The Beginning After The End (New Heights Book 2) (15 page)

“She was hit a lot harder by Lucas’ spell and
her body wasn’t willed with mana like yours.
 
I had a medical kit on me so I treated
the external burn on her belly but I suspect the burn to have caused some
internal damage.”
 
Elijah shakes his
head while straightening his glasses.

I could see he wasn’t in a great shape
himself.
 
His tidy black hair was
all over the place, like he just woke up and he had multiple bruises and cuts
on his face.

I feel my face burn when I think about that
traitorous twerp, Lucas.

“Use my glove on Jasmine.
 
Crack another one of the gems on it and
press it against her wounds.”
 
I
mutter out as the strength on my neck gives out and I’m stuck looking at the
dark roof of wherever we were.

“Got it.”
 
Elijah shuffles over to where Jasmine was and I hear a faint hum from
the light that surrounded Jasmine.

Jasmine’s ragged breathing is noticeably
steadier now and using my limited strength to look at her again, I see that her
strained face was now calm.
 

“I think she’ll be fine with a couple hours of
rest.” A rare smile escapes from Elijah’s stern face.

‘
Papa!
 
You’re awake now!
 
Are you okay?
 
I’m almost there!’
 
Sylvie’s voice chirps in my head.

‘
I’m fine for now.
 
I thought you said you had to finish up
something… are you done with that?’
 
I quiz my infant dragon.

‘…No.
 
I’m almost done though!
 
I’ll
find you after I’m done!
 
I miss you
Papa…’
The disappointed voice of Sylvie almost tempts
me to just tell her to come here, but I hold it in.
 
I could feel the changes in Sylvie’s
body somehow and I knew she was going through something important.

“I didn’t think that the legendary masked
swordsman, aka Note, would be someone around my age.”
 
My bespectacled companion’s voice stirs
my train of thought.

“My mask!”
 
My voice turns a little frantic as I notice for the first time that I
wasn’t wearing the mask Vincent got me.

“S-sorry.
 
It got blown off while you were falling.
 
I couldn’t help looking while I was
moving you two to safety.”
 
I see
him scratch his cheek, embarrassed.

“What about my sword?
 
Did you see the black stick that I
carried around?” My eyes dart around through the dim lighting.

My eyes catch the outline of my sword as Elijah
points a bit to the right of the sleeping Jasmine.
 
“Yeah, it’s besides Jasmine.
 
I didn’t know if it was valuable or not
but I kept it just in case.”

“Sigh…Thank you…for everything.
 
For saving Jasmine and me and retrieving
my sword when you could’ve easily escaped by yourself.
 
Thank you.”
 
I just let out a deep breath, as if a
weight has been lifted.

“Haha… If I left you, that would’ve put me on
the same level as that traitor Lucas then, wouldn’t it.”
 
He shoots me a grin

“Heh… you’re right.” I let out a pained laugh
too.

Elijah inches closer, sitting down next to me
now.
 
“Why did you stay
anyways?
 
I saw Jasmine pulling you
to escape.
 
I feel like you two
could’ve escaped at that time.”

I can’t help but pause at his question. “A King
never betrays the people who trust him!”
 
I smile which makes him scoff. “I promised someone very important to
become a better person and to cherish the people around me.”
 
I simply say.

“Pfft.
 
You sound like an old man.
 
We’re pretty young…I wonder what kind of life you had until now to have
someone promise you that.”
 
Elijah’s
serious face was a lot more natural now, his stone face full of life.

“I sometimes wonder myself haha.
 
How long have I been out for
anyways?”
 
I change the subject.

“It’s hard to tell but definitely more than a
day.
 
Jasmine woke up a couple of
times in between but just barely so I could feed her.”
 
He just answers, leaning back on the
wall.

I inch myself painfully to sit up against the
wall as well, Elijah helping me, when I notice that the wall was made of metal.

“This doesn’t seem to be naturally made.
 
Where are we?”
 
I feel the cold surface of the wall,
tracing it back to the ground.

“I conjured it.
 
I think the Elderwood Guardian’s body
was supporting the whole level of the cave we were in.
 
After you defeated it, the ground
crumbled and once you landed on the ground, I built a small shelter to keep the
rocks from burying us alive.”
 
He
lets out a sigh.
 
Until now, he
didn’t let out a single trace that he was a deviant, and a rather particular
one at that.

Instead of being surprised though, my mind
somehow felt at ease, as if the doubts that I had of him have been somewhat
revealed to me.
 
“I thought only
Dwarves were only able to manipulate metal… and even then, I was taught that
Dwarves could only manipulate existing metal, not create and conjure it.”

“So much for keeping secrets eh?”
 
Elijah chuckles, sinking further down, a
tired look on his face.

“Haha, tell me about it.”
 
I laugh too, holding in the pain as my
body protests to even the slightest movements.

“All right… but you have to tell me what the
hell you did back there as well.
 
Your hair turned white! A-and your eyes…they were glowing purple.
 
There were these glowing runes that
appeared on your body too!” He quivers at the scene that unfolded before him.

I just nod in agreement and let him continue.

“I am from the Darv Kingdom, but I’m not really
sure where I came from.
 
The elder
that took care of me since I was little always avoided the subject of my
parents so I never got a clear answer.
 
About a year ago when I awakened, I created such a big implosion that my
whole room just vanished.
 
After
getting trained for a little, I found out I was abnormally better in earth
attribute spells than any other elements… like, to the point where I wouldn’t
be able to cast anything but the most elementary spells in water, fire, or
wind…even now.”
 
Elijah is staring
blankly at the palm of his hands.

“Since I awakened, my mana core has been
condensing all on its own at a rapid pace.
 
I don’t even need to meditate for some reason.
 
The elder that took care of me sent me
to the Kingdom of Sapin as a representative and told me to make a name for
myself and get along with the humans, but honestly, I don’t know why I’m doing
this.
 
After I broke into the dark
orange stage, I had this weird feeling surge up in my body and before I knew
it, a field of metal spikes conjured around me.
 
I happened to be alone when it occurred
so thankfully I didn’t kill anyone… but ever since then…I’ve been scared.
 
Scared of what I am and scared of what I
can do.
 
I was excited at first
about how strong I could be, but right now, I can barely control my
powers.
 
You know…I thought maybe I
was a half dwarf at one point but I-I just don’t know what I am anymore.”
 

I look at Elijah, noticing that his hands were
trembling as he quickly squeezed it into fists to control himself.

“…” I just lay back, silently.
 
I’m not going to pretend like I
understand him and any words I say now would just be empty words of
comfort.
 

“Sometimes, I get this feeling…. Like what I
can do right now isn’t even the limit.
 
I know it may sound weird but I get this nagging feeling that there’s
something more to me, and that once I can control that power, I’ll know what I
really am.... I’m sorry haha… this ended up being a therapy session for me
hasn’t it?”
 
The bespectacled boy
that tried so hard to keep a stern, cold façade turned out to be fragile on the
inside.

I grit my teeth, as I will my screaming body to
sit upright to face Elijah.
 
Staring
into Elijah’s eyes, I see a trace of desperation but also gentleness and a firm
pride in
himself
that reassures my decision.
 
Years of being a King, representing my
country, meeting all different kinds of people, I got the hang of being able to
see the type of person someone was, and my impression of Elijah was that he
could be a very loyal friend.

“I’m a Quadra Elemental Augmenter with two
deviances:
 
Ice and Lightning.”
 
I simply state without hiding anything.

Before he has the chance to even react to the
landmine I set off, I continue.
 
“I’m also a Beast Tamer.
 
What you saw back there was me activating my beast will.”
 

The hand that was supporting Elijah up as he
leaned back against the metal wall he conjured slipped and he hit his head
against the cold hard steel.

“Holy…*THUMP* Ouch!”
 
He gets back up, rubbing his head.

“I thought I was a freak but I guess you
win.
 
W-wait… how old
are
you?”
 
He
asks.