Convergence

by TurtleMe

  The Beginning After The End

  Volume 5 Convergence

  By: TurtleMe

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 98: Floating Castle

  Chapter 99: Fellow Captive

  Chapter 100: Intentions

  Chapter 101: Visitors

  Chapter 102: Chess Pieces

  Chapter 103: Peculiar Congregation

  Chapter 104: The Great Eight

  Chapter 105: When Ignorance Is Bliss

  Chapter 106: Logic’s Biggest Foe

  Chapter 107: A Grudging Tolerance

  Chapter 108: Ones Closest To Gods

  Chapter 109: Snail’s Pace

  Chapter 110: The Lost Art

  Chapter 111: Good Night

  Chapter 112: Newfound Goal

  Chapter 113: To Hunt A Prey

  Chapter 114: Workings Of A Single Step

  Chapter 115: Predator’s Domain

  Chapter 116: What Lied Within

  Chapter 117: Steps Forward and Back

  Chapter 118: The Glass Of Water

  Chapter 119: Bearer of Grim News

  Chapter 120: Opportunities to Learn

  Chapter 121: The Last Mentor

  Chapter 122: Wren Kain IV

  Chapter 123: Battles In Various Scenarios

  Chapter 124: Preparations

  Chapter 125: The Calm of War

  Chapter 126: Calm of War II

  Chapter 127: Washed Up Omen

  Chapter 128: Necessary Resolve

  Chapter 129: Concealed Burdens

  Chapter 130: From Princess to Soldier

  Chapter 131: Reunion

  Chapter 132: Drawing Closer

  Chapter 133: Beyond The Door

  Chapter 134: His Return

  Chapter 135: A Warrior’s Maiden Heart

  Chapter 136: As Quickly As He Had Appeared

  Chapter 137: Arrival

  Chapter 138: To Right My Wrong

  Chapter 98: Floating Castle

  ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

  “Arthur Leywin, son of Reynolds and Alice Leywin. The Council has decreed that, due to your recent actions of excessive violence and the inconclusive circumstances involved, your mana core will be restrained, your title as a mage will be stripped, and you will be incarcerated until further judgment.”

  “... Effective immediately.”

  Followed by those words from the female lance’s mouth were three distinct reactions from the people around me. The first reaction was made by the curiously ignorant. They eyed me with perplexing stares, studying my appearance as they tried to fit me with the edict that had been read aloud by the female lance:

  Inconclusive circumstances.

  Excessive violence.

  I could feel their cautious skepticism as they silently tried to figure out how a boy, who was barely a teen, could cause the Council itself to issue the verdict instead of the city governor.

  The second reaction was made by the ever-foolish faces of the all-accepting crowd. Those that blindly worshipped the Council as well as all forms of higher authority. They took the words written on the communication artifact as God’s truth and looked at me with eyes of condemnation. Their whispers could even be heard from where I was standing as their eyes narrowed into a disdainful glare, believing that I was somehow responsible for everything that had happened inside the academy.

  The third reaction was one that I had thought I would only receive from my family. No. To my surprise, the students and faculty that were involved in the incident—those that had the strength to still speak—all cried out in protest. Because my family was the closest, I could hear them the most clearly.

  “Incarcer–Your Honour, there must be some sort of mistake,” my mother voiced out from behind the fence.

  “Yes, I’m sure that there is an explanation for all of this. My son would never… there must be an explanation for all of this,” my father amended, knowing perfectly well what I was capable of.

  There were other outcries of protest: some from students I recognized as well as from those who were simply stating the truth; all of which were ignored by the female lance.

  “This makes no sense! How dare you punish the one who actually did some good. If it wasn’t for Arthur, you lances wouldn’t have had anyone left to save!” I turned my head towards the source of the voice. To my surprise, it was Kathyln Glayder. She was marching in my direction with unbridled fury in her eyes; an expression I had neither seen nor expected from her.

  “I will see to it that my mother and father will rescind this decree at once—”

  “Your father and mother were the ones, along with King and Queen Greysunders, that had voted in favor of this judgment,” the female lance promptly interrupted. While her words were respectful, her expression and tone could only be depicted as indifferent and rude.

  Before Kathyln could get any closer, her brother held her back. I couldn’t hear what he had told her but the princess finally relented, her face still red and body shaking.

  I knew that no matter how much I try to reason with the female lance, she wouldn’t listen. Letting me go wasn’t her decision to make.

  “Can I speak to my family one last time before you take me?” I asked, my voice coming out more sullen than I had wished.

  After receiving a terse nod from the female lance, I walk back to where my parents were leaning against the fence. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other, not knowing how to begin.

  “Don’t look so sad, guys. Things will be better after this misunderstanding gets cleared up.” I let out a wide grin, hoping to mask my uncertainty. I had allies within the Council, but there were too many unknown factors at work here. I wasn’t so worried for myself as I was for Sylvie. To have a dragon alive in our continent wasn’t a matter that could be waved off.

  My facade must’ve faltered when I was focusing on my thoughts; my parents’ expressions changed as both of them gazed at me, wide-eyed and afraid.

  “Y-you… you honestly have no idea if you’ll be able to come back to us, do you?” I couldn’t meet my mother’s eyes as she stuttered, her voice dripping with worry; I, instead, focused on her hand, her fingers were deathly pale and her nails red from how hard she was clenching onto the iron fence.

  “Brother… you’re not going to anywhere, right? This is all a joke, right? Right?” Ellie’s face was a pale shade of crimson and I could tell she was doing her best to keep from breaking into sobs.

  I leaned forward so I could be at eye-level with my sister. As I studied her childish face, I could hardly believe that she was already ten. One of my biggest regrets was not being able to be by her side as she grew up. I had met my sister for the first time when she was four, and even after that, I was only with her for weeks at a time. While looking at her, I could only hope that the next time I see her wouldn’t be when she was a teen… or an adult.

  I got back up, prying my gaze from Ellie whose face had been so tensed up that her lips were almost white. “I’ll definitely return home.” I turned back around just in time for my eyes to water without their notice.

  The lance named Olfred conjured a stone knight beneath me, lifting me up as the female lance separated me from Sylvie, carrying her in an orb of conjured ice. Approaching us was Lance Bairon carrying the wrapped corpse of his deceased younger brother as his gaze continued to pierce through me with pure venom.

  Like that, we departed. Bairon informed the others that he would be making a detour to his family’s house to deliver Lucas’ body for a proper funeral.

  I wasn’t sure if becoming a white core mage came with the ability to fly, but all three of the lances were capable of flying without the need to invoke any spells, including the conjured knight that was carrying me.

  My eyes stayed fixed
on Xyrus Academy as it grew increasingly smaller the farther we flew. The place itself didn’t mean much to me, but my time at the school inside the floating City of Xyrus had been one as an ordinary student mage. I was considered gifted then, but I was still just a student. As the distance between me and the academy increased, I had the notion that I was leaving my life as an ordinary student behind.

  We travelled wordlessly through the sky as all attempts to start a conversation had been shot down. As gentle as they were in how they treated me, to them, I was still a prisoner waiting to be judged.

  ‘Papa, what’s going to happen to us?’ Sylvie voiced in my head.

  ‘I’m… not sure, Sylv. Don’t worry, though. We’ll be okay,’ I reassured. Even without her replying back, I could sense the emotions she was feeling: uncertainty, fear, confusion.

  It was impossible to tell exactly how far we had travelled South; as all I could see below us was the Grand Mountains that divided the Continent of Dicathen in half.

  “We should stop here for the night.” The female lance descended into the mountains as Lance Olfred and the stone knight carrying me followed shortly after.

  We landed in a small clearing on the edge of the Grand Mountains facing the Beast Glades. I was still chained together so I sat leaning against a tree, watching Olfred erect a campsite out of the earth.

  “Hold still, Arthur Leywin.” Without waiting for me to respond, the female lance clamped an artifact over my sternum. Instantly, I felt mana drain out of my core as the device sunk deeper into my skin.

  “Ugh. My magic won’t help me escape from you guys, so why the sudden precaution?” I asked through gritted teeth. The sensation of your mana being forcibly contained wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

  “There are other ways you can make trouble,” she replied tersely before taking the sleeping Sylvie and retreated into one of the stone huts that Olfred had conjured.

  “How could I even…” I muttered under my breath, annoyed.

  “It’s because we’re so close to the Beast Glades.” I turned my head towards Olfred, who took a seat on the ground next to me as he let out a sigh.

  “You guys are the Lances, though. Are you saying that there are mana beasts that even you guys aren’t capable of beating?” I asked, a little taken aback by his approach.

  “I haven’t met one so far, but the Beast Glades hold many mysteries that even the Lances have to be wary of, especially at night, when the more powerful beasts roam. Despite our powers, boy, we’re still mortals; death never looms far from us. With all of the strange events coming happening these days, one can never be too careful.” There was a brief silence that was only accompanied by the low howling winds.

  “What am I doing, telling all of this to a little kid,” he sighed.

  I just shook my head. “Probably because you’ve been stuck with miserable company for the past few days.”

  I was surprised when the old lance erupted into a fit of laughter. “You’re right about that, boy. Let me tell you, spending time with Varay and Barion together is more stress-inducing than any SS-class mana beast I’ve ever fought.”

  Varay. So that was the female lance’s name.

  “Let me ask you this, boy. I’m curious as to how you became such a capable mage at your young age.”

  “How do you know I’m capable? You’ve never seen me fight,” I challenged.

  “I’ve heard Bairon tell me about his younger brother, the one you killed. I’d also gathered stories from the students while helping some of them just now too,” he answered, a curious look depicted on his aged face as he studied me.

  We spent a bit more time talking to each other, but, while Olfred seemed amiable, he was also very guarded. I wasn’t able to pry out any sort of information from him except those that I could find out on my own. He conversed professionally without revealing anything crucial, as did I. In spite of our little dance of social intricacy in the form of polite conversation, there was a subtle tension between us as he weaved my questions into jokes. We tiptoed around each other with our light words as we tried to, at least, procure hints to satisfy our curiosity. After an hour of fruitless effort on both sides, Olfred suggested I get some sleep.

  As expected of the Lances; while Olfred wasn’t as outright distant as the others, he was, in a way, more mysterious.

  Olfred hadn’t been so kind as to make me a stone hut as he did for himself and Varay. Without a shelter and the protection of mana, the sharp winds sent chills throughout my body, making myself as small as possible as I lay curled against the tree.

  I must’ve fallen asleep at some point because I was rudely awakened as a stone knight picked me up like a sack of rice.

  “Hi, best friend,” I patted the conjured golem indifferently as I was whisked away back into the air.

  ‘Sylv, how are you holding up?’ I asked my bond.

  ‘I’m okay, Papa. It feels a little stuffy in here though, but it’s comfortable,’ Sylv replied.

  Her emotions were linked with mine so I was careful in making sure not to leak any of the worry that I was feeling to her by accident. I wasn’t so much worried about what the Council would do to me; it was my Asura bond that I was worried about.

  As we flew over the Beast Glades, I realized just how big our continent was. The diverse terrain of the mana beasts never ended. We passed through deserts, grasslands, snow-capped mountains and rocky canyons. It wasn’t once or twice that I spotted a mana beast large enough to be seen clearly from where we were flying.

  Olfred and Varay constantly released a surge of killing intent, warding off all of the mana beasts within our vicinity. Still, there were more than a few times where we took a detour while the two lances withdrew their auras.

  I couldn’t help but think that Varay had put the mana restriction artifact on me so that I don’t purposely attract the attention of dangerous and territorial mana beasts. I had to commend her, as that was something I would probably do to get away. I was curious, though, whether I had the ability to survive this deep in the Beast Glades or not.

  My internal debate didn’t last long as Varay suddenly stopped. She took out the communication scroll that she had used to read the Council’s sentencing before carefully looking around.

  “We are here,” she said.

  I looked around in the sky but it was blatantly obvious that the only thing around us were the birds dumb enough to venture close to flying humans.

  Just as I was about to speak my mind, Varay held up her hand as if she was searching for something in the air. With a soft click, the sky split apart to reveal a metal staircase.

  Olfred let out a smirk upon seeing my gaping mouth.

  “Welcome to the Council’s floating castle.”

  Chapter 99: Fellow Captive

  My eyes stayed fixed on the iron staircase aged with dents and rust, until the roar of mana beasts below shook me from my daze.

  “Looks like some of the keener mana beasts have sensed the castle. We should hurry if we don’t want any unnecessary trouble,” Olfred voiced out to no one in particular.

  Peering down from the sky, we could faintly make out the subtle movements of a few huge mana beasts that were shrouded in the dense cluster of trees.

  “Mm,” replied Varay, neither agreeing nor disagreeing but simply accepting his point.

  The stone knight, that had me slung over its shoulder, gently lowered me onto the base of the flight of stairs before crumbling into sand and reconstructing itself into a cape as it fastened itself around Olfred’s shoulder.

  “We dwarves always carry a bit of dirt with us wherever we go,” Olfred winked at me upon noticing my surprised expression.

  The door closed behind us, and while I thought we would be surrounded by darkness, a moss-like substance covering the walls began glowing with a soft, blue light.

  Varay dissipated the ice cuffs that shackled my legs together so I could walk on my own and took the lead while Olfred followed closely behind us. We must’ve tru
dged on for at least an hour up the seemingly endless flight of stairs when I voiced out my frustration.

  “Is there no faster way to go up than climbing this absurd amount of stairs?” I sighed. My body might be stronger than most humans even without my mana core due to the assimilation process I had gone through, but I was still growing impatient at the wasted time.

  “Magic cannot be used at all of the entrances,” Varay answered immediately, a hint of impatience in her already cold voice.

  I let out another deep breath and trudged along silently. Stealing a glance at my bond, as expected, Sylvie was sleeping a lot more than usual due to her recent transformation to her draconic form. Windsom had explained to me about the different forms that Asuras could utilize depending on the situation, but I never knew how much of a toll it took on Sylvie to release her draconic form. It couldn’t be helped, however, since Sylvie was basically a newborn in the eyes of deities who could live for what I can only imagine to be thousands of years, if not more.

  Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t realized that Varay had stopped.

  “Oof,” I let out a surprised grunt as I bumped into her. The female lance was just a tad taller than me but I was a step below her so my face had only hit her back. However, my arms were cuffed in front of me and they had hit someplace a bit more… intimate.

  I hadn’t thought much of it, but to my surprise, Varay reacted in a way I would not have expected. She let out a rather effeminate little squeal as she jumped forward. Whipping around to face me, I could see her face flash in embarrassment and surprise before immediately contorting into a fearsome glare that could drench someone in cold sweat.

  Collecting herself, she turned back around and placed her hand at the end of the stairwell before muttering softly, “We are here.”

  Gazing behind me, Olfred just gave an amused smirk before shrugging his shoulders and nudging me forward.

  A glaring light seeped through the crevice of the wall that had split apart. As my eyes adjusted, I could finally make out what was ahead. A brightly lit corridor with an arched ceiling stretched from where we were, walls covered with mysterious designs carved onto every visible facet and corner. The engraved runes made the corridor seem more like a memorial etched with names of the deceased than a luxurious decoration; each engraving and design seemed to hold a purpose and meaning. There were simple chandeliers hung from the ceiling every few meters apart, but while the hall was brightly lit, the white light gave off a cold, emotionless feel, reminding me of the hospitals back in my old world.