The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 413

Chapter 413

Chapter 411: A Family Affair

Our steps, both light, whispered off the carved stone of the tunnel walls. The low rumble of an earthen grinding was vibrating down through the Earthborn Institute from somewhere in the distance, and everything smelled of dust and stone and damp. I ran my fingers along the sandpaper texture of the stone as we walked, thinking.

“I kind of miss the open sky, don’t you?” I asked Ellie.

“Do I ever,” she replied wistfully. “It feels like I’ve completely lost track of time and normalcy while hidden underground. Still, it’s better here than the sanctuary. At least we’ve got more than mushrooms and cave rats to eat.”

I didn’t apologize out loud—I’d already said those words to her and didn’t want to cheapen them further—but I did in my heart. The guilt of knowing I could have returned sooner and didn’t still lingered.

Boo was shuffling along in our wake, his thick fur occasionally scratching against the walls, and his claws scraping the floor, making a lot more noise than either Ellie or me. He huffed at the mention of cave rats, nudging Ellie from behind. She laughed, pulled what remained of a piece of salted meat from her bag, and tossed it over her shoulder to him. The bear snapped it out of the air in a single bite.

‘Bring me back some snacks, too,’ Regis thought to me, obviously keeping tabs on my thoughts despite the distance between us. Much to his annoyance, I had left him to maintain his vigil, standing guard over our retainer prisoner.

“How were things here while I was gone?” FreeWebNovel.me

Her narrow shoulders bobbed up and down. “Weird. Most people don’t know how to feel yet. Excited, hopeful, uncertain, terrified…they’re—I don’t know—tougher? Now, I mean. In the early days of the sanctuary, it was just fear. Everyone was waiting to die, every single day. Y’know? And I see a lot more smiles, especially from Mom when you’re around. Although, for the elves, it’s worse. Their hope is…complicated.”

“It’s starting to sink in for them,” I said, mulling over her words. “That, even when Dicathen is retaken, they’ll never be able to go home again.”

“Yeah,” Ellie muttered, her eyes on the floor. “Especially the kids. My friend, Camellia, it’s like she’s not even a kid at all. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

I stared at my little sister, not yet even sixteen, and completely oblivious to the irony of her statement. “You’re one to talk.”

“That’s different,” she said, blushing slightly. “Besides, the way you treat me, it sure makes me feel like I’m still a child…”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against my side in a walking hug. “Isn’t that what overprotective big brothers are for?”

She huffed, but didn’t pull away. “I don’t know if I’ve said this, but it’s really kind of you to spend so much time helping the elves.”

She bit her lip, hesitant, then words spilled out of her in a rush. “But I’m not—not really. What good is that when I can’t do anything to make it better?”

I waited to reply as a pair of robed dwarves went by. “It may be your compassion that helps the few elves remaining stay hopeful enough to rebuild. You never know how even a small kindness will stick with a person, what it might mean to them. Besides,” I added as an afterthought, “you have your new regalia. Maybe it’ll let you help further, when you’ve learned how to use it.”

“But how am I going to master it if you won’t even let me use it,” she pouted, sounding like the fifteen-year-old girl she was.

“I never said that—”

“What if I only do it under careful supervision?” she rushed on, speaking over me. “Lyra promised to teach me as much as you’ll allow, and Emily and Gideon want to study me thoroughly, and I bet Mom would even watch over the sessions, and if she can heal me from an asuran spear, she can—”

“Ellie,” I said, trying to derail the out-of-control train of her thoughts. “Eleanor!”

She stuttered to a stop, looking slightly chagrined. FreeWebNovel.me

“I don’t want to keep you from using your regalia,” I said. The tunnel walls fell away as we exited the Earthborn Institute, coming out into the open courtyard. “But I think it’s best if you only use it when I’m there.”

She opened her mouth, rolled her tongue against her teeth, then took a deep breath. Finally, after she’d collected her thoughts, she said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, big brother, but you’re not exactly around a lot. How am I supposed to progress when you run off to save the world again?”

I slipped my arm off her shoulder and pulled her half into a headlock. “That’s why you are coming with me.”

Struggling, she slipped free of my grasp, mussing up her hair in the effort, and stared at me. “Don’t be mean, Arthur. You’re joking…right?”

I shook my head, but felt my smile slacken and grow somber. “When I was your age, I was training in Epheotus with literal deities. Even in my last life, I was training to be king by now. You’ve been given a tremendous power, but you’ll never be able to wield it properly if you don’t test yourself.”

Laughing, she twirled around, then jumped into Boo, burying her face in his thick fur.

“Besides, I can’t trust you enough to let you out of my sight,” I muttered as I turned to keep walking.

She bounced up beside me and punched me in the arm, then quickly slid her arm around mine and held on. “So, since we’re on the subject of how mature and ready I am for danger and stuff, don’t you also think I’m old enough to start dating?”

Stopping mid-step, I raised a brow in suspicion. “Huh? Where is this coming from?”

“Just wondering,” just said with an innocent smile.

I peered down into her brown eyes as if I were considering her proposal. “Sure. But my rule hasn’t changed. You can start dating…when your ‘date’ can beat me in a fight.”

Boo snorted and nodded his agreement, while Ellie pouted, leaning her head against my arm. “Not fair…”

Once we were outside of the Earthborn Institute gates, I stopped and looked around. Aether rushed to imbue the Realmheart godrune, and the world lit up with the visible manifestation of mana. As my body flushed with the warmth of that power, I focused on the sixth sense for mana the ability provided, searching throughout the massive cavern of Vildorial for a specific mana signature.

Two stood out amongst the entire population of the city. One was still behind me, lingering somewhere in the Earthborn Institute, but the other was above, in the dwarven capital’s palace. Without explaining further, I led Ellie and Boo up the winding highway, letting Realmheart fade.

The palace guards bowed and opened the doors as I approached. Inside the entry hall, a few members of the dwarven lords’ houses lingered in conversation or leisure. They watched curiously, more than a few gazes focused on my sister as we passed through the massive hall, heading for one of the mana passages that would lead deeper into the palace.

Unlike a more terrestrial castle or fortress, such as the Royal Palace of Etistin, much of the dwarven palace was buried within the cavern walls, with tunnels and hallways interconnecting hundreds of individual chambers designed for a wide array of purposes, some of which seemed very alien to me as a human.

Each set of kings and queens had expanded the palace even farther, constantly seeking to outdo their predecessors with the splendor of their additions, leading to places like the meeting room for the Council of Lords, carved from the heart of an enormous geode. One of the older such additions had been constructed during a time of extraordinary closeness between the elves and dwarves, before the most recent war between Sapin and Elenoir, which saw Darv retreat back into its desert in order to avoid being pulled into the conflict.

The chamber in question was higher than most of the others, and so Ellie and I, with Boo trailing along behind, found ourselves climbing up a long, switchback stairs. By the time we reached the top Ellie was glistening with a thin sheen of perspiration, her breathing labored despite her efforts to hide it. Boo was grunting mutinously with each step.

“Have you been up here yet?” I asked with a smirk.

She shook her head, apparently having no breath for words.

The stairs opened into a sort of alcove, a small cave that itself was hidden behind a fold of rock. It wasn’t until we exited the cave and moved around the jutting stone that we could see the full chamber.

I had to shield my eyes against the bright light, a sharp change from the dimly lit stairs. Slowly, as my eyes adjusted, I was able to take it in properly.

Ellie and I stood at the edge of a large grotto, and for a moment it was easy to forget we were underground. The entire chamber was lit bright as day by floating lights, white as sunlight or the stars at night. On the ground, thick moss grew like grass, softening and hiding the stone, and a combination of moss and creeping vines turned the walls emerald as well. If you didn’t look right at them, it almost felt like you were surrounded by a dense forest.

About thirty feet up the walls, the green gave way to black, as the entire domed roof was carved of obsidian, which caught the light and reflected it in every direction, twinkling and shining like the night sky.

A single large tree dominated the center of the chamber. Its boughs spread out for dozens of feet in every direction, covered with broad, bright green leaves and little pink fruits. Supported within its massive boughs was a small structure, which looked as if it had grown into the tree itself, or perhaps out of it.

“The Elshire Grove,” I announced quietly.

Beside me, Ellie’s mouth fell open in wonder. “It’s beautiful…” FreeWebNovel.me

It was another voice who spoke next, coming from inside the structure. “A gift from the ancient elven king, Dallion Peacemaker.” Virion stepped out into the false sunlight, then leaned on the rail of a balcony that ran around the outside of the dwelling and smiled down at us both. “To the dwarven king, Olfred Ironhands, as a symbol of their friendship. The Council of Lords has been kind enough to gift it back to the elves for the duration of our stay here.”

Bairon came out behind Virion and leaned against the door jam. “This tree very likely represents the last remnant of the Elshire forest. It is only right that it belongs to the elves, and it should go with you when you eventually leave Vildorial.”

“Perhaps,” Virion said, with the air of someone avoiding a repeated argument. “While it may only take one acorn to plant a forest, Elenoir is a graveyard, and the soil there may never bear life again.” He pulled his attention back to me and Ellie. “Anyway, it’s not large enough for all of the elves to stay here, of course, but I have made sure to invite every elf here at least once, so they may experience this small memory of home. Anyway, we’ll come down to you. I’m sure you have something important to discuss, Arthur, if you went to all the trouble to come up here.”

As Virion and Bairon climbed down a steep series of steps that wound around the trunk of the tree, I led Ellie to a flat patch of moss near a small brook bubbling away near the edge of the cavern. We each lounged back in the thick, soft moss, which released an earthy, slightly sweet smell as we disturbed it. Boo went to investigate the creek, no doubt hoping to catch a fish or two.

Virion and Bairon joined us only a moment later, the former sitting cross-legged next to us. Bairon stayed standing.

“Any word from Varay on the situation in Kalberk?” Bairon asked. _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}