"Remember, Kelsey. Don't come back to the human land for the next three years."
A girl lay in a meadow, gazing up at the clear sky. Her purplish-gray hair spread beautifully across the green grass. Her purple eyes seemed unfocused, yet they were fixated on the sky above. She had a slim, petite frame—fragile-looking, almost like a weakling—but she felt no sense of danger, even though there were no other humans around her.
It had been over three years since she was adopted by a demon couple and began living in Boar Village. Though she was a normal human girl, she was raised by a pair of boar demons and lived among their kind. Now, it was time for her to return to the human lands.
"Even if I go back, I don't know where to return to."
Three years ago, Kelsey had been found by the boar demons—severely injured and on the verge of death. They had taken her in and cared for her. When she awoke, she remembered only her name… and a voice warning her never to return to human lands.
Even though she wanted to go back, she didn't know where to go or who to trust. Did she still have family? Was someone waiting for her return? What if the one waiting was the person who had tried to kill her? Her adoptive parents told her she'd been nearly dead when they found her. Didn't that mean someone had been hunting her—forcing her to flee into the demon lands?
"Kelsey! Kelsey!!"
Kelsey heard her demon mother calling. She stood up and made her way toward the house, where her mother was hanging laundry. Her mother had a humanoid form like Kelsey's but with a pig-like nose and two small horns on either side of her head.
"You called me?" Without needing to be asked, Kelsey helped lift a large, heavy purple sheet from the basket and hung it on a line strung between two metal poles.
"Your father just told me—he managed to capture and kill an elite human soldier. He's getting a big reward and wants to buy us a luxurious meal. What do you want to eat?"
It was almost comical how casually her mother mentioned killing a human—as if she had forgotten her adopted daughter was also human. Ironically, Kelsey felt nothing. A demon killing a human was no different than a human killing a demon. It wasn't the first time she'd heard of a demon victory in the long-standing war.
Humans, after all, were powerless compared to demons. They had no magic and relied solely on the divine envoys known as Eternals. However, those Eternals had mysteriously vanished hundreds of years ago, as if they had been swallowed by the earth itself.
Since then, humans had been cornered by relentless demon attacks and had prayed for god's intervention. The gods responded—choosing a few humans to receive special powers and become demon slayers.
With the rise of the slayers, the human lands regained some peace. Though demons still launched secret attacks to feast on humans, demon slayers now infiltrated demon lands in return, killing several demons. The balance of power had evened out, and both sides remained on guard.
"What do you want to eat, Mother? I'll go with whatever you like."
"What a sweet child. But you never ask us for anything. Don't you consider us your family?"
Kelsey smiled softly in response to her mother's pleading look. "Of course I do. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive. The reason I never ask is… I don't know what I want."
How could she know what she wanted when she couldn't even remember who she used to be?
"Then, how about golden horn fish soup? That's your favorite, right?"
"How do you know that's my favorite?"
"Every time your father brings it home, you eat three servings. You never finish more than one serving of anything else."
It wasn't that the soup was her favorite. But every time she ate it, she felt something stir inside her—like a hidden power awakening. Still, she had no idea what that power was or how to use it. More precisely, she couldn't remember how.
"That's true. But isn't golden horn fish soup costly?" She remembered her father could only afford it once every six months. He had to save for it, and her parents never touched the dish—they gave it all to her.
"Silly girl. Your father received a big reward. Buying golden horn fish soup is nothing."
"You should use that money to fix the house or buy a new field. One portion is enough."
"Okay. I'll tell your dad to buy ten portions, and we'll use the rest to remodel!"
"Ten? That's too many!" But her protest was cut off as her mother summoned a telepathic orb with magic and sent a message to her husband. Kelsey could only sigh.
"Oh no, it looks like it's going to rain."
"I'll help you." Kelsey moved to help the boar mother gather the laundry.
"No need. You know we don't have much of a clothesline."
"But—"
"Kelsey, you're our little princess. If you don't ask us for any favor, then we'll just pamper you and do everything for you, okay?" Her demon mother kissed her on the cheek, then turned back to the laundry.
"I'm not even your birth daughter…" Kelsey muttered sadly. She still didn't understand why this demon couple was so kind to a human girl, the nemesis of demons.
Since her mother wouldn't let her help, Kelsey sat by the window and resumed reading a history book about this plane.
The Demon and Human Lands belonged to the same realm—the Soul Plane of the first realm. The gods, however, resided in the Realm of the Gods. As their name implied, the gods were the most powerful beings in existence, governing all realms. Though they had compassion for humans, they were bound by the laws of their realm and could not interfere directly in mortal lives.
In truth, the gods could wipe out the demons completely—but something prevented them. A powerful barrier surrounded the Soul Plane that not even gods could penetrate. As a result, the gods could only send Eternals—beings who bore divine auras but had not fully ascended. Through them, the gods granted divine power to chosen humans with the potential to become slayers.
"If the gods care so much about humans, why don't they just take them to a higher plane and protect them from demons? This book is so confusing." Kelsey shut the book and tossed it aside.
She sighed, bored. Her parents often asked about her dreams or what she wanted in life. But she couldn't answer—not because she had no desires, but because she couldn't remember what they were. For now, all she wanted was to survive. She had no memories before being rescued by the demons, but she knew one thing for sure: She didn't want to die.
"Ah, you're finally home," greeted the mother, welcoming the father. "You got here just before the rain. Where's the soup? Didn't I tell you to buy ten servings?"
"No time for that. Where's Kelsey?"
Kelsey turned toward the door as soon as she heard his voice. "I'm here. What's wrong?"
"Hurry and pack your things. You have to leave the demon land—immediately!"