The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 306

Chapter 306

I gulped down a mouthful of icy water, letting it wash down my throat before standing back up .

Beside me, Caera winced as she swallowed down the crystal clear liquid flowing into the waterfall nearby . I continued to survey our surroundings, careful to make sure Left Tooth or his entourage hadn’t followed us .

“I don’t think they’ll try and confront us again,” Caera said casually, walking over to me . “It would be obvious to even the children how outmatched they were against you . ”

“You held your own pretty well back there . ” I raised my brow, studying the Alacryan noble . “It seems like you’ve actually grown stronger since we arrived in this zone . ”

“It’s such a rare occurrence for you to compliment me, Grey,” she said, narrowing her eyes . “It’s a shame that it had to sound so condescending . ”

“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way,” I responded, suddenly flustered . “My apologies . ”

“Apology accepted . ” A faint smile played at the edge of Caera’s pink lips . “Now let’s grab the portal piece before any other trouble shows up . It’s been too peaceful out here and it’s making me anxious . ”

Nodding in agreement, I pointed toward a set of caves formed on the sloping face of the mountain peak . “We’re nearly there . ”

The two of us made our way over to the other side of the wide stream, arriving in front of an obscure crack between two larger caves . Taking the lead, I squeezed through the entrance, which was just barely wide enough for me to fit in sideways .

“Um, Grey? Care to give me a hand?”

I turned back to see Caera stuck midway, struggling to dislodge her upper body .

“You’re lucky Regis isn’t here,” I said with a smirk before pulling her free .

Even with Three Steps’ memory guiding us in the right direction, it still took the better half of an hour to navigate the winding tunnel, which branched off several times as we went deeper .

Finally, I found the glittering boulder that signified the final split and started counting twenty-eight short paces before I started digging with my hands .

Hidden in a layer of black sand was a thin slab of white stone about four inches wide and eight inches long .

“Only three left,” Caera said with a deep breath .

I stored the portal piece in my dimension rune . “One step closer . ”

Suddenly, a dull throb radiated from my lower back before echoing off my core, causing me to buckle forward .

“Grey!”

“It’s...fine,” I grunted, standing back up . “It’s Regis again . I don’t know what’s happening to him, but it looks like he’s closing in on whatever he’s been trying to do . ”

The “pulses”, which had started just the day before, had grown steadily stronger . Luckily, they were more a bother than anything else, but I really was starting to worry about my snarky companion .

Snapping out of my thoughts, I turned to Caera who had been staring at me in concern . “Let’s go . ”

***

The two of us walked silently on the powdery snow, having already traveled quite a few miles from the mountain where we had located the Shadow Claws’ portal piece .

We were headed roughly in the direction of the Spear Beaks’ village, hoping to obtain their piece of the puzzle and get more information on the last two pieces . As to whether they’d willingly give us this information, I had no qualms with forcing it out of them after experiencing Three Steps’ memories .

Looking down, I focused on the dried-fruit toy that Three Steps had given me, which I had pulled out to keep me occupied as we walked . While frustrating to no end, I knew that mastering this children’s trinket would be the first step in creating my own aether construct .

I coalesced aether around my hand once more before digging my index finger into the small opening of the fruit . I started trying to squeeze violet aura through the tip of my finger and into the inside of the fruit . I only served to push the fruit away as a dull purple bulge formed over my finger .

Focusing as hard as I could on the small opening of the toy, I tried to lengthen and narrow the tip of the aetheric aura surrounding my finger, but I was only able to push it out a fraction of an inch more before it became painful .

I was reminded of the Aether Cannon ability I had come up with to move through the snow and tried to use that as a basis . Except, once enough aether gathered at a central point, it burst out, taking the toy along with it .

“Pfft . ”

I turned to see Caera watching me with a smile in her eyes and lips pressed shut from trying to keep from laughing . “Have you grown frustrated with it enough to shoot it out of your own hands?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I grumbled, jogging a few paces to where the toy had landed . “This toy is just proving to be more of a challenge than I expected . ”

“Shadow Claws spend most of their childhood training with this, and that’s taking into account their innate aptitude for this ability . ”

I picked up the dried fruit and gave it a shake before turning back to Caera . “So?”

“So...” Caera walked up to me and wrapped her hands over my hand and the toy, gently pushing it down . “You’re not going to get this in the span of a few hours, especially when half of your brain is busy figuring out what to do next . ”

“Did you gain wisdom alongside your horns?” I scoffed .

“That’s discrimination,” Caera pouted . “And no, I didn’t . People just tend to grow up rather fast when their childhood is difficult . ”

I couldn’t help but agree as I thought back to my childhoods, both as Grey and as Arthur . “My joke was rather insensitive . Sorry . ”

“Do my horns look that odd to you?” Caera asked, leaning closer toward me . “I’ve always hidden them from everyone except my mentor, and she has horns as well . ”

I stepped away . “They don’t look odd on you . It’s just that I haven’t exactly had a positive experience with people who have horns . ”

Caera raised a brow, her piercing scarlet eyes growing even more curious . “What sort of experiences—” Caera stopped and shook her head . “Never mind . As intrigued as I am to know more about you, I’d rather you tell me once you feel more comfortable . ”

“I appreciate it,” I replied, tucking the dried-fruit toy back into my dimension rune . “But I have no—” I paused, staring into the distance . “What is that?”

Caera turned to examine the horizon .

“It looks like another storm...that’s rising from the ground?”

She was right . It did look like a storm, except there weren’t any clouds in the sky . Above us, the glacier blue expanse was still painted with the aurora colors over the endless range of mountains .

On the ground, the snow was kicked up, swirling as if in the midst of a blizzard . But the real problem was that it was heading our way, and approaching fast .

~

My vision shifted into a blaze of violet trails as I instinctively prepared to use God Step, but I held myself back . The “storm” wasn’t moving in any sort of natural formation, but looked to be weaving, almost as if it were alive .

A part of me was actually relieved that it might be an enemy . So far, the most dangerous obstacle we’d faced in this zone had been the weather, and that wasn’t something I could fight, much less win against .

Deciding to confront whatever was approaching us rather than waste aether God Stepping only for it to follow after us, I pulled Caera close .

“Brace yourself!” I said, shrouding myself in aether as Caera did the same with mana .

I dug my heels into the snow and prepared for impact, but instead of sweeping over us, the blizzard encircled our location . Once it was close enough, I could make out aetheric shapes moving in the snow-cloud, and I realized what this must be .

“The wild things,” I muttered .

A ghostly creature made of snow and ice suspended in a tornado of aether broke free from the blizzard and rushed toward us . It reminded me of the malevolent phantom that had possessed Ada in the mirror room, except this thing had token possession of the land itself, coming to life as a sort of snow golem, a shapeless whirlwind of conscious aether .

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of identical aether beasts made up the storm that had surrounded us .

Sheathing myself in another layer of aether, I lunged forward to meet the construct . My fist burst through the snow and aether, but it only rippled like water and swirled back together as I passed through it .

A thin arm ending in three icy claws slashed at me . Just as my fist had passed through its body, its claws moved through me, unabated by my aetheric barrier . Though they left no physical wound, a line of cold fire burned in my side . Aether flooded from my core to heal the perceived wound .

“Don’t let them touch you!” I barked, just as Caera burst forward, her blade flashing down through the golem’s body .