Artimius paused at the door, his hand resting lightly on the fra. "Oh, I was offered one. Many tis. The Gods are generous... when they want sothing."
He finally turned, eyes eting Damon’s. "But I am a man who has lived a long life. I have very few years left in these old bones and a lot of pride. Why must I submit to soone else? Hmmm? Of all the people, I think you will understand perfectly fine."
He turned again, the faintest flicker of sothing bitter in his step. "Be careful, Blood God. Power is a seductive chain. It wraps around your neck like a gift, and you wear it gladly... until the day you forget what your own voice sounds like."
He walked away, footsteps echoing against the polished stone floor, leaving Damon staring after him. "This old guy is not too bad, I guess." Damon smiled.
"You have no idea who my grandfather is and just how powerful he is," Sylvara said softly behind him, her voice lacking its usual sharpness or arrogance. But she quickly cleared her throat and adjusted her gaze.
"Assemble in Trendelan city in 2 hours. Don’t be late." She snapped at him and started walking away.
"That’s not going to work for . I am pretty sure I am going to be late." Damon shouted after her, but the woman continued walking away.
Damon then turned to look at Mark, who gave him an odd glance. "Are you really going to be late?"
"Nah. fuck it. I am way too curious about this quest. I have never heard of anything like this before."
Ti quickly flew by, and Damon took a short nap during the ti to refresh himself.
Two hours later, Damon stood at the edge of Trendelan City’s central plaza, gazing at the rising spires of crystal-tipped towers. Trendelan City was the northernmost city of the entire continent, surrounded by snow-capped mountains on all sides.
Ice affinity mana was thick in this place, coiling in the wind like threads of silken frost. Snowflakes didn’t fall here, they shimred down like drifting shards of magic. "Did she start here? She must have one hell of a luck attribute." Damon smiled and started looking around.
Sure enough, he found the eting point, a small pub. Mark and Kate had already arrived before him. It looked like pretty much everyone else from the team had also arrived.
"You are 5 minutes late." Sylvara snapped. The seven others from their clan seed pleased at her reaction.
"Ya. Ya. I am late. But now that I am here, let’s get going." Damon shrugged.
"We are still waiting for 2 more allies." Sylvara calmly replied.
This woman! Damon’s face twitched. If they were still waiting, then how was he late?! He silently walked out without saying anything.
"Get back here!" Sylvara called after him, her voice sharp as cracking ice.
Damon raised one hand in a lazy wave without turning. "Just walking around the city. Holla at when the other two turn up."
Sylvara huffed, folding her arms, but didn’t chase after him.
"You know Damon doesn’t respond well to being micromanaged. You should maybe try talking to him in a different way." Kate offered a polite smile when soone else cut her off. It was one of the n from their family.
"Maybe you need to stop acting like you own the damn place. We are showing you plenty of hospitality, how about you show so gratitude in return? If the patriarch did not-"
"That’s enough ndoza. Stop it." Sylvara imdiately reined him in.
Kate’s face changed, but she did not say anything else. Right now, she was dealing with a lot of conflicting emotions, and she was already extrely guilty about piling all of this on Damon, she did not want to add anything more to his plate and burden him even more.
Kate quietly excused herself and stepped outside, needing a mont to breathe. The cold air nipped at her cheeks, but it was better than the tension inside.
She watched the snow shimr in the moonlight, thinking of the blood Damon had given her, the life he had saved, and the strange, spiraling world they now stood on the edge of. Everything had changed so fast, and sohow she felt both stronger and more fragile than ever.
Mark silently ca and stood next to her. "Thank you for not talking back."
"I know how to behave, my idiot brother." Kate smiled.
The two of them stared in the direction Damon had disappeared. However, the chatter inside hadn’t quite died down.
"Useless idiots. Patriarch is giving them way too much importance than they deserve."
"Maybe Blood God has so talent, but I don’t understand why these two should be included. They are barely level 10."
"What? Only level 10? They will probably die the mont they step into the cold wilderness!"
Sylvara did not say anything, but the young man who had sparred with Damon spoke instead. "There is no point in bad mouthing like this. It is of poor taste. Soon, everyone will know who is worthy and who is not."
A few more minutes passed in awkward silence. Soon, two unexpected figures stepped into the small pub.
One was decked in flashy fire affinity gear from top to bottom, while the other was wearing a simple priest gown. However, if one looked closely, this priest gown had a golden sheen to it, implying that it was nowhere near ordinary.
There were minute gems stitched all over the gown, and subtle enchantnt runes shimred faintly under the pub’s flickering lantern light.
Despite their contrasting appearances, both newcors radiated power, the kind that made people unconsciously straighten their backs and asure their words. Not to ntion, the two of them were stunning beauties that many n would lose their minds over.
"Sorry for the delay," Mira smiled.
"That’s fine, fire goddess. Don’t worry about it. We all just got here." ndoza was the first one to stand up and offer his hand with a big smile on his face. "And this must be the famous healing goddess, Aurora."
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