The boy with violet hair lay face-down in the crystal moss, and he did not wake when the ground hummed beneath him. Momo had crossed the Crystal Forest chasing a power he could not yet name. Twice that week he had felt it: a heat in his left arm, where a dragon was inked across the skin, and a cold light that answered from somewhere behind his ribs. He wanted to command both. He wanted to be the strongest warrior in all of Heartvelle. Instead he lay still, his tail limp in the glowing grass, breath shallow, blood drying at his temple. Footsteps crunched over the crystal. A woman knelt beside him. She was small, with white hair past her waist and long pointed ears. A blue staff glowed in her hand, its crystal head bright as a moon. This was Elmyra, a mage who read the night sky for a living and trusted it more than people. She pressed two fingers to Momo's throat. The pulse was weak. "You're a long way from anyone who loves you," she said. "That makes two of us." She raised the staff. Blue light poured from the crystal and sank into the wound at his temple. The bleeding slowed. But as the light touched his left arm, the dragon tattoo flared red, and a dark heat pushed back against her magic. Elmyra's eyes widened. She had healed many broken things. She had never felt one fight her like this. Two powers lived in this boy. One shone cold and clean, like her own moon-light. The other burned, hungry and wrong. They pulled at each other inside him, and the pulling was killing him. Elmyra could leave him. A half-demon thing in a child's body was no one's safe choice. She looked at his face instead. His brow twitched, fighting even while unconscious. "All right," she whispered. "Stubborn. I can work with stubborn." She planted the staff and pressed her palm flat on his chest. Blue light spread through him in a slow wave. She did not burn out the dark heat. She wrapped around it, held it still, and gave the two powers a wall to rest against. Sweat ran down her face. The forest crystals rang like struck glass. Then, at last, Momo breathed deep and even. His eyes opened. Violet hair stuck to his cheek. He blinked up at a stranger with a glowing stick and a tired smile. "Easy," Elmyra said. "You died a little. I talked you out of it." Momo's tail flicked once. "Who are you?" "Someone who just learned you carry two kinds of fire." She stood and offered her hand. "They want to tear you apart. I can teach you to hold them. But not here." He took her hand. From that grip, a new life began: a son raised by a moon mage, and a long road toward mastering the powers that nearly killed him on the forest floor.

Momo rode on Elmyra's back as she carried him home through the Crystal Forest. His head still ached from the night he nearly died. Elmyra had healed him, named him her pupil, and now walked him toward her towering home at the forest's edge. The crystals rang softly under her sandals. Momo watched the trees thin ahead. Then a scream cut through the quiet. "Help! Somebody, please!" Elmyra stopped. Momo slid from her back and landed on his bare feet. Through the trees he saw a girl his own age. Pink hair. Red eyes. Small horns curved above her head, and a thin tail lashed behind her. A half-demon, like the demon half that burned inside him. An ogre loomed over her, twice as tall as Elmyra, its club raised high. The girl scrambled backward and tripped on her sandals. "Stay here," Elmyra told Momo. She lifted her blue staff. Momo did not stay. His left arm flared. The dragon tattoo burned hot, and the heat raced up to his shoulder. He ran at the ogre before he could think. "Hey! Over here!" The ogre swung the club at him. Momo dove under it. The wood cracked against a crystal tree and shattered it. Shards rained down. Momo rolled to his feet beside the pink-haired girl. "You okay?" he asked. "Do I look okay? That thing scared the heck outta me!" she snapped. But she grinned through it. "Nice jump, though." The ogre turned. It grabbed Momo by the tail and lifted him off the ground. Pain shot up his spine. He felt the heat in his arm surge, wild and hungry, pushing against the cold light behind his ribs. The two powers pulled at each other. His vision went white. "Young one!" Elmyra called. "Hang on! I'm coming!" Then out of pure instinct, Momo retaliated. He stopped fighting the heat. He let it rest in his body. The white faded. His hand found the ogre's thick wrist, and heat poured out of his palm. The ogre roared and dropped him. As soon as he lands his feet on the ground, with great speed, Momo rushes towards the ogre, summons two twin gunblades, and quickley cross-slashes the ogre with ferocious strength. Elmyra struck then. Blue light burst from her staff and slammed into the ogre's chest. It flew back, crashed through two trees, and did not rise. The forest went still after, and the three individuals took in a sigh of relief. Gathering himself , Momo then calls away his gunblades and suddenly falls to the ground. The girl crawled over and offered her hand. "Thanks for saving me," she said. "I'm Vina. You helped me out back there. That makes us friends now. Those are the rules." Momo took her hand and laughed. "Momo." He took a glance at her horns and her tail. Although questioning her appearance, he felt a sudden gentleness radiating from her. "You're cute and all, but what are you?" Vina hesitated at first. She wasn't quite sure how to answer without taking the chance of alarming the two people who just saved her life, but also taking in that she was called cute. "I-I'm a uh-" she stuttered, shy and nervous. "I'm a half-demon. My parents died recently, and I've been alone ever since." Elmyra knelt beside them. She looked at Vina with a warm gentle smile. "Well Vina," said Elmyra. "You're not alone anymore." She noticed scratches on Vinas ankle. Without hesitation, Elmyra healed them with a blink of an eye. "Feel any better?" Elmyra asked. Vina shoots up onto her feet, does a little dance full of energy. "Much better!" she shouts. "Thank you so much.... uhhh what's your name?" "You may call me Elmyra." she said. "I am a mage so it was no problem at all. Why don't you come with us? You both are lucky I found you on the same day. We can rest at my home that's not far from here." Momo stood up slowly. He was still recovering from being unconscious for so long. Once he stood, his stomach started growl. "Do you by chance have any food at your home?" Momo asked. "I can't seem to remember the last time I ate." Elmyra smiled, and chuckled a little. "Well of course," she said. "I am a pretty good cook. The best in all of the land my kids say." Vina paused. "You have kids?!" she shouted. "Oh no will the be scared of me? Am I gonna be chased around like I'm a monster? Are they gonna wanna torture me?" She panicked and started pacing. She has always been afraid of others not accepting her for her demon like feautures. Although she was half human, where she grew up, many believe that those with demon like abilities were nothing but demons. "You are okay, little one." said Elmyra. "My kids would love to have you. One of them is also half-demon. I adopted her when she was very little, and my brother accepted her to live in the kingdom with us. I'm sure he'll allow the same for you once I explain to him the situation at hand." Vina stopped pacing, but had a puzzled look on her face. "Situation at hand?" she asked. "What do you mean by that?" She then looked over at Momo. His demon and celestial energy radiated, but then dimmed as he wondered what his last meal was. "Wait so what are you, Momo?" she asked him. Momo looked at Vina, and then towards Elmyra. He then looked down scratching his head, thinking to himself on what his answer is. "In all honesty," he started. "I'm actually not too sure. I know my name but that's about it." Elmyra rests her palm onto Momo's back. "We will figure it out together soon enough," she stated. "Right now, we should get to my home. It's getting dark out. Besides, I do have dinner to cook" Momo and Vina looked at each other with excitement from the thought. Laughing together, they both shouted "Woohoo yeahhh!!"

The forest opened, and Elmyra's home rose ahead. It stood tall as three houses stacked together, with wooden beams and stone walls and shutters painted red. Momo stopped and stared. Vina gripped his arm. "That's one giant house," she whispered. Her tail twitched behind her. Momo could feel her nerves. His own stomach knotted, but he grinned to hide it. Elmyra climbed the steps and pushed open the heavy doors. "Come," she said. "Meet my daughters." Three girls waited inside. The first wore a black robe and held a thick book to her chest. Her silver hair fell past her waist. "Mother, you're late," she said, eyeing the strangers. This was Rikku, Elmyra's own daughter, a magick master in training. The second girl wore a pink kimono with a flower in her hair. The third had dark hair, red eyes, and a tail tipped with real fire. Momo saw Vina freeze when she spotted it. "Everyone," Elmyra said. "This is Momo and Vina. They will live here now. As family." The girl with the fire tail stepped forward first. "You're half-demon," she said to Vina. It was not a question. Vina's hands balled up. She waited for the fear, the cruel words she always got. Instead the girl smiled. "Me too. I'm Lillith. Watch this." Her shape blurred, and for a second she stood as a copy of Vina, horns and all. Then she snapped back. Vina laughed, shocked. "How did you do that?!" The girl in the kimono with the flower took Momo's hand before he could speak. "I'm Mitzu," she said. She looked at his dragon tattoo, then at his tail. "You're warm. Like a little fire." Momo chuckled. "You have no idea." Mitzu tugged him toward a long table. "Mother cooks the best food in the land. Sit. You look hungry." Momo's stomach growled loud, and all three girls burst out laughing. Rikku closed her book last. She studied Momo with her green eyes. "Two powers in one body," she said quietly. "Mother told us. Light and heat." Momo nodded. "They were tearing me apart. She built a wall between them." Rikku's eyes sharpened with interest. "A barrier spell. I've read about those." She opened her book and showed him a page covered in symbols. "If you want to control both, you'll need more than a wall. You'll need practice." She tapped the page. "I can help you train." That night they all ate together. No one flinched at Vina's horns or Momo's tail. For the first time Momo felt he belonged somewhere. Elmyra set a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow we begin your lessons," she said. "Rikku will join us. If you mean to master both your powers, you must start now." Momo looked at the book in Rikku's hands and the fire on Lillith's tail. He was not alone anymore. He had a family, and he had work to do.