Prologue

A red eye. A slit pupil, but more importantly, it was scared…

Scared of the tormentors before her, 8-year-old Maia didn't have any way out. She was cornered. "Demon" they called her. All because of her eyes.

"Get out of this town! you Demon!" the leader, an 11-year-old boy, screamed while throwing mud on her freshly laundered clothes. Her brown hair was already soaked when she'd fallen down.

Of course, the adults refrained from such actions, but that didn't mean they stopped others from doing it as well. Their eyes, as they roamed the streets, would land on her at least once, but the only change in them was in the speed of travel. They would, more often than not, quicken their stride to avoid looking at her slitted eyes pleading silently for help.

However, there was one person Maia could always rely on. Who reached the place just in time. Who threw a pebble at her attacker.

"Hey!" a 9-year-old Will said, "pick someone your own size!" He was standing on a fence outside of the gang's reach. His eyes momentarily met Maia's slitted ones. An understanding. She nodded and ran while the boy's attention was on Will.

When they did look back, the Leader scowled at Maia's running figure before looking back at Will. Then he smirked.

"You'll not get away this time Willy!" he said and charged.

Will just jumped down and began one of his many escape tactics. Being an orphan, you needed to have at least a few.

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They stopped following him when he entered the forest. Nobody ever followed him there. It was a safe haven and hell at the same time. The villagers never bothered him here.

But who said anything about the demons.

That's how he came face to face with a dog-like demon. The growling sent shivers down his spine. Its eyes were hollow. Or they did have mass but didn't show. Because they were black.

Encouraged by Will's involuntary step backwards, the demon jumped. And almost had him but a hooded figure slashed its hide just before its claws reached him. The demon burned in black flames before it was no more.

Will looked at his saviour. Then ran and hugged him.

"Gramps!"

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"Hey, gramps!" Will said, His face shining with excitement. He could seldom find the old man in the forest, but when he did, he always made the best of it. "Tell me about the legend of the Hero! The one who took down the demon king and sealed him."

The old man chuckled, he could use a break or two, and the innocent young lad just had to be so cute.

"Well William," the old man said, "how about you get your grandpa some water while he gets ready."

The young boy nodded vigorously and ran to the stream jumping in between. The old man smiled at the young ball of energy while he removed the sheathed dagger from his belt and laid it aside and sat down under the tree.

When William came back with his container the old man took it and drank with audible gulps. Then he looked at the boy and smiled before he began his story.

"Long, long ago, when the human continent that you now know of was still unconquered, there was the demon continent, which you now know as the forbidden land. Then, the demons were spawning everywhere and they used to attack the human towns. They were nothing like the small demons that you see today but as big as the palace in the royal capital. The only way to stop this was to kill the demon king. But you see, the demon king couldn't be killed. You could even say that he was immortal. Whenever someone killed him, he could take over the body of the killer!

"But in all of that oppression, there was hope. God sent down angels to deliver a sword from heaven. The angels delivered the sword to the person whose sense of justice was the most powerful. A youth whose spirit was rivalled by no other. He was the hero. He formed a party with 5 other people, 5 very special people, each who was rivalled by no other in the element that they mastered.

"These 6 people faced numerous harrowing trials, all of which finally led to the demon king's lair. Inside the lair, the hero's party fought with four of the demon king's elite guards, each of whom wielded a weapon to such degree that it took them 3 days to reach the throne room.

"Surprisingly though, the demon king didn't put up any fight at all. Nobody knows the reason for this but he willingly allowed himself to be sealed.

"When the party returned victorious, the hero was not with them. The 5 magicians in the party were given the title of sages and their families flourish even to this day! As for the hero? Nobody knows what happened to him. All that was found was that the holy sword that he wielded lodged into a stone in a place few adventurers could reach. Nobody could retrieve the sword, it was surrounded by magic unknown to the world. It is still there waiting for its next wielder." The old man ended his story and smiled at Will. the boy had hanged onto his every word as he told the story, even though he'd heard it numerous times.

The old man got up and took his dagger and fixed it to his belt.

"I don"t know about the past, my boy." The old man said. "But I see the present, and I say that you are just as spirited as the hero" and ruffled Will's head.

"You bet gramps!!" Will exclaimed.

"Well, I suppose that it is time for me to get back." The old man said and left.

It was the last time that Will saw him.

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As a 14-year-old Will stared out of the window he couldn't help but remember this. The demon didn't look like any demon he'd seen before. He'd thought that it would be a big slimy mess or a decaying corpse. But he never thought that it would be in the shape of a man.

It moved with a swiftness that seemed impossible to follow. The knights fighting it were exhausted to the point of collapsing.

Will had taken shelter in the town hall hoping that the knights would take care of the demon. He knew that they couldn't. It was only a matter of time before they died too.

A magic sequence formed around the demon's hand. Will had a bad feeling about this. And apparently so did the Knights. Because they too formed magic sequences together.

"Water Barrier" They Chanted.

A giant geyser of water exploded before him just as the demon spewed fire. Will's hair stood up, he cowered. The heat from the fire had reached even him. Nobody could survive that. Will couldn't look out of the window again. He knew what he would see.

The wails of the others with him terrified him even further. The demon was nearing. He heard the footsteps. Then Will saw the faint bloodred glow that illuminated the floor. The glow was getting brighter and brighter.

And then came the fire.

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Maia couldn't stand the thought of her best friend being dead. When she'd seen the Town Hall being hit, she broke away from her mother's grip and ran all the way there. The corpses didn't scare her anymore, what scared her was Will's apparent death.

The place that used to be the Town Hall was filled with corpses, but that didn't deter her, all she had to do was to find Will.

And then she saw him, standing in the middle of all those bodies, his face was emotionless, but she didn't care.

"Will!!" she ran over screaming.

Will looked over at her and she fell down the feeling in her body was lost.

"Take her," he said and she felt herself being lifted by a pair of strong hands.

"Why not just kill her?" the owner of the hands asked. Maia felt her blood go cold.

"The owner of this body has a strong spirit. I wasn't able to take over completely. Not only that, He was able to kill my previous body without him actually doing anything. It suggests that he has strong inert magic coded into his soul, though I have never seen one before." he replied "He is strong, I will not be able to hold onto him for long. He might break free for short periods of time. At those time, he may become a liability. He may understand my goals in the future, but for now, we need leverage, and I have seen in his memories how much he cares for her. She will serve nicely."

"Yes, my lord," the person who was holding her said while bowing.

"Clear this town! Leave every evidence that this was a demon's doing! You are dismissed." he ordered, then he turned around and walked away.

"As you wish," said the person holding her. And then he kneeled on one leg and placed a palm on his chest. "May you live forever…

"... my demon king!"