(Daemon POV)

 It was just a little past noon when it had happened. Everything flashed before my eyes, and in an instant, nothing but sharp pain and black mixing with crimson. I most likely died, but now I don’t know. I never really was one to care for life anyway, just living because I was. I never had any friends, just a few buddies from work, and even then they weren’t real friends. I lived all by myself and had a fairly small apartment. The one thing I do remember much clearer than everything else was that life was useless.

 I was fairly good at most things, I kept to myself, so some talent was wasted. But keeping to myself had kept me from gaining any attachment to the world I was so familiar with. And that was a big help because wherever I am now, it wasn't earth. A vast dark red sky gleamed across my vision as the sun slowly rose on the horizon. Endless trees swarmed me in a thick forest which had a very small clearing,  enough to see the sky and to lie down in.

 I tried to sit up when it hit me all at once. Pain. Pain shot across my body, hitting every nerve before doubling and sending me back to the ground. The pain slowly died down, and I eventually got enough courage to try to sit up again, and doing so was much harder than expected. My legs were much stronger and heavier than they used to be, and my hands much larger too. Rubbing the side of my head, as that was one of the worst spots, I slowly moved my left hand in front of my face. And what a sight to behold, as my hand was a bright crimson.

 I heard some rustling from the bushes around me and tried to stand up, if I was still alive, then I don’t want to die again, because that hurts. And it hurts a lot. Eventually jumping out from the bushes to my right, a pointy-eared human stood with a bow? And in it was a bright green arrow, wait, don’t tell me. If I was put into a fucking MMORPG world I am just going to kill everything. It panicked at first but seeing as I didn’t know who or what it was, I couldn’t react in any other way either.

 It readied it’s bow at my head, and would most likely take it clean off, so I tried to back away. Only taking a single step before hearing a voice from behind me. It was the kind of voice you’d associate with a cautious yet overzealous young adult, and they spoke in a slightly deep voice.

“Stop right there demon!” Great, I’m a demon, way to go.

“Eighyyyyia.” A high pitched screech echoed from my voice box, causing them to stumble back a moment.

“Anti-Curse Field!” Another voice that sounded as if it took on a spiritualist person’s.

“Well, what do you say we do with ‘em? We could kill ‘em here and take his horns, might fetch a good price.” The elf said, causing me to tense slightly.

“No, no, if we kill it, then we can’t get the reward.” The human said, which had a sword pointed at my breast.

“All you think about is money! It’s more dangerous alive than dead!” The pointed-ear person accused. 

“How can you be so sure? If we took its horns it might curse you!”  The spiritual voice person said matter-of-factly.

I started to get mad, it was as if they didn’t care for me in the slightest, “WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!?” I screamed, causing them to drop to one knee and a flock of birds and animals to flee.

“I told you it was too dangerous! Quickly, kill the thing!” The arrow flew through the air in no time, but I was so mad I managed to swipe at it until it drilled a hole straight through a rabbit that just came from its burrow.

The human rushed and his sword met my foot, and it sent him flying into a tree, “LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!” The spiritual guy, which now came rushing from a bush with a spear of wood, stabbed into my left shoulder.

“Eric! Are you alright!?” The archer said to the human, to which a cough of blood was the only response.

I grabbed the spear, and pulled it out, seeing a black ichor that seeped onto the end, “YOU’LL ALL PAY, NONE OF YOU WILL LEAVE HERE ALIVE!” Promptly snapping the twig in half, and skewering the man who drove it into me, I sent him hurtling through the air into a tree making him hang there from the protruding stick.

 Rushing from the woods, a black-clothed person rushed to me, slicing up my arm, causing me to grunt in pain. But they couldn’t dodge or block my left leg as it came crashing into their back and sending them into the pointed-ear one. Seething with anger and hatred, I didn’t want to leave their fates to chance, so I stomped my way over to the two. Slowly picking up the newcomer, I bent his left arm in so many ways you’d think it was a snake. After I finished with that, I slammed him into the ground with it which caused an explosion of thick blood to splatter from his mouth onto himself and the ground.

“WEAK! PITIFUL AND WEAK! GET UP. GET UP! IF YOU CAN’T SURVIVE THAT YOU DON’T GET TO LIVE ANY LONGER!” When I got angry, which wasn’t often, I was a complete and utter bitch to handle.

The man I slammed to the ground, slowly stood up, shrieking and grunting as he did, “T-this is. nothing. Is that the best you’ve got?” He said weakly and in between coughs of blood.

“OF COURSE NOT! I HAVE PLENTY LEFT IN-STORE!” I don’t remember the last time I was this mad, or even if I was ever really mad at all.

“Then, do it. Finish us off, clearly, you knew what you were doing, but might I ask why? Why would you go through all the trouble of brute-forcing instead of using magic? Did you find us too low?” Damn, magic too? I swear if this was an MMORPG game world...

“OF COURSE NOT, YOU ALL GET WHAT YOU GIVE, AND YOU ATTACKED ME WITH STRENGTH THAT I MATCHED TENFOLD!” I was still shouting with my words, and the forest even echoed in might with my voice which left vast radiation of wrath in its wake.

I wasn't paying much attention to the pointed-ear one, as he managed to fire a single arrow deep into the sky, and it burst bright with color, “Don’t worry dear friends,” he said standing up, “we ought to get help swiftly, and by my memory, they will be mighty strong, compared to this thing at least.” So they got help huh? Well, you can’t help a dead man!

Rushing back to the pointed-ear one I quickly threw a few punches, which he avoided, “YOU WON’T NEED ANY HELP! YOU’LL ALL BE LONG DEAD BEFORE ANY ARRIVE!” And with my words, a swift gut punch followed by a spine shattering smash from my leg sent him flailing limply to the ground desperate for breath.

Before getting any farther a large streak of gleaming light cascaded down from the sky like a lightning bolt next to me, causing me to jump back a bit, “Looks like you’re wrong!” The human stuck to the tree said in a mocking tone, to which I snarled in return.

In the wake of the light was a large force of heavily armored knights, led by a single man that would have to be the leader, “You all did well to match it, you’ll all be heavily rewarded for this one!” Just another runt who thinks of me as a mere mutt!

I stomped slowly, sending shivers into the men, but not the leader, he embraced them and readied a sword that would be equated to a broadsword on steroids, “YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO JOIN THEM!” And with that, I flashed forward faster than I could ever have moved before, and my leg met his sword, but neither would budge, so I sent a kick to his chest with the other and rebounded off of it.

“A smart one, this will be quite hard, even for me.” The guy said with as cocky a tone you could imagine.

“Mind his legs!” The other four said in unison, as they were all quite aware of their strength.

“QUIET! I'M TIRED OF YOUR GAMES! JUST DIE OR BEGONE!” I didn’t have to kill them, but it was the safest option for the current moment.

He stepped back a half step, lifting his left foot up high before dashing forward in a blink, and his sword came cascading towards my neck, “This is no game demon.” He said as I just managed to block it with my left forearm, which left it oozing with my black blood. 

“WHY DO YOU DARE OPPOSE ME ANYWAY! YOU’RE CLEARLY OUTMATCHED!” Still had no idea why they would just attack on-sight.

“Cleansing the area from your filth, for the queen, and country!” The entire squadron of knights called out in unison, before charging full strength towards me. 

Quickly improvising, I backed into a tree and snapped off a thick branch, sending leaves and twigs to scatter when I pummeled the closest of them, “SOUNDS LIKE YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR PLACE THEN!” The branch just knocked them back slightly, which was enough for what I wanted.

Quickly transferring the branch to my left hand, I grabbed a knight’s leg, causing him to drop his large sword and shield, and flailed him back and forth into the others, “Ah! Oh God! Please! Somebody help me!” He screamed right before getting absolutely crushed against a wall of other guards which tried to disperse but couldn’t manage in time.

“SUCH A GREAT USE FOR FILTHY HUMANS!” I didn’t care for life, and that reached all the way to humans, and I even actively hated them.

“Should have expected a demon to not know the difference between elves and humans, nothing gets past their selfish desires, not even basic information.” More shitty assumptions, I was done with it all, I was getting ready to let loose, and when I do, none can survive. 

“I GIVE YOU ALL ONE LAST CHANCE, FLEE OR DIE!” I gave them a fair warning, and I don’t exactly ‘play nice’ when I’m angered, even more so when I was at my limit.

“Just what would make us think a demon can keep his word?” A knight shouted out, to which I stared him down, causing a slight panic to overtake his body.

“I’M MORE THAN OBLIGED TO SLAUGHTER YOU ALL RIGHT HERE IF YOU’D PREFER!” To which the knight backed slowly and the leader of them started walking closer to the swarm of knights around me, so I needed to rid myself of the crowd.

Readjusting my grip on the knight’s leg, I picked him up once more, “Let’s see if you can.” The leader said, to which the knight in my grasp was sent crashing into a few others, causing them all to be sufficiently knocked back

After they had all been pushed back I dropped the branch and ripped off the knight’s leg, and threw his body towards the leader which he caught and gently placed on the ground, “THEN COME, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW WRONG YOU ARE!” And in but a single flash, I appeared in front of him, and quickly sent a fury of kicks and punches his way along with several bashes of the leg covered in bloody metal.

He blocked most of them, but the speed at which I slammed him with the leg was too great for him to counter, “Is that all you’ve got? I fought goblins that were tougher than you!” With his words, my anger sparked to new heights, and the leg didn’t come crashing down, it exploded with one massive hit against his right shoulder, which left both the leg and his shoulder broken and useless. 

After throwing down the leg, at him of course, I started to warm up my leg muscles as I charged at him head-on, “KNOW YOUR PLACE, IN HELL!” My fist met his blade, and my other didn’t, instead it was sent crashing into his chest, and it caved in as I sent him flying backward into a tree.

 I thought I heard a noise from behind me, so I did the only logical thing, jumped into a tree, and it was the right call as the place I was in was bombarded by several arrows. Glaring at the pointed-ear one with the bow, as I came crashing through to where he stood, and in nothing flat slammed him against a tree, causing a trickle of blood to rush from his face and a burst of leaves to fill the air. Using the leaves to my advantage I quickly grabbed him and threw him to the knights, and ran off at blazing speeds.

 After getting a fair way away, I finally took a little time to calm down and think logically for a second. I still had my memories of what shitty life I had, and my body is not my own, evident because I was just a casual guy that barely hit the gym. Another thing that made it obvious was that I was nearly a meter taller, standing at almost 2 and a half meters now, and I had red skin. And now that they have mentioned it, I think I do have horns, I can feel something protruding from my head.

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

 Reaching up and finding two large curved and gnarly horns attached to my skull on the sides of my head, near the top aligned with my ears would have been a surprise enough, but the fact that they were nearly 30 centimeters long was an additional shock. But that wasn’t all, as there was an additional set of small horns on my forehead, only a couple of centimeters long. Not only that, but my breathing was quite slow, and it shouldn’t be after what I just did. Also, at this point, I’m fairly certain that I am an actual demon, but a new life requires a new name. I don’t even want to think of my old one, not that anybody really used it, and my mother who gave it to me… Regardless, I think I’ll go with Daemon. 

 I’m a demon, and Daemon, pronounced day-mon, is as close to it as I want to get before just coming up with a completely stupid name in those fantasy stories, like Sal’Kelveroth, of the Down Castle series. It was a decent story, but the characters were utter trash, but I’m getting off point. I like the name anyway, and if I was a demon, it would only work all the better. I looked like a demon, and was pretty strong, especially compared to my old body at least. 

 I wasn’t weak in my old life, I was fairly strong, but I just didn’t have anything compared to this. I could pick up an entire person, and throw them around with ease. On top of that, I could snap a thick branch from a tree as if it were a twig. I finally felt the pain I succumbed in the brawl, and man it hurt a lot less than when I died. It was just a few cuts, and as I reached for them on my arm, they were gone already.

 So now that I have pain resistance and some amazing healing power, I really do think I’m in an MMORPG world, but if I weren’t I could just live my life out in this forest, or the mountains or a volcano! So much to do, and to see, I couldn’t just waste it! But peace never long lasted, as rustling was all around me, especially from where I came. I prepared for a fight as a few figures lurked out of the surroundings. They grew ever closer until I spotted a small figure staring out at me, most likely belonging to either a shorter person or child. I called out to them, with a voice that resonates with anger.

“WHO LURKS?” To which the rustling stopped, and an abnormally short man appeared from the bush, with a stomach that looked starved.

“A-ah, please don’t hurt me!” he fell onto the ground clutching and trying to put his arms over himself in defense.

“GIVE ME A REASON? WHY WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME?” To which he started crying, what a sad excuse for a guy.

“I’m sorry! I thought you were an adventurer!” Oh great, adventurers too!

“LEAVE ME!” My voice hurt slightly from screaming all the time, but it was better than my old quiet voice, especially since mine was now much deeper and sounded befitting to a demon.

“I’m sorry! I’ll leave!” To which he hurriedly scattered around the dirt and vegetation to slowly make his way off somewhere.

I heard a slight change in the leaves directly behind me, another trap, “HAVING FUN OVER THERE? I THINK I’LL JOIN YOU!” As I spoke they fudged an arrow that landed next to my head in the trees, and I vanished from sight coming up next to them with my arm around their shoulders in a ‘buddy’ position. 

“Get ‘em!” A voice echoed from the trees, and my body was jolted with electricity, and before I knew it, I fell to the ground and was getting sliced at by swords and daggers by pointy-eared people.

Letting out a roar that shook the ground and knocked several branches off trees, I threw them off of me, “AAAARGH! ALL OF YOU WILL SUFFER!” My voice was chocked full of hatred and I spun around with my leg out causing a bone-chilling crunch as several bones of those who were too close were crunched.

“Divination magic! Hurry!” One shouted out, as soon as he said that, a bright glow of green appeared from around me as they fled the immediate area.

“LEAVING SO SOON? I DON’T THINK SO!” But before I could move I was being crushed by a blinding light that constricted my movement.

 And then, black. A blackness encompassed my vision, as I was left to an empty void of nothingness. And just as suddenly as it started, it also ended. And my vision was filled with that of grey bricks and a dark dank room, with large iron bars blocking any escape, each was sharpened and pointed haphazardly. Taking a moment to glance around, I quickly noticed that I was bound in chains, most likely iron or steel, but I could try to break out if needed.

“Awake are we? About time, we kept you to teach you why you don’t make an enemy of the queen, as we are going to pummel you into submission.” His voice sounded chaotic and evil, but his words sounded loyal and disgusting.

“AND WHO SAID I’D SUBMIT TO SOME RICH NOBODY?” To that, his face crumpled and he lashed out at me in hatred with a spiked chain whip, which didn’t hurt at all.

“Oh, you’ll submit, either willingly or forcefully, you feeling it yet?” Nope, but I wouldn’t tell him that, as I didn't have a reason to. 

The chains started swinging, and I was suspended in the air by them, legs separate and arms together. He lashed harder and harder, and yet I felt nothing, not a thing from it. He started to breath harder and harder, indicating it was hard work with no reward. I could just say I submit and escape or go meet this lovely queen. Either sounded like a better option than watching this no-life try to whip someone, especially me.

“TAKE ME TO THE QUEEN THEN!” His eyes lit up for a moment then stopped, and he just walked away and started talking just out of ear-shot.

He came back just a moment later, by then I was already on the ground after easily breaking through the chains and spikes, “What is he doing out?” Someone who accompanied him said aloud to which they both started to have a slight panic.

“OH, SHUT UP AND GET THIS OVER WITH!” To which they just stopped and the new person walked cautiously towards me.

“You must sign a magical contract stating your loyalty to the queen,” He said as a scroll of yellow light unfolded before me in front of his outstretched palm.

“AND IF I DON’T?” He shook slightly, as I was still yelling all the time.

“Then we can’t take you to the queen.” Alrighty then, I’ll just say I can’t use magic or don’t have a name.

“CAN’T,” I said simply, “DON’T HAVE A NAME.” And it, of course, surprised them both, but they just looked confused at one another.

“Then sign with your mana signature.” I don’t know about any magic crap, so I ain’t doing it even if I could.

“MAGIC? NEVER HEARD OF IT.” And that, surprised them so much they started to laugh.

“Then how did you best my men? You were just that strong that you didn’t need to enhance yourself with magic?” He said while laughing.

“OBVIOUSLY! YOUR MEN WERE WEAKER THAN SHIT! NOW, TAKE ME TO THE FUCKING QUEEN!” They backed up a bit with that, which in hindsight, wasn’t the best of words to use.

“Not until we figure out a way to bind you to her.” The new person said while stroking his hairless chin.

“I have a proposition.” I finally said after a long wait, and in an actual speaking voice, much to their surprise.

“And what would that be?” The one who lashed me said.

“I swear on my whole as a demon, if I betray her, I will die.” And as I said that they listened intently, as I wasn’t shouting any longer and it was intriguing to them.

They glanced at each other and back before the one who offered up the magical contract spoke aloud, “Just place your hand on the contract.” Sweet, I don’t have to do jack shit for the queen.

“Very well,” As I placed my hand onto it, it glowed and then disappeared, “And what now?” They seemed to be relieved and they pointed to a long passageway.

“We are going to get you an indirect audience with the queen, so you can’t hurt her as of early.” That’s fair, but how come they want me to talk to the queen so bad?

“Before that, how come you want me so bad?” The one who lashed me, which was also the knight captain, looked surprised at that and he raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not every day you see a demon with human-level intelligence, in the mortal realm, or use physical weapons over magical ones. You are exceptionally rare!” He said with what sounded extreme joy.

“So I’m rare? And that’s why I’m supposed to be some queen’s pet?” He shrugged and nodded, which annoyed me, as I wasn’t going to be no slave to some rich girl.

“Regardless, we must carry on with our tasks. Now, if you’d follow us to the room, we can use a communication stone and you may talk to her directly.

“Fine then, take me to this, communication stone.” They led me down the hallway they came from.

 We walked down, it was lit with primitive torches, and it had doors randomly spaced around, and we walked until we came to a door on the right. We all faced it, and the newer one opened it, and they walked in. I was much taller than the doorway, so I had to hunch over just to get inside. Inside was a large blue obelisk looking thing stationed in the middle of the far wall, glowing with strange characters. If I were to even attempt to read it, without knowing a single one, It would look like a jumbled mess of strict straight lines interlocking and connecting each character.

“So what do you want me to do?” I said aloud, quite quiet compared to my screaming, but still quite loud and deep.

“Just place your hand onto it, and channel your mana,” he said like it were common knowledge, but hey, fuck you dude, just came here you know!

I placed my hand onto the crystal-like surface and it darkened around my hand before turning a reddish hue that seemed to be only near it and drawn to it, “Is that normal?” I asked, wondering about the color shift.

“It should just be because of your race, If a demon were to touch it without a human, it would glow red and prevent it from activating.” He said, but the red soon shifted to a strange complex color I could only describe as red, black, blue, gold, and white all jumbled up in a solid sheet around my hand.

“Ok, Is that normal?” To which they both started in panic, which I just stood there with my hand upon the thing.

It started to show signs of cracking before doing so, and a purple smoke slowly leaked from the crevices, “What is happening!” the captain said to the newer guy, only to get a weak shrug in response.

I even felt a little bit nauseous and a tad bit dizzy, “It might be a good idea to flee this room!” I said before rushing out the room, both of them in each of my arms.

And for good reason, as the obelisk promptly exploded in a grenade of crystal shrapnel, most of which shattered but some were now drilled into my back, leaving a constant trail of black ooze to leak once more, “Good Heavens, what just happened!?” They said in unison as if it were practiced.

I felt weak, but still stood strong, and I put them down, quickly taking a knee after, “My, are you alright… right, you don’t have a name?” I never told anyone my new name, so it was fair, and I started blacking out slightly.

“It’s- Daemon…” I fell unconscious, and for how long I can not say.

 Just as quickly as black swirled into my view, white did the same, and I soon saw before me a great hall, lit by torches and filled with plenty of men in armor. I figured I was in this so-called queen’s throne room, and that would mean I somehow survived that explosion, speaking of, why would I risk my life to save those two people that were more or less trying to enslave me? I could have escaped without injury without them to impede me, but didn’t.

“He’s waking, give him time to recover before trying him.” An unfamiliar voice called out, my hearing and vision were of the lowest qualities at the moment, everything just a blur, and I was lying flat on my stomach.

Trying to at least pick myself up, I felt a thousand pricks in my back, “Gah-” I only let out a small gasp before falling flat back to the floor.

“Don’t get up, the pieces of the obelisk that exploded are still embedded deep within you, and due to its nature, it will only fight you harder the more you resist.” The same voice said to me, which I barely made out, great, now I’ve been effectively crippled too, and with my new body!

 I don’t know how it happened, but when I closed my eyes, I saw a crystal-clear picture in my mind. I mentally walked forward feeling all the pain of the obelisk shards but keeping just enough strength to carry on. Eventually, I saw a small red orb on top of a stone pillar that came up to my breast, so I quickly snatched it. The orb showed my reflection on the surface and deep inside was a miniature version of me standing in a neutral position. I tried to do something about it, but nothing happened, and only when I tried to move from inside the orb did it work.

 The mini-me moved how I wanted, so I tried to remove the largest of the spikes from him, which worked after a long hard effort of pulling with my mind. It was exhausting, but it worked and the pain from it slowly subsided, and my consciousness started to leave the place. I held on tighter than I could leave and swiftly yanked out as many as I could, only leaving hundreds of the small splinter-like ones. My mind was so exhausted, it shoved me back into reality, leaving me to only glance around the room once more. The people looked to all be staring at me, but none spoke, maybe I was still partially deafened, I would think so if not for the same person talking out once more.

“The anti-demon magic! It’s fading!” He cried out in disbelief, and for great effect as everyone started gasping and whispering.

What I presumed to be the queen had silenced them, as they all stopped suddenly. I hardened my resolve and pushed myself off the ground, and I managed to get up this time. I slowly stood, and looked down around me, as there were shards and fragments of the obelisk that were previously in my back, looking at them worsened a new headache. Finally looking around the room one more time, I spotted the two people I protected with only minor bandages. It seems like I took the majority of the damage, great.

The room was dead silent except for a few individuals that were scribing on paper with quills, which made me chuckle on the inside. I looked down at a long carpet of something that was probably rare and soft, but I was rather uncomfortable on it. My feet hated the substance and I felt like I wanted to rid myself of the area immediately, but I probably wouldn’t get very far. If possible, I’d make a mad dash out at first chance, as upsetting a queen is nothing compared to being her slave.

I cleared my throat, and tried to speak at a reasonable level, “What now? Am I to be executed? If so, hurry this up, this carpet thing is rather awful.” The guards seemed offended at my words, which I would gladly encourage them to attack first, but the so-called queen didn’t say anything. “Or I could prove my ‘worth’ in a gladiator ring, or I know! I can just leave!” I turned around and took a hard look at the door, seeing the two others with eyes that screamed ‘please don’t’.

“Insolent cur, know your place before the queen!” One guard said, he was a random idiot guard stereotype from a story. 

He slammed his sword down at me, only missing by a slight amount, which allowed me to punch him so hard, I not only broke a few bones, I sent him flying so far back he crashed into the other guards stationed behind him, “I know my place, how about yours?”

“Are there any others? Is there no one else?” Always wanted to say that, I also wanted to make a show of power to all present, especially this ‘queen’.

“Calm yourself!” A man said, his voice still unrecognizable.

I took a deep breath, “So, what now? Hurry and decide my fate.” I was getting rather impatient with being constantly treated unwanted, and I wished to leave at the first chance.

“You are to be placed in a party the queen has granted an additional powerful person.” So I’m just a tool again? Just used to accomplish a goal?

“Fine, bring them here.” He looked to a guard which then walked off.

 As the guard came back with four individuals I thought I would never have seen again, a smile appeared and widened on my face. They looked pleased to get an additional party member, most likely from when I beat them so bad they had to call reinforcements. Then they looked and saw me, standing here, and they all just stopped, none moving in the slightest. The guard gave a slight push on one and they all started moving again, but they had a face that showed both fear, and fright, and their eyes reflected a deep burning rage.