Chapter 477 (1/2)

Chapter 477

Chapter 475: Transcendence

ARTHUR LEYWIN

“I think he’s sick,”, Reynolds, and he hasn’t made a peep all day”

My father moved to stand at Mom’s side He stared down at me nervously “I can send for the doctor?” Hewith his brows as he regarded my mother, uncertain

Mom’s brows, on the other hand, descended thunderously “Can you, Rey? That would be lovely!”

My father flinched back, rubbed the back of his neck aardly, and ht have said trailed off as he hurried away

Mom rolled her eyes at his back, then refocused her attention on me “That father of yours…” She tried to smile, but the expression didn’t quite reach her eyes She poked er back and forth to tickle ood looks but my brains, little Arthur”

I are of this exchange, but I did not think about it My consciouswith itthe keystone to pull tiht pull a carpet out fro to it, desperately intent on re ain only to wake up with the memories of another man’s life, I had toldabout the heartbreaking events of my previous attempt at the keystone And I meant to keep this promise to myself Only…I still didn’t understand how

But I was starting to understand a piece of the keystone, at least After my last two lives, I felt confident that I saw the trap in it—the reason one could not leave until they had “completed” the keystone—and why that was so unlikely The lives lived were punishi+ng in a way I hadn’t expected Already, ret, and loss Despite not really being “ these events, the s—my deaths—were vivid

I was still unsure if Sylvie and Regis, and their respective abilities, were central to ress, but noas sure there was more to it than just that Despite the djinn’s ability of foresight, it seee too far to think that they had accounted for, expected, or even required the presence of three connected minds to enter and alter the keystone in whatever ould fulfill its purpose What they had accounted for, on the other hand, was the requiree already know three very specific aether arts to have reached this point

The abilities taught by the previous keystones had acted as keys to enter this puzzle, but as I sat within the days and weeks of rew more and more convinced that they had to beand experiencing the miracle of my own birth for the second ti for , but I had The i repeated attee fact felt like some kind of clue or hint toward the keystone’s solution

But pursuing any clue was itself a problem I wasn’t sure how to solve After all, how could I attee to learn e , at least until I was born yet again with an entirely new life’s memories stuffed into ate this placeof the Relictombs and the Compass

A cry erupted fro time pass as my mother cleaned and fed me, a distinctly uncomfortable experience to focus on Before I knew it, I was a toddler yet again, already near

I lurched back into the present with a jolt of fear I’o farther Not yet

Perhaps due to ain re as if to spectate that event

I should not be able to see aether, but there are times that I can What could that mean?

Tentatively, I reached for Realmheart My infantile body contained no Godrunes, of course, but my real physical body did If there were times I could see aether, it could only be because so between the mental keystone realm and the physical world

But if there was some physical connection, I could not find it Liketo activate Real

Sylvie…

‘I ahostly apparition ofwith her legs crossed and watchingI can see it all in yourwe’ve already discussed across these multiple lives you’ve lived’

Good, that at least saves ain, I answered, realizing I hadn’t been shi+elding hts at all, because there had been no need

‘To continue our previous conversation, I think Iher to continue

‘If we need a catalyst to wake the real Sylvie’s mind and allow y of your awakening’

How?

‘I have no clue’

I sat with the idea for a while, trying to use what I knew about ether a possible solution Unlike with Sylvie’s resurrection egg, however, I was not handed soe mystical answer Whatever I did would be up to ht drastically alter the tian reaching for Realain, more as a meditative practice than any expectation that I would actually ers of a hand that was no longer attached to my body Sylvie and I remained there for what felt like hours to my disconnected brain and body, but I was certain that my mother would have coers raised to dig into my bare sternuorously There was an itch deep inside my chest that I couldn’t seem to reach

My vision flickered, and for a moment Sylvie lit up like an old Earth Christht, both e made me flinch, and it blinked away

‘What was that?’ Sylvie asked, looking at ain’

I looked at her and tried to unfocus hts would appear again When they didn’t, I closedto reach that mindset that had just flickered past me like a moth in the dark

There was a sudden rurie me I endured the experience, afraid to slip free of the bonds of thatme to my business, she carriedsoftly

I was so close, I gru at Mother’s side My fingers dug into ain

“Do you have an itchy, Art?” Moers brushed the spot with a soft huers sparkled with h it wiped away the ache in , it only highlighted the strange itch I felt in my—

My core! I squir coo

“Art, what—oh!”

I had shaken free of Mother and pattered away inmy best version of a run back to the bedroom

“Okay then, I can take a hint,” my mother said with mild sarcastic a back down, I turned ain reached for Realrew rin tremble across my face My core, Sylv I can feel my actual core That da the uncomfortable sensation like a beacon, my keystone-bound consciousness reached for h reith the sudden glow of atmospheric aped at the reen, and purple that swam all around me I took a deep breath, and a little shudder ran down my spine With Realmheart active, I sied everything

I quickly began to feel tired, so I releasedonly the purple motes of aether After another few seconds, they too vanished Despite this fatigue, I wasn’t discouraged In fact, I was exhilarated

I have an idea

Despite spendingin the present moment, the next couple of hostly version of Sylvie atReal’s Gambit While Realmheart seemed to work more or less as expected, I couldn’t utilize Aroa’s Requie’s Gahts than to clarify themany possibilities at once I suspected that it was due to my inability to actually manipulate aether inside the keystone

Still, Sylvie and I had a plan that ere confident in

The day of anall the mana withinat the center of that spot like Regis so often did She was silent, but her thoughts were hyper-focused on the real Sylvie’s slu asleep, her connection to me remained

Which meant that there were two halves of Sylvie’s whole present inside of , I projected to Sylvie Hold on, itthe itch in my core as a tether back to my body as I’d done before, I activated Aroa’s Requiehost Sylvie At the sah our link to give her a strongto, at least I couldn’t be certain if I was successful

A powerful pushi+ng force erupted out ofher to be whole and coain I projectedaround our home to watch the explosion unfold, drawn by some unknoist of Fate I couldn’t manipulate it the way I did ht…

In a kind of echo of ravitated towardforce, withinout of the explosion that leveled our house, the violet hostlyrippled outward not only in the keystone space, but it also vibrated through my physical body and the connections I had with my companions

Somewhere outside of hostly forolden eyes wide as she spun around Momentarily untethered frohts snapped and sparked across the surface ofdrake There was a liquid texture to her transparent body as she see rapidly as she vacillated between the younger, pre-rebirth version of herself and the slightly older Sylvie I was familiar with over these last ht Don’t worry, you’re just waking up

My bond gazed down at her incorporeal body, let out a screa into the foron Her broad, black-scaled chest rose and fell heavily, and her long neck twisted back and forth, scanning the environ directly intoaround while my mother and father tended to me none the wiser would have alan taking me out of the rubble of our ho down and her eyes fixating on theht stor onto that attention, I tried to reach her again Sylvie, it’s going to be okay It’s host of your past self I struggled to put the strange thought into real words I knew she would understand We’re in the fourth keystone And I need you

Despite being able to see through the of her massive body slowed One tentative footstep after another, she follohere Mother and Father carried round noise at this point Her huge clawed lie of the home as she passed

‘Arthur?’

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding It worked

Sylvie opened her mouth to speak, but I held herthat had transpired in the keystone so far It took tih the shared visions, but I didn’t rush her Instead, we sat with my mother in the shade of a shbor, who had co at the noise

Finally, Sylvie’s focus returned to the present She had shrank back into her huarded , like I was drea This is all…’ She trailed off with a shake of her head Sylvie watched h my hair for a minute or two, then continued ‘I’s you’ve had to endure here…it’s sick’

I think you get out of it what you bring into it, I answered, watching Father pick through the rubble without truly seeing The lives I lived here were the direct result offrom the experiences ofin…

I stopped, frowning, as a new thought caain followed the distant itch back to my physical body and activated Realmheart While there was no physicalon my toddler body, aether and mana swam into my vision

A fiery claw squeezedthe fa else lit up under the influence of Real in h our ht radiating froolden threads seemed to connect the demolished house, me, my parents, and places that weren’t places, but rather times, both forward into the future and back into the past

Fate, I thought breathlessly This has to be Fate