It has been fourteen years since Damien started his journey as body practitioner. In the body arts his main focus was on the art of swordsmanship. When he joined the royal academy of body arts, he had no interest in any of the arts. Only thing that mattered to him was getting any attention from George. And he understood expectations people had from him, since he was adopted all the eyes were on him. Public wanted to know the talent of this adopted boy.
As doing wrong things are always tempting and easier than doing right things, Damien had also chosen doing the opposite of what was expected of him, in attempt to gain attention from his father. So, he started not attending any classes, interrupting his peers and doing all the mischievous things that his five-year-old brain could think of. Doing these things he definitely gained negative attention, but not from the man, he craved it from.
And one such afternoon, after getting bored from doing these pranks, he left the school premise and went to the jungle located in the north direction from the city. Jungle was considered dangerous for children. He kept on walking in the jungle without paying attention, lost in his thoughts. By the time he woke from his thoughts, he had no idea of the direction he came from.
In panic he had tried going here and there, and after some time he had reached near a river inside the jungle. Being thirsty and he drank the water and leaned against a tree for some rest. Soon he fell asleep and was woken by swift sounds. Fear evident in his face, his heart racing as he walked towards the sound.
Soon he reached where the sound was coming from and saw a beautiful woman practicing sword. The minute his eyes fell on her practicing with sword, he stood frozen in amazement. Her movements were flowing with an elegance that defied the brutality of the weapon she wielded. Each step she took was a seamless blend of grace and precision, more like a mesmerizing dance than the rough swordplay he had seen in the battle arena where swordsmen challenged each other. Her strikes were poetry in motion and left him amazed.
Till now all the swordplay he had seen had left him in bitter taste but for him, what she was doing right now was just pure art. "Perhaps this is why it is called art of sword" he murmured slowly. But it was audible enough for the woman to come out of her trance and stop her practice.
"who's there" she asked in calm but dangerous tone.
Damien came out from hiding "It's me, Damien." Damien had recognized her. She was his aunt Sonya, wife of Allistair.
She saw him, her face relaxed. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"
"I came here to escape from school, but got lost." Because everyone knew he was not attending any classes. Damien answered truthfully while feeling embarrassed.
She walked towards him and sat down and gestured him to sit down with her. "I know you are trying to get king's attention, but you are going about it wrongly."
"How am I doing it wrong?" he asked genuinely.
She looked at him. "You know the answer to that, don't you?"
He nodded "What would you do if you were in my place."
"I would practice the art and become so good at it, that nobody could ignore my existence."
He excitedly got up and stood in front of her. "I've decided. I want to practice sword, like you. Then I am sure even emperor wouldn't be able ignore me."
A chuckle left from her mouth. "aren't you rating me too high. My sword play is not that noteworthy."
"It is, to me it is the best swordplay in the world. When I watched you earlier, I knew, I wanted to be a swordsman and if I could draw my sword like you, nothing could hold me back from getting anything in this world."
Saying that he went down on his knees and pleaded. "Auntie, please teach me."
After contemplating for few seconds "alright. Get up, I'll teach you. But only if you promise to attend every class from now on,"
With happy smile on his lips, he got up and promised her. After that day he diligently went to every class and also practiced sword with Sonya. This is how he started practicing art of sword. And now he had 35 strands of essence after practicing for almost 14 years. Although he was behind people his age but Damien could feel he was content with it and was happy, ever since he started living with the army seven years back.
Arya had brought the food. And after he had finished eating it, she once again left the chamber, leaving Damien alone. After thinking and digging every information he could remember from his past life, there still was no answer about his rebirth in this body. Tired from all the thinking and pain in his stomach, he went to bed and fell asleep.
Suddenly he opened his eyes, there was darkness everywhere, he looked in every direction but could see nothing. After few minutes he heard a voice, although he could not hear it clearly, but it felt familiar to him. After few minutes he could see a faint light in one direction and started moving towards it. As he reached near to the source of light, he could see a shape of body sitting on a chair. Soon he reached close enough to see the face of a man sitting on the chair. After seeing his face, he realized why the voice earlier felt so familiar to him. "Old man."
"Nice to see you again, prince Damien." he said, a smile spreading across his face. In the past life Damien did not care about his smile at all, but right now, with all the questions in his mid, he found it so annoying that he wanted to punch his smiling face.
"Tell me, did you like my gift?"