The next morning they all got their marching orders and they realized they would be separated. Michael had the smallest group, largely due to his experience with the rifts and his abilities as a healer. The largest group consisted of the twins and Trina, and would be taking on two of the rifts, and the second largest was with Lys who would be handling the one closest to them. Davi and Marcus were with Lys’s group to shore up their needs and provide the knowledge of rifts they had, and Ollie was with the Twins to do the same thing.

“Before we separate, I want to try something,” said Michael after they’d finished a quick simple breakfast of stew.

“I don’t know if I can stomach holding hands and praying,” said Marcus with a frown.

Michael chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be the only one praying. I got a new blessing that allows me to… bless others. I was able to give Francesca the equivalent of a small title.”

“I dunno. I’ve heard stories of priests giving people ‘blessings’. I’m not sure I feel that way about you, mate,” said Ollie with an eyebrow raised.

“Well, unfortunately for all of you I don’t want any of you to die so you’re just going to have to deal with it. Oh, and I’m going to be trying slightly different wording to see if that affects anything.”

Davi shrugged. “If you two are done joking about it,” he said to Marcus and Ollie, “I would like any benefit I can get. With the rifts we’ve seen so far, I don’t want to take any chances.” He stepped over to Michael.

Michael nodded, and held out his right hand, closing his eyes.

“Seras, please watch over Davi and grant him your protection. Bring him back safely.”

He felt something pass between himself and Davi and took a moment to divine him, finding that he had the same blessing of protection that he’d granted to Francesca.

“Ollie?’

He sighed and approached. “Just be gentle.”

Michael shook his head and held out his hand. “Nykas, please watch over Ollie and grant him the guile he needs to survive and come back to us as his usual laughing self.”

~ha~ha~

Ollie shook his head. “I really don’t like the disembodied laughter.”

“That’s probably why he makes sure you hear it.”

He divined Ollie, quickly finding what he was looking for.

Blessing of Nykas

Grants:

Minor Reaction

“Interesting. I can differentiate the blessing based on the god.”

“So you chose to bless me with the one that creeps me out.”

“Yes,” said Michael simply as he moved on to Marcus, granting him the same blessing as he had Ollie since they agreed it would be more beneficial for him than the blessing of Seras.

He moved on to Pyotr, but when he finished, he didn’t feel any changes this time. He frowned and tried again, focusing. He felt intuitively like he could pull the divine back to himself from the three blessed in front of him, as well as to those were a far distance from him.

“Guess my limit is five. Sorry, Pyotr.”

Pyotr shrugged. “I’m already the most blessed brother, I’m travelling with you.”

“How sweet,” said Marcus mockingly.

“It’s genuine. Who else could heal me if I get skewered by some monster’s horn?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Shit, that’s a good point.”

…

Michael and Pyotr walked together at the rear of their group. The road had gotten worse as they’d moved further south towards the lake of beasts, but it was still better than the large stretches of empty country they’d travelled through while they were fleeing through Svict. They had been sent to the rift that was the furthest West and nearest to the coast of the lake. There had been reports from several of the villages about the rift and a number of disappearances and sightings of horned men had been reported as well. Michael wondered if this rift opened to the same place as the first one he’d closed. If that was the case it was likely already too late for those that had been taken so far.

They were travelling with an aelven scout named Syl, Clara the human mage they’d met when they’d first entered the city Gemini had been staying in, a taker warrior named Suraj who was leading the mission, and a handful of others he hadn’t learned the names of yet. Most seemed to favor spears or halberds, but a few had more unique weapons.

Pyotr yawned a bit, shaking his head as if trying to force the tiredness out of his head.

“Didn’t sleep well?” asked Michael.

“No, I stayed up much too late.”

Michael frowned, he didn’t seem hungover and normally if he went out to drink he invited Michael, whether he was asleep or not.

“Trying to make friends with Syl?” asked Michael, raising an eyebrow up and down suggestively. Pyotr had not been shy about his fascination with aelven women since they’d arrived and he’d already started making eyes at their aelven scout over the last several days, and seemed particularly infatuated with her grace.

He frowned. “That would’ve been a much better idea.”

“What were you doing then?”

“Burning more Magicka channels.”

Michael blinked. “I hadn’t realized you’d been keeping up with that?”

“Oh yes, since Ollie taught us how I have been burning one or two a day.”

Michael nodded, impressed. Sometimes Pyotr came across as laid back, but he was very serious when it came to improving himself. Probably something that came with him from his life in the ballet.

“Have you seen major gains? I can create much stronger shields and I can cast without as much difficulty, but aside from that I haven’t had much improvement in a long time.”

“I could throw a fireball.”

“What?” asked Michael.

“Not one as big as Ollie, and I’d need some time to form the spell, but yes. They said at the academy that I was just under where I would need to be to be a mage. I think I went a bit past what they expected.”

“That’s incredible!” said Michael, drawing a few raised eyebrows from the mercenaries ahead of them.

“Well, I had to keep up with you somehow brother.”

Michael shook his head. “Come on, you’ve always been a better fighter.”

Pyotr chuckled. “I would never lose to you in a sparring match, and neither would Davi, but in a true fight do you really think you wouldn’t win? With all of your abilities? You must stop underestimating yourself and your value, brother. That was one of our biggest problems in Stent, do not keep carrying it with you.”

Michael nodded, chewing on his words a bit. He’d had a problem back on Earth when it came to limiting himself too. Sara had to encourage him to recognize his worth and ask for more on several occasions. It had gotten to the point where he’d jokingly call her his ‘Lady Macbeth’. Gods he missed her.

“I’ll think about that, Pyotr, but in the meantime don’t distract me from congratulating you. That’s absolutely incredible.”

“Thank you, brother.” His eyes drifted to the tall thin elven scout at the front of the line. “Unfortunately now that we are not surrounded by men all the time, I fear I will not be as diligent as I have been so far.”

Michael chuckled. “I don’t think you’re the only one who's going to have that problem.”

They walked for several more hours, making smalltalk, even trying to pull in Suraj a few times with no luck. He was a quiet man, very pale with long dark hair tied back in a ponytail and a broad build. They’d managed to gather that he was from India originally, but he seemed very focused on the mission, even though the rest of the mercs were relatively relaxed this far from their target.

“Okay, let’s stop here for the night,” said Suraj as they came into a small clearing. “I’ll take the first watch, Pyotr and Michael will take the middle watches, and Sev can take the last one. Syl, Clara, Michael, I want your tents toward the center of camp and I need you two ladies to prioritize sleep. Got it?”

They nodded at him.

Michael surmised that he and Pyotr got the middle watches as the new guys and he, Clara, and Syl were put toward the middle as the scout and mage because they were the most valuable for this mission. A sensible no-nonsense approach that made him grateful again that they’d joined up with Gemini rather than some of the other groups they’d gotten offers from.

Michael slung his pack off his shoulders and started getting his things together when he started to feel a pull. It was faint, but it seemed as if his Godseeker title was trying to bring him closer to something off the road.

He sighed. He needed to prioritize the rift, but what would he do after that?

Pyotr noticed his face scrunching up.

“What’s the matter? You get to pitch your tent near two beautiful women, there are worse things.”

Michael chuckled. “It’s not that. The gods are pulling me in that direction,” he pointed. “But I can’t do anything about it until the rift is closed and after that I can’t go without deserting.”

Pyotr laughed. “Brother, we’re mercenaries. It’s not deserting anymore, you can just ask Suraj if he’s okay with you taking a detour on the way back?”

“Oh… right.” He needed to start adjusting to his new circumstances a little better.