Domiel and Brenn

I have written many stories taking place in the same world. This is the first of them, talking about Hell and Earth.

To begin, all demons possess the power of regenerating life force. Life force is the ability to live. In a video game, it would be a person’s hp. As we age, it is used up, when we are injured, some of it is lost, and it is the source of power for everything a person does, but especially magic. Due to their regenerating life force, demons are able to heal from much greater injuries than the other races, and will never die of old age. It has also led them to use magic with impunity, never fearing its consequences, which is one of the reasons they went to war with the angels and elves, but that comes later. Demons are also physically the strongest. Their royalty are known as devils, which have a couple of additional features distinguishing them from common demons.

Devils are easily distinguished by their wings and horns. These are not simply two curved horns and giant bat-like wings however. Their horns grow into the shape of a crown, while their wings will take a form similar to that of an animal that their fighting style mimics. A fast, visceral devil for instance would find their wings bendy and covered with spotted fur, similar to that of a cheetah; a demon who prefers to wear down his enemies with long ranged attacks and magic would find their wings scaly and patterned, similar to the various snakes and lizards which spit poison. If a devil is only rarely or never involved in acts of violence, their wings are likely to become shriveled and fleshy, resembling more closely the rest of their body. Regardless of the form of their wings, they will always allow the devil to fly. Also note that demons reach puberty at different times, and the moment that they do, a devil will sprout its horns and wings suddenly, and may not know how to properly use its newly acquired devil powers. The most important power of devils though, is their ability to “make any life force their own.” Life force can be transferred, given as a gift, bought and sold, and even stolen, but it is always finite. Life force that is not one’s own, even for demons, will normally be gone after it is used just once. However, for a devil, any life force they gain beyond their own original supply can be used as their own, it can be regenerated, will never provide any resistance or be any harder to use than their own original life force, and essentially increases the power of the devil. All life force gained by devils is stored in their horns and wings, the removal of which through slicing or burning or any other means really would remove all life force other than that they were born with, which for demons is often very little compared to that of other races.

Humans, however, are a little different. Humans are not born with any real abilities distinguishing them from the other races, but are born with something called potential. Through hard work, intense and careful training, and just the right amount of luck, humans are able to develop supernatural abilities. For most, this would simply result in increased physical capabilities as well as the ability to use magic, but some humans are born with a completely unique potential. As such, on rare occasions a human will be born with the potential to rival the power of even a devil. Since most humans are unaware of the potential they have, these humans with special potentials almost never manifest them, but our story begins with the first human who did.

At some unspecified point in the near future, one such human with a special potential finally reached a point where he was able to manifest his powers. The powers he had allowed him to control time and space, warping and twisting them, skipping certain segments and extending others, and as he began to test the extent of his powers he sought out the most powerful being he could find. There are 5 planets in this world, and the planet earth is adjacent to Hell and the Wildlands. As such, the most powerful being he could conveniently reach was a devil known simply as Domiel

The devil Domiel was born during a confusing time in his country. Due to a recent war with another of the nations of Hell, his country had recently been left without a devil to rule them. In demon society, if a country does not contain a devil, they are considered conquered and thereby fall under the rule of whatever devil happens to be closest physically to the throne at the time. However, as the previous king was dying, Domiel was being born. However, since devils do not manifest their royal traits until adolescence, no one knew of his devilish nature, and the throne passed to a neighboring ruler. At just 7 years old, Domiel grew his horns and wings, curious even among devils for their form, which resembled several beams of brilliant multicolored light. He journeyed to his country’s palace, ancient and crumbling, to claim his birthright. He entered the throne room, impatient to meet the false king of his country, but sitting on the old tarnished golden throne he found only one of the king’s pathetic sons. Demanding to have the throne for himself the king’s son only laughed, telling him he knew nothing about the ways of the world. Domiel told the king’s son that he was invoking the ancient right to challenge him for the throne, and the king’s son only laughed even more, telling Domiel that was only a fairy tale peasant demons tell their children to make them feel like they could one day rule the world. He then told Domiel to come back when he was ready, and then maybe he could rule.

Domiel did not know how long he was gone. Decades, at least, and all that time he spent finding the most powerful creatures and beings across every world, and capturing all of their life force. Those who were strong, he would bet his own life for against theirs in a game of their choosing. Those who were clever, he would kill in combat with his demon strength and surprisingly powerful magic. Finally, he felt he could find no one else stronger than himself, save for the old king who had stolen his country. He returned to his castle, or the ruins that were all that were left of most of it. All that still stood was the throne room, enshrined in enchanted gold. Entering it he was met with three devils: the king, his son, and his granddaughter. They did not immediately notice him but soon looked up to see the devil with the shimmering wings. The king’s son looked at him for a moment and then began to speak. “I remember you. Yes, it was years ago, but you were that little 7 year old with the shimmering wings who tried to challenge me for the throne. What is it? Come to claim your birthright once again? I’m afraid that still isn’t how this works. Just because it’s been a few years don’t think I’ll have changed the rules just for you.”

“Now son, be kind to this devil, you know it isn’t prudent to aggravate your fellow royals” said the old king

“Oh please father”, the king’s son “I’m sure that one little-”

He never got to finish what he was saying. Domiel wasn’t here to listen to the meaningless prattle of some illegitimate occupant of his rightful place as king. So he had simply waved a hand, and made both the king and his son disappear. So Domiel claimed his place as king of both of their kingdoms. But a moment later, he realized that he had forgotten the granddaughter. She sat there, playing with a piece of wood she’d found somewhere, and he decided not to kill her. He needed a successor after all, and she had done nothing to offend him, so he would raise her as his own.

It was when she reached the age of 10 that the events leading to the destruction of worlds began.

When his adopted daughter reached 10 years old, she manifested her horns and wings. At this time, Domiel was the most powerful user of all 99 forms of magic, as well as the rumored sole user of a secret 100^th form he had developed himself. And so, he decided to open a school, all as a present to his daughter. He would gather 99 students, each with a powerful life force, and would promise to teach them all magic in exchange for a sizable bit of their life. To prevent any of them from overpowering him, he would make each of them sign a contract, hidden in which would be the term that they could only ever learn a single form of magic, which he would hold up his end and teach them. This would allow him to empower his daughter by both imbuing her with additional life force and teaching her, as his 100^th student, all the 99 forms of magic. However, when he had finally gathered all 100 of his students to establish this school of magic, there was one more little girl who just sort of showed up. She was under no contract, was not causing any trouble, and really getting rid of her was less important to Domiel than would be worth the effort it would take to do so. So this 101^st student simply stuck around, using her personal life force to master the 99 forms of magic being taught to the other students. As the only two students learning more than one form of magic, she and Domiel’ daughter quickly became friends, then rivals. It finally came to a head one day, when the girls were both trying to master the art of pyromancy and cryomancy. “Pyromancy and cryomancy” is the name of one singular form of magic, but it is known that pyromancy is as individually hard to master as another entire form of magic, as is cryomancy. This is also Domiel’ favorite form of magic. Domiel’ daughter was skilled and progressing quickly with pyromancy, just as student 101 was with cryomancy, but both struggled to become anything better than average at the other side of the magical form. This sparked a fierce and bitter competition, as both girls had already mastered the other 98 forms of magic, and as they began fighting with magic in order to train, each becoming increasingly more aggressive and hostile towards the other, Domiel worried that his daughter’s life might be in danger. Finally, student 101 approached Domiel and asked for a magical contract, agreeing to give Domiel much of her remaining life force to master pyromancy. That same night Domiel’ daughter approached him, offering all the life force from all of the students to master cryomancy. To both, Domiel refused. He didn’t trust or like student 101, and He didn’t want to involve his daughter in the business of magical contracting, as each contract was a binding spell from which she could never escape. The following morning, Domiel called together all of his students, and announced that their training was over. Each of them had mastered a form of magic, and he had therefore fulfilled his contractual obligation, and now all of them should leave. While most of the students left, Domiel’ daughter and student 101 remained, demanding to be taught until they had mastered their final form of magic. Again and again Domiel refused, and the girls began to battle. As their battle grew more and more intense, Domiel’ fears that his daughter might be in danger grew stronger. Seeing no better alternative, he ducked away and opened portals. Hundreds, thousands of portals, to all the possible futures, to see if there was a way he could save his daughter, he saw only one future where his daughter was alive and able to use magic, and as he focused in on that one, the portal to that future grew.

It was at this moment that the human with the power to control time and space, Brenn, appeared before Domiel. The moment Brenn had activated his powers and brought himself here, Brenn realized that his powers, strong as they were, had a price. Using them would cause him to die three minutes after their activation. So he had planned to kill the devil Domiel and take his life force for himself, allowing him to live on, but there was something he hadn’t been expecting

When Brenn stood before the devil Domiel for the first time, he realized how horribly, unbelievably, cosmically outmatch he was. But the devil was focused on something, a portal to a possible future, and when Brenn peered into it he saw an army of people, magic users and legendary human heroes, all united, tear off Domiel’ wings, sever his horns, and finally manage to kill the Devil. And so, having no other ideas and rapidly beginning to die, he used his powers to bring that battle to the present. His plan was for the army to kill Domiel, and then for him to send them back, keeping Domiel’ life force for himself, but he forgot something about war

War is very destructive

Now fortunately for the rest of the world, Hell is the furthest planet to one side, bordered only by Earth, So in that 1 second of ultimate destruction, of such an amount of sheer power as would be necessary to kill the demon Domiel, only Hell and earth were completely destroyed. Realizing what had happened, Domiel and Brenn quickly used their power to protect what was most valuable to them and then send the battle back into the future where it belonged. Brenn chose to save a large portion of the human race, while Domiel saved his castle and the surrounding city. He would later find out that a few of the most powerful rulers of other demon nations had managed to shield their capital cities as well, but as soon as the destruction was gone he turned to face Brenn, and he felt an emotion he could not remember ever feeling before: respect for someone else. He respected Brenn’s power and cunning, and also worried that as Brenn was dying, he might lose value for the lives of others and bring back the destruction that could kill him and his daughter, and so he offered him a contract. If Brenn agreed to follow three rules, he could have access to Domiel’ vast and regenerating pool of life force to prevent his own death. The first rule was that Brenn could not use his powers to directly harm or protect any person or creature. The second rule was that should Brenn inadvertently or indirectly use his powers to prevent or cause harm to another, anyone involved in the situation would be made aware of the interference and be given the tools to counteract it. Third, Brenn must take student 101 from his daughter, and prevent the two from ever meeting again. Only for this purpose was he allowed to break the first and second rules. Brenn quickly accepted the terms and went back to earth, taking the human student 101 with him, all her memories of her time with Domiel and his daughter carefully removed from her personal history.