Death's Door

The small form of a fox type demi-human was visible, he, Runfar a.s.sumed it was a he, had a light blue tail and ears on top of his head. He was surrounded by many children who were throwing rocks at him, and he lay helplessly on the ground as the stones were mercilessly hitting his body. His tiny body was obviously damaged, bleeding profusely from his head that seemed to have been hit hard by stones; he was covered in bruises and cuts.

"They are stoning a demi-human child." Elian"s tone indicated that this was not something to be surprised about.

"Is that common around here?" Runfar, while aware of hatred for non-humans, he never thought it went as far as hatred of children of non-humans. Seeing that even an innocent child was a victim of humanity was depressing to say the least.

"Demi-humans are considered below humans, many are treated as second cla.s.s citizens, it is not unusual to see them being used as a slave labor. It is a rather sad world we live in."

"I see, it is sad indeed."

Elian and Runfar had walked far beyond Sevilles territory, they were still within Tracoa, but now they were in another, unfamiliar territory, they got a little carried away on their "date". They would never have guessed that they would see such a scene on their way.

As the two of them walked towards the demi-human, the children saw them, and seeing that they were not commoners, they panicked and proceeded to run for it. Apparently, seeing a n.o.bleman with half mask and a maid accompanying him was enough to alarm them, none of them wanted to risk being executed.

Ignoring the children who ran away, Runfar moved towards the injured demi-human child.

Runfar walked forward and approached the fox type demi-human, who was cowering in fear and was nearly unconscious from beating. His head was bleeding as were many wounds on his body. It was surprising he was still conscious, he looked positively b.l.o.o.d.y.

He practically fell into Runfar"s arms when he could no longer stand up, but strangely he did not utter a sound. From his heartbeat, it was obvious he was struggling maintaining his consciousness. It seemed like he would pa.s.s out any minute.

"Are you all right?" Runfar asked, but the small fox demi-human did not respond. This demi-human, aside from ears and tail, resembled a small human child. His long light blue hair was covering his eyes, obscuring the top half of his face.

Making sure to move gently, without hurting the demi-human child, Runfar proceeded to part the hair around the little one"s eyes, only to find his eyes closed. His forehead seemed to be injured as well.

"Don"t be scared, you can open your eyes…" Runfar regretted uttering those words.

As the child"s eyes opened, Runfar gulped as he saw something that made even someone like him horrified.

Demi-human child"s eyes were gone, only empty sockets remained. Even the eyelids seemingly were once burned through.

This was done to him, this child…they took away his eyes…

Runfar felt dread unlike any other creep up his spine. While he could freely tolerate the torment of men and women, when it came to children, he could not bear to see them harmed.

Children were innocent.

Even as Dark Lord, he forbid his servants, Shadow Lords, from harming children, lest they face his wrath. Shadow Lords understood as one of the few taboos Dark Lord forbid very strictly.

Yet seeing this little one"s eyes gone, he could not help but clench his fist in anger.

Inspecting the child further, he found two large scar marks on child"s forehead and a branding mark on the child"s throat.

This is not a demi-human…

Master, this is not a demi-human, but a demon. His horns were cut off, his eyes were destroyed, and his throat was branded. The branding damaged his vocal cords, even if he wanted to, he cannot speak.

"Can you heal him?!" Runfar immediately asked out loud instead of communicating mentally, it was obvious he was too unnerved to maintain his cover. Of course, to the outside eyes, including Elian, he looked like he was talking to himself.

To a certain extent, but not right here. I might be able to restore his ability of speech, but his eyes are gone, there is nothing left for me to restore. My energy can only restore things to certain extent, but if the organ is completely gone, then it is useless.

"What about recreating them?" They were after all, practicing their ability to recreate limbs and organs on their nightly victims in other territories. Considering they wanted to attract least attention to Tracoa, they have been using teleportation spots on other two territories and have been doing nightly raids on the knight"s barracks for the purposes of feeding Dark Lord"s hunger for mana and practicing skill of recreation.

Recreation is an ability that takes a power, experience, and skill to accomplish. Dark Lord could provide the power by stealing mana from people, allowing him to temporarily have access to large reserves of mana with all types of affinities if he is lucky.

Morphus could, using Dark Lord"s body, manipulate that mana in order to create a substance, but unlike weapons or structures used for battles, recreating functional body parts and organs was a hard endeavor.

It required mana of at least four of five elements, but with Dark Lord"s stolen mana and Morphus"s fine control, it might be possible for them to recreate what was lost.

That would be tough, but it might be worth a shot.

"Please." Runfar replied to Morphus"s mental communication. Morphus was still within Runfar"s body, in a sense, they were two in one, but Morphus"s old vessel should be ok for him to occupy after some time, but until then, he would remain within Runfar.

Funnily enough, their frequent interactions with each other resulted in many people thinking of Runfar as a strange man who talked to himself a lot. But everyone already thought of Runfar as a pleasant type of weird person, so his image in the eyes of his servants and villagers did not wane in the least.

"Master Runfar?" Elian asked, concerned with her master seemingly speaking to himself.

Making sure to cover the child"s face with his hair to prevent Elian finding out he was a demon, Runfar now addressed his maid.

"We are taking him with us; I will not accept any objections."

"I have none, if it is your order, I shall gladly follow it."

Using his mighty right arm, he lifted the fox type demon up in his arms. He was already losing his consciousness, now it was obvious he pa.s.sed out.

Runfar proceeded to put the child on his back. Making sure to move gently, he put the child on the left side of his back, making sure to not end up making it an uncomfortable due to his skeletal right side.

Even if he was wearing clothing, the lack of substance on his right side would be obvious by touch; his disguise could only conceal his condition visually.

Even if he is a demon, he is just a child. How could they have done this to him? Even I wouldn"t have done something this cruel….

Runfar felt silent dread within his very being. This child was the proof that this kingdom was inherently rotten to the core. All the more reason to destroy it.

"Elian, I don"t care what kind of position you give him or what kind of job you find for him, but he will be staying with us, permanently."

"Of course, Master Runfar."

She replied with a smile. Her master was kind indeed…

* * *

I restored the throat, now for the eyes…

Putting his hand upon the unconscious demon"s face, Morphus, using Dark Lord"s body, used mana in order to recreate the child"s eyes.

It was not an easy endeavor.

Dark Lord happened to have stolen a lot of mana recently; he had plenty of five elemental mana types stored within his body, now Morphus was using that mana, controlling it, shaping it, in conjunction with his ability to restore by using his own energy.

Considering that restoring organs like eyes is not easy, in fact, it took Dark Lord and Morphus so many trials to learn how to restore body parts and organs.

Morphus concentrated hard as he was making sure to recreate what was lost. This task required his complete and total concentration.

After half an hour, the deed was done.

However, the eyes were noticeably different from normal eyes, what were supposed to be whites were more greyish and the pupils were not round, but hexagonal looking. The eye pupils were of silverfish metallic color, making it obvious that the eyes were not natural.

Restoring horns is impossible for now….I do not know what const.i.tutes demon horns.

"It is fine" Dark Lord panted, recreating child"s eyes took a lot of mana, and now Dark Lord was feeling the side effects.

Still, why so vigilant about treating this child? It is not like you, master.

"Morphus. While I don"t give a d.a.m.n what happens to men, women, and humanity, harming a child is…." Morphus felt Dark Lord"s emotion transmit through their shared senses. It was obvious Dark Lord was enraged.

Maybe I am overreacting, but when I look at him, I can"t help but see my own son in him. So this is how far humanity had fallen…

* * *

"From today on, I will be your big sister, nice to meet you!"

Elian greeted the little fox demi-human. Because of lacking horns, the demon was mistaken for demi-human, a confusion Runfar did not correct in order to keep the child safe.

Having a demi-human in the mansion was a little unusual, but Runfar already hired someone like Lake Luondo, a tiger type demi human to work as his gardener.

Demi-humans, although were viewed as second cla.s.s citizens, they had it better than demons, who were to be killed on the spot or enslaved.

Child did not speak; instead he followed Elian around, making sure to listen to what she said.

"We need to get you a change of clothes and get you to a bath…."

This child looked like he had not seen bath in ages and getting new clothes would be of priority.

Of course, due to this, Elian made a rather unexpected discovery.

* * *

"I hope everything went well."

"Yes, master Runfar, it did indeed. I always did want a little sister!"

"Yes, of course…what?" Runfar asked in a rather shocked voice.

"Let me reintroduce her to you, Rune, please greet young master Runfar!" Elian called out to someone called Rune.

Apparently that was the name of the demi-human child. Her light blue hair was covering her eyes; she did not speak as she came out to greet Runfar. She was wearing a maid uniform, and unlike her previous appearance, it was obvious she was female.

"You called her Rune, how do you know her name?"

"She wrote it for me on paper."

"I see" Runfar turned now and faced Rune. "My name is Runfar Sevilles, and this is your new home, little one."

She was scared, that much was obvious, but she bowed deeply to Runfar, holding her head down.

Even if he could be merciless to his foes and allies alike, Dark Lord could not just watch a child suffer, he just could not. Seeing her had reminded him too much of his own son, a memory that is still painful to him every minute he thought of him.

He could not be there for Kunjarik, but maybe he could be here for this little one….

Runfar put his left hand upon Rune"s head, hoping that this gesture of his would at least make her feel safe.