If saving you is a sin I’ll gladly become a sinner -- Anon Guest
The crying infant had roused him from his bed, and when he saw what was crying, he almost thought it a mercy to smother the newborn beast. As a cleric of the Divine Light, that was close to heresy. Except for what lay on the town's midden.
Skin the colour of a ripe plum, a lashing tail with a spaded tip. The kicking legs had cloven hooves in lieu of feet. It turned every flame in sight a rude shade of red, and made every shadow dance. To allow a Tiefling to live was to allow corruption into the world.
But it was a baby, and its fate was unwritten. Did not the Divine Light teach that all should have a chance to choose?
Savion made a choice, and chose the more difficult mercy. He doffed his shawl and scooped the infant from its noissome nest. "There now, there now," he cooed. "There now. No more need to cry. You're safe."
The infant's howls abated, and so too did the dancing shadows and bloody hue to every flame. Shockingly magenta eyes boggled up at him in the way of babies everywhere. For that, Savion could smile for the child.
"You'll feel much better for a warm bath, clean swaddling, and a belly full of goat milk, my dear." He jiggled the child as he made his way back to his humble home. "You will have shelter, and a bed, and -alas- me for a parent."
At this news, the babe in his arms set up another howl.
It took many hours out of his night, but Savion kept his word. A warm bath, clean swaddling, and a belly full of fresh goat milk did put the baby into a better state of mind.
Happy Tieflings - the world would learn - could manifest soft and haunting music, just at the cusp of hearing. The flames surrounding a happy Tiefling could sparkle with a rainbow aura.
Savion would spend the rest of his life reminding his people that the ancestors of demons... were angels.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / suti]
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