Everything was as usual in the classroom. With absolutely no changes to anything. And there were no changes the day after that, and the day after that. Even when I was observing Harsh. One of the selected Shudras.
It was as if they all had just forgotten them. 200 people died and nobody noticed. The rankings and all had already been updated, and the people accepted them.
The change occurred one week later. Harsh, whose aura, as I liked to call it, was usually calm and stable, but today it was chaotic. He was sitting in the middle of the class with another initiate. Eating food and causing a general ruckus. But nobody seemed to mind them. Even when they threw paper rolls onto the student in front. He just looked back in confusion but it was as if he couldn't see them at all.
I squinted my eyes and observed the phenomena, I noticed a shimmering transparent veil separated both of them from us. Harsh opened a book that I didn't recognize, and then they both giggled. They found another spell to try I guess.
Harsh did the gestures and spoke out loud, pointing at the professor taking the class, who promptly faced a gust of wind and lost his wig. This caused the class to break out in laughter.
I smiled, but I didn't laugh. I was busy planning a heist. It was a spell book!
I followed them both after class. They went to a coffee shop and then to the library, where they met up with the Agni(Fire) Vaisya. They all had one identical book, but the Vaisya had one more in orange. My target switched.
Over the next few days, I just observed them. I did not hide in trees, no. At least not after the first 2 days. It was unsustainable. Instead, I made myself obvious. When our eyes met, I raised my cup to Harsh in a greeting nod. He nodded back. A guy going to a nearby coffee shop and then to the library was a common occurrence. If he thought we just had similar habits, he wouldn't cast suspicion on me.
But I noted everything I could.
Almost all the ones selected would come to the library and discuss things with a veil. But their veil was cast by the Vaisya, who I now knew as Nitin, and it made them all kind of blurry unless I focused a lot. While the other students completely ignored that little corner in the library.
I was practicing meditation from internet and telekinesis back in my room. But those felt like instinctual things instead of proper spells. I was determined to get the opportunity to learn proper magic. Knowledge is Power. And right now, I was powerless.
They were often tutored by a senior I didn't know. Who, like me, had suppressed his aura. Because until he entered the veil, I took him as a normie.
Thankfully, he hadn't observed me either. Or at least hadn't bothered to ask me who I was.
But all that was irrelevant. I was playing the waiting game. All I needed was a chance.
One day, I saw Nitin come in with a normal textbook. Bingo!
I left soon after.
We were supposed to check in our bags at the library gates. I walked passed the guard and into the bag room. Where, as I picked up my bag, I slowly opened Nitin's. I saw the senior's bag too. But I was too afraid of magical curses or retaliation. A newbie likely had no protections. So I decidedly went with Nitin's. In it I found the two books. They looked glossier than ususal. The Shudra one and the Vaisya one.
At first, my plan was to make photocopies of them and return the books. But it got hung up. Because as I left the room, I saw Nitin enter. Probably to retrieve the forgotten books.
Well, there goes that plan. I did not stop to see the fallout.
In my room, I examined the two books closely.
The bigger white one,
An introduction to the other side
-by K.C. Patil
The smaller Red one,
An introduction to Agni Shaastra I
-by J.C.Patil
A royal family of writers, is it?
Unlike my previous prediction, it appears the books weren't based on ranks. Probably the Agni Shaastra was useless for the rest of them.
I opened the white book, It had two parts: The Magic Society and its rules, while the second was a compendium of basic spells.
I closed it and decided to study the red book first. It looked cooler.
My little red and black flying book settled on my shoulder. Can this thing read? I wondered.
It fell onto the open book and tried to get up. It was weird to see the little diary trying to balance itself like a toddler. But it looked so cute.
Then it suddenly burst into flames and spit fire onto the red book.
I jumped up in surprise. "Woah! Woah! Woah!", and tried to put the fire out by smashing the book on the floor. But when it refused to go out, I hurriedly opened my water bottle, only to see the last of the book turn to ash.
And as I watched, the little fire starter flew up to the ashes and sucked them all in like a damn vacuum cleaner.
Does this thing? I wonderd? Does this thing eat other books?
Once the glutton devoured it, Instinctively we both locked on to the White one.
"No!"
We both jumped but thankfully I reached it first. It spat fire that hit my arm making me squeal. I swat at it with my hand that it dodged circling around me. It spat fire again but I dodged and managed to swat it to the ground.
Whooo.
"Bad Diary!"
It couldn't talk but I swear that the thing was sulking on the ground.
"Why don't you eat one of my course books instead? Nobody uses them anyway."
But the little trouble maker didn't seem interested.
I warily sat down glaring at it. But just as I opened cover, Someone knocked on my door.
"I am busy!"
The knock repeated.
"Not now Yash!"
"It's not Yash!"
Huh? Was that a girl's voice I hear?