Part One
I spent the last two months trying to learn how to focus my essence into one specific body part. It took a couple of weeks before I finally had a breakthrough and started making progress.
Focusing essence into a single body part was a very versatile skill. It could be used as defense and an important skill for manifesters if I were to develop into one.
"Okay, one last time before I go to bed."
I closed my eyes and allowed my essence to flow throughout my body. Warmth filled my body as the essence rushed from to my fingertips and feet.
"Now the hard part."
I raised my index finger and focused on the feeling of the essence flowing inside of me. I cleared my mind and concentrated on the warmth of my finger. As I focused the warmth into my fingertip, I began feeling the tides of the essence within me start changing. Essence swirled within my body before finding comfort in my finger.
"I-I did it!"
My excitement at finally achieving one of the elementary essence skills was brought to an abrupt conclusion after I lost concentration.
"I'll have to continue tomorrow."
The next chapters focused on two skills which worked in tandem. The ability to release essence and conceal one's essence. Releasing essence is a prerequisite to resonance activation. It allows for essence to be manipulated more easily. It can also be used as an intimidation tactic. Concealing essence is used to hide one's power. I needed to learn these abilities quickly before my father was to return.
"I only have one month to learn this before father returns. I do not want him knowing of my interest in essence until I've mastered the basics. He'll easily be able to sense my essence if I don't learn quickly."
I closed my eyes and felt the flow of essence throughout my entire body. Then, I envisioned nodes all across my body. I began picturing restricting these nodes, quieting the voice of my essence. I was able to quiet the voice slightly and only temporarily before losing concentration.
"I'll have to keep at it if I want to learn it quickly."
After two weeks, I was unable to conceal my essence entirely but was able to suppress it for an extended period of time. I still had two full weeks to nurture this skill. Well, at least I thought I had two weeks.
The front door burst open and mother rushed to it.
"Daniel? How are you back so soon?" she asked as she hugged him.
I heard the commotion from the library and began suppressing my essence.
"I cannot let him know. Not yet at least."
I began suppressing my essence before walking to the door, pretending to be confused.
"Father?"
"Clay!"
He picked me up and gave me a loving hug.
"We finished a dungeon in record time and we were already in the area so I decided to stop by."
Aurelia crawled towards father and he picked her up.
"How's my little Aurie?"
As I looked at father, I tried to sense his essence. I focused my essence into my eyes and began to gauge his power.
"Oh my Ishla, his power is immense! I wonder what his resonance is."
He shot a glance at me.
"Did he notice?"
Mother rushed to the table exclaiming, "Come, come, let's eat dinner!"
We sat around the table and began eating.
"Father, can you tell me some of your adventure stories?"
"Of course!"
He took one final bite of his steak and cleared his throat.
"Last month we were deployed to Ramada."
My mother gasped, dropping her fork onto the table. I could tell the feel of the entire room shift.
"The war began picking up again so the throne initiated a draft of essence users to send there. My group entered the draft as a unit and were selected. In Ramada, we saw humanity in its purest form. Death, blood, and destruction was all there was. There was one resonance which I will never forget. The man could—."
"Wahhh!" Aurelia wailed.
"That's enough! Can we please eat dinner as a family?"
We finished the rest of our dinner in silence and Aurelia and I were put to bed.
Part Two
Father stayed for two weeks with us before his group received another mission. In those two weeks, my training came to a temporary halt as I didn't want father to discover my secret.
Over the next two years, I spent the majority of my time inside the house practicing the basics. During that period, I managed to completely master the three basic skills of essence entirely.
The first year was spent completely mastering each skill. I learned to perform each skill utilizing the most efficient flow of essence. The second year was spent in school. Mother and father decided it was time I began attending school with regular children. That year was unbelievably stale. I was far too advanced for school and it became apparent a couple months into the school year. At the end of the year, Mother pulled me out of school after much deliberation. I was finally grown enough to go out into the town and have a change of scenery for my training.
"Mother, I'd like to go out to the town," I said whilst clutching the essence book.
"Of course you can just remember to get back home before dark."
I left the house and wandered around the town until I arrived at a grande tree on the outskirts. I placed the book on the ground and sat cross legged. I flipped open the book to the next chapter.
"Resonance."
The chapter introduced resonances in a more in-depth manner. It explained how resonances are abilities developed through a delicate exchange of sacrificing in order to gain power. An example would be a person requiring they stand still to perform an attack but in return the attack's power greatly increases. This give-and-take approach allows for the development of new abilities and the evolution of old ones.
"For immense power, what am I willing to sacrifice?"
I sat and meditated on what power I would desire and what I would sacrifice. I must have drifted off into a light sleep because by the time I opened my eyes the setting sun's rays rested on my face. I picked up the book and returned home.
"Tomorrow I'll continue."
The next day I returned to the tree with my book in hand. As I sat down cross legged, I heard a sudden shout from above.
"Ahhh!
From above fell a young girl. I managed to move out of the way with my book and stood over her to check her condition.
"Hello? What were you doing up there?"
She dusted herself off and sat up trying to fight off her tears. She glanced at me before turning away to hide her pain. From the books I read at home, I determined she had features only synonymous with elves. Her uniquely shaped ears and unnatural, short sea green hair were dead giveaways. Still I had so many questions as the books I had read said elves lived in the forest.
"I-I'm sorry. I love playing on this tree and when I saw you here yesterday I decided I had to come back today to see you again."
I extended my hand and helped her up and brushed off the dirt from her clothing.
"What's your name?" I asked.
""Eleanor Viridia, nice to meet ya!"
She extended her hand towards me.
"Clay Feyther, nice to meet you too!"
We shook hands and she shifted her gaze towards my book.
"So since I answered your question, how about ya answer some of mine? What are ya doing here and what's with that book?"
"I came here to study essence. I've been studying in my house this whole time so I figured now's the time to get outside and study. This book here is an essence basics book."
I realized after I stopped speaking that I hadn't been making eye contact with her. As I looked up to meet her gaze, I was met by a confused expression on her face.
"What's essence?"
I had forgotten that normal children weren't reading whole books at this age let alone learning about essence and how to use it. I sighed and contemplated explaining it but ultimately decided to tell her, "Just forget about it."
"No, I won't forget about it. I want ya to explain."
"You won't get it. I'll just find another spot to study."
I began walking away before she grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around. With a wildly passionate look in her eyes and a flustered face, she begged me to tell her about it. I truly would have continued to walk away but there was something with the way she looked at me. I decided to sit down by the tree and motion her over. I began explaining essence to her.
Hours went by as we talked and eventually it was time to return home.
"I'll see ya tomorrow!" She shouted.
"Goodbye!"
"Who told her we'd be doing this again tomorrow?"
I returned home for dinner and told Mother about my new friend.
"I didn't know elves lived here. I thought they only lived in the forest."
My mother's calm demeanor sharply shifted after my comment. She gave me a stern look and began to speak.
"You shouldn't say things like that. Those books you've been reading are outdated and hold disgusting stereotypes."
I apologized and we continued eating dinner.
"Who could've guessed this world has its own racial dynamics?"
I laid in my bed thinking about my day and Eleanor.
"I think I'll teach her essence if she's up to it."
Part Three
Over the course of months, Eleanor started to learn essence under my tutelage. As she began learning, I made two major observations about her: she appeared to already be able to detect essence despite not understanding it and she was a very fast learner. She learned to manifest essence into a specific point and release it. I would later come to learn that Elves had a natural predisposition to manipulating essence. Also with the passage of months came an unfamiliar figure in the sky. Some called it a star while others said it was a precursor to much worse things to come.
During those months, I grew my essence reserves and also learned a bit more about Eleanor. Eleanor was a refugee from the war in Ramada and her family came to Windmere as farmers. She was slightly older than me, being six years old.
"You really do learn quickly don't you?"
"I know and it's a bunch of fun. Thank ya!"
"If I don't get serious she might develop a resonance before me."
As we approached the tree, I turned Eleanor and told her the plan for the day.
"Today, you'll be meditating and growing your essence while I try to cultivate a resonance."
"Yes, Master Clay!"
We both sat cross-legged under the tree and began our missions.
After hours of concentration, I still hadn't made any progress. Rain began to fall and I started to lose focus. I stood up and said, "We should get going before the rain picks up. You should come to my house while we wait for the weather to clear."
She nodded her head and we made our way back home.
"Knock Knock."
Mother came and opened the door and to her surprise an unfamiliar face stood behind me.
"Hi, you're so cute! What's your name?" she asked as she bent down and waved.
"I-I'm Eleanor. I'm one of Clay's friends."
"Friend? Clay has a friend? As far as I knew his only friends were found in the library," she laughed.
"Well, make yourself at home," she said, opening the door and gesturing us inside.
We entered and I went to my room to change out of the wet clothes. My mother gave Eleanor a dress to change into. When we both returned to the kitchen, we were greeted by my mother's sweet soup.
"Thank you Mrs. Feyther, this soup was amazing!"
"You always make the best food!"
"I had to prepare only the best for my son's future wife!"
Both Eleanor and I began to blush and I shouted, "She's my friend!"
"Eleanor as my wife? I've never thought of her in that way. Regardless of my age in this life, I am still the old man from before. Maybe when we're both older but it'd be wrong to do anything anytime soon."
"Looks like the rain stopped," pointed out my mother.
"Well I guess I'll be heading home. Thank you for everything!"
We waved goodbye from the door as Eleanor walked home.
Part Four
Months passed and progress stalled in my essence training. Developing a resonance wasn't the easiest thing in the world and I've almost lost hope. It became the focus of my life. Everyday I dedicated hours to the cultivation of a resonance but yielded little results.
"I just can't get it!" I shouted.
I stood up and began walking away from the tree back home.
"Let's leave Eleanor."
As we approached my house, Eleanor became noticeably more nervous with each step.
"H-hey why don't we slow down? It's not like ya need to rush home."
"What are you talking about?" I turned to say.
We continued our walk back in silence.
"Oh! I forgot I needed to buy some things from the market. Would ya like to come with me?"
I could tell something was up with her but I decided to follow along. I nodded my head and we walked to the marketplace.
We walked, navigating the maze that was the market. Beautifully picked fruits and other goods rested in baskets on each side as people flooded the streets. We walked for a bit before Eleanor stopped.
"Here they are!"
She reached over and grabbed a couple of apples before paying for them.
"That'll be all, let's leave this at my house."
For the first time, I was going to Eleanor's house.
"I wonder what it's like," I thought as we approached her home.
"Can ya wait here?" she asked.
I waited outside as she entered her house and stayed there for a couple minutes before coming back out.
"Done! Let's go back to your house."
We finally started walking to my house and Eleanor seemed more calm this time. At the door, I knocked but was greeted with silence.
"Anyone home?"
After knocking again, We entered and began walking through. The lights were completely off and we walked towards the dining room.
"Surprise!"
Mother, father, and Aurelia all cheered in celebration.
"Happy Birthday!"
Through all this training, I had lost track of time. It was my sixth birthday. Emotions began flooding and I got teary-eyed. I've never had a family like this or a group of people that love me.
"Thank you so much everyone," I cried.
I ran towards my father and jumped into his arms.
"I thought you were busy on a mission."
"I had to come back home for your birthday. You know how important it is to celebrate every six years."
"I can't believe I forgot how different this world was. In this world, they only celebrate a birthday every six years."
On the table was a collection of mother's best dishes. We each sat at the table and began to eat.
"Mother, your cooking is the best!"
After eating, we all moved into the living room where I was presented with a gift from my parents.
"For your sixth birthday, we decided it was time to pass on the family heirloom."
Father walked up to me and bent down to my height and asked me to close my eyes.
While my eyes were shut, I felt a ring slide onto my finger.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now!"
I opened my eyes to see a silver ring with a green gemstone embedded inside.
"That ring on your finger has been passed down for generations in the Feyther family. It is now time for you as the future head of the family to have it. It has the property of giving the wearer glimpses into the future."
"Thank you father! I'll cherish this gift forever!"
After an hour or two the celebration winded down and Eleanor returned home and I fell asleep.
Part Five
It's been months since a new star appeared in the sky, or at least that's what people called it.
"You see that new star?"
"Everyone's been calling it a star but I think it's something different."
"That's ridiculous!"
Windmere seemed almost convinced that it was a star. For me, I didn't believe it one bit.
Every day that passed, the "star" grew larger and larger.
During one of our training sessions, Eleanor turned and asked me my opinion on the so-called star.
"So what do ya think is up with that thing in the sky?"
"It's definitely not a star. New stars don't just appear out of nowhere. It's something completely different and the fact that it grows daily only supports my theory."
"Do ya think it's dangerous?"
"…I can't say it isn't."
The more suspicious part of all of this came later that night. I had a vision of the future and the "star" was at the center of it.
"Run, everyone get away!"
"Ahh!"
"Don't let it get you!"
Children cried as women screamed. The "star" came crashing down into the land. It was massive in size and golden in color. It was the size of an entire mountain range and stretched across the surrounding mountains, over the many villages, and across the mountains on the other side of this valley. The most terrifying part of the vision was the "star". It was in fact not a star but a hand. A gigantic hand.
As days passed the hand grew in size.
"Hey, have you made any progress in developing a resonance?" asked Eleanor.
"…"
"It's okay, ya'll get it soon!"
"I truly do hope so."
Eleanor continued our training as normal. In this time, I finally decided on the theme of my resonance but was still yet to manifest it into any abilities.
After a long day of training, I decided to end my day by going to bed. As I slept the same visions of the hand flooded my mind.
"Wake up, now!"
It was mother. She looked panicky and uncomposed. For some reason, there was a certain look in her eyes. A look of desperation.
She grabbed me and Aurelia and began packing. As she packed I looked out of the window to see a dark night sky. The hand was approaching and quickly. After packing, we grabbed what we could carry and exited the house. Directly above Windmere was the golden hand. Outside we saw many people trying to escape including Eleanor.
"Come here Ellie! We need to leave!"
The hand was approaching rapidly and we all began to run.
"Oh we've been bad followers! This is the hand of Cael," shouted a townsman.
"Cael? Who the hell is Cael?"
The hand rushed towards the land at immense speed. Once it was apparent there was no escape, Mother collapsed.
"You need to go on! The two of you need to keep running. I can't make it but the two of you surely can!"
"Mother, I can't leave you and Aurie hear," I pleaded.
"Go now!"
I teared up as we said our goodbyes and Eleanor and I continued running while Mother shielded Aurie with her body.
The hand was now closing in and quickly.
As the hand touched buildings and trees, they completely disappeared.
People screamed as their town and all they'd known disappeared before them.
With the hand closing in, homes were erased and townsmen pleaded to be spared. With the hand inches from my face, a miracle occurred. Before the hand could reach me an awakening happened. My body started to sink into the ground and as I reached out to Eleanor she suffered the same fate. Looking down at my body, I realized I was sinking into my own shadow.