T. A. Star
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30 - The Ship Ate It
🕑 Added 2024-06-29 00:00:06 +0000 UTC
Everin was feeling more on edge than he had in a long time. Aside from Kara being a potential threat just by her very nature of being an Obsidian Caster, there wasn’t really much reason for the Paladin of the Champion to want to end his life.
The Royal Executioner of the Monarchy of Blomsterang, however, would likely not be thrilled by an Avatar of the Rebel existing within the borders of their nation. He had been lucky to even find his goddess’s temple being allowed within the city.
Rebel was the closest thing to a deity of freedom the world had currently, which was likely the only reason she had as many followers as she did. That didn’t make the authorities happy, just tolerant. Most didn’t want to be accused of being complete tyrants.
He tried not to let his nerves show, however, as he tried to explain a few things to the gorgeous gemite standing before him while holding Presley’s hand. The little Emanation had been leading the knight around as though they might get lost without them.
Patricia was also following behind to listen to his report but seemed happy for him to take the spotlight on this little tour. The runeforged had apparently discovered the advanced Knowledge Tablets made of glass the ship had and was furiously typing and swiping away on it.
“And here is where Lord Wayland fell after the battle with the Ruby Soul Reapers,” Everin said, gesturing to the area they had finally arrived at.
The space atop the ship had been transformed by the natural growth reclaiming the vessel and area surrounding the World Tree. With the tree at the vessel’s center, the cleansing meadow had continued spreading outward and was about a half kilometer in diameter now.
The place where Paul had lain dying was now marked by an altered ruebean tree. Instead of deep green leaves, these ones seemed dipped in gold. Those, along with its glossy black trunk and dark red fruit, made the tree’s coloration reminiscent of the Paladin’s regalia. This unique tree was now surrounded by pure white lilies, giving the whole scene an ethereal feeling.
“It’s somber yet beautiful,” Veldrix remarked thoughtfully before turning to ask him, “This is where you became an Avatar?”
“To Scholar, yes.”
“And how exactly did you manage to save the life of a Ruby Caster?”
“Magic,” he replied, only to have his odd black and white eyes be met with blood-red garnets in return. The look was calculating but impassive until the gemite gave a smirk, and his heart seemed to restart again.
“Cute,” Veldrix replied, then asked, “Did this have something to do with how the World Tree came about?”
Everin was relieved the knight hadn’t pushed the topic, not wanting to explain the [Soul Cage] or Phoenix’s involvement. He was about to say no when he paused and said, “Actually, we have a theory on at least one feature of the tree having resulted from Paul’s battle.”
He reached into one of the small dimensional storage pouches he kept within the folds of his clerical robes that had been recently altered to include book sigils. Pulling out one of the small Sense Stones and bending down to hand it to Presley, “Would you mind showing everyone what happened right after Paul defeated the other Ruby Caster on this recording?”
The child happily nodded and took the device, lifting it to their forehead, and then the vessel itself created another illusion for them to witness.
Paul was standing in the rain and roaring in triumph at the sky while two halves of a black-clad body lay at his feet. The Paladin kicked at the torso, which seemed to burst into red ashes from the action, an obvious triggering of a loot power. The rain mixed with the ashes in an odd slurry while a small pile of treasures appeared at the man’s feet.
The Blade of Pure Wrath looked exhausted, standing there silently for a moment before bending over to pick up the loot. Instead, he stumbled, getting caught by his golden Familiar before crashing to the ground.
“Pause it there, please, Presley,” Everin said, and the image froze, “See there? Paul never retrieved the loot from that Ruby Caster.”
“So? Didn’t you or his daughter arrive shortly after?” the knight inquired.
“We did, but there wasn’t anything there,” he explained, “We believe the ship ate it.”
The Ruby Caster blinked at him before glancing down at Presley, who was still holding their hand, “You ate it?”
The child got a shy look and said, “The Bits fixed the power supply issues to begin regeneration.”
Everin nodded but walked closer to the illusion and pointed at the item that looked like rippling water shaped into a golden lotus, “And what is this?”
Presley looked off to the side before saying uncertainly, “An Aspect?”
“Of?” he said leadingly.
“Purification,” the child muttered, then said, “Didn’t know it was bad!”
“Why would that be bad?” Veldrix asked in confusion.
“Auntie Pati said Purifier god was bad guy here! Just wanted to help…”
Everin smiled at the Emanation and walked over to pat their curls, saying reassuringly, “You did help. I’m sure you’ll also help a lot more people in the future because of that choice. Nobody’s upset at you for that.”
“So the theory is Presley here absorbed a [Purification Aspect] and gained the power to cleanse Corruption through the World Tree’s aura?” the knight summarized.
“It’s the best explanation we’ve got,” the Avatar replied with a shrug, “Phoenix might have been the spark that triggered this odd chain of events with the vessel and its cargo, but I believe it’s a miraculous result of the combination of the right items at the right place at the right moment all blended together in the perfect storm of wild magic.”
“A testament to its unique nature,” Veldrix said thoughtfully.
“Are you planning to inform the queen and attempt to seize control of the area, Knight Thevaris?” Patricia asked, finally interjecting into the conversation.
Everin would have bet a very hefty amount of Bits that the royal lap dog of the queen and king would have confirmed both his and Pati’s fears of the goal of turning Presley into a new tool for the nation to leverage. Whether they wanted to claim Presley was their own person as a sentient floraval or not, it was hard to deny the importance of the tree’s existence on the scale of nations.
He would have lost that bet.
“While I feel it my duty to inform the queen of the events that have unfolded here pertaining to the World Tree and the results of the confrontation with the Soul Reapers bringing an Obsidian Caster within our borders, I will not be recommending royal interference at the moment,” the knight explained.
Then they added with a grimace, “She might not listen to me, but I will stress that I believe things are well in hand at the moment and it would not be to our advantage to… micromanage. I don’t think even she believes it wise to potentially anger the Delegation of Radiance.”
Veldrix glanced up to the large canopy of the World Tree above them. Everin followed the gaze to see the sparkles of flittering fairy wings trailing dust that belonged to the new “helpers” sent by the Cultivator.
“Though the notion of the Fae potentially wanting to move in will be a more political concern, I’m sure,” the Executioner added almost regretfully.
“Worries for the future,” Patricia said, tapping a bit more on the glowing slate of glass in her hands, “The more immediate concerns are surviving this blood moon as the magic levels keep increasing. While Paladin Fairweather is dedicated to helping protect the tundra so long as the Soul Reapers are around, can we count on your assistance as well?”
Everin was slightly surprised by the gemite turning to look towards him and saying with a slight smirk, “I believe so. I keep discovering intriguing curiosities here that I would love to learn more about.”
Then they turned back to the Wayland Ambassador, “I was honestly getting bored at the capital, but this trip has been anything but that. While I will need to write a few letters, I plan on offering Duke Tul my assistance for the time being.”
Veldrix graced him with a dazzling smile and asked, “Perhaps, you can help me get settled in the city as a visitor yourself? I’d like to get more of an outside opinion on how the duchy is fairing. I admit I’m curious about what would motivate a follower of the Rebel in fighting for a noble.”
Everin found himself flushing slightly as he became the focus of the beautiful gemite’s attention and tried to swallow his nerves once more as he replied, “It would be my pleasure to enlighten you, Knight Thevaris.”
Phoenix was trying to practice her [Lunar Dream] ability some more with some help from Uriel as he helped direct her. They were currently in the larger training room they had available at the Wayland estate.
“They have a longer snout than that,” the Mage said, looking at the illusory monster that Phoenix could only describe as some kind of boar, anteater, and raccoon hybrid called a “Snuffleroo”.
She gave an annoyed huff and dismissed the illusion to reconjure another with the adjusted mental image. The monster was Plant-attuned and bigger than she thought a normal wild boar on Earth was, and it was a monster she hadn’t come across yet. Uriel was helping her to learn more about what the world had in store for her that wasn’t completely covered by the book of monsters she had purchased for her trials.
While that book had a lot contained within it, there were also pieces of information missing, in this case, what a Snuffleroo actually looked like. Uriel had seen one before, however, and was trying to recreate the memory with her.
“Do you think we could use this to train with?” the cinderen asked her curiously as he circled the new model, “The illusion monsters, that is. Practice tactics and such? I’m sure Daze would like that.”
“That’s kind of my hope,” she replied, “I need to know how it actually behaves, though, which is harder for me to visualize when I’ve never actually fought one before. I can try to program it to fight, but it could behave all wrong if it’s pulling from my own ideas.”
“Program?”
“Tell it to,” she corrected, “Like give it instructions to follow. I could program this to try flying through the air despite it obviously not having the wings to do so with, and it would.”
Uriel hummed thoughtfully, “Maybe not as good of an idea then. Though it might be a decent challenge to progress this ability with.”
An announcing knock at the door interrupted them as Everin entered, “There you are. I don’t mean to be a bother, but I have a quick request for you, Phoenix.”
“Sure, we’re just playing with monsters,” she replied with a grin, “What’s up?”
The rainbow voxen came up to look at the illusion as he talked, “I recalled that Paul had a Flame of Life that was bound to you and was wondering if I could hold onto it in his stead?”
She hesitated slightly before asking, “Any particular reason?”
“It was just something Dazien had mentioned earlier that I’ve been contemplating for a while. When I mentioned that I could sense what direction you were in but had no idea if you had died or simply teleported to a new direction, it made me realize that it might be useful if I had a way to know.
“With my duties now keeping me away from your party more often than not, I wondered if you might also be comforted knowing that I could respond if something were to happen,” the healer explained. Then added, “If not, that’s fine. I just figured I’d ask while I had the chance.”
“I was about to ask what had brought you back to Tulimeir. Haven’t you been spending most of your time serving Scholar over at the World Tree?” the Wayfarer asked.
“Ah, yes,” the pale voxen said with a slight blush, “I’m showing Knight Thevaris around the city this evening.”
“Oh?” Uriel asked, “What’s the Pyre Executioner doing in Tulimeir?”
“They were the Ruby Caster sent by the queen to respond to the Soul Reaper threat,” the voxen replied.
Phoenix scowled, “A bit late.”
“That’s a whole argument best left for the Duke to deal with. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy with the late arrival either.”
“Is Knight Thevaris planning to take over things, or is Paladin Fairweather keeping them from getting greedy?” the cinderen inquired.
“I’m not sure if Kara’s the main reason or not, but they’ve said they don’t intend to interfere in the management side of things. Offering their help for now while the blood moon is still ongoing and Paul is no longer able to act for the queendom as the assigned protector.”
“So too late to help, but sticking around anyways?” she clarified with a grumble.
“It seems so,” Everin confirmed, “I’ll try to find out more about their plans at dinner.”
Uriel raised an eyebrow at the Emerald Caster and reiterated, “Dinner?” then the cinderen gave a slight smirk, “Falling for those Shiny gemite traits, Avatar Starlark?”
The voxen’s flush deepened as he quietly retorted, “You’re one to talk.”
The mage laughed, “I guess I deserve that.”
“What?” Phoenix asked in confusion, “Did this knight charm their way to a free meal? I didn’t think a Ruby Caster would have any issues paying.”
The two men stared at her for a moment before the voxen gave a pitying smile and said, “Oh, sweet flower.”
“Why does that never sound like a compliment when anyone other than Saiya says it?” she asked with an annoyed huff.
