In the ruins of a sandstone city cries of pain could be heard. A group of humans were all gathered into a caved in house, the moon illuminated the group and its happenings. A woman no older than 30 was giving birth, everyone had a worried look on their face as if they were being listened to or perhaps followed by something. Every time the woman screamed in pain the group winced, they tried to calm her down, to quiet her, but her screams were involuntary, she was giving birth. Wind howled through the cracks of the broken down house, as the mothers cries became more frequent, not enough to drown out the screams but to dampen them. The two men who stood watch outside of the house talked to each other, they both had tattered rags for clothed and dirtied skin. They held onto spears made of wood and iron, but it was more for peace of mind. If a demon truly came through this city, they would not survive. Some time had passed, and the mothers child was finally starting to exit his pre existence. The child's head began to poke out and the women of the group had helped take the child out. It was a long time coming, the mother had carried the child for what felt like a life time, nearly dying more times than she could count. She only managed to survive to accouchement through an iron will and sheer luck. She stumbled upon the group she was now residing with, right as she passed out from dehydration. They had found her wandering the petrified woods and for months now they have been together.
After a few more minutes the child had been born. This birth was special, after the final war against the demons 5 years prior, the demons had cursed the humans with infertility, the last nail in the species coffin. If humans could still reproduce they could have eked out an existence in a remote part of Terra, however with the curse of infertility, all hope for humanity was thought to be extinguished. However, this woman was able to give birth, she did not know who the father was or what had made her special but she knew that she had to protect her child no matter the cost.
The child was a boy he did not have any unique features, abnormalities, or anything to cause concern amongst the group or the mother. The child was not crying however, and this had worried the mother, of all the children she had and all the children she had seen born, they all cried. The child was still breathing however and she was exhausted from the entire ordeal so she was unable to think clearly of what it could mean. The sun began to rise and the child's eyes began to open. The midwives and women gasped in surprise and perhaps fear. The mother unable to keep her eyes fully open looked at her child and saw what the women had seen, one of the child's eyes were a brilliant red the same colour as the ruby pendant she wore. The ruby pendant had been passed onto her from her mother and her grandmother before that. What made this peculiar was that no human has ever had a red eye, only demons did. The other eye was a beautiful and clear blue, she had been told stories of the ocean, and had always struggled to imagine the colors it had, however with one look at the boy's eye she knew it was the colour of a beautiful and expansive ocean.
Suddenly the howls of hellhounds could be heard from the distance. The women looked terrified they brought the rest of the group into the room all of which were astonished to see a living breathing child. The women talked to the rest of the group who talked to the guards. They knew that whenever the hell hounds could be heard the demon fiends would be right with them. They began to get ready to leave however were interrupted by the sounds of a guard screaming in agony, and the sounds of bones being crushed. That was impossible they thought, from the sounds of the hell hounds the distance they would need to travel would have taken 15 minutes to reach them much more if the demon fiends were riding them. The other guard who was inside speaking with the group rushed outside to see his partner ripped to shreds. It wasn't a hell hound that had come it was Nolak. A reptilian beast twice the size of a human, who ran on all fours at incredible speeds, although not the smartest of the reptilian clan it was one of the strongest. The Nolak held the guard in its mouth chewing at his lower half, the guard clinging to life refused to give up he continued to stab at the beast hitting it in the eye and blinding it. The demon enraged finished off the guard by ripping out his arms while he bit him. The other guard let out a war cry, tears welling in his eyes while exclaiming "Brother!". He rushed in and was swatted away by the Nolak into a building where his body hit the wall and slid down. He let out a cough of blood and laid limp on the floor. The Nolak took the spear out his eye and started towards the building where the rest of the humans were house. The group rushed out knives and clubs and stones in hands desperately trying to fight it.
Meanwhile the midwives, the mother and the child had all stayed in the room formulating a plan to escape. The mother quietly, as if all the strength in her body had left squeaked out "Kairo. The boy's name is Leo". She handed the boy who wrapped the boy in rags. The mother took off her pendant exerting the last of her strength, she had lost too much blood, and gave it to the midwife saying in exhausted breaths, "Make sure this is always with him." the midwife nodded, the mother spoke once more this time with vigor and strength this time, "Leo, you are an incredible child, I'm sorry that I can't be there to see you grow up. You are a human, no matter what anyone says, remember your humanity, what it means to be human. Survive, and hold onto this amulet close, with it you will know that I am not far away". Leo stretched out his hand and his mother her finger, they touched for the briefest of moments, she let out a smile and her arm went limp. The mother without a name had died.
The group outside managed to stab and hit the Nolak a few times buying the newborn time, before they were crushed. All that was left was the midwives the child. The group's sacrifice gave them some time to escape. Unfortunately the Nolak had incredible vision, the clique of midwives didn't make it far before the demon had found them, they had almost managed to reach a river. From experience they knew that Nolak's were afraid of water. Their skin was built hard but if water entered their pours it would rapidly soften and cause their flesh to be pierced easily. They only had to get another few feet, however the beast was too fast. It began to claw and bite at the congregation, blood had split everywhere. Yet they kept moving, each death bought more time for the child to escape. When the beast reached the last woman, the water was almost at her feet, she took the child put him in a basket and cast him down the river. The Nolak tried to pounce on the newborn but the midwife stood in the way sacrificing her life for the boy. The demon enraged slashed at the woman, and questioned in a deep and grumbling voice "Humans are truly pathetic creatures, they would sooner sacrifice themselves than a child who has nothing.". With her last gasping breathes the midwife said "You demons, who live 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, truly know nothing of humans. We would gladly destroy ourselves, give our souls, our entire being if it meant humanity could live on." The demon just laughed while he finished off the woman. The Nolak tried to find where the basket went but it had been too late, it knew that down stream was a waterfall and that child was as good as dead. "Shame, nothing tastes better than a fresh born human" it thought smirkly.