Timeless Hero Without a Goal

73rd Tick: Gemini 4

Angelo, at some point, was released. He was a hero, in fact, the hero. He simply left, the collar still on him. He visited the island again where the female demon was supposed to be. He looked around, trying to search for her. After looking for some time, he realised something. On that island, he was completely alone, not a single other soul was there.

That day, the hero disappeared for the next few years. Humanity established the hero system in place of Angelo’s absence. Eventually, Angelo returned to humanity’s side to fight against the demons.

A few days after Angelo left the island and destroyed the military base, May was seated on the ground, playing with her children’s little arms. They were still incapable of speech and were quite weak. She laughed as the boy, Gumi, tried to break free. She hugged both of them closer and stood up. The island was somewhat safe, there were no humans that could threaten her there. And Angelo, the human, seemed nice. She did not fear or feel uneasy around Angelo, there was something about him that made her feel at ease. He had asked to hold her children, she was reluctant at first since she was afraid he was going to do something bad to them, but she had a change of heart. It had only been about a week or two since their first encounter, but she felt like the next time they met, she would allow him to hold Gumi and Mimi.

She was staring at the clouds when all hell broke loose on the island. Out of nowhere, she was struck by an arrow. She instantly turned her body to cover her children from where the arrow came from. She was struck by another and she set off running, breathing hard. She hid her children in a cave and ran out, screeching. She took down the human who had shot her, another, and another. She was losing strength faster than she anticipated from receiving two arrows.

A human appeared, holding a curved blade. He smiled at her and said, “We come face to face, hellspawn! I shall do my duty as a faithful follower of God to purge you from this world!”

She did not understand what he was saying, she simply scowled and attacked. He sidestepped. She turned and tried jumping again, but her legs buckled and she fell. She had wondered why she wasn’t moving well, and the answer was apparent to her after she fell. The arrows that shot her were coated with poison strong enough to even harm demons. She struggled to get up, she had children to protect, children to raise and a husband to show the children to. She reached out, scratching his face and gouging out one of his eyes. He screamed and a barrage of arrows struck May, and eventually, she fell on the ground, limp.

The children were found and taken aboard the ship of the humans. The men had looked at the infant demons curiously. The children had slightly dark skin and horns that were small. They had looked at them, wondering what they were supposed to do.

“Um... what are we supposed to do?” One of them asked.

“We are not pirates nor criminals.” The man with the curved sword said. “We are proud members of the Church. The teachings of God says that a child should never be found guilty without having done anything. We will bring them back and find a willing parent for these children.”

“But... they’re demons!” One of them argued. “They might attack us in the future! The lives of innocent people are at stake!”

The man rubbed his chin and sighed. “Fine, then I shall see to them personally. We shall teach them our ways, our culture. The moment they are to commit any crimes is when we purge them.”

“Still!”

“Enough!”

The man held the two children in a basket and brought them to his place. He had arranged a party to go to the island after an informant had told him of a demon residing there. He had gone out to purge the demon who had committed murders, not to kill innocent children. That man took care of the children to the best of his abilities while still doing his duty in the Church. It was tough for him, but he managed to do it.

He was a committed man, ready to do anything he could to make the world a better place. If only there was a way for him to utilise the demons’ powers to benefit humanity, he would do it. The children were never exposed to the outside world growing up, and at some point, the man felt that taking care of both of them at the same time was impossible. The mischievous they were capable of causing brought him countless headaches. As a result, he had a friend of his take away the sister.

The brother remained with him and learnt of languages, arts and style. He was growing up to be an upstanding individual, and at the age of twelve, his knowledge was far beyond humans his age. He was a smart and intelligent demon who had a bright future ahead of him. He would follow the man to visit the church and pray alongside him, many people staring at him. He disliked those looks, looks that blamed him for being a demon.

He hated those looks, but liked the man who raised him. He was strict at times, but was patient with him and kind. The demon had grown up not knowing much of his younger self, but he heard from the man that he was adopted by him after the demon was found in a forest. He was grateful to him for that, grateful that he would be able to live normally.

Church, studying, training to way of the sword, those were his daily routines that he was accustomed to. He sang songs in Church, praising God and the heroes he had blessed the world with. At some point in his twelve years old life, he changed.