The Crimson Demon

The Crimson Demon. A man who followed and obeyed no laws but his own: Be the best.

It was a simple rule he thought he would uphold for the rest of his life, yet life would always take strange turns.

It all started when he was a child, 20 years before the events of Arablest...

Once there was a young boy, who lived in the country of Raalte.
Although many beg to differ, this young boy was born to human parents, both with exceptional talents. Their child was no different; as the boy grew, his talent was apparent. Somehow, despite the fact that others said it was impossible, he was always the fastest, the strongest, the smartest, and the best at just about everything when compared with all the children around his age. He was the talk of the village; many were jealous of him, others were proud to have known him.

In short, he was considered the perfect human being to many in the village.

How such a child came to be was seen as a gift to their village. Their gifted child, to grow and perhaps fulfill his destiny in some way. The child knew of their feelings about this himself, and after hearing the tale about the heroic deeds of past heroes, his new found arrogance decided that he should pick up the sword and become a hero himself.

No matter what happened, he would be learning the sword.

Ever since then he didn’t care about how to survive anymore; he didn’t feel the thrill of the hunt any more, the laughter of the children as they played games that he always won, nothing. All he cared about was the sword.

Eventually it was the children who first began to shun him. They used to look up to him, the gifted child that would treat them fairly in their games, but now, they avoided him. They hated him, for who he was, his extreme dedication to learning nothing but the sword, doing nothing to help the village and still getting away with it.

But the child didn’t care; for he knew he was special.

As his arrogance grew, so did his nature change; no longer did he remember his wish to become a hero that would save the world, but to become the greatest swordsman in the world. Already he could spar with the best adults in the village and win, and he was only a child. His ability gave him power; he was consumed by it, thrilled by strength he had.

“I’m going to master the sword to the point where no one shall be able to beat me!”

This was the vow he made to himself.

The adults idolized him still; despite the fact they were losing their spars against him, they only thought that the boy was truly gifted.

And as for the child, his arrogance grew even further, and he began to be blinded by his power; eventually he only saw adults as puppeteers, as people trying to control his life. They were always philosophy and all that other useless things with him, he thought.
And so, he began to realize that he had no true friend that would support him; the children hated him, the adults only saw him as a gift to their village, a means to their ends. Someone to be controlled.

And he hated it. He believed that he saw through their thinly veiled lies when they said that they only wanted to help him; at least, he thought, the children were more honest.

So the child began to grow lonely, but his will would not let him stop training the sword.

He knew, that one day, he would show them all.

And then the day came where he faced the greatest swordsmen in the village: His parents.

He had heard tales about his family sword. The legendary blood red sword that belonged to an ancient hero of their village, and he was a descendent of that hero. He was a descendent, so of course he was entitled to the sword, he thought. He was going to be the hero, after all.

Only, unlike the other adults in the village, his parents thought that their child, although gifted as he may be, was still immature. His morals had disappeared one by one as he focused only on the sword, and his parents had been the first to notice.

So they refused to give him the sword when he asked, and did their best to protect it, eventually being forced to draw their swords in an attempt to subdue their own child.

But alas, it was far too late, for the child had gone through much training; his swordsmanship skills were beyond exceptional.

And by the end of the day, the lifeless bodies of his parents lay on the floor, their blood flowing freely as the child reached to grab the legendary blade.

With the blade in hand, he laughed freely, and killed everyone else who attempted to stop him as he left.

The village took measures, of course. Suddenly shocked and surprised about the child’s true nature, they exiled him from their village, despite that they had no power to force him out.

He walked out by himself, killing those in his way, finding joy for the first time in years from his bloodthirsty ways.

“I have nothing more to learn here. I will travel the world, and seek out the strongest warriors of the land, and defeat them one by one until I am the best swordsman anyone has ever seen. “

And so he left, without looking back even once, leaving behind him a village mourning for their many losses.

This is the story of Shin, the Crimson Demon.