Penitent

Michael smashed away three branches tipped in thorns that swung at him like morningstars as he pushed forward to the pulsing green rift. The second he cut those away, they were replaced by vines that shot forward from the portal's opening and wrapped themselves around his shield. He roared and fire covered the shield and mace, burning away the plant matter in holy fire. He took a few more steps forward and reached the point where he could feel the edges of the rift within his will. He began to focus on it, grasping it with his soul as he began to seal it.

More vines and thorned branches shot out at him, but he didn't even need to raise his hand to block them. Pyotr danced in front of him, cutting down the attacking branches and vines before they could reach him, and kicking others with enough force that they cracked and shattered. Once he'd bought him that breathing room, he fell back to his side, throwing out a small fireball that went right through the rift. Michael wasn't certain, but he thought he could hear some kind of screeching coming from it.

Pyotr stumbled a bit, the magicka drain more than he was expecting, and Suraj moved forward to bat aside the flurry of animalistic plantlife that attempted to take advantage of his faltering. Suraj looked like a mad woodsman with his axe carving through branches in wide arcs that bought the rest of them space.

Clara raised a hand and small orbs of fire manifested on the tips of each of her fingers and quickly flew toward the portal one after the other, burning away more of the offending green matter and reminding Michael of the smell of controlled burns he'd grown used to on long drives.

With his allies' defense Michael finished grasping the edges of the rift with his will and clenched his glowing fist, closing it and slicing the plant matter that had come through off at the root. The branches and vines all fell to the ground and started to wriggle and writhe, a few of them managed to grasp at them and cover them in thorn wounds, but were quickly smacked or cut away.

Michael moved to help the others, helping to kill the remaining plants and beginning to heal those that he could. They lost two men. One man had been dragged into the rift within seconds of them reaching it, and another had been pierced through the eye by a thorny vine. He focused on healing the gravely injured, then those with minor injuries, and after that he took a few moments to pay his respects to the dead.

"That's six this month," said Suraj. "Hopefully seven if Lys and Trina's is already wrapped up." He looked at the one woman they'd lost , knelt and mumbled something under his breath. Michael wasn't certain, but he thought he heard Seras's name amidst the mumblings. The man sighed. "Hopefully they didn't take any losses. We had fewer deaths the last time we were at war."

Michael nodded somberly and went to sit on a nearby stone and take a breather. This rift had surprised them. There had been several large trees that looked to have been recently felled, but once they got closer they realized all of them were growing out of the rift itself. It ambushed them, no pun intended, and they were on the back foot from the start. The whole month had been similar. They'd encountered the horned men again, as well as the lizardfolk, but the rest had been random. It was nearly impossible to prepare for them.

A number of the mercenaries had started drawing straws in the hopes that they would be in Michael's group instead of Lys or Trinas. Not that he could save everyone, but his groups did tend to have fewer losses. The twins had actually combined Lys and Trina's groups to mitigate things, but even with the larger groups and increased attempts to reduce losses. The rifts were wearing everyone down. From what Michael understood, the last time they'd done this kind of work, they'd only need to clear one to three in a month. Now they were up to nearly ten.

Pyotr approached Michael with an oddly shaped bulbous flower with teeth that had been carved off of one of the vines. He opened and closed its mouth as if it was a puppet.

"Feed me Seymour."

Michael chuckled, a bit of the tension he'd started to carry easing. "Did you watch Little Shop of Horrors often in Russia?"

"No, but the musical played at the theater for a short run. It was a fun time."

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Michael pulled himself up from his seat. He'd caught his breath a bit. Having his recovery enhanced by both his original title and the Champion of Bruntus title meant it didn't take long even after major exertion to get moving again. He took off his helmet and rolled his neck left and right a few times. He'd been feeling a little stiff lately, but given how much he'd been pushing himself that was no surprise.

Suraj drew everyone's attention to him. "Alright everyone, let's wrap up and start back toward Southwind. There's still plenty of daylight and honestly? I don't like the idea of camping in the woods more than we need to after that."

Michael and the others chuckled at that and they all started to gather the last of their things before moving to the spot a short distance away where they'd left their packs. When Michael got his he took a moment to grab his mirror and check his titles and deeds.

Titles:

Michael Mann

The Restored

The Wound Man

Godseeker

Champion of Seras

Champion of Nykas

Champion of Bruntus

Champion of Veras

Deeds:

Bridge Holder

Revenge Denier

Run Conqueror

Resilient Competitor

Fort Healer

Righteous Defender

Castle Taker

Baron Breaker

Rift Sealer

Warrior Mender

Blessings:

Healing

Pain Transfer

Smite

Bless

Eyes of Love

He'd dedicated the last several rifts to Veras in an attempt to gain the title as her Champion and it looked like that, along with several nights of drinking with his friends and other activities with Lys, that she'd finally seen fit to grant it to him. He focused in on it.

Champion of Veras

Grants:

Blessing- Eyes of Love

Micheal blinked and looked over his blessings again, realizing that there was a new one. He'd thought the gods would only grant increases to his Strength, Speed, and other physical attributes; he'd never considered that being their champion would come with a specific blessing. It did make a kind of sense though. They're the ones who'd granted his other blessings from the beginning after all.

He blinked away his Titles and Deeds, focusing on himself. He looked around, not noticing anything different in how he could see. He whispered a prayer.

"Veras, please grant me knowledge of how to use your blessing."

There was a pause in the endless background chatter of the divine as Veras spoke with his wife's voice, causing him to feel a painful tug at his chest.

~See with your heart~

Michael frowned. It was cryptic, but not impossibly so. He focused again, not just on the forest around him, but on the people who surrounded him. He thought about how he felt about each of them. The respect he had for Suraj, the vaguely parental affection he had for Clara, and the brotherly bond between himself and Pyotr.

Threads began to appear in his vision. There were several coming off of him and onto the others, but he also saw a number of threads between the others as well. A thick thread between Alvarez and one of the other scouts, one between Suraj and a soldier whose name Michael had never caught. He couldn't see Pyotr, but he looked at one of the thicker threads near himself and knew it was his. He reached out mentally and touched it, and in that moment he knew that Pyotr was whistling as he took a leak in the woods. He couldn't read his thoughts, but he knew that he felt relaxed, but moderately fatigued and a bit irritable. In spite of that, as he walked back into the clearing with the rest of them, he gave Michael a wide smile.

"Why're you staring at me so intently, brother? And were your eyes always gold?"

Michael blinked, releasing his focus and returning his vision back to normal. He felt a brief surge of fatigue, as seemed to come with all of his blessings, but his stamina was quickly restored.

"Sorry, Pyotr, just testing out a new blessing complements of Veras."

"Oh? X-ray vision? Have you not seen me in the nude enough yet?"

"Not nearly enough," said Michael laughing. "It lets me see connections between people. Seems to let me sense how they're doing."

"So you weren't looking at me nude, but you were watching me urinate?"

"More like sensing, then watching."

"That sounds worse brother."

Michael grimaced. "It does, doesn't it? In my defence I wasn't sure of what I was doing."

"Whatever you say," responded Pyotr in an exaggerated tone as he walked away with his arms and hands in front of him between them.

Michael chuckled and shook his head. He could definitely see uses for this ability. He could tell who knew who at a glance, check on his friends even when they were out of sight, and maybe even use it to see hidden enemies. He wondered if continued dedications to Veras would just strengthen this blessing? Or maybe add more to his arsenal? Would the others start offering blessings as well?

He took a breath. Just another way to get stronger to help people, another reason to serve the gods. He gave a prayer of thanks as he walked with the rest of the group back toward Southwind.