After a few minutes of waiting, the teacher finally came in. It was an older lady that had gray hair with just a few wrinkles in her face. Still, she had the vigor of youth remaining in her eyes and in her steps. Quickly walking into the classroom, she stopped midway down the rows right in front of the chalkboard.

“Good afternoon, class. My name is Cathryn and I will be you teacher today.” She said in a pleasant voice.

She had quickly noticed Vivienne sitting by Adam after she had entered the classroom. Directing her words towards them, she spoke: “You must be Adam and Vivienne, I have been told of your circumstances. However, Vivienne, if you wish to stay by Adam during class, I still have one condition you must meet.”

Vivienne's face turned serious. She was neither scared nor angry, she wanted to reply in earnest. “What is the condition?”

“You must not ask any questions on behalf of Adam, nor may you ask any questions to sate your own curiosity. Adam must ask any questions he has for himself. If you have any questions or concerns yourself, you can ask one of the receptionists below and they will answer your question. This class is for the benefit of the candidates and as such they are the only ones that get to ask questions of me during this time.”

Vivienne was bombarded by the sudden statement. It felt almost like a condescending attitude was directed toward her. But Vivienne could understand what Cathryn meant when she said that this time was for the candidates. Most only get this class once a month and if she took up extra time for herself during class, she would be taking up the other candidates' learning time. This could prevent them from learning something they truly needed. It could even harm her Adam's learning process if she stepped out of line.

Vivienne replied simply: “I understand. I will only talk to my son if you present any visual information he needs to know about.

A smile spread across Cathryn's face. “Good, I am glad that you understand.”

When Cathryn was speaking earlier, Adam had gotten a little mad. He felt that Cathryn was picking on his mother. But after Vivienne agreed, there was nothing he could say or do to stand up for his mother.

Cathryn continued in her pleasant voice: “Now let's get class started! The top right drawer, to the desk in front of you, should have been locked when you first sat down.” Cathryn then waved her arm out and a gentle waved brushed past the candidates. “Now the drawer should be unlocked. Go ahead and pull your books out.”

Everyone was in awe. Cathryn was a real spiritualist! When you think about, of course a spiritualist was needed to teach another spiritualist. But still, they had never considered that one of those legendary figures, that you could only hear about in tales, was standing right before them.

Earlier, when that gentle wave went past the candidates, Vivienne had not felt a thing. Vivienne did not possess any spiritual sense, so unless the effect was quite obvious, she could not tell whether Cathryn had used spiritual essence or not.

Adam, on the other hand, had all the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Within that wave, he once again heard that faint sound that did not exist! The wave itself was mysterious, and he vividly felt it! It was like a small breeze, but he knew that there was no wind. It did not feel like air rushing over his skin. It was more like something just brushed past his soul! With this, Adam could understand just a little of what his soul was.

Of the rest of the candidates in the room, only one had a similar experience to Adam's. The rest mostly felt a tingly feeling, rather than a breeze or a wave. But they all came to understand the same thing. Cathryn was a spiritualist!

Cathryn gave a youthful chuckle at her awe stuck audience. She could never tire of these looks that others gave when they realized she was a spiritualist. She also had a hope that among the candidates, at least someone would rise up, to become one of her peers. “Come now, didn't I tell you all to pull your books from your drawers?”

Her words bringing everyone out of their stupor, they all finally started pulling books out of their own drawers. Vivienne was seated on Adam's left. But it was a simple matter for Adam to feel out the correct drawer. There was only one top right drawer, after all.

Pulling the book out, Adam felt a tingling sensation through his fingers. Having been exposed to it over and over today, he knew that it was spirit essence that he was sensing. The book must truly be something special. It had to be, to help him become a spiritualist.

After a few of the candidates had pulled out their books, they moved to open them. They had become fascinated by the seemingly simple books. They had a plain, gray, cover with a clasp holding them shut. Only spiritualists could feel the spirit essence, seeping from the book. The one thing that could be considered remarkable, from a commoners eyes, were the two gold leaf pages that were pressed together in the middle of the book. It was like a livid gold thread going right through the center.

As they were about to open their books, Cathryn teasingly spoke: “Please don't open the books yet! I don't want any of you reading ahead and getting distracted from what I want to teach you.”

The hands that were reaching to open the books froze. Disappointment filled the eyes of these candidates as they wanted to quickly open the book and go through it. Cathryn continued : ”Don't worry, we will soon open the books and I will go over various parts of it with you. After class is done, you can take the book with you! You can keep this book for as long as you decide to pursue the path of a spiritualist, though there will be a few rules that I will discuss later. If you succeed in becoming a spiritualist or decide to give up, you will need to return the book so it can be given to the next candidate. After becoming a spiritualist you will have many more books of better quality available to you.

After everyone had pulled their books out, they gave Cathryn their undivided attention. They were expectantly waiting for what she had to say next. “Before we open and read from the books, I wanted to go over some basic general information with everyone. I want to see what all of you know and give you some background context to use while we read the book. My first question is this: does anyone know what a spiritualist is? Whoever thinks they have the answer, please raise their hand”

The candidates were all a little confused. Was this a trick question? Everyone knew what spiritualists were. They were super awesome people who could control the mysterious spirit essence with a single thought! Almost all the first time candidates that were admitted for instruction were under ten years of age. As such, their parents did not fully explain all the difficult words used to describe spiritualist, not that their parents could fully understand what they were saying either. This also made it so that they really did not understand what spiritualists actually were.

One candidate eventually raised his hand in a shy manner. When called upon he tried to give the silly answer all the kids had in their mind. Cathryn spoke with a small smile: “While that does kind of describes us, I am looking for details and facts. Does anyone know how spiritualists do the marvelous things that are spoken of in tales and legends?”

Everyone was silent. Even if their parents could more accurately describe spiritualists to them, they still would not be able to tell them how they do it. They could know that spiritualists used spirit essence, but not how they actually controlled it. Adam was thinking about what the answer could be. He started to remember the various conversations they had with the receptionists today. Had they not already told them what was required to become a spiritualist?

Just as Cathryn was going to give the answer to the class to continue, Adam tentatively raised his hand. Hopeful at what his answer might be, she called on Adam to see what he had to say.

Rather than giving a confident answer, he answered with another question. “Aren't spiritualists people who control spirit essence and pass it through their souls to create spirit formations?”

Cathryn was a little impressed. There were very few candidates who caught on to this when they first came for testing. “That is very close, Adam. Good job. However, that is still not entirely correct. There is a small difference that I will explain here.”

Cathryn started the class in earnest, almost overwhelming the candidates with knowledge. In truth, spiritualists do not directly control the spirit essence around them. Instead they will form an essence gathering array in their soul with what little spirit essence they posses within themselves. This then gathers the spirit essence from around them into their own soul. They then go about a process to take full control of the spirit essence. Then it will be redirected out of their body into spirit formations that they use.

After she had spoken, everyone else in the room had a dazed look about them. They really could not follow what she just said. She then said that they would all slowly understand her words as they learn more. In order to understand what a spiritualist really was, they had to fully understand the book lying in front of them. It would be their guide, and she would help direct their studies through the book.

For the rest of the afternoon, the class learned from Cathryn. She directed them to pages in their books that they should turn to as she gave them their lessons. Sometimes she would have to explain something one or more times, in different ways, so that everyone could understand what she was trying to teach.

The first thing to talk about was spirit essence. What was it? Where did it come from? Even spiritualists did not fully understand it! They will spend their entire lives studying their own path to understand the true answer to this question. It is believed that spirit essence is the life force of spirits, for lack of a better term, seeping out into the world. The world itself, and everything within, is made of solidified spirit essence. Water was pure water essence. The air they breathed was pure air essence. The soil in the ground is pure earth essence. But many of the things in the world were made of multiple types of essence. Their very bodies contained some portion of all types of spirit essence. Their very souls were the coalescence of their spirit essence. The mixture somehow gives birth to their thought and intelligence.

The majority of spirit essence does not come from spirits that live in their world, however. There are very few spirits that actually live in this world. The way spirit essence takes shape and effects the world, is based solely on their own nature. Not the will of spirits. Though there are a few natural disasters that are caused by battling spirits.

Most spirits live in their own worlds called spirit planes. There is one plane for each spirit type. It is from these planes that spirit essence seeps into our world. Only a few spirits migrate from their planes to this world. It is much harder for them to live here where they are subjected to all the other types of spirit essence, rather then flourish in an area formed purely of their own essence.

Everyone here had a type of spirit essence they were most suited for. It was the type of essence that was most dominant in their bodies. They would concentrate their studies in their own essence types, as it would be far easier for them to understand and control the type that suited them most.

There were six main types of spirits and their essence. There was fire,wind, and death that were grouped together as the more offensive types. Then their directly opposing defensive types were water, earth, and life. However, spirit essence was not truly restricted to their groups or even their own type.

There were a few examples of this. Lightning could be formed by either wind or water essence, even a combination of the two. Even if they were diametrically opposed, fire and water essence were both found in a stable form inside steam. Such things are collectively know as deviations, or deviating spirit essence, and the world is full of them. This is what makes the answer, to the question of what spirit essence really is, so elusive.

There were a few candidates who were confused when they heard life and death being listed as an essence type. These two types were unique in their respective groups. All the other essences are more physical in nature, like earth essence creating dirt. Life and death were more spiritual in nature. While they also governed light and dark respectively, that was not their primary focus. Life gave life, as it would suggest. Plants could be considered to be part of both water and earth essences, but it was life that brought them together to form the plants. Death brings decay to the world. Things wither and wear because death exists.

There is a wheel diagram that is typically used to depict the six types. At the top most spot, you find light. To the right of light you find earth, and on its left you find water. Directly opposite of light, is darkness at the bottom. To the right of darkness is fire, and on its left is wind. Placed in this manner, each type has its direct opposite on the other side of the wheel from itself.

Cathryn continued to direct the candidates through their books. She pointed out key sections and explained a few of them. She also pointed out areas that they would want to take a look at later, after they understood more about the world of a spiritualist. She eventually came to the section many were hoping to see the most. Those two golden pages in the center of the book.

During the session, Vivienne had been following along with Adam's book. She thought that if she knew some of the material, she might be able to provide some additional assistance to Adam. It was a small unlikely chance, but she had nothing else to do. Most of what Cathryn explained and taught did not require any visual materials. Even when she was explaining the wheel that contains the six types, she described each of their spots in relation to another. Like this Adam, who had been hanging on to every word spoken, was able to form a solid picture in his own head without assistance from his mother.

As Cathryn told the class that they were going to turn to the golden pages, all the candidates got excited. But before they could start turning to the pages she spoke: “Before we turn there, however, I want you all to stop your hands. These pages can actually be very dangerous.”

Everyone in the class froze. How could mere pages be dangerous? But this was a special spiritualist book.... were there hidden dangers within?

Cathryn continued when she was sure that everyone was paying attention. “These two pages are very special. They have a spirit essence gathering formation displayed on the pages! By itself it is not dangerous. However, when you look at it, your soul will copy the formation within itself! While viewing these pages, you will be able to gather spirit essence inside your own souls! But his can get very dangerous. If you start feeling faint, pressured, or like something is expanding out ward and ready to burst, you must stop looking at the formation!”

After pausing to ensure her words were properly impacting her audience, Cathryn continued:

“The reason for this is simple, the spirit essence collecting in your soul is starting to get out of control. If it rampages around in your soul, you can irreparably damage your mind and become an invalid. For this reason, you must also never show these pages to normal people. That includes you as well, Vivienne.”

Vivienne was scared at the words Cathryn directed her way. She had no idea the book was so dangerous. None of the receptionists mentioned this once! Adam was also frightened for his mother. If these books were somehow more dangerous for normal people, why would he let his mother sit in a room full of these books.

Vivienne started to open her mouth to ask why were such dangerous books given to these children, when she remembered that she was not allowed to ask. The words got stuck in her throat as she debated on whether she should ignore the condition. Eventually she closed her mouth and remained silent. She could ask the receptionists for more information in a little while. If she decided the risk was too great to Adam, she could always turn the book back in and wash their hands of this affair.

Cathryn smiled at Vivienne, satisfied that she followed the condition that was put forth earlier. Cathryn decided to answer Vivienne's unspoken question, all of the candidates also had the same question on the tips of their tongues anyway.

“I will tell you all why, it may help you understand what it is that you have to do to become a spiritualist. Every soul has an aura, a barrier around itself for protection against the flurry of freely moving spirit essence in the world. This aura is a natural thing all souls form. For Those of us who are sensitive to spirit essence imagine that this aura is a solid wall that has gaps in it. Through these gaps, we can accumulate spirit essence, learn to control it, and then send it back out of your soul to create spirit formations. When you looks at the formation on these pages, it will start to force spirit essence to collect and pass through your aura. If normal people look at the formation, the same will happen. It will try to force spirit essence through the aura barrier around their souls, except they don't have any gaps for it to pass through. The spirit essence will press in on the soul. If they look at the formations for too long, the pressure from the spirit essence will shatter the barrier, and then destroy the soul!”

Everyone was deathly silent. This book was so dangerous! Cathryn continued: “This is rare to happen, however. Most people will pass out before it reaches such a critical point, but their souls can still be damage from the pressure of the spirit essence. The same is true for everyone here, including myself. We all have a certain tolerance that our auras can handle before it gets stressed. But this is also the first important thing that a spiritualist must learn to do.”

“The first task you must accomplish is to figure out how to control the spirit essence the formation gathers and use it to strengthen your soul, which in turn strengthens your aura. Your soul is made out of spirit essence so it should be relatively easy. The difference in power between two spiritualists can be measured by their aura. If you have built up a strong soul, you can utilize larger amounts of spirit essence and form better, more complicated spirit formations.”

Many of the candidates started looking hesitantly at their books. They wanted to become spiritualists, but it seems they had to use this dangerous tool to do so!

Cathryn switched from her slightly more solemn voice, back to a bright one. “Well now that I scared you all stiff, let me give you some good news. In order for a normal person to be badly hurt by looking at the formation, they would have to be staring at it for about an hour. Just a few minutes of exposure would not harm them at all. You don't have to be afraid of your family members glancing at the pages while you are studying. Only if they secretly take the book, should you be concerned.”

“Also, since you have gaps in your aura, you have been unknowingly exposed to more spirit essence then a normal person already. You soul has instinctively taken a portion of the spirit essence that makes it through your aura and strengthened itself. Most of you should be able to pull off an hour of gathering spirit essence with out getting hurt at all! Around this point you should start feeling tired.. When you do start getting tired, you should stop. You will need your mind to stay sharp and focused to figure out how you can control the spirit essence that is coming into your soul and being tired just makes it harder. If you don't learn to control it, the excess spirit essence will just seep back out through the cracks in you aura.”

Everyone started relaxing as Cathryn continued to talk. They would be safe if they didn't stare at the formation for longer than an hour. Even their family members would not be affected by glancing at it! Adam was also exuberant. He feared for his mother being so close to so many books, but it was fine as long as she did not look at the formation for long.

Cathryn spoke to the class: “Good. Now that we are all happy and calm again, let's open up to those pages now! Oh, and before I forget, these pages are useless to you Adam.”