The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (21 page)

“This is about the limit of what I
can do.
 
Like I said…I hope you can
wait for me just a bit longer.
 
I
promise I won’t run off.”
 
I say
while looking down.
 
This was the
first time in both lives where I initiated a kiss, and I sure in hell wasn’t
confident if I did the right thing or not.

“…”
 

I take a peek up at Tess’s face and
see her with a glossy look in her eyes as her middle and index fingers were
against her lips.

“Tess?”
 

“Fine, just don’t make me wait too
long or I’ll be the one to run off.”
 
She snaps out of her daze and takes a step towards me, putting on an
angry face.

“Deal.”
 
I smile in relief from finally sorting
things out with Tess when she suddenly lifts her head up and pecks me on my
cheek.

“??”

Taken by surprise, I didn’t know
what to say.

“That was for saving me in class
last week.”
 
She lets out a soft
giggle; her eyes still red from crying.
 
Without giving me a chance to respond, she runs off into the dorm
building, leaving Sylvie and me alone in the alley.

TESSIA ERALITH’S POV:

Arriving at my room, I jumped into
bed, my hands covering my burning face.
 

“EEK!”
 
I couldn’t help out soft shrieks of
delight as I roll back and forth across my sheets.

“Hehehehehe…” Oh no.
 
I was laughing like a pervert.
 

But…but Art finally kissed me.
 
He
kissed
me
!
 

“Heehee…” Not being able to calm
down, I wrap myself in my blanket as I roll around.
 
The image of him leaning forward to kiss
me fills my head, forcing my lips to curl upwards.
 
It felt different from when I kissed
him.
 
I couldn’t quite explain it
but it was definitely a better feeling.

“I could get used to this…” I
accidentally mutter aloud as I softly rub my lips.
 

And when he put his arm around my
waist and pulled me in to kiss me… “Kyaa!”
 
I roll across my bed again in embarrassment as I feel shivers across my
body.

I begin to imagine what our
marriage will be like.
 
I want it to
be super pretty.
 
I wonder how our
kids will look like?
 
Arthur is good
looking and I’m not ugly either.
 
It
should be fine, right?
 
But in order
to get kids, we need to…

I can almost feel steam coming out
my ears as I imagine it.
 
I mean, I
learned about how babies are born from my home tutor but…

Nonononono it’s too early!
 
And besides… Arthur wanted me to give
him some time.
 
I wonder what he
meant by that?
 
Did he mean we were
going to act like tonight never happened?

I don’t want that!

But am I allowed to get mad at him
for that?
 
Am I being too hard on
him?
 
I know he has my best interest
at heart but I can’t be so wishy-washy about this, right?
 

Grr…. What if another girl really
does end up liking him too and he chooses her?
 
I’m just a violent, spoiled girl after
all; why would he choose me?

The more I thought it, the more
disheartened I became.
 
It’s okay
Tess.
 
We’re both still really
young.
 
Even if it does take time,
I’m sure it’ll work out eventually, right?

Gah!
 
Stop discouraging yourself and let’s
just sleep, Tess!

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

I've been getting used to having Sylvie waking me up.
 Usually a loud mental shout is enough to wake me up but today, I was
woken up by a sharp bite to my nose.

"Kyu!"  I groan as I wake up, rubbing my red nose
as Sylvie goes back to sleep after doing her job.  Sylvie seems to be a
lot more active at night as she takes frequent naps throughout the day.  

After washing up, I watch Elijah breath loudly in his sleep
while I have to wake up this early.  We can't have that now, can we?

“Good morning!”
 
I slap my sleeping roommate on the butt.

“AHH!
 
What?
 
Huh
?!
 
What’s going on?”
 
Apparently, the sudden impact on his
bottom made him panic, because he got into a defensive position with his right
hand straight out, ready to fire at his attacker.

“Nothing!
 
Just said good morning.”
 
I shrug, strapping on the knife to my
Disciplinary Committee uniform.

“Ugh… I have another two hours
before class starts.
 
You woke me up
just to say good morning?”
 
Elijah
groans as he wraps himself with his blanket into a makeshift cocoon.

“Yup!
 
I’m off to my first Disciplinary
Committee meeting!”
 
I take one last
look to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything when Elijah pops his head out
from underneath his blanket.

“Did something good happen?
 
You’re a little bit
too
happy.
 
It’s
unsettling.”
 
Whether it was because
he was studying me or just trying to focus his vision on me since he wasn’t
wearing his glasses, Elijah squinted his slightly puffy eyes at me.

“You’re just imagining things,
Elijah…haha.”
 
I quickly put on my
boots and make my way towards the door.

“Suspicious…” He mumbles before he
succumbs to his sleep-deprived body, going back to sleep.

Making sure no one was around, I
jump off the building and use wind augmentation to cushion my landing.
 
Sylvie just floated down, which looked
really silly to me with her oversized ears flopping against the wind.
 

Landing on top of my head with a
soft ‘plop’, I took some time to test my body out with some stretches.
 
I can’t say I was in great condition,
but the improvement since yesterday made me nod in satisfaction.
  
It’s times like these that I
really feel the effects of going through the assimilation of Sylvia’s Dragon
Will.
 

Which reminds me…I’ll have to help
Tess with her assimilation.
 
How was
I supposed to act around her anyways?
 
I can’t believe I kissed her yesterday.
 

Thinking back, I realized that even
in my past life, I’ve never gotten passed the point of kissing and it was
always the other party that initiated.
 
I never had an interest in falling in love.
 
Rather, I feared love.
 
Even the aspect of unattached sexual
relationships, I avoided because I feared that the start of a physical
relationship could lead to emotional attachments.
 
I secluded myself in training aside from
public appearances and fights, making sure I didn’t have anyone I held in importance,
anyone that could be used as a tool against me.
 

What I’ve learned most from this
world wasn’t the magic or the fighting.
 
No, what I’ve realized is that this life has forced me to open up my
calloused heart and allow people to hold significance to me.
 
What this also meant was that I had to
be stronger than my past self since I had people to protect this time.

Lost in my thoughts, I almost
passed by the Disciplinary Committee room.
 
The DC had access to one of the bigger rooms in the academy so that it
can double as a training room as well.
 
I was a bit late since I woke up a little later than I expected but it
wasn’t too loud so I hoped I wasn’t the last one.

“THUD!”

As I open the door, Curtis flew and
crashed into the wall next to me.

“Still too weak!” I see Theodore
Maxwell’s face turn disappointed as his right fist was raised.
 

“Ah, Arthur!
 
You’re here!”
 
Claire Bladeheart, who was spectating
the dual from the side, waves her hands.

“Ugh… I can’t believe I still can’t
land even a single hit against you, Theodore.
 
Oh, hey Arthur.”
 
Curtis turns his head towards me while
rubbing his back.
 

“Do you need help?”
 
I put out my hand while Sylvie wags her
tail but Curtis just shakes his head.
 

“No, I’m okay.
 
Besides, the dual isn’t over yet.”
 
Curtis grimaces as he gets back up to
his feet and picks up his sword.
 

Taking a seat next Claire on one of
the couches, I watch as the dual between Curtis and Theodore resumes.

“HAH!”
 
Curtis charges forward after augmenting
his sword in a blazing fire but just as he’s about to get into Theodore’s
range, Curtis sidesteps instantly leaving a charred footstep behind before
appearing to Theodore’s right.

Theodore’s reaction is almost
immediate as he lifts his brawny right arm in an uncanny speed.
 

“Fall!”
 
Curtis’ assault fails as he crumbles to
his knees, his sword landing heavily on the ground in front of Theodore.
 

Theodore has a smirk on his face
but it soon turns serious as he realizes Curtis’ plan.

“Explode!” Curtis shouts in a
strained voice.

The sword that wasn’t burning but
glowing in a dim red light shined brighter until flames exploded in all
directions.

Claire focused on the smoke,
assuming both the sword and Theodore was covered inside, but I tapped her
shoulder and gestured her to look up.
 

Theodore was in the air with his
arms a bit burned and steaming but otherwise unharmed.
 
Using gravity magic on himself, Theodore
was slowly floating down as he concentrated on his next spell.
 

Curtis was back up on his feet with
his sword in hand, also preparing a spell using his sword.
 
I notice Grawder restlessly swinging his
tail from the other side of the room.
 

“All right!
 
I think it’s time to stop!”
 
Claire stands up and claps her hand but
it didn’t seem like either one of them heard her even speak.

“Sigh… Kai, care to help me?”
 
Claire glances back at the narrow-eyed,
smiling man.

“Got it, Boss.”
 
Kai’s sleeves covered his arms so I
didn’t know what exactly he had hidden but with a swing of his arms, thin metal
strings shot out towards Theodore and Curtis, forming a makeshift metal fence
between them.

Augmenting my eyes, I can’t make
out any specific elemental attribute in his skill, making me wonder what
exactly it was that he did.
 

Both Curtis and Theodore stop their
spells and turn their heads towards Kai in confusion.
 

“Boss’ orders.
 
Let’s stop the duel now, shall we
gentlemen?”
 
Kai’s smiling face
remains unchanged as he retracts the numerous strings back into his sleeves.

“What did Kai do just there?”
 
I ask Claire who was shaking her head at
Curtis and Theodore.
 

“No one really knows.
 
He keeps it a secret and from what I can
tell, there isn’t any specific elemental attribute in his mana whenever he uses
his skills.”
 
She responds while
shrugging.

“Have you taken an interest in me,
Arthur?”
 
Kai comes behind me as he
leans his head forward past my shoulder so his smiling face is right next to my
face.

“Hardly.
 
Just a bit curious as to what you just
did there.
 
It didn’t seem like you
were manipulating metal, or use sound to control the metal strings.”
 
I respond while pushing his face away
from mine.
 

“So cold.
 
I’d tell you but unfortunately, if I
did, I’d have to kill you.”
 
He says
nonchalantly, making me lift a brow.

Was that a challenge?
 

Noticing that the conversation was
taking the turn for the worse, Claire butts in.

“Looks like we’re still missing
quite a few people!
 
Feyrith,
Kathyln and Doradrea still aren’t here… AH there they are!”
 
She says while pushing the both of us
towards the door.

Feyrith was having a little quarrel
with Doradrea about something while Kathyln came in behind them.
 
I
raised my hand to wave at Kathyln but as soon as our eyes made contact, she
immediately turned her head away before walking off in another direction.

“Ah Arthur, my rival!
 
Have you
healed?
 
I believe we still need to
duel but I think it would be better to hold that off until after I finish
working on a spell I’ve been practicing!
 
It’s not because I’m scared to lose to you or anything.
 
Just giving you more time to
recover…haha.
 
Aren’t I
generous?”
 
Feyrith comes besides me
putting his arm on my shoulder but refuses to look me in the eyes while making
excuses.