Chương 7: Chapter 5 - The First Quest

The knock woke her. Karina opened her eyes to daylight leaking through the shutters. She wasn't sure when she'd finally fallen asleep, only that she hadn't finished.

"Hero?" Alyssia.

"Are you dressed?"

"Enough." Karina pushed the blanket aside and crossed the room. When she opened the door, Alyssia looked past her toward the bed.

"You slept?"

"Some."

"Good. I thought we could—""I want to ask the Guardian about the archives." Alyssia paused.

"Dashun," she said.

"You may address him by name. You're a hero. That title is for worshippers."

"Then I want to ask Dashun."

"About the archives?" Alyssia glanced past her once more before returning her attention to Karina.

"You said there were spells I could study. I'd like to see them."

"There will be time for that once—" Footsteps approached quickly from the far end of the corridor. Then a guard stopped beside Alyssia.

"The Guardian has requested both of you in the summoning chamber."

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"He said immediately." Karina looked from the guard to Alyssia. The priestess had stopped looking into her room. Whatever she'd been about to promise would have to wait. Karina stepped into the hallway before either of them could tell her to stay. The guard set off toward the hole in the wall, leaving her to tie her jacket as she followed. She'd wanted a chance to speak to Dashun. Now that she had one, Alyssia's expression made her less eager to use it. Alyssia drew alongside him.

"Has Cascad returned?" The guard shook his head before looking out toward the barrier through the hole in the wall.

"Dashun doesn't believe that he will be coming back, at least not before the—" A blue spark raced across the distant shimmer and climbed the curve of the barrier until it vanished above the broken wall.

"At least not before the barrier gives way," the guard said.

"We've barely been here a day. Most of our time was spent preparing for multiple summonings," Alyssia said.

"Are you certain that's what Dashun meant? For the demons to overwhelm it this quickly would be unprecedented and—" The guard slowed.

"From what he said, the demons aren't stronger. The barrier is weakening." He glanced toward Karina.

"As soon as this hero's summoning was complete, it began to decay at a rate we hadn't seen before." After Karina's summoning. That didn't mean because of it, but she wanted to know whether Dashun thought there was a difference.

"Something the Karash did?" Alyssia asked. Karina spoke up.

"Smoke Walking. Could it have damaged the barrier when it crossed?"

"It takes a concentrated ritual for the demons to teleport inside our walls," Alyssia said.

"A tremendous amount of effort. They usually save it for interrupting a summoning, as they did with yours."

"I'm not in a position to speculate about whether the Karash did something before arriving in the chamber," the guard said.

"My blood is mundane."

"Right," Alyssia said.

"Hero, we should go. We can continue our efforts later, once we've spoken to Dashun." Karina had meant to ask for a book. Now she needed to know whether Dashun thought she'd damaged the barrier. She needed an answer before she agreed to anything else. Alyssia slowed, keeping Karina beside her while the guard moved ahead. Once he was far enough down the hall that they could speak quietly, she leaned in.

"Hero, I know that we will be speaking to Dashun, who was privy to the ritual, but it's best that—""Don't talk about the Cinder Mage thing," Karina said.

"Got it." Alyssia raised her eyebrows.

"Don't promise more than we can demonstrate." Karina glanced at her.

"The fire in the training yard was coming easily. That's progress. But I would describe it as practice for now. We still don't know what you can reliably do."

"Reliably enough to make up for rejecting the Exemplar of the Sky?"

"You destroyed a Karash," Alyssia said.

"Then you collapsed. Yesterday you controlled a small flame, but can you control what you did in the cathedral?" Karina looked down at her hand.

"Not yet."

"That is what I mean."

"But you think it's possible?"

"We currently know nothing about your class beyond what you've read to me, hero. There may be something we've missed, or something in the archives that could help close the gap." Alyssia quickened her pace to follow the guard through the doorway.

"But I wouldn't count on it."

"To close the gap? What would it take?"

"Perhaps a blessing from one of the patron gods. Or some other divine creature. A dragon, given your affinity for fire," Alyssia said.

"But perhaps it's not something we should pursue while we're trying to maintain a low profile." A dragon. Karina wanted to ask what earning a blessing from one involved. The blue spark crossing the barrier was harder to put aside.

"A low profile as the only summoned hero when the barrier is about to break down?" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Alyssia clicked her tongue.

"Yes, hero. It will be difficult." The door to the Cathedral of Concentric Suns still lay shattered inward. Someone had cleaned the blood off the wall and swept the ash off the floor. The line Karina had cut through the stone still sizzled. At least a day had passed by her reckoning. The wall wasn't melting anymore, but it hadn't cooled. She could hear her own work from the doorway. No wonder Alyssia wanted her to be precise about what she could repeat. From the doorway, she could make sense of the cathedral.

There was still no place for worshippers. The worn summoning circle occupied the place of an altar, and the gold markings on the back wall belonged to a mural stretching up onto the ceiling. A figure held their arms wide, presenting the entire cathedral as a gift. Karina searched the face for the god she'd met between worlds. That being had been both man and woman, but neither face had resembled this one. She still couldn't tell whose cathedral she was standing in.

Dashun stood at the right edge of the summoning circle, his toes almost touching the gilded inlay. He'd traded his white ceremonial robes for a jacket and pants, though the cut still looked medieval beside Karina's clothes. She glanced down at the jacket she'd tied shut in the corridor. Its fabric was unfamiliar, but its shape wasn't. Someone here knew how to dress a person from her world. Had the clothes been waiting before she arrived? She put the question aside. First, the barrier. Five guards surrounded him.

Three wore the soldiers' uniforms Karina recognized; the other two wore lighter leather armor. Black, woven-metal bracers encircled the latter pair's wrists. She couldn't see a way to remove them. Dashun looked up as Alyssia's footsteps rang on the polished marble. His gaze lingered on Karina. He dismissed the guards from the circle, sending the lightly armored pair to his left and the soldiers to his right. All five stared at her as they moved. Karina hoped it was only because she was new. None of them smiled.

Dashun beckoned them closer and waited until they were within reach before speaking.

"Hero, thank you for joining me on such short notice. You are spending time in the training yards already, I hear."

"She's already controlling small flames, and–""Alas, a story for another time," Dashun said, looking past Alyssia to Karina.

"Hero, I had hoped not to ask something of you so soon."

"You already asked me to come to another world," Karina said.

"I see that rest has reawakened a sharp tongue you may have had in a previous life," Dashun said in the most polite way to say 'shut up' that Karina had ever heard.

"It is always curious in the first days, seeing how heroes reacquaint themselves with their personality."

"As the memory fog fades?"

"As the memory fog fades, Hero," Dashun said. He leaned in for a moment, speaking at a whisper.

"I do wish we had had time for a meeting before it came to this, but we will need to coordinate that somewhere within the protected borders of the–""We're retreating? This soon?" Alyssia asked. While Dashun had been speaking in a whisper, she was standing right beside Karina. To her credit, she kept her voice low as well.

"We are not retreating, child," Dashun said.

"The church must complete additional summonings before the barrier falls and hopefully last long enough that Cascad can return to protect us if it does." He looked out the window, as if that man would arrive at any minute.

"You and the hero must start back towards the protected lands, where she can complete her training." Alyssia flinched. Her gaze moved toward the summoning circle before she answered.

"As you wish."

"Not to put too fine a point on it with my sharp tongue," Karina began, proving Dashun's point, "but there are demons outside the barrier. If I'm heading outside the barrier–""Do not worry, Hero. The demons will retain their focus on the Cathedral for a time. A small group leaving shouldn't attract much attention. Certainly nothing beyond your capabilities as a hero."

"Well, that's the second point, isn't it? If I'm the only hero you've got, then doesn't it make sense to keep me here?"

"Hero, I–" Dashun hesitated. Karina watched him search for an answer. The guard's words returned to her: as soon as this hero's summoning was complete. Across the room, several guards were inspecting the scar she'd left in the stone. One leaned closer, then drew back from the heat. Their whispers sounded impressed. Dashun had looked at the same damage and decided she should leave.

"Hero," Dashun repeated as he finally found the words and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"A brave statement like that is befitting of your title, but you are still growing; you are only now touching the edge of your fates." Karina glanced at the hand on her shoulder but didn't remove it.

"What you did to the Karash was a confounding feat," Dashun said, lowering his voice.

"We do not know if you could repeat it were the demons to break the barrier. At the moment, the guards and other casters like myself are more powerful than you individually–but you have the capability to be far greater." Karina looked at the scar in the wall. She hadn't managed anything like it in the training yard. Whatever else Dashun was avoiding, he was right about that.

"The most important thing we can do at the moment is protect you as an investment in the future." He squeezed her shoulder, but then almost seemed hesitant to say the next words, like he was admitting something he shouldn't.

"I'm sure you will do great things. A story that begins with a Divine Class will be a mighty one, whether you accepted that class or not."

"That's certainly different from what you were telling me in the moment."

"I still believe you should have selected the Divine Class," Dashun said, "but we can only follow the fates we are offered. And you offered us a different path." He let go of her shoulder.

"Whether I agree with that path or not, I must accept it and walk it." He couldn't change her class. Karina wasn't sure why accepting that required so much talk of fate. Even the System used the word, as though choosing once meant agreeing to everything that followed. Ash caught at the back of her throat. She swallowed, but the taste remained. It was stronger here than it had been outside or in the infirmary. She glanced up at the painted figure overhead. Its open arms offered no explanation.

Alyssia lifted her gaze from the floor.

"Your Holiness, I do not mean to question your judgment, but sending the hero out alone…Even if they are likely to be ignored by the demons, it's certainly–""She will not be alone," Dashun said.

"You will accompa–""Sir." Alyssia straightened. Yesterday she'd offered to study with Karina. Leaving with her was apparently another matter.

"You need me here."

"I need someone I trust with her."

"And the next summoning?"

"I understand you expected to be part of the future summonings, and I've already diverted you from your standard duties due to the…irregular nature of the Hero's–""I think you can just talk about it. They're not listening." Karina nodded over to the guards, who had stopped poking at the scar in the wall and returned to their posts by the shattered door.

"Due to the irregular nature of the hero's summoning–" Dashun continued.

"But I cannot trust her in the hands of the guards who saw the summoning and might have harsh opinions of her actions… Nor those they have likely spoken to." Karina looked toward the guards. Dashun trusted them to defend the cathedral, but not to travel with her. She couldn't tell whether that was a warning about them or another reason he wanted her gone. He had shielded her from the light in the summoning circle. She could believe he wanted to keep her alive. That still left the question of what else he wanted.

Alyssia bit her tongue and refused to meet Dashun's eyes.

"Very well, I will leave the summoning to the others."

"Alyssia, I understand that you were–""My opinions on the matter do not change my duty," she said. The tightness in her shoulders and the long blink that came alongside the statement betrayed everything between the words.

"When should the hero and I take our leave?" They were discussing when she would leave. Karina hadn't agreed to go. She could refuse, insist on the training she'd been promised, demand a place behind the barrier. But she still didn't know why it was failing. Dashun met her gaze as she drew breath to speak. She held it. There was one question she needed answered before arguing about the road. She lowered her voice.

"Does sending me away help the barrier?" Alyssia turned toward her.

"The guard said it started weakening after my summoning." Dashun withdrew his hands into his sleeves, speaking at a careful whisper.

"We haven't established the cause."

"But you think it could be me."

"I cannot dismiss the possibility." Karina looked toward the windows.

"Then I'd like to know whether it improves after I leave."

"So would I," Dashun said. Leaving would at least give them a way to test the possibility. Karina wished that made the road sound safer. Dashun turned to Alyssia and raised his voice.

"You and the hero should leave soon, while the sun is high enough to see your footing on the path. Make camp outside the walls after nightfall, then travel by the light of the blessed day."

"As you wish," Alyssia said, choking back several other things. She bowed at the end. Karina didn't match her.

"Is it just going to be the two of us on the open road?" Karina asked.

"You were just telling me that I was still weak and–""Of course not," Dashun said.

"Typically, a hero would move with a party of five, four assistants to join them on their quest and work as a squadron together when they entered the war." He looked toward the door.

"Due to the irregular circumstances–which you understand already–I do not have that many to offer you, but there is one other who has been waiting for a chance to join a hero on their quest." For a brief moment, he met Alyssia's gaze.

"A man looking for redemption." Alyssia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Is there not anyone else in the–""Not in these circumstances." Another deep breath, if only because it was the most frustration Alyssia would allow herself to outwardly express.

"Very well. Hero, let us go to the prison and get our companion."