Chapter 479 (1/2)

Chapter 479

Chapter 477: Ascension

ARTHUR LEYWIN

It all made sense now For whatever reason, Tess was the vessel for Cecilia Maybe it was because of our relationshi+p in this world, which had to create the bridge, but that didn’tafter reincarnating into this world, how strong would Cecilia—the “Legacy”—be if she reincarnated into Tess’s body?

The distant echoes of hts resounded over and under my present, wakeful self

“Sylvie You knohat Rinia said” My voice cae effect that caused events to play out just as they had “We can’t let theainst the s ht Because Cadell and Nico were about to take her And I was dying “We’ll both get stronger,” she said, her voiceas we’re alive, we have a chance”

With Aroa’s Requieolden thread between ers Ti away froht be the last she ever would It was almost funny, in a way; I was so distracted that I still hadn’t heard what she said I considered reversing ti closer attention, only…

Beyond Tessia, battle-weary and blood-stained, Cadell and Nico waited for her The city of Telh flaainst the s changed

And this is our next challenge to bypass if ant to continue forward, I cois

Sylvie’s body untensed from behind me as her conscious self exerted control Her ar to her sides, and she stepped around, her gaze sweeping across the frozen battlefield

Regisout of the darkness and into the keystone world in his large shadoolf form “And how exactly do we do that, princess?”

We had spent so the threads of tih these early years of ht into the keystone’s mechanics or the aspect of Fate Whether by the nature of interacting directly with the golden threads through Aroa’s Requie presence, I’d discovered that I couldis loped away frois reared up and closed his jaws around Nico’s throat The thread jerked loose froain There was a spray of blood, and Nico stuurgling cry

Before the scene could go any further, I grabbed hold of the thread again with Aroa’s Requieis’s attack “Feel better now?” I asked Regis, my voice thick with exasperation

“Not really,” he adhed deeply

“Focus,” Sylvie chided hi back to me “Go ahead, Arthur I’m ready”

I focused on the Aroa’s Requie the constant itch into experience everything as it happened, I pulled us forward along the golden thread, experiencing again my creation of the pocket dimension that allowed me to safely reh a portal created from Rinia’s medallion

Sylvie cast her own spell—if that was even the right word for what she’d done in transferring her own life energy to ain, she faded

I gripped the thread tight, freezing us again

Sylvie was still there, a person in two parts: a ghostly aspect forht silver spark of her own life force that was drifting towarditself to hostly ie remained frozen I clenched my fists and pumped h…I’ myself to reht back, feeling foolish Drift into is, who had already returned to his incorporeal state, drifted out ofaround each other like glowflies, the dark wisp and the silver spark fluttered jaggedly, growing closer with each sharp turn until they vanished intoand allowing‘That’s a lot better’

Let’s go

The thread again ers, and I fell into the portal that I had conjured

Only…it didn’t take round sanctuary as was intended It had worked for Nyphia, Mada carefully forward through ti undone As the portal collapsed, it left behind a sort of hole

A hole into the aetheric reale circular hall with slow

Golden energy was oozing out of solid stone, pressing against the edges of the hole left behind by the portal, keeping it open as I entered The portal was gone, and the hole between dih it The golden light flickered and faded, and I was left lying on the floor, just as I had been when I first awoke in the Relictois?

‘We’re here,’ they answered together, two nodes of warmth and consciousness within rinned up at the blank ceiling “It worked”

Regis manifested beside me and trotted across the cha It isn’t here’

We ht, nervous and hopeful both Sylv? Are you able to come out?

‘I’ll try’

The silver spark drifted out ofthe air just beyond the shelter of is’s wolf fored into a dark wisp, which zipped to Sylvie’s side The thirled around each other is sed the silver spark Or at least, that’s what it looked like For a couple of seconds, Sylvie was visible only as a sh the dark wisp’s incorporeal body Their cohts were distorted and difficult to parse, but I waited, trusting theis began to gloith di from the wisp and to take shape in front of old out of thin air, her features cois reappeared at her side, dark against her light

With Realmheart still active, I watched the threads of Fate carefully Interestingly, the timeline was not drastically altered by Sylvie’s appearance in the flesh

“I was always here, in a way,” she said, picturing the stone egg in her mind “That piece of me never left you” She turned her hands over and looked at theh I don’t feel quite…real” Then, without warning, she dissolved back into light, appearing only as the spark ‘Look! I can—’

The spark darted forward, h my flesh to drift around the ruined remains of my core ‘But ould I be able to do this?’

“Could be just a glitch in the ue lolling “Butwith us”

Sylvie reappeared beforeback a s down the et,” I said as I reached out and squeezed h: what happens e leave here? Itnew that we learn or any insight we gain through the keystone, but what if I—I don’t know—unlock a new Godrune? Just as an exaer one still re us any closer to insight into Fate and escaping the keystone?”

I couldn’t quite hold back the frown that I fell across e is kept Everything they knew about Fate is here, soh it was full of missed opportunities First, I want to see what happens when I rebuild my aether core inside the keystone After that…we do what all ascenders do”

Navigating the Relictombs inside of the keystone was different than it had been in reality My ability to pull us back and forth through time allowed me to explore in a way I couldn’t before Curious, I drifted forward until Caera and I claimed the Compass from the Central Academy reliquary, then stored the Coe rune and reversed tiain, all the way back to the first zone I’d entered

Once again standing inside the unadorned chamber, I looked into the extradi fortechnically acquired it in the future Feeling a rising excitement, I withdrew the Compass and turned it over in my hand The burnished sphere was still a dead relic, so I channeled Aroa’s Requieo anywhere,” Regis said, padding around ainst the stone floor The tapping stopped, and he looked up at me with a frown on his lupine face “Anywhere except the ood humor There was a sense of hopefulness shared between the three of us “Actually, I was thinking We’ve now got everything we need to navigate the Relicto else I want to know”

Sylvie’s brows rose as she realized my intention “I…would like that Do you think…”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not It’s the keystone, after all And if soain” I tappedpretty far back”

Sylvie’s gold eyes shone brightly for just a moment before she transforis took shelter withina deep breath, I activated Realertips, and pulled hard

My lifeti all my many accomplishments and failures in a matter of moments The war, Epheotus, Xyrus Acadeain standing in front of Sylvia’s cave, only a boy freshly separated fro skin was ely, the core in my chest swarrand the climb down into the cave where Sylvia awaited

All the other tih thisand blurring together A realization struck uishable from another

‘The keystone would s you whole,’ Sylvie added, and a shi+ver ran down ht It has to be

I landed at the bottocomfortably

“So child, we finally…” Sylvia’s resounding voice trailed off She gaped down atstiffly in the throne of jagged stone Those red eyes—so petrifying to me as a child—werefull of wonder, confusion, and…fear as they burrowed into and through e turned slightly as her head did the same “But I don’t understand…”

“I’d be surprised if you did,” I answered casually Sticking my hands in the pockets of my childhood trousers, I bobbed up and down on the balls of arded her with a smile “There is a lot we need to talk about, Grandether on the ground in front of a son forms, Sylvia looked the way I had seen her in her portrait She was a handsome woman, refined and noble, soht blonde hair wasn’t braided around her head like a crown, as it had been for the painting, but hung in a single thick braid over her shoulder

Her iridescent lavender eyes met mine, still the azure I’d inherited from my father “That is…quite a story, Arthur Howus to this point?”

“None,” I said inyou believethe hair onrunes under my eyes

She raised a hand to forestall me “I do How could I not? But then, you are filled with the confidence of one who knows they cannot fail”

I grimaced and released the Godrune “Can’t fail here, with you, reater picture—Fate—is still very ers unconsciously playing with her braid “And hter?”

I smiled softly “Prepare yourself, Grandma Sylvia” Come out, Sylv

The silver sprite floated free oflike a leaf on the wind around me Sylvia watched it with intense apprehension After several long seconds, the little light spread out, ed into the dragon She appeared with her hair intricately braided and wrapped around her head, not entirely unlike Sylvia’s portrait, and wearing a battledress of black scales

Sylvie’s jaorked silently Grandarded each other without words, a subtle tension building between them

Then, at the same moment, they both stepped forward and wrapped their arms around one another All the tension floay as if carried on a receding tide Sylvie let out a surprised, childish, lovely laugh, and her mother followed suit Grandma Sylvia looked down at me over Sylvie’s shoulders, and her eyes shone with tears

Finally, Grandh she kept her hands on Sylvie’s arms “You are hter I thought—well…” She sed visibly and gave a sle tear to slip free of her eye and trail down her cheek “It see to Arthur was the wisest decision I could havequestions and Sylvie answering them as best she could The tale of Sylvie’s life so far was not entirely a happy one, and Grand pale as Sylvie answered her questions to the best of her ability It was strange, seeing her like this: huddled around the little fire, sitting on the ground with Sylvie, both in their huot to see her like this, even if it’s only a si with suppressed e his chin on‘E for duty, sir,’ he teased

I felt a small smile smooth away my frown and rubbed him between the ears At ease

The conversation between Sylvie and her mother continued only for ten minutes before Grandrona

“Yes I know Agrona issuddenly defiant “I have tried not to let that fact color ave her daughter a soft, understanding sround “That is maybe more than I deserve, then Thank you”

I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck, hesitant to intrude on the moment, but I reminded myself that, as real as this may feel to Sylvie, this version of Grandma Sylvia didn’t exist We had come for a reason, and I needed those answers“When you fled from hiet that map?”

Grandma Sylvia bit her lip, an unexpected expression to see on her regal features, and shot a look at Sylvie before turning her attention back to me “Since you already know so h I…never expected to be telling this to anyone” She paused to gather her thoughts “There was a device in Agrona’s fortress—a relic of the djinn Only, it had a djinn mind housed within it”