Chapter 37: The Sands Of Time
Arthur Leywin POV :
Leaves crunched behind me. Sylvie had come out from the earthen shelter, but one glance was all it took for me to realize that it wasn't my bond, despite her physical form.
"Let's take a walk, shall we?" she said, and her voice was the same, but the cadence and pitch were alien.
Powerless, out of ideas, and at the edge of hope, there was nothing I could do but follow. For five minutes we walked, accompanied only by the snapping of twigs and the crunch of foliage under our feet. The myriad emotions within me congealed into a single black thought: This is the creature responsible for it all—all the misery, all the deaths. I wished then that I could reach out and pull Agrona from Sylvie's small form, wrap my hands around his throat, and squeeze…
"Whew!" Sylvie huffed, taking a seat on a fallen log. "Controlling this body even for simple things like walking is hard work."
"What do you want, Agrona?" I spat out vehemently, negotiating would be fruitless now that we've lost the war.
"A question I have no obligation to answer."
"If that is how it is, then leave. I have nothing to say to you." I wouldn't be able to hold this tough exterior for long.
Sylvies face contorted into one of surprise, an eyebrow raised, "My, you were more hospitable last time. What changed? Was it my decree for your brother to be executed?"
"Leave." I breathed out through gritted teeth, a scowl etched on my face.
"And what if I don't?" He challenged back.
The rage in me compressed into one dangerous point and my face calmed, "Did you know that my branch of aether is Spatium? That means the distance between me and you doesn't matter, I can still harm you."
"Oh? An empty threat, Arthur Leywin. We both know your control over aether is trivial at best."
I ignited realmheart, my runes brighter than ever and placed my palm over Sylvies forehead, "Does this seem trivial to you?"
The motes of Aether answered my call, slowly gravitating to my arm. I could feel the connection between Sylv and Agrona. Ambient aether followed my will and moved to surround this connection. Agrona actually seemed worried now.
"Spacial rend." I muttered, the knowledge of this spell somehow ingraining itself in my long term memory.
Sylvies body slumped down and I couldn't feel their connection any longer.
"A-Arthur?" Sylvie opened her eyes, confused as to why she was standing and why I had my palm over her forehead. "What's going on?"
I dropped realmheart and let the mental barrier, which I had been honing and fortifying specifically to shield Sylvie from the knowledge of Agrona's power over her, fall, allowing my bond to read my thoughts and memories unobstructed.
"Ever since you broke the seal that Sylvia had placed on you, Agrona has been able to take over your consciousness for short periods of time. Today, somehow, I severed that connection."
Sylvie's expression transitioned quickly from confusion, to fear, to disgust. Her mouth opened, as if to ask me a question, then snapped closed when she had found the answer in my mind.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
Standing shakily, Sylvie walked slowly over to me. Her thoughts and emotions were hidden from me. Since I was still on my knees, we stood face to face. Her right hand came up and slapped me across the cheek with inhuman force, nearly knocking me backwards. The blow would have broken a normal person's neck.
"There. We're even now." Sylvie leaned forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face into my shoulder.
I gripped my bond back tightly, so afraid to lose her as well. I was grateful when she let me back in, let me feel what she felt, so I could know she didn't hate me for what I'd done
My mask shattered and raw emotion made tears well up in my eyes. Am I the only one left now?
'You are not alone.'
Sylvie understood the anger, guilt, sorrow, and grief burning me up from the inside, just like all those other poor souls who died in the castle. Yet, the very fact that I could share these feelings with Sylvie, and that she accepted them, was enough for me to move forward.
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An argument had begun back at the camp, Bairon insisted on returning not realizing the situation we were in. Virion, on the other hand, knew we had lost the war, he knew that returning would serve no purpose and would only end up with us dead.
He mentioned something about a shelter he, and the other elders, had built for the worst case scenario. That was our destination.
"Where is it?"
"You can't be serious," Bairon interrupted. "You are a Lance. We have a duty to uphold, for the sake of our people. Are we going to abandon them— leave them all to die?"
Now, my emotions were already at an all time high and Bairons outbursts were aggravating me. "Look, if you want to return to the castle and kill yourself, be my guest. As it stands, we have to make a tactical retreat and strike when the time is right, not charging in wildly and killing ourselves."
Virion nodded, "If even one of us die, we'd leave no hope for the future."
"The future…" Sylvie muttered as if it was a foreign idea. And truth be told, it certainly seemed that way.
"Yes! The future. We need to recuperate if we want a chance to take back Dicathen," Virion said seriously.
Bairon's shoulders slumped, and, for the first time, I saw the Lance let his mantle of authority and power fall, and he seemed so fragile and vulnerable. "So… there's nothing we can do right now to win this war?"
"We need to stay alive and gather the Lances," Virion replied, giving Bairon a fatherly, understanding look. "It's the best chance we've got."
'What do you think we should do?' Sylvie asked, knowing that my thoughts were still filled with Tessia and my family.
Steeling myself for the arguments I knew would come, I said, "Sylvie and I will take the two of you to wherever this secret shelter is, but after that we're going to look for my mom, my sister, and Tess."
"Arthur..." Virion's voice was hollow, pained. His eyes shone with tears, though I was surprised he had any left to shed. I saw in those eyes the fear and despair that threatened to overrun me, but, as it had with Sylvie, sharing these emotions only hardened my resolve.
I held up my hand, showing Virion the plain silver ring that Vincent had given me. My mother still wore its twin. "This is an artifact connected with a ring that my mother has. I know she's still alive—I can feel it—and I won't abandon her to the Vritra."
The truth was, my mother could have taken her ring off at any time, or it could have been removed by force. With the constant threat of death, I had started removing my own when I went to battle since my parents had been engaged in their own battles. There were also the Phoenix Wyrm pendants my mother and Ellie both wore, which would protect them from even a killing blow, though it would only work once.
"I need to do this," I said, "but I'm not going to disappear. I'll direct any Dicathians I meet back to the shelter, and I will learn everything I can about what the Alacryans are up to."
"I understand," Virion whispered, closing his eyes.
Quietly, I got to work, collapsing the earthen shelter and erasing all signs that we had ever stopped here.
"So, where is this shelter, Commander Virion?" Bairon asked.
Virion grabbed a stick and proceeded to draw a rough map of Dicathen in the dirt, indicating our position with a circle. "The refuge that we had found is near the southern coast of Darv, just along the Grand Mountains—"
"Found?" I cut in. "I thought you said you and the elders had built it."
"We found a cave system—by all appearances, man-made. We built on top of it and hid it more thoroughly."
"Well, how are we going to traverse the near-thousand miles it'll take to reach this shelter? We can't fly; it's too dangerous." Bairon was staring down at the map, his shoulders drooping again.
"You're right, but it'll be just as risky to try and take a teleportation gate to a city within Darv. We could fly only at night—"
"How about this," I cut in again. Borrowing Virion's stick, I drew a jagged line running through Sapin. "We're about an hour's hike away from the Sehz River, which flows all the way down through Darv and into the ocean. We can keep to the river until nightfall, then travel the rest by sky."
"There are cities built along the Sehz though," Sylvie countered. "Won't we be a bit noticeable traveling on the water?"
The ghost of a smile fell on my face, "Who said anything about traveling on the water?"
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Virion was fascinated by my idea of traveling under water, the same couldn't be said for Bairon. He was latched on to Sylvie so tightly that even with her armor Sylvie complained about the pain.
I had to create two pockets of air, one over Sylvie's back to allow Virion, Bairon, and I to breath and stay dry, and another around Sylvie's head. While we weren't submerged deep enough to have to worry about the water pressure, it did mean that keeping the air pockets stable was quite a bit harder.
To speed our journey, I was using water magic to push us faster, and Sylvie had fashioned a fin made of mana that connected to the end of her tail. It might not have been as fast as flying, but we were making great distance.
The water around us grew dark as soon as the sun started its descent. Once I was confident we could fly unseen, I signaled for Sylvie to take off. There was a peculiar moment where the air bubbles maintained their shape after we left the river, billowing around us in the wind as they shed the last droplets of water that clung to them before I withdrew my mana, letting them disperse with a faint pop.
'Will you be okay flying with them on your back?' I asked Sylvie, sliding off of her scales and soaring through the air beside her. Virion and Bairon were still barely able to use mana after their fight against the Scythe and would tire quickly if they had to fly under their own power.
'I'll manage,' she replied, beating her powerful wings to accelerate.
Below us, the shadowy landscape began turning into desert as we crossed over the border into Darv. I took one last look back, trying not to think about the battles going on throughout Sapin and Elenoir, and the chaos our troops were facing as they were suddenly left without their commander.
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"Here! We have to land here!!" Virion suddenly called out as we flew over the vast deserts of Darv.
"There's nothing here though!" Bairon argued, his head turning left and right.
I looked around, shielding my eyes from the sharp gusts of wind, but below us were just a few odd boulders and lots and lots of sand.
It had been easier to navigate above the clouds, as we could map our relative location using the various peaks of the Grand Mountains as our compass, but now it was impossible to see the range of mountains, or much of anything else, because of the sand-laden winds.
It would have been nearly impossible to navigate if not for the pearlescent shrouds of mana I kept around Virion, Bairon, and myself to protect from the wind and sand. Sylvie descended, taking Virion and Bairon to the ground, and I followed behind.
"Flying through that was… tough," Sylvie muttered after switching to her human form. She wore all black as usual, but her scales had formed into a thick shawl that covered most of her face and body to combat the harsh winds.
"You did well, Lady Sylvie," Virion said, peering through the swirling sands. "It's nearly impossible to fly this far south with the powerful winds here.
"Perhaps for mana beasts," Sylvie replied flatly.
"Ah—Of course. My apologies…" Virion muttered, still scouring the area around us.
"So where is this refuge of yours?" I asked. Virion pointed at a tall column of stone I hadn't noticed previously. "We have to head over there."
"That thing?" Bairon pointed, squinting to see it. "It's a bit conspicuous for a hidden shelter, isn't it?"
"That thing isn't the shelter, it's the landmark Buhnd made to mark the shelter's location," Virion corrected, bending forward against the wind and walking toward the standing stone.
Once close enough to see the pillar properly, Virion pointed to a deep gash in its center and said, "We start from here. With your heel against the pillar, we take 35,651 steps forward."
Bairon, Sylvie, and I exchanged glances before looking back to Virion. "Really? This is the only way to find the shelter?"
"For now, yes," Virion answered. "The shelter itself branches off into various tunnels that haven't been explored, though, so I'm hoping that more entrances may be discovered."
Sylvie looked from the pillar to Virion. "If this is the only way to get to the shelter, it'll be almost impossible to bring normal civilians here discreetly."
She was right, the shelter would have no point if we could only bring a few people here. Virion realized this too. He turned away, gazing in the direction we were expected to walk.
"Well, we've come all this way. Let's go to this shelter first, then we can talk about logistics," I suggested, resting a hand on Virion's shoulder. "Lead the way, Gramps."
It was a rough journey. Virion walked heel to toe while I kept count, so we couldn't fly or use any shortcuts. Under normal circumstances, such a trip would have required significant preparation. However, for a group consisting of two Lances, a silver core mage, and an asura, we were able to get by. Our mana-barriers kept us safe from the cold desert air and sharp winds, and we were able to draw fresh water from the atmosphere when we grew thirsty.
"I can take over from here, Commander," Bairon said. Virion had just taken step 10,968.
I shook my head, "No. Your feet are larger, it'll throw us off."
Bairon glared at me, but I ignored him and signaled for Virion to continue walking. We travelled in silence. Sylvie even blocked her mental link so she wouldn't accidentally break my concentration with her thoughts—or perhaps so she wouldn't have to hear me monotonously counting numbers in my head.
Though the journey was long and tedious, I found the counting to be meditative; I cleared my mind of all else and focused on keeping track of our steps.
We did stop every few hours so that Virion and Bairon could stretch and rest. They were still recovering, and, while their bodies had healed, both men seemed somewhat diminished, and the trek through the sands was taxing. The sand pulled at our feet, and the wind always seemed against us, regardless of the direction we faced.
After another ten thousand steps, Virion's pace was faltering, and the old elf started to shiver.
"Virion," I said firmly, gripping his arm and sending a wave of heat through his body. His cheeks immediately reddened as the blood rushed back to his pale face.
"Let me know when you're getting cold."
"T-thank you," he replied with a weary smile. "And don't worry, I'm tougher than I look, brat."
I watched as he walked on. His once broad shoulders seemed so narrow and weak as he hunched forward. For the first time in my memory, Virion appeared old.
So continued our long, slow march through the desert, illuminated only by the pale moon and stars. We couldn't even cast a light for fear that a Scythe or retainer might be nearby. Though it felt as though we would never reach our destination, finally, I reached the last number.
"We're here," I announced skeptically. Around us was only sand, as far as my mana-enhanced vision could see.
Bairon, Sylvie, and I all looked at Virion. Our commander was bent over, holding out a white, pentagonal medallion and sweeping it back and forth.
"What is that?"
"I'm not sure exactly, but we found several of these inside the castle when we first discovered it. It seems to be a relic from the mages of the past," Virion answered, not taking his eyes off the sandy ground.
"You mean the same ancient mages that had built both the floating city of Xyrus as well as the castle?" Bairon asked, glancing around us nervously.
Virion nodded and continued to walk in circles, waving the white medallion in his hand as if it were a magnifying glass.
I'd heard about these ancient mages now and again. Many of the previous artifacts that helped the Dicathen civilization grow came from the ancient mages. It's safe to say that, without the teleportation gates and the mana- rich atmosphere of the floating city of Xyrus, most of Dicathen's lands would've remained untamed.
Many artificers and researchers believed that the ancient mages had either discovered the technology to transport themselves to another world, or had wiped themselves out while conducting a large-scale experiment of some sort. Based on the lack of evidence supporting either of these theories, most of Dicathen's scholars had more or less given up on finding out what had happened to our ancestors, according to what I'd read.
Virion had been at it for quite some time, and Bairon, Sylvie, and I were growing restless. The old elf let out a frustrated grunt and turned back to us. "It's not here."
"What do you mean it's not here?" I asked, an edge of frustration creeping into my voice. "You said that taking 35,651 steps straight while facing away from that gash on the pillar would lead us to the shelter."
"I know what I said!" he snapped.
"Then what do we do?" I knew Virion was just trying to do what he thought best by relocating to this shelter, but I couldn't help but chafe at the wasted time spent trudging through the desert when I should be searching for my family.
"I don't think we have a choice. We'll have to start over again," Virion said, his voice falling and his eyes turning away, staring back the way we had come.
"No," I said forcefully, my patience at its limit. "We just wasted the better half of a day counting our footsteps because you wanted to find this shelter. There has to be another way to get in."
"Well there isn't!" he shot back, walking towards me, his eyes suddenly blazing. "You think I want to be out here after my entire family was taken from me? Huh? If it was solely up to what I want, I'd be marching with my men to face the Scythe and die in battle—then, at least I would feel like I'd done what I could to avenge them. But that's not what a leader does, Arthur. When everyone else has given up, I'm the one that has to hold onto a semblance of hope, and fight for the future!"
He stabbed a gaunt finger into my chest. "So don't you dare say this is what I 'want.'"
I stood there, speechless, as Virion walked away. Bairon's expression mirrored my own, and even the howling winds seemed to fall quiet.
"Wait," Sylvie said, breaking the silence. She turned to me. "I noticed this earlier, but I couldn't quite figure out what I was feeling. I think the artifact that Virion is holding influences aether. Arthur, can you activate Realmheart?"
I did as she asked, eager to try anything if it would prevent us from having to take this arduous hike again. Igniting Sylvia's dragon will, I felt a sharp pain spread out of my core and through my body and limbs from the backlash of overusing my mana during my battle with the Scythe. However, as my vision shifted to monochrome and specks of color began lighting up the world around me, I felt a jolt of excitement.
Amidst the tiny motes of yellow, green, blue, red, and purple, I found something in the distance. We must've shifted off course during our hike here; several hundred yards to my left, there was a cluster of purple aether that shone like a beacon.
"Sylvie, you absolute genius! I found it. I found it!" I grinned around at them like a fool, my frustration and anger washed away in an instant.
Sylvie's eyes brightened at my words and thoughts. She immediately transformed into her draconic form and plucked both Virion and Bairon from the ground with her front claws.
I flew ahead, just above the ground, the speed of my passage leaving a furrow in the sand below me. It took only moments to reach the circular array of purple motes.
"It's here," I said, pointing directly to the center of the array.
Virion disentangled himself from Sylvie's claws and hurriedly scrambled to me, holding the artifact tightly as he placed it over the sand. A look of relief passed over his face, as if he had just set down a great weight.
"You're right. This is the place," he said, looking at the white medallion on top of the sand.
Bairon arrived too, his brow raised in doubt. "Nothing is happen—"
The medallion began to vibrate. Its vibrations caused pulsating waves in the sand around it, spreading several yards out in all directions. The pulses got stronger until the rolling sand formed small waves.
Sylvie and I exchanged wary glances, but before we could do any more, the ground below us sank and we fell through the sand.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone