We Weren't The First, After All

He looked like the devil in there.

Flames roared through the forest, flames hotter than anything he had ever felt before. Everything inside it burned. The wolves that were unfortunate enough to have been caught up in the flames found themselves shriveling and drying up into skeletons.

He took a step back as Damian turned his eyes to him. Damian took a step forward but then the giant wolf pounced on him.

RARRGH!!

The wolf roared as it flew through the fire and jumped down on Damian. Its teeth were metal-strong and its claws shone in the night as it prepared to take a slice at Damian.

Damian looked up at it before he dropped the wolves in his hands and rose his right hand. Black flames gathered on top of his hand and then a beam of fire tore through the forest. It slammed into the wolf, but the wolf managed to turn its body around at the last moment to only receive an injury to its side. It charged Damian again, but Damian ran up to it and grabbed it by the throat. He then shot into the sky, leaving a trail of black fire behind him as he flew higher.

The giant wolf tried to slash at him with its paw, but Damian twisted his head to the side to avoid it and then turned around with the wolf in his hand. They plummetted to the ground like a comet.

The wolf roared in pain as flames began to sprout from its back, tearing the skin there and making its fur fly away. Damian brought his other hand back, and once the wolf touched the ground, he punched down.

BBOOOOOMMMM!!!!

The man rose his hand up to block his face from the winds that blew across the entire clearing. He used his other hand to brace himself on the ground till it all died down, and then he looked up.

Damian was standing on top of the wolf, he was hunched over, and every time he breathed, smoke came out from his mouth. His black hair came down till it covered his eyes, but when he looked up the man could see that they were blood-red.

"Shit," the man said as he saw all the other wolves in the area running away. He tried to scramble backward, but an injury in his side suddenly pulsed and he grunted in pain. Damian came down from the wolf and began walking towards the man slowly. The black fire began to spread from his hands, climbing up till they were engulfing his entire body.

The man forced himself to scramble further back, trying to get as far away as possible from Damian. Damian stopped once he was right over him and rose his hand up. The black fire began to swirl and grow in intensity on the surface of his palm, and through the heat almost burning his skin, the man could see the sadistic smile that stretched out over Damian's face.

"Hey, hey now…."

Damian looked up in shock.

A hand slammed into his face and he flew into a tree on the other side of the clearing.

The man turned back sharply to see the newcomer.

"S-sensei?"

"Yo, Adrian. I see you're still dressing way older than your age, huh."

"Sensei… what?"

The newcomer smiled at Adrian as he walked out of the darkness. He wore black slacks and a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up. His hair was golden and tied into a ponytail and his eyes were a velvet red.

"I should be the one asking you that, Adrian. That bastard Arie only sent me out on an errand. But what the hell is going on here? I didn't expect you to be in the middle of dying"

"I-I.. " Adrian shook his head, "No, that isn't important now, Helios. That boy, he's -"

"Huh. I know," Helios said, "I would recognize that fire anywhere in the world"

Damian grunted as he freed himself from the tree and fell to the ground. He picked himself up and growled at Helios.

"Be careful, sensei"

Helios laughed, "Oh, you don't need to worry about me. If something like this kills me then I don't deserve to be your sensei…"

Damian began to run towards the two of them and Helios started walking forward steadily.

"And besides. I think I need to show this upstart devil just what it means to be a Karma user," Helios rose his right hand and waved at Adrain as he left him behind.

Damian got within striking distance and swiped at him, only for him to hit nothing but air. Helios had disappeared. A hand touched Damian's shoulder from behind and Helios leaned in to whisper to his ear.

"Yellow Sun"

PHWOOMMM!

BOOMMM!

A tornado of fire blew out from where Helios' held onto Damian's shoulder. It rolled into the air and covered a hundred meters of the forest on all sides. Inside the tornado, Damian screamed in agony. He put his hands on his head as he fell on his side and curled into a ball.

Helios watched him impassively, wondering how long he would last. He tilted his head to one side as he saw the black flames trying to come out from Damian's hands again. He smiled, "Not bad for a little devil,"

He rose his index finger up and a small yellow ball gathered at the tip. The ball began to grow darker and denser till it was orange in color. Then he pointed it towards Damian.

"Explosion"

The forest imploded.

BOOOOMMM!!!!

Helios managed to contain the explosion and made it go only upwards through the tornado of fire. But the fires could still be seen for miles on all sides.

Once it died down, Damian had gone back to his normal state. His clothes were singed and torn, but his body was now completely healed. Helios frowned as he saw this.

"It seems we weren't the first to get to you, after all," he said while looking into the sky.

-----

On a skyscraper ten miles away, Madam Saya stood with her hands clenched at her side. "It seemed it was a loss after all"

"What are we going to do now, Zina?" a boy said from behind Madam Saya. He had black hair and black eyes, and wore a black suit, "Your father wanted him. Dead or alive"

Madam Saya squeezed her hands into fists, "Don't talk about what my father wants in front of me, Vasilis" she snarled

Vasilis bowed and stepped back, "My apologies"

Madam Saya sighed and turned back to the forest in the distance, "His presence was an… unexpected one. You don't just move carelessly when the strongest Karma user is around, you know"

She sighed and snapped her finger. Madam Saya suddenly coughed and began falling forward. From behind her, a mist escaped and began to form a body from the feet upwards. First a pair of dress shoes, then the suit pants, and finally the rest of the body.

Zina arranged his tie properly once he was done forming and then he watched the body of Madam Saya fall off the building. He put his hands in his pocket and began walking away, "I think it's about time we moved our plans ahead," he said, "No more hiding".

-----

Damian squeezed his hands together. Something was holding them tight and he couldn't move them. He shifted around and noticed his feet hurt. They were also bound together and he couldn't move them either

'Where the hell am I?' he thought, 'I'm sitting down, but I feel heavy. Like I'm being held down by something'

Damian groaned and finally tried to open his eyes. Darkness. There was no light to be seen around him.

'Oh, wait. I'm blindfolded' Damian thought, 'Why am I blindfolded?'

"I think he's awake now," a voice said from in front of him before a hand grabbed his blindfold and took it off his head. Damian blinked rapidly to get the grogginess out of his eyes. He then squinted to try getting a proper look in front of him.

"The glasses, Deacon"

A hand held his head in place and Damian felt a new pair of glasses being slid on for him. He blinked some more and finally got to see where he was. It was a dark room with only one source of light over his head. He knew there was more than one person in the room, but he could only see the feet of one man standing in front of him. He looked up.

"Hello," the man said

Damian blinked in surprise, "Uhm… hello. Where am I?"

"Well to put it simply, you're a prisoner"

"A prisoner?"

"Yes, a prisoner. What is the last thing you remember?"

Damian hung his head low and squeezed his face, trying to recall the last events that happened with him, "I-I was in a forest. Yes, I was in a forest. We were doing a test of courage and I had gone in with.. Hugo… But then … then…"

Damian looked up with wide eyes, "W-What happened to Hugo?"

"Who?"

"Hugo!" Damian suddenly shouted, "He was my partner in the test of courage! Jang killed him, didn't he!? He killed him, right!!?" Damian struggled against the bonds on his hands and feet, "You can't let him get away with this! He's a bastard! He killed him!!"

The man in front of him made no effort to move. He simply stood there and waited until Damian realized he wasn't going anywhere.

"Why won't you say anything!?" Damian shouted, "Say something, dammit!!"

"I don't care about that."

"!"

"I think you should be more worried about your current situation," the man bent into the light and Damian finally saw his features. He was a man with a dull face. He had brown hair and eyes that were nothing extraordinary and he looked like someone you could simply pass on the street and forget about in the next moment, but the glare in his eyes was enough to give Damian pause, "Because you're going to tell me exactly who you are, and how you achieved Daemonic Resonance"