2 Outcast

A faint light penetrated Kyran's pupil. Kyran slowly opened his eyes and got up. He didn't know how long he had passed out. He quietly observed his surrounding. The scene was unfamiliar; the difference was like heaven and earth compare to where he came from. As he remembered, he grew up in a beautiful place where one could listen to the birds singing jovially at the distance and the golden sunlight sparkled, reflecting on the river like silk cloth waving along with the wind.

The place he lived in was full of vibrant colour and life, yet what revealed before his sight was a barren land resembling a desert, spreading as far to the horizon. There were even various cracks on the ground in random places. Not a single tree was in sight. Instead of the singing bird's voice, there were sharp shrieks and roars that occasionally could be heard from afar.

There were many simple, small elliptical structures made from stones. The building seemed like homes of the resident, and the neighbour probably did not talk too much to each other as the distance between each house to another was more than a hundred meters away. Kyran lifted his head, gazing towards the sky. It's clearly daytime. The sun was out at its peak but strangely enough there were not much sunlight reached the land as it was blocked by a thin layer of fog that seems to engulf the entire land.

Kyran was determined that he had magically travelled to the other side of the world. He had no idea why he could arrive far in the demon territory. Normally, it's almost impossible for a human to step foot into demon territory and vice versa, except for when the time of special circumstances occured, like the "Rise of The Morning Star." One of the main reason despite the distance was due to Aurora, the colossal barrier stood proudly in green and pink, in certain season purple was mixed in, like a curtain in the sky enveloping across the land, separating the human territory with the demon territory. It was like humanity's last line of defense, the unwavering silent fortress.

Ordinary human would be scared speechless confronting such a bizzare situation, but Kyran was not ordinary, or maybe he had just lacked something. Kyran sought no logical explanation to his current situation and indifferently took a seat on a sideway of a wide road. The road was full of dirt and dust, not paved at all and seemingly built to serve minor practical purposes.

He sat there without motion, unperturbed by the dusty wind occasionally billowed. His eyes deprived of any emotion. His mind was wandering to the vivid nightmare where his parent had just been slaughtered. He just stared blankly at the ground for a long time, speaking no word, shedding no tear. Noone knew what he was thinking at the moment.

Every ten to fifteen minutes, there were various demon races passed through the road. At first Kyran was startled, but soon he got used to it and went back to his routine. The demon kind was even more curious, many of them threw a glance at Kyran and stopped for a while as if they were thinking about something, but ended up kept going on their own way; but many other was terrified to even get close to him. There was even one time when a female dwarf passed through the road with her kid. As she noticed Kyran, she quickly carried her kid in her arms, turned back and dashed to the opposite direction.

If only Kyran minded to take a closer look at his current appearance, he would have understood why they treated him that way, or maybe he would not. After all, in human world, there were just a handful men knew the tale of a demi-human. The main reason demi-human was hated and at the same time avoided, rooted from the word "human" attached along with the name. Since antiquity, demon races and mankind had waged countless war, causing both sides to take heavy casualties. Many human and demon alike had fallen victim to the anguish of war as they lost their territories and the loved ones. Hence, it had created seemingly unresolved enmity and resentment between both sides until today. The other reason was, some demon still believe in superstition that regarding the demi-human as a cursed fallen demon, thus it can bring catasthrope to demon kinds.

Kyran was captivated in his own world until dusk. The rumbling sound from his stomach woke him up from his trance. Kyran did not know when the last time he had had his meal, but judging by the rumbling sound must mean that it must have been a long time ago. By then, he stood up and noticing something weird on his body. His appearance somewhat seemed quite different from the last time he remembered. His skin tone was still faint purple, but not as rough as before. His hand and even his fingers was transformed back, similar to those of human. He touched his face, inspecting it carefully. He noticed his sharp, saw-like teeth was still presence. Maybe it was the only thing along with his skin tone that made people able to grasp his demonic trait. The pair of his wide, large wing was nowhere to be found. No wonder he felt his body was so light he could fly anytime, even with his devilish wings now mysteriously disappeared.

Too many things he did not understand at this moment, but one thing for sure, he cast aside the puzzle pieces and decided to do the most important thing first. He needed to eat something for sure. There was only one road nearest to him, so he proceeded along the road and look carefully for something edible. After wandering for about half an hour, he finally spotted a large hare. His common sense told him that at least there was still some luck left for him. In this place avoided by even ghosts, hare and other livestock must be pretty scarce.

He pondered how he should catch the hares, wondering if he could make use of his spirit spear art. He closed his eyes, tried to feel his rwach's flow. Fortunately, he could still felt his rwach circulated freely inside his body, seeping from his blood vessel to organs, from head to toe. The only difference than before was a trace of sinister black aura seeped in his rwach, streamed alongside his rwach. This must be the demonic aura caused by his transformation, he deducted.

He channeled his rwach, but soon was forced to stop as he felt an excruciating pain inside his body. He fell to the ground with spasm and rough breaths. After a bit while, he finally recovered, but the hare was nowhere to be found anymore. He then decided to take some pebble and sharp rock the size of a fist he could found scattered along the roadside as his hunting weapon.

He continued to walk down the road. Fifteen minutes later, he felt that his feet finally gave up. His strength gradually left his body due to the hunger. At the critical moment, he caught a glimpse of something moving in high speed on the roadside. A pair of demonic rats the size of a normal cat appeared. It was a sacred beast. With jet-black fur and glowing red eye in the faint light, the rats looked terrifying. Fortunately, judging from their demonic rwach's strength, they were just a low level sacred beast in infancy stage. It was the lowest stage of sacred beasts. Even so, Kyran would not dare to underestimate them, especially not in this weaken state where he could not fight properly with his spirit spear. Despite their small size, they were still far more powerful than a normal adult.

They made a hissing sound and tried to intimidate Kyran by exposing their sharp fangs. In an instant they had leapt toward Kyran with their sharp fangs wide open. Kyran reacted quickly. With all his strength accumulated from the tough training, he threw the sharp rocks at their forehead before they could even get close to him. The rock hit the desired target precisely and killed them rightaway. Green blood ooze from the lifeless rats.

Kyran wasted no more time, he quickly made a fire. As the fire was dancing freely, he took another sharp rock and removed the rat from its pelt. He took a wooden stick he found and hung the rat upside down, put it on the fire. He intended to save the other one for the next meal. He never imagined one day he would be forced to eat such a gross thing like rats, not to mention the demonic one, but he had no other choice to appease his hunger. The meat quickly grilled well as it emitted an alluring smell. Kyran took the first bite, but unexpectedly he threw up as if he had just eaten something poisonous.

A certain realization stroke him, and he felt very disgusted, not with the rats but with himself. He figured out he had developed a new abnormal appetite as he craved for raw meats dripped in fresh blood more than a normal cooked one. It was a primal instinct of most demonic races. Starting today onwards, his life would never be the same. He could never savor the taste of his favorite grilled or cooked, salted meat anymore. As he realized the change, he felt more loathed and threw up once again.

...

The shining twin moon hung beautifully far above the sky. After enduring for a long time, Kyran finally gave in. Even if he had wanted to die, at least he did not want to die in such a tormenting manner. He gritted his teeth and took out the other rat corpse. He chewed the meat quickly, bit by bit, made not a single attempt to savor it.

A part inside him felt really disgusted, but strangely the other part betrayed the former, revealing that this was an exquisite meal he had not had for a long time. The cloudless night was quiet, not even the cicadas making any sound. Beneath such clear sky, contrasting small droplets dripped on the ground where Kyran was sitting. As the chewing sound kept echoing in the breeze of night, more droplets were formed, moisturizing the ground. The twin moons were the only silent witness that compassionately engulfed him with a faint light, hoping to transmit more warmth to the lonely figure, but it ended up making him seemed more lonely. A being much hateful to demons, even more so, despised by humans. At least he did not lose his humanity yet.