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Milo had been frail and sickly since childhood, and his biological parents abandoned him in the wasteland.
He was in so much pain that he had grown numb to it, and thought he would die without anyone noticing.
But just before he lost consciousness, he was wrapped in a cold yet soft embrace.
It told him that it was his true family.
*
When he regained consciousness, Milo broke out of his egg and crawled out, with little demon horns on his head and a heart-shaped tail swishing behind him. Countless terrifying monsters stood guard around him.
A half-dragon, half-human boy circled in the sky.
Snow-white mycelium stretched across the mountains and plains, blinking with countless eyes.
A kindly old woman stood on eight enormous spider legs.
It held him and introduced him to his new family one by one, telling him that it was the Father of all monsters, and that Milo was the "heart" of them all.
He couldn't help coughing, spattering a little blood on the ground. All the monsters panicked. They gave him new clothes and food, built him a home, and would have gladly given him the whole world.
*
Life in the wasteland era was chaotic and dangerous.
Mutants, anomalies, unnatural disasters... Everyone struggled to survive in a desperate world.
An elite Imperial squad was being besieged by a group of maddened fire dragons, suffering heavy losses.
After a faint, weak cough, an invisible force pierced the chest of the lead dragon.
The people stared up in shock. A beautiful white-haired boy was held in the arms of some indescribable being, nibbling at a heart that blazed with fire.
The fire dragons, who had been roaring wildly, fell silent at once.
"I'm not cold anymore. Thank you, Papa." The boy's voice was no longer hoarse, and color had returned to his lips. He snuggled into the indescribable being's embrace, his little tail curling around its invisible arm.
"...Master."
The fire dragons tucked in their scales and fearfully curled their tails between their legs.
That was the source of their power, the beginning of everything, above all mutants: the true master of monsters.
*
To reclaim its lost power, an incomplete god had nurtured an offspring from a fragment of a human soul.
Incomplete, and therefore greedy.
Greedy, and therefore beautiful.
The dragonkind offered up their hearts, and the boy ate them in two bites. His voice carried a frail, breathless rasp. "That's not enough."
The insectkind offered him their throne, but he had barely sat down before throwing himself into its arms again, murmuring listlessly, "This is boring."
Wherever the boy went, countless humans knelt and looked up at him, honoring him as the new god.
All the terrifying mutants that ruled the wasteland had no choice but to set aside their savagery and slaughter, and offer everything their kind possessed to win a moment of the boy's delight.
But in the end, the boy casually tossed aside the humans' offerings, mercilessly crushed the monsters that failed to please him, feasted, and brought his spoils back to it.
"Will you praise me, Papa?"
The boy lay across its chest, his little tail slipping into its palm. He bit into a gemstone formed from its power, asking for praise and a kiss.
[Reading Notes]
1. The protagonist is six at the beginning. A large portion of the story focuses on raising him, while the romance begins in adulthood.
2. Plenty of nonhuman tastes and preferences: mutant evolution includes dragonkind, insectkind, beastkind, aquatickind, plantkind, undead, and demonkind. Milo is a little demon who feeds on desire (souls).
3. An unconventional found-family story where an overpowered family of nonhumans and powerful allies dote on Milo without question. There are some down-to-earth face-slapping scenes. Because of his unhappy upbringing, Milo is patient, obedient, and sensible at first, but as he grows up, his family gradually spoils him into a pampered young master. He's strong in his own right, not just a pretty face. The wasteland setting is bleak and despairing, but Milo and his family gradually change the world and bring hope.
Theme: Even what is incomplete can shine with brilliant color
