37 - Flee for Your Lives (Patreon)

Phoenix looked up from her work that was spread out on the low coffee table with her back to the softly smoldering hearth in her room as Paul knocked on her door and she called for him to come in. She grinned as she lifted the little device that was still in the process of construction and announced, “I’m making a Prism Lens, or at least trying to, this chance to blow up things is really nerve-wracking sometimes but at least I don’t have to worry about that too much.”

Paul scowled at her as he shut the door and approached, “Don’t go dying just to experiment on making magic items that you can just as easily buy.”

“But they don’t sell this kind!” she complained, “At least not that I could find in the market. I wanted something versatile, like my brush, to change eye color to match but they only sell them in single colors. I’d have to buy, like, dozens of various shades to accomplish what one should be able to do!”

The Paladin shook his head as he sat on the sofa across from her position on the floor, “You have a personal dim-space. Does it matter how many there are?”

She gave him an owlish look before scrunching her nose, “It’s the principle of it!”

That elicited a chuckle and she grinned back at him. The introvert had been enjoying the little bit of solitary downtime she managed to grab this afternoon before her party was planning to leave for the eastern tundra to clear out monsters, which Dazien had relayed to them earlier through his communication power.

Phoenix set the partially made magical contact lens down and said, “If you’re here about the next mission, Daze already told me. I was hoping to finish this beforehand but, at this rate, I don’t think I’ll make it in time.”

Paul shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable, which caused her to narrow her eyes in suspicion as he asked, “Did he mention anything else aside from the mission?”

“Noooo…” she drew out, her mind suddenly swirling with what possible catastrophe might have occurred that Paul would be nervous about and Dazien would attempt to hide.

The Paladin’s next words were not at all what she expected to hear, “How would you feel about potentially gaining a new sibling?”

The number of possible scenarios that ran through her head almost caused her mind to implode as she wondered who exactly the man had managed to make a baby with and how in the world Dazien was involved. Then some of the things she had learned from her brief time at the Cultivator’s Citadel and talking with Patricia created a new question as her jaw dropped open and she simply had to ask, “Did you get Dazien pregnant?! I know he’s got that dumb Shiny talent but you should know better!”

“What?!” Paul responded incredulously, “No! Why would you think-”

“I don’t know! Magic is dumb and does impossible things all the time and you’re like super magical now, right?!”

“Well, yes, but-”

“And his talent makes him all pretty and ‘appealing’ and whatever, right?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t-”

“And you’ve both been spending a lot of time together, now that I think about it-”

“I offered to adopt him!” her Mentor finally shouted, ending her spiraling speculations.

She fell silent, flushing slightly in embarrassment as she admitted, “Okay, that does make a lot more sense than what I suggested…”

Paul stared up at the ceiling as though pleading to the heavens and she asked, “Are you like asking the Avenger for patience when you do that? You know, I’ve been wondering if there’s like a heaven or Mount Olympus or some other place in the sky where the gods all hang out to watch us mortals. And do you pray to Avenger for everything or switch it up based on which thing you’re praying for? Or would that just make Avenger mad and jealous or whatever?”

The Paladin dropped his face into both of his palms and she recognized that gesture as getting closer to the limits of his patience and muttered, “Not important. Just curious,” before falling silent.

“There are rumors of divine places like that but nothing universally confirmed. Back to my original question,” the golden lord said with a heavy sigh, “How would you feel about Dazien becoming your brother?”

Phoenix paused, realizing he was being completely serious, and took the time to truly consider the idea.

After a full minute of trying to picture how that would work between them, a grin crept across her face as she said, “Well, he’s already overprotective yet supportive. We get along most of the time but butt-heads often enough. He’s only slightly older than me but he knows so much more about the world and how to navigate it that he’s basically a big brother already. So I don’t think I’ll have a problem with it.

“Does this mean I can get out of the whole heir thing? He’d be much better, plus he’s older and a boy; which actually seems to matter for a lot of places in my old world for whatever insane reason. I mean if nobility is all about bloodlines, the mother would be the obvious way to assure legitimacy, kinda hard to be unsure there.”

Paul seemed to give a relieved sigh as he destroyed her hope, “No. I don’t think I’ve heard of a nation in the entire world that cares about gender for inheritance. Usually, it’s all about Caste. Sometimes age plays a factor, mostly in the assumption of who’s next in line. Blood-lineage will also play a large part in other places in the world but not so much here.”

“So why can’t Dazien be the heir instead of me? I don’t want it,” she pointed out, leaning back slightly in a more relaxed position to feel more cozy warmth.

“Three main reasons,” he began, holding up a finger for emphasis, “First, because that’s a lot more paperwork for such a brief time period. Second, he wants to go off and actually be a king someday. He could actually accomplish this easier by branching off of our House which will be much easier to do by not being the heir of it. Third, you’re simply more powerful than him.”

She scoffed at that, “What? No, I’m not. Not even remotely. He’ll be Sapphire soon while I keep dying and falling further behind.”

Her mentor raised a brow at her, “You just answered your own question. You keep dying, as in you’re already an immortal that won’t stay dead.”

“I could stay dead,” she clarified, “It’s got that cooldown I can use.”

His expression became unreadable and his body stilled as he said quietly, “Don’t ever joke about that. Don’t ever think that is an option for you to voluntarily pursue. I know death might seem a bit trivial to you lately but I don’t ever want to hear about you giving up your life permanently like that.”

She flushed in embarrassment and nodded, looking away as she replied, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not… I do care about not dying for real.”

“Good. Now the point remains that you are extremely powerful in a way that the others will never be able to match. Immortality aside, you’re an Aurabreaker, a Wayfarer, and Favored by the gods. People will see these things and understand why you are the heir instead of Dazien; in fact, they will expect it. Not to mention you have an increased rate of cultivation which will actually make a noticeable difference if you stop dying so much. You can, and likely will, surpass the others in Caste eventually.”

Phoenix scrunched her nose again, disliking the idea of being forced to lead, then remembered, “Wait, what am I talking about? You’re planning to abdicate to Pati anyway, so Dazien and I are gonna be free to roam as planned, right?”

“That’s right.”

“So nothing’s really changing except Dazien’s surname?”

“Not quite. He’ll be joining the family Council-”

“That’s the thingy where I would have had to make actual choices that affected everyone and totally ‘noped’ right out of, right?”

“Correct,” he said with a sigh, “Plus, he’ll be living here.”

“With Uriel, right?” she asked, perking up at that news, “Jennica made it very clear to me that they were… well, something, but they’ll be staying together, right?”

He nodded, “They’ll probably be staying a few doors down so you’ll be seeing a lot more of each other and be expected at social events together and other family appearances as needed.”

“Actually, that’s kind of a relief,” she admitted, “I hated going to my Noble Reveal without them. Uriel’s actually pretty great at knowing how to make me feel better about those kinds of things, like when everyone was watching us during the battle for Tulisuda. Dazien also makes an excellent distraction for other people to pay attention to.”

Paul chuckled, “I honestly don’t understand how you got such flashy powers with how much you avoid attention.”

“I got a sneaky power too,” she countered, “Plus, if they’re looking at the giant meteor falling then that means they’re not looking at me. Also, if I’m doing the [Supernova] that means there’s probably a lot of monsters around for them to worry about instead. And really, my illusions work as a great distraction to make people pay attention to instead. That’s how I usually use them for both monsters and hordes of children.”

He raised another eyebrow at her and asked, “How much of that coffee have you had today?”

She blinked. Looked down at the empty cup next to her on the low table. Mentally checked her collection and swapped the empty cup out for a fresh new one, still steaming warm, and picked it up giving a slight shrug to appear nonchalant, “A few…”

“You really should switch to tea.”

“Over my dead body,” she retorted and he gave her a flat look and she rolled her eyes, “You’re not gonna kill me over that.”

Phoenix pushed herself across the snow at a fast but steady pace. Her aura expanded out from her in order to find any potentially camouflaged monsters that might be lurking among the uneven rocky hills that separated the flatter valley surrounding Tulimeir from the intimidating peaks of the Razorteeth mountains.

The crimson moon had risen about an hour ago and she had portaled her party to a halfway point along the Eastern Trade Road marked by a tiny inn for weary travelers that had been left abandoned while its owner stayed in the capital during the months of the blood moon. The inn was surprisingly still intact but wasn’t much use aside from temporary shelter from the snow and, of course, for her to imprint her aura on for easy portal usage.

They had already taken out a pair of Tundra Yetis the party had come across, Dazien focusing on using his newest ability [Royal Executioner] to finish off each one to push the skill’s progress as hard as he could manage since it was the thing holding him back the most from ascending to the next Caste currently.

Apparently dying was the biggest thing currently holding Phoenix back but she was resolved not to let that keep happening. She could be responsible! She could show Paul and Dazien that she didn’t need to be protected all the time just to keep her alive. She was an adult, dang it! Well, not really in this world but still… She really wanted to show them that they didn’t have to worry so much about her.

Her aura sensed something strange then. It was very much a monster but it also felt very… wrong to her senses and she slowed down, making sure her lights were off and shadows on, as she approached the target.

She peeked over a rocky outcropping on a hill to look down and saw a creature she had never come across before. It looked like a centaur at first but was shaggier, had more of a decrepit skeletal frame, and a head with large antlers that were more like an impala from Earth… or a demon. Was that the wrongness she was sensing?

Suddenly her [Guide Book] was directly in her line of sight as it boldly announced its information.

New Quest: Flee for Your Lives!

You have come across a powerful Corrupted creature. Escape and seek help.

Objective: Escape the [Caged] [Corrupted] Golataur.

Objective: Request assistance from Paul Wayland.

Reward: Rare Knowledge Tome.

“What the sh-”

A bellow rang out, loud and terrifying among the rocky terrain, and she felt it suddenly expand out its own disgusting aura, revealing its higher Sapphire Caste power with the promise of destruction or excruciating tainted existence to everyone around it.

Phoenix turned and fled.

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