The Fallen

Hello everyone and welcome to my first Pat reon commission! This story has been requested by my patron, Samson, and will chronicle a tale between Asta and the demon woman, Megicula. For those wondering, yes, Megicula is a girl in this story and there will be a few differences in the lore of this story compared to the canon, so heads up on that. But even with a few changes I think you'll all still enjoy this story, so let's dive on in!

Hage Village: Near The Forest

This world is full of magic. It can take many different forms and runs throughout the land and the people who inhabit it. But the division of magic is not what one would call the most balanced. There are many places in the world where magic runs more powerfully than in others and that doesn't stop with the land.

The people, too, have magic which they can call upon and wield along with special tools to help amplify and control it. And just like the land, the magic does not spread out evenly among the populace. This disparity has led to many kingdoms whose ruling body are those possessing the highest and most potent forms of magic. One such kingdom is the Clover Kingdom.

Its base of power begins at the center of the kingdom and spreads outwards. The further one goes from the center, the less powerful in magic the people are. Such is the case for the village of Hage, a small farming community which lies on the very outskirts of the Clover Kingdom in an area many refer to as the Forsaken Realm. This reality, while sobering for many, was not currently enough to bring down the spirits of two boys chasing each other near the woods.

"Don't think you can get away forever, Asta!" A young, dark-haired boy of about six or seven years old declared while chasing after another boy with ash gray hair. Though their ages were similar, the ashen-haired boy was slightly shorter.

"You're not catching me, Yuno!" The boy out in the lead called back with a wide grin on his face as he continued to run. They were playing tag and originally, they'd had other kids playing along with them. But Asta's stamina was so high that the other children had simply dropped out from exhaustion, leaving only Yuno to chase after him once he got tagged by another kid.

Unfortunately for Yuno, Asta had recently started experimenting with a physical training regimen and the results were showing. His running speed had increased a bit along with his stamina. Yuno was able to keep up for the moment, but the longer they ran the harder it got for him to keep pace with his friend. Before long, the dark-haired youth had to stop, putting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath and call out to his friend.

But Asta was incorrigible, continuing to run deeper and deeper into the forest. In all of his excitement he didn't recall the advice of the Nun, Sister Lily, who helped take care of him and the other children. He also ignored the breathless cries of his friend telling him not to go too deep into the forest. He continued to run, further and further and deeper and deeper into the woods, heedless of the fact that he might be getting hopelessly lost.

He didn't notice the appearance of more and more odd colors in the forest the further he went. It was only once he began seeing strange shapes that he started slowing down. What finally brought Asta to a complete halt was when he realized the area he was in no longer resembled a regular forest at all. Instead, it was as if he'd stepped into an abstract painting, but the surroundings weren't stationary.

Strangely, the sky seemed to be rotating around him, as if it had suddenly stopped caring about the regular day and night cycle. Odder still, it wasn't just one section rotating but multiple rectangular sections rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. Each one had a different pattern on it. One had butterflies on it, another looked like an iron wall, a third had stars on it and so on.

Looking up towards the sky, Asta noticed that there were no clouds or a sun, but instead a giant blood red bouquet of flowers. Looking on the ground, he noticed it still resembled grass but no longer stood up like grass and was decorated with black thorns running all along it. 'What is this place,' the ashen-haired boy thought in awe as he walked along, looking around. Trees were still present and large bushes of black roses could be seen on either side of the path he was on.

Strange creatures flitted about the mystery realm as well. There were rabbits with odd colorations running to and fro along with butterflies that looked like paint splotches floating in the air from a distance. Asta touched one of them experimentally, but it paid him no mind and proceeded to fly along its own route. 'So weird,' he thought as his curious gaze continued to roam around the new landscape.

For a child like him, such a place wasn't scary but rather fascinating and full of possibilities. It seemed full of endless oddities and he couldn't wait to get back and tell everyone at the orphanage what he'd found. But the longer he explored, the more an uneasy feeling began to work its way into the back of his mind. For some reason, no matter how far he walked, the rotating walls of the unknown location never seemed to get any closer.

He also had no idea how long he'd been in here. Was it only a few minutes, a few hours, more? Come to think of it, where was the way back? Asta finally stopped walking and turned around, looking back the way he came. But the path was gone, or rather the path reappeared when he moved towards it, only for the way forward to suddenly become obscured.

Fear finally began to take hold as Asta tried heading back towards the edge of the forest. But no matter how fast he ran the forest didn't seem to end nor did the surroundings seem to change all that much. 'Sister Lily, Yuno,' he thought desperately, 'someone, tell me where I am!' At last, movement caught his eyes as he stopped abruptly.

There, in the distance, was a silhouette, the figure of a person. Asta ran towards it without thinking, happy to see anything that resembled a person in that particular moment. As he drew near, the many oddities of this unknown individual became clear. They were a woman with grey skin, pointed ears, and long, wavy white hair.

Other peculiarities included two gnarled horns curved back and upwards on the top of her head, a pair of batlike wings protruding from the stranger's back and three blue slitted eyes with black sclera, the third of which was in the center of her forehead. A black dress which left her shoulders exposed and black sleeves covered her body but didn't hide the grey tail which ended in a black, arrowhead shape. It was an appearance that would've been considered frightening and unnatural to many as this woman was clearly not human. And as she walked along aimlessly, most would've turned and fled. Asta, however, was not most people.

He found her odd appearance fascinating. Like a number of children who hadn't learned to recognize the signs that indicated what animals were and weren't dangerous. Adding to that, Asta was overjoyed to see that he wasn't alone in this strange realm. With that thought in mind, he ran right up to the strange woman.

"Hi there!" He loudly greeted, "my name's Asta, what's yours?!" Instead of receiving a response the winged woman proceeded onward, her tired eyes and bored expression not changing as she continued to stare in the same direction. "Um, hello, did you hear me?" Again, no response.

Asta tried another tactic then as he ran ahead of her, jumping, screaming and waving his arms all in an attempt to get some sort of response from the wandering stranger. Finally, he reached out and poked her. That seemed to have an effect as the woman finally stopped, slowly blinking her eyes as if she'd just woken up from sleeping. "Um, hi," the ashen-haired boy began, surprised his prodding had worked, "would you happen to know if there's a trail or something in this place."

She looked at him, saying nothing at first. This further confused Asta as he averted his gaze, trying to think of what to say next. That's when he noticed it: the woman's hands were shaking. 'Oh, maybe she's just nervous,' he thought innocently.

Had he known the real reason, Asta might've run right then and there. The stranger had finally realized that the boy was indeed real, and a human. Hatred had flared up in her as the first intense emotion she'd felt in ages. Almost every fiber of her being was screaming at her to tear apart the annoying creature who'd wandered into this domain.

But just as she'd resigned herself to do just that, the woman was halted by a single thought, a realization. A human was here, how? It was then that the stranger noticed an oddity about the boy before her. That finally stayed her hand, albeit barely, as she took a deep breath and recomposed herself. There would be plenty of time for her revenge, but first, she needed to confirm something.

"So, um, do you live here," Asta decided to ask, "or is your home somewhere else?"

"Well, guh," the woman's voice came out sounding far more masculine than Asta or she had expected. The stranger massaged her throat for a few moments with her hand before speaking again, this time with an actual feminine voice. "Yes, you could say this is my home." The horned woman flashed a crooked smile showing her slightly sharpened teeth.

The boy didn't need to know right now that this place was actually a prison for demons like her and that the ones who put her here had also damaged her throat by nearly cutting her head off. Even though the wound healed some time ago she still suffered from the very occasional shifting in how she sounded. "Your home is huge," Asta exclaimed, "it's so easy to get lost in here."

"It can be, yes," she acknowledged, "tell me, isn't it unwise for a child of your age to be wandering around alone?"

"I'm not that young," Asta insisted, "I'm seven years old!"

"And lost," the stranger noted, "How long have you been here? I imagine your parents will be worried."

"I don't have any parents," he revealed, "I live at the orphanage with all the other kids. You know where that is right? Your home is right next to Hage Village."

"Oh, has a village sprung up over there," the woman gave her best impression of a sweet smile, "it's been so long since I've ventured out of my home I must've missed it."

"How long have you been living here?" Asta asked.

"Many years," the stranger answered, "perhaps you've heard of me. I am Megicula."

"Megi-cola," the ashen-haired boy attempted to repeat, "No I'd remember a weird name like that." A tick mark appeared on her head at that comment but she retained her smile. "And I already told you my name, but you were out of it or something, so I'll introduce myself again. My name's Asta! Remember it because it's the name of the next wizard king!"

"You want to be the next wizard king," Megicula raised an eyebrow, "that must mean you're from the Clover Kingdom."

"Sure am," Asta gave a toothy smile, "I might not have any magic, but I'm gonna prove you don't need any! I'll become a magic knight, then the wizard king, then I'll come back home and marry Sister Lily!"

"You certainly don't lack enthusiasm," she noted. But inwardly, Megicula was wondering what she should do with this little intruder. No one should've been able to get into this prison and yet this boy had wandered in unmolested. The winged woman was certain it was a temporary distortion he'd come through but that still left questions.

The very reason she herself hadn't escaped through such a distortion was due to divine defenses placed around the prison that always drove her away when she tried. Those same defenses usually cut to pieces anyone who tried to enter, so what was different about this boy? 'Wait, no magic,' she examined the excitable child and noted that he did indeed have no mana radiating from his body whatsoever, 'the defenses couldn't target him because they target magic!'

"By the way," Asta's voice broke Megicula from her thoughts, "how do you have wings and horns and all that other stuff? Is that your magic?"

"Oh, you mean all of this," she flexed her wings slightly and flicked her tail, "no, I was born this way. Some call people like me demons."

"Demons?" The boy repeated in confusion, "but demons are scary, aren't they? You don't seem scary."

"Perhaps we're just misunderstood," Megicula smiled sweetly, again happy the child couldn't yet pick up on such things. "Why not let me show you the way out of here and you'll see I'm not so bad." She held out her hand and, after a moment of hesitation, Asta reached out to take it. 'Perfect,' Megicula thought while trying not to grin wickedly, 'let us seal a contract, little one.'

In truth, she already had a connection to the outside world, a sadistic girl by the name of Vanica Zogratis from the Spade Kingdom. But that particular deal had been made through an unstable portal, causing an imperfect combination that left much to be desired. The girl had more power but Megicula could not fully manifest into the world through her body. This boy, however, was right here and ripe for the taking, a perfect empty vessel that she could use to manifest from once he safely exited the prison.

So as Asta grasped her hand, a part of herself moved inside of his body to attack his magical core or what passed for it in one who didn't possess magic. As it turned out, there was a core, but not a magical one. 'What, anti-magic!' Megicula's eyes widened slightly as her attempt to infect the boy's core was repelled by the unexpected energy. Asta almost stumbled as he wiped suddenly appearing sweat from his forehead.

"Sorry, I got dizzy for a moment," he smiled in spite of himself, blissfully unaware of what had just happened.

"Oh, then we should get you home quickly," Megicula kept her composure and began to lead him back to the entrance he'd come through. All the while, she was examining the boy's condition as they walked. 'Something's happened to the core,' she noted, 'it's outputting now but at a drastically reduced rate from what it was. Still, this is fortunate. Anti-magic has many applications and if I do this properly, I can become the wielder of it.'

So she tried again, this time more carefully and implanted a piece of her being into Asta's soul. Once again the boy failed to notice any changes and continued to smile and laugh as they approached the disruption in the prison. Megicula also made small talk with him when it was necessary, ensuring the boy didn't suspect her of anything. After another few minutes, they arrived.

"This place looks like all the others," Asta noted as they stopped at a spot in the middle of more black rosebushes, "how do you know it's the right one?"

"I've learned how to sense the distortions in my home's magical energy," Megicula explained before holding up her other hand. The air shimmered briefly as a circular portal that looked like it was made of golden thorns appeared. Red roses lined the inside of the glowing gate and an angelic symbol Asta didn't recognize characterized the center.

"WHOA! That's so cool!" He exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Just a simple application of my Curse-Warding magic," the demoness explained, "I can weaken the magic that hides things like these. Now run along, your friends are no doubt worried about you."

"Can't you come with me," Asta asked. 'You haven't the slightest idea how much I'd like too,' she thought sincerely for once.

"I'm afraid I have some urgent issues I need to take care of," Megicula smiled, "but one day, when I'm not so busy, I might come visit your home."

"Well if you're too busy then I'll just come visit you," the ashen-haired boy stated, "you're my neighbor after all and I'll bet you get lonely here all by yourself." She honestly didn't know how to respond to that as he let go of her hand and headed for the portal before stopping to wave back. "It was nice meeting you! I'll bring my other friends next time!" He jumped through the portal then, unaware that the distortion closed behind him.

"Such a naïve boy," Megicula shook her head, "the odds of a distortion appearing in the same location in a short time are astronomical." She raised up her hand then and smiled wickedly. "But don't worry. Though you may not see me, I'll be able to watch you wherever you are now. So grow up big and strong so that I can make the best use out of you, my new toy."

The demon woman would spend a good bit of time after that thinking up a number of experiments to put her new subject through once she got the chance. But first, she needed to ensure the link she established was working. So, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the piece of her now in the Clover Kingdom. The next thing she saw was a forest which eventually gave way to the edge of a village. Asta's voice was unmistakable as he greeted a crying boy he called Yuno who was followed by an older man in a priest's robes and a nun who he immediately dove for with a hug, only to be smashed into the ground by a fist made of water.

It was only natural they'd all be like this. The boy had been gone for several hours and the ones at the orphanage had been worried about him. But of course, as much as everyone cared for him they weren't about to believe some outlandish story about Asta running into a woman with batwings and horns. Ironic, considering their village's primary landmark was the skull of an old demon. Even if they did believe him, however, they were none the wiser.

The seed had been planted and she would watch with interest as it grew and grew until it was time for her to harvest his full potential. Little did Megicula know, another seed had also been planted that day.

And so our story begins. What events have been triggered by this meeting and what will be the ultimate outcome for these two souls? Whatever the case it'll be quite the time getting there so as always leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And of course, see about becoming a patron for updates and other treats on my Pat reon! Be sure to stop in next time as the effects of Megicula's meddling begin to show in Asta's development! 'Til then.