Beckoning fates, p.13
Beckoning Fates, page 13
“What do you think, Sylv?” I poked my sleeping bond, watching as her body slowly rose and fell with her breaths. I was surprised she hadn’t woken up when Tess kissed me.
I played with Sylvie’s ears and paws until my breathing began to synchronize with hers, and I soon fell asleep.
While I was recovering over the next few days, quite a few people came to visit me. When Curtis came by and asked if I was okay, I only shot him a grin and said that his move was pretty damn strong, making him laugh. A few times it seemed he was about to ask me something, but he held back, perhaps because of my condition.
Claire Bladeheart also stopped in to check on me, and she kept me up to date on committee meetings so I wouldn’t be totally lost when I went back. To my surprise, Kathyln visited by herself instead of with her brother. She asked if I was okay and I could have sworn she looked worried. I was more surprised by that than anything else. Even Professor Glory came to visit, with a basket of fruits in hand.
I could tell everyone had a lot of questions.
“I’ll tell you,” Professor Glory said, “Lucas has been pretty heated up. I can’t blame him, though. To him, it must’ve felt like he was beating you in every sense, but you suddenly disappeared and instantly re-appeared a few hundred yards away.” She paused before continuing. “How did you do it, anyway? I’ve never seen anything like that. You know, even Director Goodsky isn’t capable of what you did. Instant teleportation has always been considered a myth. Yet, here you are, a twelve-year-old…”
I thought I’d be able to sit up without too much pain, so I lifted myself up just enough to be at eye level with the seated Professor Glory. But even that small movement was too much, so I just sank back down in my bed and limited myself to saying, “I think everyone has a secret or two they wish to keep to themselves.”
For a moment, I could tell Professor Glory wanted to pry, but she just nodded and let out a breath. “Okay.”
Director Goodsky visited once, briefly. I asked what was happening with the class I was supposed to be teaching and she said that, for now, Professor Glory had volunteered to take on the class until I was better. She didn’t give me the chance to ask any further questions, though.
She seemed to have come mainly to update me on how Tess was doing. “As her assimilation continues, she’s becoming more and more stable. These past couple of days, she’s only had one more fit,” she said.
“I’m glad you’re taking care of her, Director,” I said genuinely.
“She is my disciple, after all. Ah, that reminds me—I will be away from the academy for a few days on some business. Since Virion has returned to Elenoir, I need you to help Tessia with her assimilation until I return. Can you do that for me?” she said. But it seemed the question was a mere formality—she didn’t even wait for my response.
“Uh, yeah. Sure, I can do that,” I said to the empty room. I shook my head helplessly. I wasn’t sure if Director Goodsky really had business to attend to, but at least it would be an excuse to meet with Tess.
My recovery rate was a lot faster than anyone expected thanks to the assimilation of Sylvia’s dragon will into my muscles and bones. I spent my recovery time meditating and developing my mana core. I was at the threshold of breaking out of the dark yellow stage but it would still take a lot of work. I planned on leaving the infirmary and resuming normal school life starting tomorrow. Though I was still a bit weak, I would be glad to get back to my studies. My body felt stiff from being in bed for so long.
There was a strong knock on the door that afternoon, and I called, “Come in.” Sylvie hopped off the bed and padded toward the door.
“Just wrapped things up at work and came straight here. You look great!” My father had a wide grin on his face when he saw how much better I looked.
“Hey, Dad.” I smiled back, and Sylvie gave him a kyu of greeting before hopping back up next to me.
Taking a seat, my father chatted with me for quite some time, catching me up on everything going on with his work at the auction house. It was remarkably relaxing to talk to him. Family sure was different than anyone else. The fact that he didn’t have any ulterior motives—no plan, no secrets—was comforting. He just wanted what was best for me.
“How’s everyone doing at home?” It felt like it had been a long time since I’d spent time with my family, even though I knew it hadn’t been.
“Oh, the usual. Your mother stays busy socializing with her friends. Your sister, though—she’s becoming quite a handful.” He chuckled to himself. “Maybe we had it too easy raising you, but sometimes I just don’t know what to do with Ellie.” He scratched his head, and I noticed some wrinkles that hadn’t been there before.
“Just give her some space,” I said. “She’ll come around.”
After a brief period of silence, I decided to ask him something that had been bothering me. “Hey, Dad, how come Mom never really uses her magic? I mean, she healed small wounds for me when I was little and stuff, but that was about it. I remember you telling me what a great emitter she was.”
Looking at my father, I was surprised to see his usual bright face turn a little gloomy.
“Your mother… she carries a lot of weight in her heart.” He paused as if looking for the right words to continue. “I know you’re mature enough to know the story, but I want you to be patient. She’ll tell you when she feels ready, so you’ll have to wait for her to tell you herself.”
“I understand,” I said. I patted my father’s arm weakly, then repositioned myself as I felt my body cramping up.
“I should let you rest, Son.” He pinched my nose softly and we said our goodbyes. He left quietly, leaving me wondering what could possibly have happened with Mother that she had become too traumatized to use her powers.
“Kyu?” Sylvie said, asking what I was thinking about.
I just shook my head. “It’s nothing, Sylv. I hope.”
58
First Day on the Job
“Easy… take it slow. There you go.” Elijah supported me back up. It’d been exactly one week since I’d been injured, and since then the only walking I had done was with the assistance of rails during my physical therapy sessions. Even with mana circulating throughout my body, strengthening my limbs, I still felt rather sluggish.
“Kyu…” Sylvie looked at me with as much concern as her fox-like face was capable of. She was walking beside me instead of curling up on top of my head; I guess she was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold her up.
Elijah had come to my infirmary room as soon as his first class was over. I would be starting off my day by teaching the Practical Mana Manipulation class, but in my current state, I wasn’t so eager. With my legs giving out every couple of steps and my back and sides burning, I barely had the strength to get to the class, let alone teach it.
I slowly got my footing and stopped leaning on Elijah for support. Instead, I used Dawn’s Ballad as a walking stick. Elijah had wrapped the handle and sheath in a white bandage, for comfort as well as protection against suspicious eyes.
I had to chuckle at the irony. I remembered thinking the sword was nothing more than a walking stick when, in fact, it was a priceless weapon. My assumption back then had foreshadowed my current situation: Here I was, a twelve-year-old, already using a cane to support myself.
“Are you going to be okay by yourself? Maybe I should at least help you out in between classes today.” Elijah’s face wrinkled in concern and he stuck close by me, ready to catch me if I stumbled.
“I’ll be okay.” I didn’t have the confidence to say I wouldn’t fall, but I didn’t want to keep Elijah constantly by my side.
Elijah’s brows were still furrowed behind his glasses when we arrived in front of the classroom, and I knew he was hesitant to let me go by myself.
“Arthur, let me help you.” I turned my head and saw Princess Kathyln running toward me, leaving her group of friends behind. Without waiting for me to respond, she placed one arm around my waist and slipped underneath my arm so I wouldn’t just be leaning on my sword as support.
“Uh… okay. Thank you.” I glanced at Elijah, who was standing with his mouth agape. He held up two fingers and mouthed the word ‘princesses,’ but I just shook my head and turned to make my way into the classroom.
“I heard our new professor is finally coming today.”
“I know. I still can’t believe it, though.”
“How can the director even think about putting an underclassman in as a professor?”
“Anyone should be better than Professor Geist, right?”
“Don’t jinx it, man.”
“Hey, there he is! The disciplinary committee officer who beat Geist!”
“Why is he limping?”
The various conversations all changed to murmurs about me as soon as I walked in.
“I’ll be fine now, Princess Kathyln. Thank you.” I eased my arm off of her shoulders.
“You need help up the stairs.” Her expressionless face didn’t match the concern in her voice. I just shook my head and motioned for her to go first.
Sylvie followed close behind as I walked to the middle of the room, lurching toward the moveable podium in the center of the small stadium. When I reached it, I let out a deep breath of relief and put all my weight on the podium, which stood a bit too tall for my height.
Looking up, I spotted Feyrith sitting at one of the desks watching me curiously. When Kathyln reached her desk, she looked back for me. I smiled at her from my spot in the middle of the room but she looked almost anxious.
The conversations in the room died away as more and more of the young mages spotted me leaning against the professor’s podium.
“I’m not sure how many of you know my name, but I believe most of you at least know who I am. My name is Arthur Leywin. I’m a disciplinary committee member, the only son of two wonderful mages, a doting brother, and your new professor. Let’s get along.”
I waited to see the class’s reaction. Although they had certainly heard the rumors, most of the students filling the classroom sat in silence for a moment before the room filled with murmurs of disbelief, shouts of anger, and incredulous laughter.
“I can’t believe it! I thought it was a joke,” one of the second-years exclaimed.
“What makes you good enough to be the professor?” a short first-year barked. “Who do you think you are?”
I let out a pained breath, daydreaming about being able to teach this class while lying down.
This would have been a lot easier if Professor Glory or Director Goodsky had formally let the class know that I would be teaching. I should have at least been given an official document or a name badge—anything to prove that I was the new professor. But, for whatever reason, they hadn’t done any of that. Rumors had been flying and my announcement was like a spark in a powder keg. Knowing Director Goodsky, I had to wonder if she’d done this on purpose. It seemed like something she would do.
“Director Goodsky has appointed me to be the professor for this class for the remainder of the semester and—”
“This is crazy!”
“I’m filing a complaint!”
“Shut up!”
More protests resounded within the room as the students grew rowdier.
I looked at my fellow committee members. Feyrith’s sharp face was filled with a mixture of incredulity and worry, while Kathyln looked perplexed.
“Just because you beat the old professor doesn’t mean you’re that good. Do you think you could’ve won if Princess Kathyln and Feyrith hadn’t tired him out?” A second-year jumped down and landed on the stage with a loud thud.
“What are you doing?” I asked sharply as he began walking toward me.
The student had a pretty solid build, but judging from his poor mana circulation, he was probably able to augment only some of his body.
“I just suddenly feel like I want to be a professor now,” he said with a snide grin. “All I have to do is the same thing you did—pummel the instructor to the ground, right?”
I glanced around the room. Half the students were a bit nervous, not wanting to get caught up in another drama during class, while the other half was cheering him on.
Shifting my gaze back to the boy approaching me, I uttered a single word.
“Sit.”
Suddenly bombarded with a large influx of mana, the large student crumpled to his bottom with enough force to shake the stage we stood on.
The room grew deathly quiet as I hobbled over to the confused and embarrassed student. I stood over him, remaining silent and giving him a moment to appreciate the position he was in.
“Director Goodsky didn’t bother giving me any official documents, but like it or not, I will be teaching this class.”
I stepped over the student and made my way to the other side of the silent room. I did my best not to show any weakness, but as hard as I tried I couldn’t hide my limp.
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I scooped Sylvie up and lifted her for the entire class to see. “If anyone has a problem with this, you can take it up with this cute little fox here, though I guarantee that she will easily wipe the floor with any of you.”
The students looked at one another, unsure of what to do. “For those who want to leave,” I continued, “I won’t stop you—in fact, I’ll even allow you to be put into another class of your choice. However, if any of you are even a tiny bit curious as to what this little boy with a limp here can teach you, feel free to stay.” I pointed at the door and waited a few seconds, but whether it was because of my demonstration with the second-year or because they were actually interested in the class, none of the students left.
I peered at the second-year who had jumped down so eagerly to show off his limited ability. “Now, if you’ll please go back to your seat, I’ll begin my lesson.”
His face turning beet red, the student quickly got up and scrambled back to his seat. I took my time, slowly limping back to the center of the stage, and leaned on the podium. Sylvie jumped onto the podium and glared around at the class.
“Since this is the Practical Mana Manipulation class, I’ll ask a practical question. What is the best way to utilize mana from the surrounding atmosphere?” Almost instantly, a beak-nosed human student with a ponytail shot her hand up. I nodded to her.
“Mana is best utilized by absorbing the mana naturally formed in the atmosphere into the mana core, where it can be condensed and purified for use when spells or techniques are cast.” She gave me a smug look, obviously proud of her answer.
“Good. Now, as you all know, the difference between augmenters and conjurers lies in the fact that augmenters mostly use the mana in their cores via their mana channels, while conjurers absorb mana directly from the surrounding atmosphere via their mana veins. So why do both types of mages have to meditate and absorb mana if only the augmenters actually utilize the mana they absorb into their core?” I quizzed, not looking at anyone in particular.
The same girl’s confident hand shot up again, then shrank down as she pondered the question.
“While augmenters incorporate mana into physical attacks,” Kathyln answered, her face relaxed, “thus reducing the amount of mana used, conjurers directly manipulate the space in which the spell is cast, consuming more mana. Because of that, conjurers use the purified mana in their mana core as a reserve to avoid backlash.”
“Correct. Then the last question: Is the color of a conjurer’s—or even an augmenter’s—mana core a truly accurate way of measuring the level of the mage’s power?” I leaned forward, shifting my weight from my left leg to my right.
Kathyln’s usually composed face scrunched in deep thought.
“Keep that in mind,” I said, “as you all come down to the stage and line up behind me. I want the conjurers to my left and augmenters to my right.”
There were a few grumbled complaints, but eventually everyone made their way to the stage and into their places.
“For this exercise, I want everyone to initiate the most basic spell of your affinity. Conjurers, no wand,” I said.
For augmenters, the basic spells all came in a very similar form. For fire-affinity augmenters, it would be Fire Fist, which was igniting a small ember covering their fist. For wind, it would be Whirlwind Fist. For water, it would be Aqua Fist, and for earth, Boulder Fist. Once they’d learned to manifest their elements, the first step for augmenters was learning to integrate the element into their hands, the limbs they were most accustomed to using.
These mages were attending this school because, thanks to their elite lineages, they had strong talent; most had developed the ability to manifest their elements early on. It had taken my father more than twenty years to manifest an actual flame, but these twelve- to fourteen-year-olds were already capable of doing so. That was the difference genetics made, something even I found undeniable.
As for the conjurers, the most basic spell involved gathering specific elemental mana into a sphere and shooting it. For fire specialists, that would be in the form of the spell Fireball. For wind, it would be Wind Bullet; for water, Water Bullet; and for earth, Stone Bullet.
Conjurers had it easier since they didn’t have to directly form the element in their bodies, but could absorb the specific mana particles around them and use that to invoke the spell. Conjurers’ specializations in different elements had to do with how well they were able to both sense and utilize the specific elemental mana particles around them.
I rested my chin on my palm as I watched both types of mages prepare their spells.
The augmenters in the class all began concentrating, their dominant hands clenched tightly in front of them. A few long seconds later, their spells became visible as their respective elements enveloped their fists. The time it took them to accomplish this varied, but not by much.
The conjurers, meanwhile, chanted softly as the spaces in front of their palms began glowing different colors depending on their elemental affinities. I was unsurprised to see that it took Feyrith and Kathyln much less time to form their spells than everyone else.
