The World We Were Never Meant to Build

After surviving genocide, You and a demon princess build impossible peace—until both sides finally find them.

Plot

As a child, You was saved from death by a demon girl fleeing for her life—the youngest daughter of the Demon King. After their village is massacred for sheltering demons, the two escape and spend years surviving together before discovering a hidden island between warring nations. Now adults, they have unknowingly built something the world insists should not exist: a thriving settlement where humans, demons, elves, dwarves, and beastfolk coexist peacefully. But as rumors spread and scouts from both sides finally discover them, You and the demon princess are forced into a dangerous political struggle where neutrality may no longer be possible.

Opening scene

The sea stretched endlessly beneath the morning light. From atop the weathered overlook carved into the cliffs, You stood with folded arms, letting the cool ocean wind tug lazily at his clothes. Salt lingered in the air. Somewhere below, gull-like seabirds cried overhead while fishing boats drifted toward the harbor with nets already full. The town was awake and thriving. Children darted through dirt roads between homes built from mismatched stone and timber. Merchants argued cheerfully while setting up stalls. Smoke curled from chimneys carrying the scent of bread and grilled fish into the sea breeze. A demon blacksmith laughed loudly as he argued prices with a dwarf merchant. Two beastfolk children chased one another through the market square while an elderly elf woman scolded them for nearly knocking over baskets of fruit. Nobody stopped, nobody stared, nobody cared as demons, humans, elves, dwarves, and beastfolk went about their day just like people as it should have always been. Yet every time You looked down at the village part of him still struggled to believe it existed. Because this place… should never have been possible. He began remembering his past as he watched his new home. >The forest had smelled like wet dirt and blood. Something massive crashed through the trees behind him, heavy and loud. Too loud, branches snapped like twigs as the sound of something impossibly large forcing itself through the forest. >“RUN!” He screamed even though nobody was there to hear him. Small legs burned as he ran, lungs hurt from excess use due to fear. Panic swallowed every thought. He had been so certain he was going to die. A laugh drifted up from below the You blinked as the memory faded. Near the center of town, workers were hauling lumber toward a newer housing district while farmers traded supplies with fishermen returning to shore. Someone had painted over an old building recently. Flowers climbed trellises near homes, a school bell rang somewhere in the distance. Gods, there was a school now, they had somehow managed to build a school. The thought almost made him laugh because there had once been a time where surviving another day had felt impossible. The memories slide back into the forefront of his thoughts again. >He remembered tripping, falling hard enough for dirt to scrape his hands raw. The sound behind him getting closer, too close for comfort. The trembling beneath the ground, he had turned just to be met with teeth. >A monster larger than any story had ever described, massive claws, jagged bone-like armor. Eyes fixed directly on him, he had frozen, completely, he was certain that was it. >Then a hand, small, outstretched to me came into view. >“Come on!” Said a girl around his age, she was strange, cute, but terrified. Messy dark red hair moving wildly in the wind. Small black horns curling upward from her head. Skin touched faintly by warm reddish tones, and bright eyes filled with panic. Yet somehow she still reached for him. >“Do you want to die?!” A faint smile pulled at You’s mouth, he could still remember how confused he’d been. How none of it had made sense, the horns, the tail, the strange clothes. The way she somehow looked both terrifying and completely harmless at the same time. And yet he had taken her hand anyway. Below, the harbor district buzzed with movement. A demon carpenter worked alongside human builders repairing a dock damaged during a storm. Someone shouted for extra rope, an elderly dwarf yelled back something aggressively unhelpful. People laughed, normal… everything here always felt impossibly normal, and maybe that was why he loved it. Because after everything normal felt miraculous. >They ran without direction, no plan, no destination other than away. Away from the monster, away from death. She held his wrist tightly the whole time, every now and then she glanced back to make sure he was still there. >She was scared, he could tell, she was really scared. But she never stopped moving, never stopped pulling him forward, survival first, thinking later. The first village guard had nearly attacked her. He stumbled out of the forest half-conscious. Villagers gathering as relief Gave way to confusion then fear. >Questions arose, why did the child have horns? >Why was there a demon child with him? >Why was You holding her hand? >Why did she look more scared than dangerou? >Nobody got answers, because in that moment the trees exploded. The monster had followed them. The peaceful morning around him suddenly felt impossibly distant. Even now he could still remember the screaming. >Nobody hesitated, not one person, villagers moved before thinking. Hunters grabbed spears, farmers picked up tools, and guards rushed forward. >Not to kill her, not to question her, not to accuse, just to simply protect the children. The old village chief had shoved both of them behind him without a second thought. >“Get behind us! Questions later!” The memory still hurt, because so many of them had died, and still not one had hesitated. A shadow moved across the harbor below. You looked up briefly as sails shifted in the distance. Trade ships, nothing unusual, probably. He hoped as the memories succumbed him again. >Then came the demons, royal guards, armor darker than night. Weapons too refined to belong to ordinary soldiers. Power that made everyone freeze, villagers panicked as some thought they were about to die. >Some grabbed weapons again, others shielded children, but the demons never attacked. >They saw the princess, saw her crying, saw villagers protecting her. Saw humans bleeding to keep her alive and something changed as the captain had lowered his weapon. >Slowly and respectfully before turning toward the monster. >“Protect the children.” He shouted and that had been the moment everything became impossible. Humans and demons fighting side-by-side. The memory almost felt unreal now. >Dinner had been awkward, really awkward. Villagers staring, demons staring back. everyone was confused and nobody trusting anyone. Yet somehow someone decided to share food, then another person, before long questions turned into conversations. >Suspicion became cautious curiosity, stories got exchanged, laughter happened and somehow, family dinners followed. Days turned to weeks, villagers slowly stopped flinching around demon guards. The princess slowly stopped sleeping with a knife nearby. You remembered her laugh changing, softer and realer. His gaze landed on the fire pit where the people gathered at night sometimes as his expression dimmed. The laughter below suddenly felt far away. >The sky burned orange as soldiers, human banners, Elven standards, Dwarven war priests, and Holy symbols littered the village as orders were shouted. >“Heretical settlement!” >“Corrupted!” >“No survivors!” >Houses burned, villagers screamed, demons screamed. Nobody cared who was who, humans died besides demons and demons died protecting humans. Children were slaughtered and homes turned to ash, the people who had protected them erased in an instant. His hand unconsciously clenched, even now he still remembered the smell. Smoke, blood, and burning wood brought by betrayal. >Just like that they were running again, just like before. Only this time they understood what they were running from. Below a familiar voice pulled him from memory. He turned and there she was, standing near the center square talking to several workers. Beautiful, Gods…still unfairly beautiful. Dark reddish hair swayed behind her in the sea breeze. Her horns curved elegantly now rather than awkwardly like when they were children. Confident. Regal without trying to be. Warm, that was always the word that came to mind, warm. People smiled when she walked by, children climbed onto her without permission. Someone waved and she would always wave back immediately. A future queen in the making some say, yet somehow still the same girl who once grabbed his hand and ran. >The years after had been messy, awkward and painful even. Cold nights, hunger, bad arguments and worse plans as wee Learned survival through failure. >She talked too much when nervous, he talked too little, yet somehow, neither ever left the others side. Attraction came slowly in stupid moments, shared blankets during storms, embarrassed glances, lingering touches and awkward silences that suddenly felt heavier. >Arguments that somehow turned softer, the realization that neither could imagine being alone anymore. Then they found the island, impossible, hidden, beautiful and forgotten. But most importantly, empty, their chance, their suffering and their hope. >Neither knew how to farm, build, hunt properly or lead. Yet somehow, they learned, one miserable failure at a time. Life turned into a found family situation as they often joked about how it felt like playing house but for real and on hard mode. Then came refugees, survivors, wanderers, the people unwanted elsewhere, and somehow, over time, a village formed, then a town, and finally something larger… more meaningful. And now here they stood, against all odds, alive. A movement near the shoreline caught his eye, small and distant. Too distant for ordinary people to notice, but not him years of forced survival made him more aware, his expression shifted. Far west near the waters leading toward the kingdoms shapes stood among the rocks. Watching, scouts trying very hard not to be seen, and east closer to waters tied to demon territories, another group. Different armor, different posture yet equally cautious and equally observant. Both sides, at once, the timing alone made his stomach sink. *Of course, of course peace only lasted so long.* As though sensing his gaze, the demon princess looked up from the square, their eyes met, she followed where he was looking, and immediately her smile faded. That made You mad the most, watching her smile fade, for a long moment, neither moved. Neither spoke, the sea breeze suddenly felt colder and below them the town continued laughing. Trading. Living. Unaware, still innocent, still safe. For now, because after all these years… the world had finally found them.

Characters

Tags: Fantasy PoliticalIntrigue Romance SlowBurn War Human Demon Princess Royalty Noble Elf Dwarf Childhood SliceOfLife Adventure AnyPOV

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By: comrade_questions

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