I Hate Them

I charged at the beast, and it seemed to hesitate, but I did not care.

In fact, it seemed to cower and back away from me.

However, I was too fast. As it made to flap its wings and retreat into the sky, my arms were already outstretched and grabbing onto them.

I was face to face with the demon, and the human baby stared at me and let out a cry that hurt my ears.

I tried to grip it tight with my hands and pull on the wings, tearing them from its body, but it did not work. It was stronger than its size suggested.

I wanted to throw it, but knew that would not work, as it would just take flight before hitting the floor.

The demon scratched at me with the claws on its small arms, and it caught me in the eye, deep.

I let out a cry of my own at the pain, as blood ran into my right eye and obscured my vision.

Everything that happened next was me acting out of instinct.

I lowered my head and pushed it forwards as I pulled the demon towards me.

The small right horn on my head stabbed into the gut of the beast, forcing it to let out a screech louder than any it had made before.

I felt warm blood drip onto my head and paint my hair, but I was not finished.

I dragged the beast down, causing my horn, which was embedded in its stomach, to open a larger wound, all the way up to its neck.

Entrails fell onto my head as I was bathed in gore.

I did not even notice, but I was growling and out of breath. But the demon was limp in my hands, unmoving.

It's dead…

I threw the corpse to the ground, and instantly the fog began to disappear.

I looked around me, with the one eye that did not hurt and could still see. Faye and Adom stood back to back, about ten meters away from me.

When had we gotten so split up?

As they saw me covered in blood, with a dead demon beside me, they rushed over.

Faye seemed more worried than Adom, grabbing my face and inspecting it. I winced at the pain her fingers brought and turned my head away.

"Are you okay, Rade? We tried to help you, but the fog was playing tricks on us. We could not find you!" As she spoke, Adom was inspecting the demon on the floor, prodding it with his finger.

"I am fine," I said, which was a half-truth. In reality, my eye hurt so much, and I was unsure of whether I would ever be able to see out of it again.

"Let's go. We don't know if another one will come to attack us."

As we continued to walk, Faye now stood close by my side. I did not know whether it was because she feared for me, or because she felt safer with me next to her after seeing what I had done to the demon, but I did not care. I was focused on myself.

I felt my bloody horns that protruded from my head, testing my finger against the sharpness of the point.

Perhaps I am Demonborn. Perhaps that is not a bad thing.

After continuing our walk, it didn't take us long at all to reach the edge of the field. However, what we found there did not fill me with comfort.

We seemed to have come to the edge of the first floor. The land simply stopped and became an edge that looked over a depth of fog that I had no way of knowing what was down there.

"Surely that's not where we're supposed to go?" Faye asked, as we inspected the depth, not wanting to get close.

"It can't be," I said. "There doesn't seem to be any way down, and the first day is not done yet. We still need our curses."

"You're right," Adom said. "At least I think so. Perhaps we are required to wait here until the first night is over. My knowledge would suggest that that's the best option."

I had no arguments against it. If such a weak demon was able to damage me so badly, I had no wish to fight any stronger demons without having a power or weapon to use against it.

We decided to continue circling the outskirts of the field, but nothing seemed to change. Everywhere we walked was nothing but a foggy depth beside us, with no way of descending.

Still, we continued walking, until the sky began to darken. It was originally bright red but quickly shifted to a dark blood red.

It reminded me of an eclipse.

And at the same time, something began to change around me. Or perhaps something was changing within me. I looked at Faye and Adom, and they seemed to be experiencing the same thing.

A sharp pain shot in my wrist, as though I had been stabbed hard with a needle, and I quickly lifted my hand to see what was going on.

Something was being etched into the back of my wrist. Some sort of brand…

Faye and Adom were experiencing the same thing, but I was only focused on myself. I watched as the brand was slowly forming on my wrist, black ink against my pale skin.

Finally, after a few moments, the pain subsided, and the brand had been completed.

On my wrist was a small symbol of a pair of small black wings. And at the same time the etching was completed, I felt as though I was filled with a new understanding of myself.

Is this my curse?

I looked at my partners, who were inspecting their own brands. Faye looked at me and showed me her wrist.

I looked at it, and it depicted a small black flower. The symbols meant nothing to me, but they were interesting to look at.

Adom seemed to be hesitant to show his wrist, but after we moved closer to see, he showed us.

It was a small black crown.

Afterwards, I showed them both the symbol that had appeared on my own hand.

"What on earth does this stuff mean?" Faye asked in confusion, and Adom answered,

"I believe they are our curses."