Everything was dark and everyone was sleeping. The silence had conquered the place except some quite footsteps getting closer and closer. A shadow of a young man moving quickly passes by and disappears again in the dark. In a split second there he is again, but this time his eyes were covered by this piercing, evil look and his face was hidden in the black veil of the night. Every second was a step closer to the little house where the Jewel was being kept. That jewel was not just an ordinary one, it was cursed with an ancient spell, granting great power to whichever demon obtained it. Even though the protector of the Cursed Jewel was the beautiful human priestess, Zenobia, other human beings weren’t able to see the Jewel but they could just feel it’s presence when they were near it, like a desperate call for power. Now, the young man was right next to the little house’s door and ready to open it, not knowing that Zenobia was right there with her spiritual arrows waiting for a moment to shoot at the intruder. In fact, that seemingly ordinary man was the half demon Akuma that had searched for the Jewel for over a thousand years, since it first appeared in the world.

As soon as Akuma opened the door, their eyes met and they both stayed for a split second, forgetting their true intentions. Losing focus from the prize he seeked and shocked to find a human girl standing right beside the Jewel, he quickly disappeared. While running away, his mind was playing tricks and reliving that moment when he first saw her, over and over again and at the same time feeling something weird that he had never felt before. This feeling that wasn’t leaving him alone and that was creating bizarre sensations in his chest was making it harder and harder for Akuma to concentrate, but he couldn’t figure out what that really was.

A few days passed and his mind was still troubled. Every time he would near the village his feet would stop moving at some point and eventually this involuntary shiver would cover his body and Akuma would turn back. Starting to hate this annoying and compulsory feeling, he decided to go and observe humans better, wondering if they had anything to do with his curse, as he called it. Every day, as well as looking for the Jewel, he would look at the girl that amazed him and also at her family. There were all these things that he didn’t understand. All of their talks, how they would help each other and in the same how that many people could live in that little box while there is a whole nature out there.

While days would pass, Akuma wouldn’t miss a single day where he would go closer and closer to the village and watching the humans that he once despised, but know understanding more of them he wanted to be part of something like that. On the other hand, his demonic side would always fight stronger and always convince him that the Jewel was the greatest thing someone could have, and how he would have everything he wanted with the help and the power he would get from the possession of the Jewel and that part of him would always seem to win no matter how great his desire was to be part of a human family.

One day as Zenobia was passing through the forest to go to the river she noticed something. A dark figure was staring from above a tree. She stopped for a minute and stared right back at the creature until it finally came down and approached her to the point that they were just one meter away. She instantly recognized him. It was the boy that barged into her house that night.

“Hello,” Zenobia said quietly.

“Hello,” the young man responded as his eyes were studying her every feature.

“What are you doing here all alone?” she asked.

“I’ve always been here, this is my home. My parents met here, I was born here and I grew up here,” Akuma said in an innocent voice.

She recalled the tales that her grandmother used to tell her when she was younger, about a demon and a human girl who fall in love, and from their forbidden love, a really powerful half demon was born that was destined for great things.

“Are you the legendary half-god that the tales talk about?” the priestess asked half- voiced.

“That’s what they say? Then I guess that that’s me,” he answers slightly ironically.

During this short time that they were talking, Akuma started to feel the presence of the Jewel. Unintentionally, he started eagerly looking for it, and in the corner of his eye, he captured a spark coming from Zenobia’s pocket. At that split second, his other side kicked in and the greediness started craving for that power. Without waiting for any longer, Akuma used his power and took the Jewel by force without thinking about the damage he caused to Zenobia, the only girl that was able to get him closer to his hidden humanity.

With the Jewel in his hand his fight had begun. His demonic powers started growing even more. He could feel all that strength running through his veins, but was that what he really wanted? Looking back to all the days where he would sit and long for the connection to have a family and to be loved even though he never understood what love is, being raised in the woods by the animals and the trees. All these thoughts would pass his mind, however, his demonic side was dominating and destroying his innocence and his purity of his humanity. Lost in a dark space he heard some whispers.

“I will let you be free,” the voice said.

It was like nothing he had heard before. A light was blinding his eyes and he sees a Zenobia come running, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the light.

“Go towards the light,” the voice was repeatedly saying.

Confused and trapped he started running to the light until he saw the forest again but this time it was getting further and further away, as he came nearer. All of a sudden, he stopped, and the voice with him. The half-demon found himself in a complete silence. In his hand was a crystal ball that glowed as brightly as the sun. Without knowing why, he had this urge to crush it and involuntarily Akuma started squeezing really hard. It was cracking, with every crack, he would feel closer and closer to himself. With every crack the view of the forest would come closer and closer. With every crack, he would feel more in peace. He closed his eyes. The weird crystal was broken to shreds, looking lifeless, like pieces of rocks. And when he opened them again he sees the Cursed Jewel crushed in his hand. His powers had vanished, leaving no trace that they actually existed. His dark side too, he won the war. He was free.