When Damien came to again, he felt like he was lying on a soft and comfortable bed, but he couldn't enjoy it because his head was being ravaged by a throbbing pain. It was intense and incessant, as though someone had stuffed nails inside his brain. His mind felt fogged up by pain and confusion.
For the first time, he felt like focusing and thinking clearly was out of the option.
The mental clarity and sharp awareness he had always relied on were completely gone. He had never been in such a pathetic and helpless position before. If he was attacked in this situation, he wouldn't be able to defend himself properly.
In his panic and stupor, Damien tried to sit up, but the feedback he received in response was less than ideal. His entire body felt heavy like lead, and it wasn't moving as he wanted it to too.
Looks like I won't be able to defend myself at all. Anyone can kill me right now.
Why am I in such a state?
The only thing I did is activate the Gate to escape to the Primordial Lands, so why does it feel like I've been badly beaten by a group of thugs?
He cried to himself in his heart.
Then, he cried for real.
Ugh!
Why is the pain in my head getting worse?
The panic in his heart was immediately visited by a new neighbour who introduced itself as worry as the throbbing pain in his head began to intensify. It became worse and worse with each passing second and quickly reached a point where Damien, who was trapped in the company of pain and worry, felt like he was a goner.
What's next? Is my head going to explode?
Haha... who am I kidding?
Like hell that can happen.
Then, his head really exploded. It exploded with all sorts of unfamiliar memories. Damien realized he had spoken too soon and jinxed himself.
Damn it!
He cursed in his mind.
That was the only thing he could do before he felt overwhelmed by the torrent of memories bombarding his consciousness with such ferocity it felt as though they were lightning strikes from Zeus.
All he could do now was wait for the worst to pass.
'I see.'
Many things started to make sense as he absorbed the memories flowing into him.
He hadn't teleported to the Primordial Lands. Only his consciousness, or soul, as some people liked to call it, had been moved there and placed into the body of a prince from a small kingdom.
The prince was born into a competitive and fierce environment where killing others to get ahead wasn't uncommon, but his mother, who was known as the most beautiful woman of Winterland, was favoured heavily by the king, so the prince grew up heavily sheltered.
However, good times doesn't last.
His mother was murdered when he was nine.
The very next year, his potential was revealed to be only six.
People in this world could grow strong enough to move mountains, split seas, and reshape all kind of terrains, but their potential determined how far they could go.
A person with a low potential was destined for normalcy.
Whenever someone with low potential was born into the royal family, they were stripped of their title and reduced to commoner status so they wouldn't have the opportunity to disgrace the royal family name.
The people here believed that weakness bred twisted natures. A weakling given power would inevitably bring suffering to the innocent.
For lacking potential, the prince was expected to be demoted.
However, his father, the king, intervened.
Going against the wishes of his council, he changed the rules that had stood since the founding of the kingdom for his son.
He made it so that as long as the prince did not commit a crime, he would retain his royal status and enjoy all the privileges that came with it.
The prince had been living cautiously since then. He didn't want to lose his royal status. But not long ago, he made a huge blunder. And now he was at the risk of losing everything unless he sacrificed his personal belongings and a person who he both loved.
A few days ago, the prince's girlfriend had broken up with him to get together with his half-brother, Cain. Cain was destined for greatness. His potential was over 30, meaning he could become a Magic Knight.
In a small place like the Winterland, Magic Knights were revered like gods because they could go head to head with Daemons. Daemons were humanity's greatest enemies. Someone like Cain, who could grow strong enough to fight Daemons, would naturally become a legendary figure in this place in the future. Having one's name attached to such a person was a matter of great honor.
So when he showed interest in the prince's girlfriend, she didn't hesitate to throw herself at him.
The prince felt broken and devastated by her betrayal.
When his friends found out about it, they took him out to play in order to cheer him up and got him so drunk he couldn't tell left from right.
After that, everything was a blur.
The next day, the prince woke up to find himself in bed with a naked, crying woman who had chestnut brown hair and a voluptuous body.
The prince recognized her at first glance. She worked in his usual go to place. It was the same travern where he had been drinking with his friends the previous night.
As he stared at her, he recognized she was in a terrible shape.
Suspicious marks covered her body, faint bruises and red patches that looked like they had been left behind by a night of strenuous activity. She sobbed uncontrollably, as though she had been abused badly.
Before the prince could even begin to process what was happening, the friends he had been drinking with before he blanked out broke into the room where he had just woken up to find himself in the presence of a beautiful travern worker.
The prince, who had no choice but to keep a low profile due to circumstances beyond his control if he wanted to maintain his royal status, only had two good friends he could spend time with without reservations.
One was Annita, a respected general's daughter. She was a cute woman with blue eyes and long flowing blonde hair. The other was Marshall. He was a rising court official and also the youngest and most talented son of the kingdom's Left Minister.
The prince had never felt uncomfortable in their presence, but when he saw them looking at him with disgust, he was shaken to the core.
Marshall and Annita had been drawn in by the cries, and what they saw left them feeling disgusted with the prince. They immediately assumed the worst and accused him of raping the tavern worker.
Their accusation terrified him. If it was proven true that he had raped someone, he was done for. In the worst case scenario, which had a very high probability of coming true, he stood to lose everything, even his dignity and honor.
He tried to explain that he had no memories of what happened after he got drunk, but they coldly scoffed and told him to save his excuses for when he was put on trial to be judged for his crime.
The prince could not allow them to report what they had seen to the authorities. He had no political allies to shield him. His father had already done enough by changing the rules for him. He won't help him more than that, and his maternal family had distanced themselves from him the moment his potential was revealed. Since he could not help them secure influence or advance their claim toward the throne, they had stopped caring about him entirely.
Furthermore, too many people wanted to prove his father wrong. They were waiting for any opportunity to drag the prince down so the king would never again think of changing the kingdom's rules without the explicit agreement of his council. This incident was exactly the kind of leverage they had been waiting for.
In a trial where it would be his word against the victim's, with two core witnesses backing her claims, he was bound to suffer a crushing defeat that would result him in losing his royal status before being tried as a commoner for raping a woman, which would land him in prison.
The prince had inherited his mother's beauty. If he were sent to prison, it would be like throwing fresh meat before a pack of hungry wolves. Even if he somehow made it out of that place alive, he would be too broken to continue living.
Desperate, the prince begged his friends and the tavern worker for mercy. He admitted that he had made a mistake while drunk and pleaded for a second chance.
After a lengthy discussion, they agreed to spare him, but only if he paid a price. Each of them wanted something in return for their silence.
The tavern worker demanded compensation in the form of five thousand gold crowns.
Annita's demand was for emancipation. She demanded that the prince provide her and her low born lover with a private wing in his palace by making up some excuse and that he fund their lifestyle and future indefinitely, shielding them from her family's interference and societal scorn.
Marshall made the heaviest demand of all. He asked for Victoria, the prince's personal maid, to be handed over to him.
With no other choice and his future hanging by a thread, the prince reluctantly agreed to fulfill all of their demands in order to bury the matter forever.
After that intense ordeal, the prince fell into a state of deep depression. He returned home and turned to alcohol for comfort.
Annita and her boyfriend had already moved in to live with him, and he only had a day's worth of time left to honor his agreements with Lily, the tavern worker, and Marshall.
Tomorrow, he would've to part ways with Victoria and a great sum of money in order to survive.
In Winterland, the allowance of a prince with no role or authority was determined by his potential. The prince held no position in court, his potential was low, and he was powerless. His allowance was only enough to cover his basic expenses, including his servants' wages and the maintenance of his residence. If he wanted to honor his agreement with Lily, he would have no choice but to sell off his few precious belongings.
Furthermore, Victoria was a slave he had inherited from his mother. On her deathbed, his mother had made him promise to look after her, after telling him that she loved him.
He had already failed to make his father proud, and now, just to survive, he would have to fail his mother as well.
Thinking of this, the prince sank deeper into a spiral of despair, never to return from it.
After that… after that, there was nothing.
The fragmented memories Damien received, amidst the bombardment of thunderous pain, ended there.