Sad Phoenix [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ADCreHfXHmk3KL80gs6Mllq1fHVoTsPFFBmvAnbT2KSmiwltY1-c7IH0zcDRHgMmrJjRHekBEE-Fp7IWcaAWrbQaGCK--rrS2zviR_8ltQFFFQ7Fg8DytjQ05hHUUVTpCDoQkfJK0ZJB0hLLDFydgPBBSE0v=w1024-h1536-s-no?authuser=2]
“This isn’t like her,” Dazien muttered, glancing at his pocket watch, “She’s never this late to training.”
Uriel shrugged, as he continued through his sword forms, “Maybe Lord Wayland finally returned.”
“Then she would have brought him with her to beat us into the mat,” he pointed out. Then unconjured his sword as he said, “I’m going to go search for her. Maybe something happened in the west district and the alarms just didn’t reach us here.”
The cinderen halted and sheathed his sword as he moved to follow after his king.
As they arrived at the portal grounds, they were confused when one of the attendants informed them that Phoenix had completed all of her scheduled assignments for the day hours ago. They weren’t sure where she could have possibly gone and didn’t know who to even ask, except perhaps her benefactor.
As they arrived at the building belonging to House Wayland to ask if perhaps the lord had returned, they were informed that he had reported his mission as complete and had indeed returned to the city that morning but was currently in meetings elsewhere in the city. When the pair asked about Phoenix, they were surprised to learn that she had never been there before.
It was in the middle of when they would normally be eating their meal when they arrived at her dorm and knocked, with silence as the only response. Dazien looked at his partner and asked, “Any chance you can detect if she’s in there before I break in to check things out?”
Uriel nodded slowly then motioned the warrior back, who complied, as he removed his collar and breathed in deeply through his nose. A moment later his companion nodded again at him before relatching the collar, “I can detect her scent but it also smells a bit like salt water is mixed with it.”
The gemite stepped forward and pounded louder on the door, calling out, “Phoenix! Open the door before I force it open!”
“You’re going to get the guards called on us,” the mage muttered, glancing down the hall to make sure no prying eyes were upon them.
They heard movement on the other side and then the door unlocked but only cracked open slightly. The warrior started asking questions in frustrated concern as he pushed it wider and entered, “Where have you been? You were supposed to be training with us hours ago. We have to-” he halted when his gaze fell upon her splotched and tear-stained face as she rubbed at her eyes.
Her simple cream nightgown hugged her form before flaring out around her legs but it was the combination of her tears and wild auburn curls falling loose around her face and down her back that had arrested his attention. He had never seen her cry before nor her hair unbraided and the chaos of it left him momentarily mesmerized.
“Are you alright?” Uriel’s smooth and gentle voice broke through his distraction as he refocused on the reason for her tears that she was furiously wiping away. He noted the rainbow runes on her wrist as well, having never seen them before. Even when training she covered them in sweatbands and outside of training she always wore long sleeves that had a habit of going past her entire hand. He had thought it was an attempt to cover her paler skin that she seemed so self conscious about but perhaps it was also to hide the fact that she had an Oathbond.
“It-” her voice caught, and she took a steadying breath before stating, “It was just a nightmare.”
“You were sleeping?” Dazien asked incredulously, he had too many questions right now but his companion’s hand on his shoulder stopped him from pressing her for more information. He relaxed slightly, trying to calm his frustration to focus on what she needed instead and said as carefully as he could, “We have our patrol on the wall in a half mark. Are you going to be well enough to go?”
She nodded and began walking towards her bedroom to finish getting ready. About ten minutes later she was wearing a more practical shirt and pants with boots that he hadn’t seen her wear before and was finishing tying the end of her long braid. “Where’s your cloak?” he asked when it registered what was missing from her usual ensemble.
The smaller woman just shrugged and said, “It needs the tailor again.”
“Seriously?” he asked as they followed her out of the dorm, “You really need to get one with a self-repair enchant.”
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Phoenix was engraving small runes into the palm sized stone in front of her with the new etching tool she had purchased from the Bel that Dazien had introduced her to before when she collected her pay from the AOA for the week. She looked at her [Guide Book] floating nearby to reference the diagram she had come up with based on her understanding of enchantments so far before continuing the delicate work.
She had told her teammates she wanted the day to just relax and recuperate once their patrol had finished the night before and they hadn’t pushed her, their concern only becoming more apparent at her subdued attitude as the night progressed uneventfully for them, though they had sent out a number of other parties to intercept land-bound monsters they had spotted.
After her ordeal at the hands of a jealous psychopath, she came up with a concept for an item she wanted to try making that she thought might help her feel better when leaving her dorm room again.
As for dealing with the trauma of the event… she decided to take the old fashioned route of attempting to bury those memories as deep as she could and never thinking about it again. Which only seemed to work up to the point she tried to sleep, quickly startling awake a few hours later; kicking the blankets and memories of swarming monsters off of her in terror only to find herself alone in her room, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
Phoenix remembered some stories about soldiers who went to war and suffered with PTSD, having flashbacks and nightmares like she found herself suddenly experiencing, but she had never known any of them personally and didn’t know how people actually went about treating it. Plus, she had been in plenty of monster fights before without having this kind of reaction. Perhaps, she just needed some time to put it behind her.
After calming herself down, she forwent sleep to work on her side projects some more. The first one was an altered enchantment diagram she had been thinking on since learning about the alarm system within the city of Tulimeir. The second, which was currently in her hand, was a small stone that would hopefully save her life if she ever got kidnapped again.
She was basing a lot of this item off of the functions built into the adventuring license she had been informed of right before she had received it. The little card had been attuned to her, much like her Flame of Life, and it would keep the AOA informed of both her status as living and could be used to track her whereabouts in the event she went missing. It’s also what acted as the monster killing tracker aside from going off a person’s words alone for mission completion.
The general concept for her device was simple enough: trickle some mana into the signal stone that would act as a tracking beacon to the receiver stone with the different markings around the edge lighting up in the direction of the signal. It was an emergency SoS flare for her to use in case the maniacs tried to kidnap her again. That way they could be caught in the act and she would have some actual proof that wouldn’t reveal her ability to resurrect herself and get her stuck in a Magi’s lab somewhere.
The Wayfarer had debated multiple times over the course of the morning about confiding in Paul about her [Waypoint] ability, but she was leaning towards keeping her silence. She didn’t want to burden the few people in her life that put up with her weaknesses with even more problems. She also didn’t want to be seen as a victim that couldn’t protect herself. She was an Adventurer! If she couldn’t overcome this new fear she was struggling with, how could she be trusted to protect others?
No, she would show that she could handle the situation herself. Prepare better with a device of her own creation. Prove that she was tough enough to handle any monster that she came across and not let her fear dictate her actions. She would show everyone the evil inside Murinah Ruwena.
She had been naive again, letting down her guard just like she had with Miles. Phoenix had thought herself safe with other Adventurers but they had shown her how unreliable that belief was. If she couldn’t trust the AOA to weed out the psychopaths, then how did she know who among them to trust? How could she work with other parties based on their membership alone? Could she even really trust her own teammates? She had only known them for a little over a month, after all.
The Astromancer realized that she didn’t really know anything about them outside of their roles within the party, the time they trained together, and the assortment of foods the pair enjoyed. That either made her a terribly trusting simpleton or a terrible friend, both were things she needed to change.
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She scrunched her face as her hand slipped again and she grabbed some more slate putty to fix her mistake before continuing to engrave. She hadn’t noticed the passing of time until the sound of a throat clearing startled her and she flinched violently, half rising out of her chair, and turning to see what new threat had snuck up on her.
Paul watched her in surprise and frowned at her reaction. She let out a breath and visibly relaxed as she registered his presence, sighing heavily, “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she complained wearily and slumped back into the chair, placing a hand on her forehead to try and steady her racing mind.
“I didn’t realize you were so deep in thought there,” he said as he took a seat next to her. He watched her harried appearance for a moment and asked, “Have you been up all night?”
She gave a half shrug, “I slept a couple hours earlier,” she replied and tapped the stone she had been working on, “Mind racing on finishing this.”
The former paladin nodded in understanding, still giving her an assessing gaze and she asked a few moments later with a bit of annoyance, “What?”
Her mentor frowned at her again and she felt the familiar brush of his aura against hers and she visibly flinched from him again. She stood up once more to step away from him and pulled her own aura in tightly, trying to make it as solid and unreadable as possible, while saying through gritted teeth, “Not tonight, Paul.”
“What happened?” he asked sternly, not moving from his seat but he pulled back his aura, hopefully recognizing the unusual discomfort it was causing her.
“Nothing,” she said automatically as she rubbed at her arms in subconscious comfort. At his flat look she explained, “Just nightmares. I’ll be fine.”
“Nightmares?” he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yes, nightmares. Have you never had a nightmare before?” she snapped back. He quirked an eyebrow at her and she groaned, then rubbed her face with both her hands as she retook her seat, giving into her exhaustion, “I’m sorry, Paul… Can you just blame my tired brain and forget tonight is happening? I’m not really in the best place right now.”
The golden man nodded slowly then leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, before pulling the rolled up scroll that she had discarded on the table earlier towards him to read. After examining it for a few moments he asked, “Is this the city’s spawn point notification enchantment?”
The Wayfarer simply tilted her head in confirmation and he inquired, “This is different though, larger and… relayed?”
“I was trying to think of a way to expand it to the outlying towns when I discovered that the communication between the villages and forts are… well, basically non-existent compared to what I’m used to in my old world,” she tried to explain to her mentor, gesturing to the scroll, “It’s more of a theory though, since I have no idea how to test it out on such a large scale.”
Paul hummed thoughtfully as he studied it more and asked, “Can I hold onto this?”
“Sure. Won’t do me much good,” Phoenix said with a dismissive wave.
The paladin then rolled up the scroll and slid it into the dimensional bag at his hip and leaned forward again to grab the receiving stone to look over it, “This looks like a tracking device of some kind?” he observed.
She nodded and lifted the signal stone she was still working on, appreciating the change of topic, “I’m trying to link it to an activatable signal rather than the normal passive trigger the licenses have and add in the pieces from the alarm ritual you taught me so they’ll both inform the holder while only tracking when active.”
Paul placed the receiving stone down with a nod and said, “I can leave then and let you get some rest today if you’re not up to talking.”
Phoenix’s hand moved without thought as it clutched at his long white sleeve, “No, please,” her voice was barely a whisper but he seemed to have understood as he paused, “Don’t leave me alone.”
She realized that the last thing she wanted at the moment was to be left alone once more for her memories and fears to consume her. It also made her realize that Paul had become the only person she felt safe with. That realization alone made her change her mind. If she couldn’t trust Paul then she really was completely alone in a strange world.
He nodded, placing his free hand over hers in a comforting gesture. Then he made her smile slightly by trying to change the topic once more and get her mind away from whatever seemed to be bothering her, but his words only served to reinforce the decision to confide in her mentor, “Is now a bad time to ask why the Flame of Life you gave me was flickering yesterday afternoon?”
The Wayfarer gave him a wry look, “Are you really watching it all the time like some kind of stalker?”
He grimaced and muttered, “Not all the time. I just make sure to check it every now and then to make sure it doesn't go out randomly.”
“You make it sound like I’m just going to suddenly keel over with a stiff breeze,” she complained.
Her Mentor gave her a teasing grin that she rarely got to see as he said, “With how many potions I’ve had to force-feed you?”
She chuckled, shaking her head but couldn’t really argue the point then he continued pushing, “I’ve never seen a Flame of Life flicker like that before. I didn’t even know it was possible or what it might mean. Did you get into a fight but manage to heal yourself?”
Phoenix shook her head once more, slowly, then conjured her book into her lap but didn’t hand it over right away as she asked nervously, “You, um, you can keep another secret of mine right? You haven’t dragged me off to your lair or anything yet for being a Wayfarer…”
Paul gave an awkward chuckle as he noted, “That Magi really gave you a bad impression of the people in this world didn’t he?”
She nodded solemnly and her mentor seemed to still at her serious tone and she felt another hesitant brush of his aura against hers but it wasn’t pushing to read her; it was asking permission to understand her.
The Wayfarer gathered her resolve and let him in. Allowing to read her fear and frustration as she handed over the book with her Waypoint talent on display.
Natural Talent: Waypoint
When suffering lethal damage, instead of dying, your body will be reconstituted in the last place you designated as your soul’s waypoint, regaining a state of full integrity. This effect can only be triggered once a day.
As his face darkened at the description, she added cautiously, “The Flame probably flickered because I died yesterday, at least for a little while.” Then she displayed the revival message she got when waking.
He sat there for a long moment, reading and rereading the ability and message before asking his next question, “How did you die?”
Phoenix gave a short laugh that almost sounded like a sob as she asked wryly, “The first time? Or the most recent?”
The Wrath Blade looked up at her sharply and changed his question, “How many times have you died?”
“Twice,” she said, gently stroking her braid as a distraction, “The first time I was cornered by a Shanther and fell off a cliff. That’s when I revived and met Miles,” she continued explaining, “Then yesterday, I was tricked, incapacitated, and fed to a pack of miserlings.”
The aura became a suffocating presence then, as even she could read the anger suffusing it at the mental image she was sure her words were conjuring if he was familiar with the creatures.
It relaxed a moment later as he pulled it back into himself, likely realizing the effect it was having on her, and he commanded, “Tell me who tricked you.”
Hesitantly she asked, “Are… what are you going to do to them?”
The fallen paladin stared at her for a long moment and asked in disbelief, “You would try to protect your killer?”
“No, I just… I don’t want you killing them out of anger or revenge… I don’t want anyone dying because of me,” she said falteringly.
His golden eyes went wide then narrowed as he growled, “Phoenix, they murdered you. And in the most disturbing way I could have imagined. I am familiar with how miserlings hunt. If you didn’t have this ability, you wouldn’t be here and I would currently be in mourning.”
Phoenix looked towards him, surprised at the strong emotions he was channeling even with his aura retracted. Her mentor almost appeared to beg her as he said, “Tell me who would dare to have ripped you from my life.”
“Murinah Ruwena and her brother Camrin,” then a faint memory replayed in her mind and she added, “Though the brother sounded upset? I’m not sure he was in on it.”
The warrior's eyes closed, rubbing at his temple as he said, “House Ruwena. Being a noble might make things messier but she will pay for what she’s done.”
She couldn’t stop herself from inquiring, “How are you going to do that?” His eyes were cold as he gazed at her and she clarified, “I mean, how will anyone believe I was killed when I’m clearly not dead?”
Paul’s expression softened as he said, “You leave that to me and don’t worry about them any more. I’ll probably have to dig around for some other things to pin on her and talk with some of my contacts.
“Besides, we don’t want anyone else finding out about your [Waypoint] ability,” he added. She raised an eyebrow and he explained as he gestured to the large window making up the wall beside them, “That Magi was right. There are a lot of people out there that would claim you to either study this talent or use you as an expendable tool for suicide missions.”
The Emerald Caster frowned and admitted, “I may be strong here but, if word got outside of the city, there are many I could not protect you from. I may be close but I’m not Ruby yet where most of the global leaders are.”
Phoenix nodded at the logic. She had been nervous because she didn’t want to be experimented on, but she hadn’t considered people trying to take advantage of the power like Paul had suggested with missions that would definitely kill her. She resolved to keep her silence about it. Now that she at least had Paul to confide in, the weight she had been feeling slowly crush her had lightened considerably.
Paul leaned forward in his chair and placed a hand on top of hers in an uncommon display of affection towards her, “Phoenix, I wish you had trusted me sooner but I don’t blame you for not saying anything after that Magi had betrayed you.”
His hand squeezed hers as he said decisively, “I don’t want you to feel like you need to hide things from me. I will never hurt or belittle you. You are my Protégé and I will protect and support you as such.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes with her free hand and nodded saying in a broken voice, “Thank you, Paul.”