The Beginning After The End 08

by Turtle Me

  Regis noticed it too, and I could feel his hunger for the aether.

  “Esteemed ascender,” a familiar voice called out faintly from behind me.

  I turned to see Loreni, dressed in her work attire, a layer of sweat above her brows. “Please forgive me. I completely forgot that Mayla had her bestowment again today.”

  My brows furrowed “Again? Has Mayla been bestowed before?”

  Loreni looked past me to where her sister stood in line. “She’s been trying to get her first mark for the past three years now,” she explained, her expression tinged with concern. “If a mark doesn’t form during today’s bestowment, I’m afraid she’ll most likely be deemed an unadorned like me.”

  “How bad is that?” I asked before hurriedly adding, “Around here?”

  “Being a non-mage is always looked down upon, but Mayla is well acquainted with everyone in Maerin Town, so she should be fine,” Loreni said with a slight smile. “I was devastated when I was deemed an unadorned, but thankfully, everyone was still very nice to me—oh, it’s about to begin!”

  I watched along with the rest of the town as the first child scurried up the stairs and knelt before the officiant holding the obsidian staff. After muttering a lengthy incantation in a language I didn’t recognize, the officiant walked around the kneeling boy and placed the tip of the staff just above his tailbone.

  Blood dripped from the boy’s back, and the gem glowed brightly. After several seconds, the officiant withdrew the staff and instructed the boy to turn around and lift up his shirt.

  “Fiorin of Maerin Town has been adorned with the mark of a Caster! May he bring pride to his blood and vanquish all who stand in the way of our mighty Sovereigns!”

  Cheers rang through the town square, and I could see the boy beaming in pride even while tears of pain lined his cheeks. After he stepped off the platform and ran into the embrace of his family, the next child walked nervously up to stand before the grim officiant.

  Child after child was presented to the staff, and one after the other they received their mark, or were sent away still unadorned, and for some of these there would not be another chance. Every emotion was on display throughout the day, from utter joy and pride, to complete despair and hopeless anger.

  While the event was interesting, giving me a deeper insight into the culture of the Alacryan people, I eventually grew bored and let my attention wonder… until Belmun stepped up onto the podium. I watched him walk up the stairs to the expressionless officiant with some anxiety, though I told myself I didn’t really care whether this Alacryan boy was successful or not.

  There were some mutters of disapproval from the crowd, and several people—all well dressed and groomed—gave the poor boy disgusted looks as he knelt silently in front of the officiant. I was glad his back was to them, though I’m sure he heard their grumbling.

  The officiant’s staff flared as it approached the base of Belmun’s spine, and a ripple ran through the crowd, silencing those who had voiced their displeasure at his inclusion in the event. Though I didn’t understand what had happened, even the poker-faced officiant’s eyes glimmered with obvious interest. A moment later, the gem dimmed and Belmun fell to the ground.

  The crowd was deathly silent as the officiant hurriedly lifted Belmun’s shirt. He let out a sharp breath before helping the boy up to his feet.

  “Belmun of Maerin Town has been adorned with the crest of a Striker!” he exclaimed. Another ripple of motion and noise went through the audience. Belmun looked, if anything, even more shocked than the crowd at the man’s words.

  “A crest?” Loreni sputtered.

  The entire plaza seemed to have gasped in unison, then the muttering turned to raucous conversation. However, two adults stuck out to me as they grasped each other and began to weep. Belmun practically leaped off the stage and bound toward the two, slamming into them so hard all three nearly fell down laughing and sobbing.

  “Belmun of Maerin Town will be further assessed before being placed in an appropriate academy!” the officiant declared when he had regained his composure.

  I watched as the officiant’s hooded assistants escorted Belmun and his family away.

  “Is Belmun someone esteemed ascender knows?” Loreni asked, snapping me out of my daze.

  “Huh?” I turned to Loreni. “Why do you ask?”

  “Esteemed ascender was smiling for a moment, so I just thought…” Loreni shook her head. “Forgive me for assuming.”

  The bestowment resumed like normal—with either the kids getting a mark or not getting one—until Mayla stepped up onto the platform.

  Loreni clasped her hands and whistled as her sister kneeled down on the stage.

  Mayla was one of the oldest kids at the bestowment, and based on what her sister had told me, it seemed likely that she would end up as one of the unadorned, but I found myself hoping she received a mark. I was both pleased and surprised, then, when the officiant’s staff glowed even brighter than it had for Belmun.

  “T-this…” The officiant trailed off, muttering under his breath, completely bewildered by what he was seeing. “Mayla of Maerin Town has been adorned with the… emblem… of a sentry!”

  Regis let out a whistle as the plaza broke out into jubilant cheers. The crowd was ecstatic as the black-robed man patted Mayla on the back, a bemused grin splitting even his grim face. Mayla and Loreni, however, both wore the same solemn expression. Next to me, Loreni had frozen, her hands pressed together as if she’d stopped mid-applause.

  “Are you not happy at your sister earning an emblem?” I asked, curious.

  “Oh n-no, of course I’m happy, esteemed ascender! I’m very proud of her,” she said, but her gaze fell. “Please excuse me, esteemed ascender. I will go congratulate my sister.”

  I watched as she walked stiffly toward the stage, using her sleeve to wipe her face.

  “A crest, and even an emblem,” a voice muttered behind me. “It looks like our town will get a lot of extra resources this year. It’s a shame for Loreni though. I heard that talented sentries are trained rigorously, and sent into the Relictombs often.”

  “Shhh, don’t say that out loud, you idiot. Mayla should be proud that she will be able to better serve our Sovereigns in finding relics!” another voice said.

  So that’s what it was, I thought, staring at Mayla and Loreni. The two embraced tearfully, which I might’ve mistook for tears of joy had I not known.

  Ignoring the ache in my chest, I made my way out of the town plaza and back to the house.

  288

  A Social Gathering

  The first rays of dawn were just peeking above the horizon by the time Regis and I had climbed back from the beast-riddled hill just outside Maerin Town. I had focused solely on practicing God Step—falling more times than I could count in the process—while Regis scouted around the area and did a bit of hunting on his own.

  While progress was slow, I was still proud of the visible growth I’d achieved toward the mastery of my first official godrune. I was able to reach my destination using God Step with much better precision than I had been capable of at first.

  That is, as long as there were no obstacles, of course. When attempting to take into consideration the obstacles blocking my path, God Step became exponentially more difficult to use.

  There were several ways around this, of course. I could use God Step in a straight line, much like I had with Burst Step, but doing so would basically amount to using the blunt edge of the sword.

  Alternatively, I could spend a prolonged period of time focusing and mapping out the correct path I needed to take in order to arrive at my intended destination… but that was hard to do while a two-thousand-pound mana beast was charging toward me, especially since changing positions even slightly altered the path.

  The silver lining behind this was that my initial development of Burst Step, so long ago in Epheotus, served as training wheels for God Step. Thanks to my augmen
ted reflexes from my aether core and my having a dragon of the Indrath Clan’s physique, I knew that mastering the godrune was only a matter of time and effort.

  Regis, on the other hand, had yet to gain any insight in activating the rune of Destruction, despite my guidance.

  I knew that if I continued to use the Destruction rune, he would be able to gain insight into the edict, but I was honestly afraid of what might happen to me—or what I might do—while under the pseudo-psychotic state that the edict put me in.

  Still, thanks to the fact that, unlike mana, ambient aether was everywhere, Regis was able to constantly absorb aether, and had managed to make progress in strengthening his own aether reserves.

  His physical form seemed to illustrate his growing strength: his two horns that twisted and gnarled behind his ears had grown even more intricate, and his body had become more corporeal and real, while the purple fire that made up his mane looked like real flames instead of smoky wisps.

  With my head cleared from the events during the bestowment ceremony and my aether core empty, I neared the stone sign that indicated we were back within the “safe” zone. To my surprise, there was someone waiting for me just beside the painted boulder in the clearing.

  ‘Isn’t that the kid… er… Velma? From last night?’ Regis asked, his form hiding within me.

  Are you sure you’re an intelligent weapon? I teased, before calling out to the boy. “Belmun?”

  ‘Sentient weapon,’ Regis corrected with a grumble.

  Belmun shot up to his feet at the sound of his name being called. He bolted toward me, the wind tossing back his long, unkempt hair to reveal a busted lip, bruised eye, and a swollen cheek.

  The boy shot me a wide grin as he waved his hand. “Mister!”

  Belmun skidded to a stop in front of me and plopped down to his knees. “Please teach me how to fight!”

  Noticing the bruises and welts all over his exposed arms and the hardened look on his face, I couldn’t help but admire the boy’s determination.

  “No,” I answered, walking past him.

  “W-wait!” Belmun scrambled back in front of me. “I don’t have anything to offer now, but I’ve been bestowed a crest!”

  I raised a brow. “So?”

  The boy scratched his head. “S-so, I have incredible talent! I don’t have anything to offer you right now, but in the future, when I’m a ranked ascender, I’ll pay you back!”

  The confident—almost smug—expression on Belmun’s face set off something dark and hidden within me, and I released a wave of aetheric force, lacing in enough killing intent to bring the boy to his knees. His hands flew to his chest as he gasped for air.

  Withdrawing my intent, as well as the palpable pressure exerted through the ambient aether around us, I stared deadpan at Belmun, who sucked desperately at the air. “Don’t be so ignorant. The world’s a large place, and despite your talent in this small town, you might just be the street rat of a major city.”

  With that, I turned my back on the boy’s shocked, confused face and made my way back to the cottage.

  After we were safely inside, Regis emerged and jumped on the leather couch. “So what was that all about? Who knew the princess could be so emotional…”

  I frowned. “I wasn’t emotional.”

  “Please. You barely care for the people here enough to exchange more than a sentence with them unless you’re prying for information,” Regis replied, lying down. “But you not only helped the kid, you gave him advice.”

  I slid my shirt over my head and wiped the grim from my skin. “That wasn’t advice. His smug attitude after getting even a little bit of recognition annoyed me.”

  Regis rolled his eyes as he curled up into his meditative state, leaving the cottage silent.

  I let out a sigh as I sat down on the ground. I knew why I had acted like that—I just didn’t want to admit to myself that the little boy reminded me of myself in a lot of ways. Slapping my cheeks to focus, I closed my eyes as the warm blanket of the morning light enveloped me, and began refining my aether core.

  Over the next several days leading up to the annual exhibition, Regis and I fell into a comfortable rhythm, largely away from the curious denizens of Maerin Town.

  Without the need to sleep more than an hour a day, I had been using my mornings to refine my core, which allowed me to replenish my aether reserves enough to study the cuboid relic in the afternoons. In the evenings and overnight, I would stay near the peak of the tree-covered hill practicing not only God Step, but also fighting utilizing aether in general.

  Mayla had come by the first day after the bestowment, but I told her I wouldn’t be going anywhere and made her go home. I didn’t want her to spend the majority of the day with me when her time with her sister was so limited now.

  I did find out from her later on, though, that Belmun had started training seriously at the Striker school until he could enroll in Stormcove Academy. It turned out that the bruises he had received the night after the bestowment were from a fight with some of the other Striker students.

  While progress had been made in both studying the cuboid relic and practicing God Step, I was slowly growing more and more impatient to move on from Maerin Town.

  So when the day of the annual exhibition finally came, I was actually excited.

  “Are you sure you want to do this now?” Regis asked, staring at me.

  I held Sylvie’s stone tenderly in my palms. “It’s been a while since I’ve tried and my aether core has gotten stronger since I’ve been practicing God Step so much.”

  “I know, but didn’t your last attempt almost completely suck your aether reserves dry? Will you be okay during the exhibition?”

  “Exactly. I can’t train today because of the exhibition anyway so I might as well. Now shush,” I replied, focusing on the translucent stone and releasing the aether from my core.

  I was met with the familiar sensation of the aether draining from my body, and a shroud of purple enveloped the stone. Unlike the last time I’d attempted this, where it felt like I was trying to fill a pond a few drops at a time, I could now feel an actual stream of aether reaching the inner dimension within the stone. My aether was both purer and denser than before, so there was even less aether wasted through the “filtration” process that occurred within the stone itself.

  Still, while the progress I had made was clear enough, by the time nearly all of my aether was sucked out of me, there were no visible changes to the translucent stone, but I was left sweating and gasping from the strain.

  I put the stone back into the dimension rune and fell back on the cold floor.

  Staring at the ceiling, I thought of how far I still needed to go. Even after coming this far, it felt like I had barely taken a step forward. How long would it take to refine my aether core and bolster my aether reserves enough to free my bond? And—I thought fearfully about this, when I let myself consider it at all—what would happen when I succeeded?

  Would fully imbuing aether into the stone truly bring back Sylvie? She had given me her physical form in order to save me. Would she truly come back as the same Sylvie that I knew and loved? Would she come back at all?

  My chest ached at these thoughts, and it felt like my body suddenly grew several times heavier as my motivation and determination wavered.

  No. You’ve come this far, Arthur. You can’t stop now.

  Letting out a sharp breath, I got up and changed my clothes. The sensation of the black leather-like armor clinging to my skin was a welcome feeling after the cloth outfit I had been wearing while in Maerin Town.

  The gentle knock on the door told me it was nearly time for the exhibition to begin.

  “Let’s go,” I said to Regis. With a nod, his form disappeared into my back.

  After pulling the teal robe over my shoulders and tucking the white dagger into the pocket hidden in the inner lining, I headed out the door.

  I was greeted by a somb
er Mayla. She gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Good Morning, Ascender Grey.”

  “Mayla?” I raised a brow. “I thought I said to send over someone else to escort me.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that. My mind would be more at peace guiding esteemed ascender myself. Thank you for your consideration though. I have enjoyed the last few days with my sister.”

  “That’s fair enough, I suppose,” I muttered, scratching my cheek.

  The two of us walked down the hill leading to the town proper in silence. The once talkative girl seemed to be lost in thought, stumbling several times on the uneven road.

  “Ah, I almost forgot,” Mayla suddenly said, turning to me. “Chief Mason had a runecard prepared with the money you’ve earned from selling the mana beasts. He figured since you lost your dimension ring that it’d be more practical than carrying around a bag of gold.”

  ‘Runecards are physical cards linked to the Alacryan bank using runic technology so that you don’t have to carry physical money around,’ Regis explained after a quick mental nudge from me.

  “I’ll be sure to pick it up before I leave,” I answered, impressed once again by how advanced Alacrya was compared to Dicathen. I was curious about how this banking institution worked, but when we arrived at the town proper my attention was pulled away from the minutia of Alacryan civilization.

  The atmosphere today was much livelier than it had been a few days ago, and it only grew worse as we reached the arena. The din of dozens of conversations all fighting for supremacy overpowered the sound of soldiers trying to manage the growing crowd.

  Luckily, we didn’t have to take the main entrance. The two of us were escorted by one of the guards toward a side entrance leading to the arena.

  “I will take my leave here, esteemed ascender,” Mayla said, lowering her head. “Only officials of the towns and guests from Stormcove Academy are allowed inside this viewing room.”

  Watching her walk away, leaving me with the guard in the well-lit corridor, I cursed inwardly for thinking that I’d be able to watch the exhibition in peace. I could already guess how stifling a room filled with town officials brown nosing the Stormcove Academy representatives would be.