I skidded to a stop in front of the table, “Am I really going to live 45,000 years?” My voice shook as I looked at the old dwarf who was nonchalantly sipping herbal tea.

His expression didn’t change when I asked the question but he kinda just shrugged his shoulders. His chilliness about my concerns ticked me off and I felt my face get red.

“Why is my title so important that I have to outlive all of the people I love? Why is it that every time I get some kind of news in the last two days, it has been something that will change my entire life but I am the last one to know about it?” My voice raised as I could tell that my parents already knew.

“Will you cut out that pathetic screaming, I am going to look forward to grinding your pathetic muzzle into the dirt for the next three years of training. Every time you scream Know-it-all, I am going to make your training harder. Do you understand?”

Ronik turned and snapped his hand. His snap caused the clay mug in his hand to turn into a hand that jumped at me and clamped my mouth shut. “You haven’t listened to one thing I have said. For someone who respects his parents so much, you seem to have a problem respecting anyone else. That is going to change now, ya hear me lad?” I nodded.

The hand formed back into a mug which somehow was still filled with tea. Ronik lifted the cup to his mouth again before continuing. “If you hadn’t passed out, you would know what your title means and why you are going to live so long. Sit down and listen, Know-it-all, I am only going to say this once.”

“Every time the previous Knower dies, the King picks the next one from birth and prepares them for the most important job on Gaea. Everything that has happened to you has a lesson behind it and I know that you have understood those lessons, all but the respect one anyway.

The Knower is the King's will on Gaea. He will guide you to all corners of this planet, equipped with all knowledge there is to know on this earth.” His finger jammed into my chest as he spoke. “You will live a long life because of your lineage and the King’s need for you. Yes, you will live longer than your parents or sister but you will not be alone your entire life. The King knows of your worries and in the past, the Knower had the same qualms when he found out he would live to see the world change.

“When you marry, and the King already knows who you are going to marry, your wife will join you. She will live just as long as you and you will have a partner for the 45,000 years of your life.

“But you will be his servant, and so will she. You will change this world and help it remain peaceful. That is why I am here to train you. You will learn all forms of magic and weapon combat. You will learn to craft many things that will aid you in fulfilling the King’s will and you will learn to be as wise as the oceans are deep.

“That is what your mission is and why I am here. It is why you have to wait for your title and why you haven’t had it all that easy in your life. Now we are going to sit up, eat your mother’s wonderful smelling cooking, sleep, then put you through three years of suffering. You will train till you sweat blood. Your body will become as solid as the earth and your strength will be that of volcanoes.”

Ronik finally turned back towards the table and bowed his head towards my parents. “I am sorry for yelling at your boy but I need to be harsh with him. I am quite famished and would love to wet my beard as we enjoy the King’s blessings.”

I heard the floorboard creak behind me and Seri stood there mouth agape. Her stomach let out an unladylike grumble and Ronik laughed heartily. “Looks like I’m not the only one.”

“Let's eat then.” My mom got up from the table to get everyone served. “Make sure you eat enough Oli. Mr. Ronik is not going to go easy on you, and we're not going to stop him.”

***

“Alright scrawny, I know the sun has barely risen but we're starting with a run. We are going to start with an exercise that will help build your stamina and your essence capacity. In order to do this exercise, you need to know how to heal with the earth element. You and I have a contract so it’ll likely come easier than others would. I'm sure you know that all elements can heal but Earth is the best one for training. Can you tell me why know-it-all?”

I stammered with the unexpected question. I stood up straight. It felt like I was being boot camped by my dad again with the pressure Ronik was putting off.“No sir.”

Ronik shot me a wicked grin, “I’m glad you understand your place. Earth magic promotes quick, natural healing. In comparison to fire or water, both of them have specialties that make them better at fast healing. Fire will leave you exhausted but will close a dangerous wound faster. Water is the best healing attribute because it works at a pace that won’t hurt that much but will be the most thorough healing experience. Air is the hardest to heal with but an Air affinity healer is the best to prevent diseases.

“Back to earth though. I’m not going to teach you how to do the other elements. You have a sizable mana pool for your age which means that we can do this exercise for a lot longer. Reach inside yourself and begin moving your essence through your body.”

“Sir, I've never channeled essence through my body.”

“You’ve been meditating for who knows how long. You know what it feels like. Will the essence to move through your body and it will move. It’s as simple as that.”

His direction was vague but he was right about knowing what essence felt like. I focused on the light that always shined on me while I meditated and focused on that light's warmth. As my chest began to warm, I willed that warmth to flow through the rest of my body. As I pushed it, the flow trickled as it got further away from my core but eventually began to reach even the tips of my toes.

“Do yourself a favor know-it-all, move some essence up to your eyes and then open them. You're gonna love what you see.”

Excitement ran through me as I did as Ronik instructed. Upon opening my eyes, the earth below my feet and the vast forest glowed with a soft light cascading through the entire forest. The light wasn’t blinding, but it was beautiful. Shimmering leaves fell and made the light look like the snow that came once every winter.

“Pretty sight ain’t it. That sight will get better as you learn the other elements but for now, it will make all earth essence glow.”

As Ronik spoke, I knelt to the ground and the vast essence below me. I tried to will the essence toward me but it wouldn’t listen to my will. I took the essence that had stretched to my feet and tried to connect the flow. I immediately felt a surge of pain as I was launched into the air by a rock that had jutted out of the earth at my foot. I cradled my head and must have looked like a sloppy newborn because Ronik was laughing and pointing at my failure.

“Oh boy, I’m glad I won't have to teach you that lesson. It’ll be even better later when I have you do that again on purpose though. Oh, King, that's funny.” Ronik was bent over with tears of laughter coming out of his eyes. “That essence isn’t yours boy but it can help you with some magic that I will be teaching ya later. I am excited for that, yes I am.

“Now that you have a grasp of your essence,” Ronik tossed a rock at my arm and it left a long cut on my untanned skin.

“Ouch, what was that for? You're supposed to be training me, not harming me.”

“I have my reasons know-it-all, channel your essence around the cut.”

I grimaced but did as he said. I watched as the cut on my arm slowly scabbed over and was replaced with new healthy skin. It all happened before my eyes in under a minute.

I sat on the ground agape, still seated from my earlier tumble.

Ronik snapped me out of my trance when he spoke. “Earth speeds up the natural healing process but isn’t able to close big wounds all that easily. You aren’t going to feel all that tired from healing a cut like that but after I am done with you today you are going to be one hungry bastard that's for sure.

Now get up and run. Run till you collapse. I'll heal you up when you run out of essence but get sprinting. Full sprint, no slowing. This is going to be a magic training exercise and a physical one. When you start to feel the burn, start channeling your essence. You are going to put on more weight this next week than you ever thought possible.

Ronik gave me a scary smile and I found myself sprinting away from the taskmaster personality that he had taken on.

I began sprinting and quickly my legs and lungs began to burn. I slowed unconsciously and felt a rock pelt my leg. I looked behind me and found my little dwarf drill sergeant, on his tiny legs, looking like he was jogging behind me at a leisurely pace with a pile of rocks in my hand.

Out of pure fear, I returned to my original pace and began channeling my essence.

***

I had been running for 3 hours. Every time I ran out of essence the pain throughout my body would spike and every muscle in my legs felt like it was on fire. Ronik would then force me into a seated position and force me to meditate till I was filled up enough to run for another hour. This ended up in a cycle of an hour of running and 15 minutes of meditating.

Only after the 4th hour did Ronik stop me. “It’s time for food know-it-all.”

His call to stop couldn’t have come at a better time. My body felt like it hadn’t eaten in 3 days and my essence was on its last dregs.

“Your sweet mother has brought you a few hearty, meaty sandwiches, some nuts, and some fruit. Eat up. Your mom knows more than she puts on and all of the meals in front of you are perfect for refreshing after an exercise.”

He was right about my mom, that woman was a wonder. My dad is always telling me to find a woman like mom who knows how to keep everything in place. He says that it helps him focus on what he needs to do as a man, husband, and father when he knows that mom is there to back him up.

I ate slowly as I could hear my mom chiding me over the years to eat slower. My dwarven slave driver looked upset that he wouldn’t get to scold me over my eating habits and we ended up finishing the meal quietly.

Ronik coughed to get my attention. “Now that you are done eating, go take a nap. About an hour. I'll getcha when it's over and we’ll start on upper body training. Run off.”

I sighed in relief and without speaking got up and went to my bedroom for a nap.

***

Almost exactly an hour later, the mini-taskmaster was breathing down my neck to get up and I was forced back into the yard for more training.

“Ya better get used to this, I’m going to run ya ragged for the next 3 years.” The sneer on the old dwarf’s face reminded me of how brutal he can be. He turned sprinting into a lengthy exercise and threatened me with rocks. I was going to fear this smile for all 3 years that he trains me.

“Every day will follow the same routine and if I need to pop away for a while, my daughter will be taking over for me. We can’t start learning martial arts until your body is in the right shape to do everything required. Magic training will take place after dinner so your schedule will be packed with aerobic training with magic before lunch, anaerobic training after a meal and short nap, and magic control and religion after dinner.” Ronik got real close to my face to size me up which worked much too well for a tiny dwarf. “If I ever find that you skip any of these training sessions on any of the days that I am away, I'll double all future training sessions. Any questions?”

I maintained firm eye contact but felt pushed back by his gaze. “Why would I need to learn religion? Everyone knows the King. He is the one who created everything. We don’t worship him or anything but I have done my research. Why do I have to do anything more?”

Ronik backed away and rubbed his temples. “I see it hasn’t sunk in yet. Where do your titles come from?” He motioned for me to sit on the ground and I did as he wanted.

“The King obviously. But I want to know what makes me, specifically me, the future Knower apparently, in need of more religious training than any other person?” I definitely came across as more frustrated than I should have.

“I don’t like your tone boy and I can see that you realize your tone was wrong so I won’t get on you for it. I can also understand why you would question religious teaching. I already told you that you will be his will on Gaea but that comes with a certain responsibility.

“Your title is going to teach you literally everything there is to know about the universe. Your parents told me that you like to read and I think you will be excited to learn how your title stores all the information that you will keep in your brain. But one thing that your title does not give you is wisdom, each of the four spirits of the elements will be teaching you something related to the needed wisdom that comes with your title.

“Religion isn’t just about doctrine and knowledge of any given spiritual text, it is about faith. Faith is above knowledge and beyond it in many ways. I will be training you in a way that will make you unparalleled in strength, but what you do with that strength will depend on your faith in the King.

“Will you trust him to guide you when your powers don’t tell you about the future? When tragedy befalls you, will you seek his aid? As I said earlier, you are the King’s will on Gaea, so you will need to listen to him. The previous knower spent hours at the foot of the altar when he had to make important decisions. And I hope that through the religious training that we do, you too will come to trust the King.”

His words bounced between my heart and my head shaking my core. Ronik’s expression, soft and expressive as he told his story, showed how much he trusted his King, even with the authority that he himself held.

“We will count that as your religious teaching for today,” Ronik said as he stood.

His expression however didn’t remain soft once he was above my sitting form, his eyes fixed a hard glare and his smile turned sinister, “we’ve sat around long enough, it is time to get to weight training.”

***

Weight training was much like sprinting except the rounds were shorter and required more energy to heal. The weights he had me using were made of compact earth and whenever I felt comfortable at one weight Ronik would change the weight size. The tiny tyrant was really pushing my body to its limits yet he always seemed to know when I was about to break. He had me working out many different muscle regions on my body, from head to toe, I felt like I was burning.

He also had me training my flexibility during weight training and was personally feeling like someone separated two fingers covered in syrup. I think I'm taller but Ronik assured me that I’m not.

Dinner was venison and vegetables, My dad had made the prime kill of the hunt and the venison was fresh from the kill.

I ate more than I had ever eaten at a family dinner which surprised everyone but my mom. My Mom and Ronik had obviously coordinated the meals to help restore my energy, the venison had likely thrown a wrench in my mom’s dinner plans but fresh meat probably wasn’t a problem.

After dinner, Ronik took me back outside for magic training.

“Alright, magic training will get more serious tomorrow, but today we are going to set goals for your essence training. There are three parts of magic that are incredibly important for you to master quickly.

“First is your capacity. When you meditate, the light that surrounds you in your heart space is the best physical representation of your magical capacity. The goal of meditation is to expand both the amount of light and how bright it is. By cycling magic through your body, the light will naturally become brighter. Think of your body as a lens for essence from the outside world and cycling as the rag used to wipe that lens.” This was new information for me. I knew the size of the circle represented my capacity but the lens analogy made a lot of sense to me.

We both entered my heart space and I was shocked at the growth of my essence both in size and intensity, Ronik continued. “As you can see, your essence is also like a muscle. As you exhaust it and restore it, it will also grow, after a certain point, however, it will become harder for it to grow but you are still a long way from that point.

“Second to capacity and intensity is conversion. Do you see how this light at the end here is yellow instead of white? That is the representation of Earth essence in your system. This is the main reason that magic, without spirits, cannot be done. Nobody on Gaea has the ability to convert neutral essence into elemental essence and in order to convert essence, you cycle your essence through the yellow flame on the brazier that lit when we contracted. The exchange rate is pretty close to the same on both ends, I just take a little bit on the other end for myself because you are using my power to convert your essence.

Lastly is casting, this is largely related to your Will. Whenever you want to cast magic, you infuse the essence that is required for said magic and will the essence to act as you wish. It sounds simple but too much essence in a small spell can throttle the spell and result in big mistakes, This is why you had the accident before sprinting. You happened to touch your entire essence cycle to the earth and it responded with the same amount of essence. On top of that, outside essence is not yours to command but does not have a will so with correct control over your will, this essence can make up for some spells' essence costs.

“Does this all make sense?”

I nodded my head. His explanation was just filling in the gaps in my knowledge that the library couldn’t fill. He was a better source of information so his explanation was incredibly helpful.

“Alright let us set your goals then.” Right now my essence was enough to walk around comfortably. If before it was the size of my bedroom, it had already expanded to be the size of my home. The outside of the circle of light was tinged with green.

“I just wanted to mention one thing before I let you meditate, get in the habit of cycling continuously while meditating. You will notice a dramatic increase in both capacity and intensity. You will notice that when you use your essence, the light dims. You can think of the difference between the two light levels as the sun during the hottest hour versus the sun after its set but before the world goes dark.

“As soon as this circle is as big as the entire village with the intensity to blind a man, and you will get there, then we will begin casting.” With those words, Ronik vanished. I meditated as I usually do while repeating the words that echoed through my heart.

“I want strength, but I need wisdom,”

“I worry for my family and wish for them to have comfort.”

“I am being hurt by my brothers,”

“I want to be useful,”

“But I am thankful for what I have been given,”

After these words, I left my heart space but continued meditating and cycling as I enjoyed the peace and rest after a long day of hard work.

***

A month had passed since Ronik had begun training me and my body showed major improvements. Since I am at the height of my growth period, the constant exercise and flexibility training made me sprout to be taller than my father.

My muscle definition was firm but not bulky, and I found myself having to be careful with gentler objects to avoid breaking them. You should have seen my mother’s face twist the first time I accidentally shattered a glass when I set it down. I didn’t understand how much muscle I had until that moment and it made clear how effective Ronik’s training was to my growth.

I had a professionally toned body. Ronik liked to brag that it was forged by the best but he said that it wasn’t nearly finished yet and still needed to be tempered. The next few years would both bring an increase in strength but also more control over my body. I will be able to move it however I want, whenever I want is how he put it and I didn’t doubt him.

Over this month, Ronik and I became close as master and pupil. I now look back to the month before and cringe at my tone and word choice. To think he would change me so much in a single month goes to show how driven he is and I have serious respect for it.

“We are finally going to start your casting training today as well as your more serious religious training. I have called on a friend of my daughter to help us with the religious training.

“We will also be adding weighted clothes to your runs, as well as your weight training. I will also be starting to do more dynamic stretches with you after each of them. I am going to twist you like a wet noodle. Are you ready, know-it-all?”

“Yes sir” I laughed at how the nickname stuck but began my usual routine with the changes that Ronik pushed on me.

After dinner, we moved away from the yard and into the forest to train. My mother didn’t want us ruining the garden or the grass.

“The first step to casting know-it-all is cycling. You may begin. Cycle only the converted earth essence please.”

I began cycling and let my earth essence flow throughout my body. My body felt steady and lively like a mountain. I could feel the work of the last month as the essence flowed unobstructed through my body solidifying it.

“The first thing I am going to teach you actually has to do with the very first mistake ya made with your essence. Watching you get toppled over by the earth was funny but what you did can be extremely useful. We are going to learn to Earth Surf.” Ronik’s grin was contagious. “This is one of my favorite forms of magic.

“You don’t need to chant or anything to do any form of magic but focus and control over the amount of essence is key to this spell. If you try to chant to get things going I am going to smack you. You will only be handicapping yourself later.

“The first step of this spell is to move the essence in your body to the soles of your feet. Put on your earth essence sight so you can see my channeling.” I did as Ronik said and I could see the steady flow of essence quickly coalescing at his feet.

“Next, you are going to get into a runner's position, this is the easiest step . You’ll see that on the soles of my feet the essence is both evenly spaced on my foot and isn’t coming into direct contact with the essence of the earth. If it ever touches the earth, I'll launch forward as you did in the garden. If you keep a steady control over the essence on your feet all you need to do now is will the earth under your feet forward.”

Ronik suddenly shot forward. The earth seemed magnetized to his feet and the earth rolled under him. He covered 100 paces in seconds as the earth guided him around bends. As he rolled on, the earth behind him settled back to its original form as if never touched. His control was immaculate.

I focused my earth essence on the soles of my feet, careful to not accidentally connect to the earth below me. Once I had a steady block of essence under my feet the earth seemed to cling to my foot and made controlling my essence much harder.

I lapsed for a single moment. My feet were suddenly above me and I bruised my backside as I slammed into the earth. I channeled my essence to fix the bruising and stood back up to try again.

I didn’t lapse this time once I was grabbed by the earth and took a running stance. Slowly I willed myself upward and the earth under me listened. I felt myself lift slowly but managed to keep my balance. Next, I willed myself forward, slowly, but forward still. I immediately lost my balance and lurched.

I must have willed the earth subconsciously to catch me because it rose up to cradle me. I stood once more and went through the steps again keeping my focus on maintaining my runner's stance. This time I moved forward without falling. I was going no faster than walking speed. My balance was off but I was moving.

“Speed up Know-it-all. You aren't going to get anywhere like that.”Ronik yelled as he lapped at me before zooming around the clearing again.

Over the next few hours with appropriate breaks to refill my essence, I slowly picked up speed and got used to going about half the speed Ronik was going, which was still faster than I or anyone I knew could run. I can run pretty fast now too because of Ronik’s training.

Ronik also showed me how to handle higher speeds but I couldn’t get the essence right to do it correctly. It was a lot more complicated than the spell we were doing for our current training.

The speed Ronik showed me at the beginning covered at least 100 paces in a mere 5 seconds but with proper training, it wouldn't push the body too hard. If you want to go faster you would need to use the earth to make a suit to protect you from the force of the earth’s movement or have an air spirit to handle the wind for you.

“You will need to practice this every day after dinner. It shouldn’t be too hard to do it for an hour straight after a few days with your essence pool. Try to get rid of wasted energy and you’ll pick up speed as well. Now I need you to sit so we can do yer religious training.”

Ronik beckoned to a magically made chair in the middle of the clearing. “How much do you know about grot, know-it-all?”

“I just know that you said it’s a banned word. That's about it. You’d smack me if I said it, so I stopped.” I said hesitantly.

“I’ll amend my statement then, don’t ever use it as a swear. Words have power, if you want to call it by its name then using it isn’t a problem but don’t ever use it as a swear. In fact, just focus on not swearing…” Ronik paused, carefully contemplating his next words.

“Grot is, to put it simply, the corruption of the heart. Oli, have you ever met someone who has spent their time committing wrongs against the King?”

“No, sir, I’ve really only met bullies. Most of the village is pretty rough with me. I’m honestly glad we are hiding that I don’t have a title. The village would ramp up their viciousness, no doubt, if they found out.” I trembled at the thought.

“Well Oli, your mission from the King when you get your title will bring you in contact with a lot of horrible people. Corrupt officials, addictive drug dealers, petty criminals, and more. Grot is an illness that takes over the soul.

“Imagine that in your heart space, where you meditate, it was filled with grime, everything from animal feces to disease-ridden corpses. This grime cuts off your connection with the King. For most, it's just a spot here or there that needs cleaning up. There are some spaces in your heart that need some cleaning up but everyone has those. There is nobody perfect.

“Grot, once deeply seeded into your life, makes you aggressive and offers power at the expense of your own heart. Slowly, this eats away at you. When we die, the king takes our soul and cleans it up, giving us a new heart without any blemishes and crowns us, but for those who have let Grot consume them, those that have decided that the King is undeserving of them, he leaves to their own choices. This means they rot, never to live again with the King.

“I got on you for using grot as a swear because even little blemishes can take root and spread. To get rid of those blemishes, we simply need to ask the king to get rid of them. When you meditate do you do anything or say anything specific?”

“Yeah, When I was learning in the library, the books said the best way to meditate was to say things that you want, worry about, need, love, and can give thanks for. I have been doing that whenever I meditate.” As I finished my sentence, realization dawned on me.

“You have been praying to the King, and if you have noticed, some of those things have begun to sprout in your life. When we pray to the king we can get pretty specific and the king reaches down and scrubs our heart clean. Yet we are imperfect and sometimes our heart becomes dirty and we must pray for more guidance to help clean our hearts up.

“Your religious training that we will be starting now is going to help you dive into how to deal with people who are suffering because they wanted to be separate from the King. You will learn to help guide people into prayer and show people that they need to change or they will hurt the people who love them, themselves, and the King that loves them.” Ronik was giving me a serious stare, more serious than any other he had given me.

“Are you ready to start your training?” Romik asked. “This isn’t going to be easy and we can start tomorrow if you would like. If you are ready, we should start now.”

“I’m ready. How do we do this?” I was both excited and anxious but I was sure I could handle the training.

Ronik turned around and yelled. “Mairi, come here please.” Shortly after he yelled, a small spirit zoomed out from the trees and rested on Ronik’s shoulder.

“Is he ready dad?” Mairi asked nervously, which just made me more anxious.

“Yup, let's get down to it.” Mairi snapped her fingers in response and I found myself quickly drifting off to sleep in the chair.

I awoke in a room with just the stone chair that I had been sitting in. 4 walls, as well as the floor and ceiling, were white giving an eerie feeling to the room.

“Turn around know-it-all” I snapped my head to find Ronik and Mairi. “Let me explain so we can get started. This is a dream and Mairi here is a water spirit adept in dream and illusion magic. She is one of me daughters, so treat her well or I’ll strangle ya.

“We are going to use your dreams to create scenarios for you to train that are going to get increasingly more difficult. They will challenge your ethics, generosity, judgment, and many other things about your life. Mairi is going to help you do this every day for the next three years. It will temper you into a man fit to be used by the King.” Ronik looked towards Mairi. “You may begin.”

Mairi’s little voice eked out, “a few things you should know, Mr. Oli before we begin. Firstly is that in none of your dreams are you visible to the people present until you act in the dream. You are just watching. Sometimes that is all you will need to do, other times, your actions will change these illusionary lives.

“Second, if you fail the illusionary task at any time, you will appear back here and you can ask me to restart."

Mairi shuffled nervously, “Lastly, when you are ready to leave just will yourself to wake up. You are safe as long as you are in here so don’t worry about outside.”

“Alright. Thanks, Mairi, you can send me in.” I stood up straight and watched as she gave me a nervous glare once again snapping her fingers.

I stood on a cobbled road surrounded by houses and shops. It looked like the cities mom and dad always described to us. There were many different races. Many that I had never seen before. Holomen and humans roamed the streets, some with small children, others calling out to bring attention to their shops.

Being from a small village in the forest, I was overwhelmed by the number of people but I knew that I was here for a reason and refocused on the scenario in front of me.

From reading, I knew that most people were employed by their titles, so I didn’t see any beggars. I stood around for a few minutes but those few minutes were a few too many. I reappeared in the white room.

“Did I miss something?” I asked myself. I was only there for a few minutes and already I had failed.

I heard Mairi snap again and I was back on the bustling street, the same people walking past me as before. I started walking as well to keep up with the flow of people and looked around once again.

“Someone help, someone stole my purse” I heard a cry for help and my head snapped in the direction of the voice. By the time I found the lady, it was already too late and I appeared in the white room once again.

“Are you guys starting me off easy with a purse-snatcher? Really?”

Mairi chuckled. “If it’s that easy Oli, go ahead and give it another shot”

She snapped her fingers and giggled. I found myself on the street again. I quickly found the old lady and waited for the purse snatching to happen.

Right in front of me, a teenager, no older than myself, snatched the purse and attempted to bolt down an alley. I placed myself in front of the teenager and stopped him dead in his tracks by knocking him out. I then tried to remove the purse from his hands.

As soon as I touched the purse, I found myself back in the white room. I looked around confused. “Did I win”

Mairi laughed. “No Oli, you didn’t win, if it was as easy as that, this wouldn’t be training. If you think the old lady is the only victim in this scenario, you are wrong.“

I blinked, astonished that this could be any deeper than a purse snatching. “I guess I should try again then.”

I re-entered the simulation and set it up like before to catch the purse snatcher. The teenager ran down some alleys and I followed closely behind him. I figured I had to be doing something right because I wasn’t yanked back to Mairi.

Soon enough the teenager came to a run-down bar. He walked in the front door only to be greeted with an angry yell. The bar was more than just run down on the outside. The inside was filled with dust and grime enough to make even latrine workers gag. The only thing of any beauty in the room was a sword on the wall but before I could study it an ugly voice broke my gaze.

“Did you finally bring me something useful, gutter rat?” Inside, one man, dressed in a greasy apron and scars all over his hands stood at the bar.

The boy stammered but got a few words out “Ye-s-s sir, I brought you the target's purse.”

As the boy approached the counter, the dirty bartender walked around the bar. He swung at the boy before I could respond and in the moment I hesitated, the boy was dead. Cut from ear to ear by the expert hand of the bartender. It was over quickly and the boy laid down dead, but the man continued with more cuts along the boy’s body. Like an experienced butcher, the man severed the various parts of the boy. I found myself following the boy’s killer to his kitchen only to see a pile of skulls as young or younger than the boy. I wanted to puke but the illusion ended.

I stood there for a moment, back in the white room, stunned for what seemed like minutes. I struggled with the imaginary boy’s death more than I expected too. We had been hunting our entire lives but never had I seen one man kill another. It wasn’t until Ronik spoke that I awoke from my stupor.

“Did you get a look at the man with your essence sight? Just so you learn about it now, there is a reason that people who are corrupt stay out of public spaces. Grot is visible to essence sight and as you stray further and further down an evil route, it gets easier and easier to see unless you learn the means to conceal it. We started you off with one that is pretty difficult because you never experienced the dark side of society. This happens to some people and you are the person called to fix it. If that means you have to cut down a man to save another, then do it. Do not hesitate. The King ordained self-defense or defense of another as true to his name. In this case, we showed you a man who has taken the lives of many, the King knows that he doesn’t intend to change his ways, and ruins the good creations of the King. You are called to cut him down in this illusion Oli and there is no other way around it.

“Some people want a way out, and some people don’t. I will at least tell you this. You will never be called to kill any man or woman who has not done more or worse to another. The King, through you, will take the lives of those who will not change their ways of murder or crimes that are equal. You will also never be called to kill a man who may repent or that you can lead to repentance in the future. There will be times that you turn a man over who has confessed to his crimes and understands that he did wrong and when you do that, the government will drop the axe instead of you. You will never have to kill an innocent man.

“You also do not realize it but I have armed you with the magic of the earth to easily end the butcher’s life. I know I am making it sound simple but It should never be simple to kill another person. Never let it be simple.”

Ronik turned away from me. “You may stop once you have completed this mission for the day. You probably don’t want to see that scenario again but you still haven’t passed. I called for your father so once you exit the training room he will be there waiting. Tie up all the loose ends. Save the boy, kill the man, return the purse.”

I couldn’t get any words out and sat down for a moment trying to resolve myself to do as Ronik said but the words “kill the man” echoed in my brain.

Mairi floated over to me. “Oli, we created this scenario to show you the sick and twisted. I know it is a heavy first lesson but we wanted you to know that you will be called to cut down men and women in the future. The previous knower had to do the same many times. We are not asking you to ever take life easily, but we are showing you that sometimes it is necessary to take a life to save another. Do not be afraid Oli, The King, and we are here for you.

With tears in my eyes, I breathed out “send me in.” I let the city fill my vision once more.

I found the old lady and followed the purse-snatcher back like last time to the bar. Once inside the bar, I took a look at the man with my essence sight and nearly vomited. His form reeked of foul magic and made my eyes burn.

“Ye-s-s sir, I brought you the target's purse.” I heard the boy say as he began to walk toward the man.

I watched the man come around the corner and saw the knife in his hand he would use to kill the boy and as he raised to strike, I did as Ronik said. I willed the earth to spear through the man, the knife suspended mid-air before the boy. The fat man slumped on the stone pillar that held him.

Finally, I spoke. “Boy, go return the purse and beg forgiveness from the woman you took it from. Know the King is watching you and live honestly.”

I began to cry as the world faded out this time instead of quickly blinking away.

I ejected myself from the dream and woke up to my father holding me in his arms. He helped me carry the burden I felt on my shoulders back home where I puked up my dinner. For the first time since I began meditating, I changed the prayer that I had been using.

“Your Will be done” I cried.

“Please protect me from those evils, King” I pleaded.

“Thank you for protecting us, King,” I praised.

“Thank you for letting me be useful to you.” I professed.

“Please mold this ball of clay to your bidding.”

As the last words came out of my mouth, my meditation broke and I drifted into a dreamless sleep.