Dazien’s eyes felt heavy, like he had slept for too long but still didn’t want to awaken. It was the return of his most recent memories, however, that had him bolt upright to look around and find the beast that had been about to eat his habitually dying companion.

  A startled runeforged with magenta markings visibly jumped in fright at his sudden movement. Acolyte Barrett gasped, putting a hand over his heart, and said, “Goddess within, who actually does that?”

  “You’re alright, Mister Smithson,” a woman said, suddenly appearing next to him. It was his turn to jump in fright, and he tried to conjure his sword only to have nothing happen.

  He finally registered that the speaker was Noble Chriss Stratford and asked, “What happened? Where am I? Why can’t I use my powers? Where’s—” his questions halted as he noticed Phoenix lying on a plush circur couch. It was positioned across from the section of the same curved seating he had awoken on with a low round table in the space between them.

  Phoenix appeared to be sleeping, and Acolyte Barrett expined, “You both underwent massive healing from the damage sustained when the enemy combusted from your attack. The sudden extreme trauma and reversion triggered some soul exhaustion. That’s why you and her were asleep.”

  “You are currently in my dimensional space as we travel back to Tulimeir, powers don’t work here,” Chriss interjected, “We should arrive tomorrow.”

  Dazien properly took his time to look around the area now, taking in the details of the space. It was a rge room that seemed carved from crystal, everything except for the cushions and some decor items was made of it.

  The wall he was facing was a clearly beled medical station that vaguely reminded him of ones he had seen in the temple of the Mender that was practically overflowing with healing instruments and supplies. On the opposite side of that was a more rexing space, with a Sense Stone projector that could dispy visual information from a desired angle and plenty of cushioned seating in front of it. Closer to what he assumed was the entrance was a smaller training area with some sparring equipment.

  Towards the back of the rge area was a wall with seven doors, and all but one was beled with its purpose. The rgest one was what held his attention, however, as it clearly stated “Mine and Bliss,” and he suddenly wondered if the two women had a retionship more in line with his and Uriel’s.

  He pushed the thought away, though, as it was none of his business what went on between the two of them in the privacy of their room. Instead, he asked, “Where is the rest of my party?”

  “Traveling back with the rest of the expedition,” Chriss' doppelganger replied, “We are expediting your return to the city, along with the reports to the AOA about the enemy forces your team discovered.”

  He nodded in understanding and slowly retook his seat, folding his hands under his chin as he stared at the unconscious Wayfarer, and tried to formute a pn for their arrival.

  His worry must have been showing as the Acolyte set down the book he must have been reading earlier and leaned forward to say, “Nobody else was severely injured. You accomplished the mission and will be returning home soon. You should be able to rex now and stop worrying.”

  Dazien grimaced, “You must have forgotten, Acolyte Barrett,” he began menting, “I have to be the one to expin to the Lord Padin of the Avenger why his daughter is unconscious and being emergency evacuated back to the city.”

  “Ah… right,” he awkwardly replied, sitting back into the plush seating, “Well… carry on then.”

  Paul frowned at the scene id out before him. He currently stood beside Cleric Starrk on the observation side of the enchanted wall in a room below the AOA building. He and Everin had brought in the woman wearing chains on the other side and were watching Officer Aln Trayvious question her.

  It had been about a half hour since the questioning began with the usual starters: “Who are you?” “What were you doing there?” “Why did you try killing everyone?”

  Paul gnced over at his voxen companion who was staring at something behind him with a fascinated gaze. He gave a small fp of the tiny bck-feathered wings that were resting there and a grin alighted Everin’s face. Paul rolled his eyes and said gruffly, “You’re supposed to be paying attention.”

  “I am, and those additions are bloody fabulous,” Everin replied in awe.

  “To the interrogation.”

  “She’s not going to talk, so there’s nothing to pay attention to. They’ll eventually move onto the Alchemists for information, but either way, our presence is pointless here.”

  “The Rebel Fox is right,” Orebe added, and he shook his head.

  “Well, Avenger is being utterly silent,” Paul informed, “So unless Rebel has told you something useful, that woman’s the only one we’re getting information from.”

  “If Rebel told me something that could get me out of this boring interrogation, don’t you think I would have mentioned it sooner? You think I’m really that disorganized?”

  Paul kept his face impassive and fixed his attention on the pair of runeforged on the other side of the magical one-way window wall.

  Everin’s eyes widened, “I’m Emerald, too! I’m not going to forget something like that!”

  “I never said you would.”

  “You never said I wouldn’t!”

  Paul decided to take a different approach to redirect the topic and asked, “Why would a woman with a steady job as a clerk in the city, a good retionship with her husband, and decent ties to the community, go research and then enact shutting down the alert enchantments for the entire Temple District?”

  The Cleric gave a heavy sigh and shrugged, “Why does anyone do anything? It all comes back to Marie.”

  That caused Paul to actually turn his head to look at his newest companion, “I don’t get the joke.”

  Everin chuckled, “Money, Addiction, Revenge, Ideology, or Ego. MARIE. Maybe someone else paid her to do it. Maybe she needed the money to pay for a lumeshroom addiction. Maybe she bmes the gods for the death of a loved one. Maybe she just hates those gods in general. Maybe she just wanted to prove to herself that she was powerful enough to accomplish such an insanely difficult task.”

  He fell silent and contempted the plethora of reasons before raising an eyebrow, “Lumeshrooms?”

  The vulpine man gave a teasing grin, “They come from the Underdeep, and can give you incredibly vivid dreams of your deepest desires. I highly recommend trying them at least once, they will free your mind.”

  “And the addiction part?”

  “Oh,” he said as if realizing a mistake and corrected, “No, you’ll be fine since you’re a Caster, but they are insanely addictive to Mundanes. They should stay well away.”

  Paul was about to argue the unlikelihood of any of the reasons he gave actually being this woman’s motivation for causing the deaths of dozens of priests and a couple of hundred innocent civilians, but was distracted by one of his newer senses.

  The direction of his Protégé and her party leader had quickly shifted from the nothing he had sensed for the past few days, due to the distance the bracelet couldn’t reach, to suddenly being in range and mostly to the north.

  The Cleric seemed to shift at the same time from beside him, and it was too much of a coincidence that he looked northward as well. Everin suddenly froze as Paul’s aura rudely invaded, and he angrily growled, “How are you tracking her?”

  Ears fttened and all five tails tried to tuck as the voxen slowly turned, lifting white-furred hands in a defensive gesture, “It’s not something I did. Nor can I control it, Padin Waynd.”

  “Do not py with your words with me. Answer clearly or you will learn why I am a Wrath Bde.”

  “Well, that’s not fair. You just pyed with your own—” Everin gave a small yelp as Paul held him by the throat against the stone wall that had now become indented. “She is Chosen!” he struggled to shout in obvious fear.

  Paul rexed his grip slightly to signal him to continue. “All the clergy of the gods who marked her soul can sense her direction. Rebel whispered to me and the rest of ours to not interfere directly with her, however.”

  “What else did Rebel tell you?” Suddenly Paul’s concerns for his Protégé increased tenfold at the idea of the gods spreading information about Phoenix to people that he couldn’t possibly hope to defeat.

  The pale man bnched even further at the question before admitting with a shaky voice, “Everything.”

  His grip tightened again, seriously contempting ending the perceived threat right here and now, but the next words stayed his hand, “Rebel trusted me! I have only mentioned this to Phoenix herself. No others know and I will aid in making sure no one else learns.”

  Golden eyes narrowed at the cunning fox, and he commanded, “Swear it.”

  “I swear it will remain secret.”

  “Make the Oathbond or never speak again.”

  “I am a man of my word, Lord Padin,” the Cleric protested.

  “Then you should have no trouble keeping the oath.” Ice blue irises with slitted pupils stared at him incredulously and Paul added softly, “Swear that I can trust you to help us.”

  For once the pyful voxen seemed to consider him seriously and said, “I swear upon my magic that I will do whatever is within my capabilities to watch over Phoenix Waynd and assist in maintaining her privacy and wellbeing so long as she accepts it. I offer my magic itself as the price for my failure until she completes her divine quest.”

  Paul released him with a relieved sigh, “Then let’s go see why she’s returned early.”

  Dazien knew he had been starting to break through Lord Waynd’s prickly exterior. He was actually grateful to his Natural Talent for that particur assist; though, he knew it likely didn’t affect the Emerald Caster much, if at all. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t fear the retribution the Padin was exceedingly capable of inflicting upon him.

  Bliss had actually flown them to the northwestern side of the city to the closest outer wall entrance from the Waynd Estate in order to drop off Acolyte Barrett and himself holding an unconscious Wayfarer. From there, Chriss had the chimera fly around to the southern entrance closer to the AOA building to save time and deliver their report of the enemy.

  Dazien ignored the gazes he was garnering from the few people still out on the streets this te in the evening and focused more on how he could mitigate the Lord Padin’s wrath as much as possible. The memory of the Emerald Caster almost choking the life out of Uriel when he first met the man was still seared into his mind, and he wasn’t looking forward to reenacting the scene.

  He didn’t even need to knock on the front door when his gaze fell upon the obsidian armor of the vengeant Padin, who must have arrived shortly before he did to the estate. His bracelet had warned him of the impending encounter as he felt the direction continually shift before him, so he tried his best not to wince when Paul asked, “Why is she asleep and the rest of your party not here?”

  Dazien now knew better than to mince words with the veteran Striker when asked a direct question and reported succinctly, “A Sapphire monster exploded upon execution and the resulting damage injured three of us. She’s still recovering from the massive healing.”

  Paul surprised him by nodding and gesturing for him to enter the noble home, “Let’s let her rest in her room, then head to my study to expin why that warranted a return.”

  He watched the man a moment longer to figure out if there was some sort of trick, but the Wrath Bde didn’t seem angry at him in the slightest. That was almost more concerning, and he wondered if the front door was simply too public of a space. Perhaps he would just end up never leaving the study again.

  After dropping off Phoenix, he and Acolyte Barrett were led to Paul’s private study where he was further startled to find Cleric Everin Starrk waiting for them.

  “Ah, the young King returns with the heroic Princess,” the voxen noted with a grin, and Dazien became suspicious once more. This man seemed to always speak in doubles around him, saying one thing that could be interpreted a different way if he assumed the man had knowledge that should only be within their small party. Everin wasn’t a Cleric of the Schor, though, which made it all the more concerning.

  “I’m sorry, but does Cleric Starrk have the AOA approval to know what happened on our mission? As I recall, he’s not actually an Adventurer,” Dazien pointed out.

  “Check his wrist,” Lord Waynd replied offhandedly while taking the usual seat behind the ornate desk.

  Dazien raised an eyebrow as Everin held out his left arm and the single brow was joined by the other as he read the magical runes meaning Oath, Bond, Alliance, Wrath, Bde, Quest, Complete, and Magic. He asked in slight confusion, “You vowed an alliance with Lord Waynd until he completed a quest?”

  “I vowed to assist Phoenix until she completes her quest,” Everin crified, then leaned back in his plush seat.

  “Quest?” Acolyte Barrett voiced, and the others turned to look at the easily forgotten runeforged.

  “Forget that, Acolyte,” Everin ordered, “More divine secrets above your pay grade.

  “Acolyte Barrett, I’ve been meaning to speak with your father, but since you’re here, how is your Aunt Roxy faring? I was slightly surprised that she hadn’t come home for the blood moon,” Paul asked, focusing his attention on the quiet man.

  A fsh of pride seemed to cross Rufus’s features at the mention of his aunt, but a frown soon followed as he expined, “Last we heard, she was assisting in the war against Keathei. Everyone in eastern Alkupera is afraid that if Shemrion falls, the Faends will be annihited by the Renseres force there.”

  Paul matched his frown and nodded solemnly, “That entire nation has been dedicated to the Purifier since antiquity. They aren’t about to forsake him like I did. Perhaps when I’m finished with my business in Pyrin, we can go assist as well.”

  “It would be nice to know Aunt Roxy had a friend to rely on over there,” Rufus admitted, “We’ve been wondering if she’s even alive still, and aren’t sure if the AOA over there would bother to send a letter if she fell, what with everything going on between the war with the Renseres, the invasion of the Soul Reapers, and this prolonged blood moon.”

  “I don’t think any letters will be crossing the Tidalstream while the blood moon is ongoing. That’s practically a death sentence for even an Obsidian,” Everin said with a shake of his head. He then shifted the conversation back to ask, “So, we know you’re back early, but how did the expedition and your little side-quest I gave you go?”

  “I was able to keep her alive like you asked,” the nervous Sapphire Caster replied, “It turns out you were right about her being accident-prone.”

  Dazien wasn’t sure if he was impressed or annoyed by Everin’s foresight, but decided he could rant about it with Uriel ter. For now, he focused on what else the Cleric might have told the Acolyte as they continued to discuss their little side objective.

  “How bad was it this time?”

  “Even as a Sapphire, if Noble Simmon Teras hadn’t assisted in the healing, I’m not sure I would have succeeded. A rge piece of metal pting almost completely severed her body at the waist and another punched a hole through her lung,” Barrett reported.

  “Where was Lady Saiya?” Paul asked.

  “Healing her sister, though her injuries were much more minor. Mister Karislian gave Mister Smithson a potion before Lady Dewsong completed the healing with a powerful ability.” Rufus gave him a side eye and added, “Your injuries were nearly as bad as Noble Waynd’s from what I saw.”

  Dazien noticed Paul’s stare, and he bowed his head, “We were all too close to the beast and didn’t know it would explode like that. I apologize for my ck of judgment once more.”

  Rufus looked at him in surprise, “Lack of judgment? You killed the monster and were the one to inform the other teams about everything that was happening. If we hadn’t gotten your updates, then I wouldn’t have used my teleportation scroll in time and both you and the Chosen One, and potentially many more, would all be dead right now.”

  Lord Waynd spoke up, asking, “Is that so?”

  “Yes. His group leader, Mister Neired, recused himself to Mister Smithson after losing his bonded Familiar from what I was told by Noble Polissa Teras. She took over the group due to the others’ incapacitation. From her report, it sounded like Mister Smithson and Noble Waynd are the main reason the others survived multiple encounters.”

  “That’s inaccurate,” Dazien stated adamantly, “While I won’t deny that I did the best I could to lead when I thought Mister Neired was insufficient, it was a team effort. My party all filled their Roles admirably.”

  “Sounds like you did your job well then,” Paul commented.

  “But I… Phoenix and I got injured,” he argued. It felt a bit hollow when he said it aloud, and Paul seemed to think so as well since the man simply shrugged.

  “It was a mission. The risk of injury is why Adventurers get paid so well for going on them,” his mentor expined, “Nobody died, and I assume the only reason you returned early is because the mission was successful. This is honestly the best report I’ve gotten all week.”

  “About the mission…” Dazien began, “I believe you’ll want to go to the AOA to see for yourself, but the city needs to prepare for war once again.”

  Both Emerald Casters frowned at that, and he expounded, “The Soul Reapers brought an army of Caged monsters to the tundra.”

  “They must be mostly Sapphires though, right?” Everin specuted.

  Dazien shook his head, remembering what Uriel had gushed about long before even becoming an Adventurer. His partner’s obsession with avals and monsters had bled into his own knowledge pool over the years, and he recognized many of the Caged creatures they had seen. However, one of the monsters he knew to be Emerald Caste came to the forefront of his mind as he reported, “They have a Cave Troll.”