2 - Fight While We Grieve (Patreon)

“I only know part of it, not everything,” Everin said and Phoenix was grateful that her pleading would finally give her something, even if it wouldn’t be a lot, “But one of the main reasons they give out Soul Marks at all is that it can spread their influence in a way that it naturally can’t.”

“Influence?” Phoenix asked in confusion, “What, like, making people believe in them more by just walking around with proof they exist?”

“No, I mean in a much more tangible sense,” the Avatar clarified, “Tulisuda for example.”

“The Reality Rift?”

“Wait, are you serious?” Dazien interjected with an incredulous look, “I always thought ‘spread their will’ was meant more metaphorically as in promoting their concept. The gods can access that separated pseudo-reality now? I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Wait, back up,” she said with a wave of her hand, “I know I’m missing some context here.”

“The gods are bound to the world they are born from,” Everin explained, “We call everything within this invisible boundary as being within their ‘influence’. The places they can see and, to a limited degree, work within. What they can do is limited by both being a divine entity and their ‘domain’, which is what they are a god of. 

“The Avenger is an easy example that you might be more familiar with. Avenger can see anything that happens in the world, a murder being committed and hidden for example, and can give a quest to his followers –like Paul– to go enact vengeance upon the murderer. However, normally if that murder happened in a Reality Rift, Avenger wouldn’t have been able to see it. Also, even though he can see something else happening in the world –this conversation for instance– he can’t just tell anyone he feels like about it.”

“‘Cause it’s not part of his domain?” she inquired.

“Exactly. This private conversation would fall under the domain of the Confidant, deity of secrets and trust. They fight with Scholar quite a bit on what information gets spread around.”

“I bet,” she muttered wryly. Then she tried to circle back to how she was meant to affect any of this, “So I can spread their area of influence into Reality Rifts that they couldn’t enter before?”

“Yes, for any of the gods whose mark you bear,” he replied, “I confirmed it myself when I could still hear Rebel’s whispers within it. Normally, even whispers are cut off when outside a god’s influence.”

Phoenix frowned, “So they just want me to claim Reality Rifts around the world for them? That seems like something anyone else could do, not something they need me specifically for.”

“Well, I believe you may go beyond our world someday,” Everin clarified, “Especially as a Wayfarer, but I also believe the key for choosing you was your immortality. 

“It costs a lot of Aetherius –which is simply what we call their divine currency or ‘power’ if you will– to grant a Soul Mark and there is an even greater price to be paid if that Chosen dies and the soul leaves their influence through the Veil. I don’t think even the gods know why the Soul Mark seems to get wiped away when that happens normally but, as we’ve seen already, your soul doesn’t seem to do that when your body dies. The mark remains intact.”

“So because I don’t legit die easily, they can all stamp my soul without worrying about paying the death tax?” she asked, dumbfounded that the answer would boil down to frugality.

“I’ve been told I only know ‘fragments’ of what the mark does but I can speculate on what I do know and this alone would seem like a good enough reason to me. Especially when I try to put myself in their perspective.”

“Right,” Phoenix grumbled, “So I’m apparently less risky to bet on. Should I be expecting even more gods to show up to catch a ride on the Wayfarer Express?”

Everin gave her an amused smirk as he said, “Give them the chance to trade something within their domain and I’m sure every single one will want to get their paws on you.”

She gave an involuntary shudder at the painful memories and shook her head free of them as she stated, “Dazien’s right; it doesn’t really change anything but it’s good to have some kind of answer other than ‘I’m destined for greatness I didn’t earn’ Chosen One nonsense.” 

Then she stood from her seat, straightening her dress, “We should head back now and help out the others. Maybe if I’m too busy fighting monsters then the gods won’t get the chance to trade anything.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Dazien said with a chuckle.

“Also, you can’t go back yet,” Uriel interjected, “It hasn’t been twenty-four hours since your [Waypoint] was triggered. I for one don’t want to risk you leaving the estate without it available.”

The Defender grimaced, “I forgot about that. I think I’m starting to get a bit sleep-deprived if I’m forgetting such an important detail.”

“Why don’t we all try to get a bit more rest then? How long till the cooldown is over?” Everin asked.

Dazien pulled out a small pocket watch from his belt pouch and estimated, “Maybe another sixteen hours?”

His frown deepened and Phoenix couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong? Are you worried they won’t last without us or that we’ll get in trouble for delaying?”

“It’s not that,” he clarified, “I just can’t sleep yet. If I get that relaxed I’ll practically ascend by accident and won’t wake up for a few days,” the warrior explained with a heavy sigh as he added, “You all get some rest. I’ll wake you when it’s time to fight.”

“Wake us earlier,” Phoenix suggested, “We can get some supplies on the way and just play it safe. I’ll be risking my life just as much as everyone else will be.”

“Except most people don’t have a habit of running into a horde of monsters to blow up and don’t care about dying after the fact,” Dazien retorted with a flat look.

“I care!” she argued, then admitted softly, “It just doesn’t seem like a bad trade when I know it’ll save other lives.”

“You living longer will save more,” he pointed out, “Now get some sleep and I’ll wake you in a few hours. Then we’ll see if you can keep your promise and not explode on the first giant monster you come across.”

“L–let the waters of life… rain their b–blessings from the watch–watchful sky above us,” Saiya incanted with a broken voice, her face stained by dirt and dried tears. It was too much. Had been too much for too long already. The sorrow. The fear. The grief. The anger. The despair.

This was what war felt like.

Especially when everyone realized that they were on the losing side.

The waters that fell upon her from her [Rain of Life] spell washed away the dirt and pain but not the wound on her heart. She didn't have a spell to mend sorrow though she desperately wanted one.

News had already spread of the Sacrifice of Lord Paladin Wayland, the man who vanquished the Ruby Caster threat only to fall into a cursed slumber. Their greatest fear and hope: both gone.

Nine enemy ships remained but the man responsible for destroying most of the others wouldn’t be arriving to save them any longer. So many had already died, and so many monsters still remained. 

With each passing hour, pieces of their hope to return home alive shattered.

Saiya couldn't afford to shut out the emotions flooding her senses. Those brief flashes of hunger and triumph let her know where the monsters were to avoid and the fear of death, followed by the shock of an inevitable end, let her know who to heal. She let them flow through her and just barely avoided being consumed by them.

The Healer had lost track of her twin, the blur that flickered around her causing a symphony of pain and shattered monster ashes in her wake. At least Rayna got free reign to beat up monsters, which accounted for the small tremor of excitement she kept feeling as an undercurrent to the tide of negative emotions she had to endure.

She recalled the last thing she had said to her sister when Rayna asked what the battle felt like for their side at the time, “Life won't wait for us to mourn, so we must fight while we grieve.” She hated how true those words were now as grief drowned their side of the battlefield.

“Corrupted Tundra Yeti! Ice and Earth attuned back off!” someone shouted above the din of combat and Saiya looked for the source of the warning.

Fighters were scrambling in their retreat and she felt the despair suffusing them at the sight of yet another overpowered Corrupted foe. 

That was also when she noticed the surge of hope and awe approaching her like an opposing wave crashing against the seawall only to engulf it as a little [Starlight Companion] shimmered into existence beside her, cheerfully sparkling in the dark crimson light of the blood moon.

The next moment, a glimmer of golden light encompassed her in a [Sun Shell] before becoming an invisible barrier against harm and even the darkness seemed to rise up in an [Embrace of Shadows] to blur her form and make her harder to strike.

Even the subtle surge of mana regeneration from the [Astral Oasis] blanketing the area helped raise her spirits further as she saw a shadowy woman falling through the air towards the yet. She couldn't help the smile from spreading on her face as her most reckless friend attached herself to the monster. The same kind she remembered the Wayfarer bemoaning about being the worst match-up before.

Saiya wasn’t surprised by the giant explosion of Phoenix's [Supernova] that followed the impact but she was surprised by the strong hand that touched her shoulder before quickly releasing it as she turned a startled gaze on the gemite who smiled and said, “Miss us?”

Three tails, two arms, and one foot managed to wrap themselves around the Defender before she even processed what she was doing as she almost hugged her friend to death.

“Lady Saiya,” Dazien choked out, “I’m not quite Sapphire yet. Please don’t suffocate or break me.”

“No more splitting up,” she growled as she sobbed, “I veto all future party splitting!”

“Well, we best go retrieve our Supporter then before a monster breathes too heavily on her…”

“Oh, spawn of a–”

Rayna was able to beat the others in getting to Phoenix and helping her escape to the safety of the healer’s side. Despite enjoying getting to cut loose on the plentiful supply of monsters, she was aware enough to realize that they weren’t winning.

Her team’s arrival was a signal to the others to not give up but it was the presence of Everin Starlark, the newest Avatar of the Scholar, that actually helped boost the line long enough to disengage and retreat further safely.

The call for a full retreat went out shortly after that, however. Director Agatha Trayvious called all Adventurers and allies back to the safety of the walls to lean on their defenses while they regrouped, recuperated, and prepared for the next phase of this war.

Phoenix was relegated to help portal people back to the city while Dazien acted as bodyguard with Saiya healing people on their way through. Uriel stayed nearby the others as he helped keep the area clear but Rayna had gone delivery mode; using her boosted Agility to help get stragglers through the dang portal.

It wasn’t her favorite part of the job –much preferring to punch things– but it still felt good to help people get to safety and see the look of relief on her sister’s face. She knew how tough it was for Saiya to deal with everyone else’s emotional baggage, and if there was a way she could lessen that burden she’d see it done as best she could.

It was during one of these “rescue runs”, as she liked to call them, when she felt a familiar aura enter the proximity of her own that she had kept stretched as far as possible while fighting.

Passive Ability: Reverberate

Type: Aura (elemental, magical, gem, song)

Current Caste: Sapphire 1 

Crystal Effect: Allies within the aura deal increased damage with Gem and Song abilities.

Sapphire Effect: Enemies within the aura have decreased Gem and Song resistance. Gem and Song abilities that inflict damage also inflict a small amount of additional damage of the other type.

Her eyes snapped to see the woman who liked to tease her dreams lately. The bold, yet extremely soft, dryad was currently trying to use a small swarm of flaywing summons to distract a Sapphire Caste dire rabearus, the three heads chomping at the metallic birds, and helping some of the others escape.

Rayna didn’t let other thoughts distract her from the singular goal of destroying the stupid monster threatening Mohala. Unfortunately, her [Beyond the Boundary] was still on cooldown, but [Blink Step] helped her close the distance to the monster, teleporting her directly behind it, and her [Sonorous Stomp] knocked the enemy back, with a triplicate wave of sound rippling out from where she crashed her foot.

Class Ability: Sonorous Stomp

Type: Special Attack (magical, song)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (26%)

Crystal Effect: Stomp the ground causing a shockwave in a radial burst inflicting moderate Song damage and knocking back enemies.

Sapphire Effect: Generates an additional two pulses per Caste of the initial burst and inflicts [Disoriented].

• Disoriented (bane, magical, song): Decreased Agility and Mind and direction-sensing abilities are interrupted for a moderate duration.

Then she proceeded to wail on the large beast like a drummer gone rogue on a wild solo, with her [Percussion Strike], [Stepping Tune], and [Gem Encrusted] weapons covering her fists and tails in gem-like scales with spikes adorning each.

These helped to ramp up her damage until she triggered the [Impetus] from her [Swift Encore] in conjunction with her [Shatter] execute to make the monster practically explode from the overwhelming onslaught, the burst of damage rippling through its entire body from the impact point, and ending her sudden song of brutality with the crash of a gong.

The next thought the bard had was to make sure the summoner was safe. Returning to the other woman’s side, she wanted to say something reassuring and witty –maybe even charming– but what came out was, “Why aren’t you back in Tulimeir?! Where’s Po?”

Mohala gave a sad smile as she explained, “Her dad claimed ‘Heir’s Privilege’. Which, you know, makes sense cause they don’t really have another heir after Po since Simmon… Well, they’re also a smaller House so it was just the survival choice for them, but her dads are both still helping out here somewhere. I’m not a noble, though, and kinda got reassigned to help some other parties on the frontline.”

“Well, we’re getting you back to the wall now,” Rayna growled, taking the dryad’s petal-soft hand in her own furry one and practically dragging the woman towards the rest of King’s Dream.

“Wait, the others are–”

“Retreating too,” the bard interrupted, “I’m not gonna risk you falling like your other party members. You can’t ask me to risk that.”

“Why not?” the sweet voice said softly and the voxen stopped walking to turn and look back at the blue woman whose cheeks were tinged purple at the moment.

Rayna clenched her jaw, not wanting to get all into her feelings –that was Saiya’s area of expertise, not hers– but she managed to say, “I’ve seen too many people die already and we’re not winning right now. I might be more willing to take risks –well, aside from Phoenix– but I’m not suicidal or completely reckless. I’m not a Defender and I don’t want to fail to protect you. So, I’m getting you to the people I trust to do that for me.”

“Careful, Rayna,” the dryad said with that slight tease in her voice, “You were close to actually admitting you care about me.”

“I do,” she admitted, “I like you a lot, Mohala, and I want both of us to live long enough to see how far we can go.”

The summoner’s smile became softer, sweeter, and Rayna thought she might melt on the spot as the woman wrapped her in a hug and whispered, “It’s a date then. After this battle. After the funerals to come. Then maybe we can try to get some happiness for ourselves?”

“I admit, I’ll be glad when the grieving is over,” the bard said as she returned the hug, stealing the moment to hold her newest hope for something special she could call her own.

“I don’t think it’s really ever over,” Mohala said sadly.

“No, but we learn to not let it stop us,” she replied, then began pulling the dryad towards the portal and safety, “That’s why we keep fighting while we grieve; for the future we hope to build from the loss.”

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