The waves lapped quietly at the shoreline, moonlight reflected in the calm sea. Something was out of place on this picturesque moonlit beach. A body drifted in the shallows, this would have been a more gruesome scene if it wasn't breathing still. Skin tanned a pretty golden hue, and fiery red hair tossed messily about the girl's shoulders. Two ram-like horns curled out from her head. She suddenly jolted, pushing her hands down and lifting herself out from the shallow water. The waves brushed curiously against her tattered clothes. She crawled out from the water, dragging herself into the sand, before rolling over and letting out a spout of sea water accompanied by coughs and the sound of licked lips.
"Thirsty." Her voice seemed brittle as it burned out from her throat. She let out a sigh that faded into rest as her eyes fluttered before she was asleep.
The girl frowned, rubbing her eyes as she rolled over, the sun was beating down on her with a vengeance. She pulled herself shaking to her feet and stumbled up the sand bank towards the forest beyond. Her ears were pointed and her eyes were black with red pupils. The sound of trickling water entered her ears and she frantically stumbled towards that tantalizing sound. She practically fell into the stream and began guzzling water, as she gulped it down she felt strength returning. She finally sat up and wiped her lips with her arm letting out a satisfied sound. She finally began to look around herself as she got to her feet.
"Huh, I wonder what continent I'm on?" She wondered to herself as she inspected her clothes. "Ah, I need to find a place to purchase clothes huh. Shoot. It's not too bad but I look like a bum bleh!" She exclaimed sticking her tongue out.
Her eyes sharpened as she glanced around, voices, I hear humans. She quietly crept away from the river just as a group of three showed up, a girl carrying a large vase and two boys one had a sword at his hip the other wore mage-like clothes. The girl had long blonde hair and blue eyes, very pretty and tall with a moderately sized bust. Her companions were similar looking with both having short brown hair and black eyes. They kept watch as she filled her vase with water before lifting it up and balancing it on her head then she and the group left. The whole time they were unaware of the stranger watching from the forest's cover.
There must be a town nearby, she thought as she reached down and ripped a large piece from her dress and wrapped it around her shoulders and head to hide her eyes and horns. Her skirt which has been ankle length now was barely long enough to cover her thighs. She then set off following the group.
It didn't take long for a village to come into view, it had no wall, not even a fence. There were probably about a hundred people living here. The group she followed had gone to fetch water for their family it seemed.
The demon girl who'd washed up on the banks of the Madreachia Kingdom, a kingdom of magic and sorcery, took her first step into a human village with plans of finding clothes for herself and maybe a bite to eat.
She snuck into the village, it wasn't hard, not like there were guards. She slipped along the walls and shadows cast by the homes, a scent had caught her nose. The scent of good food. She almost recklessly followed that scent as her stomach growled relentlessly. She sighed as she finally stumbled upon a home with a fire out back, two young boys were roasting fish and a girl was crouching nearby petting some animal, it was furry and had a tail. The creature walked on all fours and had pointed triangle shaped ears, it had a stripped fur pattern and carried itself arrogantly, but it seemed to vibrate with happiness as she pet it.
The demon girl approached slowly, she felt she was older than these children but she was small so maybe she could pass in their age group. She was aware that she looked like a sixteen to seventeen year old human as demons age half as fast as humans. Even though she was around twenty-eight with her slow aging she looked half her age. Demons live hundreds of years. Three hundred Is an average lifespan.
Some may think that this creates a problem as most creatures who stay smaller and weaker for longer, extended childhood. There tends to be a variable that the longer the childhood the more endangered the species due to that long era of helplessness. But demons mature early and are fluent in dark magic; they're gifted with an affinity from birth. Though their bodies May age half the speed of humans they come to maturity twice as fast. Young demons who look to be five and six years old aren't considered adults but are considered independent and can take care of themselves generally. So even though she looked seventeen, she was quite capable.
The kids noticed her quickly, they also could hear her vocal stomach.
"Hello, haven't seen you before. You sound hungry. Want some fish?" One of the boys offered her food, she approached cautiously and accepted the hospitality.
"Um thanks." She spoke softly, suddenly dodging and grabbing her hood as the boy tried to see her face. "Please, I don't have a very nice face, you wouldn't want to see it." She gave an excuse when suddenly the other boy stood up.
"Hey guys, we're out of fish. You know what Mom won't be back for a while, we should go hunting!" He seemed excited as he picked up a makeshift fishing spear. The other boy's eyes sparkled, "yeah great idea Daniel! I'll go get my bow." The older boy took off running towards the house and disappeared inside.
"Cheryl you shouldn't come, it'll be dangerous, you neither new girl." Daniel told the young girl named Cheryl and the demon proudly. Moments later the older boy came back out, he had a bow and a quiver of arrows.
"Zack I wanna come with, will you protect me?" Cheryl sidled up to the older boy making him blush slightly before agreeing confidently.
"I'm coming too, my name is Sariel." The demon girl spoke up finally shedding light on her name.
"Fine fine let's just go!" The group of four set off into the woods, the boys played at hunting while the girl picked flowers. They didn't really catch much and soon they were resting by a waterfall. The sound of the water roared loudly nearby as Daniel was poised at the river edge with his spear.
Sariel was a little focused on something else, she had her eyes closed and was using her mana to probe the area looking for something to indicate her current location. I know I'm on one of the mainland continents, I can rule out the dwarvan, elfish, and dark elfish islands. This continent seems to be one of the larger ones and mostly human so I'm either In Kozak, Blushai, or Madreachia, any other countries would be recognizable by the race and the distance to the third mainland continent there's no way it's that one.
Suddenly she was interrupted by a scream, she leaped up and gazed in surprise at a large blood bear. Its blood red fur was thick and vibrant as it charged Daniel. Sariel leaped forward, grabbing the boy and tossing him back as she spun a quick spell to create a mana shield she attempted to block the bear's charge.
The block backfired and she was thrown back, tumbling as her makeshift hood flew off. She leaped back onto her feet and slung a dark magic bullet at the bear. It roared in response and charged again. This time though Sariel leaped back and pushed dark magic into the ground before a wall of it slammed upwards and smashed into the chin of the bear. She summoned a spear of dark energy and leaped, stabbing the bear through the head before tumbling. Her magic had run dry, ugh I'm really not in any shape to fight. She coughed as she stumbled back to her feet. The three kids were looking at her with surprise and fear.
"D-d-demon!" Daniel exclaimed as he backed away, Cheryl on the other hand hesitantly approached Sariel and offered her a hand.
"Shut up Daniel, she saved us. U-m, are you ok." Cheryl commented, making Sariel flinch. Both the boys were wary, even more now that the youngest of their group was so close to a demon.
"I'm, alright, just depleted my mana." Sariel commented as she let the girl help her to her feet. "Thank you. . . I um I'm a bit lost I appreciate your kindness."
"S-stupid Cheryl, I wasn't scared she's just a demon no big deal." Daniel suddenly tried to cover his initial reaction. They helped Sariel who was weak from mana depletion back to town, they snuck her into the house and Cheryl got her a change of clothes and a cloak to hide her horns. Sariel was currently looking at herself in the mirror, this outfit is a little too cutesy for me but it'll do.
"Thank you Cheryl." Sariel thanked the girl with a bow. She simply blushed in response.
"Um, it was no problem you saved us from the bear. . . Um mind if I ask a question?" She spoke up suddenly. Sariel nodded. "Where did you come from, I know you're a demon from your eyes and your horns but the church teaches us that the demons disappeared along with the demon King when he was defeated four hundred years ago." Sariel froze, she turned to gaze at Young Cheryl, a thought came to her mind. Four hundred years no that can't be right that can't be right at all, the wars. I escaped them just recently. They shouldn't have ended. . . Where did all of my time go, what happened, how old am I? She began to freak out as her thoughts ran wild. Then she turned to look at Cheryl, calmed herself with a deep breath before giving her response.
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"I don't know, I woke up today, I woke on the shores of whatever continent this is. Don't know how I got here, though I wasn't too disoriented as the last thing I remember was the sea." Sariel frowned for a moment as she finished responding "I wonder, if I've returned will the other demons do the same?"
"Nooo! That'll start the war again." Cheryl exclaimed, she seemed frightened.
"Yes, I imagine it will, no I think that this might mean a new demon King is Awakening otherwise why would the demons be waking up. They must have been slumbering, the death of the king is the death of the army. The revival of the king is the revival of the army. I have no desire to see that bloodshed once again, I need to investigate the re-emergence of demons." Sariel replied solemnly.
"Wait, are you gonna leave?" Cheryl asked fearfully. "What if demons attack here, my home doesn't have fighters, won't you protect my home." Sariel sighed as she gazed at the young girl that pleaded with her eyes and pouty lip. Suddenly the sound of a door opening and Daniel's loud voice
"Mom, you're home!"
"Daniel, why are you yelling, inside voice please." Another voice answered sternly, the sound of shuffling followed. "Put these away, where's Zack?"
"He's putting away the fishing supplies and cleaning up the shed, we made a little bit of a mess is all." Daniel replied, "Cheryl is upstairs sleeping, she got tied after playing with us."
Cheryl looked at Sariel and pushed her towards the window. "Out, head to the shed. Zack will get you set up." She whispered, Sariel nodded and climbed out the window. It closed with a click behind her.
"Oh, sounds like someone's awake, I'll go let Cheryl know I'm back." Sariel frowned as she heard their mother head upstairs as she climbed down from the second floor. As she landed in the grass she bolted over to the shed, the sun was starting to set as she closed the door behind her.
"Oh, hey. . . Guess Mom is home." Zack spoke awkwardly as he turned to gesture behind him. "Mom doesn't really come to the shed. So you should be fine here for quite awhile." Zack explained.
"Thank you, really. Do you happen to know when a merchant will pass through?" Sariel asked as she examined her new home.
"A few days from now, why?" Zack asked.
"Well, I'd like to purchase some magic stones." She replied, she'd managed to wash up with some money still to her name. She was capable of a void spell called pocket dimension, she kept her money there. "I'm an engineer, I wanna get back to my projects. Besides, I don't wanna get caught off guard. If more demons show up I'll probably have to fight them. Near the end of the war I ran into some trouble and lost most my gear. I feel a bit naked without it tbh." Sariel explained, a small smile settled on her face as she looked around the small shed absentmindedly.
"Oh, you'll protect the village?" Zack asked with surprise.
"I owe a debt now, I may be a demon but even other demons thought me weird. I keep my word at least." Sariel responded, Zack smiled at that before turning to leave.
"Alright, I better get back to the house before Mom comes looking." Zack closed the door behind him leaving Sariel in silence.
As Sariel began to settle into her new home someone else was just awakening. Or rather, many someones. What was mostly removed from the history books was the location of the final battle with the Demon King, it took place on the continent of Madreachia. And when the king died, the demons lost their physical forms and turned into liquid cores that sunk into the earth. There they laid waiting for the next demon king. The bishops efforts has caused the demon king's energy to spread across the world. The demons were waking up to greet their king. But this time it's different, the schemes of Maxwell clashed with the schemes of Griax and caused an incomplete resurrection. Demons between climbing from the earth, but Maxwell had been prepared for this. Belphegor was pulled from her slumber and used as a beacon with Maxwell's direction.
“Commander, we've awoken, but where's our new king?” One of the demons spoke up.
“How long do you think it's been?” Another demon asked.
“You can't hear her yet? she's talking, Take some time to get the rocks out of your ears.” The lead demon spoke with annoyance. He was listening to a slow, tired female voice.
“Come, we must head to the rendezvous location, Belphegor says that The Bishop of Deceit shall meet us and be our temporary commander.” the commander led the way out of the clearing.
~
Sariel leaped out of bed, sweating, she frowned as she looked around. Shoot, I knew it, the demon king has revived. That's why the demons are awakening. Sariel stepped out from the shed into the morning sun, there was a bit of a bustle in town, a merchant was selling goods. Sariel noticed something on that cart causing her smile. She slipped among the townsfolk clambering around the merchant and his cart. She secretly reached into her pocket and activated a dark magic spell called void, it opened a pocket dimension she could keep items in. She then pulled out a bag of gold coins.
Upon reaching the merchant she placed the bag down and pointed to a bag of equal size in the back of his cart. The merchant smiled and grabbed it before placing it on side of his cart beside her bag. She then pointed to crappy set of metal armor. He smiled a bit wider and placed it in a cloth bag before handing it to her. She then nodded and he snatched the coins while she grabbed her bag of magic stones. She smiled secretly under her hood as she slipped from the crowd, rushing back to the place she now called home.
She actually didn't go back inside, this house had a small shed behind it. She headed there, placing all her items on the floor and gazing at the dust cluttered surroundings. She began to clean off the desk and place her stones and armor atop it. I'm from the bloodstone clan, a clan of magical engineers, my father was a scientist, my mother was a magic scholar. I learned from them both and became the world's greatest magical engineer, but the demon army has no use for innovation they wanted weapons. She smiled as she poured the stones out on the table. She then reached into her void space and pulled out a few tools. There was a small item with a pip attached to a handle. Two colored stones glowed from the center of it, a red and a purple. Suddenly before she could start working she heard the door open to the shed. There stood Cheryl, a twelve year old child. She was rubbing her eyes and looking with curiosity.
“Whatcha doin Sariel.” She asked as she scampered over to the desk. “What's that?”
Sariel lifted the tool to show the girl, she watched with eyes sparkling in excitement.
“This is a magic tool using fire and gravity stones to make a compressed fire that can cut almost anything. It's a tool I use to cut different materials when working.” Sariel explained as she turned the tool on and showed of the white fire laser that came out a few inches. “This right here is a dial, right next to the spot where your thumb rests. It's the length adjuster.” She rolled the dial and the laser began to get longer till it was a foot long, she then retracted it back to an inch.
“Alright, I'm gonna start working now.” She spun around in her chair and grabbed the chest plate. She began cutting strips from it and using another tool that was simply a gravity stone and a small needle like object. She injected that needle into the metal and it became malleable. She molded it into the shape of a vertebrae, then she proceeded to make an entire flexible spine-like strip of metal and set it on the table. She picked up a magic stone that was silver. It had a weird rainbow-like shine when the light reflected off it.
There was a spot in the top vertebrae that she placed the stone into, after this she pulled another tool from her void space. It was a pen made of an odd metal, a spiral of silver and gold with a clear crystal embedded in the top. She began to dip the pen into the silver gem and carve a vein from the center down the spine till it reached the base. The crystal seemed to liquidate to fill the vein before hardening again. She began crafting metal ribs that curved around from the spine. They had several joints and locked into place, she dragged the silver stones veins down the ribs.
She then crafted metal braces for the top of the shoulders, it would be worn a little like a back pack. The last thing she did was take all the belts and straps from the armor and make a waist harness that wrapped the legs and hips. The veins were extended into the leather straps as well. When she was done she took off the cloak she was wearing and opened the ribs before pulling the spine onto her back. It locked into place following the curves and movements of her body. She then pulled her cloak back on and sat down, she pulled the metal arm guards from the armor set and began crafting a more streamlined one, setting up a device on the underside of the wrist that looked a bit like a holder for a spool of wire. She then took a black stone and placed it in the casing before taking her pen and drawing a box-like symbol with a strange character in the center. She then pushed her mana into it and opened her own void space. She pulled out a long cable made of some shiny blackish gold metal. It had a three pronged hook at the end with a purple crystal in the center. She pressed one end to the black crystal and activated the mana, the stone glowed and the whole cable was sucked inside while leaving the hook out just under the wrist in a closed state that made it look like a spike.
She then crafted a copy for the other arm guard and then attached them to her wrists. A smile lit her face as she stood up after three hours of work, Cheryl had long gone to find something else to do.
Sariel headed out of the workshop, heading towards the forest, she then pushed a bit of mana into her exoskeleton. It began to radiate a small amount of energy before she slung her hand and the cable shot out, stabbing into a tree before extending the claws and yanking her forward. She leaped and swung throwing her other hand out she released the tree just as her other cable smashed into another tree and yanked her forward once more. She did a flip and landed on a high branch before sitting down. Damn I still got it. So glad to have my favorite creation back. I wonder where the original went. Must be at the bottom of the sea. She thought with a small chuckle.
She frowned suddenly as she thought forward, I'm gonna have to work hard to secure the world you wanted.