Chapter 11: On Essence

“So, I am sure you have noticed that everything seems sharper, more focussed correct?” Somehow Nath had convinced Elianora to teach him at least a little about essence, such an arrangement had taken quite a while to wrest out of her. She had offered that they should hire an actual tutor for him, but Nath had, much to her chagrin insisted that it be her. She had relented, and thus Nath found himself standing in the smaller ballroom getting instructed by her. They were there and not outside as winter was beginning to set it. It had been four months since he had woken up here, and in that time he had done nothing but study really, even for him it was getting to the point that he was starting to feel like a shut-in. Gone were the weekend trips to the bar with his friends, passing jokes and stories around as well as steins. Gone was the games of football he would either invite people over to watch on Sunday or else be invited over, grilling out and having a cold beer or three. All the social ties of his life were gone, and while he was enjoying getting to know Ellie and the world in general it was getting a little ridiculous even for him.

Still, there was little he could do about it, non of the servants wanted to banter with him, they were always respectful, and despite his attempts at conversing with the guard that patrolled his house, aside from the visits of the Master at arms Jorona none of them seemed all that interested in conversing with him. Sure they were all respectful, and that was exactly the issue, he wasn’t used to being treated like this, and it was isolating, lonely. He now wondered if the reason he had seen the people at his birthday party interaction with such fervor was perhaps because they were around people who they considered equals, and who considered them equals as well, which meant that they could be more relaxed and open with those people.

And it wasn't just the lack of social interaction that was gitting to him, there was also the lack of general entertainment, he had been unaware of how dependent on technology to keep himself entertained he had actually been. Gone were the days of opening up his phone and idling the time by on youtube, or Facebook, or some other site, he had occupied himself with reading, training, and simply talking with Ellie but he knew he was in need of fellow guys to hang out with, sure Ellie was cute and sharp as a blade but she was still a woman, and one that the had yet to go anywhere with further than second base, Sure his parents had joked about the two of them, but Ellie was going to have no part of it until he officially wed her, so he was constrained to pleasurable if unfulfilling kissing sessions.

“Nath!” Ellie said and Nath snapped back to reality, realizing his mind had wandered off thinking about all of the things that he would never get to see again or do again. He shook himself and looked over at her, offering an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, continue please, I was listening,” he said, and she put hands on hips looking at him with a narrowed-eyed look that was incredibly adorable. Nath was damn sure that was not the intent with which she speared him with that gaze, but it was nonetheless the result, and as such he attempted to not smile at her as that would only piss her off. Apparently, he failed to fully suppress the humor however as her eyes narrowed at him.

“You know, you have been pestering me for such a long time, the least you could do is pay attention,” she snapped, it would seem as though she was getting a little stir crazy as well, she was of higher birth than he, and likely was more used to the social events than himself or even the previous Nath. Which now that he thought about it brought about a rather interesting question, if she was of higher birth then why was she marrying down? “If you were listening,” she said, breaking into his current line of thinking with a sharp tone of voice, “What then was I saying?”

“You were going over the first stage of consuming essence, the first of four stages that all human beings can partake of,” he said with a hopefully placating smile. She crossed her arms across her chest and he instantly knew he had guessed wrong.

“I was speaking of the second stage, apparently you missed that entire part, so we will have to start again won't we?” she asked, and her current demeanor made her look like a young woman attempting to mimic the stern disapproval of a tutor or teacher, which turned what would be intimidating into slightly hilarious. “But before that, perhaps you would like to tell me what was so fascinating that you ignored the past several minutes of my explanation?” he floundered for a second, not really able to tell her about the old world he had come from when his mind seized upon the second thought that he had just had.

“I was wondering what would cause you to marry down?” he said with a shrug and watched as she stiffened then forced herself to relax. “You are higher station than I, and if what I have read on etiquette and the way things are run around here are anything to judge by a woman normally marries at her level or up, not down.”

“I-” she paused, took a small breath, and continued, “I have told you that it was decided for us when we were small children,” she said looking at him. “This was due to a debt owed between my father and yours, they were as I have said friends, though their relationship is as of right now strained, but at the time of your birth I was a year old, there was a life debt between your father and mine from their youth, I don’t know the full story you will have to ask your father.”

“If that was the case, then why were you not betrothed to my brother Amos?” he asked, actually getting interested now and not simply trying to divert her. He had read about life debts, they were just what they sounded like, a debt for someone saving your life, at some point in the past it seemed his father had saved Ellie’s father’s life.

“That would have been the plan, but then you came along and it was decided that it would be better if you were betrothed to me as we were closer in age,” she said, “Normally as you have said marrying down would have been seen as a dishonor, but as our circumstances were different with the life debt needing paying it is seen as honorable, after all, it is the mark of an honorable man that pays his debts.”

“I see,” Nath said nodding, he made a mental note to ask his father about that later. “That was all I was wondering, sorry for drifting off like that,” he said with a small apologetic smile, “Please, continue, I am curious about the four stages, I will pay attention this time,”

“Fine,” she said, giving him an odd look, “As I was saying there are four stages of essence, once a person consumes essence for the first time they discover that their senses are sharper their thoughts clearer and their reaction time is slightly faster, it is like the difference between being partially asleep in the morning and fully awake in the middle of the day, only more exaggerated, I am sure you have already noticed that effect,” Nath nodded as he had, and so she continued. “This only increases the more you consume, up to the point you cross into the second stage, which is where your body physically becomes stronger, faster than it can without essence, like the first stage the effects of the second stage continue to increase the more you consume until you cross into the third stage, which is where the differences between a deviant and a normal human become apparent, past appearances that is,” she said with a smile, indicating with a motion herself. “You see, the third stage has no noticeable effect on a human, no increased powers, no new abilities, it is like you are stuck on the second stage, but that is not quite true, you see as you use essence, which you do anytime you exceed non enhanced human limits on speed or strength or reaction time, you drain away essence, falling to lower stages as it is used up, as such the third stage for a human is essentially just a continuation of the second stage, you have all the powers of a second stage and double the amount of essence to draw from,”

“And a deviant?” he asked.

“Well, the third stage for a deviant is where the natural abilities of the creature they had an affinity for show themselves, though these abilities only last as long as the third stage is maintained,”

“So, what are your abilities?” he asked, and she shrugged.

“There are of course others that have become deviant after consuming a Fellosian’s essence before, but there are a number of different abilities one might manifest, Fellosian deviants are known for hunting vision, Shadow walking, Void step, and a Paralyzing roar, A deviant might manifest any one of these or even all of them, it is unknown until that deviant gets to the third stage and attempts them.”

“Care to explain those to me?” he asked and she snorted and then nodded her head.

“Hunting vision is said to be the ability to see where a prey has been, it's not tracking, you can physically see the prey in a ghostly form standing or moving where the prey moved, doing the things that the prey did, and before you ask, by prey I mean anything the deviant wants to track, Shadow walking is the ability to literally fade into the shadows, physically becoming shadow itself, no blade can hit shadow, no creature can smell it, it is nothing,”

“That seems overpowered,” Nath said with a slight raising of one eyebrow.

“It only lasts a few minutes before it drains all of your essence,” she said.

“Still, I mean if you have a stack of essence crystals you could just do the move, suck down some more essence and then do it all again right?”

“No,” she looked at him sternly, “listen carefully to this Nathaniel,” she used his full name, which was something he had noticed that she rarely did, so he nodded and gave her an attentive expression. “Essence is not natural to us, we are not fully equipped to use it like the creatures we take it from, as such the human body can only take in so much essence at any one given point, the limit is roughly one level a year, if you consume any more than that you risk damaging yourself and making it so that you cannot consume essence ever again, your body will simply reject it and damage you.”

“Wait, so there is no way to get essence back faster?” she shook her head, “And that ability shadow walking or whatever can drain all of your essence in a matter of minutes?”

“Yes, and after I drain all of the essence using that ability I would only be able to go back up to the threshold of the first stage until I wait another year to allow my body to come to terms with the essence, any further and I risk damaging myself permanently.”

“Damn,” he said shaking his head, “how long does each stage last?” he asked.

“It depends on how much effort is needed for the task, if you were to use essence at its fullest potential you might get a day of full use before you were out, if you were instead more careful with its use, like only using it in say a duel or fight to enhance you at that moment then it could last years, it all depends on the context and effort,”

“I see,” this was not the way he had expected magic to work, but then again all the magic systems he had known were created by people who lived in a world where magic didn't really exist, so it was all theory and fantasy. “So how do you know what stage you are in?” he asked.

“I haven't experienced it myself, I am like you still in the first stage as I have only consumed the one essence, but I am told that you just know, it is a sudden change that is unmissable apparently,” she said with a shrug.

“And it takes what, a few essence crystals to go up a stage?”

“There are three types of essence crystals, well, three basic categorizations we have put them in that is, Low, Mid, and High, it takes ten low grade to go up a stage, two mid, and one high, and before you ask, the animal in question determines how much essence they have and at what grade the crystals are once filled, so a weaker creature would be low grade, and a more deadly or powerful one would be higher.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Nath said, “Can we take a step back, you never finished telling me what the rest of those abilities you might get were, I can guess what Paralysing roar is, but what is Void step?”

“The ability to step from one shadow to another insight, it is apparently like taking a step forward, you are there, then at the other shadow in a single move, it makes hunting the Fellosian damned hard to hunt let me tell you,” she said with a flash of white teeth that Nath had a hard time calling a smile.

“I imagine,” he said with a laugh, “now, that is three stages, what about the fourth?”

“The fourth stage is overdose,” she said simply, “I don't think I have to explain that one to you do I?” He shook his head. “You can go up to the fourth stage’s threshold, but should you cross it,” she shook her head and he nodded his understanding, after all, his father had made it very clear what happens when a person overdoses on essence. “Good,” she said looking at him, “so long as you know where the limit is and don’t cross it,” she said, and a wicked smile formed on her lips. “I already have had to start over my betrothal once, would be a shame to have to do it again,”

“Yes, damn shame that would be, especially after all of the work you have put into me right?” he asked with an answering smile.

“Mmmm, yes, work,” she said, giving him a wink.