The world we live in

Magic, curses, and blessings.

These were the three forces that ruled over every single existence in this world.

Three types of energy for three types of race.

In this world we live in, these powers define how every living being is able to survive and defend itself should it ever be found in a state of danger.

It inhabits the very air that we breathe and becomes part of us whether we like it or not, and should one come to master this power, it will gain the ability to bend the rules of nature to its will.

For humans, the power of magic energy is our main option, it represents the force in its most neutral state.

But there are also two variations of the power that others managed to unlock after much experimenting.

Since the magic lives inside each being, it also adapts itself depending on its essence. Should the being hold hatred, anguish, and bitterness in its heart, the energy will be corrupted and converted into cursed energy, named after the desire its holders have to take revenge on those who wronged them.

On the other side, those who receive nothing but kindness and love throughout their entire life from others, can have the energy evolve into what it's called blessed energy, named from the idea that it is born from the best whises one sent to another.

However, once the magic evolves, so does the body that inhabits it.

Humans that ended up storing too much cursed energy will often develop a desire for more negative feelings and shall embark on the pursue of spreading more pain and suffering in order to make their power grow, and when said power grows too much what once looked like a normal man or woman will end up gaining the appearance of a deformed beast craving for flesh.

This is the second race, the race of the cursed energy holders, those who spread death and feed on the agony of the weak, for that reason being named as 'The demons'.

The demon race was the greatest threat to humanity, and in order to oppose it, it was decided to face it with its polar opposite power, resulting in those who held the power of blessed energy also evolving after receiving the prayers of help from the people and attending their call. This third race was thus named 'The gods'.

Blessed energy users by themselves could not do much. Their power relied on making others that believed in you to grow stronger depending on how big their faith was, but in that time of crisis, that was all they needed.

Once the stage was set, the human race with its magic power and the god race with its blessed power giving support, joined forces to face the demon race with its cursed power.

The battle was long, and the losses were many, but in the end, the demons were pushed back and properly contained.

And for a very brief moment, there was peace...

... until the gods decided to turn against the humans as well.

Once the gods realized that the human race was too weak to face the demons alone, they decided to take the chance and subjugate them to become their servants.

The human tried to oppose it, of course, but there were sadly no lies in their words. They needed the gods despite how much they hated to admit it.

As a result, a deal was formed.

Four gods would be elected to rule the four corners of the world, east, west, south, and north, and four humans would be chosen to serve under them as their champions, a means to form a bridge between the two sides.

After the alliance was formed, the coexistence between all the races continued just like before.

Demons would attack the humans to feed on their pain, humans would request the gods to aid them in their time of need, and the gods would lend a bit of their power to keep their status as saviors and diminish the demon threat while doing so.

This was how the balance of power remained for centuries, and how it continues to be to this very day.

As for my wife and me? We are two victims caught in the middle of this power balance struggle.

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When I was younger, I was attacked by a demon and watched my entire family perish by its hands. In that moment of agony, I ended up receiving some of its cursed energy myself and almost became a beast in the process, a horrendous creature that could hold immense power and potential for destruction.

However, despite how much pain my heart was in, I refused to lose myself as a demon and forget who I was, so I did everything I could to keep my curse under control by trying my best to detach myself from all of my feelings.

I refused to hate, to curse, to hold any ill-intent towards anything and anyone, all in order to stop my curse from growing.

Little did I know that I was in turn slowly becoming a hollow person. Human on the outside, but completely empty where it mattered the most.

I managed to stop becoming a demon... But was I still a human?

This all changed after I met a man who offered me the chance to save myself.

He was the current champion of the goddess of the east, traveling the world gathering people to aid in his battle against the demon race, and he saw how much I was struggling to keep going and offered me the chance to join his group.

I assumed he would just end me, but I was offered a new job instead.

With nowhere else to go, I accepted his offer, and as a result, ended up meeting the woman who would one day become the love of my life, Lilith.

She was a member of this man's team, a swordmaster that could slay an entire mountain of demons by herself if given the proper sword, all as a result of a special blessing she possessed that allowed her to predict the movements of her enemies and strike when they had their guard down.

For a while, things seemed to be going great for us.

As we kept working together, I was quickly accepted as one of them despite my curse and finally found myself able to retain my humanity again.

But like most things in life, that did not last long.

The goddess of the east ended up finding out about me and became filled with rage and disgust, leading us to a conflict that resulted in the man being killed in the cruelest way possible.

Lilith and I tried to oppose her, but there was little we could do against the power of a god.

Neither my curse nor her blessing was strong enough, and we ended up being imprisoned at her mercy for years with no hope of survival.

The only reason we are here today was because the universe decided to send out a new hero to change our fates.

A young lass with great potentials for magic, unlike anything we ever saw before, who used a wooden crossbow as her staff to channel the magic energy from her body.

We heard she belonged to another world, a place called planet 'Mud' or something, and after letting her know of our situation and convincing her to aid us in our task, we embarked on a new journey to get our revenge on the goddess of the east.

One would think that odds were not in our favor, but by combining the forces of magic, curses, and blessings, something that had never been done before, the goddess was finally defeated, and my fallen friend was finally allowed to rest in peace.

But nothing comes without a cost...

Once it was over, I ended up being separated from my curse and reduced to a normal powerless human once again, and my lover, after overusing her blessing past its limits, ended up losing her vision completely.

The lass that came in to help us, seeing that we still needed help, decided to pass down her crossbow to me and inspiring me to pursue the path of magic myself.

She thus left us after deciding she no longer had any desire to fight and returned to her own world where she could live in peace and leaving behind her legacy as the first human to ever defeat a god.

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And this brings us to where we are today.

Me, a man with a wife to protect and a son to raise.

At this moment, while I carry him in my arms, my little boy who will soon turn seven in less than four months, I ponder about where I'm standing.

One massive pile of creatures that proved to be a challenge even for me with the help of my trusted lion, all eviscerated completely as my kid continues to sleep peacefully.

Thoughts start crossing my mind as I gaze at his sleeping face. Who did this? How they did this? Why they did this?

Something or someone, strong enough to take on all these creatures by itself appeared and saved my boy before any of us could have arrived, leaving all this carnage behind...

Or... And I dread what this could possibly mean for any of us... The one who caused all this was the very child that I carry right now...

"Daren...?" my wife whispers as she approaches my side and continues to gaze at me for a moment until the blessing she received becomes undone and she loses the ability to see once again.

I must make a decision right now. All of my friends continue to stare at me unsure of what my reaction will be, much like me.

"We must return home..." I finally reply, "There is a lot to discuss..."

My friend and my wife are the reason I managed to recover my humanity. They sacrificed what they had to make sure I could reach the happiness that I have today.

I must make sure their efforts are not gone to waste.

My boy, my son, I'll make sure no harm comes to him.