'Ah, the outside, it is so freeing! No more staring off in the dark unsure of when you may bump your foot into a rock, no more waiting in boredom for who knows how long to make it out! Finally! I can go and enjoy… stuff!'
As the demon looked around, all they saw was a dark and cloudy sky, tall trees, grass, and the muddy ground which is only partially dried in places. With there being places where there were still puddles and undried mud.
'Now to look for civilization. How would I do that? All I see are these big trees more trees and some bushes! I never navigated the great outdoors once in a way that was not a trail! How am I supposed to find civilization? It is not like there is anything so convenient as seeing fire in the woods or anything.'
'Oh well, I will simply have to pick a random direction and walk.'
'Which direction should I go in? Lets do this. I see three paths. One that is not clear at all, one that is clear, and one that has fallen branches in the way. I know! I will choose one of them at random!'
They raised their arm over their head, ready to begin their game. 'Enie meeny miney moe!'
'Okay then, that settles that! That way it is then! Down the clear path! What? I am not so stupid as to go down the worn paths when there is a perfectly clear path right infront of me!'
And so, they strode onward down the brown dirt road to who knows where. But anywhere is better than staying in the middle of nowhere in a place full of unknowns with who knows what. It is much better to look for something and risk finding trouble than to stay in the middle of nowhere and risk trouble finding you, right?
'I would have followed the sun, I know I should have. It is better to follow something reliable than to proceed randomly after all, probably. But the clouds block the way. So going randomly it is!'
'There is nothing but trees and dirt here! Give me something! I dare you! Yes you Fate, I tempt thee!'
'…What, nothing? I guess things are not like how stories go where you just tempt fate and it just answers.'
'… I just realized, a clear, down trodden trail means that someone or something goes down it and wears it down, making it. Hmmm, the obvious solution is obviously to just lean into my mana sense to let me know if anything living is coming towards me!'
'I know this is just an assumption, but everything has ether, but living being probably have more ether than its surroundings. And larger creatures would more likely to have more mana than other living beings.'
'But then again, I have no idea what is the amount of mana a being has depends on. Does it depend on a living beings life force? I kind of doubt that because I would probably feel tired after using it if it was so. Eh, lets leave that as a maybe for now.'
'Theory number 2, it depends on a living beings intelligence. Eh, maybe, that kind of makes sense but feels off. Not necessarily wrong, but incomplete. Theory number 3, it depends on how long the living being has lived. I dunno, I am leaning towards Theory number 4 which is probably correct.'
'That it depends on multiple factors which contribute to the amount of mana one has and how it regenerates and how much it grows if it grows and is not like some stories where it is just bam, inherent from birth the amount.'
'Hmm, lets just hope that it is not like in some stories where there is a soft cap in how much of the special energy one can gain naturally before they hit their hard limit in which it is still possible to grow, but the amount in which you get is practically nothing in return to how much you train and is just generally not worth it. With the only ways of truly going above and beyond that limit is through alternative methods.'
'… I jinxed it didn't I when I tempted fate didn't I. It will end up being like that… CURSE YOU MURPHY!!!!'
'Oh well, if it does end up being like that there is nothing that I can do about it.'
'Tra la la la la la la la la la la. Yeah, I am bored. I wonder how long I have been walking? Man, my feet are definitely muddy after walking through this muddy ground, I hope there will be somewhere I can clean myself off.'
And then suddenly, they stepped into a puddle, not thinking that it would be deep at all. This would turn out to be a deadly mistake.
'Ack!' And so, they fell. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
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In the middle of the woods was an old lady. Her hair was completely gray, straight and going down to her shoulders. Her face had plenty of wrinkles, but not nearly enough to make her look like a dried raisin. She had aged well into her old age, carrying a sort of grace and dignity. One that came from living countless years and experiencing much throughout her long and eventful life.
She walked through the woods with a basket in hand, partially filled with all sorts of fruits and berries from the bushes and trees. Surprising as that may be, in this cold weather.
Then, all of a sudden a loud yell pierced through the calm and peaceful woods, giving her quite the scare.
'What was that sound? I sounded like a child screaming!'
Before she even completed that thought her body was racing forth, dropping her basket along the way.
With speed much greater than should be possible for her to muster in her old age, she managed to get to the deceptively deep puddle within moments. Thrust her arm deep into the puddle and grab a flailing arm deep within the puddle and grab the submerged child and yank them out.
And before she even completely dragged the child out, she flinched. For she realized that this child was not an ordinary human child. It was a monster, a demon. It was curious how a child came all the way over here, outside of the village, so far from the village.
Especially since they would both know better, and the entire community would be making sure that they would not be causing any trouble or leave the village. For there would always be dangerous beasts which would be waking up and prowling around as winter was coming to an end.
Or worse, demons. She had both faced, and seen the heartless monsters. Damned heartless beasts who enjoyed slaughtering people. With only some being intelligent enough to be able to enjoying it if they even cared, while others are little more than animals lashing out any person they saw.
Unable to feel love, sorrow, despair, grief, wrath, or any other complex emotion or feeling. Only the shallowest of emotions were the ones in which they could feel. Fear, indifference, annoyance, interest, and curiously enough, curiosity.
But those demons were young, weak, all less than a century old, not having the chance to truly grow into anything fearsome. Not yet anyway. No, the older, more intelligent ones were the ones to truly be feared.
For they were intelligent, they were cunning, they could put on a mask of humanity and talk a man into selling their soul. For they possessed strength powerful enough to destroy a city. Whether that be through magic or pure strength.
Luckily the truly terrible demons were few in number. And only amongst the most powerful of these elder demons, could they wipeout a city.
She knew that she should have gone for the kill then and there. To strangle the demon child with their bare hands. Before it could grow, before it could become a threat to humanity.
And yet, and yet she could not. She was hesitant. For she saw something within the child's eyes that she never saw within a demon before. Beyond just intelligence, humanity. It was just a spark, a flickering flame which felt as though could go out at any moment.
But it was there. In the vulnerable eyes of the child too busy hacking out muddy water out of their lungs to notice her momentary bloodlust.
And so, she did something that she never thought she would ever do in her goddess blessed life. She decided to raise the child. Filled with hope that the child could rise above their base instincts. That the child could become something a demon never has before. That they could become human. That the child could gain humanity and live as a proper human being.
She had often heard of tales of foolish villages not knowing of demons or thinking that they could teach the child to be better. And so decided to raise a demon child, only for the demon child to grow and slaughter many villagers before escaping to who knows where. And look at her now! Doing the exact same thing that she always condemned others for being foolish to do.
The child had to be freezing after falling into the freezing water. And so she decided to take off her fur coat and to scoop up the child into it and wrap them up in it as though they were a babe in a cloth.
Carrying the child in between her arms as though they were but a babe. She started walking back towards the village earlier than she expected, but not forgetting her basket in which she left behind.
Sigh, 'It is a shame that I lost those blackthorn berries, they would have made a fine wine. Oh well, it is not that much of a loss in the end. Though, this coat will need a good cleaning after today in order to get rid of all the dirt stains it is bound to have.'
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