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

“I accept the duel!”
 
The two badges glow and different colors
until it syncs together and produces a loud ‘ping’ sound.

The badge on the Battle Mage uniform and the
pocket watch on the Scholar Mage uniform act as an artifact for the dueling
system, creating a layer of barrier around the user that can take a certain
amount of force.
 
When the barrier
breaks, the duel is considered over and the other party the winner.
 
It takes around 24 hours for the
artifact to charge another barrier where, during that time, dueling is not
allowed.
 
Mages of a higher level
aren’t allowed to issue a duel with lower levels to keep it fair, which is why
the human had to taunt the dwarf to start the duel.

The human mage takes out dual swords from his
dimension ring and gets into a stance as the people around start backing up to
avoid getting caught up in the fight.

“Go dwarf!”
 
Elijah starts cheering himself in favor
of Broznean, getting dirty looks in the process.

I study the two Augmenters and see that the
level two human is a red core stage mage while the dwarf is still a black
stage.
 
This should be
interesting.
 

“HAAP!”
 
The human student roars as his two broadswords glow a dim yellow color
and the earth surrounding him starts trembling.

“JAH!”
 
The dwarf leaps up and propels himself forward by pushing off of a
nearby tree, charging his battle-axe as well with earth attribute mana.

“Ooh!
 
Both are Earth Attribute Augmenters Art!”
 
Elijah gets more excited as leans closer
towards the fight as Sylv is asleep on my head.

“Tremor Smash!”
 
The dwarf shouts, placing his left palm
on the head of his axe, making the dull glow condense.

*BOOM*

The power of the blow from the dwarf forces the
human to skid back even as he blocked with both his swords.
 
I could see both his arms shaking as he
grimaces.

The human boy lowers his two swords and dashes
towards the dwarf who was already in a defensive stance.
 
The dual swords scrape along the ground
and as he swings up after getting into range, a trail of earth follows along,
creating a blade of earth after his blade.

Not bad.
 
While it wasn’t surprising that the dwarf could already use his earth
attribute element, it surprised me that a human on the red stage could already
augment his earth attribute to that degree.
 
He was talented in that sense.

“Shatter!”
 
The dwarf’s body glows yellow and he stomps his right foot hard unto the
ground, creating a ripple around him as the earth blade that was coming towards
him falls down in fragments.
 
The
dwarf blocks the human’s two actual blades with his axe but gets a little
scrape on his arm from the upward swing.

“Earth Pillar!”
 
Following the upward swipe, he stomps
hard with his leading foot directly in front of the dwarf creating a pretty
fragile column of rock from the ground that hits the dwarf squarely on the
stomach.

“Oof!”
 
The dwarf’s body lifts into the air from the force of the blow and his
shield breaks with loud shattering sound, signaling that the duel is over.

Cheers go off from the humans that gathered but
the dwarves amongst the audience groan in embarrassment.

Elijah just sighs and starts to leave but
before I follow him, I see the slight smirk on the human’s face as he once
again imbues mana into his two blades.

That fool wasn’t planning on finishing it with
that.
 
He was going for the final
blow.

If I were to use a long-range technique, that’ll
create even more problems but if I go there and directly interfere, everyone
would know it would be me.

Gah!
 
Why couldn’t Elijah see that the human was going to cast another
technique?
 
If Elijah interfered
with a spell, it would be more natural since he’s a Conjurer.

There was this way too. Sorry Tess.

“IS THAT THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT I SEE
COMING OVER?”
 
I deliberately yell
louder so that the human boy that won the duel would be startled.

Just like I anticipated, he clicks his tongue and
puts his swords back into his dimension ring, jerking his eyes around to find
the President.

The crowd that was talking amongst their
friends, analyzing the duel all started looking around for Tessia.

“Where’s the Student Council President?”
 
Elijah stretches his neck above the
crowd to look for her.

“Oops!
 
I must’ve been mistaken!”
 
I
just shrug my shoulders and turn to walk past when a hand firmly grasps my
shoulder.

“Are you picking a fight with me or something
brat?”
 
It was the human that was just
dueling, Nick or Nicole or whatever.

“Yeah!
 
What the hell man!
 
Getting
us excited for nothing!”
 
I see some
of the humans evidently disappointed at not being able to see their idol in
person.

“I thought I saw her.
 
Once again, my bad.”
 
I use my hand to peel his hands off of
my shoulder, giving him a wink.

“Yeah, your bad.”
 
He snatches his hand away before he
walks away, spitting on the ground in front of my feet.

“You know, a good advice if you want to
graduate…I don’t think killing that dwarf boy would’ve done you any good.” I
stand still as Sylv spits directly at the back of his neck.

He instantly whirls back around with his two
swords in his hands once again.
 
I
can almost see a vein bulging out of his forehead like it would in a cartoon.

“Pfft.”
 
Oops, I shouldn’t laugh in this situation.
 
I take a quick glance and see that
Elijah is just shaking his head, knowing it’s too late.

“YOU DARE??”
 
The thirteen-year-old boy with swords
too big for his immature body dash towards me in a manner I find clumsy,
preparing to cross chop with his two blades, his face bright red in anger.

I lift an eyebrow as I lift one hand up to stop
the blow.
 
Why make myself look
foolish?

Just as I prepare to shatter his two swords, a
voice stops him straight in his tracks.
 
It was the voice that all of the new students heard not too long ago and
the voice probably every male fell in love with.
 
It was also the voice of my childhood
friend.

“Do YOU dare?”
 

I can see the face of the dual-wielding boy
visibly pale as he freezes at the unmistakable voice.
 
I turn to see that the whole Student
Council was walking towards us through a gap created by the students to make
way.

Taking calm but hurried strides in the front
was Tess, her doll-like face expressionless. Behind her, I spotted Lilia giving
me a worried look.

My attacker immediately recalls his two blades
into his dimension ring and gives a respectful bow towards them, sweat beading
down his forehead.

“What is going on, Arthur?”
 
Jarrod is the one that speaks up, making
everyone in the crowd raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“Looks like the Scholar Mage knows someone from
the Student Council.”
 
“No wonder he
was acting so cocky just now.”
 
“Pfft.
 
Did you see him raise
up his arm like he was going to stop the attack with his bare hands?”
 
Whispers were heard from the crowd
making me roll my eyes.
 
The
immaturity level of some of these brats continues to astound me.
 
Even for 12-year-olds, you would think
that children from such influential families would be taught some manners.

“Nah, nothing much happened, although you
should go take a look at that dwarf student lying over there, Boznean I think
that was his name.”
 
I point over to
the tree where the dwarf was still groaning while clutching his stomach.

Elijah walks towards me hoping to distill the
situation.
 
“Hi Lilia.
 
Sorry, we ended up getting caught up in
this little scuffle after the duel between them ended.
 
No harm done!”
 
He gives a slight wave at her as he
starts talking while directing his words at Tessia, who still wore a mask of
apathy.

“Still, this student was about to attack you
when a duel wasn’t even issued.
 
This is a serious offense.”
 
Lilia stepped up, her gaze a bit sterner as she jotted something on a
notebook she carried around.

While Lilia, Jarrod, and Elijah were talking
about what exactly happened, I felt Tessia’s strong gaze piercing through me,
as if she was expecting me to do something.
 
Honestly, even with an extended life
experience, I have no confidence in what to do when it comes to these
situations.
 

Did she want me to treat her respectfully as
the Student Council President?
 
Did
she want me to treat her as a childhood friend?
 
Did she want to keep our past relationship
a secret as a whole?

‘It’s Mama!’
 
Sylv ‘kyu’d’ on top of my head and I had
to firmly tell her to stay on my head and not go to her.

Meanwhile, the crowd was getting more and more
rowdy, the males doing the best they can to get a better look at Tessia, hoping
to engrain her image into their memories to use in times of loneliness or
longing.
 

“You.
 
I believed I asked you a question.
 
Do you dare?”
 
She takes a
step forward, her eyes boring down on the second year student.
 
I was thinking that the student was
technically a level higher than Tess, but when I took a look at the ribbon that
was tied neatly underneath her collar, it had two stripes as well.

“N-no.
 
Of course I would never dare break the rules like that.
 
Please forgive my earlier actions.
 
I think I was a bit too hotheaded.”
 
He bowed even lower to the point that I
felt like he was shrinking.
 

“Leave.”
 
Her eyes continue to look down at him as he shuffles himself a good
distance away before he turns around and runs out of sight, a few of the boys
in the crowd following after him.
 
Figures.

“And you!
 
Why are you starting a fight with a senior on the first day of
school?
 
You should know your
place!
 
No matter how rowdy he may
have been, he is still your senior and he did not break the rules when dueling
with the other student.
 
Furthermore, he is a Battle Mage student while you are a Scholar Mage
student.
 
Did you not pay attention
to my speech about discrimination between the two sects of students here?
 
Yet, you still chose to interfere,
making these types of problems apparent on the first day?”
 
She crosses her arms even tighter as she
looks directly at me.
 
Her face was
a bit flushed in embarrassment but she took it too far with this.

“HAA?”
 
I couldn’t help but let out an annoyed sound of surprise by her
statement.

I take a step forward this time and I can see
Elijah’s eyes widen as he realized I was going to go past the point of no
return.

“You just got here without even knowing what
was going on besides him charging at me with two weapons and you want to
lecture me?”
 
I take another step
forward and I can see Tessia’s once haughty face starting to crumble.

“He was about to seriously injure or even kill
that dwarf lying down right now after the duel system broke.
 
If I hadn’t stopped that arrogant brat,
you would’ve had to deal with a murder case, not an unregulated fight between
two students.”
 
I was within arms
length distance of her and I was the one looking down on her at this time.
 
What a lovely reunion.

“I
SINCERELY
apologize for the trouble I’ve caused.
 
Good day!”
 
I emphasize
mockingly, even throwing in a sarcastic bow, stunning everyone, including
Tessia.

So much for maturity… She was still just a
thirteen-year-old little girl.
 
What
was I even expecting?
 
I shake my
head as I turn around in the direction of my dorms, Elijah following after,
bowing to student council, all of whom were still dumbfounded.

“Hold it student.
 
Were you raised in a cave?
 
Are these the manners your mother taught
you while growing up?
 
Do you even
know who she is?”
 
It was Clive
Graves who regained his senses first and ran towards me, grabbing me by the
arm, trying to spin me back around.

Holding firm, I stop walking and turn my head
towards him.
 
He kind of pissed me
off from the start and I knew he wasn’t the type I would get along with.
 
Was I raised in a cave?
 
Is he seriously talking trash about
Alice right now?

“
Let go.”
 
The malice in my voice
frightened even Elijah as he instinctively took a step back while Clive
immediately let go of my arm and even guarded himself with mana.

I take a quick glance at Tessia and realize she
fell down as her knees gave out.
 
I
just continued walking towards the dorm, Elijah following behind me as the both
of us hears mutters explode behind us.

“Ahh!
 
President Tessia, please get back up.”
 

“Who the hell was that?
 
I think Treasurer Jarrod called him
Arthur right?”

“Oh man he is so screwed.
 
He just told off the Student President
of the Academy.”

Elijah took a few hurried steps to catch up to
me, eventually walking by my side.
 
“You know what you just did right?
 
Man, you sure love attracting trouble don’t you.
 
First the dungeon and now this?”
 
He shakes his head but continues to
follow me as if assuring me nonverbally that he’d be by my side.

Pfft, if only they knew Tess and my
relationship.
 
Gah!
 
Maybe I was a bit too harsh on her.
 
She’s just a prepubescent girl.
 
I shouldn’t get irritated because she
just acted like one right?
 
I guess
I was expecting too much from her.
 

Well… I’ll just let nature take its course.
 
School should at least be this exciting
right? I wasn’t really mad at her, but I was just annoyed at that moment.
 
I should reconcile with her before it
gets too awkward but I get the feeling that the timing is going to be an issue.

Elijah and I manage to make it to our dorm
building without further trouble.
 
There were two male dorms and two female dorms within the Academy.
 
The two male and female dorms were separated
by underclassmen and upperclassmen.
 
Underclassmen were students that were still taking their general
education classes.
 
Students are
moved into the Upperclassmen dorms after they’ve finished their general
education courses and have formally decided on what type of student they were
going to be.

The underclassmen dorms were simple to say the
least.
 
It was clean and well kept
but there were no fancy furniture or decorations on the wall.
 
It was a warm beige colored interior
with stairs that went all the way up to the top floor, where each floor had a
hallway filled with rooms.

“Room 394.
 
We’re here!”
 
Elijah unlocks
the door by placing his palm on a round stone above the handle.
 
It looks like a simple artifact used to
read basic mana signatures.
 

The room wasn’t nearly as fancy as the one in
the Helstea Manor but it was still very homey.
 
Walking in, to our right were two
closets and two our left, a decent sized bathroom with two sinks a shower and a
separate toilet room so I could still wash my face in the sink while Elijah
takes a crap.
 
The shower was made
from stained glass so while the silhouette may be visible, you wouldn’t be able
to see much.
 

A couple steps in were two beds side by side
separated by a nightstand placed against the left side of the wall while on the
right side was a long drawer for folded clothes.
 
The sleeping area and the studying area
was separated by a wall that came up to our waist, with three stairs leading to
where the desks and couches were.
 
The two desks were placed against opposite of each other so we would be
seated facing away with a long couch positioned against the miniature wall
separating the desks from the beds.
 
The far side of the wall was made almost entirely of glass, which
instantly attracted me towards it.
 
The view encompassed a big portion of the campus, which was currently a
canvas of fall colors.
 
Looking at
it from here, I would have no idea that this place was an institute of mages
without being told that.