The First Mage

It had been two weeks since we started campaigning for getting acknowledged as the true divine messenger by the people of Alarna. Starting with the lumberjacks east of town, who did a great job spreading our deeds, we continued on to the farmers and construction workers north of Alarna, who were already welcoming us with open arms, and then to the caravan, as it left for Cerus. It would take a few days until they returned and would spread word about their savior, “Lilly,” but we had to get all the positive reviews we could. Although, the entire town appeared to already be well aware of us, after we had made a great impression on only about a hundred people. Not all of that attention was good, however.

While Tomar and Reurig were off to Cerus, to keep the Caravan safe, I made brief appearances in the north and east from time to time, to keep the story going. I would let the people thank me, use our limited supply of white stones to fake-bless them with Worshipper Calling signs, and spread the story that the High Priest had essentially forced me to flee the town. As the one divine messenger, I couldn’t just leave though, and I came back to do the gods’ work.

While the guards just extended invitations from the king for me to come and sit down with him to talk about the future of the town, agents of the temple tried to tail me on two occasions. I didn’t know their intentions, but I couldn’t imagine them to be good. When they did get too close to my liking once, however, it turned out that my shock wave was really effective against agents in a forest. Not only were they less sturdy than most guards, in this environment they were practically guaranteed to hit a tree and go down, and their agility only got them so far against a three hundred sixty degree attack. After that second attempt I did stop making appearances for the moment though, since it was just a matter of time until they would adjust.

So far, everything was going great. Not every citizen was quite at the point where they would publicly demonize their leaders yet, but the seed had been planted, and based on the feedback I got, the voices of the people who wanted me to become an integral part of town were growing louder. And with each new follower, the power dynamics were shifting in our favor. Soon we would make a move and carve ourselves a place in town, and by that point, we would hopefully be the ones to decide what that place would be.

The king’s invitations also told me all I needed to know about where he would stand on this issue. He was desperately trying to find an ally that he could counter the temple’s divine messenger with, and I was the obvious choice. As such, he hadn’t tried any funny business yet. As long as I would tell him that we will cooperate with the authorities, he would probably happily let us take over the temple. I wouldn’t meet with him until then though, to keep control over the situation and to not just wander in there without enough backing.

I was in high spirits, when Tomar and Reurig unexpectedly returned to our camp. They were a day early, but initially I just thought everything had gone so well that they decided to return right away.

“Hey! Welcome... back,” I said, but their downcast eyes left very little room for interpretation. Something had gone wrong.

“You two don’t look so good...” Berla said.

After sitting down, they told us about what had happened in Cerus. Based on the evidence, talking beasts had attacked the town about a week ago and killed a substantial part of Cerus’ population, their guards, the soldiers from Alarna, and presumably the attendees of the monthly market. Uncharacteristically for beasts, however, they seemed to have eaten very few of the victims. It looked more like it had been a coordinated attack by a group of beasts, with some purpose in mind.

Most buildings had apparently still been intact, though there were quite a few broken doors and windows. There were hundreds of bodies strewn around town, but after seeing the victims, both Tomar and the guards had been of the opinion that these couldn’t be all the people who had been in town during the attack. Either some had managed to flee, or they had hid somewhere.

Due to the unknown situation, the dangerous enemy, and the lack of firepower, however, Tomar had decided that it was better not to stick around for too long. We had encountered talking beasts twice now, and while they could certainly be killed, they were far stronger than they appeared. They could’ve kept looking for survivors, but if they had been attacked by a group of beasts, it would’ve been borderline impossible to protect everyone, especially the defenseless merchants.

Tomar talked to the guards and convinced them to turn back around as well, with the guards recognizing that beasts killing off an entire town wasn’t normal. They left for Alarna as soon as they had essentially pillaged the blue stones they would usually buy every month.

As one might expect, this experience put a damper on the happy mood the merchants and guards had been in on the way there. Seeing a town as important as Cerus in such a state was devastating. It had brought them right back down to earth and made them remember how dangerous this world was. They had surely asked themselves what would become of them. Would they make it back home alive? Would the beasts try to attack Alarna as well? How much danger were they in?

A slightly somber mood hung over our group as Tomar and Reurig told us their story. As it came to an end, one important question was left on my mind, however.

“How far ahead of the caravan were you guys?” I asked.

“Not much. We left them behind once they were out of the woods,” Tomar said.

“So they’re back in Alarna by now.”

“They should be, yeah.”

Half an hour to reach Alarna, half an hour to reach the king, fifteen minutes to make a full report, moments until the first rumors start to spread...

“We need to use this to our advantage...” I mumbled.

‘Of course you would say that...’ Lilana commented.

“You two, I swear...” Reurig said.

“Huh?”

“I kind of implied that this could be good for us,” Tomar said with a wry smile.

“Ah... Well, of course what happened is horrible, but it could help us a lot. Putting the talking beasts aside for a moment, the people will either think they’re in danger now or they will think they are safe because of us. No matter what, as soon as this news spreads through town, people will be even more receptive to what we have to offer.”

“Okay, but what if the beasts actually come here? Won’t that invalidate the entire story of you blessing the area and keeping them away?” Berla asked.

“Not really,” I said. “We are keeping the normal beasts away after all, the people can see that. The talking beasts are something else. Sentient beings, capable of critical thinking, who aren’t affected by our blessings. We aren’t the gods themselves after all. We’ll most likely have to fight these things, but we would probably have to do that anyway if they come here. Our chances would be better if we had the town’s resources though. In a way... it would be irresponsible not to make a move now.”

“Sounds good to me. When do we leave?” Tomar said with a smile, acting as if he was about to jump up and go to Alarna.

“Guys, do I have to be the one to tell you to think things through now?” Berla said with a sigh. “Didn’t you want to wait at least a few more days, Miles? What’s the plan?”

Smiling over Tomar’s eagerness to get started, I thought the situation over for a moment. Even though everything looked very promising already, the original plan had been to wait at least another week, so we could be sure that our “mana wall” was working and no beasts were approaching the town anymore. By that point, I was also expecting most people to believe in us, when everybody who had to regularly venture out of town was feeling safe here now.

One idea had been to approach the town and invite normal people to come out, most likely for the first time in their life, which could’ve become an event and a show of freedom. Another idea was to go in and openly challenge the High Priest, who was deceiving the poor citizens, just to gain more power. This too could’ve become a spectacle. However, Cerus getting attacked changed things a little.

Even those who believed Alarna to be safe right now would be hesitant to go into the Wildlands when a new threat was on the loose. Playing games with the High Priest during a crisis could also easily be portrayed in a negative light. We could wait for the situation to relax, but we could also use it to our advantage, and that might be the most effective plan.

Assuming that nobody knew what these talking beasts were, or what they wanted, the town would see itself confronted with an unknown threat. They were also tougher than they looked, which the guards who had been in Cerus could attest to, and Alarna had just lost a considerable amount of its forces. We didn’t even know whether normal weapons would be able to injure these beasts at all yet, seeing how Berla had had trouble piercing their skin as well, back when we fought the first two we encountered. Our magic attacks, however, were effective. With all this in mind, we would hopefully be considered a godsend by the people. And could there be any better candidate to lead them out of these trying times than the true divine messenger, who had already shown that she can protect them?

Berla understood my reasoning, though she was still a little skeptical. “So you just want to walk into town and tell people that they should trust you, because you’re the only one who can fight these beasts?” Berla asked.

“Hm, more or less. Though I’m thinking it shouldn’t be just me.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re all going. Tomorrow,” I said decisively.

The final reason I liked this new plan was that I didn’t have to do it alone anymore. So far, the people had primarily seen me, plus one faceless follower of mine, and even though I included the injustice against Tomar and Riala in my story, nobody knew that we were one group yet. The reason for that was that they were still seen as criminals. Accepting a divine messenger was a big ask already, but an angel who was friends with criminals might have been a bit much to start off with. During a crisis, however, it would be much easier to push for them to be accepted, especially since they would be able to actively help. And it was not just those two. Berla and Reurig had been invaluable to me, the people’s “savior,” as well. I knew exactly how I would spin it. However, this hadn’t been part of any plans so far, and the others were... surprised by my decision.

“Huh!?” Berla exclaimed.

“Wait, what? I was joking!” Tomar said.

“We’re going back home? Yay!” Riala cheered.