#psaro not understanding that he looks like his father and his mother might have ISSUES with that

[im-totally-not-an-alien-3]

Psaro knew his mom was special, the same way all of his father's wives were special.

Dolphs mother was a famous Gladiatrix in Nadiria who had never been defeated by anyone other than their father, after which she agreed to marry him and became his first wife.

Ludos mother a powerful elf priestess older than all of monsterkind and perhaps would be just as powerful if she was released from her fate as someone else's prison and allowed to recover he strength.

Psaros mom was a princess from the human world, but that wouldn't be enough to catch his father's interest. There had to be something else, and his mother refused to talk about it, so he did what any six year old monster prince would do and just asked the various castle staff for answers.

He was in luck as some of his mothers servants knew the truth. His mother came from a long line of legendary human heroes! The oldest known one was also the most famous, some guy called Erdrick.

Psaro quickly came to love hearing stories of his human ancestors defeating evil and saving the day. Even better, it was the one time his mother actually grew to enjoy spending time with him.

His mother was strange. She often didn't hold or play with him like Fathers other wives did with their children. Her gaze would often drift to his eyes, and she would have this funny look on her face, like a cross between sadness and...fear? But why would she be afraid of him? Or his eyes? He was often told he had his Father's eyes (and ears too!) so she couldn't dislike them, right? After all, a baby is born when a mommy and daddy love each other very much, and if she loves his father, then she should love the parts of him she sees in their son.

It wouldn't be until he was much older that he would understand the full scope of his mother's suffering, but for now, he was too innocent.

---

His mother was dying.

Slowly.

Cruelly.

This couldn't be right. His mother had kidnapped him from the castle, taking him away from everyone and everything he ever knew and wouldn't even tell him why.

And now she was abandoning him. She was going to die and leave him behind. He couldn't allow that, so he did what he could with what he had.

Monsters lived very long lives, with Psaro and his family on his father's side aging slowly until they were destined to stop aging all together once they reached a certain maturity. Naturally, to keep Miriam alive this long, his father had teathered her life force to his own, keeping her young and healthy forever.

Until he cut her off that is.

That's fine. He just needed to make a new anchor for her. In fact, why not make several? Ah, but he also needed someone to help defend himself and his mom. He might be monster royalty, but he's still just a kid, and there's only so much one can do when they're fighting the temptations of naptime.

If he's going to need someone to help them, why not bring their legendary hero ancestor himself back from the dead? Even better, the magic would force him to stay by their sides and prevent him from harming them.

So once his mother is safely tucked into bed (read:the arms of some bear monsters who cubs Psaro had befriended) inside the cave, they were taking refuge in he snuck out into the woods to proform an ancient ritual.

He took out a lock of his and his mother's hair, intricately braided together into an odd design, and began chanting the spell he had recently learned and called out for "the oldest true hero in our family line". After what felt like forever, a deep purple fog condensed into a solid person.

The figure was...taller that Psaro expected. And what were those clothes? Erdricks hair and face seemed to be the same as it was depicted in the old paintings and tapestries but he was dressed like a Neanderthal and had a beard and wielded and ax instead of the sword he was known for.

"Erdrick?" Psaro called out, hating how small his voice suddenly sounded.

The man looked confused but not hostile as he lowered onto one knee before the demon prince, "I'm afraid I do not know that name, little one. I am Ortega of Aliahan."