35 - Like an Accident (Patreon)

Dazien remained silent in the small kitchen area as he idly made spiced tea for his partner who was currently sitting near the small hearth of the single room apartment they shared. The only furnishings they bothered getting included the armchair and loveseat near the fireplace, with a small table between the two seats, and the single two-person bed pushed in the far corner against the tinted one-way glass.

They had spent about an hour dealing with the form the AOA requested from them about the events of that morning, such as people involved or if any civilians were injured, and picking up payment for the standing emergency mission that the city had in place to incentivise and thank Adventurers that respond to internal breaches.

Once that was done, both of them grabbed a meal at the cafe they had originally left from in their haste, thanking the host for understanding their sudden departure and paying for their previous items. They managed to do some training after lunch but both of them found themselves tired and distracted as they went through their forms and meditation.

It was nearing sundown when the pair had made their way back home as they were both wanting to recover more from the mental exhaustion of the near death experience with both the wights and wrathful lord.

The sun was starting to set, as Dazien literally waited for water to boil, and he turned to lean against the counter to watch his companion. He finally broke the silence by asking the man cautiously, “So… what are we going to do about Lord Wayland?”

Uriel sent him a dubious glance and said, “You’re the one interested in getting his Protégé to join our team…”

“Don’t give me that. You seemed to be enjoying her company as well this morning and we knew that her Mentor would be a hurdle in our attempts but he seemed particularly… aggressive towards you,” the warrior pointed out, “I know you mentioned having history with him but you had described Paladin Wayland as being on your side of things…” he hesitated, unsure if he should poke old wounds, “That didn’t seem to be the case today.”

The Mage shrugged indifferently and seemed to shrink in on himself, “It’s been eight years. Maybe he changed his mind.”

“Perhaps if we could just talk to him in a less combative setting. Explain things to him-”

“He’s the Blade of Pure Wrath, Daze,” Uriel interjected, “Not the Saint of Patient Listening.”

The gemite rolled his eyes and moved to walk over to his companion when the kettle whistled, interrupting his response as he turned back to it and finished pouring it into their individual mugs. As he handed the cinderen the relaxing brew, he sat on the loveseat near the chair and asked carefully, “Perhaps, we stick to our original plan then and have Phoenix talk to him on our behalf? We can just… stay clear of crossing paths?”

Uriel took a drink and shook his head, “It’s not going to work, Daze. You saw how he was with her; how he was ready to kill me for her.”

They both shuddered at the thought and the Defender tried to reassure his best friend, “I don’t think he would have gone that far. He was probably just-”

His words were cut off by a loud knock at the door and they almost spilled the tea in their hands at the unexpected visitor. They weren’t exactly in the best part of the city, so Dazien carefully and silently set his mug down before slowly making his way to the door, and was about to press the rune on the door that would turn it into a one-way window when a rough voice said, “Open up, kid. We need to talk.”

They both froze at that voice.

“Either you open it, Smithson, or I do,” said Lord Wayland from the other side of the entrance and Dazien hurried to comply before he was left having to pay for a new door.

Paul didn’t ask as he walked past the gemite and into the single room where Uriel still sat frozen to his seat in a mixture of fear and resignation that Dazien had never seen before. The ex-paladin seemed to surprise the mage by sitting on the far side of the loveseat instead of just smiting him where he sat.

Dazien looked between the two men but as neither seemed to want to speak first, he prompted the conversation with, “Lord Wayland, I would like to apologize once more for not protecting your Protégé proper-”

“She’s not yours to protect,” the Emerald Caster interrupted bluntly.

“Right,” he said promptly, moving towards Uriel and leaning against the arm of the cinderen’s chair in order to offer a slight buffer between his partner and the intimidating lord in their sitting room, “I would like to change that, however,” he pressed, ignoring Uriel’s attention snapping up to bore into him, “We are young, like Phoenix, but we have worked hard to get where we are, also much like she has, I imagine.”

“I already know how hard you’ve worked, Smithson,” the former paladin interrupted again and that was when Dazien registered that the lord had called him by his family name, which he had never given to the man.

He remained silent as the Emerald Caster who shouldn’t have known anything about him at all began detailing his life as though listing off mission highlights, “Orphaned at the age of four to be raised at the Temple of the Parent. Met this one,” he gestured towards Uriel and continued, “At the age of thirteen when he joined the temple as well.

“Began training with Warrior’s oversight at the age of fifteen. Remained unadopted until aging out of the program and gaining the Warrior King class at the age of seventeen from inherited Aspects left by your parents. Became an Adventurer at the age of nineteen and officially completed your first mission today,” he finished, never breaking his golden gaze from the gemite’s own amethyst. Then asked at Dazien’s rare moment of speechlessness, “Did I miss anything?”

The young warrior seemed to shake himself out of his stupor as he cleared his throat and gave a weak smirk, “You forgot that time I convinced another Adventurer to take us out on the tundra to hunt monsters to better prepare for the trials.”

The lord raised a brow and Dazien cleared his throat once more before nodding at the ground and correcting his response, “Yes, Lord Wayland, that’s my life summed up.”

Then he swallowed his fear and looked up again to ask, “Are you going to tell us what everyone else does and say that we’re under qualified and to stay away from Phoenix?”

Instead of answering the question, the veteran Adventurer asked one of his own, “What do you plan to do with your party?”

Dazien felt like his heart missed a beat before the words registered and he fought to keep the grin off his face as he said, “I plan to lead it. That’s what my powerset is all about really. I’m officially a Forward Defender with a leadership support specialization, but I’m sure you already knew that,” he pointed out before continuing, “I already have Uriel as Backline Mage with an area Bane specialization, which you also knew, and I believe Phoenix would be a great addition as a versatile Supporter that can fill any role we might need more of in any given situation.

“I’m still looking for a suitable Healer and Striker, but it’s been…” he paused and glanced at Uriel who was still staring intently at him as though the lord wouldn’t pay the mage any mind by not turning his own on the paladin.

“Difficult,” Dazien settled on saying before continuing with a soft smile towards Paul, “Not many people are willing to give me or him a chance like you did all those years ago.”

The lord gazed towards the cinderen then, who seemed to wilt even more, and Dazien continued to try and draw the attention away, “You were the one to recommend the chains. To give him a chance at a normal life. Now, I’m asking that you give him the chance to be an Adventurer like yourself. A chance to save others, like you did for him.”

Silence fell in the room as the pair of Crystal Casters endured the judgmental gaze of the Blade of Pure Wrath.

When the lord finally responded, he merely asked, “You like to talk a lot, don’t you?”

Dazien found himself grinning back, despite the subtle slight as he responded, “Nobody can argue that I didn’t try to communicate my thoughts properly,” then gestured a thumb towards Uriel as he added lightly, “Plus, I need to talk enough for the both of us.”

The older man gave an annoyed huff and muttered, “I bet Pati would love to have you on board with that silver tongue. Is that how you convinced the AOA to allow that amendment for Karislian to remove his Silencers?”

“It took us almost two years to get them to finally agree on the terms of that special dispensation,” the gemite said dryly, then asked hopefully, “Does that mean you’ll give us a chance too?”

The former paladin sighed and stood as he said, “I’ll leave the decision to Phoenix.”

Dazien almost jumped for joy at the proclamation but his celebration was postponed by the Emerald aura that suddenly held both of the Crystals’ in a vice grip as he declared coldly, “If you hurt her, though, and I don’t mean by not defending her in combat like today, I mean if either of you lay a finger on her in aggression, you will no longer find yourselves among the living and, be assured, it will look like an accident.”

Then the man was gone and Dazien and Uriel could suddenly breathe again as the door slowly shut automatically with the passing of the vengeful paladin.

Phoenix awoke to the familiar sight of her guide book floating above her with a new message.

Quest: Call to Arms: Temple Threat

Objective complete: Helped defeat the Wailing Wights.

[Bolts of Shadeweave] have been added to your collection.

Quest completed.

10 [Crystal Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

“It shouldn’t count if I didn’t defeat them,” Phoenix croaked pitifully at the book, angry at herself for once again falling in battle.

“You helped defeat every one of them,” Paul’s voice said firmly from beside her and she turned to look at him. He was sitting with his legs crossed in a plush chair, wearing his casual clothes, and seemed to have paused writing in a leatherbound book to watch her intently, “From the reports I got, there would have been casualties if you hadn’t been there.”

“Would have been? Does that mean there weren’t any?” she asked, slowly pushing herself into a seated position recognizing that she had been moved to her own bedroom at some point.

“Correct,” Paul answered, closing his book and slipping it into the pouch at his side, “You performed admirably, but you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

He partially stood, just enough to sit next to her on the edge of the bed, and gestured to her glowing guide book, asking softly, “Will you tell me your side of the story?” then his expression hardened slightly, “Starting with those two I found over your savaged body?”

The Astromancer winced but nodded and moved the book in front of him going over the events of her day. When she finished her story up to the point she blacked out, she asked, “Do you know what happened after that?”

“I do,” he answered but didn’t elaborate. She pouted at his silence and he gave a sigh, “I was informed of the breach shortly after it had spawned. I arrived soon after you fell, I believe. That’s when I met your two… companions,” he said the last word with a grumble.

“They didn’t force me to do anything I wouldn’t have done on my own, Paul,” she said quietly, “And knowing that my powers helped save lives, I wouldn’t have changed getting involved. This is why I decided to walk this path, it’s what you’ve been training me for.”

“I know,” he conceded, “I just don’t like how close things got.”

“You and I both know you won’t always be there to look after me. That’s why you’re training me, so that you won’t have to babysit all the time,” she said, pausing a bit then adding hesitantly, “It sounds like you didn’t like Dazien and Uriel…”

He scoffed and stated bluntly, “I was not impressed.”

“Really? Between Dazien’s knight persona and Uriel’s silent stoicism I thought combined they basically equate to the Crystal version of you.”

He rolled his eyes at her and she laughed, “I’m joking. Honestly though, we worked well together, I thought. I wasn’t sure I should try joining a team at all after getting such a random assortment of powers.”

She tugged at a lock of her auburn hair nervously, “Actually, I didn’t think any team would want me to join them because of the lack of focus. I was surprised that they were even interested in me.”

Paul gave another of his annoyed huffs as he said, “You’re an Aurabreaker. You could stand there doing nothing and be a benefit that any team would love to drag around.”

He fell silent for a moment as though not wanting to admit his next words, “You’re not just your auras though and they saw that. I’ll give that upstart king that much credit at least.”

She grinned slightly, “Maybe you do approve then.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he stated dryly.

The Wayfarer chuckled and they sat in silence together, just contemplating. Then Phoenix could feel his aura searching through hers, like he often did, as he asked, “Do you want to join them?”

She met his gaze and asked softly, “You think I’d lie about my feelings?”

“I think we all lie to ourselves sometimes,” he pointed out with a small shrug, “Maybe unknowingly, but I don’t want you feeling pressured into doing something you’re not comfortable with.”

“Well,” she began, “I think they made good points that our skills complement each other. I also told them that I would heed your advice on the matter. I think they’ve been honest about their intentions, though.”

Then she added as almost an afterthought, “Plus, they make me laugh.”

Paul’s expression softened and he withdrew his aura to a more unobtrusive level, “If you want to be on their team, I won’t stop you.”

She gave a short laugh, “Oh, I know. I told them as much. Like I said though, your opinion matters to me. If you think they’d be a terrible fit then I’ll decline.”

Paul shook his head, “You’ve been asleep for a while,” he confessed, “It’s almost morning and I spent the night already looking into them.”

“Of course you did,” she interjected and added teasingly, “You know, you’re starting to act more like an overprotective father than a combat mentor.”

The paladin gave another huff and continued, “Even if I hadn’t, I got a good look at their auras, if you could even call them that,” he grumbled, “I knew the talkative one spoke truthfully. They value you as a teammate, not a pawn or tool to improve their status.”

“So they pass the dad inspection?” she asked with a sly grin.

He rolled his eyes at her but nodded then held up a finger, “On one condition,” he waited for her full attention then stated firmly, “They join you in our training sessions.”

She laughed and nodded, “Great. I’ll let them know and we can try out a session in the morning, if you’re available?”

He nodded and stood, saying simply, “I’ll be sure to make time for it. Get some more rest until then,” before saying additional farewells and retreating for the night.

As she heard Paul close the front door, she pulled out the reward from the quest, having forgotten to show it to him during their brief conversation.

It was an odd looking thing and she agreed that ‘trinket’ was the only word she could come up with for it.

Item: Flame of Life

A trinket designed to inform others that the attuned Caster is still living.

Caste: Crystal, Cultivating.

Availability: Rare.

Type: Trinket, tracking.

Requirements: Crystal Caste.

Effects:

- Attuning to the item allows it to track the life status of the attuned.

- As the Attuned Caster cultivates their Caste, the trinket increases with it; allowing continuity of tracking.

The object looked like a glass orb about the size of a small plum that had what seemed like an attached metal stand on one side and a matching pointed decorative piece on the opposite side. Inside the orb she could make out a faintly glowing flame burning within it that was obviously magical.

She set it on the nightstand beside her bed and contemplated giving it to Paul. On the one hand, it might give away her secret if something happened to her on a mission. On the other hand, it might help reassure him that she was still alive whenever they were apart but she wasn’t sure that he worried that much about her. He did encourage her into monster fighting, after all.

The Wayfarer returned the trinket to her collection and put the item out of her mind until she came up with a better solution. Perhaps some actual restful sleep would help clear her mind on it.

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