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The following morning, Saiya cured Rayna and her hangovers first. Dousing all of them in a deluge of Magical Water that cleansed them both inside and out. Phoenix decided that, despite the odd feeling of being splashed without getting wet, she much preferred this method of cleaning to the shudder-inducing mental image that came with using a golden shower potion; not to mention that it was much cheaper.

Ability: Cleansing Stream
Type: Spell (channel, elemental, water)
Cost: Low mana per second.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 8 (62%)
Crystal Effect: Channel a stream of water that thoroughly cleans any external impurities from a single target and grants an instance of [Flowing Waters] if the target is an ally.
- Flowing Waters (boon, cleanse, elemental, water, stacking): Slowly cleanses Elemental Banes for a short duration.

Phoenix debated about trying to make the party detour back to the city to inform Paul that Murinah had tried to replace her but she didn’t want to try explaining the situation to the others or make them worried about something they couldn’t really change. She’d make sure that when their mission was over she would take the group straight to her mentor’s home to inform him in private.

It would be another two weeks at least until they reached the last fortress city, depending on how many monsters they ran into along the way. Phoenix had been slightly frustrated with her [Guide Book] recently as it seemed to be giving her quests less and less often and she wondered if there was something wrong with it or perhaps it was just part of its nature.

If it was supposed to be guiding her, was it trying to tell her that she didn’t need to fight monsters anymore or was she just so accustomed to fighting monsters now that she didn’t need the book to nudge her that direction anymore? She’d have to ponder more on that after seeing what it did give her for quests in the future.

King's Dream often found themselves walking in different pairings and talking about random topics and interests between fights. This morning Rayna was talking about avals again with Uriel and Saiya, the particular topic being the rare condition she talked about last night showing up in creatures that could alter their own biology, and she didn’t really want to get into the discussion after getting borderline emotional while confessing her insecurities.

She found herself walking ahead of the trio next to Dazien in silence for a while, trying to not focus on the conversation behind them and the tanned warrior seemed to realize this as he said, “I’m sorry about the turn the conversation took last night. It was meant to be a fun evening and we brought up some painful memories, it sounded like.”

He gave her a sideways glance and said softly, “I am glad you told us, however. It helps us understand you better and gain a new perspective.”

“New perspective?” she asked absently.

“Of course. Our worlds are so different, we take a lot of things for granted that you had to struggle with daily. I’m sure there are some things, like those video games and guitar you mentioned, that we are missing out on but it sounds like you got the short end of the stick.”

She gave a short unamused laugh, “That’s an understatement. Even by my world’s standards, I was born into a pretty crappy situation.”

“Then this world really is like a whole new life for you?” She gave him a questioning look and he expounded, “No sickness to keep you from exploring, no soul-body dysphoria to chain your heart in fear, nothing left behind to make you want to go back. New life, new Adventurers, and best of all, new friends,” he gave her his most charming smile and she couldn’t help but return it.

“That’s a nice way of looking at it,” she hesitated as she watched her party leader and prodded hesitantly, “So, you and Uriel?”

His grin turned wicked and his eyes got a mischievous sparkle, “Interested?”

“No! I mean, um, I j-just, well…” she flushed with embarrassment, made even more obvious with her softly glowing skin, but was unsure on how to explain her curiosity.

Instead of saving her from floundering, the gemite simply laughed softly and said, “Well, when you figure out why you want to know, then come ask me again.”

She decided to heed his words and changed her question, still feeling a bit awkward, “Is what Rayna said last night, about the after-moon parties that is, really how it’s like?”

Dazien shrugged slightly, “I’m not sure. I was only around four at the time but if the stories are to be believed then it is much wilder than she described,” he said with a chuckle. “The liquor flows and the clothes vanish as a feast of relief and indulgence commences in the weeks following.”

Her face scrunched as she asked, “Why? So many lives have been lost and there will be so much reconstruction needing to be done.”

“That’s exactly why. There will be plenty of time to grieve and rebuild. What the people need at the end of all these dark times is a reminder of what we were fighting for in the first place. To celebrate the lives that remain and for some,” he gave her another wicked smirk, “Begin the repopulation effort.”

She blushed again and looked away as he chuckled at her reaction and patted her shoulder, “Don’t worry, Phoenix. Rayna might want to try and help you meet some new people but none of us will pressure you into doing something like that if you’re not comfortable with it. Like I told Rayna last night; how close someone gets to another is between them and is nobody else’s business. Feel free to share, or not. Whatever you’re comfortable with sharing.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at him, “And you’re not comfortable with sharing details about your relationship with Uriel?”

“It takes both parties to be comfortable with how much is shared outside of the relationship,” he explained, becoming more serious as he spoke, “It would be both dishonorable and disrespectful of me to share something intimate that I shared with any person if they were uncomfortable with that knowledge being known.”

The Wayfarer nodded, “I guess that makes sense. It’s like my own secrets,” she observed, touching the spot on her chest where they both knew her Soul Mark lay, “I think the fact that you won’t tell me actually makes me trust you more.”

He grinned, “Like I said, give me a compelling reason and I might let you in on some of the details; after talking with Uriel of course,” then teased, “If there’s even anything to tell.”

Phoenix gave an annoyed huff and Dazien laughed, “You know you seem like Lord Wayland when you do that? I think he’s rubbing off on you.”

She rolled her eyes at him then asked, “Does that mean I should beat you into the road like he would too?”

“Is that a challenge?” the warrior retorted with a grin.

Phoenix took a few steps ahead of him in the road and turned to face him, conjuring her [Caustic Floe] as she asked in a mock taunt, “Think you can take a student of the Weapon Wielding Warrior?”

He laughed again and pointed to the sword she was holding as he continued walking forward and she continued to step backwards, keeping their distance, “You know that thing is poisonous right?”

She gave her best impression of his own impish grin, “Scared of getting cut a lot?”

The warrior’s smile turned predatory at the challenge, “Oh, you're just asking to need Lady Saiya to heal you now,” he warned and he conjured his own sword.

Passive Ability: Armory
Type: Utility (construct, magical, dimension)
Current Caste: Crystal 4
Crystal Effect: Construct a doorway to a personal dimensional storage space that contains the sword [Excalibur]. You can don or doff armor and weapons directly from this space without needing to construct the doorway.
- Excalibur (construct, divine, radiant): Attacks made with Excalibur can affect incorporeal targets and inflict an instance of [Ailing].
- Ailing (bane, divine, radiant, stacking): Decreased health and stamina regeneration.

The redhead chuckled, glad for the distraction of battle, “Bring it, kid,” she taunted, using the nickname that Paul always did. She raised her sword into a guard position then she felt the ground slip beneath her and she tripped, falling backwards.

“Phoenix!” She heard the Defender call out and realized she was falling further than where the road should have caught her. The Wayfarer was about to be swallowed by the pit that had appeared when she felt a hand grasp the wrist of her unarmed hand and she reactively clutched on to it in order to halt her descent.

As she hung there in the air with Dazien holding her arm, she heard a commotion behind him and her book chose that particular moment to appear for her.

New Quest: Road Ruffians
You have been ambushed!
Objective: Help defeat the bandits.
Reward: Rare Crystal Caste accessory.

She groaned in annoyance at the book, despite her happiness at the new quest, then used her gravity ability to push herself away from the floor of the pit as Dazien stood to help their other teammates meet the new threat that had attacked them.

They were surrounded by enemies and she felt twin voxen auras wash over them, which in turn reminded Phoenix to expand her own, causing her suite of benefits to appear around them all. Dazien stood in front of her and conjured his shield and armor from his own dimensional storage in a shimmer of golden glitter.

With her aura being projected, she could tell that only three of the bandits were Crystal Casters but that the others all had a bit more magic than the average Mundane. Half-Casters she remembered Miles calling them; perhaps only having one or two aspects unlocked.

The Supporter wasn’t sure what the ruffians wanted or how she and her companions should react as a party of Adventurers. She had never fought other people like this before and wasn’t sure what they were expected to do. Did they try to negotiate? Take them into custody? They were kinda like a police force in this world, right? Wait, no, that was the city guards. She knew there was a legal system, so they were supposed to bring them in… right?

The bandits didn’t give her party a chance to try talking as they attacked en masse and Phoenix found herself shocked by the sudden clash of weapons. She only felt confusion as her teammates engaged, punching, stabbing, slashing and casting. They were supposed to be helping people… not fighting them… that’s what Adventurers were for, right?

Even the little furball, Snowbelle, was a flurry of feathers and sharp teeth. The sweet belly-rub-loving creature pelted enemies with spheres of water that seemed tainted with acid as it melted through their makeshift armor. The Seagull would then deal rending blows with teeth to tendons, bringing bandits to their knees or clutching limp arms.

She felt someone grab her arm and turn her to look at them. Saiya had made her way over and was looking at Phoenix with worry as she said, “Phoenix! Snap out of it, you need to fight!”

The Wayfarer felt her shock subside slightly but all she could respond with was, “I- I can’t. This isn’t right! I don’t kill people!”

Dazien heard her over his shoulder as he ran his sword through a man that had been barreling towards the two women and he growled before shouting at the party Mage, “Uriel! Huddle up!”

Both Rayna and Uriel made their way over to the others, surrounding Phoenix and Saiya, and the cinderen calmly replied back, “I’ll need the time. I can buy some but then you know you need to keep them off me.”

He was close enough to all of them this time that Phoenix could actually feel his aura now as it slowly sliced into them causing small papercut like slashes all over their skin and armor. Registering his words of needing time, Phoenix cast her [Lunar Dream] to conjure distracting birds as Saiya cast her own [Boon of the Balanced] on all of them. Uriel then stomped a foot into the ground.

Class Ability: Scorch the Shaken Earth
Type: Special Attack (elemental, earth, fire)
Cost: High mana.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Current Caste: Crystal 5 (2%)
Crystal Effect: Slam the ground to trigger a seismic attack inflicting Earth damage, rippling out in a circle around you, scorching the area with fire, and knocking back enemies in its path. Anyone within the area gains [Burning].
- Burning (bane, elemental, fire): Inflicts ongoing Fire damage.

The bandits were all stumbling now as the attack spread outwards from the grouped up Adventurers, flaming shards of cracked stone jutting out like stalagmites protruding outwards from the ground as it passed. Then Uriel began to cast his next spell that Phoenix hadn’t seen before, "Let the sky wail. Let the world tremble. Let my enemy cower. For I am the eye of the storm."

Class Ability: Eye of the Storm
Type: Spell (elemental, earth, fire, water, wind)
Cost: Severe mana.
Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Current Caste: Crystal 4 (5%)
Crystal Effect: Create a violent storm centered around you. Targets in the storm take a low amount of ongoing Earth, Fire, Water and Wind damage and periodically gain an instance of [Scorched] and [Chilled].
- Scorched (bane, elemental, fire, stacking): Decreased Fire resistance.
- Chilled (bane, elemental, ice, stacking): Decreased Agility.

Uriel grit his teeth as the mana channeled through him and into the spell causing a wild storm to whip up around the party with only their immediate surroundings remaining still as chaos erupted around them and the thugs started yelling in panic and anger.

The Mage downed a mana potion from his belt pouch then targeted one of the Crystal Casters and cast yet another spell that would slowly but inevitably take out the enemies, “Be the bearer of the all consuming plague.

Class Ability: Plague Bearer
Type: Spell (magical, death)
Cost: Moderate mana.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Current Caste: Crystal 5 (34%)
Crystal Effect: Inflict a target enemy with low Death damage and an instance of [Plagued].
- Plagued (bane, magical, death, stacking): Inflicts ongoing Death damage and slowly spreads instances of [Plagued] to nearby enemies.

The cinderen finally turned to the heavily wounded bandit leader that had been shouting orders and was making their way against the storm towards him and raised a hand as he chanted, “Your days have come to an end.

Class Ability: End of Days
Type: Execute (spell, divine, void)
Cost: High mana.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Current Caste: Crystal 5 (86%)
Crystal Effect: Surround the target in the void, suppressing all physical senses and inflicting ongoing low Void damage for a short duration. Damage scales based on the amount of health missing from the target.

It was the same spell she had seen annihilate the yeti during their Adventurer trials and a few times since then. As the void of darkness consumed the woman, the screams rang out through the cacophony of the storm before halting as the enemy vanished from existence and the spell ended.

Quest: Road Ruffians
Objective complete: Helped defeat the bandits.
[Drifter’s Umbrella] has been added to your collection.
Quest completed.
10 [Crystal Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

Uriel dropped to his knees from the overuse of mana and Dazien was by his side a breath later, “Phoenix, your Familiar regen,” he shouted at her over his shoulder while kneeling next to the Mage with a comforting hand on his back as their leader whispered softly into the cinderen’s ear who simply nodded a few times in response.

Phoenix triggered the release of her stored up [Starlight Qi] and, as they all began glowing softly, she noticed the Mage rubbing one of the golden studs on one of his ears as though trying to comfort himself and she remembered what Paul had mentioned about them helping to calm the wearer. As she looked around at the mess of bodies that were now strewn about, she could understand why he might want them. She felt her nausea rise at the sight of all the blood… the blood that belonged to people who didn’t turn into ash when her aura looted them; their meager belongings now sitting in her collection.

She started having trouble breathing and Saiya’s hands gently grasped her cheeks to make her turn to look at the Healer, “Sweet flower, eyes on me. Just breathe.” Phoenix felt Saiya’s aura surrounding her, its tranquil effects slowly working to make all of them calm down.

Rayna wasn’t happy though, as the bard asked incredulously, “What was that, Phoenix? You totally froze!”

“I-I’m sorry,” the Wayfarer began, stumbling over her words, “I-I just… I couldn’t-”

“You’ve been fighting monsters for months now!” the Striker began shouting.

Phoenix scrunched her face as she angrily retorted, “But these were people!”

“No,” Dazien said firmly as he stood and helped Uriel to his feet, before turning to stare at her and stating firmly, “They were monsters preying on the people they saw as weaker than them.”

“If someone attacks you, Phoenix, you fight back! You don’t just roll over and let them hurt you and the people you care about. You put them down. No hesitation. No regrets. No remorse,” the Shatter Bard said with determination.

“That sounds cruel and heartless. That’s not someone I want to become,” the Wayfarer argued. She shouldn’t have to become a remorseless murderer to be an Adventurer. She didn’t want to be like Murinah, able to kill someone with a smile on her face.

“Monsters are not deserving of remorse!” Rayna shot back, obviously still on edge from the fight despite her sister’s aura attempting to calm them all, “I’m not saying go on a killing spree to get whatever you want! If you find yourself in a position where you need to kill, that means the person in front of you is not deserving of remorse, otherwise you wouldn’t need to kill them.”

Before the redhead could even attempt to argue, Saiya interrupted with gentle concern, “Surely you’ve seen people kill other people before? Lord Wayland told us he cleared out a Reality Rift shortly after meeting you.”

“What? No. There weren’t any people there, just these monsters called Caged and Reapers,” Phoenix denied, trying to explain what happened, “I didn’t get a close look at the whole group but I fought one of the Caged and it was definitely a monster.”

The rest of her party all exchanged looks with one another as if searching for what to say when Dazien stepped closer to her and said carefully while watching her reaction, “Phoenix… Soul Reapers are people. Sentient and intelligent people from other realities that have come to destroy our world.”

She blinked at him in confusion, “What? No. I mean… Paul said they were monsters.”

Dazien gave her a sad smile and said softly, “... They were. Just like these bandits.”


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