contagious disease? That’s why he’s avoiding me. That’s why…. Mom isn’t around anymore.

I always knew she was sick, her pale skin and the fact she never leaves her bed kind of gave it away. But what I didn’t know was that her mother died because of her illness, and her father, fearing that he might get sick avoids her.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

I guess that explains why she isn’t afraid of me. She must be starving for social interaction, so much so that she’s even willing to talk to a demon like me.

“Alright, I think I understand. If I heal you, you’ll stop acting melodramatic right?”

“Huh?”

“Let me see your hand so I can heal you" Carefully, she placed her small hand on mines. The moment I grab hold of her hand, a white light emanated from my body.

“Ah.” Anna let’s out a moan as I transfer some of my energy to her body. Her complexion became more colored as energy flow through her body.

That should be enough. I let go of Anna, who stared blankly at her hand.

“Well, how do you feel?”

“….” Ignoring my question, Anna vigorously shook her hand. “I feel…. Great! Did you cure me?!”

“Um, yea, sure.”

“Wow….” Anna’s eyes widen “That’s amazing! You’re incredible!”

“Of course, I am a god after all.” Well actually I’m an Entity, but that’s pretty damn close to a god, I think. “Anyway, don’t get too excited. I’ll need to visit you daily to make sure my…. power is… working…. fuck.” I quietly curse myself, realizing that I’ll have to listen to a bunch maids whisper rumors about me daily to check on her.

“Is something wrong?” Snapping out of my thoughts, I notice Anna crawling towards me. Her blanket slips off her body which reveals her light pink nightgown.

“Not bad,” I mutter to myself as I watch one of her straps slide down her shoulder.

“Hm?” Confuse as to what I was staring at; Anna looks down to see her breast were about to spill out of her gown. Letting out a shriek, she quickly wraps her blanket around her body. “Pervert!” She exclaims with a flushed face.

How am I a pervert? You’re the one wearing revealing clothing.

“I should probably leave.” I rather not have any more weird rumors spread about me.

“Wait!” Anna quickly grabs my hand, nearly falling out of her bed in the process. “Why are you helping me?”

“Why indeed?” I look up at the ceiling as if I expected my answer to be written up there.

Even though she’s a princess of this kingdom she doesn’t have any political power, nor does she have anything I want. And yet despite knowing that I find myself visiting her regularly.

“Who knows, maybe it’s because you didn’t run away from me.”

“That it? You’re helping me because I didn’t run from you?” Her eyes widen in disbelief.

“Yea, is something wrong with that?”

“Oh no, there’s nothing wrong, it’s just I couldn’t run away from you even if I try.”

“Are you saying you would run away from if you could?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t!” Anna shouted. “Well, at least I don’t think I would. I’ll admit when I first met you, I was a bit scared, but the more I talk to you, the more I realize how wrong everyone was. You really are a nice person.”

“Nice huh? I don’t think you’ll be saying that if you knew what I’m capable of.”

“But I do know; you just show me.” Anna raises her hand that I transfer my energy to. “You have the power to heal people, right?”

“…Yea.” Feeling a bit guilty, I shift my attention to my hand which is cover with a black aura.

She couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t have the power to heal anyone. The only reason why she’s feeling good right now is because I filled her exhausted body with energy, her sickness is still killing her. Although probably at a slower rate.

“Hey, you think once I’m fully healed, I will be able to go outside?” Anna once again looks out the window longingly.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Then will you promise me, once I fully recover you will go on an adventure with me.”

“Adventure?”

“I always wanted to leave this castle and see what’s out there, although I’m kind of afraid of doing it alone, so I’m hoping when I'm fully cure you’ll come with me.”

I think I’m starting to understand why I’m helping her. My whole life everyone treated me like a monster, at some point I started to see myself as one. I begin to think that my sole purpose in life was to destroy. But every time I talk to her, I feel like I have another choice.

“Sure, I’ll go with you.”

“Really?! Then Let’s seal the deal with a handshake.” With a gentle smile, Anna offers me her hand. As I reach for her it, I silently made a promise to myself that one day, no matter what, I will save the girl that didn’t treat me like a monster.

.

.

.

“How long has it been since I made that promise?” I look at Anna, half hoping she would answer my question. Of course, that isn’t possible. Like a sculpture, she remains perfectly still in her wooden chair completely unaffected by the passing of time.

I guess that’s thanks to me giving her energy daily, it somehow stopped her body from aging and decaying, although unfortunately, it couldn’t stop her illness from killing her.

Which means now to keep my promise, I’m going to need more than energy and some miracle cure. What Anna needs now is a soul, preferably a soul strong enough to survive outside of its body. And as far as I know, only me and the other four entities possess these kinds souls.

The reason why everyone sees us Entities as gods is because of our immortal soul. Even if our bodies are completely and utterly obliterated our souls will simply create a new one. So, Anna should be revived if I can somehow put an Entity soul inside her. At least I think she’ll be resurrected, honesty at this point I’m just guessing, I doubt anyone of my “Siblings” will happily let me experiment with their souls. And despite being immortal, I’m not too fond of dying.

Should I kill Athena? No, a fight with her will result in complete destruction of what remains of this kingdom. If I break my promise and leave, she and the rest of my “siblings” would destroy this place and then hunt me down.

“Hah.” I let out a sigh as rack my brain for answers.

I guess I have no choice but to wait for someone strong enough to kill me.

“Damn, where is he?!” The ceiling loudly creaks as a group of people stomp on it.

Oh right, I forgot about our guest.

“I swear when I find him, I’m going to kill him!!” Following the threat, a loud boom shook the entire room. Just by listening to his voice, I can tell he’s an idiot that likes punching things.

“Why don’t you shout that a little bit louder Ed, so he knows exactly where to find us.” A calm voice spoke up momentarily silencing the raging idiot.

“You know what, at this point, I hope the horny bastards come to us!”

“…. Horny?”

“You know because he has horns growing out his head.” As I listen to their conservation, I found myself insecurely rubbing my horn. It’s not like I wanted to be born with these.

“That’s was a terrible joke, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

“What? It was hilarious, right Aaron?!”

“Yes, sir! Very funny!” A timid voice entered the conversation while making clapping sounds.

“You three cut the chatter and keep moving.” The three fell silent the moment the fourth voice spoke, I guess that’s must be their leader, I can’t even hear their footsteps now.

“Well, that was an interesting group, huh?”

“…..” A painful silence filled the room, as I once again realize I was talking to a dead person.

“Right… I should deal with the intruders before they break anything else.”