Chapter 479 (2/2)
“Like in the ruins,” I said, startled “But how?”
Sylvia’s brows pinched together slightly, and her eyes were focused so at a past only she could see “He found her in the early days, when his people had only just begun exploring the Relictoate the place, as well as to store and catalog the djinn’s knowledge related to their creations But Agrona had already ed to remove her from the Relictombs and install her deep beneath his fortress by the time he was banished and I so foolishly tried to warn him of my father’s plans”
“Her?” Sylvie asked
“The djinn…spirit Ji-ae,” Grand away “It was from her that I learned the truth”
Sylvie leaned forward and hugged her knees to her chest “What truth?”
“When I returned for Agrona, I found him a shell of the asura I had fallen in love with Perhaps it was the real him, and I had only ever known a shadow, or perhaps his banishht,in hi to experions ainst the but another experiht fire burned in her eyes “Ji-ae showed me as in store for you—for both of us But she said…” Sylvia hesitated, taking a shaky breath “She said Fate had so else in store for you She showedfrom another world, Grey, and hoould protect you, if only I could find hiot the ain, Fate see up just so”
We lapsed into silence, and I watched the se fla on h I had learned what I’d come for, it didn’t leave rona had one of the djinn remnants at his disposal, and that it was apparently both willing to help hi of the djinn people’s knowledge than any of the re o, I sent to Sylvie
‘Just a bit longer,’ she thought back, her golden eyes turning toward ain’
You’re not speaking to her now, I replied gently, consolingly This isn’t Sylvia, only a shadow of her created by the keystone
‘I…you’re right, of course’ Sylvie stood stiffly, no longer looking at ave a respectful bow “Grandma Thank you I…know this conversation probably hasn’t reat help Unfortunately, we should go—”
“Wait,” she said, clutching her side as she stood “Before you do, I’ve been thinking You said I gave you h it you were able to utilize the Realmheart technique I knohy it destroyed you, and I think that I can provide you with the insight necessary to better control it”
“That isn’t necessary,” I answered with a small shake of my head “When this is over, I won’t be able to use ain Realmheart eventually, it will be in a different for tone audible in her voice, and I remembered the fact that, when I stayed with her in er than necessary She’s lonely, I knew She continued, saying, “Perhaps this insight will be applicable to your version of Reale lives on when I ae to be on our way subsided, and I released a deep breath, feeling rateful s had stirred up within me, I said, “Of course, Grandma Sylvia Please, show us”
“Well, the first djinn rerumpily as I activated the Compass to take us away froh, but he didn’t have anythingacross the ot another look at that aether technique of his,” I said I had tried to get the old djinn remnant to teach me, but he was fixated on the test
The portal whirled as its destination changed under influence of the Compass, and h
The shattered entrance to the second ruin lay behind I hurried through until I reached the black crystal gate, trapped in its cycle of breaking and refor ‘Enter-welcome-descendant-please’ The words formed in my head As before, I activated God Step and ju to stand before the second djinn reht me more about Realmheart, I came to a realization that had previously only floated on the edges of conscious thought
I didn’t knohat I was supposed to be doing, really I couldn’t escape without discovering insight into Fate, but I didn’t know exactly how to pursue that insight Unlike the previous keystones, this one was cooal provided I had learned how to navigate and manipulate the world created by the keystone, and that had brought on soolden threads, but since then I had gotten no closer to unlocking whatever power the keystone contained
But that didn’t
The second djinn projection stepped out from behind the pillar Short and thin with muted pinkish-lavender skin and short-cropped amethyst hair, she hite shorts and a chest wrap that displayed the interlocking patterns of spellforave me a weak, sad smile “So someone recovered my creation after all In truth, I expected its shrine to sit undisturbed until the end of time—wait You’ve heard these words before You’ve…seen me before” The smile turned down into a distrustful frown “Who are you?”
“You already know And I think you also knohat I’ve come for There is no need to worry about the test you’ve been tasked with Instead, I want to learn what only you can teach me”
Her brows slowly rose “I can see it in your ht back, to strike and spill the blood of our ene for, and I will train you to wield aether not only as a tool of creation, but as a true weapon of destruction”
A long, thin, curved aether blade appeared in her left hand, then a second in her right She crossed theh the air where they touched “I will train you”
I su it in both hands Then a second ht, and a third to arded ht She took a step back, and several more swords appeared around her “Yes, you are who I have been waiting for”
It is difficult to say how long we trained Tile sht: Only after you understand aether as itself can you begin to understand Fate I recited it like aht her When she began to slow, no longer capable of pushi+ng herself to the full depth of her abilities due to the failing inning and did it all over again
My coht beside me, the djinn projection kept up a steady lecture on the aevum and vivum arts It turned out that she knew quite a lot about the nature of Destruction, and I could feel Regis’s insight deepening as he absorbed her teachings
By the third repetition, however, I knew there was a lile djinn remnant could teach us I needed to push myself further, harder—we all did And so, we moved on
The three of us passed froe after challenge Instead of passing through each zone, or chapter as the djinn called them, we examined the foundations of the spaces and the tests they provided us After all, that was the purpose of the Relictoe, with each chapter providing a real, physical example of said aether arts
It proved a difficult task I was rerae invented just for the task Studying the Relicto the output of a prograin seeing the entire picture
But through use, practice, and hardshi+p, Sylvie, Regis, and I honed our own abilities across dozens of chapters and trials, against thousands of enemies Only one ability didn’t increase in potency In fact, I had yet to be able to make use of it at all
As we stood in the frozen doinally met Three Steps and the other tribes with Caera at ’s Gambit The Godrune was provided by a keystone; it would havethis keystone, just like Real at all Nothing aside fro me a headache, anyway
It was for that reason that I had returned to this zone The zone’s tribes had an instinctive sense of aether use that even the dragons couldn’t claim The Shados in particular communicated in a way that required ht be able to offer soht
What I found instead was an eone There was evidence of battle spread across the zone, the skeletons of Shados, Spear Beaks, Four Fists, and Ghost Bears scattered through the snow like leaves fallen from the trees Frozen wounds like claws and bites h we had searched, we found none alive
“Maybe, since you and Caera never carew beyond control,” Sylvie mused as I repaired the exit portal
“Where are they now then?” Regis asked froh a pile of bones at the foot of the central dais
“It doesn’t matter”
The aethericthe portal frame I didn’t have the pieces of the portal frame, but I didn’t need them this time As the Godrune rebuilt the portal, I reminded myself that this wasn’t real
“We could return back to the time when you’d just entered the Relictombs and then allow tiain?” Sylvie suggested, her face bathed in a lightly purple glow from the portal that appeared inside the repaired frame
“That could work I…” I trailed off as I looked through the portal
It was translucent, showing a slightly blurred version of as behind it Only…the portal didn’t show a different place, only the other side of the fra of the dais was different, the stone sht was a warmer shade, and there were…
“It’s the sais!”
He leapt from the floor below all the way to the top of the dais, then vanished into h the portal
It didn’t feel like traveling through the Relictoh a door fro smells hit my nose, as did the musky odor of some kind of animal The air was filled with voices, so and beaky
I stared around in wonder
The white stone of the zone’s central doht Dozens of Shados, Spear Beaks, Four Fists, and Ghost Bears wandered between rows of tables and stalls on one side of the doa animatedly The bipedal catlike Shados touched paith huge white Ghost Bears, engaged in erly exchanged bags of nuts for vials of greenish liquid
“It’s a a ainst the other side of the portal fraht-blue skin with a tinge of purple around his eyes and h that it was almost black, and every inch of his exposed flesh was covered in spellforms
“You’re a djinn,” I said stupidly
His soft pink eyes flicked totribes “They all said I wasto create sentient life And that was from the nice ones Those ere htly, a soft andthat was happening, and still a djinn would have the gall to call another djinn an Indrath under her breath as she passed me in the halls?”
I stared blankly at the djinn lad you could come, Arthur-Grey” The djinn pushed himself away from the portal frame and held out his arms “There is much to discuss, my old friend About the future”
I rubbed the back of arded him uncertainly “I’m sorry, how do you know htly to the side “We’re old friends, Arthur-Grey I’ve told you everything about my work, and now I need to discuss what happens next In the future The far future, in fact I can’t do this without you, old friend”
‘This is getting weird,’ Regis thought, his focus turning around and around as he attempted to watch everyone inside the dome all at once ‘It feels like one of those build-ups just before a jumpscare ree So is definitely not what it seems,’ Sylvie added
“I’ a step back “What is your name?”
“Arthur-Grey, I aarded me not with confusion or suspicion, but with a soft s eyes “You know all about my creation of this chapter and themore and more like I was on the outside of some joke I didn’t understand
“Ah, but I seedown at his feet “I have chosen poorly These memories were stored in some kind of device Because the device is within your extradinize thehed “I think you ht say it is hu to introduce ed to make a mistake”
“What device? What are you—”
The djinnup the crystal and the way many versions of the same voice were played across es contained inside that crystal Itdone…here, in this chapter of the Relictombs
‘If this ‘Hanuel’ can see even into the extradiis’s thoughts trailed off fully Suddenly, I understood
As if responding to an to unwind
It started with the portal fra like cotton candy, which pulled apart and floated away Then the doht clouds to reveal the blue sky beyond But cracks were running through the sky to reveal the black-purple emptiness beyond
By the tione, as was the dais on which I’d been standing
Only the djinn and the portal re in the emptiness of the aether real it to, but as soon as I said it, I was sure it was true I activated Realis to the other Our three connected
The djinn was no ether into a vaguely human form Dozens, maybe hundreds or even thousands, of threads extended away in every direction, vanishi+ng into the endless expanse of the aetheric real your ascension”