Chapter 422 (1/2)

Chapter 422

Chapter 420: Black Doors II

A choked sob lodged in rasped for sense, but the ie of her ripped open and crimson with her own blood seemed so impossible, so unbelievable, that all reality shi+vered to a halt The only thing to penetrate ht was theof Boo behind me, which felt like a manifestation of the emotions I couldn’t shake loose myself

“—thur!”

A hand was onA heavy wave of aether rolled outward from my body in response, and the hand pulled away Distantly, I are of Mica and Lyra struggling against the monsters

A shadow crossed over Ellie, and I looked up into Regis’s bright eyes, now full of our shared despair He phased into incorporeality, then took on the shape of a wisp as he sank down into Ellie’s body

My spark of hope was doused before it even fullyaround her core ‘Wait There’s soht of Ellie’s body vanished from my arms as she became transparent For a is settled into her outline, then they both vanished, dissolving like the monster that had killed her

I openedbreath ca aside a skeletal, grinning beast, but not before it took a chunk out of her side

“Regent…Leywin, you e flared within me and I spun on Lyra The Alacryan retainer shrank back and fell to her knees, succu to the force of my intent Aether formed into a sword in my hand without my conscious ht and clear as the reflection ofthe blade

It carved through flesh and bone A brief shriek of pain, then silence

The monster that had manifested behind Lyra collapsed into two pieces, thenmy eyes, I forcefully retook control ofme warily She sed heavily, then eased back to her feet, as if she was afraid that any sudden ain In the next instant, her entire body flinched at a roar fro into itto do now?

‘You have to go on without us,’ a sois?

‘Don’t worry about us We’re in heaven now It’s beautiful Nothing but busty demon babes as far as the eye can see, you know? Just like I alanted’

An eerie treht blooround like a flare

One of Ellie’s arrows

It had to be Boo looked up fro in his sht pop

Regis, you son of a bitch, explain or—

‘Don’t speak ill of the dead, princess,’ Regis shot back

I rushed to the door that would leadto look at Mica and Lyra Another horror hadtheir spells

“Go, we’ll be fine,” Mica said, spinning to slam her ha no h the door It seeh empty space with deliberate malaise When I finally reached the second platfor apart two of the monsters, then hurried back into the door

My heart stopped

Standing on the edge of the starting platfor out into the zone, was Ellie, her bow in hand Boo stood next to her, nuzzling her and , had one hand entwined through his fur, holding on as if afraid she was about to fall

“Ellie,” I gasped as I stepped out of the door

Twisting around, her face wrinkled up as sobs overtook her, and she threw herself intobut hold on to her, too shocked to even feel joy that she was alive

Eventually she pulled away from me to wipe her face on her sleeve Her eyes were red and swollen, and there was a sense of horror in theht on

I stroked her hair andnoises to try and comfort her “What happened?”

“What happened is easy,” Regis said, sitting back on his haunches “Like our furry compatriot here, we poofed across the zone Ellie reappeared in her door, and I came out of yours How and why it happened…” He trailed off with a shrug

I pulled Ellie to round, and pressed my lips to the top of her head “I’m so sorry, El I never should’ve…I—” I felt her s her to pull back

“It wasn’t your fault, Arthur,” she said, wiping her puffy, tear-reddened eyes “It happened so fast It felt…it was so real”

I went quiet, unable to think past one all-enco fact

I had failed My sister had died in ht her back didn’t change that

Reaching into the extradie rune, I withdrew the Co a step back, a slight flush co to take you back”

“No, I don’t—”

“This isn’t a debate,” I said fir at her I didn’t want to see the expression of hurt I kneas on her face “I know exactly what you’ve just been through, because I went through it myself a hundred times in Epheotus But now, unlike there, we don’t know if you’ll coain, or howhere The platforet harder, and if I couldn't protect you in the earlier ones…”

Ellie grabbeddistrict Bile rose up inMom that Ellie had died…

Warm tears slid down my face “I can’t lose you too, El”

“You won’t—Boo, help uardian bear sat down and huffed, turning his face away frorip loosened and slid off my arm “Boo…”

She approached her bond slowly, but he kept turning, putting his back to her She sighed and leaned in against hiritted e to crush the ers

It wasn’t working The aether h the artifact, but didn’t activate it It was dormant, like God Step and Destruction

We were trapped

One of the doors glinted with internal light, and Mica appeared within it Her breathing was labored, and I al of her heart I released her almost instantly She solidified in front of her door, her hands patting up and down her body frantically as she confirmed it was really there

“It’s okay, you’re—”

“I died…” She blinked several times in a fashi+on that would have been almost comical if not for the horror of our situation “But…I’m not dead”

“You’re veryher shoulder “We’re not sure what’s—”

“Oh,” Mica said, the exhalation part gasp, part aze Lyra had appeared in her doorway, looking slightly green

I hurried over and, with a spark of aether, drew her out Her eyes drifted closed and she took a deep breath, then wrapped her arms around herself

“I can still feel it, the claws and teeth insideat the meat,” she said in a breathy whisper “I’ve been subjected to many tortures in my life, but that was by far the worst…”

After taking a fewin a circle around a sht It took so, but I had convinced Ellie, Mica, and Lyra to eat, and they were chewing ainst Boo’s side, her focus somewhere deep in the void darkness Lyra and Mica both watched the flais was standing several feet away from everyone else, his back to the fire

“When we first arrived here, you twothe long-held silence “And some of runted in response

Lyra leaned toward the fire, ue of flame “You think…what, exactly? That we’re…” She waved her hand in shallow circles, trailing off as she searched for the words

“I doubt even the Relictoers in front of my lips “This zone is different I don’t think it’s real Not in a physical sense, anyway”

“What does that even round beside her “That feels pretty real to me”

I shook my head “I know, but hear me out When I trained in Epheotus, I spent a lot of time—years, actually—inside a relic called the aether orb It’s complicated, but it basically manifested my mind and spirit inside another realht—and die—indefinitely”

Lyra hissed “Vritra’s teeth, that’s cruel even by Alacryan standards So e just went through…”

I gave her a tight-lipped, humorless smile “I’ve done hundreds, if not thousands, of ti death over and over is soet used to It messes with youryou here to experience that” After all, as the point of going through such trialsthe same?

“You think this is…like that?” Ellie asked, plucking absently at Boo’s fur

“I know the djinn have siht the djinn manifestations inside of my mind It felt real, but it was separate from physical reality This zone could be too”

The silence crept back in as everyone considered this theory After a couple of minutes, Lyra said, “Perhaps this is the universe punishi+ng us, forcing us to feel the deaths of all those we’ve killed…”

“Don’t lu to her feet and leveling a glare at Lyra “I’ve always had reasons to kill soht reasons”

Barely audible, Lyra whispered, “From where I stood at the tilaring into the small flareed Even if we cannot die here, I have no desire to experience that again” A shi+ver ran through Lyra as she finished speaking

We discussed it for a while Although no revelation was ress deeper into the zone, it provided an opportunity for the others to rest and rebuild their confidence

But one aspect of our progress in particular continued to vex me I didn’t voice my concern out loud, but those last moments where it was just erous

How can I protect Ellie fro nu the connection between doorways?

My aetheric powers had givenand power in a matter of months, but I ell aware that there were limitations to what I could accomplish with such limited flexibility

‘The problem with a sword is that it’s only as useful as the swords me from across the fire ‘Which, of course, is why I am the superior weapon’

When I was a quadraelee, I had a dozen spells at my disposal that would have been more effective I need to be able to defend myself without one hand tied behindabout the second djinn projection,’ Regis noted, frowning

I should have pushed myself harder to learn her techniques

‘Isn’t the point of all this insight business that you have to discover these things for yourself?’ Regis pointed out

It’s not enough If I can—

I cut hts It was a deep, twisting road down the path of self-doubt and regret And another part of me knew that I had learned what I could, or what I had to in order to progress Now, though, was one of those tiet h this zone

“Don’t think talking’s going to get us any further,” Mica said unexpectedly When she turned to face e hammer coalesced in her hands She let the haht of it treh the mana “I don’t care if I die a thousand tiet the better of ri position, rolling her shoulders as she stood “Indeed Though, I would prefer avoiding feeling the grasping claws of death again…”

I studied h I could sense the scars of their experience hidden just beneath the surface, outwardly they projected strength and defiance With aether, I plucked at the force that was always tethered to old feathered into existence over my body as the relic arave rin “I’m ready Let’s do this”

“I wasn’t ready for that,” Mica gasped, wiping vomit off her mouth

She was on her hands and knees, a pool of sick splattered across the ground beneath her, but I understood the reaction Watching as a headless horror pulled her intestines out through a gaping hole in her stomach wasn’t like the quick deaths I had experienced at Kordri’s hands soher under the arm, I helped lift her to her feet, then wiped a streak of bile off her cheek with my sleeve

As we had rotesque monsters had overwhelht theh to make way for Lyra, and the rest of us tried to push on Unfortunately, it had taken Regis three attempts to find the fifth platform, and in that ti there was no point inforward, we headed backwards, but that proved just as difficult, and Lyra perished on the way, dragged off the platforain

Once Mica was steady on her feet, I went about releasing the others from their doorways Boo seemed unphased by his repeated deaths Lyra was quiet, and the others seemed to take their cue from her

I wasn’t sure how much of this they could take

“We need tohad cleared “Soht? We should send two through at once”

“But that removes two people from the battlefield,” I countered

“True, but it would speed up getting two of us to the next platforerous for us,” Lyra pushed back “You are always the last to leave one platforest It is as the rest of us le, especially the first person there”

Regis hurowl “Even if Ellie and Arthur can keep up with sending two more-or-less at once, there have only been a couple of platfor et there and turtle up until help arrives”

“Then send me first this time,” Lyra said, not quite able to hide the quaver of fear in her voice Mica scowled, looking as if she wanted to argue, but Lyra forged on “My defensive spells are o first You’ve”—her tone softened somewhat—“had it worse than I have It is eracceptance “Yeah, all right Whatever”

“Third tih a door