TS5: Chapter 26 (Patreon)

When Velin and the others arrived at the place they had arranged to meet Thorn, he wasn't there yet, but somebody else was. Recognizing Consecrate Kendal from Thorn's description, Mina walked over to him, holding out her hand.

"Hi, you must be Kendal. I'm Mina, one of Thorn's companions."

Startled by the introduction, Kendal stared at her hand for a moment and then took it, bowing over it.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Consecrate Kendal. I worked with Prime Ascendant Thorn in the Renith Ruins.”

“You're going to be joining us for this, right?"

"That's my hope," Kendal said, "as long as there's a place."

"There should be," Velin replied, walking over. "My name is Velin, Thorn's wife."

"Ah, Lady Velin." Consecrate Kendal took a small step back, his eyes going wide. "It is an honor to meet you."

This time he bowed deeply and he didn't straighten up until Velin patted him on the shoulder.

"There's no need for that," she said.

"You’ll quickly learn that this team isn’t very formal," Stello added.

Ever since the Vantor clan had agreed not to hunt him anymore, Stello had been walking around with his real face, so the Consecrate recognized him at once.

"Master Stello, I trust you've been well since we last met?"

"Quite, thanks to Thorn. It's nice to have you join us Kendal.”

“Allow me to introduce Corvo and Alph," Velin said, gesturing to the two men standing nearby.

With introductions done, Mina began looking around and soon spotted the other teams that were entering the courtyard where they were gathering. A few minutes later, Ascendant Quilla arrived, bringing a young woman and young man with him. Pausing for a moment when he entered the courtyard, he looked around, hurrying over after he spotted them.

"Is Prime Ascendant Thorn not here yet?" he asked.

"No, he'll be a few minutes more," Velin replied.

"He's famous for cutting it close," Mina said. "I don't think I know your two companions. Hi, I'm Mina."

The young woman, accompanying Ascendant Quilla, stepped forward and shook Mina's hand.

"Pel Sabra," she said. "You can call me Pel. And this is Ascendant Kessel," Vesna added, introducing the young man.

"The Sabra and Kessel family have asked if they can join us, and my father agreed."

Somewhat surprised to see that the Quilla family had sold both extra retainer positions, Velin gave Vesna an appraising look. Though he didn't seem thrilled, it was obvious that he wasn't too upset, so she didn't make a point of it.

"While we're waiting for Thorn," she said, "why don't we go around and introduce ourselves properly? We'd love to hear what sorts of roles you typically play in a team."

"Close range swordsman," Ascendant Kessel said with a haughty look, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rolling her eyes at him, Pel smiled at the others.

"Range damage is my specialty, using a bow.”

“I prefer to be on the front lines as well," Vesna said, patting the handle of the sword that stuck up over his shoulder.

Seeing Velin's gaze turning towards him, Consecrate Kendal cleared his throat.

"Ahem, most of my abilities are support abilities," he said. "I have a little bit of frontline damage, but prefer to hold a healer's position."

"That's wonderful," Velin said, giving him an encouraging smile. "That means you'll be with me. My abilities primarily revolve around support as well. I'm also the party's tactician and vice leader."

Her statement didn't bother Pel or Vesna, but Ascendant Kessel frowned when he heard it, and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something. Before he could, Corvo stepped in.

"I'm a scout," he said. "Information gathering and trap detection. Stuff like that."

After he finished speaking, he gestured to Mina, who said, "I'm a mid-range mage with a lot of crowd control."

"Crowd control?" Vesna, Pel, and Ascendant Kessel didn't understand the term, so Mina quickly explained.

"Yes, I'm very good at controlling enemy movement," she said. "My specialty is ice, and so I tend to slow or freeze enemies."

"Oh, that sounds very helpful," Pel said. "Makes them much easier to hit."

"Exactly."

Stello was next, and gave the Ascendants a short bow, holding his staff by his side.

"I'm a frontline striker," he said. "I mean, frontline damage, like Ascendant Kessel."

Once again, Ascendant Kessel seemed to take offense, drawing himself up like he was going to respond, but Velin cut him off.

"Alph, why don't you introduce yourself next?"

"Oh, sure," Alph said, a potion bottle appearing in his hand. "I do a little bit of everything, though not so much close-range combat. I mean, I can do close-range combat, but you typically want to be really far away when the potions hit. I'm getting better at it, though. I'm sort of a hybrid support damage dealer. Close-range, mid-range, far-range, really, really, really far-range, whatever you need."

"And this is Akira," Velin said, gesturing to the ailuridae on her shoulder. "She's Thorn's battle pet."

"Battle pet? You mean Thorn's a tamer," Ascendant Quilla asked, giving Akira a curious look.

"She's so cute," Pel said, staring at Akira with wide eyes. "Can I pet her?"

"That's not for me to say," Velin replied, holding up her hands. "You'll have to ask Akira herself."

"She's as smart as any of us here," Mina added, only to roll her eyes when she heard Alph's subtle cough. "Well, maybe not Alph, but the rest of us, certainly."

Looking hopefully at Akira, Pel reached in her pouch and pulled out a small wrapped candy.

"Would you like a candy?" She asked, her eyes never leaving Akira.

Hesitating for only a brief moment, Akira nodded, and in the next moment, jumped down and pranced over to where Pel was standing, her tails waving behind her. Getting up on her hind legs, she reached for the candy, causing Pel to giggle with excitement.

"You are so cute," she said, as she gave Akira the candy.

Holding it delicately between two claws, Akira sniffed it, and then licked it, turning it over in her hands.

"Should I show you how to unwrap it?" Pel asked, earning herself a scornful look from Akira.

One of her tails shifted, and a faint breeze picked up around them, as the candy began to float. Rapidly, the wrapper rapidly slipped off, leaving the delicious candy behind. Biting it carefully between her teeth, Akira pranced back over to where Velin stood, the wrapper fluttering in the air over her head like a butterfly. Reaching out to grab the wrapper, Velin tucked it away in her pouch, and checked the message that had just come from Thorn.

"It looks like Thorn will be a few more minutes," she said, "but he should be here in plenty of time."

"Looks like we might have trouble heading our direction," Corvo said quietly, causing Velin's gaze to narrow as she looked in the direction he was pointing.

The other five teams were all gathered at this point, and a group from Joresh's team was headed their way. At the front was Joresh himself, his gaze firmly fixed on Velin. Almost immediately, the team closed in around her, Mina stepping in front of her, while Alph and Corvo stood on either side. It only took a second for Stello and Consecrate Kendall to realize what was happening, and both of them joined Mina, forming a solid line in front of Velin.

The other three Ascendants were taken aback, only realizing the situation when Joresh called out to Velin.

"Hello, I don't think we've met before. I've never seen you in the temple. Believe me, I would remember someone as beautiful as you."

The soft breeze that Akira had summoned turned glacial as mana began to build up around Mina’s hand and Velin shifted one foot forward slightly, his staff shifting to allow for an easy draw.

If Joresh noticed the tension in the air, he didn't let on. His eyes were fixed on Velin, and he continued towards her, as if he wanted to push past Mina and the others. When none of them gave way, he stopped, a hint of irritation flickering through his eyes.

"My name is Joresh Tuma. I am a Prime Ascendant and the direct inheritor of Guardian Tuma's bloody blade."

Pride was evident in his voice, and that flash of irritation returned when Mina interrupted him.

"Nice to meet you, Prime Ascendant Joresh. My name is Mina, one of Prime Ascendant Thorin's retainers."

"A retainer that clearly doesn’t know her place. Get out of my way, I'm not speaking to you.”

Flashing a grin that was not even remotely friendly at Joresh, Mina shook her head.

“I don't take orders from anybody but the boss," she said, her wand appearing in her hand, “and I'd appreciate it if you'd take a step back before things turn sour."

"What are you doing?” Ascendant Kessel hissed, glaring at Mina. "Show respect when you're talking to a Prime Ascendant."

Ignoring Ascendant Kessel, Mina maintained eye contact with Joresh as he glared down at her, never once wavering. A tense moment passed and though Joresh didn't seem particularly frightened by Mina, he still took a step backwards. As he did, he looked over the group properly for the first time. Previously, he had only had eyes for Velin, but now he assessed each member of the group carefully. The only people who gave him pause were Stello and Velin, and after deciding that the elven swordsman wasn't likely to be a threat, he ignored everyone else and continued speaking to Velin.

"You haven't introduced yourself yet. That's not very polite, you know."

Bristling, Mina was about to speak up again when she felt Velin's hand on her shoulder. Though she wasn’t afraid of the Prime Ascendant, and felt it was her responsibility to protect Velin, Mina was also fully aware that if there was anyone in their group who could go toe to toe with Joresh, it was Velin, so Mina stayed quiet, letting her friend speak for herself.

"My apologies, Prime Ascendant, but I'm not interested in speaking with you," Velin said, her expression cool. "When my husband arrives, you're welcome to speak with him if you have something you wish to express."

"Husband?"

Taken aback by the word, Joresh's brow furrowed, but then his expression eased, and an easy smile slipped across his lips.

"I didn't anticipate you'd have a husband," he said, "but don't worry. That's a problem I can solve quickly. And since he isn't here, why don't we spend some time getting to know each other? After all, we're going to be spending a lot of time together, going forward."

"This guy's got a death wish," Corvo muttered.

On the other side of Velin, Alph nodded, holding up two different potions as if trying to decide which one he was going to stuff down Joresh’s throat.

"If the problem was just a lack of intellect, I could forcefully solve that," he said, "but I've yet to discover a potion that can cure foolishness."

"I'm not interested in continuing this conversation," Velin said, as hard and cold as ice.

"Oh, don't be like that," Joresh said, spreading his arms wide, “whatever you have now, I can give you more.”

Starting to step forward, he stopped when Stello moved into his way, his staff stretching out to poke into Joresh's chest.

"You heard the lady," Stello said. "Back off."

Staring down at the end of the staff, Joresh slowly looked up at Stello, his gaze fierce.

"You want to die?" Joresh asked, "because if you keep pointing that stick of yours at me, I'd be happy to oblige."

Unruffled, Stello maintained his position, his expression stoic as he stared at Joresh. The men who had come with Joresh all stepped forward, their hands moving towards their weapons, and the tension between the two groups rose like a storm. At the side, Ascendant Kessel shook his head and stepped back, lifting his hands to indicate that he didn't want any part of the fight. Next to him, Vesna and Pel both hesitated, as if unsure if they should follow suit or stay with the group.

“What is going on here?”

The tense standoff had attracted the attention of the other groups and the other Prime Ascendants had all walked over. Muras, who had asked the question, looked over Thorn’s team with a frown, while Kitsek and Tolariah stood behind him, watching with curiosity. When Velin and the others didn’t reply, Muras’ gaze turned to Joresh and the Prime Ascendant shrugged.

“I just came over to say hello to this beautiful lady and they got all defensive. I just wanted to invite her to spend some time getting to know me.”

Kitsek, who had been staring at Velin openly, let out a laugh and spoke up.

“You should feel quite honored by that invitation, beautiful lady. But maybe you prefer someone with more refined looks. I’d be happy to entertain you tonight if you aren’t interested in a brute like Joresh.”

There was a flash of crimson as Akira moved too quickly for anyone to react, but just before her paw landed on Kitsek’s face, Velin spoke sharply.

“Stop.”

In shock, the Prime Ascendants all stared at Akira who was hovering in the air in front of Kitsek, her paw only a few inches from his face.

“Akira, come back here please.”

“He insulted Master’s wife, he should have his skull crushed,” Akira said, her sweet voice at odds with the savage aura that raged around her. “And the ugly one will be next.”

Startled to hear her speaking out-loud, Velin quickly gathered herself and beckoned Akira.

“Thank you, but please come back.”

With an angry growl, Akira dropped to the ground and scampered back to where Velin stood, muttering quietly under her breath. Though she had only released her aura for a few moments, there were already half a dozen god hunters hovering overhead, drawn by the intense pressure she had unleashed. Kitsek was pale as a sheet, his eyes wide as saucers as he stared at Akira. His hand was wrapped around the handle of the spear he carried on his back, but it was obvious from his white knuckled grip that he was just as frightened as he was shocked. Soon however, that fear turned to white hot fury.

“You attacked me!”

With a whoosh he drew his weapon, slamming it into the ground next to him so hard the stone cracked.

“How dare you!”

“Is this guy serious?” Corvo asked pinching the bridge of his nose. “If Akira hadn’t stopped he’d be no more than a stain on the ground and he is stupid enough to make an issue of it?”

“Seriously,” Mina said, her gaze never leaving Kitsek. “If he had any brains he would get down on his hands and knees to apologize.”

“You—!”

“Kitsek, stop causing trouble,” Muras said, shooting a hard look at the other Prime Ascendant before turning his attention back to Velin and the others, “but you should step back as well.”

“Are you serious? You want us to step back?” Mina asked, her tone incredulous. “Listen here—“

A deafening silence that drowned out every sound in the temple rolled over everyone, erasing Mina’s words and a moment later, the giant glowing ball of light went dark, plunging the temple into pitch black.