[https://i.imgur.com/Lkr3YHy.jpg]

7

"Hmm"

My eyes were heavy. I opened them slowly but the painful light prompted me to close them immediately. I tried again and blinked quickly before I really saw where I was. I sat up quickly. This bed is not mine, I thought in confusion. Someone had even covered me with a sheet. I could see the main room of the house from my position and immediately shivered. Five shields, three spears, two swords, and what was that?. a war hammer? If that wasn't enough I saw hanging on the wall the head of what looked like a lion. I say resembled, because if the mane was present, it was black in color. The creature had no nose to speak of, two vertical openings served as its nostril, while in the gaping maw two rows of sharp fangs were evident. In addition, the creature's face was covered with stripes that reminded me of a zebra but with white stripes rather than black. In conclusion, I had to get out of here immediately. If someone had the power to kill such a creature, I wasn't sure I wanted to invade their territory. And how long was I unconscious here? I looked out the window near me, the height of the sun. Oh no, it was already noon. Mother would be furious. I had to go home immediately.

" Drink. »

I turned my head to the left slowly, very, very slowly. A mug rested on a bedside table. The liquid was black as coffee but the smell it gave off made my stomach churn. In my mind, it was a mixture of rotten egg, delicately mixed with urine that had been left to ferment. I was going to leave this vintage to someone else, I decided in an instant.

" Drink "

I looked all around me but saw no one. Had I met a ghost without realizing it. Did ghosts exist in this world?

The bedroom door closed slowly, behind it, a shadow appeared.

My name is Taylor Woodskin, son of a Duke. I experienced many things in my previous life. Orphaned, I had learned to have tough skin. My roommates and classmates were not nice. Some say adolescence is a stupid age. I experienced this stupidity for many years without being spared. Yet at this moment, I am ashamed to admit that I screamed and fell heavily from a bed that was not mine.

As I moaned in pain and humiliation on the floor, the elf who had spoken to me earlier picked me up and threw me onto the mattress like a sack of potatoes.

"Drink" he repeated

I hadn't screamed, I wasn't so scared I tried to convince myself by looking at the elf that made me rethink the idea that I was in a ghost house.

The man in front of me was mind-blowingly thin, his sunken cheeks showing off the bones of his skull. His eyes bore dark circles that gave the man a cadaverous appearance. If that wasn't enough his tunic and leather pants were hanging over him, obviously they were too big. He only had one ear. I didn't know if the other had been ripped off but I wouldn't have been surprised if it had.

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"Drink that tea!" Or do I have to bottle feed you, kid. You look too old to be breastfed. »

I felt insulted.

Not only did this living corpse scare me, but it thought me so stupid to drink what a stranger gave me without thinking.

" I do not… "

I didn't have time to answer before an intense pain in my chest paralyzed me. I felt like I was suffocating.

" I told you so. »

He had said nothing. Was a single word a full explanation?

“Drink this, or the pain will only grow. »

I immediately took the cup in my hands. When I smelled that unbearable smell again. Was I really going to put this horror in my mouth?

Suddenly I felt like someone had just stabbed me. My pain had just doubled.

Without waiting I started to drink, grimacing. Then I widened my eyes in surprise. This taste...

I took another sip.

How something that smelled so horrible tasted like strawberries. Before I knew it, I had emptied my cup and carefully put it on the table.

"Well, that wasn't so terrible was it? »

The pain gradually disappeared and soon I was able to breathe normally again. He helped me?

“Grandpa, thank you. " I said

But my politeness was rewarded with a slap on the back of the head.

“Who are you calling grandpa, kid, I’m a middle-aged elf. I'm still young. Grandpa who is your grandpa…” he muttered.

I eyed his appearance skeptically but preferred to keep quiet. Wisdom sometimes lurked in the silence and my head wouldn't take another hit from that force.

“Now kid, I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer me or I promise to drag you by your little pointy ears to your parents' house. Is that clear ? »

I nodded quickly, in agreement. But inside I wondered who had put me on the same road as this demon.

“So here is my question. She is straightforward. WHAT RIVER DID YOU FALL INTO WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE TO DO SUCH A STUPID THING?”

"Uh"

I met the elf's gaze, then lowered my head.

" I wait. »

“I wanted to learn how to do magic. I replied bitterly.

"So that's it, you wanted to do magic…" he said softly

I saw his face soften, and felt the tension leave my shoulders.

“DO YOU TAKE ME FOR AN IDIOT KID? he shouted causing me to jump again. I should really get out of here, that elf was crazy. I was now convinced of it.

"Maybe I should…" I started before he cut me off.

"We don't interrupt our elders. Didn't your parents say that you had to wait until you were 8 years old to start absorbing the natural essence? »

I turned my head to the window and whispered.

" They did it. »

“There is a good reason why it is necessary to reach this age. It is at eight years old that the Web finishes forming. Before that, absorbing natural essence is suicide. »

I knew what he was talking about. Essence was a mass of energy that the body took for a foreign body. At first, he tried to reject the essence. The Web prevented it. Indeed the Web was a circuit of small filaments in the center of the chest which played three roles. First, it contained the natural essence to prevent it from escaping suddenly, which would lead to the painful death of the individual. The filaments absorbed the essence before a savage and unstable core had time to form. Second, the canvas modulated the natural essence by cycling it through the filaments at distinct rhythms. With these cycles the body slowly got used to the essence until it no longer rejected it. When the time came, small holes formed in the canvas and released the essence that was tamed. The essence then took the form of a living paste which would become the core. The core then connected to the veins and arteries, to produce the physical essence from the blood and the natural essence. The physical energy then surrounds the core and then slowly a protection of a bony nature forms around it. When this was done the canvas stuck to the bone to play its third role, supporting the weight of the core. The core being present and protected the physical essence would enter the web to exit and produce magick. The web would absorb natural energy and release physical energy.

I had spent hours and hours reading on the subject yet I had taken the risk. I had already absorbed natural essence as a baby and it didn't kill me. So why not. But it seems that I overestimated myself.

“I see you know what I'm talking about, yet you made the biggest mistake of your life. You would be lucky to be alive tomorrow or to practice magic again one day. »