Melakios was a human boy raised by demons. Primarily, he was raised under the tutelage of the Great Duke, Demon Eligor. He had 60 legions of demons (360,000) under his command and caused The Human Realm to go to war on many occasions.

Melakios was brought and raised by one of the legion leaders, a strange being by the name of Cernunnos.

“So what am I learning today?”

Melakios, not even 5, grew quickly. He was quick to learn and found ways to understand and question things that most people wouldn’t even think to ponder.

Currently, he was standing in a long hallway with pictures of past demon nobles and weapons that saw a lot of war and bloodshed.

“Hmm, let’s just walk around. Can’t hurt.”

Due to being a human, Melakios was shunned and ignored. This allowed him to go places nobody would normally go. If he got in trouble, they would just kick him out, after all.

Besides, demons were usually free to do whatever they wished. They drowned in their desires. In fact, Melakios had found out the majority of the other demon’s dark dealings. He would watch the demons and their actions, learning even more what it meant to be a demon.

But Melakios knew he was different. He was merely a passing fancy. As soon as he got boring, Eligor ignored him.

“That idiot, Cernunnos. If I got in trouble, what would he even do from way out in the Human Realm?”

Even if Cernunnos tried to help, no one would ultimately care. No one was sure he was even a demon, after all. He was strong, that was all Eligor needed to know.

“Maybe I will go talk the Lady in the tower.”

Plotting his course, he dashed down the hall and ran into the courtyard at the front of Eligor’s mansion.

Outside was exactly what normal humans would think a Demon Realm should be. It had purple skies, a red sun, and black grass. Even though the color scheme was completely abnormal, compared to the Human Realm, there was still life. Sure, the plants could eat you, and the birds would gouge out your eyes as soon as they spotted you, but all in all, it was a nice place.

Melakios ran towards the gloomy tower on the far side of the courtyard. The mansion had great walls, towering on all sides, with four magnificent spires, each having their own unique feel. One, home to the Lady mentioned before, had the most dreadful appearance of being swallowed and enveloped by vines and roots.

After climbing the stairwell, Melakios stopped to catch his breath before knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” a strange wail seemed to cry out every time she spoke, as if a dying soul was trying to remove itself from the person. Even if the owner of the voice was beautiful, the wail added an effect that would raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

“It’s me, Melakios, Miss Batibat!”

“Come in, dear child!”

Unfortunately, she wasn’t even normal looking. The Batibat were a race of tree spirits that killed those that cut down their trees. The Batibat killed their victims by literally sitting on their face and suffocating them.

Why such a demon was protecting the North Tower only Eligor knew.

“Miss Batibat, teach me more about how you use your spirits!”

With no soul of his own, Melakios had an inborn ability to actually absorb others’ souls. Unfortunately, his victims died. He was still training under the Pisachas hired by Eligor and selected by Cernunnos, but Melakios wanted to know more about his powers.

“Thanks for the lesson, Miss Batibat!”

“You’re welcome, child. Come visit again soon!”

After listening to the Batibat all day, Melakios decided to tease Ashikalla, one of the Empusae. Ashikalla was just like the rest of her race, having a fairly beautiful face and upper body, but then had a donkey’s hands, legs, and feet. Ash, as Melakios calls her, had donkey ears as well. He would fiddle with her ears when she wasn’t paying attention and scare her.

At five years old, Melakios was already a menace.

“Hey, Ash!”

“HUH?! Oh…it’s young Melakios.”

“Sorry about scaring you, I was just bored and wanted to talk.”

“I’m sorry, Melakios. I have work to complete.”

“How about I help?”

“That…that would help a lot! Thanks!”

Ash’s ears twitched and her tail swished. Melakios had already understood this meant she was indeed happy.

Melakios spent the rest of the day bugging Ashikalla.

After all that, Melakios would practice manipulating the spirits he had absorbed. Most were simple creatures, with no intelligent thought, but he still learned from them.

After many hours, Melakios fell asleep, looking forwards to the next coming days.