The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (2 page)

“Mr. Arthur, Mr. Elijah, the driver says that
we should leave now if you guys are to make it on time for the orientation
ceremony.”
 
She says while bowing.

“Well off we go!”
 
Elijah finishes the last bite of his ham
and stuffs some greens into his mouth before standing up and straitening his
black blazer.

“Mom, Ellie, before I leave, I need you guys to
show me your index finger for a bit.”
 
I stand up and walk around the table to where they were.

“Huh?”
 
My mother looks at me, confused, but nevertheless shows me her index
finger while my sister unhesitatingly follows suit.
 
I take a quick poke at both their index
fingers with my mana imbued finger, just enough for a droplet of blood to form
on the tip of their fingers.

“Put the blood on the necklaces.”
 
The seriousness in my voice makes them
silently concede despite their initial surprise.
 
The two of them places their index
finger on the necklace and the blood on the tip of their fingers gets absorbed
into the jewel immediately.

“These necklaces are now bound to you so only
you two can wear it.
 
It’ll protect
you just in case me or Dad isn’t there but still keep yourselves safe while I’m
gone okay?”
 
I give the both of them
a strong hug and my sister tears up a little bit.
 
I hug my father and Tabitha as well, my
father holding me firmly in his strong arms.

“Be good boys and don’t worry about us.
 
Come visit whenever you can and keep in
touch!”
 
My father and mother say
before letting us off.

“Bye Brother, bye Elijah!
 
Be safe!”
 
My sister shouts out to us as we walk
down the stairs.

“Your luggage is in the back carriage.”
 
The driver bows and opens the door for
the both of us.
 

“Destination, Xyrus Academy!!”
 
Elijah points his finger to upward to
the sky as if making a declaration before getting inside the carriage.

___________________________________________________________________

The ride to Xyrus Academy wasn’t too long since
it was in the same City, but the campus itself was huge so going in through the
main gate took some time.

There was an abundance of other extravagantly
decorated carriages, some twice as long as normal carriages, with low ranked
mana beasts to pull them.
 

“Pshh… what a bunch of show-offs.”
 
Elijah grumbled as he watched pompous
looking students confidently stepping out of the carriage with decorated
weapons to signify that they were either a Conjurer or Augmenter.
 

Our carriage was quite luxurious as well, but
that was from the standpoint of commoners.
 
Compared to those richly decorated carriages of major families, ours
weren’t nearly as eye-catching.

“We have arrived Master Arthur, Master
Elijah.”
 
The driver opens the door
for us and we step out, the both of us inhaling a deep breath of the campus
air.

“Huh… the air tastes the same here… Thought
it’d taste better.”
 
Elijah says
while smacking his lips.

“Don’t be stupid.”
 
I push my friend forward as we followed
the crowd of students all walking on the marble walkway.

“Holy mother of…” Elijah’s jaw drops as he
looks almost vertically up at the building in front of us.
 
The enormous white building that seemed
to have words etched unto it even left me astounded.

“Let’s go in.”
 
I snap Elijah back into sense and we
walk in alongside the other new students attending this school for the first
time.

Once inside, I winced by how loud it was.
 
Thousands of excited students all
chattered away, some with friends that they came with, some with people they’re
meeting for the first time.

“LET’S FIND A SEAT!”
 
I need to shout for Elijah, who was
right next to me, to hear.
 
Eventually, we found a seat in the middle of the auditorium near the
back rows.

Looking around more carefully, I was surprised
at how many dwarves and elves I see seated, chatting away with those around
them.

“Wow, I’ve never seen full elves before until
now.
 
Looks like it’s true that all
three races can fully attend this Academy now.”
 
Elijah excitedly looks around, scouting
for potential soul mates amongst the crowd.
 
I can’t help but shake my head at the
expected behavior, when I can only see these students as little kids.”

Getting bored of looking around me, I focus my
attention on the stage where it was still empty except for a single
podium.
 
Suddenly, a sharp blur
focuses into form and I see Director Goodsky standing behind the podium.
 
She wasn’t wearing the oversized hat
that Conjurers wear like she did the last time we met almost 4 years ago, but
instead, she wore an elegant white circlet that matched her white robe.
 
She had her eyes closed but when she
opened them, she was looking straight at me, which sent shivers down my
back.
 
Smiling, she raised her hand
slowly while her eyes were still locked onto mine.

By this time, many more of the incoming first
years noticed her and began talking even louder, some cheering, but when
Director Goodsky’s hand reached where her head was, suddenly, everything went
dead silent.

Looking around, everyone had looks of surprise
and while everyone’s lips were moving, no sound was heard from anyone in the
audience.

“Excuse me for my rudeness but I do hate
speaking up.
 
Not good for my
throat, no it is not.”
 
She says in
a pleasant voice that, while soft, was heard perfectly clear even from here in
the back row.

“I welcome everyone here, the future leaders,
scholars and powerhouses of Dicathen to this humble Academy.
 
I am Cynthia Goodsky, please call me
Director Goodsky and do not be afraid to say hello when I walk around
campus.
 
I am no good with speeches
so I stand here before you mages today to say hello and introduce to you the
Student Council that represent this Academy and take part I making important
decisions along with me.
 
Please
give them a warm welcome.”
 
She
waves her hand that was raised up and one by one, members of the council start
walking out.

I first see Jarrod walking confidently, looking
straight ahead, his pretty boy face seems initiated a wave of shrill screams
from the girls in the audience.
 
Behind him, a very playful, cheery guy comes out while he waves at the
audience, beaming us a bright smile.

“Look look!
 
There’s Lilia!
 
We need to cheer!”
 
Elijah stands up and shouts at the top
of his lungs and I follow him, yelling her name as well.
 
Her shy demeanor was nowhere to be seen
as she walked calmly towards the center of the stage, where she gave small
bows.
 
There was no way she could
see us or hear our individual cheers but we still gave it our all to cheer our
friend up.

Behind her walked out a tall student with long
bangs that parted in a 2:8 ratio.
 
He had a very serious face and the way he held himself up reeked of an
all-mighty attitude.
 
All that was
missing was glasses, but he didn’t wear any, his eyes looked even sharper than
Elijah’s but in a cold, quiet sort of way, he was attractive, starting another
wave of cheers from the excited girls in the crowd around us.

Finally, the last to arrive actually made the
crowd silent.
 
The unmistakable
gunmetal silver hair that reflected the lights in the auditorium gave her a
serene glow as her peachy crème complexion made the boys around me gape.
 
She turned to face the audience so that
her round, turquoise eyes captured the hearts of every boy in this auditorium.

She was only
13…right
?

I had a hard time believing the girl I couldn’t
see as more than a kid matured enough to make me gulp.
  
She still had an immature face
that couldn’t be hidden no matter how beautiful she may be in comparison to
everyone else, but just imagining the potential she had made me shake my head.

While still a little taller than Lilia, she was
quite a bit shorter than the serious-looking guy next to her but her posture
made her seem bigger and grander than everyone else on the stage.
 
Taking a deep bow, she comes back up
while tucking a side of her hair behind her pointed ears, her face emotionless
as if she were a doll.

“My name is Tessia Eralith and I am honored to
stand here as this Academy’s Student Council President.”

The incoming students of all three races that
were cheering for each of the Student Council members fell silent when Tess
walked in.
 
With her gunmetal silver
hair swaying behind her as each of her dignified steps echoed throughout the
silent auditorium, she single-handedly changed the atmosphere inside this
entire building.
 

As she bowed and tucked her hair behind her
ear, a roar of applause erupted as both males and females alike cheered from
admiration.
 
I thought the cheers
would last a lot longer but as soon as Tess started speaking, it was as if each
of the students in the crowd covered each other’s mouth so that they can hear
her voice.

“My name is Tessia Eralith and I am honored to
stand here as this Academy’s Student Council President.”

Murmurs started after the crowd once again
cheered for our beautiful president.
 
Next to me was a scrawny human boy that was talking to his friend on the
other side.

“THAT’S the Princess Eralith I was talking
about.
 
My older brother that goes
here told me she became a direct disciple under the Director and she’s been on
campus since last year and will start formally attending this year with
us!”
 
He leaned in to his friend so
only he could hear but the volume he spoke betrayed him.

“T-that means she’s the first non-human to set
foot on this campus.
 
Wait… she’s
only a first year and she’s already the Student Council President?
 
Is that even possible?” His friend, whom
I couldn’t really see, spoke louder and louder with each word, the neighboring
students hearing it as well.

“Yeah I heard of her as well!
 
She’s supposedly a super-genius of some
sort right?”

“Why the hell is she so damn beautiful if she’s
also talented as well?
 
This isn’t
even fair…”

“I wonder what I would have to give to get her
to even look at me?”

The audience was filled with different talks
about Tessia but while for the males it revolved around how much of an
unobtainable star she was, for the females, it was a mixture of admiration and
envy.
 
Sylv was going crazy on top
of my head as she recognized Tess down on stage.

“Kyuu~” ‘Papa!
 
That’s Mama!
 
She’s down there!
 
Let’s go say hi!’
 
Sylv was jumping up and down so I picked
her up and wrapped my arms around her.

‘Who’s your Mama!
’
 
I couldn’t help but sigh in defeat at
her excitement.
 
Tess became pretty
close to Sylv a bit after hatching so I can see why she’s so fond of her… but
mama?

“Woah…” Elijah, who I stopped paying attention
to firmly gripped my arm with both of his hands as if he needed me to support
him from fainting.

“Woah…” Repeated Elijah.
 
For how smart he looks, he sure acts
like an idiot at times like these.
 

“You okay there, Elijah?”
 
I lightly nudge his head but his head
just bounces like a bobble head toy.

 
“…Art…I think I’m in love.”
 
His hands that were firmly gripping my
arm suddenly intertwined with my arm as he linked arms with me, imagining me as
Tessia.

Okay this is getting out of hand.
 
I tell Sylvie to attack and she promptly
locks her jaw on the top of Elijah’s head as he starts screaming from more
surprise than pain.

“Oh sorry…” With Sylv still dangling on the
crown of his head, Elijah lets go of my arm and starts focusing on the stage
below again.

As the crowd settled down enough for Tessia to
start speaking again, Director Goodsky silently disappeared.

Tessia spoke eloquently enough to even surprise
me.
 
She was only 13, yet she had
the ability to draw the crowd’s full attention with her unadorned words filled
with maturity.
 
She spoke about the
principles of this Academy, how this is a holy ground where students should
feel safe to walk freely around.
 
Tessia emphasized the discipline one would face if anyone hurt another
student outside of a consented duel.
 

“While I may be a first year as all of you are,
having given the privilege to be inside the academy a year longer made it all
too apparent to me that there is a deeply embedded discrimination against the
Scholar mage students by the Battle mage students.
 
I for one will not tolerate any sort of
aggression or bullying based on the fact that one is a Scholar Mage
student.”
 
Tessia’s voice never
waivered as she stood behind the podium.

The crowd grew a little noisy at this
statement, as everyone present knows all too well some of the hardships one may
face if they are a Scholar Mage student.

“Starting this year, while uniforms and the
upper courses required may be different, for the first two years, general
education, that contains the mixture of both Scholar Mage classes and Battle
Mage classes will be mandatory for better assimilation between the two
different types of students.
 
After
the two years is up, one may choose to switch their education specialization by
taking a test, although it is a quite difficult one.” This last statement drew
in dissatisfied complains from amongst the students in the crowd.
 
While both Elijah and I didn’t have to
take a test due to my special connection with Director Goodsky, all students,
regardless of background had to test for either a Scholar Mage or Battle mage
position.
 

To get in as a Scholar Mage, an incoming
student only needs a basic foundation in magic, which is mana gathering.
 
While they had to take a written exam to
test their mental acuteness, the practical portion of the exam was much more
simple.
 
Battle Mage students,
however, had a much stricter practical exam, actually performing basic spells
or techniques depending on whether they were a Conjurer or Augmenter.
 
It may seem like a cakewalk for someone
like Elijah, Tess, or me, I’ll admit it could be quite a bit of challenge for
someone who just awakened.

The tall stern looking fellow stepped up next,
silencing the crowd with a wave of his hand.

“My name is Clive Graves and I am your Student
Vice President.
 
Continuing on from
what the President said, this year contains many changes.
 
Along with the assimilation and freedom
to move between the two student types, there will also be no limit on how long
a student can attend this academy.
 
While in the past, the professors here pushed students to graduate after
4 years, it is becoming more and more apparent that many graduate’s capability
as a mage is becoming less than satisfactory.
 
Therefore, the Director has declared
that instead of a time limit on graduating, in order to graduate from Xyrus
Academy, one needs to fulfill a list of requirements and pass the graduation
exam.
 
While the conditions to
graduate have become many folds harder, the time limit to graduate has
increased to 10 years.
 
In that
time, we fervently hope to produce top class mages in both the theoretical and
combat fields.
 
We welcome everyone
here, humans, elves and dwarves alike to this Academy.”
 
Clive bows, the rest of the Student
Council following him.

The last part of the announcement wasn’t
exactly news for any of us.
 
It was
announced quite recently though, which made me think that it had something to
do with the new Continent.
 
Was this
Academy being used to produce higher quality mages in case of a future battle
against the new Continent?

“That’s the firstborn son of the famous Graves
family!
 
Make sure not to get on his
bad side.”
 
Again the boy next to me
whispers in a pointlessly loud volume.

After finishing up the ceremony, all the new
students were dismissed to their dorms.
 
Filing out of the auditorium, my eyes unconsciously looked for Tess but
she was nowhere in sight.
 
Outside,
the trees that arched over the marble walkways produce small showers of leaves
of fall colors.
 
The students were
all excitedly chatting amongst their peers, getting to know new people.
 
Walking deeper within the campus to
where the dorms were, I see female students passing by Elijah and I, taking a
double take back at us and giggling with their friends.
 

“Sigh… I feel like I become significantly less
better looking when I’m next to you.”
 
Elijah’s shoulders hunch as we walk along side-by-side, Sylv pitifully
patting Elijah’s head from on top of mine.
 

“Well, even if most come after me, some of the
girls will have to eventually settle for you right buddy?”
 
I tease, giving him a playful wink.

“Screw you.”
 
He hits me on the stomach as the both of
us laugh.

*BOOM*

The loud explosion surprises the both of us as
well as the students walking around us.
 
We rushed towards the commotion at the end of the marble walkway.

“I don’t see how a short-ass dwarf like you can
hope to be a proper Augmenter.
 
Why
don’t you stick to forging some weapons for real warriors like me?”
 

“What da hell didja say?
 
Who do ya think ya are anyway?”

I stop running when I realize what’s going on a
still pretty good distance away, shaking my head.
 
It was just a stupid brawl about to
happen between two students.
 
The
explosion was made from the human hitting his fist on the nearby tree with
mana.

“Couldn’t this become dangerous?” Elijah looks
around where some of the students had to deliberately walk around the two of
them just in case they start fighting.
 
We were amongst the last to leave the auditorium so most are already
deeper within the campus or inside their dorms, so there weren’t many people
but if they do start fighting, some students in the vicinity may get caught up
in this mess.

“They wouldn’t dare do something like fighting
on the first day right?
 
Let’s just
go.”
 
I try to nudge my friend to a
roundabout route avoiding the two arguing students.

“Come on, we have nothing to do besides unpack
anyway!
 
Let’s just see how good
they are.
 
Look, the human looks to
be a level two Augmenter.”
 
He
points at the brawny human.

Looking at them, both the dwarf and human
student had Battle Mage uniforms, but the human had two stripes on his tie
while the dwarf had only one.

“My name is Nicolas Dreyl!
 
Declare the duel short-ass so we can
start!
 
Or are you all bark no
bite?”
 
The human smirks, placing
his right hand on the badge pinned to his left breast.

“Tch!
 
Yer gonna be sorry.”
 
The
dwarf that looked around 150cm with a bulky build looked awkward wearing the
blazer uniform but the way he carried his giant battle-axe with ease tells me
he’s more than what the single stripe on his tie tells us.

The metal badge on both the human and dwarf
glows brightly as the dwarf starts chanting after placing his hand on his badge
as well. “I declare a duel between me, Broznean Boor and Nicolas Dreyl!”