Chereads / Rogue: The cursed child / Chapter 1 - The Child In The Cradle

Rogue: The cursed child

🇳🇵Kimochiwarui
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Synopsis

Chapter 1 - The Child In The Cradle

It was raining pretty hard, the clouds were thundering and the roof which was made of a certain material made a lot of noise with every raindrop.

Amongst all of this one could still hear a sound, the sound that anyone could recognise.

"Waaaaaahh waaaah" the sound of a child crying was heard. A child, covered in white rags could be seen. It seemed that he had just been woken up by the loud sound of thunder. He was in his cradle with a frown on his face. The small little hut he was in could not stop the water from pouring in. Everything except for his cradle was wet but surprisingly there was not a single raindrop that fell on his fragile body.

If one would try to listen harder they would hear something else too. Just a few meters away from the baby two men were fighting fiercely

'Klang, chik.. klang' two blades made loud sounds as they hit each other. The bearers of these swords with a fierce experience on their faces. Both of them trying their hardest to best the other. The guard was big and muscular but he wasn't agile. The assassin on the other hand was thinner but way more faster and agile. He landed hits on the guard every now and then.

The rain started getting heavier and the thunder got louder. Until another sound was heard. "Gah.. i.. have failed.. young master" 'Thud' His body hit the cold hard ground as life drained from his eyes, his hands quivering. It seemed that he had tried his best to protect the baby even till his last breath.

"Phew.. if not for the weather i would not have been able to ambush and kill them so easily." The assassin said as he pulled his dagger out of the guard's chest, it was painted crimson by the fresh blood. The was weather was cold but the blade was still warm. He looked back at the trail of blood that he had created just to make it here.

He headed towards the crying child and stood next to his cradle. The child, curious about this new man, stared at him. He suddenly stopped crying, but when the assassin tried to pick him up the child started crying again. "It's all because of you" the assassin spoke up. "If only you didn't exist.. we would all be living happily" his hands started shaking as he moved it forward. As his hands approached the cradle, it stopped midway as his fingers started turning into ashes. He howled in pain as he retracted his hands.

"I.. i did not think this is where i would breathe my last." He picked up the child while chanting a spell in an unknown language. His hands turned grey but they regenerated again. This process happened multiple times as he cried in pain. As an assassin he was already prepared for the worst tortures but this pain far surpassed whatever he had experienced in his training.

"Huff.. i promised her.." the assassin muttered as he ran in the rain while holding the cradle. Soon he realised that the rest of the guards were after him. He was tired and wounded, he couldn't outrun them no matter how much he tried. Eventually they caught up and he had to face them.

"Return the child to us!" The guards exclaimed. Their blades glistening in the moonlight as they stared at the assassin with murderous intent.

"If i was going to return him then why would I even do this in the first place" the Assassin replied as his gripped the cradle even harder. "It was an honor for me, long live Princess Elandra" he said as he chucked a pill into his mouth. The guards were alarmed as they slowly stepped back, fearing that he could cause them harm.

The pill started showing its effects as he grew bright blue fur. His eyes turned black and his hands and legs transformed into paws. His canines started growing longer and his face elongated till he looked like a hybrid between a human and a wolf. "I am sorry, i fail.. promise.." he said as he looked at the lady in his pendant one last time. Then he picked up the cradle and ran away. He jumped so high that he couldn't be considered a human anymore. And he wasn't one.. not anymore.

The guards were well trained in hunting but due to the rain he didn't leave any tracks. No smell or footsteps. They would be washed away by the rainwater.

Soon the assassin arrived by the side of a river. He looked at the child as he said once more "I am sorry" as he put the cradle in the water. He knew the water wouldn't be able to do anything to him because of his strange powers. He did not run away but stood there to guard the river in case anyone tried to take the child away. Even though he Hated the child, he couldn't kill it. After all, it was his.. their last hope. He had to survive.

He started panting as he realised that he was going to die soon, the toll on his body was too much as blood started dripping from his eyes. By this time the guards had arrived by the river, although there were fewer people than before, it seemed that they had split up to be able to properly track him down. The assassin howled like a wolf as he bared his fangs and claws at them. The guards did not flinch this time and ran straight at him. The rain poured, it rained.. it rained and it rained for hours.

Once the clouds were cleared, one could see a blood curdling scene. A hundred corpses lay waste. It was a truly horrifying scene but amongst them all one was still breathing and strangely enough it wasn't a human.

The assassin took one last look at the bright blue sky. The sky was blue, his fur was blue and the river water was blue. However, on this unfortunate day everything was dyed red. His fur had become red from the blood that he had bled, the river turned red from all the blood from the corpses and the sky appeared red to to him as his eyes were bleeding.

"Forgive.. I.. Aria" Those were his words before he closed his eyes, he had fallen asleep for eternity.

_________________-_________________

The cradle that the child was in had been floating for hours, he slept through it all and did not wake up, the barrier that he created must have something to do with it. The cradle soon hit a wooden pole and was stopped by it. The pole was part of the harbor and there was an old fisherman on it that was trying to catch a fish but his expression wasn't really happy to say the least. He was angry because he hadn't caught a single fish that day. As he was preparing his hook again he saw the cradle. At first he was perplexed but soon his grumpy expression turned into one of joy.

"A child drifting in the ocean? It would be bad if someone found him and sold him in the black market and made a ton of money off of it" he said as greed got the better of him. Having not been able to catch a single fish he was desperate. What if he hadn't caught a single fish? A bigger fish had just appeared in front of him and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

He tried to pull the cradle with his fishing rod but it soon turned into dust as it got closer to the child. He knew something was wrong as he tried several methods to carry the cradle. At last he was able to pull it out of the water with a wok that was binded with cloth and looked like a swing.

He knew the child wasn't normal and he got even happier just imagining how much money he would be able to get out of it.

He greedily carried it to the black market with great difficulty and started looking for someone. He stopped in front of a tall man with a roughly cut moustache and beard. "Handul I've brought something very interesting today" he said as he put the cradle down on the ground.

"So you've changed your professions old man, you're fishing for children now huh, let me take a look at this innocent little child" Handul smiled as he tried to pick the cradle up.

"NOOOO STOP IT" the old man shouted. He was so loud that Handul flinched and they caught the attention of many people as a crowd formed around him.

"What is it? Have you gone senile old man?" Handul seemed visibly angry as he stared at the old man.

"No.. it's just that the child is covered in some mysterious force which will burn anything that comes close to him" the old man said as he threw a piece of cloth at the cradle and it turned to flames and then ashes and then into nothing.

Everyone was surprised as they looked at the child in both shock and horror. Handul was dumbfounded and stepped back unconsciously. "Eeeeek you've brought the child of a demon here" He cried as he chased the old man. The rest of the people followed suit as they chased him until he jumped into the water.

"Calm down everyone i just picked him up from the ocean, he was drifting and I tried to pick him up and somehow managed to carry him" the old man tried his best to calm the mob

"How are we supposed to believe you? You've always been staying alone in that little house of yours all my yourself" one of them shouted.

"Yeah he's right!" Another said as they started jumping into the water.

"Stop!" Somebody shouted and their focused shifted to him. The man behind it was a dwarf, he was small in height but was extremely muscular and had a fantastic beard that was long enough to almost touch the ground.

"You're here Hamael! Please tell them that I am not a demon" his eyes glistened as he gained hope.

"You all! how could you all call him a demon just because of that little incident" Hamael said

"Thanks for having my back Ham-" he couldn't even complete his sentence when Hamael shouted.

"He has always been a demon, he took my money and spent it all on alcohol and gambling but never returned me a cent. I think we should burn him down." Hamael said in a furious tone.

"I thought you were my f-friend" the old man wailed as the crowd of people beat him up black and blue.

The crowd soon dispersed when they found out that he wasn't a demon. "They really beat up an old man up like this" he cried as he looked at his wounds. His eyes and cheeks were swollen. Fortunately they went easy on him since he was really old.

"That child is truly the child of a demon to have brought such misfortune upon me" the old man stared at the ceiling as he laid in his bed. Even though Hamael had instigated the crowd he still carried him to his house and put him on his bed.

"Haaah they must've already killed that child. Maybe i shouldn't have had these evils thoughts in the first place." He sighed as he closed his eyes, still regretting his choice.

______________-_____________

The next morning the old man heard a knock on his door. He opened it only to find Handul standing with the child in his hands. He was scared when he saw Handul again thinking he was back to beat him up again but was shocked to see the child in his hands.

"How.. exactly did you hold that child in your arms?" He asked.

"It seems that the child can detect when someone is having evil thoughts and projects a barrier to repel it. It means that you have malicious intents with this child. I made several people try to hold him but only a handful could." He replied as he showed distaste towards the old man.

"But how could you... You sell children for a living" the old man replied.

"I've told you several times that i only help children find a safe new house and family, i give money to people who bring me lost children or orphans to encourage this activity but you misinterpreted it you old man" Handul said as he looked at the innocent face of the child while it was asleep.

"Then why have you come here? To beat me up again?" The old man asked as he slowly stepped back.

"I would love to but unfortunately no.. it's regarding this child. Where did you find him and how? He isn't exactly a normal child from what we've seen" He inquired.

"Like I said, he was floating in the ocean and i happened to spot him. I am not a child kidnapper" he exclaimed.

"Then I'll believe you.. for now" Handul gave him a mean stare and turned his back to him.

"What about the child? Are you going to raise him yourself?" He asked.

"None of your concern" Handul scoffed as he walked away.