Chapter 418 (1/2)
Chapter 418
Chapter 416: The Third Ruin
ARTHUR LEYWIN
The zone trembled as its behemoth protector collapsed, its chest pierced with translucent mana arrows and stone shards, its final piteous roar choked with black blood
Mica, sweating and caked with dirt, nudged the behe the htly Its tiny black eyes were staring sightlessly past ish snout and tusks
“And…another one…bites the dust,” Mica said, flopping down on one huge foreary couch
A shi+ver ran through the aether in the zone, and I scanned our surroundings
We stood atop a colu rock We’d had to cross fro size and power, to reach this final battle The ground was an indistinct sandstone wasteland a ether before reaching the bottoo on forever in all directions, with the colu out into a heat haze where they met the soft blue of the sky on the horizon
Boobeside hiis chuckled “Who would have guessed that an asura-bred guardian beast could have a fear of heights?”
The shi+ver happened again
Ellie had started to give Regis a dirty look, but stopped when she saw ?”
“I’m not—”
The stone at my feet cracked All eyes turned to the crack, only a few feet long at first, but even as atched, it began racing across the rough surface of the column’s flat top Boo and Ellie jumped to one side as the crack split the colu that vibrated in my bones, a dozen other fractures split off the central crack, and the stone beneath our feet began to shi+ft
All around us, the zone exploded with the avalanche cacophony of shattering stone, and a thick cloud of dust choked the air
The exit portal, which was inset into the floor and had been guarded over by the behee to the next zone
Lyra sprinted for it, her feet hardly touching the cruh!” I shouted, and she slid to a halt just beyond the square frame “Stabilize the platform if you can!”
As Mica and Lyra hurried to follow my order, I scooped Ellie up and leapt half the width of the column’s top to land by the portal, the Co Ellie down, I channeled aether into the Compass and focused on the portal If my mental map from Sylvia was correct, the third djinn ruin was just on the other side, but sincewe didn’t have siht not end up there unless I stabilize the portal first
Mica jumped to the center point of the crack and sla the colu the spreading cracks, pulling stone back against stone Lyra sprinted around the outside of the colu out froe of the lip to stabilize it by buttressing the structure with a supportive band of hardened air
“It’s like soe of panic in her voice
“The landscapes of the Relictombs are im aether, and their creation resists taes…”
With the sliver ofexcept the Compass and portal, I realized I had never considered this fact before I’d lostthe Relictombs, and so had always relied on aether to survive here While itthose testing within to siested that, with the proper utilization of aether, the fabric of the Relictombs itself could be rewritten
There was no tih Froan to tre as she held onto her hath The stone beneath Lyra’s feet collapsed, and she vanished into the hole Froh column shi+ft and twist, the noise of it lost in the cacophonous tu of rocks from every direction
The colue of the portal fraht beside me, but one foot had been off the frame When the surface crumbled, her eyes ide and her hand reached for ravity
Behind her, Boo, Regis, and Mica plunged doith the broken rubble, the guardian bear giving out a despairing roar as its claws scraer capable of supporting it
I nearly lost hold of the Coers brushed hers, but I had been focused on stabilizing the portal…
Her hair flew up past her face, whipping in the wind like a flag, her hands clawing at the air as if she could take hold of it so Belatedly, a screa, I leapt off the side after her and activated God Step
The paths flashed past at a speed that was difficult to process, especially with my heart in my throat With my eyes on Ellie, I let the rest ofmyself as aerodynamic as possible, I sped after her It felt like it took a very long tiht up and wrapped h force to knock the air fros She scra an tuers and my arers finally closed around her wrist, and I pulled her around to face me—“calht hug, screauardian bear’s huge bulk was rotating end over end A long, low,wildly
Regis was closer, nearly straight ahead He did a kind of twirl and spun to look atfro,’ he thought ‘And dodging several million tons of killer rockfall definitely adds to the experience’ His shadoolf foran drifting back up toward the portal frame
“We need to save Boo!” Ellie screamed in my ear
“You’ll have to summon him from the top,” I hollered back over the wind
Ellie’s brows furrowed in determination as she nodded despite the hipped tears streaking across her cheeks
My focus turned to the aetheric paths, searching for one that would return us to the portal fraain Noticing her horrified gaze, I followed it
Mica was nearly a hundred feet above us, the aetheric paths shi+fting and fading as her relative position to us kept changing I cursed, struggling to calculate how I could get to her and then the portal frame in time
“Brother, holdwhite hand as she clutched tightly toherself as she took ai past a falling rock before finding its target
With a sudden infusion ofdown at us, but I shook ht back up into the air
I spared a second to watch the ground growing rapidly closer, then tried to bring all my focus to the aetheric pathways When they didn’t i theht me
There
With Ellie firmly in my are of stone surrounding the glowing portal
“Boo!” Ellie screamed, her voice shrill
With a faint pop, a shadow appeared overhead, and the enoruardian bear crashed down on top of e of fur, I saw Mica’s boots land next to us
“Boo!” Ellie exclaimed, her sobs muffled as she must have shoved her face into her bond’s side
Careful not to send the ain, I extricated is drifted intoa tune, heedless of the fact that everyone had nearly just died
The rest of us all shared a look, but no one had any words
Once again, I pulled out the Co the portal so that it wouldn’t send the others off on their own I nodded when it was ready, and Lyra stepped in, looking like she was sinking into a pool of quicksilver Mica reached up to rest her hand lightly on Ellie’s shoulder The two shared a look and a pale smile, then Mica hopped in after Lyra
Ellie hesitated “I’m sorry,” she said after a moment “I should have—”
I held up a hand to forestall her continued apology “Stop feeling like you need to apologize for everything”
Glancing over the edge, a shi+ver ran through her and she nodded Boo needed no encouragement to wade into the portal, and Ellie folloith a look of grim determination
I looked around the zone one last tih, and then stepped into the portal
On the other side, we found ourselves in a fa the top of the walls Mica, Lyra, Ellie, and Boo were staring around Feeling a sense of deja vu, I turned to watch the portal we’d entered through vanish
“Well, this is eerie,” Regis said as he stepped fro that he’d said exactly the sa e found the first ruin
Before, the sterile environe, but now I knehat to expect Sure enough, a hts faded to a low violet color
Once again, an irresistible force took hold ofacross the tiled floor, bringing us to a , Lyra spun around, but the white hallas gone “What’s happening?”
“It’s all right,” I assured her “On the other side of that gate we’ll find e’re looking for I’ll face soe You won’t be able to help me, so you should have the chance to rest there”
“Who needs…rest…” Mica asked, leaning against Boo’s side to hold herself upright
‘Welcome, descendant Please enter’
“What was that?” Ellie asked
“Did you hear the words?” I asked as the runes on the gate pulsed brightly
“Not words, just…so”
I frowned, considering It would have e too, since she was also a descendant of the djinn, but she didn’t have any insight into aether, so et inside is I don’t want you trapped on the wrong side of the door
He became incorporeal and drifted intonearhappens’
“This next part can be a bit trippy,” I said, reaching out and brushi+ng ate
My fingers went through, the crystal clinking lightly as it folded away fro a deep breath, I stepped into the solid surface, e, war aroundwent dark for athe bottoain This tinized the similar to those I’d seen in the keystone when I learned Aroa’s Requieh it was still beyonddanger, but I still quickly scanned the space on the other side of the crystal door