The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 239

Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Passage Of Time

Instinctively, I shrouded myself in a sphere of wind, keeping the sand away as I gently floated down to the ground. Sylvie did something similar as I saw a black sphere slowly melt to reveal a petite girl with two large horns.

Virion and Bairon, with their cores damaged and their magic widely unusable, didn’t fare as well.

Fortunately, Virion was at the epicenter of our descent so he slid down the large mountain of sand that had accumulated below him. Bairon, a figure whose lightning magic was so powerful that it heightened his reflexes, rolled down the sand dune in a fit of desperate screaming and coughing.

He flailed his arms like a drowning puppy before he realized he was on solid ground. Virion shook his head while Sylvie turned away to hide her laughter.

Bairon spat out a mouthful of sand while glaring at me with dagger-like eyes. “You! Should a lance be so selfish as to leave his... commander to plunge down into unknown dangers like that?”

“The only one that thought they were in danger was you,” Virion countered, dusting the sand off of his robe.

It was the first time I saw Bairon’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He quickly bolted up to his feet, wiping his sandy mouth and tongue on his sleeve as he coughed. His spiteful glare never ceased as he did this but Bairon and I both knew that he couldn’t do anything about it. With the state he was in right now, I could kill him with a slap—not that I’d want to, of course.

“Everyone,” Sylvie said, her voice echoing slightly. “Look around.”

Her words brought our attention to the mysterious underground tunnel we were in. I looked around and I finally realized that for a place without any sources of light, it was surprisingly easy to see.

“Are those glowing symbols runes? I’ve never seen anything like them,” Bairon muttered in wonder as he hovered his hand over a rune that pulsed with faint light on the wall. “It must be runes, but I don’t sense any fire or lightning affinity mana around them.”

Sylvie brushed her hand over the runes that seemed too perfect to be engraved by hand. “That’s because it isn’t powered by mana.”

Bairon furrowed his brows. “What? That’s impossible.”

“No, she’s right,” I said, cycling Realmheart Physique through my body once more. Sylvie’s thoughts had leaked onto me and I just had to verify it for myself. And to my utter amazement, the entire cave lit up like a starry night, basking the area in purple. “It’s powered by aether.”

My mind spun as I tried to make sense out of this revelation. I ran the conversation I had with Sylvie’s grandmother, Lady Myre, in my head again. Everything she had told me about aether being an entity that couldn’t be manipulated like mana—but rather, influenced or coaxed into action—went against what was going on in front of me. Aether wasn’t something that could be confined and used so permanently like this, yet it was clear as day that someone or something had figured out how to do so.

“Let’s continue walking,” Virion announced, taking the lead. “There’s more of this down here.”

Prying my eyes away from the runes that filled these walls, we continued to walk. Much like in the desert above us, the air here was dry and stale. The only sounds came from our footsteps echoing through the tunnel that led out of the cave we had arrived through.

It couldn’t really be called a tunnel, though, as the smooth, polished floors and light coming from the runes made it seem more like a narrow hallway. The ceiling above us continued to rise as we made our way down the hallway, soon reaching so high that it became lost in darkness.

Despite Virion’s familiarity with this place, I couldn’t help but be cautious. My eyes darted left and right, looking for anything odd, but except for the unusually high concentration of aether gathered here, there was nothing off about this place.

‘You’re feeling uneasy here as well,’ Sylvie noted, sticking close to me.

I think it’s just because of all the aether here, and the runes that are practically trapping them to use as light. I thought aether only influenced time, space, and life?

‘I suspect that the walls aren’t just made of stone but some sort of living thing,’ she responded.

I carefully touched the walls for the first time, and realized that Sylvie was right. It wasn’t stone, like I had assumed—it felt more like a smooth tree trunk.

So aether is giving this... tree... life? I guessed.

‘Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I may be able to utilize aether but you can at least see the ambient mana; I have to go by my gut feeling.’

We continued walking in silence. The straight passage seemed to go on forever, with no end in sight. Despite the scores of runes on the walls, the lack of variation amongst them made it impossible to tell how long we’d been walking.

“How far away are we from reaching the actual shelter?” Bairon asked, unable to hold in his impatience any longer.

“I’m not sure. It hasn’t been long since we arrived so be patient,” Virion replied.

Bairon’s eyes widened. “Not long? Commander, It feels like I’ve been walking for nearly the entire day! I think the journey to find this underground tunnel was shorter.”

“Bairon, aren’t you exaggerating too much? I’d hardly be this fine if we had to walk that long without using mana,” Virion argued.

I tilted my head in confusion. He was right; Bairon might’ve been exaggerating but it did feel like I had been walking for quite some time. Yet, Virion, the one that was the weakest amongst us was doing just fine.

Sylvie, how long have you been walking for? I asked, turning on Realmheart once more.

‘Not more than an hour... wait, a few hours has passed for you?’ she asked, surprised.

I nodded. Sylvie, can you try utilizing aether?

Reading my thoughts, she replied, ‘But I can’t use it to control time.’

I know. I don’t think you have to, though.

‘Arthur, look behind you,’ Sylvie said, shaken. _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}