1- Change of destiny

Uranus Kingdom, city of Joy.

"Thief! Take that thief down!"

A loud roar can be heard. Then, the sounds of people running over a wooden floor echoed.

Soon the people passing by, turned towards the source of the noise and were faced with the scene of a innkeeper running after a hooded child.

Although he was hooded, through the torn cracks in the brown cloth, it was possible to observe the thinness and possible malnutrition of the child, who ran with a pig's thigh in his mouth and held bread in his hands.

As the child tried to escape towards the city gate, a hand emerged from the floor and grabbed his left leg, causing him to stumble. On the floor the child found himself in despair.

An irritating laugh came from the opposite direction of the city gate.

"Haha ha!"

"Boy, did you really think you could get away?"

Lifting his head, the boy looked at the image of a paunchy middle-aged man, surrounded by guards and beside him the image of a woman dressed in a white cloak, which on the bottom had the symbol of Urs' magician tower.

With a splash of courage in the midst of despair, the boy stood up and answered the middle-aged man.

"I had no other option, if I didn't steal or I would end up starving"

Seeing the look of despair and the boy's daring to respond informally and without prostrating himself before the figure of a nobleman. The middle-aged man was enraged, never before had he felt so humiliated and even more so by a mere commoner and soon ordered.

"Sophia, punish that little worm, burn your hands, so he never steals again."

"Yes, my Sir"

The plebeians who were present there, saw part of the crowd divided, only felt sorry for the young boy, and his fate was decided at the moment when he dared to disrespect a nobleman and the other part of the crowd was euphoric with the misfortune of the boy.

The magician's apprentice soon stretched out her arms and began to cast a spell, while she was casting the spell, the flame-type energies gathered in front of her arm, and soon she screamed.

"Fire ball"

A ball of flame about 4 meters in diameter, gathered in front of his arm and flew towards his target.

With the spell coming his way, the boy in despair raised his hands in a futile attempt to protect his face. However, it was too late, the spell cast was too fast for the boy to protect himself. An overwhelming and unbearable pain arose in his mind, while his body burned he screamed hysterically, but despite his cries for help, not a single soul there came forward to help him.

As his body was burned by the spell, the boy realized that this would be the end of him, he felt his vitality draining from his body and soon a feeling of acceptance arose in his mind. He was tired of living in such a cruel and unfair world, from the moment of his birth he could not live even a day when he was happy.

Because of the constant and unimaginable pain, the boy passed out and fell to the floor unconscious. Seeing this happen to the boy the middle aged man smiled and turned to the crowd and said.

"This is the result, which awaits all commoners who are disrespectful, with the owners of the noble lineages, recognize the greatness of the lineages or die like the worms you are."

After saying what the middle-aged man wanted, he left and his entourage soon followed him, always close to him and protecting him from any danger, if necessary they would use their lives to protect his, without thinking twice.

Unknown to everyone present, a person hooded around a very strong negative energy, watched the boy lying and still on fire. As soon as the middle-aged man left, he intervened and put out the flames on the boy's body.

"Good stuff," he thought as he held the boy in his arms and disappeared.

In his supposed unconsciousness, the boy found himself in a totally dark place and in its center a small green flame shone, exuding vitality and a comforting sensation, never before felt by the boy. Watching the flame he realized that it was fading with time, when he noticed it he ran towards it, without even thinking about why he was running towards a flame never before seen by him.

Despite being able to see the flame, he still ran for a long time and when he finally reached the center of the flame the boy realized that there was an image of an extremely beautiful woman.

"What are you?" he thought

In his mind the answer came. "I am your only salvation".

Hearing the answer in his mind, the boy was incredulous for only a few seconds and soon accepted the fact, although he is not one of the greatest geniuses, he manages to notice that something is wrong in his current situation.

"Is that what you get for saving me?" He asked curiously.

A smile appeared on the beautiful woman's face and soon she answered.

"All"

Without understanding what she meant by this "everything", but seeing himself as hopeless, he hesitantly decided to ask.

"And how would that work?"

A malicious smile formed on the beautiful woman's face, who pondered for a few seconds and then answered.

"You will make sacrifices through me, as you currently have nothing to sacrifice, I will accept thirty years of your life expectancy, in exchange your mortal body will be healed."

"And why should I accept this and continue to live miserably for who knows how many more years?" A little outraged by his situation, he asked.

Upon hearing the boy's question the woman was a little nervous and said.

"Don't make a fool of yourself, if you had really given up your mortal life, you wouldn't have run so desperately here, the green flame in your subconscious represented your hope for a future, deep down you still want to live".

With the woman's observation the boy entered a self contemplation, and the result of it was that he realized that what the woman said is the purest truth, he still wants to live, he wants to take revenge and mainly he wants to change his life. Now a little confident he said.

"What you said may actually be the truth, but before I accept it, I would like to ask you two questions, the first of which is about your name and the second what are you?

Now a little satisfied with the boy's surprising change in attitude, she replies.

"Normandy, the recipient of the sacrifices offered to the eternal void."

Listening to her, more questions arose in his mind, he soon sat down and wondered, what would she gain by saving her life, what would be the emptiness and why would the emptiness want people to make sacrifices for him.

Normandy watched the boy sit up and got irritated, how dare a brat be loosened to the point of sitting in front of him and the worst thing was that he completely ignored his existence, the once peaceful green flames started to burn the boy's soul

The boy who was previously distracted by his own questions, felt an even greater pain than the carnal pain, raising his head he noticed the change in the attitude of the receiver and quickly said.

"I accept, the sacrifice."

Now a little more patient, after the boy showed determination to accept the deal, she said.

"Before you accept it, you must have a name so that it is possible to make offerings to the void, using it to channel the energies that weave the agreement."

With her saying that, a feeling of sadness and desolation arose in the boy who, despite his childlike appearance caused by malnutrition, is already 16 years old and has never been named before. Having grown up in a kind of orphanage, which is maintained by the city lord, the people who worked in the orphanage did not even bother to name an orphan.

Seeing the desolation in the boy Normandy's appearance allows himself to be moved and says.

"How about I give you a name worthy of a champion?

Hearing the woman, a smile appeared on the boy's face and for a moment he hesitated, but then he nodded.

Seeing the boy's agreement, Normandy gives him a satisfied look, raises her hands towards him and says in a loud and clear tone.

"I now name you Darius", after placing her hand on the boy's forehead she continued.

"Now that you have a name it is possible to make offerings to the void, if you still want to do it, repeat my words."

"I Darius, of my own free will, create an eternal bond with emptiness and make an offering. I offer the emptiness thirty years of my vital energy, in exchange I ask that my mortal body be healed."

Darius soon repeated the words of Normandy, when the repetition ended a pain arose in his soul and a green liquid came out of his soul and flew towards Normandy.

With Darius's vital energy in his hand, Normandy smiles and says.

"Congratulations on making your first sacrifice to the void, I hope that in the future we will see each other again, I will leave a mark connected to that space, in your soul and whenever you have something, in your possession that it is possible to sacrifice the mark will let you know . "

Waking up from his supposed unconsciousness, Darius found himself trapped, in a kind of black liquid, his body was bathed in this liquid up to his neck, realizing the bizarre situation he was in, he tried to move his body out of the liquid, but something trapped him in that liquid.

"Where the hell am I?", He already discouraged thought as he looked at the macabre place he was in.

While complaining Darius realized that his body had healed, his skin, which was previously rough due to being always exposed to the weather, became whiter and somewhat smooth. If he could see his reflection he would notice that his eyes had changed color, from brown to greenish blue, and his hair, which had previously been dark brown, turned to navy green.

Taking a closer look at the place he found himself in a closed square shaped room, on each side of the room he had four candles and on the walls illustrations of skulls and symbols never seen before by him, but what really scared him was the color of the candles, a light blue and whenever he stared, he felt a shiver down his spine.

As he looked for a way out of his current situation he heard the sound of footsteps, and by the steady increase in the sound emitted by the footsteps, he could conclude that the person was coming towards him.

Being unable to move and protect himself a deep fear began to arise in his heart, despite having gone through a supposedly worse situation than the current one, at least in the previous one he was quick to give him time to react.

Then he heard the sound of locks being opened, at that moment he was completely overcome with fear, not knowing what to do, he looked towards the sounds and was faced with a terribly disturbing image.

A humanoid image of a body, wearing a beautiful black suit and holding a long cane, which at its end had a light green crystal, looking at his face Darius received a big surprise the being's head was on fire, if it weren't for that "detail" he would think he was just another nobleman judging him.

The so-called nobleman turned to his precious material and noticed the changes taking place while he was busy with other experiments, and then exclaimed.

"Interesting"