Tessa stared at the dragonling, glad and slightly stunned to encounter someone that wasn’t kill-happy like her mentors nor a fanatical cultist in this town. It felt like a servant of Aeon came to her rescue. Tolan, however, wasn’t of the same mind. Clearing his throat, he asked again. The left half of his brow raising curiously.

“You… okay?”

She blinked a few times and shook her head before responding.

“Y-yes. I’m fine. Thank you for saving me, mister…?”

“Tolan. Tolan Morndelen.”

“Thank you for saving me, Mr. Morndelen.”

“‘Tolan’ is more than enough. And just glad to see that you’re alright.”

Turning around, Tolan kept an eye out for additional pursuers. But none came. And then a red flare soared high into the sky. Screaming through the dark heavens like a bat out of hell.

Tolan asked, “What the…?!”

Then a green one cried out, but from the opposite direction.

“What in the gods’ names is going on tonight?!”

But with nothing happening immediately in response, Tolan looked back at Tesssa.

“Looks like something’s going on. Not sure what, but it can’t be good.”

Tessa asked, “Do you think it’s the cultists?”

“Not likely. They’re rarely so brazen. Perhaps it was your companions?”

Tessa didn’t enjoy recalling their faces, but answered honestly.

“The red one came from the direction I ran from, I think. But I don’t know anything about the green one.”

“I see…”

Tolan rubbed his chin with one hand, thinking.

“It’s likely a become a war zone where your companions are, so I don’t think it’ll be possible to get them out of their situation. At the least, I’ll get you to safety.”

Tessa nodded, but had a feeling her mentors were unlikely to fall at the hands of the cultists. From what she remembered from their first encounter and what happened at the inn, it’d take a lot more to kill them. Thoughts of what the surrounding area would become made her stomach turn, but she threw them away.

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Alright. Then follow me as best you can, we’ve got some distance to cover.”

Tessa nodded, and the two began moving. To her surprise, she had already recovered her stamina from running away from the inn. Though it was bittersweet, as she knew this was the handiwork of her mentors in some capacity. As they ran, Torgrak asked some questions to get a better picture of the situation.

“So, where are you all from?”

“Faethun. My… mentors were assigned a quest by the Adventurers’ Guild, and they dragged me along.”

Tolan mumbled, “So you’re all from out of town. At least that means the letter successfully got out…”

“Did you say something?”

“Nothing of note. Just trying to figure out what’s going on tonight. The cult rarely gets so aggressive, so I’m wondering what set them off so easily. You have any ideas?”

“Unfortunately, no. We took a brief look around before entering an inn, but that’s about it. Shortly after, we were attacked and… I ran away.”

Something inside Tessa hurt when she admitted it. It felt wrong and cowardly to run away from the fight. Heroes didn’t do that. They stood their ground and fought to the last. Or, at least, the ones she read about did. This felt like a major step back from her dream, but also felt necessary for her survival. Was running away for the sake of maintaining who she wanted to be the right call? Tessa wasn’t sure she’d ever know for certain.

“That’s unfortunate, but at least you’re alive. Live to fight another day, as they say.”

“Y-yeah…”

As they moved, they could hear the echoes of combat starting up again. But there were also small booms and clashing metal in other directions. Tolan wondered if his fellow Resistance members had gotten caught, but it sounded too scattered to be the case.

Tessa asked, “Where are we going, by the way?”

“I’m taking you to meet some friends of mine. Not everyone likes how influential the cult has become, and so we formed an opposing force that keeps the underground. My apologies for not stating it sooner.”

Tesa wondered if this could be a trap. But considering the alternatives being running into cultists, returning to her mentors, or hiding somewhere and hoping no one found her, this seemed to be the best choice.

“I understand.”

“Though, may I ask who your ‘mentors’ are? I caught wind of them before meeting you, but not much else. All I know is that they’re a half-elf and dwarf, and the former has the cultists’ Archbishop on edge.”

“How’d you learn that?”

Tolan chuckled, “Even the most solid ships leak every now and then.”

Tessa smiled, his joke helping break the tension.

“So, who are they?”

“As best I know, they’re a pair of highly skilled Adventurers that volunteered to teach me. And tonight was to be my third day of training.”

Half of Tolan’s brow raised greatly.

“I’ve heard of birds throwing their young out of nests, but they sound literally insane.”

“I fear your exaggeration isn’t too far off. Though they’re also much more intelligent than they appear. Going off what I remember someone else describing them as, ‘monstrous’ wouldn’t be an inaccurate descriptor.”

“Well. Can’t say that’s reassuring to hear, but the enemy of my enemy is my ally. Or something like that.”

Tessa hesitantly nodded. She wanted to say something, but it felt wrong to compliment their horribleness.

Soon, the two were at a staircase that led into the city’s underground. Not to the sewers, but a layer between the streets and sewers. The moonlight overhead helped illuminate the first couple of steps, but past that it was pitch black. Creating a sparking orb of lightning in his palm, Tolan placed it in a small gap at the top of his staff to light the way.

“Mind if I ask you something, Tolan?”

“What is it?”

“What happened to Crimsonvale?”

“What do you mean?”

“How did Nencog’s followers take control? Aren’t such problems dealt with the moment they pop up?”

“Well, if they’re overt about their actions, then yes. But it didn’t all happen at once. Crimsonvale was, before they took over, a fairly simple place. Good population, a stopping point for merchants, decent militia and other such things you’d expect. Unfortunately, it was also slowly going into decline. Crimsonvale makes most of its income from farming and exporting. But fewer and fewer merchants have been coming by to buy our food. And with trade stagnating, farms started having to let some people go. That quickly spiraled into the same people becoming unable to afford food or housing. Leaving them on the streets to share scraps of the food they begged for with others.”

“That’s horrible!”

“It was. Then the cult appeared. It came with food and shelter. Promising a good life to all who came under it and gave into their ‘Great Flame’. As you can imagine, it wasn’t long before those on the streets came to them in droves. Almost over night, the cult had turned from a small congregation into a full-blown religion.”

“But wouldn’t the local officials take notice and intervene?”

“Possibly, but even they didn’t have enough food and wages to maintain control of the guardsmen. Many of them had families to take care of and were already rationing the pittance given to them. So when someone’s offering you what you need for free, it’s easy to understand why the guard looked the other way. Soon enough, even the officials had to give in to their influence. Which is when it changed from a religion to a cult.”

“I see…”

Tessa couldn’t admit to understanding, but she understood what was going on now.

“Now that his religion had invaded just about every corner of the town, the Archbishop began making promises of giving people a future beyond the town. That he would give them the opportunity to become clerics and warriors under him, and that they could defend their families through the power of the ‘Great Flame’. But as you probably know, it was just to get them all under Nencog’s influence. You can probably figure out the rest from there.”

“Roughly, but yes. But did no one come to check on the town or try to oppose them?”

“Unfortunately, no one did. It wasn’t until we formed the Resistance that my friends and I learned the cult was bribing any incoming government officials to turn back, or threatening to kill them so they’d get scared away. As for the latter… a few did. It didn’t go well.”

Tessa could only imagine what happened, but she kept herself to assuming they died. Refusing to think of any torturous methods that the unfortunate may have endured.

“So what is the Resistance going to do now?”

“Not sure. Your mentors may have made things easier for us, or much more difficult.”

Tolan and Tessa’s conversation ended as they approached a door. Tolan knocked on it and spoke a phrase.

“Blue scales and a drifter.”

There was a loud clunk from the door as it opened. Walking inside with Tolan, Tessa witnessed people in makeshift uniforms running back and forth in a panic.

Tolan commented, “Looks like what’s happening up top definitely has everyone moving.”

Tessa nodded and followed him. People rushed by and around them. A few gave her curious gazes as they armed themselves, but they quickly went back to their business. None of them having the time to gossip. Tolan then stopped outside a room with a pair of curtains in front of it. Parting them, he looked back at Tessa and gestured her to follow.

Inside, there were two people standing around a table. The first was a tan woman with a blue bandana decorated with strings of beads. Her hair was long and dark, and she stared intensely at a map spread out across the table. Her hands holding several reports and papers. The other was a man with blonde wavy hair, thin eyebrows, and a slight goatee. He had a longsword at his hip and was lightly armored.

Tolan spoke, “Good to see you two. Busy as usual?”

The woman looked up at him, eyes half-open.

“Ah! Glad to finally have you back!”

“Same to you, Xera.”

The man, however, took notice of Tessa before Tolan.

“Who’s the girl?”

Tessa introduced herself, “I’m Tessa Vivuk. Tolan saved me and brought me here.”

“I can see that, but why are you here?”

Tolan explained, “She’s one of the half-elf’s companions that I mentioned in my report. During a battle, she got separated and got cornered by the cultists. Thankfully, I was able to intervene before the cultists got to her. And considering the chaos that’s going on at the moment, I believed it safer to take her here than leave her up there.”

Tessa bowed deeply, expressing her gratitude as best she could without words.

The man sighed, but Xera gave her a warm welcome.

“We’re more than happy to offer you refuge. My apologies for not being able to give you a warmer welcome, but we’re currently in the midst of last-minute changes. And don’t mind my Spymaster, Damien. He’s just more frustrated about the given situation than I am.”

Damien rolled his eyes at how Xera described her, but asked about Tessa’s companions.

“Tolan, if she’s just one of the half-elf’s companions. Where are the half-elf and the other one?”

“Unfortunately, they were in the middle of the worst of it. Thankfully, I doubt they’re dead. Tessa described them as quite the pair, so it’s unlikely the cult will deal with them easily.”

Damien huffed, and Xera took control of the conversation.

“That’s good to know. Perhaps this is our best time to take the cult down. With her companions keeping the cult distracted, we can move in and take the Archbishop out before he has a chance to respond.”

Damien raised his voice, “You want us to abandon weeks of planning just to take a gamble on some outsiders holding the entirety of the cult’s strength back?!”

Xera argued, “We know the cult is performing their ritual tonight thanks to your information. And considering that our original plan required sneaking in with a few people, this may be the best time to strike with everything we’ve got! There may not be a better time to strike!”

Damien slammed his hand on the table.

“We’re talking about an entire town against two people! They’d each have to be on par with a Hero at the least to do that!”

Tolan intervened, “When I asked Tessa about her companions, she best described them as ‘monstrous’. Whether or not that’s a good thing can be determined later, but we know the cult is still battling them right now. Or have you not been hearing the same distant explosions I have?”

Xera agreed, “I’m with Tolan on this. It is a reckless move, but we don’t have many other options and time isn’t on our side. Chances like this don’t come around often. We should strike while the iron’s hot.”

Damien ground his teeth and rubbed the bridge of his nose, but relented.

“Very well. We’ll take everyone we can and go straight for the Archbishop’s head. We’ll have to pack lightly, but it should be enough.”

Xera nodded, “Let’s hope so.”

Tessa stood in silence, uncertain of what to do or say. Then Xera addressed her directly.

“Tessa.”

“Y-yes?!”

“Will you join our assault on the Archbishop? I know it’s a cowardly thing to ask you to let us use your companions as bait, but we don’t have the choice. But we also need every hand we can get in the coming battle. So what do you say?”

“Uh…”

Tessa wasn’t sure what to say, but the icy voice came back. Its whispers piercing through all attempts at suppressing it.

Yes! This is the perfect moment to prove that we’re deserving of becoming a Hero!

Tessa argued with it.

We’d be selling out our own allies! That’s not what a Hero does!

Isn’t this the chance you’ve been waiting for? You can save this town, and everyone in it. All you have to do is cast Hei and Torgrak away, and you’ll finally have something that proves you’re ready to become a Hero. The presiding lord of the territory will be so happy to know you’ve saved it that he’ll have to write you a recommendation letter.

The voice’s words felt so tempting and sweet, but Tessa tried to fight back.

But it’s wrong to use others for my gain! If I sacrifice Hei and Torgrak, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life!

It clicked its tongue at her response.

Like you care about your ‘mentors’. You’re just a pet to them. They willingly brought you to a battlefield, knowing full well what they were doing. All to satisfy some sick, twisted sense of humor and entertain themselves with your suffering. Or are you defending them when was your ‘mentors’ who wounded you so gravely just a few days ago?

The voice had Tessa backed into a corner.

No! It was an accident! Torgrak surely didn’t mean to hit me and was just making up for his mistake!

Tessa’s attempts to rationalize her mentors’ actions only made it laugh at her.

Like the dwarf was so incompetent. You saw first-hand how well he could slaughter those around you twice. Do you think someone so capable would make such a mistake? They could have let the bandit run away, but they killed him by literally going through you! Now tell me, what kind of caring mentor does that? Let’s turn them into a tool for us. They’ll be the stepping stones we needed and become a Hero when this is all over.

The voice had Tessa at the end of her rope. She didn’t want to give in, but its words rang true and she didn’t want to defend them a moment longer. And so, she let go and gave in.

Tolan waved his hand in front of Tessa’s eyes.

“You… there, Tessa?”

Snapping back into reality, Tessa answered Xera’s request.

“I-I’ll join you!”

Xera nodded and smiled, “Good to hear it!”

Tolan agreed, “As am I. Let’s do our best.”

He held his hand out to Tessa for a shake, and she accepted it.

“I’ll do what I can!”

With that, Damien was the first to leave. Stopping at the door to explain.

“I’m going to check with my unit so we can have a path straight to the cathedral available for us.”

Xera understood, “Very good. Thank you for working so hard, Damien.”

He nodded, but Tessa wondered if she saw the smirk she’d seen before on her mentor’s faces. She shook her head, thinking she was just tired and imagining things. But this wasn’t the time or place to worry about that, and instead she moved to the table and listened as Xera explained their plan of attack. Tonight, she’d become a Hero.