“What was that?” Dazien asked her as he removed more of the tunic to watch the effects of the spreading Corruption.

  “Elixir of Divine Cleansing. I got it from defeating that Renseres Priestess in Tulisuda,” Phoenix expined quickly. Her eyes never left Uriel as she took his other hand and watched the magic of the potion spread, pushing back the corrupting tendrils of ice.

  Item: Elixir of Divine Cleansing

  Holy potion of purification.

  Caste: Emerald, Blessed.

  Avaibility: Epic.

  Type: Consumable, potion.

  Effect: Cleanses all instances of Divine Banes.

  “What caused all these scars?” she asked in a whisper, her free hand idly tracing one of the runic symbols that had been carved straight into Uriel’s flesh.

  Dazien grimaced as he tossed more of the tattered tunic to the side and replied simply, “That’s not my story to tell, but it’s not a happy tale.”

  “He told me he was held captive and forced his Aspects, but he never said…” She trailed off as a glint of gold caught her attention and noticed a bracer around Uriel’s left forearm that she didn’t remember ever seeing before. However, as she thought about that, she realized that Uriel always wore long sleeves like she did.

  “What is that? Another magic item? Why only one?”

  Dazien gave her a pointed look and said ftly, “Ask Uriel when he’s not dying.”

  “Right, sorry,” she mumbled as she focused back on her friend’s delirious and pained expression. Her mood lifted as the tainted magic seemed to diminish, and she called out, “Looks like it’s working!”

  Quest: Cleanse the Cursed

  Objective complete: Cleansed Uriel Karislian of the potential Corruption.

  [Regrowth Spirit Gem] has been added to your collection.

  Quest completed.

  10 [Crystal Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

  Phoenix sighed in relief, then a familiar aura brushed against hers. She grinned as she looked up into the sky where a man who looked like a fallen angel flew towards them. Landing close by, Paul walked up near Uriel’s head, pulled out a Sense Stone from a pouch, and ordered Dazien, “Report for the AOA.”

  “A Caged and Corrupted Gotaur, sir. High Sapphire with Ice attunement, summoning, and staff skills. We tried to retreat immediately but the summons made evacuation difficult, splitting us. It learned of Uriel’s Ice attunement and targeted him. When I was overwhelmed defending him, he protected me and got the [Corrupting Ice] Bane. Phoenix just used an Elixir of Divine Cleansing, though, which seems to have worked.”

  “We didn’t think there was time,” Phoenix supplied, “We weren’t sure you would make it here before it was too te.”

  “I do have some Emerald and lower Caste cleansing potions that would work, but those aren’t commonly avaible,” Paul replied, deactivating the Sense Stone, “And I don’t have an ability that cleanses Divine Banes. The ritual I and most others know only works once they’re fully Corrupted. You usually have to kill them and then cleanse the corpse; otherwise, it seeps into the nd itself, and most Corrupted won’t willingly participate in the ritual.”

  “Can you even kill the undead?” Phoenix asked in a slightly terrified whisper, remembering how the creature didn’t flinch at a dagger to the brain.

  “Yes, but it’s usually more difficult, and as I said, you risk the Corruption seeping into the ambient magic of the area,” their mentor expined, then bent down as if to better examine the closing wounds on Uriel’s body. He looked from Phoenix to Dazien and quietly asked, “You said the creature was Caged, too?”

  Dazien nodded towards Phoenix, who said quietly, “My quest to flee and get you mentioned it was both Caged and Corrupted.”

  Paul frowned, “Give me the directions. I’ll find it and take care of it. Get Karislian back to our home.”

  Quest: Flee for Your Lives!

  Objective complete: Escaped the [Caged] [Corrupted] Gotaur and requested assistance from Paul Waynd.

  [Tome of Scroll Scribing] has been added to your collection.

  Quest completed.

  10 [Crystal Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

  Phoenix shooed her book away, cursing its timing, as Dazien expined where they had left the monster. Once he finished the directions, he asked, “Shouldn’t we take him to the menders?”

  “He’ll be safer at the estate,” Paul stated firmly, “Many people don’t like taking any chances when it comes to Corruption.”

  Dazien nodded in understanding, adjusting to pick up Uriel who had finally fallen unconscious once the pain seemed to end. The glowing veins of tainted mana were completely gone now. As he turned to leave, Rayna and Saiya quickly followed behind them.

  Phoenix paused before following as well and looked to her mentor, “You’ll be careful, right?”

  Paul gave her a soft smile, “Of course. I’ll be back before breakfast.” He promptly raised the enormous crow wings and unched himself into the air, flying off to the east.

  Phoenix felt both exhausted and restless at once, which was a confusing sensation. She could only assume it was due to the snapped tension of her friend almost becoming an undead monster and needing to be put down conflicting with the plethora of questions swirling through her mind—half of which surrounded said friend.

  They had cimed one of the empty rooms across the hall of Phoenix’s bedroom to let Uriel rest and recover in. Saiya double-checked him but reassured them that he would be okay and would likely wake fairly soon. Then the empathic Healer dragged her twin out of the room in the name of finding some food, leaving Phoenix and Dazien alone with their unconscious companion.

  Dazien had perched himself on the edge of the bed while Phoenix pushed an armchair next to it to curl up in, conjuring the long dress she preferred over her Shifting Twilight body armor.

  He was the first to break the silence, which she thought was inevitable, “Thank you for using that potion. I’m sure it was incredibly rare and expensive and could have been saved to use on yourself.”

  “Don’t thank me for that. Uriel’s life is worth a lot more than mine,” she murmured, tucking her single green curl that had come loose from her rge braid behind her ear and hugging her knees to her chest.

  He gave her a curious look before shaking his head with a chuckle, “I’ve never heard anyone else aside from myself say Uriel’s life was worth anything, let alone more than their own—not even Uriel himself.”

  “I get that he has a… touchy talent and a dangerous powerset… but I don’t understand why people would think he’s a monster like he seems to believe. Is this part of those secrets he doesn’t want to share?”

  Dazien grimaced and hedged, “I’m not sure how much to say, honestly. I’m not going to divulge his secrets, even to you. That would be such a devastating breach of trust, and I’m not willing to hurt Uriel like that.”

  She nodded in understanding. It was like her own secrets, and she trusted Dazien with them for exactly this reason. “I won’t nag you for them. It’s just confusing and… Well, I wish he could trust me with them.”

  He ughed again, giving her a knowing look, “It doesn’t feel good to know someone you care about doesn’t trust you, does it?”

  “I said I was sorry for that,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Then rested her cheek on a knee as she watched the sleeping mage and whispered, “I was scared.”

  “So is he,” Dazien replied, nodding towards his partner, “He’s been through a lot, lost a lot of people, been shunned and despised for just existing. He’s afraid of getting hurt even more—of losing the little he’s gained. I’m sure you can sympathize, yes?”

  She nodded silently, wishing Uriel would awaken just so she could wrap him in a hug. That random thought made her wonder just how much of Saiya’s habits were rubbing off on her.

  “So,” Dazien began, breaking the silence once more, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself, “You mentioned earlier about me… ‘tattling to dad’. I’m guessing Lord Waynd talked to you about… my potential future?”

  “You know, you should at least call him ‘Paul’ if you accept being adopted,” she said with a grin, turning to look at him instead, and was surprised that he seemed nervous.

  “What about you?”

  “I already call him Paul.”

  “No, I meant what should I call you?” he crified, shifting slightly, “Are you okay with the idea of actually becoming my sister?”

  She blinked, then ughed.

  “Look, I understand if you don’t like it, but—”

  “No, no, it’s not that,” she interjected, trying to wave away his worried expression, “It just struck me as funny that you would actually be nervous about me not being okay with it. Did you think I’d be, like, super possessive of Paul or something?”

  “I wasn’t sure what to expect, honestly,” Dazien admitted, and her ughter finally abated, “The st person I tried to call my sibling got very offended by the idea.” He smiled fondly down at Uriel and took the man’s hand in one of his own, “He made me realize our love was not like that.”

  She blushed slightly at the two of them, feeling odd to witness the slightly intimate moment, but Dazien refocused on her and said, “I care about you, too, but not like I do about him,” he crified with a gesture toward Uriel. “I think ‘sister’ feels…” He trailed off as if searching for the word.

  “... right?” she offered.

  He grinned and nodded, “Yeah. A missing piece of my puzzle that I think you fit into.”

  “I had the same thought when Paul asked me about it,” she admitted, “Told him you already felt like my big brother.”

  Dazien’s smile grew brilliant, “I’m gd,” he said, pausing to look back at his partner before seeming to make up his mind, “I think I’ll accept Lord—Paul’s offer then.”

  Phoenix grinned, “Sounds good, bro.”

  “Can I veto that nickname?”

  “Was vetoing ‘Princess’ even an option?”

  “Nope, but you can call me ‘King.’ It even fits since a King’s sister is a Princess. Which I guess you’ll eventually become now when I found my kingdom.”

  “How about ‘Royal Pain-In-My-Arse’?”

  Dazien burst out ughing and Phoenix joined in, gd for the new dynamic between them that really did feel right to her. She looked forward to mercilessly teasing him at his Noble Reveal and forever after that.

  Paul stood over the smoldering pile of Gotaur that he had just finished dispatching. His Natural Talent made locating the creature extremely easy once he had a general direction.

  Natural Talent: Corruption Syer

  Deviated from [Arcane Attunement] due to Purifier’s Blessing.

  Increased resistance to negative Radiant effects. Radiant abilities have an increased effect.Can sense the direction of nearby [Corrupted] targets.Increased damage against [Corrupted] targets.You are immune to becoming [Corrupted].

  It was the blessing that he had gained upon becoming a Padin under the Purifier, and despite his fall from grace, he was still extremely grateful for the talent—especially if his new fear turned out to be true.

  Everin flew over to him a moment ter, the voxen’s five tails spinning above the man bent over in the air, allowing a sort of horizontal flight. It seemed impossible for the blur of white fur to not spin the Caster in turn, but Everin stayed perfectly aimed as he touched down a foot upon the stained snow and the tails halted their movement.

  “I see you’ve already taken care of it. I guess an Ice-attuned isn’t much of a threat to you, oh Padin of Fme and Light,” Everin said, stepping closer to observe the corpse that seemed to be melting into a bck goo rather than turning to ash after Paul had already looted it.

  “I’m immune to Corruption, so nothing is much of a threat in that regard,” he replied, pulling out a small pouch of salt from his hip bag.

  “Must be nice,” Everin wryly stated, “Want some help with the ritual?”

  “I’ve got it. I’ve done it hundreds of times before,” he replied off-handedly as he moved in a circle around the decaying monster, letting the salt fall in his path, “It was one of the first my family taught me as a child, but even I underestimated the threat they posed at first.”

  “Ah, right. I think I remember reading in a dusty old tome that the first Waynd was actually the one to discover that particur ritual. It makes sense that you would become a hunter of the Corrupted.”

  “It wasn’t because of my heritage that I became a Corruption Hunter,” Paul expined as he finished the circle, “It was because of my sister becoming one of their victims.”

  The Cleric winced at the words and actually looked sincere as he said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware of that.”

  He half-shrugged, “It was decades ago and my fault. I was a stupid kid who thought far too highly of himself.”

  Everin gave a soft smirk, “Has that changed much?”

  Paul gave a bark of a ugh and shook his head, “I suppose not. I’m still running headfirst towards danger.”

  Everin looked towards the east where the Razorteeth Mountains loomed in their perpetual attempt to eat the sky, “I think your daughter takes after you in that regard.”

  He looked up, a bit surprised by Everin referring to Phoenix as his daughter instead of his Protégé, but he found that he liked it as he fondly replied, “She does, doesn’t she?”

  “You shouldn’t smile so proudly at that,” Everin scolded, causing him to chuckle. He quickly sobered, however, when Everin pointed out part of the fear he hadn’t wanted to give voice to, “Phoenix may not survive an encounter with the wrong type of Corrupted creature, even with her Talent for surviving.”

  Paul nodded and admitted, “I’ve thought of that. I’m not sure her Talent would protect her from its effects. If nobody put her to rest, her soul could be trapped forever in a Corrupted body. Plus, the taint has transfiguring properties… would it overwrite and cause her Talent to deviate?”

  Everin shrugged, “You’re more knowledgeable about the Corrupted than I am. This is only the second time I’ve seen one. I have people like you keeping them at bay.”

  He grimaced and then spoke the cleansing incantation, causing the salt to become the pitch-bck darkness of Void magic before setting the corpse afme with a myriad of sparkling Radiant fmes that devoured the tainted magic seeping into the surroundings.

  “I almost lost Karislian today,” he said quietly as they stood side by side, watching the cleansing divinity, “Dazien and Phoenix would have been devastated to lose him. Especially like that.”

  The Cleric arched a silvery eyebrow and said, “That is the risk of being an Adventurer, Lord Padin. Every mission they take holds that risk.”

  “Not like this,” he retorted, “If they’re using Caged monsters filled with Corruption, the Soul Reapers are an even bigger threat than we originally thought. Their party isn’t prepared for something like this.”

  Everin’s surprise was obvious as he asked, “Are you suggesting they not partake in the upcoming assault?”

  Paul met the voxen’s ice blue eyes with his burning golden ones and stated in a tone that brokered no argument, “I will not risk losing my family to the Corrupted again.”