The Beginning After The End 08

by Turtle Me

  If Tessia and Albold could keep up their current momentum, not only would we be able to rescue the prisoners, but we could also kill another retainer.

  Leaping up on Boo’s back, we took off into the forest and around the outer edge of the village. I needed to get farther away from the battle before I sent out the signal or else Bilal might notice.

  Suddenly, Boo skidded to a stop, and before I could even ask why, I knew the answer.

  A sour odor of rot circled around us like a jawfish that smelled blood. I hopped off Boo and readied my bow as he positioned himself on his hind legs.

  “I’m glad I kept my distance from your group until now,” a shrill and breathy voice echoed from the shadows.

  A black silhouette appeared between two nearby trees: a tall man, his stiff black robes clinging to him, pale skin ghostly in the gloom.

  The retainer! I thought in an instant of blind panic, then my beast will-sharpened eyes focused on him properly and I realized that this was a different man.

  Aside from the physical differences of being shorter with thin black hair, I was relieved to sense that the pressure this person emitted wasn’t as powerful as Bilal.

  Next to me, Boo growled deep in his chest, a wild sound full of rage and fear.

  The man held up his hands as his bulging eyes studied us. “Please, do not struggle. I would like to speak to you. The truth is, I’m powerfully curious what the plan is here.” His thin voice scratched against my ear uncomfortably. “I know your companions are preparing to ambush the men guarding the prisoners while the princess holds off my brother. But you Dicathians possess neither the requisite magic nor the technology to transport so many prisoners, and you couldn’t hope to lead these people through the depths of the cursed forest.”

  He continued to look down at me, a thoughtful frown creeping across his pale face. “But then, I would have said the same for the attack on the slave transport. How exactly did you get all those slaves away, hm? Are the asura helping you?”

  My mind spun, trying to estimate how long this mage had been following us for.

  When I didn’t respond, he glowered. “Answer me, girl!”

  Boo snarled and took a trembling step forward, but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from attacking.

  The Alacryan leaned down and looked me in the eye. “These Dicathian rebels must be getting truly desperate to bring little girls such as you along.” His eyes moved to Boo. “Then again, you are one of these bonded mages I’ve heard about. A strange tradition, joining yourself with mere beasts. How does it work, exactly? Do you mate with them?”

  His dark eyes gleamed perversely at the thought. “Well, this is proving fruitless, I suppose I’ll just—”

  The man’s words cut off into a hiss as Boo lunged at him, reacting to the smallest pressure from my hand. I jumped back and sent an arrow flying over Boo’s head, but the Alacryan was gone from my sight.

  I wrinkled my nose, though, still able to smell him. His stench mingled with the trees as if he was inside them, and that’s when I remembered one of Jagrette’s abilities.

  If Bilal could use the same kind of toxic magic that she used, then perhaps this mage, who seemed so similar to the retainer in every other way, might be able to as well.

  Ignoring my pounding heart, I condensed an arrow of mana, thinner and longer than normal.

  Catching a whiff of his rotten odor behind me to my right, I whirled around and shot at the base of a crooked tree where the stench was the strongest.

  My arrow pierced through the tree trunk like a streak of light and barely—just barely—I was able to smell a hint of blood.

  “Interesting brat,” he growled from within the tree, his voice muffled.

  His movement shifted again, this time faster.

  A light step crunched in the earth behind me, but I was too slow to avoid the punch to my side that sent me crashing into the dirt.

  Boo roared and rushed past me, but I could tell by his frustrated huffing that the man had gone again.

  His rot-and-death scent washed over me as he crouched down beside me. One long, crooked, mana-clad finger pressed into my back, just below my left shoulder. It passed effortlessly through the light armor I was wearing as well as the layer of mana protecting me, then into my flesh.

  I couldn’t even hear my own scream over the pounding of blood through my ears. Maybe that was what allowed me to act.

  My hand snapped out and wrapped around his ankle. Like I had done against the blight hob, I condensed a spike of pure mana in my palm and fired it through his leg. I could hear the shattering of bone even over his horrible scream, then the pressure in my shoulder was released.

  Grunts and snarls told me Boo had tackled the Alacryan before I could push myself up to look. The thin man was entirely hidden under Boo’s bulk, and for a moment I thought we had the upper hand.

  Before I could even get to my feet, however, Boo was hurled into the air. My heart stopped as I watched the huge bear-like mana beast tumble over and crash back to the ground with enough force to send tremors up through my hands and knees.

  A helpless scream tore from my throat. “Boo!”

  “Damned beast,” the Alacryan muttered as he struggled to stand.

  His right ankle was shattered and bleeding profusely, and he had several puncture wounds in his shoulder and neck from where Boo’s powerful jaws had pierced his protective mana.

  Anger—hot rage like I’d never felt before—gave me the strength to throw myself to my feet before the Alacryan could finish standing up.

  I caught my bow with the tip of my boot and kicked it up into my hand, then drew and fired a concussive bolt of mana. It didn’t pierce him, but the explosion was strong enough to knock him back to the ground due to his weak ankle.

  Cold laughter met my attack. “You’re spirited, girl. You’d make a fine present for my brother, but I think I’d rather take the pleasure of killing you myself.”

  My mind continued to spin and I found myself searching for that voice in my head that sounded like Arthur. What would he do in this situation?

  Seeing the self-assured grin on the dark-haired Alacryan’s face as he slowly unfolded from the ground and hobbled toward me, mana already beginning to heal his foot, a plan began to form.

  Firing another arrow that was made to burst before hitting him, I used the opening to sprint toward Boo.

  “Boo!” I shouted while keeping tabs on the Alacryan’s location using my nose.

  I fired another arrow back, this one made to spin like a drill. The Alacryan dodged by plunging into another tree and I could smell him drawing closer… but it didn’t matter.

  Reaching Boo, who was just now able to get back on his feet, I positioned myself between him and the Alacryan.

  “To go to such lengths for a mere beast. I’d be touched, if it wasn’t so idiotic,” he said with a cackle, stepping out from a large tree nearby.

  I should be far enough now.

  Lifting my bow, I conjured another arrow, this one riddled with holes along the glowing shaft.

  The Alacryan conjured his own sickly green knife of mana and hurled it at me.

  Boo intercepted in time, smacking the knife away with his large paw. Some of his fur sizzled from the toxic mana, but it gave me enough time to finish my special arrow.

  Letting go of the bowstring, the arrow let out a piercing screech as it sailed through the air at the Alacryan.

  Brows furrowed in confusion, my opponent decided not to take the risk of blocking it, instead stepping out of the way and letting the arrow whistle past him.

  Signal sent, I thought with a breath of relief.

  Without wasting time, I fired again, this time with an explosive arrow that was meant to inhibit his line of sight while Boo sprinted toward him.

  “Enough with the pathetic tricks, child!” he snarled, bursting forward with a toxic mana knife in each hand.

  Seeing Boo’s
giant form about to leap on top of him, the Alacryan's smile curved into a wicked grin as he prepared to plunge his deadly knives into my bond.

  My heart continued to pound against my ribs as I did all I could to stay steady. Nocked against my bowstring was another arrow, glowing brightly as it held the rest of my mana… and it was aimed straight at my bond.

  Seeing this, the Alacryan’s expression only turned even more delighted.

  My arrow struck Boo’s back with a flash of gold just as my foe’s twin knives plunged deep into my bond’s chest.

  “Did you think your arrow would be strong enough to pierce both your bond and me?” The Alacryan cackled maniacally. “Looks like your beast’s sacrifice was in vain!”

  I dropped my bow, falling on my knees… a smile flashing on my lips.

  Boo, protected in a suit of gold mana, wrapped his arms around the Alacryan’s body.

  “W-what? How!” Our opponent struggled desperately as he was lifted off his feet. Pale green mana burst wildly from his body as he tried to use the rest of his mana to break free from Boo’s grasp.

  As it became clear that he couldn’t break free, his panicked shouts turned into terrified screams. “Bilal! Brother! Help m—”

  Boo’s jaws closed over his face, ending his yelling with a wet crunch.

  My bond released the lifeless corpse, spitting out whatever was in his mouth as he turned away. His small, dark eyes met mine for a long moment before bending to scrape at his tongue with a paw.

  Peeling my gaze away from the Alacryan, I scanned Boo for any injuries. “Are you okay, buddy?”

  My bond let out a triumphant snort, and it was only then that I fully realized what had just happened.

  “I—I won,” I muttered, looking down at my trembling hands. “I won!”

  I buried my face in Boo’s neck, wrapping my arms around him as I laughed and cried at the same time.

  “I’m getting stronger,” I muttered into my bond’s thick fur.

  I had mixed feelings as I glanced down at the body. I knew I shouldn’t be glad that anyone was dead, but this man had been cruel and evil. He had deserved to die.

  My eye caught on a jet black ring worn around the middle finger of his right hand.

  A dimension ring.

  Despite the feeling of wrongness, I bent down and jerked the tightly fit ring from the dead man’s hand. The ring could have all kinds of useful things stashed inside it.

  I’ll take it back to Virion, I thought, tucking it into my pocket.

  Turning away from the corpse, I clenched my still-trembling hands into tight fists and nodded at my bond. “Let’s go free the prisoners.”

  312

  Feathers in Snow

  ARTHUR LEYWIN

  The world warped, stretching and folding in a sea of violet, and the omnipresent sound of the harsh winds was cut down to a distant rumble in the span of my single aetheric step.

  To everyone else, God Step was instant. But I struggled to fully process the rapidly-shifting landscape as I approached my destination. I needed to understand and predict exactly what would be around me when I arrived, or that split second of disorientation would give my enemy more than enough time to retaliate.

  But neither the towering frame of the bearlike beast nor my companions could be seen as I appeared at my destination. Instead, I was met with complete darkness. Then came the claustrophobic feeling of being entirely encased, like a rodent trapped in a fist. Something was covering my mouth, gripping at my arms and legs, pressing against my eyes, filling my mouth.

  A blind sense of fear coursed through me, causing my heart rate to spike and my breath to come in quick, labored gasps around the mouthful of quickly melting snow that threatened to choke me.

  ‘—ck happened?’ Regis thought, his own mind nearly blank with worry. ‘Arthur? Arthur!’

  Tried to God Step—everything is muddled from the wind—must have missed—under the snow somewhere…

  My thoughts were scattered and difficult to collect, even more than my sudden emergence under the snow could account for.

  This was the sole instance where I had failed God Step, and it was the first time feeling not only the disorientation, but the repercussion of the spatium art. Had I wound up underground or deep in the ocean, the consequences might’ve been life threatening.

  I shook away the unnecessary thoughts, which caused me to sink further down into the snow, opening up a bare inch of space around my face and torso.

  Twisting and turning, I used my whole body to break apart the heavy, packed snow and give myself some room to breathe. By the time I had a rough little cave to huddle in, my mind had cleared a bit as well.

  Regis, find me. Look for the blast of aether.

  I could sense a tinge of hesitation from my companion. ‘You want me to give up on the—’

  If I can’t use God Step, then there’s no way we can keep up out here. Just look for the—

  ‘Aether cannon. Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way, princess.’

  Using the technique I’d made to drill through the deep snow around the dome, I released a small amount of aether from my core and gathered it in my hand, molding and shaping it into a sphere. The violet sphere shot upward, easily passing through the layer of snow above me, then rising another fifteen feet up through the storm.

  As soon as the hole was exposed to the surface, the biting wind and the blizzard’s roar rushed back in. I counted to thirty, then released another blast of aether up into the sky, which glittered like a flare amidst the wall of rushing ice and snow.

  I kept track of time by the number of aether spheres I sent soaring into the sky. Around the fifth shot, I started to wonder how far off course I’d gone. By the tenth, I was growing nervous. Then, shortly after I’d sent the thirteenth ball of purple, glowing aether into the sky, a dark shape outlined in flickering black flames plunged unexpectedly into the hole from above, landing on top of me with a grunt. The figure yelped in surprise and something hard hit me in the nose, then the fire winked out.

  “Grey!” Caera shouted, struggling to disentangle herself from me. “What happened?”

  “Later!” I shouted back. “Just waiting for Regis, then we’ll—”

  The shadow wolf’s thoughts cut through my own. ‘Uh, Arthur?’

  Where are you, Regis? I thought, unable to suppress the frustration I felt leaking into our connection. I could feel my companion’s presence closer to me than before but I was unable to pinpoint him in the aetheric storm.

  ‘Almost there, I think. Send up another flare.’

  I followed my companion’s instructions and in moments he was sliding down into our now cramped hole next to Caera and me, unmarked by the raging storm.

  “Nice to see you both again, lovely weather we’re having,” Regis quipped. “I think it’s actually about to get—”

  Catching a flash in the corner of my eyes, I intercepted an object just before it struck the side of my head. In my hand was a hailstone the size of my fist.

  “—a lot worse,” Regis finished as a second frozen projectile shot down next to me, leaving a crater only inches from my companion.

  Beside me, black flames burst from Caera’s form just as a hunk of ice the size of her head struck her on the shoulder. Though the aura devoured most of the hail before it hit her, she sucked in a pained breath and flinched away from the impact.

  “We can’t move in this,” she said, speaking over the noise. “We’ll—I’ll be pummeled to death.”

  Knowing she was right, I did the only thing I could think of. Twisting around in the little hole so my back was to the others, I sent a blast of aether outwards and down, opening up the hole down to the perma-frozen ground and even removing a couple feet of the dark soil.

  I slid down the slick tunnel, which was about five feet deep and seven feet across, and the others quickly followed. Spreading out my cloak, I gestured for Caera to lay down next to me.

 
“Regis, inside me. Caera, here.”

  “What are you—”

  “There’s not enough snow above us to block the hail,” I said impatiently. “I can protect my body with aether, and you with my body. Just lay down.”

  Regis immediately leapt into my body, but Caera continued to look at me uncertainly. This moment of hesitation was interrupted when a massive bullet of ice blew through the snow above our heads and bounced off the hard ground at my feet, showering us with snow, dirt, and ice.

  “I feel like we’ve gotten much closer in these last few days, Grey, don’t you?” she said, letting out a stiff laugh before lowering herself down next to me.

  “A bit too close for my comfort,” I grumbled, pulling the cloak around us and shifting so that I was hovering awkwardly above Caera, shielding her from the hail and sharing my warmth. My entire body began to hum with a palpable layer of aether.

  ‘Well this is cozy,’ Regis thought happily.

  I rolled my eyes and settled in for a long wait.

  By the time the hail stopped falling and the wind subsided, we were mostly buried again, as the continual bombardment had caused the snowy roof to collapse down on us, and the blizzard had deposited several feet of new snow down into our hole.

  The enclosure had protected us from the wind, though, and left a smaller area for our bodies to heat, which likely saved Caera’s life. Still, she was blue around her lips and shivering violently as we dug our way back up to the surface.

  After breaking through into the cool, still air, I froze, my breath taken away by the sight around me. The sunless sky was clear and cloudless, a brilliantly glacial blue canvas painted with sweeping streaks of greens, yellows, and purples.

  The painfully bright landscape glittered under the sourceless light, and, squinting, I could see the full shape of the land for the first time. God Step had taken me past the caldera where the dome containing the broken portal was hidden, into a valley of snow that stretched out into the horizon. Still, the fact that we could see the large crater in the distance was something I was happy about.

  Leading up to the ridge of the caldera were uneven, broken borders of jagged stone and deep ravines, while behind us, the zone kept climbing until fading away in distant, misty mountains.