This road was familiar to him.
The path split into three separate directions. To the south lie Barren Lands. To the north, the Lumina City, the place he had left. Clusters of stars sparkled in the sky above him. One year before, he had lain in the grass and watched those very same stars. Everything became hazy. A cart stopped before him. Someone, or something, was attempting to shake him out of his daze. His eyes refused to focus. Was it a human, or a demon of some kind? No matter. Lying there on death's door, everything he had ever seen in this world began to converge into one.
The figure was human. Finally, it was clear. He wanted to lift up his hand and brush away the strands of hair from their face, but his hand felt as if it were an anvil, and remained nailed to the ground.
He had no great affinity for humans, for his appearance often led to him being the subject of their ridicule. They would denigrate his mother, saying only a woman most foul would lie with a beast and give birth to someone like him. In truth, he had never known his mother, and had no memory of her. His father was unknown to him as well. For as long as he could remember, he had spent his life drifting from village to village in the borderlands of Moniyan Empire. The villagers had fallen into a mass hysteria and chased him out of his latest dwelling, forcing him into his current predicament.
He made his way south to Barren Lands, where he was accepted into a small band of demons. Thus, he spent his childhood training with the other demons and fighting in their battles. Not once did he ask a question of any sort. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
He became a warrior, ever searching for a place where he could belong. Dual spears were his weapon of choice. Combat became his sole occupation, his reason for existing. When arrived in Barren Lands recruiting members for the demon forces, he chose to enlist. It was not long until his bravery in battle made him a captain. Under 's command, he succeeded in laying siege to Lumina City. Despite this, he found himself once again at death's door, this time due to the enchantment.
He remembered every inch of his body feeling as if it were in flames. As the army forces stormed the city, the sound of disheveled footsteps rang in his ears. With great effort, he turned his head in search of his companion, and found that it was they who had pierced his body with a long pike.
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He had been betrayed. First by the humans, and then by demons.
Exhausted to the point of collapse, he allowed himself to be bandaged up by the human and tossed onto their cart. The flour stored atop the cart assaulted his nostrils and sent him into a coughing fit. Blood from his wounds stained the area in which he lay.
For three days and nights, he drifted in and out of consciousness. It was a young girl who had saved him. A large birthmark spread across her face. He took her to be around 13 or 14, although he had no talent for guessing human ages. All he did know is that she was a bit odd-looking, like him.
Upon seeing that he had come to, the girl plucked out a steaming baguette from the oven. She attempted to hand it to him, but he brushed it away, and the baguette fell to the ground. The girl picked up the bread, ate half, and tried again to give him the remaining half.
With some effort, he lifted his heavy eyelids. Upon the girl's face, he saw a smile which he was unsure how to feel about.
He initially was set on leaving, but the girl insisted that he stay until he was fully recuperated. There was no place for him in Lumina City, and the half-eaten baguette began to seem ever more enticing. He chose to remain at the girl's bakery.
And the girl's name was Mila.
His spears had been heavily damaged, but he nevertheless kept them by his side as he always had. At the slightest disturbance in the night, he would awaken with a start. Once, when Mila went to put a blanket over him, he became startled and drew his spear on her. With the point less than an inch from her throat, all Mila did was smile. It was clear that she harbored no ill will towards him, and he lowered his weapons. He much resembled a small child learning how to be a part of the human world.
In his time at the bakery, went from initially refusing to allow Mila to change his bandages, to becoming her apprentice of sorts. In addition to helping around the shop by sweeping the storeroom, moving heavy objects, and feeding the five cats and three dogs Mila raised, also learned how to read and write. Mila was a girl of great faith, and he would mind the store whenever she attended church services.
He came to enjoy all of this.
His pikes lay in the storehouse gathering dust. In time, they would have begun to rust...had it not been for the sudden attack on the business district by demons from the abyss. Hearing Mila's shrill cry, ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Between a small child and a demon, she stood quivering, her bread peel raised in her hand defiantly. After making quick work of the invading beasts before the knights arrived, proceeded to take Mila back to the bakery. Once there, she took the necklace she always wore and placed it upon 's neck. He had to repair his pikes. He had to protect Mila.
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As Mila placed the necklace on , she declared that he was a good person, if not exactly cheery, and that the necklace would keep him safe. She extended her finger as part of a pinky promise.
", let us promise each other that we'll protect as many people as we can."
At the sound of Mila's words, one of the spears began to emit a warm, glowing light. It was then that finally understood why he had not been destroyed by the enchantment.
For him, however, a peaceful life of contentment was like a single grain of sand in an hourglass; impossible to grasp, and forever out of reach. Somehow, the Church was made aware of how Mila had harbored , and she was accused of heresy. Several children who frequented the bakery had run to him, sobbing, and told him what had happened. By the time he arrived, all he found was her lifeless body. This wonderful girl, once so full of life, who had said goodbye to him only this morning with a smile on her face, would never smile again.
In a fugue state, he suddenly found himself inside the Church, as if he had been transported there. Mila's cold and limp body was cradled in his arms; he had carried her the entire way, yet she felt light as a feather. As darkness crept across the sky, he gently placed Mila upon the elevated altar. Surely, in death, someone as devout as she deserved the kind of miracle that she had anticipated in life.
Several knights restrained him. He could see the disdain in their eyes as they glanced upon Mila's body, and he heard them begin to hurl derisive and mocking remarks towards her.
In an instant, he began simmering with a rage unlike anything he had experienced since the time he was betrayed by his fellow demons. In his hand, the pike he held trembled with fury. How badly he wanted to unleash it, how badly he wanted to lay ruin to those who had hurt her.
Before he knew it, his pike was stained with the blood of the knights.
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Red slowly enveloped his vision. He covered his right eye with one hand, and held both spears with the other. As if by divine providence, his weapons had found their mark and buried themselves in the flesh of his enemies. Amongst the haze of crimson red, he saw a blot of white. Her.
As he picked Mila up and left the Church, more knights blocked the path up ahead. did not recall how long he fought, but when the last knight fell, his armor was caked with blood, and his footprints left crimson imprints with each step he took. Cradled against his bosom, however, Mila's body remained clean and stainless.
Back at the bakery, the flames in the oven had already died out long ago. The scent of the bread Mila had prepared that morning still lingered in the air. The cats and dogs surrounded him, blissfully unaware of what had transpired. Because he was partially human, he had been betrayed by the demons. Because he was a demon, Mila had been executed. In the end, he was neither man nor demon. He was nothing, for what he had most wanted to protect now lay dead and broken before him.
Once again, he found himself on that same road. He stopped the cart at the point where the road branched into three paths. To the north, Lumina City. To the south, Barren Lands. The tides of fate had swept him along and led him to both of those places before. Today, he would choose the third path, and he took Mila with him. It led to a forest with a lake far off the beaten track. Once, under a fruit tree in that forest, he and Mila had celebrated her birthday. They had promised each other they would make it an annual event.
This would be her eternal resting place, where no one would disturb her.
He lighted a fire and sat leaning against her casket, wiping his pikes clean. As he looked up at the stars above, he remembered something that Mila had once said. On a clear night by the lake, the stars are especially bright, and they lead the way for lost and weary travelers, guiding them home.
If she were to awaken this very moment, she'd certainly want to spend the entire night stargazing.
The starlight reflected off of his pikes. He stroked the necklace that she had given him, and he gently began to open the casket.
"Look, Mila. The stars are shining for you."
