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As Uriel walked along the road with Camilla a few feet away to his right, he struggled to keep his mind from not going to some of the darkest corners he had learned to avoid over the years. The corners that whispered ways to end his miserable existence that brought pain and ruin to all he held dear.
Destroyer still walked with him even now, on his left side where his dominant hand and Soul Mark were. Uriel wondered if the god could read his thoughts despite not having made any vow of devotion to the deity. That was usually the only way a god got access to a person’s mind, but perhaps the door he had opened into his soul had been enough.
“Aren’t you wasting Aetherius by walking with us?” he asked after a few hours of silent trudging in the odd magically constructed armor that currently covered him.
“I don’t consider it a waste,” Destroyer promptly replied. Uriel gave him a raised brow and he added, “I also have an absurd amount of it, even by divine standards.”
“All roads lead to ruin?”
Destroyer softly chuckled, “That is entirely too accurate. Nothing seems to last forever and at the end of it all, I am there benefiting from it.”
“What about Obsidian Casters? Or those zones. Aren’t Obsidian Floravals like World Trees and World Devouring Lotuses immortal?”
“They are immortal but not invincible,” Destroyer corrected. “I used to believe some things were indestructible, but then I witnessed a moon explode. An event like that shifts one’s perspective a bit.”
“Is an event like that something you hope I accomplish for you one day?” Uriel couldn’t help but ask. He realized he was using the conversation to avoid thinking more on those dark corners, but he did wonder why Destroyer suddenly seemed much more interested in him now. Did something change that made the god feel more comfortable approaching him after the last eight years since he was chosen?
When Destroyer didn’t respond right away, Uriel turned to look at him. The deity looked thoughtful for a long moment before saying slowly, “Yes and no. I don’t plan on having you destroy another moon if that’s what you’re asking, but there is something I do hope you can assist with that will shift the perspective of many people.”
“What is it?” he prompted, expecting the answer already.
“I don’t think you’re ready to know yet. Someday perhaps, but today is not that day. You have more pressing concerns at the moment that I don’t need to be adding to your burdens.”
“Like not killing all my friends on accident?”
“Like not jumping into the sea when you arrive there,” the god corrected, and Uriel stopped to stare at him. Now he really was concerned about the god somehow having a backdoor into his mind.
Destroyer stopped to watch him before saying with a hint of amusement, “I’ve been watching you since the day you were born, Uriel Karislian. I started conversing about you more specifically with the Scholar since the day you became my Chosen. She warns me now when you start to spiral to places I can’t protect you from. And before you ask, that is definitely worth the Aetherius to me. The last thing I want is for you to destroy yourself.”
“Because it would cost you even more Aetherius to have your Chosen die?” he bitterly retorted.
The god’s amusement shifted to that soft patience again as he gently replied, “Because the world is better with you in it, Uriel Karislian. Because you have the power and opportunity to make it better. If you give up on the world, it will suffer for it.”
“I’m not that powerful,” he replied, “I’m only special because you chose me to be.”
“I chose you because you were already special.”
Uriel was caught off guard by that, unsure what to say to counter it. He hadn’t been special at all. He was just a poor miner’s son from a small village who had a knack for dealing with animals. His parents both worked long days and his little sister was a normal kid he often ended up taking care of. There was nothing remarkable about him or his life until the day the bandits destroyed it.
“I was never special,” he finally replied, and the god smirked at him.
“You’re starting to sound like your little lovebird when you say that.”
Uriel’s brow knit in confusion, “Lovebird?”
It was Destroyer’s turn to raise a brow, before glancing down the road where Camilla was nervously waiting for them. The god took a step closer to him and softly said, “Apologies, I meant Phoenix Wayland.”
“I don’t—”
“Scholar can’t lie to me when I pay for truth, and I see everywhere, remember? If you don’t love her, then apparently I have never seen anyone ever love anyone before.”
Uriel felt his anger at the challenge get tempered by his earrings, and he wasn’t even exactly sure why he was getting angry. A moment later he realized his ears were beginning to slowly eat through those too, but it seemed to take a bit longer for the magical material to be affected. He took a deep breath to calm himself and began to remove them to give to Camilla as he managed to calmly state, “I can’t.”
“Ah, right. It’s against your little boundary-book,” the god said with a slight sneer. “A good excuse to hide behind… for now at least. I wonder if that will hold when your Dazien dies.”
He felt his blood run cold and that simmer of anger got completely replaced with fear as he asked, “He’s alive?”
“Not for long at this rate,” the deity replied, turning from him and beginning to walk down the road once more.
Uriel almost tripped in the strange armor as he chased after the deity to ask, “Where is he? What’s going to kill him? Is he hurt?”
“What does it matter to someone who was contemplating leaving him permanently only a few minutes ago?”
His eyes narrowed at the deity. “Are you seriously trying to make me feel guilty for that?”
Destroyer gave him an amused look as he asked, “Is it working? Because that’s likely what would happen if you don’t toss your self-pity aside and go rejoin your companions. Use what you see as a curse to shield them. Just as you always have, my Chosen.”
Then the god vanished completely, leaving Uriel literally standing in the middle of a crossroad.
He hadn’t realized it before, but when Destroyer vanished, the sounds of the world returned in a rush as a pair of sivatherium reared back before almost crashing into him and the shock of it made him almost fall backwards onto his arse.
“Are you crazy?!” the coach driver yelled at him. “Are you tryin’ to get killed or kill us?”
“Neither!” Uriel managed to reply as Camilla hurried to his side. Apparently she was more concerned about the strangers than about him accidentally slicing her with his touch or aura.
He lifted his hands in a show of surrender. “Actually, is it possible to get a ride if you’re heading for Serenydi?”
The driver stared at him and Camilla for a moment with narrowed eyes before asking in a more subdued tone, “How many Bits you got on you?”
“How many would a ride require?” Uriel immediately countered, knowing Daze would have stabbed him where he stood if he had told a potential merchant what their budget actually looked like.
The driver looked them up and down again before saying, “Ten Crystal Bits.”
“Five.”
“Five each, or you can walk for the next two weeks,” the driver coldly replied.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Uriel grimaced but nodded. “Ten Crystal Bits, then.” Hopefully, he’d be in time to save Daze from whatever was killing him.
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“Well that’s almost as exciting as summoning a giant phoenix from another world to eat a flying city,” said the teal-haired elf that Phoenix now knew as Noble Lief Akiran. His aunt was apparently a Priestess of the god Socialite, and dealt with a lot of party planning in the city.
She had spent the better part of the last few days getting to know the small group of aristocrats and had just finished recounting the story of her battle with the behemoth that claimed the life of her magical sword Caustic Floe. They were currently in an open sitting area near the reception desk where the group could view the visitors without being in the way.
The inn attendant, Tylen Orlis, had listened from his perch at the reception desk nearby between the patrons that came and went. Some making it more obvious than others that they were there to meet with someone instead of staying the night themselves.
The green-haired boy that first joined their conversation was Noble Haevanus Vanderill and was the apparent ring-leader of the little band of nobles that seemed to only be important in that they were closely related to someone with actual power. It appeared that when they had down time, which seemed to be often, they liked to hang out at the more extravagant inns to meet prominent travelers and barter in information and favors.
Noble Evalyn Tygria, the girl with the head of fuchsia spikes, was the daughter of the Lord that oversaw the many casinos that were apparently extremely popular here. She was the most attentive listener as Phoenix shared her stories with the small group, trying to win hearts and favors in the least cringe-inducing way she could think of.
Even the woman with long pale blue hair had seemed to warm up to her. Noble Kelana Finndeshin was the niece of the man that oversaw access to the city’s Reality Rift. She made a mental note to try to introduce Camilla to her once they reunited. She just needed to find her cousin first and these noble scions seemed to be her remaining chance at speeding that up.
Being social with all of these precocious scions was extremely draining for Phoenix. She felt like she was wearing a mask of noble politeness that didn’t quite fit right. Worse was that her anxiety kept her on edge as it screamed that they would see through the obvious charade of her noble performance and realize that she wasn’t truly one of them.
Phoenix feared that would already be the obvious case and she would be outed as a complete fraud any minute. She had been so carelessly herself around one of the scions already without even realizing it.
Apparently, the scion in particular that she needed to convince the most to help her find her missing friends, was none other than the first person she had met here: Zevan Beringer.
It turned out that her mother was a high ranking official within the Serenydi branch of the AOA, and unlike the other scions currently sitting with them, Zevan was the only Sapphire Caster among their group. With no sign of Monster Seeds in her aura, she was also the only Adventurer sitting with them aside from Saiya and Rayna.
“So, you mentioned that the AOA branch in your city was corrupt, but have you thought about rejoining the branch here?” Zevan asked, leaning back in her seat next to Evalyn. Apparently, the pink-haired girl was the main friend she had been planning to meet up with here, but the group as a whole had known each other for a long time.
Phoenix felt her fake-feeling smile tighten at the thought, unsure of making a decision like that without talking to her brother about it first. “I haven’t thought about it yet, since I’ve been too preoccupied with finding my missing friends and family, remember?”
“Right, you said you were going to the temples later, yes? I’m not sure how much help they can be for that,” Evalyn replied, “I don’t think there’s a god of missing-persons.”
“They also don’t usually give out random bits of information out to anyone who asks,” the green-haired Haevanus interjected with a sneer, “They won’t even respect a noble’s authority with something like that. They want you to kneel before them before they’ll whisper any secrets.”
Zevan abruptly stood, interrupting the conversation as she told the others, “Duty beckons.”
Half of the group seemed to groan while the other half chuckled, and Phoenix had to follow her gaze to try and figure out what prompted the sudden declaration.
There, right next to the entrance and leaning gracefully against the wall with his hands clasped behind his back, was one of the most handsome men Phoenix had ever seen and she knew Dazien.
The newcomer had a pale complexion with a silvery blue sheen to it, obviously a Night Elf, with short silver hair that she wasn’t quite sure if it was natural with the way it absorbed the glint in the light. This was contrasted by his ice blue eyes that almost seemed to glow with magic. He seemed more classically handsome than Dazien was, with a slightly more masculine jawline, brow, and dimpled chin.
There were three other things that surprised her about the man that seemed to kidnap her current hope away from her. The first, was that he was an Emerald Caster, unlike Zevan who was making straight for him with purposeful strides.
The second, was that the stranger wasn’t looking at the gemite but at her, a playful smile tugging at his mouth and an amused glint in his eyes that did remind her more of Dazien.
The third thing was that the elven superman was basically shirtless with some fancy metal plating covering just his shoulders and connected by silver chains to the torc around his neck. His lower half wasn’t much better with what she could only describe as a silver belt holding up a long, red wine-colored loincloth with some leather sandals that had silver straps criss-crossing around his calves before stopping at the knees. It almost reminded her of some kind of slave-leia gender-bend costume.
She hadn’t realized that she was staring with her jaw hanging open until Saiya gently closed it for her and whispered, “If you open your eyes any wider, they’ll fall out.”
Phoenix turned to tear her eyes from the man to look at her friend instead and replied back almost dumbfounded, “I didn’t know Serenydi had cosplay conventions.”
“What’s cosplay?” Rayna asked curiously.
“It’s… you know, I’m not sure that translates well without the entertainment industry being as robust here as it was back on Earth. Basically, people dress up as their favorite characters from movies, comics, or books,” she tried to explain.
“What does that have to do with anything?” the bard followed up in confusion.
Saiya giggled however and explained to Phoenix, “That’s not a costume. It’s just another style of clothing here.”
She stared owlishly for a moment before clarifying, “I guess I never really asked back in Tulimeir since pretty much everyone wore heavy furs and tunics, but do a lot of men wear dresses too?”
Saiya shrugged and replied, “Sure, depending on if dresses are fashionable in that culture. Every culture is unique in its own ways, but very few that I’ve heard of have different types of clothing for different genders. They might be tailored differently because bodies are different, but there’s enough variety between species that demands most things to be altered in some way, like what Ray and I had to get done back in Tulimeir for our tails.”
“I think the runeforged specifically seemed to favor women in dresses over men, based on what I saw at the noble parties,” Rayna chimed in, “But I saw a few cinderen men wearing skirts.”
Movement caught Phoenix’s eye as her gaze returned to the newcomer that had been watching her and she realized a moment later that the man was gesturing with a solitary finger for her to join them.
Phoenix glanced behind her just to make sure she wasn’t grossly misunderstanding the situation. Rayna elbowed her in the side and said, “Looks like the half-naked Night Elf wants to talk with the pretty Wayfarer.”
She rolled her eyes, “Don’t try and make it weird. We don’t even know his name.”
“Just don’t forget how to use words if he asks you to dinner or anything,” Saiya lightly teased before nudging her towards the entrance and the waiting stranger.
Phoenix tried to push that horrifying thought from her mind as she moved towards the newcomer, attempting not to show her uncertainty with every forced step. She gave a polite nod of her head and held out a hand to shake when she was close enough and said, “Hello, I’m Phoenix Wayland.”
The chuckles that met her ears almost tickled as the elf grasped her hand and replied in amusement, “I’m aware. Zevan here has told me about you.”
That was the fourth surprise the elf had given her as she looked at the gemite who was suddenly looking very shy, “She has?”
The elf chuckled again, “Yes. I’ve been watching you for a while now, and I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed so far.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow at that and used most of her willpower to hold back a sarcastic retort that threatened to escape her lips as she merely prompted instead, “Oh?”
The silver-haired beauty nodded and said with a hint of exasperation, “The people that truly matter, the ones with power, don’t want to see your shallow facade. We don’t want to see polite flattery trying to curry scraps of favor. Those people,” the elf tilted his head back towards the group of young aristocrats and said bluntly, “Are shallow, average, and will never be more than what you see. Making them happy should be beneath you, if you truly want to make an impact. As your group’s leader, you’ll need to do much better than that.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, glancing at Zevan who didn’t seem bothered by the stranger insulting her supposed friends. Despite the man’s words, however, Phoenix bit back another angry response and grit her teeth instead as she managed to say, “I’m not the leader. I’m barely the second-in-command.” She then asked with the least amount of venom possible, “But how exactly do you think I should behave to do better?”
The Emerald Caster smiled slyly and gave a simple response that almost sounded like a taunt, “Just be yourself, Little Hero.”
Phoenix just stared blankly for a moment at the audacious elf before finally giving in to her initial instinct as she snapped, her frustration from the past week of getting nowhere closer to her goal pushed beyond her limits of civility, “Being my heroics-prone self is what got me into this mess in the first place! My family is missing, possibly dead, because I tried to be a hero and failed. Now my last plan to try and get them back relies on bureaucracy. So yes, I’ll put on a facade and try to play the nice and courteous noble not because I care about gaining favors or power but because that’s the best way for me to get my family back.”
She was almost panting by the end of her little rant, her anger rising with each word as the elf’s smile just kept growing. As though to try and make her even more upset, the man gave a little clap once she fell silent and said happily, “That was much better.”
Then he cracked open the front door beside them and said cheerfully to someone outside, “You can come in now.”
The person that entered was one of the last she expected, and her anger vanished in an instant as her heart swelled in her throat before she managed to choke out, “Uriel?!”