32 - The Expectations of Others (Patreon)

Saiya’s scream rang out through the blizzard and Phoenix pushed herself harder, making her speed almost too fast for her to process as she searched for her friends.  Everywhere she turned there were miserlings awaiting and blood stained the snow all around her.

She expanded her aura senses as far as she could in search of the others but it felt muted and when she reached up to her throat she found a solid metal band wrapped around it and felt the weight of matching cuffs around her wrists. She couldn’t push herself faster as she ran blindly through the snowstorm with the sadistic creatures laughing at her.

Phoenix tripped over something she had missed in her panicked rush and fell to her hands and knees. When she looked back to see what it had been, the glazed-over amber eyes of Saiya stared blankly back at her. Frost covered her lips but long gouges spilled her innards out onto the red snow.

The Healer’s arm was stretched out at a weird angle and, as her eyes trailed down it, she realized it was holding another hand. Her heart dropped as a matching face stared just as blankly up at the freezing sky. Rayna was also dead, shredded to pieces by the miserling swarm.

“No!” Uriel’s voice rang out from behind her and she turned to see her friend lost in his rage again as he furiously cast spells at the hideous creatures that lunged at the Mage with their serrated claws.

Phoenix felt helpless though, the [Chains of Silence] making her feel weighed down and unable to move as fast as she needed to save her friend who soon fell to the ground as well, the monsters quickly swarmed to devour him and she felt her heart crack. She had to save him!

The miserlings then turned to her, slowly closing in on her in the way she remembered they would when they knew their prey couldn’t escape. As one made to lunge at her, a golden shield blocked its path protecting her from the pain of its jagged claws and fangs.

Amethyst hair filled her vision instead and Dazien once again stood between her and the enemies, seeming to appear from nowhere as he yelled, “Run!” she could barely hear his voice over the howl of the wind, “Make a portal and do what I say!”

Tears were streaming down her face as she looked between her dead companions and her leader and then grabbed at the collar around her throat, “I can’t!” she sobbed, “I’m not strong enough!”

He turned to look back at her, dropping his sword on the ground in despair as he stared at her, “Then you’ve killed us all.”

She screamed as giant cat claws and metal spikes burst through Dazien at multiple points from behind him, killing him where he stood.

“Phoenix!”

She continued sobbing as she reached out to try and catch her friend before he too turned the snow red.

“Phoenix! Wake up this instant!”

The Wayfarer shot up in her bed, her heart racing wildly, as she tried to adjust to her surroundings and after a moment continued to sob into Paul’s chest as he tried to calm her down from her nightmare.

She brokenly asked her mentor between sobs as her memories returned, “Rayna and Dazien? Are they alright? Are they alive?”

“Yes. You’ve been asleep for a few days now,” the Paladin said soothingly, “From what Acolyte Barrett reported, a piece from a Caged machina almost cut you in half.”

Phoenix shook her head, still distraught from the mental images that had haunted her sleep, “That doesn’t matter! They won’t-” her voice broke again, as she took in another shaking breath, “They won’t come back!”

“They are safe, Phoenix. Alive and unharmed and awaiting your return,” he tried to reassure her again, rubbing her back as she trembled against him. After a few more minutes of crying and deep breaths, she managed to push away her fears and focus on the present reality.

When Paul appeared to sense the shift he said, “I read all the reports and viewed the Sense Stones. A duchy-wide Call to Arms is being put together right now in response to the Soul Reapers' forces and we’ve sent word to the Queen in Blomstra to send additional reinforcements but we’re not sure anyone will get here in time or if she’ll spare the personnel.”

The nobleman hesitated before adding, “I want you to know that I’m proud of the way you and your party performed on this mission.”

She gave a mix of a laugh and sob, “Proud? I almost got everyone killed. If I had been smarter, then that berzerking robo-cat wouldn’t have been able to follow me through the portal. If I had been wiser, then I wouldn’t have tried to take on three elementals on my own. Dazien’s the one to be proud of. He and Rayna were the ones to execute that monster.”

“You found the enemy. You protected your teammates and followed your leader instead of your ego. For that alone, I am proud of you,” he patted her head and she couldn’t help but feel slightly better. Glad that despite her own misgivings, she had made him happy.

“Now,” Paul started with a brighter tone as he gently pushed her back into a sitting position, “Will you sate my curiosity and show me what your book said to lead you to the enemy?”

Phoenix chuckled at the smirk he gave her and she obligingly showed him the messages she had gotten. As he looked it over he pondered aloud, “I wonder if it’s going to be stingy about giving Spirit Gems until you ascend to Sapphire.”

“It seems to give me things that are useful to me, normally. I’m not sure how it knows what I need or want, though, or if I’m just imagining things,” she admitted while mentally taking stock of what was in her collection then added in surprise, “Actually, it looks like I didn’t need the book to give me one.”

She pulled out a large square-cut gem that shone with dark crimson light as she conjured her [Guide Book] and placed it on the pages.

Item: Predator Spirit Gem

A magical gem containing the spiritual concept of a predator made manifest.

Caste: Sapphire.

Availability: Rare.

Type: Consumable, ingredient.

Requirements: Sapphire Caste with less than 10 unlocked cultivating abilities.

Effect: Further enhances a random cultivating ability, unlocking additional effects; weighted towards the most suitable ability available.

“A Predator from the predator. Fitting,” she said dryly, before putting the item back in her collection, “Well, I’ll have to save that for later or see if Rayna wants it.”

“It should be a decent offensive upgrade for either of you,” Paul said, then shifted back to a previous item, “Have you used a [Prism Brush] before?”

“I’ve never heard of it,” she replied, then conjured it into her hand from her dimensional storage.

Item: Prism Brush

Beauty may be seen on the outside but vanity comes from within.

Caste: Crystal.

Availability: Rare.

Type: Tool, brush.

Effect: Can transfigure the appearance of brushed hair based on the device settings.

It was a rectangular-shaped brush with thick white bristles on one side and a series of runes and knobs on the other. She analyzed it for a bit before Paul held out a hand in a silent request.

She handed it over to him and he began explaining, “I’ve only seen these a few times. I knew an Adventurer that was really fond of it,” he gave another grin as he added offhandedly, “She had the Arcane Charlatan Class and would often disguise herself and the rest of us for certain missions.

“This knob here lets you select a color, see?” he turned one of the knobs and the bristles of the brush began shifting through the color spectrum, “This one lets you choose the amount of curl you want,” he said as he turned another knob and the different wavy symbols around that knob lit up with each turn, “And this switch lets you turn on growth acceleration. Once you have all the settings as you want them, it will transform your hair as you brush it with this.”

Phoenix’s eyes went wide and she quickly said, “Let me try!”

As he handed it back, she scurried out of bed and over to the bathroom where she knew a mirror was. She fiddled with the settings and then began brushing her wild curls which seemed to melt away as they were replaced with straight and silky dark brown locks.

When she finished, she stared at her reflection in awe. She looked like a completely different person. As she carefully touched her reflection, she found herself wondering if this might help her fit in more among this darker city of runeforged and cinderen.

“While I can understand the appeal,” Paul’s voice came from the doorway as he observed her, “You shouldn’t seek to hide who you are.”

He walked towards her, slowly reached out to touch a stray lock, and said with a slight frown, “When we met, you were sad to have lost your ruby curls. The first time I saw you truly smile was when you got them back. Don’t lose them again just to capitulate to the expectations of others.”

She contemplated his words for a moment before nodding and saying, “I understand, and I do love my hair the way it was, but it can be fun to change things up once in a while, I think.”

Phoenix looked at her reflection in the mirror for another few moments before changing the settings on the brush once more then transfigured her hair back to its original auburn color and curls but made a section that started near her temple a soft emerald green that matched her eyes.

She smiled at her mentor and he returned it with a grin of his own as he teasingly tousled her hair and said, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you to not be who you are because who you are is amazing, Phoenix.”

The redhead laughed, pushing his hand away, and said, “I think you just feel contractually obliged to say things like that now.”

He chuckled, “Even if that was the case, it doesn’t make it any less true. Nobody’s perfect, you and me both included, but I’ve seen how much you’ve grown and changed and you never stop amazing me.”

She blushed at the compliment and replied, “Well, I had a pretty amazing teacher.”

“The highest of compliments,” her Mentor acknowledged and gestured back towards the door to her bedroom, “Do you want to get some breakfast and tell me your side of everything?”

“Yes, please,” she called back, instantly returning the brush to her collection in a flash of silvery sparkles and making a beeline for the kitchen as Paul laughed behind her.

When she was happily scarfing down delicious food a few minutes later, she remembered to ask, “So how did your mission go? More politics, avenging, or Emerald monsters?”

He shook his head but frowned slightly, “The missions went fine but yesterday there was a monster spawn gone wrong in the Temple District.”

“Gone wrong?”

“Someone, somehow, sabotaged the alert enchantments in that entire district without anyone noticing until a Sapphire monster spawned,” his frown deepened and he almost seemed his actual age with the worry lines it caused, “A lot of people died before anyone knew to respond. In all my years, I’ve never seen that happen before. We always know ahead of time and can usually mitigate a lot of the damage but today was something else. Also part of the job I hate the most when it comes to being an Adventurer.”

Phoenix hesitated but her curiosity got the better of her as she asked, “What do you mean? Isn’t it good to protect the people?”

“Not that,” he corrected, “You haven’t had to experience it yet, luckily, and likely never will if you keep the little king by your side, but when you lead a party and there’s a death involved with your mission, the surviving family can request to hear the report from the party leader and ask additional questions. It’s been a tradition the AOA has kept as a way of offering some closure to those that remain behind.”

Phoenix blanched at the idea and agreed that she never wanted to experience something like that. Then she clarified incredulously, “So you had to tell parents and siblings or spouses exactly how you failed to save their loved one?”

Paul nodded, “It’s one of the responsibilities of leadership, for better or worse. Unfortunately, because I’m technically a party of one right now that means I’m a leader. Today felt a bit worse, though, when I had to tell two of the families that we couldn’t find the bodies, only their broken adventuring licenses. It’s like an extra punch to the gut when you have to tell them there won’t be a proper funeral on top of the loss.”

“No body to bury?”

“Nothing to burn. We have funeral pyres here, another old tradition.”

They both fell silent, unsure of what more to say until Phoenix asked, “Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe look at the enchantments that broke?”

“The new Chancellor of the OOM, Lord Teras whom you met earlier, has his best person already on it. I can ask if they would like the assistance, though,” and his smile confused her until he added, “I’ve been wanting to introduce you to said expert but she’s rather shy around others.”

“Who is she?” Phoenix asked curiously. There were so few people that Paul seemed to like enough to want to introduce her to.

“My cousin, Camilla Seren,” Paul answered with a grin, “She’s quite brilliant. Anyway, finish eating quickly. Your friends should arrive back soon and will probably want to see you.”

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