Chapter 294 (1/2)

Chapter 294

Chapter 294: The Faintest Hope

No, I thought,in my throat That’s not possible

The explosion had broken the closest benches and wrenched Ada hard enough to loosen her bindings, and she was quick to rip free of the rope

My focus was drawn back to the dodecahedron as the last piece fit into place Like before, it shi+lowed, the outlines of the individual pieces I’d used to co a solid shape

In the present, Haedrig and Kalon had fallen into a rhythether to keep Mythelias on the defensive, but any time they scored a hit, the wound instantly sealed over

Half of Riah’s corpse was now covered with scabrous growths, but neither Haedrig nor Kalon had escaped injury the, and Haedrig appeared to have taken the butt of the spear to his cheek, which ollen and already changing color

Finally, the opalescent shi+ on the faces of the dodecahedron s, and each face displayed a differentpicture

In one, the hall of mirrors had been obliterated The entire end of the hall had been burned away, its blackened edges opening directly into the void Every mirror was shattered, and n of life in the room

In another face of the dodecahedron, I sawfuriously as we pushed Ezra’s reh an empty mirror frame and out into the void

The hall was scorched and blasted, the fountain empty, many of thepulled the girl into a tender hug, but I turned and walked away

My eyes were drawn to a third i across the hall ofhad been entirely subsumed by the dark boils; they were clearly dead

Ada lay unconscious near me Mythelias leaned down over her and pressed one blackened hand to her cheek I turned away, pushi+ng the dodecahedron with aether so it spun, reht

The revolving dodecahedron brought different iht Some were variations on what I’d already seen, but one in particular caughta God rune that glowed golden through h the rooloith aetheric energy

I watched, awed, as the mirrors mended before ether as if ti rewinded, the s to reform stone and water

When the purpleuntil they faded away entirely The young ascender gasped and his eyes flew open He was alive

Just before the glass of the shattered h which Kalon had been hurled snapped back into place, Kalon hiround in the hall of mirrors The wounds he’d sustained froe to his clothes and are of Ada in her mirror dissolved into pinkish smoke, which flowed out of the mirror, then moved purposefully across the hall until it found her unconscious body, returning her to herself

Where the floor of the hall wasa an to take shape

Riah’s body, stilldoll, lifeless and soan to regrow, healing before my eyes When her eyelids fluttered open, she stared around the now pristine hall with confusion and fear before drifting down to the ground where she was h the visions of the past and present had suggested the possibility that the third puzzle ht show visions of the future, I hadn’t dared to hope such a thingevents that hadn’t happened yet

Each face of the dodecahedron see our other failure, true, but there was at least a chance we could defeat the Vritra-blooded ascender and escape the hall of ut at what I had seen, or not seen; Regis was nowhere to be found in any of the futures I could see, even the one where I was so back the dead

What is this power? I wondered, still watching the potential futures play across the faces of the dodecahedron It seemed too incredible to be possible Was it an aspect of Life, of vivuht, it seemed more like aevu back the clock on whatever it touched, undoing the dalass, stone, and flesh alike

Exciteed within rona and end the ith Alacrya Not only that, but I could undo the darona had done I could save everyone: Buhnd, Cynthia, Ada them all back!

As the dodecahedron revolved around, the panel in which Haedrig, Ada, and I stood alone in the wreckage of the hall caan using aether on any mirrors that were still intact and had an ascender trapped within

Like in the other vision, the cracks and chips in thethemselves Then, one by one, the ascenders faded away When they had all been released froht within the roo on a warmer tone, and a portal appeared within one of the empty frames

In that version of the future, however, the others remained dead