Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 26: Many Meetings

[Snike]

Eric

Tessa, the group healer, was eventually the first non-military member of the group to approach Eric. Fortunately, or unfortunately perhaps, she was inquiring not about his time as a Templar, but about he came back alive. On one hand it was avoiding the whole I-just-tried-to-kill-you aspect of his return, but on the other hand, it Eric had no idea how he was revived.

"Hello Tessa," Eric said first of all, trying to appear at least relatively friendly. "It wasn't painful, at least, not after the first few minutes. Kind of like falling asleep, except, while everything was fading away. I did meet The Lady, who gave me directives to go find Kaileen the Mother." That hadn't gone well, he neglected to mention, given that she was the one that helped seal the Lady. "I'm not actually sure how I came back, but seeing as I did, I can only think it was the work of The Lady. Regardless, I've been given a second chance, and I intend on using it to stop the Lord, hopefully with more success than last time."

Alex

"No problem. Hello, Snips," The Comet said, as she eyed the horse, unsure of whether or not it would try to bite her. "Looks like we'll be doing so riding around, then. Excellent."

[-Cynthia-]

Departure?

"Yes, very nearly. I hope you have a very clear idea of where we are going- warping to the wrong location could kill us all," Morgan impressed upon Stephanie. "Assume defensive positions everyone!" she ordered.

Tristan proceeded to mount Bellerophon, while Charlotte made her way near Eric.

[scorri]

Adena noticed how Alex was eying Snips and hurriedly said "Oh don't worry. Snips doesn't bite. He's quite the gentle horse. And yes! I've found that being on a horse makes it much easier for me to reach people and also stay out of the way of more enemies." Hearing Morgan tell everyone to get ready, she gulps. "Looks like we're heading out." She grabbed her fire tome from the saddlebag it had been placed in, and secured her staff so that both were in easy reach. "Good luck. I'm glad I'll have you protecting me," she says to Alex with a smile.

[Inactive Account]

It sounded like it was about time to go. Kelas retrieved Amari and swung into the saddle. She surveyed the group, hoping that Isotov and Arrin wouldn't move too far apart so that she could watch out for both of them.

"You ready?" she asked Arrin as he climbed into Francis' saddle and pulled up next to her.

"No," Arrin replied truthfully, getting out his tome, "but that doesn't really matter, does it? I'll just have to do what I can."

"Yeah, I don't think anyone's really ready to go charging into a city full of demons, but here we are," Kelas agreed grimly. Her bow was strung and slung across the front of her saddle, and she didn't really have much else to do herself. Well, maybe one thing. "<Oi, Hainam!>" she called. "<Group's about to travel by warp staff, so don't freak out or anything, okay?>"

[Mercakete]

Tas offered Aiya a last wave before following after Irina back to the others. She told her brother about Aiya's new status as a mother he responded a little awkwardly. Why doesn't anyone seem very happy about it? Tas wondered before he heard that Iris would be looking after Kiev. I guess that's one less thing for me to do. She'll do a good job protecting him. I'll just focus on trying to be helpful in other ways.

Then, Morgan called out for everyone to get into defensive positions. Wait, is there a specific procedure or formation for this I don't know about or does she mean just a defensive position in general? Ah! It doesn't sound like there's a lot of time to wonder about this! "I'll be on Namid," Tas hurriedly told Irina before rushing off to his wyvern and nimbly mounting up. Should I be in the air? He wasn't really sure what to do with himself at the moment, but decided to just wait for further instruction.

Esphyr, meanwhile, walked over to Alferis. "Hey, watch my back and I'll watch yours, okay? This isn't going to be a standard fight, I think," she advised as she unsheathed her sword and readied it for combat with her back to the center of the gathered group.

[Phoenix]

Bring Them Closer

"It is more than simply knowing where we are going," Stephanie defended. "I can only hope Ixion gave me enough of his power to reach the city at all ..."

"You'll do fine." Lev assured her as he hopped back up on Krinkov and readied his axe. Krinkov could already tell some serious thing was about to go down. That woman with the stick on his back was doing something ...

Morgan gave out the order to get ready, so there wasn't anything left to discuss before the actual warp, and she quickly mounted up on Susann. The pegasus wasn't nervous yet, but only because the magnificent one was still close by.

Irina mounted up on Nikita and Iso wandered closer to the center of the group before summoning Proxima into his hands. Irina moved over to Damian as Stephanie began preparing to warp the entire party. "Damian, don't run off, okay? I promised Aiya I'd keep you out of trouble." It felt odd telling her old employer what for, but it was that or have him wonder why she's sticking so close.

"... okay ..." Stephanie took a deep breath and began reaching out, trying to begin the warp. Shortly afterward, a powerful light began to spread out from under Krinkov until the entire group was encompassed. Everything disappeared as the light rose up over them ...

[Balcerzak]

Eric's explanation was a little... vague, but still full of wonder. Tessa was surprised, and maybe secretly a little jealous that the swordman had even been given a special mission from The Lady. There was much more she still hoped to learn though, maybe she could help with his quest too?

"Looking for Mother Kaileen?" the valkyrie confirmed before pressing her lips into a line as she concentrated, trying to remember anything about where they had parted ways, when suddenly something else came to mind. Something a little... disturbing.

"...Actually, I think there's also something else I have to ask you. Were you―"

She was cut off however by Morgan's cry to prepare for transport. With a quick and unsure smile, she apologized, "Looks like we'll save this for later, huh?" She then hastily departed, taking Trevor by the reins and gravitating over toward Arrin and Kelas.