A Simple Transaction I

Phoenix Rising

The net of stars drew forth a being of whirling runes, sigils traced in translucent fire that writhed and spun around a disk of blazing gold. Into his mind it transmitted a facsimile of the information he sought, a recent scene from the Lord Protector's mind, and he felt a great exhaustion fall over him, cost and consequence of carrying his thoughts alongside as it pierced the veil of Augustine's protections.

Call upon This One should you wish to do business again, the being spoke in words of light across his vision, But take care, for the cost shall mount with every transaction. Be well, Praehihr.

The runes dipped once as if in genuflection, and then the being departed, winking out like the stars burning low, become dim embers before they faded into ash.

Hunger blinked. It seemed there were some perks to his Cursebearer status after all. Neither the Foremost armor nor their 'theme park agent' had recognized any privilege, but this Astral Entity had been respectful and accommodating.

Perhaps it was a simple matter of the intersection between power and knowledge. The Divinatory Entity was wise, but not mighty, in comparison to Hunger, while the Astral cat held the informational and physical advantage. It might behoove the former to enter the good graces of a Progression-type Cursebearer, while the latter was simply not concerned.

"What'd you learn?" Gisena asked, peeking over his shoulder at the charred remnants of the Divinatory Entity's earthly form.

"The Lord Protector is a child," Hunger frowned. "Or was, when she took power. Now she would be somewhere around Adorie's age. Her half-sister, skilled in some form of rune-based sorcery that gives her access to an enormous range of effects. She spends most of the time as a protoplasmic mass of immense physical strength, which explains why no one has caught on yet. And she is working to unite the Realm of Nilfel against a greater threat, her presumptive mother who is a descendent of the Foremost."

"Taking over the Realm of Myth from such a precocious age," Gisena tapped her chin. "If this information is accurate, she seems frightfully astute! We may be dealing with a rival genius, hun. I'm starting to think we picked the wrong side..."

"First a rival princess, now a rival genius? Many of our adventures have held up a dark mirror to me. I'm starting to think this one is intended for you."

"How bothersome. I'd hoped to return to the Manifest Realm for my side adventure! What do you think, hun? Should we attempt to break bread with this one as well and see the sisters reunited against their true hidden enemy?"

Hunger paused. The Lord Protector's armies had slain millions, but in her uncompromising pursuit of vengeance he saw an echo both of the Forebear and himself. The forces of the Forebear had conquered without limit, bringing entire universes to heel across their long march of eons, and he himself had committed to vengeance in the face of vastly easier alternatives. Was Augustine's mother dangerous enough to warrant the Forebear's tactics? He'd only had a glimpse, but it didn't seem entirely outside the realm of possibility.

"It's inconvenient, but we've given our word," Hunger replied. "We've no indication this mother is aware or a threat beyond Augustine's convictions, and she did not seem entirely stable. From what I saw, she lacks neither the ability nor the willingness to slay Verschlengorge for good, if properly prepared. Luckily she's spent much of the past hour layering magical protections in preparation for a direct fight. You may get your chance at a direct contest."

"The Sea of Nullity again?" Gisena asked. "I'm starting to think you enjoy the idea of rendering me unconscious!"

"It does shut you up for at least a brief span," Hunger commented dryly.

"Pretending you don't enjoy our little chats? Not very straightforward, your majesty! What would your beloved Forebear think?"

"He'd agree with me. We bomb her with your Ultimate and then cut her down. Simple, easy, efficient. If her magic's nullified she can't kill Versch, nor will she have the defenses to stop me in time. As long as you think you're up to it, else we'll have to come up with a backup plan."

"If you don't mind being denied the utility of my Ultimate Nullity for the next few weeks! However, if I release power enough to level her defenses, wouldn't that weaken the very Pressure you're relying on to prevail?"

Hunger considered for a moment. "It's possible. My direct power should still be greater, but I'm uncertain how wide the gap truly is when she's behind this many defenses. Nor would it be safe to separate us as we did against Stenallon. Our enemies are too quick, unguarded you could be slain before the Sea is even deployed."

"Don't compromise your plans on my account," Gisena batted her eyelashes at him. "Such is the cost of war!"

He clapped her on the shoulder. "That's the spirit, soldier! I didn't know you believed so strongly in the Nilfellian cause."

"Wheresoever my King leads, I shall strike forth with the utmost ardor!"

"Hmph. I'll hold you to that."

"Nights and weekends excluded, naturally!"

---

Aobaru gritted his teeth. He faced a group of marauders who had slipped into the hospital tents from an underground passageway. The Lord Protector's forces were tenacious and cunning, attacking from every angle even after Lord Hunger's arrival had broken the main thrust of their assault. Behind him whirled Sharpbright in scything currents, the bedridden Letrizia sending all the support she could from her supine position.

There were a few Knight-Captains stationed here, but none were hale; most sported injures from the crippling to the debilitating, as able-bodied men were sent to the front. He would have to do the majority of this on his own.

Aobaru leapt forward, firing off bursts of flame like vectoring jets as he closed in on the first aggressor. He was confident in his offense, but vulnerable to their long-range firepower. Once among them he would be far less exposed, but he had to control the angle of engagement so as not to endanger Letrizia!

Lord Hunger's Pressure rolled over the battlefield in punishing waves, smashing and disorienting any attackers remaining. To Aobaru it felt like being lifted atop a tsunami, but impervious to harm: only sheer swelling height and unstoppable momentum, uttermost high ground from which to fall upon one's enemies and leave only ruin behind.

Hunger grew in strength at a vertiginous pace. In the back of his mind Aobaru worried sometimes that any assassin which required Lord Hunger as a bodyguard would be too far beyond the Vigorflame for him even to interact with. But, he never allowed such doubts to dominate his reckoning. The Voyaging Realm had chosen him for a reason. His time would come, he was sure of it!

An arrow caught him in the shoulder, but bounced harmlessly off, its envenomed tip glinting obsidian in the fading light of dusk. Hunger's Pressure had thrown the attack backwards, but Aobaru couldn't count on every strike to be so fortunately repulsed.

He shook his head in self-recrimination. Nor could he afford to be lost in his own thoughts at a time like this! As Hunger often said, time enough later to dwell.

Firing his leg-jets once more, he corkscrewed around a second volley, leaving walls of Vigorflame in his wake to intercept any attacks pointed at Letrizia. He snatched an array of surgical tools from a nearby stand, juking behind a tentpole which he immediately reinforced with his Element. Attacks came and bounced off the ironwood; at the sound of an enemy's approach he kicked the pole forward and sent Vigorflame in a wave, detonating his cover in a blast of shrapnel as he hurled reinforced tweezers and scalpels into the ranks of the foe.

One half-blind assailant thrust with his spear, which Aobaru caught in his armpit, trapping the weapon and infusing it with flame. Modulating the course of his fire, he had the spear explode butt-end first, catching the enemy in a grisly vacuum as the weapon erupted like a mortar point-blank.

Aobaru was already moving, thoughts fluid and effortless, the trance of battle descending upon him as he whirled and dipped and sprang through the anarchy of war, hesitation absent as his flames reaped life after life. Was this it, the hidden power within, the strength to actually contribute to Lord Hunger's ventures as more than simple support?

It was not to be. A net fell over him, strands of oiled steel that resisted the influence of his Element, entangling and disabling him even as Hunger's Pressure once-more protected him from direct harm. He fell to the side as attackers poured in, this time from an Astral gateway bordered with runes.

Elites, men in carapace armor of shining violet and ivory, whose weapons dripped with emerald venoms or screaming soul-fire, the flared wings of their gilded helm embossed with the Lord Protector's personal crest. One man stabbed idly at Aobaru and departed after his weapon found no purchase. Hunger's next Pressure-wave came upon them, but they seemed almost prepared, hunching into defensive posture as a single shield-wall to ride out the onslaught; slowly establishing a beachhead whose rate of growth could withstand the idle attentions of the sea.

He couldn't let things go on like this. Desperately Aobaru looked inside for some scrap of insight, some Chosen-One spark that would lead him to victory in this dark hour.

There was nothing. No visions of glory, no hidden potential, no promise of power just waiting to be tapped... He was just, Aobaru, as he'd ever been.

The Voyaging Realm could have chosen anyone. Why had it chosen him? He was skilled but nothing special, straight out of high school with an above-average Element and a chip on his shoulder, and now in way over his head.

He clenched his teeth. None of that mattered. If they captured both Letrizia and the Armament, who knew what could happen?

He would just do what he could with what he had. If that wasn't up to the Voyaging standard, then so be it.

Time enough later to dwell.

Aobaru closed his eyes. He'd always been a kinetic Elementalist, using his Vigorflame in conjunction with his body to evade and deliver blows. His body was ensnared but he had his Element still. Why was he acting like he was helpless?

Pulling deeply from his reserves, he exploded forth with fire, a raging sea of flames to smother all troops in his vicinity. They turned as if to finish him, but he fired a column of flame downwards, the ground beneath, weakened by their sappers, yielding to his tunnel as it had their own. Acting swiftly, one elite broke off from the group to cut him down.

Aobaru could barely see, let alone move, but that mattered not. All he needed was for them to come to him.

The enemy was clever, kicking him onto his stomach to send their sword through his spine execution-style. They probably thought he was some sort of fire-based magus, who required at least line of sight to perform his spells.

As the tip of the blade contacted his skin he sent a flare of Vigorflame through it; the explosion rocked them both and spun Aobaru like a top. As soon as he was turned, flames issued from his eyes, twin columns scorching a hole through the man's torso the size of Aobaru's own head.

Propelling himself forward with fire along his back, he slammed into the Elite and launched them bodily into the midst of the enemy. Selective pulses of fire raced out, creating struts of reinforced air that his flame could push against to maneuver his body, serving as temporary limbs to re-position his form.

He closed his eyes and felt only the presence of his Element, rushing forth and receding like echolocation. Attackers piled on but their arms detonated, even runes of spellfire consumed by unending Vigorflame. He lashed out and rotated, a blinding wheel of flame, searing limbs from bodies, plate fusing to flesh before that all-eradicating heat.

The next wave of Hunger's Pressure hit, channeled by Sharpbright as if funneled through a dam, and the Nilfellian Elite broke at last.

To their credit, they did not rout, attempting an organized retreat, but it availed them little as The Chosen One scythed them down, smashed between the anvil of Lord Hunger and Aobaru's forge-flame.

---

What approach to take with the Lord Protector?

[ ] Diplomacy - Her mother, if she exists as a true threat, would undermine Adorie's rule as well. Given that Augustine seems primarily interested in vengeance, Hunger should at least make a sincere attempt at bringing her on-side. Surely one versed in Foremost lore would know well the value of a friendly Praehihr?

*The risks are obvious, but so are the potential benefits
*Will depend on tactics, rolls
*If talks fail or are rebuffed, Hunger will default to War, but Gisena may not be in ideal position.

[ ] War - Proceed with Gisena's ultimate and put an end to her. Strike now while the iron is hot. Her power is mounting higher with every preparation she makes.

*Less risky, but expends Gisena's ult for several weeks
*Still not a guaranteed win, but it's very likely, especially with Adorie to grant additional Refinement of Quickness uses. Protections that trigger too slowly to affect Hunger are as good as negated.

[ ] Write-In - Sufficiently novel and clever write-ins will receive an effectiveness boost.

---

Aobaru has learned his first lesson of mastery. What is the reward of resolve?

[ ] A Blazing Sun - It is not Rank that serves as measure of greatness; it is greatness itself which produces Rank. Born of the Voyaging Realm, invigorated of its waters, and set to his purpose by the Foremost themselves; is it any wonder that the Chosen One would be as a nexus in the Astral, a singularity by which the course of fate itself is bent?

Elevates Aobaru to Rank 6. Increases his rate of future Rank gain.

[ ] A Burning Spirit - The elemental surges command power beyond limit, but lack fluency of command. Not so for this Elementalist, whose gift and diligence are sufficient to attain microscopic control of both Vigor and Flame, seeing clear through to the truth beyond concept or Element, the Ideal itself made manifest at his will.

Grants surpassing control of Vigorflame, able to perform an extraordinary variety of feats beyond other Elementalists, elevating his personal buffs to levels capable of rivaling Hunger's own Attributes.

Vigorflame now grants +.1 ISH to Strength, Constitution and Dexterity, with further improvements according to future development.

++++++++++Aobaru Willpower, ++Aobaru Wisdom, ++Aobaru Intelligence, ++Aobaru Wits

[ ] An Awesome Power - The strength of the Elements is their raw incontestable might, and of all peoples is this talent greatest in the Chosen One. Strength enough to matter, no mere sea of flames but a universe pouring forth, primordial Fire in a tide without surcease.

Massively increases the amount and density of Vigorflame Aobaru can summon, while retaining the level of control demonstrated in this most recent episode.

Aobaru somewhat relevant against enemies capable of annoying Hunger. An enormous increase to the party's overall strength.

[ ] A Chosen Purpose [25 Arete] - Power is not granted to one who was chosen. Rather, one is chosen, who is most suitable to the task. Out of all the countless trillions residing within its expanse, one was deemed capable of restoring the Realm to glory.

Grants the benefit of all options above, and massively increases their effects. For example, A Burning Spirit now grants +.3 ISH to physical Attributes.

Aobaru now capable of rivaling Hunger himself on the battlefield, and stronger in certain matchups. [++Aobaru]

A small but manageable number of Apocryphal procs will now target Aobaru instead. Barring catastrophically bad rolls, he will take care of them himself. ++Aobaru Progression.

---

You didn't even need Undying Vanguard for Aobaru to survive, he rolled exceptionally well - a 98 out of 100!

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