Chapter 892: A Tragic Past
The ancient voice went dead quiet. This made Kana snort as she walked into the palace. It was nothing too good to look at. There were many things inside, but Kana did not see any worth in them. Some things glowed and seemed to have amazing power, but to Kana, they were nothing more than an object that could be found on the side of the road.
She walked to the depths of the palace past all the so called treasures and found a crack in the floor near the throne that was large enough for her to just barely fit through wings, tail, and all. She slipped through and fell down a few feet before reaching a stone floor in a dimly lit pa.s.sage.
The demonic qi was much thicker in the pa.s.sages compared to the throne room she had just been in. She turned around to see that the pa.s.sage came to an end with a smooth rocky surface. She then turned back around and made her way down the only way she could.
After ten minutes of travel, she arrived at a metal door that was covered in runic markings. Kana immediately recognized it all as an array. She waved her hand, destroying the array around the door without a second thought. When she opened the door, the demon qi inside rushed out. But Kana was quick and quickly created a barrier to catch it all. She did not dare waste even a tiny bit of this most precious resource.
She walked into the room where she saw a skeleton of a horned person sitting on a throne quite similar to the one above, but this one had many other skeletons lying around it. They were all horned people with skinny boned tails. "This is…."
"My family and I…." The ancient voice responded, but this time he had no arrogance or anything like that. His voice was filled with sorrow.
"What happened?" Kana asked.
"The demon race of this world were seen as evil beings. We were like the other races at first. But our demon qi affected those around us, causing them to become sick. We were persecuted, hunted, and even enslaved by some who tried to sell our kind off. But even then, the slaves lasted no more than a few days before being killed as well. Our race was nothing more than an eye sore for the other races. The divine beasts and the humans all formed an alliance that was based on destroying our kind.
"But what did my people do? We did not have control over the demon qi inside us. Even when we moved to secluded locations to retreat from the world, we were hunted down and destroyed. This palace…. Was once part of a bigger kingdom. An underground kingdom where my people roamed free. We did not go above ground. We worked hard and found ways to fend for ourselves in the darkness. But even then….
"Humans found us and murdered my people. Since we could not gather the resources needed to properly cultivate, we were unable to raise our cultivations too high. Even I was only an ascended demon lord. During the times of the ancients, ascended beings were all over this immortal realm. The realm had not split during my time.
"The ascended found this demon paradise, as I liked to call it, and turned it into a living h.e.l.l. The old the young, it did not matter if it was a woman, man, or child, they were all slain. All in the name of some form of righteousness. My daughter had always asked me why they were forced to live underground. Why were they being forced to live in such a way when we had done nothing wrong.
"I could never answer her question because I did not know the answer. You… you are a being of many different kinds of power. Maybe you can answer this for me. Why were we persecuted when we withdrew ourselves from the eyes of others? We had not harmed anyone for thousands of years, yet they still hunted us down." The ancient voice was begging Kana for an answer as its voice trembled. It seemed the sorrow had never faded even after all these years.
Kana sat down near the small skeleton that had a hair ornament in her now boney hand and felt pain in her heart. A child died without knowing why she was being forced to her death. She reached out and gently stroked the skull. There was nothing she could do for the child now except send them off properly. But before that … "People are afraid of what they do not understand. Some do it because they think they are higher beings. Such ways of thinking are wrong. Every person has a right to be free of prejudice, no matter what race they are. I am sure now no one even remembers the days of old. They do not even know where demon qi comes from and call it evil qi.
"But one thing is for certain. A child should never be considered evil until they do an evil deed. If they are tormenting others, they should be punished based on what they were doing. But killing a child who was innocent is just wrong…. Part of your daughter"s soul still lingers here. I can make sure she gets a proper reincarnation if you would like." Kana"s voice was filled with warmth as she continued to gently stroke the skull next to her.
"If you could do that for me. I will forever be in your debt. I do not know how I will repay you but I will figure out a way." The ancient voice quivered once more. It seemed to be very grateful for Kana"s offer.
"There is no need to repay me. I am just doing what I think is right." Kana replied as she stood up and opened a tear in s.p.a.ce next to her. She stuck her head in to find Angelica bathing. "Angelica, Mama needs you to do something for her."