Othir, a mysterious spiritual force that circles the universe and chooses individuals in moments of intense emotional clarity or desire, moments where the soul crystallizes around a core ideal or need.
Such emotional state acts as a key, unlocking a personal manifestation of Othir. It is not something one is born with, but something one is chosen by.
This spiritual force bestows powers through Othir Essence, the core resource that fuels all Othir based abilities, each uniquely tied to the emotional state and nature of the individual at the time of their awakening.
Those who are able to perceive and wield Othir Essence are known as Transcendants. They are the ones capable of battling and defeating the Echoes.
Every Transcendants follows an evolution of Othir known as the Path of Transcendence.
This is a nine series that reflects a user's depth of connection with Othir.
Transcendents bear a unique symbolic mark that evolves and shows which series they're on.
Each series is stronger than the last, moving in an ascending order; from series one the lowest to series nine the highest.
_
Everyone gazed at Reynold as he explained the whole concept of Othir. Their expressions perplexed from the information they had just heard. Although, these were Jenna, Hitori and the other students, since the knights of Luminastra already knew about this.
"Then tell us, how is a Converter related to this?" Hitori asked, curious.
Reynold's gaze shifted to the young prince, and the prince nodded, giving him permission to speak.
"Converters are advanced Echoes." Reynold replied.
"What do you mean?" Jenna asked.
"They are Echoes which were once humans, not just any regular human, but humans who had gotten through Othir Awakening. That is, have followed the Path of Transcendence."
Hitori's eyes widened, his mind raced as the words entered his ears;
'Humans with abilities turning into Echoes? That's just madness.'
The thoughts whorled in his head while also thinking of how all these related to him. However, while he was thinking, the others tried to get their minds out.
"Are you saying that a person who has awakened can also become an Echo?" A young lady with cyan hair and golden eyes said, her voice quivering as she spoke.
"Yes, that is correct." Reynold responded.
"H…How is that possible?" Jenna urged. "Shouldn't a Transcendent have the power to fight against an Echo? How is it possible for one to be turned into an Echo?"
Reynold's eyes were fixed on Jenna as she asked the question. He had an expression that showed he himself didn't have an answer to such a question.
"You are right. But I'm not sure myself. I mean we have only gathered this much information on what we have speculated and witnessed. We don't have any solid evidence since we are also new to this evolution."
"My guess, there is still a lot we don't know. And it is our goal to find out as much as possible."
"If that is the case, can I ask one more question?" Jenna asked, her gaze fixed at Reynold and the others.
"Go on…"
"You said you aren't from here right? From a place called Luminastra. How then were you able to find your way to our world? And also, if you are new to all these, how come you know so much?"
As the words left her lips, Hitori raised his head. The question was so straight forward, yet it brought him back to reality as this was a question that had been hanging in his mind for a while.
At this moment, Reynold felt a bit uncomfortable. He didn't know where to begin, or how he was going to explain it, because even if he did, it wouldn't make any sense.
"Is it alright to tell them?" Alex asked, as he sat upright looking at the young prince.
"Why not?" the young prince replied. "They have already been dragged into this madness, so it wouldn't be wise to leave them in the dark, you know how it would be from here on out."
Alex rested his back on the sofa. There was no need for him to push any further since it was the young prince's decision.
"By the way it is something we would have told them eventually since we don't have much time."
"Much time? What do you mean?" Jenna asked.
"Sigh… We didn't come here of our own will." The young prince replied.
"What do you mean?"
"We were dragged here." Reynold took over,
"Or to be more precise, Shifted? I think that would be the appropriate word to use. It has been like that for a while now. We didn't leave our own world of our own accord, but were shifted away from it."
Jenna and the others were bewildered, they didn't have the slightest idea of what he was talking about or what he meant by shifted.
"Can you please explain more?" Jenna asked.
And Reynold adjusted himself saying. "How do I put this now?"
"Back when we were in Luminastra. Even though we had awakened, we were still unable to defeat those Converters, and so the only option we were left with was to escape. Although nowhere was safe, we were still able to get far away. And when I say we, I mean just the eight of us."
Reynold gestured to the others.
"Truth to be told, I think we are the last people of Luminastra, but I hope just like us, some were able to survive."
The other knights' expressions turned pale as their thoughts lingered on their lives back in Luminastra. Then Reynold continued.
"We were safe for about a day or two. However, on one particular night while we slept and woke up, something happened."
"And what was that?" Jenna asked.
"We didn't wake up in Luminastra."
The room went silent for a while, before Reynold continued:
"We were transported to another realm, shifted that is. At first we didn't know what had happened. But with time we were able to analyze and come to a conclusion after spending almost a month in that world we got shifted to."
As the words left his mouth, the others became even more bewildered.
Reynold looked down at his bare palms as he continued:
"We counted the days in which the Shift first happened. That is, from the day we left Luminastra and the day we got shifted again. It was…"
"Twenty-one days in total." Alon added.
"Twenty-one days?!" Jenna exclaimed.
"Yes. And this has been happening ever since, almost three months now."
"We don't know how it happens or what causes it, but we do know one thing for sure. Every Transcendent in a one mile radius would get shifted when the time comes."
"And when would that be?" Jenna asked, her face pale.
Reynold stared at the young prince and the others, his expression carrying a bit of concern, then he turned back to Jenna, and said:
"In the next, three days."