Early Childhood Part-2

The Epic

Zeffross Zarion

A Slime, running from a pack of wolves, heading in my direction. I too started running away from them, or at least I told my body to, but it wouldn't budge. My legs wobble and my body aches in 3 distinct places, it seems like I am having another breakdown. The pack approaches me with low growls and drool dripping down their mouths. The slime runs past me, and the wolves deeming me an easier prey surround me with practiced movements.

I feel the sweat drenching my back and the shirt sticking to my body as my breathing grows faster. The wolves slowly close the gap between us with anticipation visible in their eyes. I look around desperately, hoping to spot someone who might help, but instead, lock eyes with one of the wolves. The wolf snarls as it meets my gaze, with no fear or hesitation in its eyes, I am just a prey who has lost even the ability to retaliate.

‘No, not like this.’ I say to myself as I gather the last of my strength into my legs, I shall make a stand at least. My cores continue to burn but I ignore them for now to face the more pressing issue. The wolves already in range prepare to pounce; the first one to attack is from my right. It rips the shirt from the shoulder down away, fortunately avoiding any flesh, as the shirt is still stuck in its mouth though, and the other wolves attack simultaneously, two of them sink their teeth into my legs while a third one goes for the neck. To avoid the more lethal attack I lean backward and fumble on the wolves working on my legs, I fall on the wolves and the others soon gather around to feast on a now immobilized prey. No longer able to feel my legs, I lose minuscule hope of getting out alive, soon my brain is overwhelmed by the pain in different parts of my body and my eyelids feel a lot heavier. Succumbing to defeat, I give in and am about to close my lids as the wolf goes for my neck again, but then I notice a blue blur that smashes into the wolf, sending it reeling into a nearby tree. It continues to dispatch the wolves one after the other as I close my eyes.

I wake up to a sudden jolt of pain in my chest, no, actually to the vigorous shaking accompanied by the pain. As my brain starts to take in information, I remember that I was trying to fall asleep to escape the pain in the chest. The vigorous shaking trying to keep me awake. I look at the ceiling, yes a ceiling in a forest, where am I? I look for the person shaking me through my half-open eyes. Ah, black hair with black eyes, there is only one person other than me who looks like that, my mother. She seems to be saying something like “Wak.. up, sta.. with us, don close your eyes..”, and seems to be in slow motion. Hard to focus on with my chest distracting me. Suddenly, something is poured into my forcibly opened mouth,

cough..cough

I almost choked on it, slow down there. And it's bitter, the medicinal tea ughh. My head clears up as the tea takes effect, I notice all the people gathered around, seems like I am having another breakdown, how did I get here from the forest? What was it that saved me anyway? Never mind that, more importantly, I need to focus on staying awake, as I’ve been instructed multiple times, I need to not lose my consciousness no matter what, the medics will handle the rest. It will be a long couple of hours from now, even more so for the people here, I don’t know when I will ever stop being a burden to them.

Fillion Zarion

I enter the now familiar scene of controlled panic in the estate, hoping I am not too late, the recently increasing number of monsters near the first fort has made it hard for me to visit home frequently, especially when those dragons are involved, lazy old bastards, their eccentricities have no end and we have no choice but to tolerate them, each one of them is capable of leveling an army in a single breath.

“So Zeff, what story would you like to hear this time.?”

Yes, the great almighty warrior of the North, Fillion Zarion is now a full-time bard, without the music of course. Turns out this is the only reliable way to keep the child awake. I am the only one he listens to properly, so I have no choice but to oblige, not like I am against it or anything, I like telling stories, especially ones where I am the protagonist.

“I want to hear the rest of the story you left off last time.”

And he seems to really like stories of warriors, so where was I last time..? Oh yeah.

“So, Zarion was a well-established kingdom by the time this occurred…”

Around 1000 years ago,

An era before the formation of the demon continent, or the Basilisk Kingdom. The seas were divided by 3 masses of lands, the Beast Continent, full of different beast folk tribes, the central continent, majorly populated by humans, and the enigmatic Divine Continent. The central continent at this point was divided into many small clans with each naming themselves a kingdom or empire, aspiring to one day unite the continent or even the world in some cases. Noteworthy among them were the Dastov to the West, the Hilorians to the North, the Zustav to the South, and the Zarions to the West, which were already well-established kingdoms with a rich history.

Half of the continent which was later known as the Demon Continent was barren and abandoned due to the presence of demonic energy, and was sparsely populated by demonfolk tribes here and there. The demons were treated as slightly more intelligent monsters and hunting them down was considered a sport among humans. The Dastovs, being closer to the demon folk geographically, were the only ones with favorable relations with them, but they too were reluctant to stand up for them, fearing religious repercussions. This story being narrated by Fillion is from the Autobiography of one of the many Dastov princes from that era.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kewas Dastov

I visited the village as I usually did with my knight in tow. In the ruse of field visits to the western farms, I would usually be here to get a glimpse of the one who had rescued me from bandits the other day. Something about her made my heart race and pulled me to this far-off remote village every day.

“Where is she, isn’t it time for the hunting party to have returned by now?”

“It seems they ran into something unexpected today, they have gone to report to the chief, you probably won’t be able to train your sword today Human Prince..”

It was indeed strange for a Human that too a prince to come all the way here without a reason, most humans detested demons, although we Dastovs were considered blood brothers since the age of my great ancestors, such repeated visits were unusual, so I came up with reason of training my sword to talk to her daily, though today my luck seems to be bad.

I go to the chief’s hut to see what the fuss is all about, to find a crowd already gathered there.

“Something Interesting seems to be going on, faint I sense an Asura other than the chief there in the hut.”

“An Asura you say, if that’s the case, this must be immediately reported to the castle, if he turns out to be hostile our blood brothers might need reinforcements.”

“Indeed, but the question is why would the demons bring an Asura to the heart of their village without any concern?”

My knight did have a point, I hurried to the hut to check who exactly this person was. The crowd spit as I approached, the hut was a shabby structure, not suitable for someone of the stature of the chief, highlighting the tribal nature of the demons. The chief stood before me blocking my way into the hut as if he wanted to hide whoever or whatever was inside.

“Chief, greetings, I am here to see who this Asura is to dare to trespass into our territory “

“Boy, you do realize that we are talking about an Asura here right, you think you can handle it if you enrage them?”

Did he reply with an almost threatening tone, a test of courage uh? Figure how my father gets along with him.

“He might be an Asura, but he stands on Dastovian soil, even those Monsters must follow etiquette here.”

“Hehe, the monster you say, well you’re right about that, indeed a monster has been found, take a look and perhaps even send a report to your old man quickly, this might just be well beyond us.”

I enter the hut to find the being lying on a wooden bed, which seems about to break under his weight. A being of dark skin, dark enough to rival darkness, with tattoos in white covering him head to toe, his skin reflects light as if it’s made of metal, with purple hair and two great horns from the sides of his forehead, one of them broken at the tip, appears to be fast asleep but alive judging rise and fall of his chest, he gives off a mystic vibe, as if like a Divine Demon.

“Are you sure this is not one of yours?”

“None here with such great horns or such weird tattoos. That’s the strange thing though, it hasn’t been even a century since I united all the demons to the west of Dastov to form this village, my memory is still fresh, and don’t recall there being any other tribe of demons who have not here or completely exterminated, even considering such a possibility, none of them have such horns or tattoos.”

“Hmm, Is it possible for demons to exist outside the central continent who we have never encountered?”

“The other continents you say, no the beasts would never allow demons to thrive in theirs, they have keen senses too, maybe the Divine Continent, seeing as he is an Asura and all, certainly a possibility.”

“Nonetheless a report will be sent to the king, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you plan to do with him, with his unknown origins and motives, isn’t he too huge of a threat to be left unshackled? Where did you even find him?”

“Yes, shackling him would be useless though, and it seems to be impossible to even harm him, even though I am at a loss for what to do.”

I notice that Shilea whom I came to see here today is at the foot of the sleeping Asura, caressing his abdomen with an almost evil grin.

“Shilea, what the hell are you doing there!! Get your hands off him, he could be dangerous.”

“Kewas, come take a look at how hard his skin is, it’s as if it is made of steel, isn’t it amazing?!!”She says in a pleased tone as if she had found something new to toy around. Curious myself, I slowly move my hand to the tattoo-covered chest of the sleeping Asura, cold and hard, yes as if I am touching a weapon that has been through 1000 years of bloodshed. A shiver runs down my spine and I instinctively move away from him. This guy is dangerous.

“Klaus!!”

“Yes, my lord!”

“Leave Immediately and report this to the king!”

“What about you my lord?”

“I shall stay here and monitor the situation,” I say as I glance at Shilea sideways.

“… As you wish my lord.”

Just as he leaves with haste and I eye the Demon with caution now, a commotion breaks out outside. I rush out with Shilea to see the demons murmuring and whispering among themselves in anxious voices looking at the sky. I turn to the Chief, who himself is looking up but with his eyes closed, looking for an explanation I turn to Shilea.

“ The Grey Owls are fleeing from something.” He says under his breath in an ominous tone. I look at Shilea for an explanation.

“The Grey Owls are Nocturnal animals, they are found everywhere but it’s hard to come across one as they are too sneaky, they sense conflict and migrate to more peaceful places. They are also said to have visions of the future.”

“In other words, them fleeing in the afternoon is a bad omen, they didn’t even do that during the demonic unification war.”, added the Chief after opening his eyes.

“A war is coming, and a big one at that.”