It had been another week since Phoenix and Dazien had spoken with the Schor in her temple. The party found themselves with a rare day off from their wall patrols, and the Waynd siblings found themselves alone at their family Estate in Tulimeir. While she had been portaling them back to their new home near the World Tree each night, they had been spending their days in the capital.

  Uriel and Saiya were meeting with Priest Jacob again, and Phoenix thought it was great that they were connecting more over learning from the mind mender. Both seemed much more at ease near one another now and Phoenix was so happy that her best friend was looking happier tely.

  Rayna had decided not to join the Rebel’s clergy after a few more visits but was still in the Temple District today on an errand with the temple of the Undertaker. Having agreed to help make more song recordings with a Sense Stone for future memorial services should anyone want to use them.

  This left Phoenix and her new brother with some time on their hands and she had managed to convince the relentlessly training man to at least indulge her with a new location. The roof didn’t have much space for weapons training, with most of the area consumed by a wonderfully flowering garden maze.

  It had tables and various types of seating throughout, hidden in little nooks or simple open benches along the paths for resting and enjoying. It was a peaceful pce that often made her feel better, helping her to slow down and take her mind off the stresses that pgued her beyond its hedges.

  Instead of swinging around weapons, she had convinced Dazien to figure out something they could do in the garden on this rare sunny day. He had decided to py a game of tag.

  The only rule was that they couldn’t touch the hedges that made the maze. Dazien’s Sapphire Caste would normally give him the advantage from a purely physical standpoint, but Phoenix’s [Ruler of Retivity] and overpowered aura helped put her on a more even footing within the constraints of the maze.

  The game pushed both of them to train their auras for finding and hiding while also forcing them to better control their speed lest they go through one of the hedges, likely getting into trouble with Elder Puani on top of ruining the beautiful flowers.

  While Dazien cimed the practicality of the exercise, Phoenix suspected that he had the ulterior motive of letting her py a game that she had never been able to before; having much of her childhood stolen by sickness. When she found herself giggling hysterically as she chased after her friend, she was gd he had chosen it.

  The game ended when Dazien totally cheated by casting his [To the Dungeon] ability, conjuring a metal cage around her while her [Transversing the Stars] portal ability was still on cooldown.

  “This is so unfair. I can’t just drop a meteor on you or explode the cage without ruining the garden,” she grumbled as she sat down in the cage, gring at him as he sauntered up to it with a smug grin.

  “Looks like uncontrolble, overwhelming power isn’t always the best answer,” Dazien said, putting an arm through the bars to gently flick her on the forehead.

  “Brat,” she grumbled.

  “You’re one to talk,” he retorted with a ugh, sitting on the ground in front of her in a matching lotus position.

  His humor seemed to dim as he leaned back to rest on his hands and said in a more serious tone, “While I have you here, though, I wanted to thank you again for accepting Uriel the way you did and stopping him from leaving. I don’t think I need to expin to you how badly that would have gone if you hadn’t.”

  “You mean how you and I would have hunted him down to drag him back here for an actual intervention? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure I would have panicked if I returned to find him missing.”

  Dazien chuckled. “I’m gd to hear that since I definitely would have done the same.”

  He opened his mouth to say more, then hesitated, getting an awkward expression on his face that made Phoenix frown and lean forward to ask, “Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?”

  He gave a half smile as he said, “Two things really. For the first, I was curious how close you were to Sapphire?”

  As the cage around her vanished, she scooted closer to him to show her profile with a grin. “I’m actually getting much closer after the st few weeks of monster hunts, and even the wall patrol has had us fighting pretty often.”

  “Also, the boost from your talent combined with not dying as much,” he teased, nudging her arm pyfully before leaning forward to read the [Guide Book].

  Name: Phoenix Fraser

  Species: Wayfarer

  Caste: Crystal 9

  Attributes

  Strength (Sun): Crystal 9

  Agility (Dark): Crystal 9

  Fortitude (Star): Crystal 9

  Mind (Moon): Crystal 9

  Magic (Celestial Astromancer): Crystal 9

  Natural Talents

  Aetheric Transmigrator

  Guide Book

  Collector

  Lodestar

  Waypoint

  Divine Titles

  Chosen One

  Titles

  Adventurer

  Syer

  Martyr

  Soul Tyrant

  Aspects

  Star

  Guiding Stars (Aura Passive)Transversing the Stars - Crystal 10Wings of the Cosmos (Css) - Crystal 9 (57%)Dark

  Embrace of Shadows (Aura Passive)Night Bde - Crystal 10Call of the Abyss (Css) - Crystal 9 (77%)Sun

  Radiant Sunlight (Aura Passive)Dawn Rises - Crystal 10Meteor Shower (Css) - Crystal 9 (65%)Moon

  Moonlit Eyes (Perception Passive)Lunar Dream - Crystal 9 (74%)Avatar of Bakunawa (Css) - Crystal 9 (61%)Celestial Astromancer (Css)

  Astral Oasis (Aura Passive)Ruler of Retivity - Crystal 10Supernova (Css) - Crystal 9 (73%)

  “This is fantastic, Princess,” Dazien said as he matched her grin. “I know you’ve been working hard, and it’s showing. You’ll be Sapphire before the blood moon ends at this rate. I’m really happy for you.”

  “Thanks,” she said, returning his smile with enthusiasm. “So what’s the second thing?”

  “Well,” he hesitated slightly, then fixed his gaze on a nearby flower as he asked, “I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about our pns for after the blood moon. A lot has happened since you first told us about your divine quest…”

  “Which we had our first major argument about,” she noted, dismissing her book. Phoenix recalled his reaction from months ago that had led to their first real discussion about their future together. Looking back, she had been worried that by waiting too long to trust in her friends, they would feel betrayed and not trust her any longer.

  Dazien chuckled and looked back towards her apologetically. “A reaction I will forever regret. I’m just gd you forgave me for it. I’ve always been one to make pns for the future, and after being trusted by Uriel with such dark secrets, I think I was unaccustomed to not being trusted with them. Not to mention my added frustrations from feeling rather useless when it came to defending you. I’ve been trying not to let my anger and frustrations overflow so much since then.”

  She nodded in understanding. “Well, I did run off for a week and died when I got angry like that, so it’s a bit hard for me to hold it against you.” She hesitated for a moment before asking, “I’m guessing this talk is to avoid the argument?”

  “Yes and no. Yes, in case there’s something to disagree on, but no, because I hope that—despite everything that has happened since we st talked about it—we’re still pnning to leave Tulim after the blood moon ends and traveling becomes easier.”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” she asked in confusion. “Wait, are you not wanting to leave now?”

  “No, I still want to go. More so now, honestly, but that’s probably just because I’m angry with Patricia at the moment and think the distance from the politics here would do us some good,” he replied with a grumble before crifying. “I just wasn’t sure if you felt the same with Presley here now and the progress being made on the new city she’s at the center of. Also, with the rise in ambient magic, the tundra will still be a challenge for us for quite a while now.”

  Dazien sighed and admitted, “If it gets too high, we’ll need to leave for a weaker zone potentially. However, the main reason to leave now is only to progress your quest by going after the first relic that Paul believes was st seen in Serenydi.”

  “Where’s that?” she asked curiously, thinking she had heard the name before but couldn’t recall where or when.

  “It’s an elven city-state isnd northeast of here but still quite a distance away. Even with travel routes being avaible again, it will take us a while to get there. Then who knows how long we’ll be gone after that? It could be months, maybe years, depending on where the clues lead us. I wasn’t sure if you were ready to be away from the life you’ve built here for so long,” he said with a gentle smile.

  Phoenix didn’t answer immediately, noticing from his more subdued behavior that she should really take the time to consider the points he was making. She knew that she couldn’t postpone her quest forever despite it not having a strict time limit; supposedly, a nation was waiting for her, and people needed her help.

  She pulled her sleeve back to view her Oathbond, transting the words that the rainbow runes etched on her wrist represented: Oath, Bond, Quest, Hero, Rebel, Limitless. They were a reminder of her vow, and it felt like forever ago when she first got them.

  “There’s also the threat of the Soul Reapers that I wasn’t sure how you felt about,” Dazien added, leaning back again to gnce up at the clear sky.

  “What do you mean by how I feel about them?”

  “If you want to stay and try to fight them, should they attack again as we suspect, or if your quest will take priority over that? Our party may have survived their first assault, but it was clear that we were outmatched in many cases. If they attack again, it will likely be with even stronger monsters.”

  “You think we shouldn’t fight?” she asked incredulously.

  “I think none of us should throw our lives away against a vastly stronger foe when there are others besides us dedicated to the fight. I wouldn’t ask a toddler to fight a monster, and in this battle, we are going to be the children.”

  Dazien met her gaze. “We don’t know how long the Soul Reapers will be a threat, and it may be better for us to avoid them instead. Focus on your quest while growing strong enough to actually help stand against them.”

  “That’s not a terrible idea,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I don’t really like it. It feels like running away.”

  “I’m not suggesting we abandon the battle. If they show up wherever we are, we can do whatever we can to try and help, but I’m not sure we should put your quest on hold just because they might attack here again in the future.”

  “We know they’re pnning to,” she pointed out. She let out a small sigh and admitted, “I understand your point, though. It might not be worth waiting around for a battle we can’t do much to help.”

  Dazien nodded and looked like he was about to speak again when sirens began to bre. Causing both of them to quickly jump up and navigate their way to the edge of the roof. Something sounded off to her, so she asked, “What’s wrong with the arms? They sound different than when a monster spawns.”

  “Those aren’t the monster arms. It’s the arms for when a magical storm is approaching,” Dazien replied, worriedly scanning the eastern horizon ahead of them. Nothing stood out to her but she knew his [Eagle Eye] passive let him see much further than she could.

  “They don’t happen often,” he expined. “We used to get a Crystal Caste blizzard about twice a decade, but I don’t know if that will remain true with the ambient magic shifting.”

  “Can the city even survive an Emerald Caste blizzard?” she asked in horror, just imagining the potential damage.

  “Perhaps. Better once that force barrier gets established and we—” he cut off as he stared towards the north. She could barely make out his whisper over the sound of sirens. “Oh gods, no. We’re not ready yet.”

  Phoenix followed his gaze and began moving to that side of the roof to try and get a better look at the impending disaster flying towards them. High above the sea, beyond the repaired sea gate of the Port District, was a giant vessel that put Presley’s ship to shame.

  It was at least double the height and even wider but also had massive glowing green wings that vaguely reminded Phoenix of a butterfly. The wings weren’t fpping, but they did seem to be steering, as though gliding through the air towards them.

  She might have thought it beautiful if she hadn’t known that it was coming to kill them all. Dazien was right, the city wasn’t ready for something like that. She could feel her heart already racing as the worst scenarios flitted through her mind. If that thing had ranged weapons like in some sci-fi movies, they could be annihited before even beginning to fight.

  Both of them stared in horror at the sight of the flying vessel, and dread fell upon them. It was a clear signal of the arrival of the Soul Reapers’ forces to once again attempt to invade and destroy Tulimeir.