Once Ophilia had found Therion and talked to him (or at least talked to him as much as she was going to be able to for the time being), the pair started to make their way back in the direction of the Ravus estate where the others were waiting. Given the size of Bolderfall, it would be easy for the group to get lost, so the silent agreement was for everyone else to wait back at House Ravus for when Ophilia returned with Therion.
Ophilia could sense the thickness and anxiety hanging in the air around all of them. Nobody seemed to want to look into Therion's eyes after all that he had said. He was still confrontational and on edge from his conversation with Cordelia and Heathcote, and he didn't see to want to yield any information about what exactly had caused him to behave in such a way. Pushing him on it would only upset him and lead to rifts in the center of their group, and giving him the space he needed seemed to be the best option. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't as if they had all that much else to do to fix the issue at hand.
Ophilia frowned gently at the other members of the group before turning her attention to Cyrus. "Alright... I guess we should head back to Noblecourt now," she announced. "We can get back there and then start moving toward Goldshore before midday if we leave Bolderfall and use the Warp Staff now. Unless we have something else to do here in Bolderfall, we should head out."
There were no objections to that, and in fact, everyone seemed all too happy to get as far away from Bolderfall as possible. If they were traveling to Goldshore, then they would likely be able to get away with going silent for a while as they tried to figure out how to work their ways into Therion's issue. His actions of self-sabotage and internalized self-hatred ran deep, and all of them wanted to do something to help him out of it. That wasn't going to be easy, but they had to do something.
As Ophilia was turning on her heel, she felt a sudden wave of nausea slam into her with the force of a tidal wave. Before she could register what was happening, an empty wheeze of a breath was pushing itself free of her lips. The world seemed to spin around her as the ground was stolen from beneath her feet. All of a sudden, the gentle winds of the Cliftland crags were gone, and Ophilia's vision went dark for a few moments. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was falling backwards, but she had no idea how or what was happening. Fear overwhelmed every part of her body, and she felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach.
Ophilia was distantly aware of hands wrapping around her upper arms, and she blinked rapidly as she tried to get a grip on her surroundings once again. The world still felt like it was crumbling around her, and it took a long moment for her to figure out what was happening around her. All of a sudden, she was back in Bolderfall, the wind gently pressing itself upon her features as she stared up at the blue skies overhead. Just as quickly as the rush of weakness had come, it was gone.
"Ophilia? Art thou alright?"
Ophilia realized upon hearing that voice that H'aanit was the one behind her. The huntress had grabbed her as she was on the way to hitting the ground, and H'aanit was the only one who was still keeping her somewhat upright. Ophilia glanced at H'aanit carefully as she tried to gain her footing once again, pushing herself back to her full height slowly but surely. She was still shaking because of how suddenly her moment of vertigo had come upon her, and it felt like the Ember was screaming from its place at her hips. She didn't know why the lanthorn seemed to be reacting so strangely and strongly, but she was confident that she was going to completely lose her sense of self if she was left alone for much longer.
"Yeah..." Ophilia whispered, the words a faint trace of a whisper being swallowed by the wind. She knew it was a lie, but she couldn't figure out for the life of her why this was an issue to begin with. Her stomach was doing flips in her stomach like it was trying to burst free of her body thanks to her anxiety and fear. She didn't know what was happening to her or why this had happened, but she was certain that there had to be a reason for it... Right?
Ophilia blinked a few mote times as she tried to get a grip on reality once more. Everyone else was gathered around her to make sure that she was alright, and she could feel their concerned eyes. Primrose had wrapped an arm around Ophilia's shoulders on top of H'aanit continuing to hold the cleric upright. However, Ophilia wasn't paying attention in the slightest to the worried gazes locking straight on her or the way Primrose was holding her so tenderly like she thought Ophilia would break at a moment's notice.
Instead, Ophilia was staring ahead of her where the silhouette of a woman could be seen.
She was just outside the boundaries of that which was considered Ravus territory. Her hands rested gently on a balcony overlooking the rest of the city of Bolderfall. She wore a simple dark dress that flowed ever so slightly in the breeze. Her hair was a deep purple color so dark it almost edged on being black. Her eyes were a scarlet color gleaming in the morning sunlight, and everything about her seemed critical. She was searching Bolderfall for something, and even if it was hard to see the details of the city from her place near House Ravus' territory, she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Her expression was unreadable, but everything about her was somewhat sinister.
Olberic was the first one to approach the woman, a tense and heavy knot in his shoulders as he walked closer in a burst of solemn defensiveness. He had noticed just how much Ophilia was staring at the woman, and he could tell that there was something amiss about her presence. Ophilia halfway wanted to say something to stop him, but she could barely bring herself to stay standing, much less to speak on the matter at hand. Her body felt like it was made of lead, and Ophilia didn't think she had ever felt this overwhelmingly weak physically before. She couldn't say why it had happened or where it had come from, but something about the woman with dark hair made every part of her body feel repulsed down to the very core.
On his way over to speak with the woman, Olberic passed by a small tree not far from where she was positioned. As he was going by the tree, he heard a small dreamy sigh. Olberic immediately stopped walking and turned to see who had been behind it, and he was met with the silhouette of a young man wearing silver armor. He was lax with a small smile on his face, and it seemed as if he had been caught in a trance as he stared at the woman.
Olberic took a moment as he got a hand on his shock, and he shifted his attention from the woman to the young man. He seemed to be a guard of some kind, though he certainly didn't belong to House Ravus' faction of mercenaries. Olberic frowned as he took a step closer to the man where he stood in the shade of the tree. "Do you know something about that woman?" he asked sternly.
"That woman... I think she might be the perfect one for me," the young man replied, a dreamy sigh pushing its way free of his lips. His expression was lovesick, and given that this was the exact opposite reaction from what Olberic had expected, all he could do was blink as the man continued. "Oh, how can I ever get her to glance in my direction?"
As if on cue, the woman turned to face Olberic and the young man in armor, and she examined Olberic carefully. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him, but she didn't seem to notice the other man in the slightest. The woman glanced past Olberic to the rest of his traveling party, and from where she was standing, she was able to see everyone in the group aside from Ophilia. Primrose and H'aanit had positioned themselves in such a way that blocked the young cleric from view as they made sure that she was alright, not that the woman seemed to mind much. She watched the peculiar party for a long moment before she turned to look back to the balcony nearby.
The young man seemed to think that she had looked at him though, and he let out a long, dreamy sigh. "What a beauty..." he murmured, his hands pressing together at his chest like the air had been pushed from his lungs.
Olberic frowned as he looked over to the woman before focusing his attention back on the man. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Alphas," the man answered with a bright grin. "And I'm going to do what I can to make sure that woman understands that it was meant to be for us!"
Before the young man could say anything else, the woman pulled away from the balcony, seemingly satisfied with whatever it was that she had been doing. She looked to Olberic once again before glancing past him to the other members of his traveling party. She didn't seem impressed by him in the slightest, but her eyes were striking enough to make it seem as if she was piercing him through the chest merely by looking in his direction. Olberic's shoulders seized tightly with nerves, and he wondered just what was going on with this woman beneath the surface.
"I have been searching for some time for the perfect person," the woman said next as she examined Olberic carefully with her gaze.
"I have also been searching for the perfect mate," Alphas chimed in, taking a step toward her even though she wasn't looking in his direction in the slightest.
The woman shook her head as she observed Alphas next. "But you are not that person," she said bluntly, and Alphas' heart looked as if it had been split in two with those simple six words.
Alphas stumbled backward by a few steps. "What?!" he exclaimed in surprise, the word coming out as a yelp rather than an intentional creation of a syllable.
The woman thought for a moment before she continued to speak. "He should have golden hair... And eyes of the deepest blue... And despite his name, he would surely never dare to cross me... Yes... His devotion to me would be complete," she murmured. She didn't seem to be paying any attention to the people in front of her at this point, instead too focused on her own musings to care. "He would give me everything. And when I find this perfect man... Everything will change. The entire world will change."
Alphas seemed taken aback by those words, but the woman didn't care in the slightest about his surprise. "No... It doesn't seem like you're him," she went on casually. Her voice was like silk, constantly flowing and smooth in the most terrifying way possible. "Farewell then."
The woman started to walk away with that, descending the stairs that led to the rest of Bolderfall effortlessly. It was almost as if she wasn't even human with how perfectly articulated her movements were. Olberic's body once again felt chilled to the bone at her mere existence, and his stomach went tight with fear and anxiety.
"W-Wait! But you're my..." Alphas cried after her weakly. He raised one hand in her direction before letting it fall back to his side, a dejected expression manifesting on his features. He thought for a moment before he took after the woman. "I won't be dissuaded so easily!"
Olberic watched Alphas go with confusion still painted across his face, and he let out a sigh before turning in the direction of the other travelers. He moved carefully and quickly toward them, resting one hand on Ophilia's shoulder as soon as he was close enough to do so. "Are you feeling any better, Ophilia?" he asked carefully.
Ophilia nodded, rubbing one arm across her head. She had started to sweat, though Olberic somehow doubted that it had anything to do with the natural heat of the Cliftlands. "Yes... I'm fine," she murmured. She was still on the pale side, no doubt unsettled by what had happened whether she wanted to admit it or not. She shook her head soon afterward and reached for the Ember, grabbing tightly at the handle of the Lanthorn to let out her lingering traces of anxiety. She sighed before shaking her head. "Let's go back to Noblecourt... We should make for Goldshore as soon as possible."
Ophilia was the first one to start walking toward the entrance of the town, and the others all shared hesitant and nervous glances before following her. Linde and Hägen, who were normally glued to H'aanit's side, instead moved up to the area around Ophilia to be there to catch her in case she fell. Tressa stayed closer to Ophilia than usual as well, concern still spelled upon her eyes even if she didn't say anything about it out loud. She glanced over at the cleric every once in a while just to make sure that Ophilia was still standing, and the other travelers did the same from behind Ophilia, though they were much more subtle about it than the young merchant.
Despite their strange encounter with the woman outside the Ravus estate, the group was able to make their way out of Bolderfall without any other issues. They didn't run into the peculiar woman or Alphas again after that, though nobody seemed to mind such a thing in the slightest. If there really was something wrong with the woman to the point that it had caused Ophilia to nearly lose consciousness, then they were more than fine with staying as far away from the dark-haired woman as possible.
Olberic kept glancing up to the Lanthorn, catching a glimpse at the edge of it when he was able to see around Ophilia's slight frame. The Ember was gleaming ever so slightly, though something about it seemed ominous. Ophilia was much more sensitive than the others to the matters of the divine thanks to the fact that she was the Flamebearer, and Olberic was left to wonder if perhaps that had something to do with why Ophilia had suddenly seemed so sick. None of the others had suffered from such a thing, and she had been fine up to that point. It wasn't a perfect explanation-especially since there was no way of saying just what about the woman could have upset the balance of the Ember and, by extension, Ophilia-but it was something Olberic was going to keep in mind for the time being. He hated that they were in this situation at all, but at least he would be able to look after Ophilia alongside the other members of the group for the time being.
Ophilia stopped walking once they were outside of Bolderfall, and Cyrus reached into his bag to pull out the Warp Staff. He raised it above his head after he had made sure they were alone, and all it took was a quick flick of his wrist for the sensation of magic from before to come rushing back. Olberic hadn't particularly enjoyed the feeling of teleporting before, but he doubted he was going to be free of it any time soon. Instead of complaining about it, he simply clamped his eyes closed and waited for the spinning to fade away.
When Olberic next touched down on the ground, he was outside Noblecourt. He could tell by the way the calls of the birds changed from shrieks over the crags to chirps on the breeze. He opened his eyes and saw that just as he had expected, his location had changed. He glanced to the other members of the group to see how they were doing after the disorienting change in their surroundings. Hägen was unbothered, but Linde was clinging closely to H'aanit's side like she thought the huntress would be able to help her out of the unfortunate dizzy spell that had followed the teleportation process.
Tressa was still standing next to Ophilia, and she looked up to the cleric with concern written clearly on her face. "How are you feeling?" she asked. Olberic didn't think he had ever heard Tressa speak so tenderly, and her worry was palpable enough to attract the attention of the other members of the group.
Ophilia thought about it for a moment before she nodded. "Better," she replied. The color was starting to return to her features, and she was able to carry herself easily the same way she had before their encounter with the strange woman. "I don't know why I got so sick all of a sudden, but I'm glad it's over. At least we can start walking in the direction of Goldshore now, right?"
Olberic nodded and entered the town again a moment later. The others followed him, all focused on retrieving their things for the journey ahead. His mind was hardly on the task at hand though, and his thoughts were rapidly switching between recalling Therion's dark and solemn words and the way Ophilia had almost collapsed under the weight of something that none of them truly understood. Both were pressing issues, but Olberic had no idea how he was supposed to help to solve either one of them.
When it came to Therion, Olberic wanted to reach out and help him. However, he also knew that the only way Therion was going to get the assistance he needed was if he actually wanted to be helped. Therion didn't seem to want to reach out at the moment, and Olberic didn't want to push it and make him uncomfortable by accident. He could tell despite Therion's harsh words that the thief cared more for the rest of the group than he wanted to admit. He was afraid of saying that he cared, but that didn't change the fact that the truth was all too obvious and present. Therion would come to his own conclusions on it in time, and Olberic didn't want to cross any lines unless he absolutely had to. He hadn't wanted anyone's help after what had happened in Hornburg, and his emotional situation would have likely only gotten worse if someone got involved against his wishes. In other words, leaving Therion be was the best option whether Olberic liked it or not.
Ophilia's problem was much more bizarre, and Olberic didn't think he was going to be able to come up with a solution to it easily. He didn't know who the strange woman was, but it seemed as if her presence had been what caught Ophilia so off guard. She had been fine around the dragonstones, and nothing was wrong when they entered House Ravus either. It was only after the woman arrived while she was fetching Therion that something seemed to go wrong. They didn't even know her name or what she could have wanted, just that there was something peculiar about her. Olberic was fine with the fact that she was no longer present for Ophilia's sake, but he couldn't help feeling as if he was missing a large piece of this puzzle that could have very easily meant something in the future.
It wasn't as if Olberic had any proof for this, but he could sense there was something amiss. It was a talent Olberic had possessed for much of his life, a natural instinct for understanding when something was wrong in the world around him. He could tell thanks to this gut belief that the woman was not who she appeared to be on the surface, and he barely even know what that was supposed to mean. Olberic hoped that they would never have to cross paths with the strange woman again, but something told him that their luck was hardly going to be as kind as he would have liked.
Olberic was so lost in thought that he barely realized he had gathered all of his supplies until after Cyrus had finished his final scan of the room. The scholar had been silent since they entered the room, no doubt lost in his own thoughts regarding what had taken place that morning. It had only been two hours since they woke up to face the day, but it felt as if they had dealt with a day's worth of obstacles and then some. At least they would be on the road again shortly. That would give them all the time they needed to think through their next steps after they arrived in Goldshore.
"Do you think Therion will be alright?"
The sound of Cyrus' voice pulled Olberic out of his thoughts, and he looked over to see the scholar with concern glossing over his gaze. He had tucked away the map Barham had given him the day before as he brushed off a few pieces of rock that had gotten stuck on his cloak while they were in Bolderfall. Cyrus was trying to distract himself since he didn't know how to handle the problem, in other words. Cyrus wanted to tackle problems as soon as he could, and the issue at hand was too nuanced and complex for him to approach it as he would have liked. Arguably, that was true for all of them.
Olberic nodded firmly as he offered his own glance across the room to make sure they hadn't left anything behind. "Therion needs a bit of time to himself. A lot has happened over the last few weeks, and when he's ready, he'll reach out to us. I trust him to understand his own limits," Olberic replied. "Therion knows how to handle himself, and even if it isn't easy, we have to trust that he can look after what he needs to without the rest of us needing to get involved."
Cyrus hummed in response, still worried and not entirely convinced. "I wish there was something I could say to make him realize that we're all here if he needs us for any reasons, related to the mission or otherwise," he murmured with a shake of his head.
Olberic would have been lying if he said he knew what to say to make it better. The best thing they could do for Therion for the time being was just give him time to come around on his own, and while it wasn't going to be easy to just step back after all that the thief had said, it was the best option any of them had. Hopefully, Therion would come around by the time they arrived at Goldshore, though Olberic knew better than to raise his hopes too high. It was going to take time, but they would handle it somehow. He was sure of it.
"We should meet with the others as soon as possible," Cyrus declared, seeming to realize that lingering on the subject wasn't going to do either one of them much good. He gave the room one final glance before starting toward the door. "It seems as if we have everything."
Olberic nodded his agreement and opened the door before allowing Cyrus to walk out first. The scholar gave him a smile and a nod along with his polite thanks, and Olberic closed the door behind them before leaving the building behind entirely. He dropped off the key to their room at the front desk along the way before pushing his way out of the entrance.
They were met with the sight of the other members of the group already gathered together. Ophilia was doing much better already, and she looked as if she had never been sick to begin with. That only left Olberic with more questions when it came to her strange shift of behavior, and Cyrus appeared to be even more curious than he was somehow. In fact, Cyrus seemed to be scrutinizing Ophilia for any signs of understanding when it came to what had taken place while they were in Bolderfall. They were all just as curious as he was about Ophilia's moment of weakness, but they chose to not say anything about it. The answers would come with time, and as much as Olberic hated to admit it, they could probably rely on something like that happening again.
"Let's get going," Tressa announced. Olberic pretended to not see the way Tressa continued to stand much closer to Ophilia than she ever had before. Even if the two had been roommates during their stays in hotels as they drifted from town to town, Tressa had never acted this way, and it was no doubt brought on by her nerves regarding Ophilia almost collapsing. In fact, Tressa seemed to be silently evaluating the situation to see what she would have to do in order to catch Ophilia if it came to that. Olberic hoped that wasn't necessary, but he had to appreciate the effort Tressa was putting in, at the very least.
There were no objections to Tressa's suggestion that they set off, and Primrose led them out of Noblecourt a moment later. She had pulled her hood up above her head once more, the anxiety of being in Noblecourt having struck her all over again. She would have to return eventually no matter what came next in their respective journeys, but for the time being, she was much too focused on getting out of town to care about what she could expect to be met with later on.
The open plains outside Noblecourt were much the same as they had been the last time the group was in the area. Olberic let out a small sigh, glad that they had been able to accomplish so much during their brief trip into the city. If all went well, they would be able to get just as much done while they were in Goldshore, though Olberic supposed that would be a bit harder to track since they didn't have as much of a reason to be there. The primary motivation for them traveling to Goldshore in the first place came in the form of the shrines and the Warp Staff. After all, they were going to have to return to Goldshore eventually as part of the Kindling, so they might as well save themselves some time while they were in the area.
On the note of the shrines and the Warp Staff, Cyrus had taken out the map and was staring at it carefully. He had already done an impressive job of narrowing down where the shrines were located, and Olberic was glad that he had been able to do so much in such a short span of time. On the other hand, Olberic wanted nothing to do with the map if it could at all be avoided. It was helpful, yes, but it was also a brutal reminder of all that had been lost.
At this point, Olberic's greatest hope regarding the shrines was that there wouldn't be one in Hornburg. After all, the once-great civilization had been reduced to a ghost town, and it would be difficult for them to get there, much less to fight through anything that may or may not have been waiting for them there. Olberic hated the idea of having to return to his home, knowing that it would do nothing but leave him feeling weak and emotionally arrested inside out. There were other locations where the shrines could have been though, and Olberic was hoping that the stars aligned in a way that kept them from being placed in the tragic position of having to travel to Hornburg. He didn't have much of a say in where the shrines were located since the gods had already decided where to place the holy spaces, but he could still hope.
Olberic tore his gaze away from the map and focused on the world around him. It shouldn't take too much longer for them to get to Goldshore, though he could only imagine that they would be encountering a few nasty beasts on the way. The monsters around Goldshore were particularly brutal, and only the sands of Wellspring and the very borders of the continent were more dangerous as far as he was concerned. Monsters grew stronger the farther they got from the Central Sea of Orsterra as the influence of the gods dwindled near the borders, and given how far Goldshore was from everything else aside from Grandport, they were in for quite a bit of trouble.
The least they could do was try to push through it though. After all, they had to gather the blessings of the gods if they wanted to find out more about the mission they had been given by Aelfric. There was still so much they didn't understand, and perhaps the shrine that seemed to be in the Goldshore area would be able to answer their questions. Maybe then Olberic would finally get some confirmation that they would never have to travel in the direction of Hornburg.
Deep down though, Olberic already knew that there was no point in hoping so strongly. It was only a matter of time before destiny returned him to the place of his greatest regrets, and there was no way to fight the sands of fate itself.
Lyblac time!
At long last, we can consider the miniature arc of Therion's chapter two to be finished. It's time to move on and focus on our next subject. In other words, we're getting closer to Alfyn's chapter two, and that means bringing in character points from his chapter along with everything that's happened to Primrose and Therion. I said it before, and I'll say it again: I can't believe that Alfyn's chapter two is going to be the most light-hearted so far. I suppose it's not hard to get lighter than Primrose and Therion having existential crises about connecting with other people, but given how dark Alfyn's chapter two is... Yikes.
Before that though, we have to handle the merchant shrine, and we'll be getting there over the course of the next few updates. Afterward, it'll be time to press on with the individual character story after this brief break where we focused on the overall plot. We'll get back to the overall plot eventually, but for now, here you are with this little snapshot of what's to come.
Next time, we'll get closer to the merchant shrine and go through a few character moments. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital