"You dirty orphan. You'll never amount to anything!" The jeering young man's voice said. Two other boys beside him laughed before he shoved Young hard against the ground.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you always giving me a hard time!?" Young shouted.
Then suddenly he was spiraling, falling for what seemed like an endless amount of time --
Darkness. It was the next thing Young Jade noticed, followed by the sound of his breath which was raspy and labored. The front of his gi felt warm against his skin for the first time, then as his consciousness began to stir he realized why -- blood, and a lot of it.
Young's eyes popped open but that did not dispel the dark, rather things were still dim. He strained his eyes as he struggled to quickly ascertain the situation. He thought back to his last memory -- the sight of the creature's massive paw as it reached out to claw him.
He desperately grabbed at his chest, his fingers pressing against the bloody, damp cloth there and he was surprised to find that he was relatively fine. The blow had obviously struck him, but his chest seemed fine all things considered.
"Hello?" He whispered, half expecting to hear a reply -- but none came. Young strained to peer into the darkness but the only light came from above. He'd been knocked into the ravine and somehow managed to survive the fall.
He slowly got to his feet and glanced around, what little he could see suggested he was in some sort of cavern like area. The shear wall behind him felt slimy, covered in moss no doubt, and the ground felt solid and hard beneath his feet. A strange scent lingered in the air, one he couldn't immediately place but he pushed that out of his mind as he decided to try to speak to The Voice once more.
"Hello? Are you still there?" Young whispered, once again he waited for quite some time but still no answer came.
"If you're there answer me! We're stuck down here." Young said again as he began to walk. The darkness was disorienting so he had no clue of the direction and no particular goal in mind. It was just that his encounter with the monster from earlier made Young skittish.
Everywhere he glanced he imagined the creature bounding out of the darkness towards him, so much so that ultimately he decided to curl up in a ball against the cave wall -- for a feeling of security.
"Damn that Drake. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be in this mess!" Young hissed through his teeth as he slammed his fist against the ground. This "Drake" he spoke of was nobleman's son, one of his classmates, Drake Elderfire. And "this Drake" was responsible for pushing him off the mountain resulting in Young's current plight.
"When I get back, I'll… I'll wring his neck!" Young vowed to himself as thoughts of thrashing Drake soundly played through his mind. He knew this to be impossible after all, because Drake was much stronger than him and even more skilled with his martial technique.
"But dammit, he can't do this! He nearly killed me!" Young said to himself as his anger reached a fever pitch. An anger which was quickly turning into despair. Surrounded by darkness in a jungle filled with vicious creatures that would just as soon eat him on sight. What was he supposed to feel?
Part of him wanted to scream and protest, yet another part of him knew this was simply life. He was 15 and had absolutely no one left in the world to care for him. He was the Jade clan's orphan master, master of absolutely nothing. No home, no wealth -- not even a legacy of techniques passed onto him. All his family could afford him prior to their demise was enough money to send him to be trained in the art of cultivation. And even that would only last one of the three years he needed to study just the basics!
He sat in the dark for sometime as a different blackness settled over him.
"Why do I even bother? What can I hope to accomplish on my own anyway?" Young finally admitted to himself as he bowed his head into his lap and started to cry silently.
Over the past two months he'd devoted every day to training with little success, no teacher would fully take him under their wing due to his situation and the academy where he studied, Golden Leaf, valued individualism. This meant they wouldn't interfere unless absolutely necessary in a student's affairs. He was forced to scrounge what little knowledge he could with his own merits, to decipher the scrolls alone and also to grow his strength on his own. Such was his life. Eat alone, sleep, train alone -- get bullied, train more, repeat. Endlessly, every day until he thought he might break and then even more.
One thought kept him alive, the thought of revitalizing his clan. It was unlikely and improbable for most, but with the power of a cultivator he could do it. The ability to split the heavens with a single wave of his hand, this was the type of power Young Jade sought as he relentlessly threw himself into training. He quickly learned that the road to power was not easy or forgiving. Still he was willing to do it because it was all that he had.
But now--
"Are you done wallowing in pity?"
The words appeared first in his mind in clear white letters. Young lifted his head and looked around and he was surprised to see that the words floated before him. He reached out his hand to touch them but it seemed they were simply a projection.
"Hello?" Young whispered again as he wiped his tears with the back of his hand.
"Yes?" Another reply came, this time in the form of more words -- an alert. The words swirled slightly and formed before him in response to his word.
"Is this --err, The voice?" Young asked apprehensively.
"I guess you could call me that." Another alert replied.
"What's going on? And why aren't you talking?" Young asked as he sat up.
"You have so many questions. It's annoying"
"Well excuse me! It's not like this happens everyday." Young responded. For a moment he felt regretful that he'd even gotten in contact with the voice again.
"Do you know how to enter your soul sea?" The next question came quickly.
"Of course. I learned that much."
"Good. Do it now so we can talk face to face."