The Demon Children

“Eiric go train near the northern forest. Be careful. And, if you meet any children, be nice to them.”

“Ok mom. Is everything ok?”

“Yes dear, mom and dad just have to do something important.”

Behind Astrid, Torsten clothes himself in light armor.

Astrid also wears different clothing unlike her usual dress. Her current outfit is tight fitting and easy to move in. Her waist holds three blades that she attempts to hide from Eiric before sending him off to the forest.

“Are you sure about this?” Astrid said.

“Think our son will be afraid?” Torsten said.

“I’m more worried about those two. They were frightened to death when they saw us.”

“Maybe it will help to meet someone their age.”

“I can only hope. But, it’s my little Eiric, I know he’ll do good.”

Torsten trained Eiric for the past six months, though most of the training focused on conditioning as swordsmanship isn’t his forte. Astrid offered to help but explained that her style of fighting is unique and may confuse Eiric.

Eiric also began to learn basic magic with Torsten. Nothing on the level of magic used by Torsten, but enough to begin understanding magic. To their surprise, Eiric struggled to learn basic magic.

Despite the name of his blessing, he’s made no attempt to use light magic out of fear he could turn like the others his parent’s spoke of.

“Einn Gale!” Eiric yells at a large squirrel-like creature that gives him a confused look as nothing more than a soothing breeze hits them, “Aw, I’ll use my sword then!”

The squirrel attacks Eiric. His first fight alone and against something other than Torsten, Eiric remains calm as the animals aims for his head. He swings, landing a powerful hit with his wooden sword that slams the squirrel on the ground.

The squirrel gasps, but their eyes never leave Eiric. Torsten’s voice repeats in Eiric’s mind, and he doesn’t hesitate for a moment. Like he has seen his father do many times, he lands a killing blow.

“I did it! Ah!” Eiric’s status screen appears, “I leveled up? My stats went up, are they any good? Hm, I did beat that squirrel easily. Maybe I am strong!”

Eiric’s stats have increased before leaving up, training with his dad allowing many to grow because of his hard work.

“Oh, that tree has apples.” Ignoring the rest of his status screen, Eiric climbs a nearby tree to grab the apple, but a small hand reaches for it as well, “Um, hello.”

The child across from him wears a hood much like Kelden’s. Their red eyes are just visible, they tremble just as their hands do.

A misstep backwards causes the hooded child to fall off the tree. Eiric responds without a moment of hesitation, launching himself and embracing the other child with his body to cushion the fall.

“Oww. Are you ok? I’m sorry.”

The child struggles to sit up. Their hood now down, a young girl looks at Eiric with frightened eyes. They’re as pretty as Sigrun from his past life but Eiric pays it no mind as he crawls over to her. The young girl’s eyes follow him, but their body is too scared to move.

“You hit your head. Dad taught me minor healing, I’ll cast it on you. But I have to find where you got hit first. Here.” Eiric combs through the girl’s black hair wrapped into a bun.

“Wait. Not my head.” She said.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t heal you without seeing it. Mom says hitting your head could be really bad if left untreated. I can at least heal it a little before we see them. Hm? Is this a bump?”

Eiric feels two pointy bumps, though they don’t feel like hair or skin. They’re rough, and far larger than he expected to find after their fall.

The girl covers her face, no longer able to object to Eiric’s attempt to help.

“Are these bumps?”

“Hey! Get away from my little sister!”

Another child jumps from bushes behind Eiric and swings at him with a large stick. The stick is larger than all three of the children stacked atop each other, yet the boy attacking Eiric swings it with ease.

Eiric dodges the attacks, none as fast or threatening as any attack thrown at him by his father. Furthermore, the boy cries as he attacks. Full of fear but unwilling to leave his siter alone.

“Wait!” The girl steps in front of her brother, “He was only trying to help.”

“But he touched your horns. And he’s a human.”

“He did.” The girl walks over to Eiric, her head low and her cheeks blushed before she speaks, “You touched my horns. You have to take responsibility now.”

“Horns?”

“My horns, see.” The girl pulls her hair to the side, revealing two small horns, “Mom said only my husband can touch my horns. We are now betrothed, since that’s how babies are made.”

“It is? But mom doesn’t have horns. And she told me babies are made in a factory of sugar.”

“What? That’s silly. We’re not made of sugar.” The girl giggles, “You’re funny. Humans don’t have horns, only demons do. Since it was an accident, we can just keep this a secret.”

“Ok. I’m sorry, I didn’t know. My name is Eiric.”

“I’m Vilgur.” Vilgur steps in between his little sister and Eiric, “We’re going to leave.”

“Vilgur! He doesn’t seem mean.”

“But… we shouldn’t trust humans.”

“Vilgur. Look at him.”

Vilgur does so. Eiric only looks their way, curious of what they speak about and why they are hesitant to be near humans.

“You’re not scared of us?”

“Should I be?”

“No.” The girl steps in front of Vilgur and smiles, “I’m Sigrun. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sigrun?! Sigrun!” Eiric grabs her hands, “It’s me, Eiric. Sigrun, it is you. You look a little different, but you still have your eyes and hair.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What? Do you not remember me?”

“We’ve never met before.”

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Countless memories of Sigrun’s voice leave Eiric shocked.

“Eiric?”

“Huh?” Eiric returns, huffing as the memories fade once more, “It’s fine. Sigrun, I’ll take responsibility.”

“What?!” Vilgur yelled.

“Vilgur! Sigrun!” Keldan walks up to the three children, “You’re Torsten’s child. So, you’ve met my children, I hope you all can become friends. Come on you two, the guards are gone now. Eiric, you should return home before dark as well.”

“Yes sir. Oh, Sigrun, I hope to see you soon.”

Sigrun stares at Eiric as she walks home with her family. She’s met many humans before, but few have been like Eiric. Furthermore, she can’t ignore the nagging sensation that she wishes to learn more about him.

“Mom, what does taking responsibility mean?” Eiric said as he greeted his returning parents.

“Take responsibility?! What have you been teaching him?!” Astrid grabs Torsten by the collar.

“I never taught him that. Where did you hear that?”

“Sigrun said I’d have to since I touched her horns.”

“You touched her horns?” Astrid kneels and pinches Eiric’s cheeks, “You can’t do that without permission mister. Why did you touch her horns?”

“I’m sorry. She hit her head so I wanted to heal her.”

“Haha, well she said you have to take responsibility, that means she’s accepted you as her betrothed. That’s my son, already a hit with ow!”

“We’re going to have a very nice talk after this Torsten dear. Eiric, did you apologize to Sigrun? Touching a demon girl’s horns is a very serious matter even if by mistake.”

“I didn’t. I told her I would take responsibility.”

“You did? Dear, taking responsibility means you’ll protect a girl and your entire family. It means that you’ll never betray them, and that you’ll always love them. You’re still too young to understand this, so it’s best to apologize tomorrow. I’ll ask Keldan to bring her over.”

“But, I do want to.”

Astrid blushes. “My little son has his first crush. Aw, Sigrun is a cutie. But it’s still too soon for you to be thinking about such things. How about this, I’ll allow you to be her friend first. You’ll need to prove yourself to myself and her eventually. Once I believe you’re capable of such a thing, I’ll allow you to do it. Deal?”

“How do I prove myself?”

“I think I can… sorry.” Torsten resigns himself to a corner.

“Your dad is wonderful man who will teach how to protect the family, but you must understand relationships first. Be her friend first, be nice to her. And, in maybe a decade or so I’ll allow it.”

“A decade!”

“Yes mister! And you!” Astrid grabs Torsten by the ear, “He gets this from you. You better explain the weight of what he wants.”

“I will, I will.”

“Hmph, I’m going to bathe.”

Eiric and Torsten look around the corner before speaking.

“So, sweeping a demon girl off her feet, I couldn’t be prouder. But your mom is right. One day, you’ll have to protect the one you love. I can make you strong, but it will take time. Eiric, do you really want to do this?”

“I do, Sigrun is.” Eiric stops, remembering that he has never told anyone of his past life. Afraid of what could come from such a revelation, he pulls his words, “She’s really pretty.”

“Haha! Don’t worry, I fell for your mother’s dangerous eyes. Ah I still remember the day she held her short blade to-”

“Torsten!”

“Our meeting is a story for another day. Eiric, I’ll teach how to treat a girl, even your super learning will struggle, but are you ready?”

“I am!”

“Good, good. First rule, you show her that you care.”