"excuse me?"
Damian thought he heard wrong.
"Now I know it sounds bad b-" Roy began.
"Sounds bad?! It sounds like you want to fry me to death!!!"
Damian shouted at Roy.
"Shh" Roy berated.
"Do you want to wake up the whole academy?"
Roy sighed, which in his form, was just blowing some haze.
"Look kid, you said that you'd endure any pain if it meant getting stronger. I'm giving you this chance."
"What good is power if I end up as a damn fried chicken?!" Damian was furious.
"Listen kid, I won't lie. If you hop in there and fail, you'll die. The lunch lady will find Crispy Fried Damian Drumsticks in the morning and your life will be over. but in order to form a mana core, we need to subject you to the element in it's extremes. I've chosen fire as your primary element. now we can stand here arguing all day or you can take a gamble...with your life."
Roy's voice carried a serious edge that showed he wasn't fooling around, well, at least not a lot.
Damian was shocked. The weight of the situation didn't hit him until now.
Feeling weak, Damian sat down and began to have trouble breathing.
The pressure hit him all at once and it became too much for him to handle.
Just before Damian blacked out, he saw something fall out of his pocket.
Being an orphan, Damian never had any possessions from his parents but for some reason, a locket had fallen out.
The locket was made out of pure gold with an elegant carving on the lid.
Due to the panic attack, Damian couldn't think straight and reached for the locket, desperate to shift his attention to something, anything else.
But upon opening it, he saw thirteen words. These thirteen words blew away Damian's panic attack and caused a smile to form on his face. With shaky legs, Damian rose.
"You're damn right I will!"
Roy, seemingly confused by the sudden turn of events, floated on the spot in disbelief.
Damian stripped into his undergarments and jumped into the cauldron.
As Damian was jumping in, Roy caught sight of a golden locket.
the locket quickly faded before completely vanishing from that spot. Roy was only able to read the words engraved on it.
"Take the plunge. You're my son and I will be with you. Always. "
Roy couldn't even ponder what he had just seen as he quickly turned to the flaming cauldron. Worry in his heart.
Pain.
It was all Damian could feel.
Pain covered his body.
It seeped into his bones.
Every nerve, every hair, every pore on his body screamed in pain!
Damian tried to scream but when he opened his mouth, the burning oil rushed into it, filling his body!
The unbearable pain proved to be too much for him to handle as he slipped... into darkness.
-Sixteen years before Damian was deep fried-
The matron of the Rostein Kingdom's official orphanage had felt cold for the first time in months.
She gazed outside to see snow gently falling, snowflakes gathered on the windowsill.
"It looks like it's gonna be a white Rebirth" she sighed to herself.
Just as those words left her lips, she heard something.
It was soft but still discernible.
It was a bell, softly chiming just outside of the orphanage.
The matron stood up to go have a look.
However, the sight that greeted her when she opened the door was one she always expects but never hopes to see.
A child was sitting in a basket, playing with a shiny bell made of silver and polished to perfection.
The matron picked up the child and rushed inside.
She lit the fireplace and placed the child down before covering him with a nearby blanket.
She gazed at the baby with an experienced glance that can only come from the wisdom of old age.
The baby stared back, no fear, no happiness.
Nothing but curiosity.
The matron gingerly picked the baby up and spoke softly.
"I'm... sorry for what's happened to you. I've never been one to mince words, even to a baby. Your parents abandoned you. I'm not sure why. I don't even know if they were your parents but... you can call this home now. I'm the matron. It's the only name people call me by so it's the only name you need to know. As for your name..."
The matron thought for a second. Then minutes.
"AHA! I've got it!" The matron shouted.
"An old traveler once told me of a boy filled with curiosity. He traveled the 5 continents and even beyond! His name was... It was... Damian! Your name is Damian!"
As the snow built around the orphanage, the matron lead the baby into her house, her family and eventually, into her heart.
-Eight years before Damian was deep fried-
Damian sat on the side of a dirt road listening to the royal guard spit curses at him.
His bruised and battered face reflected only anger and unwillingness.
"What the f*ck is your problem kid?!" One of the guards asked.
"When you see the royal carriage, you get the f*ck out of the way!"
A fierce kick connected with Damian's stomach and he fell back.
"Ya got'sta hand it to the bugger" the other guard remarked, "Silent as a mute, this one is."
Just as the first guard got ready to kick Damian in the head, the carriage door swung open and a girl walked out.
The girl walked over to Damian and squatted next to his head.
"Milady! get away from the street rat! He'll sully your beauty."
The second guard's turn of phrase had caught Damian by surprise and he began to study the little girl next to him.
The girl was probably a year younger than him with long, purple hair that was tied up in a neat plat. Her eyes were crimson red and her face was pale.
If she were to smile, she would be seen as a stunning beauty.
Her expression, however, was cold and unfeeling.
"Papa told me that I'm above everybody"
The girls voice was soft but cold, as if she was talking to something she found repulsive.
"He told me that the lives of everybody belong to the nobles"
"well..." Damian said as he propped himself up.
"Your papa can go suck a steaming pile of sh*t because the only things he owns is an ugly daughter and delusions of powe-"
Damian's sentence was cut short by a sword that had been pierced into his outstretched hand.
"Ya wanna repeat that again ya slimy street muck?"
the second guard twisted the embedded knife slowly, forming a hole in Damian's hand.
Damian, however, with a pale face, smiled.
The pain threatened to send Damian into a state of unconsciousness but held on.
"It... must suck... being the princesses...lap...dogs."
"Ya little sh-" Just before enraged guard number two could get the chance to cut off Damian's hand, he was thrown off Damian and the knife along with it.
The first guard had tackled the second guard off of Damian!
"You fool! You can't act so unsightly in front of her highness!"
The first guard got up and latched onto the shirt of the second guard.
"It's fine."
The girls cold voice cut through their argument.
"Let him be, we must go."
The girl walked halfway to the carriage before stopping and turning to face the now standing Damian.
"Don't get any ideas about this. I don't hate you, but I don't like you either. Royalty like me cannot be compared to commoners like you. Just like how a cultivator looks at a regular mortal, I look at you. Now go... And never appear in my sight."
With those words, the girl boarded the carriage and rode off.
Damian watched as they rode off before tilting his head towards the sky and screaming.
"Is this what you want?! You want me beaten? broken? well f*ck you! I'm not going to follow your little plan! If the martial gods decree that my life is to be of no value, then the martial gods can go shove their heads up a f*cking donkey! f*ck your fate! f*ck your plans and f*ck you!"
When the final words came out of his hoarse throat, his body slammed into the dirt road as he slipped into darkness.