Transcendence, page 48
part #6 of The Beginning After The End Series
That was why most mages didn’t fly even if they were able to—what use was flying when it took complete focus to sustain it? And the mana expenditure wasn’t cheap.
If manipulating mana became this easy, then I could see how the Lances were able to fly while casually talking to me or even casting spells. Eager to know what my limits were, I was tempted to immediately head down to the training room and test a few theories out—I was especially excited to activate Realmheart just to see what I could do. However, just then a sharp pain flared in my head, wrenching me out of my thoughts.
‘Arthur! Something’s happening…’
Sylvie’s voice rang in my head, but sounded muffled and distorted.
Sylvie? What’s wrong?
I called out to her several more times but didn’t get a response. Feelings of excitement and elation were immediately replaced by worry and fear as I headed down the flight of stairs to the small training room she had isolated herself in.
I turned the cold metal handle of the door, but it was locked. “Sylvie, I’m here! Can you hear me?”
No response.
I shook harder, hoping it was just jammed. When I realized it wasn’t, I punched a hole near the knob, rendering the lock mechanism useless. Pushing open the door, I stepped inside only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me.
Standing in the back of the dimly-lit room was a wide-eyed little girl in a simple black robe—with two unmistakable black horns jutting out from the side of her head.
I thought I was seeing things at first.
I blamed the poor lighting and the shadows it cast, thought they were playing tricks on my eyes. But when I stepped closer and the girl looked up and we locked eyes, I knew.
“Sylvie? Is that you?”
The girl cracked open an uneasy smile, a trace of fear and excitement evident in her bright topaz eyes. “Hi, Arthur.”
We both stood there. Neither one of us knew what to do, what to say, how to react. I couldn’t believe it. My eyes told me that I was seeing a girl who looked no older than eight or nine, with long choppy hair that was the same pale wheat color as her draconic form’s underbelly; looking more closely, her messy hair looked like soft feathers rather than actual strands of hair.
Little of the girl’s small face was covered by her hair, since her bangs barely covered half of her forehead. Her round yellow eyes shifted uneasily under my scrutinizing gaze.
Finally she sent a mental transmission. ‘How long are you going to keep staring like that?’
Caught off guard, I flinched, not at the words themselves but at the emotions that were intertwined in them.
Unlike before, I could feel the emotions she was feeling while she communicated through my mind. I could tell she was uncomfortable and embarrassed, but at the same time excited and anxious. It was odd, experiencing foreign emotions in my mind; it had never felt like this before. At most, Sylvie had been able to send one, extremely strong, emotion to me, like she was telling me how she felt, but it had never been this… intimate, for lack of a better word.
“Sorry,” I said aloud. “I’m still digesting everything right now. What exactly happened?”
“After absorbing the retainer’s mana from the horn you gave me, I was finally able to break the seal that you and grandpa said my mother placed on me to keep me hidden.” The disparity between her childish voice and her words threw me off, but I nodded in understanding.
“So by breaking the seal, you were able to unlock the human form that asuras are able to transform into?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking down at her small hands. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t had the chance to really study the changes in my body, so I can’t tell you exactly what’s happening at this moment but—”
Sylvie abruptly lurched and staggered, nearly falling forward before she regained balance.
“Sylvie? You okay?” I asked, concerned.
Sylvie stood in place for a moment, frozen. I cautiously made my way to her, unable to even fathom what was wrong. Slowly, she looked up at me.
When our eyes locked again this time, however, a chill ran down my spine. Her appearance was the same—nothing had changed—but her presence, her demeanor, her gaze were completely different. So much so that I had involuntarily stepped back from her.
‘Sylvie’ straightened herself, swaying her neck side to side as if she was stretching it.
“Ah, ah,” she said, clearing her throat. “You can hear me, yes?”
I raised a brow, not knowing how to answer.
“I’ll take that gesture as a yes,” she said dismissively.
“Who are you?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
‘Sylvie’ smirked, an expression that looked unnatural on her face. “I’m grateful you happened to be in the same room when the connection was finally established. It makes things so much easier.”
“Who. Are. You?” I repeated.
Her smirk widened to a grin. “Agrona.”
Chapter 56
Man Behind the Veil
I could feel the blood drain from my face, but I held my ground. Despite the casual disclosure, I could tell that Syl—Agrona was carefully observing my reaction. The same two gleaming yellow eyes that had looked so innocent and confused just moments ago were now bright ruby and carried an unwavering confidence and authority—he could’ve just as easily said he was some sort of sentient shapeshifter from a different planet and I would’ve been compelled to believe him.
Giving no indication that his words had any effect on me, I made a simple gesture with my hand, casting multiple spells simultaneously. The door slammed shut and a thick stone slab sprouted up to barricade the entrance; a swirling layer of wind surrounded the two of us, muting any sound that might leak from the room.
“Is Sylvie safe while you’re in control of her body?” I asked.
“Sylvie… a good name.” Agrona breathed as if savoring the sound. “Yes, what I’m using to speak with you like this is a harmless spell that I embedded into her while she was still an egg. Sylvie’s simply sleeping.”
Two stone chairs popped up from the ground and I took a seat, gesturing at Agrona to do the same.
Agrona sat down, leaning back in the seat contentedly. “Thanks for the hospitality, and for keeping your wits together. Communicating is so much easier when you’re not trying to kill me.”
“You’re possessing my bond, so hurting you in this form wouldn’t be very effective,” I replied calmly.
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been able to put up much of a fight regardless, since I can’t use any mana arts like this, but I digress. Shall we talk about something a bit more important than the various flaws of this method of communication?”
Seconds ticked by in silence, with only the faint whistle of the field of wind surrounding us while the two of us stared at each other.
My brain whirled with activity, trying to make sense of the sudden change of events while devising a clever way to take full advantage of it. Afterall, it wasn’t every day you could calmly have a one-on-one meeting with the enemy’s leader in the middle of a war. But whether it was because I was still having a hard time believing all of it or because my worry over Sylvie was constantly nagging at me even with my calm façade, my mind couldn’t keep a coherent train of thought. So I asked the one question that had bugged me ever since he had first taken control of Sylvie.
“You said you were grateful that I happened to be in the same room when you made the connection. Why did you only seek me out?”
“Fair question. First reason, and the more obvious one, is that I’m sure most of the members of your leadership wouldn’t take too kindly to me intruding on their home turf in the form of a little girl. Assuming that they even believed me, it would scare the living shit out of them that I could intrude on the most ‘secure’ location on the continent,” he answered. “Although… it would be amusing to see their reaction.”
“And the second reason?”
“Because”—he leaned forward and grinned—“you’re the only one on this continent that I’m interested in.”
I hadn’t expected that answer. What did the leader of a rogue asura clan that was hundreds, if not thousands, of years old find interesting about me? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be a good thing.
My expression must’ve betrayed me because the asura abruptly let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to just suddenly pin you to the ground and have my way with you. Even assuming my tastes suddenly skewed that way, it’d still be a little inappropriate in this form, no?”
I rolled my eyes at this supposed mastermind behind the intercontinental war, unable to make heads or tails of his character.
“You’re a lot more eccentric than I imagined… almost sociable,” I commented.
Agrona raised a brow, amused. “Did you perhaps see me as some poised dictator in a silken cape, hell-bent on making the world all mine?”
“Something like that.”
He put on a grave expression as he leaned forward. “Well…”
Agrona flashed a smile. “You’re partly right!”
He leaned back again, as if unable to find a comfortable position to sit still in. “Don’t let this pleasant demeanor fool you. I have my goals and ambitions and a face I show my people in public. But as for my personality, after spending generations upon generations amongst you lessers, who seem to change your ethics and social mores on a whim, it’s a pain to keep up with appearing dignified and cultured. For instance, even in my continent just a couple hundred years ago, it used to be normal to have public torture and executions—hell, they even brought snacks and watched it as free entertainment. Now? It’s somehow become shockingly horrifying to them.”
He waved a hand dismissively. “I have my people to handle and run the lessers based on their ever-changing sense of right and wrong.”
Wow, he talks a lot. Still, there was a lot of knowledge contained in his little rant. From what I’d seen facing the Alacryan soldiers—and, truthfully, my own prejudice based on the crazy Vritra like Uto and the witch—I had imagined that the enemy continent would be some horrid wasteland full of lessers enslaved to do the Vritra’s bidding.
But from what Agrona had just said, Alacrya seemed to be like any normal developing land, with leaders that actually cared for their citizens.
“That look you have right now.” He pointed a finger at me. “That annoying look of pleasant surprise… you were thinking it’s weird that I actually give a shit about the lessers in Alacrya, huh?”
“Well, from what the asuras told me, you’ve been conducting experiments on the lessers and breeding with them even before you were kicked out of Epheotus,” I remarked.
I expected him to get mad—at least annoyed—but instead his expression turned somber. “The best lie is only telling half the truth, I suppose. Kezess and that lackey of his, Windsom, never told you the reason why I did all this, did they?”
So Lord Indrath’s first name is Kezess, I noted internally before replying. “It was to build an army capable of bringing down the other asuras, no?”
“That’s all they told you?” Agrona rolled his eyes, tapping his fingers impatiently on the chair’s armrest. “Arthur, do you think I one day just woke up wanting to commit genocide against my brethren?”
“Any reason you have isn’t justification for what you’re trying to do,” I stated firmly.
He scoffed. “I should have more or less expected you to have the same mindset as Kezess and the rest of his underlings.”
Annoyed, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“Let’s suppose you lived in this continent without being able to use magic; how differently would everyone you know have treated you today? The royal families you know? They wouldn’t bat an eye in your direction. Your peers from Xyrus? You would never have met them—probably would’ve just befriended thugs and farmers from your own social class. Your family? Well, they might be the only ones that love you, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be inwardly disappointed by your lack of talent.”
I raised a brow. “And… this hypothetical person is supposed to relate to you?”
“Basilisks in general were notorious amongst other races, but imagine if your very clansmen and family looked down on you for the miniscule talent that you had no control over. The same Lord Indrath who approved of you in that brusque and lofty way of his didn’t even find it worthwhile to breathe in my direction,” Agrona spat, his fingers clawing away at the armrest.
“So you found it justifiable to inhumanely toy with the lives of countless ‘lessers’ in order for you to get stronger?” I shot back.
He tilted his head. “Do you shed tears for the ants you step on?”
Rage smoldered in my stomach, but by his tone and expression, it didn’t seem like he was looking down on me. He truly felt that lessers were like bugs.
“It was naive to think we could have a rational conversation,” I said.
Agrona spread his arms, looking at me with a proud smile. “What I achieved through those experiments has benefited not only myself, but the lessers in Alacrya—to such a degree that they worship me. Not out of fear, but out of reverence. To them, I am their savior.”
“Savior?” I scoffed again. “Did you somehow wipe their memories of killing and torturing your people’s ancestors or something?”
“Killing and torturing… I could taste the bitterness in your words from here, Arthur,” he said, feigning a hurt expression. “Why, I’ve merely utilized the many lessers who were available to me in order to strengthen my own kind’s inherent abilities. I’m sure those test subjects are grateful that I made use of them. After all, I’ve accomplished something unimaginable. It is their heirs, the future generations of their families, that now live to reap the reward for their sacrifice.
I wanted to slap the snide look off his face, but this egotistical maniac truly believed that what he was doing was right.
“What have you managed to accomplish for their future generations that is so great it supersedes decades of you conducting experiments on the inhabitants of Alacrya?” I asked, playing along.
“I’ll answer that question with another question,” he gestured. “I know the rough statistic of mages to nonmages in Dicathen is one to one hundred. What do you suppose the statistic is in Alacrya?”
I remained silent.
Agrona smirked. “It’s one in five.”
“One… one in five?” I sputtered.
“Unimaginable by your standards as well, right?” He gave me a wink.
“I’ll admit that what you manage to do is impressive, but aren’t you afraid that with so many of the population being mages, those who still hold a grudge against you will band together and revolt?”
Agrona looked at me for a second in silence before he burst out laughing.
“Oh… you weren’t joking,” he said in between laughs after seeing my expression. “Like I said earlier, my people, whether they have some of my genes or they’re still full blooded lessers, revere me. Because of the structured process of awakening I have devised for them, many of them can utilize magic to improve their mundane lives.”
“You’re telling me that you spent the time and effort to devise this method for what… the actual benefit of Alacryans?” I asked, skeptical. “I’ve heard from the asuras, but since they’re apparently so skewed in their views, I want to hear it from your mouth. What is your goal in all of this?”
“Ooh, is this the part where the villain falls into a monologue and reveals his nefarious plans to the righteous hero?” he replied excitedly, steepling his fingers.
I shook my head. “You’re insane.”
“Insanity is relative,” he said, unwavering. “And as for your question, I have no intention of telling you anything.”
“You said you were interested in me earlier. I assumed it was because you wanted my help, but withholding your goal in all this hardly makes me want to jump over to your side,” I pushed, hoping to get an answer out of him.
Agrona leaned back. “I never expected you to come to my side as a result of this little conversation. I told you all this because it is my hope that you will remove yourself from the war.”
“What? Why would I—”
Agrona held up a hand. “Before you say no, consider this. Thus far, I’ve been progressing very conservatively in this war—refraining from unnecessary civilian deaths, since I have use for them—but that does not mean it will continue this way.
“You’ve barely managed to cling to your life up until now, but this is just the start. Statistically speaking, how likely is it that your side can win this war—and that your family and other loved ones will be alive after everything?” He paused before speaking again. “You can hide, seek refuge in Alacrya—anything really, just as long you don’t become an opponent to my army. Guarantee that, and I will guarantee that you and your loved ones will be left untouched.”
It would be a lie to say a small part of me wasn’t tempted. “What do you gain from me doing this? Telling me to keep hidden or go to Alacrya obviously means you want me alive. Why? If I’m not on your side, aren’t I a threat?”
“Despite how I may be perceived and what I’ve done to get to where I am today, I don’t believe that allies can be made through force. If I want you on my side, I won’t attempt that by threats.”
We both stayed silent for a bit. He was waiting for me to respond, and I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to refuse—I should definitely refuse—but for some reason, his words carried a weight that made me truly think.
“It actually seems like you’re thinking about it,” he said. “As a small thank you for that, I’ll divulge a few things that you may or may not have been curious about.” Agrona smoothed out the wrinkles of the black dress Sylvie’s body was wearing. “First. Your parents were attacked not too long ago while transporting supplies to your forces at the Wall, correct?”
I bolted up from my seat, mana coalescing around my entire body.
Still seated, Agrona raised his hands in a placating gesture. His eyes, however, were fierce. “You may not believe me when I say this, but your parents were left untouched because I willed it.”
