“We’re going to see if you can break through to Tier 1 today.” Drayek directed me away from the weapons rack and pointed to the center of our training arena.

He had placed a soft monster hide on the ground, and I sat atop it at his urging. I looked around myself and past the hovel to the little dirt road leading into town.

“No Sarina?”

Drayek shook his head as he dug into the leather pouch strapped across his body. “She’s probably searching for a mentor right now. That’s the smart thing for her to do, at least.”

“She wouldn’t want you as a mentor?”

Drayek shrugged and simultaneously procured a bundle out of his bag. The bundle was shoddily wrapped in parchment and twine, and my stomach churned at the sight of patches of dark black blood leaking into the paper. Edronans didn’t bleed black….

“Receiving a Mark has put her into Tier 1 and has given her a Tier 1 Skill. She’s probably trying to find a mentor match for her Skill–someone who can help her hone her new talents well. And I don’t know what Skill she was given, so I don’t know who she would need as a mentor.”

As always, Drayek was right, but it felt strange to sit in the arena with Drayek but not Sarina. I didn’t like it.

“Alright, Rayden. Eat this.” Drayek pulled the parchment and twine away from the bundle in the blink of an eye and held out a slimy lump of flesh.

I recoiled away from the juicy meat and held a hand to my nose. It smelled of decay.

“Is that what I think it is?” I cried.

Drayek gave a sly half-smile and squeezed it a little in his hand. A few dribbles of black blood fell over his forearm.

“Monster heart,” he said matter-of-factly. “You didn’t get Marked, so you didn’t advance into Tier 1. However, you have Soul Strength–a good deal of it, which means your Soul is strong enough for cultivation. After people are Marked, we gather essence to level up and continue advancing through the Tiers. So, in theory, if I give you some essence, maybe you’ll break through to Tier 1.”

I crinkled up my nose in disgust. “And let me guess…. You want me to eat the monster heart to gather some essence?”

Drayek nodded.

“Why not a monster core? Those just look like marbles, right?” I said. “One of those might be a lot easier to swallow.”

“A core typically has more essence within it than a heart does. Just in case your attempt to cultivate is rough on your Soul, I need to give you a decent amount of essence without giving you too much. We have no idea what your body can handle.”

Drayek threw the monster heart at my feet. “This heart came from an adolescent Rockcrawler. Much smaller than a fully grown Rockcrawler and not nearly as much essence as a Nagari, but consuming it will still give you a significant amount of essence, especially for someone not yet in the Tiers.”

Drayek flashed me a quick grin. “Eat up.”

“Can we cook it first? Maybe a little salt and some rosemary…. We could sear it up nice, and then I wouldn’t be throwing up for the rest of the day.”

Drayek chuckled, but it sounded more like a deep rumbling in his chest. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

Right again. Of course I knew how it worked. Gathering essence could be done in lots of ways. Killing monsters, then attracting their essence to your core, or swallowing the monster’s core. Eating a monster’s heart also gave you essence–a lot of it. And cooking the monster heart was out of the question. The fresher the heart, the better.

Even killing people and eating their hearts, and swallowing their cores, gave you essence. Yeah, I know. Gross. I didn’t plan on ever eating a person heart–trust me. I didn’t even like the idea of swallowing another person’s core.

I looked at the monster heart at my feet. The veins inside still pulsed with life as both blood and essence coursed through them. Though the organ came from a smaller Rockcrawler, relatively speaking, Rockcrawlers–giant snakes, essentially–were a good deal bigger than me. The heart was big. About the size of my foot. But wait…

“Drayek, aren’t you supposed to report the loot you bring back from a hunt, like hearts?”

Drayek shrugged again–his favorite thing to do. “I keep one for myself here and there. What the Priests and other Edronans don’t know won’t hurt ‘em. Besides, the amount of loot I bring back from hunts is higher than anyone else’s. They’ll never suspect me.”

Drayek pushed the heart a little closer to me with the toe of his boot. “Now, stop stalling and eat the heart already.”

I picked at the hunk of meat with just my fingertips and scowled at the feel of tendons and flesh squishing against my skin. But, as disgusted as I was, I felt hope. Drayek seemed convinced that I could still cultivate–Mark or no Mark.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I focused on the hope presently buzzing in my chest and shoved the first bite of heart into my mouth, ignoring the chewy bits of flesh sticking to my throat as I swallowed. The meat was sweet, but surprisingly not in an unpleasant way. After three bites, I was able to down the rest without any retching.

Drayek rolled onto the back of his heels in anticipation. “Anything?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on every inch of my body. “What’s it supposed to feel like?”

“It’s different for everyone, but I always feel a tingling sensation growing along my skin as the essence starts making its way through my body. Then I try to focus it all into my core.”

I pursed my lips. “How do I do that?”

“Just focus on feeling the essence first. Are you noticing any changes?” Drayek was whispering now.

“Other than my stomach feeling a little sick, I feel normal.” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

I really tried to feel a tingling, a warmth–anything! But I didn’t think the essence was becoming a part of me. I might as well have eaten a piece of essence-less bread.

I peeked my eyes open to look at Drayek, but I couldn’t read his impassive face. He merely tapped a finger against his thigh as he thought.

“Let’s try to activate your core anyway.” Drayek lowered his voice to a whisper again. “Rayden, keep your eyes closed and relax every part of your body. Imagine your core. Everyone has a core–monsters, a piece of fruit… even the UnMarked have cores. Picture, in every agonizing detail, what your core looks like.”

I did as he asked and dug into the recesses of my brain for that sort of imagination. But it wasn’t as hard as I thought; as I thought about my core, it was like a piece of my mind unlocked and whooshed open to reveal a light that had been waiting to show itself for my entire life. The light glowed behind my eyes and filled my very being.

And then a picture of my core revealed itself. I could’ve sworn it had done just that–revealed itself. I wasn’t convinced I had done any “imagining.” My mind presented an image of a ball of white light–the same light that had unlocked just moments before, but I now saw it floating in a space of immense darkness.

Upon closer inspection, my core looked marble-ish, definitely sphere-like. But instead of some inanimate object that people swallowed like the other cores I’d seen, this felt more… spiritual than that.

I said as much to Drayek, but he stopped me:

“Yes, Rayden. Your core is a part of your Soul–a part of your spirit.”

I couldn’t deny the excitement dripping from Drayek’s voice. That put a smile on my face. If Drayek thought it was working, maybe it really was.

“One’s core will look different for everyone,” Drayek said, “but keep your focus on your core. Try not to speak to me. Tune the world out.”

I followed his instruction and sank further into a meditative state. I could still hear Drayek talking as he guided me through the process, but his voice grew more and more distant. Calm washed over me like a warm wind from an oncoming storm, and I allowed myself to fully surrender to it. The image of my core seemed to grow brighter and brighter.

“Imagine yourself grabbing every bit of essence around you and placing it inside your core like you’re packing a bag.”

I barely heard Drayek, but I attempted what he asked of me. In my mind’s eye, I could see my hands reaching for streams of energy–essence. The streams were long and string-like and seemed to float and twist in an invisible wind. They shimmered a pretty blue and glowed in my vision brightly. And they looked familiar–more than familiar.

“I’ve seen these before,” I said aloud.

“Seen what?” Drayek whispered.

“These essence streams. They’re like… threads of blue weaving together and dancing within me.”

And the more I studied them, the more I realized I had seen these lines of blue throughout my life. Only sometimes, and not in large quantities, but every once in a while in passing. I’d see a single stream dancing above our heads during training or a line or two at the Markets. At the time, it had felt so inconsequential that I’d almost forgotten about it–the seeing of essence had become normalized in my head. It turned out I hadn’t even known what I’d been seeing.

“Uh, well, just focus on the streams and direct them to your core,” Drayek said, but something akin to confusion dripped from his voice.

I did as he said, but each time I reached for essence, the streams disappeared like a puff of smoke. I grew increasingly frustrated as the essence refused to go where I directed it. I could still see my core glowing brightly and blazing warmly inside of my gut, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t guide the essence inside.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, allowing another wave of calm to relax my body before trying again. But as I searched for the essence in my mind once more, I was interrupted by a small voice in my head:

“It is almost time, Master.”

The voice came from the back of my mind. It was flat-toned and squeaky all at the same time, and it didn’t sound like my own voice normally did in my head.

“Hello?” I queried in my thoughts, feeling insane as I did so.

No answer.

My eyes fluttered open, and I was met with the shadowy light of mid-evening. Drayek was sitting cross-legged in front of me, head propped up on his arms as he snored away. I hadn’t realized I’d been meditating for so long, let alone hours.

I brought myself to my knees, groaning at the stiffness in my legs garnered from sitting for so long.

“Drayek?” I shook him awake.

Drayek started and quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Rayden? Did it work?”

I shook my head but couldn’t keep away the thought of that strange voice.

“What is it?” Drayek asked, rolling his shoulders back. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure.” I avoided Drayek’s gaze, but he could always tell when I was holding back.

“Are you sure it didn’t work?”

I nodded. “The essence seemed to refuse to enter my core and give me strength.”

Drayek wrinkled his brow. “Rayden, what is it that you’re not saying?”

I debated internally whether or not to tell him about the strange voice residing in my mind. A part of me felt like I had imagined it in my vulnerable state of meditation. I also worried I was going insane. I didn’t have much of a desire to reveal to Drayek the potential decline of my mental faculties.

“No, nothing,” I said decidedly. “I just thought it might be working at some point. I could see the essence, and I could see my core, but…” I avoided Drayek’s leery gaze. “But nothing happened to make me think I advanced to Tier 1.”

Drayek studied me for agonizingly long seconds that turned to minutes. I shifted my weight from one knee to the other. I hadn’t lied to him, but I had omitted something I maybe should have revealed to him immediately.