The next four years went by in a blur. Besides getting to know that I was about 3 years old when my brother was taken away, I spent most of the time playing in the fields with other kids who came from the farms in the surrounding area, but I never really befriended them because our mental age was just too far apart. It is really taxing to act like a child and the others can be quite annoying if they throw one of their childish tantrums.

It seems that in this world the beasts rule and humanity barely managed to establish 3 cities: Ardens, Cyma and Frumentum. I live in the area Frumentum, the city with the greatest food reserves and best enchanters, rules. The surroundings of this city are famous for their giant farms.

I also learned what the Academy was: It is the institution where all talented children in Frumentum are sent to in order to become warriors. Every four years’ men are sent to locate talented children who will then be sent to the Academy.

Now that four years have passed it is time for them to move out again. They will most likely arrive in the next few weeks so father is lecturing me about how I should behave in front of the ‘inspectors’ as they are called in these parts.

“…. to behave and- Hey, are you listening?” Realizing that I wasn’t really listening he shook my shoulder.

“Uh, yes father!” I replied, not really being mentally present as I said that.

My father looked at me and sighed, something he did a lot in the last four years. He knew that this would be the nth time that he repeats this lecture so he let it be. I know he is nervous because he doesn’t want me to be taken away.

If a child is accepted into the Academy, it will be trained until it is 16 years old. After that it is free to decide what it wants to do. Most join the military since they were trained most of their life to fight the beasts but some decide to become adventurers: People who earn their living by killing beasts and selling their parts to merchants or the military.

Before he could say anything else though we were interrupted by a few men stepping through the hole in the wall that we called entrance. It should have been replaced with a proper door long ago but father insisted that it should stay like this. I suspect it has something to do with my mother that I have never seen. I fear that it would hurt him so I never asked but I think she either went missing or had died. Judging by my father’s abnormal hate against beasts I think it is the latter.

The man that looked the most imposing stepped forward and said: “We are here to test your child.”

My father, seeing that they were far quicker than expected, became silent and allowed the inspectors to approach me. Though someone who didn’t know him would have overlooked it, I saw him faintly moving his foot slowly up and down. His brows furrowed gently and his body tensed up. These things signified that he was nervous, something that I have rarely seen before. The last time I did was when a rat with golden fur attacked me and the other children and he could only watch as the parents of some kid battled it.

The inspector, seeing that I was clearly nervous, squatted to be on the same height as me and said: “Okay boy, you don’t have to be afraid. Every kid has to go through this and none have died because of it, do you understand?”

I nodded and he rummaged through his pockets until he took a stone tablet out.

“*Ahem* Just follow my instructions and see if you can do what I say. I will then evaluate your results.

Sit down in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Try to concentrate on yourself and look inside your body, the head to be exact. You will then faintly feel something around you.

Take as much of that as you can and guide it to your head. Suck all of the gathered mana up and create a rock. Oh, before I forget it: Never, NEVER guide mana of the outside world into your core after that again, okay? It will drive you mad.

Don`t worry if you are confused. You will understand if you have talent. If not, then you don’t have to worry about it since you will become a farmer like your father.”

Mana? Core? What the hell is he talking about? Well, he already said that I will understand if I am talented so I will try to follow his instructions.

I sat down with my legs stretched while my arms were supporting my body. Then I did just as he said: After a few seconds passed I could indeed feel something around me. It seemed to be everywhere, but extremely concentrated in the areas the inspectors occupied, whilst the area around myself and my father had far more of it than the surroundings it came nowhere close to that of the inspectors. I guess this is what he called mana.

I concentrated and managed to move a chunk that was as big as my body to my head. To my surprise I discovered that something round was inside my brain which sucked all of the gathered mana and my consciousness into it.

The first thing I saw was a darkness. Though it may sound confusing the darkness inside what I presume to be my core was not the same darkness I spent so much time in before I was transported here. It was different in one way or another that I just can’t explain.

After that I noticed the mana floating around me. However, it seemed to be confined in a barrier of sorts. I had no other way to explain why it just seemed to not be able to exist further than a few dozen meters away from me. Remembering the inspectors’ words, I thought about how I should create a rock. After I pondered that for a while I felt that I should will it into existence. I don’t know why that thought ran through my head but it felt like the right thing to do so I did just that.

To my surprise most of the mana rushed into the spot I was staring at and formed an ordinary rock you could find just about everywhere about the size of my head.

It started to produce mana that slowly filled this space inside my core. A light went up in my head when I realized that mana was produced by the rock. What the hell is mana? Some kind of energy?

Because I became distracted I was promptly kicked out of that strange space and found the inspectors staring at me.

“So, what did you experience?” he asked me in a serious tone, the stone tablet raised to write something on it.

I recounted what happened and he nodded. After that he scribbled something on the stone tablet using the…tip of his finger?

Seeing my confused look, he told me “Don’t worry, as it seems that you have talent you will know soon enough. We will come to pick you up in a few days so prepare yourself in that time, ok?”

Before I could respond my father shoved the inspectors roughly out of the house, shouting: “Get out of my house, I need to talk with my son!”

A surprisingly calm inspector replied “We understand, please use your time wisely.” and disappeared with the other inspectors into the fields, most likely visiting another family.

After he couldn’t see them anymore my father began shaking. I know it was a hard blow to lose my brother but he always had me. Now that I will soon be gone too I don’t know how he will cope with it.

My father is normally quite an indifferent person but whenever family came into play he became an overprotective father that won’t let you out of his eyes.

“John, do you remember what I told your brother that day?” He asked with a shaking voice.

Continuing before I could answer he said “I forgot to tell him something. Something very important actually. I will say this to you and if you meet your brother I would like you to repeat it to him: Stay safe and don’t get into danger. If you don’t want to be a warrior anymore you and your brother can always come home to tend to the fields. You two will *sob* be welcomed home with open arms no *sob*matter what happens. Do you *sob* understand *sob*? “

Now both of us were in tears and I stared deep into his hazel eyes before nodding. Though I had only known him for four years he was a far better father to me than the father that raised me in my past life. I knew that his feelings were genuine so I grew to love him.

I understand now why my father cried at that time. He worries about us to an extreme extent and doesn’t want us to be hurt but he knows it will be unavoidable in the Academy. He knows that we will feel horrendous pain that the training will inflict on us and that pains him.

Fuck, I will miss him. I will miss this house. I will miss the hole in the wall. I… I will miss everything here!

That night, both my father and I cried ourselves to sleep.