28 - Retreat (Patreon)

Saiya stepped in front of Dazien before he reached Tanner who was still sitting stunned on his knees in the center of the campsite and placed both of her paws on the Defender’s armored chest, “Dazien, stop. It’s not like you think!”

The amethyst warrior’s angry gaze never left the runeforged as he retorted, “He left her! Abandoned her! I bet he took one look at the enemy and tore that scroll without a single ounce of remorse for leaving her to die!”

“That’s why I know you’re wrong!” she yelled back over him, which actually managed to get him to look at her. She never yelled but, between the waves of rage coming off the gemite and the roiling mixture of grief, surprise, and regret radiating off Tanner, she knew there was more to the story than what everyone else believed.

“She… Why would she do that?” Tanner asked them in utter confusion.

“Do what?” Dazien practically growled at the man, and Saiya was grateful she was Sapphire Caste and actually could hold him at bay.

“She made me rip the scroll,” he replied, looking at the halves of parchment he held, the magic that had once been in them now depleted. “She could have taken it from me… I didn’t think of it until she mentioned it. Why would she sacrifice herself for me after everything I did to her? Everything I accused her of?”

Saiya breathed a sigh of relief as she felt Dazien’s anger melt away and she found herself seeking his hand for comfort and could guess the next words her Defender spoke aloud because it was something that all of their party had already concluded, “Because she has a hero complex. She wouldn’t have been chosen by Hero otherwise.”

That was when Saiya fell to her knees to scoop up the runeforged in a hug, reinforced by all three tails, as his hate snapped and he began to weep; the weight of emotions no longer held at bay.

The Healer watched with a sad smile as Dazien turned away and kicked at the snow in his own frustration of not being able to lash out at the man and still missing his party member. She knew her leader struggled the most when things spiraled beyond his control but she had hope that he would get better about managing it. Paul had surprisingly seemed to be a good influence in this area and she was happy that the two men had seemed to find something to bond over.

Saiya glanced over at Rayna, who was pacing between them and the portal area. She would probably need to talk with her sister later about everything but the bard had always been resilient, never holding onto her negative emotions for long. Then she glanced over at her bigger concern, the Cataclysm Mage silently holding himself away from everyone else out of habit more than safety.

Uriel was on a whole different level of concern compared to the others, even Phoenix with her terrible sense of self-worth, but it wasn’t like she could just walk up to the cinderen and smack the secrets out of him like her sister might attempt. She was the responsible one, the calming presence, the Tranquil Healer that kept the group from completely falling apart.

When she realized that fact, it made Lord Wayland’s reasoning behind including the twin strangers with the trio much more obvious. She hadn’t been upset by that realization, however, if anything it made her feel even more essential and secure about her placement within the party; not just a Role slot to check off or a pocket healer to drag around.

“She’ll be here in a few minutes, Daze,” Saiya told him, “We should show her the trust she’s placed in us.”

The gemite seemed to relax slightly at her words and he didn’t need to say ‘thank you’ for her to notice the thread of gratitude directed towards her through her senses.

Another few minutes and she was proven correct as a portal appeared and the Wayfarer stumbled through and gave a nonsensical cheer to the relief of everyone. That was until their panic all spiked once more as a giant red machina followed the Caster through to land on the slight woman, blood spraying and staining the snow.

Rayna reacted first, using [Blink Step] to close the distance in an instant as she spun around to slam her tails against the monster. It was just enough to detach the mecha-cat from the downed Supporter before another cat, this one larger and green-colored, lunged through the portal as well, causing it to collapse and Rayna to go flying from the unexpected impact.

“To the Retreat!” her leader called out and she reacted, casting her long cooldown ability to give them a chance to breathe and formulate a plan, “As the toll of conflicts and stresses of life seek to cripple the body and mind, may the weary find rest in the solace of the tranquil retreat.”

Ability: Restful Retreat

Type: Spell (summon, magical, dimension, life)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 6 hours.

Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (Locked)

Crystal Effect: Summon nearby allies into a dimensional garden for a moderate duration. The inhabitants have greatly increased health regeneration and are periodically cleansed of Elemental Banes.

All nine Adventurers along with their remaining Familiars were instantly transported into the pocket dimension that appeared like a massive white lotus from the outside but inside it was like a tranquil zen garden and they all relaxed a bit. Both Rayna and Phoenix groaned as the healing energy washed through them, mending the savage puncture wounds.

The Wayfarer managed to open her eyes and obviously notice the worried looks of the team staring at her anxiously but gave them a lopsided grin, “I know I’m not much of an animal person, especially compared to Uriel, and that supposedly all cats are jerks but those particular cats act like I personally offended them somehow.”

“Maybe the Soul Reapers have some kind of grudge against Wayfarers,” Uriel speculated with a calm gaze on the redhead.

Saiya frowned slightly at the sensation the magic of the earrings had on the cinderen, suppressing the man’s emotions before they could get much stronger. She disliked the magical jewelry, not just because it often made it harder for her to sense how her teammate was doing, but because it suppressed every strong emotion the man even attempted to have. It felt… wrong to her.

“Aren’t they supposedly some advanced interdimensional civilization bent on destroying other planets?” Rayna asked with a skeptical look, “They looked pretty advanced to me in that weird armor. Why would they care about Wayfarers, let alone one in particular like those seemed to?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dazien redirected, “We have a pair of angry Sapphire Caste monsters waiting for us out there. We need to be prepared for when Lady Dewsong’s spell ends.”

“How long do we have?” Polissa asked, the cinderen woman’s concern centered on the runeforged man sitting beside her, rubbing his eyes and trying to calm himself. She was grateful that her aura was everywhere within this space and could provide everyone with its comfort.

“It lasts about five minutes or until I cancel it,” Saiya offered them, “Magic isn’t always an exact science.”

“Like those Sapphire monsters coming through Phoenix’s portal?” Dazien asked since they all thought that would have been impossible considering its level.

“Exactly like that,” the Healer replied, “Depending on the environment and the different magical makeup of each person or creature going through, it can potentially affect how much the portal can handle before it collapses.”

“While interesting, that doesn’t help us figure out what to do next. Can we wait inside here for as long as we can? Someone called for the other teams, right? They might be here soon enough,” Polissa said to the group.

Dazien frowned, a ripple of concern, doubt, and failure reaching her senses, as he said, “I let them know there was trouble and they’re all returning but I don’t know how far out they are. I failed to warn them about the enemies being on this side of the portal before ending up here.”

She watched the gemite carefully and confirmed, “And we can’t use the communication power in this dimensional space, can we?”

He shook his head, “No. I can try again once we’re out but I don’t think those cats will wait for me to have a nice chat.”

“Actually, they might,” Uriel said, surprising them as they all turned questioning eyes his way, “They’re fixated on Phoenix, right? She can have them chase her around while you call in backup and we can try damaging it.”

Phoenix chuckled but it was filled with disbelief, “You want me to fill Dazien’s Role now as the tank and kite them?” The Astromancer shook her head, “I’m not fast enough. I barely lasted a few minutes and it caught me in the end, remember?”

He gave her a shrug, “I can try and slow it down with [Frost Touched] but if you have a better plan…”

They all frowned and none voiced an alternative.

“I don’t like it,” Dazien stated, crossing his arms over his armored chest. The feeling of protectiveness was almost stifling to the empathic Healer and she had only felt it reach that level a few times before, usually when he voiced his certainty that one of them would die.

“None of us do,” Rayna pointed out, “But it’s all we’ve got, so let’s give Phoenix the best support we can until backup arrives.”

Their party leader nodded and leveled his stern gaze at Tanner, asking calmly, “Are you going to go along or are you set on trying to lead people who don’t trust you to think clearly?”

The Pack Harbinger returned the gemite’s gaze with watery eyes and gave a submissive nod of his head as he said, “I… I recuse myself from leadership and delegate authority to Mister Smithson.”

Saiya could feel the disappointment and worry in each of the Chaos Summoners that had taken seats around their broken companion. While she could understand their trepidation at what would await them in Tulimeir for the obvious mark against their performance, the Healer was grateful that the conflict between the two leaders would be set aside for the moment.

Now she just needed to make sure everyone survived to get back to the city.

With the plan decided, Phoenix tried to keep herself focused on what she would need to do. The group began buffing themselves with Boons and they each prepared to play their new Roles. Saiya’s own group Boon had been upgraded by the [Bolster Spirit Gem] and was seeing a lot of usage already but it was nice to have time to prepare with it. “Be sure of foot and strong of heart.”

Ability: Boon of the Balanced

Type: Boon (magical, covenant)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Current caste: Sapphire 1 (13%)

Crystal Effect: Bless nearby allies with increased balance and reflexes for a short amount of time, making them less likely to falter, and Magical abilities are less likely to be resisted.

Sapphire Effect: Also greatly increases the lowest level attribute of each blessed ally.

When Saiya’s dimensional spell ended it was like a starting pistol went off as Phoenix noted where the cats were as they both lunged towards her and she pushed herself in the opposite direction. Gaining momentum and direction, she began circling around the area while trying to take as little damage as possible from the sharp claws that always seemed to be right behind her.

Dazien did them all a favor and spoke over the combined channel to Officer Wysmont as he informed her, “Update: Two peak Sapphire enemies in the camp. We’ve lost a bonded Familiar. Neired has recused himself to Smithson. Request for immediate support.”

“We’re almost there,” Chriss Stratfured replied through the echoing communication power.

When it seemed like Phoenix finally got into a rhythm of being able to avoid the creatures, thanks to the group's combined efforts to slow the machina down, there seemed to be a shift in the enemies’ behavior patterns.

The larger green one seemed to behave more tactfully as it jumped away to place itself near the more grouped-up backliners and began spewing out clouds of green gas that began to dissolve the snow and stone all around them and caused the Casters to quickly disperse and flee the corrosive elemental attack.

The red cat, on the other hand, went berserk. The metal plates glowing like a sword pulled straight from a forge’s fire and melted the snow around it as it suddenly changed its tactics.

It let out a deafening metallic screech, causing everyone in the area to cover their ears reflexively then spikes seemed to form on its back only to explode out of the creature like missiles on a mission.

Phoenix’s eyes went wide as the projectiles went everywhere, whistling through the air like obnoxious fireworks. When the one coming towards her was knocked off course by her [Starlight Companion] she thought she had been saved only to have the mortar explode as it struck the ground and knocked her backward a dozen meters into a snowbank and utterly annihilated the aural companion.

She heard more explosions around the area, and shouts rang out through the camp as she felt more of the aura fairies flicker out of existence followed by a thunderous roar, but it was hard for her to regain her bearings and see what else was happening. Then her vision cleared just enough to see large metal fangs as the molten feline reappeared before her, giving a growl of victory as it charged her.

The Wayfarer thought she heard Dazien’s voice nearby incant, “You have been weighed, measured, and found wanting,” but, when she thought she would die once more, something odd happened: an unstoppable force and an immovable object both met each other from either side of the machina monster.

As Dazien’s sword glowed with the swirling rainbow light of Radiant damage from triggering his [Royal Executioner] ability, he stabbed into the beast just as Rayna activated her own execute ability, [Shatter].

The Sapphire Caste mecha-cat exploded, sending all three of them flying further away while getting impaled with forge-hot metal shrapnel as it self-destructed.

Phoenix didn’t begrudge Saiya for going to her twin sister first to heal the bard, despite being Sapphire Caste, the Striker was the least likely of the three to survive considering the lack of defensive armor and resurrection.

Uriel was beside his partner a few moments later, grabbing one of the healing potions off the leader’s belt and shoving it down the Defender’s throat. It appeared that the warrior’s armor had helped deflect much of the blast but he was still only Crystal Caste while the magically infused explosion was much higher.

The Wayfarer, however, found her gut and left lung impaled by large chunks of burning metal plates and she found herself wishing that she didn’t actually need to breathe to survive. The pain in her chest and back was the strongest, and she couldn’t feel anything below her waist that seemed almost severed by the searing shrapnel embedded there.

She didn’t remember the other parties arriving but Acolyte Barrett eventually appeared beside her. She was having trouble focusing on his face or hearing what he was saying and she wondered if the blast had also ruptured her eardrums. Maybe the pain was just overriding her other senses.

The Astromancer idly wished she would hurry and ascend to the higher Castes just to be rid of the annoying reliance on Mundane things… like organs.

The scream she was actually able to hear.

At least, she thought she had heard it but it turned out just to be from the vibrations of her own voice as the Sapphire Healer had pulled the chunk of metal from her chest, leaving a large cavity and her gasping desperately for breath.

With the brief bit of healing energy he poured through his soft touch on her shoulder, knitting that part of her back together until she was able to breathe again, she tried focusing on his face once more. Her mind was swimming but she realized that the Acolyte was trembling as he touched her stomach directly above the wound, which she thought odd until she noticed his eyes locked on the holy symbols emblazoned on her ripped armor leaving her Soul Mark uncovered.

Phoenix internally groaned, hoping the priest’s nervousness at failing to save someone Favored by the gods, one of whom he served, wouldn’t in turn be what killed her.

She didn’t get to find out, though, when she heard the Healer whisper, “Forgive me, Favored One,” then yanked the shrapnel from her abdomen and she completely blacked out from the excruciating pain.

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