Prologue: A Dying Curse

Thunderous clang of bells broke the silence of a deep slumbering night. Muffled shouts followed from somewhere distant, echoing inaudibly under the continuous chime of metals.

Everything struck him in his sleep like a sudden blast. The boy instantly propped himself up from the bed with his elbow. His head spun in a daze of wondering and confusion as he wobbly balances his feet to stand on the smooth stone floor.

He scurries to the left side of his bed to look beyond the clear-glass window which provided a good vantage point as their house stood higher than most.

Silhouettes of people scattered and moved everywhere with haste.

Large ships began to dock at the city harbor. Huge wooden masts erected high, oversize steering oars attached to the starboard, and all has a bow that bores the shape of what seems the head of a snake.

'What is happening?'

Answer dawn with the blow of a horn—its deep roaring note grew louder and resounded in the air up to the thick sleeping clouds.

He trembled. The sound was unmistakably a Shofar. The ‘Herald’s Trumpet’, one which is only use to signify the start of war.

The boy wasted no more time pondering and rushes out of the house. 'Where is father?'

Fully-armed soldiers passed in front of him. Steel-plates of armor clanking with each of their movement, pointed spears and silver shields were equipped in each of their hand as they march to the road, down to the hill. He knew the men will engage the enemies at the city proper.

But his father was still nowhere to be found.

A sharp scent began to irritate his nose; acrid and toxic, like burning woods and ash. It was the same moment he saw flames and cinders littered the sky-- houses incinerated to ruins.

He starts to descent on a slope, down to the Shrine Forest’ mouth. He needed to find his father who he thought probably was at the port to lead the evacuation of the villagers.

Taking the main road to get faster was more perilous especially it was an open area. The boy led himself deeper in the woods.

The ancient trees made him feel very small especially he is now alone; if not for the scattered rays of moon, he would not be able to see in the dusky woodland.

His pace gradually slowed down to a walk as tree trunks become wider and stood mightier everywhere, he pondered in shrill fear what lays on some of the deep dark hollow parts of the wood.

He yelps as he tripped on something hard like a huge rock. The boy toppled on the ground but instead of feeling the dirt and soil, his palms found something wet and sticky. He lifts it up, and to his absolute horror-- fresh blood covered his entire hands, the thick and crimson liquid dripping slowly to the edges.

And there he saw a brutally mutilated man laying his back on the tree nearest to him. Eyes and mouth wide open with shock. The innards scattered all over the ground. The boy unconsciously clamps his mouth shut, the warm blood touching his lips.

Yards away, a light-blonde man stood with his back on him.

The boy instinctively seeks out somewhere to hide, and crawls into a bush nearby. He realizes the blunder of panicking as some of the branches of the shrub he was going to wriggled, those toppled by his weight gave satisfying crunches, and its cluster of leaves shook mildly.

It was the only sound around the dead surrounding.

He immediately restraints any movement from his position even though his legs were still half hidden.

The blood from his hands must have left imprints. He thought if it would be visible through the dark shadows. He shuddered in despair as the figure turns around, facing his direction.

He saw the man sniffing the air, followed by a hungry growl.

The boy breathed deeply and tried to stop his body trembling. 'Don’t panic', he calms himself. He glimpses the blood-red pupils which he swore that the pair of eyes is staring at him—that he could be seen through the thick bush even with the extra cover of the veil of night.

It was one of the Sanguine Daemon. They have the same look as humans, except for their pale hair and shade of eyes.

The image of the disfigured body that lay dead in pieces on the tree resurface in his mind.

He shuts his eyes close and clench his trembling fist as the man began to walk closely his direction. He has read how this race treated the humans long long ago. 'Why are they here?' he knows there was a treaty form by their ancestors to end the ‘Genealogy Scourge’ which almost ended the entire history of every race.

As the soft footfalls went closer, a girl’s voice suddenly spoke.

“There are Humani gathered over there”.

He opened his eyes and takes a peek again from the small bald spots of the bush. There, beside the man, stood a small girl whom he thought was just about his age and with the features of a ‘Blood Daemon’. She was pointing at the opposite direction.

The man bowed slightly and started to walk away, then instantly vanished before the boy could even blink.

He counted seconds before he slowly crawls out from the bush. The leaves parted to reveal the girl now standing in front of him. Now that he has a closer look at her face, he realizes how closely she resembled a regular human, except for her eyes. Her silver hair was untied, and flowed long on her back like silky strands of moonlight.

She was wearing a violet one-piece dress made of the finest silk, matched with a pair of black-leather boots. Her head was adorned with a semi-circular silver diadem with a blue diamond crest at its middle, and a long lace hang to her neck down to the top of her chest where a shape of a snake eating its own tail rested as it glinted gold.

The boy stood still on his feet, so did the girl. He was a head taller than her, but doubted he could outpower if he tried to fight her.

A pair of maroon orbs now looked at him with impassive gaze. He was completely aware the girl is also of the Sanguine, but for some reason he was not terrified at all.

“Come with me” the girl’s spoke softly. Even her voice was not strange to his ears.

The boy just nodded. He wondered why he felt he could trust her-- whose kind were already slaughtering the people, and probably the friends he knew.

Together they run, the girl taking the lead in the twist and turns of the woods as if she already took the same route many times before. He was awed by how fast she was on her feet considering her small stature. She also does not even seem to tire.

Light broke the dense jungle as they were getting closer to the city proper.

They emerge to the streets, and continued their sprint on the cobblestone ground, only stopping at corners, checking if the path was clear. Neither uttered a single word. He completely places his life on her. A stranger whom he did not even knew the name of.

He wished he would find his father immediately but knows he must be fine. His father was the commander of the first infantry of the Danubean Human Order. He was the duke of the land who would protect the city at all cost; he knew his 'pater' would not lose to anyone.

As they neared the portside of the city, most of the houses were already devoured by fire; those that are not, became charred woods, or piles of stones and dust.

He wanted to cry, but swallowed the lump forming in his throat. 'This land is my home'. How could it be ruined in a matter of moments?

Silhouettes appeared some distance from them. Their shadows cascading through the dance of flames that seem to make like a living hell with its monsters.

The girl now urges him to go underneath two huge rocks wedge together at an angle that could fit a kid his size.

Seeing no other option, he obliged and crawled on his elbows. He could see in the corner of his eye the girl was placing a hand on the top rock, the same time murmuring something.

But he did not bother what she was saying until he was fully hidden in the shadow.

The space was large enough that he could move comfortably. He sits, huddling his legs together in front of him, and put his arms around it.

As the girl started to walk away, he started to doubt if he would really be hidden within the ruins of walls and stones, especially he now knows that the Daemons were using scents to track their prey. 'Maybe it was a spell the girl has put', he thought.

The small lady did not even give the slightest of glance to him as she hastily walk out of from his sight. But he knows it was for the good, to not leave any trace at all.

Why did he trust her that much?

He could still hear some of the screams outside the cave he is now in. He shuts his eyes further pushing back the image of the hack up man in the forest. Hundreds of bodies like that might be awaiting him once he comes out.

He wishes this would be over soon. 'Why are they here?'

Few moments passed he hid unexposed. He did not know how many minutes nor hours he has been abiding alone in the dark place, every sound had already died under the heavy rainfall.

Thunder boom, lightning crack flashes of white across the skies, and the wind howled on the abandoned streets.

He stirred from his position as he heard someone shouted close in his space.

“So we have finally brought the Duke of this land on his knees...” the voice was deep and silky smooth.

“Curse you demons. You will not find anything here!!!”

The voice might be stifled by the storm, but the boy recognizes it was his father. He was sure of it.

Three voices laugh in an almost unison tone.

“Your kind has always been a pitiful race” the same voice said. “Milady let us deal with this pest”.

The pause in the conversation made the boy harness his will, and prayed to the heavens as he crept out. But to his horror, his father’s head already lolled back, exposing a neck that was cruelly slit. The tall Sanguine man beside abruptly pierces his father’s chest with a bare hand which protruded out to the duke’s back.

The man pulls out his fist brutally, blood splattering everywhere as he clenched the fresh heart.

Panic and fear have taken over the boy’s composure. He fell to his knees with his eyes staring blankly ahead. 'What did I just saw?'

“Give me that!” a familiar voice demanded.

The boy turns his head around to see the small girl again. The giant Daemon walks toward the little lady and gives the organ while bowing slightly.

She was the very one he thought would save him.

The heart glowed in her small hands, like a red beacon within the storm that began to subside. He could see her lips moving like chanting another cast of spells as the heart swelled enormously up to a head’s size and exploded into bits and blood.

“Are you, his son?” said the huge demon now in front of him. Hunger and thirst lurk beneath his glowing red eyes.

“Llevondre! Enough!” the girl ordered. “Let me take care of him”.

The boy’s wit suddenly snap back from the horrifying trance of tragedy.

The girl who helped him was now before him, lowering her face until their eyes were on level.

His hands trembled, from fear or rage, that he did not know nor cared. 'I have been a fool to trust a monster’s words'.

Another Daemon commented, “Like father, like son I guess”.

The girl’s rosy lips parted to reveal huge fangs of brilliant white. “It has to be this way” she did not take off her gaze as she punches her fist in his chest.

The boy did not even have the power to shout as he felt the hand deep inside him—to his heart. He felt the girl’s hand enfolding it tighter and tighter until it was crushed.

Blood drip down to his mouth as his vision blurred. He looks at her.

And in his eyes, there was nothing but the promise of wrath and revenge. His stare never left even his sight was turning black.

Until it was nothing at all. Nothing left, even his memory could not remember the last face he saw.