The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (29 page)

I roll forward as soon as I can try and spread out the pressure as much as
possible but it wasn’t enough.

As I feel my head spinning, I struggle to stay conscious, my vision
blurring.

My vision!
 

As I lift my head up from the ground, faint lights illuminate the area,
allowing my blurring vision to get a sense of where I was.
 
I seemed to be in a passageway of some
sort, with small lights along the sides.
 
Further down the hall came a brighter source of light.

“Wh-who’s there?” A female voice echoes.

*Cough*

I try answering the frightened voice but again, my voice fails me.

“Please…
 
I need help.”
 

Again, nothing comes out as my vision continues to fade in and out.
 
I try getting up but utterly fail.

“……hold
…….on.”
 
My voice comes out
raspy and weak but she hears me.

I hear harsh, forced breaths from her before she replies with a weak
“okay”.
 

Sylvia’s dragon will assimilated into my body worked wonders as I felt
myself healing.
 
My back was
scorching from sliding down the wall and my legs feel like they’ve been torn
apart and taped back together, but I’m able to stand up within thirty
minutes.
 

Looking around to where I landed, I can’t help but shake my head at the
complete darkness that loomed above me from where I came from.
 
Around me were shattered stones and, I
think, a limb of the Queen Snarler that exploded.
 
Near the limb though, my eyes notice a
reflection coming from under a pile of rubble.

Making my way there slowly, a smile creeps up on my face as I realize what
it was.
 
My sword!
 
Good old Dawn’s Ballad, was soon
retrieved and safely back inside my dimension ring after digging it up and
pulling it out of the shallow pile of rocks on top of it.
 
I put the torn limb of the Mutated Queen
Snarler inside my dimension ring as well, hoping to study it if I ever made it
back up.

Thinking optimistically, I realized I wasn’t in too bad of a shape.
 
I managed to slow myself down enough so
I didn’t have any broken bones.
 
The
shock went through the spine and rattled my brain, making me almost lose
consciousness but considering the circumstances, I feel like it could’ve been a
lot worse.
 
My mana was now
beginning to recover and with my legs functioning, I made my way to the voice
that seemed to have gone silent.

“Hello?”
 
I walk through the
passageway, using the wall as support.

“I’m… here.”
 
The voice seemed
even weaker than it was half an hour ago.

Making my way towards the growing light at the end of the hall, I call out
to her again.

As I reach the end of the tunnel, my vision takes a few seconds to adjust
from the change in brightness after being accustomed to utter darkness for so
long.
 

“This… cough… way.”

“…”

Before I could respond, I almost fall back as I stumble in horror from what
I witness.

The warzone created by the hundreds of Snarler bodies scattered and piled
on top of each other seemed like it was from a children’s picture book compared
to the scene that I can’t seem to peel my eyes away from.

Corpses.
 
Corpses of humans,
elves, and dwarves lay dead and some in pieces around the cavern that would’ve
been considered beautiful.

The once green grass-like moss spread over the ground were dyed red while
the stream crossing through the cavern had floating bodies with blood spreading
around them.
 

There were around forty-fifty corpses, spread out in the cavern with their
weapons next to them.
 
The damage
done to their bodies’ revealed torture as some had their limbs torn apart and
others had cuts all over their bodies before being beheaded.

*Cough*
 
“Are you… still
there?”
 
The weak voice came from my
left.
 

“I can’t see… oh…” My heart drops and I can’t even finish what I say.

The woman that was lying against the wall of the cavern was probably in a
worse state than the carcasses spread around, split apart.
 

The woman, elf, it seems, had most of her limbs torn off.
 
Out of the holes where her right arm and
both legs should’ve been were holes, cruelly sealed by burning the wound.
 
Her eyes were gone as dried blood that
streamed down from where her eyes were stained her cheeks.
 
In the woman’s abdomen, right where her
mana core was, a sleek black spike was impaled through her and once again,
sealed.
 

“You… How?”
 
I drop to my knees
in front of her as I inspect her.
 
Looking at her carefully, I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere.
 
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but
I recognize her face.
 
Where did I…

The Six Lances…
 
The Six
Lances!
 
She was one of the six
strongest mages in all of Dicathen, chosen to represent the Continent.
 

“You’re one of the Six Lances!”
 
I can’t help but sputter out.

“Indeed I am…” She lets out a ragged sigh.

“As for how… If you’re asking me how I’m still alive in this state, it’s
because he left me alive.”
 
Her
eyebrows furrow and the dried blood crusted in between her eyelids crumble,
letting out a faint stream of fresh blood from where her eyes once were.

“He?”
 
I feel like I’m asking
stupid questions but I was so lost.

“Yes, he.
 
He calls himself
Vritra.”
 
With her left hand, the
only limb she had left, she slowly reached for something behind her and pulled
it out.

Inside her hand was a sleek black stone fragment of some sort.
 
As I squinted my eyes and analyzed it, I
was suddenly reminded of my time with Sylvia.

As the memory clicked and the pieces were put together in my head, my hand
squeezed tightly around the black shard as my whole body shook from anger.

I remember why this black stone looked so familiar.

It was part of the horn of one of the black-horned demon that Sylvia first
disguised herself as and also the very species that killed her.

“Can I keep this?”  I realize my palm is bleeding from
grasping the shard of the horn too hard.

“Pft!”  The elven woman, despite her condition, let out
a hearty laugh after my question, catching me by surprise.  Raising an
eyebrow while tilting my head, I couldn’t help but wonder what’s going through
her mind and admire her ability to still be able to laugh considering the
situation she was facing.

“You’re probably looking at me as if I’ve gone insane,
right?”  Her face isn’t turned directly towards me but she seems to know
where I am.

“…I wouldn’t exactly say insane.”  That was the only
thing I could mumble out after she seemingly read my mind.  

“You’re a weird one too, asking a dying soldier if you can
keep something like that.  Keep it.  It won’t hold any value to me
anyway.”  She lets out a sigh and suddenly, her face looks like it’s aged
20 years from the expression she puts on.

“I don’t even know your name, kid, but I’m going to die
soon. There’s no need to try and be sensitive about that fact.”  The elven
warrior, putting on a serious face, faces me directly when she states this.

“My name is Arthur, and yes, unfortunately, there doesn’t
seem to be any way for me to save you.  I’m sorry.”  I put the black
shard inside my dimension ring.

“Sigh… I guess it just wasn’t meant to be then.  Since
I don’t have a lot of time, I’ll tell you as much as I know.”  My chest
felt heavy when she so easily cast aside her hopes and accepted her fate.

“My name is Alea Triscan, as you figured out, I am one of
the members of the 6 lances and those were my troops.  Each Lance is in
charge of a battalion composed of some of the top mages.”  She lets out
another heavy sigh, and for once, I’m glad she isn’t able to witness the
gruesome slaughter scene that turned this once beautiful place into a grave of
mangled corpses

“After the commencement of the 6 lances a few of months ago,
we have been training to work as a team to clear dungeons and other unknown
areas.  The 6 Lances rarely go on missions together, unless we are to
explore an S class dungeon or above.”  She continues after catching her
breath.

“From the direction of your footsteps earlier, it seems you
came in from a different entrance.  This place is actually connected to
three dungeons.  Which dungeon did you come from, Arthur?”  Alea
struggles to prop herself up more comfortably against the wall.

“I came, with my classmates and Professor, from the Widow’s
Crypt.  Everyone else was able to make it back out, but I guess I wasn’t
so lucky.”  I take a seat against the wall next to Alea as I study the
carnage displayed before me.  I’m able to vaguely imagine what happened by
how the bodies are positioned and where they got injured.

“It’s probably really gruesome isn’t it?  I’m not sure
how old you are Arthur, but no one should have to see something like this.”
 Alea chimes in after a moment of silence.

“My age probably won’t correlate too well in regards to
situations like this, but you are right.  No one, regardless of age,
should have to see something like this.”  I can’t help but let out a sigh
as well.

“…”

“My troops and I came from an A class dungeon named Hell’s
Jaw.  We were assigned to investigate the dungeon after getting reports of
inconsistent sightings inside.  The Adventurers that came back alive were
ones who frequented the dungeon for training.  The ones that made it back
were barely alive and they all spoke about how the beasts residing within
suddenly became stronger and fiercer.  Was that the case for the dungeon
you came from as well?”  I notice Alea beginning to talk a bit slower.

“Yeah.  Just on the first floor, an army of Minion
Snarlers welcomed us.  The minions weren’t bad but two Queen Snarlers
showed up.  One of the Queens, after eating the other Queen, turned black
and its strength jumped a few fold.  I suspected this was the cause.”

“What do you mean you suspected
?!
 Are you saying you’ve seen that demon before?”  Alea suddenly
straightens up and looks towards my directions, surprise evident in her voice.

“I’m not sure if it’s the same one, but yes.”  I
respond frankly.

“The same one?  You think there’s more than one?”
 Alea’s already pale face drains to an even whiter color as she asks me
this.

“I don’t have definite proof, but I suspect that the one you
saw, Vritra, is just one of the horned demons out there somewhere.”  I
reply as I can still recall that night where I got separated from Sylvia.
 The black demon with its horns curving downwards said something about
causing them trouble.  It was just a speculation, but I suspected that
there were probably more of them.

My mind begins to spin as I think of all the different
possibilities and reasons as to why they’re doing this.  Is this all for
Sylvie?

I remember when Sylvia gave the stone to me that I had to
protect it all costs.  That “stone” turned out to be an egg, and of a
dragon no less.  Was Sylvie such an important existence that the horned
demons would go this far for?

“What… are you thinking of, Arthur?”  Alea lets out a
strained cough as some fresh blood escapes from the sealed wound where her mana
core once was.

I always found it intriguing that, while beast cores were
capable of being harvested and used as tools to enhance mana, human mana cores
weren’t.  When a mage dies, their mana core shatters and the mana
accumulated inside disperses.  Was it because we gathered mana from the
atmosphere that this happens?

There seemed to be a deeper meaning when I think of how
humans don’t need their mana cores in order to survive, while our mana cores
are dependent on us being alive.  This world seems to revolve around
whether you are a mage or not, and if you are, how strong are you.  I feel
like the God of this world wants to tell us that life is more important than
magic, which should be an obvious statement, but a
statement
which
we seemed to have forgotten.

Before I lose myself deeper into the aspect of a higher
being, Alea’s ragged breathing snaps me back to reality.

“Are you okay?”  That was a dumb question.  Of
course she’s not okay.

“When my team reached the first floor of Hell’s Jaw, there
was nothing off about it; the mana beasts were the same ones that were
recorded.  It was when we reached the final floor where the master of the
dungeon made its den.  The Hades Serpent, which was an AA class mana
beast, should be something I can beat fairly easily myself.”  There was no
trace of boasting or overconfidence in her tone.  It was just a fact for
her.

“The Hades Serpent, which was known for the blue fire
spouting along its spine, looked different.  At first, we were confused
because it didn’t look like it had any flames at all, but when we looked
closer, the reason we couldn’t see the flames against the black walls of the
cave was because the flames themselves were black.

It looked like thick smoke flickering wildly along the spine
of the 30-meter serpent.  That particular Hades Serpent, also had a black
horn jutting out of its forehead while its scales, which were recorded as being
a matte grey color, were sleek black…” Taking a deep breath, I notice Alea
shivering.

“The fight was gruesome.  I lost 5 of my men to that
Hades Serpent.   The fight took several hours but I was able to kill
it.  When we tried to retrieve the beast core though, it wasn’t there.”
 Breaking into another fit of coughs, I run towards the pond and soak
what’s left of my uniform inside.  After rinsing it, I allow the fabric to
absorb as much water as it can before walking over to where Alea was.

“Open your mouth.”  I instruct.

She hesitates for a moment but opens her mouth.  As I
gently squeeze my soaked uniform over her mouth, the water flows out and into
her mouth.

“Ah.”  She lets out a small yelp before fiercely
swallowing water that probably isn’t the most sanitary. She whispers a small
thank you before continuing on with her story.

“Although we were tempted to go back to the surface, we
didn’t manage figure anything out thus far, so we started searching for clues
inside.  One of my men used a spell and found that there was a hidden
tunnel underneath a thin layer of earth.  After crossing the tunnel, we arrived
here...” As Alea’s voice trembled at her last words, tears mixed with blood
streamed down the closed eyelids where her eyes used to be.  

“H-He was here…when we reached this cavern.  I still
remember the way he looked at us.  Those scarlet eyes…” After letting out
a trembling breath, she continues.

“My team and I… no one knew what that monster was so we did
what our instincts told us to do.  We raised our weapons…. that was our
first mistake.  I can still picture it so clearly.  
His pale gray skin.
 His face… it was beastly yet, it
looked almost...human.  He looked at us and smirked, exposing his sharp
fangs.  What threw us off was when he talked...” She whispers now, her
voice getting weaker.

“Mm.”  I respond, just so she knows I’m still there.

“He wasn’t even surprised to see us there.  Vritra, he…
that thing, just looked at us before…”

“Before?” I sit upright as her last statement catches my
attention.

“…He gave us two options.”  Tears and blood streamed
down her once beautiful face again as she willed herself to finish what she was
about to say.

“H-He looked straight at me, as if he knew instantly that I
was the leader, and told me that he’d let me walk out unharmed if I…”

“…”

“…He laughed, telling me how he wanted to watch me dismember
each of my teammates, one by one, in front of him.” Alea was shaking in anger
as her only hand was clenched firmly into a fist.

That ridiculous proposition would’ve infuriated anyone but
looking at the state Alea was in right now, I don’t have the confidence to say
she made the right decision.  Maybe her teammates would’ve wanted her to
kill them quickly instead of being tortured the way they were.

“What was his other choice?” I ask as I gently wrap my hands
over her clenched fist.

“He just… scoffed at us and said ‘…or you can try and
fight’”.  Her blood mixed tears stained the torn remains of her clothes as
she continued to softly cry.

Unable to find the words to adequately comfort her, I just
kept my hands wrapped tightly around her clenched fist.

“…”

Moments trickled by with only the sound of running water and
Alea’s silent sobs breaking the deathly silence.

*Hic*

“We didn’t… stand a chance.”

*Hic*

“I hate to make you relive the scene, but I need as much of
the details as possible, Alea.”  I gently stroke her hand to try and calm
her.

“He had *Hic* one horn in the middle of his forehead… that
curved backwards sharply.” She tried her best to talk calmly.

“One horn?”  So there really was more than one horned
demon!  Was it a clan?  A race?

My heart starts beating uncontrollably from just imagining a
whole race composed of horned demons; just one of them could wipe out one of
the 6 Lances and her team.

“Y-yes.  My strongest single point attack only managed
to create a small chip in that horn.”  Alea seemed like she wanted to ask
me something but she continued on, her breath getting shorter.

“He… It … Vritra was able to use magic, magic that seemed to
defy the common sense of any magic I’ve ever seen.”  Alea’s lips begin to
quiver.

“What kind of magic did he use?”

“Metal.  Black metal.  He was able to
instantaneously conjure metal spikes, blades, any sort of weapons from the
ground and himself.  I don’t even know how to describe it properly.
 It was over too quickly.  Half of my team was dead in the first wave
of attacks that he unleashed with a simple flick of his wrist.  When the
ones that were still alive attacked him, he didn’t even bother to dodge… plates
of black metal instantaneously materialized and blocked whatever attack that
managed to get near him.”