The demon of the cauldron

As Damian lay dead in the cauldron of oil, his soul replayed the scenes that pushed him to apply for this academy.

As the soul of Damian slowly fizzled into nothingness, preparing to be absorbed into the earth, Damian began to wonder.

"Why do I want to be here?"

"I don't have any friends. I don't have a reason to even live."

"Why?"

Then, Damian saw it.

A locket.

It floated in front of him and spun slowly.

Then he heard a voice.

"Find her! Find your sister!"

The voice was feminine. Clearly, the voice belonged to a mature woman, however, the voice was masked in worry.

"Who...? Mother..?"

Damian's voice was weak. His soul was fading.

"I know you can do it! I love you and I'm sorry about what happened but right now, your sister is in danger! I can keep them off her trail but I don't know for how long! Please, fight!"

Damian's soul stopped vanishing. In fact, it grew brighter!

In Damian's body, a small read ball slowly grew.

It grew until it was the size of a tennis ball, then it began to dissolve into Damian's bloodstream, reaching every part of his body.

In the cauldron, Damian's eyes snapped open.

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Matilda was the head cook in the 5th continent's academy.

She prided herself on her ability to get up at 5 a.m. sharp and prepare the kitchen before the students even get out of bed.

When she arrived at the kitchen, she noticed that the kitchen was unlocked.

Naturally, Matilda assumed that the kitchen hand had just forgotten to lock the door.

However, as she entered the kitchen, she caught sight of the school cauldron in the corner.

The cauldron was alight with flames which seemed to be on the verge of dying out.

Unnerved, Matilda cautiously inched towards the flaming cauldron.

Then it happened.

A charred, black hand reached out from inside the cauldron.

It slowly pulled itself up.

Matilda backed up in horror as she caught sight of a face that seemed to be falling off. The face was charred black, the skin seemed as if it was a loose bag covering his real face and he stunk of burnt flesh.

Matilda backed up towards the exit, ready to do anything just to get away from this abomination.

Then, it spoke.

"Ma..til...da... come...here..."

That was the last straw.

Matilda screamed and ran out of the kitchen.

"DEMON! DEMON! SOMEBODY SAVE ME FROM THE DEMON OF THE CAULDRON!"

She ran and ran and ran.

Her screams waking the students and professors of the academy.

The more bold students followed the professors towards the kitchen, hoping to see a demon in real life!

However...

"Under the authority of the royal family, I order you to... what the f*ck"

As the headmaster busted into the kitchen with his pajamas still on, what he and all the students saw was a charred Damian that stood in the middle of the room, staring at his hands.

He slowly turned his head and saw the horrified faces of the students and professors.

"Didn't I die?" was all that Damian said before his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out. Again.

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Damian woke up in his own personal bed in the hospital ward.

The nurse stood over him with an expression that could only be described as how the devil would look at god.

"Good. Morning. Damian." The words that managed to pass through her tightly sealed lips reeked of blood lust.

"EEEEEK!"

Damian screamed like a little girl.

A few hours later, Damian regained consciousness and the first thing he noticed was that his body no longer looked like a burnt steak.

Damian also felt a throbbing on his head from where the nurse had hit him.

"Finally awake are you?"

Damian turned in his bed to see the nurse in a chair by the window.

She was reading a small black book with no noticeable title on the cover.

Upon noticing Damian's return from dream land, she gently closed the book and threw it into the air next to her. But before the book could even start to fall down, the space seemed to distort as a tear in the fabric in reality opened and a hand reached out to grab the book before yanking it into the tear before the tear fixed itself to the point where it was as good as new.

Damian rubbed his eyes, convinced that what he saw was just a dream. After all, even though this is the the most prestigious academy in the Rostein Kingdom, the teachers only had a cultivation base up to Qi Gathering level 12.

This was nowhere near enough power to open a tear in the fabric of reality!

The nurse smiled as she seemed to understand the thoughts going through Damian's mind.

"I'm not that strong y'know. I'm just using a pocket dimension." The nurse slowly explained.

"She's lying."

Roy's voice almost managed to startle Damian, however, Damian was waiting for Roy to show up anyway.

"Pocket dimensions are basically empty vacuums of space that exist on a separate plane of existence.

Whatever she used, it clearly can sustain life."

Damian nodded but kept his mouth closed. He knew that he wasn't strong enough to ask about these secrets. yet.

"Anyway kid" The nurse began, interrupting Damian's train of thought, "What the hell happened last night?"

Her voice was calm, as if the events of last night was of no significance.

"Wow! You calmed down pretty fast." Damian said without thinking.

The nurse continued speaking as if she hadn't heard him.

"12 hours ago, you were found in the kitchen with your skin hanging loosely off your bones. However, during the rush here, not only did your skin reattach itself back onto yourself, your skin even reverted back to it's original state. If you wanted to commit suicide, you failed spectacularly."

"So why'd you do it?"

The nurse gazed at Damian's now deep red face and asked.

"Umm...I was cold...?"

The nurse snorted.

"Kid, if you don't wanna say, that's fine. Just try not to land yourself back in the infirmary any more. I won't be here to patch you up."

Damian was shocked.

"Wait! What! Why!"

"Because I'm old kid... And some responsibilities are too big to run from..."

The nurse looked out the window with a wistful expression.

Damian scrambled out of bed, surprised at the energy he had and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for always taking care of me nurse! I'll never forget you!"

Damian knew it was silly but he thought of the nurse as a close friend, even though he didn't know her name. As far as he knew, only the headmaster knew the name of the nurse.

The nurse was shocked. She placed her hands over her mouth before turning away.

"Thanks kid... It's been a long time since anybody's given me the time of day like that..."

The nurse then slowly walked out of the room. As she turned to close the door, she caught sight of Damian still bowing deeply... And a single tear drop hitting the floor.