T. A. Star
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45 - Blackout
🕑 Added 2024-07-20 00:00:04 +0000 UTC
Phoenix was horrified by the details that surrounded Uriel’s time in captivity. It turned out that the level of manipulative conditioning the cinderen had gone through as a young teen put Patricia’s level of political maneuvering to shame.
She learned that one of those conditioned responses was that when the word “Now” had been said by his captor, it always preceded an order, and those orders preceded inevitable pain. Other terms to avoid were more common sense by her standards; don’t refer to Uriel as a “Shield,” “Pet,” “Monster,” or “Annihilator.” Those were the terms the cult had often referred to him as.
The following conversation with Patricia had been more productive and relieving than Phoenix had expected at first. She wasn’t entirely sure she trusted Pati’s words about not attempting to manipulate them in the future if the woman thought she knew better, but she did understand that her heart seemed to be in the right place with wanting to protect them.
They all quickly realized that when Patricia had told Uriel she feared her and Dazien’s future would be destroyed, she didn’t mean just in a social or political sense.
The Delegation of Radiance was looked upon favorably by most of the world as the moral authority of what was “right” and “good” in most places. However, the DOR also made it a point to define what was “evil” by the existence of its counterpart, the Voidsworn Syndicate.
Dazien was surprisingly the one who pointed out that while he agreed with most of the separation –with deities like the Cultivator and Scholar on the “good” side and Destroyer, Torturer, or Trickster on the “bad” side– he also wanted to remind them that the Purifier had switched sides recently.
Patricia, in turn, pointed out that the DOR didn’t care about admitting past mistakes but about righting wrongs. Once the Purifier’s plans were made clear from more than the words of a single Paladin, they had claimed the god “Fallen” and denounced his followers with a vengeance that even the Avenger would have been proud of.
Followers of the remaining “good” gods –mainly Paladins who acted as their offensive force– began hunting down not just the extremist Renseres group but all of the Purifier’s clergy, just like they did with other followers of the Voidsworn Syndicate.
The only thing that could possibly keep Uriel safe was actually the fact he was Chosen and not just a random priest. Most followers of the DOR didn’t want to condemn an entire nation to annihilation because they decided to murder Destroyer’s Chosen but Pati reminded them that most were not all.
Extremists like the Renseres might believe the cost in lives now would be worth what might be caused later if someone like Uriel got strong enough and spread Destroyer’s concept even further. Fear and righteousness were a dangerous mix.
A compromise the group agreed on, aside from just keeping Uriel’s secret as they had, was to always keep watch. Uriel would always have someone with him, and they could utilize their Familiars to assist in this regard. This worked out fine since the cinderen was rarely without someone already, usually shadowing Dazien if not with the entire group already.
“This also helps achieve your goal, right?” Patricia said to Uriel with a small smirk, “Never alone?”
The mage chuckled, “I guess I can’t complain about it then, can I?”
“Can we do the same with Phoenix?” the Ambassador asked, raising an eyebrow in the Wayfarer’s direction. “I’ve been trying to come up with workable solutions to keep her safe as well. The Voidsworn Syndicate is also known to target the Chosen of the Delegation of Radiance. I thought it a safer move to use the knowledge of just how many deities chose her as a shield, but after gaining more, I’m afraid a suitably motivated party might try to kill her simply to prevent her from gaining another.”
Phoenix’s party all gave her hesitant looks, uncertain how to respond. She had noticed before, when Patricia seemed disquieted by their dark humor, that the runeforged wasn’t aware of her resurrection ability, but she hadn’t thought to rectify that at the time.
She had no idea why the Cultivator or Paul hadn’t told Patricia before now unless it was the same reason Uriel had kept his: limiting access points to the information.
Finally, she decided that revealing this secret might actually save her from more headaches and said, “I don’t need it. They can’t kill me.”
Pati gave her a flat look, “Phoenix, I know you’ve done some incredible things and have a lot of powerful people protecting you, but you’re still only a Crystal Caster. You’re not invincible.”
“Let me rephrase,” she said, “Even if they kill me, I won’t stay dead.”
The priestess stared at her for a long moment and Phoenix had to glance at her friends to make sure time hadn’t frozen somehow before Pati replied, “I’m going to need you to explain that a bit more.”
It was evening by the time King’s Dream finally arrived at the AOA building in Tulimeir to get their next adventuring mission. They all assumed it would be more monster hunting and they weren’t entirely wrong.
It turned out that the strange group of voxen that had been dealing with Patricia were a subspecies called “Starfall” and making good on their promise to help upgrade Tulim’s fortress cities, providing not just supplies but portalists from their own hometown in exchange for the wreckage left by the Soul Reapers.
These upgrades were critical to the duchy’s survival as the zone’s ambient magic continued to rise, albeit slower than when there had been three seeds originally. Nevertheless, the World Tree itself had continued refining the magic –condensing, cleansing, and dispersing it.
The result was that low Emerald Caste monsters had begun to spawn within Tulim’s borders, and Paladin Kara Fairweather, Knight Veldrix Thevaris, and Emissary Mint, along with parties of Fae and the surviving Emerald Casters of Tulim, were mobilized to respond.
Unfortunately for King’s Dream, that meant getting placed upon the defense of the walls rather than roaming the tundra. Due to two of their members still being within the Crystal Caste, the AOA branch of Tulim would not risk instant death by sending out a party two castes below the zone. These rules had been put in place long ago, and recent events only served to reinforce them.
They had lost dozens of people whenever an Emerald Caste enemy had appeared. In the Reality Rift, Tulisuda, the Crystal Casters had become collateral to stray strikes and area effects from a single Emerald. The Emerald Caste Soul Reapers had claimed even more.
At least when the Crystal Adventurers were stationed in a more defensive position on the walls, they had the time and resources to call for backup should an Emerald monster appear. Not to mention some of the upgraded weaponry already being interchanged atop the battlements.
The party’s first rotation on the wall would be later that night to help relieve some of the other groups that had been struggling with being overworked due to the decrease in available Casters after such heavy losses. The idea of activating the Emergency Caster Recruitment program was still being hotly debated within the nobility as the Duke consulted with House representatives, many of whom would be providing either the materials or funds.
Many Houses had also begun replenishing their dwindling power by taking a page out of Lord Wayland’s book and adopting promising young scions into their own. Not just orphans from the local temple of the Parent, but older teenagers and young adults who could absorb Aspects and might still have living parents.
The promise of financial support, magical power, and the opportunities and privileges that came with a noble’s title were usually enough incentive to renounce one family name for another. Many parents even supported the notion, granting their children a better life along with a source of support for themselves in the process.
This tactic resulted in a more targeted increase in the number of Casters that the Emergency Caster Recruitment program didn’t replicate; being run more by a lottery of volunteers rather than a specific selection for potential and skills.
Still, freshly made Crystal Casters, with little to no experience fighting monsters, weren’t exactly an equal replacement for the lives that had been lost, though it was better than nothing. There were a few training programs to assist, some Houses having their own methods to pass on, but the main three were run by the Alliance of Adventurers, the Ducal Guards, and the Warrior’s temple.
Normally, these programs required a fee to enter but the Duke had announced covering these costs for any who joined throughout the blood moon and halved for those who joined within the next year. The demand had overwhelmed the supply.
This didn’t mean much for King’s Dream specifically but it did cause quite a few new faces to appear around the AOA, the gawking and whispers at a maximum as the group passed. It was an understatement to say that Phoenix stood out from the crowd, softly glowing pale skin and wild red curls were odd enough but the aura was another thing altogether.
Having a Sapphire Caste Shiny gemite beside her didn’t help. Long amethyst hair stood out just as much and the sparkling golden antlers made Dazien even more eye-catching now. Add in the pair of furry three-tailed voxen, and the group only had one average person amongst them; the one that looked like a criminal with those [Chains of Silence] around his throat and wrists.
King’s Dream stood out in almost every regard, from the physical to the aural to the practically absurd reputation and rumors that surrounded them. While this might have been nice for parting a crowd as they went to get their mission, it made going about the city… difficult.
The group had decided to have some dinner at a restaurant before their shift on the wall but their newfound popularity made that an exhausting endeavor. Strangers stopped them in the streets to thank them or give their condolences about Lord Wayland.
Some people seemed under the impression that he had actually died in the assault since he hadn’t been seen publicly since. More than once, Phoenix had been called “Lady Wayland” as if she had already inherited the position, and she had tried her best to politely correct them.
Even their meal became an endless gauntlet of visitors to their table, and the group unanimously voted to only eat in private rooms or at home after that, at least until things died down a bit and the blood moon was over.
The streetlights came on as Krafti, the red moon, was just about to rise. The soft magical glow would be waging its own war against the crimson light trying to wash out the city like a morbid painting.
The party made its way to the southern wall of the eastern Manufacturing District. The group was looking for the official attendant to inform them of their arrival and get the exact details of which posts they would be covering when they realized something was wrong.
Rayna was the first to go tense, her ears pivoting, then head snapping towards the north as her entire body went on alert and she said, “I hear screams.”
“There’s no alarm,” Dazien replied in confusion, “Is it someone being assaulted? We can go check it out either way.”
Then they all began to hear the screams.
Far too many people were panicking to be something like a mugging, and King’s Dream began to move towards the sound. Rayna took the lead as they maneuvered through the streets, trying to avoid the crowd to find the cause of the fleeing mob. The bard’s speed and [Agile] ability made it easier for her to avoid knocking someone over in their battle against the tide.
“I don’t understand,” Rayna told them over their leader’s [Noble Subjects] communication, “People are screaming about monsters, but the alarms should have sounded.”
“Maybe it’s a blackout? Paul mentioned they’ve been having issues with the system, remember? That’s what happened in the Temple District a few months ago, right?” Phoenix asked.
“We can worry about the why later,” Dazien redirected, “Keep your senses spread to find the enemy.”
The group didn’t have to search long, however, when the sound of buzzing wings echoed through the streets and they caught sight of the monsters flying through the air.
“Uriel, appraisal?” the Defender called out, indicating he didn’t recognize them.
“I think those are Blood Haze Bees,” the mage replied while putting on his emotion-dampening earrings as they moved, “Sapphire Caste usually. Their bites cause nasty bleeding and life drains, while their stingers will poison with powerful hallucinations. I’ve never heard of them spawning on the tundra before, though.”
“So get stung, and you won’t even realize they’re drinking your blood,” Phoenix grimly replied before adding sarcastically, “Wonderful. I think I’d prefer the sparkly type of Vampire.”
