The Augur Of Avengence

As Nicolas waked towards his fellow schoolmates, his face had etched on it an expression of delight and contentment his mind however, was a complete mess. He was baffled at the scence he had witnessed while awakening and questioning the prospects it entailed.

Setting aside the matter for later he went onwards and sat down one of the chairs.

________________________________________

Post the awakening ceremony

"Today really had in store a lot of surprises, I can't believe you awakened as well as I,nick" sounded a sharp and tenacious voice.

Nicolas turned his head and gaze towards the source, his best friend since forever, the young mistress of the headmaster's family.

" I am just as pleased, now I can finally work towards my goal,Emilia" Nicolas said, his eyes filled with anticipation and hope for the future.

"Regarding that, I got wind that our academy will be organising a bapitsm excursion and by the way, your scholarship covers that, I am so excited at the prospect of hunting together with you" came the cheerful sound of Emilia.

After a bit of brief conversation with Emilia, Nicolas set off to the teleportation point which had become quite affordable in recent times.

Whuzz!

After a wait of about 3 seconds, here he stood at the enterance of his rented apartment. Stepping foot and going up the lift, his mind was filled with curiosity as to what the reaction of Draven, his roomate, would be. Exiting the lift, he got into his room.

No sooner had he entered the room than a shrill voice questioned with curiosity," How did it go, did you succeed?"

"It went well, my mana awakened successfully"

"No worri—wait what! Really, I am so happy" with that Nicolas was suddenly hugging the burly body of Draven, his roommate and friend.

After this moment of embracement, Nicolas was bomabarded by the seemingly endless questions of Draven who was hell bent on knowing every single detail of the events that had transpired during the awakening ceremony.

After a unknown period of baseless chattering, Nicolas was finally given the liberty to go buy himself a one-time magic skill book from the Athaeriun Archives for the baptism.

" Which book are you planning to buy?, Nick." asked Draven.

"The baptism ritual requires us to successfully kill a ranked beast thus allowing us to activate our status screens and begin our journey as mages. As far as I am aware the red forest near the west of the city is the perfect spot for the school yo conduct this expedition as high ranked beasts are very rare there. So using that supposition, I think buying a pyro scroll would be the smartest move because of its effectiveness against the wood golem most commonly found in the red forest." replied Nicolas meditatively.

"That makes sense, but do pay attention to your safety, your encounters with dangers are nothing new" came the slightly threatening voice of Draven, his eyebrows arched exaggeratedly.

"Okay, I get it, but I have to buy the scroll now, could I have thy permission to venture into the marts for a most pertinent task, sire" said Nicolas, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Get lost!" howled Draven, utterly annoyed.

________________________________________

"Finally, I am here" thought Nicolas looking intently at the giangatic structure in front of him.It seemed to be in a realm of its own towering above each of the surrounding buildings, well-adorned with intricate carving on its pillars, and in the exact middle there was an ethereal calligraphy ingrained

, each stroke majestic, it spelt— "Athaeriun Archives"

Walking towards the entry, Nicolas' mind was filled with awe, admiring the skill of the architect who had designed this magnificent place.And as soon as he set foot into the interior, he was immediately hit with the ambrosial odor of some parchment, and his eyes were beguiled with the sight of the thousands of books,tomes, and articles.

As he searched around the place looking for the desired spell, his eyes were attracted towards a conspicuous item, a colourful encyclopedia, which felt oddly out of place from the otherwise solemn tomes. His curiosity got the better of him and his hands were pulled towards the pedia.

On opening it and turning to the first page, his eyes were greeted by pictures and descriptions of various bizzare races. Out of the blue,a hand tapped his shoulders, the movement so sudden and bizzare that his knee-jerk reaction forced him to turn back, his hands losing hold of the book as it plummeted to the ground.

"Sorry to interrupt, but this is not for sale, I had inadvertently placed it here and forgotten to take it back" stated a gruff yet weak voice, in stark contrast to the old but stout body it had originated from.

"Oh, wait a second— saying so Nicolas crouched and moved his hands towards the book to pick it up, but the sight in front made him stop in his tracks, as the book had fallen down it had turned to a new page altogether and now opened in front of him was the schematica of the all familiar creature with scythes protruding out from its body however, unlike the other entries it had no description whatsoever.

"Is something wrong?" the inquisitive voice of the elder broke his reverie making him slowly pick up the encyclopedia. His hands trembled a little as he handed the book to the old man knowing well this was probably the only chance he had to learn about the weird incident he had seen.

As the old man strode back the way he had come from, Nicolas made the decision that he had to discover the meaning behind that scene.

"Wait! could you please tell me about the creature on page 97?" shouted Nicolas trying to keep his sound moderate so as to not disturb the peace of the place.

The old man was slightly startled, but regaining his composure he said,"Quite surprising that a young man like you has interest in history especially since it is become less and less popular among the young blood."

"History? What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said, this book contains the descriptions of all the prominent races of the forgotten era, well almost all." stated the old man nonchalantly.

"The forgotten era? Isn't that the period from 7000 years ago, these races should basically be extinct by now especially when considering the cataclysm that occurred back then." remarked Nicolas.

"Exactly, they are nothing but mere history, specifically the scythewraiths,the monsters you are curious about.Few people know their name nowadays but in that past they represented sheer terror, regarded as the spawns of the devil himself, wherever the went they would bring in their wake disaster and ruination, there was a time when they were naught but the harbinger of catastrophe, however some unknown event is said to have eradicated each of their kith and kin, which seems quite apocryphal knowing their immense strength and prowess." elaborated the elder.

"Many thanks, I express sincere gratitude to you. Sorry, if my inquisitive nature interrupted you." confided Nicolas, sincerity evident in his tone.

"No need, I am pleased to know that there are still people who aren't repulsed by the mere thought of History." the old man exclaimed with appreciation.

The old man gone, Nicolas was left standing in the midst of the innumerable bookshelves, his mind flooded with various questions and guesses.

" It just makes no sense, why would I see such an event, that too of the past, while awakening, could it be some kind of sign? Especially considering the grotesque incidents that had transpired in that vision. Maybe it has something to do with my prime elemental affinity, I have heard about all sorts of bizzare affinities, well I will be able to confirm that once the baptism is done and I awaken my affinities, before that spell books are the only way to cast magic." Nicolas conjectured.

"I will research about scythewraiths once the baptism ritual is done, the first priority is to get a good fire magic scroll." thought Nicolas.

After a lot of browsing two scrolls caught his eye—

○Dragon's breath (tier 1 fire magic)

Mana consumption: 20 MP

[After the concentration period of 5 seconds ,releases a fiery flame throw all around the caster causing great damage to the surrounding tier 1 beasts.]

○Cinderstrike (tier 1 fire magic)

Mana consumption: 20 MP

[A gigantic pole of erupting flames is conjured in the front of the caster which can later be propelled towards any target, far or near.]

Of the two, the former was an AOE skill which wouldn't have as great of an effect against single targets,however it was extremely easy to control and required little to no skill and considering both were one time scrolls, he couldn't afford a failed attack because of insufficient control. So, he decided that purchasing the Dragon's breath skill would be the safer option.

Having settled on his decision, he grabbed the book and purchased it, and with that his saving from 2 years was all gone, the current environment made it extremely difficult for the less affluent to practise magic, because unlike the wealthy whose parents could easily afford the best scrolls, the poor had to make do with the bare minimum.This was the exact reason for the rise in mortality rates among the underprivileged.

With the new magic spell in hand, Nicolas set off for home delighted about his now promising future as one of the awakened, though it was certain that a successful baptism is what would decide his true success.