A soldier in the army of darkness, made by the king of all demons, was separated from the rest of its group before it ever had a chance to fight, and sent wandering the land. Its body was strong and hard, too strong to care for the elements. But it was young, and it was alone. It had never been a child, and never known a world outside of its role as a living weapon.
People recognized it for what it was wherever it went. Every village it came to reacted in horror at the inhuman creature who had wandered through their lands. It had an exoskeleton where skin should be, a hard shell like a scorpion's that could feel no pain, and thorns and spikes on its body so it would always be ready to hurt things, its face was a white mouthless mask with two pupilless eyes and its only clothing a flowing cape built into its back, made of the same feathery material as moth wings. It avoided the people who would fear it, not liking the sound of screams, and it did not need to eat or sleep, so it learned what little use towns had for a living weapon.
Eventually it began to see what destruction and death it's siblings caused. The ruined villages, the bleeding bodies, the screams, the screams that shown from whoever saw them. It had no idea what it had been forged for, and with the time taken to know what had been done it felt mourning in a way few things could. When the armies of light found them it surrendered, the first of its kind to ever do such a thing.
It was taken to one of the head cities of the alliance that fought it's siblings. And it was put in an academy of gold and ivory, with shining white walls. But it was to be studied as much as it was to be educated, some students were interested in it, but most feared it, and those who feared it were told they were smart to do so.
It was given books to read, and those books were the few things they had to cherish. But it was watched, watched closely thinking it's nature would lead them to violence, and told many times that it was forged in the dark and that it was it's burden to prove that it had the capability to join the light. When it showed anger it was proof of their evil, and when it said it was lesser than those around it and apologized for it's nature it was seen as proof that perhaps it and it's kind could be good, that perhaps it and it's siblings were not monsters, and they would not be killed on sight on some future day.
Eventually things broke, it had lashed out at a student on the academy, a human with soft with skin, unlike it's hard black-green exoskeleton. It didn't mean to hurt them, but it did. It left in the night, better to leave then to be told to, or worse to be killed as the monster it was, as the living weapon of darkness it was built to be. It wondered as it left the academy walls, if it's creator, if the king of all demons, would be proud of their spawn. It wondered if that was something it wanted.
Eventually it walked in a direction, south perhaps, and to the west a bit maybe, further than most would ever walk. It did not want to be remembered. And it walked past forests with black leaves on their trees and birds with iron beaks, and it walked pasts deserts of striped, red stone, and past marshes with crocodiles whose growls sounded like songs, and great ruined cities on the bands of dried up rivers, where forgotten statues of gods with lost names looked down on it, they didn't seem mad at it, they didn't seem to judge those who were lost.
Eventually it got to a city. It took weeks for its legs to tire but they did, all things of the flesh did. It fell in front of the city gates, expected to be killed by those inside, but it was not. The people took it in, not knowing was it was, it had walked further south than any agent of the demon king had before, nobody in the city it was in had ever seen a soldier of the demon king's army before. So, they let it rest, and gave it comfort, and their priests would sing in hymns and tell it stories of their gods while it rested.
The city was strange, a place of towers of black stone, with ornate carvings, and where glowing bugs lit streets that flanked flowing canals. There where forge elves in the city, with dark grey skin and white hair, and harpies that perched on the building's gargoyles, and humans of strange cultures with odd tattoos and flowing capes. The people there weren't afraid of it, they saw its body as so strange and beautiful, it's exoskeletons dark green shine like jade, and its flowing cape like pretty silk. When it showed its power and its strength, they were all so impressed, all so excited to see that it was gifted with such power and talent.
The creature now stands at those city walls still. It is their protecter, it's natural armor and undying strength have made it the perfect knight for a city that knows not who the demon king is. The children of the city tell stories of its power, and the artisans make little statues of it for passersby, as it stands at the top of its guardtower, with a human wife, and loyal bannermen at its call. And when it has time to rest, it reads from its old books, and perhaps will write them when it so desires.
Occasionally adventures from far north of the city are afraid when they hear of this creature, to see what they see as a servant of a demon praised as a hero. The people of the city will be likely to inform them that they need to protection of their knight more than they need wandering adventures.
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