The Cursed Black Hero

Vol. 2 CH. 5 - The Shadow King

Vol. 2 CH. 5 – The Shadow King

PART# 1

Back in the past there was traveler of unknown origins that came to Caladium. The traveler was a young man brimming with opportunity and vigor as he had only stepped out from his life as country boy.

At first, he was kind young man that helped others no matter how difficulty the task was; farming, hunting, feeding cattle and poultry, fetching water and bunch of things that would normally done by most people of their own.

The young man was truly kind.

But then one day, the young man got into a fight in one of the townsfolk of Caladium. Being a town of elves, almost everyone there were elves with long life span that had seen people come and go in their life. They were the kind of people that would prefer the old way of living, far away from impure thoughts and negativities.

However the young man was from a country that was only starting. With its people only numbering a few hundreds and towns only about ten or twenty, the young man traveled to different countries in order to gain more knowledge about the world.

This was a time about 300 years in the past. When most countries were just starting and most of the human countries were just but small tribes and villages.

The young traveler was none other than the Shadow king Crats, the famed 10th Demon Lord.

"I was a fool back then.... Filled with dreams and naivety, only seeing the bright side of things even though I already know that everything was a lie..."

Seated on his throne inside an ink dark space, where no light was present, yet everything glimmers in the dark, the Shadow King muttered in a very low voice as he saw a dream of a past that had long since he had forgotten. 300 years had passed since then and he had already crashed numerous cities with his own strength, obtained through rigorous experiences.

But in the end, he sought nothing but the peace that he had wished before. In the end, he won the peace and quiet yet lost the very thing that loved the most. That was the heart of a human being.

It has been 300 years since he became a Demon Lord. His human body lost its physical form and most of his humanity. His appearance now was a dark mass of smoke covered with nothing but a cloak. His eyes glowed red within the darkness and his soft breathing can be heard from his nonexistent mouth.

The 10th Demon Lord became a monster that far removed from any physical existence. He lives within the border of life and death, located within the Inverted world of light. It is also where souls of the dead gather and swirl within a cauldron of never-ending heat.

Limbo...

For two hundred and fifty years, Shadow King Crats had never left his domain. His minions, the Nightmares, had been his eyes to see the world of mortals. Back then, the world was quiet and there were less conflict due to small countries having small borders.

But after a few decades, the human community began to expand and make their own countries. His fellow demon lords causing trouble here and there were already causing much chaos in their wake but even so, the world was quiet back then.

However, now was different. Heroes were called forth from a different dimension in order to slay the Demon Lords. In total, there were about 13 Demon Lords, excluding himself and the Dark Lord Trause that decided to live apart from the world; the ones causing trouble were the 9th, 11th and 13th Demon Lords.

Aside from the 9th Demon Lord that had been slayed a month ago, the Flame Knight Esmeth and the Soul Eater Vraheim, were plotting something in their domains. Esmeth, who resides near the borders of the Dwarf Kingdom Dwvargon, where most of the active volcanoes reside, had already begun amassing his forces. The fire monsters that can burn most of everything in its path were quickly increasing in numbers.