After giving a final wave to her mentor, Phoenix stepped through her portal to the front gates of the fortress city of Linnake. It was strategically perched at the top of a cliff that dropped down into the northern sea while the cliffs east of the town dropped into the gorge that ran south for miles.

  She had already been there a few times for deliveries as well as her trial to become an Adventurer months ago, back before the crazy spike in monster spawns that came with the blood moon. The city seemed worse for wear now, its outer walls marked with obvious signs of attacks, and everything beyond the walls seemed covered in yers of white and blue ash –the monster remains from the nightly attacks.

  The guards and other Adventurers currently stationed there were obviously happy at their arrival again, even if they wouldn’t be staying long to help with the defense.

  They were quickly allowed their entrance into the town that had been enchanted against directly portaling into it for an added level of security. Portaling out of the various fortress towns was easily doable, but the walls had all been upgraded long ago to prevent malicious Casters from bypassing the defenses to easily cause havoc from within.

  The party was slightly on edge with the threat of bandits. Still, the commander of the fort that greeted their delivery reported that only a handful of Crystal Caste monster packs had attacked during the previous night. There was no sign of enemy movements yet this morning.

  Dazien handled most of the transfer paperwork for the party as the rest of them helped unload crates of supplies out of Uriel’s conjured fortress, their leader’s golden doorway, and her own collection, which she hadn’t fully tested the limits of yet. So far, it felt like there wasn’t a limit, but she hadn’t been hoarding much.

  Phoenix had been fairly quiet that morning, trying to come to grips with the idea of running into bandits for a while now. She was doing her best to try and reconcile her values of desiring to save lives with the need to take them instead.

  She didn’t want to become like the people who hurt her, but she now understood that the world was a safer pce without them in it after the multiple attempts to kill her. She didn’t want her indecision to cause more people to end up experiencing the trauma that she had at the hands of people like Murinah or the obsessive noble’s father.

  They finished their first delivery by mid-afternoon, and Phoenix portaled them to their next location to the south, tucked away in a small forest of tall evergreens, Vallinsarvi. When Phoenix followed the rest of her party through the portal, she was startled to run into Rayna’s back, almost tripping over her bristling tails.

  Phoenix heard the battle before she saw the fmes that were peeking out from the high walls of the fortress town. Screams filtered past the broken gates that were lying as twisted pieces of metal before them.

  Her [Guide Book] appeared, but she didn’t stop to read it; instead, she unleashed her auras to absorb the information. Ta merged into her as she began to move forward towards whatever threat had befallen the city with her [Starlight Companion] trailing over her shadowy shoulder.

  New Quest: Attack of Opportunity

  The vilge is under attack by monsters, and bandits have taken advantage!

  Objective: Help defeat twenty of the invaders.

  Reward: Epic Crystal Caste Spirit Gem.

  “Rayna! Go back through the portal and inform the commander there of what’s happening, then return to us. We’ll go find the commander here and help defend!” Dazien ordered as he followed behind her.

  “Got it. I’ll let you know when I get back, and you can give directions,” the bard confirmed before ducking back through the portal Phoenix had left open.

  As they made their way past the wreckage that was once an enchanted steel gate, they were met with utter chaos as a mass of half-metallic monsters with scythes for arms, green hairless bodies with goat-like legs that reminded her of a satyr, patches of stitched-in metal pting sporadically pced, and heads simir to a mantis were wreaking havoc on the packed city and its residents. Aside from the monsters, however, there was a variety of rough-looking people dressed mostly in bck who were equally destructive.

  “What are those?” Phoenix asked, having never seen that type of monster before.

  Both Uriel and her book answered at the same time, “Shivs; really good at cutting through armor.”

  Species: Shiv (Monster)

  Machina not of this world that are usually attuned to Metal magic.

  Caste: Crystal

  “They don’t spawn very often,” Uriel continued as he began removing the Silencer around his neck, “Considered highly dangerous, and I’ve never heard of them spawning during a blood moon before. Though, that’s either just good luck or…”

  “No survivors were left to report it,” Dazien finished for him.

  Conjuring his armor and weapons directly on him, the Defender triggered his [Lead the Charge] ability and smmed one of the bck-cd raiders against one of the building walls. She heard Uriel begin to cast [Pgue Bearer] beside her, and she felt the effects of Saiya’s [Boon of the Banced] trigger as the Healer followed closely behind them.

  The raiders were battling with the few guards that were attempting to protect the city, and a couple of the enemies were breaking into nearby buildings. Phoenix assumed it was in order to steal whatever they could, and she suddenly worried for the safety of the civilians within who might get in their way.

  “We need to reinforce the local fighters; they can help battle the monsters while we focus on the bandits who are the greater threat,” Dazien commanded through his communication power that Phoenix and Uriel were always part of, but Rayna and Saiya had joined again before leaving Tulimeir.

  “Once we’ve secured a location to fall back to, we can start searching the surrounding buildings. Uriel, keep to the single target abilities with all these civilians around. Saiya, keep the buffs going and heal up those we rescue. Phoenix,” he gave her a brief look from a few meters away that also served as a silent message that he was trusting her not to freeze this time, “I need you to act as the beacon.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him as the others already began to move into action, “I’m not familiar with that formation.”

  “Spread your aura as far as you can. Try to push it beyond your normal limits. It will let the people know that we’re here and help protect them. While you do that, leverage your retivity power to push enemies back and bring allies to safety when possible,” he quickly expined as he seemed to be searching around before stopping in an open street intersection. Then Dazien triggered an ability he didn’t normally use in their high-mobility fights.

  Css Ability: King’s Banner

  Type: Utility (boon, construct, zone, magical, covenant)

  Cost: Moderate mana.

  Cooldown: 10 minutes.

  Current Caste: Crystal 7 (99%)

  Crystal Effect: Construct a battle standard that creates a zone around it, granting nearby allies increased regeneration and Fortitude.

  A golden standard bearing a dark purple fg with a golden crown embzoned on it appeared in Dazien’s hand as he pnted it into the stone ground, and Phoenix could feel the pulse of magic spread out from it. She pushed against her limits as she projected her aura as far as she could, trying to shield as many people as possible.

  “I’m back,” Rayna’s voice came over the mental link, “I can feel Phoenix’s aura from here, so I’ll head your way.”

  “Make some music on your way,” Dazien directed as he charged towards another raider down the street who was trying to break down a door.

  Phoenix could make out the cluster of different auras around her and was grateful for all the training Paul had put her through to hone her aura senses to read people and pinpoint their locations. There were dozens of Crystal Caste monster auras mixed in with a handful of Crystal Casters and only a pair of Sapphire Casters. All the others she could sense were Mundanes, though: civilians. Fear and anger saturated almost every aura except for a few that actually felt… excited?

  Phoenix shook herself from her thoughts and focused on the battle at hand as her party continued to engage the enemy. Dazien was slowly moving away from the intersection where his zone offered protection, only turning back briefly to look at her as he gave his st order, “Stay by the banner and no meteors inside the city!”

  As her teammates moved in on the closest enemies that were battling town guards, Phoenix braced herself against the metal pole of the banner. She pushed bandits away and used her magically constructed [Night Bde] to attempt to snipe any monsters that wandered too close.

  Civilians began gathering around her as Saiya worked tirelessly among them to heal up the worst of their wounds, and Uriel kept his distance from the people to cast his spells on the monsters that were ill-suited for the armored gemite. Rayna was a leaf on the wind as she sang and smashed monsters that came too near to the zone of safety the party was creating.

  Dazien put on the best show of leadership she had seen from him to date as he directed the local guards and rescued civilians caught in the open, forming a perimeter of protection that slowly expanded as buildings were cleared and their number of allies increased.

  Once there were enough guards near the banner that they felt comfortable enough to start their own rger sweeps, the group reunited at the banner, which Dazien refreshed once more before giving new orders.

  “Phoenix, good job on the beacon. I want you to keep that going, but start making a counter-clockwise circle around the city to inform the citizens of this location if they’re in the open or if their building has been compromised. Uriel, I want you to go the opposite direction.”

  “Why him and not me?” Rayna questioned; even Phoenix was curious as the faster bard was usually the one tasked with joining her on more mobile tasks.

  “Because he’s being wasted so close to the crowd of people,” Dazien expined with a slight huff of annoyance, “And the enemy has become less congested over here. He can take the other route and keep casting his pgue and frost on the monsters.” He met Uriel’s gaze and added, “If you get a clearing, make it rain, and take the opportunity to practice actually using your aura.”

  “But the civilians–”

  “Will be better off nicked by your aura than cut down by a Shiv,” their leader pointed out, cutting off his protests. Dazien’s expression softened as he pced a hand on the rger man’s shoulder, “This is the time to use it for good, Senesh.”

  Uriel silently nodded, and Dazien continued his directions with the twins, “Rayna, I want you to defend this location. You’re fast enough to respond to whichever direction an enemy might come from, and Lady Saiya can continue healing those who make their way over here.”

  “And what are you pnning to do?” the bard asked, sounding more curiosity than in objection.

  “I’ll be cutting through the center.”

  “That’s where I sensed the Sapphire Casters,” Phoenix interjected in concern.

  “Based on what the guards told me, I believe it’s the fort commander and the leader of these raiders dueling,” Dazien expined. “I’m hoping to find more guards of higher stations there that can help our efforts here to expand the perimeter and protect the people. So hurry, but be cautious.”

  With the dismissal, Phoenix went to the left to circle around the city, using her aura to signal to allies about her presence. Shells of sunlight, fairies of starlight, and hugging shadows protected the people nearby and helped her notice some of them trying to hide away. She cast her [Call of the Abyss] on any enemy she saw and buried her bdes into the fleshy parts of the Shivs attacking the buildings themselves.

  “Let dreams become reality,” Phoenix muttered as she moved, conjuring little starlight phoenixes that would find any civilians that were out in the open and lead them back toward safety.

  Phoenix ran into more guards and even a few scattered Crystal Casters, who had also been stationed there initially and were doing what they could. She directed them to the staging location with another illusory phoenix to act as a guide before returning to carve her way through any straggling monsters.

  She investigated every Crystal Caste aura she sensed as she went, mostly finding monsters fighting guards, until she came upon a lone Crystal Caster that was inside a building; it was one of the auras that was not feeling fear but glee.