The Summit 2 - Recounting Sight

“Given that we’re sitting here and not going after them, that is a bold claim to make,” Lord Brighton said, his attention shifting to Martius, eyes sharp.

“I will confess that while that was the end goal, we did fall slightly short of it,” the gnome remarked. “However, we were on track, and discovered a means to tap into the residual psychic imprints left upon the artifact.”

A sharp gasp tore itself from the seer’s throat as her head snapped towards Harker, her fair skin growing pale.

“You lived through someone’s demise,” she whispered aghast.

Harker nodded solemnly. “Indeed I did. When the blade was stolen, Flora employed it to curse me. Martius’ machine used that to link back to the blade.”

“And while at first, we were only trying to locate the artifact, we found that connection allowed Harker to gain psychic impressions from it,” Martius continued. “Initially, we believed it to be limited to the weapon’s user, a woman named Flora, but we discovered that there were lingering imprints from the victims.”

John felt Aeolia tense next to him and he couldn’t blame her for it. They knew they would have to recount the demise of the Dawnseekers, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“I lived the final moments of an avenfae man named Zeph,” Harker recounted. “I believe you’ve already been informed of the aftermath of that event.”

Moira looked over towards John before she locked her eyes on Aeolia. “The note you left in my locker. You were a member of their group, weren’t you?”

Aeolia swallowed. “Yeah. Guess this is where I fill in some details. I was there and would have died if Zeph didn’t warp the barrier and throw me into a pocket space.”

“That might be how the barrier remained active for a few days,” the bald knight muttered.

Aeolia shrugged slightly. “He was always good with that sort of stuff, but I couldn’t tell you how he did it. Anyway, we were hired to clear some barriers of pests and it started off normal. But the last one was empty. And when we tried to leave, we were locked in. One of them summoned a mist that kept us blind and another summoned a number of vine hounds to attack us.”

Aeolia took a breath and John gave in to his instincts and offered her his hand under the table. He barely touched her before her hand clamped down around his, squeezing tightly for reassurance.

“Cut off from each other, we were slowly beaten down,” Aeolia continued. “Never attacked hard enough to down anyone, but kept us occupied and separated us. I was lucky to find Zeph before they activated whatever spell they used… to take our blood. He handed me a crystal that he’d been using to try and understand our enemy’s mana so we could track the hounds. I got knocked out by one and Zeph put me in a pocket of the barrier. When I got out, everyone was dead.”

She trailed off, her voice flat and devoid of emotion. And Harker picked up where she left off.

“Thanks to Martius’ device, I experienced Zeph’s final minutes. He valiantly tried to save everyone, but time and the pressure of the blood draining spell worked against his efforts,” he elaborated.

“It was in the aftermath of that vision that I noticed something in the signal we were able to detect from the artifact,” Martius cut in. “Some of the psychic signatures weren’t imprints but live connections. Six of them, as far as my instruments could discern. And with only a small adjustment, Harker could reach out to them.”

John caught Kiera stiffening as Martius brought up her former connection, something he was sure the Order noticed. They were reaching the point that worried him the most: what would their reaction be to her prior affiliation with their enemy? Would they consider her being practically a prisoner to them a mitigating factor or dismiss that and lump her in with the rest of them when casting judgment?

If that was to happen, things could go sour very, very fast.

“Most of the impressions I could discern of the living connected to the sword were the sort you would associate with people willing to engage in blood sacrifices, full of anger and aggressive restlessness,” Harker recounted. “Except for one. One that was radiating nervousness. I believed them to be a hostage of some sort.”

“But the truth is more murky, isn’t it?” Lord Brighton asked, his eyes flicking towards Kiera for a moment.

Harker opened his mouth in response but Kiera beat him to the punch.

“Yes, it is,” she said. Her voice was barely a whisper, but there was a firmness to it. John couldn’t help but cast a glance at Verida. The goddess’ expression remained neutral but John felt a small twinge through their mental link.

‘I will not let anything befall her,’ Verida assured him. ‘She is the one who wants to broach this herself. To not appear like she’s hiding.’

“I was working for them,” Kiera revealed, her eyes firmly locked on the table in front of her. “T-the boss found me a few years ago, before… Before the artifact came into play. When Phantom Reach was just a mercenary ****. When… it came to us, that’s when things changed. I didn’t want to help them, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go, and then they added my blood to the… thing. Then I couldn’t leave.”

John found something odd about Kiera’s account. Even with the gaps in her memory, she could substitute in things missing from her own mind with information taken from them. Why did it seem like when she tried to refer to Flora or the sword, her mind seemed to skip? Had they missed some sort of mental block on her by avoiding bringing up things in an attempt to not cause Kiera further distress?

And from the creased frown on Lord Brighton’s face, it wasn’t something he missed.

“‘Phantom Reach’, hmm,” the leader of the Order muttered. “We’ll have to look into that.”

“From what we were able to dig up, they were a mercenary band that went dark a few years ago,” John supplied, hoping his interjection would take attention away from Kiera.

“And just when was the sword stolen?” Brighton asked, his gaze turning to Harker.

“It’s been around a year,” Harker answered, his eyes narrowed. “If you are implying this was some long term operation by them, I don’t see how they would have known about the sword before that.”

“I can think of a few ways,” Brighton countered. “If you had no countermeasures, scrying would be the most simplistic answer. But, I suppose we have someone who can answer that for us.”

He looked right at Kiera with a hard look in his eyes. “Do you know when this plot was established?”

“I, I don’t, um,” Kiera stuttered out, her eyes growing glassy.

“That’s enough,” Verida’s stern voice rang out, a shimmer of her power shaking the room. “Kiera’s liberation from Phantom Reach was not without its consequences. She was rendered somewhat catatonic by an experience we will touch upon, but that requires more elements of our account to be known.”

“And I presume that has to do with how you got involved in all this?” Lord Brighton asked, his steely gaze turning to John.

“Yeah,” John sighed, before giving Harker a sideways glance to make sure he had no more to divulge at the moment. The sanguinmancer nodded slightly. “So, it all started on Monday, when I woke up with a text box floating above my head.”

John quickly ran through his early experiences with his powers, keeping the more racy elements hidden. He was a little surprised to see how muted their reactions were to him being a Late Bloomer, but he supposed that Moira must have presented it as why he had gone unnoticed before. Regardless, he continued on, explaining how he’d been pulled into a barrier and nearly attacked by vine hounds before Aeolia broke in.

“And this event was around noon on Monday, correct?” Lord Brighton interrupted, his head turning slightly towards Moira before returning to intently focus on John.

John nodded. “Yes, I was headed to lunch when it happened. I’m guessing you’re wondering how it could have happened without anyone noticing?”

Lord Brighton dipped his head. “That it happened at the academy is troubling enough. But the fact that the attack the night before and the one on Sunday also were obscured from us pushed it from a lucky occurrence for our enemy to something more nefarious.”

“So you know about that attack,” John muttered.

‘I guess that’s what spurred them on to look for missing students on Monday,’ Senka thought.

‘I’d put money on it,’ John agreed. ‘Not a large leap to assume a random parking lot attack was an opportunistic hit on a leak.’

“After your tip, we of course became more vigilant,” Brighton said with a small sense of indignation. “However, even being prepared, we were not able to detect that attack for hours. Something is hiding their activity. And I have to wonder how that’s being accomplished.”

He finished speaking and looked right at Kiera.

“I don’t-” she sputtered. “I never heard anything like that. Not that I can remember.”

Lord Brighton studied her for a moment longer then turned his attention back to John. “I believe a recounting of the Sunday attack is needed. By the time we arrived, it had collapsed.”

“I believe there’s a bit of info from beforehand that should be said to set why the attack happened,” Harker interjected.

“O-one of the members didn’t like that John and Aeolia beat his summons,” Kiera supplied in a small voice. “B-bill made me keep track of him. And on Sunday, when he was alone, he threw up a trap barrier and attacked.”

“I was tagging along,” Harker smoothly continued before casting a glance towards Martius. “And we believe that was one of the reasons things took an interesting turn.”

“Aye,” Martius added. “By tapping into the blood link, we created a way for a third party to reach out.”

“This sealed elf prince,” Brighton stated.

“In part, yes,” Harker picked up again. “Though, I believe there’s one more piece to the equation. Newman?”

“Right,” John said, pulling the Tree-Sage’s Ring off his finger, placing it on the table. “During our fight, Bill began to tap into what we assume to be the power being stored up in the blade. Even from the start, it seemed like he had more mana than he should have. But when we pushed him too far, he started to get overtaken by something. And because of how my ability works, I got pulled into it.”

“I was wondering if you were going to explain that,” Brighton murmured.

“Well, for the most part it wasn’t relevant,” John said, willing the display for the ring into being. As he did, Ms Varnik’s head tilted slightly to one side, her lips drawn into a small frown. “To keep it brief, my powers are based on video games and it generates real items, either copies of things that already exist or just summons them for me when I complete certain challenges. This ring, and the sword I used yesterday, are likely from Amarlis, at least in the broadest sense. They heated up right before I was dragged into a vision our attacker, as well as Harker and Kiera, experienced.”

“May I?” Lord Brighton asked, gesturing to the ring. When John nodded, he picked it up and inspected it. “That’s a rather hefty claim. I do not want to believe you would be so bold to lie right to our faces, but such an ability would be quite the power to possess. And, given the requirements you mentioned, I don’t think a demonstration is something you can offer right now.”

“No, but there is something I can do that might help,” John said, readying his ploy. “Since my powers are modeled on video games, I can invite people into my ‘party’ which lets them see some of the things my powers show me. In particular, the information my scrying ability gives me. If you’ll allow it, I can use that on you and you can review to see how truthful my abilities are.”

Lord Brighton’s gaze was frosty as he studied John, and the Gamer did his best to maintain a steady expression. Senka’s reassuring presence helped slightly, but he was acutely aware of how dry his throat was and glad they were seated given how weak his legs felt.

“I like to believe that I have a good eye regarding people,” Brighton’s baritone voice broke the tension as he handed back the ring. “I’d hate for that to be disproven today. You may use your ‘skill’ on me.”

‘Man, I’m glad I’m an upstanding sort of guy,’ John thought. ‘Really don’t want to know what he’d do if he caught me pulling a fast one. Wait, I should probably warn him about the Libido stuff beforehand.’

‘Good thing you decided to grab some note paper,’ Senka quipped.

‘Yeah, I really don’t want to even think how I’d say, ‘The thing I’m about to show you will reflect your sexual experience.’ Hell, I don’t really know how I’m going to write it,’ John bemoaned.

‘You can always just write something like, ‘This will show some personal details. Just want to prepare you.’ Sounds like that should be enough,’ Senka advised.

‘Better than nothing,’ John thought and summoned the binding pen and a piece of paper, quickly scrawling down the warning. Seeing Lord Brighton’s curious stare, he sped up his writing and slid him the note.

“Just something I don’t think anyone else needs to hear regarding what you’re about to see,” John said.

Brighton cocked an eyebrow and picked up the note. His expression remained steady as he read it, giving no indication as to his thoughts about John’s revelation, then he folded the paper and put it back on the table.

“You may begin,” the Order’s leader calmly intoned.

With the eyes of everyone on him, John swallowed and said, “Invite Lord Brighton to Gamer Party.”

The display popped into being right before Lord Brighton’s face. He gave no indication that he had been surprised by the sudden appearance of the screen and only tapped to accept the invitation. With him keyed in, John fired off an Observe, quickly turning his gaze to avoid actually seeing the displayed information.

With somewhat clumsy movements that must have looked silly to everyone who couldn’t see his sheets, John maneuvered it so Lord Brighton could read it. John’s gut churned in anticipation. He knew the Order believing the rest of what they had to say was predicated on them putting stock in the idea that his powers revealed truthful information.

“You certainly have an interesting ability, Mr. Newman,” Lord Brighton said after a long moment. “You may dismiss this and undo the magic that links us. I have seen enough.”

John did just that and Lord Brighton continued, “For now, I will weigh your story with a degree of believability. You may continue.”

John nodded and began to recount the vision: the ruined cityscape, the tower, those that had been assembled, the attack by who they assumed was the corrupted and bound elven prince. Harker added in his own experience and Kiera revealed having only flashes of memory of the event.

“When it was over, Bill was supercharged,” John said. “He rapidly healed from the fire we used to fight him and he summoned even stronger hounds to attack us. He was surrounded by a blood-red aura that sort of ate away at my magic, canceling out any lingering effects and preventing me from casting anything.”

John paused before continuing, “We held him off until aid could come. But that’s when the aura around Bill changed.”

“There was another presence,” Teri chimed in, her voice slightly quiet. “One that was far more malevolent than the hound summoner. That’s when John told me that his ring and sword reacted when that power appeared. And he believed I could draw out a countering power. I performed an empowering rite on his sword and touched the presence of a god.”

“Yerda, my progenitor,” Verdia interected. “She used Teri’s small ritual to not only empower John but sow the seed for my birth, entwining my power to the world tree seed that became Pruzonia.”

“With that boost, I was able to drive back Bill,” John picked the tale back up. “It wasn’t enough and my sword broke. Before he could squeeze me to ****, I managed to stab him with a piece of the blade.”

John summoned one of the blade shards and put it on the table. The seer let out a small gasp as he did, giving him the idea that she could detect the lingering presence of Yerda still in the wood.

“Stabbing him caused the aura to go haywire before it began to fade away,” John continued. “But, it wasn’t Bill in the captain’s chair anymore. Observe ID’d him as a man named Helmas of the Crimson Dynasty. He was, I guess, possessing Bill as he died. I couldn’t read his level, but he seemed confident he could have dealt with us easily. And then he extolled his leader and ended his possession, letting Bill die.”

A silence passed over the table for a moment before Seer Varnik lightly coughed.

“May I see that splinter?” she asked, nodding her head towards the blade fragment.

“Sure,” John answered, picking up the piece of hallowed wood. “It’s not the one I stabbed Bill with. We left that one in the barrier, so I guess it's gone.”

“I’m more interested in the power you claim to have drawn through this,” the seer softly said as he passed the shard to her. The moment the wood touched her skin, she drew in a deep breath, akin to how one does when stepping into cold water. She carefully pulled her arm back, fingers gingerly cupped around the splinter, as if any unneeded pressure would cause it to break.

The seer examined the piece of wood for nearly a minute, her pale fingers running along every inch of its surface. Then, with the same level of care, she presented it back to John.

“Thank you for allowing me to examine this,” she graciously intoned with a bow of her head.

“No problem,” John replied, willing it back into his inventory right from her opened palm. The seer withdrew her arm and turned her head to Lord Brighton, a silent conversion between them playing out in an instant.

Lord Brighton cleared his throat. “Your account has certainly brought up some interesting points. I believe we will need a few minutes to collect our thoughts about how to proceed.”

“We shall take a recess then,” Verida said. “Please, avail yourself of this chamber. We shall leave until you are ready to continue.”