The Voltraxian Pre-Academy was no ordinary school.
Built atop a levitating monolith surrounded by an orbiting storm field, it shimmered with geometric elegance—towering crystalline spires, kinetic bridges, and amphitheaters with magnetic resonance rings. The structure itself was alive with power, maintained by a sentient sub-core and shielded by an ever-shifting electromagnetic dome.
At exactly four years and three cycles, Kenzo was formally enrolled.
He walked through the gates wearing his charcoal-gray cadet uniform lined with thin silver filaments, each representing an awakened core signature. His bore a single, swirling arc—unlabeled, unregistered, and completely unique.
"Name?" the Proctor Sphere asked as he stepped onto the initiation pad.
"Kenzo Arclight Voltrax," he replied.
The sphere paused. "Essencia classification: Undocumented Magnetic Field Expression. Core formed at birth. Integration with House Voltraxia confirmed."
A wave of murmurs rippled through the new recruits. Most were heirs of elite sub-houses—some with kinetic acceleration, others with nanowave conversion or quantum flicker abilities.
But none had his sigil.
Kenzo's first lesson was Essencia Weaving—the foundational skill all sorcerers of the Empire learned.
"Essencia," said Instructor Maedrix, a tall, mechanical-eyed woman who floated rather than walked, "is not magic. It is structured energy. Flow. Intention channeled through logic and design."
She gestured, and a stream of violet light emerged from her palm, shaped itself into a hexagonal barrier, then fractured into harmless bursts.
"To weave Essencia is to bend the laws of physics in service of will—not to ignore them," she said. "Here in House Voltraxia, we apply scientific reasoning to our expressions."
She clapped her hands.
The room's walls folded outward, revealing training arenas—circles of hovering platforms, each with shimmering glyph matrices beneath them.
"Begin."
Kenzo was assigned to Platform C alongside three other children.
There was Lyron Drev, a calm boy with matter-density control; Ysia Velle, a bright girl who could create harmonic vibrations; and Kael Roan, a blunt, sharp-eyed kid who already wielded raw kinetic pulses with shocking force.
The task: create two simple weaves.
A kinetic attack pulse.
A defensive Essencia barrier.
Kenzo watched the others try first.
Lyron compacted air into a solid sphere. Ysia channeled sound into a pulsing disc. Kael launched a brute-force shockwave that rattled the entire platform.
When it was Kenzo's turn, he closed his eyes and did what he always did:
He listened.
Not with ears, but with his internal field. He focused on the Soul Core in his chest, then followed the lines pulsing from it—Soul Veins—which branched like magnetic wires through his arms and fingers.
Essencia flowed through them, like electrons racing through copper.
He extended his hand and visualized a waveform—frequency, amplitude, pressure. He pulled magnetic force from the environment, shaping it with intent.
A crackling orb of bluish energy sparked to life in his palm.
Then—with a thought—he released it.
FWOOM.
The orb shot forward, spiraling and humming, before slamming into the target dummy. Not explosive—but piercing. The dummy crackled and collapsed into magnetic shards.
Even Instructor Maedrix blinked.
"Controlled polarity. You created an induced Lorentz pulse," she muttered. "At your age?"
Kenzo shrugged. "It's just field alignment."
Next came the defensive spell.
Kenzo focused again—this time imagining a dipole shell, shaped like a curved dome. He layered it in three electromagnetic wavelengths—each spinning in alternating polar directions.
The barrier shimmered to life in front of him, translucent and humming.
Kael tested it with a kinetic jab.
The energy dispersed. Kenzo's barrier held.
A perfect electromagnetic deflection.
Instructor Maedrix clapped her hands. "Very good. Kenzo, you've demonstrated composed weave logic. You'll begin advanced filament studies next cycle."
Later, in the dormitory observatory, Kenzo stood beside the window with Lyron and Ysia, watching magnetic storms ripple over the Pre-Academy's sky dome.
"That was wild," Ysia said, tossing a resonance crystal between her fingers. "You don't use normal elemental constructs, do you?"
Kenzo shook his head. "I think in systems. Currents. Charge and flow."
Lyron nodded thoughtfully. "Your Essencia… it moves differently. It's almost… organized."
Kenzo didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he placed his hand on the glass wall, feeling the magnetic flux pulse beneath his fingers.
"It's not just power," he said finally. "It's structure. And I'm going to learn everything I can about it."
Because he was starting to understand the truth:
Essencia wasn't just energy—it was the code of the universe.