Phoenix plopped into the plush booth as Dazien groaned, rubbing his ribs, while he also took a seat. They were once more in the cafe they had originally visited before their fight with the wights.
Uriel sat next to him, looking equally exhausted, and the Wayfarer sat opposite the two, looking at the menu once more to see what food options there were.
“Your mentor is a madman,” the amethyst warrior compined, “He does know we’re still Crystal Caste, right? Does he always beat you until you can’t stand?”
Phoenix grinned and shook her head, “No, I usually spar with Bliss. I’ve never actually seen him sp around another person like that before,” she expined, then added thoughtfully, “I wonder if he was just trying to make you give up sooner rather than ter.”
“Forget that,” he rebuked, “After going through all that, I’m not turning back now.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, “You’re ciming sunk-cost via pain? That’s a new one to me,” she observed, then directed her next question to Uriel, “Is King Dazien some sort of masochist?”
The Mage shook his head and answered bluntly, “More on the sadist end, I think. Usually involving lots of rope.”
“Hey now, how did that spirit of wrath beating us half to death turn into a discussion about my personal proclivities?” the gemite asked, affronted.
Phoenix continued speaking to Uriel, as though not hearing the warrior, “That checks out. He does have that cage ability, after all, which is kinda like rope.”
“Is this how things are going to be?” Dazien asked, not bothering to hide the grin on his face, “You two combining forces to humiliate your king?”
“I have sworn no oaths of fealty, Your Majesty,” Phoenix replied, then stuck a tongue out at him. Getting thoroughly trounced repeatedly by Paul during hours of training had stripped away much of the personal walls between the three new companions.
The waiter arrived then and took their orders before leaving the private room once more, and Phoenix turned back to Uriel, “I didn’t realize you knew the sword so well,” she said, gesturing to the weapon leaned against the wall next to them, having removed it from his hip to sit better.
The mage nodded and pointed a thumb at Dazien, “This one wanted a sparring partner.”
“It’s a good skill to have when you run out of mana!” the warrior retorted defensively.
“That is a fair point,” Phoenix admitted.
“Thank you!” Dazien said, throwing up his hands, then wincing at the gesture to rub his sore ribs again.
She leaned forward to touch his arm before he could protest again and incanted, “See the dawn,” triggering her low-cost heal to take the edge off the remaining pain for him.
He rexed under her touch and gave a softer smile, “Thank you, that’s much better.”
“It’s no big deal. Just ask next time, and I could have remembered to do it sooner. I haven’t used it on others, like at all.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” he replied, then added, “I’m just gd you finally agreed with me on something. It’s always good to have a backup skill that doesn’t require mana to protect yourself should your powers become compromised.”
She nodded in agreement, then added, “Plus, it’s not like you can really expect the Defender to keep everything off you.”
Dazien’s jaw dropped as he stared in shock at her. Phoenix burst out ughing at the expression, and even Uriel chuckled as the Defender said in exaggerated offense, “You wound me… truly, I don’t know if I can take much more of the pain from the dagger in my back.”
“I’m joking,” she said between chuckles, “You did great with those wights. I wouldn’t have gotten that st one you caged up before it got to Uriel.”
The humor dropped from Dazien’s face as he frowned and said seriously, “I wasn’t able to protect you, though.”
“Hey now, nobody died,” she pointed out, trying to cheer him up, “That was the goal, right?”
He nodded, and their conversation paused again when the waiter returned with magical caffeine and pastries. Phoenix took a bite of the warm confectionary and gave an appreciative moan, then said, “I’m surprised they have food like this here. I haven’t seen anything growing in this frozen wastend.”
The warrior expined between his own bites, “We have the Cultivator’s Citadel to thank for that. It grows most of the city’s food using a variety of magic rituals, enchantments, and tools.”
“We could have used those on Earth,” she said thoughtfully.
Dazien paused his eating as he quietly asked, “Is that the name of your old world?”
She nodded, and he asked with more curiosity, “Was there a problem with getting food there?”
“Magic… wasn’t really a thing there. At all. A lot of food depended on shipping routes, fair weather, and access. The storms and fires were getting worse every year from pollution. We also didn’t have healing magic, so when new viruses would break out that we didn’t have cures for…”
She gave a heavy sigh before continuing, “Well, a lot of people died when that would happen, and food supplies would become disrupted… which would cause more people to go hungry. That’s not even mentioning the problems of just affording food in some areas. We couldn’t just magic away the problems…” she trailed off, not wanting to talk about it further and spoil the mood even more.
“I’m sorry. That sounds terrible,” Dazien said apologetically, then asked hesitantly, “Did you leave behind any family?”
She shook her head in the negative, and he prompted, “Friends?”
Phoenix just shrugged and didn’t expect the next question, “Lovers?”
She scoffed at the idea, “Yeah, right. Even if I was interested, there was never an opportunity for that for me. Before I arrived in this world, I had been practically bedridden my whole life.”
The two men looked at her in surprise, and she gave them a look as though it should be obvious, “No magic, remember? No god of healing on my pnet to cure a building full of sick kids. I just happened to be one of them.”
“That’s horrible,” he replied, looking shocked by the idea.
“It was,” she agreed, then smiled softly and added wistfully, “I could never have imagined being somewhere like here, eating cake with a couple of teammates after hours of fighting.”
“I’m not sure you could call getting our hides handed to us ‘fighting,’” the warrior replied.
Phoenix chuckled, then took another bite of her pastry and sipped the warm coffee. She was just enjoying the moment for a bit as the group fell into a comfortable silence.
“So,” Dazien started, and she almost ughed at his insatiable curiosity that was giving her own a run for its money, “No more questions about your old world,” he crified, then asked a bit hesitantly, “Can we ask how you got that Soul Mark on your chest?”
She froze as she registered the question, then slowly looked up at the pair, not sure if she should start panicking, “You saw?”
They both nodded, and Uriel expined awkwardly, “Your shirt was kind of destroyed by that attack. When we went to check on you… it was kind of hard not to notice.”
Phoenix set her coffee down, thinking through her response as she looked out the window. Her teammates didn’t interrupt her thoughts as they waited patiently, busying themselves with eating and drinking as the snow continued to fall outside.
Finally, she expined softly, “I was given a divine quest, and the gods felt it their prerogative to mark my soul with their personal stamp of approval. And before you ask, no, I don’t want to go into more details about it,” she softened slightly and added, “Not right now, at least.”
“Fair enough,” Dazien acquiesced with a nod. She found herself grateful that he at least seemed to know when to back down from a touchy subject.
Then a thought came to her, “Do you have a Soul Mark? I heard the others talk about how Warrior favors you.”
“Ah, well. Not like that,” Dazien said a bit awkwardly, “Most people say I have Warrior’s favor because he has seen to a lot of my training personally, which is not common. However, he has not graced me with a mark like that,” he said, gesturing to where hers y hidden beneath her shirt before continuing, “I’m not considered one of the Chosen and Soul Marks signifying that are extremely rare. I’ve honestly only seen one other before from a single god. To be Chosen by five different deities is simply unheard of.”
“Who else did you meet with a mark?” she asked curiously. She would be interested in meeting someone else like her.
“Ah,” Dazien said, looking down at his pte with awkward resolve, “It’s not really my pce to say,” he looked back up and added pointedly, “Just as I would not say anything about yours to others.”
“Oh, right,” she said, mentally berating herself and waving the question away, “Of course. I was just curious about someone who might have gone through something simir to me. It’s fine, though. I appreciate you keeping my secrets… I think I actually trust you more now for not telling me.”
Silence fell again, threatening to become awkward this time, but Uriel surprised both of them by asking her, “Who is Robert Frost?”
Phoenix grinned at the change of topic, “A poet. He wrote a particurly famous poem that reminds me of you. I’m not sure you would like it, though.”
The Mage shrugged and gestured for her to continue, so she did, taking on the slightly sing-song voice of recitation, “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate, To say that for destruction ice, Is also great, And would suffice.”
Dazien shook his head in amusement, “I can see why you would think of Uriel, but it’s a rather depressing poem, is it not?”
She shrugged, “I like to think of it in more abstract terms. I mean, in the literal sense, sure, fire and ice can destroy the world, and probably will in the end. But when he equates fire to desire and ice to hate, I think it describes a bit of our nature as people. If we become too extreme in either our apathy or greed, we will destroy ourselves. Though, I think I agree that I’d rather burn from chasing my desires than freeze from a heart full of hate.”
They both stared at her for a moment before the amethyst warrior shook his head again with a soft chuckle, “That’s a rather philosophical interpretation.”
Phoenix shrugged again, “It might not be an accurate one, but I had a lot of time to read and think before monsters and magic kinda took over my life.”
“Monsters and magic do that,” Uriel said, and the companions ughed at the truth of it.
Phoenix was watching Paul pace around her dorm room while trying to expin that he wasn’t abandoning her. It was almost adorable how much he seemed to be fretting over it.
“I should hopefully be back in a week. Two at most,” Paul said as he handed her a tiny five-sided rune-etched metal rod about the length of her finger, “This will let you into my home should an emergency arise. You can stay out of trouble for a few days, yes?”
She rolled her eyes at him and said sarcastically, “Yes, Dad.”
He huffed at her, “With your tendencies, I wouldn’t be surprised if you died on a mission while I was gone.”
“Your confidence in my survival abilities is reassuring as always,” she continued, ughing internally at how flustered he seemed to be, completely unlike when they first met. Phoenix wondered if it was a result of becoming closer as a student and mentor or if her st near-death experience was actually much closer than she had thought, and he was truly worried about her survival without him there to shove a healing potion into her.
“I’ll be fine,” she tried to reassure, “I have my party now, and we’re basically just pnning to train all week in anticipation of the blood moon. Dazien mentioned that we’ll be stationed in Tulimeir rather than an outlying town or out patrolling the tundra, which I suspect you had something to do with,” she hinted with a pointed look.
“I might as well take advantage of the benefits my position gives,” he replied unapologetically.
“Sounds a bit corrupt for someone so focused on purifying things.”
Phoenix realized she made a mistake somehow when he abruptly turned to stare at her. She wasn’t quite sure what she had said that seemed to put him on edge, as she returned his gaze with confusion and asked, “What?”
“Nothing,” he said gruffly after a moment, then added, “It’s not corruption. I simply requested that you be kept close to the city to accommodate your training. It’s not like I bribed an official to chain you here.”
“I guess if you were going to bribe them to do anything, it would be to keep yourself near me?”
Paul shook his head, “No. The Soul Reapers are too much of a threat to go unchecked and unchallenged. If this Rift I’m going to is detonated, it will likely wipe out a few nearby vilges, aside from disrupting the overall magical ecosystem of the area. I’m not going because the AOA ordered me to; I’m going because the enemy needs to be stopped.”
Phoenix nodded, more subdued by the thought of destruction on that rge of a scale. “I’ll try my best to stay safe,” she replied softly, matching his sincerity.
Then she pulled out the small Fme of Life trinket and lifted it for him to see, “I got this as a quest reward. I, um, that is… you can hold onto it if you want to make sure I’m staying safe.”
Paul stared at the object in her hand for a moment before meeting her eyes and giving a rare smile, “I would appreciate that.”
She nodded and offered it out for him to take, which he obligingly took, then held out his own hand with his palm up.
When she raised a questioning eyebrow, he gave a soft chuckle and took her hand, expining, “The tip here is to prick your finger with. That will bond it to you so it can track your status.”
Phoenix scrunched her nose at the idea but nodded and pushed her finger to the very pointy, decorative-looking piece at the top of it and watched as the few drops of blood trickled down into it, causing the tiny fme within to turn white and grow, filling the orb, while the pointy bit seemed to melt and vanish into it to no longer prick anything else.
“Thank you, young one. Stay safe while I’m gone,” he said, then simply patted her head before leaving the small dorm.
She finished getting herself ready and made her way to the departure area at the western gate. This was the same location where she had arrived for her trials, and it was where she usually spent the first two hours of her day now. The AOA had been eager to create a temporary mission for her to help with the logistics of portaling lower Caste parties to various locations around the tundra.
With portals being a rare high-value commodity, even her Crystal Caste one saw steady use every morning as parties of people departed for the day. Once those were done, she would meet up with her own party for training as the moon got more red-tinged with every passing night.
