Summary: The way Dragon Quest VIII would have been if Eight had been raised by Chen Mui in the Dragovian Sanctuary. When Dhoulmagus steals the scepter and casts the curse on Trodain, Eight and Chen Mui (as Munchie) is sent down to help protect the world from the Darkness is bound to come.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Dragon Quest franchise in any way. I do own the story that this prologue or other chapters are based on.
Prologue (Flashback)…
Long ago, some twenty year's previous, a curious Dragovian girl by the name of Xia decided to visit the world of the humans. There she chanced to meet a young prince named Eltrio. It was love at first sight!
But her father, Chen Mui objected. He took Xia back home to the Dragovian Sanctuary so that the couple could never meet again. He thought it was the right thing to do. He believed that there would never be any way for a Dragovian and a human to build a happy life together. But he was wrong. His foolish caused no end of sadness and tragedy for his beloved daughter Xia.
Shortly after Chen Mui forced his daughter back to the Sanctuary, a human body was found just outside.
It was Eltrio. He had fought desperately to find Xia again, but died before reaching the gates of the Sanctuary.
The death of her true love wounded Xia to her very soul. She plunged into an inconsolable sorrow. Her life ebbed away from her day by day. One day, even absorbed in her grief, Xia realized that she was pregnant with Eltrio's child. Every single one of the Dragovian's objected, but she stood firm and decided to keep the baby.
Xia delivered a healthy baby boy, but in her weakened state, she never recovered from the strain of childbirth and passed away soon after.
The Council of Elders convened a discussion to decide what should be done about the half- human, half- Dragovian child. It took several years, but finally the Council of Elders announced their final decision.
Originally, the Council had decided that the child's memory would be sealed away, and he would be banished from the Sanctuary forever. Needless to say, by this time Chen Mui had his mind. He argued against the cruel and close-minded decision at great length. All hope seemed to be lost for the old man, until the Dragovian Lord intervened. The Dragovian Lord had intervened, hoping that one day, through the boy, the worlds of the Dragovians and the Humans would be connected again, bringing peace between the two races.
The original decision was soon reversed. Instead of banishing the child, like some had originally discussed, the boy would continue to live among them, in the care of his only surviving relative; his grandfather, Chen Mui. He would then learn the ways of their people.
For those remaining years, Chen Mui lived with his grandson in relative peace, teaching him the ways and the traditions of the Dragovians, not knowing that one day, the boy may one day have to make a choice between the world he was born and raised in, and the one that awaited him.