“Dissolve the patterns of power!”
River blinked in realization as the illusion she had started to follow, the one behaving just a bit more sentient and direct than the others, vanished along with the others before the rippling wave of the outcast's spell. While this also affected her own active boons, it was in part a relief when they winked out as the curses applied by the smiling man disappeared along with them.
And how satisfying it had been to wipe that smile off his face as she finally suppressed him and delivered an attack on his very soul. Even being able to do so still felt like the ultimate gift to River, making all the agony of the sessions with her father and her Lord’s teachings worth it. It would not be enough to make someone drop dead or leave them cowering at her feet, but it was one of the best and most direct means to deliver Pain’s ultimate touch; an agony unlike anything the flesh could experience. And it had also been enough to sunder the aura mask of the smiling man, revealing him for what he was.
“I can’t believe I did not consider it earlier,” River thought, inwardly chastising herself as she turned and dashed out after the fleeing celestine and the outcast who had also taken up pursuit. She had to grudgingly admit that his actions had saved her a lot of time, his annoying path being quite the detriment to the efforts of their quarry to mislead them. During the minute of dashing along the sect streets, ducking and weaving through small gardens, scaling walls and leaping over rooftops, the annoying one had dispelled several illusions. But River did her fair share too in the uneasy and ever so temporary collaboration between them, utilizing her speed and chains to keep pressuring their foe as well as her sharp aura senses to pick up his trail when mere line of sight became an issue.
And said minute was not without its hazards, the fleeing bastard somehow having turned the sect compound into a chaotic hellscape. River lost her prey for a moment when she had to use her powers to swiftly jerk away from a bolt of crackling magical discharge, but picked up his trail once more when she got clear of the chaotic ambient mana.
“Who - ward! - is he?”
The call from the annoying one came again, more insistent than before even though he had to pause to conjure one of his barriers to shield himself from the environmental hazard. River did not answer at first, vaulting from a rooftop to land at a dash only to see their quarry enter another larger set of buildings ahead; a more interconnected complex which seemed to be the heart of the sect compound.
There were other people there too, River’s aura senses starting to pick them up as she drew closer, but mostly normal-rankers and those with only one or two essences. And from the fear and determination she felt hanging over the building like a miasma, it was certainly the place where the sect’s less apt pupils, junior elders and the members’ families were sequestered away during the conflict.
She was almost at the door when she felt an insistent aura push from the outcast, demanding her to answer. River’s first instinct was to lash out, but as she felt the progress of their quarry slow down in the building, she managed to keep the impulse in check.
“Tell him!”
Lord Pain’s whisper came as a surprise, once more insisting on sharing, much like it had done that night they had met in the forests.
“Lord? Why?” This time River couldn’t help herself to actually question, sending the thought to her deity even as she entered the interior of what was the main administration building for the sect. “He is of little consequence. Once we have caught that man, I will know more of what to look for.”
To her surprise, her god did not reprimand her, but in fairness his mere attention was punishment enough for most people. Instead, his voice remained as calm as ever.
“What is most painful and distracting for those who want to hide? Exposure. Investigations. Inquisition. He can spread word where you cannot, make trouble that you are unable to. If you want to bring my gift to those who oppose you, you need to consider what will actually hurt them.”
“Dancer on the Broken River!”
At the outcast’s words, River turned her head while easily navigating the winding corridors, cutting through an office of some sorts which made loose sheets of paper scatter in her wake.
“If you do not share, then my part in this ends here,” the outcast said, the added threat of withdrawing his participation. River wanted to scoff at even needing his help, but the words of her god held truth. So River told him.
“He himself is of less consequence than his patron deity; Discord.”
“Discord?” The outcast looked questioningly at her while following in her wake, and from his aura River gleaned that he had heard the name but knew little more.
“The master of dissent and dissonance. Of all things out of alignment, out of sync. A god who is revered by those reveling in the chaos of disorder, often acting as his agents. A god who always has his touch upon the scales, as conflict is in the nature of every people, everywhere.”
“And why would one of their followers be here? Now? It-” the outcast began, but halted as his brow creased in thought. River was happy to let him ponder, feeling that she had shared enough. The pair broke through another set of doors, normal-rankers huddling in one corner of the room behind a makeshift barricade of flipped tables and shelves. River could feel their prey having slowed down as well not far ahead, making them so close. But there was also a defensive barrier blocking the door they would need to cross through, its stable nature hinting it to be a separate formation rather than part of the wider array thrown into chaos.
River cursed inwardly and looked around for other options, and was just about to consider climbing the outside of the house when the outcast stopped next to her as well, striking the barrier once, causing it to light up.
“It is no use. We-” River began, but halted as the young man held up a hand.
“I should be able to disrupt it, but I need a moment to study it.”
River looked at him, eyes thinned, before shaking her head. “Too slow. I will go around.”
Without further delay, she dashed for the window she had been considering earlier, wooden shutters breaking as her outward momentum was halted by one of her chains snaking out and winding itself around a beam just beneath the awning above. More reached out ahead, allowing River to run along the facade of the house even while she dodged the discharge of the failing array that covered the building’s exterior.
“I will not be denied this!”
----------------------------------------
Bliss cursed once more as he threw the door shut behind him, ignoring the pleas for answers from the sect weaklings who huddled in the room. Seeing that the door’s defensive formation was intact, he shoved some mana into the crystal next to the door as well, raising the barrier just as the physical door shut.
He could feel the aches where a few of the collapsing parts of the arrays had singed him during his escape, unable to shake off that damnable pair. Bliss had not wanted to use the array-collapse so soon, but rather when he was about to leave the sect compound for good to throw off any trace. Having proven himself to be a competent hand at arrays and formation, getting access to the sect defenses had not been hard during his two years spent embedded at the Descending Star sect. And the knowledge and rituals taught to him by senior sister meant that setting up for the glorious concept of dissonance and discordance to flood the system was a simple matter.
“Now there is just the question of finding an alternate route out of here,” Bliss thought. “Senior sister and the others will not be happy, but if we act fast we should be able to silence those two quickly enough for the seeds to grow, ours to harvest for generations to come. I-”
“Elder!” His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a man slightly older than Bliss, the elf’s posture one of subservience and worry as he came running up to Bliss. Realizing that he had entered the parts of the compound where the junior elders would be posted to coordinate logistics and other such mundane parts of their defenses, Bliss had an idea.
“Junior elder Ray, where is junior elder Soothe?” Bliss let his voice carry the sternness of an order, but kept his aura well and fully retracted so as to allow his now changed presence to remain undetected for as long as possible, inwardly cursing that disciple of Pain for ruining the carefully crafted aura mask.
“Here, elder Bliss!” Another elf came running over, his red hair and pretty face having made him one of the most eligible bachelors of the sect, if the rumors Bliss had heard was true. But he could as well have been the most abominable creature in the world to Bliss at the moment, as long as one part stayed true; junior elder Soothe was a portal user. In fact, the only portal user of the sect that remained within the region. Those kinds of powers always found work no matter where they went, which meant that most left for the richer pastures of the south pretty quickly upon reaching bronze rank.
But Soothe had so far stayed, as the sect had treated him like a prince in most regards, giving him monster cores for the rather meek man to keep progressing once he wished to retire from active combat duty. Currently bronze rank, Bliss knew that his portal power had hit silver rank just last week. And unlike the teleportation powers, Bliss did not think that their attackers would have had time to make formations powerful enough to intercept the more solidly anchored portals.
“Ah, junior elder. Excellent. I come bearing word. You are to open a portal and start the evacuation of those you can. I am to be a vanguard along with a few other bronze rankers who will carry the treasures of the sect. We must not allow all of our heritage to perish here.”
Even as he spoke, Bliss could see the visible concern and hesitation of the other man, but kept his frustration out of his tone.
“Elder, I am sorry, but I have strict orders as to wait for the sect leader, should he need to fall back.”
At his words, Bliss did inwardly curse the affliction they had created, its other benefits be damned. “Apparently egotism is also much enhanced,” he thought before speaking, the sect leader essentially reserving the only portal for himself speaking volumes of the man’s mental state. “Junior elder, have you looked out there recently? Last I saw before entering this building was the sect leader being knocked from the skies. May the founders forgive me saying this, but he has lost, his actions leading the sect to this very brink of collapse we now find ourselves teetering upon. Will you let one man’s folly bring down the memory of the sect, all of your lives burning along with it?”
Not daring to quest out with his aura senses, Bliss could only gauge the reactions of the gathered junior elders through more direct and visual cues. There were a dozen of them there, with five bronze-rankers and the rest being at iron. He could see some frowns of disapproval, but not outright hostility. Many even seemed to find a bit of relief in hearing his words, even though they tried hiding it. Bliss had to keep himself from smiling as it was not the portal-user before him whose resolve crumbled first, but the other elf beside him.
“Soothe, the elder is right,” junior elder Ray said as he tried keeping up a stern facade of reluctance. “Our duties should first and foremost be towards the sect, the survival of its heritage paramount. If it is as the elder says; that the sect leader is about to fall, then it is our duty to preserve what we can.”
Junior elder Soothe still looked torn, but as more of the gathered started nodding their assent, his shoulders slumped. “I… You are right.”
“It is for the good of the sect,” junior elder Ray said, clapping a hand down on the other elf’s shoulder before looking to the others. “You three, gather the regalia and other artifacts of the sect. The rest, start rounding up people and make a prioritized order of evacuation. I- ”
As the junior elder started organizing, Bliss heard crackling from behind him. “The barrier,” he thought, realizing that it was about to go down. He went up to junior elder Soothe, once more mustering his authority.
“Then open the portal. Choose the southernmost location possible. I will go through and secure the area before you follow.”
“But- but the rest-”
“You can open more from there, no? Look around us; the arrays are crumbling. There will be no hindrance.” Bliss snapped, feeling the urgency building. “Now, junior elder!”
The elf gulped, but then did as asked. A pair of small vines sprouted from the floor, starting to grow up towards what would become an archway in but a few seconds. The two growing tendrils of vibrant green plants and beautiful flowers had just connected at the top as things turned complicated.
Behind Bliss, the barrier cracked and buzzed before it collapsed, the outcast adventurer bursting through. As he saw the archway almost complete, the heaven-cursed man did not hesitate.
“Dissolve the patterns of power!”
Even as the man began speaking his first syllables, Bliss knew that he had to go. The portal was but three steps away, but Bliss had only taken the first when one of the nearby windows exploded inwards, the daughter of the late grand elder White bursting through like a chain-trailing comet. Several of the conjured links shot out towards Bliss who intercepted them with a series of detonating illusions. This stopped the questing chains from finding purchase, but they did cause Bliss to stumble as he made one last push through the barely formed portal. Bliss’ triumphed elation was marred by a burning pain in his right wrist and part of his foot, before the sect headquarters was replaced with darkness.
----------------------------------------
“Curse you, traitor. You are the ruin of everything; the blood of our sect will forever stain your hands!”
Meridian was surprised to feel next to nothing at her cousin’s words as he desperately blocked the constant stream of celestial chakrams and clusters of projected stars which she was sending his way. The battle had been fierce, both Comet and the other grand elder truly bringing out their best. But with three against two, not even the defensive array assisting the pair had been enough. Lord Indomitable had constantly pressured the sect leader, putting so much strain on him through the constant swirl of projectiles and other hazards that Meridian had found ample opportunity to use her spells to their fullest while his daughter had single-handedly pressured the other grand elder to the point where his defeat was but a foregone conclusion.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
And with the surprising collapse of the sect arrays still causing havoc and chaos below, Meridian knew that this was the end. Comet had no teleportation powers, so there was no getting away for him with an arm missing in addition to the many other injuries his body was struggling with.
“Cousin, you should only be blaming your treacherous pride and blindness to the world at this point,” Meridian countered. “You only had to accept the church’s assistance; the help that is the Healer’s purview. Accept that tiny blemish and loss of face. But you did not, and the whole sect weeps at what that has cost them.”
“Oh, but this is not over cousin-”
Comet’s words were interrupted by Meridian’s aura forcefully clamping down on his, the sudden suppression only possible due to the man’s exhaustion.
“Comet. Cousin. It is. It is over.”
Meridian was calm as she spoke. She was done and finished with this. Meridian had found acceptance in what unknown horizons lay before her now, but she already knew; the Descending Star sect would not survive this day.
She did not know what it was that finally broke through to Comet, whether it was words or the devastation around them, the last sect warriors below desperately fighting against both adventurers and collapsing arrays to hold the heart of the sect compound. But with his aura in her spiritual grasp, Meridian could feel Comet’s resolve finally break. But instead of resignation, she felt a burst of raw fear and desperation.
“Comet, no!”
But it was too late. A desperate battlecry left the lips of her cousin as he swung his axe in a wide arc which sent out an expanding wave of pale light and rippling force. The area-attack would not be an overly potent threat to the few enemies he faced, but it was enough to intercept any projectiles fired his way as he made his next move; Comet Banishing Clouds, sect leader of the Descending Star sect, turned and ran, one of his greatly empowered leaps sending him hurtling down towards the sect compound below like his descending namesake. He crashed through the wall of the sect headquarters, vanishing from view.
“Does he think himself able to escape? I do not believe that the junior elders stationed there will be much help. Junior elder Soothe’s portal had not reached silver-rank when I left.” Meridian thought dispassionately as her chakrams started to line up before her in preparation for her most powerful spell. But Meridian’s preparation was interrupted as Calm of the Inevitable Beyond appeared next to her.
“Please let me. Your spell will only cause unnecessary deaths this day. I will carry Death’s touch to your former sect leader.”
Meridian met the calm gaze of the elven woman, considering for only a short while before nodding. “Thank you, priestess.”
Calm only gave a single nod before she took a step, seemingly walking at a leisurely pace downward on the conjured path of fine, white gravel, each step taking her far further than they should.
“Farewell, cousin. For both good and ill, you will be remembered.”
----------------------------------------
Things had happened so fast once Kite managed to get through the barrier. With what Braid had taught him, he did not need more than half a minute to identify the weak points of the structure, the curtain of force yielding to his Disrupting Strike once he struck just the right point in the magical structure.
Entering what looked like a command-post, Kite barely had the time to take in the gathered sect staff, his mind immediately recognizing the portal which was almost fully formed, his quarry ready to step through.
“Oh no you will not!” he thought, the chant already leaving his lips.
“Dissolve the patterns of power!”
At the same time, Dancer on the Broken River came crashing in from a window on the side, her chains managing to trip the escaping priest of Discord a little. But Kite’s heart still sank as the man managed to stumble through the portal just before his dispelling wave washed over the area, River’s chains vanishing. The portal was visibly affected as well, the energies swirling in the arch freezing like the surface of a soap bubble before the whole thing started to wither and crumble inward, the only trace of the priest being a severed hand and part of a foot which had not passed through in time.
River landed on the floor next to the collapsing portal, turning a furious glare towards Kite.
“You fool! Now he got away and I cannot follow! Do you realize what you have done?! What he can still accomplish while he still lives-”
Her angry tirade was interrupted by the next development, one that gave Kite a bit of conflicting feelings.
Just as the portal was to collapse in of itself, it suddenly gave off a discordant sound, followed by a gurgle coming from the air itself. This was quickly followed by a wet, splattering sound as a torrent of what looked like finely ground meat was violently ejected from the dimensional aperture as it collapsed, leaving both Pain’s disciple and much of the nearby floor absolutely covered in blood and tiny, tiny chunks of flesh.
There was a few seconds of silence in the room, equal parts stunned and horrified, before Kite eventually broke it.
“I… don’t believe that he made it to the other side.”
River’s gaze at that moment was hard to interpret, but the next moment her eyes opened wide. Kite saw a flash of mana as she vanished in a blur, his own eyes opening wide as he felt the silver-ranked aura closing in fast.
“Wa-”
Kite didn’t even have time to finish the spell chant before one of the walls exploded inwards, the owner of said aura crashing through, showering the room with dust and flying splinters. Fortunately enough, no attack was forthcoming at that moment, leaving Kite unharmed even though he had failed to shield himself in time.
Kite had never seen Comet Banishing Clouds up close before, and supposed that the man was not at his best at that moment. The pale runic had lost one arm, and the pale blue runes that were visible on his bare face and scalp were flickering like candles about to peter out. He ignored Kite, River apparently having fled far enough to remain unnoticed as well, instead turning his snarl upon the junior elders.
“Soothe. Portal.”
“Sect leader, I-” The pretty elven man looked to be on the verge of crying.
“Portal! Now!”
The sect leader’s aura bearing down on the bronze-ranker made the man stagger as if struck, the elf’s next few words coming out between gasps.
“I- he- the elder. He said that we had lost. That the evacuation should begin. The portal is- it’s gone.”
“What?!”
“Elder Bliss came in and started ordering, saying he acted on your authority so I opened the portal and then those outcasts came in and did something which ruined the portal and elder Bliss went in anyway but I think it killed him-”
Unlike the gasping stuttering from before, junior elder Soothe soon found his words, pointing a finger towards Kite as the words tumbled out in an incoherent mess. Kite, realizing the trouble, started backing away quickly towards the door from which he came, but the sect leader turned to him as soon as he registered the words of the junior elder. While it was obvious that the whole story would not be forthcoming in this very second, Kite still realized the size of the target this put on him; the lone enemy in the room suddenly found out being significant in this debacle.
As the runic’s gaze bored into Kite, he knew that he would not have much time. And a mere heartbeat later, the axe of the sect leader was already mid-swing, thrown like a shooting star as it crossed the distance in the blink of an eye..
“Void!”
Once more, Kite’s chant came just a bit too late. When the dark aperture that was Gate of Nihility appeared, he registered the jerking feeling and how the left side of his upper torso felt numb. Only as the pain hit a moment later, Kite crying out and stumbling back, did his mind recognize the fact that the thrown projectile had already cleaved through his left shoulder, breaking his collarbone and heavens know what more before getting stuck in the wall behind. Such was the force of the throw that the blade had just blown straight through both armor and body.
But the belated dark gate still seemed to be a godsend, as Kite saw a bright flash light up around the gate as some other kind of attacks seemed to have been launched his way directly after the throw. Even while the liquid lightning of Immortality flowing through his veins started restoring the grievous injury, Kite channeled whatever mana he could into the gate, which was already fraying at the edges, while continuing to back away with what speed he could muster.
Readying himself to conjure the barrier of Heaven-and-Void Warding on a moment’s notice, he eventually stilled. No more attacks had crashed into the void aperture, and from behind it he could vaguely sense a silver-rank aura, the spiritual presence placid like a lake untouched by wind or wave. And it was not the aura of the sect leader.
Letting the dark gate drop, the room was once more revealed to Kite, with certain changes. The gathered bronze-ranked junior elders were still present, although they all looked even more terrified than before. And the sect leader was no longer standing, at least not on his own. Just as Gate of Nihility vanished, Calm of the Inevitable Beyond withdrew her hand which glowed with a kind of alabaster light, tinged with silver and blue, from where it was piercing the chest of the sect leader. It left no wound from its passing, but from the way the armored silver-ranker fell like a puppet having its strings cut, there was no questioning his fate. Comet Banishing Cloud’s aura was gone, Will’s sister sparing Kite a quick glance which managed to convey an order to stay put before she turned to the gathered bronze-rankers.
“Surrender, and Death will spare you their attention this day.” Her calm words were both a promise and a threat, the junior elders immediately falling to their knees. Kite could understand the sentiment, welcomed it even. Junior elders within a sect were functionaries, crafters and helpers, not warriors first and foremost. If they did not do anything foolish, there was no reason to kill them, especially since they would have a lot of information which could be valuable in the coming days.
“Adventurer Kite, was it?”
“Yes, mistress?”
“Please wait here while I escort the junior elders. I am most curious as to what transpired here,” Calm said with a meaningful look towards the splattered blood in an almost perfect half-circle over the floor.
“I… Yes, mistress,” Kite said, straightening.
The junior elders needed little in the way of further encouragement, leaving Kite alone in the room. The windows and gaping hole in the wall revealed battles dying down below, the failing arrays only giving off the occasional spark now that their energies had been mostly spent. He tried sending his aura senses questing outwards, seeing if he could find any trace of Dancer on the Broken River. But the disciple of Pain was gone, probably having fled when the sect leader made his appearance, Kite finding himself in envy of more speed-oriented powers once more.
Not knowing what to do, Kite noticed the sect-leader’s axe left and forgotten in the wall. He inspected it for a moment, the long-handled axe having a single curved edge with a trail of silver stars floating in the air like the trail of a comet. Not knowing what else to do with it at that moment, Kite reached out and yanked it from the wall. The tingling discomfort of handling a higher-ranked item immediately made itself known, but vanished when he deposited the weapon into his void sheath.
Walking back towards the room where the portal had been, Kite rounded the half-circle of gore to look down at the lone severed hand.
“So… Discord,” he thought to himself. “Another deity involved. But in what way? And why do this?”
Kite did not know much about the god, only having learned of him as one of those shunned by society. If what little River had said was true, then he could understand the sentiment.
“But the gods always bring complications. I need to be very careful with this.”
He turned and was about to go towards the hole in the wall and take stock outside, when he stumbled slightly, his armored boot having sent something clattering along the floor. It took a surprisingly long time to find it, Kite spending over a dozen seconds scanning what was essentially an open floor before he found it.
Bending down, Kite picked up what he assumed was some kind of long weapon, but sensing its exact shape and outline remained challenging. It was as if the object emulated a much more condensed version of what Serene did with her aura, his attention constantly sliding off the weapon. It even took his mind a bit to register that this was the weapon which the priest of Discord had used, Kite vaguely remembering the man wielding something which was hard to make out. His magical senses did give some feedback, confirming that it was bronze rank and heavily enchanted, probably as much as a weapon of its rank was able to be.
“Something more to hold onto then,” he thought as he deposited that into the void sheath as well. “But I will definitely have it studied properly.”
A short burst of projected aura announced that Will’s sister was returning, the elven woman soon stepping back into the room. She was still alone, walking up to stand next to Kite and gazing down at the gore on the floor.
Kite, in turn, bowed politely. “Mistress?”
She gave him a severe look, eyes seeming distant for a short while before regaining their focus.
“Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune.” Her use of his full name made Kite a bit ill at ease, but he did his best to keep his composure. “My god tells me that you now know something. A mortal carrying knowledge of the divine and their workings is a perilous thing if used incorrectly. As you should already know, even the divine have their own ways and rules, however removed they might be. I would know what you have seen here, but my god counseled it to be the kind of conversation not held just anywhere.
I want you to wait until I send word for you, and then we will meet at Gilded’s temple to the goddess Knowledge. You may bring whoever you want, but keep in mind that they might be imperiled by being present. And I will implore you to not speak of what you have seen or heard here to anyone before then.”
The intensity of the priestess’ gaze bore into him as they spoke, and Kite had no doubt that it was priestess Calm and not mistress Calm addressing him at that moment. Her words sent a bit of fear tingling up his spine even as curiosity smoldered in his heart.
“I… will take your words into careful consideration, priestess,” he said, bowing again. “And I will answer your summons as long as I am able to.”
“Good. Then you should leave and rejoin your companions outside. I can feel my younger brother’s distress even from this distance, and it would not do well for him to shame our family by acting upon it.”
“I am sorry mistress, but you give your brother too little credit. He has always been a boon companion to me, and while he has his quirks, he has always carried himself proudly.” Kite couldn’t hold back the words, speaking even as her aura edged his threateningly, even pushing inwards a bit there at the end.
“And you give yourself too much credit, bronze-ranker, if you think that the words of one such as you would be of any impact in my family affairs.” Her voice had the same impassiveness, but the sense of indignation and irritation was definitely still present.
Kite only bowed slightly in way of response, more a nod of having heard her point but not the subservience of agreeing, before he turned to actually make his way to the hole in the wall. Discomfort gave way to elation as he saw his three companions below, standing by and keeping watch as surrendering sect members were rounded up and escorted off by the Healer’s clergy.
Serene was, of course, the one to first notice him, with Will and Dragonfly both perking up as Kite leapt out through the impromptu exit, his old slow-fall charm carrying him down gently as his friends made their way towards him.
Unsurprisingly, Dragonfly impacted first as she leapt up towards him, the slow-fall enchantment failing as her impact and subsequent hug was too much for the old iron-ranked talisman to handle. This left them both in a sprawl, Dragonfly’s laugh too infectious for Kite not to join in as the relief after a battle set in. Kite closed his eyes for a short moment and just enjoyed the feeling of her hair tickling his face before Will’s disgruntled voice took him back to reality.
“You know, Kite, for a commoner you are surprisingly bad at keeping your head down and taking the safe ways through life. I am quite disappointed,” his friend said, voice filled with mock admonition.
“You are just jealous that I now have yet another story to tell, one with intrigue and revelation,” Kite retorted, sitting up as Dragonfly rolled off him.
“Well, of course I am! Heaven’s preserve me, Kite, I will have to chain myself to you if that is what it takes to actually get to be present for things like this. You better tell me - us - what happened this instant, or I will be very cross with you!” Will went all-in on the indignant facade, but stilled as he saw Kite’s gaze turn serious.
“If you want, you will know, Will. All of you will. But it is apparently quite complicated, and I do not think that even Serene’s sound shielding is safe enough for us to discuss it here.”
The priestess, who had regarded Kite in silence, nodded along. “My goddess did not tell me much, but I can feel her agreeing with your words. Let us speak more of it when the time is right.”
Both Dragonfly and Will looked dejected, but soon bounced back as they started their own telling of their exploits during the final assaults on the heart of the sect compound. And Kite couldn’t help but revel a bit in the feeling he got when he walked beside his friends, as if their paths harmonized as they climbed towards the heavens. Side by side.