The Beginning After The End Chapter 353

ARTHUR LEYWIN

I kicked one leg over the rooftop's sheer ledge, leaning back against the crenelated wall and letting my attention wander across the Central Academy campus. Regis, back to his full strength in the form of a large shadow wolf, put his front paws atop the red stone merlon and let the cool breeze fan the flames of his mane.

It was still early morning and the campus was mostly dark, with a spray of pink and orange highlighting the distant horizon. Despite the hour, students were already active around the campus, exercising or working through drills. Flashes of occasional magic lit the campus like fireworks, but it was whisper quiet atop the tower. Perfect for thinking.

"So, you really think we should stay, huh?" Regis said, sniffing at the wind. "With the relic…"

I leaned my head back and stared into the blue-black sky. "The ascension half of the Compass stays in place when we enter the Relictombs. Even though we can come and go at will, we still need a safe place to activate it."

Regis looked back at me curiously, his glowing eyes intelligent. "And is this place really that safe? We could go back to Darrin Ordin, or hell, just find a cave in the mountains somewhere or something."

"That's another set of variables that I can't account for. Here, I know what to expect. We're at risk no matter where we go in Alacrya, but at least we have a story here, an identity."

As a professor, not only did I have a cover story and political protection, but I'd come to realize that the respect inherently offered to my position was its own kind of shield. Whatever curiosity or doubt my students and co-faculty might have about me, it was unlikely that they would ever suspect I was a Dicathian spy. There were a host of simpler explanations for any missteps I might make, and the wealthy and powerful would always assume any mystery somehow fit into their own pet intrigues.

"Besides, we don't fully understand the Compass yet."

Regis stretched before lying down lazily. "Don't we? It seems simple enough to me."

I took out the descension half of the Compass from my storage rune and stared idly at its curved and unblemished surface as if waiting for it to refute Regis.

He was right though. While one half of the relic created a portal into the Relictombs, the other allowed me to return, although not by creating a second portal. It had taken me some time to piece the functionality together, as the second half of the relic had not reacted in any way when I entered the Relictombs, forcing me to clear the zone. However, when I imbued aether into it near the zone's exit portal, the second half of the relic had blazed to life, outlining the portal with a brilliant light. When the glow faded, I could see my rooms on the other side, Caera waiting impatiently for me to return.

Being able to enter and leave the Relictombs at will changed everything. After the original test, Caera, Regis, and I had gone back in together to further explore the relic's capabilities, absorbing a significant amount of aether in the process.

"So, exactly how much grape juice can your core hold now?" Regis asked, obviously reading my thoughts.

Despite exploring the zone for an hour or more, and absorbing aether from both the beasts I killed and the atmosphere, I still hadn't reached the two-layer core's limit. "We're not calling it that," I said with an amused huff, "and I don't really know. At least ten times more than before."

Eager for any excuse to tap into that power, I withdrew the seed-pod toy from my dimension rune. My companion shifted to lie on his side, watching me work with a slightly bored air.

The size of my aether reservoir had never been the primary roadblock keeping me from completing Three Steps' challenge, but the increased purity of my stored aether and efficiency of my aether channels only made focusing on it easier.

When I channeled aether to my hand to form the claw, I could feel the difference right away. First, the drain on my core wasn't even noticeable. The form of the claw was steadier and more solid, and it felt inherently easier to focus. And while this claw was simply a step toward my real goal, it felt good to finally be making tangible progress.

Regis let out an exaggerated yawn, drawing my attention. Leaning lazily on his side, he made a show of extending and retracting his own, sharper and longer, claws.

I scoffed. "Show off."

Taking the hard shell in one hand, I slid a claw into the slot and fished around for the seed within. As it settled into the hole left behind by the stem, I pulled downward, trying to force it out, just as I had done dozens of times before. The claw held its form, automatically drawing on aether from my core to keep itself stable.

Releasing a slow, steadying breath, I imagined the shape of the claw extending and curving inward more deeply, almost wrapping around the small seed so that it fit perfectly within the curve. The aether responded quickly to my intention.

I grinned.

Then I pulled. Not too hard, but with a steady pressure that I slowly increased until the edges of the hole cracked and bulged outward, and I could feel the seed sliding through.

Then the pressure released.

The dull brown seed popped free and landed in my palm.

I stared down at it, imagining that the Shadow Claws had some ceremony to celebrate when one of their children completed this right of passage. If I'd had more time in the Relictombs with Three Steps, perhaps she would have had some encouraging memory to share with me to congratulate me, but…

A gust of wind whipped across the tower roof and tugged at the seed, forcing me to close my hand tightly around it. It was a strange and sobering thought to realize that the result of my long efforts with the seed-pod could be blown away in an instant, leaving nothing behind.

I glanced around the barren rooftop and the idle streets below. Snow-capped mountains rose purple in the distance. The unfamiliar stars above were fading away, absorbed by the sunrise.

For a Shadow Claw cub, retrieving the seed would have meant securing a place in their tribe. For me, though, it was simply a reminder that I was without one.

"I mean if you really don't want it, I can take it off your hands," Regis said, sniffing eagerly at the small brown sphere.

Following his gaze, I looked more closely at the seed and noticed a nick in the plain brown surface. A subtle purple glimmer was shining through where my claw had dug into the seed. Using an aether claw, I scratched away more of the brown, revealing a solid orb of condensed aether within, it's signature entirely hidden away by the organic exterior.

As I stared at my prize, wondering just how much aether the seed contained, Regis's chin came to rest on my knee. His bright eyes were locked on the seed, and his head inched closer.

Thinking back to the aether-rich fruit that grew in the jungle zone where I'd fought the millipede, I popped the seed into my mouth and swallowed.

Still, it was Valen who surprised me. The highblood boy didn't sneer or scowl like I might have expected. Instead, he calmly took a seat next to Portrel and Remy, shushing them when they began to whisper frantically, and waited.

I rubbed the back of my neck.. "Let's get started."

Chapter end