The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 299

Chapter 299

The world warped, stretching and folding in a sea of violet, and the omnipresent sound of the harsh winds was cut down to a distant rumble in the span of my single aetheric step .

To everyone else, God Step was instant . But I struggled to fully process the rapidly-shifting landscape as I approached my destination . I needed to understand and predict exactly what would be around me when I arrived, or that split second of disorientation would give my enemy more than enough time to retaliate .

But neither the towering frame of the bearlike beast nor my companions could be seen as I appeared at my destination . Instead, I was met with complete darkness . Then came the claustrophobic feeling of being entirely encased, like a rodent trapped in a fist . Something was covering my mouth, gripping at my arms and legs, pressing against my eyes, filling my mouth .

A blind sense of fear coursed through me, causing my heart rate to spike and my breath to come in quick, labored gasps around the mouthful of quickly melting snow that threatened to choke me .

‘—ck happened?’ Regis thought, his own mind nearly blank with worry . ‘Arthur? Arthur!’

Tried to God Step—everything is muddled from the wind—must have missed—under the snow somewhere...

My thoughts were scattered and difficult to collect, even more than my sudden emergence under the snow could account for .

This was the sole instance where I had failed God Step, and it was the first time feeling not only the disorientation, but the repercussion of the spatium art . Had I wound up underground or deep in the ocean, the consequences might’ve been life threatening .

I shook away the unnecessary thoughts, which caused me to sink further down into the snow, opening up a bare inch of space around my face and torso .

Twisting and turning, I used my whole body to break apart the heavy, packed snow and give myself some room to breathe . By the time I had a rough little cave to huddle in, my mind had cleared a bit as well .

Regis, find me . Look for the blast of aether .

I could sense a tinge of hesitation from my companion . ‘You want me to give up on the—’

If I can’t use God Step, then there’s no way we can keep up out here . Just look for the—

‘Aether cannon . Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way, Princess . ’

Using the technique I’d made to drill through the deep snow around the dome, I released a small amount of aether from my core and gathered it in my hand, molding and shaping it into a sphere . The violet sphere shot upward, easily passing through the layer of snow above me, then rising another fifteen feet up through the storm .

As soon as the hole was exposed to the surface, the biting wind and the blizzard’s roar rushed back in . I counted to thirty, then released another blast of aether up into the sky, which glittered like a flare amidst the wall of rushing ice and snow .

I kept track of time by the number of aether spheres I sent soaring into the sky . Around the fifth shot, I started to wonder how far off course I’d gone . By the tenth, I was growing nervous . Then, shortly after I’d sent the thirteenth ball of purple, glowing aether into the sky, a dark shape outlined in flickering black flames plunged unexpectedly into the hole from above, landing on top of me with a grunt . The figure yelped in surprise and something hard hit me in the nose, then the fire winked out .

“Grey!” Caera shouted, struggling to disentangle herself from me . “What happened?”

“Later!” I shouted back . “Just waiting for Regis, then we’ll—”

The shadow wolf’s thoughts cut through my own . ‘Uh, Arthur?’

Where are you, Regis? I thought, unable to suppress the frustration I felt leaking into our connection . I could feel my companion’s presence closer to me than before but I was unable to pinpoint him in the aetheric storm .

‘Almost there, I think . Send up another flare . ’

I followed my companion’s instructions and in moments he was sliding down into our now cramped hole next to Caera and me, unmarked by the raging storm .

“Nice to see you both again, lovely weather we’re having,” Regis quipped . “I think it’s actually about to get—”

Catching a flash in the corner of my eyes, I intercepted an object just before it struck the side of my head . In my hand was a hailstone the size of my fist .

“—a lot worse,” Regis finished as a second frozen projectile shot down next to me, leaving a crater only inches from my companion .

Beside me, black flames burst from Caera’s form just as a hunk of ice the size of her head struck her on the shoulder . Though the aura devoured most of the hail before it hit her, she sucked in a pained breath and flinched away from the impact .

“We can’t move in this,” she said, speaking over the noise . “We’ll—I’ll be pummeled to death . ”

Knowing she was right, I did the only thing I could think of . Twisting around in the little hole so my back was to the others, I sent a blast of aether outwards and down, opening up the hole down to the perma-frozen ground and even removing a couple feet of the dark soil .

I slid down the slick tunnel, which was about five feet deep and seven feet across, and the others quickly followed . Spreading out my cloak, I gestured for Caera to lay down next to me .

“Regis, inside me . Caera, here . ”

“What are you—”

“There’s not enough snow above us to block the hail,” I said impatiently . “I can protect my body with aether, and you with my body . Just lay down . ”

Regis immediately leapt into my body, but Caera continued to look at me uncertainly . This moment of hesitation was interrupted when a massive bullet of ice blew through the snow above our heads and bounced off the hard ground at my feet, showering us with snow, dirt, and ice .

“I feel like we’ve gotten much closer in these last few days, Grey, don’t you?” she said, letting out a stiff laugh before lowering herself down next to me .

“A bit too close for my comfort,” I grumbled, pulling the cloak around us and shifting so that I was hovering awkwardly above Caera, shielding her from the hail and sharing my warmth . My entire body began to hum with a palpable layer of aether .

‘Well this is cozy,’ Regis thought happily .

I rolled my eyes and settled in for a long wait .

***

By the time the hail stopped falling and the wind subsided, we were mostly buried again, as the continual bombardment had caused the snowy roof to collapse down on us, and the blizzard had deposited several feet of new snow down into our hole .

The enclosure had protected us from the wind, though, and left a smaller area for our bodies to heat, which likely saved Caera’s life . Still, she was blue around her lips and shivering violently as we dug our way back up to the surface .

After breaking through into the cool, still air, I froze, my breath taken away by the sight around me . The sunless sky was clear and cloudless, a brilliantly glacial blue canvas painted with sweeping streaks of greens, yellows, and purples .

The painfully bright landscape glittered under the sourceless light, and, squinting, I could see the full shape of the land for the first time . God Step had taken me past the caldera where the dome containing the broken portal was hidden, into a valley of snow that stretched out into the horizon . Still, the fact that we could see the large crater in the distance was something I was happy about .

Leading up to the ridge of the caldera were uneven, broken borders of jagged stone and deep ravines, while behind us, the zone kept climbing until fading away in distant, misty mountains .

“It’s beautiful,” Caera said, having pulled herself halfway out of the snow beside me .

“Brr’ahk!”

The screeching squawk was so sudden and so close that I acted on instinct, bringing one arm over my head and the other over Caera to defend against an attack from the sky . Caera stumbled from my sudden action, using my body for support as she sank down into the snow with a puff of powder .

Behind me, there was a flutter of wings and another harsh crow .

Whirling my body in the deep snow, I spotted a tall, thin birdlike creature just several feet behind us . It had long black legs, thin as sticks, a teardrop shaped body covered in gleaming white feathers, broad wings that it tucked tightly to its sides, and a gracefully curving neck .

Its neck was currently twisted to the side, tilting its head comically . Two vibrantly violet eyes shone from behind its jet black beak, which was shaped like the head of a javelin . The beak opened and snapped shut two, then three times, the sharp crack echoing across the caldera .

I waited with caution, uncertain if the creature was hostile or simply curious . Instead, Caera was the one to act first .

“Uh, hello,” she said softly .

Moving slowly so as not to spook the creature, I pulled myself free of the snow and moved to stand over the series of interwoven claw marks . It did look remarkably like writing, though it wasn’t in a language I could read . _{freewёbnoνel.com}