The humans had always believed us to be demons, omens of ill times to come. As a boy, I had come across a human book in The Great Library. My jaw dropped as my eyes and mind delved into the many pages of this illustrated religious tome. Their gods, ethereal being of great power, their angels, beautiful personifications of justice, it all matched what we had been taught as pups. My heart suddenly grew heavy as I began to read of their spiritual evils however. The artwork depicted large beings, wings spouting from their arms, ears long and pointy, eyes sunken and red. I was a demon, spawned by demons in a race of demons. The corridor leading to the elder seemed endless, doors screaming open as I tore my way through the narrow hallways leading to the truth I was so determined to have clarified. I stormed in without warning, goodness mother would string me up by my wings if she ever caught wind of that. My steps echoed like thunder as I approached the elder. "Lok, please tell me it isn't true!" I whimpered. Lok's expression projected a level of sympathy I had never seen before. "What is it my child? What troubles you so?" His voice trembled as if he had taken some of my sorrows onto his own shoulders. "Are we truly the dark beasts the humans portray us as? Are we the demons they fear?" I cried. At this moment, I saw his look of sympathy turn to anger. His face morphed from one of empathy to one of outrageous fury. "The humans are nothing but pests! Puny insignifigant rot not fit to walk these lands!" "But Elder" I objected,"I have never heard of humans being so much as a-" "Enough!" His resentment for the humans now escaping his face and traveling to his hands causing them to shake uncontrollably as he slammed them on the table with force enough to send his lamp to the ground with a shatter to break the silence that plagued the room as well as my mind. "We are the Inlakai! We connect ourselves to the gods through enlightenment and these heathens, damn swine they are, dare claim we are demons when they themselves have evolved their faith into outright heresy!" I took my leave and from that day on, swore to discover what caused him to hate humans with such a passion. It just so happened my brother, Ralek, had made plans to join me in my goal. He was always so very curious. The first day I hadn't seen Ralek was a simple one. We all had our jobs, his was to fetch the water. In our younger days he was never as athletic as the rest of us. Never keeping up as we raced, unable to climb as high as we learned to fly, struggling to carry the small hogs or deer we learned to hunt for our food, but that never stopped him. Yes the expeditionary force had heavy demands when it came to physical capabilities, but none that could not be achieved through hard work, and by the gods did he work for it. By this time his physique was for superior to our own, fetching animals and water for 5 years will do that for you. He had come a long way from his first days of bringing back one small deer at a time and only a few gallons of water. Now you could hear the flap of his wings from hundreds of feet away, soon to be upon you with a large buck, sometimes two, or water in the tens of gallons. Yes, he was undoubtedly the strongest of us all, but certainly not the fastest. That would be the seed of his demise to these wretched creatures. The search parties had started only the second day of his absence, and ended the third. We had been doing the typical routine, circles around the camp increasing in diameter. Not even the field mice, however the may try to hide from our predator-like frames could escape our gaze. I was the first to spot him, but something seemed strange. The area had a dark mist about it. As I descended, the mist could not cover the grim truth. The snow was still bright red around his shoulders where his arrow pierced arms had been separated from his charred body. My face grew cold and my tears fell hard as my knees slowly followed. How could someone do this? Who could have done this? WHY? The questions rebounded off of the inside of my head so loudly I couldn't even hear the answers I tried to come up with. I felt a fire in my chest, fueled by the newfound hatred I had for the enemies that cut their way into my heart. "Looks like we've got another one boys" he ssaid as he came down from the branch with a crunch on the heavy, icy snow. "Told you they always come find 'em" I had no idea how many he had with him. I didn't care. Ralek may have become the strongest of us, but he could never beat my speed. No one could. The first head hit the floor. The contrast in my blood with his was minute, but it was there. I saw it as three spears pierced my chest. I could feel my anger spewing from my body as I spun with a claw out and enough force to shatter them all halfway down the handle. The second head hit the floor. As I turned to face the final two, something dawned on me. It was the first time I had ever seen a human in the flesh, I had no idea what a human's face normally looked like, but in this moment all I saw was fear. I was in the position of my elder so many years ago and I felt the same anger he did. I never felt the sypathy he did that day though. Not for myself, and not for the 4 bodies I left surrounding my brother. I stumbled away from the carnage, the blood became invisible as all I saw was red. I could taste my very life force escaping from me, I would never return to camp or my home. Suddenly I heard footsteps, the pain and aguish of hell flurried through my mind as I damned myself to it for my actions. I rose my head to meet the eyes of not my would-be executioner, but Lillith, the goddess of justice. I bowed my head once more and braced myself for the punishment that would be brought down upon me. Then she spoke. "Rise my child" I tried, gods did I try to do as commanded, but the action only brought pain and more blood to be coughed up. "Forgive me" I apologized as I put my hands out to bow, only to stain and rip her heavenly dress. "This atrocity is my doing." "I am aware." She spoke without emotion, yet with such beauty I fought through the pain just to return her gaze, as to absolutely appreciate my final encounter with another being. I would not be the only one damned for this, my people would as well. I would only strengthen the stereotype of the "demons" that roamed this land. I was a demon, a monster who took the lives of others in anger and spite. I had not killed 4, I had killed thousands in the fits of rage that would follow this event. Then as if she could read my thoughts, again, she spoke. "Child, I am not here to damn you." "But I am the demon these people fear! I am the evil they cower from!" I claimed. My mind was once again screaming with questions. "You lived righteously, and thus you shall be judged in such manner. Demons do not only exist in the realm of the afterlife, they exist in the bodies and minds of the beings who inhabit this world. Your people live peacefully, humans wage war on themselves. Your people embrace change and happily conform to it, humans fear change and angrily confront it. You are not the demon of this world my child, and it is time for your ascension." I felt my pain fade as I rose without effort to join my brother once more.