The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (17 page)

The fact that these royal mages are
even here is because, thanks to their lineage, they have high talent and
usually have the ability to manifest their elements early on.
 
It took my father more than twenty years
in order for him to manifest an actual flame, but these 12-14 year olds can
already do that.
 
THAT was the
difference in genes, something that even I found to be undeniable.
 

As for the Conjurers, the most
basic spell involves gathering a specific elemental mana into a sphere and
shooting it.
 
For Fire specialists,
that would be in the form of the spell, fireball.
 
For wind, it would be wind bullet.
 
For water, that would be water bullet
and for earth, a stone bullet.

Conjurers had it easier since they
didn’t have to directly form the element in their bodies, but just absorb the
specific mana particles around them and use that to invoke the spell.
 
Why Conjurers had specializations in
different elements had to do with how well they were able to sense the specific
elemental mana particles around them and utilize it.
 

I rest my head on my right hand as
I watch both types of mages prepare for their spell.

The Augmenters in the class all
begin concentrating with their dominant hand clenched into a fist
.
 
A few long seconds later, their spell became visible as the element
they had their affinity in surrounded their fist.
 
The time it took for the Augmenters
varied but not by much.

The Conjurers in class all began
softly chanting as the space in front of their palms began glowing different
colors, depending on what element their spell was.
 
Unsurprisingly, the time it took Feyrith
and Kathyln to form the spell in front of his or her hand was much faster than
everyone else’s.
 

The only difference between the
Augmenters and Conjurers in their spell was that the element surrounded the
Augmenter’s fist while the element was formed in front of the Conjurer’s
palm.
 

“Now.
 
Augmenters, I want you to try and shoot
your spell in front of you, while Conjurers, I want you guys to try and absorb
the spell you conjured into your hand.”
 
I give them an innocent smile as they stare at me blankly.
 

“…” They realized that I wasn’t
joking when I motioned for them to do it.

“HURGGH!”
 
“HAH!”
 
“Grrr…”
 
“Urghhh”
 
“Shoot!”
 
“Fire!”

It was almost comical watching the
Augmenters try and separate the element from their fists.
 

“Ouch!”
 
“AHH!”
 
“Kyaa!”
 
“OUCH!”
 
“FUCK!”
 
“OWW!” “DAMMIT”

The Conjurers weren’t any better as
all of them ended up getting cut, burned, wet or bruised.
 
After about 15 minutes of struggling,
most gave up and looked at me accusingly.
 
Even Feyrith and Kathyln looked at me doubtfully.

“This is stupid.
 
We all know that only high level
Augmenters can cast long distance spells!”
 
One of the Augmenter students cried.

“Yeah!
 
And what’s the point in absorbing back a
spell we prepared and conjured anyway?”
 
The nerdy girl whined.

Leaving Sylvie on top of the
podium, I hobble to the opposite side of the stage, away from the
students.
 

Taking a brief moment to
concentrate, I aim at the space between where the Augmenters were lined up and
the Conjurers were lined up.

“Wind bullet.”
 

A stream of air shot out of my palm
and bent the wall surrounding the stage into a small crater.
 

“…”

After getting over the initial
surprise, one of the students just retorted.
 
“Big deal… It’s strong but most can do
that once they’ve reached the orange stage.”
 

“True.
  
Since it seems like no one figured
out why what I did was special, let me explain.”
 
I raise my other arm and will a gust to
form around my hand.
 
I shoot the
newly invoked wind bullet, but this time, as the wind bullet goes across the
room, by the time it reaches the wall, only a soft ‘fwoosh’ sound is heard.

“THAT’S what most are able to do
once they’ve reached the orange stage.”
 
I give a slight wink, leaving them confused.

“I can’t accurately demonstrate
what would happen when Conjurers are able to absorb the spells that they
invoked, but trust me, it’ll only help you.”
 

I stagger back to the podium and
grab Sylvie.
 
“That’s it for
today.
 
Try and come up with the
answer to the question and practice what I just told you to do.
 
See you tomorrow.”
 

They won’t be able to produce
results on that level anytime soon.
 
I wasn’t aiming for that anyways.
 
My hope is that, through this, both types of mages alike will be able to
at least overcome one of their major weaknesses right now, while their bodies
are still undeveloped and malleable.
 

I take a deep breath as I sit on a
nearby bench outside
.
 
Realizing that I ended class a bit
too early I noticed the campus was fairly peaceful with most students still in
their classrooms.
 
It’s been a while
since I’ve felt this weak, but getting up and walking around definitely
helped.
 

I sat idly, watching Sylvie chase
after a butterfly through the grass lawn in front of me when I hear footsteps
approaching my direction from the right.
 

“Is this seat taken?”
 
I turn my head to see Princess Kathyln
lean forward so her face was level with mine.
 

“No, go ahead.”
 
I say as I slowly scootch a bit to my
left to make room for her.
 
As she
carefully placed her handkerchief over the bench, she took a seat on top of it,
straightening out her rumpled skirt.
 
We sat there, silently, as both of us just watched Sylvie finally
capturing the agile butterfly that was now struggling in her paws.
 

“I heard what happened from my
brother...
 
I’m sorry.” Her voice
grew quiet at the end of her sentence.
 

I keep my eyes focused on Sylvie
but I respond with a soft chuckle.
 
“Haha, why are you saying sorry as well?
 
Even if it was your brother’s fault,
which it isn’t, he already apologized.”

“It’s just… I feel like my family
owes you many apologies.
 
For what
happened with Sebastian and my Father as well.
 
That time at the Auction house… he’s not
usually like that but he was shocked as well at the turn of events and he
needed to keep his image and…” For the first time, I witnessed Kathyln getting
flustered as her usual composed face becomes flushed and her expression
panicked as she tried to make me understand.
 

“Pfft!
 
I think this is the first time I’ve seen
an actual difference in your expression, Princess.
 
It’s a nice change.”
 
I snicker, as she blushes even brighter,
covering her face and turning her body away from me.
 

“…Please, don’t mock me,
Arthur.
 
I didn’t expect you to be
this type of person.”
 
She said with
her hands still covering her face.

“Oh?
 
What kind of person did you expect me to
be?”
 
I tilt my head in
curiosity.
 

“W-well, when I first met you at
the Auction event, I noticed you held yourself with much maturity…” She
murmured while her back was still facing me.

“You notice how people hold
themselves when you were barely 8 years old?”
 
Reading the posture of a person is
something keen adults barely learn how to do later on with years of meeting
many different kinds of people.

“Yes… being the only Princess of a
kingdom, you end up acquiring that skill fairly quickly.
 
Also, with both my father and brother
being quite the character, I felt like my mother and I were the only normal
ones at times.” By this time, Princess Kathyln turned back towards me after
composing herself.
 

“Oh?
 
I didn’t really find anything unusual
about your brother.
 
He seemed to be
quite charismatic.”
 
I remember
meeting Curtis for the first time at the Auction house.
 
Compared to then, he matured quite a
bit.

“Yes, he’s gotten a lot better,
seeing as he’s able to apologize to you.
 
That would’ve been very hard for him a while back because of his
pride.”
 
She let out a sigh as the
both of us spectated Sylvie’s little battle with another bug.

“When I first saw you, I noticed
right away that you were very different from everyone else.
 
How should I say this? I was very
intrigued by you…” Her head lowered a bit as she continued speaking.

“Haha… is that right?
 
I thought the opposite since your face
had no reaction or change while being near me the whole time.”
 
I let out a soft laugh in reminiscence,
remembering the event that happened four years prior already.
 

“I apologize. I-
I’m
not the most proficient at using my facial muscles effectively.”
 
I found it cute as she pushed her cheeks
up and down with her fingers in an attempt to forcefully make different
expressions.

“Tell me about it.
 
I was beginning to think you were
wearing a mask by how stiff your face was.”
 
I feel her gaze on my face when I smile,
making me feel a little awkward.

“…I will practice.”
 
Princess Kathyln suddenly nods to
herself as I spot her expression looked slightly more determined than
usual.
 

“Pfft!
 
I’m not sure if this is something you
can practice.
 
Just don’t force your
emotions down and let your face move the way it wants to according to how you
feel.
 
When you feel sad, your face
will naturally want to frown.
 
When
you’re happy, your face will naturally want to smile.
 
Like this!”
 
I over exaggerate the expressions on my
face as I switch from an ugly frown to a bright smile.

Oops.
 
Was I overdoing it?

KATHYLN GLAYDER’S POV:

I couldn’t show any weakness.
 
As the only girl in the royal family
besides my Mother, I had a duty to uphold.
 
When males came to visit me, hoping to gain my favor, I wouldn’t show
any weakness that they might use against me.
 
That was my fight.
 

I couldn’t read minds, but it
wasn’t hard to see that all of the males that came to me, both my age and ones
a lot older, had ulterior motives.
 
Royal lineage, superior ability, and physical appearance… the things that
all people believe make their lives easier were shackles that robbed me of the
freedom that I wished to have.
 

Yet, here I was, with a boy my age
that is so much more talented and sought after, yet still so… bright.
 
He shined with a brilliance that made me
want to be like him.
 
What made him
so different from me?
 
How was he
still able to express his emotions freely without being afraid of what others
will view him as?

I couldn’t control myself from
letting out a laugh as Arthur contorted his face like that.
 
He looked so silly.

*Giggles* I instantly cover my
mouth, trying to hide the smile coming out.

“See!
 
That wasn’t so hard!”
 
His exaggerated smile turns gentle,
comforting me.

“I should teach stuff like this
instead of Mana Manipulation, right?”
 
He lets out a pained laugh as he leans down to pet his bond that was now
sitting down between his legs.

“That reminds me.
 
The wind bullet spell that you used to
demonstrate seemed almost like a Conjurer’s spell compared to the second one
that you used.
 
How exactly did you
do it?
 
I am also curious as to why
you made the Conjurers try and absorb the spell back into their bodies.
 
I have never heard of Conjurers doing
that.”
 
I went on like an excited
child about the questions that filled my mind, making me embarrassed.
 

“Whoa!
 
Is that why you came up to me?
 
Is this what you were after?”
 
He leans away from me, shocked.

“N-no!
 
Of course not!
 
That was never my intention!”
 
Oh no!
 
I wasn’t like the men that came after me
with some motive.
 
I just saw him
sitting there and wanted to…
 
why
did I ask to sit next to him?

I realized my hand was slightly
touching his arm so I pulled it back quickly.

“Heh, I was obviously joking,
Princess.
 
I’m not sure if I should
tell you though.
 
It wouldn’t be very
fair of me to give you the advantage like that, right?”
 
He gives me a little wink that makes my
chest feel heavy all of a sudden.
 
What was that?

“I-I
guess
you are right.
 
It would be unfair
to give me answers on the homework that you assigned.”
 
I respond quietly.

“Mmm… well, I guess I can give a
little pointer for a fellow Disciplinary Committee member. Watch now.”
 
I look up to see him concentrate as he
lifts both his hands, palms faced up.

His left hand began to glow as soft
winds swirled, surrounding his hand.
 
As for his right hand, only a small portion in the center of his palm
glowed and the wind that gathered towards this hand didn’t surround his arm,
but instead, swirled into a sphere just above his palm.
 
With a brief flick of his wrists, he
shoots out the small gusts of wind in both hands forward.
 

The wind that surrounded his left
hand dissipated after a few meters but the spherical wind that he conjured with
his right hand shot out several times farther before dissipating with a soft
“pa”.
 

“There is your hint for the
Augmenter’s homework.
 
As for what I
assigned the Conjurers, think backwards.”
 
He gets up as I contemplated about what he just did.

“I should get going now.
 
Let me know if you need more lessons on
facial expressions.”
 
He gives me an
exaggerated scowl, then a perverted smile, making me almost laugh again.

“Aww… you didn’t laugh this
time.
 
Too bad.”
 
He slowly walked off with his bond
scampering next to him.
 
I couldn’t
help but feel a bit empty as I sat alone on the cramped bench that now seemed
too big for just me to sit on.

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

“Psst.
 
I heard you got hurt on the first day of
class.
 
Are you okay?”
 
Emily’s
thick glasses shift down as she leans forward next to me, whispering in
the middle of class.
 
We were
learning about the basic components that make up different types of artifacts.

“Fwoosh.”
 
All of a sudden, a
piece of chalk flew straight at Emily, disappearing somewhere in her curly hair.

Gideon gives a light cough as his hand still stretched out after throwing
the chalk at her. “Miss Watsken, please enlighten the class on the various
components in a basic light producing artifact.”

“The basic light producing artifact is made up of the basic foundation
crystal, Florenite, found abundantly near the outskirts of Sapin and also in
the Kingdom of Darv.
 
After
Florenite is refined, it will constantly let out a dim light so in order to
control the output of the ore…”

“Ok ok, that’s enough.
 
Sheesh,
I just asked for the material.”
 
Gideon grumbles something under his breath as he cuts Emily mid
explanation.
 

Giving a light shrug, she takes out some paper to write on while she makes
futile attempts to scavenge the piece of chalk buried somewhere deep in her
hair.

We exchanged notes for a bit, writing to each other about what
happened.
 
I tried skimming over the
details but that didn’t really seem to work with her.
 

Eventually, because of the lack of details from my side, she wasn’t really
able to piece anything together, leaving her frustrated and curious.
 

“Something seems off…” She eyed me as we left class after packing up our
things.
 
For homework, we were
already assigned some sort of mini project where we had to assemble a
light-producing artifact or LPA for short.

“You’re overthinking things, Emily.
 
I’m more worried about the project that Gideon already assigned us.
 
I’m so lost after missing the first
week.”
 
This was actually true.
 
My critical thinking abilities and vague
knowledge of technology from my past allowed me to make connections and
understand better than most first years, but everyone was grumbling about how
this class was one of their hardest.
 
Leave it to that eccentric Gideon to teach a basic class as if it were
several levels higher.