The Beginning After The End Chapter 523 - 517

Prior to making my move, I slammed the mental shutters between Arthur's consciousness and my own. I lacked the words to explain the river's magnetic pull, and I was terrified of the consequences for him if our minds remained linked when I stepped into its flow. Bombarding him with incomprehensible sensory data while he battled that entity could lead to his destruction. Just as I was unable to sustain our bond while he utilized King's Gambit, I suspected the river's influence would be too much for him to bear.

Despite my internal walls, I felt him jump as he noticed me standing knee-deep in the rushing aetheric current. Already, my awareness was being pulled away, flowing out into the stream. It wasn't being stolen or torn away to be reshaped, but rather... expanded. I was a child of time. My journey through existence had never been a straight line, and that fundamental truth was etched onto the very surface of my core.

The waters of aether tugged at my limbs, and though my feet slid against the silt, my physical form remained rooted. It was my mind that began to wander—not merely downstream toward the future, but upstream into the past as well.

I fought the temptation to simply drift with the currents, choosing instead to draw from the river even as it took from me. Understanding was a prerequisite for mastery. Yet, there was no time!

The irony nearly made me laugh, but then I saw Arthur pinned on his back. His assailant hissed jagged words into his face. "Life. Loathsome, terrible life. Must finish you. Empty... you." Two spindly arms sprouted from the creature's narrow chest, its elongated fingers clawing for Arthur's neck.

Ignoring the need for comprehension, I struck at the water. My internal power surged outward, and time ground to a stuttering halt. However, the river's momentum fought back, acting as an unnatural barrier against my will. Arthur barely managed to scramble away before my grip on the aether was violently snapped.

Images of my life flashed before me: my choices, my birth, and my rebirth. I saw triumphs and failures, always watched over by the ghosts of my mother, father, and grandfather. Yet, I was supported just as much by my bond-brother and father, a figure who was friend, ally, teacher, and servant all at once. As I sensed the tangled roots of my life stretching through the river, I realized how deeply Arthur’s existence was entwined with mine. Our bond was truly symbiotic; neither could exist without the other, a living paradox held together by a thin golden strand.

Thinking of him acted like a tether, pulling me back to the present moment.

Claire stood alone, facing the aetheric phantom. Arthur was coiled to strike. Look! I urged silently. Then, with the suddenness of a falling blade, the moment ended.

The others started talking. I chimed in when necessary, but the bulk of my consciousness remained submerged in the river.

The waters—which weren't truly water—reached my waist. Despite the rapid flow, the surface remained as smooth as glass, broken only by the small ripples my body created. In those disturbances, I saw a metaphor for my own life: I was an existence that disrupted the river of time, reaching across it and merging with it until I became a part of the flow itself.

I caught my reflection in the still water. I saw myself deep beneath the surface, limbs thrashing as the current swept me away...

'What are you seeing?' Arthur's voice resonated in my mind.

What does the river feel like to you, Arthur?

'Danger. It feels more like a void than the void itself.'

That is because it is time. For most, it moves in only one direction. But for me...

Arthur...

"I can see everything."

My words hung between us like a physical wall as my connection to the present grew thin. My focus locked onto the drowning, struggling reflection in the water. If Arthur replied, I was no longer listening.

Almost instinctively, I reached down and grasped the hand of my reflection, pulling myself out of the depths. This version of me sat upon the water's surface, gasping and coughing.

"Breathe. Steady your heart. Take command." The instructions returned to me like a distant memory, and I spoke them with the same clinical detachment I had used to reach into the river. "This power will consume you if you allow it. Take command."

"Sylv. Sylvie!"

I looked up. Varay, Regis, and I were sitting with our backs to the unfinished, empty void that made my head spin if I stared too long.

Arthur stood on the bank, yelling toward Sylvie, who was standing waist-deep in that strange, glassy river.

"Relax, she’s... fine," Regis remarked as I began to rise, his voice making me pause.

I watched Arthur with uncertainty, but he had ceased his shouting. He seemed to be nodding as he stepped back from the water's edge.

"She’s processing something pretty intense, as far as I can tell." Regis continued as my eyebrows shot up. "She’s mostly cutting off our bond, though it flickers. It's confusing. But she isn't in pain, and she told Arthur to stay focused, so..." He gave a casual shrug of his lupine shoulders. "Anyway, we should focus on our own tasks."

"Right," I agreed, settling back onto the dark sand and turning to Varay. Her eyes were shut, but they moved rapidly behind her lids, her face set in a mask of deep concentration. "I apologize, Varay. What were you saying?"

She opened one dark eye to look at me. "I was asking if you can perceive the point where mana and aether clash."

I cleared my throat and sat up straighter, trying to get used to the armor that felt like a scaly fist gripping my body. "In a way. I can't sense the flow as clearly as you, but I can... visualize it."

"Elaborate," she commanded, closing her eye again as a heavy aura radiated from her.

I shook my head slightly while searching for the right words, forgetting she couldn't see me. "Cecilia possessed a gift... she could see individual mana particles, whether they were in the air or part of a spell. I lack that ability," I clarified quickly, wanting to be honest, "but when I close my eyes and focus, I can almost... pretend that I do."

A furrow appeared between Varay's brows. "Similar to Arthur? That is curious. But was that a trait of the Legacy, rather than something gained through Integration?"

"Yes." I bit my lip, pondering. "I wonder... but you are sensitive enough to identify the elemental nature of small mana pockets, right? How precise is your sensing? Can you feel individual particles?"

She paused. I felt the pressure around her intensify as she projected her senses outward to find an answer. "The mana here is entirely purified and contained within the spell. There is no elemental mana in the atmosphere."

I frowned. That couldn't be right...

I turned my own senses toward the mana. As a white core mage, my sensitivity was far greater than it had been during my long slumber, though still nowhere near Cecilia’s level. The mana in this environment was shaped and dynamic, as if it were part of a continuous, channeled spell. However, I had never encountered a place devoid of atmospheric mana, and such mana was always elemental.

"How did I miss that?" I murmured the question to myself. I looked over at Regis, who was keeping watch along the coast. "Is it common for the Relictombs to lack elemental mana?"

His eyes glinted with mischief. "Nothing is 'normal' in here. That is, if we even are in the Relictombs. I have my doubts."

"If this isn't the Relictombs, then this spell isn't a work of the ancient mages... yet it can't be natural if there's no atmospheric mana. So, who is the caster?"

I stared at my lap, weighing Varay's question, but nothing from Cecilia’s knowledge or my time with Agrona provided a solution.

Suddenly, movement on the water caught my eye. Something rose from the depths between Sylvie and Arthur. Arthur scrambled back as Claire’s exoform charged across the sand, gripping her sword with massive, clawed hands. The new entity, a twin to the first, looked at Sylvie for a heartbeat before lunging at the approaching exoform.

Claire waited for the creature to lock onto her. Its power fluctuated wildly, shifting from overwhelming to undetectable as it focused on her. It leaped. A streak of orange light cut through the gloom as the massive blade swung, and the creature vanished before it could even leave the water.

Arthur and Claire began to talk. Sylvie hadn't budged; I wasn't even sure she had seen the fight. Bairon was flying back toward us, cloaked in lightning that radiated pure frustration.

Beyond them, near the edge of the strange void to my right, I spotted it again.

A flickering movement, like a dark shadow against the blackness.

A human shape. I thought I had seen it before, but it had vanished when I looked twice, and no one else had noticed it.

This time, the longer I stared, the more tangible the figure became.

"I... need to walk for a bit," I said, feeling uneasy.

Varay merely grunted, but Regis stood and walked beside me. I started to tell him I was fine, but I knew he wouldn't listen—and honestly, I preferred his company.

"What's up?" he growled softly. "You see something, don't you?"

I nodded. Our feet sank into the sand as we passed Arthur and Bairon. Arthur watched me, his expression questioning, but he didn't speak.

"I'll stay close," I promised him.

He gave a small, awkward smile and scratched the back of his neck.

I let out a soft laugh. "I don't need a mental link to know what you're thinking."

Regis snorted. "That's funny, because I am in his head, and I don't understand the princess half the time."

As we moved further, the shadow became clearer. It looked like a tall woman with blue or purple skin, wearing elaborate, flowing robes. I blinked, rubbing my eyes. She was hovering just above the ground. As soon as I noticed, she seemed to realize it too, and her form rippled like a reflection in water until she was standing on the sand.

"You still don't see her?" I asked, keeping my gaze fixed on her so she wouldn't disappear.

"Her?" Regis asked, scanning the area.

"She’s right at the edge of the void," I said, but I winced as my head throbbed. I had looked too far toward the wall of nothingness.

"Are you sure you aren't, you know... losing your mind? Cracking? Going totally nuts? Off your—"

"I get it," I snapped, cutting him off. "But... I don't think so."

'You should have more faith in yourself,' a stiff, female voice echoed in my mind.

I stopped dead, about thirty feet from the woman. "Was that you?"

"Yeah, she's definitely lost it," Regis muttered.

'Yes, if you are addressing me.' The woman tilted her head, revealing runic tattoos covering her face and hands. 'I didn't think anyone, even you, could perceive me. A mistake on my part. It must be due to how we are entangled.'

Entangled? I thought back, then realization struck. Your voice. I know it. You’re... Ji-ae. I studied her form and realized she wasn't physically there. She was a projection into this space. I projected that thought to her.

'Correct on both points,' she replied. 'I am here to observe. Should you ever manage to leave, I must inform High Sovereign Agrona. But you are all fascinating, as is this location. I am curious to see how you deal with it.'

I looked down at Regis. He was staring at me, his brows raised. He looked at my core, and I nodded despite my uncertainty. The large wolf turned translucent, then condensed into a formless mist before flowing into my body, just as he had when he brought me the armor.

I shivered as he entered my core; a part of me hated sharing my body. But a surge of power followed, warming the armor against my skin and making the alien world feel less hostile.

W-what do you know about this place? I asked Ji-ae, pushing past my discomfort. It wasn't my first choice of questions, but I knew her loyalty to Agrona was absolute. I couldn't sway her.

'Are you asking in hopes that I’ll accidentally reveal an escape route?' Ji-ae asked tonelessly.

'Whoa, I can hear her,' Regis’s mental voice echoed, deeper than his usual tone. 'So you’re the famous Ji-ae? The human encyclopedia.'

She tilted her head. 'Intriguing. You are the entity known as Regis, born from acclorite, the mana of powerful mages, Arthur Leywin’s will, and the Relictombs. We never expected aetheric magic to evolve this way. The asura create sentient tools, but you—being part of Arthur yet having your own consciousness—are truly remarkable.'

I felt my jaw tighten. The amount of information she possessed was terrifying.

'Truly Remarkable will be the title of my book,' Regis quipped. He didn't seem bothered by her at all.

'You are also quite humorous,' Ji-ae noted, though she sounded bored. 'I suspect your immature jokes are a defense mechanism against the fear that you are merely a weapon for someone else to use.'

Regis bristled. 'You don't know a thing about me.'

The woman’s sharp features remained cold. 'Perhaps not yet. But I am the "encyclopedia lady," am I not?'

Regis snorted. 'Look, lady. If you're going to psychoanalyze us, you’re going to have to pay up.'

I felt increasingly awkward. I was fidgeting, and I knew I couldn't hide my emotions from a projection that probably didn't need to see my face to know what I was thinking.

"Lady Eralith?"

I gasped and spun around to see Bairon. My hand went to my heart as I let out a nervous laugh.

He held up his hands, looking concerned. "My apologies. You’ve been standing still for a while. I wanted to check on you." He looked toward where Ji-ae was, but he clearly couldn't see her.

"Just... trying to figure things out," I said quietly.

He nodded. "It seems the burden of our escape lies with you, Varay, and Arthur, while Claire handles defense." He looked away. "I’ll leave you to it."

He turned and flew back to his patrol before I could respond.

'He fails to see his own path,' Ji-ae remarked. 'His vision is too limited to understand his journey.'

I waited for more, but she just watched me. Suddenly, a wave of alarm came from Regis. 'Sylvie...' I started to turn, but a mental shockwave floored me. I fell to my knees, gasping. The water was suddenly at my wrists, and I was back in Telmore City, watching Arthur sacrifice himself for me. Then I was in Xyrus, being dragged by Lucas. Then in Elshire, failing my post... then in Eidelholm, trapped by Nico—

'Relax, just breathe...' Sylvie’s voice cut through the chaos, clear as a bell.

I looked around, disoriented. "Where... are we?"

Arthur, Sylvie, Regis, and I were on a mountain peak. Below, I saw the ruins of the Wall.

A fragment of Epheotus had crushed it. But it wasn't just the Wall. The entire world was in flames. Xyrus had crashed. The Beast Glades were a scorched pit. Elenoir was gone. Massive, broken islands had smashed into the earth everywhere. Even the Grand Mountains were crumbling.

"Is this...?" I couldn't finish the thought.

"No," Sylvie said. A second voice seemed to echo her. "This hasn't happened yet. The dwarves, phoenixes, and pilots are fighting to prevent it. Asuras are trying to stop the wound from spreading."

She sighed heavily. "But this is the future. Or a very likely one. This is what occurs if we fail to escape. If we don't close the—"