Door [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczN-RgODrHUCOiV21uAbFap4iheMgYgh7quTiHJ793c6AA-E0_2MlevHDzxbiwf8WzD_6hususQFOSy6wpyAA9OYa9sVfXmRByB4dG82SNXWYpP56717tJBpaQQqba4-HOD4rh7zrOKV7tGCZhWE9lOl=w613-h919-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Phoenix and Dazien had returned to Paul’s side while Uriel had gone to meet with Priest Jacob who had been overseeing his –along with her own– mental health when they had the time and were in the city.
Saiya and Rayna had returned to their temporary housing in the International District but had decided to take Patricia’s latest offer to stay at the Wayland estate instead, given the fact that the party had been thrust even further into the spotlight of even more rumors surrounding the presence of an Obsidian Caster.
While they were collecting their things from their apartment, Phoenix decided to wait for their return by visiting Paul and Orebela again. Dazien had followed after her but hadn’t explained why yet. She could only assume that he wanted to see the Paladin as well, a sort of comfort to verify he was alive with their own eyes.
They sat side by side in separate chairs beside Paul’s plush bed while Orebela hovered on the opposite side, seemingly observing them but it was hard to tell since she lacked eyes for them to read. The little sway her fluid body did, along with the slight fiddling of her too-tiny hands, were the only indication they had that she was thinking about things.
The Wayfarer waited patiently for the inevitable disruption to the silence, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when it finally arrived.
“I wanted to let you know that I plan to let my ascension happen this evening,” Dazien said quietly into the silent space between them as he continued looking at Paul’s sleeping form, “I’ve been holding it off –refusing to rest and meditate– but we’ve been given a couple of days to recuperate now, and it seems like a good time for a long rest.”
“You mentioned back on the battlefield that you were going to ascend, and I meant to ask if there was some kind of trick you were using to progress so fast,” Phoenix recounted, “You were the last to unlock your final Class ability after all. I would have thought Uriel would have beat you there, but he seems to think he’s still a ways behind, and I’m only averaging around Crystal 6, even after all that fighting we just did.”
“Well, you do have a habit of going backward in your progression,” he teased, but it seemed to lack his normal boisterousness.
“Hey, that last one wasn’t really my fault… and was completely worth it,” the Wayfarer added, feeling a bit more grateful that it really had been a worthy death instead of her just making a mistake or not being good enough.
Then she glanced over and said in a lighter tone, “Now, spill your secrets. How did you get your Execute leveled so fast? Just spamming it the whole time?”
The Defender chuckled, “A bit of that, but you’re correct that I have a secret.”
She conjured her [Guide Book] and gestured towards it as she replied, “Brothers shouldn’t keep secrets from little sisters.”
“Isn’t keeping secrets from nosy younglings what all older siblings do?” he replied with an amused smirk.
“Not the good ones.”
“I think you’ve got the younger sibling manipulation skills down already,” the gemite playfully jabbed but gave a tired sigh as he touched the book to reveal his secret.
Natural Talent: Right of Divinity
Cultivated from [Classy] due to unlocking the Warrior King Class.
* Taunt and Retribution abilities have increased effect.
* Increased resistance to Radiant effects. Radiant abilities have an increased effect.
* Constructs you create have increased effect and are more resistant to damage.
* Abilities that are not the same level as your highest level ability have greatly increased cultivation rate.
“Such a cheat,” she muttered.
“You’re one to talk,” Dazien replied with a short laugh, “I’m pretty sure I remember reading your old talent had just a flat increase to everything, and the new one is probably even more powerful currently.”
She frowned slightly at the memory of why the talent had changed but knew he wasn’t wrong. If she got an increase based on how far away from Ruby she was it might help her reach Sapphire a lot sooner than she originally thought.
“So, you’re going to ascend tonight then,” Phoenix said, pointedly returning the topic back to its beginning, “Would it be better to do it in a ritual room or your future bedroom so you can just crawl over and sleep?”
The Defender turned to give her a raised brow, amethyst eyes looking more dull and tired than she ever remembered seeing them as he said, “I’m not sure it’ll be my future room anymore. With Paul like this… well, it seems like those plans will be on hold indefinitely.”
She became confused by that assumption, “I’m sure Pati would love to extend the offer still. It sounded like the whole family had already signed off on it.”
“See, that’s the thing,” he said sadly, turning back to look at Paul, “He has to literally sign off on it. He can’t sign papers now and, honestly, I wouldn’t want anyone else to try and take his place. It feels… wrong somehow to not have him be the one listed as my parent.”
He waved a hand through the air as if pushing the topic away, “We don’t need to talk about that, though. It seems so insignificant now with everything that has happened.”
Phoenix frowned at that. Did he really think becoming part of her family was insignificant? Did he just see it as some means to an end? She hadn’t thought so but maybe she had just assumed he had the same desires she did.
“I don’t think it’s insignificant,” she said quietly, causing him to look at her once more, and she pressed on when he didn’t try to interrupt, “It’s a life-changing decision. Even if you don’t move in here, even if you don’t change what you call us, even if the stupid piece of paper doesn’t get signed… who you call family is still important. He's still your dad and you’re still my brother now, right?”
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A small smile crept across the handsome face, and he gave a sigh as he nodded, “You’re right. That is not insignificant at all. I just didn’t want you to worry about me, but I can see I failed at that.”
“Isn’t that part of the family package? Worrying about the others? I think you should stick to being annoyingly honest with me.”
“How is being honest annoying?”
“Remember that time you said Tala looked like she was getting fat?”
He chuckled, “I said she was ‘adorably rotund.’ It was not meant as an insult.”
“And then called her the greediest thing with wings you ever met.”
“She tried to peck off my nails like they were sparkly trinkets to adorn her nest!”
“Not her fault they look like that, Mr. Shiny. You can’t blame her for thinking you’re pretty.”
Dazien gave an exasperated huff as he shook his head, but the smile on his face made her not regret her words in the slightest. “That’s actually funny you said that. Uriel said the exact same thing about an ex of mine.”
She wanted to ask exactly how many exes there were before he got together with Uriel then found herself wondering exactly how long those two had been together romantically for.
That brought up a lot more questions though, like why it took her so long to find out and, despite what Jennica had said about them apparently being deeply in love, she had never seen them be even remotely romantic before. At least, not in the ways she had seen on TV or read about in books. No kissing, no hugging or holding hands, abyss they haven’t even said sweet words to each other that would at least have given her a clue.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” she began trying her best to sound casual and quickly failing, “Why didn’t you tell me about your, um, relationship with Uriel earlier? If Jennica was telling the truth, that is…”
“She was,” the gemite confirmed, leaning back in his chair, then gave her a wink as he added, “I think it’s safe to confide in my little sister about it, at least.”
She smiled at that but quickly replaced it with a scowl, “So why keep it secret from everyone? Did you think I’d get all judgy? Are you ashamed of him? Because he’s incredible, you know, and he–”
“I know,” he quickly cut her off, his smile becoming even brighter, which only confused her more, “Trust me, I would shout it from every rooftop that I love him and am lucky enough for him to return those affections.”
He shook his head, dismissing the notion, “But I respect Uriel’s privacy, and he isn’t comfortable with me doing that. If you haven’t noticed, his self-worth is almost as terrible as your own.”
“Hey! I–” his flat look interrupted her protest as she quickly pivoted to keeping the conversation honest and admitted, “I’m trying to do better. So, Uriel is… what? Ashamed of himself so much that he didn’t want you telling people?”
“Basically,” the Defender replied with a shrug, “Turns out that was probably the smart move, though, in hindsight.”
“What do you mean?”
He gave her a quizzical look before leaning forward, fixing her attention on him as he said, “You do realize that your very presence in my life has saved both Uriel and me, right?”
The Wayfarer scoffed, “With how much danger I’ve put you both in, I doubt it.”
“Imagine for a moment that you never arrived here,” he began, starting to paint a hypothetical picture for her, “Uriel and I would have become Adventurers and been looking for a party. Not very many were keen on us, but apparently, there was a woman who was very keen on me.”
She didn’t need the pointed look he gave her to instantly remember Murinah Ruwena’s obsession with the gemite, “So, wanting to take advantage of the blood moon, I would have likely accepted her offer eventually, and I doubt I would have been able to hide my relationship with Uriel at that point.”
“I didn’t realize until Jennica told me,” she pointed out.
Dazien rolled his eyes, “Yes, well, I think I’d have had to been caught with my tongue down his throat for you to figure it out, and even then, it wouldn’t have surprised me if you thought we were doing some sort of weird magic thing for training purposes. The others saw the signs, though.”
“There were signs?”
“You’re just proving my point. Now back to my hypothetical party discovering our relationship,” he continued, running a hand through dark amethyst hair that fell to his chest now, “Uriel would have been the one fed to miserlings, I would have likely been kidnapped and kept as a pretty shiny pet, and Tulimeir would have ceased to exist with the implosion of the Reality Rift underneath it.”
Her eyes caught his once more as he stated with finality, “You crossing my path literally saved our lives.”
She thought about that for a while, realizing that he was probably right. If Murinah hadn’t killed her then Paul wouldn’t have gotten involved and the investigation into the traitorous family would have likely been too late to matter. She found herself agreeing aloud, “I guess it’s lucky we met then.”
“I don’t believe our meeting was a coincidence,” he said, giving her yet another pointed look and not breaking eye contact until she questioned his suggestion.
“You think it was fate?”
“I’m not sure I believe in fate,” he refuted with a shake of his head, “We forge our own destinies, and they become our fate, so its existence doesn’t matter either way.”
“I didn’t plan on finding out about Murinah’s obsession with you by taking Uriel’s place. I also didn’t plan on meeting you in the first place, so how is that not fate?”
He smirked and asked in a rhetorical tone, “Did I ever tell you that Warrior asking me to come take my test the day we met was a last-minute request? Uriel was so worried about being late to finish the paperwork for joining the last trial before the blood moon.”
“You think Warrior set up our meeting?” the Wayfarer asked incredulously.
“Scholar too. From what you told me, it was her priest leading you around, making sure you arrived just in time for me not to have left yet. Putting you in my path and letting my curiosity play right into their hands.”
“They didn’t know I would join your party, though.”
“Perhaps not, especially considering your history being fairly enigmatic,” he admitted with a half-shrug before continuing his trail of logic, “But they’ve been watching me and Paul for our whole lives. They knew what might catch our attention and might cause us to make choices we might not have made otherwise.”
Dazien’s gaze focused on the Paladin before them as he added, “For the record, I don’t think you meeting Paul Wayland was pure coincidence either.”
She wasn’t sure why that thought upset her at first, why it felt outrageous that the deities of this world somehow… set her up with the man who would become her father. Did they somehow orchestrate everything? Manipulate them into caring for each other or was that just a happy side effect? Was it all just to save Tulimeir from destruction somehow, or was there more to their plans that she had yet to uncover?
“So we’re all just puppets of the gods?” she asked, hoping he was wrong.
“No. I think some have just given us the opportunity to make the choices that lead to the best outcomes we could hope for. They might open the doors, but we’re the ones that choose to walk through them,” the Defender explained, and she found herself relieved that he seemed to believe they still had some agency of their own.
“You sound a bit like Saiya now,” she said with a grin.
“Lady Saiya is wise beyond her years, in my opinion. I’m honored by the comparison,” he replied with a fond smile.
The door suddenly slamming open made the pair jump in surprise and stand to face the intruders.
“Oh good, you’re both here,” Everin said as he entered the room, his tails bristling up with indignation, with Kara trailing behind him, her own tails gently swaying with merriment, “I wanted you both present while Perfect Paladin Sunshine over here tries to get handsy with Paul.”
“Over my dead body,” Phoenix retorted automatically at the insane suggestion.
“That doesn’t mean as much coming from you,” Kara replied with a wicked grin, “I’d love to test it, though, and see how it works for myself.”
The tie-dye voxen crossed his arms and glared at his golden counterpart as he reprimanded, “Please do not kill the Chosen One, you battle maniac.”