Chapter 395 (2/2)

A vibrating barrier of repelling force separated the cell from the hallway Inside the ten-by-ten square, three naked dwarven corpses hung upside down by hooks in their legs Their bodies gaped open grotesquely, the flesh of their bellies affixed with pins and cla cavity of their torso had been hollowed out, all organs removed

I scanned the details of their faces, searching ed Elijah-memories for some connection to these corpses

The twofaure’s face Now, hanging like a slab of butcheredher mouth, she looked monstrous and unreal, but the memory of her I had was different In it, she was fir wo, soh teacher, she had never beaten rin Caelum I should have remembered her name

But I didn’t

I turned away fro they caused in ive up the impassivity that had wrapped itself around me like a heavy wool blanket

Each cell in the hallways contained a similar scene: corpses of men, women, human, elves, Alacryans, ht must be a half-transformed basilisk The walls of the cells were lined with tables containing piles of notes and trays with stacked and numbered bones and offal, patches of flesh, and any nu these objects

This here the Vritra’s true power cae Nothing was too cruel, too inhu of the world

That hallway ended at the intersection with a perpendicular corridor, again full of cells I sensed nothing of interest to natures to the left

I was brought up short at the very first cell I cah the barrier of transparentwoe color of her eyes, the way her red hair fell in flat sheets like feathers, and the sray-purple dusk of her skin, I knew shethen,” I said toloud in the silent corridors of the dungeon

The phoenix shi+fted, and her blazing eyes seeulf me “Not compared to you, child of another world…” Her voice was like warm coals Once it had blazed, I felt certain, but it was cooling as the asura herself dienuinely surprised

She shook her head, the only real htness of the thick black chains binding her “No, but I smell rebirth in your very cells You are a reincarnate”

My brows rose and I moved a step closer to the mana barrier “What would you know about reincarnation?”

She cocked her head slightly as she peered at e often used to represent phoenixs “My kind knows much about rebirth Do you wish to e for freedom, reincarnate Release me, help me escape this place, and I will take you to the wisest members of my clan, those who have themselves traveled the paths of death and returned”

A flicker of er burned beneath my skin, and I took a step away from the cell My curiosity had wilted “I’ with you, asura, and I certainly won’t work against Agrona to help you If you don’t want o back to the silence that is sloing you”

Her head fell to her chest as she let out a defeated sigh, then slowly raised again so she could look into my eyes “Go then Chase your tail in pursuit of thelittle animal When you end up where I am, perhaps you will understand”

The ever-present rage coiled around my insides like a hades serpent, but I pushed it back down and pulled the heavy blanket of apathy close aroundwith the phoenix, I turned my back on her and walked away

The next few cells passed by withoutthat they containedas the phoenix asura, but then, I was regretting having stopped to speak to her Her atteile balance ofeaten up bythis only sped up the process

Foolish, yipping little aniht of si her where she was, chained to the wall and defenseless, crossed my mind Would they call ht only serving to further rile my temper

Because no, of course they wouldn’t Cadell had killed an old, half-dead dragon, and that ons” for another fifteen years, but if I did the sarona would only punish me for my actions Even if I ran to hi to escape, he would only scolddown here or tell me how that didn’t acy

I jerked to a halt and sobered instantly

“I won’t let youup to the ceiling as if I could see through the tons upon tons of stone that separated us at that rona in this life had been to secure Cecilia’s reincarnation Everything Nothing ether beyond this world Agrona would see to it that—

Chase your tail, she’d said You’ll understand

My feet began to hts skir was different inside ers pressed into the still-healing flesh, but it wasn’ta hot breeze blow through the dark corners of my mind Just like with the Elijah memories— and res differently than I had before the Victoriad

Whatever Cecilia had done, it had altered rona’s spells on uts How rona?

I understood his power, knew he’d used it onI’d never taken to alcohol, but I’d seen people who gave the into a bottle in order to soothe the pain of the past and forget Agrona’s poas so back with a clear head…

Cecilia…

I’d done that to Cecilia I’d let Agrona taestions, ed into nausea, and I sagged against the wall between two cells

I had wanted her to trust rona to ie even the ether All I had ever wanted was to be with her, to keep her safe, and give her a life free of the pain and torture that she’d endured because of her ki pool—because soacy” But I hadn’t trusted her I’d never just trusted in her to be able to take care of herself, to knoas best for herself

She needed to know I had to tell her

The closest mana shi+eld buzzed horribly as the cell’s occupant pressed against it, and I ju

I had to squint and do a double take to s correctly

“Please, tell Agrona I’m sorry Scythe Nico, tell him, tell hin…Kiros?” I asked, due asura was dressed in tattered rags, and his hair hung in dirty, shaggy locks around his horns, the points of which were crackling with energy where they touched thehim

“You’ll tell hi into slits, and golden scales rippled across his skin “Tell hiht of memories—a conflicted tuuilt, and of the asura’s fury and terror, threatened to ripthe corridor blindly, running like I was a child in the streets again, being pursued by souard because I’d filched a book or a handful of berries…

The cells flashed by ataroundme exposed, the sanctuary of its cool darkness suddenly a trap I couldn’t escape

I slid to a stop, breathing hard

I’d reached the end of the hallway

The world seemed to settle back into place aroundwere all still there, clinging to me like a million little spiders, but each breath pushed e to flee ue Had it not been for what I was seeing, I ht on the floor

But I couldn’t take my eyes off the contents of the cell before me

I must have run past the intersection of the previous corridors and gone down the right path without realizing At its end was a huge cell, at least seventy feet square

The coiled foron filled the space Her white scales glistened in the soft light suffusing the cell, and the way her huge head rested on her front ar

But…I could sense noand falling of her body, no expanding and contracting of breaths taken, even shallow ones She was entirely, perfectly still

InElijah memories, I found a familiar description to this asura Arthur had told iven hi to one side and sinking into a crouch, I could just see the ancient wound that on’s chest Around it, scales had been rerona’s researchers ht have done to the body

“Grandma Sylvia” The name slipped from my lips without intention, but once I’d heard it, I was certain it was correct

Pulled by a morbid curiosity, I stepped up to the ainst it It resisted I pushed harder, i my hand with soulfire despite the pain, and the barrier rippled and pulled away froh, and it resealed around the hole I’d made

A dizzy wobble shook ht on corpse’s cold nose

There was soic in the roo for it to pass, and when it eventually did, I walked a slow circle around the massive form

Around the barrier inside the cell, and in the sea, fine runes were etched into the stone A complex structure of spells was interwoven to s, but the runes were so co they did Part of the spell, though,its contents fro over tiainst the back wall, although they were e toe, which read: “Observation on the Dragon Sylvia Indrath’s Re of fabric marked a spot about a third of the way into the to, the heavy parche This one read: “Observations on Dragon Physiology, Cores, and Manipulation of Aether”

Next to the book, resting on a ether

The white sphere had a slightly rough, organic texture to its surface, and was slightly transparent, revealing a faint purple tinge to the inside

It was a core A dragon’s core Sylvia Indrath’s core

But it felt eht have been contained within it had been scoured away The dragon’s will, I knew, had been given to Arthur just before her death So as this, then? Could it really be nothing an, like a heart with all the blood squeezed froers brush across the core’s surface, and a brilliant electric shock ran upparticles of energy ht purple fireflies

I snatched erly, I reached back out and pressed one fingertip against the core

But…nothing happened The vision did not reoccur No purple particles, no rippling vision Carefully, I picked the core up and turned it over in htless, but the surface was hard and inflexible I didn’t put any pressure on it, though, afraid it ht be brittle I couldn’t really explain to myself why, but I didn’t want to break it

Neither, I thought, did I want to leave it here in this cold place, forgotten and abandoned

Although I had no idea what I would do with the core, I made the reckless decision to take it forand hid the core within it

This ht, helping to buffer the overwhelo

With a conspiratorial son’s re less strain this tieon and back up into Taegrin Caelum

I needed to find Cecilia

We needed to talk