Haha I make Kai (oc) Suffer :)

Bye Bye Mom (i'm evil)

 I sat alone in my room, formal suit cast aside in favor of a tee shirt and a lack of pants. I held in my hands the old, tattered spellbook that Mom had given me. I remember when I used to think it was so big....

I shook my head violently. Nope, not today. I'm not going to have emotions. It was no use, though. Of course it didn't work. What was I thinking? I hate remembering. I hate crying. That particular thought, it...it makes me do both..

It had been so normal. Nothing had been going wrong that day until...the event. Tears clouded my vision as as I thought about what happened. Those damn humans. It was their fault. If they didn't exist, none of this would have happened. They do, though, and it did.

Mom and I had just been walking along in the woods-- I forget exactly what we were doing. It wasn't important, though. I was six at the time, and sweet Satan, I was tiny. I was barely three feet tall, and the top of my head only came up to my mother's hip. The sun had been casting golden rays through the trees, and I was fascinated by it. Up until that point, I had never been outside of Hell, and the only light source I had really been aware of was fire.

Things went so wrong after we heard the pounding of tons of heavy boots on the forest floor. My mother's ear twitched when she became alert to the sound. "Kai, stay close to me." She warned, "Something's wrong."

Fear clutched my young heart and tightened my lungs. Suddenly, a mob crashed through the bushes to my left. It was what you would expect from a mob hunting demons: Torches, pitchforks, crosses, and.... Holy water. I looked up at their leader-- a particularly large man with angry eyes and a beard-- with wonder in my scarlet eyes. I'd only caught glimpses of souls until that point. I'd never seen a real human up close before that moment, and I would never want to again.

He narrowed his eyes at me. The torch held gave off light that made his eyes look as if they were flaming. "THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR, MEN!"

I backed away when he shouted. His voice had been amplified in my sensitive ears and made them almost ring.

"THIS IS THE UNHOLY SPAWN WHO'S PLAGUING HUMANITY AND WILL DESTROY SALVATION!"

I cowered behind my mother, shaking. I had no idea what he was talking about. I had never really hurt anyone. Had I?

He pulled me away from my mother's side with a harsh yank on my hair. "TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT HIM, SHE-DEMON!" He spat in Mother's face. "It's the last time you'll see him alive." I tried to run, but he pulled a cross-shaped bottle with crystal clear water in it. I knew what that was, and I knew it would kill me.

I struggled, but he kept the fistful of my hair he had snatched tight in his grip. I couldn't move. A cork was popped off the bottle, and I shrieked. Terror coursed through my veins, and made it hard for me to breathe. My vision blurred as my eyes failed to focus on anything with my brain in a frenzy.

His hand briefly loosened and I took the opportunity when it came. Only one step back. That's all I got before the liquid was thrown in the direction of my head and I froze. No matter how hard I tried to get my limbs to do anything, I was frozen. I couldn't even bring my hand up in an attempt of protection. The pentagram burned into the back of it would have at least done something-- diluted the water, absorb it so I would one lose my non dominant hand-- but no. I couldn't do anything.

That didn't stop my mother, she threw herself in front of me. And... she took most of the damage. Of course my stupid brain could only focus on the agonizing burning on my face. Loud hissing was in my ears. I lost vision in one of my eyes and with the other I saw it fall to the forest floor. The eye was followed by pools of blood and chunks of flesh. I screamed and backed away from it but it followed me. The front of my shirt became stained and wet quickly. My own blood marking my chest and clothing.

Then I saw my mother. I'll never be able to get that image out of my head. She was on the ground, surrounded by thick, scarlet liquid. It flowed from her belly and pooled around her. The corners of her mouth were dripping crimson. My now single eye dripped tears. Her chest heaved with shallow, quick breaths. She was dying.

I couldn't control myself, and ran to her side, sobbing all the while. "M-mom? You're... you're gonna be okay right?" I sniffled, trying to give myself some sense of hope. She just sighed and looked at me with soft eyes.

"Not this time, my little devil.." She whispered, unable to talk much louder. I could almost feel my heart snap in two. I could almost hear it shatter.

"B-but.. You can't die!" I sobbed harder. "I.. I still need you.."

She cupped my unmarked cheek in her hand, "It'll be okay, you'll find a way. You're such a smart little boy.. I love you." Her breath stopped and her arm fell limp. I could have screamed-- in fact, I'm quite sure I did.

"Well, isn't that sad? We couldn't kill the Hell spawn. I guess we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way." Before I could even comprehend what he had said, his boot slammed into my gut and sent my tiny form flying across the clearing. I hit a tree and crumpled to the ground. More blood fell from the wounded side of my face, turning the grass below me bloody. A sharp pain in my tail and I couldn't run. I turned to see another human with his foot pinning it to the ground. I saw him raise up a pitchfork that he held in his hands and slammed it on my head. There was a splitting pain as my horn cracked under the pressure. A different voice this time: "Come on, let me have some fun!"

After that, it all started to blur together. I was thrown and stomped and stabbed and pummeled. Then I was left completely alone with my mother's corpse. The golden sun that I had been fascinated by had faded to dull, sad, grey clouds.

A sharp flash of familiar light: Fire. I shakily lifted my head to see my father. I'd never been more happy to see him, but my body failed to move. Everything hurt.

He strode over to me and lifted me off the ground with no effort. I flinched, still expecting to be thrown or slammed to the ground. Instead he held me close to his chest, rubbing my back and hushing my sobs. "Kai, what happened?" he asked.

I couldn't respond. I didn't want to. "I don't wanna talk about it.." I can only assume that he glanced around and found her corpse, as he held my head closer so I couldn't look around. It's not like I even wanted to, though. I knew what I would see and I just wanted to ignore it. I whimpered when the image flashed in my eyes."I-I wanna go home," I mumbled.

"Alright, let's go." Warmth and red light surrounded the two of us, fading away once we had gotten home. The moment Dad set me down, Mikuro had been at my side. I was about to smile when I realized that this manticore was the closest thing I would have to a mother for the rest of my life. The thought brought a fresh bout of tears and sobs. I hardly noticed Mikuro trying to clean out my wounds, despite how much it stung. I didn't realize I had laid down until she used her head to tuck me close to her. For once, I was genuinely grateful for her comfort at that moment. I needed it.

My memory faded and I was in my room again, old spellbook still in my hand, mask on a nearby table, Malkara asleep next to me. I sighed and closed it. There was nothing I could do.