The Beginning After The End Chapter 527: Celebrations and Revelations

ARTHUR LEYWIN

Turning the stone over in my hand, I stared down at the cracks that ran deep into its multifaceted surface. A single sharp pulse of power, and it had been shattered. But it had been necessary. A small sacrifice, all things considered. After all, with its purpose fulfilled, what use was there for it anymore?

I considered reaching for Aroa's Requiem. By pushing aether through it with the aevum art, I could turn back the wear of time and restore the relic. But I hesitated. With a sigh, I set the stone down on the side table beside my bed and stood, staring around at the room as if seeing it again for the first time.

The primary bedroom in my new home was an open, expansive space. The too-big four-poster bed dominated one wall, while the adjacent wall was a transparent panel of mana that acted as both window and doorway, allowing me to pass through onto the balcony that wrapped around my new home outside of Ashber. At the moment, the entire property was blanketed in the shadow cast by one of Epheotus's rings, but I knew it would pass in the next few minutes before everyone began to arrive.

A waterfall spilled down the opposite wall, filling a basin that drained away to other parts of the house, magically purifying it along the way. There were twin desks for Tessia and me, with a life-sized, perfectly replicated statue of Wren Kain IV in the corner-which I would be moving to a much less invasive position after everyone left.

The estate was far more lavish than I was used to. Larger and more grandiose than the Helstea's home in Xyrus, more comfortable than the flying castle, and more magical than the elven palace of Zestier, it didn't quite feel like home yet after only a couple of weeks.

I stepped through the mana wall and out onto the balcony, which overlooked a sprawling lake and, in the distance, the Grand Mountains. Turning my gaze just a bit further south, I could see the thin line of the Spire, hundreds of miles away but rising all the way up to where the Rings of Epheotus hung overhead, as if holding them in the air.

The estate and surrounding grounds existed exactly where my parents' small rural farmhouse had been-the one I'd blown up when I'd awakened at just three years old. Most of Ashber had been abandoned during the later stages of the war, and the collective of friends and acquaintances who had arranged all of this had bought up half the town in my name. Now, I saw a dozen carts roll past every day as people moved back.

I still wasn't sure how to feel. I wasn't particularly accustomed to or comfortable with receiving gifts, so to have been given a massive, lavish- beyond-words mansion and the surrounding countryside...

Chuckling at my own discomfort, I leaned over the rail and stared down at the lake, watching as a massive shadow passed just beneath the surface, a subtle glint of gold shining through the too-blue water. Boo sat on the shoreline, padding at the water with one huge paw as if anticipating trying to catch the gargantuan goldfish that occupied the conjured lake.

The Glayders, through their agents, had arranged for the acquisition of the lands around the small plot belonging to my mother. The dwarven lords had put together a fund to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the lands as long as a Leywin still lived here. Much of the mansion had been grown, not constructed, by a team of titans and hamadryads working in concert with elves sent from Elenoir. The magical elements were all powered by huge mana crystals donated by Seris after they were reclaimed from Agrona's treasure hoard. Veruhn himself had shaped the lake and filled it with waters from the ocean next to his home, now a strip of water running along one edge of the lowest Ring of Epheotus. To the north of the lake was a field full of wogarts, courtesy of Alaric and Darrin.

These were just a few of the features, gifts, and additions provided to my new home. "Not a bad place to kick off your boots after saving the world," Regis had said when we set eyes on it for the first time. Mom had burst into tears, while Ellie, still slightly discombobulated from her time sequestered in the pocket dimension, had asked a little too blatantly about whether she should start preparing herself for little Arthurs and Tessias to be running around in the mansion...

I smiled at the memory.

There were permanent rooms for Mom, Ellie, and Sylvie, and a number of guest rooms-although not enough to house all the guests we were expecting over the next couple of days.

Turning around, I stared back through the mana wall into the bedroom I was now sharing with Tessia. It felt like a dream. Like it couldn't quite be real-that I shouldn't believe it. Fate was going to pull the carpet out from under me at any moment and wake me up. She'd left, and I could never fully shake the feeling that any time I saw her might be the last. What if she didn't come back?

My thoughts jumped back to the stone and, for a moment, I found myself tempted again to restore it with Aroa's Requiem, using it to check on her. What if-

I brushed off the impulse to spiral. She's just gone into town to pick up groceries. Even though we had a handful of staff now, well-paid to help us out, Tessia had insisted, taking Ellie with her for some "bonding time." I got it, though. It felt good to do something so mundane as shopping at the small market in Ashber, after everything else.

Keeping my mind under control had been difficult. The itch to constantly use King's Gambit was somewhere between an addiction and the phantom sensations of a missing limb. Without it, I felt scattered and distracted.

My fingers pressed into my sternum, which did nothing to ease the ache of my core. I hadn't used magic since returning from Alacrya. The core was no longer drawing in aether, and my reservoir was almost entirely depleted. Although I had no proof, I felt instinctively that when the last of the aether was gone, the core would break down, and I would...

Clearing my throat, I forced myself to stand a little straighter, then left the balcony and headed deeper into the house. All the upstairs rooms were connected by a mezzanine that looked down into the atrium. A tree grew up from a round patch of soil from Mount Geolus, its limbs spread wide and covered in pink leaves and glimmering rainbow fruit. Although

I knew the fruit was full of mana, I could no longer sense it without Realmheart.

It was worth it, I told myself, a phrase that had become a sort of mantra over the last couple of weeks. Every time I looked up at the Rings of Epheotus or caught sight of the Spire. Or felt my core quiver. Or looked at my mom, or my sister. Or Regis, or Sylvie. Or remembered the ghostly touch of my father's specter on my shoulder.

No matter what happened from here, no matter the price I paid, it would have been worth it in the end.

"Arthur?"

I realized I had stopped, my thoughts drifting as I stared into the boughs of the Epheotan tree, a gift from the Inthirah clan. Mom had come out of her room without me even hearing the door open.

"Have a good nap?" I asked, trying to smile comfortingly to show that I was okay.

She rolled her eyes. "I was reading. Didn't mean to drift off." She yawned and stretched her arms over her head. "I suppose that's what age does to you."

Chuckling, I took her arm and we headed downstairs together, where our cook, Hela, had prepared a light afternoon lunch. Hela was a young woman who'd grown up in Ashber and lost her entire family during the attack on Lilia's caravan. She had walked right up to the asuras shaping the house and demanded to know if we'd be taking on help, and Mom had eagerly hired her.

We made small talk as we ate at the kitchen counter-as opposed to the large dining room-and the first knock at the door came just as we were finishing.

"I'll get it!" Mom called out to the household at large, then rushed out of the kitchen.

Chuckling, I quickly cleaned up and followed after her, leaning against the atrium wall as Mom excitedly wrenched open the front door. Jasmine, Helen, and Durden stood framed in the doorway, and for a moment, a memory slipped over my vision, and it was like I was seeing all the Twin Horns: Adam Krensch, grinning and mussing up his hair; Angela Rose, beaming and already reaching out for a suffocating hug; and...Dad, beardless and young, laughing and ribbing Adam.

"Ah, I'm so glad you could all make it. I was worried that, being retired, you wouldn't be up for the trip."

Jasmine's face pinched into a mock scowl, her red eyes bright with amusement. "Maybe we had to twist his arm a bit."

"Well, I only have the one! You need to be careful with it," Durden said with a laugh that put me right back onto the Grand Mountains, camping and listening to my dad talk and laugh with Durden and the rest.

Helen pulled Mom into a hug and hummed in a road-weary, put-upon sort of way. "Please, Alice, tell me you've got something very strong and expensive to take the edge off after such a long trip with these two."

Mom giggled, sounding fifteen years younger. "Helen, my dear, you have no idea."

Jasmine patted Mom as she slipped by her and looked around, brows shooting up into her hairline. "Wow. Quite a place." Then she finally noticed me. "Ah, my good-for-nothing protegee. Disappointment of the century. Accomplished nothing, have you? Nothing at all." Her mouth quivered in a poorly suppressed smirk.

I rewarded her with a theatrical sigh as I pushed away from the wall and hung my head. "You're entirely right. I never finished school, failed to make it through even a year at two different teaching jobs, left my training in Epheotus early..."

She snorted and tossed something that flashed in the air.

I caught the dagger by its handle and stared down at it, perplexed.

"One of my originals, all the way back to when we trained on the journey from Ashber to Xyrus." She looked down and away, a little embarrassed. "I thought maybe you'd want it. You know, mount it somewhere within this obscenely large mansion of yours. To remember when you were just a too-confident, weird little kid."

A laugh bubbled up from my stomach, and some of my tension melted away. "Jasmine, I liked you more when you barely talked."

"Those sound like fighting words." She adopted a fighting stance and bounced forward on the balls of her feet like a boxer.

"Take it outside, you two!" Mom snapped, biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"It's my house," I shot back, but lunged forward, caught Jasmine by the ankle and dumped her onto the ground, then shot out the door, leaving the dagger in Mom's hands.

Mom just blinked as Jasmine gave an "oof!" as her rump hit the floor, then she was chasing after me with wind beneath her feet.

"Children," I heard Helen mutter, accompanied by a hearty laugh from Durden, before the door closed.

Jasmine and I spent a few minutes play-fighting before Boo-bored of being left behind-came charging in, knocking me over and taking a few harmless swipes at Jasmine. We turned on the guardian beast, working together to wrestle his tremendous bulk to the ground in a wheezing, gasping heap.

"Hey! Get off my bond!" My sister's voice rang across the yard, making us all look up.

Ellie and Tessia were approaching, along with all three Helsteas in a skitter-drawn coach. The skitters shied as Boo jumped up and took several lumbering strides toward them, but Ellie quickly called him off, hopping from the side of the couch and heading for her bond with something hidden behind her back.

I helped Jasmine up, then went to meet the rest. "Vincent, Tabitha. Lil. Thank you all for making the journey."

We made small talk about their trip as they pulled their coach up to the front door. Jameson, once of the Helstea Auction House but now the head of my household staff, hurried out to greet the Helsteas before taking their coach around the side of the house to stable the skitters and unload their belongings.

Standing in front of my new home, Vincent let out a low whistle. "I've seen the blueprints-an architect friend of mine back in Xyrus helped draw them up, you know-but I still wasn't fully appreciating the grandness of it all. Those asuras sure know what they're doing." He leaned in slightly, nudging me. "Perhaps you can arrange a meeting. I can see asura-made goods doing very well at the Auction House."

"Father..." Lilia said, sounding tired.

The front door opened, and Mom stepped out, beaming down at the Helsteas. "You made it! How was the trip?"

"It would have been much better if Tanner could have arranged for a few blade wings," Vincent grumbled.

"Father!" Lilia said again. "You know there aren't enough blade wings and pilots to handle casual transportation."

Anyone with a bond to a flying mana beast-or the ability to fly one without a bond-was being kept very busy at the moment. The fact that the Helsteas were here at all was only due to the constant stream of flights from the surface up to Xyrus. It was no wonder that even they hadn't been able to find someone willing to fly them all the way to the north of Sapin.

"Never mind him," Tabitha said, hugging my mother gently. "The ride was actually quite nice. It's been so long since we traveled casually, and to see everyone all over Sapin working so hard. There is a real energy out there, Alice. Hope."

Chatting animatedly, Mom led the Helsteas inside. Ellie caught up, leaving Boo to gnaw on a big bone she'd brought back from town. Tessia slipped an arm around my waist and leaned her head on my shoulder, looking inside with a hint of nerves.

"Don't worry, this place is more than big enough for you to disappear if you need a moment to yourself," I teased. "Besides, Sylvie should be back soon with Virion."

"It's not the party I'm worried about," she said, lacing her arm through mine and squeezing me tight. "I'm excited to celebrate with everyone. It is your birthday after all. But...after."

I knew what she meant. The last couple of weeks of simply being allowed to exist together had been wonderful, but the world was closing back in. Virion-all his people, really-needed him in Elenoir. The elves were still struggling to find leaders among them. Working side by side with Clan Asclepius, managing relations with the refugee Alacryans who had stayed, navigating agreements with dwarven work parties, and even communicating with the asura of Epheotus-the elves needed intensely dedicated public servants and leaders.

I looked down at Tessia and felt my throat constrict. Her initial meeting with Mordain had sparked a close friendship, and he was teaching her as he had once taught Elder Rinia. Tessia wasn't a seer, but Mordain was truly gifted at helping young mages unlock their own power. The refugee Alacryans already respected her for surviving being made the vessel for Cecilia's reincarnation, and she had spent more time around the dwarven clan lords than most elves.

And perhaps she didn't realize it fully, but being the recipient of a mourning pearl...well, the eyes of the entire asuran population would regularly turn to her, watching to see what she accomplished with the second chance at life she was given. Veruhn had even hinted that most would treat her as an equal, as if she were an asura. I felt myself smile. When we were married, she would become a member of Clan Leywin. An archon.

"What are you smirking at?" she asked, looking up at me and raising a brow. "Does the thought of me leaving for Elenoir really make you so happy?"

I scooped her up in my arms, making her squeal. "My heart breaks at the thought of it, but the world needs you, Tessia Eralith."

"It needs us both," she teased back, thumbing my nose.

Even a house as big as the new "Leywin Estate" seemed like it was bursting at the seams by the time everyone had arrived. The noise of conversation buzzed into every corner of the house, and I realized that maybe there wouldn't be anywhere to hide from it after all.

I had found myself cornered in the dining room, where I popped walnuts into my mouth at irregular intervals as I was sandwiched between Gideon and Wren, who were having an animated conversation about several new ideas that had come up between them in the aftermath of what was already being called the Confluence-the melding of our world with Epheotus.

"Arthur, are you listening?" Gideon asked suddenly, staring at me from beneath patchy white brows. "This is exciting stuff, boy!"

"I heard you," I said, dragging my gaze away from Tessia, who was laughing with Lilia and Emily across the room. "My old steam train concept. I remember."

Wren thumped me. "With the issues navigating this new world, this 'train' system could be a major equalizer."

"I've already expanded on those initial designs we talked about-what was that, a decade ago?-but with the war, it was never practical. Even without a war, it would have taken more than the last decade to fully implement, but now-"

"With the assistance of the Kain clan, we believe we can complete work on the tunnels in mere months!" Wren said. I couldn't recall having heard him so pleased about something...ever. "The construction of the mechanisms themselves, in enough numbers to set up routes connecting all the major cities, will take longer. But the first line could be operational by the time the whole tunnel network is dug out."

"And...who has agreed to allow this project?" I asked, very curious considering the tumultuous situation Dicathen's governments were currently in. "Or fund it?"

Gideon scoffed. "The dwarves love the idea. Several guilds have already submitted bids to be a part of the project. They're still voting for this new...parliament they've outlined, but once that is settled and a new king is chosen through their...trials-or whatever they're calling them- I have no doubt we'll receive their full support. Sapin, well..."

Sapin had been ruled by a king and queen for hundreds of years, then was briefly overseen by the Tri-union council-which consisted of the previous kings and queens of Sapin, Darv, and Elenoir, even if they in turn mostly answered to Aldir. Although the dwarves had been quick to suggest, adopt, and begin working toward a new form of government for Darv, the people of Sapin had, so far, faced more difficulty.

Kathyln and Curtis were, of course, in line for the throne, but they had refused to claim it. I had already received multiple letters asking for my guidance and not so subtly suggesting I should be king of Sapin. Not interested.

"The Glayders won't agree to anything at all, claiming they don't have the authority until the direction of Sapin is defined," Gideon said, his tone half disbelief, half annoyance. Then he burst out in a sharp laugh. "I forgot to mention: they actually said that, as 'regent,' perhaps you