Chapter 37 - Epilogue of Sorts

Return to the Magic Academy was similar to my expectations, or so I would like to think. As usual I had to undergo a morning ordeal at hands of the maids, then I was forced into my costume, which seemed even heavier than I remembered, and finally I was surprised to find out that I was expected to take the Book with me.

According to Oliver the thing could conceal itself easily, which got me thinking really hard on how to deal with it. Getting nearly killed when I was entering the city made me rather upset to say the least and I felt inclined to even the score. The book must have figured out some of my intentions as it became surprisingly pensive and helpful.

Me and my retinue arrived at the grounds in time for the magic theory class. Statuesque cul de sac, greenery of the well kept lawn, fairy tale like grandeur of the building, wooden corridors and magnificent magical chandelier in the hall - everything was the same.

Almost.

While the building and its surroundings might not have changed much, there was a great difference. In attitude. My arrival at the classroom evoked a minor uproar, which was expected. What I didn't expect was what happened after, when professor Raghnall arrived for the class. Everyone grew deathly silent and turned into an epitome of attention. Even that Eric guy took out pen and paper and began to take notes, seemingly paying attention.

As to Raghnall himself, he dropped his annoying mannerism from the last time, though it didn't help all that much. His monotonal explanations proved without a doubt that his oratory skills could be considered sub par at best. What changed was the content, which I was hard pressed to grasp. It was totally different from the earlier curriculum and seemed similar to a math class - to my understanding he was explaining the background theory of evocative casting system. I was unable to follow the lecture, which could be compared to learning about integrals without background knowledge of differential functions.

After aggravatingly convoluted lecture was over it came time for a practice session. I was vaguely dreading the oncoming meeting with Sylthfran, the idea of assassination weighted heavily on my mind.

Since everyone seemed both too shy, due to my supposed status, and too excited, due to a prospect of a practical class, no one tried to approach me. That actually suited me just fine as I was able to approach Raghnall and talk with him freely. The old professor gave me an amicable welcome, which surprised me considerably.

After talking with him for quite a while I was able to gather some interesting facts. It appears that recent political upheaval managed to shake up things even on the Academy’s grounds, which in turn made many of the professors uneasy since many of them were unexpectedly *invested* in politics. After thinking about it later I had to admit that it was my omission for not understanding that fact earlier, after all most of the mages have ties to nobility.

Other thing that I found out was the content of the lecture, while I wasn’t even close to grasping the whole thing I at least knew what it was about - it turns out that evocative formulas have a deeply scientific background and creation of spells in that system follows quantifiable formulas, though Raghnall admitted that much of the system relies on theorems and not formulas.

To put it bluntly it could be said that they know that one plus one gives two and they could find out what two plus two would equal to, but they could not create an universal formula that would be able to portray the whole spectrum of results. That doesn’t mean that the whole thing was easy - as I found out that the equation was indeed a damn integral function which was only responsible for a part of a spell. When I understood that creating a spell required one to assemble several integrals into a cohesive formation I was really glad that I didn’t dabble into evocative system. I didn’t remember much about integrals from my time as a student, but they left a lasting memory... of a traumatic kind.

Maids interrupted our talk at some point, letting me know that I was about to be late for the next class. I quickly excused myself and made my way to the training grounds.

-” Well, well. Someone’s feeling insecure or has some real complexes. That’s a damn big shield… “ When I was passing through the opalescent mist the book suddenly whispered to me, but before I could react we were already inside and I was assaulted with a disturbingly familiar feeling.

As soon as my gaze reached Sylthfran’s profile I had a fluttering feeling in my stomach, it unsettled me greatly. -’ Why? ‘ I wanted to scream in my mind. Somehow the picture that I saw in Master’s study didn’t seem to give him justice. It took a lot of effort to stifle the incessant feeling. Luckily Sylhfran was busy instructing the class, which gave me some time to calm down…

Though not for long.

As soon as he turned his attention to me the smitten feeling was back and hit me harder than ever. -’ No, how could I? And to a guy? ‘ My heart was in turmoil and I almost missed the content of his speech. He was happy with my return and wanted to know whether I made some progress.

The answer stuck in my throat, a certainty that I would sound like a babbling idiot dawned on me and I had a bout of panic. Sudden feeling of mirth coming from the book somehow managed to pierce the haze that muddled my thoughts and allowed me enough clarity to turn to Clothilde and ask her to respond in my name.

I knew that it must have looked really bad, but compared to the gripping certainty that I had about speaking out myself it was still preferable. I was glad for the scarf and the hat as I was sure that my face was beet red, I had to stop myself from twiddling my foot in circles when I looked at Sylthfran’s and Clothilde’s exchange. -’ Focus.’ I unsuccessfully tried to get a grip, but succeeded only at noticing several strange looks that I got from other students, luckily they weren’t close enough to get the whole exchange. Or so I hoped.

In the end I was left under Amathias’s care, which still turned out rather well despite his professional but smirking smile that seemed to dwell on the recent event at every opportunity. Though apart from that small gesture he seemed to pay no heed to the event, for which I would be a bit grateful if not for that damn smirk!

Utterly humiliated, I escaped the training field at the earliest opportunity and I still can’t remember the instruction provided by Amathias.

I soon arrived at my apartment and locked myself in the bedroom, moping. Maids tried to approach me but I kept the door shut and didn’t want to listen to their comforting words. I don’t know how long I would spend in that state were it not for the book, which finally couldn’t contain its mirth and started openly laughing and ridiculing me.

I snapped instantly and with murderous mood I was about to force it into the Beginner Pouch when the book finally decided to enlighten me. It turns out that freaking damn…

...let me say this that way. It turns out that Sylthfran surrounds himself with some really complicated and insidious charm spell, which attunes itself to someone's magical defense. The stronger the defense the stronger the effect, it turns out that my outfit was totally unsuited to braving such kind of underhanded magic which struck me with amplified and unstoppable effect.

It took me a long time to calm down, but when I did I was murderous. That might have been the reason behind the book surrendering a protection spell quite easily.

Following days passed calmly, with me learning about the intricacies of the channeling system from Amathias. I couldn’t bring myself to even look in Sylthfran’s direction as I was unsure on whether I would be able to contain my murderous aura. Still, getting training and experiencing new things was a bliss. And surprisingly enough I was approached by some of the students that wanted to know on why I was sticking to *old and inefficient* system in *that* day and age. While we might not have seen eye to eye on the matter I surprisingly found myself drawn in and accompanied by them quite often.

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Other than that there were tea meetings with Oliver, who happened to drop in from time to time and brief me on political situation in the region, which was complicated even without the recent events that were just like an icing on the cake.

Everything seemed peaceful until a certain day...

* * * *

Cardinal Elmore Evenwater straightened up from the scroll she was reading and raised her hands to massage her aching temples. She let out an exasperated sigh, recent events have been taxing and she felt almost like a trapped animal. Years of her past efforts turned to dust in recent months, decades of preparation lost to follow papal orders. Under normal circumstances she would not have followed them, but papal words were accompanied by auspicious signs, moreover she also had visions of her own.

Thus she was forced to accept tasks that in the end were undermining both region's stability and Temple's of Light position. To make matters worse Conclave of Templars were misled by the growing influence of the Church, which would ultimately lead to its downfall. -' Those fools even consider a revival of Marthan Templar State. ' She clenched her fists in order to calm herself. She needed to be calm, or the Temple of Light, would not weather the oncoming storm.

She wanted to pray for guidance, but she knew that it would lead nowhere. She already received her guidance - she had to prepare her wards for the trouble ahead.

Cardinal returned to the missive that she was reading, it was a testament to Templar stupidity, they tried to bring down assassin's guild master and failed miserably. Even worse, they failed in a worst way possible. She knew what kind of man a Master Assassin was and she had no doubts that he would not let such a thing slide. Elmore wanted to scream, but only pursed her lips instead.

Cardinal knew what she had to do. With even, calculated motions she reached for a blank scroll and started writing a missive. Sometimes for a person to survive a limb must be cut, and Templars would only bring the Temple down, so they had to go.

Soon, she called one of her most trusted inquisitors and handed him the missive sealed with her personal seal. Elmore hoped that her instincts were right and Followers of Prosperity were yet to bring the governor under their thumb. If everything played out right this alliance may salvage the situation for both the Temple and the city...

* * *

An unusual meeting was taking place in the space between the dimensions, where distance and time meant nothing and everything at once.

-‘ We can’t keep it up any longer. ‘ A strained being, whose very presence seemed dim compared to others, stated bleakly. ‘ Five million is the limit. ‘

-‘ We need at least twice that to seal the Boundary… ‘ The being that responded did sharply contrast with the others, as he actually took a physical form. He looked like an outspoken gentleman, with slicked back blonde hair that matched up to his elegant, cream colored suit. His cold, piercing eyes were hidden behind a pair of slim, rose tinted glasses. Despite his duplicitous nature he exuded aura of self confidence that most mortals found appealing.

-‘ That’s just too greedy. ‘ A being that seemed like a pillar of light interjected. -‘ Even if their God won’t react that doesn’t mean that we can just drop few millions of distressed humans onto the world. Even my followers are beginning to stir trouble.  ‘ God of Light made a small pause to accentuate his statement. -‘ Unless you want to concede and throw them straight into the Wheel of Reincarnation, Freedom. ‘ There was hostility in the God’s voice.

-’ You know that I won’t, and that we can’t. ‘ Gentleman, who was in fact a God of Freedom, responded calmly, but his voice was hard. -’ Their God would just pluck back most of them if we did that. He might be idle, but he will react to such a transgression… ‘

-’ Then stop stalling and finish what you have started. ‘ God of Light unleashed a wave of power to show his impatience.

-’ But… ‘ Gentleman tried to object, but was instantly interrupted.

-’ No. ‘ Suddenly another presence manifested, its voice was like a mountain - deep, slow and unstoppable. -’ You were the one who was responsible for the Shattering that crippled the world. I don't want to see it plunged into chaos yet again. ‘ Gentleman tried to speak, but God of Nature was not easily interrupted. -’ I know that you have little interest in the balance of the mortal realm,  but that does not mean that we are the same, therefore I will not allow you a free hand. Even if we are partly responsible for the Shattering. ‘

-’ But what if one of the Demon Worlds tries to invade? We need to restore… ‘ God of Freedom voiced his worry, despite knowing that it won’t change the opinion of others.

-’ The consensus has been reached. ‘ A secular voice resounded, stopping Freedom in his tracks. No one would want to interrupt the God of Trade and Knowledge, for obvious reasons. -’ Goddess of the Moon has problems with sustaining five millions of proxies already. Also, the impact of those people finding out that they were transferred to another world cannot be neglected, even if they are spread around the globe they amount to five percent of the total population.Therefore we should naturalize them, to free Moon from the burden, and focus on repairing the rest of the Boundary in a normal manner... ‘ Upon seeing Freedom’s doubt the God appended. -’ Even if it’s time consuming. ‘

Gods united after the speech and God of Freedom saw that he could no longer change the outcome, so he only nodded his head in acknowledgment when God of Nature issued the order. -’ Now go, bring souls to our world so their power might help to restore the Boundary. ‘

With that short sentence myriad of human fates has been sealed, forced to lead their lives in the new world...

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Hey, Mea's Here~

It has been a long time since I posted A dusk before dawn part. It turns out that end of the year turned out to be quite busy. I hope you won't hate me too much for the epilogue and writing it in a descriptive fashion, which I admit is a bit of cheating. Still, that way I was able to compress a lot of content in the reasonable amount of space. I am not sure whether I would be able to finish it by the end of march if I were to write it down normally, though it would certainly be a better(and muuuch longer read).

Anyway back to the point. I have started publishing the rewrite of TFE though decided to drop Vr premise and go with a different plot. I feel it will and somehow already is, a better thing than TFE. While ending this part of almisha's story early is painful for me I feel that having a chance at doing everything right from the start is worth the sacrifice.

If you wonder why I find TFE not good enough then please do take a look at this Chapter 1 and compare it with Chapter 1 of TFE. This might show you on why I decided to restart the story from scratch, as to why I decided to drop VR and few other ideas, the answer is simple - I have learned that more is not always the better and some things detract value instead of adding it when adding them to the story. And I figured out that in the loooong run I prefer a reincarnation story instead of hybrid one, which TFE in the end was supposed to be.

Phew. with that out of the way I wanted to thank you for support(and for reading this overbearing ending). If you would feel inclined to follow the new Almisha's story you can do so by clicking this link: Almisha's Journey

I hope you don't consider the time spent on my story wasted and have enjoyed yourself at least a bit.

Cheers,

Mea

Ps Even If I tried I wouldn't be able to write the story as I would like it to be a year ago, hence try not to dwell on it too much - its unhealthy :P

Ps2 Comments are welcome, as always... or even more so.

Let the indulgence be with you... for who needs power when they can do what they like without it...