The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 237

Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Expired Arrangement

ARTHUR LEYWIN

Long after the sun had set and night crept in, bringing a bitter chill along with it, I sat mindlessly by the fire. Above me, the stars that seemed the same in my previous world and this world glimmered like crystal dust across the horizon.

Virion, like a feeble infant, had fallen back asleep after crying. His body was in a severely weakened state and his mana core had been on the cusp of shattering. Bairon still hadn’t woken up, his injuries from the scythe much more severe than I had originally expected.

Hours must’ve passed since I last moved from my seat as my whirling vortex of thoughts digressed into an empty void. After the anger had fizzled out, the plans to save my family and Tess—the plans for revenge and justice—had all faded.

So I sat on the ground, running my fingers idly through the soft dirt beneath me, no idea where to go from here. The Alacryans now had control over the Castle and with it, the controls to the teleportation gates throughout the continent. It didn’t take a genius to guess that they would plan on taking Xyrus City next before slowly wiping away the forces of Dicathen.

With Virion in the state he was in right now, our side didn’t even have a leader. The lances were scattered and it was only a matter of time before they would be picked off one at a time until Dicathen had no hope of ever retaliating.

The crunch of leaves drew my attention behind me. Sylvie had come out from the earthen shelter I had conjured, but one glance was all it took for me to realize that my bond wasn’t who she appeared to be.

“Let’s take a walk, shall we?” she said, and her voice was the same, but the cadence and pitch were all off.

My heart quickened and I found myself trembling with rage but I wordlessly followed. For five minutes we walked, accompanied only by the snapping of twigs and the crush of foliage under our feet. A flurry of emotions passed through me as I stared at the back of the one responsible for all of the deaths and misery our people had to endure.

My mind raced to think of something to say, to think of something to do.

“Whew!” Sylvie breathed, taking a seat on a fallen log. “Controlling this body even for simple things like walking is hard work.”

I stared at the leader of the Vritra Clan and ruler of Alacrya and fell to my knees in front of him.

Agrona furrowed ‘his’ brows, contorting Sylvie’s face into an expression of surprise and frustration before he quickly relaxed.

“My, what an unexpected turn of events,” he said as I lowered my gaze to the ground beneath him. “Has the hero, and once mighty king, admitted defeat?”

“Agrona,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’ve made your point. Please, let Tessia and my family go.”

“Why?”

I dug my fingers into the dirt. “Because... I accept your deal. I’ll remove myself from this war.”

A chortle made me look up, only to see Sylvie cackling while covering her mouth. “You think our deal still stands, Grey? You were the only unpredictable variable that had even the slightest chance in hindering me, but as you said so yourself, I’ve made my point. Even you—with all of your inherent gifts and advantages—only amounted to this much.”

Sylvie’s eyes, laced in displeasure, stared down at me. “The very fact that you haven’t even told your bond that I’m able to possess her body tells me that even from the very beginning, you were always expecting to lose.”

“Then what... what do you want?” I demanded. “Why did you appear in front of me again?”

“Again, asking questions I have no obligation to answer.” Despite his casual words, his expression was knitted in what seemed like worry. “I don’t expect to have the pleasure of meeting like this again, so... goodbye.”

I scrambled to my feet. “W-Wait, what about my—”

And like that, Sylvie slumped back, unconscious.

Screaming in resentment, I slammed a mana-clad fist into the ground, waking the forest and its inhabitants.

“A-Arthur?” Sylvie called, weary and disoriented. “What’s going on?”

I let the mental barrier—that I had grown increasingly better at fortifying—fall, allowing my bond to read my thoughts and memories unabated.

Still, I made it a point to tell her the truth verbally. “Ever since you broke the seal that Sylvia had placed on you, Agrona was able to take over your consciousness for short periods of time.”

I watched as Sylvie’s skin paled and her expression distorted into disgust. Her mouth opened, as if to ask me a question, then closed because she had found the answer in my mind.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Sylvie walked up to me, her thoughts and emotions blocked, and slapped me across the cheek. My head whipped to the side at the force strong enough to break a normal person’s neck.

“There. We’re even now,” she muttered before wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her head in my chest.

The tears that hadn’t even fallen while Virion mourned for his family spilled down my cheeks as my body trembled. I gripped my bond back tightly, afraid to lose her as well.

I had not only lost, but I had also begged to my enemy on bent knees. Sylvie knew the anger, guilt, sorrow, and humiliation tearing apart my insides and the very fact that she knew and accepted them was enough for me to move on.

Biting my lip until I could taste a warm metallic bitterness, I cried silently, the crystal dust above us shaky and blurred.

Sylvie and I had eventually returned to our camp later that night. The two of us stayed together outside, guarding the shelter that Bairon and Virion were sleeping in.

At one point, I must’ve fallen asleep because Sylvie sent a sharp mental probe, telling me to wake up. My eyes snapped open and I got up, only to see Virion and Bairon having a heated argument while Sylvie put herself between them.

“We have to go back! Our troops need us, Commander!” Bairon growled, struggling to stay up on his own two feet.

“And do what? It’s too late,” Virion snapped, leaning against the earthen tent for support. His eyes turned towards me, noticing that I was awake. “Good, Arthur, we should get ready to leave.”

“Leave? Where?” I asked, confused.

“Our Commander says that the war is lost,” Bairon retorted. “Most likely, the injury from fighting the scythe had rendered him incapable of leading.”