Chapter One: An Unexpected Transfer!
The sky was raining heavily, and also raining arrows.
The sound of iron clashing against iron was deafening. The ground was covered with the corpses of friends and foes alike. Swords were broken. Shields were shattered. Blood mingled with the rainwater, forming a river of betrayal.
And in the middle of this hell... stood:
"Arin Valdron," the commander of armies, the invincible hero.
His long hair stuck to his wet face, and his arm bled from a deep wound, but he was still standing. Still parrying, attacking, and screaming the name of truth.
"Hold your ground! Don't retreat!! We are the last light of this land!"
But no one answered. Most of his men were dead. And the rest... had betrayed him.
Then he heard it. That sound he knew so well.
The sound of laughter.
The laughter of "Segun," his brother in arms... or so he thought.
Arin turned... and saw the disaster.
Segun was leading his enemies toward him.
"You...?" Arin said, betrayal tearing at his heart more than any sword.
"Why?!"
Segun approached, his sword stained with the blood of Arin's men, a cold smile on his face.
"Because you're too idealistic, Arin. The world doesn't need a hero... it needs a master. Someone who won't hesitate to crush anyone who opposes them. As for you? You're a fool."
Then... the stab.
A stab from behind, from the only soldier who had remained by his side until the end... from "Rael," his disciple.
"Sorry... my lord..."
Arin's breath froze. He looked down and saw blood gushing from his chest, Rael's sword plunged into him. He knelt. He didn't fall... he knelt with all his pride.
The rain from the sky mixed with his blood, and mist enveloped his body like a shroud.
Arin looked at Segun, and spoke in a dead voice. "I didn't lose because you were strong... but because I trusted you."
Segun smiled mockingly, "No one will remember your name... You'll die here, forgotten."
Arin's body fell, lifeless.
It was three past midnight, and the wind outside howled like a rabid dog gnawing at the edges of the tattered windows of Ast Valfern Manor, where furniture was covered with sheets, candles flickered out from the strong winds, and the silence was heavier than the funerals of kings.
Inside the birthing chamber, a woman screamed as if being flayed, her breaths ragged, and the doctor trembled more than she reassured, and blood spread across the dark tiles, resembling more than anything an undiscovered continent.
Then, without warning...
The doctor screamed, "It's out... it's a boy!"
The child was born.
But he didn't cry!
He looked around, trying to figure out where he was.
Then he opened his eyes.
But here, the extraordinary began.
It wasn't the gaze of an infant...
It was the gaze of a man who had drunk from the cup of annihilation and spat it out mockingly.
His eyes were grey, then pale green, then... something else that had no name yet.
Arin Valdron, the man who died in his world walking on a city sidewalk, now found himself naked, cold, screaming amidst the bloody wreckage of a woman he had never seen before, inside a body he couldn't even lift his head in.
"What is this?... Where am I?... Didn't I die...?"
The thought was shocking.
Indeed, it was a huge shock.
He had to breathe.
To scream.
To nurse, so no one would know he wasn't a baby!
Where was he?
The air was polluted with the smell of old wood, blood, wax, and a woman's perfume from centuries past.
The ceiling above him was inlaid with dark wood covered in cracks resembling human veins.
A trembling hand held him...
The maid.
She wept and whispered, "A miracle... he's alive... after all this blood...!"
Alive?
The child everyone thought would die because his mother was sick, a miracle happened, and he was born healthy. The name of the child who would change this entire world was: Klainfer Athgarth!
Klainfer laughed inwardly. Alive?
He knew very well that he shouldn't be here.
Nor be born in a body he couldn't stand in.
But his mind...
It was sound.
His memory... complete.
A week passed.
Then two weeks.
Then a month.
And at every moment, the child behaved in a way that didn't draw attention... but he wasn't normal.
He didn't make those silly sounds like other babies.
Instead, he watched...
With one eye open more than the other.
He didn't stare at their faces, but stared directly into their eyes.
As if weighing them.
Then he began to hum melodically.
And these hums weren't random.
They were more like the ticking of a clock, or a hymn from a long-forgotten religious ritual.
And what was more astonishing...
He began to grasp things at a very young age.
The maid tried to hide her astonishment when he picked up a book and opened it at only 40 days old.
She said:
"My young lord is a genius... this isn't normal!"
She clutched her chest in fear... then forced a smile.
Inside, Klainfer was truly smiling.
He knew he had to build something here.
To learn the rules, infiltrate them, and sow chaos where necessary.
On the fortieth night...
He had the dream.
He was inside a room with no doors, no floor, no walls.
Just many chairs... each with a mask on it.
Faces covered.
Then, a voice...
Strange and thick and terrifying at the same time. The voice came from inside his head.
"Klainfer... you will be my vessel!"
It wasn't a voice.
It was a feeling.
As if someone was writing inside his head with a cold knife.
Then something emerged from the darkness.
A huge hand covered with eyes. Each finger had an eye, and each eye wept blood.
The hand offered him... something like a "bone seed."
"Take it. And begin your path."
And when he reached out... it wasn't a child's hand.
It was a man's hand.
His fingers had ink stains, and scratches on his wrist, as if they were remnants of shackles.
He woke from the dream, sweat covering his small body, and the maid wiped his forehead, whispering:
"Did you have a nightmare, my young lord?"
Klainfer showed no expression but merely mumbled something unintelligible.
Something akin to the word "Henrather."
And he didn't know what it meant.
But someone inside him smiled when he said it.
And so, everything began.
No one noticed, but the world began to crack from the moment of his birth.
And the mist... began to move without wind.
The rain poured heavily, water harshly streaming down the windows of Ast Valfern Manor, drawing strange shapes that no one noticed... except him.
"Klainfer" lay on the small bed surrounded by pillows embroidered with faint gold threads. He couldn't move much, couldn't crawl yet, but his mind was working like a wheel ablaze in the snow. His eyes were half-closed... but inside, he was burning.
"Alright, let's recall everything that's happened so far..."
"I was an army commander and was in a battle until I was stabbed in the back by my disciple and brother-in-arms, and then I was born into this world which seems familiar. This seems like when fate decides to slap you mercilessly... then..."
He opened his eyes slightly and looked at the old ceiling.
"Then I was born here. In this small body. I still don't understand how or why... but I can't deny that I'm here. Only forty days old... and trapped inside a body that can't even stand. How ironic."
Then he raised his eyebrow slightly, a movement barely noticeable, and said inwardly:
"From what I've seen so far... no electricity, no phones, no cars. The sights, sounds, their way of speaking... all belong to a time similar to the Victorian era, or even earlier."
"The books the maid brought... all written by hand. An ancient language, but somewhat understandable... This world strongly resembles the story my mother used to tell me before bed when I was a child."
"The story that spoke of the ten demons..."
He felt a shiver run down his small spine.
"Yes... there were ten demons, who could only enter specific bodies. Children... those who possessed the "unknown spark" and must have been newly born. Each demon sought a suitable vessel, or else its soul would die forever."
"And the strongest of them... his name was..."
And suddenly, his eyes widened slightly.
"...Henrather."
The same name that had just come from his mouth.
The moment he felt someone laugh deep inside him... and it wasn't him.
Then suddenly, in a very faint voice, barely escaping his lips:
"Henrather..."
And before he could complete his thoughts, he heard the voice.
A thick, terrifying, oppressive voice, as if his chest filled with an unseen weight:
"As I expected... you are not an ordinary child."
"Intelligent... and aware..."
"This is good."
Klainfer's expression froze, and inside him, a burning cold enveloped him.
"I am Henrather. The first of the Ten Demons.
The strongest demon the universes have ever known... and now you will become my vessel."
Klainfer tried to compose himself, but he immediately looked at the maid beside him.
Did she hear? Did she notice?
But he found only a sleepy smile from her, as if nothing had happened.
"Don't worry, only you can hear me. I'm inside you. The rest of the world? Hears nothing."
"Impossible... impossible for this to be real..."
"Believe it or not, this is your reality now. You are my new vessel, but..."
He paused for a moment, as if a hidden smile formed from unsaid words.
"You won't be able to use my power... until you reach the age of ten. Before that? I'll just be a whisper inside you."
Then, in a slower, more sinister voice,
"But... when you turn ten... your thirst will begin."
"My thirst? For what?"
"For blood, my child."
Time stopped inside him for a moment.
"Blood...?"
"I am a demon, Klainfer. And you now carry me. Thirst is part of you now. Part of your new reality."
Klainfer felt his body tremble, although the room was warm, and the maid's hand was soft as she patted his forehead, whispering to him,
"Are you tired, my young lord?"
But he didn't answer. He couldn't.
Something inside him... began to laugh.
A laugh without a mouth.
Without a sound.
A laugh stemming from the shadows of his soul.
"I'll let you explore the world, my little genius. Enjoy these few years of quiet... before the massacres begin."
Then the voice disappeared.
But the air changed.
And Klainfer?
He stared at the ceiling... his eyes unblinking.
And inside his chest... two hearts beat, one of them not his own.
The rain stopped, and light began to seep through the long window in golden threads, breaking on the old stone floor. The curtains gently swayed with the morning breeze. The scent of fragrant flowers intertwined with the faint sound of a bird perched on the window's edge. Everything seemed normal... but inside the infant, the storm grew stronger.
Inwardly, "Klainfer" repeated to himself,
"Damn it... why? Why out of all demons, Henrather?!"
"In the novel, this demon was the most bloodthirsty... the most savage... the most insane. He wasn't just a powerful demon, but he harbored a deep hatred for everything... and... he had a younger brother..."
"That brother, in the final chapters, made a pact with humans, and betrayed Henrather... he stabbed him in the back, left him to die, and then sealed him as a wandering spirit... until his name was lost from the pages of history..."
Klainfer felt a shiver run deep inside him.
"So... how did I become his body? Who chose me? Why me of all people?"
"Damn it... damn it... damn it!"
If his body were a man's, he would have screamed, kicked the wall, collapsed. But all he did was open his eyes slightly, and his mouth moved in a barely noticeable motion, a small expression... but very dangerous for a 40-day-old baby.
And suddenly...
The room door opened, and Klainfer's mother entered.
"Lady Mazerin," the maid whispered respectfully, "The young lord... seems tired. A little while ago, he suddenly woke up as if he had a nightmare..., and also he was staring into space as if seeing a ghost."
Mazerin, wife of Lord Lorbein Vandhin, a woman in her early thirties. Her features were sharp but serene, her blonde hair was elegantly swept up in waves, her eyes were a royal cool blue, and her dress was of dark black velvet, cinched at the waist by an ornate metal belt.
She approached the child's bed and looked at him in silence.
"You say my child had a nightmare?"
The maid hesitated.
"I don't know, my lady, but it seems so."
But Mazerin's gaze didn't change.
Klainfer felt that gaze on him.
A scrutinizing gaze.
A gaze that shouldn't be directed at an infant.
"Damn it! Did they notice... even my simple facial expressions might make them suspect me! This...
I can't let them know anything!"
"If anyone discovers that Henrather is inside me... they will execute me immediately. And perhaps hang me on the city walls as a memorial to the suppression of Henrather's spirit that terrified the world."
"Damn it! I must act like a normal child... I must cry like babies, sleep randomly, and make silly movements... and move a lot like children. All of this is necessary so they don't notice anything!"
He held his breath... and gradually began to control his facial expressions.
He relaxed his eyes.
He left his mouth slightly open like any newborn.
He even made a small, silly sound.
"Gah..."
The maid immediately smiled.
"Oh, is my young lord hungry?"
Mazerin didn't smile, but she raised her hand and touched his forehead.
"I'll go now, take good care of him," she whispered as she watched him.
"Yes, my lady."
Then she left.
"Damn... this is not good. I must control every minute detail of my behavior... Now, I'm inside a real chess game. And my life is the stake."
"But this isn't enough... I need more information. I must fully understand this world's language, its religion, its sciences, its noble classes, and its view of demons. Are demons here like in the novel? Or more? Can I really survive?"
A long internal sigh.
"But my current body... doesn't help me. I can't even sit up. Or crawl. I have to wait two years... two full years of acting and foolishness, until I reach a stage where I can move freely. Only then... will my plan begin."
Then he heard that old, distant voice inside his head, as if ashes had begun to speak,
"Hahahaha... well done, my little vessel. It seems you've begun to understand the game... but remember."
"When you turn ten... the real game will begin."
Silence.
"And then, Klainfer... nothing in this world will remain the same."
Then a laugh... slow... distant... frightening.
As for Klainfer?
He closed his eyes calmly.
And for the first time, he drew a real child's smile on his face.
But deep inside...
He knew a monster was preparing to awaken.