Hello readers, author here!
Hope you all are doing well. Some of the fonts that are going to be used are as follows.
{bold + italics} = Novel Parts.
'italics' = Talk with Desiderius.
(bold) = Magic Technique Names.
Alright that's about it.
I am bad writing fight scenes, as you will see during the chapter. But I will write more elaborate and good ones, later on. Hope you all enjoy today's update as well!
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Lester stares at the book again.
'Why is the protagonist mentioned particularly similar to Nicholas?' Lester wonders for the nth time. This is suspicious and nerve-wrecking.
'I have to read more,' Lester decides. He needs to see if this book is really about Nicholas Carbey, or all of this is just a very weirdly accurate coincidence.
And as Lester reads on, his suspicions are answered. The next chapter is about Nicholas's first day as a first year in Ludnith Academy. Here, he meets Chris, Abigail, Jude and Hamilton. Later on in the third chapter, he meets Henry and Johnathan. Johnathan, Lester's oldest brother.
Chapter 3 talks about that one session with the royal army generals, so it makes sense that Johnathan was there. Lester vividly remembers him talking to Nicholas a lot and when Lester tried to talk to him, he was put to the side and scolded for his reputation going to shit. The first ever words spoken after years of not seeing each other.
He reads the chapter and is surprised to see that Johnathan was impressed by Nicholas's swordsmanship and his ability to infuse his poison ability into his actions and even said that he will help Nicholas to sharpen those skills even more.
This chapter also introduced Lester. It showed Nicholas watching Johnathan conversing with Lester. But they did not seem to be on good terms. After the older man left, Lester glared at Nicholas before storming off. And it also showed that Nicholas knew him from freshman year too. Lester was mentioned as an 'infamous bully who loves to harm others'. And that Nicholas is usually a target of his bullying.
Well, it's not like Lester can't argue with that. It is true that Lester usually focuses his bullying act on Nicholas most of the time.
Lester goes on reading and is surprised to see that a lot of the incidents mentioned are real incidents. And most are written from Nicholas's point of view. One major surprise is how Lester realizes Nicholas is rather a very angry person. Not as much, but he does get annoyed easily. Which is a surprise since Nicholas always appeared to be nice, generous and calm. Of course, Lester knew better. After all, Nicholas showed him his true character that time when he turned Lester down. But he did not think that anger was a personality trait of his too.
Lester continues to read the other chapters. His presence does get mentioned at times, where he just acts like any other one-dimensional bully, which is in a way, good for Lester because that means his act is very strong and convincing. He is surprised to see that Nicholas does not react because he thinks Lester will stop if he appears uninteresting. But internally, Nicholas despises Lester. Which does not shock Lester much, but it does surprise him, since Lester always thought Nicholas did not concern himself with his antics.
And not to mention, the insults the author used to describe him. They were.... Lester just sighs.
Seriously? 'Algae-eyed slob'? Even Lester could throw a better insult than that. This is too soft for a person like him.
'All of these incidents...' Lester puts down the book for a moment. He read till chapter 4 and most of those incidents are real and the other incidents are those from Nicholas's life so Lester is not sure if they are real.
'Who could have actually written this?' Lester wonders. A fan of Nicholas who has an undying strange obsession with him? Kind of makes sense, but then why is this book so big? What all must have been written inside it?
'If that's how it is, how did it even get into my room?' Lester thinks. But he does not get an answer to that, so he lets it be for now.
He continues to read and after a few more minutes, he freezes. He got to chapter 6 titled, {Mage Training Session}. 'Isn't that the session that is going to happen today?' Lester thinks. Curiosity fills his heart and he continues to read it.
By the end of it, Lester stares at the pages in disbelief and confusion.
This chapter...
It has the whole training session already written down! From Lester bullying Nicholas to the end of the session where Nicholas gets praised by the mages while Lester watches from the side-lines in jealousy.
This...
All of this has not even happened yet but this book has a whole session written out in this. Not to mention, the book is still continuing. Does that mean there is more?
'Does this whole book contain the future?' A random thought passes in Lester's mind. He scoffs, shaking his head. No, that makes no sense.
'Yes. What if this is just a fanfiction written by Nicholas's fan? Then all of this would just be her fantasy in the end.' Lester's mind tries to make a plausible explanation to this phenomenon. This theory would make sense as to why this book is written in that of a novel format and not in a diary entry format. Rather than it just being an account of a stalker's obsession with Nicholas, it could just be a fanfiction of Nicholas with the author.
'Yes, that could be the only explanation,' Lester thinks, looking at the book intensively.
But how can he be so sure?
First of all, this book magically appears in Lester's room as if it was meant for him to read and then this book has the main protagonist of Nicholas Carbey whom he hates and now this book talks about an event that is yet to happen.
'....There is no way, right?' the blond frowns, as doubt fills his mind. Lester takes a deep breath. He must not get ahead of himself. He needs to calm down first and think about this carefully.
Theory one is where an obsessive stalker fan of Nicholas is writing about the said boy in a fanfiction. It is a very understandable theory. Except why should the person leave it in his room? To make fun of him? Is it a new way to bully him? That would kind of make sense; fans can be too much at times.
'An obsessive stalkerish fan writes fanfiction of the person they are obsessed with... it makes sense.' Lester thinks, although he does condemn this kind of behavior. Stalking people, not acknowledging their privacy and forcing them into things they don't like is very wrong and creepy.
Lester compares this to himself. He loves Abigail and acknowledges her privacy. Most of the information he knows of her is from the talks they had last year. He does not stalk her at all; he is just trying to talk to her and it would not have been such a hard thing if not for her pain in the ass friends. And he never plans to force himself on her too. After all, she will love him, no matter what.
'That is rather twisted, Lester...' Desiderius says. 'Shut up, Desiderius. You don't understand.' Lester shoots back to which the alter ego sighs in response.
'Anyways,' Desiderius leans forward, eyeing the book in his hand, 'We need to look into this. Although the stalker fanfiction theory seems to be true, we still don't know how it ended up in your room. And the best thing to do right now is to read and be familiar with this book.'
Lester kind of dismisses this, 'The Mage Training Session is going to start after lunch. I will read after that.' He says, putting the book back in his bag.
Lunch break comes and Lester eats his lunch in the cafeteria. After an hour, his class goes to the changing rooms where they change into their training suits, before being taken to the mana training fields. When the entire class reaches the area, their trainer, Sir Jaison tells them to assemble quickly.
"Class," He addresses, "Today is the Mage Training Session. There are five Mages who came from the Mage Realm to help you all with your mana. They will be here to help you with any questions or problems you might face."
Lester blinks. Wait, where has he heard that before—?
"Although, before the session starts, go do some warm ups. Exercise and spar if you want." the trainer says. Lester's memory suddenly provides him with the next words.
{"I have to deal with some issues right now, the mages will join in about five minutes."....}
Although Lester is not sure how he knew this, he keenly stares at the trainer, with bated breath. If he is not wrong, aren't those words he heard from that fanfict—
"I have to deal with some issues right now, the Mages will join in about five minutes." The man says, before walking off. So do the students, who started to go to their friends and talk. Some of them started to exercise a bit, while some decided to have a friendly spar. Except Lester, who stands there rooted to the spot. His expression bespoke terror and disbelief, before it is put away and hidden immediately.
'Wait...no...' Lester's mind spirals. Why did he say the same words as said in the fanfiction? How is that possible?
'It could be a coincidence.' Lester tries to remain scientific, but this time, the doubt doubles. He looks up to the trainer again, who is now having some talks with the Mages who came for the program.
Seeing the mages, Lester frowns deeply, the scene jogging a memory. In the fanfiction, it talked about five mages who all came for the program. There were three men and two women. Their accurate descriptions were given in the novel too, along with their names.
Lester intensely stares at them, frowning harder as he finds how the novel's descriptions matched the mages. There is no way that the author would have known this; the Mages who were supposed to come for the program were only known to some of the teachers. Even if the student heard it accidentally from a teacher, there is no way that the same person could write a whole book because of that scene, and then have it printed, and then binded, and then given to him through unknown means. Especially when the program was revealed about a month ago.
In the back of his mind, the other theory which he ignored comes back to life. Lester's eyes tear away from the Mages and look towards Nicholas.
{"Hey!" Chris's voice calls out, and Nicholas turns to where the voice came from. The ginger walks over to him with a smile and waving his hand. "Come on, lets go and see the display," He says, to which Nicholas just hums.}
{"Man, the potion test was so hard!" Chris sighs, upset. It seems like no matter how much he studies, he can't get the potions right. Or maybe it is because he hates math and chemistry? "Didn't Jude help you?" The black haired boy asks, to which Chris replies, "Yes, that's the only reason why I was able to at least answer some of them."}
'He should be with Chris, talking about the upcoming potion test, while walking towards some of the weapons laid out.' Lester's memory recites as his eyes scan for the black haired boy. He is not sure if he wants the same thing to happen as said in the book or to have something different happen.
But when he finally sees the black haired boy, his face contorts into shock, pupils shaking.
Nicholas was in fact, talking with Chris. And walking towards the display of weapons. Lester suddenly feels his vision swarming. 'Ok, no...there is...' Lester tries to make sense, saying how that is was a normal reaction for students and Nicholas was just doing that. 'Friends stick together most of the time, so that must just be it.'
{Sir Jaison was still talking with Mage Hayward about the students absent, the profiles of the said students in his hand—}
Lester looks to the class trainer to see that yes, Sir Jaison has some sheets of paper in his hand and he was in fact, talking with Sir Hayward, one of the Mages. 'No..nonono...' Lester's head is starting to hurt. His heart is palpitating like crazy, chills go down his back.
'This is not true....This is—'
{"Abigail is at it again," Chris mentions, beckoning to the girl who was trying to help a student with first aid due to an unfortunate accident when she sparred with another student.}
Lester tears his gaze around to see the said girl. And his step staggers, seeing that Abigail is holding a first aid kit and walking to this one girl who seems hurt and is sitting down on the ground.
Lester takes a step back, horror on his features. Everything that was mentioned in the book is happening....how is that possible...?
'Unless...'
The book actually has the future written in it.
That nonsensical thought comes back again, but this time Lester does not find the courage to dismiss it like nothing. Because now, he actually thinks it might be true. 'There is no way that is possible,' Lester thinks. There is no way. Is this just a hallucination? Did he eat something weird this morning?
Lester takes deep breaths, looking down to the ground and tries to remember everything else.
{Nicholas stares at the set of weapons before him, as Chris goes to take a dagger to examine it. He whistles in praise, "It is quite different, I think it is from the region of Nefrar in Thekaria." the ginger says, remembering his own homeland, that is Thekaria.}
{"You know this?" Nicholas asks curiously. Chris hums, "Not much, I am not as weapon crazy as Henry," He giggles, "But I have seen these around there." Nicholas hums, leaning down a bit to take a look at the dagger in the other's hand. "It certainly is—"}
{There was a sudden blunt hit to the back of his head, making Nicholas frown and hold the area immediately, before turning around. The sight makes him want to wish he was blind. It is him again, Lester Farrington. 'Does he have nothing meaningful to do?' He wonders internally, although he remains to look indifferent.}
{"Oh my, sorry! I saw your head and I thought it was the target. Not my fault you look like that cheap thing." Lester cackles proudly, and Nicholas now wishes he was deaf instead. "You son of a bitch! How many times do you have to hurt him?!" Chris fumes, anger in his eyes.}
'Ah right, I remember,' Lester thinks, reciting everything that happened in the chapter. He looks at Nicholas, who is still taking a look at the weapons. Lester's lips tug down a bit.
There is one way to test out whether or not that book is actually telling him the future.
'In that chapter, I made him fight with a mage teacher because I am a bully. And he gets defeated in the end, but is congratulated by the mage. And that mage is—' Lester turns his head to the side, to where the mages were.
There were 5 mages there. All of them are the High Mages of the Departments of Wind, Fire, Water, Earth and Shadow. The 5 mages are still talking to the trainer about something. Lester focuses on one of them.
It is a young man in his 40's. He looked rather young though, his long straight white hair like silver. It was tied with a long dark violet hair ribbon. His stature was small, not petite but not as big as a gladiator either. His eyes were red. His face was well structured: Beautiful, yet masculine. His dark red lips stood out on his pale face. His clothes were of dark themes: a black shirt with silver cuffs, a pair of black pants and boots and a dark violet coat that was draped on his shoulders, decorated with swirling patterns. This man is Lowell Martin, the Head of the Shadow Magic Department.
This mage is the one who is going to fight with Nicholas. He is then going to defeat Nicholas and then praise him for his skills. They also become acquaintances.
'It was because of a weird energy that Nicholas showed during the fight...' Lester thinks. He remembers that scene where Hayward, the Head of the Fire Department enquiries as to why Lowell praised Nicholas. And the shadow mage said that he felt something amiss about Nicholas's mana. While they fought, Lowell felt two powerful energies in Nicholas's mana, fighting together.
Lester has not read more of the novel since he needs to make sure if whatever the novel is saying is the future or not.
'This person will fight Nicholas only after I challenge Nicholas to fight with him because I made fun of his origins.' Lester remembers. So technically, he is the catalyst for this.
There is one way to test this out. And that is, to act it out in reality.
Lester takes a deep breath again. 'Alright, let's do this. I remember the lines very well.' Lester thinks. 'I need to make sure this grabs Lowell's attention too.' He needs to be loud.
Lester glances at Lowell again. He freezes.
A pair of ruby red eyes are on him. Lowell is looking at him. Lester tenses but catches himself and looks to the side, as if not noticing the intense gaze on him.
'Fuck...' Lester thinks. 'I did stare at him a lot earlier. He must have caught on to that.' Lester shakes the earlier fear off. Damn, that surprised him.
'Alright, one more minute...' Lester thinks, eyes locked on Nicholas. He glances at Lowell again from the corner of his eyes and much to his relief, the mage is not looking at him again. He sighs in relief.
'...And now!' Lester thinks and starts to walk. He stares blankly at Nicholas, who is talking with Chris, and makes his face turn into a malicious expression. As he walks over to them, he grabs a wooden sword from the table provided and as soon as he reaches them, he hits Nicholas's head with the sword.
Nicholas flinches and rubs the area turning to look at who did that. He stills, seeing Lester looking at him smugly.
The black haired boy keeps his expression neutral but his annoyance slightly shows through. Lester keeps his smug face. He repeats the lines from the novel. "Oh my, sorry! I saw your head and I thought it was the target. Not my fault you look like that cheap thing."
Chris reacts immediately, "You son of a bitch! How many times do you have to hurt him?!"
Lester stiffens for a moment. 'The exact same words...' He notes and continues, "Hah! I will do whatever I want. And it's not like this fake noble can do anything about it." He slaps the arm of Nicholas, laughing like a menace.
Nicholas just stands there, looking down to the ground as if in restrained anger. The other students around there notice this and begin to whisper among themselves. But none comes forward.
"You!" Chris says, angry beyond reason. "Stop saying that when you are no better! He is so much better than you in every aspect! He can use the sword, magic and even has better academics! You are nothing compared to him."
Lester goes on with the act, by going still and then getting angry, "So what?! He is still just a commoner! He can never be a pure noble unless he actually proves it!" Lester now waits for Nicholas to say his lines. And he does.
"Farrington," Nicholas starts, "If I prove to you that I am a noble, will you leave me alone?" His voice is monotone like always, but there is a breath of determination in there too.
Lester laughs at his face, "Who? You? Pfft—Don't make me laugh!" He turns to look around, "But since you asked me, I will place the challenge." He looks around and smirks, "You defeat that guy and I will leave you alone?" He says, arrogantly pointing at Lowell, who immediately sees it.
Lester drops the hand to the side, watching the expressions of Nicholas and Chris as they recognize the person. Chris gets angry, "That is unreasonable! He is a high-ranking mage and Nicholas is—!"
Lester cuts him off, "Now, now ginger! I placed the challenge and if he cannot do it, he is just a dirty commoner in the end," Lester looks at Nicholas, "So, what's your answer?"
Nicholas does not say anything for a moment. His head was low and his eyes were covered with his black hair.
"I will do it."
Lester stiffens and lets out a shocked, "Eh?" to which Nicholas looks at him and says, "I will do it." The students around him gasp. Chris looks at Nicholas with his jaw dropped.
'It really did follow the book,' Lester thinks before laughing and saying, "Oh wow! So, you even lost your mind huh? Haha, this is going to be good!" Lester stops and waits, 'Lowell will get here now.'
And just as Lester predicted, Lowell suddenly appears in front of them. "What is the commotion here?" He asks in a cold voice.
Nicholas turns to the mage and says with a bow, "I greet the High Mage of the Shadows. I am Nicholas Carbey. And I like to spar with you, to prove my blood as that of a noble, no matter who my parents might be, to him." His turquoise eyes glow as Nicholas glances at Lester at the end.
'It is really following the novel. Now, Lowell will glance at me before he turns back to Nicholas and accepts the request.' Lester thinks. He can see the subtle hate in Nicholas's eyes as the latter stares at him. That is kind of a surprise, since Nicholas never showed any kind of emotion to what Lester says; maybe it's because Nicholas decided to retaliate. But at the same time, it makes sense. There is no way after almost one and a half years of torment, this boy will not hold anger against his bully.
Lowell glances at Lester like the novel. Except it was for a whole minute. Just staring, and it was a bit awkward that even the other students thought Lowell would attack Lester first. This idea was shared by Lester too, who stares right back at Lowell arrogantly, to put up his idiotic bully act.
'Why the hell are you staring at me?!' He internally screams. Fortunately for him, Lowell goes to stare at Nicholas. Lester still feels a bit weirded out by that stare. The novel only said Lowell glanced at him, but that was not a glance.
Lowell looks into Nicholas's glowing eyes. Lester remembers how Lowell saw the 'survival fighting instinct of a serpent in him' and took up the request.
And then, Lowell summons three shadow selves of his. "You can use your element." And immediately sends the clones to attack Nicholas.
Nicholas immediately slashes them all down, and runs at Lowell. The mage moves back, blocking the sword strikes with a shadow dagger. The students fall silent as they watch them spar.
Now that Lester is seeing this, he could not help but admire both of them. Lester can see why Johnathan was pleased to see Nicholas's skills. He already knew of it, and tried to ignore it, but it punched him right at the face. Again, and again. Nicholas is good. It hurts to see the difference between them.
But there is no way Abigail will choose Nicholas over him just because the former can swing a sword. She is not that shallow. Abigail is his.
Lowell's movements are fluid, soft yet dangerous. It is almost as if he was dancing. Nicholas was straightforward, observant and powerful, like an oceanic wave. The fight was beautiful to watch, and even the other mages who come to see what was going on, end up watching the fight.
Strikes after strikes, clones after clones.... Nicholas gets a strike and falls to the ground. But it is only for a moment, before Nicholas's eyes glow and he stands up again.
'Hah, here it is...' Lester thinks, staring at the wounded boy.
His eyes suddenly darken into a deep red. The students are so mesmerized by Lowell and the fight that they all fail to notice this. But Lowell does. And so does Lester.
Both freezes.
Lowell immediately comes at Nicholas again using (Shadow Legs) and strikes him down because the boy is not able to follow it quickly. Nicholas falls to the ground and groans slightly. He opens his eyes and they are back to turquoise. Lowell internally is relieved. That could have caused an uproar if anyone else saw that.
Lowell snaps his head to the crowd and finds him. The blond boy with green eyes. He is...
Lester meanwhile, gets over his shock and controls his expression but he was still very shocked in his heart.
Red eyes...
The book did not mention this fact. Only that Lowell noticed something.
Red eyes. Lester knows what that means.
Decolorization of eyes into another only happens to a rare group of people. And those people are called Dual Mages.
They are that group of people, who can use more than one type of magic. For example, like elemental magic and psionic magic. Or like psionic magic and summoning. The guys who can also use two or more natural elements are also inside this class.
{Survival of the Necromancer.}
The title of the book.
Lester understands now. Nicholas is a dual elementalist. And his magic forms are Poison and Necromancy.
Lester gulps.
A voice makes him look up again. It was Lowell, telling Nicholas to stand up, offering him a hand.
Nicholas takes the hand and stands up, looking a bit dull. He did know of how much of a difference they have, but the failure did affect him a bit. Lowell remembers why Nicholas even fought him and sighs. He looks at Nicholas and puts a hand on the boy's shoulder, making the boy look a tad confused.
"Well done." Lowell says. "Your skills are praiseworthy and I absolutely enjoyed the spar." He pauses, "Nicholas. Carbey. I will keep your name in mind. This training session will be there for this year so we will be meeting again. I would like to get to know you better too."
Nicholas blinks before bowing slightly in respect, "I would be honored, Sir." Lowell hums and leaves after a goodbye. He walks off to the other Mages.
Lester feels a thousand chills down his spine, as he watches Lowell praising Nicholas. With the same shoulder pat, same words, same everything.
Lester staggers a bit. Then...
'That book really does hold the future.' Lester's mind swirls with questions as the other students praise and congratulate Nicholas. His vision sways for a moment. Questions of all sorts make his head hurt.
How is this possible?
Why did the book come true?
What should he do with this information?
Why does it feel like he is being surveyed?
Why does everything seem a bit fake? As if, nothing is real?
Lester's brows furrow as he takes a deep breath. He rubs his temple, taking a few steps back from the crowds to regulate his breathing. He manages to get away from the crowd, as he tries to keep his highly pacing heart under bay.
Lester stares at the scene again. Nicholas being congratulated by his friends and classmates. The exact same thing that happened in the novel. Then, the blond suddenly turns on his heel and leaves. Due to the chaos and talking in the field, no one notices. Except for some.
"Is that him? The guy who challenged Nicholas to fight you?" A green haired woman asks Lowell. She is Florine Walsh, the High Mage of the Wind Department. She had short green hair and wore large round glasses that made her blue eyes appear a bit bigger. She wore golden bird earrings. Her clothes were of a soft blue and mostly a light gold.
Lowell hums, watching the blond walk off into a distance. That expression he just made was amusing. He looks shocked and terrified. Did he realize what happened? Did he realize who he just messed with? Lowell smirks.
"He most likely must have caught on, seeing that expression he just made." Another guy says. He is Han Zheng, the High Mage of the Earth Department. This man was the tallest out of the three. He had long white hair with darker skin tone and gray eyes. He is in his 40's and yet looked younger like Lowell. But unlike Lowell, he was sturdier and his torso and chest were wider. He was pretty much built. He wore Rusan clothes [traditional clothes of the Empire of Rusa]. With a long white inner robe held on with a black cloth belt. And a long black robe decorated with golden linings and dragon patterns.
"Yes, most likely." Hayward. Paterson, the High Mage of the Fire Department replies. He had long red hair and violet eyes. He was shorter than Han Zheng, but had the same sturdy build as he. He wore a white shirt with a long V-neck and black pants with boots. Over that was a long coat designed after fire. And on his ear hung a long platinum earring.
"I just checked the student list." Another woman says. She was younger than all of them and had blond hair and pink eyes. She is Luna Oakman, the High Mage of the Water Department. She continues, "He does not have the best reputation. He seems to be condemned for some kind of violence." She sighs, "And he did not really change much after that."
Hayward comments, "Seems like we have a troublemaker in our hands." Lowell hums. Han Zheng looks ahead at the building Lester disappeared off to and asks Luna, "What is his name?"
"Lester. Farrington." Luna replies.
Han Zheng freezes. "Lester.... Farrington....?" He repeats the name under his breath.
"Yes, Lester Farrington, the youngest of the Farrington siblings, from the Setis dukedom." Luna reads out from the student profile list. She looks at the man and frowns, "Is there something wrong, Sir Zheng?"
The man goes back to his neutral face and says, "Nothing. I just remembered something."
"Now that this is done, shall I ask the home tutor to start the program?" Hayward asks. After everyone says yes to that, the red-haired man goes to do that. And like that the 1-year Mage Training Session starts.