Since she learned the truth about her father, Celeste listened to her mother every day. She told her about the human demon war, about how she was a warrior, about how she fought for her family who were starving back home. Apparently the Demon King had offered a large sum of money to every single person's family that decided to join the ranks in the army against the humans. The youngest and strongest of that generation were the first ones to jump into war, wanting to protect and feed their families, they were manipulated.
Although her mother lamented her weakness and her stupidity, she didn't seem to regret what she had done, because now, her family would be able to feed themselves and survive. She had already gone to war thinking she would die, it wasn't within her mindset she would be captured, tortured, and violated, and had the intention of dying in the battlefield.
"…Even the most barbaric of demon tribes are not like humans." Her mother said one day. "We pride ourselves in battle. We fight and die, that's it. But humans… they're worse. They don't delight themselves in battle and beating their opponent through a battle of life and death, they like to make us suffer, to humiliate our warrior's hearts… Instead of putting us out of our misery, they locked us down, they tortured us, they violated us… They're no warriors… They're lower than monsters… They're the true demons, Celeste. Remember that…"
Celeste listened to her mother, who had gone mad, talk every day about how she detested humans.
"Never forget that Celeste. Never forget the humans for what they had done to us, not due to the war, but what they had done to us here, these humans… you can't even call them people."
"They're worse than monsters…"
"The only thing they do is make us suffer as they laugh."
"They starve us not because they have no food, but because they want to see us suffer…"
"And even when we think we'll finally die, they bring food to keep us barely alive, because they delight themselves into seeing us grow desperate and insane… they love to see us go mad…"
"Humans… they're the worst."
Celeste heard her mother's words and took them for granted. Her world view shaped itself only in her words. One could say she brainwashed her own daughter, but it wasn't as if her daughter wasn't a victim of these very humans, and even if she doubted her words sometimes, she couldn't help but ultimately agree with her mother.
Within this world shrouded with darkness, she also heard good things from her mother. A place she called "home". It was her village, where her family was, where her friends were, where she meet her boyfriend, the one she wanted to be Celeste's father, not the monster of a human father she had.
Inside of her small little and innocent heart, a dream was born. Amidst the starvation, the torture, and the laughter of the monsters that came through the week, a dream emerged within her heart. Her dream… was simple. She wanted a safe place to live, a place where all demons could live peacefully, without starving, without being afraid, and without suffering.
It was a childish and unrealistic dream.
One day, when she was five years of age, he once more came back to see them. Her mother had barely lived until now. Having gone completely mad, the last months she had only been rambling nonsense, as Celeste feed her whatever she had. Her mother wasn't even eating, leaving her rations for her daughter.
And that man showed up, looking through the cell.
"Is she dead?" He wondered, looking down at Celeste.
Celeste waved her head.
"My mother's not dead… She's strong… She's a strong warrior, unlike you, pathetic humans!"
She couldn't contain herself anymore, her rage and frustration, all the resentment she gathered over her first five years of life, she let them all out in front of that man…
Her father, who would one day become the Lord of the Country.
"What did you said, you piece of garbage?"
The man opened the ceiling, as he entered the room holding a whip, using the whip to beat her into the ground.
"You little piece of garbage…!"
"I've had the heart to not kill you this entire time…!"
"I've even decided to let you live all these years…"
"And this is how you treat me?!"
Celeste was shrouded in wounds as she bleed, crying in agony, but she never asked for forgiveness, she gritted her teeth, looking at the man furiously.
The man's face distorted as he realized that glare… such a deadly glare that it made him step back, flinching in fear.
However, the torture was interrupted by the voice of Celeste's mother, looking like a mummy, the woman slowly fell into the floor, crawling towards the man and grabbing his leg.
"She is… your… daughter…"
"Don't… hit her… A father… should never hit their daughter…"
"D-Daughter?! I am no father of this monster! G-Get off me, you walking corpse!"
The man began using his whip to hit Celeste's mother, as her eyes grew furious.
"STOP!!! Don't hit mama! Monster! Monster!!!"
She used her tiny tail to pierce the man's leg, infesting a small wound with a paralyzing venom that made his leg stiff.
"Ugh! I should had cut down that tail of yours!!!" The man kicked Celeste in the face, throwing her away as he smiled sickly, taking out a small wand imbued with a red jewel. "You little shit… your mother has been telling you nothing but lies, hasn't she?"
"Stop…!" Celeste crawled in the floor, her face was covered in blood, her nose was broken, and she could barely see as her eyes were bleeding.
"I'll show you your place in this world…" The man infused mana into the wand, as an ember emerged from within the magic item.
"And that's… RIGTH BELOW OUR FOOT!"
And in front of Celeste's eyes, her mother was engulfed in flames.