The whole scene made for an odd standoff, with the leaders of the Alliance on one side and this new lady on the other. Yet despite the numbers imbalance, both parties seemed somewhat equal.
“Madam! Are you from one of our new nearby nations!” Pupienus shouted from behind Linus and Hiro, who wore equally guarded expressions as they considered another new variable in the already complex situation.
“No, you sniveling idiot, my people live nowhere near here!” She shouted, before groaning in frustration and asking in a lower, but just as exacerbated tone,
“Now please tell me you have a working teleport platform in this Gods forsaken hick town…”
Tilly was surprised to see flowering vines springing up from the ground and spiraling around the woman's legs as her expression grew more desperate.
Shuji cleared his throat and stepped forward offering up a theatrical bow,
“My Lady, welcome to the newly christened Three-Fold Alliance. We regret to-” At the word regret, Tilly watched the lady’s razor-thin hope of escape snap, along with her composure.
“THAT HAG!” she shouted, interrupting Shuji and stomping one of her feet as the vines around her suddenly sprouted sickle-like thorns. At this display, Nuyk and Kuro started to back away, holding their weapons in a guard position.
“I knew I felt a ripple in the Land! And now you tell me there is no platform here… She tricke-UUGGHH! That sneaky Windbag! She all but told me and I was too happy to be away to realize the implications! Winter’s Night, this is infur-”
“Hey!" Tilly shouted, happy to interrupt the spoiled woman's tirade. "Did somebody named Wisdom drop you off?” As novel as it was, he wasn’t going to stand by while some noble lady threw a tantrum. They had too much to do.
Her jaw snapped shut like a sprung bear trap and before he could register it, she flashed in front of him, moving at a speed completely unreconciled with her put-upon impression. Now, only inches from Tilly's face, her slightly shorter form seeming to tower over him as she leaned in, exuding something not dissimilar to Hiro’s killing intent aura,
“Do you know her?” She chewed out through grinding teeth.
“Met her just before she left. She said you would help us... and between you and I, she didn't strike me as the kind that would lie.” Tilly grunted back, standing upright and drawling out his response in a bored tone out of sheer force of will. Her presence had a certain command to it, pulling on him to obey, to give in, but he staunchly refused. He leaned hard into the seen-it-all expression every firefighter develops after enough time in the field. Her aura of command washed over him like waves against the breakers, and he showed none of it in his vague return stare.
He didn't like his friends being insulted in front of him and he really didn't like that she believed they owed her something. His challenge caught her off guard, and she stepped back, considering him again as if she had only just noticed he was there.
“A Human? Out in the backside of nowhere? Perhaps something is happening here worthy of my time…” She said, curiosity shifting her previously commanding tone to something that might have been considered playful in other circumstances. Her eyes flashed green for a moment, and a frown broke her small smile.
“And a Champion? Of a deity I have never heard of, no less... “ She grumbled, suddenly looking at him like an annoying crossword puzzle with too many blanks and not enough clues.
“That is quite impossible!” She declared with finality. Tilly was about to tell her otherwise when she continued, talking over his inhale to interject as if he had ceased to exist.
“I know the names of every living Divine and only the current Paragons can anoint a new Champion on Nephesh.” She said as a small crease appeared between her perfect eyebrows.
Then she shifted her attention to the temple Tilly had just exited, and her eyes flashed green again, before widening as she took a step back in shock.
“This is old… Older perhaps than my Mot- Just who are you?” She whispered, turning her gaze back towards Tilly with something other than conceit coloring her tone.
“My name is Jonathan Tillman. My friends call me Tilly… Well not yet, but they will get it eventually, and I just got here a few weeks ago. From day one I have been getting my ass kicked in this lovely plane of yours and I have done a fair bit of ass-kicking myself. Which I understand is fairly normal, what is not normal is what I have been fighting… something called Corruption.” As soon as the word left his mouth, the skin around her eyes tightened slightly, before her expression returned to one of neutral curiosity.
Over her shoulder, Tilly caught a small nod from Hiro to Shuji, who quickly moved forward,
“Madam,” Shuji added stepping into her view again with an even more theatrical bow. Tilly swore that Shuji sometimes had more in common with the ringleader of a circus than a scholar.
“If you are here to offer us some aid, we would be most grateful to accept. While we do not have a working teleport platform right now… We do have the ability to repair what we have. We simply lack the resources.”
Small budding grasses were springing up around her perfectly pressed pant legs and they seemed to lean in and support her as, all of a sudden, her imperious air deflated. Her haughty features softened into something much younger and out of place. She considered the still bowing lapin and the faces of those in the group standing outside the temple.
“My name is Erash and I was brought here on the promise of access to an A-political Sovereign Crystal. I was told that this Crystal would have a class appropriate to my… stature. My current abilities and stat build are unique and something of a secret, and I had thought that my only chance at advancement would be in my home, but she assured me there was another way forward…” She finished trailing off as if looking for something more to add.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
At her words Hiro stepped forward, speaking in a respectful but confident tone,
“If you promise no harm to my people or our Alliance, we will happily grant you access to our Crystal. Consider it a Home Gift, and if I am not mistaken, your promise and this gift are better than any binding treaty.” He said, his eyes watching her carefully.
Her young demeanor vanished at the mention of promises, and gifts. Tilly’s jaw almost dropped as she seemed to age twenty years into a lady in the prime of her beauty and strength. Her expression firmed into something cold and calculating as she eyed the group imperiously,
“A bargain offered…” She said, a sultry smile playing around the edges of full lips.
“Very well. In exchange for free access to your crystal and your teleport platform once it becomes available. I will shed this class and its inherent obligations for one that is beneficial to both parties. In this new role, I will serve you for a year and a day to the best of my abilities. At the completion of my obligation, I will have the right to change classes again or keep the new class as I see fit.”
“Done. Agreed and accepted.” Hiro’s voice rang out in a strong clear baritone. A strong wind danced through the nearby trees, and Tilly thought he heard a thrum resounding in the air around them.
“Thrice struck… perhaps we are not so far from civilization after all.” She purred, looking like a cat who had just been offered warm cream.
“Now wai- UH” Pupienus tried to cry out before the air was suddenly knocked from his lungs. Tilly looked over to see Linus’ ever-present frown softening for just a moment as the bureaucrat wheezed next to him. Erash turned towards the entrance of the temple, and some of her predatory confidence drained from her expression,
“Best start now, before… Well best to get started.” She corrected before carefully lifting her feet free of the patch of wildflowers that had burst into being around her and moving through the large stone opening.
“I'll find my own way thank you!” She called back over her shoulder, having moved past Tilly and partially down the hall before anyone even thought to go with her.
As soon as she was gone Pupienus’ reedy voice broke the silence sounding strained,
“Now hold on a minute! You cannot just make commitments for us without a vote!” he complained stepping away from the Consul while clutching at his midsection.
“I was elected to represent my constituency and I will not be bullied into a Dictatorship!” he spat, some fire returning to his eyes. He seemed like the kind of guy who would rub Tilly the wrong way no matter what plane he was on, but at that moment, watching him square off against the rest of the council, Tilly couldn’t help but feel a little respect.
One of the Honu elders turned to him and caught his eye,
“She was more… than she seemed.” letting the implication of her words hang in the air for a moment. As a look of confusion settled on the satyr's face, Hiro turned to explain,
“I waited until I was sure, but once I knew what she was, it was imperative that I offer her a gift and a bargain. If I had not, she would have offered us something far less beneficial, and we would have started negotiations from her point, not ours. Their kind is bound completely by a certain set of rules, and at the same time, utterly unpredictable.”
A bargain struck… Oh Shit! Tilly knew this one!!
“She's a Fey isn’t she?” Tilly called out, excited to finally not have to ask for once. Hiro and Linus both shot him looks before Linus gestured sharply toward the temple,
“She is obviously running from something.” He whispered at Tilly harshly.
“Otherwise she never would have offered terms that were so generous. We do not want whoever would look for someone like her to find her here. Even speaking of their kind can create ties to them. So from now on we will keep this to ourselves!” Linus rebuked, handing out orders to all present as if he were back on the front lines. The other satyr’s eyes widened in understanding, and the honu nodded. Tilly bit back his chagrin at having his moment ruined.
'The one time I actually know something...' he huffed internally.
“Told you we should have left as soon as we dropped them off,” Nyuk muttered to Kuro a few feet away from Tilly. Hearing their soft exchange, Tilly turned to them,
“How did she even get here, and when?” He asked the pair.
“We were standing out here keeping watch when Nyuk here swears he hears a cart coming… I tell him to stop being an idiot, cause no cart can come up this little mountain path we cleared to the temple, and before we can resolve our dispute, the whole temple explodes.” Kuro said, leveling a flat look at Tilly,
“So first, we make sure we aren’t burning alive. Then, we accept the strangest notification screen I have ever seen, which offers us this new rare class, which my lady will love by the way, and then Bam! There she is, standing right on top of us muttering to herself like a mad woman.” He finished, leaning into the story with all the passion of the old drunk at a bar.
“That is enough! We will offer no insults to our guest! She will keep this agreement to the letter, and we will accept her help in whatever form it comes.” Hiro declared to the group, his tone broking no response. Then he turned to Tilly,
“Now who is this Wisdom you met and when did it happen?” Hiro inquired with Shuji's ears twitching in interest at the posed question.
Before Tilly could answer, a green flash erupted from the mouth of the temple, followed by a forced opening of his Notification log.
Rejoice, Three-Fold Alliance! Your abandoned Temple to Origin’s Flame has received a new High-Priestess. An order of clergy may be established and full temple function restored as requirements are met.
Congratulations! Due to the overwhelming qualifications of your new High-Priestess the Three-Fold Alliance will receive an additional Boon! Now all crops, livestock, and wild game will be 20% more productive while under your city’s influence.
Tilly cleared away the forced notification screen to see the statues in front of the temple reforming into large imposing forms of primitive warriors. That wasn’t all, the large stone opening to the temple started to grow elaborate doors set on hinges of stone that depicted a frieze of a burning Flame. The others around him looked up from their screens in shock as the newly formed doors opened, and Erash strode out, holding a staff with a living blue flame at its top.
Level 86 High-Priestess of the Living Flame
“Now, I need someone to tell me who Origin is and what are his Facets. We must gather more of them as quickly as possible so my- Rather, this temple’s influence may expand.”
Tilly was the first to recover from his shock, probably because every day in this world brought new and crazier things than the last for him,
“Wait, you chose to become a Priestess for a God you have never heard of? Why?” Tilly demanded.