The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (4 page)

I took a seat on the couch, somewhat excited
about the days to come, Sylv still leaning against the window, looking out at
the view.

“Ahh!
 
We didn’t even have dinner yet but I’m already pooped!
 
I wonder whose fault that is?”
 
Elijah jumps on the far bed that was
right behind the couch, already claiming that as his own.

I shrink back into the couch, getting
comfortable as I spotted the multiple luggage cases that were brought in by our
driver beforehand.

TESSIA
ERALITH’S POV:

GAAHHHHHH!
 
I screwed up.
 
I screwed
up.
 
I screwed up. I TOTALLY screwed
up!
 
I buried my head into my pillow
and screamed my lungs out in frustration.

“MMMMMMMFFFFFFFFFPPPHHH!!”
 
We were supposed to have an emotional,
romantic reunion!
 
Well… It was
emotional, but in the complete opposite direction!
 
Why did I even say all of that
anyway?
 
Why did I lash out at
him?
 
I know Art would never pick a
fight without a reason but I just went and told him off on something I didn’t
even see!
 
Gah!! I’m so stupid!

I bet he hates me now…

Why did I say that!!! I even brought up my
speech!
 
Bahhh!
 
I must’ve sounded so arrogant!
 
But still, we were in a crowd like that
and he did have some fault in the commotion.
 
B-but…

I’m sure he hates me now…

If Art just greeted me or even just talked to
me normally, I wouldn’t have said that!
 
That’s right!
 
It’s all Art’s
fault!
 
He even ignored me when I
came all the way there to help settle the mess he was in!
 
He didn’t even say hi!
 
I wasn’t expecting a full-blown hug or
even a k-k-kiss or something!
 
Just
a ‘long time no see Tess,’ would’ve been fine!
 
Who was that black haired guy that
reminds me of a raven anyway?
 
Is he
his friend?
 
Best friend?
 
It seemed like the both of them knew
Lilia and Jarrod!
 
Gahh!!!!
 
This is so frustrating!!!

I scream into my pillow again in hopes to
release some of my frustration.
 
“MMMMMFFFFFF!!!!”
 

*Knock*
 
*Knock*

“This is Clive… I’m here to check up on
you.
 
Are you feeling okay?”
 
I hear the muffled voice through the
door.

“Ahem.”
 
I quietly clear my throat before I respond.

“I’m fine, thank you.”
 
I use my ‘public’ voice, as I call it,
which makes me sound much colder.
 

“Who was that brat anyway?
 
I can’t believe he dared lecture you
like that when you were trying to give him advice!
 
Should I talk to the director about
this?
 
We could get him punished
and…”

“It’s fine so leave.
 
Don’t go to the Director either… that’s
an order.”
 
I speak harsher than I
usually do to get the point across.
 
How dare he badmouths Art.
 
Only I can badmouth him.

I fall back unto my pillow after I hear the
faint sound of his footsteps leaving.
 
Dorms were separated by gender and class while before
it
was separated by the type of student
you were.
 
For the Student Councils though, we each
had our own room in a building that was right next to the Director’s
office.
 
It’s uncomfortable living
with guys in the same house but Lilia is here and the guys are generally okay
so I don’t mind too much.

Stupid Arthur.
 
Did you know how much I wanted to scream
out your name and run to you when I saw you in the audience?
 
Even if he was far away, how could I
ever miss that bright auburn hair with a mana beast resting on top of his
head!
 
Sylv looks really different
from when she first hatched but that didn’t surprise me.
 
The fact that she was a dragon was
something that should shock me but with Art, nothing he ever did could surprise
me… he was just like that.

“Haaa….” I didn’t even have the energy to
scream in frustration anymore.
 
I
wanted to blame Art for all of this but I know he wasn’t all at fault.
 
He probably wanted to keep our
relationship a secret for me since I’m a public figure here.
 
But still… Art really doesn’t get the
female mind very well.
 
Dummy…

I hope he doesn’t hate me…

There were so many questions I wanted to ask
him too.
 
What has he been
doing?
 
How was his time as an
Adventurer?
 
Did he get hurt
anywhere?
 
Did he miss me?
 
Did he think of me at all these past
four years?
 

I wanted to brag to him how much stronger I’ve
gotten too… After directly training under the Director, my skills as a Conjurer
improved by leaps and bounds.
 
Training under Grandpa wasn’t the best idea because he was an Augmenter,
which limited what he could teach me.
 
He taught me the basics of mana manipulation but as far as going into
the route of a Conjurer, the Director knew a lot more.
 
She was also familiar with the
differences in elves and humans, which helped her train me.

 
Grandpa knew I had great potential
because when I first awakened, I created an implosion that blew up my entire
room and part of the downstairs kitchen.
 
That was back when Art used to live with us.
 
That was when I had to wake him up
everyday too.

*Sniff*

Oh no.
 
I shouldn’t start crying.
 
Art wouldn’t hate me just for that would he?
 
I should just clear things up with him
and apologize.
 
He wouldn’t ignore
me right?

Ugh…I’m scared.

ARTHUR
LEYWIN’S POV:

Sylv was taking a nap next to me on the couch,
her tiny body heaving up and down with each breath.
 

“It’s not like you to explode like that all of
a sudden though Art.
 
You would more
likely just ignore her and walk off right?”
 
Elijah was still lying down in his bed,
his hand supporting his head up as he was facing me.

“Well, I admit I shouldn’t have exploded but I
couldn’t help…”

*Knock* *Knock*

We both turned our heads to the door after
being interrupted.

“That’s strange, who would want to see us on
the first day?
 
Maybe our neighbors
are just saying hello?”
 
Elijah gets
up to answer the door.

“Who is…
”
After a
brief silence, I turn to see Elijah frozen still.
 
Getting up to see what was going on, I
see Director Goodsky nonchalantly at the door, smiling at me.

“Good evening Arthur.
 
Elijah.
 
May I come in?”
 

“D-D-Director Goodsky!
 
I-it’s an honor to meet you in
person.”
 
Elijah gives a forceful
bow that looked almost comedic towards the ever-graceful Cynthia Goodsky.
 

He lifted his head back up too quickly, almost
dropping his glasses in the process while the Director gave a polite smile, the
crow’s feet around her eyes adding more charm.
 

“Please come in Director Goodsky.
 
Elijah, stop blocking the doorway.”
 
I pull out the chair from my desk,
motioning for the Director to take a seat on the sofa.

“I told you to call me Cynthia.”
 
She gives a pouting face as she almost
floats past Elijah and takes a seat on the couch, the door closing on its
own.
 
The amount of harmony she has with
the wind element continues to amaze me as the air around her almost seem to
bend to her will without even a command.

“I don’t think it would be wise of a twelve
year old with no background to be on a first name basis with the Director of
the most prestigious academy in this Continent.”
 
I chuckle as I take a seat on my desk
chair as well as she sits cross-legged, her back kept straight and proper.

“My…your bond has changed a lot in appearance
since the last time I met.
 
Intriguing.”
 
Cynthia tries
to hold Sylv, who was curled on the couch, but she hops out of her reach and
nestles herself on top of my head.

“Haha, as shy as before I see.”
 
She gives Sylvie one last studying look
before she starts staring at me.
 
“Hmmm… how peculiar.
 
I seem
to only sense your wind and earth attribute mana inside of you.
 
Are you, by chance, using a seal?”
 
She tilts her head to the side while
Elijah was standing ramrod straight behind her, as if he was in front of his
commanding officer in war.

I lifted my left arm to reveal my bracelet with
two charms dangling on it to answer her question.

“Can’t say I’m not disappointed.
 
I was hoping to go around flaunting you
as my little protégé but I guess even a dual elemental augmenter is rare enough
to do so.
 
But you becoming a
Scholar Mage student was something that I definitely expected.”
 
She gave a soft chuckle.

“I was planning on taking a visit to your
office to update you on some things but it saves me the trouble by you coming
here I guess.
 
I’ve probably made an
enemy from a not so friendly family while I was an Adventurer so I don’t want
to give anyone any reasons for him to suspect me, at least not right now.”
 
I lean back in my chair as I studied the
two charms on my bracelet.

“Yes, I’ve read the reports on the case between
Adventurer Note, and Adventurer Lucas Wykes.
 
Quite a troublesome foe you’ve managed
to pick up.
 
While I do have a
certain amount of authority over his family, as they are a military house, they
have too many hidden workings that continue to elude us.”
 
Director Cynthia was rubbing her chin,
thinking of a solution.

“It’s fine.
 
I don’t consider that an urgent
matter.
 
He’s just a piece of trash
I’ll have to pick up someday.
 
If I
do something rash now and it goes back to my friends and family, THAT’S when it
would be a problem.
 
I would like
your help with another matter.”
 
I
put my elbows on my knees as I lean forward towards Director Cynthia.

“Please speak.”
 
She kindly replied.

“I want to take higher level mana theory
classes, especially those on deviants.”
 
I state simply.

“Hmm… That wouldn’t be too difficult to do, but
Arthur, wasn’t one of your main reasons for attending this academy to fit in
with your peers?”
 
She eyed me in a
studying manner.

“I don’t mind taking these extra classes on top
of my normal ones, where I would be with students my age. I’m just impatient to
learn a bit more about deviant mana manipulation since I’ve hit a ceiling on
that recently.”
 
I almost blurted
out saying, ‘since there was no deviation magic in my old world.’

“Fine.
 
I can make that happen, and I can even give you a pass to permit you to
observe the upper class top mages mock battle as well in their practices.”
 
She sounded magnanimous but I only eyed
her suspiciously.

“Okay… So what’s the catch?”
 
I raised an eyebrow.

“Arthur!
 
I’m heartbroken!
 
I only
wanted to do this for your growth!”
 
She over exaggerated her act as she placed both hands on top of her
heart as if struck by an arrow.

“Art!
 
You’re being rude to the Director!”
 
Elijah looked a little panicked, as he couldn’t see the Director’s
facial expression as she did this.

I didn’t say anything, only staring at her to
get an answer.

“Sigh… Very well.
 
Of course I would like some sort of
‘reward’ for doing these favors for you.”
 
She finally caved in, baffling Elijah.

“I hope you don’t say something absurd like
joining the student council.” I shake my head.
 
These situations seemed like it called
for that type of response.

“Pfft!
 
I heard of your little bout with the Princess earlier.” She starts
laughing, as my face turns a bit red in embarrassment.

“I didn’t expect the ever calm and composed
Arthur Leywin to explode like that.
 
I guess Princess Eralith is a bit special?”
 
She was still snickering at my
embarrassment.

“Wait what does she mean by that Art?”
 
Elijah walked towards us so he could see
the both of us now, although he remained standing out of respect towards
Cynthia.

Before the Director answered, she looked to me
to see if I was okay with it.
 
After
giving her an unconcerned shrug, she tells Elijah.
 
“Your best friend is also happens to be
the childhood friend of the Student Council President that every male student
seems to be enamored with.”
 
The
Director gives a sly grin, as if she was just a teenager that was telling some
rich gossip.
 

I was a little worried that Elijah’s jaw might
unhinge by how much his face slacked.
 
I could see a mixture of emotions, from shock to betrayal to envy all in
his face.

“How?
 
When?
 
What??”
 
He couldn’t produce complete sentences
as he was still trying to wrap his head around the whole situation.

Ignoring him, I turned back to Cynthia.
 
“How did you find out anyway?
 
I’m not surprised that you know but
shouldn’t be something you could just stumble upon either.”
 
I asked, curious.

“Haha~ about that.
 
Virion Eralith happens to be an old
acquaintance of mine. I didn’t tell anyone else, but I did excitedly mention to
him that my academy would be receiving a gifted quadra-elemental mage in a couple
of years.
 
Him and I were quite
competitive from way back then, but he took the news quite calmly, which made
me suspicious.
 
However, I didn’t
find out until I took in his granddaughter as my disciple.
 
Do you know the first thing she said
when I took her in?”
 
She was trying
to hold in her laughter.

I just shook my head in defeat, my face
becoming even a deeper shade of red.

“When is Arthur Leywin going to start attending
this school?”
 
Director Cynthia
said, purposely making her voice sound more like Tess’.
 
For how grand and mysterious she might
seem to everyone else, was here laughing like a preteen, taking joy in my
embarrassment.

“What?
 
Art! How do you know her
!?
”
 
Elijah practically wanted to choke the
answers out of me but I could tell he was holding it in since the Director was
still here, although she probably wouldn’t have cared.

“Eventually, I pieced the two and two
together.
 
Really…Being trained by
Virion, I feel somewhat betrayed Arthur.”
 
She put on a pouting face again, making me roll my eyes.

By this time, Elijah just sinks into his desk
chair, giving up, done with life.

“I don’t mean to intrude in on your love life
but she thinks very highly of you Arthur.
 
I’m sure she didn’t mean to come across as the way she did earlier.
 
My training regimen is not easy and the
few that have tried have failed.
 
The reason she was able to keep up and continue to train under me is to
catch up to you Arthur.
 
Even you
know that you acted quite immaturely there.”
 
She does a complete 180 as she puts on a
motherly vibe now, confusing me.

“Yeah.
 
I know how dumb I acted there as well, no need to remind me.” I sigh,
leaning further back into my seat.

“You will make up with her soon right?
 
I’d hate to see my disciple disheartened
while she trains.”
 
She smiles at me
gently before continuing.
 
“What I
want from you is not to be in the student council, but actually a committee
that is going to start this year.
 
The Disciplinary Committee.”
 

I knew she wanted me to do to something like
this.
 
“Forget it.
 
I don’t need the theory classes.
 
I’ll just teach myself from the books in
the library.”
 
I shake my head.
 

“The books on deviants aren’t accessible to
underclassmen and even for upperclassmen, you need to show that you are a
deviant, something that you can’t do right now right?”
 
She calmly refutes my plans.

“Being part of this disciplinary committee or
whatever…how does that make sense?
  
I’m a new student that’s in this academy as a Scholar Mage student, what
would the other members think anyway?”
 
I try to reason.

“While they might not agree at first, with some
time, I believe you will be more than capable of changing their minds, even
with your self-placed handicap.”
 
Director Goodsky throws in a playful wink, dead set on going through
with this.