Jerem Oerwynt [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNlHWrxo_VIH5yWNMiris4lNeS_dZmXCx5nwONTQcuCPFWjYRMHFtYa9O110oKyfc-Tj9iTNnnEOJXrB7pFVA7Ig430MGvtTEVsIafc7YjigQIL8ArL6JTSsiZaIxeHG5fOLt2kZaCsfIXSl47rQE6W=w639-h959-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Jerem Oerwynt was feeling particularly annoyed as he was halted at the southern gate leading into Tulimeir. It had taken him months of traveling on foot through monster-infested wilds and partially connected roads to get here after receiving a very expensive letter from his former party member.
Sending private direct missives was always expensive rather than trying to rely on the more generally available Pyrin Postal service. That organization normally raked in the Bits by getting letters and packages anywhere you needed them on the continent. But they also worked at their own pace and limited their services during a blood moon.
Jerem’s letter had been delivered to him in his lone cottage atop a freaking mountain in Devreli near the center of Pyrin. He had wanted to be left alone and could easily ride out the blood moon as a peak Emerald in that Sapphire area.
The Sapphire Caster and literal Path Whisperer that showed up on his doorstep was both unexpected and unwelcome. A Class built around tracking down someone made for both an excellent messenger… or assassin, and either purpose cost a fortune to employ. The contents of the delivered letter were even more ridiculous…
Jerem,
I’m back in Tulimeir.
I have a Protégé now.
Bring the weapon.
- Paul
He had made the trip anyway.
Now, he was trying to use that very letter as proof that he wasn’t some inter-dimensional enemy or Renseres spy trying to infiltrate the fortressed capital. He had no idea why these people were behaving so paranoid, but maybe the length of this particular blood moon just had people on edge by this point.
“Yer saying you walked here during a bloody moon because Lord Wayland sent you this here letter?” the guard asked incredulously.
“Last I checked, that wasn’t a crime,” he retorted.
“No, but yer insane fer doin’ it. Also, yer timin’ is mighty suspicious.”
“What does my timing have to do with anything? It took a long time for the letter to reach me, then for me to get here.”
“Just sayin’, arrivin’ right after we get attacked by them Reapers and askin’ for the Lord Paladin that fell to a curse ‘bout a month ago now is mighty strange.”
Jerem felt his heart stutter at that news for multiple reasons. Paul was a Paladin again? The Soul Reapers attacked here? And then that bastard went and died without him? How fucking dare he!
“Look, I’m registered with the AOA. My license just got slightly… incinerated a while ago. If you don’t believe me, just take me there so I can get a new one,” he tried to compromise, wishing for the thousandth time that Miriam was here to handle this kind of thing. She was such a natural at it, and he still missed her often.
“I guess we can do that,” the guard finally agreed, waving over another younger-looking guard and explaining what was going on.
Jerem tried not to roll his eyes at the ridiculous procedure he was following. This little Crystal Caster being assigned to escort him, an Emerald Caster, was completely a performance. He could easily have just smashed his way through or outran the poor kid, but he knew that would only cause more of a headache later. So he played his part as the compliant Adventurer who was definitely not threatening to go on a rampage to get to the person he was searching for.
His stroll through the half-destroyed city was equally enlightening and confusing. Luckily for him, the escorting guard was a talker… and apparently a fan of Paul’s…
“I’m sorry about Harvey, Sir Oerwynt,” the young runeforged said, “He’s a stickler for rules, but I know that you were Lord Wayland’s Defender back in the day. Is it true you swore an actual life debt to him?”
“You’ve heard of me?” he asked with a raised brow, ignoring the intrusive question.
“There are tons of stories of the Blade of Pure Wrath’s party taking out the Corrupted across not just the tundra but throughout Pyrin. We don’t have many local heroes from our tiny corner of the world, so of course, everyone knows about the few we do have.”
“I’m not really local,” the elf pointed out.
“Right, you’re originally from the kingdom of Pearldia, yeah?”
“I’m surprised you know that.”
“Oh, I know tons about Night’s Demise.”
Jerem gave a small groan, “Please, don’t remind me about that horrible party name.”
“What?” the youth replied in mild shock, “But it’s a fantastic name. Really strikes fear into your enemies and is really easy to remember.”
“It’s melodramatic, just like Paul,” the elf complained.
The guard laughed, “The Lord Paladin of the Avenger never struck me as that. It’s hard to see him as anything but terrifying or inspiring, especially in his Regalia.”
Jerem stopped in his tracks to stare at the young man, feeling dumbfounded as he asked, “Avenger? Paul rededicated to that deity?”
“Yeah, I think it was a couple of months into the blood moon when he did,” the runeforged replied, then gestured ahead, “We’re almost there. You remember the way, right? I think the director can fill you in a bit better than I can on everything. I don’t really know why Lord Wayland chose Avenger, but the director might.”
The elf nodded and continued forward, falling into silence as he quickly made his way to a better source of information. The Alliance of Adventurers’ building was much like he remembered it, and he quickly made his own way up it after filling out the bloody form for a new license.
He knocked on the door to the director’s office and was slightly surprised to hear a feminine voice respond for him to enter, but maybe the assistant director was in there instead? It seemed like he was correct when he opened it to find Agatha Trayvious looking only slightly older than he remembered, but her aura told him she was on the brink of Emerald and would likely look younger again soon.
“Ah, I was looking for Director Wysmont,” Jerem said, “I was told he might have information for me about what happened to my former party member.”
Agatha smiled up at him, “Director Wysmont moved to Blomstra a few years ago to push his Caste up. You’re looking at Director Trayvious now, Sir Oerwynt.”
Jerem tilted his head down in apology, “Sorry, it’s been quite a while since I’ve last visited.”
“I remember. It was around seven years ago now, right? When your party brought in those DOD victims from that awful island.”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The elf felt his fists clench at the memories the words brought back, and he managed to say, “Along with that abomination.”
To his surprise, the woman laughed, “I feel it my duty to inform you that Mister Karislian is an Adventurer now.”
“Excuse me?” he replied, utterly dumbfounded.
“Becoming quite a prominent one, in fact. His party is at the center of some very… interesting events. I’m pretty sure Paul was even helping with training him up a bit since he was in the same party as the lord’s Protégé.”
“I knew he had a Protégé now, no matter how insane that sounds to me,” the elf replied, “He asked me to bring something for them, but his details were… lacking. Do you mind catching me up with the events here? I’ve obviously missed a lot.”
Agatha laughed, “Well, you better take a seat and get comfortable. It’s a wild story. And like most of the wildest stories in our world, it starts with the arrival of a Wayfarer.”
----------------------------------------
“So it continually draws mana, but you don’t need to actively focus on it once you’ve conjured it?” Dazien asked her as he walked around to observe the black hole about the size of a golf ball floating in the air in front of her.
She was practicing more in the reinforced training room below the Wayland Estate and getting some feedback from her party on how best to use it. They hadn’t had time earlier, having been called up to the wall almost immediately after she absorbed the four Spirit Gems yesterday evening.
It was late morning now, and they had some time to themselves before going off to other errands. The reconstruction of the city needed as many volunteers as it could get, especially with many capable crafters and laborers being counted in the death toll that was still being calculated. Last she heard, they had crossed the three thousand mark.
Uriel was currently reading a book as he sat near the edge of the arena mat. Rayna was practicing a song on an electric guitar replica Saiya had conjured up with her [Accompanion] passive. Meanwhile, Saiya had her arms full of Familiars, leaning back against Rex while petting both Snowbelle and a larger Tala at the same time.
Despite needing to change to her smaller form to ride atop the Wayfarer, the Cosmic Phoenix seemed to enjoy the larger form, showing off her longer blue and purple feathers that sparkled in the light.
Phoenix refocused her mind back on Dazien’s question and said, “Yeah, this size isn’t too taxing, but I don’t think it’s something I’d want to keep up for more than like fifteen minutes. The bigger it is, the stronger the pull, and the less time I’ll be able to keep it up for.”
“The Bane it gives is the same stacking one as your [Night Blade], right? Does that still stack with your aura that gives mana back?” the Defender inquired.
Passive Ability: Astral Oasis
Type: Aura (magical, arcane)
Crystal Effect: Allies within your aura have increased regeneration to mana, and abilities cost less mana.
Sapphire Effect: Enemies within your aura have their mana slowly siphoned and distributed to allies. The ashes of the deceased within the aura are consumed and converted into [Starlight Qi].
“I think so. It’ll give even more now if there’s a lot of enemies,” she pointed out, rereading the upgraded passive that didn’t require a Spirit Gem to gain a new effect.
She pointed at the last line and said, “Actually, I noticed this extra part ties into two of my other auras.”
First, she focused on toggling on the effect of her Star Aspect Aura, pulling up the information for it at the same time to show Dazien.
Passive Ability: Guiding Stars
Type: Aura (magical, dark, light)
Crystal Effect: Allies within your aura have increased stamina regeneration and will gain a [Starlight Companion]. Reconstructing a destroyed [Starlight Companion] expends a low amount of mana.
Sapphire Effect: Allies also gain a [Night Wisp]. [Starlight Qi] can be infused into your [Night Wisp] or [Starlight Companion] at the time of construction to deal retribution damage upon destruction.
* Starlight Companion (construct, magical, light): A small Starlight Companion hovers around you, providing light and protection. Can intercept and negate Magical or Elemental projectiles.
* Night Wisp (construct, magical, dark): A small ethereal Night Wisp hovers around you, periodically inflicting low Dark damage to a nearby enemy.
“So the [Starlight Qi] you originally gained from Tala being merged and could use as a burst of stamina and mana regeneration is now acting as a new type of resource for your other abilities?” Dazien clarified, “A new resource type isn’t entirely unheard of in certain power sets, but I can’t say I expected it.”
Phoenix nodded while half-listening as her attention was fully on the new little [Night Wisp] that was floating on the opposite shoulder from the [Starlight Companion] that usually liked to hover just over one. It was a wonderful little reading light that way since it provided a soft illumination without actually entering her line of vision and becoming a distraction.
The new one didn’t provide light specifically but did seem to glow a bit with pale light and looked more like a wispy ghost version of the first colorful ball with gossamer wings.
Phoenix wished that she had these for the battle against the Soul Reapers. The retribution damage alone would have helped a lot, considering how many of the little companions she had felt get obliterated during the fight.
“Which other aura was dealing with the [Starlight Qi]?” Dazien asked her, interrupting her morose thoughts.
“My Sun one,” she replied, bringing up the information for that one instead.
Passive Ability: Radiant Sunlight
Type: Aura (magical, light)
Crystal Effect: Allies within your aura gain a [Sun Shell]. Reconstructing a destroyed [Sun Shell] can be done after a short duration and costs a moderate amount of mana.
Sapphire Effect: Allies within your aura have increased regeneration to health. [Starlight Qi] can be infused into your [Sun Shell] at the time of construction to transfigure it into a [Celestial Shield].
* Sun Shell (boon, construct, magical, light): A shield that blocks the next incoming physical attack with a chance to knock back and inflict [Blind] on the attacker.
* Blind (bane, magical, light): Hinders vision for a short time.
* Celestial Shield (boon, construct, retribution, divine, radiant): Blocks the next incoming Magical or Elemental attack and inflicts retribution damage on the attacker.
Amethyst eyes found hers, quietly studying her for a long moment before he gently noted, “I’m seeing an awful lot of retribution damage listed on your newest effects…” She flushed slightly as he asked, “Do you want to take some time and go see Paul? Uriel mentioned you wanted to visit.”
“I mean, yeah, but there’s still a lot to do here in the city–”
“Phoenix, you can portal. Don’t think you can’t go visit when you feel like it during our off time. Just because we’re a party, or friends, or… family now doesn’t mean you need to cater to our desires and not your own. Just tell me you want to go visit and then go. Trust that I’ll let you know if there’s something that I think you might feel more pressing.”
“It’s not just that,” she muttered, “I– I’m not sure what I would even do there aside from talk to Bela and feel depressed that she’s not Paul. That’s not really fair to her or probably healthy for me.”
“Why don’t you just talk to Paul?” Phoenix gave him a flat look, and he chuckled, “I’m serious. He might not be able to hear you, but I bet it would make you feel better.”
He reached into the satchel he always carried on his hip and pulled out a small green leather-bound book with a purple flower embossed on the cover. Lifting it for her to see better, he explained, “Paul gave me this the day he asked to adopt me. He said it was to journal my thoughts and feelings for future historians to better understand who I was during my journey to build my kingdom,” he lowered it, looking at the cover fondly, “Instead, I’ve been using it to write letters to him.”
She felt her heart clench at the admission and had to rub her eyes to keep from crying as he whispered, “I’m looking forward to the day I can have him read them.” Dazien lifted her head up to look him in the eyes as he said, “You reaching Sapphire Caste is getting us both one step closer to that reunion. I’m with you till the end, Princess, so don’t think for one more minute that anything you need is a burden for me. Even if it’s just some time to breathe.”
Phoenix hugged her new brother tightly, the flowery fragrance of him now more obvious to her Sapphire Caste senses and soothing her with its subtle sweetness as she said with a soft chuckle as his words reminded her of a new perk, “I’m Sapphire now. I don’t need to breathe anymore.”
Dazien laughed and returned her tight hug.