4 - Be Better (Patreon)

“Kara?” Phoenix repeated in surprise before hesitantly asking, “Your last name wouldn’t happen to be Zor-El or Danvers, would it?”

“What? No, my family name is Fairweather. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Phoenix replied quickly. 

The blonde gave her a curious look then a request that felt more like a command, “Well, you hold tight right here in the city. Safe and sound until I take care of the Soul Reapers out there. Then we can get to know each other a bit more after, yeah?”

The Wayfarer wanted to ask more questions now but understood that Kara was right and they needed to put the city at ease and end the current threat. She gave a nod of acquiescence and replied a bit more formally as she gave a respectful bow, “Of course, Paladin Fairweather. I would be grateful for your help in saving the city my, um, father risked his life to protect along with many other honorable people who died with the same goal.”

For the first time, the woman’s smile seemed to slip as she gave a solemn dip of her head in understanding before leaping high into the air and flying east over the city walls. 

After Kara vanished as quickly as she had arrived, everyone’s gaze turned back to the redhead standing next to the AOA Director who was giving her a pointed look as Agatha clarified, “So that was the aid Champion offered you?”

Phoenix grimaced and said bitterly, “It was not without cost.”

The next thing everyone heard was the sound of an explosion that shook the very ground they stood on. The director and duke quickly led the group over onto the eastern wall, Phoenix shortcutting most of her party by opening a portal directly to the location she could see, and they got a look as the closest Emerald Caste ship seemingly cracked in half with a chunk of the middle portion replaced by an inferno of white-hot flames with a plume of smoke rising into the air.

It was less than a kilometer away now but had completely halted its momentum after the intervention of the Obsidian Caster who was now systematically annihilating anything that moved. They couldn’t exactly see what Kara was doing but the rippling tide of monsters internally combusting into flames and ash at least gave them the means to track her location as the louder and brighter explosions marked her countdown of destroying the ships that had been creating more enemies.

Now that she could see it, Phoenix was horrified to witness what looked like the blinding flash of a nuclear blast going off –that she had no problem looking at with her [Moonlit Eyes]– as the second ship met the Obsidian Paladin, the tell-tale mushroom cloud of fire and ash reaching toward the sky. The explosion was shortly followed by the rush of wind, snow, and ash being kicked up by the concussive force spreading like a tidal wave to engulf the tundra and crash upon the walls they stood upon, now gripping the sides to keep from getting knocked back off of it.

Phoenix recalled how she had once worried about introducing the idea of nukes into the world, afraid of the devastation they could cause, only to realize this world really did have its own magical version already; and one of them was named Kara.

The Wayfarer then found herself wondering if the enemies that had caused the city so much loss, the forces that had almost claimed Paul’s life and potentially cost him decades of time, were barely a warm-up fight for the Obsidian Caster. 

At the comparison, she could feel the heat in her chest rise and anger began to creep into her aura until Dazien placed a hand on her shoulder, distracting her from the trail of dark thoughts her mind had started to wander in.

The gemite muttered quietly into her ear, “I know it’s difficult, and believe me when I say I understand, but you need to control your emotional bleed a bit more. Even I could sense that and you know my skill in aura reading is barely up to the average.”

She clenched her teeth as she tried to reign in her rage and grief, retracting her aura as much as she could. The Astromancer aimed for the completely absent feeling her new champion had accomplished and knew she was failing miserably at completely hiding her aura.

Saiya was already on her other side and held her hand with one paw while she rubbed Phoenix’s back in soothing circles with the other and spoke words of comfort, “Oh, sweet flower… It’ll be okay. You saved so many lives today,” the Healer paused for a moment, brushing tears from both their eyes before adding, “Paul would be proud of you right now.”

She felt Uriel’s hand cover her other shoulder in another show of support as the cinderen asked Dazien in that smooth bass, “Can we return to the Wayland estate or are we still needed here?”

The party leader seemed to contemplate for a moment, staring off into the middle distance. They recognized the awkward silence and the look he would get when telepathically using his communication power before he confirmed a few minutes later with a nod, “We can go. Noble Patricia says many of the family will also be heading back. The director will call for us if they have need but she seems to think Phoenix provided exactly the solution they were hoping for.”

They all jumped slightly as Phoenix gave a sharp mocking laugh and said bitterly, “If only I had been able to a few days earlier.”

Phoenix had insisted that the others let her visit Paul alone for the first time since she had helped perform the ritual that had put him into an odd stasis that solely relied on her reaching Ruby Caste to let him wake up; like some sort of messed up version of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty that relied on slaughtering monsters for decades instead of a simple kiss.

She was half-tempted to try that, just to see if there was some sort of weird ancient magic that saw true love as optional consent. That was what made her decide against it, however. Magic might be weird a lot of the time, but it didn’t automatically make the ends justify the means. She was still debating that point regarding her own experimentation with risking Paul’s soul and trapping him in a state of limbo; not dead but not really living either.

And while she might not have been exactly religious or cautious about risking her own soul, Paul had often demonstrated that it was something he cared about. That was reason enough for her to worry about him being pissed at her if she ever managed to wake him back up. That maybe it had all been for her own selfish desire not to lose her mentor and father.

After waiting outside the door leading to the room she had been escorted to for far too long, it was Orebela’s voice in her mind that finally pushed her to open the door, “Wayland is not going to yell at Little Wayland for visiting.”

The Wayfarer entered and gave the android-looking Familiar a sad smile as she asked, “Is it masochistic of me to wish that he would?”

“This One does not think so,” the monotone voice responded from beside Paul’s bed, “But This One will keep it secret so Little King does not tease Little Wayland.”

Phoenix snorted a laugh. She was still trying to get used to the Familiar’s lack of inflection that often made the jokes hard to notice but she had recognized fairly early that Orebela did have a sense of humor, especially in regards to Paul. “Thanks. That does sound like something Daze would do, if only to try to make me laugh.”

As she made her way across the room she realized it was the first time she had ever been inside this one. Which actually seemed a bit odd to her when she thought about how often the Paladin would visit her own room.

Paul’s bedroom was a lot of cream fabric, rich wood, and soft golden light. It was pristine and she wondered if the man ever actually spent time in here. The only sign of life at all was from a few plants, that she was fairly certain were kept alive by enchantments and servants, along with the not-quite-corpse currently lying in the bed.

He looked like he was merely sleeping. His much younger tan face rested peacefully with the mess of red locks providing a splash of color against the cream pillows and blankets.

Phoenix held back the urge to try shaking him awake as she stood beside his bed and only Orebela’s next words managed to keep her in check, “This One is grateful to Little Wayland for what you and the Rebel Fox did. This One did not want to part with Wayland yet.”

The Wayfarer proceeded to collapse into the plush chair beside the bed that she was sure had been placed there for exactly this reason and said with a heavy sigh, “I didn’t either. But are you really grateful to be stuck here with a comatose summoner for whoever knows how long?”

She gestured towards her still mentor, “It took him, what? half a century to get to Ruby?”

“Forty-eight years from when Wayland absorbed Aspects.”

“So almost half a century and that was with being an Adventurer and Paladin!”

“You can do it faster,” a raspy voice said from the room’s entrance and Phoenix turned her head to see Pualani standing in the doorway, “I have faith that you will be the fastest this family has ever had. I’d even wager you reach Ruby within a single decade, difficult but not completely unheard of.”

Phoenix couldn’t help her scoff, “I very much doubt that. It’s been months during a blood moon and I’m still Crystal. At my rate, I’ll be the last in my party to ascend and that’s including Uriel stunting his growth with that Silencer.”

“Yes, but now you have a lot more motivation to cultivate your abilities, don’t you?” the elder asked but she recognized it as rhetorical.

She almost wanted to ask the woman who seemed to know a lot of the family secrets if she was aware of her own and that the reason she kept falling so far behind was because she kept dying. How many people knew that particular secret of hers? How many divine servants were whispered them by the gods who obviously knew? Abyss, how many people simply witnessed it while she was doing the ritual to save Paul?

Pualani sat in a chair that Orebela had moved over next to her for the other woman to sit in as the elderly voice said, “That is a very serious expression for such a happy occasion.”

The Wayfarer stared at her incredulously for a long moment before gesturing toward Paul and asking angrily, “How can you be happy about this?!”

“Because he’s lying on a bed instead of a pyre,” the runeforged said with a gentle smile, which caught Phoenix off guard by the blunt tone the woman spoke in, “Because what’s a mere decade to a man who can live for a millennium? Because the city he fought so hard to protect –the woman he fought so hard to make proud– is now safe and further protected by an Obsidian Paladin of the Champion. Because for all the lives that had been lost across this tragic world since this cursed blood moon started, my family has been one of the few blessed with amazing new scions.”

Phoenix fell silent.

Taking the time to really think through everything that had happened and what now lay before her. Pualani was right. They had won, despite losses. Her family, while faced with its own challenges, were all alive and could work towards a solution. Despite all the tragedy around them, they had been blessed with life and hope.

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and rested her face in her palms for a moment before looking up at her dad.

“Do you really think I can do it?” she asked the other women, never looking away from Paul’s sleeping form, “Reach Ruby in just ten years?”

“It’ll take a lot of hard work but from what I’ve seen, heard, and read, that doesn’t sound like it will be a problem for you.”

“Can I… do you think I can become like him?” she asked nervously, nodding towards Paul, “You think I can be a hero like he ended up being?”

A tiny hand rested atop her head and she glanced up to look at the Familiar seemingly made from liquid gold as Orebela said in her mind, “Wayland did not want Little Wayland to become like him; He knew you would be better.”

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