The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 445

CECILIA

I stared at the space where the portal had been, its afterimage still visible against the darkness of the night and the slums below. My mind was blank, the fury of the battle washed away by the shock of its sudden end. Even the screaming pain of the wound in my side seemed subdued, distant as it pumped blood around my hand.

I had failed. Grey had been there, right before me, but I hadn’t been able to stop him. I’d let him escape…

I just couldn’t make sense of it. I was the Legacy. My control over mana was such that I could drag it from the core of a still-living asura, and yet Grey had matched me—had wounded me, even, nearly killed me. If I hadn’t sensed the distortion in the mana where his attack appeared, perhaps he would have. Again.

Although I’d only been able to draw in a meager amount of the dragon’s mana, it had been enough to offer a spark of insight: Grey could apparently manipulate the interplay between aether and mana, using one force to move and guide the other, even going so far as deflecting or canceling mana-attribute spells with his aether; and through the dragon’s mana, I saw the possibility of the same being done in reverse.

The two forces pushed against one another, and so any application of mana caused some small change in the aether around it. I hadn’t understood that before—I barely knew what aether was—but I was starting to see.

But I’d been overconfident. The amount of mana and sheer mental will that had been required to barely move Arthur’s conjured weapon, even catching him by surprise, had been cataclysmic. Gritting my teeth, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d wasted the opportunity. Next time I faced him—and I had no doubt there would be a next time—he’d be ready for it.

At the very least, it seemed clear that Agrona had been wrong to view Grey’s core as a mere curiosity. That, or he was hiding just how much Grey’s control of aether impacted his plans. I couldn’t be sure what he understood—or didn’t. A small part of me wished I was intelligent enough to dissect the situation and come away with a better understanding of what Agrona might gain from Grey, Nico, and me, but that kind of strategic thinking had never been my strength.

The gusting wind of Nico’s flying spell sent my hair blowing around my face as he caught up to me. My eyes touched his, but I quickly pulled them away, unable to bear the sight of him.

He was pale, his face bloodied and battered, core exhausted, struggling even to maintain focus through the staff that allowed him to channel his spell. Even flying, he favored his left side, where Grey had struck him. He was little more than broken bones and pooling blood held together by bruised skin.

Guilt coiled up from my stomach to wrap like vines around my heart. Should I have listened to him? I wondered, already starting to second-guess my every word and action. Could Grey really help us—do what Nico feared even Agrona couldn’t? I didn’t let the thought take root, but instead ripped it out and cast it aside. That was less an option now than it ever had been, the battle had made that clear.

There was a haunted look in Nico’s eyes as he inspected me, the uncertainty shining like tears about to fall, like he couldn’t quite be sure if I was really there or if he might wake up and I’d be gone.

I’d already grown used to the hard, rage-filled Nico of this world, the one who had gone to war for Agrona, who had killed to bring me into this world. He’d scared me at first, when I was freshly rewoken from the void of death, but it hadn’t taken me long to understand the necessity of his rage, his darkness. What Agrona required of us to earn back the lives that fate stole couldn’t be accomplished by the struggling orphans we’d been on Earth.

Now, seeing the helpless look on his bloodied face, I couldn’t help but see that boy, the sensitive but intelligent young man I’d reluctantly fallen in love with.

But thinking of that Nico only reminded me of the weak, frightened little girl I had been. The years spent foolishly hoping I could get my ki under control as a child, then all that time locked away, experimented on, their training beaten into me every single day until all I could think about was the escape of death—

I opened my mouth and prepared to scream, but the frustration and pain lodged in my throat, and only silence radiated out from me.

Then everything else came rushing back in. The fear, the guilt, the rage, the uncertainty, the hope…but the pain overwhelmed it all. For a moment, I remembered how it had felt to die.

Forcing away the memory, I pressed both hands to the cut and flooded it with water-attribute mana, willing it to heal. But, although I could soothe a fever or the ache caused by long hours of training, I was no healer.

“Cecil, your wound—” Nico said, but he cut off immediately when I waved away whatever he was about to say.

Focusing instead on fire-attribute mana, I burned the gash closed, cauterizing it and stopping the blood loss. It wouldn’t kill me before I could reach Taegrin Caelum and the healers there, and so I put the wound and the pain out of my mind.

Nico cleared his throat. “Guards and soldiers were already gathering outside the palace before we left. I’ll return and inform them of what’s happened. And…I need to find Draneeve, see if he’s still—”

I scoffed. “You’re worried about that shattered, sniveling little creature at a time like this? Vritra’s horns, Nico, we have more important things to…to…” I trailed off as I took in his expression.

Nico’s nose was wrinkled, his brows creased into a frown, and his lip curled up in a disbelieving sneer. “I made him a promise, Cecilia. He helped us—helped you! I—” This time, he cut himself off. Looking away, he dragged in a long, fortifying breath. When he looked back at me, he was calmer. “I’ve treated him terribly. For years. I understand how you see him—how you see everyone else—because I used to be the same. That’s why I want to help him escape this life.”

The weight of his words nearly pulled me right out of the air. I felt my cheeks redden with shame at his chastisement. “I’m sorry, Nico. For not telling you what I’d remembered sooner. I—”

He let out a huffing breath, somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “Please, don’t apologize to me. It’s not…it’s…” He trailed off. As the wetness in his eyes finally began to fall down his dirty and blood-crusted cheeks as tears, he turned away and began slowly floating back toward Sovereign Exeges’s demolished palace.

The Sovereign…

Balling my fists, I followed. I’d almost forgotten about the Sovereign! It seemed unbelievable—impossible—that Grey was powerful enough to defeat a full-blooded basilisk Sovereign and his entire personal guard, and afterwards still have the potency to fight me to a standstill, even with two fledgling asuras at his side.

Agrona needed to know what had happened immediately. A Sovereign had been assassinated, a Scythe killed, and our target had escaped…

It was not a conversation I was looking forward to.

‘You should have listened to Nico,’ Tessia’s voice sounded suddenly in my thoughts.

I had been waiting for her to interject, in fact I was surprised only that she waited so long.

‘You should have listened to me. We could be safely in Dicathen right now, far from Agrona and his ambitions. Arthur could help us, I’m certain of it.’

The wind whipped up by my flight carried my answering snort away. As if I could ever trust him to do that. Even if Grey didn’t set out to murder me, he still abandoned Nico and me in his hunger to become king. He’s single-minded, has been ever since he was a kid. It seems he wants me dead badly enough that he’s even willing to kill you to make it happen.

‘He defended himself,’ Tessia countered cooly, her consciousness wriggling under my skin like a parasite. ‘Yet again, you are the aggressor putting him on his back foot as history repeats itself.’ Her voice was silent as a tense pause hung pregnant between us, then: ‘Are you really such a coward that you’ll force him to kill you twice to escape your lives? You’d put that burden on him again, a person you once considered your best friend—someone you used to love, even?’

A bitter laugh burst from my lips only to melt away in the night air as we approached the ruined palace.

Love…as if. I was a child with a crush on the first person who’d been kind to me. Besides, Grey was never like that—romantic—and he gave up on me the second she showed an interest in him. Gave up on me and Nico both. But Nico never gave up. That’s why…that’s…

I swallowed hard. If you hate me and Nico so much, why help me defend him? I asked, thinking back to the emerald vines that had erupted from me to catch Grey’s arm and stop him from taking Nico’s head. You released the Elderwood Guardian’s power to me, just for a moment. You are so sure that Grey can—that he would help us, and yet you know just as well as I do that he was ready to kill us both, if he’d been able.

Tessia didn’t immediately answer. Her spirit was prickly, like the beginning of a headache.

Scoffing, I pushed back against her. Although I could no longer block her out completely, I could entangle her will in a struggle against my own, forcing her silence. I’m not ready to die—nor am I going to. I thought I only had one way out, before, and maybe in that world it was true. Here though…

I followed Nico into the smoking rubble, casually conjuring a stiff breeze to clear the air.

Here, I have the power to change my life’s outcome. I may be Agrona’s weapon, but only because he is my best chance at getting what I want. When I’m done with this world, I will return to Earth. Not as the Legacy, but as Cecilia, and I will live a quiet and loving life with Nico. I will…

Even as I pictured it, my mind stumbled over the thought. Ever since Agrona had promised to make it so, I had only accepted it as being what I wanted. I’d never asked to be the Legacy, only to be allowed a life. But would the cozy cottage far from the cities, politics, and war of Earth really give me that? Could I sacrifice the power I now had for the life that I’d lost…?

To give someone this gift only to snatch it away from them? It was a fate worse than death.

Hadn’t those been my own thoughts, seeing Nico’s wound? Was it really my heart’s dearest desire to give up everything I’d gained from this world—from mana?

Tessia receded deeper within me, pushing me no further, and I almost wished she would. Who else could I talk to, if not the voice in my own head…

I pulled back from the contest of wills, no longer attempting to keep her silent. But she was nonetheless.

Nico was shifting aside rubble where I could sense the faint signature of Draneeve’s mana. Shouts were coming from the front of the palace.

“I’ll deal with the soldiers,” I said softly, biting my lip. When he didn’t answer, I left him and flew out through the partially collapsed entrance hall.

A hundred or more mages were already gathered there, although they hadn’t breached the palace grounds.

An older man in heavy plate armor and sporting a long, drooping mustache stepped forward. “Legacy,” he said, going down on one knee in a bow. Behind him, the entire force of soldiers did the same. He held the bow for a respectable amount of time, then glanced up at me for permission to stand.

I granted it with a nod. “The Sovereign has been assassinated,” I explained, my voice obscured with wind-attribute mana so that only he could make out the words. “No survivors remain in the palace, but you need to get mages in to start putting out the flames so they don’t spread. And prepare a statement for the city to explain the destruction, but do not announce anything related to Exeges. You’ll receive further instructions soon.”

The man’s face had gone slack as he stared up at me, uncomprehending.

“Send someone to prepare the closest teleportation gate to take us to Taegrin Caelum immediately,” I added before turning away.

Flying back through the smoke and rubble, I found Nico leaning over Draneeve, who had been uncovered and was now propped up against the base of a demolished wall, head lolling in unconsciousness. I was surprised by how normal he appeared.

“He’ll live?” I asked, trying to sound concerned but not feeling I quite managed it.

“I think so,” Nico answered. “But his skull is fractured and there is a lot of swelling. I need to get him to a healer, but…”

“Not in Taegrin Caelum,” I filled in when he hesitated, understanding. “I’ll tell Agrona that he’s dead.”

Nico’s jaw worked silently for a few seconds before he finally spoke. “Be careful. Don’t lie to him if you can avoid it. When I’ve seen to Draneeve, I’ll work with the city’s forces to deal with things here, then follow you.”

I nodded, but he wasn’t looking in my direction. Reaching out, I almost set my hand on his shoulder but stopped just short. Cursed body, I thought bitterly before turning away.

When I reached the compound where the teleportation gate was housed, it was already tuned to Taegrin Caelum as I had ordered. The guards let me through without preamble, and I found myself deep in Agrona’s fortress. By the buzz and bustle, it was clear that everyone was aware of what had happened and on high alert, but I also detected a certain amount of confusion in the response. Although I received the customary bowing and scraping at my appearance, I had expected a message or orders from Agrona to be waiting for me in the teleportation chambers, but no one approached me.

In fact, there was a distinct edge of fear in the way the attendants and soldiers watched me stalk through the chamber, with most avoiding my eye while others visually devoured me, breath bated, like they were waiting for me to give them orders instead.

I grew more and more tense as I made my way up through the fortress and no one stopped me at all. It wasn’t until I started up the stairs that opened into the hall connecting to Agrona’s private wing that I started to understand. Above me, someone was screaming and shouting, her rage shaking the very stones.

Before I could open the heavy iron-bound door, it was blown off its hinges just in front of me. It slammed against the opposing wall and exploded into a spiderweb of shattered wood and twisted metal.

The previously ornate hallway was in ruins.