The Beginning After the End: Book 7: Divergence

by TurtleMe

  The Scythe arrived beside Elijah, his face a mask of poised indifference.

  He laid a hand on the purple flame eating away at where Elijah’s arm used to be and it was replaced by a smoldering black flame that began slowly, but visibly, regenerating Elijah’s arm.

  Rather than rush in to fight, I kept my distance, taking advantage of the time to heal my foot using vivum. I could feel Sylvie’s healing touch as well, though she was largely focused on keeping the Alacryans at bay with Tess. The battle around me seemed to have ground to a standstill, neither side sure what to do in the presence of Elijah, the Scythe, and myself.

  “You made it clear to me that you’d win against your friend,” the Scythe said, looking down at Elijah.

  “I can—I was—until he entered that form,” Elijah said, grimacing.

  “No matter. The fault is mine. I let him live in exchange for keeping the castle in one piece as Lord Agrona had ordered.”

  The Scythe’s nonchalance, the way he disregarded my very presence, festered like an itchy sore until I wasn’t able to hold it back any longer.

  The aether around me formed into a bridge once more, connecting me to where Elijah and the Scythe were standing. I stepped forward and the world folded in front of me, carrying me to them. Aetheric lightning flashed as I pummeled the Scythe in the stomach.

  A shockwave blasted outward from the impact, throwing Elijah back and sending many of the other Alacryans in the vicinity tumbling to the ground. A web of cracks formed where my fist struck the Scythe’s armor, but he hadn’t even flinched.

  “We’re no longer in the castle, so it’s acceptable for me to be a bit excessive,” he stated, a thin smile appearing on his passive face.

  A shadowy wave of fire erupted from his hand as he waved it casually, engulfing me and everything behind me. Aether swirled around me, protecting me from the hellfire that ignited even the air and ground.

  Despite the cone-shaped path of devastation behind me, which had incinerated every Alacryan in its way, I was still standing.

  Now, though, I had more than one opponent to worry about, and Elijah was flying towards Tess instead of joining the fight.

  The thought of Elijah reaching Tess was sobering. The cold blanket of apathy that had covered my mind frayed, and the single-minded thought of killing the Scythe and “winning” faded until I could think more clearly.

  Vision and mind renewed, I became deeply aware of everything going on around me: the Alacryans burned to ashes; Tess, Sylvie, Nyphia, and Madam Astera fighting for safety rather than victory, and myself. I was aware of the change in my body and also the current state of my body. I chose not to fear the inevitable, instead using it to fuel my motivation to get the rest of them back to the shelter. I guarded my mind so Sylvie wouldn’t find out.

  I was clear-minded and had control over the full, unrestrained, power of Realmheart. I could do this. I had to do this.

  I immediately went after Elijah. Spatium carried me to where he was in another single step. My fist struck him on his side and I could feel his ribs shattering under the force despite the wave of smoky fire that attempted to absorb some of the damage.

  Elijah fell from the air, his body whirling out of control before crashing through the side of a building.

  Mana fluctuations rippled in the air all around me, and I knew what was coming. Pushing myself away with a compressed blast of fire, I narrowly dodged a series of sudden combustions in the air as hellflames bloomed around me like deadly black flowers.

  The black conflagrations suddenly stopped as Sylvie breathed a shockwave of pure mana at the Scythe.

  Pushing aside my worries and trusting my bond, I flew past where Tess was still fighting the Alacryans. Even while surrounded, the translucent-green vines around her acted as if they had minds of their own. Whipping, striking, piercing her foes, it was hard to tell who was actually at a disadvantage.

  Though I wanted nothing more than to fight by her side, I knew she would be fine for now, so I made my way to where the teleportation gate had been buried beneath a hill of black spikes. There, I spotted Nyphia slowly chipping away at the black spikes while Madam Astera held off several dozen Alacryan mages by herself.

  I unleashed a blast of frostfire at the Alacryans, freezing half of them in a single spell. I ignored the rest, letting Madam Astera handle it while I got to work on the black spikes.

  While half-tempted to release a torrent of lightning, I was afraid that the gate would be damaged, so I wreathed my fists in lightning and charged forth.

  “Madam Astera! Help Tess and get her here!” I ordered.

  “Got it!” Madam Astera leapt out of the way as I punched through the scores of black spikes blocking the teleportation gate.

  My lightning-clad fists shredded through the layers of black spikes, but I kept my senses clear in case Elijah or the Scythe approached.

  A piercing scream suddenly invaded my thoughts. Sylvie! I called out as her mind reeled from a tide of pain that even I could feel through our connection.

  ‘Just keep… going!’

  I could feel the ground shake with every explosion of black flame and pure mana as my bond faced the Scythe, but I continued to push forth until I could see the faint glow of the teleportation gate.

  Almost there!

  Suddenly the sky darkened and a shadow fell over me. Realmheart continued to cycle through me, burning away at my own body, but I relied on it once more as I layered aether over the frostfire surrounding my hands.

  I pushed, sending out a shockwave of aetheric ice straight at the black hellfire descending on the teleportation gate.

  A shockwave rippled out from the impact, shattering some of the black spikes. The teleportation gate quivered and flickered, but the ancient portal held strong, and now there was a path directly to it. Tess, Nyphia, and Madam Astera were sprinting through the narrow channel between walls of black spikes.

  “Hurry! Through the portal!” I roared as the three of them ran past me.

  Tess turned back, facing me as she ran backwards towards the portal. “What about you?”

  “I have my own medallion. I’ll meet you back at the shelter with Sylvie. Now go!”

  “Grey! You can’t do this to me! Not again!” Elijah shouted from above, diving desperately toward the portal. “Not after what you did to me and Cecilia!”

  Elijah’s words struck me like thunder, and I almost let him get to the portal.

  With aether under my command, I was able to close the distance just as he was about to fire a black spear at the gate. Wounded and tired, Elijah wasn’t a match for me while I was in this state.

  I wrapped my aether-strengthened hand around his throat, threatening to crush his windpipe.

  “How do you know that name,” I growled.

  “Looks like you’re finally… sober,” he wheezed. “If you weren’t—under the influence of that power that’s—killing you right now—you might’ve already figured it out.”

  I squeezed harder, making him gag, then loosening my grip. “Who are you?”

  Elijah spat on my face, then smiled, revealing his blood-stained teeth. “I was your best—best friend, and you killed my fiancée right in front of me.”

  My grip loosened, my head swam, and my entire body felt like it was submerged in tar. My heart seemed to have forgotten its rhythm. My throat tightened as if I were the one with the fist crushing my windpipe. It couldn’t be… could it?

  “Nico?”

  253

  Gone

  Explosions of black and gold from Sylvie’s and the Scythe’s battle lit up the battleground in the distance, but I was focused on the man I had in my grasp.

  “It can’t—no, it's impossible. There’s no way—”

  “That I’m… Nico?” Elijah coughed as he pried my fingers apart just enough so he could speak. “If you’ve reincarnated into this world, Grey, why is it impossible for anyone else to have done so?”

  The hand currently wrapped around his
throat trembled uncontrollably. I squeezed harder. I didn’t want him to talk. I wanted to deny everything. I couldn’t bear whatever it was that he was about to say.

  “Art! Watch out!”

  Tess’s scream jolted me out of my thoughts, but I couldn’t fully dodge the back spike that Elijah had launched from the ground.

  My grip around his neck loosened and Elijah took advantage of that moment perfectly, prying himself loose and punching me square in the jaw with a hellfire-clad fist.

  I swayed, nearly losing consciousness, but the runes coursing down my face protected me from the black flames. I started to fall, but a hand grabbed my wrist.

  As my weakened body struggled to counteract the otherworldly toxins that had entered my body from the black spike, Elijah lifted me up by my collar and pulled me close. His piercing dark eyes glared down at me while the venom-coated black spike hovered over his shoulder, its tip pointed at my face.

  “Art!” Tess shouted. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her aura flaring as she prepared to attack.

  “Focus on the gate!” I roared. The world started to spin, and it was difficult to tell where up ended and down began.

  Elijah had turned toward Tess, but just as he was about to go to her, I grabbed his arm.

  “What did Agrona do to you, Elijah?” I groaned. “Did he make you say all of this?”

  Elijah’s head snapped back to me, and his voice dripped with venom when he spoke again. “Do you think even Agrona would know how you and I used to steal and sell whatever we scrounged to the pawn shop? And that we’d use the earnings to keep our orphanage funded without Wilbeck knowing?”

  “That… doesn’t mean—”

  “Do you think Agrona knows that deep down, you had feelings for Cecilia?”

  I stiffened and the spinning world suddenly came back into focus.

  Elijah smirked, but his eyes remained cold. “Cecilia liked you for a time as well, did you know that? But she gave up on you, because you kept your distance emotionally after you found out that I had feelings for her.”

  “Stop,” I whispered, but the anger provided clarity, and I felt my mana core flaring up inside me. The runes spread across my body pulsed as I focused on gathering strength.

  “And even when I told you everything I had uncovered about Lady Vera, you turned your back on your best friend for that bitch,” he seethed, black flames dancing along his hands. “And as if that wasn’t enough, you killed her! You killed Cecilia in front of me!”

  My runes and his flames waged a constant battle, but for the moment, it was a stalemate.

  “Stop, Nico!” I cried, unable to help the tears rolling down my cheeks.

  Another explosion rocked the city, the shockwave creating a gust of wind that blew dust and debris even as far as Nico and me.

  At that moment, a translucent-green blade of mana shot from the ground below. The black spike previously pointed at my face swung through the air to block the green crescent, but that gave me the opportunity to let out a blast of frost right at Nico’s face.

  From the shoulder up, Nico was frozen solid, though the black flame started melting the ice almost immediately. Still, I managed to kick myself free from his grasp and launch an arc of lighting at his chest while he was still disoriented.

  Nico crashed to the ground, a cloud of dust rising from the area where he had landed.

  Are you okay? I asked my bond, worried about her after that last explosion.

  ‘I’m fine. It’s weird, he’s definitely attacking me, but it feels like he’s holding back,’ she responded. ‘How are things going over there?’

  Not so good, I admitted. But I’ll be able to hold my own. I just need to get Tess and the others through the gate.

  Just as I finished that thought, a large fluctuation of mana from where Nico had landed drew my attention. He was preparing a spell—a powerful one—but it wasn’t aimed at me.

  I immediately burst through the air, landing on the ground right between Nico and the teleportation gate.

  A concentrated beam of hellfire the width of a wrist pierced through the cloud of dust and debris, targeting the gate.

  Squeezing mana from my core and begging the aether around me for aid, I countered with a swirling barrier of aetheric wind. While ice would’ve been a better choice to effectively negate Nico’s attack, the toll of sustaining Realmheart for this long was becoming more and more evident.

  Embers of hellfire that had managed to make it through my wind barrier burned through my skin like acid. I could feel myself healing, but even the act of regeneration hurt, like my body was begging me to stop getting injured.

  Sustaining the barrier, I looked back over my shoulder, snapping impatiently at Tess. “He’s trying to destroy the gate! Hurry up and activate it and escape!”

  “It’s almost done! But what about you and Sylvie?” Tess shouted as she continued to hold the ancient medallion up against the center of the glowing ring, which was slowly turning to purple.

  “Just go! Please!” I begged her.

  “No!” Nico shouted. He withdrew his concentrated beam and burst forward to try and get past me. However, despite the poor state of my body, my reflexes were still a lot faster than his.

  I pivoted and launched myself into him, tackling Nico to the ground and pinning him.

  “Let go!” he roared as he flailed, trying to escape my grasp.

  Small embers of hellfire ignited throughout his body, but I held strong with the help of aether.

  “Hurry up!” I shouted, feeling the black flames slowly burn through the layer of aether and mana protecting me.

  Nico suddenly stopped trying to break free and his whole body started to shiver. He looked me in the eyes and said, “You owe me, Grey. You owe me for killing Cecilia!”

  “So that’s what it is? Cecilia died so you have to have Tess to make it even?” I said, disbelieving. “I didn’t mean to kill Cecilia, but even if I had, she wouldn’t have wanted this, Nico! Taking Tess isn’t going to bring Cecilia back!”

  “What if it is?” Nico shot back.

  Unsure as to his meaning, I didn’t answer. However, I saw the mana fluctuation in his hand as he willed another black spike from the ground. I quickly spun, using him as a shield against his own spell. He was able to stop the spike from piercing both of us. A guttural cry of frustration tore free of his throat as he tried desperately to break free from my grasp.

  Just then, another, larger explosion came from where Sylvie was fighting against the Scythe.

  What’s going on? Are you okay? I asked, my concern bleeding into my bond.

  ‘I’m… fine, but the Scythe is heading your way,’ she replied, and even her mental voice sounded pained.

  I immediately felt it—the presence of the Scythe approaching. His presence was accompanied by the rapid fluctuation of mana right where the teleportation gate was.

  I initiated Static Void, but this time, along with the inverted colors of the frozen world, I felt a cold fist clutching at my innards—a warning that death was inevitable if I continued to exploit this powerful aether art.

  Ignoring my body’s warning, I released the frozen Nico and made my way toward Tess, Nyphia, and Madam Astera. My body grew heavy and nauseous with each step I took, but I couldn’t afford to release Static Void and risk letting the Scythe’s spell go off.

  My body was drenched in sweat and I was gasping for air by the time I reached the gate. I grabbed Tess’s waist with one arm and released the time-freezing aether art.

  A cold chill ran down my spine as my body warned of the danger just behind me, where the gate was.

  Tess flinched in my grasp. “What the—”

  I picked her up by the waist, cutting her off, while I shouted at Madam Astera. “Grab Nyphia!”

  Immediately, the former knight-professor and soldier bolted to her student and tossed Nyphia over her shoulder, just in time for me to flash past them and grab her free hand.

  I tried to bend space
once more with the help of aether, but the translucent purple bridge wouldn’t form. I gritted my teeth and expended what mana I had left to gain some distance before a horrible explosion of fire tore through the ground behind us.

  Unable to even look back, I could only imagine how close the conflagration was by the sound of the roaring fire and its heat scalding my back.

  A green aura suddenly surrounded us as Tess activated her beast will, trying to protect us while I focused on getting us out of range, but the heat kept growing stronger. Even when I saw the Scythe hovering in the distance, watching his spell do its work, I couldn’t slow down. If we were able to somehow make it out of the hellfire explosion, we’d likely be face-to-face with the Scythe. Nico was still somewhere behind us as well, if he’d escaped the inferno.

  Madam Astera let out a scream of pain, but I couldn’t afford to slow down; I could see the tendrils of black flames in the air. I bent my every thought to survival, molding the world around me to facilitate our escape; gales of wind coalesced beneath my feet and the uneven ground smoothed out in front of us to make a clear path.

  It wasn’t enough. We couldn’t escape the blaze. The sky darkened as we were engulfed by the black flames… but there was no searing pain, no torturous death.

  Risking a glance over my shoulder, I saw Nico using his own black flames to block the hellfire that the Scythe had unleashed.

  “Get them out of here!” Nico shouted as he struggled to keep the powerful explosion at bay.

  “Hold onto me tight!” Tess exclaimed as she withdrew her beast will and conjured a condensed orb of wind in her palms.

  I squeezed her waist as she unleashed a gale of wind behind us, propelling us forward. I stumbled and nearly fell but Madam Astera shoved her sword into the ground, allowing me the moment I needed to regain my balance.

  Once I couldn’t feel the heat any longer, I toppled forward from sheer exhaustion, though I held my concentration in order to keep Realmheart Physique active. I knew that once I released it, the backlash would hit, and I would be defenseless.