The Cursed Black Hero

Vol. 2 CH. 5 - The Shadow King

Soul Eater Vraheim was collecting the souls of the dead in order to create an army of the undead in his domain. The 13th Demon Lord was a troublesome foe even for Crats since Vraheim uses the souls of the dead to make an army. Be it monster or humans, he can take it and transform them into monsters of his own. With the world filled with more living beings than before, his monsters were merely increasing.

Although Vraheim was an upstart Demon Lord, he had the most troublesome power of all...

"Hmm... I see good work"

Shadow King Crats cut off his thoughts as he had a report from one of his Nightmares. It said that a few minions of Vraheim had manipulated the minds of some humans near Caladium. Making them go mad with power and obscenity. Shadow King Crats cut off his communications from one of his minions and turned to look at the desolate throne room he was currently in.

Caladium, it was the place he once stayed in in order to gain knowledge of the world for the benefit of his people. It was a kind place that helped in in his time as a human but in the end...

"They were the ones that turned me into this...."

Shadow King Crat's voice bellowed as he remembered the old fight he had with one of the Elf elders 250 years ago. The elder once belonged to one of the old Demon Lord's cult was the one that turned him into a Shadow beast when he received a certain item from him.

At that time, Curse artifacts were but a fantasy that was why Shadow King Crats accepted the item in good faith. In the end, he was betrayed and was chased away from Caladium; away from the woman he had loved before.

"Elfianna... my old love, how I wish to be with you so..."

His sad words echoed to the empty space around him as he reminisced of the past long since forgotten... In the end, no one heard his sad cries that which only reside within the shadows...

-

Edsel Rose, she was once a famed elf mage that helped beautify the lands encompassing Paracellumn. Her role as the Queen's advisor gave her the power to order people to protect nature around the kingdom, protecting them from monsters and the ever so nature consuming humans.; which was the reason why there were so many trees within the country of elves that the entirety of the country was a labyrinth itself.

At that time, the Queen removed Edsel from her post since Edsel had found a family of her own. But the surrounding elders didn't took such retirement kindly and blamed Edsel for the overgrowth of the trees around their country.

Guilt stricken, Edsel decided to move away from the main capital and decided to live in some place far for politics, far from the duties of an advisor, she moved to Caladium.

Alongside her husband, a Demon-Spawn half elf and half human, they lived within the forest that acts as the borders between the human lands and the elves. During this time, their work was merely forestry and lumberjacks, the couple would cut trees and replant them then sell the lumber to human towns for money.

It was a quiet time for them but life became hard when the elf elders that worked under the Queen sent human mercenaries to their home. Her mother raped and killed by those humans, her father beheaded by the very elf elder that he served, her brother and sister given to the mercenaries as prize and her husband was...

"We escaped from them...fortunately"

During on their run, Edsel and her husband lived in a more secluded place. Near a river at the foot of a mountain, there they made a new home for their family. The life there was bit hard due to having no contact with the outside world but is better than being hunted down like animals.