The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 248: Change of destiny

Chapter 248: Change of destiny

"Join."

Hex heard someone utter it. But the explosion drowned all other sounds. The bang, followed by a constant ringing in his ear, left everything fuzzy around him.

He tried to turn toward the direction he heard the word being uttered. He tried. Sadly, he failed. If he was correct, he heard it coming from above him. The issue, however, was the direction above was at. He couldn’t find it.

The blast disoriented his senses. His sight, hearing, sense of smell and taste, everything seemed disjointed and disoriented. Heck, he didn’t even know what he felt or if he felt something.

Hex struggled to focus yet things remained hazy. He needed time. He hoped his senses would improve with some time. Unable to do anything about his perception of the world around him, he focused on the world inside him.

Cold. His inner space was within his control. The moment he appeared inside he felt cold. Extremely cold. With a Dragon Bear and Frost Dragon inside him, his resistance to the ice element should be at its peak. Yet, he shivered the moment he stepped inside. The landscape inside was colored white.

No matter which direction Hex looked in, he saw ice. He felt cold. And he tasted cold. It was snowing inside his inner space. Some of the crystals landed inside his mouth.

There were still some shrubs resisting the cold and growing. But they were sparse. No wonder it took a while for him to recover from the blast.

His senses picked up the other elements too. His connection with the wind and earth elements was slightly weaker. But the connection with fire elements was so weak he almost suspected he lost his affinity with it.

Another change was the size of the inner space. Before he could see the boundaries of it with a single glance. Now, everywhere his sight reached stood covered in a layer of white.

Eager to observe the other changes, he walked toward the central part. His heart and the monolith stood there. Despite the enlarged space, he saw the core in a few seconds. There were no changes to either his heart or the monolith but something else drew his attention.

Two beasts eyed him as he got closer. One was a large bear with horns on its head. The white fur draped around him like a cloak. Hex didn’t even question it.n

Hex nearly laughed. He recognized that gaze. He caressed the head of the bear, scratching especially behind the two horns.

The bear, no Dragon Bear, growled. It seemed satisfied with the attention. Suddenly, Hex heard a hiss and his hand froze.

Glancing over, he looked into the ice-blue eyes of a lizard-like creature coiled around the monolith. Its claws scraped against the almost indestructible artifact.

Hex didn’t break eye contact. This was the child of the Frost Dragon. Hex studied the dragon with curiosity that rivaled the dragon’s curiosity.

Aside from the claws at its feet and the sharp horn, the dragon’s tail seemed to be shaped like a claw too. Its scales were blue on the upper side while the lower body, especially the belly part, was white.

The dragon’s eyes flickered as it observed Hex. Small wisps of cold air ejected from its nostrils.

"I don’t mind caressing you too," Hex said with a laugh. He lifted his hand to touch it but the dragon avoided his hand. It behaved very cautiously.

It didn’t bother Hex. He knew how to work with different creatures. A scavenger needed partners to work. Some beasts tore the resilient hides of some dead creatures.

After some cajoling, he managed to place his hand on its head. Cold. It was cold to the touch. But it didn’t hurt. The scales felt smooth and almost glass-like. The dragon purred. Hex didn’t know if dragons purred. It sounded like it. The way it smooched his snout against his palm certainly looked like that. You had to ignore the thick layer of frost around the hand, though. But other than that...just like a cat.

Suddenly, all three looked up. The inner space trembled. Something happened outside. Hex was sure the source of the disturbance lay outside. Not only did the space tremble, but he felt like he was being locked on by a predator. Only, this was a predator unlike any other. It felt like all his secrets were seen through. Even the ones hidden from him.

Hex exited the space at once. The feeling of floating in the void wasn’t there anymore. He could tell where up and down were.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the world, he paused. Didn’t he exit the inner space? Seeing the land and sky filled with snow, he suspected whether he was still on the inside.

But the sight of the huge frozen waves around them proved it wasn’t his inner space. He looked around. He saw Sterling and Quid. They kneeled beside an old man. The man seemed alive. But barely. Half of his body was missing.

He searched for the other guards. But none could be seen. He did see a tall girl standing with her spear lying beside her. She stood before two people. Those two lay on the snow. At least, what was left of them lay in the snow.

The Commander lacked all limbs. The indent of large wings in the snow around him painted a painful picture. It was as if his wings were torn off.

Old Gargoyle resembled a Gargoyle more than ever. His body seemed petrified. His eye sockets were empty. And his body lay in pieces. Like a broken statue.

Hex hurried to Althea. She stood still. Frozen. Not because of the ice. No, she seemed frozen in time and space. Even her breath seemed still.

A pain unlike ever before appeared in his heart. He couldn’t explain it. His heart hadn’t sped up. On the contrary. It seemed to have slowed down. Almost as if he waited for the other to breathe. Her eyes, devoid of life or hope, filled him with a sense of loss. Not even the darkest chasm filled him with such a feeling of being lost.

He searched for words but couldn’t find any. What do you tell someone who lost everything? What had people told him after the baron entered the Vault? Nothing. Althea had been there. In silence. Supporting him. Perhaps he should do it too.

Hex wished to do so. But the situation was different. The danger was still. He sensed it clearer than before. It came from above.

He glanced at the person in the sky. Or persons. The crown prince stood frozen in space. He should have disappeared. But he was held here. By his parents. Yes, not only the King but the Queen too. Only, they seemed to have merged as one. Hex didn’t know how such a thing happened. But they had done it.

They seemed to be struggling. The space rumbled. Time seemed to distort around him. But nothing gave a feeling of more danger than the golden beam of light connecting the broken monolith and the sky. The entire sky.

Hex stared at the golden sky above him. Hex wasn’t the only one. All around the world, ancient powers glanced at the sky. Destiny was changing.

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