Prologue….
*Pant… pant*
I can’t go on…
A small girl around the age of 13 is breathlessly running through the forest.
I should have listened to my mother! Who would have thought this kind of thing would be so close to the city?!
Behind the young girl, a large beast is quickly approaching. The beast runs on six legs with its blood red eyes focused on the girl as if it is looking at a piece of meat. With jet black skin, it’s hard to make out the entire shape of the body, but those red eyes which pierce through the darkness of the night forest could only belong to a Jexar.
--Jexar—A mythical beast which resides deep within the dark forest separating the Human tribes from the demon tribes. This beast tends to stay within close proximity to the demons’ side of the forest and feeds off of various magical creatures. Reaching a height of 5 meters when standing on its hind legs, the Jexar is said to be one of the most dangerous creatures in the forest. With its black as night skin which rivals most metals in toughness, and its agile speed with which it carries its massive body through the intricate forest, it has earned the title “King of the Night”.
What is it doing so far on our side of the forest? Even if I find one of our scouts, there’s no wa—“aaah!”
With already shaking legs from fear and fatigue, the girl trips and stumbles to the ground.
Arg! It hurts!
Rubbing her ankle, she tries to get back up only to fall to the ground.
It’s no good, I can’t run anymore!
In a state of panic, the girl looks behind her at her pursuer.
!!!
A silent cry comes from her as she sees the beast slowly approaching from roughly two meters away. Of course, it is to be expected, there is no way a small girl could outrun a “King of the Night”. The beast is toying with her much like a cat plays with its food.
This is the end! Someone, mom, save me!
The girl, now backed up against the base of a tree, tightly shuts her eyes, resigning herself to her fate.
The beast walks closer and comes within centimeters of her face, smelling and savoring the meal to come. It makes a deep, hollow noise as it opens its mouth slowly, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth. It moves to sink its teeth into the flesh of the young girl…
“[Unmoving].”
A voice called out from a short distance away. The voice seemed to penetrate the soul and envelope the body completely. It was deep and inhuman, and it carried a dark aura which chilled you to the bone. Without question, this was the voice of death itself.
Startled, the girl opens her eyes.
At that moment, everything around the girl stopped. Time itself seemed to have frozen in accordance to the voice.
The beast, with its mouth half opened in front of the girls face, had an atmosphere incomparable to before. Those vicious and intimidating red eyes seems to have changed into the eyes of a scared child, fearing for its life.
Just what could the owner of this voice be, to make a “King of the Night” have eyes like this?
With a mixture of curiosity and terror, the girl tries to move to look behind the beast obstructing her view of the 3rd party, and is unable to do so.
Huh? I can’t move?
The girl’s body wouldn’t budge. In fact, other than her eyes, heart, lungs, and other organs necessary to sustain life, her body completely stopped functioning. Even her hair was unmoving in the blowing wind.
It seemed like a bad joke, the power to stop everything completely by just speaking one word is unthinkable.
While thinking this, she hears the footsteps of the person coming closer.
Oh god! Why is this happening?! First a Jexar shows up, now this? Why did I come out here, why couldn’t I just listen to my mom and stay in the city where it is safe…
With her heart beating out of her chest, she remembers the conversation she had just hours ago with her mother.
“Now Silvy, I know you were standing up for yourself, but you can’t attack the other children like that. What you do has consequences that not only reflect on you, but those connected to you as well. You are a daughter of a high class family, you need to act more dignified and feminine. It’s because you get in fights all the time that you received a weird nickname like “The Wild Boar”.
Silvy flinches at that. Being born of a high class family, she had always been sheltered and taken care of. While some people would see this as paradise, she felt secluded and shut off from the rest of the world. It was only natural that the commoners and high born don’t intermingle, but she could never understand why. At nights, she would sneak out and explore the city. She put up her hair and hid it with a hat, disguising herself as a boy, and wandered the streets like that looking for new and interesting things.
It was in doing that, she developed a rough behavior unbefitting of a noble girl. When she was forced to interact with the pompous high born girls around her age, she would often get frustrated and lash out at them.
“Honestly, no man will be interested in marrying a girl who so easily resorts to violence and..”
“Enough!”
Silvy couldn’t stand it anymore, she hated the idea of a quiet, privileged, and secluded life. Being married off to some aristocrat was a fate she wanted to avoid at all costs. Her passion was to explore the world and discover all of the interesting things the world had to offer.
“I’m not a lady and I don’t want to be!!”
She yelled this at the top of her lungs, and with tears in her eyes, ran out of the room. She kept running and running, down the hall, out of the mansion, and past the city limits. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away from there, away from the pre-planned life of a noble.
Once she reached the city limits and came to the edge of the forest, her mother’s past warnings echoed in her head.
“Silvy, whatever you do, do not enter the forest alone, and never approach it at night. There are many dangerous things which reside in that forest, and it is no place for a young lady such as yourself.”
She shook her head, banishing the memory from her mind. I’m not a lady, this forest is nothing to me, I’ll be an adventurer one day.
She resolved herself and entered the forest.
Silvy feels some liquid hit her face and jolts back to the present. In front of her, the Jexar coughs up blood, then cracks start to form all over its body, blood oozing from the cracks. In the next second, the Jexar falls apart into countless small chunks, covered in thick blood which spreads out in all directions, soaking into the ground and into her clothing.
…!
With the obstruction now removed, she could see the… thing… that killed it.
He stood three meters tall, and if he was any closer, his head would have been out of her line of sight. His skin was as black as the Jexars and numerous fiery cracks surfaced in the skin, seemingly moving as if he were made of magma. He had two large horns which stuck out in both directions from the top of his forehead, making him look like a devil. His eyes held what looked like a gold and black liquid, mixing with each other in an endless dance. He had an extravagant black and red trimmed cloak which covered most of his body, but she could see hints of some plate armor underneath the cloak, also black with red trim. He had long black hair which stretched past his shoulders, and moved subtly on its own, unaffected by the wind, as if each strand was writhing in agony.
Silvy was overcome with fear.
In the city of Reylantar where she grew up, you weren’t taught about the demons and the war until you were 16, this was especially so with those who were high born, sheltered from all the bad in the world. But rumors spread between the commoners, and it wasn’t uncommon for a kid as young as 8 to know what demons look like and that the humans and demons have been at war for hundreds of years. In fact, there were countless horror stories passed around between those in the city about what demons were capable of, and Silvy, who snuck out at nights to learn everything she could, knew them all.
The man standing before her was, without a doubt, from the demon race.
Her body is screaming at her to run, but she can’t move, she tries to cry out, but can’t speak.
The man looks at her.
“Are you lost?”
What!?! What kind of question is that!!? What should I say??... does he want to know if there are others here…? No… that shouldn’t be the case, anyone that would have been with me would have either fled or have been killed when the Jexar showed up….. then does he think I am a spy!?.... that’s not good…even if he didn’t have a reason to kill me…. he will do it anyway, but if he thinks I know something…. what will he do to me to get the information??.... is that why he didn’t just leave me to die???... to get information from me???... I don’t even have anything to tell him, to think I would meet a demon in this forest…
Silvy falls deeper and deeper into despair as she runs various scenarios through her mind.
The demon frowns.
“My apologies, I haven’t removed the spell. [Remove binds].”
Like that her body is back under her control. Her first instinct was to run away, but her legs wouldn’t listen. Even if he removed whatever he did to keep her from moving, her fear was enough to keep her rooted. She just stared at him, wide eyed, and shivering.
“Hmmm… You should be able to speak now. Though a human child of your age should still not know of our existence, I’m sure this appearance is the cause of your unresponsiveness.”
The demon stroked his chin while leisurely observing Silvy.
She could no longer register what he was saying. Her heart beat so fast, she felt her body was vibrating. Her vision is slowly engulfed in darkness.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
There is a forest where the trees are so tall and numerous, that the sunlight barely penetrates through to the ground, and the bed of the forest is mostly covered in shade. Though that is the case, there are still times when a beam of sunlight gets through and shines upon the ground of the forest. This forest happens to be separating the human kingdom and the land of demons. It is called the Dark Forest.
The rising sun reaches a point in the sky that allows its rays to break through the tops of the trees and shine down onto the bottom of the forest. At the bottom of the forest where it is shining, there is the face of a sleeping girl, illuminated by the light.
The girls face was perfectly structured with qualities which rivaled royalty. Though she was still young, you could tell she couldn’t turn out to be anything other than a beauty. Her hair was a fiery red in contrast to her snow white skin, and seemed to engulf her entire body as if it were wrapping her in flames. Her face was decorated with several freckles which seemed to group around her nose and cheeks. She was wearing an expensive dress which was worn out and ragged. It was torn in several places, covered in mud, dirt, and blood.
The sleeping girls’ face gradually becomes more and more irritated, until her eyes fly open.
“Aaaargh! You stupid sun!!”
The girl sits up and angrily waves her fist in the air. Satisfied with her outburst, she rubs her eyes and looks around.
Her eyes then lock onto a certain figure, and all traces of drowsiness disappear from her face in an instant.
“Did you sleep well?”
The girl screams, jumps to her feet, and runs away.
With a somewhat dumbfounded look on his face, the figure watches the girl’s small back as it disappears into the forest.
The girls name is Silvy.
Running through the forest, Silvy frantically tries to find her way back home and escape the demon. After running for what seemed like an hour, she breaks through a line of trees and sees a familiar person.
The demon.
The demon sitting on a log looks up, and with a somewhat tired expression, waves his hand.
Silvy immediately turns around and runs in the opposite direction.
After running for another hour or so, she encounters the same demon, sitting on the same log.
Once again she turns and runs, only to end up back where she started.
After repeating this process a number of times, she finally collapses several meters from the demon.
“You seem to be adept at running in circles.”
Due to her fatigue and frustration, her fear had somewhat dissipated and she looked up at the demon with an irritated face.
“What did you say!?”
The demon is amused by her sharp look, completely different from her look earlier, and chuckles briefly.
“It seems you really are lost.”
“I…I’m not lost!”
“Is that so? Then what exactly have you been doing for the past several hours, training yourself in the art of running and screaming?”
Silvys face flushes, and she clenches her fists.
“I’m not s…scared at all!”
“It’s less convincing if you stutter.”
Silvys face flushes and even deeper shade of red. She stands up and points angrily at the demon.
“J…just who do you think you are talking to! I am going to become a great adventurer someday! Something like a demon is not on a level where it would scare me!”
“Oho… A great adventurer huh? Though it seems like you were having some trouble with that puppy earlier.”
“P…puppy?!”
Silvy is slightly taken back, that was a “King of the Night” you know? To refer to such a being as a puppy, just who does this guy think he is!
“Back there, if I remember correctly, you were huddled against a tree with your eyes tightly shut, seconds away from being devoured.”
Silvy shook a little from the memory of how close to death she had been just last night. It was then that she remembered her injury and looked down at her ankle.
“Ah yes, I noticed your ankle was injured, so I took the liberty of repairing it.”
“Is that so… th…”
Looking up, Silvy sees the face of the demon. He is smiling arrogantly with his arms folded, looking down on her. Her gratitude is replaced with irritation.
“That wasn’t necessary! I wasn’t in trouble or anything! I was… was just waiting for the right time to strike!”
“Oh, then my apologies miss, it seems as though I misread the situation and intervened unnecessarily.”
The demon smiles wryly and bows.
“W… well, it’s good if you understand.”
“Though I’m sure a soon to be adventurer of your caliber is able to find your way back just fine on your own, please take this as a token of my apology.”
The demon pulls out a small black ring with a blue gem embedded in. He brings it up to his mouth and whispers something to it, then approaches Silvy.
Silvy almost reflexively takes a step back, but is able to stop herself. The demon holds out the ring and she takes it.
The blue gem is emitting a small beam of light, pointing in one direction.
“This light points to the city you came from. We are not too far away, you should be able to get back on foot before nightfall. It would be troublesome if I were to be discovered by a guard so I am unable to escort you. Please let me off with this.”
After finishing his explanation, the demon turns to leave, but is stopped when Silvy grabs his hand.
“M..my name is Silvy, i…it is rude to not give your name after someone has given theirs.”
Silvy is looking at the floor as she says this. The demon smiles at her, and pats her on the head.
She looks up startled at him, then immediately changes to a sharp glare. He laughs and taking his hand back, introduces himself.
“My name is Rog’gar.”
Saying that, he turns and walks away.
Getting back is relatively easy. Monsters are a much rarer occurrence during the day, but it would not be uncommon for her to have ran into a few on the way back. However, not only did she not run into any, she didn’t see or hear any the entire way back.
A guard spots her coming out of the forest, turns his head to shout something, and a bunch of guards come out to escort her back to the mansion. When she walks through the mansions front doors, her mother is there waiting, and runs to embrace her.
“Silvy!! I was so worried when you hadn’t come back!! We searched the city all night and couldn’t find you! Why did you go into the forest at night?! You know how dangerous it is!”
Her mother cries and scolds Silvy as she huggs her. When she pulls away, she finally notices the blood all over Silvy’s clothing.
“Is this blood!? Are you hurt?? What happened?!”
Silvy gives her mother a tired look.
“I’m… I’m sorry mom. I shouldn’t have run off. I’m okay though, some wolves chased me but I was able to hide and escape.”
“Wolves!! My lord, it’s a miracle you are okay!”
Once again bursting into tears, her mother huggs her even tighter.
“Yeah, I’m okay. But there is something I want to talk to you about.”
Her mother gives her a confused look.
“I want to attend a combat school.”
Like that, three years pass and Silvy finally enters a school for combat.
Gregor Academy, a school affiliated with the military, today is her first day of school.
She thinks of all she’s had to accomplish in order to get her parents to agree to her attending this school. How her mother’s attitude towards her had changed with regards to her teaching her etiquette and the ways of a noble. After she saw how serious her daughter was about her interest in seeing and discovering the world, she became her ally and helped her achieve her goal of exploring the world as an adventurer.
“…well, I’m finally here, so I can’t just stand in front of the school all day.”
She makes her resolve and grabs the string around her neck. She pulls on it and a small ring attached to the string emerges from her shirt. She holds the ring in her hand, and for a brief moment, a small smile can be seen on her face.
She blushes, shakes her head, puts the ring back beneath her shirt, and walks into the school.
Sitting down in her classroom, the teacher begins speaking about what the goals of the school are and about the ongoing war between the humans and demons. A few kids are surprised, but most are already familiar with the way things are.
“…most importantly, we must find and execute the leaders of the demons. They are the most formidable of them all, but with them gone, the demons’ society will collapse and the war will be won. Standing at the top of even the most elite leaders of the demon army is the demon king, Ruk’thar Grimheart. His is an existence that must be wiped out without fail. He has committed countless atrocities and has led numerous battles against the humans.”
She looks up, and the teacher reveals a large poster with a familiar face drawn on it.
“What I’m about to tell you all is a recent discovery. We have come to learn that the demon king has a son which will inherit the demon clan. It is prophesized that if the demon king’s son were to inherit the throne, 1000 years of death and destruction will befall mankind. It is our top priority to find and execute him at all costs.”
The teacher motions toward the poster.
“The demon king’s son is called Rog’gar Grimheart.”
…
…..
…....huh?
Prologue end.