Lucifer's P.O.V

"Brother..."

The mere thought that I was going to be a big brother, sent a tingling sensation through my heart. I assume in this rough situation I was in, the unborn baby; my little brother/sister bought a little bit of happiness to my crumbling soul, as contentment warmed me from within. But at the same time, the thought that maybe just maybe, What if I go back one day and they don't recognize me? What if they refuse to accept me? what if my parents forget about my existence after the baby is born? What if they choose to hide from the baby that he/she had a brother...or supposedly a Devil?

A low chuckle escaped my lips. Was I in a position to think of such trivial things? I didn't even know if I will survive tomorrow and here I was thinking of something far in the future. Sitting on the flat rock I believe was made for sitting, I stared at the pitch-black horizon without an end. I was too familiar with darkness now, like a layer of the blanket, it had always covered my eyes restricting me from enthralling the beauty of the world.

"Haaa..." Taking in a long breath from the cool crisp air, I sighed heavily. Currently, I was in the Kobold Tribe. Of course, humans were not welcomed here and so neither was I. However, since Ubel was the Tribe Chief, the other Kobolds couldn't refuse and chose to just ignore me completely. It was better this way, I needed some time to clear up my mind and organize my thoughts after all.

I chugged up whatever soup Ubel had left for me before he went back to my village to take a look at the progress. The soup had a bitter aftertaste to it but was still edible. I was unconscious for a week, and so the indifferent kobold doctor suggested only soups mixed with some medicinal potions. I was really thankful to Ubel for what he did for my village and for me. But, I am not used to this kindness, whoever was kind to me except my parents was my friends Leo and Canary, but they too in the end turned their backs on me. What if Ubel one day finds me useless and abandons me? Where will I go? What will I do?

Slap!

I slapped my cheeks with both of my palms to snap out of my weird train of thoughts and recalled what Ubel had told me. According to him, the Mantric kingdom had a vast history, I knew bits and pieces of its history which I was taught by mom but never did I know that the devastating war that took place 1000 years ago was by the devil, no rather by a red-haired one. Red hair was basically uncommon in the Mantric kingdom since ancient times, as such 'the traitor' 'the first magician' was initially black-haired, and after he made a contract with the Demon King, his hair turned red, people started to believe contracting the supreme Demon king made the contractor's hair colour turn red. Thus, practically in this kingdom Red coloured hair seemed like a taboo. And me, Lucifer was born with brown hair like my mother but unexpectedly on my 7th birthday they changed to red, I was inevitably suspected to be a Devil. It indeed made sense, they thought I have also made a contract and thus wanted to rip me off from the bud. But I never made such a contract, hell I was not even aware such a thing existed... those old geezers. I cursed.

But the mystery still remains, why did my hair change to red? Now that I think about it, was there any connection to the dream I had? The man I saw had red hair, golden eyes, he had wings and a pair of horns protruding out of his forehead, yes why didn't I think of that before? it made sense he really might be The Devil. The sudden realisation hit me hard, as I stood up abruptly while pacing around in the cave. Everything was burning around him except him, isn't his power similar to the power Ubel mentioned that I had? Although practically I was unaware of this, it got triggered when I was in fury and I didn't even know how to use it. The power was practically useless to me unless I want to burn everything crisp. Did he bestow his power on me? Why me? What did he say to me in the end? My memory was hazy I couldn't remember....something awakened? to protect yourself? What did he say in the end? I can't seem to recall....what was that again?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What the..?" I clutched my head with both of my hands, as I felt a stinging ache in my head. Whenever I tried to remember that Man I got a severe headache, that was mortifying, I felt like dying.

"I-It started again...huff hufff" I gasped for breath. My legs felt weak, and soon after, I fainted...again.

*********

Rustle.

Not long after Lucifer lost his consciousness, two beings emerged from the bushes near his cave.

"Hmm...he doesn't seem strong? and....he fainted again?" The being with dark brown scales said while caressing his chin.

"Never underestimate your opponent, we have to keep a close eye on him," the other with dark red scales stated, his eyes never leaving the sight of the unconscious Lucifer lying on the cold hard ground.

"Mhmm...it's the best opportunity, should we just kill him?" the dark brown said as he licked his lips.

"Patience is also an art...now is not the time" the dark red one smirked. The presence of this human child irked him but his plan will get messed up if he killed him here. Like a predator observing its prey to know its behaviour for a successful hunt, he decided to first monitor him.

"Things are getting really interesting" he licked his lips. Sparing a last glance at Lucifer both of them disappeared into the darkness.

*********

"Ah..." A short groan left his mouth. He started massaging his head, he felt a massive headache.

"You are awake?"

"Gah...who? Ubel?" Lucifer exclaimed in shock, he didn't know someone was sitting beside him.

Munch. Munch.

"Ya...it ish me...you feeling better?" Ubel sat next to Lucifer while apathetically chewing on some weird grass.

"....I feel like crap" Lucifer answered as he pushed his body to sit upright. His whole body was aching like he has been beaten up.

"What happened that made you faint again...when I came back I found you lying outshide on the ground," Ubel asked taking another handful of grass from a pot followed by putting it into his mouth.

"I just remem-..." Lucifer shook his head.

'Should I tell him? Can I trust him?' Lucifer contemplated.

His memories at the moment were faint. The only thing he remembered was him thinking about the man in his dreams...and that, the man resembled the description of "The Devil". The next moment he felt dizzy, as a wave of pain crept through his body his cells and he just lost his consciousness.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to...but yesh I will help you" Ubel calmly returned as he kept the pot full of grass aside.

"....Help? How?" Lucifer responded after a short pause.

"I will help you to change" Ubel stopped chewing the grass as he stood up and went towards the interior of the cave.

"Change?"

"Yesh...Look at this" The cave was quite spacious with different kinds of things made of rock carvings including a small shelf filled with old tattered books. The room had a pungent smelt like alcohol and other kinds of chemicals in it. The interior of the cave had a number of shelves filled with different tubes made of glass and jars of different shapes and sizes with a variety of colourful liquids. Ubel took out his round steel-rimmed specs from his pouch and wore them. From one of the bookshelf, he picked out the book which had the most volume to it and bought it in front of Lucifer.

"Hmm.."

"Even if you don't tell me, I have figured out that you know something about "The Devil" ..." Ubel said.

Lucifer's brows furrowed tightly. "H-How do you know?" He asked in shock.

"OH! sho I wash right !" Ubel caressed his chin as he mused. He gently flipped over some pages of the fragile book before coming to a stop at a certain page.

"What? Y-You you fooled me" Lucifer yelled while stuttering. He felt like an idiot to expose his secret so easily.

Ubel didn't notice his agitation as he waved his hands, " No I really figured out, jusht that I wash not shure, but now I know, shoo...", and said while his eyes still glued on that certain page.

"So..?" Lucifer asked back impatiently as he crossed his hands over his chest "Spill it!"

Ubel pushed his round steel-rimmed specs upwards as he looked towards Lucifer and said slowly " I have found a method to change your hair colour and....."

"..and?"

"And bring your eyes back to normal"

Silence enveloped the room as Lucifer stared at Ubel with his mouth gaped.

After a minute or so Lucifer broke the silence, "...How?" while Ubel smirked.