T. A. Star
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11 - Preserving the Presence
🕑 Added 2024-06-04 00:00:02 +0000 UTC
Phoenix wasn’t sure what to expect exactly when Kara requested to join her and Uriel to help relocate the two men –who were roommates. It seemed as good a time as any while Dazien recovered from both the soul exhaustion caused by ascending and from having his bones meticulously shattered and reforged in the process.
Kara held out a furred hand and stopped Uriel from opening the door he turned to begin opening and the Obsidian Caster asked cautiously, “Were you expecting company?”
The Mage and Supporter looked at each other questioningly for a moment before smiling and saying at the same time, “Bliss.”
“I have no idea how she always manages to get inside,” Uriel muttered as he finished pulling out a small rectangular rod with runes etched in the side like most keys in Tulimeir had, “Daze always triple-checks that the window and door are locked before we leave.”
Phoenix glanced at the floor and then pointed out, “Well, there’s like a half inch of space between the door and floor right? I’m pretty sure I saw a thing saying cats' bones are liquid, and they can just… shloop right under.”
“Shloop?”
“Yeah, like… melt and slide right through the crack.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing for most cats,” Uriel replied in confusion.
“Oh, it’s definitely a thing,” Kara asserted, pushing her way through the now unlocked door, “I’ve seen some voxen kits manage to get into some tight spaces but the kitsune and feline-type avals I’ve run into all seem to be mostly liquid.”
Phoenix grinned at the words of support and the additional mental image of a baby Rayna sliding under the door frame that was most definitely a ridiculous cartoon version in her mind but her thoughts were interrupted by the Obsidian Caster saying, “Well, aren’t you an adorable little thing.”
Uriel went straight to the basket currently sitting on the kitchen counter and pulled out a plate as he explained to the little black kitten currently perched next to it with large pleading green eyes, “I didn’t forget about you, Bliss. I had something come up after my meeting with Priest Jacob; Daze is Sapphire now.”
The kitten seemed to freeze and cringe at the mention of the Caste change and Phoenix asked, “You’re familiar with gemite ascensions? Cause I totally feel that cringe right now. It was not pretty. Well, I mean maybe afterward but during was…” she shuddered at the fresh memories, “Yeah, no thank you.”
Bliss nodded in all seriousness but seemed to perk up at the sight of Uriel unwrapping and offering a small pile of chopped-up meat as he explained, “I tried some new herbs with this to see if it would help that metallic aftertaste the last batch of Flaywing meat had. Don’t scarf it all this time, I want proper taste notes!” he playfully scolded.
The kitten licked a paw in serious focus before giving a very unnatural one-paw salute with it and then shifted right there on the counter into a humanoid child sitting on the edge. The fluffy chimera smiled up at the cinderen who gave her a small pat on the head before handing over the small package of seasoned morsels.
“So how did your party do during the battle, Bliss?” Phoenix asked, leaning against the counter to watch the pair of apparent friends. “I think we were on opposite ends of the battlefield during most of that chaos.”
Tiny taloned hands daintily picked up a small piece of the meat and like an expert connoisseur of all things carnivorous, slowly chewed the piece with the most serious of expressions a child could muster while holding back the greedy desire to consume it all immediately. Like being told to patiently lick a lollipop instead of biting it to get to the center.
Phoenix couldn’t help the snort of laughter at the sight and Uriel gave her a knowing grin as they watched the chimera do her best to be a good taste tester. Which lasted all of seven seconds before the growly stomach acted like a starting pistol and the rest of the meat was devoured in the following three seconds.
Bliss looked back up at the Mage hopefully, licking the evidence of smeared spices from around her lips, and causing Uriel to laugh and shake his head in resignation, pulling out another package from the basket as he asked, “Was that at least better or worse than the last batch?”
“Better! More bloody than metal, so much better!” the child purred happily then reached down the throat of her snake-headed tail that was wrapped around her hip and hanging off the edge like her legs. The hand going that far down a throat almost caused Phoenix to gag in sympathy but she was surprised when Bliss pulled out a small Sense Stone, handing it over to the Wayfarer.
She cautiously took it and as soon as the chimera’s taloned hand was free again, it joined the other in making grabby hands towards the second package of treats the cinderen was holding. “What’s this for?” she asked curiously, she had only really used the stones to record her Adventurer Trial and wasn’t sure why she was being given one now.
Her book appeared –as helpful as ever– to inform her of the obvious in this case.
Item: Reinforced Sense Stone
A magical device used for preserving the presence of a designated time and place.
Caste: Sapphire.
Availability: Uncommon.
Type: Tool.
Effects:
Increased resistance to damage.
Can be set to multiple states: [Static], [Tethered], and [Display].
When in [Static] state, the device will hover in the air where placed and record visual, audio, olfactory, and tactile information in an area around it.
When in [Tethered] state, the device will behave like [Static] state but will follow the activating person from a set distance and position of the person’s designation.
When in [Display] state, the device will allow the activating person to perceive the recorded information from the device’s perspective.
She shooed away the [Guide Book] when she heard Uriel chuckle as he handed over the package to Bliss in surrender and explained to her, “You know what a Sense Stone is. I don’t care for using them but you can put it to your forehead and activate it with a bit of mana to see what it recorded as though you were the stone.”
“Why don’t you like them?” she asked curiously. They sounded like a virtual reality headset –which was awesome in her opinion.
The Mage frowned as he replied quietly, glancing over towards the golden voxen that seemed to be looking everywhere in the apartment but at them, “They don’t play well with my Silencer and I don’t like how they cut off your senses from the present.”
“Huh,” she said simply, realizing that just using the device would likely help her understand better. Looking at the stone carved like two pyramids melded together to form a three-sided diamond. The bottom half was covered in tightly packed runes that she wasn’t sure she had the dexterity to carve herself at that size. The upper half held three larger activation runes that corresponded to the three states her book had described. So she lifted the side with the “Display” rune to her forehead and pushed a tiny bit of mana into it.
Then the world seemed to cease to exist for the briefest of moments which was terrifying for a breath until it returned in a rush as if she had been teleported without needing to step through her portal. She was back on the battlefield, the crimson moon washing everything in red and camouflaging the blood staining the snow of the tundra.
It felt like she was floating in the air, unable to move her body, but she could turn her head to look around in every direction like a VR movie. Below her was a circular enclosure with thick walls seemingly carved from metal and covered in crystal spikes that reminded her of the same material that adorned Chriss Stratfured’s glittering dress. Bliss’ party leader was even more glittery than she or Dazien was and it was a struggle to keep Tala from trying to maul the woman on sight.
The enclosure had two prongs jutting out the front half with what looked like Protoss Pylons to Phoenix’s sensibilities floating in the center of each and glowing softly. These solid prong structures seemed to be funneling the horde of monsters towards the currently closed gates which were opposite from a tall watchtower nestled within it against the far wall.
The only reason Phoenix thought of it as a watchtower was due to Chriss currently standing upon the raised dais, with only a half-wall between the Sapphire Caster and the edge, and observing everything going on below.
The rest of Attitude Plus was standing along the railed ramparts lining the edge of the enclosure. It vaguely reminded Phoenix of someplace but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It almost felt like a fortress at first, trying to protect anything within. However, the Sapphire Caste Defender would periodically grab a monster about to breach the wall nearest to him with a heavy chained hook –using the built-in spike defenses of the wall to inflict more damage as the monster was pulled across them– before tossing the beast into the center of the enclosure instead of repelling it back outside.
This seemed like the opposite goal of a fortress to Phoenix. This was further confirmed when she noticed the unfortunate monster trying to climb back up the enclosure only to feel the pain of more devastating spikes on the interior walls, the puncturing stings of Bliss’ sharpened feathers, and explosive elemental spears conjured by their Mage; all tearing the creature apart before it even got halfway out.
That definitely didn’t feel like a place she wanted to be within for safety. It was a kill box if she ever saw one.
Then she heard a loud shout over the cacophony of magical spells and monster snarls that echoed across the battlefield but she couldn’t pinpoint the source of it, “Allies of Tulim! Retreat to the wall of Tulimeir and regroup!”
The call was repeated a few more times while Phoenix watched Chriss perform one last incantation from her perch. While the woman’s main hand held a chain weapon with a flail on one end and a hook on the other, it was her off-hand that currently gave a strong purple-tinged glow as she whispered the words of a long cast.
The party leader raised the glowing hand just as it blasted a terrifying channeled beam slowly across the horde, turning most of the Crystal Caste monsters into gem-like statues and greatly slowing down the Sapphire Caste enemies with crystalline growths as the other Adventurers fled in retreat.
Then Chriss made a yanking gesture toward Phoenix watching from the air and the Wayfarer felt momentarily disoriented as the view rushed towards the sparkling Caster and Phoenix was jolted back into her actual body, dropping the Sense Stone stone in her surprise.
With wide eyes, she turned to look back at Bliss –who was still happily eating– and asked, “What exactly is Chriss’ Class?”
Bliss gulped and cheerfully replied, “Crystal Warden,” before taking another bite.
Totally not a prison… nope… just a… stationary monster shield?
Phoenix tried to mentally justify a way to not picture Chriss as a prison warden and Bliss as her guard-chimera and completely failed. Uriel gave her another grin that silently told her that he could totally read her mind despite their mental communication currently being out of commission while Dazien slept; on account of not being conscious enough to reactivate the passive ability after ascending.
The large serpent tail of the chimera helpfully extended to the dropped Sense Stone, collecting it in its mouth and offering it back to the Wayfarer. She shook her head though, “You can give it back to Chriss. Sorry I dropped it and thanks for sharing it with me.”
The tail nodded at her and gulped down the crystalline device. It was disconcerting to the Wayfarer to know the serpentine head was also Bliss. Or maybe it was some kind of merged Familiar? She couldn’t wrap her mind around having two heads herself.
Phoenix glanced around the sparse apartment and noticed Kara had apparently moved to guard the door while she had been lost in the recording. Uriel meanwhile had a small pile of things at her feet that she smiled at and made vanish into her collection. She would totally be cheating for this house move.
No moving trucks or mountains of boxes for them; though, she was told the magical version of trucks or cars they had in this world were called “carriages” yet didn’t involve animals pulling them and were fairly cost-prohibitive in such a low magic zone. They did have non-magical carriages pulled by sivatherium as well but these were also fairly rare in the city. The city also hadn’t been designed for a heavy amount of them, preferring foot traffic on the cobblestone streets or the newer Quicksteam to traverse the city.
She grinned and said to her Mage, “We’ll have this all moved in no time.”
