They were demon-born, filled with hate and rage. They gained an army of demon-borns, and conquered a land. All of them fueled with the same rage borne from years of mistreatment, betrayal, and cruelty. Can the gentle act of a small handful of humans, and others, soothe these darkened hearts back into the light before it's too late? -- The New Guy
When all you have ever known is hate, it is easy to feel it overtake you. In the grand city of Skymire, like all grand cities, there's a ghetto of the most unwelcome peoples.
The polite word for them is Hellkin. Few use it. There are a great many more impolite words for them.
Devilborn, demons, Teuf. It didn't matter. One had had enough. He eventually chose the name Esteem, but in the gutters of the ghetto known as Imp Dis, he was yet another orphan with not enough to eat and a raging anger.
"Why do we have to stay here?" he asked from atop a soapbox. "Why do we have to put up with this? Look at us! We're a city on our own! We could be an army! We could become a great nation!"
It always begins with grand dreams. Telling mothers that they don't have to hold down infants to get their horn nubs seared and sealed, just so they could pass as Human. Telling angry young teens that they could be allowed to fight back. Telling the world-weary that they could make a place where they didn't have to put up with horseshit any more. Telling hungry children they could have bread every day.
On an auspicious day, bad luck for the rest of the world, the entirety of Imp Dis cleared out. They took whatever they could carry, and left in the dark of the night. They hid from the world in a nearby hollow, and planned.
It only took three of the Devilborn to plan a crime, so said the nursery poem. Three hundred could start wars. Which is more or less what they did.
Alongside removing Skymire's entire source of cheap labor, Esteem's Army selected and then razed the cities that had hurt the new soldiers the worst. Hate given to the demon-marked was returned tenfold. The slaughter was almost merciless. Anyone old enough to know that teuf was an insult... died for using it. Those who were too young were swept up into the ranks. Adopted. And in the case of fellow Hellkin, given the kindest treatment possible.
Fellow members of Unwelcome Species were also welcomed. This was the Army of Esteem, after all. They were sick of trying to earn what they deserved from those who refused to give it. They were going to take it.
They weren't entirely merciless. If a city-state surrendered and enacted, enforced, and insisted on new laws to protect Hellkin, they would be spared. If they did the same for the other Unwelcome Peoples, then they would be given autonomy.
Esteem's Army swelled and ebbed, depending on those places, yet it never stopped being a force to reckon with.
Until they met with a realm drawn on the maps as Pax Demonis.
Decades ago, some idiot cast a Wish, and sent every Hellkin alive to one little kingdom with hardly anyone left alive in it. The King and Queen Consort, also Hellkin, were the only rulers to welcome such into their borders, and thusly got them all. Now they had an army at their border. And some interesting forces to meet them.
They came not with swords, but with gifts. Baskets of food. Armloads of blankets. Trinkets and gewgaws for anyone who wanted them. Good, quality clothing in a myriad of colours. And, most importantly, acceptance.
It's easy to be angry when the world doesn't want to understand you.
It's hard to be angry when there were all kinds in the welcome party. Even the species that had once reviled the Devilborn in Skymire.
It's rare that a conquering warrior is ever defeated with an embrace. This is one of history's big ones.
It would be nice to say that the world learned its lesson from this. Alas, it gave so very many an excuse to hate the Hellkin even harder.
There were many years yet before another conquerer taught another lesson. Many, many years before the rise of the Thrice-Sworn King.
[Image by Viktorija Lankauskaitė on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [56 remaining prompts!]