LightReader

Chapter 1 - chapter 1 : beginning

## Chapter 1: The Demon's Cradle (Reborn)

The first breath Prince Cyrus took was not air, but **vengeance**.

It tore through his newborn lungs—a searing cocktail of sulfur, blood-iron, and the cloying rot of *ambition*. Torchlight slithered across obsidian walls like dying serpents. Above him loomed a face carved from nightmares and desire: Lady Selene, his mother. Ivory horns spiraled toward the vaulted ceiling, her emerald eyes dissecting him like a strategist surveying a battlefield. Her clawed thumb scraped birthing fluids from his cheek.

**"Breathe, little weapon,"** she murmured, voice velvet-wrapped steel. **"The game begins now."**

*Survival*, Cyrus's mind hissed, sharper than any infant's thoughts should be. *Then power.*

---

### The Poisoned Cradle

A rat-tailed maid scuttled forward, chalice trembling. **"Milk for the prince, my lady."**

Cyrus's mercury eyes locked onto the vessel. His senses—unnervingly acute—recoiled. *Belladonna.* Sweetness masking decay. A concubine's welcome gift.

**"Drink, Cyrus,"** Selene commanded, pressing the rim to his lips.

*No.* The refusal was a silent detonation in his skull. He thrashed, tiny fist striking the chalice. It clattered, milk hissing as it etched scars into stone.

The maid paled. Selene's grip tightened—possessive, approving. **"Clever boy."** Her smile held no warmth, only the glacial satisfaction of a sculptor finding flawless marble. **"Poison is the first language here. You understood."**

In the shadows, Physician Gorath's needle-claws twitched. His scaled face betrayed nothing, but Cyrus felt the *hunger* in his gaze—a lesser demon weighing the risk of strangling a royal babe.

---

### The Court of Knives

Over the next weeks, Cyrus learned his world:

- **The Nursery:** A gilded cage smelling of wet stone and paranoid incense.

- **His Half-Siblings:** Vexa, age 4, who hissed at his crib; Kael, age 7, who threw daggers at a target painted with Cyrus's name.

- **The Whispers:** *"Selene's whelp won't last the month… Too frail… Perfect prey."*

One night, as Selene feigned sleep, Cyrus rolled toward a glint—an obsidian shard fallen from the wall. He sliced his palm deliberately. Black blood welled, thick as tar.

*First blood,* he thought. *Mine. Not taken.*

Pain was a dialect. He would master its grammar.

---

### The Training Yards - Age 3

Cyrus staggered toward the sound of clashing steel—a courtyard where demon children sparred with live blades. Vexa, now 6, drove a spiked knee into a boy's throat. Crimson sprayed the onlookers—concubines, generals, the Demon King himself—all applauding.

**"Your brothers and sisters,"** Selene whispered, lifting Cyrus onto her hip. **"Kill them, or be their stepping stone."**

Kael, now 10, spotted Cyrus. **"Look! The cripple thinks he can walk!"** He lunged, boot slamming Cyrus's chest. Ribs shrieked. Cyrus crashed onto stone, vision swimming.

**`do- Crawl toward Kael's fallen dagger`**

→ *d20 (Willpower):* **18** (Critical!)

Cyrus grabbed the blade. With a guttural snarl, he stabbed Kael's thigh.

**"INSOLENT WRETCH!"** Kael backhanded him. Cyrus's forehead cracked on obsidian. Blood blinded him.

Selene watched, impassive. **"Scars are lessons, Cyrus. Remember who gave this one."**

The silver line above his eyebrow would never fade.

---

### Kraz'thul's Gaze

That night, feverish from pain, Cyrus dreamed of six eyes in the void. A voice colder than cosmic dark whispered:

**"Scar them back, little prince."**

He woke screaming. Frost coated his crib.

---

### The Demon King's Notice

High in the Black Citadel, the Demon King felt the ripple—a spike of defiance in the infant's blood. He stood at a bone-framed window, hellfire crown devouring the light. Below, a treasonous duke choked on molten gold.

**"Selene's creature draws attention,"** his shadow-serpent hissed. **"Crush it."**

The king's gaze drifted north. **"No. Let the concubines sharpen their knives. Weakness deserves a slow death."**

He crushed the duke's signet ring. **"But mark him… *differently*."**

---

### The Blood Tournament - Age 5

On Cyrus's fifth birthday, children were herded into the Pits—a sunken arena strewn with bones. The Demon King's voice boomed:

**"Last child standing earns a boon. Begin."**

Twenty demon spawn descended into chaos. Vexa shattered a boy's spine with a rock. Kael disemboweled a girl laughing. Cyrus, smallest and swiftest, darted between legs.

**`do- Trip Vexa into Kael's blade`**

→ *d20 (Agility):* **15**

Vexa stumbled. Kael's sword pierced her shoulder. She howled, turning on him.

Cyrus scrambled toward the only weapon left—a rusted nail.

**`do- Jam nail into Kael's heel.

Kael whirled, snapping Cyrus's pinky finger. **"DIE, VERMIN!"**

Agony blinded Cyrus. But as Kael raised his sword, the ground erupted. Obsidian spikes impaled three children. The King's shadow-serpent uncoiled above the carnage.

**"Enough. The cripple showed… *ingenuity*."**

Cyrus's reward? A vial of manticore venom. *"For your mother's tea,"* the king smirked.

---

### The Weight of Crowns

That night, Selene examined Cyrus's crooked finger. **"You failed to kill Kael."**

**"He's stronger,"** Cyrus rasped.

**"Strength is a lie."** She pressed the venom vial into his palm. **"*This* is power. Unseen. Inevitable."**

As Cyrus slept, Kraz'thul's voice returned:

**"Your father fears catalysts. Become an *explosion*."**

Frost spread from Cyrus's bed. The nursery walls cracked.

Awakens

At dawn, Cyrus stood before his fractured reflection. Silver scar. Crooked finger. Eyes like frozen mercury.

*They see a pawn,* he thought. *But games have rules.*

He raised his maimed hand. Shadows pooled in his palm—a flicker of something *hungry*.

Lady Selene watched from the doorway, a smile touching her lips.

**"Not a player, my king,"** she whispered toward the citadel's peak.

> **Next Chapter:** *"The Crooked Finger"* – Cyrus poisons Kael, igniting a concubine war. Kraz'thul's first quest: **"Kill a hero before sunrise.

More Chapters