Ophilia's nerves had been rattling against each other ever since the party left behind Goldshore a few hours ago. It felt like their travels in the direction of Stonegard were taking both a thousand years and no time at all, and Ophilia couldn't help wondering if perhaps she was wandering the world outside the confines of her body somehow. She shuffled mindlessly across the sands as they transformed into the rocks that marked the Highlands, a frown on her face the whole way.
She was still thinking about Vanessa whether she wanted to admit it or not. All of them were; she could see it in their eyes. Regardless of how desperate they were to escape the past, they couldn't seem to leave the truth of Vanessa's greed behind. Ophilia couldn't help wondering what had happened to all the other people that Vanessa had hurt, though she knew just the same that she would never be able to find that truth. It wasn't possible to put it simply, and that only made Ophilia feel worse. She hadn't even thought that was possible before, but now, it seemed like the all too real reality of her situation.
Part of Ophilia was desperate to grab the Warp Staff from Cyrus that night and travel back to Flamesgrace to see what was happening there with her father and sister. Josef had said that he wasn't long for this world, but Ophilia was still holding onto the faith that she would be able to see him again soon. She and the rest of the travelers were moving at a pretty decent pace, and if the doctors believed in him, then she did too. She knew that it went against what he thought was real, but Ophilia had to have faith. She had just barely gotten the chance to recognize her family for what it was, and she couldn't lose that so long after the opportunity had finally fallen into her lap. Her fears as an imposter were the reason for her ten years of restraint, but it still stung to think that perhaps she would never get the chance to see him again.
If Vanessa had been in Flamesgrace, would she have saved him? To Ophilia, the answer seemed obvious: she would have, but only in the name of the money that the church could have provided her for healing the sick archbishop. She was always thinking of herself, and that included when she was saving lives in the name of what should have been the greater good. If Josef hadn't been the archbishop, she would have only looked his way a second time if he had enough money to pay off her extortionate fees, but if not...
Ophilia didn't even want to think about that.
It felt ridiculous for her to be so worried about a hypothetical that would never come to pass. Vanessa was imprisoned beneath the streets of Goldshore, and she wouldn't be let out any time soon. Alfyn seemed to think that if Vanessa did return to the rest of the world, she would be changed along the way, forced to recognize the error of her ways with no way of outrunning every terrible thing she had done in the past. The slumberthorn would likely induce that sort of effect with its power of nightmares. Still, that didn't shake Ophilia's fears for a reason that she couldn't articulate.
Josef was going to be fine. Lianna was looking after him, and Ophilia trusted her sister to take care of him. Josef was going to find a way to hold on long enough for Ophilia to return and say goodbye. She had to. Vanessa was never going to be able to do anything to him as long as Ophilia had anything to say about it. Hell, it wasn't even possible anymore to begin with.
Then why couldn't she stop thinking about it?
"Ophilia?"
The sound of H'aanit's voice pulled Ophilia out of her trance, and she immediately snapped to attention to look up at the huntress. She was standing off to Ophilia's right, a small frown on her face. Everything about her was quietly worried, and Ophilia could tell that she had been letting her fear show on her face. She did her best to correct her expression with a smile so fake that it felt like it was poisoning her, and some vague whisper in the back of Ophilia's mind wondered if he had a cure for that. "Is there something you need?" she asked, hating the way her voice was on the verge of breaking no matter how hard she tried to keep herself steady.
"I'm worried about thou," H'aanit admitted as she looked Ophilia over from head to toe. The cleric could feel how critical H'aanit's eyes were, and it was enough to make her wince, not that she would have shown it openly if she had any say in the matter. Unfortunately for her, H'aanit's gaze was more than enough to strip her bare, and all the cleric could do was stand there and watch. "Thou is thinking about something darke, yes?"
Ophilia hesitated at that, knowing that there was no easy way for her to respond. How could there be? The words seemed to be just out of reach no matter how much she tried to reach for them. She opened her mouth before pressing her lips shut again a few times before she was finally able to speak. "I was thinking about my father," she admitted quietly. Calling Josef her father was still strange to her, but she would get used to it eventually, hopefully by the time she went back home again.
H'aanit hummed, and something sad appeared in her eyes that made Ophilia feel like she was going to be sick. How could she have forgotten? H'aanit was going on this journey with the rest of them because she was trying to learn more about what had happened to the man who had raised her like she was his own. Josef was Ophilia's father the same way that Z'aanta was H'aanit's guardian, and given how close they were to Stonegard, it was only natural that H'aanit would be sad thinking about what had happened. Ophilia kicked herself for not remembering something so critical even though she knew that H'aanit wasn't going to hold it against her no matter what.
"Thou misseth him," H'aanit said simply instead of acknowledging the grief in her own eyes. It was a statement of fact rather than a question, and both of them knew it all too well.
Ophilia hesitated before nodding. "I do," she admitted. "I kept myself from accepting how much he cared about me for a long time, but... Not anymore. After the Kindling is over, I'm going back home, and I... I want to see him again. He's sick and doesn't have much time left, but I know that he's going to hold out long enough for me to say goodbye. He has to."
H'aanit suddenly seemed to understand completely, and she nodded. "What Vanessa did struck a chorde with you," H'aanit began to say. "Thou feareth how many others she woulde have hurt if she was given the opportunity."
Ophilia nodded carefully. "I don't want to think about it," she admitted. "But I just can't get it out of my head. There are so many valiant healers and apothecaries out there who are trying to help those who are sick and suffering. There are people just like that helping my father back in Flamesgrace. To think that somebody like her would take advantage of the pain of others in the name of feeding her own ambitions... It just makes me sick. I don't know how she can live with herself when she knows she could be taking people to their deaths in her name."
"She will have to liven with her mistaketh for the reste of her life," H'aanit said simply, though it was clear that she was just as upset with Vanessa as Ophilia was. "She maden the wrong choice. Her punishment will hardly be a graceful one. What happeneth next to her... She must knowen that she brought it on herself."
Ophilia hummed at that, wishing that she could bring herself to agree completely. She didn't even know if people like Vanessa were able to change. Why would Vanessa have acted that way in the first place if she was going to regret it later? She was counting on never going back on everything that she had started to do. Ophilia was sure of it. She didn't know how Vanessa could live with herself, but she could already tell that she wasn't going to find the answers that she was looking for. The world was going to make sure that she was never quite able to figure out the truth, much to her disdain. Vanessa was already in prison, and Ophilia was halfway to Stonegard. She wasn't going to turn back just to go to the gaol beneath Goldshore to yell at the former apothecary. Ophilia didn't have the drive to do such a thing anyways, and even if she did, she didn't know what she would have even said. What could be said about actions like that?
Before Ophilia could respond to H'aanit in full, she felt something rattle at her hip. She glanced down to see the Lanthorn was starting to react to something, and the flames of the Ember were burning brighter than usual. Ophilia smiled to herself before looking to the rest of the party. "I guess we're getting close to another shrine," she announced. All eyes were on her as she started to walk forward with the Ember gleaming across the stones of the Highlands at her feet.
In the end, the Lanthorn led the group to a small outcropping of stone that pulled away from the rest of the rocks around them. Ophilia could tell that the door was hiding among the rocks without even needing to ask, and she stepped closer with a nervous frown. When the stones began to part to form the entrance to the shrine, she hesitated. She glanced back to the rest of the group, and when they all looked determined to walk inside, Ophilia forced herself onward, doing her best to ignore the way her nerves rattled around in her stomach.
For a few blissful moments, the shrine was completely dark aside from the gentle glow of the Ember. Ophilia allowed herself the chance to breathe for what felt like the first time in a millennia before the shrine sparked to life around her. Brown flames danced in the torches that were mounted to the wall, and Ophilia frowned as she tried to figure out which god they would be fighting against that day. She was fine with anything at this point; she was desperate for a distraction from her moral crisis regarding Vanessa, and a fight would most certainly take her mind off everything that had happened in Goldshore and everything that was still happening in Flamesgrace.
At least, that was the hope.
Ophilia glanced up a moment later and saw the path that stretched forward to the stone carving at the far end of the shrine. She sighed carefully before starting to walk forward, Olberic at her side. He seemed ready to talk to her if she decided that she needed, though Ophilia couldn't say for sure that she was going to take him up on the offer. Once again, she found herself wanting to say so much but struggling to find the words necessary to breathe even a word to her companions. It was a suffocating paradox, and Ophilia could only hope that the battle against the upcoming god would do enough to loosen up her system so that she could do something with all of this rattling energy. She was tired of this already, and she needed a chance to just... Breathe for once.
When the group arrived at the far end of the shrine, Ophilia looked down to see the marking in the stone. The rocks had been carved to resemble a sword and shield, and Ophilia carefully stared for a long moment. It seemed that, for the first time, they would be fighting against a god with a bias towards physical prowess rather than magical. It would certainly be different from taking up arms against Aelfric, Alephan, and Bifelgan, but Ophilia still had faith that they would be able to pull it off somehow. It wasn't as if the gods had been out for blood previously; they simply wanted the travelers to prove themselves, and if the group had managed to get this far, then they were going to be fine.
Olberic wound up being the one to touch at the stone carving, and everything that happened in the moments that followed was exactly as Ophilia would have expected. Her vision gave way to white before fading to black, and when she next got a grip on herself, she was standing in the same shapeless battlefield that had marked her previous encounters with the gods. The brown flames in the torches around the shrine's pedestal were still found here, and they were the only light to be found aside from the barest glimpses of sunlight coming down from a few cracks in the overhead rocks. Ophilia looked up at the sunshine for a long moment before swallowing dryly and glancing around for the god that they would be taking up arms against next.
A man appeared in Ophilia's vision a few moments later. He was perhaps the tallest man Ophilia had ever seen, eclipsing even Olberic and Cyrus in verticality effortlessly. His skin was warm and tanned while his hair was dark and slicked back against his head. Everything about him was the picture of poise and grace. He wore black and gray armor that covered much of his body from view. A silver mask covered his face, and it looked almost like the face guard segment of a helm had been cut away from its base and attached to his features at the temples. His fingers were masked by dark brown gloves, and a deep blue sheath could be seen at his hip. When Ophilia's eyes shifted to the blade, she immediately felt something overwhelmingly powerful coming from it, and she knew that the sword at his side had to be the weapon that they would be granted.
Brand.
Ophilia wasn't sure where the assumption had come from, but she was certain that was who this was. Everything about him was the picture of power, and Ophilia found herself swallowing dryly. Legends of the times of the gods had said that Brand and Winnehild were melee warriors unparalleled, and here they were, about to fight against the first of the two. Ophilia had no idea how they were going to pull this off, but she didn't let her stress show on her face. Instead, she simply tucked the Lanthorn out of view and reached for the Illumination Staff, clutching at it with everything she had.
"Hail travelers," came Brand's deep voice. It echoed on all sides, and Ophilia swallowed dryly at the sound to try and ground herself. "Thou hast come a long way to reach me... I am Brand, the god of the earth."
Ophilia nodded at his words, and she could hear the others preparing for the battle ahead behind her. Olberic was the first to speak, though Ophilia didn't know where he was able to find the confidence to push the words out into the heavy silence. "I've always believed that a fight can tell you more about a person than words could ever imagine," he started simply.
A small trace of a smile appeared on Brand's lips, and he nodded his agreement before reaching for his blade. When the sword was fully in view of the torchlit battlefield, Ophilia found herself even more sure than before that it was the divine weapon of the warrior god. The hilt seemed to be carved from the strongest of diamonds that had ever been found, and the blade shone with a black obsidian that made her stomach do flips. He was going to be every bit the warrior that the legends had made him out to be, and she had no idea how she was supposed to go up against that.
Still, she knew that she had to try, and Ophilia gripped tightly at her staff while waiting for someone to make the first move. In the end, it was Alfyn, who created a pillar of ice around Brand's feet in an attempt to trap the god where he stood. Brand's reflexes were much too fast for this to work though, and he jumped backwards out of the way before Alfyn's plan could succeed. His expression had gone from a playful smirk to something much darker, and Ophilia recognized it as the battle ready glare that Olberic wore just before an important bout of combat. Perhaps the two were more similar than she had initially assumed.
Speaking of Olberic, he was the next one to lash out, and he dashed in Brand's direction with his sword at the ready. Brand stepped out of the way and prepared to slash at Olberic's midsection with his blade, but the warrior had other plans in mind. Instead of allowing his momentum to be his downfall, he used to to his advantage, tempering his speed as he pivoted on one foot and slashed at Brand's back.
The god was able to throw up his sword to take the force of the blow, though it was clear that he had been caught by surprise. His sword clashed fiercely with Olberic's blade, and the two were locked in a stalemate for a few harrowing seconds. Ophilia's mind finally seemed to snap into place from there, and she pointed the Illumination Staff in Brand's direction, creating a column of light around his feet. He noticed what she was doing though, and he launched himself out of the way at the last moment.
Brand was left in a crouching formation after he escaped Ophilia's attack, but that left him in the perfect line of fire for a combined attack from Primrose and Therion. Dark magic mixed with fire to spiral in his direction, and Brand attempted to spring out of the way once more. Unfortunately, he was half a second too late, and the darkness clipped his leg while the fire hit him in the shoulder. Brand threw up his sword defensively when another strike came in his direction. This time, it was Tressa, who was attempting to take advantage of Primrose and Therion's strike to get in a hit of her own. Wind rushed in Brand's direction, but his sword was able to take the brunt of the blow, allowing him to continue standing tall and proud.
Cyrus flicked his wrist firmly in Brand's direction, and the god jumped out of the way of what he assumed was going to be a magical attack. However, it was not the element that he had been expecting given the Tome of Tundras in Cyrus' hand. Instead, a swift strike of lightning rained down on him from behind, and Brand let out a small groan of pain at having been caught off guard.
He was left stumbling for a few precious seconds, and that small handful of moments was everything H'aanit needed to rush up behind him with her axe at the ready. She charged the steel with the thunderous energy she had learned to use so many years ago, and with that, she slashed at the vulnerable position exposed by Cyrus' attack. Brand turned around to face her as he grappled against the pain, but he was cut off when Therion rushed at him with his knife at the ready. Before Brand could do anything to strike the thief though, Therion had taken advantage of the dark magic skills he had picked up on from Primrose. The shadows closed in on him, and before anyone could register what was happening, he had dashed out of the line of fire.
Brand was more than able to block the next attack though, and once again, his foe was Olberic. The warrior had opted to use a spear instead for this strike, and the sword clashed fiercely against the lance. The sound of clanging steel echoed throughout the cave, and each ring seemed to linger in Ophilia's mind for much longer than it should have. She could do little more than watch Brand and Olberic clash, though the latter clearly had the upper hand. His lance was longer than Brand's sword by just enough that he was able to stay out of the immediate range of danger while still raining in blows against the god.
Unfortunately, Brand's defenses were much stronger than any of them could have expected, and he didn't seem to be taking much damage from the physical blows Olberic was giving him. He seemed more than ready to shrug everything off, as a matter of fact, as if he wasn't the target of any attacks to begin with. Brand's sword flashed dangerously as he did his best to hold off Olberic's attacks, though there was still something dangerous gleaming against his gaze that Ophilia could see even though his eyes were hidden by his mask. He had a plan, and none of them were going to be ready for it.
Sure enough, Brand managed to get in a lucky blow to the base of Olberic's lance that forced the warrior backwards, and that was all the god needed to prepare his next attack. He slammed one foot into the ground, and the earth beneath everyone's feet began to shake. Ophilia nearly fell over from shock, and she wished there was something for her to grab onto. In the end, she found herself stumbling into H'aanit, though the huntress was more than able to keep herself upright without consequence. H'aanit's eyes were trained solely on Brand, and everything about her seemed confused no matter how much she tried to hide it.
Ophilia looked back to the god as soon as she was able to get a grip on her senses once again, and she couldn't have stifled the gasp that pushed free of her lips even if she wanted to. The earth had bent itself under Brand's whims, and the rocks of the shrine's floor had risen up to grab at Olberic's legs, forcing the warrior to stand in place. He struggled against the rock, but he wasn't able to break free until Brand dashed up to him and reared one fist back. The punch Brand delivered to Olberic's chest made a clapping sound that echoed throughout the darkness of the shrine, and Olberic flew backwards until he hit the railing that lined the battlefield, all of the wind knocked from his lungs in the blink of an eye.
"What in the world?" Primrose asked softly as she watched Brand with cautious eyes. It took Ophilia a long moment even after Primrose had spoken to convince herself that what she had seen was real. Brand truly had managed to manipulate the earth and use it to keep Olberic at bay. How was that possible though? There were only six known elements of magic, and the manipulation of rock and stone was far from being involved with any of them.
Cyrus seemed to be the only one who understood what was happening, and his eyes narrowed in quiet intensity. "I should have known it was going to come to this eventually... Back in Atlasdam, I was conducting research into the power of magic, and I realized that there were likely elements that had not yet been discovered or used by mortal hands yet. It seems that one of these elements is the power of earth, and Brand appears to have complete mastery over it as well."
Ophilia's mind felt like it was spinning out of control at those words. She had never imagined something like that would even be possible, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense in a strange way she struggled to describe. Each of the twelve gods could have easily had an element affiliated with them, and that meant that mortals had only discovered half the elements of magic that they could use. Ophilia had grown up surrounded by magic because of her position in the church, but she still never could have imagined that her journey would lead her to an outcome like this.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't able to think about it for much longer than she already had. She jumped out of the way at the last minute to keep from being slashed by Brand's dark blade, and she realized just why the hilt of the sword looked like it was made of gemstones and rocks. That was Brand's element, and he was using the sword to funnel his earthen power into the world around him. If anything though, this revelation only hurt them more. That meant that Brand was going to have an even greater upper hand than any of them could have ever imagined, and the power of earth was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of his advantages.
Brand swiped his sword at Ophilia once again, but he was cut off when ice suddenly mounted from the ground and caught the blade before it could strike at the cleric. Ophilia took this as her cue to scramble out of the way, and she realized that Alfyn was the one who had caught Brand off guard. He reached for his axe before he dashed up behind Brand with magic dancing along the surface of the weapon. He slashed with all the force he possessed, charging the blade with fire just before the strike sunk in.
Brand wasn't able to turn around in time, and he took the hit hard. He let out a cry of pain before abandoning his grip on his sword. He jumped away before Alfyn could follow up with another attack, and H'aanit released an electric arrow in his direction a moment later. Brand was too disoriented to keep from being hit by it though, and in the end, the arrow clipped his shoulder. He stumbled backwards, his gaze clearly drifting to where his sword was lodged in the ice. There was too much distance between himself and the blade for him to reclaim it easily, and he could already tell that he was going to have to rely on his own strength in order to win this fight.
Brand pressed his hands together in front of his chest, and a moment later, everything about him seemed to change. He had centered himself and brought his body new strength in the process, and Ophilia could already tell that he was going to start hitting a lot harder if he was given the chance to directly attack any of them. She did her best to bury her nerves as she once again sunk into a defensive stance.
Brand lashed out with an earthen attack that seemed to be traveling towards the ice where his sword was being kept, likely because he was desperate to retrieve his blade once more. Unfortunately for him, Alfyn melted the ice before he had the chance to destroy the frozen barrier, and the blade was left to slide across the battlefield a few moments later. This took the sword even farther from Brand, and Tressa smirked as she realized that she was closest to it now. She shoved one hand in the direction of the sword, and the blade started to slide across the shrine once again.
Olberic had managed to recover by this point, and he claimed the sword as soon as it was in his reach. He tested the weight of the weapon in his hand for a few moments before noticing the way that the hilt was made of gemstones and rocks. He had come to the same conclusion Ophilia had regarding the control of Earth, and while he was far from being the strongest mage among the group's members, he wasn't going to let that stop him now.
Olberic shoved the blade into the ground, and rocks started to mount around the battlefield, pinning Brand in place before he had the chance to fight back. He broke free after just a few seconds though, showing off the power that he had gained in focusing his concentration completely. He dashed in Olberic's direction, ready to attack with a single punching attack. Olberic created a barrier of earth at the last minute to make sure that he didn't get hit, and Brand's knuckles made contact only with the stones. The god's expression twisted itself into a frown as he glanced around for another target.
In the end, he set his gaze on Cyrus, and he punched at the air with as much force as he could muster. Rock fragments rose up from the ground and began to launch themselves at Cyrus. The scholar attempted to block the attack with an icy barricade, but he was never able to complete the spell before the rocks rocketed through his defenses and slammed him to the ground. He slid backwards for a short while before falling still, breathing heavily and clearly disoriented from the strike.
Alfyn was quick to jump into the fray from there, creating a barrier himself to keep Cyrus safe while he ducked behind the shield and got to work on healing the scholar's injuries. Cyrus remained somewhat distant and unfocused throughout the process, and Ophilia took in a careful breath before allowing healing magic to fall over each member of the group. She could already tell that this next stage of the battle wasn't going to be easy, and they were going to need all the energy they could get.
After all, they were fighting a god of earth, and they had to be ready for whatever happened next.
And there's another chapter in the bag! Woohoo!
I feel like everybody's first question is as follows: New magic? What gives? Well, if you remember back to Cyrus' first chapter, I did mention that he was studying other types of magic, and... Well, here we are. I wanted to give each of the gods an element to spruce things up in terms of fight sequences later on, so Brand gets earth. As for the other gods that have been given new elements... Well, you're just going to have to see where that takes us eventually, but the next one who's going to have a new power is Dohter. We won't get to him until after H'aanit's chapter two and the Sealticge fight, but we'll get there eventually. For now, we have Brand and his earth magic.
I don't have as much to say about this chapter as I would have thought, but I really do love writing these god fights. I also thoroughly enjoy writing from Ophilia's point of view, and I'm excited to keep that up in the future. Just... This story is fun. I know that things are going pretty slowly right now, but I feel like this is the best pace we can get to fully enjoy everything that's happening for the cast. It really is tons of fun to work with.
Next time around, we're going to pick up with the second half of the Brand fight and then get ready for the fourth chapter two of the bunch: H'aanit's. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital