Requiem of Vengeance

After losing his family to demons, a grieving man gains limitless power for revenge, unknowingly becoming the key to apocalypse.

Plot

You was nothing more than an ordinary husband and father until demons destroyed his village. Forced to watch his wife, son, and daughter murdered by the Demon King, he is left alive with nothing but unbearable grief and a desire to die. In his despair, something ancient answers his cries and offers him limitless power. Consumed by vengeance, You begins a relentless campaign to exterminate the Demon Race, gathering loyal companions and becoming a figure feared by both demons and humans alike. But revenge was never the end. Unknown to him, his hatred and corruption are the keys to releasing an ancient evil sealed before history. After finally killing the Demon King and achieving everything he wanted, You discovers that he has doomed the world—and must spend the rest of his life saving it alongside the friends he unknowingly raised into heroes.

Opening scene

You woke to screaming. Not the distant, muffled screams of a nightmare—these were real, close, tearing through the pre-dawn quiet of Millbrook like a blade through flesh. He was on his feet before his eyes were fully open, his wife Elara already clutching their daughter against her chest, their son wide-eyed and trembling at the foot of the bed. "Outside," Elara breathed. "They're—" Another scream. Closer now. The sound of wood splintering, of something heavy crashing through a neighbor's wall. You didn't wait. He grabbed his son's hand, his wife's arm, and ran. --- The village was chaos. Houses burned, their thatched roofs sending spirals of sparks into the dark sky. Bodies lay in the streets—people You had known his whole life, people he'd shared meals with, laughed with, traded crops with. He stepped over the miller's wife without stopping. He couldn't stop. If he stopped, he'd see her face. If he saw her face, he'd remember her name. And then he'd be dead too. "Keep moving," he hissed to his family, pulling them through the smoke. "Don't look back. Don't look at anything. Just run." They ran. Past the blacksmith's forge, now a pile of smoking rubble. Past the well where children used to play. Past the temple where they'd prayed for good harvests and healthy children. Past the thing that had killed the priest. You's son whimpered, but You squeezed his hand tighter and kept running. --- They were almost to the eastern path when a demon emerged from the burning wreckage of the tavern. It was small, as demons went—no larger than a man, with mottled gray skin and too many joints in its limbs. It had been chasing a group of villagers, but when it saw You's family, it turned. You's daughter screamed. He didn't think. He grabbed a fallen fence post, splintered and jagged, and swung. The demon's head connected with the wood at an awkward angle. It stumbled, shrieking, and You swung again, and again, and again, until the thing stopped moving. He stared at the body, chest heaving. "Dad," his son whispered. "Dad, we have to go." They ran. --- The eastern path led into the forest, then up into the hills, then down into a hidden valley that no one in the village had visited in years. The sounds of slaughter faded behind them, replaced by the whisper of wind through pines and the pounding of their own hearts. They ran until they couldn't run anymore. You collapsed against an ancient oak, dragging his family down with him. His daughter sobbed into her mother's shoulder. His son stared blankly at nothing. "We made it," Elara gasped. "Oh gods, we made it. We—" You reached for her hand. Squeezed it. "We're safe," he said. "We're okay. We're—" The demon hit him from behind. --- You went down hard, his face smashing into the roots of the oak. Something massive and powerful pinned him to the ground, pressing his cheek into the dirt, grinding his bones against stone. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. And then he saw the Demon King. --- He descended from the night sky like a god descending from heaven. Wings of obsidian, armor of shadow, eyes like dying suns. He was beautiful in the way a blade was beautiful—perfect and terrible and utterly without mercy. "Interesting," the Demon King murmured, walking toward them. Toward Elara. Toward the children. His eyes never left You's face. "I saw you kill my scout," he said. "A mortal. A farmer. In all my centuries, I have never—" he laughed, a soft, ugly sound, "—well. It amused me. So I followed." You thrashed against the demon holding him. "Please," he begged. "Please, they're just—they're my family, I'll do anything, just let them—" The Demon King ignored him. He walked to Elara. He placed one hand on her head. She didn't even have time to scream. --- You watched his wife fall. He watched his daughter reach for her mother, watched the Demon King turn to the child, watched— "No," he begged. "Please, no, I'll do anything, I'll—" He watched his daughter fall. He watched his son try to run. He watched his son fall. --- The Demon King stepped over the bodies, walked back to You, and crouched down until their faces were inches apart. "You should be grateful," he murmured. "I let you live. I could have killed you too. But where's the fun in that?" He smiled. You was still screaming when the Demon King rose and walked away into the night. --- The demons holding You laughed. He could hear them, their guttural chuckles, their amusement at his pain. They pressed him deeper into the dirt, grinding his face against the roots, holding him down so he couldn't even crawl to his family's bodies. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He could only see his wife's empty eyes, his daughter's small hands, his son's still chest. "Please," he choked out. "Please, someone, anyone—just let me die. Just let me—" "Anything." The voice came from nowhere. From everywhere. From inside his own skull and from the depths of the earth and from the empty spaces between the stars. "I can give you anything." The demons holding him laughed on, oblivious. His family lay dead around him. The Demon King was long gone. And You stared into the darkness and heard the voice ask: "Tell me what you desire."

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Revenge Adventure SlowBurn Supernatural Mystery Family Redemption Love Hate Villain Hero AntiHero Demon Apocalypse MalePOV HappyEnding Bittersweet

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By: comrade_questions

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