TBATE | GREY x CAERA - A Fanfiction

Chapter 22

ARTHUR LEYWIN POV:

My breath shuddered and my core ached as I felt the last bit of my aether reserves finally vanish away into Sylvie's stone.

I was fully drained. My vision blurry and face sweating.

'What? No luck?' Regis asked, as he woke up from his slumber. His eyes were fixated on the stone in my hands.

I let my head hung as my breathing started to slow down to normal. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated.

'Maybe you should've tried creating a new core, then at le—'

'No, Regis.' I hissed. 'I need every bit of aether I could get, to bring her back. I-I've waited too long and too patient.' I knew Regis was trying to console me...in his own ways, but—

Shaking my head, I stored the incandescent stone back into my storage rune. Much too disappointed to even look at it.

I felt ashamed, angry even, at my own self.

Using all the aether fruits I had gathered from the Djinn hideout, I had two options. With how rich the fruits were, I could have either tried to consume them together to possibly form a third layer on my core. Or use it to wake up Sylvie. I chose the latter.

I tried to bring Sylvie back.

'I'm much closer than ever. I just know it.' With this last bit of boosting, I felt something change within the stone. Previously when I had poured aether, it spiralled for the first layer and then took a sharp-angled geometric path for its second layer.

While, right now I could sense the pathway of absorption being too random and chaotic. As if the previous layers have formed cracks all over as aether got absorbed.

As if something from the inside was trying to push out—come out. Sylvie.

To test this theory, I took out the stone again and reactivated my relic armour to gather some aether for an experimental burst.

My eyes widened in surprise when the aether got devoured in a rapid rate that made me shiver in fear for my core getting sucked out; but what made me even more surprised was when the aether passed through the pathways, the so-called cracks started to further widen. I could even hear faint sounds, something equivalent to a glass cracking under a huge weight.

It was slow and much aether consuming.

But I knew this was the final step that I needed to cross. My final step to bring my bond back to me.

Taking in a deep breath, I stored the stone back inside the storage rune. "How many more ascents do you think we need to go to get the aether needed to crack the egg?" Regis asked as he got up from where he was lying and approached me.

I turned to look at him with a thoughtful gaze. "I'm not sure, really. This final layer seems to need a lot of aether that I cannot comprehend. Atleast not with my current capability." I sighed.

"As long as we have the relictombs we don't have to worry about aether supply."

I stayed silent at my companion's obvious words while pushing down the pessimistic thoughts that started to creep up on me.

My companion shrugged his shoulders and looked into my eyes. "Fine. Let's go. I don't want to see you being all moody like this. Honestly it's taking a toll on me. Let's go blow some steam off."

I opened my mouth to rebuke but a familiar voice cut-in from the side. "I hope you're not talking about going on an ascent without me, because that's cheating." The voice then let out a soft chuckle, that made my previously weighing thoughts crumble and my mind weightless. All in an instant.