My name is Prince Magnus Ronnor Heatkran. I am the second in line for the throne of the entirety of the Demon Realm. Over the last few years the new Light Pope in the Imperial Domain, has been preaching an aggressive gospel. One that was meant to demonize the, well, demons. He eventually got into the head of the Emperor, shortly he declared war. Subjugation of the Demon King and slaughter of the demon races.
In my head he had gone absolutely bonkers and thought it was just a fool spouting nonsense. However they began mobilizing their troops into the Dukedom of Caslor, it was at the center of the border. They burned down several villages in a month. It was then we mobilized our own forces, I asked my father if I could join the ranks to experience battle first hand.
That is how I came to join Demonic Armed Forces. I am currently receiving Basic Combat Training at Fort Otrary in the Dukedom Zostait, lying on the ocean border at the Northwest edge of Iacela. Even though I had the prince’s crown above my head, I was treated no different at Basic. As long as I didn’t act like a spoiled brat I was somewhat left alone.
It was tough, the days were long and there wasn’t enough sleep. Today marks the beginning of week two. It was when a large, metal waste bin was thrown down the stone floors of the Barracks. Everyone was out of their beds in a flash at attention in front of their bunks. Well I say everyone, but Private Phendahl was still sound asleep. This was not going to pretty.
Our Drill Sergeant was doing morning inspections. Our Drill sergeant was a Gem Pixie. Gem Pixies were especially known for their short height, short temper, sparkly skin, and their gem hard fists. No one dared comment on their unmanly appearance. No one was insane in enough to do it. This Pixie goes by the name Drill Sergeant Rubyfist.
Drill Sergeant Rubyfist was doing head count and saw he was one private short. At that time he got everyone to start push-ups. He quickly found Private Phendahl snoozing in his bunk. He got really close to Private Phendahl’s ear and whispered, “Are you having a lovely sleep, Private?”
At this Private Phendahl open one eye and mumbled, “Oh it’s a pretty, little fairy man. I must still be dreaming.” He then closed his eyes and continued to snore.
The Drill Sergeant smiled, but that smile did not reach his eyes. The skin around his knuckles turned red. He clenched his fist and smashed it on his face.
*CRACK!*
The sound was really loud it was followed by the screams of the Private. The Drill Sergeant turned around and spoke in his megaphone voice, “You ladies will be down stairs for warm ups at 400 hundred hours. After warm ups, we are holding the Company Run, then you ladies can have chow. That is all. As you were.” With that, he left the room.
Everyone got change into Physical Training Gear and started heading out of the room. All the exercises didn’t even cause me to break a sweat. This was nothing to the back breaking; muscle destroying my father gave me. At least I didn’t have it as ruthless as my brother. He was the Crown Prince and was going to be crowned Demon King. Like me, he is joining the army for better experiences of war.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Private Phendahl eventually learned to not sleep in through continuous black eyes. Speaking of Phendahl, I hear his brother was in the second platoon. He was the model soldier over there. Through leadership and diligence, he led his platoon to be most victorious in all the competitions. I want to trade the brothers right now.
Oh well. It’s not like our Private Phendahl didn’t have any merits. Despite being a little on the lazy side, he was a very good comic relief. Funny people are more appreciated in Basic Training than anywhere else, in my opinion.
Graduation at last! The other soldiers went through muscular hell, but I was finding it kind of boring. But now it was graduation! I hear there was supposed to be a ceremony. We were all in our barracks getting ready for the ceremony when Drill Sergeant Rubyfist came through the door.
“At ease!” someone yelled out. Everyone stood at ease (feet apart, hands behind back) that the mention at the words.
The Drill Sergeant walked to the center of the room and declared, “As you were.” He continued as we began to move around again, “You are now soldiers of the Demonic Armed Forces. Congratulations. You all have done well, even Private Phendahl.” He paused for a few chuckles to die out, “As you all know, we are at war. And as such, there is no time for your ceremony. Instead of each of you going to a designated battalion, General Resius as ordered the Basic Training battalions to form their own battalion upon completion of Basic.”
Everyone was letting confused murmurs, but the Drill Sergeant cut in, “We are at WAR. Such orders are to be expected. AH, speaking of orders, The Dukedom of Oclen is under siege. This Battalion is to go to Oclen to drive out the humans and prepare for a counter attack. You move out today. The carriages are outside. Also, once again, congratulations on passing Basic.” He walked of the room.
“You heard the Drill Sergeant. Change into Battle Uniform and load into the transportation.” Everyone got changed again and headed out the door. Marching to the other side we met up with other platoons and companies. What greeted us was an endless amount of horses and carriages. Everyone was boarding all them in a surprisingly orderly fashion. I wasn’t particularly paying attention to which one I was boarding, When I boarded the closest carriage there were already three people in them, one of which I knew.
“Oh look, Ares its Heatkran!” Private Phendahl yelled out. The one he was talking to looked like an older version of him, a bit more muscular, and a bit taller. He gave me a glance then his eyes widened.
He quickly slammed his fist on top of Private Phendahl’s head, “Alastair, you moron! That is the Demonic Prince Magnus! He should have been promoted to Captain! How dare you speak to him so casually!”
I wave my hand to dismiss it. I then correct him, “I actually declined the promotion, and I am just a Specialist. Besides he was in my platoon, I know him quite well. You must be his brother?”
He nodded his head. The both had horns on their heads, but it looked like the older brother had a pair of giant, black feathered wings. I liked the look of feathered wings better than my own leathery dragon wings. I took notice of the third person in the carriage as I entered; he was also a Void Demon, he did not have wings but he had a tail, he kept to himself. It was normal to see quite people here in Basic, my guess was that they dreaded the war. At first it was eerie because half of the whole battalion was the same way. If someone said they were planning something, it would almost make since.
Even though I noticed him watching me when I wasn’t looking, but I completely disregarded it as continued the conversation with the Phendahls. After a few days, multiple breaks, we became closer and closer, we were practically best friends. The mysterious guy I came to know as Private Janus was all I learned from him. I learned that the Phendahl brothers came from a small Dukedom called Drayasil up in the very North.
Drayasil was two Dukedoms Northeast of Zostait, putting Drayasil at the most northern part of the Demon Realm. They say that it snows most of the time in Drayasil and the surrounding Dukedoms. Which by the way, the six most Northern Dukedoms were nicknamed the Void lands, because they stay in Void Demon’s possession since time immemorial. There are some that say that it is almost as cold as the Void itself. There is a theory that Void Demons originally came from that dimension, making them superb masters of time and space.
The Phendahls spoke of all the fond memories they have had in their home, that it got me to miss my own. Sometimes they spoke in such detail, I felt if I went to their capital, I would know my way around. The fifth day into are travel and we had crossed into the Dukedom Oclen, just a few hours out from the capital city of Afrea. Looking out the window, you could see smoke from here.
“Ah, man. Will there even be a city to save?” I mutter to myself. Not knowing the atrocities that had happened in this city already.
All the carriages had arrived just side the walls of Afrea. We all got out and got in formation. We marched toward the gate and saw that the gate had been broken down. The Void Demons were ordered to check the situation of the city. They all stepped forward and disappeared.
Void Demons were awesome in my opinion. Not only did they make the perfect scouts, they also held enormous battle potential. Enough to change the outcome of any war. There weren’t wars between humans and demons, but we won all the wars Void Demons participated in. They were so powerful, a few centuries ago, the Demon King himself and all the previous Demon Kings were Void Demons. The last Void Demon that was a Demon King was discovered to be infertile so he adopted my Grand-Father as his son.
The Void Step, the signature move of a Void Demon. While being their most dangerous weapon was also where they were most vulnerable. I learned this in Basic when we were covering the weakness of our comrades. The thing was, their weakness was almost impossible to take advantage of. It was known that they had to jump or fall into the Void Step in order to teleport. So they had to be immobilized for it not work. The weakness was if you were lightning-quick, you could pull them out of their portal. They said only Void Demons were capable of doing that. If you did manage to pull them out of their portal they would be paralyzed for a short time. You had to be lightning quick because the portals only stayed open for a fraction of a second, which was no problem to the masters of time, Void Demons. They were also heavy sleepers.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The scouts made their reports. Everyone in the castle had been butchered; most of the civilians were either injured or dead. We received Intel that General Almer had already fended off the humans and was on the other side of the city rallying troops for a counterstrike. We move toward the General’s forces as quickly as possible.
When we met with the General’s small Army we departed for the humans that butchered the Nobles. Instead of going by carriage, we marched so we would be prepared for any kind of ambush. Most people would send the Void Demons to do all the fighting because of their battle potential was unparalleled. We did do that a war a few centuries back. After the war, the Void Demons threw a revolt due to being the only ones in that war. They of course won, and a law for equal demon war time was passed. That was a peaceful revolt as well, compared to what they could actually do. They were practically monsters.
We crossed the human borders and we were actually outside the city walls of a city I believe went by the name Lumberton, the capital of the Redwood Kingdom. Since it was evening, we set up camp and planned on sieging the city walls tomorrow at dawn. We had just had some chow and getting ready hit the sack.
Hours had passed and everyone was asleep, I would have fallen asleep long ago if it wasn’t for this itching feeling something bad was going to happen. I heard a rustling sound and I turned around to see who it was. It was Private Janus standing above the sleeping Private Phendahl with sword in hand. No, no, no.
I get up and sneak over behind him, I intend on catching him but screams in nearby tents woke the two brothers. Seeing Private Janus above Private Phendahl set them in alarm. Janus swung down the sword.
“Alastair! NO!” The older brother cried out.
WHAM!
I brought my fist with as much force as I could onto his head, forcing him to stumble. Phendahl moved beneath him and stood up. This caused him to fall, but he fell into a Void Step and vanished. Where did he go?
More rusting sounds came behind me, turning around I could see a skirmish happening between the older brother and Janus. They disappeared and reappeared with clangs of a dagger and sword. I couldn’t even keep up. I grabbed Phendahl and quickly exited the tent.
“Hey, why aren’t you doing that? You could’ve vanished too.” I raise an eyebrow.
“Void Step? I want get it until I turn 18.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah, I insisted that I join the army, my parents made it to where Ares wasn’t too far away.”
We were just running when Janus caught up with us. He just appeared beside me aiming for my throat, but I was prepared. I grab him by the neck and activated Ignition. My mana surged into my skin, igniting the air around me. In consequence it also set ablaze to the Void Demon. His screams filled the air as he burned alive.
After I threw the corpse on the ground, another Void Demon appeared, but it was only Ares.
“Oh good, you got him. Ah, he gave me the slip.” He bent over and caught his breath. An Earth Demon came behind him and aimed for him.
“Hey, hit the ground.” Ares hit the ground and I slammed my arm into the face of the rock hard demon, it rendered him unconscious and made me think my hand might have been broken from impact.
“Ah!” Phendahl gasped.
Turning around I could see Phendahl defending himself from the talons of an Air Demon. I rush to his aid and shield him from a swipe of claws. The talons swipe across my chest leaving a heavy gash in my flesh. I smile a bit. I am part of the Royal bloodline, my crown signifies this. With that, came an ability only really skilled Fire Demons can use. I send the very fire shimmering around into my blood, activating Molten Blood. My blood turns from a deep red into a shining orange. I thrust my hands into my new wound and remove them. My hands are now covered and I fling the blood at the Air Demon.
On contact, his flesh sunk in and sizzled, his feathers even caught fire. He attacked more desperately, inflicting more wounds on me, causing his hands to melt in the process. I reach for his neck and snap it. He falls onto the ground, embers and all. Ah, I actually never got to use that before, it is a neat trick though.
Hours roll by in continuous fighting as we figured out they took out most the units before they were suppressed. The first victims of the battle were Void Demons. They were killed in their sleep. There was only one Void Demon that was part of this mutiny. All the others were targets. When we had suppressed the rebellion, we conducted a head count. Only a third of us were left. What was strange was there were only two Void Demons survived this. I think someone is behind this, and whoever they are, they are targeting our biggest weapons.
The sun had risen above the horizon and we heard an alarm being sounded beyond the walls. Not having enough troops to fight, we retreated. When we returned to the Demon Realm I had the fastest messenger deliver the news to the Demon King. The messenger returned with news that the same treachery happened in all the battalions. Void Demons were all slaughtered.
After the news of mutiny spread, morale bottomed out. We were going to lose this war. All the sacrifices would have been for not. Not only had the Void Demons being slaughtered, but also news of the Crown Prince, my brother, died in combat also came in. He had been betrayed by the very demon he was defending. Stabbed in the back with a long sword, it pierced his heart.
I wept when I learnt my big brother died in such a way. After the mutinies had been suppressed, we filled our prisons with those that we let live for later interrogation. Battle after bloody battle, I saw the brothers faces grow more and more grim. Friends, family, they all died, they only had each other. Fighting with them, we survived the onslaught of human hordes.
Then one day we heard that Emperor Lanslet Greenwood had passed away from a heart attack. His son, Godfrey Greenwood, had taken the throne. He called for an audience with the Demon King for a peace talk. One week later, the war ended in a White Peace. Nothing lost, nothing gained, was supposed to be the terms. However, there was so much mental scaring of the Demonic Armed Forces, I don’t know if they would ever recover, especially the Phendahl brothers.
We found that there was a Void Demon Noble who was too young to participate in the war. She was I the same state of shock and depression when she found out that none of her friends and family will return from the battle field. I introduced them to each other. They cried when they found another that survived other than themselves. They always stuck close to each other, the three of them. Besides me, they didn’t allow anyone else to get close to their little circle, they were afraid of more betrayal, more so apparent in the brothers.
After the grand funeral held for my brother and all the fellow soldiers that died in battle, everything was eerie quite in the Void Lands. The commoners stayed inside their homes. The churches remained empty, the shops gathered dust. The Nobles District was lifeless. When entering the city, it made the jolly soldiers accompanying me, speak in nervous whispers.
It went on for fifty years. Ares, try as he might, he could not raise the spirits of his brother and his sister-in-law. I tried to help in the poor brother’s endeavors, but to no avail. Fifty-four years after the Great War, my father passed away in his sleep. I couldn’t return their home; I had a nation to run. It grieved me to leave them in such a state, but there was nothing I could do. I heard nothing, not even a whisper from the Grand Dukedom of Drayasil until 126 years passed.
It was like life was breathed into the Dukedom. The shops reopened, the churches filled, the streets were busy, and the Lords started being active again. What was the reason for all the reforms happening to jump start their economy? Why had the atmosphere seeming turned from eerie and desolate to cheerful and bustling? One answer, the Duchess was pregnant. It seems the parents made a resolve to raise their child in a happy environment.
I can’t wait to meet their miracle child! I wonder how he will turn out…
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So Ares, you are older than Alastair?
Yes, I am, I remembering holding the goofball in my arms when he was born.
So how come you didn't take the Dukedom throne?
Political life was never for me. I did have the throne at first but I chose to do Amnesty and pass the throne to the next in line.
You passed up the throne?
Yeah, it was an attempt to pull him out of his depression with a distraction. It didn't work, but after a century, I'm glad I did.