My mood was unexpectedly cheerful as I sat next to the terribly nervous boy who'd traveled with Cecil. He would barely look at me during our travel towards the village, and his hands shook uncontrollably as they gripped the reins. Despite the nervous energy from the youth our companions were in an ever increasingly happy mood. I heard them talk about how nervous their families probably were, and how they'd never again take for granted their humble but happy homes. It would've been almost touching if I wasn't distracted with the messages that had come when I'd woke earlier.
[ Clan ??? has grown, and the player has succeeded in creating the new race >Chimeran Dhampyre< The strong level of affinity between the player and their created race has caused the subject to level up unexpectedly. >Chimeran Dhampyre< will change to >Chimeran Dhampyre Lord< ]
[ The created race's abilities and skills can be learning symbiotically after a certain time due to the high affinity. The subject may learn the skills organically or they can be unlocked via sacrificing memories. ]
'Despite every benefit that learning the skills has, I won't force Astrid to sacrifice her memories for my own gains.' The thought of using her loyalty like that felt wrong to me, and I shook my head at the thought of her suffering from the same painful dreams I experienced whenever I closed my eyes. I pulled up my status after reading the messages pertaining to Astrid.
[ Status ]
[ Title: Betrayed Exile, Chained Savior, Demon Clan ??? Head]
>Name:???<
>Age:??<
>Race: Chimera Demon<
[ The player must gain additional knowledge to unlock their lost name, along with the clan name. Additionally the more knowledge connected to the Exile's past collected the more likely skills linked to the player's past may be unlocked. ]
The thought of regaining knowledge of my past sent a shock of excitement through my body. 'If I can remember who I am, I won't squander my memories like before.' I silently promised myself as the cart continued to move down the road towards Brekin.
Kieran Tresh
"I can't understand why your father insisted that we bring four of his knights Cousin." A bored voice belonging to the frowning man riding beside Kieran rang out. What the dark haired man had really meant when he spoke was, 'You're so troublesome that Lord Tresh needed to send five babysitters just to keep you in line.' Kieran was the first to argue against his father's wishes, but the old noble wouldn't hear his pleas. A large number of villagers had disappeared days before the yearly census, more than they could simply ignore. "Brekin is your responsibility boy, if I learn that you've stolen all of their young women I'll have to reprimand you Kieran."
The threatening tone behind his father's words had remained with him throughout his platoon's journey to the small village. Admittedly the thought of ravaging Brekin's young women had passed his mind, but Kieran always made sure to only take two or three at a time. The villagers understood that any formal complaints to his father would lead to more troubles for them, but now someone else had taken his prizes. The report showed that in the list of names only one in the group belonged to his special selection of women. Kieran questioned the villagers, going door to door only to hear the same story each time. A number of women had been snatched in broad daylight by strangers who threatened anyone who stepped up to defend the girls. Some hadn't even had anyone come to their defense, and for some reason Kieran became exceedingly annoyed by the bold actions of the mystery party.
During his midday meal Kieran, in the company of his cousin Grey, was brought a report from an out of breath squire. "M-My lord, Falcon has spotted a group headed into the village from the Southeast. There are eight people in total my lord, six figures riding in the cart, and two driving it. They match the description of a few of the missing women." The squire spoke clearly despite his nervousness, and he remained on one knee with his head bowed respectively throughout his entire time speaking.
The first to speak was Grey though who hummed as he gulped down his third cup of wine. "Well cousin, I believe it best to greet this visitor bringing back your lost villagers." His tone was bored, but despite his tone the light behind his stormy grey eyes sparkled mischievously while he licked his lips. Before Kieran could reply Grey had already made his way out of the small house they'd confiscated for their stay in Brekin and Kieran was trailing after him. When they reached the southeastern entrance of the village his father's personal knights were already standing at attention. Kieran's own personal knights were there as well, but the knights of Lord Tresh stood apart from them. While Kieran's knights were seemingly above the average knight sworn to another noble family of Astoria they paled in comparison to his father's selected few.
Inside shining armor forged by the greatest smiths in the Southern mountains, the aura they emitted was like a sharpened blade. When Kieran compared them to his sworn knights it was like comparing a dull dagger to a great long sword that was newly forged and prepared for battle. 'Father has always been one to show his power off in a subtle fashion, so this can only mean the Shrew convinced him to do this.' The thought of Lord Tresh's new wife having his ear caused a sour taste to rise in the back of Kieran's mouth and he spat in disgust.
He found a new target for his ire when the cart came to a reluctant stop and the hooded figure sitting next to the driver rose from their seat. As if not caring about the armed knights waiting to greet them, the figure gently helped each of the passengers down from the cart. Kieran took note of them all, but the one he'd been looking for the most hadn't been among them. "I could've sworn the report said seven women had been taken from the village, but I only count six. You don't think they kept the prettiest one for themselves do you Cousin?" The question wasn't spoken with the need for an answer as Kieran's face twitched in anger, to think that some filthy commoner had stollen what was rightfully his. He couldn't allow such a trespasser to live freely, the law dictated that the offender be brought before his father for judgment though. Kieran schemed all the same despite the four knights sent to watch over his actions.
'If they should die from resisting arrest it would be out of Father's hands though, and he'd never have to hear about Brekin again.' The thought brought an unsettling smile to his face and he motioned for three of his knights to move forward. "Bring them to me, we'll take them back to Lord Tresh today and learn what the cur was attempting." His knights moved without any questions, drawing their blades as they approached the figure who'd remained behind the group of women to say something to his cart driver. After a moment the cart began to move again, this time to turn around back the way it had come previously.
Kieran wasn't concerned about the youth driving the cart, from the fearful look on their face he could already tell they were an unwilling accomplice to the strange figure. The group of women also quickly moved away from the figure, and past the line of knights standing next to Kieran and Grey; the latter of them offered a few of the women a sleazy smile full of a promise on future visit. Kieran also found himself taking his gaze off of the hooded figure to stare in awe at a red haired beauty among the group.
His attention was quickly brought back to the hooded figure as three sharp cracks rang out, followed by pained cries from the three knights who'd approached the figure. Two of them rocked on the ground in agony as they held onto a twisted arm, while the last had his leg twisted in a fashion that even after healing would guarantee an end to his knightly duties. The figure strolled past them, as if they couldn't be bothered to even take notice of the three knights they'd left crippled behind them. The figure removed their hood after stopping only five meters from Kieran and his company of armed men. They had long silvery white hair that fell below their shoulders, and eyes the color of pitch black; their face held an almost noble look to it, as if an artist had painstakingly created them from an inspiring dream. Grey even whistled in astonishment at the sight of them before he clicked his tongue. "All they're missing is a few loyal knights and I would've mistaken them for one of the Northern noble families, well that and those eyes. Those are clearly the eyes of a demon."
Grey spoke more to himself than to Kieran or the knights that were with them, but they'd all thought the same thing. The man had the air of an important noble, and he'd handled three of Kieran's knights without any trouble. Kieran had opened his mouth to give Grey a biting reply but a deep voice promising violence cut between them. "I only need one of you alive to send a message to Lord Tresh." The demon's voice was shockingly calm as he made his proclamation, but what sent a chill of fear down Kieran's spine was when he pointed directly at him. "You, run back to your father after you see what I'm capable of." It was an insane statement in every way possible. 'They took down three knights, but I have ten more, not including Father's knights and Grey.'
"I expected you to be a proud fool, but to think you're a mad bastard as well—" Grey's mocking comment was cut off as the demon released his aura. A thundering boom caused both the noblemen to flinch, after all they'd only experienced the feeling of such an aura when a messenger from the Heavenly realm visited them. Where the previously mentioned aura had a kind of power behind it that Kieran found comforting, the aura coming from the figure before him caused his primal instinct to kick in. Where Kieran had begun to look for a means of escape two of his father's knights released their own auras and charged towards the unarmed demon with blades covered in a shining white aura.
Their auras clashed with such force that Kieran was forced to look away for a moment, and when he looked back his mouth dropped open in surprise. The demon held both of the blades in hands surrounded by a dark purple aura, and his face still had an unimpressed expression on it as if he were asking if they had anything more to offer him. Before Kieran could have another thought the other two of his father's knights charged towards the demon while releasing their auras. The demon still didn't seem worried as four of the best knights in Southern Astoria attacked him. He dodged most of their strikes by a hairs breath, but even then he only seemed to be toying with them. "He's defending against them without a weapon..." Grey mumbled as he stood awestruck by the scene unfolding before them, the demon had opted out of dodging their attacks and he was now deflecting their strikes with his empty hands.
The longer the fight went on the clearer it became to those watching that the demon was at a level they couldn't hope to achieve in their life time, and yet Kieran couldn't take his eyes off of the faux battle happening in front of him. The demon continued to evade and deflect the attacks coming at him for another minute or so before he planted his boots and slammed an aura filled fist into the ground. Kieran couldn't remember much of what happened next, he could remember a sense of weightlessness coming over him as his vision went black and the sound of rolling thunder rumbled in his ears.
When Kieran regained his senses the first thing he noticed was the lack of sound around him as a ringing in his ears caused his head to swim. His confusion only grew when his eyes fell on the sight of Grey bowing in front of the demon with his hands clasped as if he were praying. Kieran turned to look around him as he called for his knights, he knew he'd said their names despite not hearing his own voice. "Clark! Falcon!? Where are you!?"
As he scanned his surroundings though Kieran found himself inside a crater of sorts and all around him were the bodies of his company thrown around him like broken toys discarded by a child. 'Where are the angels? Aren't they supposed to take care of demons?'
Kieran's fear only increased as he felt the demon's gaze fall on him, and despite his every instinct telling him not to he looked up at the creature. Eyes like the darkness one could only find at the right time of midnight stared at him, and the mystery of what those eyes had in store for him was more than enough to cause him to soul himself. The last things Kieran saw was Grey shakily standing before he approached him, he spoke an apology that Kieran may have believed if his ears weren't still ringing. Then his world went black again once Grey struck him with a gauntlet covered fist.