Swinging his sword around in the air had him feel something weird. The sword felt much like how the longsword felt before, meaning he was now moving fast enough for the light sword’s mass to resist movement. It was interesting and weird at the same time, luckily it wasn’t enough to cause problems but he was glad he tested it. He couldn’t move exactly at normal speed, relative to his current perception, but it wasn’t too different.
His opponent had moved since he started looking at his sword, she had only managed a short step and was still moving surprisingly slowly. Stepping towards her he saw her eyes trailing him, still managing to keep up. However, it seemed that the rest of her body didn’t do it that well. A short consideration had Kintas realise that he felt faster this time, perhaps the intentional activation and knowing what would happen, increasing the effect? Or perhaps it was just his mind processing things better due to him now being more settled?
Whatever it was, he felt incredible and he wanted to capitalise on the experience. Walking up to the slower-moving opponent she reacted surprisingly effectively by swinging her sword towards him. It wasn’t so slow that he could ignore its movement, she was highly experienced and surprisingly fast as well, but in Kintas’ eyes she was moving as if underwater.
Another weird thing he hadn’t considered before was how sound acted differently, everything had a drawn-out and oddly echoey nature. The sounds were different enough that he strongly doubted he could hold a conversation, or even understand talking people with this active.
Easily parrying her blade, he stepped in closer, grabbed her sword hand and simply put his blade on her neck, he didn’t want to hit her at this speed as it could break something. This was just to simulate that she just lost her head.
He was also surprised at noticing that the speed boost didn’t automatically stop this time, the last time it stopped as soon as he felt victory, perhaps that was because of the automatic activation of the Prayer? Mentally wishing it to stop seemed to do the trick, everything returned to normal.
A strong sense of fatigue rushed through his whole body, it was stronger than last time but at the same time, it felt more manageable, like walking into a sauna the second time knowing what to expect. It didn’t remove the uncomfortable nature but it changed the surprise of it.
“Holy fuck...” She spoke softly to herself in shock. Wide eyes staring at him, mouth slightly ajar; er whole face screamed of surprise and realisation. “I heard you were fast but this...”
As she relaxed her muscles Kintas let go of her wrist and removed his sword from her neck, she got in a more relaxed standing position and sheathed her sword.
“I heard about your victory against Eryer, Vesver couldn't shut up about it, but experiencing it firsthand was...”
A tiny voice exploded from pent-up energy on the sidelines, it started as a low restrained squee but burst out into a high pitch celebratory “Yay!”
As Kintas turned towards her Ylere chose to run into the sparring area, only stopping as she slammed into Kintas with full force into a little hug. “You were so much faster than last time! I couldn’t even see you move!” She seemed almost happier about this than Kintas was.
He was flattered by Ylere’s reaction, it had some strange comforting feeling having someone be that happy for you. He was happy on several levels, not just from the compliments and achievements, but also how this would translate into a strong edge against arcane mages in the future.
Placing his hand on her head he gave her a little head-pat. “Thank you.” He couldn’t do anything but smile at her energy, she was a good kid.
“I felt much faster, not sure if it was just that I knew what to expect but-” He turned back to his Inquisitor colleague. “-I think you were pretty spot on about the shortsword.” There was no taunting tone, he was only grateful.
“Well, come find me once you get your weapon and realise yourself, it can be a fun fight without holding back.” She put pressure on the word ‘weapon’, given the context she most likely meant his Inquisitor weapon. Something he would only get after he proves himself to the church, proves himself enough for them to put the resources into it.
“Oh, if I can remember it, I will.” Kintas had a joking tone to his comment as he tapped the side of his head, somewhat hinting at the amnesia the Ritual gives them.
She simply lifted her eyebrow at the joke, not seeming amused. “... Anyway, unless you plan to fight some more without using that speed thing of yours, I think we’re done here.” She didn’t seem too keen on fighting battles where it was a high chance of her not winning. A good choice in a real-world scenario.
Though Kintas would like to fight some more, he was feeling strangely worn out, but not that tired, after the Prayer’s effects wore off. However he realised that he needed to do some more testing about that Prayer, he didn’t know how long it could last... relatively speaking, and how tired he would be if he used it more, less, in rapid succession and so on.
“That is fine, I have some more things I need to test before I’m thrown out there, thank you for the help.”
He smiled honestly, though she beat him up a lot, crushed his face and whatnot, it was a good learning experience and he did realise a few things he wanted to find out.
She left the room, leaving Ylere and Kintas alone.
Kintas turned to Ylere as soon as they were alone. “I’m going to need your help with a few things.” he smiled, having some tests in mind.
Ylere nodded happily. “Of course!”
Kintas pointed at the pile of weapons he had brought out before. “I want you to use that crossbow and shoot at me:”
This took Ylere back immediately, she seemed unsure and hesitant. “But...”
“Oh, don’t worry-” Kintas commented right away before she got a chance to list her worries. “-We’re not using sharp bolts, and you’re going to be shooting next to me, not directly at me.” The latter clause was an afterthought to make it easier for her, though it would work the same for him it might be much easier for her to pull the trigger if she knew there was even less of a chance of him getting hurt.
Her smile returned now that his safety was considered. “Ok, then I can do it.”
Kintas smiled back at her and went and got the crossbow, he loaded it with a blunt bolt and handed it to the tiny Ylere.
“Now, I’ll go over there and keep my back turned towards you, when I turn to face you you can shoot next to me. I just want to see how fast I am with this Prayer.”
The latter detail about the Prayer seemed to calm her down even more. Which made a lot of sense, first she was not even going to hit him, and he was going to be super fast, the chance of hurting him should be close to zero. And if he did get hurt, she could heal him!
She nodded rapidly, though with a hesitant expression. “Ok.”
This was good enough for Kintas, as he just needed to have a look at this, it would also let him test when using the Prayer in relatively rapid succession.
He walked over some ways from her and muttered the prayer to himself. He got the same pulse of energy as before, it felt pleasant and comfortable but at the same time, it was invigorating, exciting and slightly stressful.
He turned towards Ylere and waited for her to fire. Something that felt like it took ages.
Assuming a normal reaction, and assuming that he might just look like he instantly turned around in her untrained eyes, he assumed she would need about five seconds to realise, aim and fire. Trying to count seconds relative to his current speed, it took her to the count of 40-something to squeeze the trigger.
The bolt launched in record time as normal, though the string felt like it moved a bit slow. The incoming projectile still covered the distance between them in about a second, but for a crossbow made for actual combat, this was incredibly slow. This speed let him reach out and grab it with surprising ease, though the momentum still tried to pull him along it wasn’t heavy or fast enough to cause any problems.
Disabling the speed boost he stood there with the bolt in his hand, grinning to himself. He is that much faster than anything else, this is a vast improvement.
At the same moment he was considering this the wave of fatigue came washing over him again, it hit harder this time than the last, though luckily still not bad enough to have him fall over or something dumb. From what he had read, this is similar to what divine casters like Ylere feel when she’s healing, so he just had to get used to it.
Ylere looked at him with huge eyes and disbelief in her voice. “You... You caught it!?” Her tone immediately changed to being impressed instead. “You caught it!! That’s amazing!”
Kintas couldn’t help but feel proud of this after her encouragement, it was really interesting how much some positive words could do to someone.
*******
It had been two days since the sparring. Kintas had been using most of the time on self-reflection and testing. At Silverwood’s recommendation, he prayed more than normal, thanking the Lord as well as requesting more help to further the work he’ll be doing in His name. At the same time, he used a lot of time on the one Prayer he had, getting used to just activating and using it but also to the wave of fatigue that hits him afterwards. The most important thing he was working on was trying to shorten the prayer, but nothing he had tried had been working. He wasn’t complaining but if speed was of the essence then the shortest prayer possible was a good idea.
One thing he had realised, was that he had an oddly acute mana sense. Speaking with Sanctioned Arcane mages within The Faith he found out that he could at times pick them out of a crowd by feeling alone. Arcane magic had a feel, a taste to it, like the head of the sun in the distance. Though some simple tests with the mages showed this was not always the case, the mages told him that a mana sense is a trained thing, the more you use and train it the more precise it’ll become.
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He had not only been working on his body and Prayers, he hadn’t been neglecting reading up on Arcane magic and mages, learning about your enemy and their power was a powerful ally. He had a very good grasp on the basics, construction of spells, spell circles and the like, so most of this study was to learn as many runes as possible to help identify spells down the road. Ylere aided with this in the form of quizzing him when she could.
Ylere had been doing her own chores and things most of the day, since a dedicated healer was not needed she didn’t hang around Kintas all the time. However, they did spend some small time together during morning mass, while eating and in the evening.
Today was the day he planned to go speak to the Bishop, he was feeling ready, he had settled in his body and his instincts and autonomous reactions on how much force to use on things had stabilised, nothing had broken for a while now!
Finding himself in the hallway outside of Silverwood’s office, like last time the Bishop simply calls for him to enter before he’s even at the door. Entering as requested Kintas is told to close the door and motioned to sit down if he wishes.
“How have the last few days been for you?” He asks Kintas, barely hiding his eagerness.
“It’s been good, not going to claim I have mastered anything yet but I feel very good.” Kintas decided to be brutally honest, sure; he’s gotten much better but he doesn’t know if he could consider himself mastered yet.
“From the sounds of it, you have gotten a good grasp on your first Prayer, and you held yourself well against Miss Emberheart the other day.” The Bishop didn’t hold back on sharing his gathered info.
“Well... Though that’s not entirely wrong I think if she didn’t hold back, I’d be... Well... Fucked.” Kintas had a brief moment of inner crisis if he should speak like that to a Bishop, but he ended up feeling that it was more natural for him to be himself, rather than putting on a persona for others. In the long run, it would be better.
There didn’t seem to be any weird reactions to his wording, the good Bishop must be used to weirder things than that. They did speak about accidents in Brothels a few days ago, after all.
“That might be, but from what I gathered talking to Miss Emberheart, had you used your Prayer from the start, well... To use her words; You wouldn’t have gotten your ass beat up as much.” Silverwood had a cheeky smile, lowering his vocabulary to that level through a quote almost felt like a loophole.
Kintas could only chuckle in response, it was amusing hearing that word usage from someone like him. But it did set a nice precedence, making Kintas a bit calmer when it came to talking with him.
Silverwood continued after Kintas had reacted to his statement. “I’m pairing you with Alistair Dawnbringer. He’s a man with lots of experience so I’m sure he’ll treat you well. He’s scheduled to come by today so we can send you out tomorrow on your first training mission.” There was a certain eagerness in his words, though he handled it very well so it was hard to pick out.
“That’s great!” Kintas exclaimed in response, he was very eager both to try himself out a bit after the Ritual and also to do His work properly. It was why he went through all of this after all.
“You can meet him and his team outside at the main gate after morning mass tomorrow, he’ll explain everything then.” Giving Kintas a supportive and warm smile ended their talk.
Kintas was eager to start, he knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as it could sound like, but he was chosen for a reason so he should if nothing else be acceptably skilled for the job.
“Thank you.” Kintas spoke as he got up from the chair and moved towards the door, there wasn’t more to specifically talk about at the moment, the Bishop seemed like a busy man and Kintas had some energy he needed to get an outlet for.
Leaving the door open as he left at Silverwood’s request, he left to find an outlet for his energy.
He found his outlet at a good space for running, triggering his Prayer and running until he couldn’t maintain it anymore, it was both a good way to blast some energy as it was a test for how long he could keep things going.
*******
The following morning Kintas was eager, much like the first proper day in a new job that this was. He had problems paying proper attention during morning mass, something he apologised to the Lord at the end, he hoped it would weigh out that the reason was very relevant.
Getting some well-wishes from Ylere he passed through the armoury for some armour, a short sword and some tools on the way to the main gate. It was not hard to see who he was going to be spending time with even from afar. There were a group of four people that stood out, and one of them stood out even more than the others. Getting closer he got a better look at them all.
The one he assumed was Alistair was a large man, he was over a solid head taller than Kintas, had a physique to make Vesver look like an untrained librarian, he had heavy but well-maintained silver armour adorned with an intricate representation of the bronze disc on his chest. He had a large shield strapped to his back and a longsword at his hip, the longsword’s pommel was a disc with a hole in it, most likely the slot for the mana crystals making it his inquisitor weapon.
The others didn’t look as striking, but there was a young woman with chestnut hair in a bun, a rugged man with greying beards in sturdy clothing and a young slender woman with long flowing brown hair.
Walking over to them he was noticed and reacted to well before he got a chance to speak.
“Kintas, I assume!” The man he believed to be Alistair beaconed, his voice was thunderous and heavy, and he sounded like the man that could shout at you from the other side of a city. “Come meet the team!” He waved his large arms at Kintas to come over.
Walking to the group he got a closer look at them. Alistair’s armour was not as shiny up close, it had plenty of repaired dents, poorly buffed out scratches and show of wear and tear. The others looked like people you’d pass on the street without a second thought, they all wore pretty simple clothing, design-wise, the only odd thing was that none of them had any visible representation of the bronze disc. He also noted that the slender woman had the tattoo on her neck marking her as a sanctioned mage.
“Bishop Silverwood told me what I need to know about you, and told me that you don’t have any introduction to how this works, so let me explain.”
Alistair took out a rolled-up paper and handed it to Kintas as he started explaining.
“First, the team; Elanor-” he gestured towards the woman with her hair in a bun. “-is our investigator, she has a good eye and is good at gathering information, she also ‘knows people’ a lot of places that can help her with this.”
Gesturing over to the man with the greying beard he didn’t stop explaining. “Samuel is our Key, he’s good with locks, traps and that kind of thing. He’s also very good at sneaking about, so if we need scouting.”
Lastly gesturing at the slender young woman he changed his tone to signal the end of his explanation. “And lastly there is Evangeline, she’s our transport, our Teleportation mage.”
Turning towards Kintas after the introduction he changed tone, focusing more on memory than matter-of-factly. “I took the liberty of explaining the details I got from Silverwood about you, so they know a little about you. You should just ignore that I’m here, you run this mission starting from the moment you check the paper. I’ll answer things you might wonder about but unless I think you’re doing something wrong or it gets too dangerous, I’ll be keeping out of things... as much as I can.”
The latter part of his statement seemed to be referencing his massive presence and stature.
Kintas nodded, the introductions and explanations were simple enough. And it seems that Alistair might have done this before, knowing about him from rumour and just hearing about his exploits he knew that Alistair had a healing Prayer as well as a Divine shield. Kintas didn’t know much about what his Inquisitor weapon could do, but he still felt relatively safe with him, should there be a problem.
The seal on the mission paper was already broken, no doubt Alistair wanted to just make sure what this was about. Lifting the seal and looking his way got a nod of admission, so that cleared that right away.
The job was simple, the paper was listed in a very orderly and standardised-seeming way. It took place in the small port of the city of Emgar, a smaller city along Albion’s western coast. There are rumours about a mage there doing things for and with the locals, mostly healing and the like but there are also reports of attacks against The Faith with fire. The job was to go there, investigate and find out who the mage is, and convert him/her if possible. The end result is that the mage should either be converted and brought back to the Capitol, or taken care of.
“Ok, it seems we’re going to Emgar, find an unregistered mage and handle it from there.” Kintas bottomline the mission for simplicity for the group, an unprompted mini-nod of approval from Alistair hinted that this was a good idea.
Kintas turned towards Evangeline. “Can you take us to Emgar?”
She pondered for a few seconds before replying. “I have been in the dock area there before, so that’s not a problem:” Her voice was very young sounding, she held out her hands to the group after replying. Samuel and Elanor grasped her left and Alistair went for her right. Kintas knew how teleportation worked as a passenger, teleporters bring people or objects through touch; so he had to be in contact with the mage or by proxy by being in contact with someone who is in contact with her.
Kintas grabbed hold of her right hand alongside Alistair. Evangeline closed her eyes as a field of energy was building up around her for several seconds before it strongly pulsed in a blinding white light.