Chapter 448 (1/2)

Chapter 448

Chapter 446: A Cage Opened

Ascender-targeted shops and inns passed by on either side as I hfare I was pulled back to my first foray into this microcosm of Alacryan culture, each aspect of it so hyper-focused, re ,” andwith the Granbehls

It’s a sharona, for no reason other than his own search for power, I thought,ascender culture to the adventurers of Dicathen This place could have been truly great Even as I thought this, however, I realized that the idea behind the ascents was too far re any real insight into the Relictos

After all, one didn’t study a book by ripping the pages out of it

Recognizing the hts, I intentionally shi+fted back to the next task on my list

Seris was ready to speak to me It had felt ih I hadn’t run across Caera, I kneas past time to learn what Seris had planned for her people

After checking back in at the Dread Craven, the fortified inn turned base of operations for Seris herself, I received directions frouard to a particular tower Seris often retreated to when she needed to think but didn’t want to disconnect herself from the people under her care

I was surprised when I found the tower in question, which I had expected to be sohblood’s status syuard tower Instead, I found a plain silo tucked away in the farthest corner of the zone as that would have lookedthe industrialized areas

A bare metal staircase spiraled up the outside of the seventy-foot-tall structure, and I could sense Seris’s nature on the top, stationary

Theand creaked as I ascended, and when I crested the flat roof, Seris atchingrobes and a distant expression At first, she didn’t say anything, only wavedout over the Relicto her cue, I didn’t speak, only took in the view as she did

The Relictombs looked different from up here The faux-sky couldn’t quite maintain its illusion when you could see the entire zone spread out around you, looking more like the inside of a painted do properly with the ground and buildings

Except for a couple of parks, nearly the entire zone was built in, giving it a condensed, claustrophobic air frohblood cole, the size and grandeur a carefully constructed illusion

My thoughts aze sloept across the city as she said, “Like a uise the fact that its residents are, in fact, penned in a cage”

I knew she was talking about more than just the Relictombs; it was the Alacryans’ entire way of life that penned thehly caging the them feel free

“What does it look like if you open the cage doors then?” I asked, leaning against a railing that wrapped around the silo roof

“That’s what I intend to find out,” she answered Swaying slightly, she shot rined half-s onto the rail for support “I had hoped to allow th to fully return, but…”

I sat down beside her “Agrona’s e”

“Yes” She stared out into the zone for several seconds before continuing “His offer—and ultimatum—will put pressure on those who support my cause—the ones who aren’t already in the fold here, especially But the cracks are for This will fester in their minds and hearts, and later, when a choice n or live for themselves, more will choose themselves than would have otherwise”

We watched as a man in the black and crimson unifors through a back door He eased the door closed behind hi down it as his body, tiny in the distance, racked with sobs

“The Legacy is, it turns out, exactly what Agrona said she would be,” Seris said softly as she watched the“I had thought, perhaps, that Agrona hadn’t sent her to the Relictombs yet because he didn’t want to have her fail so publicly yet again, but now I think I understand his true reason”

When Seris didn’t i, “What do you think his true intentions are, then?”

“I’m afraid that the division of Alacrya has played into his hands,” she said severely “I suspect that he wished for this portal between our world and Epheotus to be opened We have helped to ons finally caht?” I said, recalling her speech to the highbloods about their grand purpose “Agrona and Kezess are each working to outure out how to make sure our people—both the Dicathians and the Alacryans—survive the coernails as I spoke, but froze when she see, then slowly lowered her hands “It will be important that they both continue to think they have the upper hand, yes I know Agrona as well as any, but you understand Kezess Indrath far better than I do Do you think he can be convinced to lirona?”

“He wants soive hi as the crying man in the distance stood, wiped hih the door he’d appeared fro as he can keep me friendly with minimal effort or sacrifice on his part, he’ll do it But I have no doubt that, as soon as the equation shi+fts, he’ll just as quickly betray any promise he has et hirona and Kezess are much alike in that way, then Despite any shreds of wisdo lives, their inherent selfishness and self-assuredness is a weakness ill have to exploit For exarona is intentionally pitting you and Cecilia against each other It would seereatest asset in skirest adversary outside of the asuras therona is a scientist at his core, and he operates on a timetable of centuries, not days What is a few months of civil war or tens of thousands of lives lost to such a being? If he can learn so new aboutabout hiot his attention after all”

Seris dru “Kezess wants to drain the knowledge frorona wants to dissect you and see how you work Not an enviable position But I’ enough, to handle that pressure And it does give us an opportunity If Agrona is going to keep sending the Legacy after you, it means will have another chance to defeat her”

My ain to ained, I knew bigger steps were required No, not steps, leaps It was now necessary that I find the third keystone as soon as possible and gain insight into the Godrunes contained in both the third and fourth keystones It could no longer wait, and nothing else took precedence

Only…

There was soon me to protect them Like all the people currently trapped in this zone

Even though the Alacryan loyalist forces under Dragoth had so far failed to penetrate the shi+elded portals cutting this level off from the first, I couldn’t be sure that Cecilia wasn’t capable of doing so All I kneas that if anyone could, it was her Which rona had chosen not to send her here, allowing the situation to continue despite potentially having means to stop it

Just like in Dicathen

We lost the war to an army composed mainly of slaves and unadorned soldiers It had only taken the involverona’s Wraiths—even a single squadron—could have demolished our continent in a week, and not even the Lances would have been able to put up a fight against them He had theus to iine ourselves in a battle that we could hen the reality was anything but

We hadn’t been lahter We had been fish in a net

“Optics,” I muttered

Seris nodded as she closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, supporting herself with one are play, although not for our benefit I won’t give hiine your appearance and actions at the Victoriad were part of his grand design I’ve never seen hiry as when you vanished out froave a sh died away as quickly as it had coet ainst hers

She went stiff, clearly caught off guard, then slowly relaxed and eased intoone another

“I won’t blame you for our current situation, but I could, you know,” she said, wry hu her words

I looked up at the blue sky, watching the ate whiht That you’d started the rebellion to force Agrona’s eye horet it, knowing that that’s probably exactly what he wanted?”

“No,” she said without hesitation “As I said, we’ve wounded his ie the course of entire future battles And I can’t let you take such credit either, Arthur Leywin I only adjusted things forward, I didn’t invent this entire movement for your benefit alone”

I chuckled, ainst Seris’s I could feel each of her breaths h e There were very few people I could have had this conversation with and felt so at ease It was hard to iine that I had once watched her rip the horns from a retainer’s head—a retainer who had defeated Sylvie and s from a fly

The landscape of the world’s power dynanificantly since then, or at least ht, suddenly unsure Was rona’s tune, or was there sois intruded suddenly, the word drawn out like it was spoken by a ghostly apparition

No, I thought back firth My control over aether—and e before that—wasn’t so else I worked to achieve it, built th in a way perhaps no one else in this world could have, I…

Trailing off, I considered hts I had only been able to utilize all four elements because I had been reincarnated with h it had been ed the aether core, I still didn’t really kno I’d ended up in the Relicto at it like that, it was hard to disavow any influence of soave me the ht Although, you have had a pretty good support structure, which has allowed you to get the most of both your natural abilities and the opportunities presented to you For exa back a small smile I’ve never lacked purpose, and much of that has cois thought back, reading the intention behindthe words the slightly “But now, Arthur, it is I who need your help Because I have decided whather the tins for the Relictoer be certain in keeping the Legacy out when Agrona finally decides to unleash her on us” She took her ti her words before she spoke “I’ainst the very people I work to help as well as Agrona Future generations may rely on this place in e can’t yet co frois’s assistance in holding the shi+elds was a temporary solution at best Besides, without constant supplies from the first level and the outside world, no sizable population could live in the second level for an extended period of tih I will force no one to follow me out of here, I will take anyone ishes it to Elenoir, to the wastes where you have banished the Alacryan soldiers in Dicathen”

I took a ment Inside, I was loath to invite yet more Alacryans to Dicathen’s shores, even these ones But est probleons”

“Exactly,” she said with a sigh “I need you to speak on ons—Kezess himself if you rona decides this is definitive and ons’ protection is also needed”

I half turned around, looking at the back of Seris’s head, which was leaning forward I got the impression that her eyes were closed “This move also puts you in position to build an alliance,you a step closer to Kezess’s ear, which is necessary if you intend to continue feeding the conflict between the two”

Seris’s weight vanished from my back as she stood The wariness ain the woo “I intend to help you do so, Arthur”

After getting todown at her “What do we need to do then?”

“Here,” I said, handing Cylrit my tempus warp

He looked over the repaired exterior housing before setting it on the ground next to the one Seris had brought herself—the only two allowed in the Relcitoest threat of intrusion from the outside “You were able to fix it?”

The crack was sealed, and physically it was in fine shape; I had used Aroa’s Requiee, though, was replacing the ic that had been expended from within it After this, the anvil-shaped artifact would be little more than a chunk of metal

I explained, and he nodded as if he’d expected this “No wonder The devices themselves are not made so much as reclaimed from pieces of old djinn relics like the teleportation portals They are finite, like the dimension artifacts”

I blinked in surprise, not having known this Mentally, I et Gideon and Wren a tempus warp so they could confir done as Seris asked, I bid Cylrit a temporary farewell and retreated to a less crowded section of the courtyard

People tee disrupted by Seris’s artifacts, powered by Regis Although Seris had briefed me on exactly how many people were present in the second level, it was still startling to see them all in one place They spilled out of the courtyard into the alleys and side streets, and well down Sovereign Boulevard