He could hardly believe it. He had almost expected the whole experience to be a dream with how crazy it had all been. But the faerie hovering in front of him along with his spear in one hand and the crickets serrated leg in the other, spoke the truth of his rift experience.

  “Well done for collapsing your first rift.” Ilmarillion said, her iridescent wings shimmering as she spoke. “As promised, I will teach you to use your mana and essence. Once I have my obligations of hospitality to you will be fulfilled. I have other tasks I must complete, and spending three days in that rift has only increased the number that I must complete.”

  Ezekiel stiffened at her words “Three days?! What do you mean three days? We were in there for three hours tops.” he said.

  “Well yes, we were in the rift for less than three hours, but time flows differently with them. It is more subjective to the voids' influence. Honestly, you are lucky it was only three days. Weaker rifts often let time slip faster, while the stronger ones slow it down. The longest time I have spent in a rift was nine days, yet when the rift collapsed not even a full day had passed.” she said proudly.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner then?” he snapped. “I would have tried to collapse the rift sooner if I had known I was going to lose days.” he said, frustrated with the faerie.

  “Well, why do you think I kept on hurrying you along. You were the one dragging your feet the whole time.” she responded

  “I am still wrapping my head around the idea of magic and essence even with your help. Now I've lost three days as well. Will I even have a home to return to? or will it be overrun by giant spiders and crickets?!” he exclaimed angrily

  Ilmarillion frowned “I had not considered the fact you would be unaware of the time distortion in rifts. The fact you did not know essence and mana were real, should have told me all I needed to know about you. But there could be hundreds of things I know about the world that I might forget to tell you that might be helpful for you to know. I do not know what you do or do not know. This is as much your fault for not asking the question as it is mine for not knowing to share that information with you.” she said defensively.

  Turning away from the faerie and shaking his head and exhaled slowly. Three days. What would the world even look like? Movies and television shows had taught him it didn’t take much to end the comfortable life that he knew.

  He had no family to worry about; his parents had died in a car accident when he was still a baby and his adoptive parents had passed away two years ago just months apart. It had been the hardest year of his life, but in this moment he was grateful they wouldn’t have to experience this madness. His adoptive father had barely been able to handle a smart phone let alone having to learn magic.

  But his friends, were they alright? he didn’t have many he was truly close with, but now with his phone not working he would have no way to know for sure unless he found them. Pushing down his anger and resentment he turned back to the faerie.

  “Okay, well moving past the fact I have lost three days' time and who knows what has happened to everyone I know.” he said trying to control his frustration. “Can you teach me how to control my mana and essence now?”

  Ilmarillion nodded, bobbing slightly in the air in time with her nod. “Certainly, we will start with essence. I have covered some of this in the rift, but I want to make sure you understand. Essence is the purest form of energy. It is refined from mana after it has been purified by your soul. It is stripped of all affinities, elements and anything that might taint it. It will empower you–increasing your attributes and refining your very being. It is what you will need to master if you choose a path of crafting. Essence can be used to magnify all aspects of your path, not just yourself.”

  “When you killed the spider, a portion of its essence was transferred to you, the remaining essence stays with the body, till it is taken by the scavengers that consume it or the earth as it decays and eventually the plants. Other animals will eat the grass returning the essence to them. It is the cycle of essence.” she explained.

  “Are you talking about the circle of life?” he asked, laughing.

  “What? No, the essence cycle, stop interrupting with stupid questions.” she said, annoyed.

  “Okay, okay. I gain essence and can use it to improve my attributes like a video game?”

  She looked at him with narrowed eyes, trying to decide if the video game reference was made to annoy her. “Yes, it does sound similar but I have no experience with these video games. But the more essence you have the more you will need for the next step.”

  “Just like in a video game,” he said. Judging from the way Ilmarillion had dropped her hand to her dagger, he should probably keep any further video game references to himself.

  You will never lose essence once you have used it except through death. If you have not had the chance to allocate it yet, some creatures can drain the extra essence from you.” she said

  “Now the first way to use essence is to improve everything at once. The gains will be minimal but will provide the most balanced approach but also take the longest to progress. To help speed the process you can allocate the essence yourself to the four main categories acknowledged by most races: Body, Mind, Soul and Mana. The essence can be allocated to however you choose for more specific gains.” she explained.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Each category can be broken down into singular attributes and essence can be used to increase the most specific attribute for each category. The problem is that when you focus the essence allocation too much it can lead to an imbalance.”

  Ezekiel listened intently as she continued. “I will give you some examples to help you understand what sort of consequences an imbalance can create. If you focused all your essence on your strength and nowhere else in your body, without considering dexterity or endurance, you might be able to crush a stone to powder with your bare hands. You would most likely shatter the bones in your hand in the process. Or if someone threw you a rock you would be unable to catch it.”

  “Another example this time from mana is if you focused on increasing only your capacity for mana, again you could have more mana than anyone else. But you would lack a way to ever regenerate enough mana to fill it up naturally and lack the control required to manage a spell without it blowing up in your face.” she said.

  “There is some benefit in increasing one or more attributes more than another. If you focused on the Body and you continue to use a spear, dexterity would be more important to you than strength. If you decided to use a warhammer or battleaxe, having higher strength over dexterity would be better. But you will need to tailor your choices to the path you follow in life.”

  “If I want to fight though, should I decide if I want a more focused approach now though?” he asked, concerned about not having the perfect ‘build’ for himself.

  “How you choose to allocate your essence is up to you. A generalist path at the start will not affect your later path. As I explained, you will need to balance it at some point. You should try to avoid having any singular attribute in a category more than double ant of the others.” she answered.

  He nodded. That made sense and made him less concerned about the optimal path for him as he would have time to figure that out. But it also made him start to think about what he would do in this new world of magic.

  “You would be able to figure out how to use and access essence on your own fairly easily, with or without my help. It is almost instinctual. It is like breathing. Not using your essence is like holding your breath. The longer you go without breathing, the more you want to do it. Your body will want to use the essence as you accumulate more”

  “You have already accumulated quite a lot of essence.” Ilmarillion said. ”Especially being so far behind where you should be naturally. You should be able to feel it, the essence pushing against your soul seeking to expand who you are. It will be like an itch you can not quite reach.” she said.

  Ezekiel swallowed, he could feel it. It was not quite uncomfortable, Ilmarillion had used the perfect example with breathing, it really did feel like he was holding it in and it was demanding to be released.

  “I can feel it just like you said, how do I use it?” he asked.

  “To start with sitting or lying down would be best for you, it will be like meditating to start with. The more familiar you become with the process the easier it becomes. You need to focus on the feeling and move towards it in your mind. It can be like opening a door for some. Some people dive towards it. Find your way.” she said.

  Sitting down Ezekiel closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling. It was surprisingly simple, just as she said. He could see it ahead of him. A glowing orb that reminded him of the sun but was soft like moonlight. As he walked towards it, it seemed like it moved towards him as well. It gave off a gentle warmth which drew him closer. Reaching out, he touched it. Ripples throughout the glowing orb.

  Experiencing it now he knew he would have figured this out on his own without her help. As he concentrated on how to use the essence, five images formed in front of him: a physical reflection of himself, an ethereal version of himself within an inner radiance, a brain and a glowing blue orb which reminded him of some video games he would play and how they represented mana. The last was an image where they all seemed to combine into one yet where all visible within the image still.

  Knowing that these must be the different ways to use the essence, he wondered why he couldn’t see a way to choose strength as Ilmarillion had described. The thought had barely crossed his mind when the image of his body started to change. His skin was peeled off perfectly revealing the muscles beneath. Disgusted at seeing his skin peeled off, the image immediately changed to one of his arms, showing his bicep flexing. Realising it was only his mental representation of each attribute and that he could change to suit what he wanted. He wondered if he hadn’t met the faerie, would he even consider the soul or mana as something he would be able to improve.

  Ezekiel wanted a balanced start. He wasn’t sure what challenges he would be facing or where his life would lead him but it shouldn’t hurt him in the long run according to Ilmarillion. Mentally pushing the sun into the final image the glowing orb dimmed as all the essence rushed into him instead of the image.

  His body jolted, snapping him out of the meditation-like state. It was like getting shocked by electricity, his body tensing up at the feeling. Instead of pain it was exhilarating. Similar to when he received essence from killing the crickets except more. His body was brimming with energy, his mind sharpened and he wasn’t sure how he recognised the feelings, but it was his soul expanding and a gentle buzz of mana.

  His eyes opened wide, as he took a deep breath in, taking everything in as if for the first time.

  “Judging by your face it looks like you are done?” Ilmarillion said with a smile.

  “Yeah, that was easier than I thought it would be. I thought I would be there for hours trying to get in the right headspace to meditate.” he said.

  “Were the images I saw real? Were they actually my Body, Soul, Mind and Mana? Because I saw my skin get peeled off to show my muscles when I thought about increasing strength. Was it all just my own mind? And did I only picture those attributes because you told them to me?” he asked.

  “They were simply your mind interpreting those concepts to something you would understand. Peeling off your own skin to see your muscles was all you. I am glad you told me though as it is rather funny for me. I have never heard of someone seeing that image in their own mind before.” she said with a laugh.

  “Oh great.” He groaned.

  “I told you about those attributes beforehand to help you better organise your thoughts. Most sapient races guide their attributes in a similar way. But creatures vary more often, as you saw with the spider. It used essence to enhance its size. Insects and reptiles, usually creatures which moult are able to use small amounts of essence for a large gain in size. You, though, would need far more essence for a much more modest increase in size.” she said.

  “Now you have taken your first steps on your path with essence we will move to mana. This wil not be as easy as essence.” she said seriously.

  Ezekiel nodded. He was ready to finally learn magic.