Chapter 1: Aspiring Hero

Chapter 1: Aspiring Hero

10,000 years ago, the lands of Earth were ruled and protected by the Great Goddess Gaia. This protection allowed humans and other races to prosper and live in peace. This protection came against the demon race that lived in a darker version of Earth known as Ercrunia. Eventually, the demons lead an overwhelming assault against the Goddess Gaia. Gaia along with a warrior that became known as the Legendary Hero fought back against the demons, but they found themselves up against a powerful spirit. The battle was fierce and the result of it was left unclear as neither the Goddess Gaia nor the spirit were ever seen again.

The spirit became known as the Demon Messiah and various rumors were started about what the spirit actually was. Without the Goddess Gaia, demons started taking over territories on Earth. With no more protection from Gaia, it was up to the humans and other races to produce heroes that could save them from the demons.

Deep in the southwestern continent of the world, there lies an isolated town. That village is known as Shaday Town. In contrast with the modernization of other towns and cities, Shaday Town is content to stay in its origins of having its buildings made from only wood and stone. Even without modernization, the humans who inhabit the town remain happy. This town is also the home of a young man who is about to have his world turn upside down.

Within a building in the town, the young man begins to prepare to set off. He puts on brown adventure boots, followed by tightening his dark gray pants. Next, he straps on a brown leather weapons vest over a blue shirt. Finally, he puts a sword in a sheath and attaches a bow and a quiver of arrows to his back. Getting a closer view of the young man, he has short light brown hair, a gray iris color, and he is 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He stands with a determined expression on his face.

Aspiring Hero – Ryan.

With a confident smile on his face, Ryan exits the building out onto the streets of the town.

Ryan thinks to himself, “Today is finally going to be the day that I do it! I’m going to slay a demon!”

Ryan begins walking along the streets. As Ryan walks through town, some people begin waving at him and calling out to him.

One man shouts while waving his hand. “Yo, Ryan!”

Ryan excitedly waves back. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

A woman looks at Ryan with curiosity. “Hi, Ryan, where are you headed?”

Ryan looks at the woman with a grin. “I’m off to handle a demon causing trouble for this town.”

Another man overhears Ryan and chimes in. “Oh, is that so? Show no mercy.”

Another woman shouts, “We’ll be rooting for you!”

Ryan moves on and walks up to a store stall in town. The man running it looks like a young adult who has gray curly hair.

Carlos Lancer – Age 24.

Ryan grabs Carlos’s attention. “Hey, Carlos.”

Carlos smiles. “Ah, Ryan. What brings you here today?”

“I’m here to find out how much it costs to buy a wall frame.” Ryan says with a friendly tone of voice.

Carlos looks curious. “A wall frame? For what?”

“I’m about to go take down a demon and I want to hang its head on my wall!” Ryan enthusiastically states.

Carlos looks at Ryan with some doubt and says, “I see. Well, it depends on the size but I will put it at an estimate of 40 golvits.”

Ryan’s jaw drops and his eyes open wide. “40 golvits!? That’s a lot for a wall frame! Come on, we’re friends, aren’t we!?”

Carlos stares at Ryan with a serious expression. “Hey, keep in mind that I have to make these myself. Bring the demon’s head back here after you kill it and then I will reevaluate the cost.”

Ryan sighs. “Will do…”

Before Ryan can leave, a young girl walks up to him. She has upper back-length light blue hair that is basically crystal colored. Her clothes look fairly worn and a bit torn. She looks happy to see Ryan and hugs him.

Crystal – Age 10.

Crystal grins with excitement and shouts, “Ryan!”

Ryan smiles as he looks down at Crystal. “Hi Crystal! What are you doing out here?”

Crystal ends her hug but still smiles. “I just wanted to wander around because the other kids were busy. What are you doing?”

Ryan crosses his arms and grins. “I’m about to go hunt me a demon!”

“Oh! Can I come!? Pretty please!” Crystal asks with excitement.

Ryan puts his right hand on her left shoulder and leans down to look at her face-to-face.

“You’re a little young to go do something dangerous like this.” Ryan explains with a smile.

Crystal’s excitement turns to disappointment as her big smile is replaced with a frown. “But I really want to go because you’re the one I look up to most.”

Ryan smiles again. “How about this? When you grow up, I will take you with me to hunt a demon. Like in 8 years’ time when you are an adult. Does that sound good?”

Crystal still looks disappointed but comes to acceptance. “…Okay.”

Ryan stands back and looks at Crystal and Carlos. “Well, I better get going. Bye Crystal. Bye Carlos.”

As Ryan starts walking away from them, both of them start waving at him.

Carlos shouts, “Good luck out there!”

Crystal shouts, “I will be waiting for you to come back!”

Ryan holds up his right arm and smiles. After a moment, he puts his arm down and thinks to himself, “I will definitely be back… and with a demon’s head. The towns’ people will be so happy and proud of me. I can’t wait!”

As Ryan walks through town, there is a young woman nearby that is staring at him. The young woman has middle-back-length dark brown hair. Her iris color is red. She is wearing a white shirt with a light brown thin jacket topping over it. She has black pants on and she is wearing a green headband around her head that also completely covers her ears. As she watches Ryan walk through town, she smirks.

***

Later.

Ryan is now completely out of the town and he walks through an area full of plant and tree life.

In narration, Ryan speaks. “The name is Ryan. I’m about age 20. I’ve lived my life almost entirely as an orphan. So, I’ve needed to adapt to my situations to survive. I’m determined to become a hero, one that can save people and stop the demons from terrorizing us. I’m on my way to defeat a demon that has been a problem for this area recently. This is the story of how I became a hero and saved the Earth from demons.”

As Ryan keeps walking towards his destination, the young woman who saw him in town is now following him. The young woman does not even try to hide herself. She just keeps following behind him like there is nothing wrong with it.

Eventually, Ryan sighs and then turns around to face her. “Why are you following me?”

The young woman smiles and says, “Because you are a very important person.”

Ryan looks annoyed and responds, “Just because I am a hero does not mean you should be following me.”

Ryan turns back around and starts walking away from her. However, the young woman continues following him.

The young woman smiles again and says, “That is where you are wrong. You certainly are no hero.”

Ryan’s annoyance grows. “Then what do you think I am?”

The young woman smiles once again and simply states, “You are a demon.”

Ryan opens his eyes wide as he hears the young woman’s words.

Ryan stops walking and turns around to face the young woman while his eyes are still wide open. “What did you just say!?”

The young woman happily points at Ryan and says, “I said you are a demon, of course. As a demon, you have a duty to fulfill. You don’t have time to be hanging around humans.”

Ryan has a sharp focus in his eyes. Amber’s words have caused a clear annoyance for him. Before he responds, he turns around and starts walking away from her again. As he continues walking, he finally responds, “I’m not a demon! You must have the wrong guy.”

The young woman grins with amusement. “Oh, you absolutely are a demon. My name is Amber and I’m a demon too.”

Ryan continues to be irritated as he continues walking. He doesn’t even look back at Amber as he responds, “Have you looked at me at all? I look completely human.”

Amber catches up to him and walks by his side. She giggles a bit but then looks a bit serious. “Demons come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Look, you have a demonic duty to become a Demon Lord.”

Ryan does a swipe motion with his arm to try to shove her away. “Buzz off.”

Amber pouts as she continues to follow Ryan. “But you are a demon!”

Ryan looks really irritated and is losing his patience. “I told you I’m not a demon! And neither are you! Stop playing this weird game of pretend. I have a demon to slay.”

Amber continues pouting and then gets in front of Ryan. “I will show you proof.”

Amber takes off the green headband that was completely covering her ears. Her ears are pointy but not much longer than a human’s ears. She points at her ears. “See my ears? They’re pointy.”

Ryan looks dismissive. “That doesn’t mean anything. You could just be an elf. Besides, my ears are round so your “evidence” just hurts your case more.”

Ryan pulls out his sword and points it at Amber. “And if you are a demon, you made a bad move by confronting me as I would have to cut you down.”

Amber looks at the sword and is quite amused by it. “Ooooooh, what a dinky sword you have there. Did you get it from an old man in a cave that told you it’s dangerous to go alone?”

Ryan opens his mouth and looks defensive before responding, “Don’t insult my sword as if it was made of wood.”

Ryan sheaths his sword and starts walking forward. However, Amber continues following him. She will not be deterred by anything he says to her. Amber looks a bit worried. “The demon you are heading towards is weak but that sword is no match for him.”

Ryan, refusing to admit there is anything wrong with his plan or his weapon, states, “Say whatever you want. I intend to take down the demon in this area.”

Amber sighs and then rubs her forehead. After a moment, she says, “Fine, but at least let me tag along to watch.”

Ryan looks hesitant to allow her to come with him but he soon accepts that request. “…Alright. Just don’t get in the way. It’s dangerous for a civilian such as yourself.”

Now, Amber looks a little annoyed. “As I said, I’m not a civilian. I’m a demon.”

Ryan rolls his eyes and then focuses back on the path ahead. “Yeah, yeah.”

Reluctantly allowing Amber to come with him, Ryan continues on his quest to slay a demon. Ryan and Amber head east of Shaday Town through the quiet grassy fields. Areas not inhabited by humans make the perfect place for a demon to take up residence. Despite passing through a peaceful area, Ryan looks tense. He is getting closer and closer to the very danger that he seeks. But should he prevail, he will be looked at as a hero. Soon, his journey takes him across a small flowing river.

Ryan thinks to himself, “A river… Based on what I know about this demon, I should be close now.”

Ryan grips his sheathed sword tightly, knowing that he may need to draw his blade at any moment. As Amber follows behind Ryan, she just keeps her focus on him. A little bit farther ahead, they come across a fortress that looks kind of run-down. Standing at the entrance, Ryan keeps his grip on his sword tight.

Ryan grits his teeth for a moment. “This is it. This is where I will slay the demon known as Cerdo.”

Amber looks all over the front of the fortress and then adds, “There doesn’t seem to be any kind of security or anything.”

Ryan’s tense look changes to one of confidence. “I’m barging in.”

Instead of opening the door with the handle, Ryan just kicks the entrance door down entirely.

Amber looks puzzled. “Was that really necessary?”

Ryan looks back at Amber and grins. “Of course! What kind of hero just politely opens the door to the lair of an evil demon?”

Amber sighs but does not say anything. With the door kicked down, they both go inside. The main room of the fortress is one big open space and has very little in it outside of dust and old bones on the floor. At the end of the room is a throne and someone appears to be sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne is a dark gray-skinned bipedal pig demon that is about 6 feet tall. He is eating a very large chicken leg.

Demon – Cerdo Borcha.

Cerdo stops eating for a moment to find out who is intruding on his lair. He sniffs the air and then looks at Ryan and Amber. “Who dares to disturb my meal?”

Ryan steps forward. He looks very determined as he prepares himself for battle. “That would be me! I am here to slay you, Cerdo!”

Cerdo takes one good look at Ryan and then starts laughing. “You!!? You’re making me laugh kid! Just go home. You remind me of an elf boy that once challenged my master.”

Ryan looks angered and responds “I am dead serious about taking you on!”

Ryan draws his sword, but Cerdo just laughs again. “You got guts, kid. I will give you that much. But those guts are about to get you killed.”

Cerdo stands up, licking his chops. With sword in hand, Ryan starts walking towards Cerdo.

Amber looks anxious and states, “You need to become a Demon Lord, so if you are in trouble, I am going to assist you.”

Ryan becomes irritated again and shouts back. “I told you I’m not a demon!”

Ryan starts rushing towards Cerdo and is ready to attack with his sword.

Cerdo grins and says “Let’s see what you got, kid.”

Ryan reaches Cerdo and tries to slash him with his sword. Cerdo dodges Ryan’s vertical slash by sidestepping to the left. Cerdo then punches Ryan in the chest which causes him to stumble back a bit. Ryan tries slashing Cerdo again, but this time Cerdo blocks the slash with his arm. Ryan looks shocked. Cerdo smirks and then gut-punches Ryan, causing Ryan to be in a lot of pain. Cerdo follows up by kicking Ryan back.

Amber looks both worried and annoyed. She shouts, “I told you that dinky sword isn’t going to be able to defeat him!”

After being knocked back, Ryan stands up and takes out his bow. Ryan looks serious and responds, “I don’t need your input!”

Cerdo is just picking his nose as he listens to them. He soon says, “I don’t mean to interrupt but, I have things to do…”

Ryan readies an arrow. “When I’m done with you, you won’t have anything else to do.”

Cerdo smirks and then starts rushing towards Ryan. With Cerdo rushing in a straight line, Ryan shoots the arrow. However, Cerdo ducks under it and continues running. Ryan looks surprised and then starts rapidly releasing more arrows. Cerdo dodges some of the arrows but he is finally hit in the chest by the last one that Ryan releases. A little blood starts coming out from the new wound but Cerdo rips out the arrow with ease and crushes it in his hands.

Cerdo scratches his chest while laughing. After he stops laughing, he grins. “Only the most pathetic demon would get taken down by an arrow like this.”

Ryan looks very worried as Cerdo leaps at an arched angle toward him. Ryan, with a desperate look on his face, readies one last arrow. Ryan releases the arrow at near point-blank range but, to Ryan’s dismay, Cerdo grabs the arrow with his left hand and punches Ryan on the face with his right hand. Ryan is sent flying back and is knocked against a wall. Ryan’s face is bloody but he gets up and once again pulls out his sword. He grasps the hilt with both hands and then starts rushing toward Cerdo.

As Ryan runs, he screams, “I will take you down!!”

Ryan does a launching downwards vertical sword strike. “Die!!” Ryan yells as he starts his attack.

Cerdo horizontally swipes with his arm. Cerdo’s arm breaks the blade of Ryan’s sword in half and the top half flings across the room. Ryan’s eyes are wide open in complete shock as he looks at his broken sword. Amber looks anxious as she watches.

Cerdo looks at Ryan with pity. “It looks like this is it.”

Cerdo charges red demonic energy into his arms. He then thrusts his right arm forward and a blast of his red demonic energy is released. The energy hits Ryan and blows him back against the wall. His clothes have many tears in them and he is quite bloody but he is still alive.

Cerdo looks impressed that Ryan is still alive. “Still alive I see. One more should do it.”

Cerdo prepares to release another blast of energy but, suddenly, Amber comes dashing in and kicks Cerdo in the face, stopping his attack from being released. Amber has a very serious look on her face and sternly says, “You won’t be killing the future Demon Lord.”

Cerdo stumbles back and spits out some blood. He looks irritated and confused. “Demon Lord? That requires him to not only be strong but also a demon. He’s clearly human— Huh?”

Cerdo and Amber look at Ryan because something is now different about him. He is slowly standing up. However, red demonic energy is starting to emit from his whole body. His ears are now pointy just like Amber’s ears. Cerdo is shocked while Amber smiles and states, “And there it is.”

Ryan grits his teeth and his anger explodes as he screams, “Amber, I told you… that I will slay the demon!!!!”

Ryan’s anger has exceeded its boiling point. He holds out his left arm. On the top of his left hand is a symbol that is a helix with a spike in the middle of it. Cerdo looks shocked even more once he sees it. In a panic, Cerdo shouts, “That helix symbol! It can’t be! You can’t possibly be one of them!”

Amber smirks. “Well, he absolutely is one of them… A member of the Helix Clan.”

Ryan starts rushing towards Cerdo again as his rage continues. He yells, “I will be the one to slay the demon king! Me!! I will be the greatest hero there is!!!”

As Amber watches Ryan, she thinks to herself, “He must not realize what has happened to his body yet because of his rage. As a demon, he can’t be a ‘hero’.”

Ryan forms a demon energy ball with a swirling helix around it in his left hand. Cerdo looks concerned but he prepares to dodge. As Ryan gets close, he throws the ball right down to the ground and a blast goes off that allows Ryan to boost over Cerdo. After going over Cerdo, Ryan kicks him in the back which causes him to stumble forward. Cerdo turns around in anger but, as he does, Ryan has already started a gut-punch attack that hits Cerdo with a lot of force. The attack causes Cerdo to cough up a lot of blood.

Ryan immediately follows up with an uppercut attack. The uppercut knocks Cerdo up in the air. Ryan then forms another helix energy ball and tosses it up towards Cerdo like it’s a boomerang. The helix ball goes towards Cerdo from the side and once it reaches him, it slices through his body. Finally, it then goes back to Ryan’s hand. Cerdo now has a lot of wounds on his body as he falls back down to the floor.

Cerdo struggles to get back up but he looks determined and screams, “As a member of the Borcha Clan, I will kill you!!!”

*A boar-shaped symbol appears on Cerdo’s chin and then demonic energy starts emitting from his face which leads to tusks made of that energy coming out of his face. Cerdo gets on all fours while Ryan starts spinning his right arm around fast and continuously. The demon energy emitting from his arm starts to form a circular helix due to the spin.

Cerdo starts charging toward Ryan like a boar. “My tusks will pierce you and then you will be dead!!” Cerdo screams with both anger and determination.

“And you will be nothing more than a head to hang on my wall as a trophy!” Ryan shouts in response.

Ryan gets in a crouched stance as Cerdo continues charging toward him. While in his crouched stance, Ryan stops his arm spinning and immediately swings his arm vertically which leads to a vertical slice of demon energy being released. Ryan’s vertical slice hits Cerdo from the side and it cuts off his head, causing it to fling across the room. The vertical slice of energy then goes at an upwards angle and slices through a high wall of the fortress before dissipating.

Without a head, Cerdo’s body collapses. Ryan stands up while still having an angered look. Soon, his demon energy stops emitting and the helix symbol on his hand fades away. He falls to his knees and breaths heavily. He still has pointy ears. His eyes open wide as he now realizes what happened. Ryan has trouble finding the words to describe how he feels as he just mumbles, “W- w- what…?”

Amber walks up to Ryan and puts her right hand on his left shoulder. She softly asks, “Do you see now? This is who you are.”

Ryan looks up at Amber. His eyes are wide open and his mouth is somewhat open. He looks speechless like his whole world has turned upside down. Amber softly states, “You are Ryan Helix. You are a demon and a future Demon Lord.”

Ryan’s eyes are still wide open as he tries to come to terms with this revelation. “But how… Why?”

Understanding the mental shock that Ryan is going through, Amber continues to speak softly. “The past of your memories and the past that you have actually lived are different.”

Ryan’s eyes look unfocused as he desperately begins bargaining with himself. “…I d- don’t need to be a d- demon… I am going to be the gr- greatest hero…”

Amber looks at Ryan with pity. “Those aspirations are over. Now you must be focused on becoming the greatest demon. You must become a Demon Lord. I know it’s a lot to take in. So, we will take things slowly. My name is Amber Ray. I’m 21 years old. The Ray Clan is one of the top allies of the Helix Clan. I will be with you every step of the way.”

Amber holds out her right hand. Her look of pity changes to a welcoming smile. “Come. Take my hand.”

As if Amber was the light he had been searching for, Ryan reaches out with his left hand and grabs her right hand while his eyes are wide open and his mouth ajar. Amber helps him slowly stand up and then gives him a congratulatory smile. “Congrats on taking down Cerdo Borcha.”

In narration, Ryan speaks. “This is the story of how I became a hero and saved the Earth from demons… or so I thought. Now, it’s about being a demon. Life comes at you fast.”

After the fall of the Great Goddess Gaia, rumors spread about the spirit that took on the Goddess Gaia. It has been said that one could obtain the spirit and become the Demon Messiah itself. And the one who becomes the Demon Messiah will be the one to lead demons into a new era and reshape both worlds. Is the rumor true? Only time will tell.

Chapter 1 END

To be continued in Chapter 2: The Ways of a Demon