~A Demon's Love~

(Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the games/characters; all credit goes to the original creators at Sega, please support the official release).

~Chapter 1: A Deal Between Rulers

Soleanna, also known as thePrincipality of Soleanna, and thecity of water, was a beautiful coastal city-state. It had a constitutional monarchy,and the primary industries were tourism and crafting precision machinery; though, for the 1800s, the technology was just basic tier industrial factories, irrigation and water mills, but it was beneficial as farming was also a major industry of the city-state.

The kingdom itself was divided between two main factions: a sprawling metropolis where the royal family and the upper class lived and a large rural farming village where the poor and middle class citizens lived. Despite this separation, both factions relied on one another for stability as the farming district was one of the main sources of food in the kingdom and the upper class district had to pay for it.

The current sovereigns of Soleanna were the Duke and hisdaughter, Princess Elise the Third. The city-state was populated by humans and Mobians respectively, some were rich, some were poor and some made just enough money to survive but weren't exactly wealthy. Regardless, the citizens lived relatively peaceful lives, the adults working and the children going to school, at least those whose parents could afford it, and life was normal.

That is...until one day, when the Duke had granted the owner of the lumber company permission to cut down some of the trees in the surrounding forest. Soleanna was basically caught between a large lake that was perfect for fishing and an even larger forest, bordered by tall mountains and perfect for hunting game.

But that morning when the lumberjacks went to chop down the trees, a large creature made of shadows emerged from the forest, killing all but one of them. The creature spared one of the lumberjacks, the creature sending him back to the Duke with a message.

As it turned out, the creature was known as Mephiles the Dark, Demon King and Ruler of the Forest. He was greatly angered that the Duke had sent humans into his domain, with the intent of robbing some of the plant life. He didn't wait before appearing before the Duke the following night in order to have an audience with him.

When Mephiles arrived, he looked like a giant black and grey shadowy dragon, but when appeared before the Duke and Princess Elise, he took on the form of an ordinary Mobian hedgehog but without a mouth.

"I take it you must be Mephiles, king of the Demons?", said the Duke.

Mephiles glared at the frightened man who shielded his daughter from the demonic being with his body, "Yes I am. And you...are the one who had commanded your people to invade my forest, stealing our trees and the wild animals that provide myself and my people with sustainace, when you have a giant lake to fish in and an entire village that grows crops and raise livestock!", he shouted as his demonic aura started tearing apart the room.

The Duke was now terrified, "Please, King Mephiles, you must understand! We did not know that the forest was home to demons, we didn't know! Please, do not kill any more of my subjects! If you want to punish someone, though, punish me! Not them! I'll do anything!", he begged.

Mephiles quickly calm himself down as he considered what the Duke had said to him. "Tell me: the farmers...they pay tax with their labor, correct? You collect half of the crops they produce as payment, meaning that it is them who provide the entire kingdom with food?

"Well then, I know that the lumber is used to manufacture tools and other things, so I can forgive that and allow you to continue to cut down trees. The forest is full of them and I have the ability to manipulate the earth with my demonic power, so I can simply grow more.

"However, you must pay for all the wild game you've taken from me and my subjects, so here is my deal. The crops are harvested in the autumn, so once a month, during the Harvest Moon, one of the villagers will be offered up as a sacrifice to me.

"One of the demons in my employ is a master marksman, he shall fire an arrow towards the village and when it lands on a house, one man from that household shall be offered up in sacrifice. The age of said villager doesn't matter, but they must be chained up on a podium near the entrance of the forest.

"I will then take the sacrifice to my castle deep within the forest to devour them, and in return, I shall use my power to grant the remaining villagers a bountiful harvest. This will ensure that you pay for stealing the animals from my forest and also your people won't go hungry during the winter.

"You should count yourself as fortunate, as a demon, it is not within my nature to be this merciful but I'm feeling generous today. Also, you did have no knowledge of the existence of my people, so I shouldn't punish you too harshly. Now I await your answer, think very carefully about what you say next, it's never wise to anger a demon, especially one as powerful as I am", he said.

The Duke couldn't believe what he had heard, but at that moment, he saw no better options. "Do you truly promise to grant us a bountiful harvest? And you'll only devour the one sacrifice?", he asked.

"I am a demon of my word, if you accept this deal I will. But if you refuse, you can sit back and watch as I destroy the farmlands, dooming you and your people to famine!", said Mephiles.

With a heavy heart, the Duke sighed. "Alright then, you've got a deal. Come this Harvest Moon and each one that follows, you will get your sacrifice", he said.

"Father, no! You can't be serious, agreeing to this demon's terms...its cruel! Its unjust! There must be another way!", said Princess Elise.

"Elise, there's no other way! You know how difficult it can be to catch fish, especially in the winter, so the food grown by the farmers is most important. If I don't do this, everyone in the kingdom, including you, will suffer!", said the Duke.

"And what of the families who'll lose one of their own to this sacrificial practice? You don't think they will suffer?", asked Elise.

The Duke sighed once again, "It is better to suffer a momentary heartache than suffer through a lifelong famine. King Mephiles, you have my word that you will get your sacrifice. I will inform my nobleman who governs the farming district about this, he will make sure that the villagers understand and comply", he said.

Mephiles nodded, "Excellent. I'll return on the night of the Harvest Moon, and there better be someone chained to a podium at the entrance of the forest when I arrive. Whether they're human or Mobian, young or old, it doesn't matter as long as it is done", he said.

[Time Skip]

The next day, with a greatly heavy heart, the Duke of Soleanna signed an official decree detailing the deal made between him and King Mephiles. Once he stamped it with the royal seal, he had it delivered to a mansion located on the border that divided the upper class district and the farming district.

This mansion was home to a nobleman by the name of Lord Bellmere, who was a distant relative of Princess Elise's deceased mother. A messenger brought the decree over to his mansion that morning, he read it out loud in front of his wife and neither of them could believe it.

But they both knew it had to be done regardless of their reservations, so they decided to gather all the villagers in the farming district in the square, near the clocktower.

All the villagers gathered together in the square that morning to here what Lord Bellmere had to say, needless to say when he concluded reading the decree, everyone was shocked. The women shielded their children while the men cried out in outrage, demanding that something be done like the Duke taking the royal guard and driving the demons of the forest away.

"ENOUGH!"

A loud shout, followed by the sound of a gunshot, was heard. All the villagers immediately silenced themselves as they turned to see who had fired off the shot. They looked onstage to see Commander Towers, leader of a small division of the royal guard known as the "Military Police".

While the royal guard patrolled the upper class district to ensure everyone followed the laws, the military police did the same for the farming district. The division was comprised of both human and Mobian soldiers, in fact two of them were on stage with Commander Towers as well.

One was a black and red male hedgehog named Shadow and the other was a white female bat named Rouge.

Once the villagers settled down, Commander Towers addressed them directly. "People, I understand that you are all afraid and angered by this turn of events, but understand that there is nothing else that could be done! The Duke tried to bargain with the demon king but nothing could be done to sway him.

"If you want your families to survive the oncoming winter, a sacrifice must be made. All we can do is pray that the chosen find peace in the next life and that the demon king will keep his word and grant us bountiful harvests in the future", he said.

With that said, the villagers all begrudgingly returned to their homes and tried to go about with their daily lives, but it was difficult as now every family in the village was terrified, wondering which of them would be chosen for sacrifice.

The village carpenters had also gotten work, building a podium at the entrance of the forest for the sacrifice.

Then, the day came. Near the end of September, on the afternoon before the Harvest Moon could rise, a red arrow flew across the sky above the village and embedded itself into the roof of a house.

It was the home of a human family, a man and a woman, their two young children and the grandparents. Once they had been selected, they had a long and tearful discussion about who would make the sacrifice.

Once night time came, it was decided that the grandfather would make the sacrifice as the father of the family was younger and stronger, and thus needed to do the farm work.

Just then, there was a knock on the door as two soldiers of the military police came to take the sacrifice to the podium. All the villagers watched from the safety of their homes, looking out their windows. The soldiers led the old man onto the podium and chained him to a pole.

Then they backed away to a safe distance and watched with baited breath. After ten unbroken minutes of complete silence, they heard a low menacingly growl emit from the forest. Just then, a large shadowy dragon emerged from the forest, this was King Mephiles in his true form.

He looked down at the frightened old man with a gleeful smirk, he hadn't expected the Duke to keep his end of the bargain but he was pleased nonetheless. Mephiles then lifted one of his arms and waved it through the air, a wave of dark magic passed across all the farmlands.

The fruits and vegetables immediately grew and ripened much faster than they would've done normally. Then he looked back towards the old man on the podium, he lunged down and grabbed him, taking the chains with him. Mephiles flew back into the forest, dragging the screaming old man with him.

After such a horrible event, the family of the old man spent the entire night crying in sadness for their loss. The next day, all the villagers got to work harvesting the newly ripened crops, but the atmosphere was heavy with melancholy.

Nobody thought that having enough food to survive the winter was worth letting one of their be taken away and devoured by the demon king, but it couldn't be helped.

And so it went, every subsequent Harvest Moon, a red arrow would land on a random house and someone would be chosen to be sacrificed to Mephiles. It didn't matter if they were a human or a Mobian, an adult or an elderly person, they were chained to the podium to await their death.

Mephiles would then come and use his demon magic to make the crops grow large and ripe before dragging the terrified person away. Soon, the once happy and peaceful kingdom had become quite sorrowful as the people just accepted it like it was a new tradition.

However, no one knew about the chain of events that would lead to things changing forever.

[End of Chapter 1]