A Bloom of Red, Green and Gold

John had no idea how to fight the abomination staring them down, especially when he had no clue just what his unexpected allies could do. Oh, he knew Moira was at least six levels higher than him, but in the grand scheme of things, beyond likely having stats above his, that didn’t give him any insight into how she fought or just what her magic could do.

‘Not like I can ask for the cliffnotes,’ he thought. ‘OK, play it simple. They’ve got weapons, so things to buff their attacks. The sigil’s Evocation boosts Strength and Endurance, right?’

The info popped into view the moment the thought passed through his head, confirming the Evocation boosted his nearby allies Strength and Endurance by 15%.

‘If I combine that with Verdant Surge, all of us should get a boost,’ John reasoned, quickly doing the math. ‘It’ll cost 25 mana all together, about half of what I have left, but we can bum rush this guy, it won’t matter.’

John focused on the accessory dangling from his belt and his sword held in his hands. He knew it was a risk, but prior uses of combining Evocations had worked out, so he decided to roll the dice. It was a gamble, but he had to take the risk.

Before he could say his plan, the monster lunged at them, claws stretched out to tear their bodies apart. Moira and her subordinate quickly moved in response, their reaction one born of hours of practice, the Warden stepping in front of them, shield raised.

“By the Lady’s Grace!” Moira cried out, golden light pouring out of her shield, growing to become a large disk of radiance. The monster’s flurry of claws slammed into the defensive barrier, the golden disk rippling as the abomination racked at it. A strained look crossed Moira’s face as she maintained it, and she let out a wordless shout to reinforce her will against the ****.

Her knight, in that same moment, darted out from behind her light wall and thrust his blade into the monster’s flank, forcing it back slightly. The knight didn’t relent, his sword slashing out in quick, sharp movements, forcing the monster to retreat more.

‘Crap, I can’t just stand here,’ John chided himself and stepped forward. ‘No time for explanations, just go!’

He cast the two Evocations, feeling their magic merge and blend together. The two similar effects mixed easily, but right before the effect became known, John felt something else. It was a bit like coming to the realization that someone was right behind you, looking over your shoulder.

‘I think I can help a bit here.’

The words were a faint whisper, ones John only barely heard, but he definitely felt a small surge of power that flowed into him. It was similar to what he felt back on Sunday, but more eager, as opposed to the more soothing, homely warmth of the grandmotherly Yerda. It was the warmth of an invigorating sun, one that invited motion.

And so, John moved.

Skill Level Up: Thaumaturgy Lv. 5.

John felt a spot of heat flash upon his chest, like he was leaning just over a small flame. A glance down let him see a symbol glowing like the sun on his chest. It was somewhat hard to make out upside down as it was, but it looked like a tree with some kind of serpent framing it like an archway.

‘Wait, are those supposed to be wings?’ he thought, focusing on two triangles that sprouted from the back of the serpent, one roughly a quarter of the way down its back and the second close to three-quarters down. ‘So it’s more of a dragon then?’

John pulled himself out of his navel gazing and focused back on the fight. He noticed the symbol glowing on Moira and her knight, giving him a better look at his new buffing effect, finding his assessment of its design accurate. A glance to his mana bar, however, left him frowning in confusion.

‘Did that not use as much mana as I thought it would?’ he wondered seeing his mana only depleted by a quarter of his remaining reserves, not the half he estimated. ‘Was whatever that voice was giving me mana for this? It did feel like what I got from Yerda and all this is connected to Amarlis, so maybe?’

A flash of gold **** John back to the situation at hand as Moira lunged close to him, angling her projected shield to block a swipe directed at him.

“We don’t have the luxury for you to not focus,” she spat. “If all you can do is this enhancement spell, step back.”

A part of John knew her order was out of concern for his well being. After all, she had no way of knowing just how much fighting he had done over the past week and a half. Another part of him, however, took her dismissal as an insult to the work he’d put in.

‘Show her just what you can do!’ the same whisper from before cheered, still barely audible. John had no clue who it was, but he had an inkling it was connected to the World Tree. A spirit of it maybe. Senka did provide her mana to it. John pushed those thoughts aside. ‘Muse later, fight now.’

John focused on the monster in front of him, its serpentine body undulating back from them. It coiled up like a spring, no, more like a cat about to pounce. Its wounds dripped red blood, enough to be noticeable through its fur but clearly not enough to hinder the thing. Rage burned in its many eyes and John tensed his legs, anticipating its attack.

It sprang, not forward, but to John’s left at an amazing speed. More incredible was that it twisted at close to a ninety degree angle a second later, its body bending like a straw as both arms and legs gripped the ground for traction and launched itself at their flank.

John caught Moira start to move out of the corner of his eye, but his bruised pride and the whisper in his head weren’t going to let him not fight. He countercharged, the various boosts to his physical stats making him move faster than he ever had. He heard Moira cry out a command for him to stop, but he ignored her. This was something he had a hand in creating, even if the Order’s appearance caused it to go sideways. And he wasn’t just going to sit back and let others shoulder the responsibilities.

The warmth from the glowing mark over his chest grew hotter, and John felt a weight settle over him, like a heavy coat had been dropped onto his shoulders. And something flowed into him, like a hot beverage on a cool day settling into his stomach.

The Divine Echo within you shudders as a related power flows into you. Divine Echo is replaced by Verida’s Endowment.

Verida’s Endowment
Passive
A Blessing of the goddess Verida, given to those that earn her favor. Given her recent ascension, it is not as powerful as it could become. Grants +10% to physical stats and the ‘True Sight’ skill.

True Sight
Toggleable
Power granted from a being far greater than you. By drawing upon it, you are more capable of seeing the truth of reality.

John felt a wave of surprise from Senka, but he ignored that as everything in his vision became so much clearer. Colors became more vibrant, to the point where he could differentiate the varying shades of fur the monster barrelling towards them had when before he would have just called it ‘dark’. He could clearly see the contrasting red of blood with greater clarity and John aimed for one such spot, intending on deepening the wound.

The aberration was too close to avoid John’s strike and lashed out with tooth and claw. John made good use of his enhanced Agility and eyesight to weave between the tangle of limbs and mouth, only taking painless glancing blows before jamming his sword into the wound left by the Order knight.

The monster let out a horrible shriek as the wooden blade sunk deep into its flesh and it recoiled back. Its twisting retreat nearly wrenched the sword out of John’s hand but he quickly swapped it for Senka’s vessel, the sudden loss of matter causing a gush of blood to spill out of the wound.

Moira and her knight raced past John, faint wisps of golden light streaming off the Warden and the business end of her hammer aglow like a beacon. With a warcry of “For the Lady!” Moira brought her weapon down upon one of the monster’s knees, the light around the weapon intensifying when the blow connected. The joint shattered with a loud crack and the monster let out its most deafening cry yet, which only grew worse when the knight struck with his blade, the steel cutting a long line across the abomination’s exposed front.

The thing roiled back, its body twisting away with its limbs kicking up dirt. John raised an arm to protect his eyes from the flying soil and only caught a brief glimpse of something small dart towards them. While his vision was impaired, Arcane Sense was not and he tracked Beth as she ran towards the writhing monster, before she dropped to the ground, her hands pressed flat into the dirt.

John felt her magic surge out from her, speeding through the soil until it reached the abomination, where it began to adhere to its twisting body.

“Got you, ya bastard!” she exclaimed. “Not so easy to get up when you're all pretzeled up, is it!?”

The monster let out rage-filled snarls as it tried to wrench itself free of Beth’s adhesion, but with its body bent at odd angles and several of its limbs also trapped in awkward positions, it had been robbed of any way to apply proper leverage.

With the creature pinned, John, Moira and the knight attacked, the Gamer swapping back to his greatsword. Steel and wooden blades cleaved into its **** flesh and Moira's golden hammer rained down heavy blows.

Before long, the monster's cries became faint and its body grew still, and began to fade. John pulled back, head whipping around to survey the other fights only to find they were at their end as well.

The monster the Order knights had been fighting bore many deep lacerations along its body and a few limbs had been cleaved off. The men themselves looked to be unharmed, though some of their armor was now marked by scratches and shallow dents. With one final surge of attacks, they drove the twisted beast to the ground, where it began to disappear.

The one he'd burned was almost gone when John shifted his attention to it. Senka let the play-by-play filter to him. She and Beth had maintained their hold of the charred creature while Aeolia rained down slashes and Lynn peppered it with acid and poison until it expired.

John saw notifications pop in front of his eyes but he quickly pushed them to the background. He doubted he was going to get the chance to review them before Moira began to interrogate them.

‘Got any ideas?’ John asked Senka. ‘I don’t think I’ve got the mental energy to spin up a story.’

‘I think we’re going to have to bite the bullet and give out the truth,’ the spirit replied.

‘I don’t see going, ‘Oh, the ultimate goddess of everything gave me incentive to be sneaky about all this,’ is going to fly as a good excuse,’ John retorted.

‘At least we technically outnumber them,’ Senka thought.

‘Yeah, except most of us have been exerting ourselves and they’ve got knight training,’ John lamented. ‘I think the odds would be in their favor.’

Letting out a sigh, John willed his sword away, figuring that keeping it out would only make things tense.

“Guess we’re going to have to explain our playing hooky, huh,” Beth softly said as she walked up to John, wiping her hands on her pants, dirt smearing on them. John glanced down at her, blinking owlishly when he noticed her eyes were no longer the dark purple color they normally were, but now were amber.

“You got something new going on with your eyes?” Beth asked before he could comment on hers. “They're all golden.”

“Um, looks like we match, then,” John dumbly said. “Did you feel a jolt of power a few minutes back and think everything looks clearer now?”

“Yeah,” Beth answered. “Wait, did you unlock something…”

“More like something here did,” John cut her off, his sharpened vision catching Moira’s approach. “Time to face the music.”

“What, without me?” Aeolia asked as she landed on John’s shoulder. “Figured I should be on the front lines for this, seeing as how I basically started it.”

John knew that he ultimately started everything by Observing Kiera’s bracelet, but kept his mouth shut, not wanting to dredge up bad memories for the bluenette if she was close enough to hear.

The clomp of armored footsteps approached and John steeled himself for the confrontation, painfully aware that he was going to be the face of the party. He reached for the new power thrumming in his chest and mentally pushed it down, hoping that turned his eyes back to normal. He blinked and found the surroundings less vibrant, giving him the impression he succeeded.

“I don’t think there’s a good way to start this,” Moira said in a stiff, professional voice, her face still flushed from the battle.

“Uh, I think good morning works,” John tried to ease the tension. His attempt was met with a withering glare from the sole knight to remove his helmet, a man with a shaved head. At least Moira let a ghost of a smile flash across her face for a second before it was replaced with a neutral expression.

“Pleasantries aside, there are many issues that need to be addressed,” Moira smoothly continued. “And I feel it would be more prudent to conduct such discussions back at…”

“Back at a location of your choosing, I presume,” Harker’s voice cut in as he stepped up next to John. He was pale from exertion, but not at the level he had been after his ordeal on Monday.

Moira leveled a glare at the sanguimancer and asked, “Are you the leader of this group?”

“More of an adviser,” Harker answered, tilting his head towards John. “I hope that’s fine.”

John got he was directing that towards him and he was overwhelmingly grateful for his support as he nodded slightly.

“It ultimately does not matter who’s in charge,” Moira kept speaking. “This location clearly isn’t safe for holding such talks.”

“I think you’re overlooking something important, Warden,” Harker cooly said. “You’re the ones that have barged into this place uninvited. Things were going quite well until you arrived.”

Harker’s accusatory comment evoked some ire from the knights behind Moira and John thought they were about to rush to defend their leader’s honor when the bald knight glanced back, displeasure clear on his face. Whether it was at their lax discipline or Harker’s words wasn’t something John could divine.

Moira’s neutral expression began to crack as one of her eyelids twitched and her jaw tightened slightly.

“Be that as it may, the Pathway to this Kingdom is in an area under the Order’s protection,” Moira said, a note of harshness breaking into her voice. “We cannot allow for possible dangers to encroach upon us and endanger the peace.”

John felt Aeolia’s talons grip his shoulder tighter and he was afraid she was going to go off and call out Moira’s assertion of peace. He felt a slight pulse of anger from Senka and to his left Beth tensed up. Vivian was behind him, and he felt her usually calm aura lash out slightly, almost like how a star shoots out flares.

“Then for the sake of peace, let’s seek a compromise,” Harker tried to de-escalate the situation. “There’s no need for us to fight, especially after that unpleasantness from before. However, I think adjourning to a neutral location would go a long way to cooling things down.”

“Implying the Order won’t remain cordial?” Moira cracked, the imagined slight against her organization breaking her professional facade slightly.

“Oh, I believe the Order has the best intentions,” Harker said. “And that you will conduct yourself impeccably. However, my associates here are used to running on their own. Having you show up and start barking orders has done little to endear you to them.”

Moira took a breath to settle herself before locking eyes with Harker. “As much as that would be amenable, is there anything that could guarantee you would be at that location? Or that it wouldn’t be a trap? You don’t trust us, so how can we trust you?”

“Then we remain at an impasse as long as both of us prefer to keep things civil,” Harker remarked, before sighing. “I will be honest, in a contest of strength, we would likely lose.”

“Harker,” Lynn hissed. “What are you…”

The dark haired man raised his hand to quiet the alchemist, never taking his eyes off Moira. It clicked in John’s mind what the play was.

‘He’s presenting us as a group Moira’s could subdue,’ he thought. ‘He’s either trying to appeal to her sense of justice or call her bluff and **** a fight. But we really don’t have the power to fight. Most of those guys don’t even seem tired.’

‘A brilliant maneuver, but unneeded,’ a deep voice, gravely but clearly feminine, shot through John’s mind like thunder. ‘I will take things from here.’

The sky above them erupted into an aurora of greens, ranging from neon to ones almost black. A great pressure crashed down on everyone, like they were suddenly under meters of water but some inexplicable **** drew their eyes up, everyone’s necks straining under the effort.

The swirling green lights began to coalesce, gathering into a sphere floating directly above the World Tree. For a moment, the orb remained still and the enraptured audience’s breath followed suit. Then, it exploded with a flash of pure white light, a blinding nova that overcame whatever compulsion had taken them over, everyone flinching away from the brilliance.

The crushing weight around them faded, not completely, but enough that it was no longer anything more than a minor nuisance. The urge to look up remained, and with the light returned to the levels it had been prior, everyone gazed up, looks of shock dawning on their faces.

Above them, centered over the World Tree, was a dragon. Its serpentine body was mostly green, with wavy patterns of red running from neck to pitch black tail. Two sets of wings sprouted from its back, one close to its head, the other near the tail. Two pairs of limbs reached down, each tipped with sharp claws, mirroring the placement of the wings. White hair billowed around its head, a short pair of black horns with red and green tips peaking out like mountains through the clouds.

And deep red eyes looked down upon them.

“Now, let’s settle things civilly, shall we?”

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