Chapter 1 - Run

(20 years later) - The Outskirts of the Demonic Empire, on the border of a small desolate human village.

The continuous puffing and rustling of leaves quickly made its way deeper into the darkness of the eerie forest; instantly shattering the once daunting silence of the night atmosphere within the thickets of the trees. 4 young figures hurriedly made their way further and further into the unknown darkness ahead, carelessly snapping twigs and branches, whilst occasionally glancing back with a terrified expression on their faces. Gripped within one of their hands were 4 loaves of stone-hard bread which they had recently stolen from one of the small stalls in the village nearby.

"I found them! They're over here!" A voice suddenly called out a few meters behind them, a tall burly man, stepped out from behind a tree, holding a fire-lit torch in one hand and a poorly made wooden spear in the other; slowly closing in towards the small thieves and cornering them in front of a large tree.

Within a couple of seconds, more illuminating glow of lights began appearing behind him as a dozen angry villagers appeared from behind the shadow, all wielding various kinds of tools and weapons.

"Eisal," one of the 4 thieves whispered meekly, slowly shifting towards the leader of the group for support, "What do we do?"

Eisal quickly caught his breath to calm his mind as he glanced around to look for an opening, slowly handing the loaves over to his companions.

"Walin. Take this and all of you run to the left when I give the signal." Eisal whispered back, his eyes squinted slightly as he cautiously tossed the loaves over, taking out a small dagger from his waist belt, positioning himself to be prepared for any attacks,

"You damn demons! Stop conspiring among yourselves and hand over your lives!" The burly villager bellowed, pointing his crooked wooden spear at Eisal as the rest of the villagers followed suit, screaming profanities and throwing rocks, whilst also pointing their pitchforks, scythes, and whatever tool they had in hand towards the 4 demon children.

"Don't think you're so tough just because you have more numbers!" Eisal cried out, provoking them as he raised his dagger above his head, creating a black ball of demonic energy and releasing it to his right.

"RUN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, startling his friends as they quickly bolted their way through the small opening that was created during the panic.

By the time the villagers realized what had just happened, three of the four small demons had already run past the mob of villagers, making their way deep into the forest.

"Get them!" the burly villager shouted, angrily ordering everyone to continue their pursuit, whilst he himself charged at Eisal, who was still standing in front of him.

"That was the wrong choice, you know." The villager growled, swinging his spear at Eisal blindly, only for it to get stuck on the tree behind him.

Pulling it back out, he readied his next attack, striking a pose befitting of an amateur spearman.

Suddenly, a deathly spine-chilling cry echoed from deep within the forest before abruptly ending.

"One pest down. Three to go." the villager grinned.

Eisal glanced over into the distance where the voice rang out. He grit his teeth as he immediately turned his attention back towards his opponent and held out his dagger, conjuring another demonic spell in front of him.

Condensing the demonic energy at the tip of the blade, he threw the ball at the villager with all his strength, his eyes eagerly and desperately following the path of the spell, only for it to be easily dodged and come into contact with an adjacent tree, creating a small crater on its trunk.

"Is that the best you wretched demons can do?" the villager mocked, "I guess demons aren't as fearful as people make them out to be."

'Boss Karral! I captured one!' an excited voice called out from a distance,

The villager turned towards the voice as a brilliant idea formed within his head.

"Perfect!" Karral, the villager confronting the young Eisal stared the boy in the eye, this time, with a crazy grin on his face. "Capture the other one and bring them both over. Alive."

"Got it!" the voice replied, heading off to find their next prey.

Turning his full attention back at Eisal, Karral once again began to thrust and swing the spear at him, wounding his face and chest multiple times as Eisal tried his best at maneuvering his way through the forest.

Finally, after 10 minutes of dodging, he felt his body dropping to the ground in exhaustion and pain, Eisal grasped his wounds glaring fiercely at the villager before him.

"Just kill me now!" He growled, accepting his death.

"Hohoho, quite the fighter aren't you," Karral chuckled, "But not just yet. The fun hasn't even begun."

He walked over to the defeated boy, grabbing his hair and pulling his face close to his own, 'I'm going to make you and your filthy little demon race pay for everything you've done to us, humans.'

Slamming Eisal's face onto the ground, Karral got back up and sat down on a nearby log, waiting for the last demon to be captured.

Within a few minutes, the rest of the villagers slowly began swarming back with two demons bound and dragged behind them.

"One of them died out there." a villager explained, throwing the two remaining demons in front of him like a sack of potatoes.

Karral nodded as he got up from the log, a huge manic smile planted on his face, 'Now, why don't we let the fun begin?'