TBATE: Let The Truth Be Known {Completed}

Chapter 24: A Complicated Dynamic

CECILIA

"Cecilia, Regis, Ellie, you know what to do. I've got a date with someone," Arthur says before rapidly appearing on one of the islands a few hundred feet away.

Listening to his command, I begin to create hundreds of motes of elemental magic, just as I had done in my spar with Arthur. Each massive water serpent has roughly three spheres heading for them. The resulting cacophony and tidal waves from the impacts rock the whole zone.

Observing the scene as a whole, I see Ellie launching arrow after arrow at the few remaining serpents that I didn't already kill, but the serpents seem to keep coming. Regis is jumping from serpent to serpent leaving motes of destruction flame in his wake in order to completely atomize them. At present, well over a hundred serpents are dead, but for every one we kill, another takes its place.

Is this some kind of sick joke?

Ellie, Regis, and I slaughter some hundred other serpents before everything in the room comes to a complete halt. An overwhelming pressure invades everyone's presence as Arthur releases his aetheric intent. I'm convinced if he tried a little harder that the walls of the Relictombs would collapse under the weight of his rage.

The oppressive force sends me to my knees, still able to breathe, but Ellie isn't as lucky. Her now muscular form crumples under the sheer weight of the air and becomes so frail as she clutches at her chest while lying flat on her back. The whites of her eyes become bloodshot at the lack of air in her lungs.

"ARTHUR! YOU'RE KILLING YOUR SISTER! PLEASE STOP!" I shout with every ounce of willpower left in my body.

The air begins to lessen in weight gradually as if Sisyphus were rolling his stone off my chest. I begin to wobble back to my feet and place my hands on my knees, relishing in the ability to breathe unimpaired.

Scanning the area once more, Arthur has a black-haired boy by the throat, lifting him off the ground. The serpents are all dead, killed by Arthur's aetheric intent. No more seem to take their place.

I help Ellie to her feet as inaudible shouting rings out from the adjacent island.

"We should go see him. Can you fly?" I ask worriedly.

She nods in affirmation, and we start to hover our way across to the commotion.

"You have some fucking nerve showing up here, you coward! You should have died then and there by my hands, but I was preoccupied cleaning up the mess you made. What the fuck have you done?!" Arthur shouts at the black-haired man before throwing him into the sandy beach at his feet.

Arthur's eyes begin to flood with tears as he collapses over the prone form of the woman with brown hair. Before I can ask what the situation is all about, I'm stopped by Regis.

"I'll tell you over there," he says while nodding to an opposite shoreline. "It's important. We don't need to worry about them, anyway."

Regis walks me over to another beach before he begins to speak, "That woman is Willbeck."

My eyes widen, and I drop to my knees, staring intently into the eyes of the purple and black wolf. "What do you mean that's Willbeck?"

"I mean exactly as I said. That's Willbeck. She showed up next to Nico and those other three. When she saw Arthur, she began to berate him about his actions in his past life. I can relay it from his memory if you want," he explains.

I nod my head while tears form in my eyes.

"Willbeck shouted at Arthur for his actions as Grey. Him killing you and Nico, the slaughter of Trayden, and everything in between. I've never heard such harsh words before. He wasn't even this shaken up when his parents essentially disowned him. She told him to give up the name of Willbeck because she didn't give him that name to become a genocidal maniac. She also said that if she had known he would have turned out the way he did, she would have left him on the streets...