1 Chapter 1: The road through the white heather fields

The world of Vaelia, a massive collection of twenty-four landforms, suspended in air over a vast expanse of nothingness, is home to the eight high races, the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Ogres, Fairys, Beastmen, Angels and Demons, each hosting smaller factions within.

Amongst these races a fairy tale is told, passed down through generations... That the hero, an Angel, would form a party of eight members, each member, a different race.

This tale is said to be as older than any kingdom that stands to this day.

Vincent stumbled in the dark, his body drained of all energy, after he had to run away from a village which he spent the previous night in. No lights were lit in the village, in fact it was completely silent.

The cold wound quickly dismissed the concerns Vincent could have held, as he came across an older look house, attached to a small stable, with piles of hay and stray. Falling face first onto the hay, Vincent fell to sleep.

Vincent opened his eyes to the blinding light of the sun, unhindered by clouds, it caused him slight pain, he averted his red eyes and stood up off the hay which covered the floor of the stable he slept in. As Vincent stood up and stretched he patted his black cloak free of any loose pieces of hay. Stepping out of the shade, he waited for his pale grey skin to acclimate to the light.

Looking around Vincent noticed a few houses in the area, it was a flat clearing surrounded by woods, a small farming town from the looks of it, he came to rest for the night, the climate of this country seemed nice even at night.

After Vincent contemplated his surroundings he took a second to consider the question that was gnawing at him since he wandered into the village last night, where is everybody?

Walking up to the house located next to the stable, Vincent knocked on the door, and when he received no response, he peeked in through the window, the interior clean, and so was the window, he did notice some moss growing in the grooves between the glass and wood. "Hello? Is anybody there?" Vincent asked through the brown wooden door as he creaked it open slightly, to his surprise it wouldn't open, it must have been barricaded from the other side.

Suddenly Vincent felt a tug on his cloak, he shot back to the source of the tugging, only to be met with a child, a peasant. He wore cheap brown clothes, black boots and a straw hat.

"Don't wake it up..." the boy said in a high pitched voice, he seemed more afraid of whatever was inside of that house than Vincent, this was surprising to Vincent.

"Why? What's inside?" Vincent asked the boy seemed less afraid now, did he expect Vincent to be a brainless beast, ready to tear him apart.

"There is a monster inside!" the boy replied, his small fists clenched as he pointed a finger toward the house.

"Stay back, demon!" a deeper voice commanded. When Vincent turned to face the source, it turned out to be a bearded man wielding a pitchfork, he was bald but had a dark red beard and thick eyebrows. He seemed physically fit, wearing a torn fur coat, and trousers.

The child rushed over to the older man's side, the bearded man then aimed his pitchfork at Vincent. "Who are you and what do you want?!" the bearded man demanded, his hand were trembling.

"My name is Vincent, I'm just passing through, I slept in the stable right over there." He pointed at the stable, this made the bearded man flinch, "Then what the hell were you doing with my son?!" the bearded man demanded, he lowered his pitchfork slightly.

"He just ran up to me as I was about to check what's in that building over there," Vincent replied, now pointing to the building next to the stable.

The man lowered his pitchfork, "Alright, I may have overreacted... I'm sorry... My name is Thom" the bearded man introduced himself, still nervous, as evident by the sweat drops on his forehead.

Vincent sighed, the same monotone expression never leaving his round face, "Forget it, I'll be on my way now." Vincent said, straightening out his cloak, and fixing his glasses.

"W- wait a minute..." Thom said in a more quiet voice this time, this day was just full of surprise for Vincent, what could this human want from a demon?

"Yeah, what's up?" Vincent asked he turned his head looking at the Thom, who was gesturing to the boy to leave.

"Do you know... anything about what is inside of that house?" Thom asked, his expression was less tense now, but rather morbid, that face of someone who was hiding something.

Vincent scratched his chin for a second, considering if it'd be worth his time to help these people out... No, he needed to help, after all, he wasn't like his family...

"I'd need to get a look at it first," Vincent replied.

Thom looked at the ground for a bit, the beads of sweat hit the cobblestone path below him. "Can you do it without opening the door?" Thom asked, his eyes were filled with fear, Vincent saw that he dealt with the creature before.

"Not really... can you describe it to me?" Vincent suggested Thom's face lit up for a second at the thought of leaving the door sealed, then immediately plummeted as if not wanting to remember the creature.

"It had black skin, black eyes... it looked muscular and it had thick veins sticking out of the skin..." Thom explained, for a second he looked back, following his gaze, Vincent saw that the other houses looked empty, the one he set his eyes on had two children, including the boy and an older looking woman looking through the windows.

Vincent stayed silent for a bit... it was a Demonmorph... a creature created from a mortal engulfed by negative emotions upon death, quite often these creatures were wrongfully grouped in with Vincent's people.

"How about we make a deal?" Vincent suggested, looked at Thom, whose expression seemed worried again. "A deal with the devil, eh?" He asked.

"Do you accept or not?" Vincent asked quickly if they were going to do this, they needed time.

"So what do you want?" Thom asked he was wandering, what could a demon want for his help, blood? souls? his firstborn?

"I'll get rid of it for some food." Vincent offered, Thom's jaw dropped at the request, an idea formed in his mind, "IS HE GOING TO EAT US?!" Thom though to himself.

A silence fell upon the two men for a solid minute, before Thom agreed, "Alright if you can get rid of that thing, I'll get you some food...".

A smile came onto Vincent's face, "Great, then go home and arrange for my food, I'll be done soon." he said, turning towards the building.

"W- wait! Do you have a weapon?" Thom asked.

"Don't worry about me!" Vincent replied luckily Demonmorphs are weak creatures, they are especially susceptible to magic, in reality, Vincent wasn't all that powerful... unlike his family, they'd tear the creature out of the house and probably take the village down with it.

Vincent opened the door down, looking inside he saw a low-level Demonmorph laying in front of the door, he was the thing blocking the door before. "What the hell... are you..." Vincent was surprised by the low level of the creature, a Demonmorph has a total of seven stages, the first three usually occurring overnight, but this one was starved, and only in its first stage, you could no longer tell what the creature once resembled, patches of black skin cover its emaciated figure, its black eyes were sunken deep into its skull.

"You poor poor thing, what the hell happened?" Vincent expected to find a fully developed beast, tied up or sealed away with magic, not a starving human laying in the doorway.

A piercing pain radiated Vincent's torso as a pitchfork pierced his chest, turning back what he saw was Thom, kicking him deeper into the room, bleeding onto the wooden floor, as he shut the door. "Damn, demon..." Vincent heard Thom say to himself as he walked back to his house. Vincent stood up, feeling his torso heal from the stab wounds.

"I understand... so this was a trap... " Vincent thought to himself, a pretty bad one at that... it'd work on most other races though, Vincent moved to the door, and as he grabbed the handle, he felt a sharp pain in his hand, a piercing of red hot steel, or sticking your hand into an open flame, then piercing it with a thousand needles, this knocked him to the floor.

Wincing in pain, Vincent grabbed his hand, looking at it, he saw the flesh on his palm was charred, with chunks falling off.

"Damn, that hurt!" Vincent said, "Guess they have the whole house sealed, it's a one-way doorway for demons...".

Usually, demons barely feel any pain, this was a painful reminder.

The Demonmorph on the floor gasped, it looked like it was in pain. "How long have you been here..." Vincent asked, coming closer to the creature.

"You know what, I feel generous. I'll heal you up since I'll be sitting here for a bit, I might as well have somebody to chat to."

Vincent bit the tip of his thumb, the blood which was flowing out of the finger dropped onto the creature, soon it turned black and became a cloud of black vapours. Vincent plunged his hand through the torso, light green lights flowed from the wound, lime green sparks surrounded the area, geometric patterns, flashing white and green spread across the pitiful creature. As Vincent retracted his bloodstained hand the wound healed instantaneously.

Bright green lights emitted from the creature, it filled the room, its muscles grew thicker, it's entire form began squirming.

What was once a demonic pile of bones became... a beastman... or perhaps a beastwoman would be a better description. Standing on its two cat-like legs, dressed in a black cloak and robe, the figure stood, from its cloak hung two arms, the hands resembled paws, the face and torso looked human, although it was hard to see because of the cape, standing a little shorter than Vincent.

"No need to thank-" Vincent's talking was interrupted by a kick to his side, "What the hell do you think you're doing turning random people into your subordinates?!" the beastwoman demanded, her black hair covering her furious face.

"Alright, not what I expected, but I guess that's fair-" again, Vincent was met with another kick to the head this time, "Get your disgusting demon magic out of me!" the beastwoman demanded.

"Alright, look-" and another kick,

"Wait, Let me-" this time it was a punch,

"LISTEN TO ME WOMAN!!!" Vincent demanded, his bruises slowly healing, the blood trickling from his nose from the last punch.

"I just revived you, feel free to do whatever you want!" Vincent said, what the hell did he do... he felt like he was very literally locked in a room with a wild animal.

"So... I don't have to work for you?" The beastwoman lowered her guard,

"God no, I'm not wandering around the world looking for corpses to revive," Vincent replied.

"Well, it's still your fault," The beastwoman replied, Vincent couldn't afford to ask why, because she might actually kill him at some point.

The beastwoman's facial expression changed in an instant, "Wait, where are we." she asked.

"Good question, we're in a room where me and presumably you were dumped by some villagers to die because you had fluffy ears and I had grey skin," Vincent explained... "And a long-standing history of genocides," he added.

"Well, it was fun but I have to go!" the beastwoman said, walking towards the door, it took all Vincent had to resist the urge to not tell her about the seal on the door, she was a demon, so it'll still affect her.

"If you touch the door, it'll shock you," Vincent said, looking at the beastwoman.

"I'm not a demon or whatever, so it'll be-" as she reached for the doorknob her entire arm burst into a crimson light, which fractured and disappeared into the air around them. Wincing in pain, she fell to the floor, grabbing the stump of where her arm would have once been, her hood fell off, revealing her black her and cat ears, fun fact, she still has her human ears.

"Told you," Vincent said, standing up and walking up to the beastwoman in severe pain.

"Show me the wound..." Vincent said plainly.

"Why?" the beastwoman asked, an expression of pain still on her face,

"Do you want me to heal your arm or not?" Vincent asked sarcastically.

"I don't need your healing!" she replied, standing up and walking into a different corner of the room.

Vincent shrugged, "Fair enough." before walking to a different corner of the room and sitting down.

An hour passes...

"If you don't stop touching it, it won't stop hurting," Vincent replied.

"Shut up, it doesn't hurt!" she replied as if fueled by pure stubbornness.

"So, what's your name?" Vincent asked the beastwoman looked at him, "It's Shiu," she replied.

"I'm Vincent," he introduced himself, "Those farmers really screwed us up, right?".

"It was a misunderstanding!" Shiu exclaimed, she looked angry, if she had her arm back, she'd probably punch Vincent again.

"Sure, and that's why they asked me to go inside and kill you then locked me in here," Vincent replied.

"Shut up!" Shiu demanded, "It was a mistake, I'm not like your kind!" Shui argued.

"I... never said you were," Vincent replied, looks like he found her weakness.

The two stayed silent for a while, "So... do you want me to heal your arm, or...?" Vincent asked, "Fine." Shiu relented.

Vincent moved closer to Shiu, placing his palm over the wound, within moments, the wound began moving, blistering and expanding, eventually forming the flesh and bones, later covered by skin.

"DOES IT HAVE TO HURT THIS MUCH!?!" Shiu asked, trying her best to stand still as all the nerve cells in her arm were re-grown and expose to the outside world.

"... ... ... yes..." Vincent replied.

After Shiu's arm was back to normal, Vincent walked back to the corner of the room where the outside sunlight didn't reach, and sat down, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Well, it'll be a while until we can leave... I'll have some sleep." Vincent said, closing his red eyes.

"How can you sleep in a situation like this? They could come and kill us in the night you know!" Shiu argued, she was looking through the window, observing the other houses, only one of which had the light on.

That was when she saw something moving in the distance, it looked like a child.

"There's somebody outside!" Shiu exclaimed, looking at the child sneakily making his way to the house they were trapped in.

When the child reached the house, he slowly and quietly, knocked on the door. "H- hello? mister demon, are you in there?" the boy asked timidly.

"Yeah, your old man kicked me in here," Vincent replied, his voice slightly irritated.

"Sorry about that... He said I shouldn't come to this house anymore." the boy added.

"I guess you should probably do as he says, there's at least one bloodthirsty monster in here," Vincent said, this made Shiu pout.

A strange sound came from under the door, it was a piece of bread. "Don't waste the food, demons don't need food," Vincent said, looking at the dust-covered food.

"Speak for yourself!" Shui argued, picking up the dusty bread and eating it in one swift bite, trying to keep her best straight face, as the sand and dust gritted in her teeth.

"Go, home kid, if the old man catches you here he'll throw you in here with us," Vincent warned,

No sooner than this, the farmer's voice was heard in the distance, Vincent couldn't understand what he said, but he sounded pissed.

"I have to go!" the boy said in a panicked voice, as he rushed off, back to his house.

"We could have asked him to open the door!" Shui exclaimed, seemingly angry with herself for not realising this.

"Then what? He'd get killed by that farmer, who would assume we possessed his kid." Vincent replied.

"But... isn't that his son?" Shiu asked, a shocked expression on her face, she didn't consider that an option, this told Vincent everything he could have wanted to know about her family background.

"Does he seem like a rational adult to you?" Vincent asked sarcastically.

Shiu sighed, "Then I'd kill him first!" she said, this idea seemed better to her.

Honestly, Vincent considered this idea too, "And then he'd starve, not to mention the fact I saw more people in that house, at best they'd live in the streets for a while, at worst..." Vincent said.

"Than what do you suggest?!" Shiu demanded the way he was acting all high and mighty pissed her off, he was probably going to come up with a plan that satisfied him and call it perfect.

"I don't have one..." Vincent replied.

"At least I have an idea!" Shiu exclaimed, he was less angry and more surprised at this point, he didn't seem like the type to just admit he didn't know what to do.

"Look, if you want to ruin the lives of those kids, then I'm not going to stop you, you're a free person and nobody can claim that what you're doing is wrong," Vincent said, at first his voice was aggravated, but soon it shifted to a more sombre, sad tone.

Shiu's face was now a blend of shock and defeat, she didn't know what to argue in response, was he right? No, surely sitting down and passively doing nothing was wrong, this wasn't kindness, it was cowardice.

"But, please... give me some time to think of a plan, I'm sure we can get out of this without anybody being harmed." A sad, pleading smile was on his face.

Shiu's face of shock faded, so he had a plan... the plan was to think of a plan...

"Fine, I'm not in a rush anywhere..." Shiu relented, sitting like Victor, crossing her arms behind her head and sitting again the wall, enjoying the little comfort she could get in this closed room, from the outside sun.

"There has got to be a way for this to work out, I imagined graphs in my mind, like when you solve a multi-choice puzzle. If you choose to use the boy to get out, he could get hurt, if you don't, we can't leave... however if you choose to use the boy, and choose to kill the old man... we could avoid him hurting the boy... but lead them to financial ruin... the best choice was to leave without the boy's help, but we can't do that... that way maybe... maybe we could leave their situation as it is..." Vincent though out loud.

"Who said they are good as it is now?" Shiu chimed in.

"You might be right... but how could we know... it's like opening a jar of jam to see if it's spoiled, once you open it... you let the microbes in..." Vincent replied.

"Just say that there's no going back, no need for your jam metaphors..." Shiu scoffed.

"It's helping me visualise it, alright!" Vincent replied.