Trial for immortality

I always knew I was different.
Not because I could lift cars when I was a toddler.
Nor because if I sang, the fire my mom was using to cook danced and coiled around the pot.
Nor because it seemed that once I heard a language, I could speak it perfectly.
And nor because my memory was perfect.
It was because my goddamn father was always slightly levitating, and sparkling like a goddamn lamp.
And he never left using the door, but by simply disappearing.
What a poser.
I was still a mortal, albeit slightly buffed, but I learnt how to hide those traits well.
I lived with mostly my mom, as father had businesses in other places, but I was happy.
I went to school as a normal kid, and made friends.
Despite knowing that my thinking is a tad bit more mature, I had fun making friends.
At 16, I looked 16, but I knew it was around this time I stopped properly aging.
I started to worry a bit, even if mom and dad assured me everything will be fine.
Then, the inevitable happened, and a friend found out that I was half-immortal.
Nobody believed him, but it was annoying to see one of my closest friends turn on me.
I felt so betrayed.
I did nothing wrong, I simply saved a cat from a fire.
I love cats, what’s wrong with that?
And what’s wrong in being untouched by fire?
He should have been happy I wasn’t hurt.
No, he had to gasp, scream and run, and tell everyone that I was a monster.
I was prepared to be attacked by him, to prove his point of me being not-normal, but thankfully he never did.
But the wait, and possibility of such an event did affect me.
Seeing this, my goofball of a father took me with him.
We went to the top of Kilimanjaro, it was one of our favourite spots.
Dad always conjured heavy, threatening clouds, thus any climbing would be stopped, so that we had the peak for ourselves.
“So, how do you feel?”
Dad asked.
“Gee, I wonder, how do I feel?
24/7 at school waiting for my friend to take a knife and stab me in the eye, just for me to shrug it off, and he to start laughing “Haha! Told you all! He’s a monster!”.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You know, there are places where you would be normal, even below average at first.”
Dad said.
“The other realms? The places you visit?”
I asked.
He nodded.
“Yeah, sure, I am curious anyway.”
I said.
“You would need to completely immortalise for that, and shed your mortal shell.”
Dad said.
“How would I do that?”
I asked.
“There’s a trial for half-immortals like you.
Pass it and you become a fully-fledged immortal, but without cultivation.
Fail it, and you become a slightly healthier human, but you won’t have your current lifespan.”
He said.
I thought about it for a couple of minutes, then sighed.
“Let’s do it.”
I said.
My dad smiled, and he chanted something, and a portal appeared.
“Go in there.
As soon as you step in, the trial will start.
Good luck, son.”
He said.
I nodded, and walked ahead with confidence.
I always knew I was different, but wanted to be normal.
So if I can’t be a normal “human”, I will be a normal immortal.
And with that in mind, I stepped in, and a hellish trial started that tested my will, my patience, my intelligence, endurance and so much more…