"How did I get here?" I asked the man.

The old man smiled at me, and said, "Oh, that? I found you right before the entrance of this temple, soaked in blood, but surprisingly, there were no wounds on you, and your magic was leaking uncontrollably from you."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the words 'soaked in blood', but what I found more shocking was what the old man said about magic leaking uncontrollably from my body.

I was slowly getting convinced that what I experienced was actually real, and not a dream at all, but I still chose to act ignorant, and asked, "What powers? I don't possess any magical power."

The man chuckled briefly, and said, "Yes, you do, boy. A very dark energy lives inside of you. It is currently sealed by a powerful spell at the moment. The spell is more active when the victim is unconscious, so if my calculations are correct, your powers should break free right about… Now!"

Almost Immediately the man was done talking, I felt a force from within me. It was as if something inside me had suddenly been set free, and then black whisp of smoke started escaping from my body.

That was when it fully dawned on me that what I thought, and wished was just a dream, had actually happened. But then, how was it that I was still alive? There wasn't even a scar on my chest where I had been stabbed.

Seeing the puzzled look on my face, the old man asked, "What is the last thing you remember?"

"I died!" I said, more to myself, than to the man. "I got captured, and was stabbed straight into my heart, and it turned out that they were actually right about me. I am… a monster."

In that instant, I felt a more powerful dark energy being released from my inner core with a great force, liking to a blast. The force was even enough to topple over the large book shelves, littering the room with books.

The old man would have been affected if he hadn't created a magical barrier to shield himself from the sudden outburst from me.

After a short while, the effect of the released energy subsided a bit, but a great amount of power was still seeping from my body. My once brown eyes had totally gone black, and I couldn't see a thing that was going on around me anymore. It was like I wasn't in charge of my body.

At a point, I could sense someone moving closer to me. It turned out to be the old man, and I heard him say something like, "Such a great, and dark power in such a weak, and frail body. This world is truly doomed."

A sweet aroma then suddenly fill the air, resulting in a grumbling sound coming from my stomach, and my eyes returned back to normal in an instant.

"What smells so good?" I asked with my eyes wide as saucers, eying the bowl in the man's hand. I internally prayed that it was indeed food that was in the bowl.

"I thought you might be hungry once you woke up, so…"

I swiftly snatched the bowl from the man's hand, stopping him from finishing up what he intended to say.

In what felt like seconds, I had downed everything in the bowl, and even let out a satisfactory belch when I was done.

The old man could only look at me in amusement. "I can't believe all it took was the scent of the food for you to be able to get a grip on yourself, even with how overwhelming your magic is."

Hearing him refer to the cursed powers as my magic aroused an anger in me. "This power doesn't belong to me. I refuse to accept the fate that comes with this cursed magic." I spat out in disgust.

"The earlier you stop being in denial, and accept your reality which is staring you right in the face, the better for you, and everyone." The old man advised me.

"How is it better for me, talk more of everyone else? I am a cursed being who is destined to bring the world to an end, and you are telling to accept that?" I got angrier as I spoke, and the cursed power started leaking from my body once again, making the room feel so suffocating.

There was definitely something wrong. I had never felt anger to such a great extent before. Was the anger I was feeling as a result of this dark powers? 

I also started hearing dark, and sinister voices in my head, whispering a million things to me all at the same time.

Things like, destroy everything in sight.

Make everyone scream in fear and dread of how mighty you are.

Burn down everyone and everything to smithereens, until there is nothing left.

Cause havoc and chaos…

POW! I got slapped hard across the face by the old man. I was slapped so hard that it felt like I had temporary gone deaf. Then I heard the man say something like, "I thought we could actually rest today, and start your training tomorrow, but it seems tomorrow might just be a teeny bit too late. You might go completely berserk before tomorrow, so get up, your training starts now." and then, he pulled me by the hand, and dragged me all the way out of the room.

I only realized I had been brought outside when I felt the slightly burning heat from the sun. Looking around, I recognized I was at a temple. Which temple? I didn't know.

The old man sat on the bare ground and crossed his legs, before he then looked at me. "The first thing you will be learning today is how to be in charge of your magic, and not be a puppet under the control of your magic." The old man looked all serious as he spoke. "Meditate with me."

"Huh?" I said. A lot had happened since I awoke, and It just felt a little bit too much at the moment.

A sinister smile suddenly graced the man's face. "Do as I tell you, or someone might get slapped again." He indirectly threatened me.

I felt chills in my spine from the way the man spoke. My face was still sore from the previous slap, I couldn't risk being slapped again, so I just did as the man said.

After I did as told, the man then instructed me on what to do next. "Close your eyes, and relax your mind. Then take in a slow, and deep breath. Don't do it without any regard, you must do it while focusing on the feeling of the air filling up your lungs. Do it with a feeling of gratitude, for you are nothing without the air that you breath. Then breath out, and repeat the process again, and again until I tell you to stop."

I stubbornly hesitated, but I still did it anyway. Surprisingly, the exercise turned out to be so soothing, and calming. I felt at peace, forgetting about everything else. I just kept repeating the exercise over, and over again, until the man eventually stopped me.

"You may open your eyes now." He said, and I obeyed. "How was it?"

I smiled for the first time since I awoke, and answered. "It felt great. I felt at peace with myself, and nature."

"I am glad about that. The key to keeping your power in control is for you to remain calm at all times. Can I trust you to be calm in whatever situation you are likely to find yourself in the future, and not give in to anger?"

Hearing the question made me gulp in nervousness. Back then, when I didn't have this stupid power, I could have easily said yes, but with this cursed power running through my veins, I wasn't sure I could stay calm every time. Nevertheless, I still said, "I'll try."

The man nodded in approval, "That's a manageable response. I think with that, we can come to an end to today's training. Tomorrow we can start training you to control your powers, and see what you've got." He didn't even wait for a response from me, he just stood up, and turned around to leave.

But I couldn't just let him leave like that. I still had something I really needed to ask him, so I called out to him, "Wait!"

He paused in his tracks and turned around to look at me. "What is it?" He asked, sounding a bit frustrated.

"I have something I want to ask you." I said, and to my surprise, the man smiled at me.

"Oh, I know what you want to ask. I am elder Kendrick, but you can just call me master." He said in a prideful tone.

I had to force myself to not laugh at the way he had introduced himself. He must have thought I wanted to ask who he was, which was only normal, but that wasn't what I wanted to ask. "That isn't what I wanted to ask." I said.

He frowned at me, and looked like he had a lot to say to me, but he decided to just ask me what it was that I wanted to know.

I hesitated a bit, before I finally asked him the pressing question I had in mind. "I told you that I got stabbed, and even died. Why is it that you aren't surprised that I am alive? Is there something I should know?"