Denva was pinned to the ground by a muscular boy with sunflower blonde hair. He felt his life fleeting, as the young man he had sought to bring down one day was on the verge of ending his life.
Five other boys were looking around nervously, watching for anyone who might pass by the bridge.
It was nighttime, the waters under the bridge reflecting the stars and the moons in the sky.
Unfortunately, Denva had his eyes wide open but couldn't appreciate the scene in the sky as he lay down, two large hands on his neck squeezing the life out of him.
His dark hair lay against the concrete messily, his hazel coloured eyes flickering with a glassy glow.
The silhouette of this boy who was wearing a fierce expression as he decisively took a life despite being only eighteen years of age, was especially unnerving.
Denva's eyes turned red as he could barely breathe. He tried to squeeze out all the World Essence he could to push off this boy, but he was too weak.
After trying to hit the boy's hands away from his throat and failing under the boy's snickers, he finally decided to try begging for his life.
"P..le...asee... sp..are... me..." he squeezed out as many words as he could as tears ran down his cheeks, regret clouding his mind. The image of his parents despairing at his death, his sister left with no one to accompany her, caused his heart to pound as he struggled even more.
All he got was a guffaw from the boy who added more pressure, using his refined control over World Essence to increase his strength.
"You should have stayed in your lane. You're going to die worthless. Your family will mourn and forget you. Your life will amount to nothing but a pathetic memory that no one will care for. You should have thought twice before antagonising me," the boy said before spitting in Denva's face.
Denva felt strength leaving his body. His last memory was a splur of saliva washing over his vision and running down his face to his chin.
Those words rang in his head as he slowly faded away.
'All your life will amount to nothing but a pathetic memory that no one will care for..'
The boy watched the light in Denva's eyes go out and finally released his grip.
"Piece of shit!" he said as he prompted his accomplices to throw the body into the water.
As two boys carried Denva's lifeless body and threw it over, another boy walked up to the boy who had murdered Denva and asked in a concerned tone.
"We won't be found out right? I can't have my family knowing about this. We may be a better-off family than most, but I can't be an heir to the family name with being an accomplice to a murder on my record, Ryon," the boy said.
Ryon watched Denva's body fall into the water and finally, faced the other boy.
"Relax, even if it's found out, who will care for some nobody whose family has nothing to its name?" Stephen said. "He has a cute sister though. When she grows up I will definitely make her one of my secret mistresses. Let's go."
The boys left the scene, most of them hurrying to get away from the place.
Several minutes after they left, a massive light flashed from the sky like a shooting star and fell into the water with a speed barely visible to the naked eye!
It travelled at an incredible speed to reach the body of Denva which had reached the very bottom.
The light pierced the body's chest and ran through the body with a soft pulse.
The pale body of Denva started to gain a bit of colour, turning from light ash to a sandy tone.
His body shook vehemently making the water squirm and bubble viciously.
His eyes suddenly opened, a faint glimmer of white light being emitted from them.
Slowly, Denva moved his body and began to swim towards the land. It was an instinct. His body struggled to keep this new life, forcing the arms and legs to push it to safety.
He reached the wet sandy ground and crawled onto shore, coughing out the water he had breathed in when he was jolted into life.
Denva lay on his back, his blue shirt making a splashing noise as he did.
His head was in a mess. Many memories tangled fiercely. Memories of childhoods, family, parents, schools, cities. Millions of memories collided making Denva groan and grunt. Blood, war, school, parents, realms, power, friends, dreams!
He clutched his head as his mind tried to sort them all out.
As they were finally arranged in a linear path, Denva finally stopped groaning and...
"RAARRRRRGHHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed with a high pitched voice that shook the sand and caused the waters to ripple. A power shook the surroundings with an immense force!
His eyes turned red from blood lust and rage!
They glowed with a red and violet hue as he gazed into the sky and opened his mouth so wide, that his face almost split in half!
A thick pillar of dark blue flame tore itself from his mouth and shot towards the sky!
Its heat was so intense that the air parted and danced in its presence, creating the illusion of warped space!
The sky darkened in reverence to the otherworldly flame that came from a boy born in a lowly family. In an unprivileged house. In a cruel world.
However, it was no longer him that inhabited his own body.
"I'LL KILL THEM ALL! I'LL BURN DOWN THEIR HOMES AND HUNT DOWN THEIR ENTIRE LINES!! I'LL BUTCHER THEM FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE! YOU DARE BETRAY YOUR OWN KING?! SLAUGHTER MY FAMILY BEFORE MY EYES?! USURP MY LANDS AND MY HOUSE BEFORE ME?!" he cried out in a hoarse voice.
The flame that had died down as he boomed, shot out from nostrils and singed the ground eliminating the slightest hints of moisture, smoke and steam tangling around the figure of the young man as he raged!
Denva jammed his hand into his chest, shattering his own ribs and grabbing his heart. The pain was excruciating, but nothing compared to what he had just felt an inordinate amount of time before.
He pulled out his heart, blood spraying from his arteries and chest as he held it above him. The red liquid flowed down his hands and fell to the ground in an eerie fashion as Denva's face looked crazed!
The heart was still giving off its last beats when Denva squeezed it and spoke in a raspy voice.
"On my pride as the King! On my Honour as an Immortal! On my pain and anguish as a... father and a husband... I WILL FIND YOU! I will avenge my home and my family!" as soon as he finished, the heart burst into a dark blue flame that burnt it with a crisp sound.
A mark appeared on his neck, looking like the conjoining of multiple rings into a complicated symbol. The mark burnt into his skin and then vanished.
Only when the heart was gone did Denva or he who inhabited Denva's body, finally calm down.
He took in deep breaths, blood coming from his mouth and nose. He felt his body getting weak.
The memories finally settled and he automatically shuffled through them.
"I see," he said. "You and I seem to have suffered a dark fate. The only difference is... you did nothing wrong."
He scrolled through Duncan's memories in a flash and witnessed his entire life; his emotions, his thoughts, his hopes and dreams.
"I am a mortal?" he said gazing at his chest that was gushing out massive amounts of blood. He felt the progressive feeling of weakness that battled against his raging soul. "Right, I used the heart."
From his soul, a powerful energy came gushing out and materialised a purple ethereal heart where his human heart should have been. It was transparent. It connected to all the arteries and veins, assuming the job of its predecessor.
Denva felt strength being restored to him. Physically at least.
He stood and looked around.
"I am within a World?" he asked himself with an unsettled expression. This detail made him quiver at his earlier rage. Had he known that he was in a World, he would have forced himself to not risk his life by blatantly emitting his energy signature through the vow he had just made.
"Dammit! I can't afford to do something that stupid again," he said with his face turning pale. His soul was screaming from the damage he had been dealt by the spear during his escape.
Within his soul, his Realm Essence was roiling, displaying the anguish that he felt.
"Can I even conjure World Essence anymore?" he said, feeling the vast amount of Realm Essence that threatened to spill out. "I suppose not. I will have to learn. For their sake. I can't allow myself to be found."
Denva breathed deeply as he tried his best to bury his emotions for the time being.
However, before he could take a step further, he felt a suffocating presence lock onto him from above! It restrained him as it came barrelling down like a bolt of lightning!
Denva's ethereal heart quaked...