Reign of The Demon King

I’ve always been curious about the human mind. Humans boast about being the most intelligent and civilized organisms on the planet, but is that really true? Sure, in the literal sense, it’s true. I mean, dogs don’t go to work and bears can’t solve math problems, but more in a metaphorical sense. Why do humans always fight one another? Why do we judge others by color, race, religion, s*x, etc.? How come a lion and a zebra, predator and prey, drink from the same pond without the lion trying to eat the zebra? The answer is simple really, the lion doesn’t hate the zebra and vice versa. In the animal kingdom, it’s eat or be eaten, and the two animals understand their roles. They won’t needlessly attack or fear each other without a reason. But humans are different. We fear, hate, attack, and judge without reason, but based on assumptions and what we’ve been told, unable to come to our own conclusions. So why do humans constantly feel that they are above everything? Because we’re arrogant. We feel that we are better than everything else, better than members of our own race. All male lions and wolves have rights to challenge the king for his position. They don’t choose a leader based on wealth or connections, but off of ability. But, it’s not just our arrogance that makes us different, but our naivety. Humans are willing to accept almost whatever they are told as long as the right person tells them. Humans are like sheep being herded by a shepherd. A young man was walking through a library, looking for a certain book. He finally finds what he was looking for and heads to the front desk to check it out. A girl was working at the front desk, and he handed her his library card and his id so she could confirm his identity. His ID read Renji Aiuchi, male, Japanese, 18, eye color blue, height 6’, hair black. He was handsome and in good shape. He had played sports all throughout school and was in his final year of high school. “That’s an interesting choice there. I wouldn’t have guessed that you would be interested in titles like that.” The girl at the desk said. She had long black hair, green eyes, a slim but relatively curvy body and appeared to be around the same age as him and was very beautiful. “Is that so?” He said, although he was clearly not interested in having a conversation. “Anyway, you’re a regular here and this is the first time you’ve checked out a book like this, why the sudden interest?” She asks. “I needed it for a school project,” He answered. “Oh…” She mumbles as a nervous bead of sweat falls from her face. She had tried on several occasions to spark up a conversation but had never been successful, and it seemed like this time was no different. “I guess I’ll get you out of here so you can get started.” She says while laughing nervously. She hands him his ID and library card back and grabs the book. She opened it to write the checkout date when a light began to shine in her face. She looked up and saw that Renji appeared to be glowing. He looked just as confused as her as he began to look at the light surrounding his body in surprise. On the floor, a strange pattern formed and encircled the pair. He looked up and locked eyes with her, the utter shock in his eyes was evident to her. She reached out for him as he disappeared. Everything was blindingly white for a few seconds before the light started to dim. As the light faded and his eyes began to adjust to the much dimmer light, he noticed something strange. He was no longer in the library. There were no bookshelves or tables, the wall material changed from concrete to what looked like stone. No, is that cobblestone? There were red and yellow banners on the walls designed with a lion and a sword behind it and the room was lit with lanterns. There were people in medieval-looking armor and a man that appeared to be a priest at the far end of the room. “Where am I? Who are these people? Why are they all looking at me?” His mind was swirling with questions. As these thoughts flooded into his brain, the man he thought was a priest began walking towards him. He focused his eyes on him and cleared his mind. “There’s no point in panicking, that won’t get me anywhere. This man looks as if he can answer most of the questions I have.” He thinks to himself. “Hello, young man. I am the grand priest of the Griffander kingdom, Mandhak, and I have summoned you here so that you can aid us.” He says. The priest had on a long blue and white garment with a lion crest on the chest. His eyes were blue and aged, and he had a long grayed beard with long grayed hair to match. “Summoned me? Aid you? In what way?” He asks. “Hmm, it is a long story, and I am sure that you will have many questions, so why don’t I lead you to your room so that you may relax a little while I set up a meeting with the king.” The priest suggests. “My room? The King? Where are we? When are we?” He wondered as more questions formed in his head. The priest looks over and is surprised by what he sees. “Who is that there?” He questions. Renji follows his gaze and sees the girl from the front desk of the library. She must have been transported along with him. “I don’t know sir. She might be a spy from another nation.” One of the guards guessed. “Are you a fool? Look at her clothing. She is clearly from the same place as the young man,” the priest pointed out. “She does have similar clothing,” The guard acknowledged. “Now this is an unexpected turn of events. I have never heard of two people being summoned at a time. For now, why don’t you both follow me to the room we have prepared.” The priest suggested. He nodded before getting up. The girl was a bit slow to act as she was still in shock, but she followed his lead soon after. As they walked, he took in everything he could. He took note of the tapestries, paintings, windows, and even the path they were taking. He wasn’t sure of what they needed him for exactly, so he wanted to at least prepare for an attempted escape. After a brief walk, they stopped at a large oak door. “This is your room. Wait here until I can organize a meeting with the king. Do not be shy, you can allow yourself to get comfortable as you will likely need to wait until tomorrow to meet with his majesty.” The priest noted. He opens the door for them and Renji enters, followed by the girl. After the priest closed the door, he noticed that he had not locked it. He looked around the room, taking in the decor. There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the left wall, a mirror at the back right of the room, velvet curtains over the windows and a door that led to a patio. There was a couch on the back left of the room that offered a sitting view out of the window. “He didn’t lock the door and the room seems to be pretty luxurious, or at least it seems that way to me.” He thought as he headed out to the patio. Their patio overlooked what he assumed was the castle’s garden. Even further out, he could see the town. The architecture gave him the idea that wherever they were was similar to their medieval times in terms of technology. He headed back inside and closed the door behind him. He took a seat on the couch, sifting through the information he had gained so far. “While checking out a book from the library, a light began to emit and soon after I found myself in a strange room surrounded by armed guards and a priest. He says they need my help, but is yet to tell me what for. They meant to summon only one person, but for an unknown reason, she was teleported with me. The place we were teleported to is similar in terms of technology and archeology to medieval times.” He thinks as he moves to the questions he has. “Why was I summoned here? I feel confident in ruling out the possibility of me needing to be sacrificed or killed in any type of way. If that’s all they wanted me for, there would be no need for me to meet with the king or to be given this special type of treatment. There’s also her.” He thought as he looked at the girl. “If they already didn’t need me alive, then there would be no need to let her live. Even if they wanted to trick me, they could have simply given us separate rooms and killed her and I would be none the wiser.” He thought as his gaze lowered back to the ground. “Don’t tell me I was summoned to fight a demon or some threat to humanity.” He thinks. He pinches himself and when he feels pain, he has to rule out the possibility of it being a dream. His brainstorming session was ruined by the girl clearing her throat. “Uhm, Aiuchi-san. Are you alright? You’ve had this unsettling look on your face ever since we arrived here,” She asked. “I’m fine, just thinking,” He answered. “I see…” She mumbled in response. She was quiet for a bit longer before she spoke again. “Well, since it seems like we’re going to be here a while, we might as well get acquainted. My name is Himari Hanabusa, and I’m 17.” She says. “Renji Aiuchi, 18.” He responded quickly. “I still got nothing more than a sentence-long response.” She thought to herself. They sat in silence as the sun began to set when they heard a knock on the door. Immediately after, the priest entered. “Just as I had anticipated, his majesty will not be able to meet with you until tomorrow. Please relax until then. I will have some servants bring you dinner shortly.” He notes as he leaves. Once the priest left, he moved his gaze back to the window and stared out once more. The silence continued through dinner and until the night had completely taken over. “We should get some sleep.” Renji says as he gets up. It was the first time he had talked since he gave her his name, so it startled her a little. He took off the jacket he had on and his shoes. “You can take the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch.” He says as he lies down. She reached out, wanting to say something, but she refrained from doing so and opted to simply let him rest. She laid down on the bed, ready to go to sleep. “What’s going to happen to us?” She thought to herself as she began to doze off.