Chapter 321 (1/2)

Chapter 321

ARTHUR LEYWIN

It felt like the ascent had taken us agesSo much had happened within the three zones that, when the sanctuary came into view on the other side of the portal, I couldn’t help but s back out into the very continent that Agrona ruled, at thiswas better than the snoasteland

“We really did it,” Caera whispered with a trelances

The two of us quickly gathered up our belongingsI was storing theht aris asked

I stared at the intricate rune carved on the underside ofokay?” Caera’s scarlet eyes were laced with concern as she stood by the portal

“Yeah” Squeezing in the last of our scarce belongings, I headed back toward the portal to stand beside her

I looked around one last tiainShe was the only reason this ascent had been truly worth itHer teachings and the iuidance orth more to me than every one of the Spear Beaks’ treasures colowing portal“Let’s get out of here”

Caera grabbed onto h we both had a simulet, just to make sure ouldn’t be separated

Our short step through the shi+ white interior of the sreeted us with a war below freezing temperaturesThere was a sterile smell to the space, as if it had been recently cleaned

A round pool doainst one wallPast the bed, there was a closed door that undoubtedly would lead deeper through the RelictombsThe main feature of the room, however, was the second portal that took up most of the wall to my left

While distorted from the water-like movement of the portal , I could make out the second level of the Relictombs on the other side, the very floor where Caera and I had begun, alongside the Granbehls

There were an unusual nuathered in the plaza beyond the portal, but ht forearainst my skin like hot iron

The once-dead relic that I had acquired froht at Stormcove Academy practically leapt from the dilowing visibly and e filais blurted, su’s wrong,” Caera said, her voice sounding fro back outside

Butcrystal inaroundfrom the relic

“Just a second,” I er

Caera’s voice carried a rare edge of panic as she said, “No, really, Grey, I think those are the—”

Reaching out withthe countless tendrils of violet energy to intertith my ownMy vision blurred except for the crystal

At that e and distant and hauntingly familiar, rose to the surface of my consciousness

‘Who do you ht that carried the emotions and ed doard into the crystal’s many smooth facets

A wide expanse of velvet clouds rolled by in the sky beneath meEven as the clouds drew closer, I felt noin o at the suddenness of the transition

The clouds rippled apart so that I was staring down at blue water marred only by the occasional white crest of a waveThe ocean gave way to a shoreline, but the ground went by so quickly I couldn’t tell where I was until all I could see was a forest from horizon to horizon

Elenoir, I realizedWhy a the elven homeland?

My vision see it until I couldof clear-cut trees

I didn’t even have ti the elves would never allow, before e wooden buildingFrom their dress, it was obvious that these were all Alacryans, except for a group of dirty, half-starved elves who had been pushed to the front of the crowd and were surrounded by guards

My attention was forcefully drawn to three young student-soldiersTwo of the boys hispering back and forth and nudging each other, but the third was facing the Alacryan nobles ahead

It was only when that third boy looked up that I was able to see under his visor

That’s when I realized he wasn’t a “he” at all

It was Ellie

A flurry of emotions stirred within me as I saw her serious, matured expression: confusion and fear as to why she was there, dressed like that, heartache fro relief just fro that she was still alive

But what exactly was I seeing? When exactly was I seeing? Aside froy within the keystone, I had no idea what the relic was or what it did

The timeline was definitely after I was defeated, that much was clearBeyond that, I had no idea if what I was seeing was happening now, had happened already, or was going to happen in the future

Ellie was gazing up at so, and I followed her attention to a s next to TessThe vision I was seeing refocused on Tess as I became captivated by how she looked…and by the runes that lined her fair skin

What had happened to her? What was she doing there? Why was she standing next to Nico? And as my sister dressed like an Alacryan soldier?

What the hell is happening in Dicathen?

Nico’s entire body went tense and he rose suddenly froht of the visionOnly when Ellie turned to look was I able to redirect the relic-vision’s focus to the sky behind the village

The air arped, rippling like , Ellie’s face scrunched into a wince and she covered her ears with her hands, telling h the village

The air shi+ a black scar in the bright blue skyA portal

Through the portal floated two faures

The three-eyed asura, Lord Aldir, ca silver armor covered most of his body, and he wore a helap for the third eye

Behind hied from when I had first met himHis short, platinuazing nobly from under permanently furrowed brows

Unlike Aldir, Windsom had not come dressed for battle, but instead wore a si him as a servant of the Indrath clan

Nico fleard toward the asuras, and I wished that I could hear as happening as he exchanged words with AldirNico sneered, but the asuras were expressionless as they responded

Their words o even paler than usual, and he drifted back several feet from Aldir and Windsom

It was only then that I realized Tess had flown up from the balcony as wellShe hovered aardly next to Nico, apparently having difficulty ht, but the unsure expression she’d worn earlier was gone, replaced by so steel-hard and impossibly self-assured

The expression was very unlike my childhood friend, yet oddly familiar

Windsom shook his head in response to whatever she’d said, then held out his hands, which suddenly gripped a long silver spearAlmost as quickly, Tess’s sword-staff was out, and Nico’s fists were gauntleted in black hellfire

Fear curdled deep in my storona’s forces in DicathenThe only reason either side had agreed to any sort of truce, even as ineffective as it had been, was because the alternative would be the destruction of this world

Nico and Tess were no ether, but the fallout from the battle would almost certainly destroy the entire town,what I’d learned about Clan Indrath in the Relictombs, I doubted the asuras would be mindful of the lessers below

How ht now?

Would my sister survive?

Why were they there?

This direct intervention was against the terronaAfter their failed assault on the Vritra, the asuras of Epheotus weren’t even allowed to contact Dicathen’s defendersBreaking that truce—ineffective as it had been—could mean all out war between the Vritra and the rest of the asuran clans

If the asuras went to war against each other, the entire continent would be destroyed…

And all I could do atch from the other side of the world

I could feel my heart pound even in this disembodied state

Windsom hardly moved, just a short, sudden cut of his spear, so fast the eye couldn’t followThe shockwave carved a e, sending up a cloud of dust that darkened the forest for as far as the eye could see

A shi+h the shi+eld shattered and fell to pieces before dissolving, it had saved thee and clearing around it were untouched

Ellie!

As I thought about her, ain