The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (19 page)

Sitting down on her legs next to me, she stares at me, her flushed, tired
face still sparkling, as if she wants to say something.
 
After a moment of hesitation she speaks
to me in a firm voice.

“Art, can we talk?”
 

“Art, can we talk?”
 
As she resolved herself, the slight
trembling in her voice disappeared.
 

“Yeah… it seems that there’s a
third party at work here trying to make us talk anyways.”
 
I sit back, leaning on my arms, my face
dripping with the fresh water.

“About the k-kiss… Are you
mad?”
 
Tessia’s face was bright red,
revealing how nervous she felt compared to her firm face.

“I’m not mad.
 
I was surprised, but I’m not mad.”
 
I would be lying if I said I didn’t
notice that Tessia liked me since all the way back when I lived with her in
Elenoir.
 

“…”

There was brief silence where I
could tell Tessia was waiting for me to say something, except, right now; I didn’t
know what to say.

If I had to choose between like and
dislike, of course I liked Tessia, but what did that mean?
 
Do I just go out with her?
 
There’s also the fact that we were both
young.
 
I mean, it wasn’t unnatural
for children, especially of royalty, to get married at the age of 13-14 but it
wasn’t exactly normal from where I came from.

Sigh… what’s the point in being so
experienced in fighting and politics when I don’t even know where to start when
it comes to something so basic like love.

“Arthur… you know what I’m waiting
for, right?”
 
She leans closer as
her brow furrows. The intensity in which she was staring me made me
uncomfortable but this issue wasn’t something I could keep pushing aside.

“Tess, we’ve known each other since
we were four.
 
The first time I saw
you, you were getting kidnapped after you had a fight with your parents.
 
The first thing you did when I saved you
was crying your heart out.
 
After we
made our way back into your kingdom, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay in
your castle, where your grandpa and eventually even your parents warmed up to
me.
 
Even now, your family and mine
get along to the point of it being weird…” I take a deep breath before I try to
continue.

“I don’t understand what you’re
trying to say.”
 
Tessia has an
irritated look on her face as she puts one hand on top of mine.

“Tessia.
 
We’re still so young.
 
I mean, I’m only twelve and you’ve
barely turned thirteen as well!
 
I
know that it’s not weird for a girl your age to get married since you are
royalty, but I mean, I don’t have that background.”
 
I realized I was stuttering a bit.

“Art.
 
I know you well enough and right now,
you’re just making excuses.
 
You and
I both know that what I meant wasn’t to get married right away.
 
I-I just
want
things to progress.
 
Even from the
time we were back in Elenoir, you just treated me like I was a kid!
 
It’s been almost 8 years since then,
Art… I have a lot to learn but I don’t consider myself such a child
anymore.”
 
Her stern gaze turned
soft as she was desperately trying to reason with me.

“Sigh…It’s because I’ve known you
since we were both children that it’s harder for me to see you as anything
more, at least right now, Tess.
 
It
hasn’t even been that long since we’ve met in quite a long time as well.”
 
I can feel my argument coming out more
and more as petty excuses.

She lets go of my hand and springs
up.
 
I look up to see her shaking,
trying to hold back tears.

“So, you’re telling me that all of
this time, you haven’t once thought of me as anything more than a childhood
friend?”
 
She softly mutters.

“…”

I didn’t know how to respond.
 
I, of course, did try thinking of her as
more than a friend, but it wasn’t just about that.
 
Although I’ve spent 12 years in this
body, I’ve spent over thirty years in my past body.
 
I’ve visited the orphanage I grew up in
multiple times and helped take care of kids that were Tess’s age.
 

“I see.”
 
She whispers.

I guess she thought of my silence
as my answer.
 
Tessia spins back and
stomps towards the door of the training facility.
 

“You know, Arthur.
 
You’re so confident in so many
things.
 
Magic, fighting, using your
brain.
 
You’re so damn confident in
everything you do because you’re good at them.
 
But, you know what?
 
There are things you’re not good
at.
 
You’re not good at confronting
your feelings.
 
You always put on a
mask and pretend you’re happy or apathetic when you can’t handle a certain
situation.
 
I think in that sense, you’re
a lot less mature than even the so called children you see in this
academy.
 
You’re just using your
confidence in your strong suits to mask the insecurities you have in aspects
you know you’re not good at!”
 
Tears
stream down Tessia’s eyes as she cries this last rebuttal.
  

As the door closes behind her, I’m
left with an eerie silence that not even the sound of the waterfall could
cover.

‘Papa’s a dummy…’ Sylvie curls up a
couple of meters away, turning away from me.

I sat in front of the pond, stunned
by Tessia’s last words.
 
I had to
admit that in some ways, maybe Tess was more mature than I was.
 
Even in my past life, aside from being a
great fighter, I wasn’t that impressive of a man.
 
I had the charisma and character to
appeal to the mass but when it came to interpersonal relationships, I consider
myself mediocre on a good day.
 
I
grew up avoiding long lasting relationships, seeing them as nothing more than a
burden that would eventually be used against me.
 
In order to be the best, I had to have
no weaknesses, and having a lover would eventually lead to my demise.
 

I’ve come to realize this even more
since coming into this world.
 
Having family that I would happily die for makes me think of how truly
weak I am.
 
If someone were to
kidnap any one of my family members, no matter how strong I personally was,
wouldn’t I just be at their beck and call?
 

The thought of having a lover,
someone I could call my other half, was a wonderful thing, but it was also
something that truly scared me.
 

After putting back the bracelet
that sealed my fire and water elemental attributes, I made my way back to the
surface and headed towards my next class.
 
How was I supposed to face Tessia in my Team Fighting Mechanics
class?
 
Even Sylvie was pouting on
top of my head because I made Tess angry.

_________________________________________

“Good to have you back, Art.”
 
Claire ran next to me, giving me a firm
slap on the back.
 

“Are you feeling a bit
better?”
 
Curtis also catches up to
us, Grawder following behind him.
 

“I’ll probably have to sit out for
a couple more classes, but I’m okay.”
 
Giving him a weak smile, we arrived at the field.

“Good to see you walking, Mr.
Leywin!”
 
Professor Glory beams when
she sees the three of us arrive but when she was about to walk over to us, I
feel a killing intent radiating next to her.
 

Lucas had a harsh look on his face
as he took big, confident strides towards Curtis, Claire and I.
 

My gaze matches his and neither of
us looks away as he approaches me.
 
Gripping my shirt up by the collar, he pulls me close to his face.
 

“I think we need a rematch.”
 
His pretty blond face was a sight to
behold as he scowled, my face only a few centimeters away from his.

Gripping the wrist of his hand that
was holding onto my collar, I reply, my face stone cold and eyes deadlocked to
his.

“This is a pretty rude way to ask
for something.”
 
I grip hard enough
to make his hand lose strength, but I don’t stop there.
 
Willing mana around me, I surround the
both of us in a gale, making his knees give out.
 

Grimacing in pain, Lucas mumbles
something inaudibly and soon has orange flames conjured in his free palm, ready
to fire at me.

“That’s enough!”
 
Professor Glory roars as she gets in the
way of the two of us using her sheathed sword.

“Arthur, go rest in the viewing
platform.
 
You’re not to take part
in any activities in this class until you’re fully healed, Director Goodsky’s
orders.
 
As for you Lucas, you need
to calm down.
 
Whether you want to
settle your petty grudge with a fight or with a hug, do it after Arthur is
fully healed.
 
Now is not the
time.”
 
She lets out a sigh as she
pushes me softly towards the viewing platform.
 
After walking for half a day, I didn’t
need my sword to lean on but I couldn’t walk at a normal pace either.

Looking around, I try to find
Tessia but she wasn’t here.
 
“Professor Glory, where’s Princess Tessia?”
 

“She stopped by not too long before
you came saying she wasn’t feeling well.
 
She said she would make up class somehow but she seemed off so Clive
took her back to her dorm.
 
Why?
 
Do you know
anything?”
 
Professor Glory leans down
and looks at my face.

Shaking my head, I start thinking
about what I should do.

“You can get up to the viewing
platform without starting another fight, right?
 
Just rest up for a couple more
days.”
 
She places a gentle hand on
my shoulder before running back off towards where the rest of the class was.

I watched the class split up into
different teams and get in various formations for different circumstances.
 
In scenarios like sieging, Conjurers
play a crucial role so Augmenters get into a much more defensive position,
focusing solely on protecting the damage dealers.
 
In scenarios where guerilla fights are
necessary, only one or two Augmenters stay close to the Conjurer as the rest go
off on their own.
 

The class was only a week in so it
was very basic.
 
Butt still,
Professor Glory was teaching the class pretty well, with everyone really into
the class and having fun, but I just couldn’t stay focused, thinking only about
how I screwed things up.

My next class was the class I was
actually looking forward to the most, Deviant Magic Theory.
 
Unfortunately, our professor, Professor
Drywell placed upmost importance covering the basics first, so even after a
week has passed, she was barely covering the basics of Deviant Magic.
 

“Whenever Deviant Magic is
involved, there is a much bigger stress on the price of your magic.
 
Why do you think that is?
 
It’s because Deviant Magic, like its
name, is deviant from the natural elemental mana pool that is evident in our
world.
 
The mana that surrounds us
is made up of only fire, wind, earth and water mana.
 
Deviant magic that comes from the higher
form of these four elements have a much greater cost, as I would like to say,
compared to the four original elements because there is no such thing as
Lightning, Plant, Gravity, Metal, Magma, Sound, or Ice mana surrounding us in
the atmosphere.
 
In order to produce
these phenomena in our spells, the mage must be able to directly alter their
parent element and manipulate it into its deviant form.”
 
Professor Drywell chattered on and
on.
 
She was a very aged lady and
although she had the image of a nice quiet grandmother, she never stopped
talking.
 

“Professor!
 
But Gravity, Lightning, Metal, Magma,
Sound, and Ice all exist naturally in our world as well.
 
Why doesn’t our world produce these
types of mana then?”
 
A girl that
looked about 17 asked the professor.