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Chapter 4
Elemental Demons
“Elemental demons are the most diabolic beings in the world. Everywhere they go, they leave a trail of havoc. They have always conspired to exterminate humanity. Immortals strive to master magic in order to eliminate the elemental demons. That is why you must strive to become one of the immortals of legends and exterminate the elemental demons to protect humanity.”
Village Chief Bu was fond of sharing events outside the village with the children, and he would weave common knowledge into his stories.
The children weren’t scared of the elemental demons in the stories even though Village Chief Bu illustrated them as divine beings. The children considered them mere fairy tale beings.
“The elemental demons look sinister and violent. They have two arms and legs, but they sport abominable faces unlike humans, which makes it simple to distinguish. Fear not, for humanity’s immortal drove their race away many years ago. I only saw them once when I was around your age. The drooling beings have fangs, claws and hideous skin. Their skin has a red tinge as if they were burnt with boiling water. Some of them are green similar to toads. Some are black similarly to bears. Some are blue; the blue ones aren’t too ugly. There are also yellow ones resembling dog constipation,” described Village Chief Bu, pointing to two drops of dog faeces.
The innocent children erupted into laughter. Mu Yu, however, asked, “Is there something that makes them threatening?”
Village Chief Bu stopped to think before replying, “Different colour elemental demons possess different abilities. The red type wields fire and has a reputation for burning down buildings. They’re the worst. The black type wields metal, so they steal sickles and pitchforks. The blue type wields water. They love to freeze water and then smash our buildings with it. I hate the yellow type. They control earth. I once saw them bury a mountain of people beneath an avalanche of stones. The green type control trees and rob us of food using their ability. Some are beyond even immortals.”
“C-can we control fire or something?”
Village Chief Bu mistook Mu Yu’s hand-clasping action as an expression of fear and, therefore, paid it no mind. “No, not as humans. If someone ‘human’ could, they would most probably be an elemental demon in disguise. Be careful of that.”
“Where are they? We want to see them.”
The children imagined the elemental demons to just be unfriendly; they had no clue what sort of evil they were talking about. Village Chief Bu wagged his hand. “Don’t even think about it. We don’t have any in our village, but they’re out there. They eat children.”
Village Chief Bu tried to scare the curious children with a monster face, but Mu Yu was the only child to fearfully lower his head the same way he did upon revealing his ability to control trees.
Mu Yu was aware of his ability to control trees during his childhood. Owing to the fright after hearing the story and his orphan status, he concealed the ability in case he was deemed an elemental demon. His fear of his own ability and being ostracised was the reason he didn’t want to become an immortal, preferring to remain in the village and listen to Village Chief Bu’s stories.
Kids in the village used “elemental demon” as a derogatory term, while Mu Yu would avoid being associated with the term. The absence of his parents, whom he questioned if they were elemental demons, strengthened his speculation he was an elemental demon. He tried tugging on his face and checking his skin, but he definitely bled and didn’t have the skin colour of one of the five elements. Alas, he resorted to using his ability, knowing Village Chief Bu would link him to elemental demons. Sadly, he didn’t know how to explain it.
“I’m not an elemental demon,” Mu Yu muttered under his breath.
Village Chief Bu wiped his perspiration, instinctively retreated, then stepped forward, demonstrating his dilemma. He suddenly heaved a pent-up breath and patted Mu Yu’s head. “Of course you aren’t. If you were, we’d be dead by now, wouldn’t we?”
Mu Yu looked up, eyes wide. “I do not know how I can control trees, either. It just… happened as if I was born with the ability.”
Village Chief Bu was no ignorant fool. Mu Yu lacked the defining characteristics of any elemental demon. He reasoned it was absurd for an elemental demon to spend so long in their village. What would it be after? What could they even offer, was a better question. He conjectured the boy’s mother left him due to her knowledge of his ability. Although the suspicion Mu Yu’s father was an elemental demon popped into mind, he shot down the ridiculous thought. According to present knowledge, humans and elemental demons couldn’t be romantically involved when the latter lacked emotion – not to mention the mutual hatred for each other.
Village Chief Bu sat leaning on a tree. Tone cordial, he expressed, “I don’t know how to explain it, either. Let me share with you one last piece of wisdom: we can’t choose our parents, but we can choose the life we lead. Your abilities are less important than how you use that ability. That being said… Never let anyone else know of your ability. I wouldn’t have believed you if I didn’t raise you and know you well. Others won’t be so trusting or willing to reason.”
Mu Yu’s elevated shoulders relaxed upon hearing the village chief and his stern warning. Though he commonly griped Village Chief Bu was a chatterbox, he did listen to the latter’s lessons and respected his character. He glanced down at Village Chief Bu’s trousers and saw it was wet between the legs. “Grandpa, I, uh, think you scared yourself wet.”
“Rubbish. You go fight a bear! Had it not been for me stalling him, you wouldn’t have been able to incapacitate him so easily,” retorted Village Chief Bu, standing up and peering around to search for a way to clean himself.
“Yes, yes, you the best.” Mu Yu chortled. Once he struggled to his feet, he placed his hand on a birch. Part of his abilities was being able to collect information from the trees’ feedback. In essence, he could employ them as scouts. Trusting Village Chief Bu with his secret, he pointed. “There is a small creek that way.”
Village Chief Bu glanced at Mu Yu and sped over in the direction the latter pointed.
Mu Yu understood Village Chief Bu wanted him to become an immortal to exterminate the elemental demons. If he was human, he had a duty to protect mankind and slay the demons to prove his humanity.
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