Ikimono No Ō

Chapter 1: The Lost Price

     More than five hundred years have passed since the princes killed themselves. People during that period would immerse their newborns in the waters of the blood lake, so that they could know the chosen child. But after those long years, humans forgot the lake and it became a legend for them ... And one day, their good human prince was born, and was kind with all people, animals and everything else. But at the age of five, he left the king's castle at night to go to his favorite place, on top of the mountain surface near their kingdom, which is where the Lake of the Great Royals is. This boy's name is * Hakuro *. Hakuro likes to spend his time on the mountain rooftop contemplating the bright stars in the sky, and on the night he went out from the king's castle, he went down an old road that no one had crossed for many years. This road is the path that humans used to pass to the Lake of the Great Royals.

     Hakuro went up the mountain taking the ancient path. While he was near where he used to sit, the mountain floor underneath broke off and Hakuro fell into a large bright red lake. This is the Lake of the Great Royals that he heard about in the ancient stories and myths of the kingdom. He sank into the lake and his body began to hurt so much, and felt as if the liquid in the lake began to seep into his body. He fainted after drinking and absorbing so much liquid that very little remained of it.

     Hakuro woke up in the middle of the lake in the daytime, but was unable to move his body. He also felt the blood inside him moving in his veins at a tremendous speed, then felt that his heart stopped beating, and that there was a heart in his right arm, another heart in his left arm, and a third heart between his kidneys, but only the one in his left arm was the one that beats... Hakuro was able to move his feet a few hours after waking up, and after a few more hours, he was now able to fully move his body. Looked at the place and knew that he wasn't able to get out of the cave in which he was. So he decided to shout at the top of his voice and wait for someone to come to look for him. He waited two days, and no one came to look for him, so he decided that he had to get out of this cave by himself, and be a man for the first time in his life.

     Hakuro tried to climb the cave wall to reach the hole in which he fell, but fell every time he did so. All that time, he didn't feel hungry or thirsty, but rather alone. Then he tried to climb the wall over and over again, he tried more than a hundred times, and he did not even reach half the distance. So he succumbed to his desperate situation, and for the first time in his life, he got angry, because no one was looking for him ... Hakuro was bored for staying in the cave for more than a week now, without food or water, and despite that, he did not feel hungry or thirsty. And he started throwing the stones in the cave, then he remembered that he was alone in this cave. He got angry and threw a stone with his full force, the walls of the cave were shattered, and the cave began to collapse on him, but he didn't get hurt by anything.

     Hakuro remembered that he only had one heart beating inside him, and felt that there were other hearts in his body, but they were not beating. He didn't know what to do for a long time, and then he remembered the stories of the Lake of the Great Royals. And how the chosen child will inherit the power of the royals of other kingdoms. He tried to remember what his mother had told him about the strength and qualities of the Three Royals. Then suddenly, he heard the sounds of fighting coming from far away. He thought it was a fight between jungle animals, but heard some people screaming, so he started screaming as well, so someone heard him and rescued him, but to no avail. Then remembered that demons have magic power, gods have elemental power, and vampires have strong and resilient physical build.

     Hakuro wanted to use demon magic at first, and he didn't succeed in anything. Then he tried to control the earth as the gods do, and he did not succeed in that either. Then used the power of vampires that are not dependent on doing something strange, and they only have super physical strength. Hakuro began punching the rocks that had fallen when he threw the stone that demolished the cave. Every rock he punches is destroyed and becomes smaller stones. Then he started kicking rocks to see if the power of the vampires was in his legs too, and it really was. So he thought of a way to help him get out of his hopeless situation, by using his super physical strength.

     He had the idea that if he had jumped in full force, he might get out of the cave. He jumped with full force and out of the cave, but his jump was too strong, so he flew into the air at a very high altitude, and fell into a dense and large forest. All this time, he could hear the fighting creatures he had heard since he was in the cave. Then went towards the sound of the fighting that lasted for more than five days, and found that the fight was between seven angels and nine demons. The angels were excel in their fight with the nine demons, but they were also seriously injured ... He waited for three days to finish their fight, while watching them all this long to learn how to use the power of the angels and demons.

     He learned little about their powers, but learned nothing about how to use them ... The battle between angels and demons ended in victory for the angels, but they suffered two losses, and the rest of them were severely wounded. Hakuro knew that these angels and demons were only scouring the area looking for food, so he went to the angels pretending to cry. When he reached them, the leader of the Archangel team attacked him, but he kept crying and crying a lot, pretending he was lost. Commander *Ayokeel* looked at him closely to make sure he was not a vampire. The Archangel knew that Hakuro was not a vampire, even though he felt that he was not a human, a demon or even an angel. And the commander didn't know what to do with him, so he asked him: “Boy, are you a human or another creature?” Hakuro replied, “My angel, I am only a human child, I lost my way when I was attacked by those demons whom you were fighting ten days ago. My parents were killed because of them, and now I don't know the way to go home. Please help me.”

     Ayokeel didn't know what to do again, but the other angels agreed to help Hakuro return to his kingdom. One of the angels said that they would take him to the human kingdom two days after healing their wounds. And this is what happened, the angels flew to the human kingdom Spharal, taking Hakuro with them. Ayukeel was not comfortable being with him, as he was wearing old royal clothes, and he also felt that he was not a human, a demon, a vampire or even an angel. And his appearance does not look like any of the creatures of the extinct kingdoms. But he accepted his help to return to his kingdom. they arrived after almost a day of continuous flight, and landed near the kingdom's western gate. Hakuro entered the kingdom after the Archangel had discussed with the leader of the guardians about what had happened, in return for the Archangel Commander and the rest of his team to stay for a few hours until they are rested.