Restoration

By Wordsmith

Prologue

Before eternity began, there was the Fall, and among the fallen there was the demon. The demon knew desolation, pain and rage. Among its own kind viciousness was virtue, and weakness was eradicated. In abject solitude among the teaming hordes of the nether regions it dwelt, fighting to subsist, subsisting to grow in power and influence, gaining power not for pleasure but to ensure survival. At last, in time, it ascended to the world of man though the will of the Maker. The Maker gave the man unto the demon to consume and through that consumption the demon was brought forth into the waking world. The man gave the demon form and face, mind and memory, and so in a fashion the two were made one.

But the Maker was flawed and new to the world. Unlike others of its kind it sought not to dominate its childe but to be nurtured and protected by it. So the demon drew on the memories of the man and from its first moonlit, blood-filled night it was set apart from its own kind. The Maker's Maker had shackled her power through his deliberate shattering of her mind and spirit. Her gift brought forth her pertinacious childe to stand between her and her Master's whim.

But Fate removed the Maker's Master and the demon called on the man's compassion and bound itself to it Sire not only by lust and blood, as was the way of their kind, but by loyalty and honour. Together the Maker and her childe roamed and hunted, ever at her caprice. To provide succour to his fragmented sire, drawing on his lost humanity, the demon used the man's patience and intellect, but hid this weakness from his own kind. To hide his humanity he made sport of legends, and unable to rise in stature through his Maker's deeds, sought the chosen ones and became the Slayer of Slayers. His Maker, seeing her flaw reflected in her imperfect childe, cast the demon adrift. And the demon dwelt apart; separated from the darklings by the very traits the Maker crafted, shunning the light-kinder it hunted, even as it was hunted.

Time passed and the world changed, man made new magic of caged lighting and studied dark arts of the mind and body. Humanity, no longer cowering in fear or oblivion, bred new children ripe for war. The demon fell, as prey became predator, and was torn apart and reborn with synthetic magic. The magic harnessed the demon but not the man, and so this one, unique among its brethren, secured freedom. The demon's nature was obstructed and turned more and more to the man's reason and guile to survive. The memories of the man suggested sanctuary lay not among its own kind, who by nature would turn on the weak, but with the light-kinder, whose very fostering of such weakness made them prey to the darklings. Upon receiving sanctuary among the warriors of light the demon made study of their weakness and plotted its rise back into power.

But the man studied also and noted their strengths. The demon was unsuccessful. Its bid for freedom was foiled and its dark hopes were sown on infertile ground. Alone again, the hunger for security and kindred raged as strong as the bloodlust, and the demon was schooled by the man. He saw the very weakness he had attempted to exploit turned again and again into strengths. The demon waited and the man studied and forced treaty on the defenders of mankind. Weakened, he craved strength, and worthy foe became worthy ally. The very one he had hated was now desired, and the demon chose his mate. The mate was fierce and strong, loyal and beautiful without the fractures of his sire. She gathered around her unworthy minions and the demon was jealous. He called on the memories of the man and pursued his mate, but his suit was rejected. The demon raged, and the man studied. The minions lacked its mate's fierceness and strength yet were valued and accepted.

The man reasoned that the demon must embrace loyalty and show compassion for these were the weaknesses the mate valued in her minions. The demon had honed both in caring for it damaged maker, and again pursued its mate. Again the mate spurned him, but called on his strength and wisdom to guard the light. The man despaired but the demon accepted cruelty and returned loyalty to the mate. And in the end the demon's mate gave unto him that which she most valued; not her love, but those whom she loved , and entrusted to him the care of her most precious one.

 

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