The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 513

Chapter 513: Growing Urgency

Arthur Leywin

Time slipped by like water running between my fingers. I was lying on my back in the moss, staring up at the thin canopy of Virion’s small grove. Tessia lay in the crook of my arm, her head on my chest, her fingers tracing the line of my sternum, over my core. The sensation sent warm chills down my arms in a way I found pleasantly exhilarating.

“I can feel your core,” she said softly, her fingers pausing in their constant movement. “It’s pressure is like…a heavy blanket.” I felt her smile against my chest. “It’s pretty cozy, actually.”

I let out a surprised chuckle. “Then all of my work has been well worth it.”

She swatted me playfully. “I’m being serious.”

I pulled her closer, nuzzling my cheek into her hair. “So am I…”

We stayed like that for another minute or two before the silence and peace were broken by a voice in my mind.

‘I’ve convinced Seris and the dwarven lords to await your arrival in Lodenhold,’ Sylvie communicated, ‘but only just. I’d say you have about ten minutes before they come barging up into the grove to find you.’

I must have tensed, because Tessia drew away, leaning up on an elbow to examine my face.

Regis's voice followed. ‘Gideon and the rest of his cohort of kooky creatives are on the way as well. Wren Kain isn’t here, apparently. He left the moment the big hole in the sky formed.’

“Time to get back to work?” Tessia asked with a small pout. I nodded, and she gracefully rose and brushed a few strands of moss from her clothing. Even in the plain garb of someone who has been working the soil for these last weeks, she was stunning. As she looked down at me, her brows rose and her lips twisted wryly. “Don’t tell me you have to go and then look at me like that, Arthur Leywin.”

I felt myself blush, cleared my throat as I stood, and rubbed the back of my neck.

Tessia took my hand, laughing. “All the power in the world, but you still blush like a school boy in his first term.” With a tug, she led me back toward the central tree and the little house in its branches.

We made it halfway before Virion appeared, descended the stairs, and began moving to meet us. “Bairon just messaged that they’re waiting for us,” he grumbled, drying wet hands off on his dirt-stained trousers. “But I’m glad you two lovebirds had a minute or two alone. Now, Arthur, before we get down there: what in the abyss is happening in the sky?”

As we left the Elshire Grove and began descending the long series of switchback stairs that would take us directly to Lodenhold Palace, I filled Virion and Tessia in on everything that had happened.

“Damn,” Virion muttered under his breath. “Frankly, I was hoping Seris was wrong. So all that, and Agrona is definitely still out there—and with some kind of weapon we can’t even fathom.” Although he didn’t say it, I felt Virion’s thoughts turn to Elenoir and the asuran technique that had destroyed it. “I wonder why he waited so long to use it.”

“I get the impression that this wasn’t exactly his plan,” I answered, having given it a fair bit of thought myself. “This seems desperate. A last stand.”

We continued to discuss the details until we reached Lodenhold. Bairon and Varay were waiting for us.

Bairon gave me a serious nod. “Arthur. Everyone is understandably…anxious to hear what you have to say.”

“I hope they’re not expecting good news,” I said matter-of-factly.

Varay responded with the ghost of a smile—the equivalent of a huge grin on her normally inexpressive face. “They’re expecting Lance Godspell, Regent of Dicathen, to wave his hands and fix the world, naturally.”

I raised one brow and gestured for the two Lances to lead the way. “How are you adjusting to Integration?”

Varay flexed the conjured hand of ice that acted as a prosthetic in place of the arm she’d lost fighting Taci. I could feel the mana flowing through her, infusing her entire body, her channels and veins constantly circulating it even without a core.

“I am uncertain whether or not to consider myself lucky that I didn’t go through this process in the middle of the war,” she said wryly. “I do not think I have ever been so weak as I was in the weeks afterwards, and yet…”

I nodded in understanding. “Here you are with all this new power and control, and the war is over.”

“Is it though?” Virion asked from just behind us. “There may yet be cause for you to use this strength in service of Dicathen, Lance Varay.”

We reached the doorway that opened into the Hall of Lords, guarded by several armored dwarven mages. Mica was standing with her cousins, Hornfels and Skarn. At the sound of our approach, she floated up off the ground so she could look me in the eyes. She made a show of looking me over, then said, “And here I expected you’d have purple skin or horns or wings or something by now, Lord Arthur.” Although her tone was cool and distant, her initial scowl settled into a passive expression after a few seconds, and she turned and flew into the chamber ahead of us.

I followed behind but missed a step as I rounded the corner into the hall, surprised to find it entirely full.

As always, the meeting place itself was set atop the floating slate of crystal, which was reached by walking over a series of smaller floating slates, like stones across a calm river. The table at which the dwarven lords normally met had been shrunk down, allowing more room around it for a second row of chairs.

Perhaps it was the tension—or only my own mood—but the colorful crystal of the giant geode’s interior didn’t seem to flash with the same brightness they usually held.

Seris was already moving toward me, marching over the floating path with no concern for the height, even as the slates shifted slightly beneath her feet. “Arthur. I’m glad we were finally able to get your attention.”

“Seris. How bad is it?”

“Less than ideal,” she answered with a small shake of her head. In the unearthly light of the geode, her hair shone with the same amethyst quality, and her alabaster skin reflected the colors of the surrounding crystal formations. She was adorned in a black battle dress that covered her from the neck down. Her horns gleamed.

“The people are suffering, leaderless. Agrona sent a message, just before attacking the rift. Even if they fear what he’s done, the show of strength has drawn many back to his cause.”

Behind her in the packed chamber, Cylrit and Sylvie floated in the open air off to the side of the central table and platform. Mica, Bairon, and Varay moved to the other side of the chamber, while Chul and a phoenix woman—Soleil, one of the healers who had helped after Chul’s near death—hovered at the far end of the platform, behind a seated Carnelian Earthborn. Mica’s father sat at the head of the table, while the Silvershales—Daglun, Durgar, and Daymor—sat to his right. A few other representatives of powerful dwarven clans were there, as well as Gideon, Emily, and Claire Bladeheart, who wasn’t currently inside her exoform.

Lyra Dreide occupied a seat next to the one vacated by Seris. Across from her, Saria Triscan, an elven woman of middle age, had kept a couple of seats open, probably for Tessia and Virion.

“I can only assume that you’ve returned because you intend to go after him,” Seris continued. “It seems as if his greater goal requires neither Epheotus nor this world to remain intact. He is burning his own people like fuel.”

She took a deep breath, her focus turning inward momentarily. When her gaze returned to me, she gave me a look I couldn’t recall seeing from her before, not even when she’d nearly killed herself barring Agrona’s forces from the Relictombs. I felt a distinct sense of reversal from our very first meeting, so long ago, when she saved my life from Uto. “He isn’t insane, Arthur. He would only do this”—she gestured vaguely upward—“if he knew he could not only survive it, but that it would advance his goals.”

Seris returned to her seat, and I allowed Virion and Tessia to move past me and take their own. Before I could speak, the sound of quickly approaching footsteps came from the open doors behind me. I turned to see Curtis and Kathyln Glayder being led by Hornfels. Kathyln gave him a perfunctory thanks, then swept into the chamber.

I floated off the crystals and made way for them. “Well, the gang really is all here,” I said warmly. Despite the tension that had grown between the Glayders and myself after the war, I was nonetheless glad to see them. “Please, take a seat. We were just about to get started.”

“Arthur,” Kathyln said. She maintained her usual hard-held passivity, but there was a glimmer in her eyes and a tremor in her mana signature that said more than her words ever would.

Curtis frowned and gave me a shallow bow. “Arthur. Been awhile, old friend.”

There was no time for niceties, however, and so the leaders of Sapin took their seats. I wasted no more time. “The barrier that separates Epheotus from our world is broken. The pocket of molded space containing their world is collapsing. That is what you see in the sky.”

There was a roar of panicked voices, but I snapped for them to be silent, and they collectively complied.

I cast a long, hard look around at Dicathen’s leaders. Lances and lords, princes and princesses. “Let me make something clear. There is no time for panic. Your instincts might, even now, be demanding you eke out the best you can for yourselves—your people—but any individual goals you have now are nothing. Until this is resolved, we will work together, doing everything we can to ensure the survival of not only this world but of Epheotus as well.”

The Hall of Lords was entirely silent. Saria Triscan’s jaw worked silently, and Mica’s brow raised slightly, but the rest only watched me intently.

“Seris, what can you tell us about how this was done?”

All eyes turned to her. Her own hard gaze lingered in the far distance, up through the crystalline interior shell of the giant geode. “Taegrin Caelum has been inaccessible since Agrona’s false body was struck down here in Dicathen. There has been no way to verify anything for certain, but I have developed a likely working theory.”

She paused, waiting to see if anyone interrupted her. They didn’t, so she continued. “Taegrin Caelum is enormous, and full of places no one except Agrona can reach. In my probing over the years, I have discovered pockets of machinery running through the core that I believe extend far down into the roots of the mountain. It is clear now that these artifacts and devices are part of the mechanism that he utilized to draw power from all the mages of Alacrya.

“I won’t pretend to understand exactly how he has achieved this seemingly impossible act of magic, except to say that he has had more than enough time to dissect and recreate all manner of ancient djinn technologies. I suspect this technology and magic was used to power a weapon and strike the rift, which he previously failed to take control of.”

“He has a sort of djinn remnant or personality housed within his reliquary,” Tessia chimed in, looking from Seris to me. “She controls all sorts of things, as far as I can understand it, from Cecilia—from her memories.”

Soleil spoke up from where she hovered near the geode wall. “I felt the strike, the magic and energy utilized. It carried the same ferocity and disturbance of mana that the pantheons’ World Eater technique utilized when it struck Elenoir.”

I saw Virion, Tessia, and Saria all tense at the mention of the asuran technique that destroyed Elenoir.

“It seems likely he based this weapon on a similar principle to the patheons’ secret technique,” Soleil finished nervously.

“Which means if he turns it on any of our cities, that could be the end of Sapin or Darv in a blink!” the younger Silvershale son said. His face was red, but his eyes were wide and terrified. “We should have marched on Alacrya weeks ago, we told you! We warned you that—”

“It is time to mobilize,” I said over the young lord. “Only those Alacryans who actively choose to stand with Agrona are our enemies, but I do not expect to find many of them. I’m going to attack Taegrin Caelum directly, and as soon as possible. I’d like whatever forces Dicathen or Alacrya can muster.”

“You have the Beast Corps, obviously,” Gideon said immediately, slapping his hand on the table. “We’ve managed to bring a couple dozen more units online, and their pilots are trained up enough not to kill themselves in the operation of the exoforms.”

“How inspiring of confidence…” Curtis Glayder muttered.

Seris spoke next. “Caera Denoir is, at this moment, organizing what forces we have. Due to the repeated syphoning of the Alacryan people’s mana, our fighting force will be limited. Also, we’ve been made aware of sycophantic refugees attempting to brave the Basilisk Fang Mountains on foot to reach Taegrin Caelum, but I can’t say for sure what we’ll find when we get there. At the very least, they will be equally weakened by the pulses.”

Soleil cleared her throat. “My Lord Arthur, forgive me for not saying so immediately, but Mordain has decided that it is time for the Asclepius to lend their aid as well. As of an hour ago, he was gathering anyone willing to fight and preparing to leave the Hearth. You will have phoenixes in support of this mission, even if Epheotus itself does not send aid.”

I blinked, surprised. “That’s excellent news, Soleil. Thank you.”

It was a risk for Mordain to leave the Hearth and come out into the open, but I was glad to have his assistance.

I focused on Kathyln, who I hoped would speak up. Although the last few years had seen us grow further apart, she once had been a close and trusted friend. Even her symbolic support would mark a deescalation in that building tension.

But before she answered, a horrible tremor shook the very mana that suffused the air and ground around us.

The hall of lords became a chorus of moans, dismayed shouts, and pained screams. Hands pressed against heads and chests and the tremor scratched like nails on a chalkboard through everyone’s core. The floating platform suddenly listed to the right, and chairs began to slide over its surface. The table lurched, smashing into Gideon’s side of the platform and threatening to take a dozen people over the edge.

With a flash of aetheric lightning, I God Stepped below the platform and caught it from below, keeping it from tilting further. Saria Triscan plummeted over the edge in front of me, and I plucked her out of the air. At the same time, I felt the gravity of the room wobble as Mica attempted to counter the shifting waves of magical disturbance.

“Out, everybody out!” Carnelian was shouting.

“What is it?” I asked, although I already suspected the truth from the few words I could make out. _{ƒгeewebnovёl.com}