Chapter 482 (2/2)

There was no thread spreading out frorona that I could cut that would result in a victory here No blow I could strike against hi about a world in which the future I had shown to Fate could come to pass

I looked back at Cecilia Her eyes fluttered open There was no hint of Tessia in theth and was buried deep underneath the stronger spirit of the Legacy, bound by Agrona’s ic and the spellforms drawn into her flesh

Another thread between Tessia and Nico fizzled out Only a single thin golden line re to leak fro froer than others Certain visions of the future were so potent that they rewrote probability and potential, forcing reality to shi+ft in order toThat, I noas the truth about how one altered Fate: through action and will and unassailable belief It was not another power to be manipulated or controlled The keystones had never been about controlling Fate, only about understanding it But through understanding, it could still be influenced

But it hadn’t only been my will that had influenced Fate

“I’rets about how I’d handled everything between us ca out with those tords

Cecilia said nothing, only stared back at aze, no hope, no fear It wasn’t trust, either As I looked into those teal eyes, I saw only acceptance She knew this was her end, and she no longer had the strength to fight it

I didn’t acknowledge uilt for h Cecilia or Nico had earned ranted a fair life, neither on Earth or on this world, and I didn’t blame them for that But both had chosen to treat this place—this life, this entire world—as if it didn’t matter While Earth was little more than a bad dream to me, it had become their fixation, both past and future, and they had treatedstone to move froe s But if I did, I kneould find bitterness, and anger And hatred I didn’t acknowledge s because I didn’t want to react e the past destroy an opportunity for a better future They didn’t deserve my mercy, and they certainly hadn’t earned rede thes Fate had shown me that

A roar shook the cavern, and more stones and dust fell fro across black scales, Sylvie swooped over us The earth shook as her claw ca hih the pool besideoff olden thread that led fro of the cave I took hold of it, but I didn’t cut it Instead, I channeled Aroa’s Requie a resonant huh the thread that spread out in both directions All of the other threads around Cecilia began to release, snapping like spider silk and turning to golden light and then to nothing but distant, inaccessible possibility

The last of the knots binding Cecilia to Tessia unwound When the knots were gone, these threads too faded

Only two re out into the universe, and the fraying thread connecting her to Nico, who had already breathed his last breath on this world The last of his h his y floated out of hiolden thread, tentative and flickering, extended back to Cecilia

“Go,” I said, my voice hoarse and weak

Tears leaked froan to tremble For a moment, I saw neither Cecilia in Tessia’s body or Tessia herself Instead, I saw the orphan girl who struggled to ht nod, she turned her gaze along the path of the thread Although I knew she couldn’t see it, she could feel it pulling her on

Her eyes rolled back, and the essence of her being burned bright within the golden light of the thread of Fate—this one tying her back to Earth The aetheric motes that had risen froether, two sold Behind the rona, tossing Sylvie away as if she was a dry fall leaf The force of the wave crashed out along the threads of Fate connecting Agrona to the world, andwith it

I saw the Beast Glades beneath a rippling portal in the sky Devices of obvious Alacryan design surrounded the rift, cutting it off fro it aves of disruptive force Dozens of Wraiths floated in the air within the shi+eld that protected theons outside

The shockwave rolled along the golden threads until it struck the Wraiths and Instillers like a physical blow Like insects in a hurricane, they were swatted from the air

When the first Wraith crashed into one of the shi+eld generating artifacts, sparks flew froan to flicker Then a second, third, and fourth Wraith landed aile equipment, and an explosion rocked the Alacryan fortification Starting first at a single point, the shi+eld surrounding thereider and wider until it was larger than the shi+eld itself, and then the shi+eld was gone

The dragons hovered on the edges, staring in shock Charon, floating at the front in his scarred dragon forons descended on the prone Alacryans

At the same time, across the continent, another shockwave struck hundreds of i out through the underground city Backs arched as people threw the at spellfor them Corbett Denoir and the warrior Arian, Caera’s protector, but also the young Highblood froustine Ramseyer, and many others I was familiar with

I saw as Seth Milview and Mayla fro to each other, their faces twisted with pain and fear as they shook against the i to be the only three of all the Alacryans not crippled with the colliding force of changing Fate

Elsewhere, I rode the shockwave as it sped over Etistin It found Scythe Melzri as she searched through the carnage of a horrible frozen battlefield The Scythe bent down to check for signs of life from a pale-skinned woman with short white hair—the retainer, Mawar Lance Varay lay nearby, stirring slightly Melzri regarded her warily, then drew a blade just as the shockwave reached her, lifting her off the ground before dashi+ng her through a field of ice spikes

More threads connected across the wide ocean to Alacrya There, an to break down as the effects of the blast were too widespread for my tired mind to track it all at once

Instead, whether by so Fate, I focused on Taegrin Caelurona’s distant mountain fortress Many Fate threads connected to points throughout the fortress, and such was the strength of the shockwave as it slaainst the stone walls that the h tower burst apart at the base, sending down an avalanche of shattered stone to crash a into the i base in a cloud of dust

In the distance, far behind Taegrin Caelue lava erupted from the caldera of Mount Nishan Black s Mountains in an iround treical population of the continent screa in the shallow, mostly eer lingered just behind and above one, and one with it

I rolled onto rona He lay on his sto steadily but his eyes staring eainst the wet ground drew , her entire body shaking so violently that her heels clattered wildly against the stone I dragged her intoher head from the convulsions of her body

Golden eyes shone in the dark, and Sylvie stu li on?”

The ansas self-evident

The high density ofto spill out of her, creating a kind of rainbow aura that flickered and danced in the air like the Aurora Constellate “She can’t control it”

Regis, little ht eyes now, flew out of my chest He hovered in front of my face for a moment, then dipped down and vanished into Tessia’s body ‘She’s trying, fighting Cecilia taught her, or tried to, but…it wasn’t enough She’s…dying’

I ran my hands over her arms and up her neck where the spellform tattoos had helped to bind Cecilia to the body andhatever other dark designs Agrona had woven into theone The spellfor Cecilia froacy,” I said, holding her tightly to still the worst of the treration”

‘Art…’ Regis’s thought trailed off for a moment ‘She says…that it’s okay She wants you to know…that you did the right thing’

I sed and ran a hand over Tessia’s hair It was strange, thinking of it specifically as Tessia’s hair again Her body Her

I winced as rona’s attack were struggling to heal Despite Regis’s sacrifice and the relic armor, my body was starved for aether My lids were heavy, and every ish and painful I felt weak, weaker than I had in a very long time

My fractured focus returned to Tessia with a jolt Mana was still pouring out of her, creating the dancing lights around her

Without the aspect of Fate tyingI had seen inside of it, thea co’s Gambit, Fate, and the keystone itself, seeht up until the acy from our world…

Only the aetheric realm’s future retained clarity That, I understood That, I knehat to do with Hopefully I can do what needs to be done…

“Arthur,” Sylvie said frodown next to ”

“I know, I…” I closed ain “I’” With a little shake, I forced ht and adjusted Tessia in …ah, shi+t, Art I wish I didn’t have to be the go-between here’ Regis winced, a hthat she understands It’s okay You’ve done everything you can She wants you to know that, after everything…well, she’s glad you’re here in the end You and Sylvie And ht, and I—okay, okay She, uh…she loves you, Art And she wants oodb—’

“Stop,” I said, suddenly fully awake again “Don’t This isn’t goodbye” I looked around the cave as if Iout in the open sorona still lay coht of the pool had faded, its aether spent A single tear had traced down Sylvie’s cheek, and she leaned against ht of the an to fade

I tried to lift Tessia and stand, but I couldn’t Sylvie did stand, but she wobbled on her feet, unsteady “I lack the strength to transforet us out of here, Arthur”

Without even the strength to lift Tessia, I struggled to make a ht help her I could cois, I—

“I’ that I hadn’t really responded to her properly “This isn’t goodbye, Tessia This is welcome back”

Even as I said the words, I didn’t know if they were true I only had one option, but I didn’t know enough about it to be certain it would work Her body wasn’t badly wounded Could an elixir give her the strength to control a coreless body?

With the little aether I had left, I iht blue pearls out of my dimension rune “Help me hold her”

I eased out fro but still twitched occasionally Sylvie and I adjusted her so that she was flat on her back, and Sylvie did her best to stabilize Tessia through the twitching With the pearls held in one hand, I conjured a sh my temples and core as I forced the htly, then solidified

Taking great care, I sliced through her top, then the se and bone as easy as skin, opening into where her core should have been

Although her eyes were closed, Tessia’s body tre pearls down into the cavity It settled there, sitting like a tiny, bright blue core in her chest The core of a leviathan infant who never had a chance to live their life…a life now given to Tessia I feltas I clenched my teeth, the tension palpable, and forced is pulled back fro her mind within, anyway She was fully unconscious, her pulse barely beating

Both Regis and Sylvie had shared inpearl on Chul, but I could feel their anticipation and distress as the seconds continued to tick past and nothing happened “It takes time,” I assured them

I felt Sylvie’s attention shi+ft, and I followed her gaze back to her father “The Legacy was as intrinsic to his plans as theit—even the possibility of it—sent a shockwave through Fate that rippled across the entirety of our world It was like reaching into his chest and pulling out half the channels running through his body”

Sylvie glared at her father’s comatose for What are we going to do with higing The effort of talking was draining the very last of th “The shockwave—I’after I saw a lot of other possibilities, but it wasn’t like seeing the future, really More like…co would happen except what you planned for But I never found a way to strike Agrona directly—or Kezess for that matter—that worked” I shook my head “I’m sorry Without the aspect of Fate here to tieto wake eventually, though, right?” Regis asked, bobbing up and down and flaring his bright eyes angrily “I know that using your ‘Fate Scissors’ technique to beat hiive us the future ant, but why not just…y’know—cut his head off nohile he’s unconscious? Use the other pearl to get your strength back if you have to”

I looked between the three of us, then down at the last pearl, still clutched in my hand With a painful pulse of aether, I send it back into the dimension rune “I don’t know if the pearl would even do anything to th to even su the last ain She accoht fall over at any le him while he’s unconscious Maybe Fate appreciates…irony”

Regis let out an appreciative laugh, and I smiled tiredly in spite of ht struggle to choke the life from a wounded raptor squirrel Her expression cracked, and then she too was laughing at herself I joined in, each shake of h every part of me, but mostly in my temples and the base of my neck

There was one part ofinward, I realized the scar Cecilia had left onsensation had subsided

Suddenly, blue-white light, so bright I had to look away, glowed from the cut in Tessia’s sternum At first there was only a trickle, but it quickly became a flood Mana spilled out of the cut and scrubbed away her scrapes and bruises Within her, that mana hardened into a dark black pit around the little blue pearl As h the hard black shell, it lightened to red, then orange, yellow, and silver Finally, the newly for settled, and the tension in her brows and lips eased She did not immediately wake, but a co face, as if she were having a pleasant drea more than to hold her in my arms and keep her there But a part of me was hesitant as well, perhaps even afraid She’d lived inside the head of so s about me…and maybe been subjected to any nu but simple up to now, and it would be callow and irrational to think we could pick right back up where we’d left off at the beginning of the war

The sudden appearance of an oppressiveso mundane as romance

It approached with absurd speed, so and teleportation, and it was flanked by a cadre of lesser—but still inhuht of it was too round, lying flat onthrough his wisp for shaft that connected to the surface

Dust billowed out as the approaching signature arrived, and I had to turn away and closecloud When I finally turned back, I was unsurprised to find Kezess standing there Windso time arrived aus and going to Agrona, who had still not rona’s head by one horn slightly, then letting it fall back to the floor with a thunk

Lady Myre, wife of Kezess and, long ago, race I rerona to so inside Broken”

With a light touch on Myre’s ar in a casual, unhurried aze swept overthem all Call for all asuras to return to Epheotus immediately There, ill close the rift and be finished with this war for good”