They called him strange.
He didn't speak much, didn't laugh when others laughed. His eyes were distant, too dark, too quiet. In the small village tucked between fading hills and temples, Reika was a shadow that didn't belong.
He lived with Elias, the gruff old man who took him in. Some said Elias had once been a knight of the church. Others whispered darker things, but no one dared question him to his face. Reika didn't ask questions. He followed Elias' rules. Stay quiet. Don't draw attention. Never go near the chapel.
But then came Vivian. Vivi was loud where Reika was silent, bright where he was dim. She was the only one who talked to him like he wasn't broken. She dragged him into childish adventures, shared stolen bread, and told stories under stars.
One day, she asked him to come with her.
"It's just a petty exorcism," she said. "Old lady claims her cellar's haunted. Come on, it'll be fun."
He didn't want to. He remembered Elias' warning: never get close to exorcists, not even the fake ones.
But she smiled, and for some reason, that day, he followed.
The ritual was a joke. Four teens chanting awkwardly while a flickering candle danced in the dark. The cellar was cold and damp, the air oddly thick. Reika stood in the corner, arms crossed, waiting for it to be over.
Vivian stepped out to get more incense.
That's when it changed.
One of the boys' eyes rolled back. Another dropped to his knees, whispering in tongues. The shadows pulsed. The candle went out.
Then came the fire.
It didn't start with a spark. It erupted. Screams. A smell like burning flesh. Reika tried to run, but the air turned to ash. The others didn't make it to the door. Their bodies blackened, crumbled, vanished in the flames.
But Reika stood untouched in the center of it all.
The villagers found him there, unharmed, surrounded by smoldering ruin and bone dust.
They didn't see a boy. They saw a monster.
Elias came for him in the night, bloodied and desperate. The church had branded Reika as a demon. They were coming.
"You have to run," Elias said, hands trembling as he shoved a pack into Reika's arms. "Run until your legs give out, then use your hands. Don't stop. Never stop. The exorcists won't."
Reika didn't speak.
"When it's safe… look for a man named Zariel. He'll tell you what I couldn't."
As they reached the edge of the woods, Elias turned back to hold them off.
Reika ran.
Through trees and smoke and distant screams.
He passed Vivi on the hill. She looked at him—eyes wide, pleading.
"Is it true?" she asked. "Are you…?"
"I don't know," Reika said. And he meant it.
She stepped forward, grabbed his arm. "Come back. I'll find you."
She stared into his eyes. And something warm rolled down his cheek.
He touched it.
A tear.
She kissed him on the cheek.
And he ran.
The sky behind him glowed with fire.
And far below the world, in a prison of chains and molten stone, something awoke. Asmodai stirred, a grin splitting his cracked lips.
"My son," he said. "You live."
And now..... the hunt begins.