Shiane here! Well, this is my fic. It's a little AU because Talpa and the warlords pop in later on. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it. Please read and review!!!
Those Who Fear the Dark
"Those who fear the dark have never seen what the light can do." – a Magic: The Gathering card
prologue
Kra'ak moaned in disgust. How could his mites have been so stupid! Now the blond boy was lost to them until the next ascension was in position. The demon lord grimaced and bit his lip with his sharp pointy teeth as he remembered first discovering the powerful young one.
:flashback: Kra'ak stood on the edge of the abyss. He kept watch constantly over the mortal realm, seeking for those with the Power who he could bend to his will. Over the millennia thousands of sorcerers, warlocks, witches, and others who held Omini, the life energy, within their inner hands, had been chained to the will of the demon overlord of this black hell. It was once named Perdition. Kra'ak had liked the name, shouted out as a curse by one particuly defiant sorceresses even as his pun'kin heads finished consuming her legs and began on her torso. It was the last thing she spoke - the pain had grown so great that she surrendered to the mercy of unconsciousness. A pity, really. The whole spectacle had been mildly amusing. Though truthfully, the name was rather difficult to say so he liked to shorten it to Perd. More of a cutsey nickname – for a hellhole. Long ago he and his demons had been driven from the mortal realm. Since then he had been forced to use his corrupted magic bearers to carry out his desires. Lately (as in the last thousand years), even they had begun to fade.
But just then he sensed something. The abyss was his scrying pool. It surrounded his realm and forbid him entry into the mortal realm, but it was also his link to the realm. By staring into the "pool", he could observe and thus interfere with proceedings there. Yet, it had been a long while since he had sensed anything this powerful. He threw out his psychic tentacles, staining for a closer look. There! He found it - the strange surge of power. In an island nation called Nippon, or Japan, in these days. There was a blond haired woman, leaning against her Japanese husband. At their feet a young girl played. Her shiny black hair showed that she took her looks more from her father rather than her American mother. The woman held her hand protectively against her swollen stomach and there - Power stirred! At Kra'ak's grin, the demon mites that had been cluttered around him scattered in fear. Malice lit in his eyes as he began to devise a plan. The unborn child would be his! A mage prince to lead his evil into the world once again. It had been centuries since he had discovered any with this much power - and still unborn! Three months. Yes, plenty of time to put his plan into action.
:End Flashback:
The demon lord writhed in his fury. It had been a beautiful plan. It really would have been easiest just to kidnap the child as soon as it was old enough to be taken from its mother. However, the ancient Laws bound even Kra'ak. The child would have to turn of its own free will. Not that free will couldn't be manipulated. So that was the plan – to shape the child's past so that Kra'ak's offer of dark power would be welcome. It would be a boy – close to the birth Kra'ak had been able to sense that. He had also been able to sense a rebellious spirit. The father's father was a traditionalist. Quite strict actually. He had originally been opposed to his son marrying an American woman. Kra'ak suspected that he would be the one usually left in charge of the children because of the parents' busy schedule. The grandfather and the boy would likely clash because of opposing personalities – thus creating friction and aiding Kra'ak's plans. He was nothing if not an opportunist. He would use that, but there needed to be more… If the lad was often sickly, the grandfather would feel the need to be harder on him to "toughen him up". Or else he would treat the child as if he was somehow inferior. Either way, the boy would grow up with yet more resentment towards his elders and therefore their teachings as well. A sickly childhood would also cause him to avoid other children and develop an anti-social lifestyle. And last but not least, Kra'ak's offer of power would bring not only a chance for revenge but an offer of complete health. And of course the boy need never know that it was Kra'ak who had originally caused his suffering.
So that would be phase one of his plan. He had sent out the demon mites soon after the boy's birth. The mites were unbelievably stupid and not much more then pests but they accomplished the job. The boy child was often quite sickly and ill – Kra'ak's plan was being put into action. And then! His anger surged. He ground his teeth in fury and flames sprung up from the ground around him. Those idiotic mites! The grandfather insisted on carrying out an old Japanese folk medicine. The ancient Japanese had felt that by dressing the child up as a girl, the demons would leave, thinking it was a different child. Idiots. It wouldn't work with most demons – they were smarter than that. But those damn mites! They came back whining that they lost the boy. Kra'ak realized what had happened but it was too late. The family must have moved because he couldn't find them in the pool. And it was too late to search! He would have to wait until the next ascension when the proper focal points were lined up for the necessary hunt for the boy. Damn those mites! His entire realm shook with his wrath and all his minions hid their heads. Then it all stopped.
An eerie silence crept over Kra'ak's domain. Ten years till the next ascension. The blond boy would be sixteen. And teenagers were unusually susceptible to … suggestion… Yes, he still might have a chance. All he had to do was be patient… What was the child's name again? Oh yes, Sage. The demon lord settled back in his throne and began to preen his horns. "Yes, Sage Date, ten years. I can wait."
And in the mortal realm a child peaked out from under the covers. He hated the dark and wasn't at all sure that he liked this new house. All of a sudden he thought he heard a faint laughter. Though he had no concept of what evil was, this sounded like it. Terrified, the boy hid under the covers, trembling.