~o0o~ CHAPTER 1 ~o0o~

Unknown to either Quaraun or GhoulSpawn their lives were being watched.

Hardly a year had passed since Quaraun and Unicorn had left the Sun Elf village. They had left it, like so many other villages, oblivious to the destruction that fell upon it hours after their departure.

That the Sun Elves, like the Moon Elves, were all dead, save one lone survivor, was still unknown to the Moon Elf wizard and his undead Phookan companion. They had left happy in the knowledge that so long as at least one group of High Elves had survived, the High Elves stood a chance of coming back into power. Or at the very least not vanishing off the face of the Earth, as had already happened to the Gnomes, Dwarves, and Pixies.

A year had come and gone as they journeyed across the snow packed tundra and the sun, now nearly set, shone brightly into the sky, casting a warm orange glow upon everything within its path.

Quaraun watched the sun setting and thought of the Sun Elves. After centuries of believing he was the last Elf left alive, finding the Sun Elves had filled him with hope.

Knowing that the Sun Elf village was still alive and thriving, filled the lonely Moon Elf's heart with the determination to press forth and seek out other High Elves whom had survived the attacks by the Lich Lords. But alas, Quaraun's search would be futile, for there were no more.

The Sun Elf village, truly had been the last survivors and now, unknown to Quaraun, they too, were gone, leaving behind only one survivor, the young half Elf wizard, Glinter, who now without a home also began to wander aimlessly across the planet seeking some place where he could belong.

Quaraun was now the last pure blooded Elf, and Glinter the last half-Elves. As of the year 1458, the Elven race had officially succumbed to extinction, save these last two.

With yet another High Elf community laid to waste, another entire race wiped out over night, the High Elves were now in critical risk of extinction. Quaraun was no longer just the last Moon Elf, he was now also the last full blooded High Elf.

But Quaraun, had not gotten to know Glinter well. Dubbed GhoulSpawn by the other Elves, for his sin of having been born a half-Elf, Quaraun assumed Glinta to be half-Human. It had not occurred to Quaraun to think anything else, and Glinter, had not informed Quaraun otherwise.

Glinta, Glinter, GhoulSpawn. Quaraun wondered which name was correct to use, as the Sun Elves had used all three and the half-Elf had answered to all three names.

The Sun Elves had called him evil. Forced him out of the hive mind, and made him live by himself in a hut on the outskirts of their village. He had not been welcomed within their society and was only tolerated on account of his mother having been a Sun Elf.

The story of his mother's death, shock Quaraun to his core.

The Ghoul, an ancient infamous demon, had grabbed the pregnant Elf and tossed her through a portal, into Hell. And thus GhoulSpawn was born and raised on the Fire Planet, The Flaming Planet of molten lava. Hell, the Humans called it.

Glinter was not evil, but he was familiar with evil magic arts. He had intimate knowledge of some very dark sorcery. Rituals, that even most evil wizards did not know existed. Glinter knew the darkest of the ancient spells, the ones used to call up Demons from Dimensions long ago sealed up. He was on a first name basis with some of the evilest of all Demons of all existence. Most wizards opened the doors to Demonology through simple curiosity or from greed.

It was not from curiosity or evil intents that Glinter knew these Demons or the spells with which to call on them, but rather from having been born into the wrong family.

Glinter was not as most people assumed, a half-Elf whose other half was half Human, but rather Glinter was half Demon. While the majority of Demons, full blooded, half blooded, possessed or otherwise, lived up to their evil reputations, a few, like Glinter, just wanted to live in peace, but in order to do so, required they hide what they were, never letting it be known they had Demon blood.

Demons were hunted.

Killed on sight.

Kill first.

Ask questions later.

That was the Human way.

Non-Humans greatly feared the Humans for this very reason.

Humans were vicious, terrible monsters who hunted everything not them. And not for food or survival, but for fun and sport, in the name of religion, and out of greed, fear, or hate.

While Humans walked the Earth unfettered, no non-Human was safe.

Demons least of all.

With witch hunting on the rise, it was becoming increasingly more dangerous to be a Demon in the world of Men. Glinter was lucky that he could pass for an Elf.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Most half Demons could not hide their slithering, tentacled Demonic features. Glinter had no outward Demonic features to hide, other then his glow in the dark neon lemon coloured hair and his glowing pleco-pupiled golden yellow eyes, both of which he could explain away as alchemy accidents... well... almost nothing to hide.

GhoulSpawn was a sheep.

Long luxuriant Cotswold wool grew from his legs, and instead of feet, he had ivory coloured cloven hooves, which his painted gold, to seal out cracks and prevent fungus and hoof rot from setting in.

It was easy to hid his furry legs, cloven hooves, and long tail, under the many layers of flowing orange and yellow silk robes that he wore under his floor sweeping green velvet coat.

On his head, grew ram's horn. Big circular horns, like a those of a big horn mountain goat. GhoulSpawn kept his horns sawed off, filed level with his head, and hidden under his massive poofs of fluffy phosphorescent yellow hair.

Thus while most Demons and half-Demon could not hide their animal features, GhoulSpawn had long ago adapted to pretending to be a half-Elf/half-Human by carefully keeping his animal parts covered and hidden.

With his village destroyed and his family dead, Glinter set out to find a new home. What he found was that half Elves were just as hated as Demons.

Not welcomed in any Elven community and run out of most every Human town, Glinter began to wish he could return to the Hell Dimension he had been born in. At least he had people who accepted him there.

Glinter's father had been a dark sorcerer, a practitioner of evil blood magic. A Demon able to travel through dimensions to other realms, other planets, even other times, Glinter's father had brought death and destruction to billions across the universe. His downfall was kidnapping the Sun Elf princess, Glinter's mother.

The peaceful Sun Elves, a community made up entirely of wizards, fought fiercely to get their beloved princess back and in doing so killed Glinter's father, sealed up the portals, and burned every scroll telling how to reopen them.

The Sun Elves were going to burn with those things, the half-Demon spawn as well, had Glinter's mother not begged for the life of her half Demon son.

And so the half Demon child was raised by the Sun Elves, raised with the Elven name his mother had given him: Glinter. But with the death of his mother and all the other Sun Elves, and his not finding a home elsewhere among the Humans or the Elves, Glinter now cast aside his Elven past, taking up once again his true name, the name his father had given him at birth: GhoulSpawn.

GhoulSpawn's father was an evil Demon who commanded an army of Ghouls. Because of this, he was known simply as "The Ghoul".

GhoulSpawn's mother was a Sun Elf whom had fallen in love with The Ghoul, but was forbidden by her family to have contact with him. She in turn ran away with her Demon lover, thus causing a war between Elves and Demons.

The Sun Elves tell a story of how their Princess was kidnapped and raped by the Ghoul, thus she gave birth to the Spawn of the Ghoul. Though his mother named him Glinta, she died while he was still very young, and his Elven kin, took to calling him GhoulSpawn as a way to brand him not one of them. He grew up constantly being told he was unloved and unwanted and should have been killed at birth, resulting in the very low self esteem he has.

GhoulSpawn is an interdimensional time traveller, because he is unable to remain in any one time, place or dimension long, because he was born in the Hell Dimension, which exists outside of the realm of time and space as we know it. The Ghoul tried to escape the Sun Elves by going to the distant future (1974) and leaving his half-Elf son and the boy's mother there to live among a band of LSD addicted hippie Humans whom drove a 1974 AMC Gremlin.

The Sun-Elves eventually found their missing she-Elf and brought her back to the 1400s where she belonged, but she refused to leave her half-Demon son behind.

After his mother's death, GhoulSpawn was made a servant to his High Elf step-father and full blooded Elf step siblings, all of whom abused him and treated him like a slave. He grew up constantly being told he, because he was only a half-Elf, was unloved and unwanted and should have been killed at birth, resulting in the very low self esteem he has.

GhoulSpawn had been only a young boy when his father died, but he remembered the trips through the portals, the trips through time and space. He had watched his father open portals time and time again. He knew the rituals from memory. He knew the chants. He knew the spells. He knew he couldn't remember everything and he knew he wasn't evil enough to perform the blood rituals, but he figured he knew enough to reopen the portals, to find his Demon kin and bring them here, so he wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

And so GhoulSpawn set out to open the portals, not really knowing why so many wizards had risked their lives to close them forever.

Unlocking portals, was not the only things he unlocked.

Neither Demons nor half-Elves are considered welcomed members of society, both being forced to live in small tribal groups on the outskirts of civilization. Both are often stoned to death or hung if they dare set foot in a city.

Half Elves, being denied work or stable places to live, often become wandering thieves out of the need for survival, sneaking into towns at night to steal food or basic items.

As is typical of half-Elves, GhoulSpawn became an expert pick-pocket at a very young age, and by the time he had meet Quaraun had already made an art out of stealing pretty much anything he can fit into his coat pockets.

GhoulSpawn was a notorious pick pocket and master thief. He could walk up to anyone and clean out their pockets without them ever realizing he was there. He thought nothing of sneaking into houses and taking anything he can fit in his pockets. Of course, As Quaraun already knew, he carried a 1974 AMC Gremlin in his pockets, along with a herd of sheep... there isn't anything that he can not fit in his pockets.

Unlike most wizards who used their magic as a profession, GhoulSpawn used magic for everything. He used magic to move silently, and cast "foggy haze" in people's minds causing them to have distorted vision for a few moments, allowing him to get past them unseen. He built himself a wand which could zap open most any lock.

While he used his magic for little things in every day life, the magic he used so carelessly, was very difficult to learn and even the most powerful of wizards could not master it.

GhoulSpawn was fast gaining a reputation as one of the world's most powerful wizards, believed by Demons to be the most powerful sorcerer to ever live...

..and the Thullids took notice of this.

The Thullids had also noticed that GhoulSpawn and Quaraun had, on their first meeting, immediately become good friends.

The Thullids also knew something that neither Elf did...

The God of the Demons was pregnant and her clutch of eggs was fast in need of a place to hatch.

The Sacred Pink Jellyfish as not herself these past few weeks, and her brooding moody temperament grew worse with each passing day. As the time grew nearer for the day of hatching, the Thullids became ever more intent on protecting their beloved Goddess, and so once again, they sent forth the priest who long ago had sworn to serve and protect her at any cost...