"When it rains, it pours." 

Pre-Slayer

• The elders of a village once foretold a haunting tale of an impending catastrophic storm. It was one that would sweep inland from the nearest oceans, into the closest rivers, and bring with it torrential waters that no man, woman, or child could survive. There would be candescent lightning that lit up the entire sky with cerulean webs, and with it, deafening thunder, which would bellow so loudly that homes were sure to crumble from the mighty shake. “Many people of the colony will perish”, the elders gravely chronicled. “Their blood will spill among floodwaters, painting its sooty color scarlet.”
  
  Lines of heritage were taught to fear this storm, with each grandfather telling his grandchildren what signs to watch for and  his grandfather told him would happen when the frightening deluge came. Whenever bad weather washed over the land, the village prepared for the worst. They were devastated by the prophecy, living in persistent fear of an element they couldn’t control.
  
  An angel, as many called him, came to their village one spring evening with a persuasive tongue and heavenly, chromatic eyes. He promised to keep the village and its people safe from the predestined storm they feared if they provided him with love and admiration. When the angel showed a magical ability that no human could ever perform, most of the villagers happily obliged, dedicating their lives to him.
  
  But some didn’t trust this new stranger, even if he was heaven sent.
  
  Several months dripped by and the village gradually converted into followers of the Eternal Paradise, a cult. Unaware that they were partaking in a group led by a demon and therefore a fraud, the people stored their entire faith into their leader, convinced that he would protect them. When women began to go missing, they sought his guidance and prayers for their mothers, sisters and daughters, but never suspected that he could be the culprit behind their disappearances.
  
  A day after his own mother went missing, Tau could no longer withhold the suspicion he felt toward the leader. He sought out to confront him, but was escorted home by other villagers when they discovered he didn’t share their beliefs. He could not convince the remainder of his family that their beloved mother was gone because of the leader they looked up to. Labeled as dishonorable for his questioning views, a fourteen year old Tau was cast out from the village entirely.
  
  On a hot, summer evening, an unpredicted storm wandered over the village, appearing almost suddenly. Lightning flashed from heavy, black rain filled clouds and into the ground, destroying homes and wildlife alike. Turbulent thunder shook the core of every person with each fierce roar, rattling them all the way down to their bones. Floodwaters quickly swept into the village from the nearby river channels, catastrophic and relentless. The torrents tore through everything they touched and sent the villagers scrambling to their leader’s quarters. Terrified that this was the storm their elders warned of, they begged to be let into his home and protected like he promised. And they were.
  
  Anxious and unable to keep away, Tau returned to the village during the storm, where he found his fleeing father and three siblings. He begged them to come with him to a place that was safer, but in a heartbreaking argument; his father left him behind and sought out the cult instead. Once more alone, Tau took to higher ground.
  
  Upon the next morning, when the storm had passed and all that was left was a drizzle, he ventured to seek his family out, wading through flood waters. As he grew closer to the sanctuary where the villagers had sought refuge, he discovered dozens of floating, dismantled bodies. Hands, arms, legs, torsos, heads- they all drifted aimlessly, various portions of them bitten into and devoured, like they’d been fed to an animal. Though sickened, Tau pushed onward, desperate to find his family.
  
  He could only locate portions of their remains.
  
  It was a man who discovered him holding various pieces of his siblings and father clutched to his chest that would enlighten him as to what actually happened. The people of his village had been victims to a demon. Manipulated by a wolf’s lies, they walked trustingly into eager, open jaws and were consumed without a single survivor left to share their story other than himself.
  
  That day he requested to be taken in and put through training to become a demon slayer. 

Final selection

Present