Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 708: Forever

When Argrave and Anneliese walked out of their tent, the first thing they noticed was that underfoot.

“Grass?” Anneliese questioned. “How long have we been asleep? A week, or…?”

The reason for the lack of sound became clear—a ward surrounded their tent, blocking all noise from entering. Even had it not been there, things probably would’ve been quiet. It was the dead of night. The red moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the place well. Hundreds and hundreds of tents alike their own had been set up. Fires rose elsewhere, where figures could vaguely be seen crowded around them.

Anneliese held her hand to the ward. Her A-rank ascension sapped the magic within it, and after a few moments, if faded away. Sounds rushed back to them—the dim call of the wind, the distant murmurs from tents and campfire, the sound of industry, of horses neighing… this place was a veritable city of tents.

Rapid movement alerted the both of them, and Argrave whipped his head to see what came. There, Raven—now fully human—stood with his obsidian staff. He watched them in total stillness as others came to join him—Lorena, Orion, Elenore. Their stunned surprise was self-evident.

Argrave gave a wave. “Hey.”

Both of Argrave’s siblings began to stampede over, while Raven and Lorena began a steady walk forward. Argrave and Anneliese were far too weak to resist the proceeding embrace, but they never would’ve anyway. Elenore and Orion both blubbered affectionately just as Anneliese and Argrave had been moments ago.

“I can’t really make sense of you,” Argrave told Elenore, stroking the back of her head. “I told you it’d be fine, didn’t I?”

Elenore struck him with love (somehow), while Orion squished the four of them together in a family embrace. As they were assaulted, Raven and Lorena walked up to speak a little clearer than the siblings.

“Permit them some surprise. I’ve been preparing them for the worst. After all, you’ve been entirely braindead the past ten days.” His gray eyes looked between them both. “Both of you. After what Sophia did, Argrave’s flesh reappeared, but both of your minds vanished.”

“What Sophia did?” Argrave repeated. “What do you mean? What’s happened? I mean… magic is here, and our connection persists.”

The pair went silent. Lorena touched Raven’s shoulder, saying, “I’ll get the others.”

“Is Sophia alright?” Anneliese asked. “Please, catch us up to speed.”

Raven planted his staff down into the ground, leaning against it. “Sophia wove Anneliese’s Spark of Eternity into our realm. She used it to rebirth magic just as it was. Beyond that, everything else a part of the cycle of judgment has seemingly faded. Divinity, spirits, shamanic magic, the Shadowlanders—all gone.”

“But is Sophia alright?” Argrave pressed.

“I’m unsure.” Raven looked away.

“Is she or isn’t she?” Argrave asked, voice stern and hard.

voice hoarse from the crying. “But she won’t say

power of creation, too, has vanished,”

in the hell happened to you?” Elenore gripped Argrave’s

judgment, destroyed the primordial force

Anneliese added pointedly. “But it was fine. I’m

and infinitely fatigued all in one.

grass growing, the world was gray and lonesome without you two,” Orion said, voice still trembling. “But I held on to hope. And the world has given

many friends of the years they spent in shared antagonism to the cycle of judgment. A deluge of emotion overwhelmed them all—smiles, tears,

judgment

their flesh. All spirits had faded away, forever cutting away shamanic magic from use. Gods that

would forever be the masters

into an everlasting magic, expending both primordial forces in the process. Beings that depended on magic would continue existing, and spellcasters would continue to

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that had yet to come into existence, would be contained within the sun of Argrave’s creation. Even his own soul remained there, despite his expectations. The Heralds could never again exert their influence

Gilderwatchers survived. Humans, elves of the Bloodwoods, Veidimen, southron elves, dwarves—all survived, and given time, all could thrive. Losses were significant, certainly far more than anyone ever

their universe, and they had

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ate the food placed before her without much consideration of what it tasted like at all. It had been sitting here for five hours, and now dusk had fallen. Everyone around had been doing their best to make sure that she got nothing other than the best of the best, even amidst all of this… yet regardless of what came, all of it tasted like ashes on the tongue, and the softest blankets felt

had tried to take that Spark of Eternity, weaving it into the fabric of the world around her to rebirth magic. She had experienced the full breadth of her own power, the beauty that

curse persisted.

body, Raven claimed that there was nothing stirring in their minds. She had tried so hard to save Argrave, and in so doing, deprived the world of the

now, with her power of creation

stomach—an abyss that sucked in all other thoughts, until only the guilt and failure persisted. When, finally, she’d gained the strength of will to step forward all on her own, her foolhardiness had sent the two greatest people in the whole world tumbling off the cliff

her in Sandelabara, and now the couple who would take a filthy thing like herself as their own child. She

wished she

as they sat

Sophia looked up, her brain encountered an error and was forced to

soup,” Argrave noted, his gaze flitting between her bowl of food and helping the woman he was helping to sit down. “Good ol’ meat soup.” He reached across with a makeshift wooden spoon, taking some and eating it with a loud slurp. “Cold meat

as

eating that? I

be fine,” Anneliese said

table they all sat at, then looked at Sophia with a smile. “What’s wrong? A couple days away, and you forgot what I looked like?