The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 291

Chapter 291

Chapter 291: Telling Tales

Reaching out, Haedrig closed Riah’s sightless eyes before turning back to the rest of us gathered around Ada.

Though she appeared immobilized by whatever Regis was doing in her body, I knew this wasn’t over. The glowing purple eyes were locked on Riah, and a quivering smile kept flitting across her lips as she fought for control.

‘I can’t hold this forever!’ Regis transmitted to me.

“We need to tie her up,” I said, my voice sounding raw and tired to my own ears.

Haedrig helped Kalon and Ezra to their feet while I held Ada, just in case she broke free of Regis’s control. Kalon scooped her out of my arms and set her gently on the bench next to Riah’s body, then began to restrain her using rope from his dimension ring.

Suddenly her head lunged forward and her teeth snapped shut, just barely missing Kalon’s nose.

“Ada...I’m sorry,” Kalon whispered, sorrow dripping from his voice.

After she was restrained, Regis burst from her back, landing in the fountain between the benches. The shadow wolf immediately rolled onto his back and began to splash around in the fountain, coughing in a hacking, throaty way that reminded me of a cat coughing up a hairball.

‘That—was—gross! I need a bath,’ he thought to me.

Thank you, Regis. It was enough for us to safely restrain her, so—

A shove from my left caught me off guard, causing me to reel back, though there wasn’t enough force behind it to knock me off balance.

“If you wouldn’t have knocked Kalon over, we’d have gotten to Riah in time!” Ezra, his face bright red and his eyes bulging, shouted at the top of his lungs. “She’s dead because of you! I should kill you right now—”

I let him vent. Behind him, Kalon had frozen in the act of covering Riah with a spare cloak. Haedrig had stepped off to the side to give the brothers some space. I could tell by the way his hand drifted toward the hilt of his sword that he was ready to jump in if necessary, however.

‘How long are you gonna sit here and let him shout at you?’

He’s right to be upset, Regis.

‘Maybe, but that doesn’t doesn’t make him not a jerk.’

“—never should have brought you with us, you bastard!”

No, perhaps you shouldn’t have, I thought.

Just like in the convergence zone, it appeared that my presence made things more difficult for the others. From everything I’d heard, the first zone should have been easy enough for ascenders as strong as Kalon and Haedrig.

“Do it, brother! Kill him!” Ada chimed in, her voice oozing with malice. Once she had killed Riah, any pretence of this purple-eyed creature still being Ada had slipped away, leaving behind a violent shadow of Ada’s innocent excitement.

“Shut up!” Ezra roared, turning on Ada as if he would strike her. Kalon was between them in an instant, his eyes boring into Ezra’s. The younger Granbehl brother was quick to submit, turning away from us all and walking to the broken mirror, staring out into nothing.

Ada’s glowing eyes followed him, her lips twisted into a disappointed sneer. She then turned toward Kalon and put on an innocent smile. “Oh, big brother, please untie me? These ropes hurt...”

Having had enough, I let out a wave of aetheric intent that froze everyone in place, including the false-Ada. I took a step toward her, my eyes boring holes into her skull.

“What are you doing?” Kalon asked through gritted teeth, my intent pressing down on him like a giant fist.

“I need answers,” I said matter-of-factly. “So I’m going to ask this...thing...some questions.” I released the pressure and kneeled down in front of Ada. She grinned.

“Who are you?” I asked, wanting to start with the obvious.

“Ada of House Granbehl,” she said confidently.

“Where is the real Ada?”

“I am the real Ada,” she said without hesitation or any hint of a lie.

“How do we get her back out of the mirror?”

“You can’t,” she answered with a sneer.

I narrowed my eyes. Had the creature just slipped up in admitting that the real Ada was trapped in the mirror? I couldn’t be sure if I was dealing with a trapped adventurer or some manifestation of the Relictombs, so I had no way to know what this phantom’s purpose was.

“How do we escape this room?”

“You can’t,” she repeated, the sneer twisting into a vindictive grin.

“The djinn wouldn’t have designed a test that couldn’t be completed,” I shot back in a whisper.

Taking a moment, I thought through everything I knew about the Relictombs.

Some zones we’d visited were clearly tests of our strength, requiring us to fight through powerful creatures to proceed. Others, like the millipede jungle, tested resourcefulness and adaptability, requiring less pure strength but more caution. Then there had been the platform zone, which required careful consideration instead of direct action to complete.

These “aether zones,” however, seemed less distinct than those I’d seen on my first ascent. The hall of faces had presented itself as a test of our strength against the serpent monsters, but I had no doubt now that the horde would never have been defeated. What was the test, then?

It had required the use of an aetheric ability I already knew—God Step—to complete. Beyond that, it also forced me to acknowledge the limits of my power; no warrior could fight forever against an endless army of foes, no matter how strong. Instead of fighting our way to victory, retreat had been the only way to win.

What aspect of my control over aether was the mirror room intended to test then? Regis and I shared control over the destruction rune, but I couldn’t see how destruction would help us escape the zone.

I glanced at Kalon, who was watching my conversation with Ada closely. Speaking plainly about my abilities in front of the others would reveal more than I’d intended when I sought out a group for my preliminary ascent, but it might also be the only way to escape.

“Is the ability to manipulate aether required to escape this place?”

Haedrig’s gaze, which had followed Ezra to the broken mirror, snapped back to me with furious intensity. He took a step forward, his mouth agape, and I met his eye. There was something strangely familiar about his expression; it reminded me of someone else, but I couldn’t quite place it in the moment.

I realized Ada had spoken, but I was so focused on Haedrig that I missed the answer.

“What?”

“No.” Though Ada said the word with a mean-spirited confidence, I heard it as the lie it was. I couldn’t believe that this zone was not a test of some aspect of aether.

“Do I have to use the rune of destruction to escape this place?” Kalon gave me a confused, disbelieving look. Haedrig seemed surprised, but did a better job covering his expression this time.

Ada grinned. “Yes.”

Regis huffed in my head. ‘But that doesn’t make sense. If the solution requires you to use destruction, then it requires you to use aether, right? This thing is just running you in circles, bud.’

I grinned back at Ada, meeting her glowing purple eyes knowingly. I thought I understood what was happening, but I needed to make sure with a few pointed questions.

“Who is that?” I asked, pointing at Ezra.

Ada rolled her eyes. “Why are you asking me such a stupid question?”

Pointing again, I asked, “What is his name?”

She glared at me. “I don’t know.”

Ezra had turned away from the broken mirror to watch. He seemed about to interrupt, but I motioned for silence.

“Did you kill Riah?”

“No.”

“Do you know who Riah is?”

She glanced hungrily at the cloak covering Riah’s corpse. “No.”

Shaking my head, I asked the simplest question I could think of. “Does one plus one equal two?”

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