The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 491

Chapter 491: Homecoming

ARTHUR LEYWIN

As I watched Tessia walk away from me, my fingers went automatically to my lips, where I could still feel her kiss lingering. Her words played over and over in my mind: “I’ll cherish that moment forever, but I won’t cling to it at the expense of the wo3rld’s future.” It was exactly as I’d feared: too much had happened for us to simply pick back up where we’d left off.

“The world’s future.” I clenched and unclenched my fist. It always came down to that, didn’t it? Putting the world first. Had there ever been room for me to be happy? Somehow, I knew that wasn’t what Fate had intended for me.

Memories of my time in the final keystone came back, spilling into my cracking emotions like the incoming tide. I’d seen versions of my life where I had love, and where it was taken away from me, every single time. Every decision, every bit of unusual luck, every coincidence had pushed me inexorably toward my meeting with Fate, and its aspect cared only for one thing. Any part of my life where I had found some semblance of love or companionship had only been a stepping stone in the path Fate laid before me.

My eyes closed as the weight of that expectation grew heavy beyond even my ability to support it. Is there really no room for anything else?

Comfort radiated outward from my core, and I felt my burden ease as Regis and Sylvie both moved in to take on some of the load.

‘She’s doing what she thinks you need,’ Sylvie sent, her thoughts bobbing along in the floodwater of my memories like silver lights beneath the surface. ‘She still cares about you, Arthur. So much that she’d sacrifice the one thing she wants from you: you yourself.’

“I know what you’re feeling, obviously, but…take it for what it really is,” Regis added softly as he manifested from my core to appear next to me. “If everything she said wasn’t a big old profession of her unyielding love, then I’m a guppy.”

Tessia was nearly to the base of the tree. Virion was walking beside her, but he kept shooting furtive glances back over his shoulder at me.

Aether radiated down my back to the cluster of godrunes. My mind unraveled into dozens of separate threads, each one capable of holding individual thoughts, examining specific arrays of information, identifying patterns in sequence with the other expanded branches of my consciousness.

I couldn’t afford to be selfish. The entire world couldn’t afford for me to be selfish, as Tessia had suggested. Every decision I make could send out ripples that would topple continents or end timelines. I’d seen it over and over again inside the keystone.

And so, my conscious mind a network of interconnected lightning bolts of thought, I examined every failed opportunity I had seen in the keystone, every moment of connection with Tessia throughout my life, every indication I had about what potential future might lie ahead for both of us. Regis and Sylvie pulled away, withdrawing their buttressing support as they shielded their minds from the cascade of information. The crown atop my head grew brighter as my brain thrummed with aether-driven introspection.

I couldn’t afford to be selfish. But I couldn’t afford to be hopeless.

Connection. Care. Hope. Love.

Grey had lacked these things. I, as Arthur, had made them my strength and the purpose for my reincarnation. Perhaps Agrona had something different in mind for me. Fate did too. Outside forces had been responsible for my rebirth, but that didn’t mean they could dictate what I did with my new life as they had for Cecilia.

Hadn’t I made Fate itself change its mind?

Aether branched out from King’s Gambit into Realmheart and God Step, and I was pulled almost without effort or thought into the aetheric pathways.

I appeared in the air before Tessia and Virion. Light from my body painted their upturned faces pink. Virion bit his lip and took several steps back, his gaze falling to his feet.

Slowly, I floated down until I was hovering only a few inches off the ground. There, I gestured at my own body. “This is what I am now, Tess. What I am may define my future more than who I am or who I want to be.”

I released the godrunes and settled back onto the ground. The light dimmed as the crown and runes faded away. “I’ve changed in ways that I can’t describe with words, and so have you. The people who stood above the Wall and promised to have a future together are gone, and so is the promise they made.”

I paused, reaching out to take her hand, unsure if she’d reciprocate. When her fingers closed gently around mine, I continued. “The future is uncertain, and any promise now would be a lie. But the past we’ve shared is set in stone, and nothing can take it away from us. I love you, Tessia, and nothing will ever change that. I don’t need a promise to hold me to that.”

Tessia did not weep or go weak in the knees. She didn’t throw herself at me and plead her love. Her grip tightened around my hand, and she pulled me toward her, gently but firmly. Our arms wrapped around each other. Her head rested against my chest. I felt how our breath and our heartbeats fell into rhythm. Mana stirred within her core, and aether within mine. The two forces pushed and pulled at one another, just as they did in the atmosphere.

“You’re lying,” she said softly into the cloth of my shirt.

I pressed my trembling smile to her gunmetal hair. “I’m not.”

Tessia and I stood together like that for quite some time before she pulled back just enough to look up at me. “You let me build myself up for this grand gesture for the last two weeks for nothing, you know.”

I let out an embarrassed chuckle, then looked at her more seriously. “Everything has just gotten so…big. I can’t promise you much of a love story…”

“No, maybe not.” Her understanding smile cut me to my core. “But if our feelings for each other can survive everything we’ve been through, what else could fate throw at us?”

I didn’t answer right away. I wanted to explain everything about Fate and the aether realm right then and there, but even thinking about it was daunting.

Her expression faltered. “We take what comes. We’ll have to learn about each other all over again. It may still come to the point where we just don’t…work. I meant what I said about not clinging to the past.”

I caressed her cheek. “I’m going to have to go back to Epheotus in a couple of days.”

“And I’ll be staying here, at least for now,” she answered, her eyes darting to Virion. She didn’t need to explain more than that. She needed time with her family, her people.

I wanted to stay there with her, to linger in the afterglow of our reconnection. It was difficult to conceive of the fact that, only minutes earlier, it seemed as if our stumbling relationship was truly coming to an end. But there was no time.

She read the thought on my face. “Your family is waiting for you. Go. Be the hero Dicathen needs.”

Running my fingers through her hair, I pulled her gently toward me. This time when our lips touched, it wasn’t stained by a goodbye.

The following farewell was short and bittersweet. We embraced and promised not to wait too long before speaking again. When we finally released each other, Virion stepped in, his own arms stretched out wide. I laughed, and the somberness of the moment eased. “About time, brat,” he mumbled into my ear as we hugged.

My steps were light as I left the grove behind, turning only once to wave to Tessia and Virion, who stood at the base of the tree and waved back. Tessia’s eyes were dry, but a single tear dripped down Virion’s cheek.

I found Mom, Ellie, Boo, Regis, and Sylvie waiting for me just outside, joking half-heartedly about the long climb back down the stairs after such a short stay.

Ellie, a small frown playing across her face, regarded me curiously. “Everything okay?”

I suppressed a goofy grin as the butterflies of this renewal fluttered in my stomach. “Of course. She’s in good hands. Come on, we have quite a few people to talk to.”

‘I told you so,’ Regis thought. ‘Grand gestures. Nice touch with the whole godrune, archon-form thing. It was just the right amount of dramatic.’

Sylvie gave him a nudge with her hip. ‘Don’t tease. This has been an emotional breakthrough for him. Although, if I can offer a bit of constructive criticism, you could have conjured the armor too, since you’re going for the whole knight-in-shining-armor trope.’

I burst out with a surprised laugh, prompting Ellie to complain that we were all talking in our heads again.

As we descended back toward Lodenhold, however, I tried to turn my thoughts to everything else that needed done while I was in Dicathen. It was incredibly difficult to take my mind off Tessia, and after a few minutes, I admitted defeat and channeled a lesser charge to King’s Gambit, splitting my consciousness into multiple branches and giving me space to focus.

My first priority, and the closest, was to deliver news of everything that had happened to the dwarven clan lords.

We found Lodenhold abuzz with activity. I sent word with a runner that I wanted to see the council as soon as possible. While we waited, guards, clerks, and members of the various guilds came and went at a frenzied pace. My appearance was no less noticed within the palace than it had been after our arrival, but the dedicated folk there did not stop in their duties to speak with us.

We were still standing there when a familiar face unexpectedly passed by.

“Caera!”

She jerked to a halt, startled. “A-Arthur,” she said after a moment, stumbling over my name. “You’re back. You’re alive.” Waiting for a group of guildsmen to pass by, she hurried over to us. Ellie grabbed her hand and squeezed, and Mom patted her on the shoulder. “We’ve been worried sick. Even Seris, although she tries not to show it,” she said.

“What’s going on?” I asked, focusing on a bundle of scrolls in her arms.

She quickly explained, connecting the dots with what the dwarves had been shouting earlier.

‘No wonder they’re upset,’ Sylvie thought. ‘It’s the right thing to do, but that’s not an easy sell to a wounded and angry populace.’

Ellie had listened raptly. “How are Seth and Mayla? And their friends? We kind of got kidnapped right after the battle.”

Caera’s brows rose.

“Not really,” Ellie quickly clarified, “but kind of.”

“They seem to be holding up fine,” Caera said slowly. “I’m sure they’d be glad to see you before they return to Alacrya. They’re still closed up in the prison, but the guards might let you in if you throw your brother’s name around.”

Ellie looked at me for permission. I looked at Mom, who rolled her eyes and nodded. Smiling at us happily, Ellie hurried off to go visit her friends, Boo trundling protectively after her. She only remembered to turn and say goodbye to Caera when she was almost to the huge palace doors.

As we were watching her go, the dwarven runner I’d spoken to earlier returned. “Lance Arthur, the lords will be with you shortly. I can take you to—”

“I’ll be speaking to them on his behalf,” Sylvie said, sensing my desire to finish my conversation with Caera.

The dwarf looked unsure, but when Sylvie marched past him toward the corridor that led to the Hall of Lords, he had no choice but to scramble after.

My mother touched my elbow lightly. “Actually, Art, all this marching all over Vildorial has left me a bit tired. I’d like to go check in at home, if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” I said, looking over her with worry. She was a little peaky, and there were dark circles forming under her eyes and a drag to her movements. It was as much mental as physical, but nothing that some rest and a return to normal wouldn’t cure.

If things ever return to normal, I thought.