"They say God loves all his creations. They say all things in this world have a purpose. Then what is the reason of our existence? For what do we live if not to be slaughtered?

We are Monsters, the first race created by God long before the Primes. We are His children. Yet He cast us aside. Our home, taken from us. Our lives, stolen from us. The Primes have declared their crusade against us. The so called Primes deemed us as evil, mindless creatures that do not deserve to live. They say our existence itself is a sin. Then I ask thee: if we are sin incarnated, then did God committed a sin when He created us? If God committed a sin, then why do we have to pay for it?

When all hope seemed lost, the Old One came. Seeing our sufferings, She pitied us and gave us her blood so we can break from our shackles, to be free from God. That day, we became something else. That day the First Demon was born."

- "The First of our kind", Archives of the Vault.

* * *

It has been ten years since I stayed in this place. Ten years since that event. And just when I thought I could finally get a peaceful life, it ended too abruptly. It seemed that I have gotten rusty. Looking at the forces outside of Caine village, although it was dark, I could see hundreds of torches. With that kind of numbers outside, this village would fall in no times. Before that happened I had to get the kids out.

As soon as we got home, I told Alice and Alastor to prepare their bags. They were a bit confused at first but listened to me in the end. Perhaps I have perhaps gotten too accustomed with this 'mother' role.

As I was preparing my equipment I thought about Gazel. He took me in, gave me food, treated me like his daughter and here I was, abandoning him. "Please forgive me Gazel! But this is more important than both me and you. Whatever happens, the kids must survive. Even if I have to die for it. You can curse me all you want. I am already prepared to go to hell for the sins I have committed.", I thought hard in my place. I imagined the scene if he somehow survived this chaos, what would I say to him? Rather what could I say to him? Then I realized that I was shedding tears. Someone like me could still shed a tear for someone else after all.

Before I grasped back to reality, Alastor was standing right next to me. He just stood there quietly looking at me. Then he reached his hand to my face to swipe my tears before hugging me.

"Are you crying mom? Please don't cry! I am sure Grandpa Gazel would understand our reason for leaving, although I don't know it myself" he spoke to me like a proper adult with a gentle smile on fice face. Alastor has always been .... strange but not in a repulsive way. I knew he was special ever since the day I took him away from that place. Always mature than kids his age, sometimes more than some adults I knew. And he was smart, perhaps a bit on the shrewd side. He tried to hide that however because he wanted to act normal but it could not escape my eyes. After all, my 'former' career allowed to detect lies easily so at least that was one thing I was proud of.

"I am fine honey. Don't worry!" I smiled back at him. Now that I looked at him, he started to resemble more and more to his father. With his silver hair and the two glowing red eyes, "You will be quite dangerous when you grow up" I laughed when I thought about all the girls who would jump at him.

Then I noticed Alice coming downstairs, running up to me with a worried face. She must have heard Alastor talking about me crying. Always so upright yet so compassionate. She was just like the opposite of Alastor, no perhaps more like they compensated each other. I knew some of the kids from the village bullied Alastor for his timid tendency. But I never had to intervene. Alice would always come to her brother' side to protect him. 'Protecting the weak is the duty of the strong' was something like her motto. She must have been heavily inspired by all the heroes in those stories Gazel told her.

"Never thought I would see the day you cry sister."

"Shut up! Who say I am crying? It's just I have ... snow in my eyes."

"Your eyes must be freezing then. Maybe it will cool your head too."

Alice started pinching Alastor's little cheeks. Now she was angry but her expressions have brightened a little bit. As I said, Alastor was sometimes too smart for his own good. As I looked at both of the children I raised again, I started to question myself: "Will I live to see the day when they are all grown up?".

Suddenly horse rising noises came from outside.

* * *

I was surprised when Gazel told us to stay inside without letting anybody in but him. And what surprised me even more was my mother. I knew that Gazel was an adventurer when he was young so I expected him to have weapons and armors but mother never told us about her life before having us. When she took out two strange looking swords and wore a light chain mail, I was stunned. So was Alice but instead of being dismayed like me, she was looking at mother with admiration. The look that showed a faint hope that one day she would be like her mother.

We were so different, so much I often wondered if we were even related at all. Well if those rumors about me were true, then I guess I was the adopted one since clearly Alice had those elven ears. Whatever the case, even if we were not related by blood. I considered them my family and loved them. I would do anything to protect them. Anything.

Suddenly Alice tapped on my head, waking me up from my thoughts.

"Are you afraid Alastor? Don't worry! Your big sis is here to protect you!" said Alice while hugging me to her chest. She gave me a smile which I thought was angelic.

"It's nothing, sis. Though I would appreciate if you take in consider that face that it's the duty of a man to protect his family.", I said firmly, showing my convictions.

"Hahaha ! Don't you underestimate us women! I have always been stronger than you, you know."

BOOM

Then I heard sound of explosions from outside. The grounds shook heavily. Alice and I immediately ran to the window. What followed was a giant column of fire rising from the village.

"What on earth is going on out there?" Alice screamed out. Not surprising at all since it was her first time seeing magic in her life. As for me I had my share of experience with magic a few times, although they were only failures.

Then I heard the sound of horses approaching. A few riders have stopped in front of our house.

"Keep quiet both of you. Stay inside until I said it's clear, understand?", said mother while keeping a finger in front of her mouth, signaling us to stay quiet. We simply nodded in agreement. She patted us on the head, took her twin swords and went outside. The walls were thin so we could still hear perfectly what was going on outside.

"My my. I didn't expect guests so late at this time."

"Stay where you are, woman! Drop those swords immediately!", an angry voice shouted.

"Calm down, Culan! She is just a peasant. And a beautiful one at that", a young male voice seemed to try to calm the other.

"Thank you for the compliment but I would appreciate if you leave now".

"The night is still young. Why don't we ...." The young male voice then stopped immediately, followed by the sound of something falling on the snow. Then a small moment of silence and we heard screams from different people.

"Oh god. She killed him. How dare you !!!"

"Seem like I have truly gotten a bit rusty after all these years." mother's voice seemed very confidant. What followed could only described as a slaughter. Curious, we peaked our head from the window, only to see a woman seemingly dancing with her twin blades. With every move, blood splattered on the ground. The soldiers were panicking. They did not expect a peasant to be able to kill them so easily.

The carnage continued until only one knight was left on his horse. I could sense a dangerous aura from this person. During the entire battle with mother, this hooded guy did not move a single inch from his spot even when his comrades were being killed.

When mother finished her "dance", the guy just stared at her and clapped his hands, as if thanking for the show.

"Well done! Well done indeed! I certainly did not expect to encounter someone of your caliber here in this forsaken place. And a Vicar at that."

Mother seemed troubled. She was startled when that guy mentioned the word "Vicar". What is a Vicar?

"How do you know?", mother asked the guy in hood. She knew that this guy was different from the others. Grasping her weapons firmly, Morgan prepared her stance.

"The emblems on the sword. You must be a Vicar to have those swords. " hearing those words, I could feel her bloodlust increasing from here. Yet the guy seemed unfazed even in this tension. He just continued teasing her.

"Or you could steal from one. Judging from your expressions though, it seems my guess was correct... Hum but I was not informed of any Vicar doing their missions here. How troubling" The guy scratched his head thinking about something. " Ah yes where are my manners? I must be so mesmerized by your dance to even forget to introduce myself. Please forgive me, my lady! Ehem, my name is Raventhorne. You can call me Raven for short. May I ask yours?"

"Morgan" the guy seemed a bit crazy, mom. You didn't have to answer him.

"Not a person of words I see. Then let us not delay this any further." He jumped down his horse and took out a weird weapon. It looked like a sword but very rounded almost like a needle with a very slender and pointy tip.

Suddenly he rushed toward mother with an amazing speed. The snow on the ground was split into two sides, leaving a trace from his position to mother's. But mother managed to parry him and gave him a kick to the stomach. Alice was holding her breath in excitement from watching the fight. The other guy was not bad either. Even though receiving a direct hit, he did some acrobatic moves and regained his foothold on the ground. But mother definitely was more experienced and skilled than him.

They exchanged a few blows after that. Each time more violent and deadlier than the last. The mysterious guy was now exhausted. His heavy breathing could be seen through the hood as a white mist while mother seemed fine. She has maintained her composure and did not even need to change her stance since the beginning.

Alice was getting worried. She did not to entirely understand the situation but she was worried about mother. She did not know what to do and decided to run outside. I tried to grab her but missed my chance. At that moment, the Raven guy made a dash toward mother. His sword extended and became a lance, gashing at mother. However, when the door opened and Alice ran outside, Morgan was distracted and turned her head back. Raven noticed the child coming out of the house but was unable to stop his attack and pierced Morgan through her stomach. When she fell down he retracted his sword, looking stunned.

"MOM" me and Alice screamed out. I ran outside to my mom's side, holding her head on my knees. Alice was crying, calling out to mother. She was in pain but still conscious. I put my hand on her wound. There was so much blooding coming out. I then teared my cloth and made a bandage to close the wound. My hands were trembling; in fact, my whole body was. I was afraid of losing her.

I was so dismayed by the whole thing until I noticed the knight approaching. But then Alice was standing in front of us, expanding her hand to make a gesture, stopping the knight from approaching. Even though she was still sobbing and tears still came out of her eyes.

"Relax kid! I would not hit a fallen adversary and I despite those who hit children. That's just... just wrong you know. Also she was distracted and I am afraid if this continues I would have lost. So take this potion and get out of here. I cannot guarantee that the others would be so kind like me.", said Raven.

"How can we trust you? You attack our village and now you tell us you don't kill children? Do you think we are stupid?", I shouted angrily.

The guy did not respond. He simply sighed before throwing the potion on the ground and going back to get on his horse. Before leaving, he rode his horse back to us.

"Sometimes you don't have a choice if you want to keep living in this world. If you are not happy with the way this is then be strong and change it. The world is shaped by the strong after all. Become a man and maybe one day we will meet again."

As soon as he left, I quickly grabbed the potion and helped mother to drink it. She had some trouble to drink but after a few moments, the wound was already closed, not completely healed but at least she was not in danger anymore.

"Thank you Alastor. And don't cry anymore Alice! We got to move soon"

"I am sorry, mommy", apologized Alice in tears

"It's okay... I am happy as long as you are safe. Now help me get up. We have to get out of here before things get worse".

Me and Alice helped her standing up. Mother decided to take a shortcut to avoid the route the solders took. Looking back at the village, now plunged in fire, we could only hope that Grandpa managed to get out of there.

* * *

A winged figure was floating in the sky. It was none other than Mikael, one of the six celestial Heralds. Five other figures were flying toward him before stopping and forming a circle.

"Did you find anything?", asked Mikael.

"We have been scouting the entire area and have only found nothing but ruins of destroyed human settlements. The traces indicated that it was recent. Someone must have been attacking those villages one by one in the last few days. Do you think it could be connected to the boy we are looking for?" , said Ikarus.

"I don't know. Whatever the case the boy must be somewhere around in this area. I do not imagine a kid being by himself like that so there must be others people with him. Somewhere like a village would be the place we are looking for.... Ah there is Gabriel. You finally came back. Please tell me you find something useful." Asked Mikael

"Yes I found a human settlement in the North of here. However while I was there, it was under attack by a group of knights and mages. It doesn't look like they were bandits as the group was very organized, almost like a regiment.", reported Gabriel seriously.

"Then we must go there and help them. Villagers in these areas don't know how to fight. They would be slaughtered at this rate." , exclaimed Ikarus.

"I agree that we must go there immediately. But do not misunderstand this Ikarus. We are looking for the boy in the prophecy. Not rescuing humans. We will not interfere so long as the boy does not make his appearance. And who knows? Maybe this attack will lead us to the back. We must limit intervention as much as possible. I don't want to lose this lead because of some mortals." ,said Mikael coldly.

"But ...."

"Did I not make myself clear enough for you, Executor?"

" ... Yes milord !"

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