The End, The Beginning (2)

When Cyrus woke up, after his brain and body had finished adapting to the sudden change, he noticed that he was currently inside a room. One that he did not recognize whatsoever, at that. Without even thinking he made use of his magic, using it for the first time in the real world yet with the familiarity of one who had played with it every way conceivable for a full month.

First he used the first, and only form he could currently use with ease, of his Mors domain to create a haze around him. This haze obscures him enough to give him an edge in combat, as well as it would erode any type of binding that he was in.

After which he flipped up, produced a knife from Mundus knows where, and used his control of life essence to create a short pulse around him that spread outwards. Anything living it hit would cause the essence to be absorbed, painting a picture in his sense of any possible enemies. He detected one and only one, whom he was most familiar with in his life.

"Old man what the hell, where are we?" Cursed Cyrus as he dispelled both his magic, as he could not maintain them for very long, yet still in a defensive stance with his knife until being sure of the situation.

Cato, amused, as he had just watched Cyrus' one man play from start to finish said

"Good morning to you too Cyrus. Looks like your coming of age ceremony went well, although it did little for your manners I see. As to your question, we are in the closest imperial scout outpost near the southern border. Thanks to your rather unusual meeting with Mundus, you fainted which caused me to have a… ah.. rather strong reaction.

"This, speaking plainly, freaked the living daylights out of this outpost causing them to send word upwards the chain of command that they detected an immense magical presence near the border. Which in turn caused them to send out a full-fledged scouting force out here, ready to put down whatever beast or possible wasteland invasion was present." Cato paused for dramatic effect, but mostly to drink some wine, then he continued except this time he added wild gestures for greater effect.

"Little did they expect, however, that all they would find was our humble campsite. Two men, one unconscious and one old. Of course we were promptly taken in for questioning, of which I handled magnificently and using my magnificent wit, unending charisma, and massive intellect I convinced them that I was actually the living avatar of Mundus which caused them to break down in tears I say! They then took me as their eternal leader and-" Cato was cut off by a flying piece of bread, which hit him in the head with a bit more force than one would expect could come from such an item.

"Enough of your insanity Cato, only Mundus knows that is one of the things I never did miss about you" said an unknown gruff voice from the door, which had just been opened.

Cyrus looked over to the newcomers voice from the bed he sat upon, having long been disarmed by Cato's nonsense, and saw a large hulk of a man. Cyrus himself was on the tall side for his age, standing at 5'4, and Cato was a lean man of decent height as well standing in at 5'8. Alas, what greeted him at the door was a man that some might expect clouds to begin forming around… standing in at a height of 6'8.

Not only was he tall, but he was also muscular to the point that his clothing could not hope to contain it. Standing out starkly from his impressive figure, was the apron he was wearing alongside the tray of food he was holding. No doubt that the piece of bread that was used as a meteor towards Cato's head came from such a tray. The man nodded at Cyrus, before handing him the tray of food.

"I am Gabriel, young Cyrus, an old friend of your mentor and also the one who will escort you to an imperial city for you to take your entrance exam." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Looks like you will be going to one for magic it seems, as expected of Cato's student I should say."

Cyrus, wondering how he could tell so easily and so assuredly was about to ask before Gabriel answered the question before it could be even asked,

"Your use off magic just now gave it off. Even though I was not present in the room, your manipulation of the essence around us is an obvious sign of its usage. Vita and Mors at the same time, an unusual combination but not one that is completely unheard of. When you begin your formal education, you will no doubt learn how to quickly and easily cover your tracks when using magic." Gabriel then gave an odd salute, one that Cyrus had never seen before, then left the room.

Cyrus wondered about the odd man and his relation to Cato, but instead asked his mentor another question

"It must have been quite the coincidence for your friend to already be at the border." He looked then gestured at his surroundings, "I suppose that we are in the nearby outpost as you said, right?"

Cato raised his eyebrow at his student, before realizing his mistake.

"Ah Cyrus, I neglected to tell you… you were not out for a mere day or two. You were out for a few weeks actually. Long enough for me to contact some old friends and arrange an escort for you to one of the arcane academies. Your advancement ceremony was an odd one indeed, never before had I heard of someone being out for that long. Even I myself only needed a few nights of rest before I was back in tip top shape. What did you experience to make you take so long to readjust to the new changes?"

Cyrus pondered that very question himself before realization took hold. He was both embarrassed and quite shocked as to what his memory told him,

"You know about the endless grasslands that you are given to help experiment with your new abilities, right?" said Cyrus a bit unsteadily to which Cato nodded simply.

"Well, I seem to have lost myself a bit in my newfound abilities as I used my own body as an experimentation tool. Since you could continuously be resurrected no matter how many times one perished there, I took full advantage of that effect and ended up dying at a few dozen times…" finished Cyrus, his voice getting quieter the closer he got to his sentence.

Cato nodded once more, before quite literally spitting out his wine all over the floor in front of him.

"Holy shit! My god you are… GENIUS!" said Cato with a hint of adoration.

"Ah why did I not think of that when I was given the opportunity. The amount of knowledge you surely gained all for free at that. Using others as test subjects for experimentation would not even come half as close as using yourself, since it is far more easy to sense changes in your own body than others. Bah, I can only imagine how much priceless knowledge you must have gained!" Cato then walked up to Cyrus and clapped him on the back a few times in approval.

"Nevertheless, my student, we must make haste. You have a trip to be underway soon if you want to make it in this year's body of students. But before that��� we have one more important thing to do." Cato said while walking back in front of Cato, with his back turned and his voice full of emotion "That important thing, is our final lesson Cyrus… as well as our farewell."