In the bloody battlefield, a knight clad in silver armor approached a child.
The trembling boy looked up at the knight through tear-filled eyes.
"Why... why did you kill my family?!"
His voice trembled.
His entire world had been reduced to ashes.
The knight looked down at him through the gaps in his silver helmet.
Then he spoke.
"May you be reborn as a blessed race and not a cursed one. I pray to Goddess Jeniheir that she takes mercy on you, little heretic, and blesses you with a rebirth as a human."
The knight lowered his head and prayed to the goddess.
Then...
He drew his sword.
SHING!
SLASH!
The boy's head fell from his body.
A single tear mixed with blood rolled down his cheek.
Why can't I live like othe—
His thoughts were cut short.
His body withered away.
...
A child suddenly jolted awake.
He immediately burst into tears.
The boy had blonde hair, bloody-red eyes, and a pair of curved goat horns resting on his head.
He looked no older than eight years old.
Hearing his cries, a woman rushed into the room.
She appeared to be in her forties. Her brown hair swayed behind her as she hurried toward her crying child.
She wore the simple clothes of a commoner.
The moment she reached him, she pulled him into her embrace.
The child cried in his mother's arms for several minutes.
Eventually, his sobbing began to subside.
His mother gently asked,
"Lucien? Did you have that nightmare again?"
The crying child looked up at her.
"M-Mother... why?! Why do we have to live like this?"
"S-Sob... Mother... I don't want to die like that kid..."
"Sob... sob... He just wanted to live with his family... just like me..."
His voice trembled.
"Sob... Mom... are we cursed?"
His mother remained silent for a few seconds.
Then she gently stroked his hair.
"Lucien, do you remember the prophecy made by the High Priest?"
"Our Lord Vaelor will soon descend and bring salvation to our pitiful race."
"Lucien, there will come a time when no one will be cursed."
"So don't cry, my child."
After crying for a little longer, Lucien finally calmed down.
He stood up and washed his face.
Meanwhile, his mother walked into the tiny kitchen of their small hut.
Lucien followed her.
"Mom, can I have some cookies?"
His mother sighed and handed him a few.
Lucien happily began eating them.
While chewing, he asked,
"Bom-bhy bu be hab to bide in korsh?"
(Mom, why do we have to hide in the forest?)
His mother immediately frowned.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to speak while eating?!"
Lucien continued chewing.
His mother sighed.
"Ahem... We aren't hiding, Lucien. We're surviving."
"You know, right? There are bad people out there who don't like us—"
Lucien interrupted her.
"That means they don't like you too, Mother?"
He tilted his head.
"But I can't imagine who wouldn't like you!"
"I like you so much!!"
His mother giggled.
"Oh? And how much do you like me?"
Lucien immediately stood up, his face beaming with happiness.
He stretched his arms as wide as he could.
"THIS MUCHHHHHH!!"
His mother laughed.
...
After finishing lunch, Lucien sat down with a picture book.
The story was about a great warrior who had defeated the evil demons.
Lucien frowned.
Not because the book was bad.
Not because the story was cliché.
But because it depicted demons as evil.
While Lucien was busy reading, his mother spoke.
"Lucien, I'm going near the human town to refill our supplies and sell some herbs. So don't wander around, and don't leave the hut, okay?"
She smiled.
"You don't want Mama to get angry with you, right?"
Lucien immediately dropped his book and rushed toward her.
"I'll behave, Mama! But you have to bring me lots of cookies."
His mother giggled and patted him on the head.
Lucien looked up.
And froze.
His mother's horns were beginning to grow back.
"Mom! Your horns are back! Yayy!!"
His mother suddenly rushed toward the mirror.
She stared at her reflection.
Her horns had indeed begun regrowing.
Her expression changed.
She immediately grabbed the kitchen knife.
Then she placed it against one of the newly grown horns.
Slash!
Lucien's mother and father had both been slaves in human territory.
But when Lucien was born, his father refused to let his son become a slave like him.
He fought the knights so that Lucien and his mother could escape.
His father died protecting his family.
When Lucien and his mother finally reached a safe place, she cut off her horns to hide the fact that she was a demon.
And she had been doing it ever since.
She always told Lucien to stay inside whenever she went out.
She couldn't bear the thought of her child seeing her go through the same pain.
Demon horns weren't simply decorations.
They were part of their bodies.
They contained blood vessels and pain receptors.
Cutting off a demon's horn was as painful as cutting off an arm.
After making sure that every trace of her horns had been removed, Lucien's mother prepared herself to leave.
She looked at her son one last time.
"Stay here, Lucien."
"I will, Mama!"
She smiled.
Then she left the hut.
Lucien watched his mother disappear into the forest.
After seeing her off, he returned inside and picked up his book again.
The book contained the story of the great warrior Shazem, who had defeated Chaos, the Demon King and ruler of the demons, who was said to be a subordinate of the evil god Vaelor.
According to the book, Vaelor, the God of Demons, was a greedy god who desired to reign over the other gods.
Terrified by Vaelor's power, the other gods formed an alliance against him.
They eventually killed him.
After Vaelor's death, his creations—the demons—began to weaken.
Demons were known for their overwhelming physical strength, magical abilities, and powerful minds.
They had once been considered the strongest race in the world.
According to the story, however, the demons continued oppressing the other races even after their creator's death.
The gods could no longer tolerate their tyranny.
So they each chose a champion from their respective races and granted them divine power.
The five great heroes eventually banded together and launched an attack against the demons in order to kill their king.
The heroes were supported by the armies of the entire world.
Naturally, the demons were outnumbered.
And with their creator dead, their magical powers had already begun to fade.
The conflict became known as the Great Holy-Evil War.
And in the end...
The demons were conquered.
Defeated.
And driven to the brink of extinction.
Lucien threw the book across the room.
THUD!
"This is shit!"
He suddenly covered his mouth.
"Oopsie... Mama told me not to cuss."
...
Several hours passed.
Yet his mother still hadn't returned.
Normally, she would have been back within a few hours.
But this time...
She was taking far too long.
As the night sky gradually covered the forest, Lucien began to grow anxious.
He grabbed a brown hooded robe and left the hut.
His mother had told him not to wander around.
But he was worried about her.
So, for the first time, Lucien disobeyed her.
He knew the direction his mother usually took whenever she went out to gather supplies.
Following the familiar path, Lucien eventually reached the human town.
To his surprise, the town was bustling with people.
It was the first time he had ever seen the human world.
He stared at the buildings.
The shops.
The crowded streets.
Everything fascinated him.
He wandered through different parts of the town, searching for his mother while occasionally stopping to look around.
Eventually, he reached the town square.
Children were playing tag together.
Lucien stopped.
He watched them silently.
For a moment, he wanted to run toward them.
I wanna play with you.
But he stopped himself.
He remembered something his mother had told him once.
"Don't tell anyone that you're a demon."
"And never show your horns."
"You can trust only yourself in the end."
Lucien continued walking.
After some time, he noticed a high cliff overlooking the town.
Curious, he climbed it.
From the top, he could see almost the entire town.
That's when he noticed a large crowd gathered in one of the squares.
A huge stone platform stood at the center.
Silver-armored knights surrounded it.
Golden engravings decorated their armor.
The symbols depicted the religion of Jeniheir, the Goddess of Light and Punishment.
Lucien's eyes widened.
Maybe I'll find Mama there.
He quickly climbed down and headed toward the square.
He searched through the crowd.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
But he couldn't find her.
Then his eyes fell upon the stage.
Several knights suddenly saluted.
Another knight and a priest had arrived.
The priest wore a long white robe decorated with golden crosses.
A large cross hung from his chest.
An illustration of the Goddess Jeniheir killing Vaelor, the Demon God, with her divine spear was carved into it.
The priest stepped toward the edge of the stage.
He raised his hands.
Golden light began to glow around them.
He placed his hands against his throat.
The golden light flowed into his body.
Then...
His voice thundered throughout the square.
"HELLO, CITIZENS OF THE LIGHT EMPIRE AND DEVOTEES OF THE GODDESS JENIHEIR!"
"Our Goddess showed us mercy and saved us from those vile creatures and their god!"
"Yet our Goddess was kind enough to spare the demons instead of killing them all!"
"She showed them what mercy truly looked like!"
"Demons were therefore reduced to the lowest class and enslaved!"
"Those who rejected becoming slaves of the Goddess were executed!"
"Why?"
"Because they saw the Goddess's mercy as fear!"
"The demons have no rights!"
"Yet there are still fools who attempt to take advantage of our Goddess's mercy!"
"And among them, we found a cursed creature who not only escaped from her slave house..."
"But also attempted to deceive others into believing that she was human!"
The priest raised his voice.
"And right now..."
"We are about to execute the HERETIC who took advantage of the Goddess's mercy!!!!!!"
The crowd erupted.
"YEAHHHH!"
"They should die!"
"ALL HAIL THE GODDESS!"
"DEATH TO THE HERETIC!"
"ALL HAIL JENIHEIR!"
Lucien stood silently among the crowd.
Then...
Clang!
A knight dragged a supposed demon onto the stage.
The heretic who had supposedly taken advantage of the Goddess's mercy.
The woman had brown hair.
She wore the simple clothes of a commoner.
Her face was covered in bruises.
Her fingernails had been ripped out.
Blood trickled from her closed eyes.
She had been tortured.
Lucien stared at her.
His breath stopped.
His entire world shattered.
The woman standing on the stage...
Was his mother.
He stared at her condition.
Blind.
Tortured.
Broken.
His body began trembling.
He wanted to move.
He wanted to scream.
He wanted to run toward her.
But his body refused to listen.
He was frozen.
His eyes slowly lost their color.
The world around him became silent.
He couldn't hear the crowd anymore.
He couldn't hear the priest.
He couldn't hear anything.
He could only see her.
His mother.
The only person he had left.
Lucien's mother had become blind.
Yet somehow...
She could sense him.
Among the countless people gathered in the crowd...
She knew her son was there.
She used telepathy—one of the few forms of magic demons could use without mana.
Her voice echoed directly inside his mind.
"Lucien..."
Lucien's body trembled.
"Run!!"
His eyes widened.
"Luciennnnn..."
Her voice became desperate.
"RUNNNNN!!!!!!"