The Beginning After the End: Book 10: Retribution


 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END
 BOOK 10: RETRIBUTION
 
 
 
 TURTLEME
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CONTENTS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Prologue
 
 
 381. A Savior’s Burden
 
 
 382. Just Out of Reach
 
 
 383. Moving On
 
 
 384. Winds of Change
 
 
 385. Purity
 
 
 386. Surfaced Enmity
 
 
 387. Long-Worn Shackles
 
 
 388. Defending Vildorial
 
 
 389. Light and Shadow
 
 
 390. Apathy and Ecstasy
 
 
 391. Defending Vildorial II
 
 
 392. Sovereign’s Quarrel
 
 
 393. Beneath Taegrin Caelum
 
 
 394. What Makes Home
 
 
 395. Preparations
 
 
 396. Limitless
 
 
 397. A Path Diverged
 
 
 398. Descension
 
 
 399. The Least of the Scythes
 
 
 400. Choices Already Made
 
 
 401. Highbloods in Low Places
 
 
 402. A Bloodless Exchange
 
 
 403. A Match for My Talents
 
 
 404. A Battle of Words
 
 
 405. Tell Him
 
 
 406. Interruptions
 
 
 407. Yet Another Step
 
 
 408. The Best Choice
 
 
 409. Taste of Magic
 
 
 410. Good Humor
 
 
 411. A Family Affair
 
 
 412. The Lie You Believe
 
 
 413. False Memories
 
 
 414. School in Session
 
 
 415. Through Smoke and Spirits
 
 
 416. The Third Ruin
 
 
 417. One of Mine
 
 
 418. Shackles
 
 
 419. Black Doors
 
 
 420. Black Doors II
 
 
 421. One Last Ruin
 
 
 422. Through the Djinn’s Eyes
 
 
 423. Unexpected Visitor
 
 
 424. Changing the Narrative
 
 
 425. Amends
 
 
 426. Hoping
 
 
 427. A Dream Yet to Happen
 
 
 
 
 Afterword
 
 
 Also by TurtleMe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PROLOGUE
 
 
 
 
 
 ALICE LEYWIN
 Time slowed and the very air around me turned viscous as the asura’s spear so effortlessly passed through Ellie’s body.
 The asura’s heavy hand released me, and the screams that had gone mute behind the ringing in my ears exploded as I watched Ellie’s body crumple to the ground.
 I choked back sobs. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. I’m right here. I’ve got you, and I’m going to take away the pain, sweetheart, Ellie. I’m going to take care of you.”
 My hands pressed into the wound in Ellie’s side, ineffective in staunching the flow of blood that came out in spurts with each beat of her weakening heart. Mana rushed out of my core and through my channels, jumping from my hands to the deep wound as visible light, but I choked on the incantation in my panic, the magic flashing in and out.
 But Ellie was smiling. She was smiling, her eyes closed, her face tinted a light purple. She wasn’t breathing…
 My baby girl was dying.
 The asura’s killing intent was suffocating. It swelled just above me, and I knew what was going to happen. A sob shook my entire body, and the healing spell faltered again.
 I pictured Reynolds’s face, imagined him giving me that nonchalant smile and running his hands through my hair and along the back of my neck. His features shifted like wet clay, becoming Arthur’s. But even in my mind, in my memories, Arthur was covered in blood, his face half hidden and stained black and crimson as he dragged himself back to me from some distant deadly threat…
 My eyes refocused on Ellie. She looked so much like him, now, lying on the ground covered in her own life’s blood…
 I closed my eyes to the sight and waited for the spear to fall, for the asura to send Ellie and me to her brother and father…
 “Regis, help my sister.”
 My head snapped up. The purple light, I realized belatedly, was issuing from a shimmering portal that had come to life inside the portal frame. The words came from a figure silhouetted by the amethyst glow. I made out only his sharp features, bright hair, and golden eyes before he was moving.
 Something else came toward me…toward Ellie. Help my sister. What did those words mean?
 What could they possibly mean?
 A wisp of shadow and energy flew into Ellie’s body, but nothing happened, nothing changed.
 I nearly slapped myself. My hands pressed hard against Ellie’s side, and I began chanting again. There were other words—and fighting—but I pressed it out of my awareness, focusing entirely on the healing magic. The incantation spilled out of me, as did mana, filling the hole that pierced entirely through my baby girl.
 But there was something else, too.
 An emitter’s magic touched something intangible just beyond the reach of my awareness that no one had ever been able to explain to me before. Mana alone couldn’t heal wounds like Ellie’s, but my spells drew it in, encouraged it, showed it what I wanted.
 Like a guiding hand, the wisp of energy pulled my magic along, feeding it with this external power, strengthening it. I felt…strong, powerful in a way I could hardly remember anymore. Muscles and bones began to fuse, veins and nerves knit back together, then—
 The room spun wildly beneath my feet, sudden pain and confusion wiping all thought from my mind.
 I blinked hard against a sickening ringing in my ears and suppressed the bile creeping up the back of my throat. My skull ached. I looked around, trying to get my bearings; I was lying on my back at the foot of the benchlike stairs, beneath the edge of the dais. I could just see Ellie’s arm dangling off the side of it.
 The asura and the man with golden eyes clashed, their movements so fast I couldn’t follow.
 I tried to move, to stand, but my head swam dizzily and I nearly retched.