Ah, I’m nervous. I’m super nervous! I don’t know what to do with my hands!
“Goddess, Arissa… Can you just calm down already and stop fidgeting everywhere? You’re annoying the crap out of me.”
I immediately folded my arms behind my back so I couldn’t move around as much anymore, and I turned away from Chel’s chilly gre to once again look out of the tent’s opening, taking in the scene in front of me. Rows upon rows of adventurers and mercenaries all stood at the outskirts of town, eagerly, or I’m sure in many more people’s cases fearfully, watching the rge open pins, waiting for the wave of monsters to crash into them. If I’m being honest, there's actually quite a lot more people here than I expected to show up, considering how many monsters we were told were going to be coming at us. Aaand if I’m still being honest, I doubt that this would be as many people as we were gonna need to be able to get through this with minimal casualties. They were all in a good formation, sure, and very few of them looked like this was their first rodeo, but like… I’m sure this isn’t an everyday occurrence, or even an every few years kind of occurrence either, you know? I don't think any of them were truly ready for what was about to come.
And what’s worse is, I can’t help thinking that all of this is somehow my fault.
Sure, I mean, it’s not 100% my fault, but I can’t shake the thought that this stupid monster attack was because of me. I died and the Goddess brought me to life, and just when that happens, suddenly a monster wave strikes. Having been told that camities happen when the Goddess uses a lot of power, well… Of course this must have happened because I died, right? If I hadn’t stupidly let myself get killed by the quiet priest, then would all of these people have to get sacrificed against the monsters like this?
Looking at all these people who might just die because of my stupid mistake was just getting too painful…
Instead, I turned around and marched my way over to the back of the tent, pulling over the loose fp so that I could look out behind us.
The area across the front of the town had a small, hastily built wall made out of rocks and logs blocking access to it. The thing had been practically spped together overnight, using both workers and magic to get it done. …And it was only about the height of two of me, and maybe as thick as one of these adventurers standing out there, so honestly it wasn’t very trustworthy. Maybe it would stop the monsters for a brief moment if they reached it, but I didn’t really expect it to completely put a stop to any of them, or actually buy any of us very much time, so really it was more of a minor obstacle than a major help.
What I wouldn’t give to have the capital’s wall instead of this one...
If I’m gonna have to fight a bigger badder wave than this in the future, then I better stop dragging my feet and get over there already before it comes to find me.
Unable to continue looking at the wall, I went back to the front of the tent. But when I remembered how sad it already made me to look out there, I once more moved to the back of the tent, hesitating to give the wall another look, as if what I was going to see would be any different than before.
“Ugh, and now you’re pacing. What the heck, Arissa? Can’t you just stand there and not do such annoying stuff?”
“Ah…”
Chel’s right, she’s totally totally right! But I just don’t know what to do anymore, I’ve already looked at my character sheet so much trying to sort stuff out that I practically have it burned into my retinas at this point!
My hand came up to nervously fiddle with my hair since they had nothing else to do, but my fingers stopped when they came in contact with a soft, feathery feeling. Kale and Chel had surprised me in the morning, having worked together while I was fretting all night to make me a new feather based hair-tie so that my hair wouldn’t get in the way during this all important confrontation.
To be fair, it looked really poorly made compared to the previous one I got from Chel, and she practically threw it at me when I saw her, but hey! Beggars can’t be choosers, and this hair of mine definitely needs to stop poking and prickling me all the time if I’m going to be focusing on anything else! Besides, the feathers were personally chosen by, and plucked off of himself, by Kale, so of course I wouldn’t just ignore such a precious gift! …Although, considering the very limited intel on the monsters we’re about to be facing, I’m going to have to do my best to not let this new hair-tie go down the same path as the st one. I'm sure the monsters this time will be much much worse than some silly lizards, after all.
“...Thanks again, Chel, Kale… I’m really thankful for this hair-tie.”
“Yeah of course you are, your hair is complete garbage without it.”
…Okay Chel, I know that you’re right, but you’re definitely not winning any points here with the way you said that.
“I chose two of my strongest feathers, Saintess. They should be quite sturdy, and not so easy to break. …So long as you’re wearing them, I should be able to locate you.”
Oh? That’s very sweet… I’m gd Kale put so much time into the feathers he chose for me. And it’s pretty neat that they serve such a tracking function too, although I have to wonder why it is that he can do that. Is he able to track all his feathers, or was it that he just did something special to these two? And if it is all of his feathers, then would he have been able to track me down with that previous hair-tie Chel gave me too? What about the feathers that shoot out when he uses his magic?
“Is it… all of your feathers that you can track?”
Kale shook his head slightly, the feathers on the back of his head and neck rustling.
“It’s only my flight feathers that I can track, since they always hold a bit of my energy in them.”
“So these are made from your flight feathers then? No wonder they’re stronger… Oh! But are you gonna be okay for flying then? I hope you didn’t pull out any important feathers just for this!”
It’d be absolutely disastrous if he ended up being unable to fly right just because he pulled out the wrong feathers just to make a silly hair-tie! My back up pn of getting him to fly us out of here might just be completely ruined like this! …Is it possible for me to maybe heal the feathers back onto him…?
“Ah, no, Saintess, it’s not-”
“He has plenty of feathers left on him still you dummy. What are you freaking out about?”
Yeah, Chel’s right, he’s only missing two, and it’s not like I can really see where he pulled them out from, so it’s not like he’s going bald. But the way he said it made them sound important, you know? Doesn’t it make sense that less flight feathers means less flight potential? Am I really so odd for thinking this?
“...My kind does not need all of our feathers to fly. So long as a few remain, we are still able to cast our flight magic and soar through the skies just fine.”
Oh, yeah, this is a pce that runs on magic, isn’t it? No wonder his people are able to fly; From what I’ve seen and felt, their bodies are built just like any other human would have been, minus their bird feet and all the feathers growing off of them. It’d be absolutely absurd to think such a heavy body would be able to fly with just a few fps of some feathered arms alone. Heck, even gliding seems like it’d be very improbable.
Kale looked down at me while I nodded along to my thoughts, his face looking a bit uncomfortable for some reason.
“But I have to warn you, Saintess-”
“It’s time!”
The Bishop, who’d been sitting quietly off to the side sliding around his prayer beads, suddenly stood up and made his way to the entrance of the tent, pointing off into the distance.
“There. There they come.”
From the treeline at the edge of the pin, rge murky figures began to slowly squeeze themselves past the trunks of the trees, lurching unsteadily as they broke free into the open ndscape. They were hard to see, almost impossibly dark in color, and yet somehow it was possible to make out the liquid center of their bodies, slime-like in nature. But there was no way that anyone would ever mistake these things for slimes; The four demonic limbs that walked their bodies along with sharply pointed nails, and the odd, bone-like caps that sat atop their head like broken egg shells were both something that made it quite obvious that it was an entirely different beast.
“What… What are those…?”
Chel’s voice sounded different from anything I’d ever heard before. I’d heard her be worried, angry, sad, caring, and confused in the past, but I think this was the first time that I’d heard so much fear shaking itself out of her words like this. ...Not that I could bme her.
“Those are 'dregs'. Unholy creatures, born from a wicked curse. And of course, such nasty things seek out others to join them in their misery as well.”
It’s a curse? Not a monster? But if what the Bishop was saying is true, then what had to happen to turn a human into that kind of thing…? No, wait, now’s not the time for wondering about that, instead-
“If it’s a curse, can we stop it? Is it reversible somehow?”
If this is anything like the blood-beast infection from before, then maybe I’d be able to save these people from it! There are a lot of them, and I doubt that I’d be able to save all of them, but if I could at least try and do something for most of them, then-!
“I’m afraid it’s impossible, Saintess. Not even the Goddess can give back a soul that has been destroyed.”
What? These things… This curse… It destroys people’s souls and makes them into more of these things…?
But if it can destroy souls… then will the Goddess be able to revive me if I die to them?
_____
AN: Oh man I meant to put this out yesterday, sorry ><
