《Devil's Crown》 Prologue : - A village far off in the north of the main continent, where the aura users are practically nonexistent. The people in the village, were simple commoners, who eat what they grew, with no interactions with the outside world. Every 50 years or so, the village would receive a visitor or two. Other than these occasional visitors, only the baron who controls this land would show up. Even the baron would rarely show, as the village produced only a measly 10 gold every year, with which be insufficient for even a day, in the baron¡¯s life. An old man, adorning a royal white robe walked towards a small underground cave that was just a kilometer or so from this village. Obviously, it was known that this man wasn¡¯t a resident of this village, from his expensive cloths. A small flame danced on his index finger, lighting up his path as he walked through the dark cave. In a while he arrived in front of a small chamber. The chamber was filled with countless herbs, portions, and many more rare artifacts. In another corner of the room, there were countless scrolls with over a million inscriptions. The scrolls rested on top of various monster bones and skins. In the middle of the room, sat a small boy. The boy was no older than 5 years. He had extremely bright white hair, which resembled freshly fallen snow. The boy was tied to the chair, with his head hung down. His eyes were closed. An old man in the white robe, gently walked in front of the boy, and casually picked up a scroll. The old man, cleared his throat then spoke. ¡°Boy, look up.¡± The voice of the old man woke the small boy from his sleep. His eyes stilled closed, his head moved upward. The child was blind. Truly an unfortunate thing, for a child, who will forever be incapable of enjoying the playful nature of colors. The old man, revealed a malicious grin as he looked at the child, much like how a predator stares down at its prey before hunting it. ¡®Hmph, once I complete the ¡®Million Inscription Rune¡¯, I¡¯d like to see how that old dog would catch up to me. I will be the greatest ¡®Enchanter¡¯ in the world. Countries and even empires will bow before me.¡¯ Thought the old man, letting his desires run wild. He tossed aside the scroll he picked up. He clasped his hands together, a countless specks of lights started gathering around the old man. A worn out old scroll, barely intact, started appearing in front of the man. The old man, carefully held the scroll, as if he was holding a new born baby. He gently placed the scroll on a stone table. Once again the old man clasped his hands together and spoke in a humble and noble tone. ¡°Oh mighty ¡®Rune God¡¯, guide this on, as he offers a grand tribute. Tribute of a soul holding the ¡®Million Inscription Rune¡¯. Grant me thy power and turn my soul into a grimoire for runes. Turn this lowly one into a ¡®Rune Master¡¯.¡± The small cave started shaking. The rumbling of the skies caused the small underground cave to cave in. Only the old man and the tied up child, were free from harm. The countless scrolls around the old man, started floating into the air. The characters from the scrolls started to come to life, as the ropes binding the child were disintegrated. The child also slowly floated up, as three black rune rings held the child floating in one place, vertically. The infinite characters from the countless scrolls, started clustering around the child. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Seeing this the old man exclaimed. ¡°Dear lords, the spell is working! It¡¯s actually working! I¡¯m going to a ¡®Rune Master¡¯.¡± A wide happy grin distorted the old man¡¯s face. His white royal robe blew about wildly in the strong winds. The infinite characters started sinking into the child body. The characters floating in the air, started to grow smaller and smaller, as they were being sucked into the child¡¯s body. ¡°ARRRGRGGHHHHHHARRHHHGHG¡± The child cried out in pain, as his body grew red from intense pain. The old man suddenly thought. ¡®The manual did say that providing a soul with this much more, came with an astronomical amount of pain and suffering.¡± The screams of the child were endless. The child was sold to the old man just when he was only a month old. Since then the old man would conduct such experiments on the child. The main reason was that the old man needed this child was that the child was blind. The manual that the old man held, hard a sharp requirement for the spell to succeed. He needed the soul of a blind child. The rune rings that held the child in place slowly got closer and closer. After about an hour the rumbling of the skies and the shaking of the lands, stopped. The infinite character from the various scrolls, had been completely absorbed by the child. The three rune rings floating around the child, had closed in a great deal. Now they were only an inch away from touching his body. The child¡¯s body was red from pain. The old man laughed and smiled. This was the happiest he had been in his life. ¡°The heavens truly are great. I¡¯ve finally created a soul with the ¡®Million Inscription Rune¡¯.¡± He walked towards the child, while smiling. He clasped his hands and spoke. ¡°Oh mighty ¡®Rune God¡¯, descend and eat to thy heart¡¯s content, of the small meal this lowly one has prepared.¡± The old man, waited for something to happen but nothing. It was dead silent. There was even the slightest sign of a god descending. The old man was dumbfounded. ¡®What¡¯s wrong? I did everything correctly. I followed all the steps, and even the incantations were spot on. Why won¡¯t the god descend? Have I made a mistake?¡¯ The old man quickly raced through the old ancient scroll. ¡®No such a thing is preposterous. I spent 10 years preparing for this day. I¡¯ve double checked each and every single step. There is no way that I could be wrong.¡¯ Just as the old man was thinking, something was happening to the body of the small child. A blackish golden, rune ring was slowly forming around the forehead of the child. Noticing this, gave a slight amount of hope to the old man. ¡°Could this be a sign of the god descending?¡± He pondered. The completed black-golden rune ring, looked very much like a crown. Suddenly the eyes of the small child flickered open. His eyes were cold and callous. His iris were of dark golden, as countless ancient runic characters kept flashing through them. The flashing finally stopped, forming the symbol of cross. The cross in his dark golden iris was light golden in color, making it stand out. Chapter 1 A pillar of black-golden light shot up into the sky, completely illuminating the night sky, in a dim golden light. The three rune rings floating around his was absorbed into body. The cross in his iris glowed, as the old man¡¯s hands and legs were invisibly tied to his body. A thing golden runic ring formed around the old, who had an expression of shock and disbelief on his face. ¡°What are you doing? Let me down. I created you. You filthy slave. I gave you food and this is how you repay me.¡± The old man shouted insults after insults at the child. ¡®What is going on? Why isn¡¯t this brat being taken as a form of sacrifice? And how in the world did he being so strong.¡¯ ¡°Quiet.¡± Spoke the child, in cold voice. The black-golden runic ring around the child¡¯s forehead, gave out a dull glow. The rune surrounding the old man, closed in on his body. ¡°You called for a ¡®God¡¯, but what you got was a ¡®Devil¡¯.¡± The child¡¯s voice held a certain amount of maturity that contradicted his age, but the chill in his voice as cold as ever. ¡°Rune: Silence¡± The child spoke once again, as a small black-golden runic ring, appeared around his mouth. This runic ring, disabled the man¡¯s ability to speak. ¡°Rune: Disintegration.¡± Another black-golden runic ring appeared around the old man¡¯s body. ¡®No how can this be? I¡¯m going to be killed. Killed by my own creation?¡¯ the old man wanted to scream out loud, but the ring around his mouth, made him unable to do so. He wanted to shout out for help, but he knew better. The final runic ring that formed around him, started to dissipate his body into countless specks of dust. The process was slow and painful. But unlike the boy, who could let out his pain by screaming, the old man was unable to. His insides screamed as his body disappeared. Within a few minutes, only thing that was left of the old man, was a pile of dust, slowly drifting away with the wind. The boy fell to the ground, as he held his body in pain. ¡®What is happening?¡¯ thought the boy. Being only five years old, with near infinite knowledge of runes, the boy still didn¡¯t realize the weight of murder. The boy was a special case, not knowing how to read, write or speak. He was able to only say a few words, and that to, was only due to them being frequently used by the old man. The light golden cross in irises, slowly disappeared, only leaving his dark golden eyes. He fell unconscious on the cold hard ground. ************************ The villagers were thoroughly frightened by the rumbling of the skies and the shaking of the land. Finally when the pillar erupt to the skies, they were in belief that they had angered some ancient deity. The next morning, a group of strong villagers, were sent to the area from where thee pillar erupted. ¡°Dylan, what do you think happened here?¡± Asked a villager to another villager, while they were walking. ¡°I have no clue, John.¡± Replied Dylan. Other than these two, there were 3 or 4 more people. In a few minutes, the group arrived at the pace from where the black-golden pillar erupted into the skies. From a first glance, one could only see a huge crater on the ground. A lot of the surrounding trees were destroyed and the grass was burned. But in the middle of the crater was a small child. The child had white, sleeping peacefully on the hard ground. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Dylan what the hell¡­¡­¡­¡­.¡± Gasped on of the villagers, seeing the young. ¡°Stop staring all of you. Help me get this boy back to the village.¡± Shouted John, at the villager who were only staring. ¡°John what is wrong with you? Put that devil spawn down.¡± Barked one of the villagers. ¡°Yeah john, we don¡¯t know what calamity we might be calling out to, if we bring this child with us.¡± The other villagers also started joining in. After hearing enough, John turned towards Dylan who had been quiet this entire time. ¡°Dylan¡­¡­¡­.¡± Dylan shot him a sympathetic look, and then spoke. ¡°John bring that child back to the village.¡± Hearing this, many of the other villagers retorted. ¡°All of you just listen. Now we don¡¯t know who or what caused this. But what I know is that none of us are cold blooded. We are a group of simple people who care deeply about each other. If we abandon this little child for the wolves to devour, how are we any different that the devil himself. So until we can figure out more, I suggest bringing this child back to our village.¡± Spoke Dylan, in the hopes of convincing everyone. Hearing this many of villagers reconsidered, while many were skeptical they still agreed as they didn¡¯t want to oppose the majority. ************************ Back the village. The white haired boy, struggled to open his eyes. What greeted him was dozens of curious faces, peeking in on him. ¡°Arrgg.¡± He let out small scream from being startled. ¡°That¡¯s enough all of you, give the child some room to breathe.¡± Spoke Dylan, as he let out a small chuckle. ¡°Dylan, this child eyes¡­¡­.they¡¯re so beautiful.¡± Spoke one of the villagers, in envy. ¡°Yeah his skin is so smooth and flawless.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t even get me started on his fluffy and soft white hair.¡± The ladies of the village were all over the little child. Dylan walked past the women, and looked in on the child. The child had woken up but remained silent. He would occasionally show actions, but never uttered a single word. ¡®Could this child be mute?¡¯ thought Dylan inward, as he tried to communicate with the child. ¡°Somebody call over the village medic.¡± Whispered Dylan, to his wife. ¡°Alright.¡± Replied his wife, as she immediately left. Within couple of moments the doctor arrived. He did an overall body checkup before saying. ¡°Dylan the child is completely fine. I highly doubt that the child has yet to taught how to speak.¡± ¡°How can that be doctor? Which child at the age of 5 doesn¡¯t know how to say the most basic words?¡± spoke Dylan in surprise. ¡°Apparently, this one.¡± Spoke the doctor, as he bade his farewell. Looking at the child who was staring back at him with curious eyes, Dylan let out a heavy sigh. ¡°This is going to be much more of challenge than I thought.¡± The child stared back at the man before speaking. His eyes let out a dull golden glow that went unnoticed by the man. ¡°This¡­is going to¡­¡­be much more of¡­.a challenge than I¡­¡­thought.¡± ¡°¡­¡­What the hell¡­¡­¡­¡± Gasped the man in shock as if he was staring at some sort of a freak or something. Chapter 2 4 years passed. The originally quiet and boring village, was extremely active. Dylan hadn¡¯t changed much in the past 4 years. He still maintained his strong and well-built body, but black beard grew on face, complimenting his short black hair. ¡°You all can¡¯t do a single thing right.¡± He sighed, and went to help out the other villagers. Contrary to the poor performance of the villagers, a young boy was diligently doing all his chore. He was assigned to collect wood from the forest. The mountain of wood piled up in a certain corn of the villagers. This much wood was enough for the village for months to come. This was clearly a 20 man work, done by a small boy. The young boy was around 9-10 years old. With a white hair and a well-defined face, it was clear that he was going to be a handsome young man when he grows up. Even though white haired youths were extremely rare, that most captivating thing about him was his hair. Rather it was his eyes. His iris were of a beautiful dark golden. Dressed in peasant cloths the boy wore a smile on his face as he breezed through his list of chores. His cloths were drenched in sweat. ¡°Village chief, I¡¯ve finished all the chores on the list.¡± Spoke the boy to Dylan. Hearing this a smile appeared on his face, as he gave an approving nod. ¡°Well done Arthur. Now Arthur, you go and train.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Replied the boy with a smile. The young boy quickly, paced towards the forest. Finding a quiet and tall tree, he climbed in mere moments. ¡°Hey, sorry I¡¯m late.¡± Spoke the boy, to an imaginary figure. ¡°They think I¡¯m weird if I speak to you, in front of them.¡± It seemed like the boy was mental. But through the boy¡¯s vision he could see a figure in from of him. The figure looked exactly like the boy, except he had a black-golden runic halo around his forehead. The light golden cross symbols, stood out in the dark golden irises. It was as if the boy was staring into a mirror of himself. But the other figure, had countless chains binding his body. ¡°Arthur why have you come? I thought I told you to leave me.¡± Spoke the figure, in the boy¡¯s voice. ¡°I can¡¯t, after all you look so lonely.¡± Spoke Arthur, in a sympathetic tone. The boy talked to imaginary figure for hours until, the sun slowly set over their heads. ¡°Ok, bye now. I have to go, but I¡¯ll come again tomorrow.¡± Smiled Arthur, as he waved the imaginary figure goodbye. The next day, Dylan immediately got out bed, and woke everyone up early in the morning. ¡°Ok people, the royal kingdom will be visiting our tiny village for the grand tournament selections in 11 months¡¯ time. We have to train our younger generation, so that at least a few will get selected and bring glory and fame to our ¡®Skyblade Village¡¯.¡± The speech, made the village youths blood boil with excitement. ¡°Yes Village Chief. We¡¯ll succeed and make our ¡®Skyblade Village¡¯, famous.¡± The young generation, immediately started training for the selection process a year away. Only Arthur was calm and uninterested about the whole thing. He never really cared for power or the ability to fight. He simply wanted to lead a fun life, with the kids of the village. 1 year passed The entourage of the royal army will be arriving today. Once the sun rose, Arthur immediately ran towards the forest. He would usually just spend the entire day, annoying the imaginary figure. But today was different. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. A group of figures dressed in black silently waited, staring at the villagers as if they were a bunch of innocent sheep waiting to be slaughtered. The silent black figure started to make their move. Each and every single one of them were either armed with a daggers or giant axes. Back at the forest. ¡°Arthur¡­¡­¡­¡± Spoke the figure in a sorrowful tone. ¡°Yeah?¡± Asked Arthur innocently. ¡°I want to tell you, but if do it¡¯ll be the death of you.¡± Spoke the figure as the sorrow in his voice got heavier. ¡°¡­.What happened?¡± Asked Arthur, slightly panicking. The imaginary figure spoke. ¡°Your ¡®Skyblade Village¡¯ is currently being attacked by bandits.¡± The hair on Arthur¡¯s body stood upon hearing this. Just as he was about to run towards, a black-golden ring made of various runes appeared around him, sealing his movements. ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING?¡± Shouted Arthur at the imaginary figure. ¡°I have to help them.¡± Tears rolled down his cheek. ¡°The current you will be of no help at all. You get slaughtered the moment you enter the village.¡± Spoke the imaginary figure, as the cross in his eyes glowed. ¡°You have to stay back¡­.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that. They raised me. Please you have to let me help them. Please help them.¡± Begged Arthurs, as tears fell endlessly from his eyes. ¡°Arthur¡­¡­¡­.I¡¯m bound to this place for life. But¡­..never mind.¡± Spoke imaginary figure, hiding something. ¡°But What? Please I¡¯ll do anything. Please.¡± Begged Arthur. Seeing the child beg so sincerely, the imaginary figure gave in. ¡°There is a way for you to take all my powers.¡± ¡°Your power?¡± Arthur, could stop the bandits, if he had the imaginary figure¡¯s mysterious powers. ¡°Yes, Arthur my powers. But there is a cost. To use my powers, you have to first accept¡­¡­¡­the Devil¡¯s Crown.¡± Spoke the imaginary figure, a cold sweat rolled down the imaginary figure¡¯s back, as he spoke the word ¡®Devil¡¯s Crown¡¯. ¡°Devil¡¯s Crown? I don¡¯t care I¡¯ll accept anything I have to. Just let me protect the villagers.¡± Shouted Arthur. The imaginary figure, let out a sorrowful smile, before speaking. ¡°I sorry Arthur, I wasn¡¯t able to protect you any longer.¡± The black-golden rune halo, around the imaginary figure¡¯s head, slowly floated over to Arthur¡¯s head. For a split second, the halo transformed in a golden-black regal crown, before settling back at the black-golden halo. ¡°Arthur, no¡­.Devil¡¯s Crown, successor to the ¡®Throne of Voids¡¯. This one is forever under your command, but I have to leave now. Grow strong my champion. Grow stronger at least for that person¡¯s sake¡­..¡± Murmured the figure, under his breath, making sure that not a single word was heard by Arthur. A single drop of black tear fell from the imaginary figure¡¯s eyes as the crosses within his eyes disappeared. Soon the entire body of the imaginary figure disappeared into countless specks of black-golden lights, which entered Arthur¡¯s body. Two beautiful light golden crosses appeared in Arthur¡¯s irises. As if he possessed infinite knowledge, Arthur spoke. ¡°Rune: Speed¡± A black-golden ring appeared on his back, as his speed increased by tenfold. The kind and innocent look faded from his eyes, and was replaced by a cold and callous feel.