Dazien tried his best not to scream as the Sapphire Caste mender fixed his arm more completely. Another Healer had arrived to look over Phoenix for him, but there wasn’t much they could do aside from forcing her to sleep so she wouldn’t feel the pain.
As he was left to sit with her and recover from his own intensive healing, Dazien felt his mind repying everything over and over again. Should he have let Phoenix risk herself like that? He hadn’t thought she would stack recoil effects like that and make what was already a risky fight even more of a death sentence.
He was struggling to rectify the dissonance of her borderline suicidal actions with the weight of responsibility her divine quest pced upon her. Ever since learning about the task Hero and Rebel had given her, he had been trying to make sense of it.
She was a complete outsider to their world, yet the gods thought she would be the best chance for Tyrand—a nation on the opposite side of the continent—to escape the tyranny that had cimed it? It was mind boggling. How did they expect her to accomplish it? Were they hoping that Lord Waynd would be enough of a support that she wouldn’t need anyone else?
Where did that put him and the others in their team? Were they meant to help her, or were they just getting in her way? Perhaps, they were just a stepping stone for her to gain more experience with before she abandoned them for her quest.
Dazien shook his head, trying to push away that doubt. No, Phoenix said she wanted them all to join her, which hopefully meant she wasn’t just using them to grow during the blood moon. Even if she was, though, what right did he have to get upset for her doing so?
He shouldn’t have assumed she wanted a long-term party like he did. Despite feeling drawn to Phoenix for reasons he had yet to puzzle out, he shouldn’t have assumed she felt the same. He wondered if the Talent she still kept hidden was some more powerful version of his own, that drew people closer. He had read about a couple of other Wayfarers getting Talents like that as a sort of defense mechanism.
Even if she did, though, it wouldn’t change the fact that he felt drawn to help and support her. However, the best way he knew how to do that was to lead her party, but was that what she needed? What right did someone like him have to even try to give someone in her position an order?
He was still just an orphan trying to become a king while she had the power to crown one.
Dazien didn’t envy her secret, nor the idea of being entangled in the affairs of gods that came with it. However, he found himself wishing he was better suited to help her. It wasn’t like her secret would change his pns to become a king in his own right someday, but what was the point of her being part of their party when she was already chosen for greatness? Was there any point in him trying to lead if she obviously didn’t need him to?
He grimaced as he remembered snapping at her when she had tried to push beyond his boundaries and not take no for an answer. He knew that was a sore point with him when so many people had often tried to do the same thing for more nefarious or perverse reasons, but she hadn’t meant it like that. She had been trying to help, but what he had needed—and still needed—was space to try and sort through this unending stream of questions his mind kept asking.
Instead of immediate answers from her, he wanted to better understand why he had those questions and doubts in the first pce before coming to her with the most important ones that actually mattered. He had learned long ago with Uriel that pushing to pry out secrets and reasoning, without fully understanding why he wanted to know, just led to tension and distrust.
It was easy to expin that knowing what her abilities did would help him lead their group better, but asking why she accepted such an insane quest and didn’t trust them to help her with at least preparing for it… well, he didn’t have a good reason to ask if she obviously didn’t want them to help.
What good would he be to her anyways if he couldn’t even protect her from ending up in the state she was currently in?
She made it painfully clear that he had failed her as a Defender, as a leader, and as a friend.
It was another hour before their party reunited at Phoenix’s temporary healing cot and she awakened from her magically induced coma. The amount of pain and sleep she had undergone had almost made her wish she had died –at least healing from that was instantaneous and complete.
She was also disappointed in having to repce her torn sleeves from the transformation effects that she hadn’t considered before attempting the ability the first time and seemed doomed to repeat. She would need to look into finding some enchanted gear that would adapt to the shape-shifting ter. For now, she made sure her Bracelet of Elemental Conversion was snuggly in pce to hide her Oathbond and left the partially torn shirt hanging over it.
Rayna was getting her up to speed on what had happened while she was asleep and Dazien was recovering. Apparently, their tunnel had been hit by a few more Crystal Casters but they had soon gotten another group as reinforcements and managed to take out the new enemies in short order. Then the call came to regroup at the various secondary staging points that had been set up as they closed in on the Rift.
They hadn’t gotten the details about the reason for that yet, but Paul soon showed up to check on them. He spared a disapproving look at both her and Dazien for their current state but didn’t voice his criticisms as he went into expnations.
“Once they lost their twentieth Sapphire, they retreated into Tulisuda itself,” her mentor informed with a huff of annoyance, “We’re regrouping and healing up for the moment while trying to unlock the seal they put in pce before we advance further.”
“We’re going into the Reality Rift?” Rayna asked with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, and Phoenix recalled the st one the voxen twins had gone into had cimed the rest of their former party.
Paul gave a pointed look at Phoenix still lying on a cot but muttered reluctantly, “Perhaps. It didn’t escape the notice of some of the higher-ups that your party managed to take out one of the Sapphires that we believe caused their retreat.”
“That almost killed us,” Dazien said bitterly, also sparing a look towards her. “I’m not sure we’ll be as much help inside the Rift itself. How many enemy Casters are estimated to remain?”
“At least another dozen Sapphires escaped through the rift,” Paul said. “However, we’re expecting an even stronger resistance inside that has been in hiding for a while. Plus, we’re ill-equipped for the conditions inside there. Unless you’ve worked within Tulisuda, most Adventurers on the tundra have no need of heat and Fire resistance gear.”
He gave a nod toward Uriel, “Most of the cinderen will have an easier time of it, which is one of the reasons our city has such a rge popution of them, but only about half of our forces have their usual Fire Attunement.
“The more concerning news, however, is that it appears the enemy’s numbers have been bolstered by the Renseres,” the rededicated padin practically spat when saying the name of the overzealous branch of his previous faith.
The party of Crystal Casters shared nervous gnces, all too aware of Paul’s former falling out with the stark reminder of his vengeful regalia on dispy. Phoenix decided to speak up, “We should help you fight them.”
The words seemed to surprise her friends and she expounded, “You all said so yourselves; they’re monsters. They will destroy this city for no better reason than to gain the favor of the Soul Reapers.”
She made a point to lock eyes with each of her companions as she spoke before finally resting on Paul’s golden ones, “I’m sure there are Crystal Caste threats in there as well that we can occupy so that the others can focus on the more powerful Casters.”
“Do they have any Emeralds?” Dazien inquired.
Paul shook his head, “By all accounts it’s just Crystal and Sapphire but we won’t know for certain until we find them. If there is an Emerald, I will most likely need to be focused on them while the other Adventurers handle the rest.”
“We can be some of those other Adventurers,” Rayna piped up in support of Phoenix’s position.
Paul stared at each of them for a moment with his assessing gaze that silently spoke volumes before he tilted his head slightly and said, “We will see. For now, rest up so you’ll be ready if called upon.”
He left the party to return to his own duties and they gathered seats near Phoenix’s cot as they each ate a Crystal Mana Bit to replenish their reserves and most began doing a quieter version of meditating to cultivate their gains from the battle. Saiya even used one of her abilities to help them and began to softly sing.
Passive Ability: Meditative Guide
Type: Boon (magical, song)
Current Caste: Crystal 9
Crystal Effect: Sing a song of guided meditation, enhancing the effects of meditation to nearby allies.
Saiya had been the one to teach all of them this style of meditation that they could use when limited on open space to perform their usual kata-style techniques. Their more active techniques, like her Dual Sword Dance of the Weapon Wielding Warrior, seemed to be a bit more efficient for them to cultivate with, but the quiet lotus position would do in a pinch.
Once the Healer’s singing ended, Phoenix took some time to briefly gnce over her profile and gauge her progress.
Name: Phoenix Fraser
Species: Wayfarer
Caste: Crystal 3
Attributes
Strength (Sun): Crystal 3
Agility (Dark): Crystal 4
Fortitude (Star): Crystal 5
Mind (Moon): Crystal 2
Magic (Celestial Astromancer): Crystal 3
Natural Talents
Aetheric Transmigrator
Beacon of Hope
Collector
Guide Book
Waypoint
Divine Titles
Chosen One
Titles
Adventurer
Syer
Aspects
Star
Guiding Stars (Aura Passive)Transversing the Stars - Crystal 7 (54%)Wings of the Cosmos (Css) - Crystal 4 (10%)Dark
Embrace of Shadows (Aura Passive)Night Bde - Crystal 5 (96%)Call of the Abyss (Css) - Crystal 3 (32%)Sun
Radiant Sunlight (Aura Passive)Dawn Rises - Crystal 5 (78%)Meteor Shower (Css) - Crystal 2 (20%)Moon
Moonlit Eyes (Perception Passive)Lunar Dream - Crystal 4 (56%)Avatar of Bakunawa (Css) - Crystal 1 (6%)Celestial Astromancer (Css)
Astral Oasis (Aura Passive)Ruler of Retivity - Crystal 6 (71%)Supernova (Css) - Crystal 1 (0%)
Her abilities were making good progress but some of her new css abilities were going to be a pain to level up. A few in particur were so niche and devastating that it was impossible to use them with any kind of frequency.
She noted that her [Wings of the Cosmos] ability had gained about two percent from her fight with the Sapphire Caster earlier and made a mental note to try fighting with keeping Ta merged if she came across another Sapphire threat to try and compare the growth rate.
Despite her trepidation over her newest and final ability, she was gd that she could truly work towards Sapphire Caste now. Her attention was pulled away from her book as she felt someone watching her and she gnced over to see Dazien staring at the glowing book in her p with a slight frown.
She caught his eye and raised a brow, asking softly, “We going to have that talk now?”
His frown deepened as he gnced at the others and shook his head in the negative, but said, “Maybe after the battle, in a more private setting.”
Rayna spoke up, trying to turn the conversation away from the awkward tension that had been growing between the two of them, “I know Murinah was insane –she definitely gave off those creepy stalker vibes when asking about joining our party– but it’s still hard to believe that her whole family was as well. From what I’ve gathered, they’ve been one of the noble Houses of Tulimeir since its founding. Turning on their very purpose of guarding and maintaining Tulisuda is a complete betrayal of their duty.”
“Noble duty should be to the people, not some Reality Rift,” Dazien interjected with an odd disapproval Phoenix hadn't seen often before.
Rayna frowned and argued, “My people may be nomadic but they are also keepers of the desert oases, sun pilrs, and the dune paths. Those ndmarks were vital to our survival. Protecting and harnessing the resources of the nd around you is a service to the people.”
“So long as they provide those services. If their priority is the resource itself, instead of the people, then they’ll make choices like taking control of a Rift and annihiting the city around it,” he countered with a pointed look.
“They’re not protecting it if they destroy it,” the brawler retorted, “If they had been doing their duty then the people would never have been in danger.”
Dazien leaned forward as he got invested in the debate, “If every noble made it their duty to protect and uplift the people they are meant to serve, then the greed and corruption of securing and managing resources would never become an issue that could cause harm. As soon as resources become the focus, then lives just become another resource to be weighed and measured against.”
“Be realistic, Dazien. Nobles are people too and people do things for their own self-interests, no matter how virtuous they may be,” the voxen said with a roll of her vulpine eyes, “From what I’ve seen of the common folk in most pces, they can’t even agree on what’s best for them or how they should be ‘protected and uplifted’. They just bme the nobles for all their problems and expect them to provide the solution. Usually, those problems involve resources, like Tulisuda. How can your nobility protect them without someone maintaining the Rift that feeds into the ley lines that power the defenses?”
Phoenix decided to contribute a bit to the conversation at that point, “In my old world, there were systems of government where the people, or ‘common folk’ as you put it, did help rule themselves. It had mixed results and usually depended on how many resources were involved. Dazien’s not wrong when he says resource control leads to greed and corruption.”
“How would a system like that even work?” Saiya asked quizzically, having been listening quietly while wrapping a tail around Phoenix’s leg.
“Well, the general idea is everyone votes for who they would want to run certain things. There were a bunch of different variations but the central idea was that the people got to choose their leaders. We call it democracy and I think it works better than hoping the right person was born into the right family,” Phoenix tried to expin.
“Take Murinah, for example,” she continued, focusing her attention on Rayna, “You said that you knew she was insane, but she was sted to take over the whole family, right? So, she would have eventually gained control over the Rift just because she was born into privilege, not because she would actually be capable of the job.”
“Wait, so who led the people?” Dazien asked in confusion, “Are you saying they just voted for their monarch?”
“They weren’t usually called a monarch, though some monarchies became a mixture of sorts,” Phoenix blushed slightly as she admitted, “I’m not positive how best to expin all the different versions. I was never really interested in politics and most of what I know comes from a single semester of high school… which I’ll admit was rather cking in details.
“Different systems had different names, positions, responsibilities, etcetera. But most would elect a head of state that was kind of like a monarch for a few years until it was time to vote again and depending on how good a job they did they might be voted in again.”
“The monarch would change?” Saiya asked, also sounding a bit confused.
“Well, yeah, sometimes.”
“That seems inefficient,” Rayna pointed out, “The new person would have to learn everything all over.”
“What happens if they pick a Crystal Caster or something? I doubt a Ruby would follow them,” Uriel asked, finally joining in on the conversation as well.
“Um, no idea. We didn’t have magic, remember? Personal power was measured differently than Caste,” Phoenix scrunched her nose trying to figure out how to expin things like global economics and political influence.
She really hoped that she wouldn’t need to suddenly become an expert in these things by becoming Paul’s heir. “One of the biggest measurements of personal strength came in the form of money, which I heard someone call ‘power coupons’ once and thought it was totally accurate.
“The more wealth you had, the more power and influence you wielded. There were some exceptions to this, but those who were highly skilled or talented would usually gain the appropriate amount of power coupons to pce them in the social hierarchy. I read about a lot of politicians who gained wealth by making deals with other wealthy people who wanted things done their way.”
“Then what stops the people from electing an incompetent monarch or corrupt politician?” Dazien inquired.
“I never said it was a perfect system,” Phoenix replied, raising her hands in surrender. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s a system in my old world that was completely incorruptible but the more checks and bances put into pce and the more spread out the positions of power became, the more resilient to corruption it seemed to be, generally speaking.”
She gave them a weak smile and added, “Personally, I think it would be better to have a council of elected officials that govern together rather than a single person who controls everything and is the sole arbiter of how the people can live.”
Dazien’s expression darkened at her words, “You truly believe that?”
She hesitated, noticing the change in his mood, “Um… yeah. History is full of rulers that brought misery to their people. Dictatorships where power is consolidated into the fewest hands and anyone who was different or disagreed was killed.”
His voice became low with an odd intensity as he asked, “Yet you would accept a quest to put a monarch on a throne? Make an Oathbond with unknown consequences to ensure a single person cims power over a nation? A person you’ve never met before who –to your earlier concern– was born into the position and might also be an evil dictator?”
Phoenix frowned at his words, “The quest came from Hero and Rebel… I doubt they would ask me to repce a dictator with another dictator. Unless you’re suggesting the gods can’t be trusted; which, after everything I’ve learned recently about the Purifier, I can understand now.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting, but you don’t even agree with the concept of a monarchy!” he said incredulously, throwing his arms up into the air as he stood from his seat, his unbound frustration now obvious to everyone as they all stared wide-eyed.
Then Dazien did something she had never seen before nor ever expected from the usually composed leader. He ranted.
“I never thought you were a hypocrite before, Phoenix, but you would accept a task to support something you don’t agree with? Why would you reinforce a monarchy when you don’t think they should exist in the first pce? Why would you stay silent while you became friends with nobles and not speak up when I talked about my future as one?”
Uriel stood and moved to pce a hand on Dazien’s shoulder as he quietly began to say, “King—” but Dazien shrugged him off. The incredulity and anger on his face started morphing into hurt and despair as he kept speaking.
“Were you just pying along because you thought it would never be true? Do you think your quest is just one of those video games you’ve talked about, and it doesn’t really matter? Or were you just pnning to abandon us when the blood moon ends so there was no point in trying to share your concerns?
“You never asked even once about Tyrand before! Even if you couldn’t feel safe enough to trust us with the details of your quest, you could have at least asked for information from the one person who has been studying nations his whole life! Do you think my aspirations are merely childish words with no hope for actualization?! I may fail at a lot of things, but do you really believe I’ll fail my dreams? Or that I’ll fail to help you, too?”
Dazien was shouting by the end of his tirade and almost looked like he was going to cry from the pain of his overflowing emotions.
The sudden silence stretched into uncomfortable unease, and she wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t sound hollow. Had she really been such a bad friend that he believed she thought he was a failure? Did he really believe she didn’t think her quest or his dreams were important?
After a few moments, Dazien seemed to realize what he had done and flushed in embarrassment as he looked away. “I-I’m sorry. Forgive my outburst. I… I think I need to take a walk.” Then he turned to do just as he said, leaving them in shocked stillness.
