Free Web NovelChapter 400: I am not Sulyvhan
Klein put his hands back in his pockets. He sank his fingers into the fabric, and he felt the cold of the ice through the sole of his boots.
"Are we continuing?" he asked.
He slid his feet on the ice to test the grip, then resumed his nonchalant walk toward the east. Each step produced a small crunch under his sole.
"Or are you planning to turn the entire continent into an ice sheet before sunset?"
Amaera did not answer. She simply overtook him with a quick stride, her haughty grace perfectly maintained on the slippery surface. As he passed her, Klein caught a scent of lotus mixed with an odor of eternal cold, that particular lingering trace left by very high-level ice magics. She walked ahead of him without a glance, her azure dress floating behind her like a liquid train.
Klein followed her at ten meters distance, his hands still in his pockets, and his breath formed small white clouds in the polar air.
...
The sky, once a monotonous gray, turned to a dark violet, while the winds began to howl between the sharp rocky formations. Klein Konstantine, after spending several hours securing a two-kilometer perimeter around their position, pointed to a natural recess protected by a wall of black granite. The ground there was less rocky, offering an almost flat surface to set up their temporary camp.
Without waiting for an order, Klein took out two compact tents from his storage ring. He set them up with methodical efficiency, his movements fluid and precise. Amaera Castillon watched him in silence, her silhouette standing out against the darkened horizon line.
Her azure dress, though slightly wrinkled by the afternoon’s battles, retained a mystical glow under the fading light. She made no move to help him, maintaining her posture of natural superiority, but her silver gaze never left the young man’s hands as he drove the stakes into the hardened ground.
"We should take turns keeping watch," declared Klein as he straightened up, brushing a bit of dust off his black coat. "I will take the first shift. Sleep, Vice-Director. I will wake you when the moons are at their zenith."
Amaera let out a slight sigh, a thin mist forming in front of her pink lips. She used a small discharge of her wind elemental mana to fuel the campfire at the center of their setup. The flames, of a supernatural blue because of the magical essence she injected into them, cast dancing shadows on the rocky walls.
"I am not sleepy," she replied in a drawling voice, sitting gracefully on a blanket he had spread out. She crossed her long legs, the fabric of her dress splitting to reveal the perfect curve of her alabaster thigh.
Klein sat down facing her, the katana resting against his knee. The crackling of the fire was the only sound disturbing the heavy silence of the desert. He observed her for a moment, capturing the way the blue glow of the fire highlighted the delicacy of her elven face and the quiet arrogance of her features.
"You are surprisingly silent tonight," began Klein, sketching his usual provocative smile. "Did the massacre of the harpies exhaust you, or is my company weighing on you that much?"
Amaera raised her eyes toward him. Her silver pupils seemed to reflect the glow of the flames, giving her an air that was both divine and terrifying. She tilted her head to the side, a lock of her cyan hair slipping over her bare shoulder.
"You talk too much, Konstantine. Your arrogance is almost as vast as this plateau," she retorted, although the tone of her voice lacked its usual bite. "But I must admit... your mastery of aura is... intriguing."
Klein laughed softly, a low sound that resonated in his chest. He leaned forward, reducing the distance between them over the fire. "Intriguing? Only that? I would have hoped my combat performances would have aroused a bit more admiration. After all, I spared you from dirtying your dress more than once today."
Amaera showed a half-smile, a rare expression that suddenly softened the coldness of her face. She picked up a small pebble and threw it into the fire. "Do not misunderstand my intentions. I am just curious to know how you learned the Sundering Eclipse. In another era the handling of this Art was more graceful."
"And you find that I lack grace?" he asked, his blue eyes fixed on hers with deliberate intensity. freēwēbnovel.com
Amaera did not answer immediately. She studied him at length, detailing his silver hair, the straight line of his nose, and that imperturbable confidence that emanated from every pore of his skin. The silence stretched on, becoming heavier, charged with a tension that had nothing to do with the danger of the surrounding monsters.
"In reality..." she murmured at last, her voice becoming a veil of velvet. "That is precisely the problem." She paused, her gaze veiled with melancholy. "The way you move... the way you manipulate aura to slice space itself... you remind me a lot of Sulyvhan."
At the mention of that name, the air seemed to freeze. Klein felt a slight twitch at the back of his mind, a resonance with the essence he had absorbed in the cave. He held Amaera’s gaze, seeing for the first time a crack in her armor of ice. There was an ancient pain in her eyes, a nostalgia she could no longer hide behind her vice-director mask.
"Unfortunately, I am not Sulyvhan," replied Klein in a calm but firm voice. "He belongs to the past, to an era that has been erased. I am Klein Konstantine, Amaera." freёwebnovel.com
The use of her first name without a title made the elf flinch. She turned her gaze toward the blue flames, her fingers nervously playing with the silk of her dress. "I know... And yet, the resemblance is disturbing. It is almost... unbearable."
Klein stood up slowly. The conversation had reached a depth he preferred not to explore further that evening. He needed to keep his mind clear, and the influence of Sulyvhan’s essence mixed with Amaera’s magnetic beauty was beginning to blur his senses.
"I am going to take a nap in my tent," he announced, breaking the spell. "Wake me in four hours. Do not let yourself be surprised by the nocturnal cold."
