Ten thousand years ago, humans knew no fear.
Humanity thrived across every continent. Cities rose toward the sky, families flourished, and life was good. With nothing left to challenge them, mankind sat comfortably at the top of the world.
But it all changed when the sky broke.
A pillar fell from the heavens and crashed into the Eastern Continent with a force that shook the land for miles. Where endless greenery had once stretched, a vast crater now smouldered.
Forests were reduced to ash. Rivers ran dry.
At the centre of the crater, a single number burned in blood-red light.
72.
Before the dust could settle, something emerged.
It had the shape of a man, yet its body was tall, broad, and impossibly enormous. A great serpent coiled around its arm, its scales dark as obsidian. Its gaze swept across the land, cold and empty, as though humanity was nothing more than an inconvenience.
Then it moved.
With a single sweep of its hand, countless buildings collapsed.
Across the Southern, Northern, and Western Continents, the same disaster unfolded. Pillars fell from the heavens, each marked with a different number glowing in blood-red light.
Each pillar brought a demon.
And with every demon came monsters. Mindless creatures flooded the land in endless waves.
Of the countless people who once lived across Eriria, seventy percent were gone.
From that darkness, the survivors discovered Mana, an energy woven by the world itself.
Those who could not wield mana awakened a power from within instead. They called it Aura.
With these powers, humanity fought back.
The war cost them everything.
But one by one, the demons fell.
Their bodies crumbled into dust, leaving behind a single pulsing object where each had stood.
A Demon Core.
Humanity celebrated.
They believed the nightmare had finally ended.
But they were wrong.
To the powerful, the demon cores were priceless treasures. They consumed them greedily and drained every last fragment of power within.
None of them realized the truth.
The cores were not trophies.
They were locks.
And with each one emptied, the ancient seals began to weaken.
The demons humanity believed dead slowly began to awaken once more.
The truth was simple.
The Demon Core had never been a prize.
It was a prison.
Drain it completely, and whatever was sealed inside would be set free.
And what was sealed had never truly died.
The demons returned exactly as they had left, undiminished and unharmed.
But humanity was no longer the same.
The warriors who had once stood united had grown soft. Their unity had fractured and was replaced by greed and ambition.
They paid dearly for it.
By the time the war ended, humanity had lost more than lives.
They had lost the right to call the first victory a victory at all.
For a brief moment, the world fell silent.
But the monsters remained.
They too possessed cores. These were small and dim compared to a Demon Core.
For every monster slain, ten more would appear in its place.
An endless tide that wore humanity down not through strength, but through sheer and relentless numbers.
Then, from the ruins of the world, a man rose.
Aldric Valerius.
Simply put, he was strong.
Stronger than anyone.
And in the era where strength meant survival, people did not need another reason to follow.
They gathered around him.
Together, they pushed the monsters back to the edges of every continent.
Then, four great houses were established to guard them.
This can be said to be the moment where humanity can finally call the victory.
....
With Law end his story telling time.
Law closed the book.
The room was quiet.
He glanced up. Every child was still staring at him, wide-eyed and unblinking, as if the story had followed them out of the pages and into the room.
Then a small voice broke the silence.
"Brother Law… are the demons still out there?"
Law looked down at the boy. It was the same one who had tugged his sleeve this evening. The child now had his blanket pulled all the way up to his nose.
"They are," Law said simply.
A few children shifted uncomfortably. Someone at the back let out a small whimper.
"But," Law added, "that is why the Noble Houses exist. That is why the strongholds were built."
He paused before continuing.
"We are safe here."
It was not entirely true.
But they are just a child.
Then, a boy at the back break the gloomy mood entirely.
"I am going to be a knight and fight the demons when I grow up! I will protect everyone with my sword!"
The room erupted.
Half the children cheered. The other half immediately declared the same thing, each louder than the last.
Law watched them for a moment. The heaviness of the story had already been forgotten beneath the noise and laughter.
Kids.
"Alright," he said, raising his voice just enough.
"That is enough for tonight. Everyone to bed."
A chorus of groans filled the room.
"But Brother Law—"
"Bed," Law said firmly. Then he added with a faint smile, "If you stay up too late, the demons might think you're a midnight snack."
Several children gasped.
A few others giggled.
One boy immediately dove under his blanket.
Reluctantly, one by one, they shuffled off, still whispering excitedly among themselves about knights, demons, and what they would do when they were older.
Law remained seated until the last of them had gone.
The candle on the table had burned low, casting a dim flickering glow across the empty room.
Footsteps approached from the hallway.
Soft ones.
"You're still here.
"
Lily stepped into the room, her purple hair slightly messy from the evening. She carried two cups, steam rising gently from both. Without waiting for an invitation she crossed the room and dropped herself down beside him, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched. She set one cup in front of him.
"Warm milk," she said proudly. "I made it myself."
Law looked at the cup. Then at her.
"You didn't touch the stove, did you?"
"I used the kettle," Lily said, lifting her chin. "I'm not that bad."
Law picked up the cup and took a sip. It was a little too sweet. She had clearly added honey — probably too much of it.
He said nothing and took another sip.
Lily watched him carefully. "Well?"
"It's good," he said.
Lily held his gaze for exactly one second.
Then she turned away, nose slightly in the air, and took a very deliberate sip of her own cup.
"Obviously," she said. "I made it."
But the smile tugging at the corner of her lips gave her away completely.
Then she continues.
"Are you nervous?" Lily asked after a while. "About tomorrow."
Law considered the question.
"Not really," he said.
Lily gave him a sideways look. "Liar."
"A little," he admitted.
No matters what, tomorrow is still the day he have been waiting for. There is no way he is not nervous.
"Me too," she said quietly.
Law looked at her for a moment. Lily's usual confidence had gone somewhere else entirely. In its place was just a girl, knees pulled to her chest, staring at a candle like it might tell her something about tomorrow.
He set his cup down.
"Lily."
She glanced at him.
"Whatever you awaken," he said quietly, "it doesn't matter."
She blinked. "What do you mean it doesn't—"
"Because I'll be there," he said simply. "So stop worrying."
Lily stared at him for a long moment.
Then her expression crumpled, not into sadness, but into something softer than that. She turned away quickly, pulling her knees tighter to her chest.
"...You can't just say things like that," she muttered.
"I just did."
"It's embarrassing."
"Is it?"
"It is!"
Law picked his cup back up and said nothing, completely unbothered.
Lily sat there for another moment, cheeks warm, staring very hard at the candle.
Then quietly, so quietly it was almost lost beneath the sound of falling snow outside — she said,
"...Thank you, Brother Law."
Law set his empty cup down and stood.
"Get some rest," he said, glancing down at Lily.
"Wake up early tomorrow."
Lily looked up at him and nodded, hugging her cup one last time before rising to her feet.
"Goodnight, Brother Law."
"Goodnight."
He turned and walked down the hallway, the floorboards quiet beneath his steps. The orphanage was still. Everyone asleep, breathing softly behind closed doors.
Law slipped into his room and lay down.
He slowly drifted to sleep, only to be swallowed by a nightmare.
....
The sky burned a deep, sickening red from horizon to horizon. The air tasted of ash and something older.
Below it lay a ruined world.
At the center of the wasteland rose a massive black pillar, veined with glowing crimson cracks.
The number 30 blazed across its surface.
Before the pillar stood a towering figure, it was a demon.
A creature resembles dark leviathan, half-serpent, half-man, its molten eyes scanning the battlefield.
A tsunami, massive and relentless, surged forward, carrying debris, mud, and corpses in its wake. The roar was deafening, drowning out every scream and every spell.
'Where is this?' he wondered.
'The age of chaos?'
No. Something felt wrong.
The Age of Chaos was not like this. The soldiers here wore armor unlike anything described in the old histories.
'Then when is this?'
Before he could think any further, the flood rushed at him, black water and blood churning like a living thing.
Instinct kick in as he try to outrun it. But there is no way he could.
Just as he was about to brace for the impact, light spilled across his skin.
Thin lines of silver radiance spread from his chest like veins of living light. They curved and intertwined across his arms and collarbone, forming symbols far too intricate.
Runes.
A shimmering dome flared into existence, arching over him with a soft, humming force.
The tsunami slammed into it with a deafening roar. Water and debris cascaded harmlessly over the barrier, then slid away, repelled.
Law stared at the glowing marks in stunned silence.
Through the drifting flood, the 30th demon with its huge body flies forward.
Law's eyes snapped open.
Morning light poured through the window,
spilling across the small dormitory room.
For a moment he lay still, his heart pounding as the fading echoes of the dream clung to his mind.
The red sky. The ruined battlefield. The runes.
Slowly, he lifted his clothes to look at his chest.
But there is nothing, the silver lighting and intricate runes are gone.
Yet the memory of them remained clear in his mind.
Law exhaled quietly and sat up as the sunlight filled the room.