Essence

"The what?" Rai asked, he had never heard of anything called essenmages.

"The Essenmages exams, come on I'll explain it to you on the way to the kingdom." Julius responded as he climbed his horse.

"How in the world is that horse still alive after everything that just happened?" Rai stated trying to point out the obvious.

"Paradoxes tend to ignore the less developed creatures as they are perceived to not be a threat in anyway possible, but us humans. Well judging by the way you singlehandedly took down several paradoxes in a short amount of time, that's enough reason for them to try and conquer us." Prince Julius responded.

"Right.." Rai replied climbing the horse and sitting right behind Julius, as both individuals had already mounted on the horse. Julius kicked the side of the horse signaling it to move forward and so it did.

"Let's get out of here before anymore Paradoxes decides to show up."Julius spoke out of worry as he was totally defenseless and assumed their death's were assured, that was until Rai revealed his true abilities.

"So, what's all this talk about Essenmages?" Rai asked.

"Typically, Essenmages are the utilizers of essence. Like I said before essence is the power utilized in our world, however it is not a power that we were born with from the start." Julius replied him.

"Then how does one attain essence if that's the case?" Rai followed up with another question.

"Several hundred years ago, the barrier that shielded the human realms from the other realms and vice versa mysteriously cracked leaving a slight entrance into our world , ever since then our world has been invaded constantly by these Paradoxes that plagued and destroyed your village." Julius took a deep breath before continuing.

"However, unknown to us it wasn't only the paradoxes that managed to enter our world. The air of the other realms also seeped in through that crack. We started experiencing severe weather changes, our people started falling sick and were diagnosed with a strange contamination. It was a bad time for humanity, then something strange happened..." Julius added.

"What?" Rai asked with curiosity.

"Most people who were contaminated died an unfortunate death, but there were those who managed to survive it, thinking it was over a few things changed within them and they acquired supernatural abilities. At first we thought it was a symptom but the more time progressed the more we realized that it was a gift. And so humanity deemed this strange supernatural occurrence as "Essence" and those who attained this supernatural abilities were referred to as the ones who Awakened." Julius concluded.

"Woah, that's sick! But how does this relates to the Essenmages exams?" Rai questioned yet again.

"Following the discovery of essence, mankind quickly realized the advantages that came with the disadvantages of the crack in the barrier. They utilized this power to fight the paradoxes which normally are impossible to fight without essence unless your a high ranking knight, but you Rai Voltia. A commoner managed to defeat them with a plain knife, if that's not talent I don't know what it is." Julius answered.

"Uh..thanks I guess?" Rai replied unsure of what to respond to that compliment.

"Even with the awakening of one's ability, it was still not enough to defeat the paradoxes so the King came up with a way to hand-select the best awakened qualified to take on the paradoxes. Those who were deemed qualified are then referred to as Essenmages, the rest you'll be informed during the exams." Julius finally concluded.

"And I should take this exams why?" Rai questioned again.

"Like I said, a feat such as the one you displayed today is not something that is easily seen. It is rare for someone, even an Essenknight to take on several paradoxes at once without using essence. One on one it may be possible but several paradoxes? Its not. Many may disapprove a commoner becoming an Essenmage, but such feats are rare to come by." Julius answered his question showing how desperate he was to recruit such refined talent.

"I see.." Rai responded, after a long while conversing they finally reached the outskirts of the Ronowa Empire. Prince Julius halted the horse right at the entrance of the kingdom.

"This is where you get off, I can't make it obvious that your a favoured choice for gaining the title of an Essenmage, you'll have to prove it to them all. But I already know you will." With that said, Rai got off the horse.

"Right.." He said as he crossed his arms while facing the prince and the horse.

"Here." The prince brought out a little leather bag containing up to 10 pieces of gold coins and threw it towards Rai who caught it with his right hands.

"That should be more than enough, use it to take care of yourself and buy new clothes in order to prepare on time. The exams is in two days, good luck." With his final words, the horse sped off into the kingdom.

"How dumb does he think I am? Of course I can't ride with him into the kingdom because he doesn't want to be seen with a commoner. Talk about two faced, well he did offer me help with this gold coins so I guess I have no issues with him." Rai sighed.

Staring at the entrance of the Kindgom, Rai took a deep breath before walking towards it knowing that his new life was about to change for the better or worse.

"Why couldn't I have been born into royalty or a noble family?" He sighed once again, frustrated by the challenges he was about to face.

"Oh well, it's going to be worth the challenge at least." He said within his thoughts.

As he approached the huge gates which led into the Kingdom of Ronowa or simply the Ronowa empire, he kept in mind that he was venturing into unknown territory and being brought up as an assassin there were several codes established to guide them.

"I can't reveal who or what I am to anyone till the day of the exams if I'm going to make it out in peace." With a deep breath, he entered into the Kingdom.