The Beginning After the End: Book 7: Divergence

by TurtleMe

  Ignoring the dull, constant pain, which was growing stronger by the minute, I inhaled more ambient mana like a drug addict on the cusp of his crash. I didn’t even have time to cycle and purify it through my mana core, which made the mana poison to my body. Realmheart Physique would’ve helped with purifying the poisonous mana, but I had taken in too much during this battle.

  Considering the rate at which my body was deteriorating, though, a little more poison hardly mattered. I just needed to hold on long enough to get the rest of them out of here safely.

  “Stay with me!” Tess said to someone from behind me, her voice shaky but strong.

  With the ambient mana temporarily boosting the functions of my body, I wiped away a stray drop of blood that ran from my nostril and turned around. My eyes widened, and in my head I was already starting to calculate the odds of survival.

  It was Madam Astera. She was missing her right leg from the mid-calf down, and Tess was doing what she could to soothe her wounds using water magic while Nyphia was preparing bandages made from ripped strips of her own inner robe.

  “My foot got caught in that explosion. I knew I couldn’t put out that black fire, so I cut it off,” she grunted. Her strength fortified me. I admired the fact that, despite having just amputated her own leg, she was barely even grimacing, even though I knew her chances of surviving this were extremely low.

  But I didn’t have time to consider it. I felt the tremendous pressure of the Scythe fast approaching.

  “Damn it!” I snarled, turning my gaze from Madam Astera’s wound to the Scythe, who was almost upon us. To my surprise, however, Nico marched past where we were, a smoky, nebulous aura surrounding him, a physical manifestation of his anger.

  “Tessia almost died because of your attack, Cadell!” Nico roared. “I’m sure Agrona made it clear to you that she is to stay alive!”

  I finally knew the name of the Scythe that had killed Sylvia when I was a child in this world. It burned into my mind like a brand: Cadell.

  Cadell landed deftly on the ground as if he had just stepped off the sidewalk. His stride was leisurely, yet confident, each step demanding attention.

  I made sure to position myself between Cadell and my allies, taking note of the rising tension.

  ‘Arthur! I’m almost there.’ I could already see Sylvie’s large figure in the sky above some distant buildings.

  Cadell noticed as well, his gaze flitting behind him for a second before he focused on Nico.

  “If I had not acted in the way that I did, the vessel would have escaped.” His response was apathetic, as if he didn’t even register his ally’s anger.

  “That doesn’t justify you risking her life! We had a deal,” Nico snapped, a tendril of the black, smoky aura flaring out at the ground and carving a large gash in the pavement.

  “You would’ve failed on your own. Why? Because of your past with the boy. If you weren’t so fixated on getting revenge against your old friend, then the vessel would have already been in your possession.”

  Sylvie was almost there. It would’ve been smart to let them keep arguing to buy ourselves time, but I couldn’t ignore their conversation. Even though I knew I would regret it, I just had to know.

  Cadell and Nico fell silent and turned to me as they felt the sudden pressure I released. Straightening my back and hiding any signs of weakness, I stood tall and let my pressure weigh down on the surrounding area.

  Cadell raised a brow as he studied me. “It appears you still have some fight left in you.”

  “Explain what you meant when you said vessel,” I demanded, my voice carrying with the help of mana, despite the tired whisper I actually projected.

  “You said taking Tess isn’t going to bring Cecilia back, right?” Nico said, his voice a lot calmer than it was before. “Well, what if it will?”

  “Then I would say you’re out of your mind,” I retorted, ignoring the burning needles stabbing every inch of my body.

  “This is what Agrona has been researching for the last few hundred years, Grey, and your reincarnation was what allowed the gears to start turning,” Nico said. “And that was how I was able to reincarnate into this world. After all, if someone deserves a new life, it isn’t you… it’s Cecilia and me.”

  “Bullshit,” I hissed, the word leaving a trail of pain throughout my lungs and throat. I let the anger fester inside me in order to mitigate some of the pain coursing through my body. Once more, I desperately tried to move the aether, but the motes of purple wouldn’t budge. The pain grew stronger with each attempt, and I could feel my body deteriorating.

  It wasn’t fair. No matter how much stronger I became, I always just barely lacked the power to win.

  Damn it. Damn it. Come on, now would be a great time for a weapon! I pleaded, clawing at the palm of my hand where that bastard asura, Wren, stuck that acclorite.

  Tess grabbed my wrist. “Arthur, stop! What are you doing to your hand?”

  Just then—as everyone’s eyes were on me—I felt hot liquid pour down my nose, spilling on my hand.

  “Art? Your nose…” Tess gently touched my shoulder from beside me, worried.

  I hurriedly wiped at the blood running down my nose and lips and looked back up to see Cadell’s lips curved into a smirk. “You’re body is breaking down, isn’t it, Lance?”

  “What? Is that true?” Tess asked. “How bad is it?”

  “He’s dying,” Nico said grimly.

  “I’ll be okay,” I lied, shrugging her away. I couldn’t even look her in the eye. Instead I kept my eyes focused on the opponents ahead. Talking was pointless now and whatever that asura jabbed into my hand wouldn’t help me out of this one. Whether it was Elijah or Nico, it didn’t matter. He was an enemy trying to take Tess, and they wouldn’t stop there.

  I infused mana into my legs and prepared to make whatever desperate attempt of an attack I could manage, but a small girl suddenly stood in the way.

  “Sylvie. Don’t try and stop me,” I muttered, wrapping my degrading body in mana in preparation for one last battle.

  “Would you stop even if I tried?” my bond asked solemnly. She took a step to the side as a golden-white aura flared to life around her. “If you're so bent on killing yourself, we’ll go together.”

  Cadell and Elijah sheathed themselves in their dark mana as well. The ground cracked and splintered around us.

  “Nyphia, take Tess and Madam Astera as far away as possible,” I said looking back over my shoulder. Shifting my gaze down at Madam Astera’s stump, I conjured a simple prosthetic leg out of stone before turning back. “And don’t stop.”

  “Elf Princess,” Cadell said, his smirk widening. “If your dearly beloved stays in that form any longer, whether he wins or loses this battle, he’ll die.”

  “Leave her out of this!” I shouted, but by the time I turned around, Tess had already shrugged off Nyphia.

  Tess didn’t speak to me, though. Instead, she gripped Sylvie’s wrist and asked her, “He’s lying, right? Tell me he’s lying, Sylvie!”

  Sylvie looked at me but didn’t respond.

  “I’ll be fine, Tess,” I lied again, but my words were met with an angry, tear-filled glare.

  “You always do this. You’re always ready to give up your life to save me,” she shot back.

  “Tess…” I reached for her arm, squeezing it gently.

  “Do you think I’d be grateful if you died to save me?” she asked, her lips quivering, her eyes hard and wet, like glittering stones at the bottom of a deep pool. She wrapped her hand over mine and peeled herself from my grip. She touched my forehead with hers as she closed her eyes, chest heaving erratically as she held back sobs.

  “You idiot,” she whispered with her lips pressed against mine.

  She tore herself away from me and walked off toward Nico and the Scythe.

  “No!” I stepped forward, ready to sprint after her, but Sylvie held me back, wrapping her arms around my waist.

  “Sylvie! No! You
can’t do this to me!”

  “Arthur, please…” she begged, her small body trembling. “I don’t want you to die.”

  I watched helplessly as Tess walked away, the sound of blood pounding in my head muting everything else. I couldn’t even hear my own shouts as I begged Tess to stop, to let me fight, to let me die.

  I watched as Tess turned back and smiled at me before saying something. I couldn’t hear it though. Those may have been Tess’s last words and I couldn’t hear them.

  My eyes flitted down to my bloody palm as I checked once more with the faint hope that the weapon would appear.

  It didn’t—and I didn’t have time.

  As Sylvie hugged me tighter, holding me back from Tess, I wedged my hand inside my protective chest plate and pulled out the medallion that Elder Rinia had given me in order to bring Tess back. If she was right, then this entire world and countless others would fall to Agrona if Tess was in his hands.

  No. I couldn’t let that happen.

  It all made sense now. For whatever reason, Tess was the vessel for Cecilia. Maybe it was because of our relationship in this world, which had to create the bridge, but that didn’t matter.

  If both Nico and I became this strong after reincarnating into this world, how strong would Cecilia—the “legacy”—be if she reincarnated into Tess’s body?

  “Sylvie. You know what Rinia said,” I pleaded, studying the ancient relic in my hand. “We can’t let them have Tess.”

  Sylvie shook her head, her face still pressed into the small of my back. “We’ll both get stronger. As long as we’re alive, we have a chance.”

  I felt my insides churn, but I didn’t know what to do. I glared down at the medallion, wondering what good it was now.

  Something that I hadn’t noticed before now stood out to me within this fully assimilated state of my Realmheart Physique. The memory of Rinia drawing the aetheric runes on the gate resurfaced, and the hours I spent in that ancient cave watching Sylvie meditate while influencing the aether around her connected together instinctively in a way that my mind couldn’t fathom but my body could.

  Sylvie sensed the change in the air as I got to work.

  “Arthur? What are you doing?” my bond cried desperately.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  My mouth filled with the taste of metal as I dispersed the gathered aether. I reached out with my arms, one pointed at Nyphia and Madam Astera, the other at Tess.

  And suddenly, we were in a separate space. This was different from Static Void, where I was in the same space as the rest of the world. No, I had created a separate pocket dimension and brought everyone along with me.

  With no time to waste, I threw the medallion that had the coordinates engraved in it and held my hand in line with it. I curled the fingers of my outstretched hand as if I was molding the aether around the medallion. What manifested from it was a teleportation portal of my own.

  “Into the portal, now!” I shouted as I struggled to keep it stable.

  Wasting no time, Madam Astera picked up Nyphia and sprinted towards the portal on the prosthetic leg I had conjured for her. After tossing Nyphia into the portal, she ran after Tess, who was still a few paces away.

  I restructured the size of the pocket dimension, bringing Tess instantly closer to Madam Astera and the portal. Without even the chance to get a word out, Tess was through the portal. Madam Astera looked at me for a second before jumping through the portal herself.

  “Sylvie… it’s t-time to go,” I said, but my bond just looked at me in horror.

  She reached up and wiped away the tears streaming down my face, but her hand came away red with blood… my blood.

  “Arthur, you’re not going to make it,” Sylvie said, and I felt her consciousness go deeper into mine. I couldn’t shield my thoughts from her in my current state; my mind was an open book.

  “The portal isn’t—it isn’t going to stay stable for much longer, Sylv. P-please, I can’t have you die too,” I said, pushing my feelings into her: my desperation, my sadness, my despair, my hope. I made her feel it all, so she would understand.

  A wave of blinding pain hit me and the pocket dimension rippled like a bubble about to pop. Disoriented, I tried to force Sylvie into the portal, but I couldn’t manipulate her the way I had done to Tess.

  “Sylv? What are you—” My eyes widened in horror as I realized what she was doing.

  Sylvie glowed purple, growing and spreading until she stood before me in her dragon form.

  “Try to keep yourself alive while I’m gone, okay?” Sylvie said, giving me a toothy grin.

  “Sylv, no! Don’t do this!” I screamed. Desperate, I tried to push her to the portal, but my hands went right through her.

  Sylvie’s body had become ethereal and she was fading as motes of lavender and gold began drifting away from her diminished form and attaching themselves to my body.

  I writhed in unimaginable pain at the sudden change my body was going through, but I held on, unable to pass out. My vision faded as I screamed out to Sylvie, and she pushed me through the portal with the last remaining corporeal limb she had left, her last words engraved into my mind as darkness overcame me.

  “Until we meet again…”

  Afterword

  Hello! TurtleMe here, author of this little novel that you’ve just finished reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed the story and you’re looking forward to the next installment of Arthur’s journey! While waiting, please take the time to write an honest review of this novel. Ratings and reviews are tremendously important on Amazon and since this is what I live off of, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this book so others can make sure that this is the book they want to read! Whether you loved it or hated it, I hope you can spare the time to write your two cents.

  Kindest regards, TurtleMe