Prolouge

A Chapter by Quinn Fletcher

A prologue for my story, giving the readers a brief look at the world but more of a heavier look on the main character.

Prologue:

“This is Argus in the Evening with Clos Set Wailing. It is a lovely night in the empire’s capital city of Hellengaruo. The sky is a beautiful shade of black with both moons full and bright. “The red eyes of the doom are fully opened now”, as you religious demons would say. First up tonight will be news on the Argus Alliances campaign against the Omniverse. Sad news folks, it seems that another realm has averted conquest yet again thanks to those self-righteous troopers. But before that listen to the much anticipated fan favorite song by…”

CRACK

“Ah nuts.” Morphan picked up the pieces of the dropped radio and tried to put them back together, he quickly lost his cool and exerted too much strength thus breaking the handheld radio even more. He then let out a heavy sigh and put the pieces into his sack, figuring he would throw them away once he came across a proper garbage can “It’s not like a broken radio will really make this day that much worse.”

It was nothing that he had not been through already. The community he was living in found out he was a half-demon, otherwise known as a Hanyou or Damos Cross. Other titles included freak, mutant, abomination, mutt etc. As always once it was discovered that Morphan was a half-demon his social life was no more.

Morphan didn’t have very many worldly possessions but the few he did have were very easy to pack and carry, which was convenient when angry mobs were converging on him. He had figured today’s mob would be the “all-talk” variety and would run away once it became obvious that he could actually fight back thus giving him a chance to flee.

Unfortunately that had not been the case.

Apparently, the Hellengaruo’s suburban population was not as pampered and pathetic as the comedians said they were, although it was nothing a half-demon’s decade’s experience of defending himself from rioters couldn’t handle. Unfortunately fighting back always gave the rioters a reason to tell on him. All the more reason for Morphan to move to a different part of the city. “Lucky for me the city is so big or I’d have run out of places to hide long ago.” Morphan said to himself.

“I probably should stop talking to myself.” Morphan stated glumly.

Soon he found his destination a bus stop bench. He threw away the broken radio into a nearby garbage can, checked the bus schedule and lay down for some rest.

Later…

Sleeping on a bus bench is never cozy, even less so when you have a brown carapace covering your forearms, lower legs, upper chest and the top of your head. The parts that weren’t covered in a carapace were covered in thick, leather like skin making it even more uncomfortable. “It’s not like I have a lot of options” thought Morphan at one point. His “genetic alterations” powers as they were scientifically called granted him three forms: Human form, Half form and Demon form.

Demon form was extremely useful for defending himself with the enhanced strength he got from it. But outside combat, the thick, bulky armor-like carapace covering his body seemed ludicrously unnecessary, not to mention uncomfortable. Plus, the community had seen him in his Demon form so by now they all had it memorized.

Human form was an even worse idea because walking around as a human in Argus was the equivalent of a sheep walking into lion territory. Although the soft flesh he had in that form was certainly a lot comfier then any of his other forms, it just wasn’t worth the risk. “Sleeping in my human form is what got me into this mess in the first place” he thought at one point while trying to sleep.

His half form was the only form that no one in the nearby community had seen him in. It wasn’t as strong as his demon form or as comfy as his human form but it was by far the least conspicuous.

Another reason he didn’t sleep well was because of his clothing. He had not expected to be “going out” when he dressed himself that morning. All he wore was some black sweatpants, some loose sandals, and a thin black vest with the Argus logo on the back.

The Argus logo was basically a demon head caricature. Why the Argus Empire felt the need to put their logo on everything Morphan would never know.

Plus memories from his past played over and over again in his head.

All and all Morphan did not sleep well.

HOOOOOOOONK

Morphan woke with a comical startle.

“You getting on?” asked a cheerful voice.

Morphan eventually calmed down and focused on the sound of the voice, Morphan quickly discovered it belonged to a bus driver.

The bus driver was a large burly demon covered in thick brown shaggy fur, he wore no clothing (which was common for the more animalistic demons) save for a bus driver’s cap which looked comically small on his large head. Like all demons of Argus he had bright red eyes. To other beings of the Omniverse his red eyes would have appeared malicious or frightening but to Morphan who was raised were nearly everyone had eyes like that he found the bus drivers eyes friendly and pleasing.

“I said are you getting on?” the bus driver asked kindly as he kept the door opened.

“Yeah, sure I’m on.” Morphan stuttered as he rushed onto the bus, paid the fine and went to the farthest seat in the back.

“So, where are you headed at this hour?”

“Look, buddy normally I’d love to have a chat with you but I’ve had a long day and would really like to get some rest.” Morphan spoke in the friendliest tone he could muster so as to not hurt the nice demons feelings, Morphan then plopped his head onto his sack as a makeshift pillow “Just wake me when we reach the end of the line please.”

“Well, rest well,” the bus driver continued “Because we’re in for a long journey!”

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