by Turtle Me
I brushed my hair out of my eyes, then grabbed a strand and stared at it incredulously. Regis chortled behind me.
“You’re acting like a pup seeing its own tail for the first time.”
Ignoring him, I looked down, seeing my reflection for the first time since waking up. My eyes widened.
The face staring back from the icy depths looked a lot like me, only a bit older, with sharper features and skin the same milky white as my arms.
The red scar around my throat, which I had also received from the retainer I faced at the Battle of Slore, was no longer there, showing only a smooth, long neck and Adam’s apple.
But what shocked me the most were the changes in my hair and eyes. My eyes were a piercing gold and the color seemed to have been completely washed out of my once-auburn hair. My head of deep reddish-brown was now a pale wheat color, even lighter than Sylvie’s hair in her human form.
My chest tightened at the sight of my reflection, my own hair and eyes now a constant reminder of my bond’s sacrifice. This was accompanied by a pang of loss, however, like I’d become yet another step removed from my loved ones. The features I’d inherited from my parents were gone.
“I don’t understand. What—” Searing pain ignited inside me, as if my mana core had suddenly caught on fire, and a scream burst from my throat.
My vision doubled and became hazy, then I heard a voice. It was one that I hadn’t heard in a long time, but one I could never forget.
“Hello, Art, this is Sylvia.”
My heart pounded against my ribs as excitement rose up to replace the burning pain in my core. “S-Sylvia?”
“I’m recording this at the same time as my first message to you, but I suspect that, for you, it has been quite some time since you’ve heard my voice. I suppose I should say that it has been a while.”
I let out a laugh as I felt fresh tears stream down my cheeks.
“I’m conflicted to know that you’re hearing this message. On the one hand, I’m proud that you’ve been able to get to where you are now. But the fact that you’ve had to push yourself to this point means that life has not been easy for you, perhaps even more difficult than your previous one.”
Her tone had grown somber, her words heavy.
“Having gotten to this stage means that you’ve had to fight for your life against foes much stronger than you, and that could only be Agrona and the Vritra that serve him.”
I bristled at the mention of Agrona’s name, but Sylvia’s voice only seemed sad… almost heartbroken.
“A war between Agrona and the asuras is inevitable, and Dicathen will likely be caught in the middle of it. There is much to tell you, but there is a limit to the amount of information I can store without it being traceable, so I shall be succinct.
“With my daughter as your bond and the fact that you are reborn, my father will most likely have taken extreme measures to bring you in, offering you training and guidance in exchange for using your talents in the war. And through your exposure to my people, you’ve certainly received a very one-sided story.”
Again, Sylvia’s voice was tinged with sadness.
“The tension between the Vritra and the other asuran clans is not as simple as you’ve been told. Unlike fairy tales and bedtime stories for children, life does not always have a good and bad side—only ‘my side’ and ‘their side.’
“Agrona can’t be forgiven for all of the atrocities he has committed over the centuries, but neither can the other asuras—myself included.”
Confusion overwhelmed my thoughts, and my mind spun, trying to make sense of what Sylvia was saying, but I pulled myself back into the moment as she began speaking again, afraid to miss a single word.
“Agrona, who had always been fascinated by the lives of lessers, uncovered the ruins of a civilization of mages—mages that had learned to harness aether.
“It was Agrona who discovered why these ancient mages had fallen despite their technological and magical advancements. Centuries ago, the Indrath Clan had committed genocide against these ancient mages.”
That doesn’t make any sense! Why would the Indrath Clan kill off a—my question was interrupted as Sylvia’s message continued.
“The Indrath Clan had been distinguished as leaders among the other asuran clans and were revered as beings closest to true gods, not just for our strength, but because our control over aether could not be replicated by any others. So when one of the emissaries from the Indrath Clan discovered a reclusive civilization of lessers that were able to harness these aetheric powers, the dragons grew resentful.
“Fearing that their power and authority could be questioned, the elders ordered for the… elimination… of the lessers. From what I’ve been told, unlike our clan, which had developed and trained our aether arts for battle, these ancient mages had only sought to improve life through technological advancements.”
Sylvia paused, letting silence linger in my mind as I imagined the inevitable results of a battle between the Indrath Clan and a civilization of peaceful lessers.
“This act of genocide has been kept as the Indrath Clan’s darkest secret, kept from the other asura and even many of our own clansfolk. The mages’ technology has been concealed and studied, but because of how elaborate their underground cities are, and because of the great pains they took to lock their knowledge away from the asuras, we were never sure if we had truly discovered all that they had hidden.
“Agrona found one of these concealed ruins and threatened to expose the Indrath Clan for their wrongdoings, claiming that they had violated the noblesse oblige that we asuras held over lessers. You can imagine how my clan elders reacted to this. Knowing that Agrona loved to disguise himself and sneak off to Dicathen and Alacrya for his research, they accused him of having intimate relations with lessers, then exiled him to Alacrya.”
I shook my head. It was difficult to imagine Kordri, or Myre, or Aldir participating in such petty political turmoil, but when I thought of the cold, overwhelming presence of Lord Indrath, I found that I wasn’t really surprised at all.
“My biggest regret will always be allowing my family to completely destroy the life of my betrothed… and my unborn child’s father.”
Does this mean that—
“Signs of my pregnancy showed only a few months after Agrona had been exiled. A new member of the Indrath Clan being born was rare, and should have been a celebrated occasion, but I knew that neither my clan nor any of the clans of the Great Eight would approve of me having this child, and so when I learned one night that my father was planning an assassination for Agrona in Alacrya, I tried to reach Agrona first.
“I confess that I was young and foolish, Arthur. Rebelling against my parents for depriving me of the man I thought I loved, I found Agrona in Alacrya before the unit my father had sent after him could. The man I found was not the coy and charming knowledge-seeker I had fallen in love with, though, but a man driven mad by the betrayal of his clansmen… and his love—me.
“He and his loyal Vritra Clan followers had scoured through the buried texts of the ancient mages and tried to build upon their work in a different direction, using the lessers as test subjects. I do not know what his end plans are aside from conquering Epheotus, but he has been investigating an element—an edict, higher than what aether encompasses, above that of time, space, and life.
“Fate.”
The word ‘Fate’ immediately brought to mind one person: Elder Rinia. She was not only a diviner but someone who could control aether. She had expressed adamantly that she was not related to the ancient mages but…
My brain hurt from trying to make sense of all the information Sylvia had left for me.
“Fate ties into not only the life we live in now but lives elsewhere and elsewhen.”
My breath hitched.
“I’m sure this sounds familiar to you. Fate, after all, is the core component to reincarnation. Agrona believed that the vessel was t
he key component in forceful application of reincarnation, which is why I could not risk you falling into Agrona’s hands. My true knowledge in this is limited, though, and I am being drawn off course. I’m sorry, Arthur, I do not have much longer.
“After finding out that I carried a child of both basilisk and dragon lineage, Agrona kept me imprisoned until I gave birth. Of course, I couldn’t let my child be subject to his cruel experiments, so I locked her in a pocket dimension that I created within the stone.
“Though I did not discover the scope of Agrona’s plans before my escape, I did learn that there are four ruins built by the ancient mages that neither he nor any other asuras are able to cross into. I have imprinted within this message the locations of these four ruins. Agrona had been breeding lessers and sending them into the ruins to learn more about what is down there. He can’t be the one to discover these secrets, whatever they may be.
“What I am leaving you with is not some grand quest. That was never my intention. But if you are in a situation where you are lost or feel weak and outnumbered, perhaps the answer Agrona is looking for is the answer you are as well.
“Take care of my daughter and yourself. Goodbye, little one.”
Just like that, Sylvia’s voice faded, leaving me stunned. There had been too many revelations to make sense of all at once. Indrath and the others… They had lied to me. They had used me. They had hidden the fact that Sylvie was Agrona’s daughter… all to cover up their secret.
Lord Indrath was a genocidal maniac… but was he worse than Agrona? If I had to make a choice, could I side with Agrona despite everything he had done?
No. But I didn’t have to forgive Indrath either. It was his fault Sylvia had died alone in a cave. It was his fault that Agrona had been allowed to overtake Alacrya, to experiment on the people there, and to go to war with Dicathen.
Damn it! Damn it all!
It was only when Regis floated out of my chest that I was jolted from my thoughts.
“Well, that was a lot to take in,” the black will-o-wisp said.
I stared at it. “You were able to hear all that?”
“Why else would I want to literally be inside you?” Regis’s bright eyes rolled within his incorporeal body. “Now, I’ve got some good news and bad news—well, two pretty good news and one really bad news. What do you want to hear first?”
I hobbled back to the iridescent stone and picked it up. Within was Sylvia’s daughter, my bond, who she had entrusted me to take care of.
“Let’s just start with the good news,” Regis said, hovering in front of me. “Based on what I discovered while you were lying over there half-dead, I think we’re actually in one of the hidden ruins of the ancient mages the old dragon lady mentioned.”
I pried my gaze off of the stone in my hand and looked up. “Are you sure?”
“Yup, take a look at the door on the opposite end of this room. Along with the dried blood and drinkable water fountain, I’d say that this is some sort of waiting grounds for whatever horrendous challenges that the ancient mages built to keep outsiders from whatever knowledge is stored at the bottom.”
I studied the metal door, which was etched with runes along the frame, then glanced at Regis.
“Yeah, you might be right,” I admitted blandly.
Regis gasped. “Regis has gained master’s approval! Regis is worthy!”
Ignoring this, I looked back down at the small stone in my hand.
“The second good news you’ve probably guessed, but I confirmed that Sylvie is alive by taking a peek inside.”
“You went inside here?” I asked, holding up the stone.
“I was curious,” Regis said, bobbing in what could only have been a shrug. “Anyway, your bond used a high-level vivum art to give you some of her asuran body in order to save you…”
Regis’s eyes turned sharp. “Which leads me to the bad news. I don’t think you were able to hear Sylvia’s message because you’ve ascended past the white core stage. In fact, your core is damaged beyond recognition.”
256
Resolve
“Damaged? No, that’s not…” My voice trailed off as I felt the internal condition of my body.
Regis was right. When I tried to spread mana throughout my body, an act as natural as breathing for a Lance, there was only a slight tingle.
Changing tactics, I tried to gather ambient mana. This time, I couldn’t feel anything at all—no blanket of warmth like before, when mana once rushed inside me and coalesced in my core.
“No,” I muttered, heaving my heavy body up onto my feet.
I threw a jab, attempting to channel mana from my core through the necessary parts of my body needed to carry out a punch. It felt painfully slow.
“Arthur…” Regis said, floating up in front of my face.
Ignoring him, I pivoted and kicked forward. I stumbled and fell, unable to even keep my balance.
Pushing myself up, I tried moving my body again. It reminded me of my time as a toddler in this world: my brain knew how to move, but my body just wouldn’t listen.
I fell, and I fell again, each time more infuriating and embarrassing than the last.
After a particularly bad stumble when my face hit the smooth floor, my arms unable to even react in time to cushion my fall, I stayed on the ground.
“What the hell is wrong with me!” I howled in frustration, rubbing at my already bruising cheek.
All of that hard work—years upon years of training and refining my core, learning to control all of the elements effectively—all gone.
I pounded my head on the ground, barely feeling anything more than a dull throb despite how hard the floor shook, and screamed in helpless frustration.
Whether I had calmed myself or had just run out of energy, I didn’t know, but I found myself staring at Sylvie’s stone. I imagined her curled up in her fox form inside the stone, warm and snug and sleeping, waiting for me to rescue her.
She had sacrificed her life for me and was reduced back to this state. She was the one that paid the price for all my stupid choices.
If I can’t get things together for myself, I need to do it for her. At the very least, I owe her that.
I got up and silently made my way back to the water fountain. Cupping my hands, I brought the cold water to my mouth and drank. After quenching my thirst, I splashed some water on my face and washed off the remnants of dried blood from the floor before taking a hard look at my reflection.
A slightly older and sharper-faced Arthur looked back at me with piercing gold eyes. My hair reminded me of bleached sand as it flowed just past my shoulder in waves. It was as if my new physical body was a tribute to her. I was glad that I was still Arthur, but, looking into my golden eyes, I felt appreciation for the opportunity to share these features, even as I felt the sharp guilt that I did so only because of Sylvie’s sacrifice.
What would Ellie say when she saw me, I wondered. Would I hear her exclaim “Brother!” or would she look at me like I was a stranger? Mom would look into my golden eyes and her heart would break, knowing my father’s deep blue eyes were gone. Would Tessia still… love me?
You have to figure out some way to get back to them to know for sure, I reminded myself.
Ripping a thin strip of cloth from my tattered pants, I tied my hair back.
“What do we do now?” I asked, turning to Regis.
The will-o-wisp’s shining eyes quirked like someone cocking an eyebrow. “You realize you’re asking advice from a weapon, right?”
I remained silent, staring at him until he sighed and rolled his eyes.
“You’re a bag of laughs,” he grumbled as he floated toward me. “Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice, seeing as there is only one way out of this room.”
“So we just go through the door?” I confirmed, already heading to the large metal door.
“Hold it, Goldilocks,” he began. “Are you trying to get yourself
killed?”
“What do you mean?” I asked before the familiar term registered in my brain. “And how do you know who Goldilocks is?”
“I’m made from you, remember? All of the things you know, whether from this life or your past life, has influenced what I am right now,” he answered. “So really, if you’re ever annoyed with me, remember that you’re just annoyed at yourself.”
“I don’t remember ever being this sardonic or derisive,” I retorted.
“Well… to be more specific, I guess I’m an amalgamation of you, Sylvia, your bond, and that Vritra retainer, Uto,” the floating black fire explained. “Those were the primary sources of mana I manifested from, anyway.”
That explains a lot, I thought, looking at Regis in a new light.
“Anyway,” he droned, “You’re not in a state where you should be going through any sort of door haphazardly, especially if this entire place was meant to keep people out.”
“Yeah, I know,” I cut in. “My core is pretty messed up and my body feels like it’s made of lead or something, but it’s not like we can just stay here.”
“Disregarding your injured core for a moment, do you remember when I said that Sylvie used some pretty heavy aether voodoo on you to keep your body from basically destroying itself?”
I nodded my head. “Mhm.”
“Well, perhaps the one good thing that came out of all of this—aside from myself, of course—is your new body,” Regis explained. “Your body, while not being completely draconic, is pretty damn close.”
My eyes widened and I immediately lowered my head, looking down at my arms and torso. Aside from the color of my hair and eyes changing, the features of my face becoming a little sharper and my skin becoming paler, it didn’t feel any different from my human body—actually, it felt worse.
“I’m not sure how much pain you actually remember feeling,” Regis said, as if reading my thoughts, “but you nearly died during this ‘metamorphosis.’ It’ll take some time and a lot of effort to temper your body.”
“How do I temper this new body of mine, and what happens after I’m able to?” I asked.