Beckoning fates, p.14
Beckoning Fates, page 14
The only visible difference between the augmenters’ and conjurers’ spells was that the augmenters’ elements surrounded their fists, while the conjurers’ elements gathered in front of their palms.
“Now, augmenters, I want you to try and launch your spell in front of you. Conjurers, I want you to try and absorb the spell you’ve conjured into your hand.” I gave them an innocent smile as they stared at me blankly.
After a few seconds, they realized I wasn’t joking. One by one, they began their attempts at a concept very foreign to their nature.
I watched as the augmenters all failed in their attempts. Some roared as they flailed their arms, while others tried to chant to no avail. It became almost comical—one student thought shouting “fire” would do the trick.
The conjurers weren’t any better; they all ended up getting cut, burned, wet, or bruised. After several minutes of struggling, most gave up and looked at me accusingly; even Feyrith and Kathyln had expressions of doubt.
“This is stupid. We all know only high-level augmenters can cast long-distance spells,” one of the augmenter students cried.
“Yeah! And anyway, what’s the point to absorbing back a spell we prepared and conjured?” an elven student whined as she cradled her bruised hand.
Leaving Sylvie on top of the podium, I hobbled to the opposite side of the stage, away from the students.
Taking a moment to concentrate, I aimed at an open space between the conjurers and augmenters.
A gust of wind formed around my hand before shooting out past the students. By the time it reached the metal wall behind them, the bullet of air had dissipated harmlessly.
“Big deal,” one of the students retorted. “Most augmenters can do that once they reach orange stage.”
“True, it’s not hard to do that, but—” I raised my other arm and shot a stream of compressed air directly out of my palm. The attack whistled past the students and hit the wall behind them once more, but this time, the wall caved in from the pressure, forming a small crater. “Have you seen any augmenters do that at the orange stage?”
The students, startled by the impact of what appeared to be the same spell, whipped their heads around, looking back and forth between me and the wall.
“I can’t accurately demonstrate what happens when conjurers are able to absorb the spells they invoke, but trust me, it’ll only help you.”
I staggered back to the podium and grabbed my bond. “That’s it for today. Try and come up with the answer to the question and practice what I just told you to do. See you tomorrow.”
I gave them one last wave on my way out. As I left, I could hear the students inside erupt in excitement.
“How’d I do, Sylv?” I asked.
‘Not bad, but I could do better,’ she replied brightly.
59
Confrontation
I took a deep breath as I sat outside on a nearby bench. I had ended class a bit too early, I realized. The campus was peaceful; most students were still in their classrooms. It’d been a while since I’d felt this weak, but getting up and walking around definitely helped.
I sat idly, watching Sylvie chase a butterfly around the lawn in front of me. Then I heard footsteps approaching from the right.
“Is this seat taken?”
I turned to see Princess Kathyln leaning forward so her face was level with mine.
“No, go ahead,” I said, slowly scooching a bit to my left to make room for her. She carefully placed her handkerchief over the bench and took a seat on top of it, straightening out her rumpled skirt. We sat there silently, both of us watching as Sylvie finally captured the butterfly and pinned it, struggling, beneath her paws.
“My brother told me what happened. I’m sorry.” Her voice grew quieter at the end of her sentence.
I kept my eyes focused on Sylvie but responded with a soft laugh. “Why are you saying sorry too? Even if it was your brother’s fault, which it wasn’t, he’s already apologized.”
“It’s just… I feel like my family owes you many apologies. For what happened with Sebastian and my father as well. That time at the auction house… he’s not usually like that but he was shocked by the turn of events and felt he needed to keep his image and…”
For the first time, I witnessed Kathyln getting flustered. Her face, usually composed, became flushed and her expression was panicked as she tried to make me understand.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and Kathyln immediately stopped talking. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, Princess. I just haven’t seen this side of you before.” Kathyln blushed even brighter and turned her body away from me.
“Please don’t mock me, Arthur. I didn’t expect this from you, of all people,” she said, her head still turned away.
“Oh? What did you expect from me?” I tilted my head in curiosity.
“Well, when I first met you at the auction event, I noticed you held yourself very maturely,” she murmured. She still hadn’t turned back around.
“You noticed how people hold themselves when you were barely eight years old?” Reading a person’s posture was something a keen adult might learn how to do, after many years of experience with meeting all different kinds of people.
“Yes. Being a princess, I acquired that skill fairly quickly. Both my father and brother were quite the characters, so I felt like my mother and I were the only normal ones at times,” Kathyln said, turning back to face me. She didn’t quite meet my eye, though.
“Oh? I didn’t really notice anything unusual about your brother. He seemed very charismatic.” I remembered meeting Curtis for the first time at the auction house. He had matured quite a bit since then.
“Yes, he’s gotten a lot better, seeing as he’s able to apologize to you. That would’ve been very hard for him when he was younger, because of his pride.” She sighed, and we both watched Sylvie battle with another bug for a few moments. “When I first saw you, I noticed right away that you were different from everyone else. How should I say this? I was very intrigued by you.” Her head lowered a bit as she spoke.
“Is that right? I assumed the opposite, since your face didn’t show any reaction or change the whole time.” I smiled at the memory of our first meeting four years prior.
“I apologize. My family has told me be more expressive but to no avail.” She attempted to force a smile and I tried not to laugh again at the unnatural expression.
“Well, they’re not wrong. I was beginning to think you were wearing a mask, your face was always so still.”.
She looked at me seriously. “I will practice.” Kathyln nodded to herself, and I noticed her expression looked slightly more determined than usual.
“I’m not sure that’s something you can practice,” I said carefully. “Just don’t force your emotions down; eventually your face will move according to how you’re feeling inside.” I put on an exaggerated grin. She suddenly turned away from me again.
Oops. Did I overdo it?
KATHYLN GLAYDER
I couldn’t show any weakness; I had a duty to uphold. When men came to visit me, hoping to gain my favor, I couldn’t show any weakness they could use against me. That was my struggle.
I couldn’t read minds, but it wasn’t hard to see that all the men who came to me—the ones my own age as well as the older ones—had ulterior motives. Royal lineage, superior ability, physical appearance—the things most people believed would make their lives easier were shackles that robbed me of the freedom I wished to have.
Yet here I was, with a boy my age who was so talented and sought after, yet still so… bright. He shined with a brilliance that made me want to be like him. What made him so different from me? Was he foolish for expressing his emotions so freely, without the fear of how others would view him—or courageous?
I couldn’t keep myself from giggling as Arthur contorted his face like that. He looked so silly. I immediately covered my mouth, trying to hide my smile.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” His exaggerated smile turned gentle, comforting me.
“I should teach stuff like this instead of Mana Manipulation, right?” He let out a pained laugh as he leaned down to pet his bond, which had moved to sit between his legs.
“That reminds me. The Wind Bullet spell that you used to demonstrate seemed almost like a conjurer’s spell compared to the second one you used. How exactly did you do it? I’m also curious as to why you want the conjurers to try to absorb their spells back into their bodies. I’ve never heard of conjurers doing that.” I was going on like an excited child about the questions that filled my mind and felt suddenly embarrassed.
“Whoa! Is that why you came up to me? Is this what you were after?” He leaned away from me, shocked.
“No! Of course not. That was never my intention.” Oh no! He thought I had come after him with some ulterior motive. I had just seen him sitting there and wanted to—why did I ask to sit next to him?
I realized my hand was slightly touching his arm, and I pulled it back quickly, but he was laughing softly.
“I was obviously joking, Princess. I’m not sure if I should tell you, though. It wouldn’t be very fair of me to give you the advantage like that, right?” He gave me a little wink that made my chest feel heavy all of a sudden. What was that?
“I guess you’re right. It would be unfair to give me answers to the homework you assigned,” I responded quietly.
“Well… I guess I can give a fellow disciplinary committee member a little pointer. Watch now.” I looked up to see him lifting both his hands, palms up, and he appeared to be concentrating.
His left hand began to glow as soft winds swirled, surrounding his hand. As for his right hand, only a small portion in the center of his palm glowed. The wind that gathered around this hand didn’t surround his entire hand, but instead swirled into a sphere just above his palm. With a brief flick of his wrists, he shot out small gusts of wind from both hands.
The wind that had surrounded his left hand dissipated after a few yards, but the spherical wind he had conjured with his right hand went several times farther before dissipating with a soft pa.
“There is your hint for the augmenter’s homework. As for what I assigned the conjurers, think backward.” He got up as I contemplated what he’d just done.
“I should get going now. Let me know if you need more lessons on facial expressions.” He gave me an exaggerated scowl, then a perverted smile, almost making me laugh again.
“Aw, you didn’t laugh this time. Too bad.” He slowly walked off with his bond scampering next to him. I realized I felt a bit empty, sitting alone on a bench that now seemed too big for just me.
ARTHUR LEYWIN
“Psst. I heard you got hurt on the first day of class. Are you okay?” Emily’s thick glasses shifted down as she leaned forward next to me, whispering in the middle of class. We were learning about the basic components that made up different types of artifacts.
All of a sudden, a piece of chalk flew straight at Emily, disappearing somewhere into her curly hair.
Gideon gave a light cough, his hand still outstretched after throwing the chalk at her. “Miss Watsken, please enlighten the class as to the primary component of a basic light-producing artifact.”
“The basic light-producing artifact is made up of the foundation crystal, florenite, found abundantly near the outskirts of Sapin and also in the kingdom of Darv. After florenite is refined, it will constantly let out a dim light, so in order to control the output of the ore—”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough. Sheesh, I just asked for the material,” Gideon grumbled, cutting Emily off mid-explanation.
Giving a small shrug, she took out some paper to write on, then made futile attempts to scavenge the piece of chalk buried somewhere deep in her hair.
We exchanged notes for a bit, writing to each other about what had happened. I skimmed over the details, not wanting to write a novel about the experience. But with the lack of detail from my side, she wasn’t really able to piece anything together, leaving her frustrated and curious.
“Something seems off.” She eyed me as we left class. For homework, we had been assigned a mini-project where we had to assemble a light-producing artifact, or LPA for short.
We made our way to the mess hall to get some lunch, and Emily badgered me with questions on the details of the fight.
“You’re overthinking things, Emily. I’m more worried about the project Gideon assigned us. I’m so lost after missing the first week.” This was actually true. My critical thinking abilities and vague knowledge of technology from my past allowed me to make connections and understand more than most first-years, but everyone was grumbling about how this class was one of their hardest. Leave it to that eccentric Gideon to teach a basic class as if it were several levels higher.
“Eh, I already have a couple LPAs I made lying around in my dorm anyway. Might as well put them to use.” She adjusted her oversized backpack as we entered the cafeteria.
“Wow. You could probably ace this class in your sleep.” I shook my head as I picked up a tray and grabbed some food.
“Kyu!” ‘Get more meat, Papa!’ Sylvie hopped on top of my head in protest when I loaded my plate with vegetables.
“Oh, all right.” I went back and picked up a few more pieces of meat, then realized Emily was looking at me with a weird expression on her face.
“Can you understand what your bond is saying?” She lifted her glasses up as she peered at Sylvie.
“Can’t everyone?” I asked.
“No, not at all, actually. They can understand their emotions to a certain extent but not… verbal cues.” She squinted as she took a closer look at Sylvie.
Pushing her head back with my finger on her forehead, I responded, “That’s what I meant. I felt my bond complaining and I just inferred that it was because I had picked up vegetables. You’re overthinking things again, Emily.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. She’s cute though.” She just shrugged and prepared her own plate.
“Ah, there you are, Art. Director Goodsky wants—oh, hello.” Elijah stopped in his tracks as he realized I was with a friend.
“Hey, Elijah. This is Emily. Emily, Elijah,” I said, my gaze shifting between my friend and the simmering beef in my hands.
“Nice to meet you.” Emily smiled, fumbling awkwardly to slide a hand out from underneath her food tray.
“A pleasure to meet you,” Elijah responded as he shook her hand, a look of curiosity on his face. “Anyway, Art, you need to head over to your training room. Director Goodsky, remember?” He gave me a look, signaling that it was urgent.
“Oh, wait—now?” I stared down longingly at my food.
“Yes. Now.” He gently took away my tray while I tried to scarf down as much food as I could. Sylvie used her tongue to sweep a big portion of the meat into her mouth as I placed the tray next to the trash bin.
“You two get acquainted. I’ll talk to you later!” I waved at my friends as I left, and they waved back.
Director Goodsky had told me where my private training room would be while I was in the infirmary. The mana density was supposed to be a lot higher there, making it easier to train.
“I wonder what Director Goodsky wants. I should give her an earful about class today,” I said to no one in particular as Sylvie and I made our way toward the room.
All the training rooms were in a sort of maze underneath the library, so a staff member had to escort first-time visitors to make sure they found the right location. Usually, only upperclassmen were allowed to borrow the rooms to train in for a couple of hours at a time, but I was lucky enough to have a private one all to myself.
There were two entrances in the library building: one to the actual library, the other to a sort of waiting room for all the training facilities. Opening the door to the waiting room, I slowly made my way past some upperclassmen before arriving at the front desk. “Hi, my name is Arthur Leywin.” I didn’t exactly know what Director Goodsky wanted, so I hoped the lady at the front desk would know what to do once I told her my name.
“Ah, yes. Today is your first time visiting the room, correct?” The lady wore a tailored suit, reminding me of a concierge at some fancy hotel.
“Yes,” I said with a nod, and she bent down and opened a drawer.
“Please place both palms on this stone. Make sure the tips of all your fingers are flat.” In both hands, she held out a flat tablet with various inscriptions etched onto it.
I did as I was told and felt a brief numbing sensation spread over my hands as she activated the tablet.
“Perfect! I’ll show you to your room. Please follow me.” She ushered me forward toward a room in the back, where a scarred man, well over six feet tall and holding a spear, guarded the door.
The room the man was guarding was actually some sort of elevator made up of various gears, which I assumed were powered either by mana cores or some other mana-producing ore.
“Wow. I didn’t know anything like this existed here,” I said in awe, reminiscing about the last time I had ridden in an elevator.
“It has actually been built quite recently, and hasn’t yet spread around the country. The genius artificer Gideon designed this device. I’m sure you’ve heard of him—he’s currently a professor here,” she said, admiring the elevator herself.
“More than heard of him, he’s actually one of my professors. The way he teaches his class, I wish he wasn’t such a genius.”
“Here we are! Make sure to remember how to get to your room. Since I’ve registered you to your room, you are allowed to come in anytime you wish,” she said as she guided me through the halls.
“That scary scarred man won’t stop me?” I asked, pointing up with my sheathed sword.
She burst out with a surprised laugh. “Oh, no. He won’t stop you. Ah! We’ve arrived.” We had reached the end of the hall, where there was a large set of double doors without any handles.
