Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 2 – Auf Wiedersehen, alter Freund

[2084 C.E]

Bloodied and ruined.

The hallways continued to descend into further madness as the disastrous screams of the emergency sirens drowned out all other noise. The strobe of red lights painted the already wounded walls with more dread. A place in which even ghosts would scurry in fear, it was here; in such morbid tension that two men were at odds.

One man leaned up against the wall with his blood attempting to recreate Munch’s screamer. He gripped his wounded stomach in pain, yet a soft smile silently etched across his face. His final cigarette burnt to the tip of his lips as he puffed one last time and finally they fell gently into the pool of red ooze beneath him. Hissing quietly as they were extinguished by the liquid of life.

Curled on the cold asphalt floor, the man slowly raised his head in blurred vision to see the face of the man that had shot him. With the gun’s barrel still warm and steaming, an elderly man in a white coat dyed in his blood stood over him. Unlike the victim the perpetrator was not happy; distress writhing on his face as he tried to avert his gaze but unable to. Fear and anxiety crept up and shrouded his every existence; he could not forgive himself for this vile act of betrayal.

‘What have I done?’ the elderly man asked himself, but his mind already knew the answer. A single tear ran down his face as he acknowledged his crime, ‘I’ve done it’. With this one admittance he had demolished everything that they had both worked so hard to build.

“How can you continue smiling? Don’t you get it? I’ve betrayed you! Say something!”

The elderly man tried to lash out in anguish. He demanded an answer from the dying man; why could he be so happy when he was so torn?! What did he know that he didn’t? Even now his dying friend looked back up at him with warm eyes that seemed to suggest he didn’t mind how everything turned out.

“Hah… haha… betrayed me? No, you may have killed me… but this is not betrayal. How… how could you betray me when you haven’t wronged me? Our goal… from the start… was to secure the future… and… if you think…. That this is the right way… then I will… defer to your judgment… old friend.”

They dying man explained as he continued to cough up blood. He could feel the beating of his own heart slowing down, ‘it’s time’ he prepared himself mentally. Yet even as his life quickly escaped from him he remembered back fondly as he watched the elderly man, his best friend, kneel down and break into tears.

“I will do it. I will do it [Sovereign]! I promise you that I will secure a definite future for man. Whatever it takes, whatever needs to be done… I will do it.”

The elderly man replied as he gazed deeply into the dull eyes of his best friend.

“Thank you… old friend… thank you, Edmund Weisner…”

With his dying breaths he thanked his old friend as he tried to form a final smile in parting. He passed away happily knowing that his will would be continued through the efforts of his dear friend. Once more the elderly man shed a tear at the corpse of his dear friend. It was also then that he found new motivations to finally accept what needed to be done to secure the future.

This was the death of an evil overlord known as [Sovereign]. A joyous day for the entire world as they were freed from his evil grasp, yet that was merely due to their ignorance. All they saw was the face of evil, not knowing how the cogs were moving behind the scenes. In that inept ignorance what they truly may have done was slay the final hope for humanity’s survival.

Sovereign’s ultimate goal was to secure a future for mankind. He did not promise a happy future, nor did he a prosperous one, merely the guarantee of a future. He understood that if nothing was done then the world would surely head towards its inevitable demise. Humanity itself was its greatest enemy; at the very least both Sovereign and Edmund Weisner had believed that humanity needed to be re-educated.

He attempted to create a single, unified destiny for all mankind. Yet that all came to an end today as the oppressed masses expressed a sigh of relief; the world had been freed.

Sovereign’s closest confidante, Edmund Weisner would be hailed as the hero that killed the evil dictator. He would also be carrying the torch to continue his mission, albeit in a much more secretive way.

However…

With Sovereign gone, the future of humanity was now free game.

He could only hope that his dear old friend would successfully carry on his will.

***

[Eternum Calendar 1964]

As the pure blue moon as its witness, a single human infant was born this day. His bright green eyes reflected the aquatic glimmer of the moon to create a perfect teal. The infant tried to grasp for its mother only to be met with empty space; it had been abandoned in front of a particular orphanage. This orphanage was no ordinary one as it was located in the heart of the nation of Vertloch, a nation of Demons.

As the infant cried loudly for its mother, the matron of the orphanage came running to the door only to find the abandoned infant. Lying on the cold snow covered ground in a small casket. Such events weren’t too terribly rare but every time it had happened it was always a sad occasion. Attached to the casket was a piece of paper that read ‘His name is Morgant, please take good care of him’. The fact the infant had been named meant that the parents did not abandon him without good reason.

“Poor child, to be abandoned this early.”

The priestess who was the orphanage’s matron picked up the crying infant in her arms. Since this was the nation of demons she had assumed the infant to also be one but one closer inspection it was not.

“Hmm? A human infant?”

Perplexed she nonetheless brought the baby in.

So began the life of Morgant, a human amidst the nation of Demons.

***

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

“Wake up Morgant!”

Accompanying the hated chirps of the early morning birds was an unnecessarily loud and obnoxious voice. The voice carried it with malignant intentions of waking up the sleeping prince who had fallen asleep by choice. To make matters even worse than they already were the blinds had been opened up to let in the bane of all humans, morning sunlight.

Even as the youth named ‘Morgant’ tried to shut his eyes away from the hated light it slipped through his eyelids. All he could see was a burning red and the cold winds that flew in through the open window did not make things any better. Eventually giving into the harshness that was reality he had opened his eyes to meet the demands of the bedside terrorist.

“Why aren’t you waking up?! Wake up Morgant!”

Shouted a young girl to an obviously sobering up young boy. They both stared into each others’ eyes for a brief moment before the young girl responded with a hearty smile and ‘Hi!’ Her golden hair tied up into a ponytail sway from side to side by her eccentric behavior. Her clear blue eyes and cute snow white face reflected what could only be aptly described as ‘innocence’ incarnate.

“Hi… Alice…”

Morgant responded with a little less vigor. Scratching his hair slovenly, he yawned loudly as if to enact a final tribute of defiance towards the bedside terrorist. Seeing its ineffectiveness he got out of bed and begrudgingly marched his way to the toilet to make himself up for the day. He stared at the mirror that only reflected an unmotivated young boy. ‘How unsightly’ he gazed into his own green eyes as they felt somewhat ‘off’ for some reason.

It wasn’t the first time he had felt such an abyssal emotion, in fact it was almost every morning that he did. It was as though a giant gaping hole had been torn into his heart, his very soul. That something was missing and it was always just out of his reach no matter how hard he wracked his brain.

At first he had assumed it was because he was in this orphanage. A lot of orphans typically feel such an emotion when they realize the feeling of abandonment by their biological parents. However as time went on he understood clearly that it wasn’t it, that it was something else.

“Ugh…”

Morgant grasped his head as a powerful migraine attacked him. It was a phenomenon that tended to happen when he dwelt too much on the subject. As if some sort of security was preventing him access, whenever he was closer to getting to the truth there would be something impeding his progress. This time was a little different however; enduring through the pain Morgant tried his best to remember, even if it was just a little.

He searched and searched his brain.

He drew closer to the memory he was lacking, or rather a memory that he shouldn’t have in the first place. A silhouette appeared in his mind; the figure of a man in a white coat could be visualized but nothing further than that. None of the details of his face could be further recalled by that pathetic vision. Forgetting to breathe from his intense concentration he fell to the floor as he grasped for air. A loud bang coming from his fall alerted everyone in the orphanage that something had happened to him.

A few seconds later the sounds of desperate running could be felt vibrating from the floor. The doors to the toilet almost flew off its hinges as a woman in grey robes appeared. To say she was pretty wouldn’t be too accurate; while she didn’t have a bad face she was more of the ‘cool’ type. Her long silver hair covered half her face, not because of stylistic choice but in an attempt to cover a long scar running down her left eye. On the top of her head were two fuzzy silver wolf ears and behind her were three wooly wolf tails of the same color.

She was not human, a therianthrope by the name of ‘Miko’. She had a desperate look on her face as she slowly approached the young Morgant who was writhing on the cold tiled floors of the toilet.

“A- are you okay Morgant?!”

She slowly picked him up only to be met with harsh burns from the boy’s innate temperature. ‘What is this absurd temperature?!’ she thought to herself as she quickly brought him and laid him on his bed. She called for the other matron of the orphanage, a young woman by the name of ‘Diana’ to bring some wet towels and ice.

After an intense session of nursing him back to health it was already midday when he had once again opened his eyes. Even before his blurred vision could be cured he felt tears running past his face.

“Alter… Freund…”

Morgant whispered to himself, not knowing that the word even meant. Yet in spite of this he felt a deep sense of nostalgia and pain as the words resounded continuously in his mind.

“Morgant?! Morgant! Are you okay?!”

Wiping away the tears that had amassed on his eyes, the scene of several children and two adult women came into view. They were the caretakers and children of the orphanage, with worried expressions they came after hearing he had suddenly fainted.

“M- Miko…?”

Morgant responded to her previous calling. Seeing him regain consciousness they all breathed a sigh of relief as one by one they returned to their daily activities. Three children of similar age stepped up after understanding that the situation was once more calm.

The first was a young, stoic Elven boy whose hair resembled that of the infinite ocean. He had a small frown on his face when he had heard his friend had fallen sick but after seeing him get better he was the most relieved. His name was ‘Ren’, a boy who loved to tinker with machinery.

The other was a demon child who came with an uneasy look on her face. She was from the Lamia race, a race of women whose lower half was that of a snake. Most of them had rough colorations but she had oddly gentle pink themed patterns running on her tail half. Even her hair color was pink. Her name was ‘Celina’ a young maiden who excelled at healing type magic.

“Alice, get off of him. He’s still not fully recovered.”

Miko tried to reprimand her.

Finally was Alice who had jumped onto Morgant as soon as he had opened his eyes. She continued clinging onto him as though her life had depended on her doing so. Miko tried to pry her away but she refused to let go and even Morgant had given up on the mere thought as he was already used to her over abundance of skinship with him. However, considering the fact that they were the only two human children in the entire orphanage it was no surprise that she may have felt a sort of kinship.

Miko took Morgant’s temperature to find that it was back to normal levels. Seeing him back to his healthy self confused her as to what actually had happened to him that made him faint. When she tried to pry for information Morgant simply shook his head and responded that he ‘didn’t know’.

Having no other choice Miko left it up to that and decided to let him rest for the day.

“Morgant! I was so worried!”

As soon as Miko left the scene Celina had also jumped onto Morgant and coiled around him. She wasn’t really the type to show much affection in such a bold manner but to Morgant she made an exception.

“I guess this means that you’re all better?”

Ren asked as he walked forward.

“Yes, sorry for worrying you.”

Morgant responded as he gave a dry laugh. The two boys met eye to eye and let out a small chuckle as they understood that everything was okay now. Rather than as friends they shared a relationship more akin to brotherhood.

“Say, what did you mean by that?”

Continuing to cling onto his left arm tightly she perked up her head to meet his gaze and asked.

“‘That’?”

Morgant repeated after her; he had no clue as to what she was talking about. It was true that a lot of his memories were fuzzy with him only remembering one distinct thing. That was the unknown silhouette of a man in a white coat.

“Umm~ what was it? Al-… Alter… ehh, Alt frew?”

She couldn’t quite recite what he had said and stumbled on her own tongue trying her very best.

“Alter Freund.”

Ren answered for her.

At hearing those words Morgant turned to the open window and offered a silent wry smile. He didn’t know the meaning of those words or even what language it was, but he understood it to be something he was fond of. Or at the very least he felt that he needed to say something about it. That something…

“I don’t know, but I feel like I should say, ‘Good Bye’.”