The Great Fall

Prologue

Domum was a dark world, but it had not always been so. In the beginning, it is believed that angels lit the sky as the creator worked on the world. He made it beautiful, filling it with luscious forests and mighty oceans. Man and beast lived in harmony, each taking from each other what was needed to stay alive. Sadly, however, in a streak of cruelty, or madness, the creator gave demons to the world. Then, the creator left, and the angels, the light of the world, followed. From that day onward, demons terrorized man in the darkness. This, however, was not enough for the demons. No, the demons sought control, and they would take it by force, during a year that would be known as the Great Fall.

It was many, many generations after the creator had left the world. Not too terribly long after the discovery of fire, and therefore light, a small empire, the Drakaan Empire, had risen, even under the constant attack from demons. All men and women lived behind the mighty wall that separated the empire from the rest of the world, where demons ruled. Strangely enough, our story does not start in the capital, or even in a city. No, our story begins in a little collection of houses near the southernmost wall, riddled with crime and poverty. Every empire must have one such place, and for the Drakaan, that place was the "town" of Casas. In Casas, the day had been uneventful. The religious hid in their church, worshipping a god that did not love them. The stalls in the town center boasted the finest meat, the freshest vegetables, and expertly crafted jewelry. All lies, mind you, as the town was, as has been stated, very poor. Every house was in shambles, save that of the "mayor", who was really just the strongest man in the area, and even his house was not anything to behold. The dirt streets were packed full of rodent excrement, and cutpurses hid behind every corner. Casas was not a nice place, not even to the weariest of travelers. Amazingly, most people were relatively happy, as they had their lives, most had homes, and some had warm food.

Jerem, a seller of meat, was not one of those few people. He often went hungry, and his children and wife had long since died. He had not gone hungry that night. Jerem was tending the stall one day, watching people too poor to buy his goods walk by. This, meaning that almost everybody in town walked by that day. After hours of no profit, it was almost time to put out the lamps and go to bed, but he stayed for a short while longer that night. Nobody passed his stall now, as everybody had gone inside to sleep. Sighing heavily, Jerem began to pack up his things, ready now to return home. As he reached up to turn off the lamp, he noticed something. Now, he had never seen a star before, but he was sure that up in the sky, he saw one. It was not very bright, but there. At first, Jerem was at a loss for words. These brilliant orbs had been gone so long, everybody thought they were a myth. After a moment of silence and awe, he shouted to the sky and began beating on doors, left and right. "They're real! They're real! Come outside, the stars are really real!" At every door, Jerem preached the same message, and in every house, he was met with the same response. Children gasped and opened their windows, hoping to catch a glimpse, while parents maintained a skepticism that comes with age. The parents ushered their children back to bed, until they too saw the star. It was brighter now, and seemingly bigger, but it was hard to tell, seeing as it had started off so small and had been growing quite slowly. People dashed outside, jaws hanging open and eyes wide.

Jerem stood at the front of a now large crowd. Even those who hid in the church were counted among the group. "Look, it's real!" Over and over, the same cry of joy. He was laughing now, hysterically, but nobody noticed. The star was now bright in the sky, and large enough to be called a sun. People began to become restless, worried now that it was actually coming closer. It was, but in a brilliant flash of light, it disappeared. Everyone was dead silent, even Jerem. A stench of sulfur now hung in the air. It was darker than it had been before, as no more lamps or candles burned. Anyone who had been using one before the star appeared had quickly put it out, feeling that it was no longer needed. Gasps, cries, and other noises could be heard, as this city was prone to take advantage of the darkness. Then, there was silence. It was a very dreadful silence, filled with anticipation of sound, and filled with an almost palpable fear. For a time, the silence remained, unbroken by bird, breath, or breeze. Then, there was a bloodcurdling scream which filled the air, raising the hair on the necks of every villager. It would have brought the bravest of men to a state of blabbering hysteria, if not for the fact that it seemed so detached from this world.

The next scream, however, was capable of instilling fear, for it was undeniably human, and definitely close. People ran to their homes, dragging their children along. They were wrong to do so. Whatever was in Casas that night was no fan of the chase, for it ended the lives of all runners as quickly as it was capable and the homes of those who made it inside went up in a hellish flame of green, yellow, and a blood red that was almost black. The heads of children flew across the crowd, never again to be followed by their bodies, their once joyful eyes now empty and dark. Church goers fell to their knees and prayed, only to be cut down by whatever their assailant was. It ended in an hour, possibly less. Every single villager, save Jerem, was dead. He had only survived by hiding under an ever growing pile of corpses, which gave off the most putrid scent he had ever known. The corpses he had seen before had not let loose their bowels upon death. At least whatever had attacked them had been tidy, allowing Jerem a place to hide.

Jerem had only crawled out once all was silent, and even then, he was cautious in his movement around town. The air hung heavy with the scent of blood, and the feces that lay in piles did nothing to help. He searched around, hoping to find another survivor of the carnage. It was just as much for him as it was for any other possible remaining townspeople. He felt cowardly for hiding. He doubted anybody had fought the monster, or demon, or lunatic, but at least they had not hidden as he had. He found no remaining adults, but in the streets, in a circle of ground where no corpses lay, he had found a single baby boy, struggling to move, yet not crying or even grunting. Jerem knew immediately that this child was not of this world. Had the child not bore a tail, had he not been fanged, had he not had tiny horns protruding from his forehead, he would have known because before he had even seen the...thing, he had felt its presence, and it felt dark. The child turned its head to Jerem and stared. Those glowing red eyes seemed to burn holes straight into his soul. Then, the child turned away, continuing in its attempts to move, or maybe even escape. While the child struggled, almost as if by magic, his strange physical appearance changed, the horns receding, the tail seeming to dissipate, and the fangs shrinking into nothing, leaving behind the simple form of any babe. The boy cried now, kicking and screaming, as any child would when surrounded by such horribly mangled corpses. At that point, Jerem was certain he had imagined the strangeness of it all. He had simply survived a bandit raid, and was trying to cope with his cowardice by adding aspects beyond his control. This child was not evil. Surely a child of his age could not be evil. Besides, no being of evil would cry at the sight of this. The boy was just as scared as Jerem was.

Though he now tried to deny the strange happenings that he had surely created in his head, he could not deny that he felt compelled, almost forced, to scoop up the child and run, to escape the area and never return, to forget his life here and go somewhere safe. So he did. He picked the child up and ran as far as he could, and after that, he walked, and then ran once again. He travelled as far as the capital city of the Drakaan Empire. Once there, he ran past every man and woman in the streets, ran to the royal palace, ran towards the emperor. He ran past the emperor's guards, until his back was peppered with arrows, and until the child was placed safely in the arms of the emperor, Athair Drakaan. Then, he fell down, and Jerem died. The emperor, kind man that he was, tried to calm the child, who was now crying and reaching towards the body of Jerem. "Calm now little one," he muttered, as he motioned for the guards to remove the body. Soon thereafter, the boy was silent. The emperor sat down in his throne with the child in his arms and rocked him gently. "What an ordeal for one so young," he said. "I do believe I shall keep you, to make it up. What do you say?" The boy looked up at the emperor with soft blue eyes that could reach into a man's soul.