Chapter 1: a boy in the forest.

In the country known as Mindalost, deep in The Great Forest of Fior lives a demon. Clad in crimson robes and long red hair. Her black horns are as dark as an abyss. Her name is Ferna, and she is the soul protector of her domain. Climbing over roots and underbrush, she wanders the great forest scouring the area for potential danger to her and her home deep within the forest.

Ferna wanders her forest, the soft squelching of the muddy terrain under her feet, and the chatter of small animals and birds are all that could be heard for miles. Upon seeing a small toad hop by, she stops and crouches down to observe the little creature. It’s rough bumpy yet slimy green skin is an almost mirror image to her soft silky smooth tan skin. Its wide green eyes reflect her deep magma colored eyes as she looks deeply at the creature, observing its webbed feet and calm temperament, despite being in the presence of a demon. She reaches out, and pets the small toad, it in turn, lets out a light croak in response, and hops away to her amazement.

Both disappointed, and in plain awe, Ferna quickly stands up and gives chase to the small toad that she had come to enjoy in just a short amount of time. Her long toned legs glistened with a light amount of sweat as she ran through the muddy forest terrain in a fruitless attempt to capture the adorable little toad she wished to pet more. Her beautiful figure wrapped in a short straight black dress and grey boots. Her beautifully long red hair flowing in the wind as she sprinted after the poor little toad hopping away for its life.

As the toad bounded further and further away from the demon giving chase, a new sound in the forest was starting to make its presence known. What sounded like howling, and crackling was slowly getting louder with each step. Eventually, even Ferna could hear the strange sounds, stopping her in her tracks in a small clearing, as she watched the toad become further out of sight within the forest’s vast flora. Around her, she knew there was an orphanage belonging to a small village somewhere within the area, but she had never actually set foot far enough out of the forest to be quite sure where it was located.

Out of both concern for the children, and fear for her forest, Ferna quickly headed towards the sounds she was hearing. The howling grew louder, the crackling was followed with the sounds of rumbling through the air. A thick fog of black and ash grew as she ran towards the sounds, burnt leaves, charred roots, and bark as black as coal was all she found the further she ran towards the sound, gripped with both horror and immense worry laid  heavily on her heart, she kept running towards the sounds, until the fog of smoke became as thick as the ash surrounding her feet, which was all that remained of the once standing building that laid before her. She stood there in both shock and was horrified by the sight laid out before her.

All around her were dead dried up corpses of children, and adults. A silver cross was in the clutching hands of one of the burnt corpses. An adult. Most likely a priestess who cared for the children. It was as if time had gone still. Ferna could not bring herself to move from her spot to search for survivors. The entire scene looked too much like a culling of her kin in the past. Her body shivered in fear, tears rolling down her eyes as she tried her hardest to scream but nothing would come out. She just collapsed in a daze of pure terror, sobbing to herself silently, feeling broken. “If I was here sooner…” “why did all these innocent children have to die” “it should have been me.” were all thoughts swarming throughout her mind as she sat there quivering from the horrifying scene laid before her, and her memories of an horrific past where demons were hunted and burned alive.

Suddenly, Ferna heard sobbing that was not her own. Looking around from her position on the ground, she lays her eyes on a young boy kneeling at one of the adult corpses, in its arms, it held the corpse of a child. However, aside from that, their bodies were too disfigured and charred to discern anymore. Wiping away her own tears, Ferna stands slowly, and approaches the small child. A boy who could have only been a year or two old, with short black hair, and an innocent looking face filled with immense sorrow and fear. As he looks up at Ferna, and their eyes meet for the first time, it was as if an immense calm washed over them both, as Ferna loses herself in his deep auburn eyes, and as the young boy becomes mesmerized by her magma colored eyes, Ferna kneels down towards the boy, and hugs him tightly. Her gentle embrace causes him to start sobbing silently, before being picked up by a sorrowful Ferna.

“From this day on, I believe it safest if you lived with me” Ferna whispered, petting the small boy’s head gently as he continued to sob into her arms. “I shall care for you as if you were my own. And train you as my apprentice, until the day where you feel safest to part from me.”

As Ferna said this, she wandered back into The Great Forest of Fior, gently caring for the small child, who would become her apprentice.