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Chapter v11ex1: Vol 11 Extra 1: Early Truth

From the cover of the trees, I watched Tessia pace back and forth through the sun-dappled glade. Except she was no longer Tessia. Not really. Not now. Tess was there, buried beneath a freshly reincarnated and still confused Cecilia, but it was Cecilia who piloted Tessia’s body as she meandered, head down, her lips moving constantly as if rehearsing something.

The sequestered corner of the village of Eidelholm seemed empty except for Cecilia, but she hadn’t just been left alone in this precarious moment. When I arrived, I had found several emblem-bearing Alacryan mages on guard within the treeline. One of their bodies was growing cold not ten feet from my vantage point, and the others had all been dispatched similarly. More problematic was the vitriolic mana signature I could sense not far away. Despite my rushed passage through the Relictombs to reach this point before Aldir’s incoming attack, I was confident I could defeat Nico if necessary, but it would eat up valuable time and potentially cost me my chance to speak with Cecilia.

It had taken several attempts to pass through the Relictombs in a way that allowed me to escape back into Dicathen with enough time to breach both the mystical fog of the Elshire forest and the spreading Alacryan influence. Due to the vortex effect that caught the momentum of my passage through the keystone’s timeline, each life had to be lived at least somewhat inside each moment; I did not relish the idea of being forced to attempt it all again if this conversation went poorly.

If only there was a better way to navigate this challenge, I thought for only a moment before redirecting my focus back to Cecilia. With how much I’d already changed to reach this point, I couldn’t afford to lose concentration, or I might forget my overall purpose again and slip away into this new life without accomplishing my greater goal.

Drawing in a steadying breath, I slipped out from beneath the shadows of the forest and walked into the open. Cecilia had her back to me as she paced toward the rear of a sprawling elven estate. Reaching the end of her circuitous route, she turned on her heel, took two steps, then came to a sudden halt as she saw me, her far-away gaze refocusing on me.

This was not Cecilia as she had been when we fought within the empty ruins of Exeges’s palace. In the present of this keystone-manifested timeline, she was freshly reincarnated, confused, and barely able to manage the new power she’d been given. And yet, in a few hours, she will go toe-to-toe with an asura at Nico’s side. It wasn’t hatred or even acceptance I saw reflected back at me in her gaze this time. Instead, I saw confusion and fear. And, perhaps, even a small spark of hope.

“Cecilia.” I said her name calmingly as one might speak to a frightened animal. “My name is Arthur. I’d like to talk.”

Her eyes narrowed very slightly, and her hands raised to the level of her waist. Mana stirred around them. “Arthur Leywin. I…know who you are. But…” She closed her eyes and turned her head away, a pained expression flickering across her features.

I took a few tentative steps closer. “You’re experiencing the memories of the woman whose body you’re inhabiting. Tessia Eralith.”

Cecilia bared her teeth in a sour grimace, her eyes still closed. “You were…promised to each other. Stop. Stop it!” These last words were sharp, almost pained, and seemed to be directed inward.

“She’s fighting you.”

“She thought…you were dead…” Cecilia’s eyes flashed open, and she glared at me. “You’re our enemy! You fought Nico.”

“There’s more to it than that,” I replied, still keeping my voice soft and nonthreatening. “You were reincarnated from another world, a place called Earth. Nico was, too. And so was I.”

She froze, going blank. “What?”

Relief washed over me at her obvious surprise. I knew that Agrona had used—or rather, was currently using—the freshly reincarnated Cecilia to deliver a message to the elves as Tessia, and I had guessed that they would not have had time to start manipulating her memories or poisoning her with Nico’s hatred of me.

“I don’t know how clear your memories of that previous life are, but I’m hoping you will remember me.” I held my hands out to my sides, my palms facing her to show clearly that they were empty. “In this world, I’m Arthur Leywin. But during the last, I was called Grey.”

Cecilia gasped, her own hands falling as the magic concentrated around them slipped away. “G-Grey? But…how?”

“Agrona,” I said simply. “Nico and I were the anchors for your own reincarnation. Our relationship with Tessia forged her into your vessel.”

Cecilia’s mouth opened and her brows turned down sharply, but she didn’t find whatever words she was searching for. After a moment her mouth closed again. She half turned and cast a look over her shoulder in the direction of Nico’s mana signature.

“I don’t bear you any ill will for what happened on Earth,” I said firmly, trying to draw her focus back to me. “You took the only road you could see. I regret everything that happened, but we were both used by forces greater than us. And Cecilia, that’s why I’m here now. Because it’s happening again.”

Her gaze was slowly reeled back to me, suspicion seeping over her features. “Tessia. Her mind is cloudy and distant, her thoughts incoherent. She had been silent until your arrival. She’s…confused. In pain. You lied to her.”

I inwardly flinched, although I tried to keep the tic from showing on my face. My purpose here didn’t involve attempting to hash things out with Tessa. That would have to wait until I’d solved the keystone and found a way to remove Cecilia from Tessia’s body without killing Tess. But I hadn’t anticipated Tessia interrupting this conversation or dragging it off course.

“I’m sorry, Tessia, both for the lie and that you found out this way,” I said, speaking through Cecilia to the half-wakeful mind beneath. “But if you ever have held any love for me, then I need you to let me speak to Cecilia without interfering.”

Cecilia’s gaze turned downward, almost as if she were looking into herself. “She’s gone quiet. She…trusts you.” Her focus returned to me. “What do you want, Grey? What do you mean, it’s happening again?”

Letting out a deep breath, I took a seat on a large rock at the edge of the glade. “How much do you know about Agrona and why you’ve been reincarnated?”

She hesitated. “Nico has told me only that Agrona is our benefactor. He is giving us another chance at life in exchange for our help. Nico’s lived for nearly two decades in this world already.”

“Why does he want you, specifically?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Cecilia’s features twitched in distress. “Because I’m the Legacy.”

I nodded, letting out a shallow sigh. “Agrona is a master of mental manipulation. He can even remove and replace your memories. He’s already done it to Nico, and he’s going to do it to you, too. What you went through on Earth will seem kind by comparison.”

Cecilia took a half step back, looking at me as if I’d attacked her. “Nico wouldn’t do that to me. He knows what I went through, better than anyone.”

I shook my head sadly. “He’s not the same person he was before. In part, that’s because of Agrona’s manipulation. But he lived on after you killed yourself with my blade, Cecilia. And all that time, he thought I’d murdered you just to be king. That hatred festered inside him for the rest of his life. Then, after he was reincarnated, Agrona fed that rage, turning Nico into a weapon.”

“No that’s…” Cecilia trailed off, again looking toward Nico’s distant mana signature. “Why are you here, Grey? Why are you telling me any of this?”

I knew I was pushing it. But if I was going to get anything useful from Cecilia in this conversation, I needed her to be ready to tell me anything. “If he hasn’t already, Agrona is going to promise to send you and Nico back to Earth. Not into your old lives, but to any life you desire.” When I finally escaped the keystone, I would eventually have to face Cecilia. The truth was, though, that I didn’t know how to defeat her without destroying Tessia. “This promise is a lie. Agrona is using you, and he has no intention to reward either of you.”

Her brows knit and her gaze sharpened. “How could you possibly know any of this, Grey? You seem very well informed for one of Agrona’s enemies.”

“I know quite a lot,” I admitted, meeting her eye. “But I need to know more. That’s why I’m here. I need your help. If you can tell me what I need to know, I will help you, too.”

“How?”

“What do you want, Cecilia?” I stood, taking a couple of tentative steps toward her. “You’ve been given a second chance at life. I was a king on Earth, but here, I was given what I really always wanted: a family. It may seem like a strange trade, but it’s one I’d gladly make no matter how many times I relive this life. But what about you?”

Cecilia ran a hand over her face, sagging slightly. She walked clumsily back a few steps and slumped onto a bench that rested against the back wall of the elvish estate. “I don’t know.”

Taking a chance, I cautiously closed the distance between us and went to a knee a few feet in front of her. “I know you’re already dealing with so much, and I’m throwing a lot more at you. But I need to know this, Cecilia. If you could do anything with this new life, what would it be?”

She considered for a long time, then finally said, “Normal, Grey. I want to be…normal.”

I remained silent, giving her room to continue speaking.

“I am not the Legacy. It may be a trait that I have, but it isn’t me. I just wish…well, I wish that someone, somewhere, saw me as anything else.” Her frown shifted into a wry half-smile. “I guess that’s Nico.” The brief smile vanished, and she looked up through Tessia’s gunmetal hair, which had fallen across her face, to pierce me with a viscous glare. “I will protect him, Grey. If you intend on fighting him, you’ll have to fight me, too.”

Eager to make myself as non-threatening as possible, I eased down onto both knees, then sat back on my heels and folded my hands in my lap. “I understand that. And so does Agrona. You may not believe this now, but I want to help you, Cecilia. You and Nico, and Tessia. But I don’t understand enough about what he’s done to you. Do you know anything that would help me release you from this prison?”

Cecilia seemed to shrink into herself as she pressed her face into her hands. “I’m so confused, Grey. I don’t…what’s happening? I was dead. I remember it, the quiet darkness, the relief at the end of so much pain. But I’d barely shut my eyes and then…white light and a broken heart. God she’s in so much pain.”

My jaw clenched until my teeth creaked as I imagined Tessia trapped inside her own body, bound and gagged by the runic tattoos running up Cecilia’s arms to her neck. Limb by limb, I flexed my muscles until they hurt, then released the tension. Finally, my grinding teeth separated, and I let out a calm breath. “How do I release you from each other?”

Cecilia shook her head, her hair waving around her face. “I don’t know. Nico—” She choked on his name and had to swallow before continuing. “Nico said that she’s…not really there. She’s dead, and I’m experiencing an echo of her memories. Agrona can calm them, even take them away if necessary.”

“That’s not true,” I said, careful to keep my voice soft. “Nico may not know it, but he’s only passing along Agrona’s lies.”

“Am I?”

Cecilia jumped to her feet, looking around for the source of the voice, but I stood more slowly. Nico had suppressed his mana signature as he approached, and with Realmheart still limited in this life-line, I wasn’t sensitive enough to have noticed his approach. He was standing in the shadows of the trees, a black silhouette within the gray.

“Nico, Cecilia.” I put an edge of warning into their names. “Today, your speech will be interrupted by an attack from Epheotus. Two asuras. They will destroy all of Elenoir and everything you have built here. You will fight them, lose, and flee. I will find you again after. One month from today in Victorious City.”

“What bullshit,” Nico snapped, stepping out into the light of the glade. “You’re a murderer, Grey. I wouldn’t believe you if you told me the sky was blue and water wet. You were a fool to come up, and an even bigger fool if you think I’m going to let you—”

“Nico, he didn’t murder me,” Cecilia interrupted, walking hurriedly past me to meet him.

His glare turned to her, but something trembled at his edges. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You’re confused, Cecilia. I was there. I watched him—”

“I do remember,” she insisted, again cutting him off. “I goaded him into it, pushing him harder and harder, then let down my defenses at the last moment. It may have been his sword that struck the blow, but it was my doing.”

Nico took a step back as if he’d been struck, his already pale face going ghostly white. “That can’t be true, it…” He wrenched his gaze away from her to land on me. “No, you killed her. I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Victorious City,” I said again. “One month.”

And then I turned and fled into the forest. I felt Nico start to come after me, but Cecilia intercepted him. When I felt like I was at a safe distance, I used the short-range tempus warp I had absconded with to teleport back to the nearest Relictombs gate, buried and broken in the heart of the Grand Mountains but now repaired by Aroa’s Requiem. I had already considered Ellie, but I knew she escaped alive, and besides, this wasn’t real anyway.

With a last glance up at the rocky roof toward Elenoir, which would cease to exist within the hour, I stepped back into the Relictombs to begin the next phase of my plan.

***

Victorious City surged below me like an enormous ant hill that had just been kicked. Not only did it operate as a military center for the west coast of Alacrya, with a constant stream of soldiers entering and exiting the city, its people were also preparing for the Victoriad. That was exactly why I chose this location: I didn’t think it would be difficult for Nico and Cecilia to invent an excuse to be here on this day in particular.

Technically, I couldn’t know for sure they would arrive, but after my warning about the asuras was proved to be true, it was difficult to imagine them not.

Giving off no mana signature of my own, it had been easy to move around Alacrya unnoticed. From the vantage of a central belltower—an ancient alarm system that had long ago been replaced by more efficient magical artifacts—I would be able to sense their powerful mana signatures the moment they arrived.

The early morning passed uneventfully, and I enjoyed a breakfast of fresh fruits. As I was spitting out the seed of the last one, Regis drifted through the tower floor in his wisp form. “Alaric’s people confirm that there hasn’t been any hubbub among the local soldiers. They seem to have kept quiet about this meeting, whether they intend to be here or not.”

I only nodded and tossed him a strip of dried wogart jerky, which he snapped out of the air. Silently, we resumed our watch.

No more than twenty minutes passed before the air changed as two new, powerful signatures appeared in the city. They left the tempus warp platforms and moved purposefully away. I waited. They changed direction, then again, and I relaxed. “Go get them.”

Regis melted away again, descending through the tower and rushing off on an intercept course for the two potent signatures.

I did not have to wait long for them to return.

Instead of navigating the streets and stairs, Nico and Cecilia flew over the rooftops. I stood at the edge of the belfry, waiting. They stopped fifteen or so feet out, hovering in the open air. Their expressions were difficult to read, but they immediately felt standoffish and wary.

Regis returned just behind them, solidifying at my side. His hackles were up.

“I’m glad you survived Aldir and Windsom’s attack,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and giving them a stoic look.

It was Nico who answered. “What you said ended up being true. Both about the asura and about…Earth. So the real question now is, what do you want, Grey?”

I had been thinking about this moment over and over for a month. I saw no benefit in drawing the conversation out or dancing around the subject. “How can I convince you to leave Agrona?”

They exchanged a subtle glance. “Is that really why you’ve gone to such great lengths to meet with us, not once but twice?”

“It’s not my only question, no.” The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, but I wasn’t sure why. “How did Cecilia’s reincarnation work? Does Agrona know how it might be undone without killing either spirit housed inside the body? What is Agrona’s true purpose for the Legacy?”

I still didn’t really know what kind of power Fate would provide me when I escaped the keystone, but I needed to figure out how I was going to deal with Cecilia and Nico—without killing Tessia in the process.

When they didn’t reply, I directed my focus to Cecilia. She hadn’t been in this world as long as Nico, and there had been less time for Agrona to corrupt her. “I can’t promise that I am able to fulfill all your wishes, but I can promise you both that Agrona will never follow through with his end of any bargain. As long as you’re valuable to him, he’ll keep you, and once you’re no longer valuable, he’ll cast you aside.”

I grew frustrated as the pair continued to look at me without answering. It was almost impossible to see them as Elijah and Tessia now. Even though they wore the same faces, they were firmly Cecilia and Nico.

That’s when it clicked.

I closed my eyes and let my head hang. “A trap.”

Suddenly the tower was plunging down into the ground, like a sword into soft flesh. My feet left the floor, and I slammed into the ceiling. Beside me, Regis yelped and became incorporeal before flying into my chest. I reached for God Step, but a wall of horrible noise pressed down on me, slamming me into the still-moving floor hard enough to shatter it. The wretched, screeching squeal stole all sense from my skull.

Distantly, I was aware of falling through the center of the belltower, then of a sudden stop and many tons of stone and soil collapsing around me, crushing me. The squeal remained, like glass shards rubbing against each other inside my brain. My body struggled to heal, but much of it was crushed and many steel bars pierced me. I should have suffocated, but I couldn’t escape the agony of breathing nothing but dirt.

Fortunately, I remained largely insensate, and the worst of the pain was smothered by the spell that was simultaneously drowning my ability to think clearly. It took time, but my conscious mind began to pull itself through the noise. I knew this because the pain grew stronger as I grew more aware.

The weight on top of me shifted, and I came back to myself just in time to watch half of the belfry roof be lifted away, floating up into the air.

Agrona floated in the gap that was left behind, made visible by a glowing star that orbited Cecilia. He looked strangely out of place in his finery amidst the tower wreckage deep beneath Victorious City.

He was shaking his head. “Bold, Arthur. Too bold. A sad ending to our game.” He glanced at Nico and Cecilia. “They’re mine. Did you really expect to win them over so easily?” He waved a hand, and the wreckage of my body floated up from the crater. Pain wracked every sinew, every joint, every limb and organ. “Well, your story isn’t written yet. There is still much we can learn from your body.”

I closed my eyes and let out a genuinely amused laugh. The sound was cut off as I began coughing up blood. “Indeed. I am…interested to see what else we can learn. Together.”